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Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021

Autumn Weather | 41 New Cases | Millsite Maneuvers | Eureka Productions | Covelo Murder | Love & Ammo | Mental Health Zoom | Clarinet Ensemble | Old Willits | PV Powerhouse Offline | Mendocino Mill | Teacher Compensation | Yesterday's Catch | Waterwise | Trent #5 | Come Around | Wildlife Action | Vax Harass | FB Sunset | Not Mendocino Farms | Muzzle Awareness | Future Facing | Orchard Bear | Safe Schools | Former Lake | MCC Grant | JDSF Defenders | Dodgers Win | Pollution Bill

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DRY WEATHER, MILD AFTERNOONS, AND COLD MORNINGS will then be likely through early next week, followed by increasing rain chances late in the weekend. (NWS)

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41 NEW COVID CASES (since last Friday) reported in Mendocino County yesterday afternoon.

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UPDATE ON FORT BRAGG NEGOTIATIONS TO ACQUIRE THE FORMER MILL SITE

The Fort Bragg City Council started meeting in July of 2019 to discuss acquiring the remaining acreage owned by Georgia Pacific (GP) on the south end of the Mill Site. The conversation started with the Mill Site Ad Hoc Committee and Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo (SVBP). The thought was to acquire the property and work together to complete the final remediation required by Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and to go further and restore the Mill Ponds, tributary creeks and estuary. The additional property would also provide land to both entities for housing, economic development, open space and public facilities. 

Prior to discussions about acquiring the southern Mill Site property, the City and GP had conversed regarding GP donating the parcels on and surrounding Pudding Creek. The City of Fort Bragg had pulled together a group of entities interested in removing the remaining dam and restoring the creek so that the property could be used as a public open space or park. The group included the City of Fort Bragg, Nature Conservancy (TNC), Trout Unlimited, California Fish and Wildlife (CFW), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and California State Parks. 

From the Mendocino Railway (aka Skunk Train), City officials learned that the Skunk Train was negotiating with GP for the remaining southern portion of the Mill Site and was interested in acquiring at least a portion of the Pudding Creek parcels abutting the train. The Skunk Train shared its preliminary plans with the City for both properties. The City Council consensus was that the Skunk Train’s proposed development was not in the best interest of our community and directed staff to continue to pursue acquiring the Mill Site property and include the SVBP in those conversations. The City is still negotiating with GP and as a public entity, any agreement reached will be public and require a public vote by the City Council. 

A substantial roadblock to the City and GP finalizing an agreement is the lawsuit (21CV00595) filed in Mendocino Superior Court by the Skunk Train asserting eminent domain to acquire the entire 210 acres still owned by GP on the southern portion of the Mill Site and five parcels or 82 acres owned by GP on Pudding Creek including the north and south sides of the creek. Eminent domain is the right of a government to expropriate private property for public use. Under California law, a railroad that qualifies as a public utility has the right of eminent domain for property necessary for the construction and maintenance of its railroad. 

GP has answered the lawsuit asserting that the Skunk Train’s eminent domain is not for a public use; that the Skunk Train does not have the power to condemn the property and that the property being sought in the action is not for construction and maintenance of its railroad; that the Skunk Train failed to establish the necessity of the property for that project or what that project is; and that it failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). 

While the eminent domain lawsuit moves through the court system, the City continues to negotiate with GP, work on the environmental assessment, evaluate environmental liability insurance to protect the taxpayers, and research grants and other financing available for remediation, housing, economic development, open space and public facilities on the GP properties. The City has included $3.5M in its upcoming pension debt issuance for costs associated with the acquisition, environmental remediation and development of the Mill Site. 

(Fort Bragg City Presser)

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MAN FOUND IN TRUNK OF CAR NEAR COVELO WAS MURDERED

by Justine Frederiksen

An autopsy has revealed that a man found dead in the trunk of a car near Covelo on Oct. 3 was murdered, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported.

“All we can release at this time is that this death has been determined to be a murder,” said MCSO spokesman Capt. Greg Van Patten Saturday, adding that the man has been identified, but his name was not being released as his family members had not yet been notified.

Van Patten identified the man as only “an adult male from out of the area.” His body was discovered the afternoon of Oct. 3 by a warden with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who was investigating a vehicle parked in the 27000 block of Mendocino Pass Road.

At the time Van Patten said he did not have many details to release, but that the vehicle was likely a sedan, and that the warden likely opened the trunk because of the odor emanating from it. He described the condition of the body as in “the advanced stages of decomposition”

When asked about the registered owner of the vehicle, Van Patten said there was “no connection made so far between this case and any known missing persons cases,” and he could provide no estimate as to how long ago the person had died.

On Saturday, Van Patten said that “investigations are ongoing by Sheriff’s Detectives which have included locations outside of Mendocino County. This will be a time-consuming investigation that is anticipated to take an extended amount of time to complete because of the complexity of the investigation.”

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

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JOINT MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ACT FORUM AND QUALITY IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING

Mendocino County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services will hold a joint Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) and Quality Improvement Committee (QIC) meeting via Zoom on Wednesday, October 13th, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss Behavioral Health services and Mental Health Services Act programs in Mendocino County. Members of the public, consumers, family members, service providers, and community agencies are encouraged to attend the meeting to ask questions, share ideas, provide feedback, and give recommendations for improvement of the Behavioral Health system of care in the community.

For more information about QIC or to have the Zoom Link emailed to you, please contact Caitlin Colby at ColbyC@mendocinocounty.org or (707) 472-2369.For more information about MHSA or to have the Zoom Link emailed to you, please contact Rena Ford at FordRe@mendocinocounty.org or (707) 472-2724.

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ERIC KRITZ & FRIENDS

This concert will feature a special ensemble of talented, seasoned, and much-loved area musicians. They will fill the hall with musical selections perfectly suited to their talents, including well-known clarinet works by Mozart, Prokofiev and Francaix. A brand new work by Jeff Ives, composed especially for this group, will be featured. 

Sunday, October 17 at 3 pm

Cotton Auditorium - Fort Bragg

symphonyoftheredwoods.org/opus.php

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Old Willits

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POTTER VALLEY PROJECT STOPS GENERATING ELECTRICITY

Friends of the Eel River <foer@eelriver.org>

We have some big news from the Potter Valley Project. The quick story is that dam removal is still inevitable, we're just taking a different path to get there. 

But in the latest setback to status quo operations of the project, we learned late last week that the main transformer bank at the power house is out of service for the foreseeable future. PG&E says that it could take 18 - 24 months and $5 - 10 million to replace the equipment. It's extremely difficult to justify such an expense, particularly given that PG&E's current license expires in about six months. And the implications for diversions to the Russian River are serious. Since PG&E isn't using water to generate electricity, water users won't be receiving “abandoned” water from the project. We'll keep you updated as we learn more about this development.

Back in September, the Two Basin Partners asked FERC for an abeyance in their relicensing process. They wanted to hit pause until May 2022 to give them a chance to figure out some things that should have been figured out a long time ago. And importantly, they needed to come up with funding for relicensing activities they had been hoping PG&E would pay for. FERC responded in a surprisingly reasonable way by remaining firm on the April 2022 deadline to submit a license application and requiring that the Partners to submit a status report within 60 days.

So what does this mean for the Potter Valley Project? Dam removal is still the inevitable future, we're just taking a different path to get there. Absent some miraculous funding source and sudden rapid progress in the Two Basin Partners relicensing effort, PG&E is likely to proceed with a surrender application to FERC in the coming year - if not sooner.

We at Friends of the Eel River were on board with the relicensing effort because we believed it to be the quickest and surest path to dam removal. As that now appears not to be the case, we are encouraging the Two Basin Partners to withdraw their Notice of Intent to relicense and allow us all to begin the process of license surrender and project decommissioning as soon as possible.

This doesn't mean the end of a Two Basin Solution, there's still an opportunity for a win-win solution for both watersheds. There is still potential for Russian River water users to develop a plan for an ecologically appropriate continued diversion. But we can't waste any more time for Eel River fish.

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This year Scott Dam turned 100 years old, and as is the case with any century-old infrastructure, there are some concerns about its safety. Cape Horn Dam, 12 miles downstream, is 114 years old. Both were designed during a time when engineers assumed and built for a stable, predictable climate with reliable water resources. Both structures are also rated as “high hazard” structures, meaning that loss of life is likely in the event of dam failure.

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Mendocino Mill

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AV UNIFIED DISTRICT'S CERTIFICATED SALARY OFFER

Dear Mr. Anderson,

I wanted to take a moment to update our community on negotiations. We have settled negotiations with our Classified Unit (CSEA) and our confidential unit. Our Anderson Valley Teacher Association negotiations are on-going.

We love and value all our staff and the work they do for our children. I know some information has been distributed by others that shows just salary as compensation, not the full benefit and salary package together, so I am sending the following to provide additional clarity to the community of the District's offer.

District Offer To AVTA

The District’s formal offer to the Anderson Valley Teachers Association for the 2021/2022 school year made on September 30, 2021 as follows:

Salary increase of 4.25% for the 2021/22 school year in addition to scheduled step/column salary increase.

Maintenance of Health and Welfare Benefits as follows:

Total cost to District of benefits is $17,668.16

Each member pays $1,200 a year of that amount for a family plan.

Total District contribution is: $16,468.16

Previously paid: $2,000 Covid-19 Stipend

Take care, Louise

Louise Simson, Superintendent

Anderson Valley Unified School District

Cell: 707-684-1017

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CATCH OF THE DAY, October 12, 2021

Bettega, Carrigg, Sharp, Worthy

CURTIS BETTEGA, Covelo. Vehicle theft, controlled substance while armed, ammo possession by prohibited person, assault weapon,, felon-addict with firearm, offenses while on bail, failure to appear.

SONO CARRIGG, Ukiah. Parole violation. (Frequent flyer.)

MONTE SHARP, Ukiah. Vandalism, probation revocation.

DAVID WORTHY, Ukiah. County parole violation.

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WATER SAVINGS

Editor: 

I have been collecting rainwater to use for irrigation for years. We have three 55-gallon drums. My husband built gutters to carry water directly into them. We invested in a small sump pump to aid in emptying them.

For the past year or so I have been using gray water on my flowers and vegetables. When I rinse dishes to put in the dishwasher, it all goes into a watering can to transfer outside. When I run water to get it hot enough for my bath, hair and face washing, it goes into a bucket in my tub and is used to flush the toilet.

Then again, there is that adage, if it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.

Yvonne Kennedy

Santa Rosa

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FORMER COP TRENT JAMES LATEST:

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WHEN I COME AROUND

I heard you crying loud,
All the way across town
You've been searching for that someone,
And it's me out on the prowl
As you sit around feeling sorry for yourself

Well, don't get lonely now
And dry your whining eyes
I'm just roaming for the moment
Sleazin' my back yard so don't get so uptight
You been thinking about ditching me

No time to search the world around
Cause you know where I'll be found
When I come around

I heard it all before
So don't knock down my door
I'm a loser and a user so I don't need no accuser
To try and slag me down because I know you're right
So go do what you like
Make sure you do it wise
You may find out that your self-doubt means nothing
Was ever there

You can't go forcing something if it's just
Not right

No time to search the world around
Cause you know where I'll be found
When I come around

No time to search the world around
Cause you know where I'll be found
When I come around
When I come around
When I come around
When I come around

— Green Day

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VACCINATION HARASSMENT BANNED

by Rachel Bluth

It’s now illegal in California to harass people on their way into a vaccination clinic, under a law signed Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

But First Amendment experts continue to raise legal questions about the law’s constitutionality, including its definition of harassment.

The new law, which takes effect immediately, makes it a misdemeanor to harass, intimidate, injure or obstruct people on their way to get a Covid-19 or any other kind of vaccine, punishable by a maximum $1,000 fine and/or up to six months in jail.

Even though the measure, SB 742, was amended to remove a phrase that free speech experts said made it unconstitutional, they maintain that the new version still violates the First Amendment.

“It sweeps up broad activities that are protected by the First Amendment and defines them as harassing,” said David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, which advocates for free speech and government transparency. “That problem hasn’t changed at all.”

But the law is more necessary than ever, said Catherine Flores Martin, executive director of the California Immunization Coalition, which promotes vaccines. Martin said she has advocated for pro-vaccine legislation for years, and that the atmosphere surrounding vaccination, especially Covid vaccines, has grown threatening and toxic.

“Our biggest concern is when children are getting vaccinated,” she said. “Some of these people feel like they need to protest, and that’s scary and extremely inappropriate.”

The bill was introduced by state Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), who chairs the Senate health committee and was inspired to write this new measure after protesters briefly shut down a mass Covid vaccination site at Dodger Stadium in January. Pan is a practicing pediatrician who still administers vaccines, and has been threatened, assaulted and called out by name at protests.

Pan has been at the center of California’s vaccine wars since long before the Covid pandemic, and has been targeted by anti-vaccine groups for introducing laws that made it harder for parents to refuse routine vaccinations for their kids, including a 2015 law that eliminated personal belief exemptions and another approved in 2019 that made it harder to get medical ones.

“While, as a public official, I must live being threatened and stalked at my work, my home, and in my community by extremists, there is no place in the Constitution that says ordinary people and health care workers have to be subjected to that behavior,” Pan said in a written statement.

When the anti-harassment bill was introduced in February, it drew criticism from First Amendment scholars who said it violated Californians’ right to free speech.

The original bill restricted speech only “in connection with vaccination services,” which they said is problematic because it singled out a certain topic.

According to Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment professor at the UCLA law school, the government is allowed to restrict speech, but only if it’s “content-neutral” and applies equally to all protests, no matter the subject or message.

To make the bill content-neutral, the phrase singling out vaccination services was removed in early September, according to a state Senate analysis of the measure.

At the same time, lawmakers added wording to exempt “lawful picketing arising out of a labor dispute.”

That “creates another unconstitutional form of content discrimination” that has been outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court, Volokh said.

The court has twice struck down laws that restricted protesting but exempted labor disputes. In 1972, it overturned a Chicago ordinance that outlawed picketing within 150 feet of a school, other than picketing arising from labor disputes at those schools. In 1980, the court found an Illinois law unconstitutional because it prohibited protests in front of homes, except in cases of labor disputes.

“I think that raises the specter that this law favors one type of message,” said Snyder, with the First Amendment Coalition. “The government doesn’t get to decide what protest message is allowed.”

Snyder said he’s also concerned by the bill’s definition of harassment and the size of the “buffer zone” in which protesters are not allowed to engage with people getting vaccinated.

The measure defines harassment as getting within 30 feet of a patient who is within 100 feet of an entrance to a vaccine site or waiting in their car to get a vaccine, in order to hand out a leaflet, display a sign, protest or engage in any education or sidewalk counseling.

Although Pan said the provision is modeled after buffer zones that protect patients entering abortion clinics, the 30-foot zone in his vaccine protest law goes further than what the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed. In 2000, the high court upheld a Colorado law that created an 8-foot “bubble zone” around a person entering or exiting an abortion clinic, but in 2014 it struck down a Massachusetts law that created a 35-foot “buffer zone” around clinics.

Because the 30-foot zone is so big, it prohibits even having a conversation with someone or asking them what they know about vaccines, which is lawfully protected speech, Snyder said.

According to the language of the law, the 30-foot zone serves as a suitable distance to prevent the spread of covid and other illnesses.

But that may not be sufficient justification to limit free speech, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California-Berkeley School of Law and a First Amendment expert.

And while he’s sympathetic to the idea of stopping people from being harassed on their way to get inoculated, he said he’s concerned about the constitutionality of the labor exemption and the size of the buffer zone.

“I would expect if this gets adopted, it will get challenged,” Chemerinsky said.

For Crystal Strait, the board chair of ProtectUS, an advocacy organization that promotes public health, the law strikes a balance between protecting free speech and protecting the community from covid. Pan is an honorary chair of her organization, and she has witnessed the kind of yelling and harassment he’s trying to prevent.

“I’ve seen people yell into a bullhorn literal lies about the vaccine and how these young people were going to die,” Strait said of a recent clinic where teenagers were getting shots. “They’re just there to spread misinformation.”

Joshua Coleman, co-founder of the group V is for Vaccine, which argues vaccines carry risk, often protests at vaccine clinics in parks with his bullhorn, including one Pan attended in July. He says he plans to sue once he or one of his members gets arrested under the new law.

“This bill is a violation to our constitutional rights to peacefully assemble,” Coleman said. “It just takes somebody actually enforcing it.”

(Courtesy KHN (Kaiser Health News), a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.)

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Fort Bragg Sunset

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

“Mendocino Farms” [downtown San Francisco] is total make believe and has nothing to do with Mendocino. The use of the name Mendocino is strictly a marketing ploy. Their laughable claim is that they chose the company name because they wanted to “tap into the ethos of Mendocino County”. The company was started in Los Angeles by an executive from L.A. that worked for Accenture, which is multinational spinoff of the giant accounting firm Arthur Andersen. They opened their first store in L.A. and none of their stores are even remotely close to Mendocino or its neighboring counties. I’d be completely surprised if even one of the ingredients on their menu is sourced from Mendocino county.

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THE WORLD IS HURTLING into the future, and China is now investing hundreds of billions into Africa, because they are going to be the fastest growing economy of the last half of this century and they have the most unutilized resources of anyplace on the planet. The world shrinks by the hour. The impacts of what happens in that world grow exponentially greater by the hour. What happens when America is locked out of those new growing markets?

Isolation in this modern world is financial and political strangulation. We opened all the hatches on the spaceship when Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and Trump went full in on corporate deregulation and corporate internationalization. Trying to repressurize now, would be kind of anti productive. We no longer even own the bottle and even if we did, getting the genie back in would be nearly impossible. The disaster on the southern border is an international disaster of our own making. Building a wall ignores the underlying forces that created the problem in the first place, and without confronting that, is as useless as teats on a boar. We need to establish global projects employing all nations and all enterprises, to build a future worth living in, not just surviving the sh!tshow we've stumbled into.

That doesn't mean "Daddy War Bucking" it all better, or endless wars, or even fixing other people's problems. It does mean, figuring out what our place in the world is, what we're going to invest in maintaining that status, promoting our own development, and how we intend to keep malignant players like North Korea, China, and Russia, from destroying the fundamental things we believe in. Mostly it demands that we take a leadership role in ushering a new future that leapfrogs China's ambition, democratizing the world, and making totalitarian states, failures out the gate... stillborn, dead and unloved.

China's recent threats on Taiwan, is just another move in a long list of moves towards global conquest, pointing at a critical need to position ourselves with China (and all despotic regimes), such that they are left with the choice of mutually productive growth, and their own certain destruction. It also demands America pulls its collective heads out of its collective asses, and chooses whether we're going to be a force for global democracy or the next Nazi Germany, because that's the road own which Donald Trump pointed us. A whole lot of good Republicans and Brilliant Conservatives have jumped the Trump Train, but an entire party has sold its soul to remain in power, and not buck the blindly loyal base. We face an existential threat to the America we know and love. The next three years will be the most telling in modern history.

We are all now no more than 35 minutes apart from a thermonuclear warhead. We succeed together or fail that way. I'm not suggesting anyone carries the load single-handedly. This is a global effort, with a global benefit, aimed at bringing us all closer together for the betterment of the world and the life on it. It really is okay for us to win, and everyone else too. The shortages in this country are artificial, caused by the near complete evacuation of wealth and resources from the middle class. There is huge abundance, and we'd all be present to it, if there was any kind of equity in it's distribution. Instead, billionaires work hard to become trillionaires and build their McMansions on the bones of the middle class.

I say it's time we got back to a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people. On a global front, we need to spread memes of equity and fraternity, justice and the rule of law, freedom balanced with responsibility, and global cooperation as the modus operandi of the Twenty First Century. We could together build heaven, but first we'd have to stop wallowing in hell.

— Marie Tobias

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Orchard Bear, Mendocino Woods

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SCHOOLS STOP COVID AT THE DOOR

Mendocino County, CA — On Friday, October 8, the Mendocino County Office of Education and Mendocino County Public Health Department hosted a meeting of local K-12 educators where Public Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren complimented educators, saying that schools have effectively “stopped COVID at the door.” As education and public health leaders reviewed COVID transmission data, they noted that of the 33 COVID cases identified in schools, all were attributable to community spread €”not transmission at school.

Mendocino County Superintendent of Schools Michelle Hutchins said, “This is important because people need to know schools are safe for students and staff.” She explained that since the beginning of the current school year, the goal of the California Department of Education (CDE) has been to assure that students have access to safe, full in-person instruction.

During the 2020-21 school year, state education and health officials mandated at least six feet of distancing between students, requiring schools to implement a hybrid model where only half of students were allowed on campus at any given time. When COVID transmission rates did not increase, the minimum distance between students was reduced to four feet. Again, thanks to risk-mitigation strategies such as vaccines, screening, quarantines, masks and handwashing, transmission rates did not increase. This school year, there is no minimum physical distancing requirement, and again, transmission rates have not increased. Therefore, on November 1, Governor Gavin Newsom has agreed to revisit the mask requirement in schools.

Hutchins said, “No one expects the governor to remove the mask mandate immediately, but he is looking at the data and assessing the options. Even after events such as Homecoming at some of our biggest schools, we haven’t seen an uptick in cases. We appear to be transitioning from a world in the midst of a pandemic to a world where COVID-19 is endemic. As more and more people are vaccinated, the hope is that we will be able to return to life without masks, as long as we keep washing our hands and staying home when we’re sick.” 

Hutchins hopes people will recognize how safe schools are and consider applying for the many positions currently available. As of October 11, there were almost 200 education-related vacancies in Mendocino County. “If you’re looking for work, whether you have a high school diploma, a college degree, or a teaching credential, there are jobs available. Go to edjoin.edu for details,” she said.

(MCOE Presser)

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Lake Mendocino, autumn 2021

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MENDOCINO COAST CLINICS BRINGS $2.5M IN FEDERAL FUNDING TO NORTH COAST

Fort Bragg, CA — On September 7, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded Mendocino Coast Clinics (MCC) a five-year grant of $2.5 million ($525,000 per year) to support and grow its Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) program, part of MCC’s comprehensive treatment program for those who suffer from opiate use disorder.

Mendocino County has the second highest drug overdose death rate of all California counties. In just the past five years, county drug overdose death rates have almost doubled. Currently, Mendocino County’s overdose death rate is more than double the State rate and almost double the U.S. rate. Unfortunately for North Coast residents, the increase in overdoses has been reflected locally.

MCC is the only health center on the Mendocino Coast that provides a multi-faceted suboxone program to treat people suffering from opiate use disorder. The program includes the use of FDA-approved medications, counseling, screening and assessment, case management, recovery support services, and telehealth services within a fully integrated primary care/behavioral health model. MCC Executive Director Lucresha Renteria said, “The MAT program is free of charge and has already made a difference in so many of our patients’ lives.” not.”

MCC applied for the competitive SAMHSA grant in hopes of reducing illicit opioid use in its service area. With its award, MCC will be able to double the capacity of its current MAT program. The project will be led by Lin Taylor, Ph.D., MCC’s case manager for substance use disorder. Taylor has experience in MAT counseling and in supporting individuals in recovery.

Taylor said, “We provide counseling and other services in a welcoming, confidential, and nonjudgmental atmosphere. We have group meetings on Thursdays at 5:00 pm and newcomers are always welcome! Just come to the west entrance of the clinic, the first driveway on your left as you pass the blue County buildings on South Street. No appointment needed.”

With the SAMSHA grant funding, MCC plans to expand its program by hiring additional staff members such as licensed therapists, nurses, and case managers, as well as opening a new, dedicated MAT clinic location. MCC will also do more targeted outreach to community partners and at-risk populations.

Funding alone will not enable MCC to find qualified staff. One indicator of how difficult it is to recruit qualified professionals is the fact that Fort Bragg is a mental health professional shortage area, as defined by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). However, Renteria says she and her team are willing to consider creative staffing solutions, possibly including HRSA National Health Service Corps members and/or partnerships with universities that offer healthcare training programs.

“We’re so pleased to have been awarded this funding. The need is great and now we’ll be better equipped to rise to the challenge,” Renteria said.

(MCC is a non-profit, federally qualified health center providing medical, dental and behavioral health care to residents from Westport to Elk and inland to Comptche in Mendocino County. www.mendocinocoastclinics.org)

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JUST IN FROM JACKSON STATE FOREST, Caspar

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DODGERS BEAT GIANTS 7-2, SEND SERIES BACK TO SAN FRANCISCO

by Beth Harris

Mookie Betts homered and drove in three runs, Will Smith also went deep and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants 7-2 on Tuesday night to force a decisive Game 5 in their NL Division Series.

The 107-win Giants host the 106-win Dodgers on Thursday night, with the winner advancing to face Atlanta in the NL Championship Series. The Braves eliminated Milwaukee earlier Tuesday.

The Dodgers managed just five hits in a 1-0 loss — their second shutout defeat — in Game 3 to put the defending World Series champions on the brink of elimination. They had that many by the second inning Tuesday and pounded out 12 total to back a brief but effective outing from Walker Buehler on three days’ rest.

Buehler went to manager Dave Roberts as early as the Dodgers’ 9-2 victory in Game 2 and said he wanted the ball in Game 4 to start on short rest for the first time in his career. The right-hander allowed one run and three hits in 4⅓ innings. He struck out four and walked two on 71 pitches.

After giving up a leadoff single to Evan Longoria and walking pinch-hitter Steven Duggar, Buehler exited to a standing ovation from 52,935 blue towel-waving fans.

The Dodgers chased Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani in the second. He gave up two runs and five hits and struck out two.

The Giants ran through six pitchers by the fifth, leaving them with just three relievers. By the seventh, only backup catcher Curt Casali was available off the bench. He pinch-hit in the eighth.

The biting, steady wind that prevailed throughout Game 3 was gone, leaving just a slight breeze to ruffle the center-field flags.

Smith hit a two-run homer to center in the eighth, extending the lead to 7-2.

Betts homered in the fourth and his bases-loaded sacrifice fly scored Cody Bellinger in the fifth for a 5-1 lead.

The Giants’ runs came in the top of the fifth on Darin Ruf’s RBI groundout off Joe Kelly, and Kris Bryant’s RBI groundout in the eighth. All-Star catcher Buster Posey, a career .257 hitter in the postseason, went 0 for 4.

Buehler was safe at first leading off the fourth when his shot went off reliever Jarlin Garcia’s leg for an error. Betts followed with a two-run homer to the right-field pavilion, extending the lead to 4-0.

The Dodgers got on the board in the first with NL batting champion Trea Turner’s RBI double to right-center that rolled to the wall, scoring Corey Seager, who singled.

Chris Taylor’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0 in the second.

San Francisco had runners at the corners in the second on consecutive one-out singles by Bryant and LaMonte Wade Jr. But Buehler got out of the jam, retiring Longoria on a swinging strike and Mike Yastrzemski on a liner to second.

Last postseason, the Dodgers went 3-0 in elimination games, rallying from a 3-1 deficit to beat Atlanta in the NLCS.

Lightning fast

Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol pitched the sixth, when six of his seven pitches clocked 101 mph or better. He retired three of four batters, with only Bryant reaching on an infield single to first. Graterol retired Posey, pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores and Longoria on groundouts.

Delay

The game was delayed briefly to start the eighth when a fan ended up on the warning track in the right-field corner. Multiple security guards pounced on the intruder, who was handcuffed and escorted off.

Up next

Giants: Hadn’t announced a starter for Game 5 on Thursday, but it was expected to be Logan Webb.

Dodgers: LHP Julio Urías starts Game 5. The majors’ lone 20-game winner led MLB with an .870 winning percentage.

(Associated Press)

* * *

GAVIN NEWSOM SIGNS LAW BANNING SALE OF NEW gas-powered leaf blowers, lawn mowers by 2024

by Andrew Sheeler

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Saturday that will phase out the sale of gas-powered leaf blowers, lawn mowers and other small off-road engines by as soon as 2024. 

Assembly Bill 1346 directs the California Air Resources Board to phase out the sale of small off-road engines by 2024 or as soon as feasible, whichever comes later. The new law also directs the board to identify and make available, where feasible, funding for commercial rebates to go toward the purchase of electric equipment. 

Newsom’s signature comes a year after he signed an executive order phasing out the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

Under the new law, retailers will be limited to selling zero-emission equipment, such as electric- or battery-powered gear as part of an effort to cut down on emissions.

An hour’s use of a gas-powered leaf blower produces the same amount of emissions as driving from Los Angeles to Denver, according to the Air Resources Board. 

The bill’s author, Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, and supporters — including the American Lung Association in California, the Sierra Club and the Union of Concerned Scientists — say that it will result in the use of cleaner and greener equipment. 

Berman’s bill comes as part of a state effort to cut down on air pollution. One hour of gas-powered leaf blower use is equivalent in emissions to a vehicle driving 1,100 miles from Los Angeles to Denver, according to the Air Resources Board.

Critics of the bill-turned-law — including Senate GOP Leader Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, and the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute — said that it will impose a hardship on landscapers and gardeners, as well as creating a market shortfall of products with high consumer demand.

(Sacramento Bee)

24 Comments

  1. Marmon October 13, 2021

    “COVID is raging out of control, our supply chains are crashing with little product in our stores, we were humiliated in Afghanistan, our Border is a complete disaster, gas prices and inflation are zooming upward—how’s Biden doing? Do you miss me yet?”

    -Donald J. Trump

    Marmon

    • Chuck Wilcher October 13, 2021

      Hell no.

    • Harvey Reading October 13, 2021

      About as much as I miss dog crap scraped from the sole of my boot!

    • chuck dunbar October 13, 2021

      No, you liar and scammer, you set so many of these issues in motion… Just go away–take your hate and stupidity with you and leave us in peace.

      • Marmon October 13, 2021

        No Chucky. Trump brought us three vaccines and was pushing for more therapeutics which would have saved thousands of more lives. He also had us energy independent and we had become an energy exporter not an energy importer. He also had a conditional plan to get us out of Afganistan and would not allow for an unconditional surrender like Biden did. He was buildinga big beautiful wall on the southern border and the remain in Mexico policy was discouraging ailiens from entering our border illegally.

        Marmon

        • Harvey Reading October 13, 2021

          “Therapeutics”

          You mean, like bleach? The orange hog was useless, from birth. He’d a died in a gutter by the late 70s if he hadn’t been born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

          • Marmon October 13, 2021

            Fact-check: Did Trump tell people to drink bleach to kill the coronavirus?

            You guys keep spreading fake news about this bleach thing, no wonders people of color are refusing vaccinations. Trump never used the word bleach.

            Here are his full comments:

            “A question that probably some of you are thinking of if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposedly we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. (To Bryan) And I think you said you’re going to test that, too. Sounds interesting, right?”

            He continued.

            “And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me. So, we’ll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute. That’s pretty powerful.”

            Later, Trump clarified his comments after a reporter asked Bryan whether disinfectants could actually be injected into COVID-19 patients.

            “It wouldn’t be through injections, almost a cleaning and sterilization of an area. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t work, but it certainly has a big effect if it’s on a stationary object.”

            Trump did not explicitly recommend ingesting a disinfectant like bleach. Nevertheless, his remarks led some companies and state agencies to issue warnings about ingesting disinfectants. The maker of Lysol said in a statement that “under no circumstance” should its products be used in the human body.

            https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/07/13/fact-check-did-trump-tell-people-to-drink-bleach-to-kill-coronavirus/113754708/

            Marmon

            • Harvey Reading October 13, 2021

              Thanks for showing, once again, what an idiot the orange hog is…not to mention the morons who support him.

        • Shankar-Wolf October 13, 2021

          James, I am sad for you, please pull your head out of Trump’s ass.

      • Stephen Rosenthal October 13, 2021

        Chuck,

        Just a friendly reminder, the more you respond the more he will post. Don’t even read his comments. Ignore him. Cold turkey. That’s what I’ve done and my life is better for it.

    • sam kircher October 13, 2021

      He speaks as if any of those issues affect/bother him in the least. That’s the most tragically absurd of all… that he convinced so many like you that he’s one of “us.” His concern for the border, the covid, the supply chain, the middle east, the inflation, the gas prices… are non-existent. The charade only serves to rally the rubes in mindless adoration of a cheetoh-orange, castrated calf. The man himself has faded into welcome obscurity. Please follow suit.

  2. Marmon October 13, 2021

    RE: TRENT JAMES FOR SHERIFF

    As I mentioned last night, I wonder what Trent has to say about the Sheriff Department’s policy on combating Cartels and organized crime organizations in and around the Covelo area. Was he told to stand down? Was he offered any support? I hope he touches on these issues soon. He has promised us a lot, enquiring minds want to know.

    Marmon

    • Marmon October 13, 2021

      RE: COULD THIS BE HAPPENING HERE IN MENDOCINO COUNTY.

      I lived and worked in Del Norte County for 5 years (2001-2OO6) as a CPS worker. I knew most the Sheriff Deputies at that time. One of them is my granddaughter’s uncle, who she loves to death. I suppose most of them are gone now by the looks of things. According to this story my granddaughter’s uncle retired after almost accidently blowing a fellow deputy’s head off in the armory

      ‘No law north of the Klamath.’ Dysfunction, scandal plague California sheriff’s office

      At least two dozen sheriff’s office employees have left the department since January 2020, an average of more than one a month. It’s a disproportionate number for the department that currently employs just 60 people.

      “Training issues, selection issues, issues with staffing, moral issues, ethical issues, lack of accountability and oversight — just kind of everything from the top down.”

      Among the 13 people Apperson had hired since March 2020, one new employee was sworn in without first obtaining a psychological evaluation, a state requirement for all law enforcement officers, according to an Aug. 31 report from the police training commission. Apperson also hired a candidate whose psych evaluation indicated they were “not suitable for a peace officer position.” The official recommended the sheriff reassign the deputies until they got the proper clearance.

      Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article254863657.html#storylink=cpy

      Marmon

  3. Rye N Flint October 13, 2021

    Big thanks to all of the Climate Heroes blocking the gate at Jackson State Demonstration Forest in Caspar! (Key word: Demonstration forest)

  4. Harvey Reading October 13, 2021

    https://www.mail-archive.com/pdml@pdml.net/msg787853.html

    The link is to a long-time Pentax camera equipment discussion group that I have followed for decades. The item (like so many others) illustrates just how far we have progressed toward full-fledged fascism…and people just shrug and bow down, like good little servants, as they wave the flag and remember the NYC office buildings of ’01. It’s no wonder that people don’t trust the vaccines…or those who administer and mandate them, or anything said by lying kaputalists and their lackey, bought-and-paid-for politicians, right up to whomever is the current moron-in-chief.

  5. Harvey Reading October 13, 2021

    Good day to check out this site:

    https://consortiumnews.com/

    The military and the filthy rich are figuring out ways to keep us out of their bunkers…it’s past time to send the robber barons into space, sans life support. They are vicious.

  6. Marmon October 13, 2021

    RE: BREAKING NEWS ON SEIU LEADERSHIP.

    SEIU has to be the worst labor union in the country. I can’t believe that I was once employed by them.

    Exclusive: Leader of California’s largest union resigns amid tax fraud, embezzlement charges

    The executive director of SEIU California, the biggest labor union in the state, is resigning after the attorney general’s office charged her and her husband with multiple counts of tax fraud, embezzlement, perjury and failure to pay unemployment insurance taxes.

    The office filed its charges against Alma Hernández and her husband, Jose Moscoso, on Oct. 4 in the Sacramento County Superior Court.

    Hernández, whose union represents over 700,000 workers across the state, had been in her position since 2016. She led the union’s push against recalling Gov. Gavin Newsom, with the organization donating more than $6 million to the campaign.

    Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article254976772.html#storylink=cpy

    Marmon

  7. Marmon October 13, 2021

    RE: I MAY BE SCREWED

    Social Security benefits will increase 5.9 percent in 2022, the Social Security Administration said today, the biggest boost in 40 years as prices for food, cars and rent continue to surge.

    I hope this raise doesn’t screw me by putting me over the poverty level cutoff. Right now I qualify for income-driven repayment plan, which allows me to pay zero dollars a month on my student aid loans. I also don’t have to pay on the back federal taxes I owe base on my reported income. On both these programs I have to recertify each year. I also receive food stamps based on my monthly income, I could be kicked off that as well. This COLA raise may be a killer for me and other seniors.

    Marmon

    • Harvey Reading October 13, 2021

      Why not tell it to your hero, the orange hog?

  8. Marmon October 13, 2021

    RE: BLUE COUNTY BLUES

    Covid-19: Ukiah ER physician reports diagnosing no new cases in a week

    ‘It’s remarkable,’ said Dr. Drew Colfax

    “The numbers (of cases) are still stubbornly stable, but the surge of patients we were seeing in the ER, we really haven’t been experiencing over the past week, which makes it feel more like a normal, pre-Covid-19 experience,” he said. “It’s kind of odd, frankly.”

    However, in terms of overall cases, Colfax described Mendocino County as “slightly one of the worst in the state, and one of the hottest, if not the hottest, ‘blue’ county in the state,” when comparing rates of Covid-19 in counties that lean Democratic (or blue), which he said typically have lower rates of Covid-19 than counties that lean Republican (red). “I’m not sure why Mendocino is bucking that trend, since we’re a fairly solidly blue county.”

    https://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/2021/10/13/covid-19-ukiah-er-physician-reports-diagnosing-no-new-cases-in-a-week/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=social&utm_content=tw-UDJnews

    Marmon

  9. Jim Armstrong October 13, 2021

    I was hurt when friends and family tried to tell me that professional wrestling and such guys as Gorgeous George, Wild Red Berry, and others were fake.
    I watched on our little Hoffman TV with it s puke-green picture as Dick Lane announced the mesmerizing matches (WHHOOO NELLY) and sold Central Chevrolets.
    About 1957 a friend of a friend took us to Olympic Auditorium to see the show live.
    In person it did not have a chance of continuing to seem even maybe real.
    Donald Trump is the same, but somehow fools people in person.
    He is like no one more than like Pennywise, the totally evil clown of Derry in Stephen King’s “It.”

    • chuck dunbar October 13, 2021

      That’s a vivid real-life depiction of disillusionment, Jim.

      Disillusionment:
      “Feeling disillusionment means you’re bummed out because you no longer believe in something — usually because you find out it isn’t as amazing as you thought.”
      (“The definition of disillusionment doesn’t sound so bad: being freed from false beliefs or illusions. Well, sorry to disillusion you, but it’s not so great. Disillusionment is when the hard truth of reality makes you lose faith in your dreams and ideals.”)
      Vocabulary.com

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