- $50k Whitewash
- Opening Night
- PD Online
- Hawthorne Timberlands
- Jack Hayward
- Ukiah Water
- Yesterday's Catch
- Flynn's First
- Film Commissioner
- Institutionalized Wrongs
- White Male Terrorists
- Gun Laws
- Gun Fears
- Craig Looks Back
- Gun Control
- No Bad News
- Marco Radio
INTERESTING SPECULATION from local Mental Health advocate Sonya Nesch about the ongoing outside audit of the County’s privatized mental health service contracts: “Some think Carmel Angelo's $50,000 Kemper Consulting Group Report on Mental Health will tell the supervisors on December 15th nothing more than: Ortner inherited a mental health services mess when they arrived. Two and a half years is not a long enough time to figure out how to provide mental health services. The Ortner contract is poorly written. Too bad the $50,000 wasn't used to provide some pre-crisis, crisis and rehabilitation support in one of our seven communities.”
THAT’S A GOOD GUESS. Implied with this guess is that Kemper/Ortner will say that Ortner’s high administrative costs have something to do with the alleged mess that pre-existed Ortner. If the Supes accept this bogus explanation, they will have wasted $50k. (Unless you believe that $50k for a whitewash that just postpones the problem for a couple more years while it gets worse is worth it.)
A RECENT STORY by Sarah Reith for the Ukiah Daily Journal described the opening night of Ukiah's 46-bed emergency shelter on Mazzoni Street. "All 46 beds had been spoken for, and at quarter after six, guests were still showing up, one or two at a time."
WHEREUPON commenced the homeless industry's new vocabulary, new to me anyway. The homeless people checking into Mazzoni are "guests" who were "to be assessed according to a vulnerability index, which determined how many co-morbidities each applicant had. Those with low acuity numbers, or the fewest health problems, were essentially on standby for available beds."
WOW! (1) Guests. (2) Vulnerability index. (3) Co-morbidities (4) Low acuity numbers. This is a lot to learn.
"BECAUSE the guests are the most vulnerable among the homeless population, doctors will be on hand one night a week to provide medical care. That night will usually be Thursday, from 6:30-8:30 or 9 pm, but because the next day was Thanksgiving, doctors were there for opening night instead."
A READER WRITES: "Last gasp for the PD. For the last two days, their comments sections are totally gone. It appears they have changed the site look/layout/etc. You said it a while back in the AVA, and I nodded in agreement; the comments were the best thing to come to the paper for. That's not to say they were great, but a few sensible thoughts appeared among the career trolls' many posts. I have no interest in joining that posting parade, but it was amusing to watch. I'm in and out of the PD online in under three minutes now. Hey, it will be good when that paper dies.
All the best, Merry Christmas and all that rot…
PS. The posts in the PD are similar IMO to sitting in McDonalds.
IF you really want to know what is happening in America, read the PD posts and then go sit and eat breakfast (or have coffee only if you want to live) at McDonalds, and take your time, observing the richly corrupt tapestry of humanity that washes through the place. Much of it is very disturbing. Like the comments in the PD."
RECURRENT RUMORS say Mendocino Redwood Company will probably scoop up Hawthorne-Campbell. Campbell was essentially the purchasing agent for the state of Washington's retirement fund when Campbell bought up Georgia-Pacific's Mendo holding for the Hawthorne Timber Company in the late 1990s. If MRC does the deal they would then own 15% of Mendocino County. Hawthorne is mos def for sale, MRC is mos def interested.
FROM THE PROSPECTUS: "The Hawthorne Timberlands are largely within a single, contiguous block of highly productive forests which typify the unique Redwood Belt of Northern California. The standing inventory, averaging 21.2 MBF (17.7 MBF conifer) short log scale per forested acre, will support both immediate and long-term cash flow. The long term sustained yield is indicative of the future plantation growth potential characteristic of site index 119 timberlands. The blocked configuration provides for fee access control through secure gated access. With numerous domestic log demand centers in Eureka, Scotia, Willits, Ukiah, and Cloverdale, the local market outlook for premium Redwood logs is possibly the most optimistic in Northern California. In addition, multiple export facilities for Douglas-fir and whitewoods can be found in Oakland, Richmond, and Eureka, CA…"
JACK HAYWARD II, a long-term resident of Anderson Valley, has died in Seattle. Jack was one of the founding members of the famous Rainbow Commune once located on Greenwood Road in Philo.
UKIAH has met state mandates for water conservation, but just barely. The Daily Journal reports that Public Works Director Tim Eriksen says the county seat made it over the summer because people didn’t use their sprinklers, but the winter months tend to be more profligate. Eriksen told the city council saving 20 percent of each month compared to 2013 should "be interesting." Inland plumbers seem uninterested in installing low flow commodes, although anyone with toilets made before 1992 could be eligible for the low flows.
CATCH OF THE DAY, Saturday, December 5, 2015
TONYA CLARK, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.
STEVEN DANIELS, Fort Bragg. Under influence, court order violation.
BARBARA FELTON, Redwood Valley. Drunk in public.
BRYCEN KERSNICK, Novato. DUI-drugs, pot sale-transport-furnish.
MATTHREW MAGNUS, Grass Valley/Ukiah. Drunk in public.
SHANNON MCGEE, Ukiah. Under influence, child endangerment.
SEBASTIAN NEHLS, Ukiah. Criminal threats.
GUILLERMO PEREZ-MARTINEZ, Ukiah. DUI.
MARK RAY, Redwood Valley. DUI, failure to appear, probation revocation.
THOMAS SANDERS, Ukiah. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)
SEAN SCOTT, Potter Valley. DUI.
ANALICIA SUTHERLAND, Ukiah. Failure to appear.
BRIAN TIPTON, Hopland. Honey oil manufacture, pot cultivation/processing.
EMANUAL VAINER, San Ramon. Pot sale-transport-furnish.
* * *
CORRECTION:
The booking photo posted yesterday of “TYLER SMITH, Sylacauga, Alabama/Ukiah” was corrected today to say, “PRESTON SMITH.”
Apparently, even the booking staff still considered Preston Smith to be Tyler Smith yesterday. But the confusion was explained a couple of days ago by AVA court reporter Bruce McEwen:
* * *
THE AVA'S ACE Courthouse reporter writes: "Amazing occurrence today in court, demonstrating the scope and power of the mighty AVA.
Early last summer we reported a bust in Covelo of a honey oil lab involving incredible amounts of the substance described by converts to the cannabis faith as a cure-all miracle drug. The bust was made by Sergeant Peter Hoyle of the Task Force. Omar Figueroa took the case of one Tyler Smith, formerly of Sylacouga, Alabama.
The case was on for a pre-trial conference today, and when Mr. Smith and his lawyer came in they seemed unhappy to see Sgt. Hoyle.
This was not usual – Hoyle needn’t have come until the trial date, unless … Unless something was up.
Turns out that the real Tyler Smith of Sylacouga, Alabama, had been contacted by someone who read about his bust online (the AVA was the only paper that wrote about his bust, as far as we know) and said, “Hey, Tyler, what’s this about you getting busted out in California?”
Tyler went to the article, read it, then called Sgt. Hoyle and explained he’d never been to California. Hoyle ran his fingerprints – the ones of the guy he'd busted in Covelo -- and found out the honey oil man in Covelo wasn’t Tyler Smith at all – even though he had Tyler’s Alabama driver's license.
The guy in court turned out to be Preston Alexander Smith, a fugitive from Alabama. His tattoos on his hands say “Outa-bama,” but he’ll certainly be "Inna-Bama on his extradition papers as soon as he gets his time served in Mello Mendo.
Just goes to show how widespread the AVA readership is — and, hey, howzabout that!
FLYNN WASHBURNE’S FIRST LETTER TO THE AVA (October, 2011)
“FREE SUB, THE HARD WAY
Dear AVA,
Were I asked at any point in my life where I saw myself at the age of 51, the answer would invariably have been: Dead. Not from any romantic notion about leaving a good-looking corpse (that ship has sailed) or being just too good for this earth (ha!) or the awareness that the weight of my despair would ultimately crush me (I'm actually a fairly happy guy), but the realistic presumption of early mortality for a fella who actively, persistently and gleefully engages in the practice of willful self-destruction. It stands to reason that a life defined by drug abuse, alcoholism, violence, criminality, indiscriminate sexuality, across the broad profligacy, and just general wise- and jack-assery would get one struck down along about the first few decades, if not in one stupidly glorious stroke, then through attrition.
But no. Instead of occupying my rightful place in an urn, boneyard, or (more likely) as an unclaimed cadaver in a third-rate medical school being tsk-ed at by future abortionists and pill hustlers over the condition of my liver, I'm moldering in moldy old San Quentin after having suffered that most base of ignominies: being made sport of by a rural rabble-rousing rag whose revolutionary rhetoric has doubtless galvanized several dozen parakeets into political or at least peristaltic action. Having thus been made a figure of fun by you, I don't think I'm displaying undue cheek in requesting a free subscription at least temporarily. I'll see about shooting some feria your way once my resources have fleshed out a bit. Thank you.
Signed, the scourge of banks, bookstores and trendy Little River spas,
Flynn Washburne, #V79663
SQSP, San Quentin, CA 94974”
ED NOTE (at the time): Flynn old boy, you sure can write. If you'd come to me before you got into bank robbing I would have put you on as roving correspondent. Subscription coming right up.
* * *
WASHBURNE LATER that year received the AVA’s coveted “Armed Robber of the Year” Award for 2011: “Flynn Washburne of Fort Bragg and Ukiah, the first man in American history to hold up a bookstore with a fake gun, and the first man in Ukiah bank robbing history to get away from his heist by bicycle.”
DEB OUT, SHARON IN
with Deb DeGraw & Sharon Fisher Davis.
It is my pleasure to publicly pass the Mendocino County Film Commission torch to my successor, Sharon Davis.
Sharon is the new Mendocino Coast Chamber CEO and she will also wear the hat of Mendocino County Film Commissioner, as I did.
Sharon understands the fast paced needs of the film industry, as she has worked as a production assistant for various projects in the past, such as "Need for Speed" by DreamWorks Studios in 2013.
Her past experience in the lodging industry also gives her insight into the needs that a production company has when they are filming in our county.
In 2013 the film Need for Speed generated over $50k in Transient Occupancy Tax alone, as Dream Works brought in close to 200 crew members to stay in Mendocino County. The grand total spent in Mendocino County by DreamWorks Studios was close to $3 million in 2013.
The Mendocino County Film Office was established by the late Cammie Conlon and the Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors in 1998. Cammie was the marketing coordinator for the Chamber at the time. She is best remembered as Little "Bonnie Blue Butler" from the award winning film "Gone with the Wind".
Cammie was the first official Film Commissioner/Liaison recognized by the California Film Commission for Mendocino County. In 1998 she received letters from all four incorporated cities of Mendocino County, indicating support for the creation of the Mendocino County Film Office and the plans to house it at the Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce. After providing the letters of support from the cities and a letter of support from the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors to the California Film Commission (C.F.C.), the office was recognized as the Official Film Office for Mendocino County, by the C.F.C.
Sharon will take my place as a member of the Film Liaisons In California Statewide (FLICS), a 501 (c) 6 organization.
FLICS members worked together with a variety of film professionals to educate legislators and the public on the value of the film industry to California's economy. Those efforts helped convince legislators and the governor to increase the tax credit so that California can compete in drawing film production to our state.
"FLICS was created to heighten the level of professionalism and visibility of California Film Commissions and Offices by developing quality standards, guidelines, education and marketing components for its members. The FLICS organization will provide its members with valuable filming resources from location assistance, and phases of production to industry terms and tips on building and maintaining an effective film office."
FLICS, through its members, provides production clients with valuable and timely location support and resources, and hosts two signature events each year for location professionals, producers and others in the industry critical to location decision making: the Film in California Conference (FICC) and the California On Location Awards (COLAs) gala honoring the best work of location professionals and productions filming in the state during the year. http://www.filmcalifornia.com
The marketing efforts of the Mendocino County Film Commission and the assistance provided by the Film Commissioner to location managers and producers is key to bringing production to our county. Film Commissioners do not charge a fee to production companies for the assistance they provide.
It has been my honor to serve over a decade as the Film Commissioner of our beautiful county, and I have met some really great people over the years. I could not have done my job without the help of many including but not limited to: the California Film Commission, Film Liaisons In California Statewide, CalTrans, State Parks, Mendocino County Department of Transportation, BLM, the Willits Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Ukiah Chamber of Commerce, the City of Point Arena, the City of Fort Bragg, the City of Ukiah, City of Willits, Steve Dunnicliff, Mendocino County Sheriff, Fort Bragg Police, California Highway Patrol, Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department, Fort Bragg Volunteer Fire Department, Anderson Valley Volunteer Fire Department, Mendocino County Fairgrounds, Redwood Empire Fairgrounds, Anderson Logging, Ray Alarcon and so many others who assisted me over the years on a variety of feature, television, commercial and print needs. Thank you to everyone who has supported my efforts to promote Mendocino County to the film industry and to those of you who have helped welcome the industry while they are here.
My hope is that with the new tax credit in 2016, the film industry will make Mendocino County their next film location.
Cheers!
Debra De Graw
Mendocino
IMPLEMENTATION OF BOARD POLICY
An Open Letter to the Board of Directors of Mendocino County Public Broadcasting:
As members of MCPB (aka KZYX&Z) we are very concerned that the Board of Directors is either unable or unwilling to implement policies that are already in place, to the detriment of our radio station. In particular, we believe that the recent decision by the Program Director (supported by the interim General Manager) to eliminate the Safe Harbor from 10pm to 6am is a violation of the Programming Policy. The action has such a chilling effect on free speech that it represents a major change in policy that can only be made by the Directors. If the Board is not willing to assert its authority in this and other matters, then the members may need to take matters into their own hands.
The improper restriction of free speech is only one area in which the management of KZYX is acting without the direction and oversight that a board of directors must provide. The interim GM continues to block a member inspection of financial and membership records that is guaranteed by the California Corporations Code. The termination of programmers by the PD without good cause, with the full support of the GM, has repeatedly been brought to the attention of the board, yet there has never been a review of the terminations by the Board's Personnel Committee, as required by our Personnel Policy. And members who join in January and February continue to be denied the right to vote, even though they meet all the requirements for eligibility by the certification date, because the staff is supposedly too busy to update the rolls.
We cannot accept the Board's inaction on these matters. No one likes lawsuits, and no one wants to act under the threat of a lawsuit. But if the Board does not take action to remedy these situations at its January meeting, then the members must consider doing so. Nothing is off the table when the survival of our public community radio station is at stake.
Please give implementation of policy your highest priority. Please make a willingness to enthusiastically implement Board policy decisions an essential consideration when choosing a new General Manager. This Board is in a position to right the wrongs that have become institutionalized in recent years. But if you do not, then the members reserve the right to do so on our own.
Sincerely,
Norm de Vall, King Collins, Dennis O'Brien
ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY
Law? Is Trump talking about passing laws? We are talking national security. Immediate action may be needed, bypassing congress and the constitution. Security from white terrorist attacks is paramount.
If white males are the shooters, ALL white males are suspects, subject to database registration and deportation, especially if they have a history of believing they are Taxed Enough Already (TEA party) or have contributed to anti-government blogs like CFN.
The weapons to be confiscated should include any kind of gun used by white Christian terrorists in their mass casualty attacks. The 143 guns possessed by the white Christian terrorists in attacks include dozens of automatic assault weapons and semi-automatic handguns with high-capacity magazines. For example, a .40-caliber Glock was used by a white male terrorist to slaughter students in Red Lake, Minnesota, in 2005, so too did the white male terrorist in Aurora, along with an AR-15 assault rifle, when blasting away at his victims in a darkened movie theater. In Newtown, Connecticut, the white terrorist wielded a .223 Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifle as he massacred 20 school children and six adults.
HOW A CONSERVATIVE-LED AUSTRALIA ENDED MASS KILLINGS
CRAIG LOOKS BACK
Sitting at Benders bar in San Francisco's mission district, sipping scotch and beer, I am mulling over really aggravating incidents of the past. I mean, in 1979, after nearly a year of cashiering at the San Francisco Zen Center's Tassajara Bakery, the ZC president Ed Brown invited me to dinner in the main building on Page Street. So, I am sitting at a table with mostly women and two other guys at my end. The women serve themselves, begin a conversation, and the three of us guys sit there with empty plates. Finally, I get up and go to the front of the table and get a platter of the food to bring back to our end of the table so that we have food on our plates. One of the women objects to my doing that, suggesting that they will pass the food down to us instead. I explain that I will take the platter of food down to our end of the table, and that the women may, in addition to this, pass the rest of the food down to us, because we are going to eat also.
I realize that this was 35 years ago. But you know what? If anybody ever does anything like that with me again, I am going to punch somebody so goddam hard in their stupid mouth, that they are going to wake up as a mental vegetable!
Hey, I was patient. I did well with it. I was mindful and did not react emotionally. And you know what? This is my zen response to the situation 35 years later. Also, I never got to go to the Tassajara Center, because the night before I was approved to go, lightning struck the zendo roof and it caught on fire. So, I was told that I would have to wait another month.
So, I cancelled my Zen Center membership and went back to Wisconsin, and sat by myself on frozen Lake Michigan for the winter. Okay, I've now realized my true nature.
PS. I wish to thank you for your friendship. I have been having a difficult time of it recently, particularly with the chest congestion problem which I returned from Washington D.C. with. Last night, I attempted to make things better by drinking beer and scotch in San Francisco. This did NOT work well. Rather, I had a fitful night with a mild hangover, and experienced a lot of mental aggravation, which I purged by sending out an email in regard to a dumb previous episode at the Zen Center many years ago. I realize that this may have appeared to you as being a tad weird. I offer no excuses for my behavior. I'm still learning too. Again, please understand that I am doing the best that I can, am grateful to be staying at Piedmont House with wonderful friends and group support which I need. Thanking everyone again for your help and friendship.
Sincerely, Craig Stehr
AUSTRALIAN JIM JEFFRIES ON GUN CONTROL IN THE U.S.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rR9IaXH1M0
DON'T NOBODY BRING ME NO BAD NEWS
When I wake up in the afternoon
Which it pleases me to do
Don't nobody bring me no bad news
'Cause I wake up already negative
And I've wired up my fuse
So don't nobody bring me no bad news
If we're going to be buddies
Better bone up on the rules
'Cause don't nobody bring me no bad news
You can be my best of friends
As opposed to payin' dues
But don't nobody bring me no bad news
No bad news No bad news
Don't you ever bring me no bad news
'Cause I'll make you an offer, child
That you cannot refuse
So don't nobody bring me no bad news
When you're talking to me
Don't be cryin' the blues
'Cause don't nobody bring me no bad news
You can verbalize and vocalize
But just bring me the clues
But don't nobody bring me no bad news
— Charlie Smalls
AND THE REST IS SIRENS.
“All things change to fire, and fire exhausted falls back into things.” --Heraclitus
Hi, Marco here. At http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you'll find the recording of last night’s (Friday 2015-12-04) KNYO Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show ready to download and keep or just play with one click.
Further, at http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com there are many worthwhile but not necessarily radio-useful items that I found while putting the show together. Here are just a few:
"A stereoscopic plunge into the guts of an organic Paris seen as a cell through a virtual microscope." It reminds me of Strings.
Strings is a film made with real marionettes, not CGI, about a world where people are actual marionettes, aware of their strings. I had a copy of it when it was new and I watched it over and over. It's a Danish project.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374248/
Formerly invisibly high-speed courtship behavior in pet birds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvcDQviIok0
And I'm not sure what the point of this is, but it's lovely. I think it might be about cigarets being like a forest fire in your lungs, and also the woman seems vaguely menacing, neurotic, and though I don't like that in a real person, in a cartoon person it has a certain appeal.
Marco McClean
Thanking Bruce for publishing my reflections on the past, in today’s AVA online edition. Having recovered from a well earned hangover, I went to Mass at Berkeley’s Newman Center, received Holy Communion, had an appointment with the pastor to discuss my general situation, and have been given two directories of Catholic groups, to assist me in moving on to my life’s “next phase”. I will be staying at Berkeley’s Piedmont House for awhile; am beginning new creative writing today.
¿Para qué llamar caminos
a los surcos del azar?…
Todo el que camina anda,
como Jesús, sobre el mar.
Why do we call “paths”
These furrows that we see?
All of us who wonder this earth
Walk like Jesus over the sea.
I don’t believe in Jesus or God.
But Machado has a point, doesn’t he.
Blame for the translation is mine.
Poem is by the great Antonio Machado.
Good luck fellow pilgram.
“MH went from providing adequate public service to clients, and from supporting functioning outreach services, to a program that now mostly serves the County’s financial needs. MH staff report that money seems more important than clients. This
echoes the widespread idea – “if you can’t bill for it, cut it.”
http://www.co.mendocino.ca.us/grandjury/pdf/1112-Mental_Health_Branch.pdf
The 2012 Grand Jury Report Going…going…gone! clearly explains what happened to our public mental health program. It was purposely sabotaged to make privatization of services more appealing.
To reiterate what I said in a December 5, 2015 post, just because a service is not Medi-Cal billable doesn’t mean that it is not funded from another source. The County receives millions and millions of dollars each year from the State to provide the non-billable services such as functional outreach services.
Those millions and millions of dollars are now being spent on administration costs. As a result, you end up with more consumers having to be placed on conservatorships, which is costing the county millions of dollars also. Money that would be better spent at the front end.
I am so tired of the downstream mindset of the County. They need refocus and reprioritize where they want to provide their resources and services. Providing Family Maintenance to families instead of foster care, or providing outreach to the mentally ill instead of hospitalization is upstream social work, but neither of them provide revenue to OMG or RQMC. They are downstream organizations who rely on the failing systems to justify their industries. Inpatient care and foster care.
Re: Jack Hayward.
Editor, I might be mistaken but several years back didn’t you publish a weekly pseudo-stream-of-consciousness column in the AVA by Hayward under the byline “the Rooster”? I could tell by three weeks into it (and so could you, I gather) that they were not the insightful free form musings of a Kerouac or Ginsberg ( a generation of beat artists Hayward claimed kinship with) but merely the random and chaotic activations of meth saturated neurons.
Anyone who knows something about the history of the Rainbow commune will probably concede that Hayward was a phony, a long-haired poseur, a racketeer in bohemian facade who would’ve been at home in 1920’s Chicago.
May he repent in the paisley purgatory.
Jack was, um, a difficult, tormented person. Boonville’s beloved community newspaper often takes on a therapeutic function. Yes, he was the Red Rooster.
…I recall that during the last month of her reign as news director at KZYX Annie Esposito interviewed Hayward for his recollections and insights re. the ‘back to the land’ movement in Anderson Valley, and related topics concerning his participation in the ‘peace & love & back to the land’ movement, etc.
It was a sincere attempt (on her part) at probing for the ‘raison d’être’ of the whole thing.
The most frequent and forceful answers he gave were: everyone was ‘fucked.’ Alan Ginsberg was “fucked.” Lawrence Ferlngetti was “fucked.” Everyone who had any kind of utopian vision was “fucked,” and etc…
Actually, the bright-eyed utopians who moved with him to ‘Rainbow’ were the real ‘fucked’, for he was a Bohemian garbed grifter who simply saw his bright-eyed brethren (and sisteren) as marks to be exploited.
Every idealistic movement will attract blood suckers who take advantage of the moment. Let’s not delude ourselves that these swine don’t exist.
So glad that you spotted Flynn’s talent from that first letter! A great addition to the talented cadre of AVA writers.
…Not to downplay Flynn’s literary talent, but I’ve often wondered why such a gift should focus mainly on dystopian realities – personal and universal.
Why not use that insight, that light, brother, to paint a picture of hope?
We are awash now with waves of darkness.
Why not use your gift to elevate a vision of salvation?
…
Just wondering…
Only a demented person would want AR-15 or other automatic weapons that spews out a barrage of bullets. There are far too many sick people in the U. S. that get their jollies off by shooting automatic weapons