RAY WHITTAKER is a good ref and a good guy. Anybody who's attended a local ball game over three generations of Mendocino County high school kids can attest to his steady, competent fairness. He has belonged to the Redwood Empire Officials Association (REOA) for more than 34 years — football, baseball, softball, volleyball and basketball — and has never failed to show up and do a good job when he got there, wherever it was from Covelo to Leggett to Point Arena. As it stands, Whittaker can't do what he loves to do and what he is good at — refereeing high school sports.
THE WAY it works for the County's refs and the umps is the school pays the Association and the Association pays the refs. Lots of us remember Paul Jack who functioned as Commissioner from 1970 until 2003. PJ often reffed football games himself, joking with the defensive backs between plays. Today's Commission assigns officials to eleven County high schools. When PJ retired, Kirk Mason and Wayne Ouellette became Commissioners. Ouellette was subsequently replaced by Jim Franklin. Beginning in 2003, Whittaker says, he has had numerous problems getting paid. He complained and got fired. No more refereeing, no more umpiring.
WHITTAKER took his beefs to small claims court where he won one out of eight claims even though “I had a paper trail proving everything. I even subpoenaed a document and REOA/Kirk didn't provide it. Judge David Nelson let him get away with it and Kirk lied over and over.” Whittaker says he and Pokie Dunlap umped a makeup softball game between Mendocino vs. Covelo that the Association says did not happen, although Debbie Oliver, AD at Covelo, an assistant Covelo coach, and 35 fans said it did. For taking Whittaker's part in the dispute, Pokie Dunlap was also fired. Whittaker speculates that because Kirk Mason is a Mendocino Deputy Sheriff and was a former head of the Mendocino County Deputy Sheriff's Association, “he has an arrogance of power when he will not admit or correct many, many of his mistakes.”
INFLAMMATORY headline from the June 1st edition of the Willits News: “Mayfield and Meinecke quietly granted parole.” TWN's Linda Williams begins, “Two men, William Blaine Mayfield, 55, of Willits, and James Edward Meinecke, 61, of Leggett, sentenced to possible life terms for second-degree murders committed in the 1980s, have quietly been granted parole with minimal public notice. TWN only became aware the parole hearings were held after being contacted by a family friend of Mayfield's victim. In past years, the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office would notify the public of pending parole hearings. This was not done in either case in 2012.”
THE ISSUE HERE is simple enough: Are judges and juries going to do the sentencing or do we get out the rope in the form of uninformed public opinion whipped up by demagogues? Both these guys have served out their lawfully imposed sentences. Mayfield had been held almost a decade beyond his release date because a succession of governors wanted to show the voters how tough they are on crime. Governors are not judges or juries. Neither are district attorneys. Prior to Eyster's election, the DA would issue inflammatory and inaccurate press releases urging that this guy or that guy be kept in prison and, sure enough, random hysterics would dutifully write to the governor or the parole board to keep the guy locked up.
WE CAN ALL understand that the victims' families would oppose parole. If this were frontier America the families could simply lynch the man who'd killed their loved one. But this isn't frontier America. We allegedly enjoy a dispassionate system of adjudication consisting of trained people not connected to the crime. They mete out a proportionate punishment in the form of specific sentences.
I HAPPEN TO KNOW both these guys, and I know they aren't criminals other than the single fatal acts they committed. Billy Mayfield shot a man named Mark Snyder who was in bed with Mayfield's wife. Snyder had a gun on his nightstand and was in bed with Mayfield's wife in Mayfield's brother's house. Did that set of facts warrant Mark Snyder's summary execution? Civilization says No. Everyday people say, “Well…" At which point Civilization steps in and says we'll sort this out fairly. These things happen, and we think this one should cost the shooter 17 years for his crime of passion, events Americans used to understand.
WHAT ISN'T FAIR is keeping the guy in prison years past his release date, especially a guy with a perfect record inside, a genuinely remorseful guy. It isn't fair to ask the professional tough-on-crime lobby whether or not he should be released. A show of hands outside a courtroom is not justice.
MR. MEINECKE of Leggett was driving drunk when he plowed into a car driven by two kids who were counselors at a YMCA camp. He killed a young girl and permanently maimed her companion. Meinecke was a logger with a lethal drunk driving jones. He's a criminal for driving drunk, but he's not any other kind of criminal. He's a good person who did a fatally stupid thing. He got 15 years for killing the girl and permanently wrecking the kid with her. If he so much as looks at a drink when he goes home to Leggett, Meinecke should go back to prison for a long time, but I'll bet he never touches another drop. But again, who decides when the guy gets out? The victims? Or an independent judge and jury?
THE DELINQUENT PROPERTY TAX notices are out. As always, printed at excessive cost to County taxpayers in the outside-owned corporate chain paper, the Ukiah Daily Journal, we learn that Elk's Bobby Beacon could almost balance the County's budget on the money he owes in back property taxes. Beacon, whose holdings run from Greenwood Ridge above Philo to Elk, is about $70,000 in arrears, owing more than any other single individual or entity in the County. A Ms. Paulette Wood of Potter Valley comes in a distant second with about $25,000 owed the County's tax collector. Both Beacon and Wood own multiple parcels, all of them apparently delinquent.
“EDITOR: Would you please print the Meeting Notice below in the your newspaper published during the week of June 4, 2012? Many thanks, Stan Anderson Chair, Mendocino County Republican Central Committee.”
AT YOUR SERVICE, STAN. “The Mendocino County Republican Central Committee will meet Saturday, June 16, 2012, 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon at the Moura Senior Housing, 400 South Street, Fort Bragg. We will discuss the follow proposition: 'Is it intellectually and/or emotionally possible for us to support a transparent sociopath like Romney for President?' For further information contact: Stan Anderson, 707-321-2592.”
SAN FRANCISCO (AP/CSN) — The Santa Cruz County sheriff's office said Monday it hopes to complete the bulk of an investigation into sexual assault allegations involving Giants slugger Pablo Sandoval by the end of this week, then determine whether to seek charges. Deputy Sheriff April Skalland said detectives are interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence this week, though analysis of some forensic evidence could take longer than a week. Skalland said the accuser is a 21-year-old woman who lives in Santa Cruz County. The woman filed a sexual assault complaint around 4:25am Pacific Friday, Skalland said. A statement from the sheriff's office Monday said the woman met a small group of people in downtown Santa Cruz on Thursday night and then went to Seascape Beach Resort in nearby Aptos, where the alleged incident happened. Sandoval was contacted at the resort by detectives and cooperated in the investigation, authorities said. “Pablo and his attorney remain cooperative,” Skalland said in a phone interview Monday. “Detectives are still interviewing people and the investigation is ongoing. They are collecting evidence and most of the investigation should be wrapped up this week.” The 25-year-old Sandoval and lawyer Eric Geffon met with authorities Friday. Geffon called the sexual encounter “consensual.” The Santa Cruz Sentinel spoke with Isaac Cook, the manager of Santa Cruz bar Motiv, who said that Sandoval was at the bar for over two hours Thursday night. Cook told The Sentinel that Sandoval was joined by two men, who he believed to be Sandoval's brother and agent, and they all left around 1:15am. Cook did not see a woman leave with Sandoval. ”Women and men were coming up to him all night, taking pictures and talking to him,” Cook told The Sentinel. “He was very lucid and friendly. We didn't have any problems.” ( The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
ON THURSDAY June 14th, there will be a tour of the Navarro Gauge from 9am to noon led by USGS representative Mike Webster. The tour will begin with a classroom component from 9am-10:15am. held at Husch Vineyards, where participants will be oriented to the USGS website and the real time and historic data specific to the Navarro River. The tour will then head out to the field to view the gauging station in situ from 10:45-12:00. For the field component: participants will need to ford the river through 1.5 foot deep water to get to see the gauge on the far side! So plan accordingly by wearing shorts and stream shoes, sandals or waders. Bring water, a hat, and sunscreen, and plan to be out in the elements. This is a unique opportunity to visit the gauge. Mike Webster has been manning the Navarro Gauge for close to 29 years. He has observed many changes in this part of the river over the years and surely has some stories to share. Breaking Good News! Funds have been found for 100% USGS funding for the Navarro River gauge for this fiscal year and in the long-term! The gauge is an essential, valuable asset for both safety concerns, as it is a flood warning gauge, and also for the historic data it represents, and more and more importantly the reliance and use of the present time data for various stakeholders in the Navarro watershed. We welcome you to join the tour to learn more about the Navarro Gauge and its value to the Navarro River Watershed. Space is limited to 20 people. For more info and to register for the tour; email rivercenter@mcn.org or call 895-3230. This is a free event.
HOSPICE VOLUNTEER TRAINING — Hospice of Ukiah is having its Hospice Volunteer Training Course for eight sessions on Saturdays and Wednesdays starting Saturday, July 9, 2012 from 10am to 12:30pm and Wednesdays from 6pm to 8:30pm. This eight-week course is designed to prepare Hospice volunteers in providing support to the terminally and chronically ill and their caregivers. Areas for focus include a history of Hospice, exploring feelings and fears about dying, defining palliative & terminal care, grief, mourning and spiritual issues, bedside care, care for the caregivers, medical aspects including pain and symptom management, communication skills, bereavement, funerals — both home and standard, and the business of dying, legal issues, and community resources. Volunteering is a meaningful way to give to others and your community as we are funded 100% by community donations. You will genuinely enjoy being a Hospice Family Volunteer. Hospice of Ukiah has been serving as a volunteer Hospice in our community since 1980. We are your local, end-of-life, health care provider. Course Facilitator is Leah Middleton RN, CHPN. Class is held at 620 So. Dora St., Ste. 101. To register call: 462-4038.
RICHARD SALZMAN of Humboldt County writes: In the race for the 2nd Congressional District we have a unique situation with several interesting candidates and all four of the front runners in agreement on their key policy positions. Two Democrats in this very "blue" district may well go to the run off in November now that we have an “open primary” Huffman will get close to 50% of the vote and the eleven remaining candidates will split the balance. Jared is assured of being on the November ballot and does not need your vote. Voting for Huffman will have no affect on the outcome of the primary. If you want your vote to make a difference, use it to choose who should get the second slot in November. Susan Adams would present the biggest challenge to Jared in a run off. Vote for her now and you'll have six months to further vet both candidates and decide the best choice in November. Among the three contenders for that second slot you have Stacy Lawson, a successful business woman, but as Norm Solomon has made clear in his mailers, she is a flawed candidate. Whether you agree with Norman's arguments or not, the issues he raises would be used by Jared to destroy Stacy in a run off. Norman is unelectable for all the same reasons us liberals love him. His activism and fiery rhetoric make him unappealing to moderate and independent voters that one would need to win in a general election. While Adams shares most all of Solomon’s liberal positions, she appeals to moderate and independent voters in spite of, not because of her policy positions. In part due to the difference in their styles. While Norm delivers his ideals with conviction, it can come off as lecturing to those not in agreement, where as Susan listens and involves all viewpoints in the conversation as she works to build consensus. While Susan is a life long Democrat, she would be preferred by many non-Democrats in a November run off with Jared because she is not backed by the "Democratic Party Machine' as is he. Susan also has the closest ties to the entire Northcoast, with family still living on their ancestral Mendocino Ranch as well a brother who lives in Humboldt County. Adams also has a compelling life story of working class roots with 33 years as a registered nurse (and CNA member), smarts, with a PhD being a professor of nursing, and having served three terms as a county supervisor. Susan was always a long shot to win in June but would be the only true contender in November. I believed that last October when I joined her campaign and I believe it more so today, having talked to hundreds of voters since then. Vote Susan Adams on Tuesday.
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