Press "Enter" to skip to content

MCT: Sunday, August 16, 2020

* * *

THUNDERSTORMS with possible strong and gusty outflow winds are expected for Mendocino and Lake Counties this morning. The threat of thunderstorms and dry lightning will spread northward into eastern Humboldt and Trinity counties by mid morning and persist through the afternoon hours. More thunderstorms will be possible late tonight and Monday. Otherwise, hot and dry weather is expected to persist in the interior through mid week, while coastal areas gradually cool off as the marine layer rebuilds. (NWS)

YESTERDAY'S HIGHS: Boonville 104°, Yorkville 107°

* * *

NAVARRO ALGAE

* * *

FIRE WEATHER WATCH

The National Weather Service in Eureka has issued a Fire Weather Watch for Mendocino County, which is in effect from this evening through Sunday evening.

* THUNDERSTORMS...Fast moving dry thunderstorms will pose a threat for fire starts due to lightning.

* OUTFLOW WINDS...Erratic gusty winds will be possible in and around thunderstorms.

* IMPACTS...Any fires that develop will likely spread rapidly. Outdoor burning is not recommended.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Fire Weather Watch means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur.

Listen for later forecasts and possible Red Flag Warnings.

* * *

PETER WELLS 

September 25, 1936 – July 26, 2020

Peter Wells passed away suddenly on July 26, leaving a gaping hole in the hearts of his family and extended family. A prominent and dearly beloved pillar of the Mendocino community for almost fifty years, Peter was a force of nature. He was an engaging storyteller with tremendous warmth, ageless energy and a profound love of life and humanity that inspired deep friendships spanning decades and across continents. 

Born and raised in London, England, to Edna Loder and Ernest EJ Wells, he spent his childhood surviving World War II and the Blitz, events that shaped his life and world view forever. As a teen he excelled in cricket, trained as an actor at the prestigious National Youth Theatre and at 18, joined the Royal Air Force until traveling to North America. 

He arrived in San Francisco's vibrant North Beach scene in the summer of 1958, meeting Annie, the mother of his first daughter, Sydney. He felt immediately at home and thrived in the exciting community of young writers, artists and activists. He worked at the iconic Old Spaghetti Factory where he met his first wife Ricki, mother of Gavrilah and David. After living in London, Spain and Barbados they settled in Marin where he managed the Kingston Trio's Trident in Sausalito and flourished in real estate. 

He met Diane, his second wife, in Sausalito in 1968 and they journeyed together around the world, including an overland trip across Europe through Afghanistan and India where he had a poignant and life defining meeting with J. Krishnamurti. They made a home in the mountains of Northern California and finally settled in their forever home in Mendocino where they raised Sally, Scott, Juliet and Anthony. 

Peter was a renaissance man. He was a proud founding owner of the world-renowned Albion River Inn for 40 years, and a writer, actor, composer, producer and realtor. With a spirit of a visionary, Peter's indefatigable belief in a harmonious way of life and faith that we are one human family inspired his many writings, talks, podcasts and music, including his musical Blue Dove, short film The Cage and recent book, Notes from the West Pole. 

Peter's enthusiasm, optimism and deep appreciation for his fortunate life, and especially his seven children and eight adoring grandchildren will live on in his memory. He touched the lives of all who have been blessed to know him and will be forever missed by his large family and extended community near and far.

Predeceased by his wife Diane, his mother Edna, father Ernest Edward James “Big Peter” Wells, and biological father Clarence Scott. Peter leaves behind his partner Joanie, sisters Valerie, Jacqui, Gilly, Trish and their families; children Sydney, Gavrilah, David, Sally, Scott, Juliet, Anthony and their partners; grandchildren Chelsea, Marisa, Ziana, Isabella, Dylan, Luke, Evelyn, Brooklyn, and many nieces, nephews, cousins and treasured friends stretched across the globe. 

Peter's life will be celebrated in the coming months. Please contact Gavrilah at 415-637-5874 for updates. Please do not send flowers or gifts.

* * *

MENDO COVID, AUGUST 15 (eight new cases)

MSP DIGS INTO THE NEW CASES
Since we're left on our own with the "dashboard," MSP will explain what age and where the new cases came from using the County numbers today:

AGE GROUP
***Ages 19 - 34: Four new cases
***Ages 35 - 49: Two new cases
***Ages 50 - 64: Two new cases

LOCATION
***North Coast: One new case
***North County: One new case
***Ukiah Valley: Six new cases

DEFINITIONS OF LOCATIONS:
NORTH COAST - Caspar, Fort Bragg, Cleone, Newport, Westport, Rockport
SOUTH COAST - Mendocino, Little River, Albion, Elk, Manchester, Point Arena, Anchor Bay, Gualala
NORTH COUNTY - Willits, Brooktrails, Laytonville, Covelo, Dos Rios, Leggett, Piercy
SOUTH COUNTY - Philo, Boonville, Yorkville, Hopland
UKIAH VALLEY - Ukiah, Talmage, Redwood Valley, Potter Valley

GENDER
***Six of the new cases were women, two were men.
***Hispanics (60.7%) are the largest ethnic group testing positive for the virus of the 307/489 cases reported.
***The 19 to 34-years-old age group has the most positive cases (34.8%) with the 35 - 49-year-old age group second (23.4%) of the 478 cases reported.

(courtesy MendocinoSportsPlus)

* * *

"A JOG DOWN MEMORY LANE" is former Mendo distance runner Jim Gibbons’ fast paced, fascinating personal history of running, in 56 stand-alone stories that will hold the interest of current runners, former runners and even non-runners alike. Check it out on Amazon.com under the title. Please download onto Kindle Tablet, Phone or Ereader. It is anticipated that this will be available in print sometime this fall.

* * *

FORT BRAGG COUNCILMAN BERNIE NORVELL explains what Mendo should have explained when they buried the procurement of three motels on Tuesday’s Supes Agenda under closed session without identifying the motels or the purpose:

“The funding for the three hotels in Ukiah is from Operation Homekey. Counties and cities across the state will identify which buildings they intend to purchase and apply to the state for $550 million in grant funding dedicated to this purpose. Once acquired, the local governments will plan for the long-term social services and subsidy needs of the Homekey buildings, with access to $50 million in dedicated Homekey support and an additional $300 million in general local homelessness support which can be used for Homekey, among other priorities."

* * *

EARLY MENDO TRANSPORTATION

Willits Stagecoach
Fort Bragg Stagecoach

* * *

MR. HAPPY CLEARS THE AIR

Dear Mr. Editor!

Casey Hardison here, aka Mr. International Drug Guy, the International Bigwig: though I prefer “drug wizard” or simply “OB1.”

Whilst all publicity is good publicity in Marshall McLuhan's eyes, your article about me paints a pejorative, possibly even slanderous portrait of myself.

Yes! I do have an “indefatigable good mood,” an unfailing jolly joker live demeanor, I got the cosmic giggle decades ago one starry restless night on LSD. Hamilton already made the documentary. Now, maybe the movie.

I take issue with a few of your mistruthier representations. First, I do not have a long history of drug convictions. I have a possession of cannabis conviction in Idaho for a few grams and similar here in California from the 1990s. And I beat charges for cannabis in Idaho for a few pounds on constitutional grounds and 2017.

Yes, I am recognized internationally by the usual alphabet agencies and beyond for operating in England the “most sophisticated” clandestine psychedelic drug lab in history, although I'd give that title to Nick Sand, the legendary Orange Sunshine Acid Chemist. Nick inspired my meticulous attention to alchemist detail, purity and cleanliness.

As for your line about my lady being a possible victim of “the grinning perp” — absurd nonsense. She's a victim of her own sacred tantrum. This time a multi-day traipse in the fields of Lodi sponsored by ketamine and Balleto Brut rose 2014 champagne. Tralala. Ketamine is quite possibly the finest powdered sleep and antidepressant known since the aimless blade of science slashed the pearly gates. And the Balleto? Well, for those who know… Mr. Advertiser.

So, what was I doing in on Elkhorn Road? Aside from fishing my lady out of her “K-hole” I was consulting on a project bringing a custom proprietary blend of cannabinoids to market as “Covid(re)Leaf” tincture and aerosolized inhaler and/or suppository. Thus, a totally lawful adventure in “healing the nation” with “the leaves of the tree” sustaining the Mendocino economy and beyond.

In June “I fucking love science” reported that 45 mice given the severe respiratory syndrome associated with Covid (AROS) were 100% cured from the inflammatory cytokine storm by inhaled Delta-9 THC, that “assassin of youth.” Cannabinoids are involved in all pathophysiology in mammals.

So please Mr. Advertiser spare me your pejorative drug abuseologies, and drug warrior rhetoric. For a “war on some people who use some drugs” is a war on people and a war on the people is a war none of us can win.

I now sit awaiting extradition/deportation to Wyoming for the conveyance of cannabis. Who’d have thunk that one could be arrested for cannabis the days? I could have drove with that with much weed on my dashboard here in California without consequences.

When I drove off in Wyoming that fateful day two years ago, I believed I is was being robbed by pirates, unidentified on the high seas. But their Admiralty Jurisdiction is of no force and will be the undoing of the war on some people who prefer some drugs. This is not the high seas, this be Wyoming, one of the last bastions of true liberty in these United States.

So take me there O Lord for I look forward to this quest for the Holy Grail, my quest to end the “war on cognitive liberty,” the right to alter my mental functioning as I see fit, provided no harm to others results. With this and other rights retained by the people, I will end the war.

No one was harmed on Elkhorn Road although some laughs were had. Does anybody remember laughter? Our folly is that 2500 years after Plato we have still not fully integrated the Pharmakon: Those remedies, those poisons, those magical substances we know and love.

We had a psychedelic hootenanny on Elkhorn. We saw infinity in one hour. After the ecstasy, the laundry.

I am charged with selling a few pounds of Mendo Outdoor to that Wyoming undercover and scooting off with their money to their chagrin, to their embarrassment. It's time for us all to strip down, get naked in the garden and do the laundry.

So I thank you Mr. Advertiser for this opportunity to state my case! May it please this Court, let there be light, let there be justice, though the heavens may fall.

Sincerely,

Casey William Hardison, POW

Mendocino County Jail, 501 Low Gap Road, Ukiah CA 95482

PS. For posterity please e-mail jpegs of this letter and consider using the photo of me by John Hanna from my vault at erowid.org, the “Hardison Vault,” and send a physical copy of the Advertiser to Cell B-18, please.

* * *

PG&E, AN ON-LINE COMMENT: “Like all utilities, there’s a cost shared among every user just to keep the system in place — this includes shareholder profits, CEO bonuses, etc. BUT it also includes the cost of simply maintaining the infrastructure, workers wages and benefits, debt service, building capital improvement funds, and in the case of private corporations, advertising and lobbying. So there’s a base rate that you pay whether you use any electricity or not. Some of it is gouging, but some of it is necessary. I believe that all basic utilities necessary for a decent life — and that includes electricity — should be publically owned, not profit-making entities.”

* * *

WOODS WORK

* * *

ED NOTES

BEATINGS as part of the arrest process were common at the demos of the 1960s, but apparently not so common in Belarus until this month. The television clips of cowering young prisoners in a Minsk secret police basement revealed that they, young women included, had been seriously worked over, and showed that they clearly feared its resumption as they serially promised not to “engage in more misbehavior.” American police these days are positively benign by real police state standards, and if they weren't, contemporary demonstrations here in liberty land would be much more perilous, and may become much more perilous again as crises multiply and millions of people are suddenly without the means for even the basics of food and shelter. 

CRISES? WHAT CRISES? The U.S. Senate has adjourned for the rest of August after failing to come anywhere close to approving another Covid-19 relief package, leaving tens of millions of out-of-work, hungry, and eviction-facing Americans without financial aid as the pandemic and economic crises continue with no end in sight. “During the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans think they can take a long vacation while millions of Americans face hunger and eviction. That is morally obscene,” thundered Bernie Sanders. ”It’s time for the do-nothing Republican Senate to finally do its damn job.” The Senate is not expected to return until September 8, when economic conditions are likely to be even more dire for the 40 million people at risk of eviction, 30 million facing drastic income cuts due to the lapse in enhanced unemployment benefits, and 14 million households with children that don’t have enough to eat. Not to mention the tens of thousands of small mom-and-pop businesses who are straining to hold on.

YOU'D THINK that California's Independent System Operator could manage to give all us PG&E hostages minimum notice, say an hour, before we're plunged into darkness and summarily severed from the global village. As a friend put it, “Reminds me of the guy who's dying and his wife asks where he wants to be buried. He says, 'Surprise me'.” 

WHY CUT MENDO? Our 90,000 souls are a drop in the state's power consumption bucket, and probably like you, I'm waiting (as if there's choice here) to see if PG&E's promise to only cut power in targeted high fire danger areas in high fire conditions of heat and wind rather than cut off the entire county like they did last year. They've claimed that they can be more discrete as to which areas get cut. If Laytonville, say, is about to spontaneously combust, power to that sector of the North County would be offed, not all of us north of the Sonoma County line.

ONE MORE DEPRESSING sign that the Democrats are as out of it as their candidate for president is their announcement that Bill Clinton will speak at their on-line convention. Hell, how about Harvey Weinstein, and maybe a guest cameo by Trump himself as a gesture of bipartisan commitment to rape and general pervery? 

“I do believe that we need to do buybacks and I’ll tell you why: First of all, let’s be clear about what assault weapons are. They have been designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly. They are weapons of war with no place on the streets of a civil society. I’ve seen assault weapons kill babies and police officers. A buyback program is a good idea. Now we need to do it the right way. And part of that has to be, you know, buy back and give people their value, the financial value of what they have and not just take things from people that have value without compensating them. We need to do it the right way.” 

— Kamala Harris

GUN NUTS correctly point out that assault rifles are responsible for only a tiny sliver of all gun deaths in our seethingly unhappy country. Of course Kamala is correct in wanting to get them out of circulation, but the overall violence prob is more existential than mere confiscation or buy-backs. Trite to say but violence would be much less of a problem if half the population wasn't ripped off and abused every day of their lives.

* * *

MURAL IN DOWNTOWN UKIAH DOCUMENTS THE FIGHT FOR VOTING RIGHTS

Artist Lauren Sinnott included a bicycle on her mural with the women she painted fighting for the right to vote because it was symbol of independence. (Justine Frederiksen, Ukiah Daily Journal)

ukiahdailyjournal.com/2020/08/13/ukiah-mural-documents-the-fight-for-voting-rights/

* * *

NEW NEWS OUTLETS IN MENDO on top of the “old” ones.

by Mark Scaramella

With little fanfare, Mendo finds itself these days with several new news outlets and some additional young reporters trying to cover local affairs. There’s the newly hired Alicia Bales at KZYX who’s been doing a good job of getting local officials on the radio waves to talk about the pandemic and its data and implications. She seems a natch for radio — pleasant voice, unafraid to ask real questions. KZYX’s Sarah Reith sticks to KZYX's formula: nicey-nice, but she's a capable reporter who, in a less oppressive media context, might do some interesting work.

There’s the two people at MendoVoice who seem to have branched out from a heavy emphasis on marijuana to other subjects, heavily covid-related but their term paper prose is off putting.

There’s newcomer Matt LeFever at KMUD, KymKemp and his own new MendoFever.com, who stays on top of breaking news pretty well. There’s even a new kid named Lana Cohen whose reports for KZYX and the Mendocino Voice have focused primarily on local environmental subjects, albeit pretty tame.

On the older side of the local journalo ledger there’s the always solid local reporter Justine Frederiksen holding on valiantly at the Ukiah Daily Journal, a paper on life support whose editor, KC Meadows is also a fine reporter when she ventures forth to do some. And there's old reliable Mike A’Dair at the Willits Weekly, Jim Shields, long-time editor and close observer at the Mendocino Observer in Laytonville, Paul McCarthy at MendocinoSportsPlus, and, ahem, the codgers at the AVA.

All of these reporters do a pretty good job of covering the news basics and in a reasonably timely manner. If you're uninformed in this county, it's your fault. But all of us are overly-dependent on press releases from the usual subjects: the Sheriff, County government press releases, and an occasional questioning quote from an official or the Grand Jury. With the exception of Shields, A'Dair and the AVA, there’s little to no context, criticism, background, analysis, opinion or skepticism presented with news of events.

The upshot is we get reliable and near-breaking stenography and pass-throughs of what the authorities want to tell us, but very little else. 

But some big subjects remain big no-go zones: Grapes and the wine industry’s toxic, water-sucking, minimally enforced march across the rangelands, the utter failure of the cannabis permit program, the stalled talks on the Potter Valley Project, the waste and sloth of the Measure B Committee, the domination of local government by CEO Carmel Angelo, the still unexplained last minute firings of at least ten local officials that we can think of in the last two or three years, the looming budget crises at all levels of local government, the fragility of local emergency services, the alarming increase in overdoses and suicides as briefly mentioned by the Sheriff a couple weeks ago.

Oh well. It’s certainly better to have more local news coverage. But we’d sure like to see more depth from these newer, younger reporters and outlets. And some dogged curiousity about the bigger issues and what’s behind the press release from the young 'uns.

* * *

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 15, 2020

Campbell, Dodd, Doval, Gradek

ROBERT CAMPBELL II, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, parole violation. (Frequent flyer.)

JAMES DODD JR., Willits. Domestic abuse, robbery, false imprisonment, resisting, probation revocation.

CONSTANCIO DOVAL-MARTINEZ, DUI, no license.

SYDNIE GRADEK, Ukiah. DUI.

Maple, I.Morales, P.Morales, Norton

RONALD MAPLE, Covelo. Disobeying court order.

ISRAEL MORALES, East Palo Alto/Ukiah. Stolen property, suspended license.

PAUL MORALES, East Palo Alto/Ukiah. Stolen property, smuggling controlled substances or liquor into jail.

JUSTINE NORTON, Fort Bragg. Domestic abuse, controlled substance.

Ryken, Walker, Williams

ZACHACY RYKEN, Fort Bragg. DUI.

JESSICA WALKER, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

BRENTON WILLIAMS, Santa Rosa/Ukiah. Fugitive from justice.

* * *

HINTS FOR HOMER, THE DIY HOMEBODY, PART 2

by Bruce McEwen

Well, Homer, I see by the eager flush of vigor in your scarred old visage that you were up with the rosy fingers of dawn, itching to get on with the paint project we started last week. Hope the drop cloths were no inconvenience in the meantime, but let’s take Admiral Nelson’s advice and go straight at it and get the casings all sanded down with some 180-grit sandpaper, then brush on a coat of primer to cover any patches and bare wood left from such a bracing bout of sanding – and you are to be congratulated, Homer, on being thorough and attentive to every “face and return,” as we call it in the housepainter vernacular, referring to the 90-degree corners, an eighth-of-an-inch deep and an eighth wide, from the casing to the door stop. That’s right, Homer, stop on the inside edge of the door stop. Everything on the other side will be painted when we do the exterior door and casing.

As soon as you’ve caulked every little crack into invisibility, we’ll move on to the baseboards. Now, Homer, I know crawling around on your hands and knees at your age is something of an indignity, not to say a painful hardship on your expensive new hips and knees, so I suggest you get out the grandkid’s old skate board to sit on – or, perhaps one of those Creepers™ mechanics use to scoot under a car with – anything, even an overturned bucket to sit on, will do, just so you can lean over and set the nails, putty the dimples, sand and prime the whole shebang and not get any paint on the rug where it meets the base.

This is a delicate operation because the carpet is likely to contain fibers, hairs, mites, et cetera, and they will cling to your brush and spoil your paintwork. Best practice is to tuck some masking tape along with some old AVA newspapers attached to the other side, in over the rug right where it meets the baseboard. Now, Homer, you can slather the paint on with willy-nilly abandon. For the finish coat, use the flat wall paint – not the semi-gloss, which will go on the door casings.

But wait a moment, Homer, your enthusiasm is waning. Take a decaf break, relax. You see, Homer, among the building trades house painters are known – not to say respected – as calm, quiet, contemplative craftsmen. While tile setters and finish carpenters are running their noisy saws and making lewd jokes, the only sound coming from the painter is the soft buzz of the sandpaper, the sticky hum of the roller, and the silent lick of the paint brush. This is why the other craftsmen will often as not serve one another notice when a paint crew arrives on a job site, with the patented comment (sotto voce): “Okay, guys, no more swearing, there’re painters in the house.” This modest alarm will generally turn Rabelaisian camaraderie into monastic silence.

Most painters, before they’re ready for prime-time contracting, have recently graduated from painting bathrooms and kitchens for little old ladies related to their grandmas – not, as one might rashly suppose, pulling a sash tool along the mullions of a Victorian conservatory’s fenestration. Reason, if not common sense, dictates that they are decidedly not a boisterous lot of noisome fellows, but I digress beyond my area of expertise.

Let’s get these casings sanded out to 220-grit and finished with two coats of semi-gloss paint in the same color as the flat paint on the walls. While you sweat away at it in this unseasonably warm weather, I’ll rehearse the nomenclature of the door. You may recall doors being described as either open or shut, but there’s some esoteric terms a painter must learn. The door has its interior and its exterior, top and bottom, and I trust you’re with me so far, Homer, but get ready for the face of the door and the heel. The heel is where the hinges are mounted. The face is where the latch and bolt dart in and out. Any glass in a door is referred to as lights, as in 12-light French doors. 

Here's another point, Homer. Doors almost always open inwardly; that is to say, into the room they are accessed through, where you come and go, a feature which necessarily puts the hinges on the inside, rather than on the outside, where anyone, such as a union gang, could simply punch the pins out of the hinges and set the door aside whether it was locked and bolted or not. 

To my not-altogether-limited knowledge, Homer, no one has ever developed a way to paint both sides of a door in one go – I’ve seen a fair number of attempts, and they’ve universally ended with unfortunate results. So let us content ourselves with getting these casings polished to a warm glow and save the front door for next week (after we practice our door-painting skills on these other doors in the hall, such as the one to the closet and the other to the bathroom); next week we’ll come at that front door with the aplomb of a journeyman housepainter – And I hope to see you sporting a brand new pair of painter’s pants (don’t daub paint all over ‘em, either, Homer; those faux poses as a salty old housepainter don’t really impress the guys at the paint store; and it absolutely ruins a hefty pair of canvas ducks, which from then on are useful only for mucking out cesspools). 

* * *

* * *

ODD OLD NEWS: HOLY ROLLERS TAKE GARBERVILLE

by David Heller

This week Odd Old News recounts the story of a small religious sect who came to Humboldt County after the turn of the 20th century. Their mode of worship provoked judgement and scorn from local citizenry at every turn. It is sometimes forgotten that many of the first European Americans to land on the continent were fleeing from religious persecution, though, obviously, the practices of the “Holy Rollers” would not have gone over well in that time either.

(Garberville circa 1914)

In 1904 two men, F. E. Creffield and H. Brooks, were inspired by the Holy Spirit to start a new religious sect in Corvallis, Oregon. It quickly attracted new members and grew, with acolytes holding worship services up and down the west coast. The new sect was termed the “Holy Rollers” on account of the peculiar antics of members who cried, laughed, prayed and sang while rolling and throwing their bodies over the floor and ground. Deemed religious fanatics from the onset, their ability to attract unmarried women seemed to be the downfall of the two men, leading to a sort of a baptism where ‘a liberal coat of warm tar and an abundance of feathers were applied over the entire surface of their bodies’ by Corvallis citizens.

When a Reverend Ryan started holding evangelical meetings in Rohnerville in 1905, and recruiting young women for his college in Salem, Oregon, parents became frightened and the citizenry mobbed his home and escorted him out of town. His preaching and speech didn’t help matters as he said that “the society of Rohnerville was rotten to the core…In speaking of the Odd Fellows, Masons and other secret societies, his vocabulary of derogatory and abusive language was copious, rich and varied, and he seemed to delight in indulging in it” (Humboldt Times,12/14,/1905).

One man rose to his defense, denying claims that Reverend Ryan’s Oregon-based Apostolic Holiness Church was associated with prostitution and that they were as low as the Holy Rollers (HT,12/16/1905).

In 1907, an Apostolic Faith group appeared in Eureka and started holding regular meetings at 622 2nd Street one year after the sensational death of Creffield. The Humboldt Times reported “The disciples cut up all sorts of queer antics, each one rolling on the floor and muttering indistinct conglomerations of words. The killing of Creffield was sensational, and developed into one of the most scandalous affairs ever known. Rollerism seems to have originated on this Coast. Creffield was shot by a brother of a girl whom the former enticed into his flock of fanatical followers. This brother was later killed by the very same sister that he sought to protect and free, from the beguiling Influence of this self-styled Joshua.“ (HT, 2/5/1907).

Once again, the members of the local group claimed to be different from the Holy Rollers.: “There are always two sides to a story. These parties who are reporting stories, do not understand it at all, and being against it, naturally, stretch it just as much as they possibly can, in order to get the public down on something that they know nothing about…As far as speaking foreign languages is concerned, it is true that one lady is speaking fluently in twenty-seven different languages, and several others are also speaking foreign tongues, as the Spirit of God gives them utterance” similar to the prophesying and speaking in tongues found in the Bible in 1 Corinthians, 11th, 12th and 13th chapters (HT, 2/6/1907). The group left Eureka in 1910.

When the Apostolic Faith held a tent meeting in Fortuna in 1909 they were described as a ‘peculiar religious sect’ with a unique form of worship: “They have a meeting with short prayers of vociferous nature and when their hysteria has reached the proper stage all hands turn to and roll around the floor, jabbering like a lot of Hungarian track laborers. No linguist could interpret their ravings, but one of their apostles claims to understand each and every brand of face music and makes translations accordingly” (Blue Lake Advocate, 9/9/1913).

In 1912 this sect came to Garberville with Reuben Reed as its leading acolyte. Reuben Reed was the grandson of Reuben Reed, one of the early Euro-Americans to homestead in Southern Humboldt who, like many, took a Native American partner, Nellie Anderson Reed. Young Reuben’s parents were Benjamin Reed and Alice Maria Wood Reed, daughter of James E. Wood, another early arrival to the area. Reuben died from appendicitis a year after his involvement in the Apostolic faith, perhaps ending Garberville’s chance of becoming the “the Jerusalem of Southern Humboldt”.

“Holy Rollers Take Garberville

Blue Lake Advocate

October 19,1912

Garberville has been captured by the Holy Rollers. A dispatch from that place to the Herald Tuesday states that Reuben Reed, but 15 years of age and a native of that place, has practically become the Messiah of that tireless sect, which has its Humboldt headquarters at Rohnerville, but which has established a vigorous branch office at Garberville. At a recent meeting Reed’s tongue suddenly began to emit sounds such as would come from a phonograph bucking up. It immediately became apparent that a mixed consignment of strange languages had been thrust down Reed’s throat by an unseen hand. Overcome by the miracle the congregation broke down and wept with joy and awe. Reed meanwhile delivered an oration which would have put the utterances of John McCullough, the mad tragedian, to shame. The Holy Rollers look upon the conversion and gift of tongues which has come upon Reed as remarkable evidence of the progress which their religion is making in this county. Heretofore Reed had manifested no religious tendencies, but upon attending out of curiosity a session of the Rollers his interest was aroused and before even his friends realized it he had practically abandoned English and was talking in the crazy quilt tongues of the holy ones from Rohnerville. It is hoped here that Reed may ultimately be able either to compile a dictionary of the new language or to set it to music. Reed, however, is not the only Garberville resident who is interested in the new religion for practically the entire population attends the sessions of the Holy Rollers, even politics being forgotten for the present. Food is being rushed to the members of the sect and they are being given every support in their efforts to make Garberville the Jerusalem of Southern Humboldt. A subscription list is in circulation and it is rumored that the erection of a tabernacle may be considered in the near future.”

(Courtesy, Kymkemp.com)

* * *

LAKE COUNTY INMATE SEEKS PEN PAL

AVA,

Hello my name is Cody Crouch. I am currently incarcerated at the Hill Road Correctional Facility in Lakeport. Your paper is very good. I am a big fan. I would order it if I had a way to but anyway I am writing this to ask if you could print the following letter. I would appreciate it. Thank you for your wonderful paper. I enjoy it every time I'm able to read it. Please stay safe and have a blessed day.

Dear readers,

Thank you to the AVA and supporters. We here at the Lake County Jail enjoy it very much.

Is anyone out there willing to be a penpal? I am 23 years old, and a Gemini. I'm also a hip-hop artist from California. My stage name is Codine Spillz. You can google it or youtube it. I am on iTunes, Spotify, Reverbnation, youtube and more. I am doing a 16 month sentence for a high-speed pursuit. I was sentenced to prison but I've been stuck here waiting for transport.

Thanks to the AVA and everyone involved and all who read this. We appreciate it. If you want to write to me, my address is:

Cody Crouch # 74292

4913 Helbush Drive

Lakeport, CA 95453

* * *

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

No Trump is not Julius Caesar. He is King Lear. As a study on self pity, King Lear has no peer. “I am a man more sinned against than sinning.” Sound familiar. “No president has ever been treated this badly by the press in our history.” As a modern day King Lear, Trump must also have a tragic flaw. As JohnAZ said, election of a democrat government will result in catastrophe. I think we passed catastrophe many moons ago, but nevertheless Catastrophe has a very specific meaning, deriving from Aristotle. Paraphrasing him, the catastrophe is an element of a tragedy and comes directly from the hero’s realization of his or her tragic flaw. It represents the demise of that hero and those people around them, and it precipitates the conclusion of the tragedy. Literally, it means an “overturning”. We retain mainly this sense of it in contemporary usage. What is Trump’s tragic flaw? Like King Lear, self pity, but also hubris- the overreaching arrogance, the overburdening pride. Sure, all of those would work. Trump’s tragic flaw is his need for adulation. During the 2016 campaign it was his strong suit since networks covered them he spent a pittance on his campaign, almost got elected for free. Ahhh, but Karma is such a bitch. When Trump first heard of the highly contagious respiratory illness in China, his mind immediately went to his rallies. If this becomes a pandemic, no more adulation. When Paula Reid asked him what he had done with the month of February, he was busted. You could see it all over his face. They’re going to find out. Normally his rallies were every month, sometimes every 2 weeks. But in the month of February 2020 he did 5 rallies, 6 if you include March 2, which is OK since his first February rally was not until February 10. 6 rallies in less than a month, so he could get his last fix, his last chance at adoring crowds. Inside that arena there are no bad polls, no pandemic, and no economic crisis. The enemies that surround him are nothing more than foils for his unsurpassed wit, there to be knocked down a few pegs with insightful put-downs while his supporters cheer their encouragement. In the arena, victory in November is assured, as is his acknowledgment by history as America’s greatest president. America has been made great again. If Trump could spend his every waking moment in that fantasyland, he would. But alas Fantasyland is over. And Americans are dying in droves because Donald Trump chose to spend his time being adored, rather than preparing for the greatest public health crisis in a century. Tulsa sealed the deal. The packed to the rafters, people cheering, mindless chanting, ocean of white faces is now gone forever. Without that, this job is no fun for Trump. Now the only reason he has to win is to get it back so he can have his mindless shit eaters once again cheering and adoring him. How pathetic is that?

* * *

* * *

FOR MAIL-IN BALLOT SECURITY

1) Mail-in ballots will be sent to all registered voters in California on October 5, 2020 (and may take up to 7 days to be received).

2) As of October 5th, Ballot Depositories (not U.S. mail containers) for receipt of completed ballots will be outside the Fort Bragg and Pt. Arena City Halls for you to drop off your completed ballot. The Registrar of Voters will empty these every few days and will begin to count them on October 23rd, the legal date to begin counting. This will enable a smooth and timely ballot counting process.

3) The City Clerks have been authorized by the Registrar of Voters to manage this procedure.

VOTE EARLY AND DROP YOUR BALLOT OFF AT CITY HALL IN THE SPECIAL DEPOSITORY ASAP!

This procedure is in response to the Governor’s Executive Order and the Secretary of State Office.

* * *

DODD’S NASTY ASSAULT

On Friday, August 14, at approximately 8:25 pm, Ukiah police officers were dispatched to the area of Safeway regarding a male and a female who were involved in a “fight.” The reporting party advised the male appeared to be bleeding from his hand and the female was attempting to “get away” from the male.

Upon arrival, officers located the involved female, and her two minor children, inside the store, but the male was no longer at the location.

An investigation was initiated, and it was learned the male, James Monroe Dodd, 27, of Willits, was in a dating relationship with the female (victim) and had assaulted her several times over the past two days. 

Dodd

These assaults occurred at two different motels, in Ukiah, and during one of the assaults, Dodd forced her into a bathroom and prevented her from exiting.

It was further discovered that also over the course of the two prior days Dodd had forcibly taken her cellphone from her possession and refused to allow her to use the cellphone. As a result of the assaults; the victim suffered visible injuries to her face, mouth and ears.

Just prior to arriving at Safeway; Dodd, the victim and her two minor children were at a nearby motel. Dodd was intoxicated and used a knife to cut his hand. Dodd told the victim he would tell law enforcement that she had cut him with the knife, in an apparent attempt to prevent her from either leaving him or contacting law enforcement.

While the victim was being interviewed, other officers and MCSO deputies were searching the area in an attempt to locate Dodd. An MCSO deputy located Dodd at 390 East Gobbi Street.

EMS was summoned to the scene to treat a minor laceration on his hand. Dodd was in possession of a knife. While on-scene, officers learned Dodd was on Formal Probation from Mendocino County, for a prior incident of Domestic Violence and that there was an active warrant for his arrest for a violation of his probation. They also learned terms of his probation included “obey all laws” and “no possession of knives.”

Officers placed Dodd under arrest for Domestic violence, robbery, false imprisonment, resisting arrest and the warrant. During the course of the arrest; Dodd was resistant and threatened to kill the officer once Dodd was released from jail. Dodd was additionally charged with a violation of threatening a peace officer and was housed at the MCSO Jail.

Based on the circumstances of the incidents, Dodd’s history of violence and his threats of violence; a Magistrate was contacted and approved an increase in Dodd’s bail to $125,000. An Emergency Protective Order for the victim was also granted by the Magistrate.

The UPD would like to thank MCSO Deputies for their assistance in locating Dodd.

* * *

* * *

CONSCIOUSNESS, THE FLY IN THE ERNTMENT.

The recording of Friday night's (2020-08-14) Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show on KNYO-LP Fort Bragg is right here: https://tinyurl.com/KNYO-MOTA-0397

Just before seven p.m. they did one of their public safety power cutoffs in Cotati, where I’ve been doing the show from for the duration of the SIP, from Juanita’s apartment, and the electricity didn’t come back on until almost ten p.m. That’s to explain why I started the show not at nine but an hour late. Also, when the light came on and I got all the machines going and was printing the show out and playing a 1955 warning film about the scourge of marijuana and drug addiction, my nose began to tickle, so I went into the bathroom to deal with that with a sharp scissors, like I have to do now every two or three weeks because I’m old and, you know, hair grows in places it never did before, but I was in a hurry and accidentally cut high up on the inside of my nose and began dripping blood everywhere. I shoved a crumpled square of toilet paper in to slow that down and proceeded from there. It took the whole first four hours of the show to stop bleeding, all the time being way more of a tickly annoyance than just leaving my nose the fuck alone would have. Let that be a lesson to you. Learn from others’ mistakes and don’t be in a hurry, and use safety scissors for a job like that… Also they might be going to shut off the power all over the entire Bay Area after dark tonight, for the extreme heat and lightning fire danger, and I see on the map that there’ll be lightning and maybe wind danger in Mendocino and Lake Counties too, so if you’re not on the Nixle alert schedule, or whatever, be warned. So it begins. The night before the show some nutball rode around on his bicycle on the south end of Ukiah setting /ten fires/ in less than half an hour. They put all the fires out and caught him and set his bail at one million dollars. That used to be a lot of money. A millionaire, they’d call you, to the tune of Mark Knopfler singing the word millionaire in Money For Nothing, and you could have a new car any time you needed one, and travel to other countries, and get married and divorced on a whim as many times as you liked, and eat steak, and if a policeman were to pull you over for going fifty in a school zone, when he saw who you were he’d say, “Oh! Sorry, Mister Vanderschnoodle, my mistake, carry on,” and you’d tip him a twenty and sail away. You wouldn’t be riding around on a bicycle in 106-degree heat setting fields on fire with your drug pipe lighter.

Furthermore, at https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find a fresh batch of dozens of links to not necessarily radio-useful but nonetheless worthwhile educational items I set aside for you while gathering the show together. Such as:

Our sun, image decoded from NASA space observatory data by a hobbyist. Beautiful, isn’t it? Apparently anyone can have all the NASA data and do things like this because we paid for it. (Click on the image once to go to the real one, and then click on that to enlarge it.) Whether you’re looking or not, the sun, like quadrillions of other stars, is close to a million miles wide and vastly violently chaotically furious, has been for billions of years and will be for billions more. It’s capable of safely powering all our toys and cars and fun as well as of course food production, if we’re ever just smart enough to do it all that way. It’s also spying on you, I’m told, in concert with 5G and Wuhan virus chips the size of a grain of rice. I just got email from a woman who says, whenever people are looking at their phone, or even only have a phone and are near you, they’re scanning your metabolism for Bill Gates’ benefit and hoovering all the information out of your phone for purposes unknown but probably bad. Yes, the sun is spying on you. Twenty years ago a man called me at KMFB to explain about how the CIA had x-ray satellites that could count the money in your pocket even if you hid in the basement. I wasn’t worried, but now, with the sun and all, and the 5G…

https://tinyurl.com/OurChaoticSun

Motorcycle of desire. I adore everything about this majestic piece of work except for the very tail end, which looks like an extended insect proboscis with a little red tongue peeking out, though its offense is mitigated by cleverly being the taillight. And the tool-case panel is open inside to one of the enclosed wheels, but no-one would ever ride in the rain and/or through a puddle with this, and I repeat, majestic piece of work, so that’s not such a big deal. If you were a millionaire (see above), would you not call these people and say, “Vanderschnoodle here. I need that machine immediately. Fast, yes, before dinner, if possible, but don’t hurt yourself. Thank you. Yes, the house, not the office. Just leave it on the porch. And can you put a big bow on it? Red bow? It’s a gift. Thanks.” 

https://www.bikeexif.com/bmw-art-deco-motorcycle-haas-museum

This reminds me of the famous cartoon where the woman says, “It's two a.m. Are you ever coming to bed?” and the man says, “I can’t yet. Someone is wrong on the internet.” It also reminds me, not as much, really, but reminds me, of an old National Lampoon Shary Flenniken comic where a couple have taken in their friend for the night because she’s miserable and crying because her husband cheated on her. The man stays up comforting the guest, and rubs her shoulders, and one thing leads to another and then they’re having sex on the couch, while the ghostly smoke-like hand-shape of the man’s wife’s cartoon speech bubble wafts through the house, saying faintly from the bedroom upstairs, “Honey? Are you coming to bed?” That was before the internet, see. That’s the way people used to be. Or they would watch old movies on the UHF channel until it, too, like the big network stations, signed off for the night. The entire media that wasn’t newspaper presses actually shut off every night, to give the transmitters time to cool off, and let you change a bad tube, and also to save electricity, because everybody had a job then and they had to go to sleep at night, even if only for a little while. And then at five-thirty or six everything would go on again, with the farm report, and marionette shows about biblical characters, and sometimes just a room with a chair in it. As late as the 1980s the public access teevee channel in Fort Bragg was just a thermometer and wind direction display twenty-four hours a day, and it was silent. (When I tried to set up a radio studio on the channel for the high school kids, the board refused. Alder Thurman, dead now, then mayor of Fort Bragg, on the board, scoffed, “Nobody wants to hear talking coming out of their teevee!” And that was the public access channel.) And if you were late for something important, everybody would have to just wait for you to finally get there to find out why. You didn’t have a phone. Ninety-nine out of a hundred movies and teevee shows and stories all the way up to just a little while ago would be over in thirty seconds if they happened today. “I’m fine, I’ll be there in ten minutes,” somebody would say, or “I almost forgot to say, she's not dead, she's just asleep from a potion. Don’t freak out and stab yourself,” and they’d go, Okay, great, and that would be the end of it.

https://misscellania.blogspot.com/2020/08/have-to-argue.html

— Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

* * *

FOUND OBJECT

21 Comments

  1. Lindy Peters August 16, 2020

    Peter Wells was also a very talented and highly respected youth soccer coach here for many years. He spent hours upon hours working with kids and his teams were always successful. Great competitor and a nice guy. Such a rare combination any more. R.I.P. Coach.

  2. Eric Sunswheat August 16, 2020

    California is on firestorm, so round up your dog-faced Coronavirus ponies

    RE: Artist Lauren Sinnott included a bicycle on her mural with the women she painted fighting for the right to vote because it was symbol of independence. Justine Frederiksen — Ukiah Daily Journal

    -> Then why is the woman holding a men’s bicycle, that she could not ride without pulling up her dress… is it a symbol of subjugation or subjection, or perhaps adoration of impossibly pretty legs pressed against the bicycle crossbar.

    RE: There’s the newly hired Alicia Bales at KZYX who’s been doing a good job of getting local officials on the radio waves to talk about the pandemic and its data and implications…

    With the exception of Shields, A’Dair and the AVA, there’s little to no context, criticism, background, analysis, opinion or skepticism presented with news of events. The upshot is we get reliable and near-breaking stenography and pass-throughs of what the authorities want to tell us, but very little else…

    Oh well. It’s certainly better to have more local news coverage. But we’d sure like to see more depth from these newer, younger reporters and outlets. And some dogged curiousity about the bigger issues and what’s behind the press release from the young ‘uns. (Mark Scaramella)

    ->. Mark, point to the white courtesy desk phone please.

    On Wednesday August 12, 2020 on KZYX local Coronavirus update, on air at 3:28pm, Alicia Bales and the local Dr. Colfax of the Ukiah Adventist Hospital Emergency Room, received call in notice on the elephant in the room.

    Industrial or Wildfire N95 exhaust valve Coronavirus super spreader masks, are allowed by County Public Health Order and County Ordinance (because exhaust valve is not a hole), but specifically disallowed by seven Bay Area counties, including San Francisco where Dr. Colfax’s brother is in charge of Public Health.

    On Thursday, August 13, 2020, James Marmon, posted on MCT AVA blog, of a Press Democrat article, that CDC had finally disallowed use of exhaust valve masks (in non medical settings).

    Mr. Marmon also specifically acknowledged my efforts over many months, to bring notice of the risks of exhaust valve masks to citizens of Mendocino County, through the newspaper blog, by copying specific text and links to scientific facts and government rule making in other jurisdictions.

    To my knowledge, the subject matter fell on dead ears among reporters and editor at the AVA and was never breached or reported in the hard copy edition, a newspaper that features right wing hate speech among its letter writers.

    On Friday, August 14, 2020, on KZYX media reporters show, at perhaps 9:38 a.m. (this is not my day job) that Mark Scaramella reported on, Alicia Bales asked a question to assembled county reporters. Mr. Scaramella was apparently asleep at the switch.

    The question was (to paraphrase without going on Jukebox archive to transcribe), after an initial uptick in Coronavirus cases in Humboldt County in comparison to Mendocino County, any thoughts as to why Humboldt was able to contain the spread, while Mendocino skyrocketed.

    Ms. Bales was diligent, asked each specific reporter their take on the question. There was no substantial answer, and the topic shifted. However, I believe it was a loaded question, and that Ms. Bales now may have the keys to the kingdom, for her next interview with the local Dr. Colfax on the radio show this coming Monday.

    The plausibly correct answer, is documented in the reader blog of MCT with published news article link, and not known to have been reported out in hard copy AVA.

    Humboldt Public Health Order was modified months ago, to be aligned with SF Bay Area counties, to disallow the super spreader exhaust valve masks, such as the common home maintenance and wildfire smoke Industrial N95 masks, not to be confused with a Medical N95 masks.

    As a post script to my comment today, this past week the AVA editor asked me to no longer cut and paste from news articles, after he shortened a post.

    What was censored and removed from the AVA blog, although the link and different part of story remains, is a lengthy detailed scientific in lay language, analysis of how US authority and documentation are grossly mischaracterizing tests results and mortality compilation, that there is an epidemic not a pandemic.

    Nutrition Coronavirus style, is another matter.

    In summary the pandemic is global climate shift, the melting of Greenland ice sheet is now declared irreversible, and essential business is necessary.

  3. Pam Partee August 16, 2020

    The residents of Ukiah aren’t even aware of the County plans regarding the purchase of these 3 motels in addition to the 39 unit Whitmore Lane skilled nursing facility, and the construction of yet another facility on Orchard. Transparency and public input is needed here. Beware grant money projects and their good intentions. As James commented yesterday, “Maybe that’s the plan, turn Ukiah into a Mental Health Hospital, what else does it have going for itself?”

    • Eric Sunswheat August 16, 2020

      Ukiah Valley has a large supply of vacant commercial buildings that can be repurposed, and some agricultural soils that have been paved over and could be reclaimed.

      Pointedly, certain world class soils acreage that are being underutilized, such as growing of wine grapes near confluence of Ackerman Creek and Russian River, where plant species intercropping may be beneficial, when food economics is based upon local need and nutritional density, with easy to gauge testing.

      With pending shut down or collapse of Lake Pillsbury, a water pumping pipeline to Potter Valley may create new jobs for housing tracts in clay soil, while grapes and other crops shift towards dry farm, and perhaps with less of spring frost pocket requiring sprinkler protection.

      • James Marmon August 16, 2020

        My step-sister Karen and her half brothers and sisters are dry farmers in Hopland.

        “The Poor Ranch, run by John and Susan Poor in the hills above Hopland in Mendocino County, was homesteaded by the Poor family in 1888, and has expanded to over 1,000 acres. The Poors have 90 acres of wine grapes—80 are organic—including Zinfandel, Petite Syrah, Carignane, and Grenache. The Poors have always dry-farmed their grapes.”

        “The Poors have no sprinkler system or fans for frost protection, so they use the technique of pruning twice to trick the vine. Frost is only a problem in the spring, as the plant starts to bud. They leave sizeable pieces of cane as they prune and then cut back again. If it freezes, only the ends freeze and they can cut it off. The vines are head pruned; there are no trellises or wires.”

        https://agwaterstewards.org/practices/the_poor_ranch_hopland/

    • James Marmon August 16, 2020

      Like I said Pam, the Schraeders’ programs and their business strategy are built for growth, not contraction. Solving Ukiah’s homeless problem would be adverse to what they’re trying to do. The Schraeders are “empire builders” and it wouldn’t surprise me if Angelo was put on their payroll once she retires from destroying the County. Several other high ranking county officials have already been rewarded for the assistance they gave RCS while under County employ. Rebecca Wilson, now RCS’s Care Coordination Specialist, once director of Family and Children’s Services (FCS) is a prime example.

      #KidsForSale

      James Marmon MSW
      Former Social Worker V
      Mendocino County Family and Children’s Services (ER/Court Unit)

    • Mark Scaramella August 16, 2020

      You’d probably expect that the City of Ukiah will have to be at least consulted on the conversion of these motels into social services annexes. I think they’re already on-board the CRT on Orchard but have not seen anything official. I’ll be watching to see if the motel acquisitions appear on a City Council or Planning Commission agenda.

  4. George Dorner August 16, 2020

    The Willits Justice Center was built on grant money. Purpose of the grant was to supply the two jail cells in it that were never used.

    • James Marmon August 16, 2020

      The Schraeders will never pass up a good grant opportunity and are swift to inform the County when there are any grants out there that would be beneficial to their real mission, “Growth”. “Growth” used to be in their Mission Statement back in the day but they changed that statement about the time they took over mental health. They also changed their name from Redwood Children’s Services to Redwood Community Services.

      As long as Schraeders Raiders are in charge there will never be enough services. More, More, More. Cha Ching$$$$

      James Marmon MSW

  5. chuck dunbar August 16, 2020

    ED NOTES

    “During the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans think they can take a long vacation while millions of Americans face hunger and eviction. That is morally obscene,” thundered Bernie Sanders. ”It’s time for the do-nothing Republican Senate to finally do its damn job.”

    This is just one of the reasons the Democrats need to win in the fall election- the presidency, the senate and the house. I know, I know, like lots of others, I’m not thrilled with the choice of Biden, but the Democrats are trying to do right by the hard-hit American public, in proposing another effective Covid-19 relief package. Inaction at this point is just plain dangerous. The coming economic crisis, if sufficient government funds are not employed, will come close to looking like the doomsday warned of by our often-hysterical pundit, James Kunstler. The Trumpians are demonstrably ruining our country, month after month after month. The evidence is very clear, and we should act on it and vote them out. It’s the right thing to do. And after that, we push hard, without relent, for the Democrats to act to meet the needs of the people.

  6. Lazarus August 16, 2020

    RE: “Homer, among the building trades house painters are known – not to say respected – as calm, quiet, contemplative craftsmen.” B.M.

    I’m not sure about these days, but painters were once known by other tradesmen to be drunks. Perhaps it was the oil-based paint and the thinners…
    Be Swell,
    Laz

    • Bruce McEwen August 16, 2020

      Peter Richardson once tried that as a defense for a DUI charge — that his high-speed run from the cops was because he’d been in a spray booth that morning breathing paint fumes — which exacerbated the modest amount of booze he drank after work. The jury was not persuaded.

      • Lazarus August 16, 2020

        Did you mean Richard Peterson? He was a pretty good lawyer…
        Be well,
        Laz

        • Mark Scaramella August 16, 2020

          I’m pretty sure McEwen was referring to Peter Richardson, not an attorney, former owner of Rainbow Construction out of Covelo, which built several Ukiah government buildings including at least one Ukiah school, I think part of the Coast Hospital remodel, and the County Admin Center. Richardson had an alcohol problem, among other things.

          • Lazarus August 16, 2020

            Thanks for that.
            I read it like an attorney tried the case, and that was the defense, I get it. But the name thing was the hook that got me.

            I knew Richard, and liked him. I used to say, if you ever get in real trouble, hire him.
            Be well,
            Laz

        • Bruce McEwen August 16, 2020

          Richard Petersen was a spoonerism of Peter Richardson’s name and they were both my friends. Richard, the lawyer, always reminded me of Jerry Spence, the famous lawyer from Wyoming. They both dressed in Tony Lama boots and Stetson hats. Richard was under the sod by the time Pete got the DUI, but Richard had represented Pete before, as I recall, and surely would have taken Pete’s case had things been otherwise.

          A pretty good lawyer is a nice understatement, Laz, but I think his son Justin has proved himself his father’s worthy son, as well.

          Be well, Laz, and thanks for reading the filler article. In the old days of newspapers you could syndicate a piece like “Hints to Homer,” (Remember “Heloise’s Household Hints”?) get a couple of bucks from each paper that needed filler, and have a fairly respectable income. But with only one or two newspapers around, it looks like syndication has become, like so many good things, obsolete.

          • Lazarus August 16, 2020

            Keep’m coming Bruce, I like reading the lighter side.
            Everything written these days is so heavy.
            Be safe and well,
            Laz

  7. Lazarus August 16, 2020

    FOUND OBJECT

    Sorry Prime Minister Modi, the shoes have to go…

    Be Swell,
    Laz

  8. Bill Pilgrim August 16, 2020

    re: online comment of the day.

    The writer overlooked another reason for Trump to desperately cling to power. As soon as he exits the White House, in 2021 or 2025, he might be charged with multiple felonies.

  9. Marco McClean August 16, 2020

    I just noticed the tattoo says AVA under James Dodd’s eye. That is impressive brand loyalty to a publication.

    I can’t quite tell what the other eye says. Seas? Bear?

  10. Bernie Norvell August 17, 2020

    This was sent to the County for the 8/4/2020 agenda

    Good morning Board of Supervisors,
    The City of Fort Bragg is committed to providing affordable housing for all. This goal can only be attained through a transparent process that includes its citizens and City Council. Only after establishing a clear understanding of what is needed and by whom, should the Council move forward with seeking funding to purchase and provide adequate and affordable housing. Last week, the Homeless Ad Hoc Committee members were approached by county staff to explore the possibility of grant funds related to “Project Homekey,” the next phase in the state of California’s effort to house the homeless during the pandemic and beyond. At a July 29th meeting, County CEO Carmel Angelo pushed for the City of Fort Bragg to make a decision to identify a hotel or motel property for purchase, using Project Homekey funding through the county’s application to the state. The hotel or motel property in or very near Fort Bragg had to be identified prior to by August 13, 2020, when the grant application is due, and must be occupied by December 2020. Faced with identifying a hotel or motel in town to convert to homeless housing in less than two weeks, we explained the failures associated with a similar project, the Old Coast Hotel (Hospitality Center) only a half-decade ago. We further reminded the county officials how this situation divided our community and continues to do so. In that light, moving forward in haste simply because a large amount of money may be available does not seem to be in the best interest of the community. Making decisions in haste is a practice the current City Council has endeavored to change. Rather, we strive for more professionalism and plans that are well thought out. Surrendering another hotel or motel in Fort Bragg to this project without due consideration would have a direct negative effect on the City’s general fund in the form of lost transient occupancy tax (TOT). More than likely a hotel/motel of choice would be conspicuously on Main Street. We are a tourist destination and this could easily affect other lodging establishments. With homeless numbers having continued to decline in the past three years, this project may make Fort Bragg a go-to stop for transient homeless. An opportunity to really evaluate the needs and fit for our community would place the City and County in a position to apply for the second round of Project Homekey funding or future funding offered by the state.
    Perhaps the need for alternative housing is what’s best for Fort Bragg. For example, low income, family, workforce, affordable housing available for purchase by locals or veteran housing done on a scale that is appropriate to our needs and capacity. The City of Fort Bragg has been working with Danco over the last few years to secure support and funding for an affordable housing project (the Plateau Project). This would create sixty-eight affordable housing units, a manager’s unit, and other in common structures at 441 South Street. Twenty-three of these structures will provide family/workforce housing; twenty-five units of affordable/low income senior housing; as well as twenty units of permanent supportive housing (PSH). This project will be completed in the next year and half. It is expensive to live on the Mendocino Coast. Job opportunities are sparse. In the midst of a pandemic our focus should be on economic recovery not doubling down on an increase in homeless population.
    City of Fort Bragg Mayor Appointed Homeless Ad Hoc Committee
    Vice-Mayor, Bernie Norvell
    Councilmember, Jessica Morsell-Haye
    City Manager, Tabatha Miller

Leave a Reply to James Marmon Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

-