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Mendocino County Today: Friday, Feb 12, 2016

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MUCH OF THURSDAY NIGHT’S PBS/CNN DEBATE addressed pretty tame wonkish differences between Clinton and Sanders with Clinton claiming over and over that she blandly agreed with this or that Sanders position but would be more effective in implementing it. But Sanders became irked when Clinton claimed to like Obama more than Sanders does.

Clinton accused Sanders of not standing with Obama because Sanders endorsed a book by Bill Press mildly critical of the president. Clinton said by endorsing the book Sanders was calling Obama "weak" and a "disappointment" in the past and she warned "the kind of criticism that we heard from Sen. Sanders about our president, I expect from Republicans. I do not expect it from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama."

Sanders grumbled: "Madam Secretary, that is a low blow." Sanders insisted Obama was his friend, but that did not mean that a senator had to agree with the president on everything. "One of us ran against President Obama," Sanders reminded Clinton, referring to Clinton's 2008 showdown against the then-Illinois senator. "I was not that candidate." Disturbingly, however, Sanders added that he agreed with Obama on “virtually every issue” which is true and which kind of undermines Sanders’ populist/“socialist” rhetoric.

Clinton wants to make the contest about race and gender and “electability,” and government experience, not economics or inequality or her own big corporate donors or her militaristic foreign policy record because she knows a large percentage of the upcoming Democratic primary voters are women and blacks. It’s a pretty cheap campaign strategy.

In a particularly ridiculous moment, after Sanders said he would not take advice from Henry Kissinger on anything, Hillary said she thinks Kissinger would be a “useful” foreign policy advisor, especially on China.

Next up: South Carolina. In South Carolina, Republicans vote on Saturday, Feb. 20, and Democrats will choose their candidate the following Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016.

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HappyHeartTHE SILLIEST DAY of the year is upon us, Valentine's Day, a creation of the candy, flower and greeting card industries, with a big boost from restaurants who run major media ads of couples gazing at each other over wine glasses. At the Dragon's Lair, Ukiah, corner of Main and Perkins, I resisted an impulse to veer onto the sidewalk to run over a sign that reads, "Don't forget to love yourself." I gave myself a hug and managed to get through the rest of my day.

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A READER WRITES:

A buddy of mine went to the Fair Board meeting Monday night. Chad Rea has been trying to promote a Spring event at the Fairgrounds called the Mendo Grow Show. I have the specs for the event. Short story long is it was slated to be a 21-and-over weekend cannabis education event. Classes, workshops, roundtables, entertainment, professional paid staff, no skeezy volunteers, 2,000 person maximum. Gates closing at 8pm with maybe one band to close the day. Chad is a straight up guy, Boonville resident, has a life and an actual job. The co-producer is Nigel James, Bill Graham's number two guy who now produces the Loc'n festival - here's the link:

http://www.locknfestival.com

Nigel knows his shit. When he heard Chad was doing this he jumped in. He immediately saw the opening for a reputable and replicable event that wasn't four days of Molly and DMT, a way to showcase the county's place in cannabis via education, not stoners. Chad already had a short list of the best speakers, activists, business people, product producers etc. lined up to show up at this thing. And he had sponsors.

Chad went to the fair board Monday night to get approval for the event. He had spoken extensively with fair manager Jim Brown who was all for it. The Board unanimously voted to table ALL cannabis events until legalization. The Sheriff was aware of this event. He had heard about it and Chad and his attorney had a Wednesday meeting scheduled. Allman had no problem with the event. However he had heard that some people in Boonville did.

Isn't the Boonville fairgrounds kind of hurting financially? Tell me I'm wrong, but isn't Sierra Nevada a hot drug-fueled mess? Isn't the Beer Festival a beer-soaked slog? And don't they do some big wine events every year? Wow.

And ironically, Chad is doing video promotion for the winegrowers association for the Fairgrounds—gratis.

At the moment, he's looking at other venues.

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MENDOCINO COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS SUSPENDS ALL CANNABIS EVENTS UNTIL LEGALIZATION

Chad Rea, (707) 841-7720

chad@mendogrowshow.com

February 8, 2016

On February 8, the Board of Directors of the Mendocino County Fairgrounds voted to table all cannabis events at the fairgrounds until full, federal legalization of cannabis is enacted.

This is according to Chad Rea, producer of the Mendo Grow Show. Rea, a Boonville resident approached the board to garner approval for his event after numerous conversations with fair manager Jim Brown.

The show, according to Rea, was scheduled for the weekend of May 14. Discussion of the event was tabled by the board during their previous meeting. “This was to be a 21-and-over event,” says Rea. The event was to provide a location for numerous workshops covering community education, safety and hazard mitigation, networking, legal roundtables, political discourse and gardening tips. “Mendocino County is in the heart of the Emerald Triangle. We believe that it is important for the county to be a leader in providing education about cannabis. There are no events like this anywhere in the region, and I believe this show had the potential to bring a lot of revenue to the Anderson Valley area,” says Rea.

The event was to be co-produced with Rea’s colleague Nigel James, who is recognized for directing the signature Lock’n Festival in Arlington, Virginia. “We were looking at a top-level team using paid staff, adults only, with local music, vending, camping and food. The Fairgrounds gates would close by 8:00 pm,” Rea continues.

Rea is puzzled by the strong, negative reaction by the Board. “The mission statement of the Fair states that their goal is to furnish a facility promoting agricultural programs having cultural, social and economic benefits to the public. I believe this event hit every one of those marks,” he continues.

It is unclear whether the Board is including the highly attended Sierra Nevada Music Festival in their suspension. “I’m sure that cannabis is smoked at Sierra Nevada,” smiles Rea. “Our event was not about recreational cannabis. We are trying to provide a forum for information, discussion, networking and patient support. It’s unclear to me how the beer festival, the wine festivals and the Sierra Nevada music festivals are any less about the fair’s mission than this event,” he notes. “Sierra Nevada is advertised on literally every cannabis event calendar.” Rea is currently looking at other venues for the event. “We believe that Anderson Valley is the perfect location for this event, and as a Boonville resident I’m sorry that the Board doesn’t see it this way.”

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TIM STOEN, infamously, functioned as Jim Jones' legal fixit man at the late Peoples Temple, the only church in Christian history murdered, right down to its infants, by its pastor. Stoen, post-Jones, and returning to the scene of the crime where he's now written an entirely faux atonement, has worked as a prosecutor in Mendocino County where he's assigned to Ten Mile Court in Fort Bragg. Stoen's book tells us he's always been drawn to the prosecution; most "socialists" gravitate to the public defender's office. But this guy is all slip slidin' away from his obviously major role in the Jonestown catastrophe.

STOEN makes no sense, either as a personality or in his just-released book called, un-ironically, "Marked for Death — My War with Jim Jones, the Devil of Jonestown." Stoen's war with Jones didn't begin until the beast was cornered and bleeding in his Guyana bunker. If Stoen were on trial, if there'd been a kind of Nuremburg for all the Mendo and San Francisco big shots who helped Jones on his maniacal way, Stoen's book would hang all of them, with Stoen being first up on the gallows. Stoen was awfully late to act on his self-alleged estrangement from Mendocino County's most spectacular tweeker, albeit a pharmaceutical one.

"MY WAR" begins with a Peoples Temple-like forward by Giselle Fernandez, "a five-time Emmy award-winning journalist." It concludes, "When I think of Tim, I think of that beautiful song, 'Starry Night' by Don McClean, about painter Vincent Van Gogh. There's that line at the end that speaks of such purity it breaks your heart. McClean sings, 'I could have told you, Vincent, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you." Stoen proceeds to recount his life with the People’s Temple as if he had no idea that Jones was a maniac. Many people drop out of the "church" when, as Stoen tells us, they come to understand they're in Cult Land. Many others attend one service and flee. Stoen should have listened to his mother. She warned him the Temple was not a wholesome enterprise, that Jones was muy malo. And mom had only seen Jones at Stoen's wedding where, presumably, Jones would have appeared more or less normal.

OK, OK. Nobody's perfect (sic). Any person who's party to horror on the scale of Jonestown would have to reconcile himself to it to go on living, but Stoen's book absolves himself of all responsibility, basically telling us that his heart was pure but this doggone Jones guy was simply too crafty for the Stanford lawyer, too beguiling, and even if the reverend did shady stuff all the way back to Redwood Valley he did a lot of good, too. Stoen portrays himself as merely one more victim of the malevolent speed freak.

(AL KUBANIS, a Trumpian Ukiah lawyer, provides Stoen with some excellent post mortem advice, advising Stoen when Stoen reappears in Ukiah a couple of years after the Temple's jungle immolation, that he should change his name, disappear and try to make a new life for himself somewhere else. I thought it was very brave of Stoen to resume life in Mendocino County and several times defended the guy when I thought he'd been unfairly attacked; after all he did lose his son to Jones and of course he had to go on living with his role in these ghastly events. But if I'd read this false book, I have to say I would have joined Kubanis in wishing the guy would simply disappear.)

"MARKED FOR DEATH," a title that implies the entire sad show was Stoen's personal trial, is replete with "brilliant" attorneys, "famous" political figures, "gutsy" judges, "stunning women," and so on to where you ask yourself, Are we still in Mendocino County, Toto? (The Temple women I knew were Madam Defarge types — utterly devoid of all irony, haggard, merciless.)

IT WAS LOVE at first sight with Stoen when Stoen meets Jones in the County Courthouse: "Although he did not propose policies, he faithfully attended the meetings. He was warm-hearted. He listened to others. He showed concern for poor people. He did not put on airs. He could tell a joke."

IN 1972, JONES rented the Ukiah Theater for a special showing of "Marjoe," the fake faith healer: "Jones' recommendation of that movie fortified my belief that his (Jones') healings were genuine."

FOR THE UNLETTERED black people that Jones and his all-white inner circle exploited unto their mass death, it's one thing to be hoodwinked by faith healings, but a lawyer supposedly trained in skepticism?

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A UKIAH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER has been arrested and charged with selling oxycodone, the increasingly prevalent soporific. Jared Wade Candelaria, 30, was arrested at his home in Cloverdale on a presumption that he was not only pill-peddling, the third grade teacher also possessed enough marijuana to convince the Cloverdale police he was selling pot, too, presumably not to 8-year-olds. (Candelaria was booked in Sonoma County which does not post on-line booking photos.)

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HALF-TIME

I confess, I am a culturally alienated, old, disconnected 1960s and ‘70s radical trying to live and struggle for revolutionary change in a world that might have passed me by, because I cannot for the life of me understand how Beyonce’s commodified caricature of black opposition was in any way progressive. Instead what I saw was the cultural power of neoliberal capitalism to co-opt opposition, monetize it and provide some mindless entertainment all at the same time. I didn’t see opposition; I saw the imagery and symbols of authentic black radicalism grotesquely transformed into a de-politicized spectacle by gyrating, light-skinned booty-short-clad sisters.

— Ajamu Baraka

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BASEBALL, PLEASE

Editor:

Hundreds of thousands of people show up for a Giants World Series parade in San Francisco and there are no security checkpoints. Ten thousand people show up for Super Bowl City, and there are multiple security checkpoints and an overkill of police and police agencies. Two things become clear: The NFL is paranoid and far less attractive than they think, and baseball is far and away a much more civilized sport.

— Richard De Wilde, San Francisco

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Social Security. The part that really galls me is that they refer to Social Security as an “entitlement” in a derogatory way (like Truthers, as opposed to what, Liars?) while insinuating that those of us that expect to collect it are somehow taking charity! Those bastards took over $200k from me against my will because they claimed that I could not be trusted with the money. Now it somehow gets stolen by scumbag politicians and gets re-labelled as a “handout”? Seriously you DC clowns, if you really think that robbing us of what we have trusted you to hold for us is somehow either our fault or something that we are just going to allow you to rape us out of you had better think twice. One of us is going to hang by the neck until dead for such a crime, and while odds are that it will be us, you had better think long and hard before you drop your drawers and come looking to hose us.

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THE FINNE WINERY

by Bob Dempel

The Finne Winery was built in the 1880’s and was probably the oldest winery at that time in Mendocino County. Louis and Margarette Finne came to Redwood Valley in the 1870’s from Europe. Margarette came from the area of Alsace France. I cannot find where Louis came from. They purchased some property in Redwood Valley and Louis built a winery. The marriage produced two sons, Fred and Will. Fred Finne stayed on the ranch helping raise grapes, fruit and hay. Will moved to the East Coast.

FinneWinery

Fred Finne and his wife Mary had a son Hilmar and a daughter Blanche. Blanch who was born in 1910 and recalls helping her Grandfather Louis Finne pick the grapes. They would be picked in 50# wooden boxes. Blanche was paid 5 cents per box for picking. Blanch would then help her grandfather move the grapes to the winery where they would be crushed.. The grapes would be put in a large vat and people would put on rubber boots and climb into the vat to stomp on them. The resulting wine would be put into oak barrels and loaded onto a wagon and hauled down to the railroad station at Calpella. Transportation of the trailer was provided by a horse named Chub. At Capella the barrels were loaded into freight cars headed to San Francisco.

In 1921 or 1922 the winery burned down, Blanch was at school and as she was walking out of the school house she saw black smoke coming up towards her ranch. A neighbor had decided to burn a pile of brush. Along came a whirlwind and moved some of the hot embers from the brush pile to the top of the wooden roofed winery and landed on some leaves which promptly caught fire. The entire winery burned down.

Blanche lived to be 100 years old and died just a few days short of her 101st birthday. The memorial service was held at the Ukiah cometary on her 101st birthday.

Fortunately Blanch participated in an oral history in 1999 conducted by the Mendocino County Museum. The interview includes 5 pictures of the Finne house, ranch and winery. I have been given a copy of the oral history by Blanches’s daughter Yvonne Richey Westberg.

The winery is long gone but the descendants of the Finne family are still present in and around Redwood Valley.

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PRIMARY VOTING 101

Editor,

Voters planning to vote in the primary election June 7 should be aware of the following information.

If you registered as a Decline-to-State voter and wish to vote for the Republican candidate in the presidential primary in June, you must re-register as a Republican before May 23rd. The Republican Party does not allow for cross over voting. If, as a Decline-to-State voter, you wish to vote for the American Independent Party candidate, the Libertarian Party candidate or the Democratic Party candidate, you may just ask for that ballot when you go to the polls. Only Decline-to-State voters may cross over but only to one of these 3 parties, however. You will receive a postcard from the Registrar of Voters reminding you of this information if you are a Vote-by-Mail voter.

If you have registered as a member of any political party and wish to cross over and vote for a candidate from another party, you must re-register as a member of that party by May 23.

If you are eligible to vote but have not registered, you can pick up a paper voter registration form at the county library, DMV office, or U.S. Post Office. The form must be postmarked by May 23 for the June 7 election. It is also possible to register online at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/.

For more information go to http://www.vote411.org.

Carol Czadek
President, League of Women Voters of Mendocino County
Ukiah

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UKIAH dresses up

UkiahDressesUp
(Photo by Susie de Castro)

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MENDOCINO COAST AUDUBON SOCIETY MEETING on Monday, February 15th, 7PM, Caspar Community Center

The Mendocino Coast Audubon Society invites you to join them this Monday, February 15th, 7PM, at the Caspar Community Center. Mario Abreu will give us a heads up for spring with a presentation on Landscaping for Birds and Wildlife.

Mario Abreu is the Staff Naturalist at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. He serves on the board of the Dorothy King Young Chapter of the California Native Plant Society and is a naturalist and horticulturist, who has grown many of the native plants available through the local Native Plant Society.

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CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE on Life, Spirituality & Harmonica Love

Sonoma County resident Charlie Musselwhite plays close to home at the Uptown Theatre in Napa on Feb. 19.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/entertainment/5114780-181/bluesman-charlie-musselwhite-bringing-his

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SEE FOR YOURSELF

To the Editor:

Ah, at long last, now I know the reason why our streets never get paved and why they probably never will. On a whim, since I am computer illiterate and my wife is a computer whiz, I had her look up the website T.W.K. mentioned in his Sunday column, and had her look up salaries for the City of Ukiah, and boy, what an eye opener. The latest year available was 2014, and all I counted were the salaries of city staff i.e. Dept. Heads, etc. (unbelievably seven people in all) and I came up with the staggering amount of $1,509,733.82. Mind you, these are 2014 salaries and I’m sure they have risen substantially since that time. Also this $1,509,773.82 includes no Police or Fire salaries, and no worker bee salaries, only the Big Deals in the City of Ukiah. So, I have come to the conclusion that as long as the city staff is receiving these bloated amounts we are never going to get our streets repaired, and, if you have good blood pressure medicine you can see these figures for yourself at www.transparentcalifornia.com or search transparentcalifornia.

David Anderson, Ukiah

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CHOMO SUSPECT

On January 20th at about 8 am, it was reported to UPD’s School Resource Officer Vince Morse that on January 19th at about 4:45 pm, a 10 year old Accelerated Achievement Academy student was grabbed a hold of by an unidentified male subject, in what appeared to be an attempted kidnapping. UPD Detectives have been actively investigating this incident, as well as other similar incidents in Ukiah, and arranged for the victim to meet with a Certified Police Sketch Artist. The below sketch is a sketch of the suspect from this incident and further descriptions are also listed below.

Suspect

If anybody has any information regarding the above incident or the possible identity of the above-depicted suspect, please contact UPD Detective Tyler Schapmire at 707-467-5770. If Detective Schapmire is unavailable, you can contact UPD Dispatch (707-463-6262) and ask to speak with another member of the UPD Detective Division.

The sketch is done in grayscale and the victim described the suspect as having black hair and being a dark-complexioned Hispanic male. 
The victim described the suspect as being in his 30’s or 40’s. 
The victim did not observe any scars, marks, or tattoos on the suspect’s forearms, hands, or face
. The victim described the suspect as having an average height and a thin build. 
The suspect was not associated with any vehicles
. The victim last saw the suspect on January 19th while fleeing from the area of Scott Street and North State Street. There is no information at this time that this suspect is associated with any of the other recent similar incidents in Ukiah.

Detective T. Schapmire

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THE SHELTER, SOME OBSERVATIONS

Beast —

In reference to recent articles and letters in our county's media — some observations:

What's going on now, after the Supervisor's Standing Committee Meeting on the future of the Ukiah Shelter on Feb. 8, is an ongoing attempt by a group of folks to undermine the shelter in any way possible. What they fail to understand, or choose not to accept, is that the County CEO has rejected the Petaluma Animal Services contract proposal. I don't profess to know about the inner workings or policies of the goverment, but I would imagine that the county, after half a year studying Petaluma's proposal, has a pretty good reason for ending the process.

The repercussions of the group's behavior and current campaign is not only pointless, but detrimental to the very institution they profess to care so much about, as the shelter has been left short staffed, and thus unable to attend to the important task of canine behavior/temperament testing, creating a backlog of dogs unable to be walked or cared for by the volunteers.

If these folks would stop their drum-beating for 5 minutes and reflect on the consequences of their conduct, they might be able to get over their disappointment, and return to helping the shelter's animals. In fact, their obvious passion and energy could be used now more than ever to help the shelter, and their ideas of good sheltering can be put in play without the need for outsourcing. That this scenario has been completely rejected in favor of only accepting Petaluma's management is an indication of an unwillingness to compromise, especially after the county's Health and Human Services Agency put forth several options regarding the shelter's future for consideration.

Unless they plan on upending the county and state RFP process, there doesn't seem to be any benefit in continuing this very unpleasant diversion of time and energy; the correct organization to question about the contract rejection is perhaps Petaluma Animal Services. The county has completed its end of the bargain. Please, get over it and let everyone move on.

Kathy Shearn, Ukiah

PS. From today's UDJ

Escalated tensions involving volunteers and employees at the Mendocino County Animal Shelter have seemingly overshadowed what is really at stake ­— the animals.

As part of Monday’s Health and Human Services Agency standing committee meeting, county staff elaborated on recent animal care issues, including the possibility of contracting out, as they updated committee members, county supervisors Tom Woodhouse and John McCowen.

County staff conceded this week that the discussion of contracting out animal care and shelter management has been lengthy, dating back to last year when request for proposals were first offered.

Although only one proposal was submitted, likely from Petaluma Animal Services Foundation, the county Executive Office has since said it didn’t have enough information to make a solid recommendation for further board approval. Since Monday, the process has been closed, as the future of the shelter is back to square one while county supervisors consider what’s next.

Additionally, staffing has been shaken-up in the past several weeks as shelter supervisor Sage Mountainfire was put on administrative leave.

Mary Jane Montana, who recently served as the executive director of the now-defunct Society for Prevention of Cruelty of Animals branch in Clear Lake, began Wednesday as the shelter’s interim manager, not to replace Mountainfire but to oversee the shelter a few days per week, according to county staff.

Volunteers have been increasingly verbal with their opinions in how the shelter should be managed and directed.

Aaron Burton, field representative for county union SEIU 1021, said Wednesday that some volunteers haven’t been following policies and procedures, and have waged a privatization campaign while discrediting the staff at the shelter as opposed to just volunteering their time.

“The problem has been that some volunteers have actually interfered with the work of staff and have created an uncomfortable situation for staff members,” Burton said. “We’re not against the volunteers as long as they are not carrying out the work of our members.”

HHSA Director Stacey Cryer acknowledged that tensions at the shelter have escalated during the lengthy request for proposals evaluation process. The submission deadline was August 2015.

After Mountainfire was put on leave, Cryer submitted a letter to all shelter volunteers reminding them of the county code of conduct, which applies to anybody working at the shelter regardless if they are paid or not.

At least three shelter volunteers have also had their privileges suspended, according to Cryer.

“That was done because we needed to stabilize the situation and begin to investigate, pursue, figure out, what’s going on,” Cryer said Monday.

Cryer said she didn’t ban the volunteers from the shelter, just suspended their privileges at the facility – meaning those volunteers who provide foster homes for some of the animals can continue to do so and can come on the shelter property. They just can’t physically volunteer.

Each suspended volunteer has since been met with, according to Cryer. However, specific personnel matters from the county’s perspective can’t be elaborated on.

Shanna Phillips, one of the shelter volunteers suspended, has said her privileges, along with other volunteers, were suspended for no reason, and asked the Board of Supervisors Tuesday for a decision on her reinstatement.

Phillips has advocated for contracting out animal care services, specifically for the Petaluma Animal Services Foundation to assume control of the shelter.

“A government funded entity should not be in charge of our county’s homeless animals,” Phillips said on KMEC radio Tuesday. “They deserve better than that.”

Phillips said on the radio that when animals come to the Mendocino County shelter, they don’t receive medical care or a bath and claimed they are immediately put into kennels while waiting for as long as 30 days before being evaluated.

She said these alleged issues could be rectified if an organization like Petaluma Animal Services Foundation were to come in.

Much like Burton, Cryer said Monday she values the efforts of the volunteers, but they can’t and shouldn’t be doing the work of paid, county unionized employees, which she said could be as simple as feeding and watering the animals. Volunteers have to have specific duties, like walking dogs, and must abide by the rules.

“Some allegations were quite concerning, while some were absolutely false, I know that for a fact,” Cryer said following public expression Monday during the standing committee meeting. “I have to take those (allegations) seriously, and I have to look into what’s causing those allegations, where the truth is and where the truth isn’t.”

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JAZZ JAM THIS SUNDAY

Sunday Feb. 14 Second Sunday Jazz Jam at Headlands Coffeehouse

Dorian May Trio and Friends, 2-5pm

120 E Laurel St, Fort Bragg, (707) 964-1987,

http://www.headlandscoffeehouse.com/

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NEVER! PLEASE GO AWAY!

Friend — 

In the 24 hours after our first loss of this campaign, this team stepped up. Hundreds of thousands of people are giving to support this historic campaign. Can you join them and chip in $1 right now?

 The press and our opponent will continue to mischaracterize and disparage our team, but we know the truth. We have over 700,000 grassroots donors and millions more who are energized by our candidate, our message, and our historic campaign.

But we can’t control the narrative, so we need to put our heads down and focus on the things we can control: how strong our team is and how many people we’re able to reach.

Before Hillary takes the debate stage tonight, she needs to know that you're in this with her. Tell her you're ready to fight and win — chip in $1 right now.

Thanks, Dennis

Dennis Cheng
National Finance Director
Hillary for America

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TALKIN' GENDER

Femicide statistics finally documented.

On 2/10/2016 4:20 PM, Elaine wrote: "…Women's agony at the hands of men must never be revealed. If women steadfastly and courageously began to tell the truth and would not stop, would not be co-opted, would not become afraid, the truth of our enslavement would be undeniable and the jig would be up."

Elaine, what's your vision for what that would be like? Say all women suddenly and simultaneously tell the world of their horrible enslavement and keep telling and do not stop, what's the result? I mean, I'm imagining it: The jig is up, as you say, and all women are still courageously telling and telling the truth of their enslavement, never stopping, even to eat or sleep. Not even stopping during lovemaking or driving a car or trying on a hat or taking a self-defense class involving improvising a set of Wolverine knuckles out of the car keys...

Juanita works today at her day job and I don't, so I cooked her breakfast this morning (multi-veg omelet with muenster and pesto). I cleaned up the kitchen and fed the pet bird. I'm in and out washing all of our clothes and the bedsheets right now. This is normal for a Wednesday when I'm at her house.

Her friend at work just broke an arm running for the bus, so Juanita's working tonight too, so she got a two-hour lunchtime, so we went to the bookstore and talked all the way there and back, and I peeled oranges for us to eat while she drove.

In short, and I'm sure Juanita would agree (I'll ask her when she gets home), I don't think either of us is in agony or enslaved, and I think we're pretty normal. Compared to us, looked at objectively, Elaine, the way you go on and on, day after day, week after week, year after year, on this subject, you are a screechy, obsessed, crazy person. I get that somebody damaged you, back along there somewhere, and that person probably should be in prison — I hope he is — but everyone's life is not like yours. Every woman isn't miserable because of every man.

With that in mind, who's your favorite woman standup comic? I like Sandra Bernhard. She stole The King of Comedy. The film would have been lame without her.

Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

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REPUBS: BAD

To the Editor:

Haven't we had enough of Ted Cruz and the Tea Party Republican base and their ignorant, xenophobic, racist lies about what is wrong with the country? The country is doing fine and heading into boom times again; people are becoming more understanding and more tolerant of each other no matter what Fox News says. The freedoms we enjoy today haven't changed and we are just as secure as ever. These misfits in the Republican and Tea party are just upset because of the fact that the president is black. They have created some delusional Orwellian fantasy in their heads, that they've ruminated on for so long, that they've actually come to believe it. Get over yourselves and your pseudo patriotism and join the rest of America as it glides into the future.

Ron Lowe, Nevada City

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THE FERC VALENTINE PROJECT: Bringing Our Love To The Homes Of FERC Commissioners!

Tell FERC commissioners that pipelines, LNG, compressor stations and fracking are no “Love Story” for front-line communities. This Valentine’s Day, send a message to FERC commissioners at their homes!

We protect what we love, and we expect FERC to do the same.

Grab your paste, markers, fancy doily hearts and construction paper, and pour your hearts out.

Ferc

Here's what to do in 6 steps.

Create your Valentine Messages for the FERC commissioners. The more personalized, the better. You can make your own, or you can download one already made here.

Take pictures of your Valentine Messages. They can be pictures of the messages alone, or selfies of you holding the messages — whichever you prefer.

Send your messages to the home addresses of the four FERC commissioners. Each commissioner has two addresses — one outside DC, and one inside DC. Send your messages to as many of the addresses as you'd like. The more, the better. These addresses can be found on the instructions flyer above and in the link below.

If you use Twitter, tweet your pictures at the FERC commissioners. More instructions are in the flyer above and the link below.

If you use Facebook, share your pictures there as well. More instructions are in the flyer above and the link below.

Let us know you sent your messages by e-mailing your pictures to Actions@BeyondExtremeEnergy.org. Please include your name and where you're from. Please send only those things which you're comfortable having shared online.

Please click here for all the details, including home addresses and twitter handles.

Much gratitude to the people who worked together to make this project happen!

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(ED NOTE: BOOKINGS FOR FEB 11 UNAVAILABLE DUE TO BOOKING WEBSITE MALFUNCTION: “internal errors.”)

67 Comments

  1. Kathy February 12, 2016

    It is unfortunate that the Animal Shelter is taking Ms. cryer’s focus away from the Kemper Report State of Mental Health (dis)services in Mendocino County.

    • james marmon February 12, 2016

      Both animal control and MH are equally important. When is the County going to get rid of Cryer and get someone in charge of HHSA who knows what the hell he or she is doing?

      When did we get spell check here in the comment section? I hadn’t noticed it before.

      • BB Grace February 12, 2016

        Spell check (not that it works for dyslextics), where?

        And .. I have given a lot of thought about Cryer, which only by intuition, because of the 7 MHB/BHAB and 5 MHSA meetings I attended seeking answers, I never met or saw Cryer, so I don’t know her.. all I’ve got are feelings, and feeling lie, so I want to be clear that these are my feelings and not my experience or research as I have none to offer: I don’t know Angelo either for that matter.

        My feeling is that LOYALTY to the CEO is operatis monde and Cryer is LOYAL, and as all who are LOYAL to Angelo, rather than to the County, as in the name of the County they are LOYAL to Angelo, and that’s their job security.

        My feeling is part of this is the CEO has been moving away from Roberts Rules of Order and into Concensus Parliment, as a “friendlier, easier” democratic method. However, this has brought a lot of confusion to those who assume Roberts Rules of Order is the order and have no concept of consensus parliment, except those who have taken classes, that went public through the Library so the public, if interested, could learn.

        To me, loyalty to the CEO is the BIG problem.

        An example.. Kemper Report, while commissioned by the CEO, is not loyal to the CEO. Its refreshing to have a clear assessment of the problems and yes, they all lead to Cryer HHSA inabilty to contract, regulate, account.. Hospitality House is shown to provide services that they didn’t bill.

        I think Angelo will give Cryer every break putting her own neck on the line to reward the LOYALTY she demands. That’s my feeling, and it could be WRONG, and if so, I apologize.

        • james marmon February 12, 2016

          Kemper definitely shit in Ms. Angelo’s Easter basket. This must really be unraveling to her. The Board of Supervisors are starting to look at her cross-eyed and at least one of them is asking questions again, Woodhouse. I hope they don’t threaten him with another sexual harassment charge in order to make him to back off.

          • BB Grace February 12, 2016

            I think Kemper did Angelo and Mendocino County a huge service and I hope HHSA uses the report as an investment and map rather than trickle down to forgetton.

            I appreciate Angelo consulting Kemper because the report gives the County tangible defined goals and allows all of us, even stakeholders, to get on the same page and work together. I would be happy if Mendocino’s mental health could be more like Fresno’s, where services include ARTS on many levels as therepy and community support. It helps low income afford items through art sales, music, theatre.

            When I think of Fresno, I don’t think “ART!”, but it’s stronger in Fresno than Mendocino right now because of Fresno’s Mental Health Board and the people with vision on it.

            • james marmon February 12, 2016

              I agree with you BB Grace, Kemper did us good. I just hope Angelo and the Board don’t dismiss his findings as just more “Public Abuse” and treat it like they did the Grand Jury Reports.

              I don’t think I could stand another “we’re wonderful” presentation from Cryer, HHSA Staff, and Schraeder.

              I can’t wait to see McCowan’s spin on all this.

              It’s going to be interesting as to who speaks up for OMG since Tom P. is gone. I imagine that’s Ms. Miller’s role now. She has to smooth this shit over.

  2. LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

    http://www.bartleby.com/148/3.html

    In his poem, “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”, Yeats writes,

    —No likely end could bring them loss
    Or leave them happier than before.

    Could any lines better summarize what the 2016 Presidential election will mean to the citizens of this country?

    It’s February.

    We have 7 more months to listen to the blather of these stooges, or most people have.

    I’m going online to see if I can find some good books on CD.
    Would appreciate any suggestions

  3. BB Grace February 12, 2016

    re: If you registered as a Decline-to-State voter and wish to vote for the Republican candidate in the presidential primary in June, you must re-register as a Republican before May 23rd. The Republican Party does not allow for cross over voting.

    The GOP undercuts Trump for Hillary to sustain the statis quo.

    • Keith Bramstedt February 12, 2016

      I hadn’t heard about this. I thought in an open primary anyone from any party could vote in the Republican and Democratic primaries.

      • BB Grace February 12, 2016

        Hi Mr. Bramstedt! Good to see you.

        What’s going on in the CA GOP that it doesn’t respect open primary, or that anyone who cares is in no position to do anything about it?

  4. Lazarus February 12, 2016

    The Willits News has an editorial this day kick’n some BOS ass…it gets after that CEO person little bit too.
    As Always,
    Laz

    • james marmon February 12, 2016

      More “public abuse” heh?

      • james marmon February 12, 2016

        Read it, it was the same one from the UDJ. KC Meadows completely whitewashed her translation of the report to exclude RQMC from any negativity. Camille Schraeder and Ms. Meadows are friends.

        That’s the whole problem with both contracts, they were made among friends, and no one wanted to question either OMG’s or RQMC’s integrity when it came to the money. It became awkward to do so.

        Until there is a fiscal audit, we will never know just what RQMC really does and for how much. We haven’t seen the price tag yet.

    • BB Grace February 12, 2016

      This article? http://www.willitsnews.com/general-news/20160210/report-mental-health-outsourcing-failed-to-put-controls-monitoring-in-place

      The reporter is UDJ staff and the article appears to be directed at “setting the AVA record straight”.

      I’m reading the Kemper Report, and collecting my own bullet list, which I prefer to cut and paste from the Kemper Report than translate, as Willits article.. they simplified things for general audience, but the bullets in the article seem to be more concerned with AVA flames of discontent rather than bullets expressing the Kemper’s discoveries.

  5. Bruce Brady February 12, 2016

    Hillary Donne taught science at Leggett Valley High school until he retired in the early seventies.

    • Bruce Brady February 12, 2016

      Damn you, spell correct! Hilmar Finne.

      • LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

        Ha ha!
        How many time have I uttered that very oath!
        It has fucked up so many of my words and phrases!

        It has changed “recumbent” bicycles to “recombinant” bicycles.
        French and Spanish expressions have been converted to English words and expression that have no relevance to what I was writing about.

        Is there any way to shut the thing off?

  6. Jim Updegraff February 12, 2016

    Grace: First; regardless of what you think Apartheid applies to racial or ethnic discrimination. President Carter was the first person to use that term as it applies to the internal passport system. Quakers were in Palestine some 40 years before the concept of Zionism in the 1890s. Need to remember Semitic refers to the Semitic family of languages. This includes Hebrews and Arabs so you can’t really use the term anti-Semitic when talking about Arabs.

    Do you review the annual census report by the Israeli government? Some interest trends – Jews have dropped to 75% of the population of Israel proper and has been declining every year. When you factor in the population of the occupied territories you can see a demographic trend that will put Jews in the minority. Also, have you seen the recent DNA studies of Semitics – very interesting.

    The Seder was sponsored by the Sacramento Chapter of the Jewish Voice for Peace. There are 60 chapters in the U. S and are strong on their support of the Disinvestment, Boycott,Sanctions (DBS) Movement. Needless to say the Israel supporters have many unkind things to say about the Voice,

    Quakers and wine comment. I would suggest you read our “Advices and Queries” regarding alcohol. Please note there was a olive in the food representing the Palestinians.It was interesting to hear the experiences of the Refuseniks. Particular when the woman who went to jail commented she was the only “white” Jew in the jail. The explanation was what I thought it would be. The man who was a draftee told about how they would provoke the Palestinians so they would react and then the soldiers could take action against them. Also, about taking in medicine every day for the Palestinian doctors.

    Grace, any more comments by you will be deleted unread.

    • LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

      Jim,

      Wonderful comment. Much I had not known.
      I support DBS.

      I’ve come to like BB. She has basic decency.
      However, I will not engage in arguments with her. She lacks the intellectual and academic background for any stimulating exchange. She is unable to confront your arguments or mine regarding Zionist history–especially the South African connection, its own apartheid state, its embrace of eugenics, and its collaboration with the Nazis vis-à-vis The Ha’avara Agreement and its attempts to direct all emigration to Israel.

      Ben Gurion said,

      “If I knew that it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by bring them over to England and only half of them by transporting them to Eretz Israel, then I would opt for the second alternative.”

      As I wrote yesterday, Jim, I’m tired of punching tar babies.

    • BB Grace February 12, 2016

      Aparthide is directly applicable to South Africa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid

      Was Jesus a Jew? Then Jews were in Palestine long before Quaker occupiers commercialied oats for profit.

      Semetic refered to Jews and Muslims in WWI and carried over into WWII, where it split due to the Holocast. Today, the propegandists say, “Well you can’t say anything about the Jews”. Sure you can.

      What you can’t say is anything about Islam that can be assumed offensive. Arabs identify themselves as Asian not Semetic. And if you want to talk about blood, which is a very popular topic on Islam, check out what The White Race is an Alien species because of rh.

      As for census.. Secular Jews practice planned parenthood, so to speak, and Jews have always been a population minoroty, so what’s the problem? Israel isn’t asking it’s Muslim population to practice birth control. Israel is contributing more to the development and growth to the Palestinian population by establishing water, food, secure trade, jobs, and technology and investments the ME would not see if Israel was not there to share Western advances.

      One of the things I appreciate about Israel is the diversity of voices and choices politically. It’s interesting also that with Netanyahu as Prime Minister, how active the left in Israel are. U.S. left is flatlined.. just old regurgitated mush.

      WHAT? “Grace, any more comments by you will be deleted unread.”

      Oh wow! LOL

      Have a nice posting day Mr. Updegraft! :))

  7. Randy Burke February 12, 2016

    The Finne Winery….. A nice touch in the world of yesterday’s news.

  8. LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

    Susie,

    Thank you for your book recommendation.

    Do we need all the videos?

    This is a comment section for the interchange of opinions among readers of the AVA,

    I’ve seen you post comments that are articulate and coherent although that doesn’t mean I agree with them.

    Ease up on the links and videos. Use your own words.

  9. Harvey Reading February 12, 2016

    Re: But Sanders became irked when Clinton claimed to like Obama more than Sanders does.

    In an intelligent species, not liking Obama would be a definite plus. One more reason I cannot vote for either of these clowns.

    • LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

      Uhhh, he spent trillions to bail out banks and is managing the deficit through the “sequester”, which saps money from “entitlements” like social security, medicare, public education, public transportation, and the post office (closing distribution centers, subcontracting work to low wage drones).

      He’s given us—and the insurance companies, The Affordable Care Act, which is not affordable and has nothing to do with care.

      He’s hired luminaries like Arnie Duncan, Timothy Geithner, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and Eric Holder (to name just a few) for important cabinet positions.

      He’s expanded imperial warfare all over the globe.

      Yet he has to put up with ungrateful whiners like you who are never satisfied with what our government does for us.

  10. Jim Updegraff February 12, 2016

    Raiders have signed to play in 2016 in Oakland while the Oakland authority continues on a new site for the team.

    Investigators from the Inspector General’s office of the State department are investigating the Clinton Foundation.

  11. james marmon February 12, 2016

    Not only has Anderson forced “spell check” on us he has enabled “auto correct” as well. This man is out of control.

    • LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

      Bruce? No way.
      It’s Google.

      Does anyone know if these infernal devices can be disabled?

      • Harvey Reading February 12, 2016

        Kwick. Typing this “word” results in a sort of zig-zag underline in red (as does zig-zag). No auto correct, though. If I right click the underlined word, I get some, usually ridiculous, suggestions, along with an option to add my spelling to the “dictionary”.

        If I right-click anywhere in the text a small pane opens with a set of options, including “Check Spelling”. If I left-click that option, a check mark appears, and “misspelled” words get underlined in red. If I reopen the pane and left-click that option again, the spell checkers goes away. If I insist on using my “incorrect” spelling, I just add it to the “dictionary”, and the underlining goes away for that spelling.

        I’m using the latest version of Firefox, on — ta da — XP Pro, an operating system that works well enough for me. I leave the checker on, because I often accidentally, or stupidly, misspell words since I’m not a world-class typist.

        • james marmon February 12, 2016

          Mr. Anderson has definitely caused a disturbance in the force.

          • Harvey Reading February 12, 2016

            The spell check for comments has been here forever. Nothing new. Auto replacement? I dunno. It’s never tried that with me. Sounds like some new version of Grammatic (which gets underlined as a misspelled word). Hated it then and wouldn’t use it, and would hate whatever it is called now.

        • LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

          Thanks, Stephen.

        • LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

          Thanks.

      • Stephen Rosenthal February 12, 2016

        Louis,

        It’s not Google, it’s your operating system or word processing software. You can turn it off, but I can’t explain how in your case because each system (Apple, Microsoft, etc.) is different. Best way is to search in your computer or software settings; there should be a link for spell check that can be turned off. On an iPad or iPhone it’s under General – Keyboard – Check Spelling. I believe it defaults to “on” these days. Used to be the other way around; but my suspicion is there are so many imbeciles that don’t have even rudimentary cognitive abilities these days that the tech industry now dumbs down the most basic of intellectual functions.

        • james marmon February 12, 2016

          I don’t think we can change it on our end. It’s all part of a diabolical scheme to auto correct the whole world.

        • LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

          Jesusfuckingchrist–i can’t figure out where my replies are going to appear.
          First thank you was for Stephen. Second was to Harvey. This one is for Lady de Castro.

          I appreciate the suggestions.

          Will try them tonight.

        • AVA News Service Post author | February 13, 2016

          Mr Rosenthal is correct. Spell-check and Auto-correct are controlled via your application software and/or operating system.

          Start by adjusting the settings in the application you use to access this website. For example, if you are using Safari or Chrome, go to their menu settings found under: Edit / Spelling and Grammar

          If that doesn’t stop the unwanted behavior, move on to your operating system preferences. For example, in Mac OSX it is found under: System Preferences / Keyboard / Text

          Good luck and happy hunting!

  12. james marmon February 12, 2016

    RE: Privatization Push.

    With all due respect Ms. Shearn, I do not suspect that the Board of Supervisors even want to hear the word privatization for a while. We can thank Ms. Cryer and her mishandling of the Mental Health Department for that. I’m sure the Union is flexing its muscles here as well, especially in light of all “public abuse” County employees are experiencing these days.

    You guys need to demand that Cryer make the shelter’s operation completely transparent, a public takeover of operations. She has proven she lacks leadership skills.

  13. james marmon February 12, 2016

    Public Abuse

    “Any public criticism of Mendocino County employees and/or elected officials.”

    Ref: Marmonary.

    • james marmon February 12, 2016

      I guess I have to add “contractors and subcontractors” to my definition as well. Any suggestions?

      • BB Grace February 12, 2016

        ASOs and the subcontractors by name: HC, Manzenita, Action, etc..

        Kemper report suggests several ways for the County to be more RECEPTIVE to the public.

        It;’s time the “public abuse” be put away and the public embrace to begin.

  14. Jim Updegraff February 12, 2016

    The easy way to avoid spell check is to spell the word correctly as you type.

    • LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

      To err is human.
      To forgive is being a lily-livered sissy.

  15. Bruce McEwen February 12, 2016

    Nearing the end of Joe Ellis’s biography of George Washington, His Excellency, and as the myths are stripped away, the personality that emerges is someone very similar to The Donald.

  16. Jim Updegraff February 12, 2016

    A cell phone I do not have – I rather spend time with my citrus and fruit trees, and reading. Just finished reading Lloyd Lee Wilson’s “Essays on the Quaker Vision of Gospel Order”. And of course subscribe to a number of publications such as Foreign Affairs, books by associate members of the Jesus Seminar(I’m a long time Associate) plus astrophysics. Read several U. S. and foreign newspapers every day.No time for ‘selfies’, twittering and all that crap.

    • james marmon February 12, 2016

      I believe Susie de Castro is what they call technologically advanced. She has evolved.

    • LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

      I like to think (and
      the sooner the better!)
      of a cybernetic meadow
      where mammals and computers
      live together in mutually
      programming harmony
      like pure water
      touching clear sky.

      I like to think
      (right now, please!)
      of a cybernetic forest
      filled with pines and electronics
      where deer stroll peacefully
      past computers
      as if they were flowers
      with spinning blossoms.

      I like to think
      (it has to be!)
      of a cybernetic ecology
      where we are free of our labors
      and joined back to nature,
      returned to our mammal
      brothers and sisters,
      and all watched over
      by machines of loving grace.

      Richard Brautigan

      Nice poem.
      Me? I have no use for the stuff.

      • BB Grace February 12, 2016

        i have found what you are like

        the rain,

        (Who feathers frightened fields
        with the superior dust-of-sleep. wields

        easily the pale club of the wind
        and swirled justly souls of flower strike

        the air in utterable coolness

        deeds of green thrilling light
        with thinned

        newfragile yellows

        lurch and.press

        -in the woods
        which
        stutter
        and

        sing

        And the coolness of your smile is
        stirringofbirds between my arms;but
        i should rather than anything
        have(almost when hugeness will shut
        quietly)almost,
        your kiss

        by e e cummings

    • Harvey Reading February 12, 2016

      How positively gruesome. Reading a book from a screen is among the last things I would ever care to experience. The only thing I use my “stupid”, early 2000s cell phone for is making outgoing, long-distance calls. The rest of the time, it’s OFF.

      • Kathy February 12, 2016

        How would you like a soothing voice to read your books to ya? ?

        • Harvey Reading February 12, 2016

          Why, Miz Kathy, I do declare!

  17. Mark Scaramella February 12, 2016

    Who was that 19th century aristocrat Lady who, when first told how the telephone worked, complained, “You mean you just pick it up, like a servant?”

    • LouisBedrock February 12, 2016

      Uhhh, Nancy Reagan?

  18. Jim Updegraff February 12, 2016

    Ugh, I can give you a reason for every suggestion you made why it does not appeal to me. I don’t have a debit card and being an old Oakland boy I am pretty much a cash and carry guy. I do use credit cards but never carry over a balance. If my monthly statement is say $411 I just write a check for $500 – the same for the utility bills. I don’t like to play around with odd dollars and pennies. Never have an interest charge. My FICO score – don’t know and don’t care.

    As for books I like hard cover copies – have a library of about 2,000 books – have read most once and sometimes more than once. Includes reference books. Also keep files on various subjects like Jewish Voices for Peace. Use to keep these files on my computer but got hacked and lost all my files. Too damn expensive to have someone try to recover the info from the hard drive. Only have to worry about a house fire but then that would also get the computer.

    So as you can see I don’t need a Smart phone or want one but thanx for the suggestion.

  19. james marmon February 12, 2016

    My last comment is in moderation.

    mod·er·ate.

    VERB

    1.make or become less extreme, intense, rigorous, or violent:

    “I shall not moderate my criticism” ·
    [more]

    synonyms: die down · abate · let up · calm down · lessen ·
    [more]

    2.(in academic and ecclesiastical contexts) preside over (a deliberative body) or at (a debate):

    “a panel moderated by a Harvard University law professor”

    synonyms: chair · take the chair of · preside over

    3.monitor (an Internet forum or online discussion) for inappropriate or offensive content.

    4. physics

    retard (neutrons) with a moderator.

    Powered by Oxford Dictionaries · © Oxford University Press · Translation by Bing Translator

    • Harvey Reading February 12, 2016

      Yeah, les us-all just get along. Give those bullies whatever they want, and, especially, give them their freedom to trample and run rough-shod over what belongs to all of us. Hallelujah.

  20. Jim Updegraff February 12, 2016

    Oh Suzie, Suzie – you totally missed my point. I live a simple live – for me, all these gadgets are play toys for the intellectually challenged.

  21. Jim Updegraff February 12, 2016

    Louis – I think your comments Mr/Miss Grace are well founded.

  22. Bruce McEwen February 12, 2016

    Oct. 4th, 1777:
    “At the end of the battle the British still held the field, and American casualties, about one thousand, doubled those on the British side. Nevertheless, Washington insisted that the battle could have easily gone the other way… He even adopted a victorious posture toward Howe, making a point of returning Howe’s dog, which had been found wandering the battlefield…”
    From: His Excellency, the new bio of Geo. Washington by Joe Ellis

  23. Bruce McEwen February 12, 2016

    Gargantuan, Boswellian turn out on the comments page this fine day, and I must say how MUCH FUN it is to participate, even marginally, in such a refreshingly erudite conversation! The bungling repartee on most webpages either shock me into over-reacting or gag me mute with the depth and compression of their idiocy; but not here, ladies and gentlemen of the readership, here we have glib, gallant gents, verbally waltzing w/ the notions of ladies who, like Dorthy Parker, brush their teeth and sharpen their tongues first thing every morning. This is a marathon, and I’m just saying, the night is young.

  24. Harvey Reading February 13, 2016

    A butler? About the last thing I need or have even thought about needing.

  25. Harvey Reading February 13, 2016

    Simple. They are not fantastic if one does not consider them to be fantastic. It’s a matter of perception. They’re just gadgets to me. I have no use whatever for one.

  26. Harvey Reading February 13, 2016

    People have been imagining going to new places since the species evolved. In that regard, 1865 is just a billionth or so of a second in the past.

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