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Mendocino County Today: Thursday, May 12, 2016

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AS REPORTED YESTERDAY, Dan Kuny, 61, the popular logger and Anderson Valley High School football coach, was nearly killed early Tuesday morning when a tree fell on him as he worked in a forest near Jackson in the Sierra foothills. Kuny's workmate, a young man so far identified only as Jeff, is credited by the badly injured Kuny with saving his life. It was Jeff who found the almost fatally injured Kuny, and it was Jeff, reinforced by men working nearby, who cut Kuny free from the tree crushing him. A helicopter medical team carried the downed logger to the Doctor's Medical Center, Modesto, where he has already undergone surgery on a crushed ankle. According to his close friend, Tony Pardini, Kuny was "awake and laughing this morning that he's “happy to be alive."  The irrepressible Kuny suffered at least two cracked vertebrae, a broken collarbone, a separated shoulder, four broken ribs, and broken fingers. Brittany Kuny, the logger's daughter, said Wednesday that her dad was alert and talking although suffering considerable pain. "I hold the phone up to his ear so he can talk to people close to him." Ms. Kuny said that doctors told her her father's muscular frame "saved his internal organs from being crushed." Kuny is a famously fit man committed to weight training much of his adult life.

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THE AVA AS KRYPTONITE. To all the right people. The mayor of Fort Bragg, as Judy Valadao attempted to speak the other night at a City Council meeting, Mayor Turner, sputtered, "You write for the AVA," as if she had been caught in the act of a major crime. The AVA has published lots of stuff from Turner's opponents because their hometown paper, the Advocate-Beacon, won't.

MS. VALADAO, like much of Fort Bragg, is opposed to conversion of the Old Coast Hotel to dubiously rendered services for the homeless. The project's advocates, led by Turner, a fussy little man of the self-regarding type ubiquitous in Mendocino County's public bureaucracies these days, are angry that the hotel deal is not only being questioned but challenged via a June ballot initiative that would prohibit social services of the homeless-helping type from the center of town. In any other community anywhere a homeless center in a tourist-dependent town would be similarly opposed because today's homeless are almost all drunks, drug addicts and petty criminals with no desire to re-enter conventional life.

THE TURNER TYPES, of course, make it seem as if the homeless are widows and orphans temporarily down on their luck. Example: They are claiming that an art gallery in the same area as the Old Coast Hotel that is run for the benefit of the developmentally disabled would also be prohibited if Fort Bragg's Measure U passes. No it wouldn't. There's a huge difference between the DD people and drug and alcohol-deranged transients. No one is complaining about the art center and no one is likely to demand it be closed if Measure U passes.

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"UPDATE ON CAT SHELTERS IN NOYO HARBOR BEING DESTROYED: A volunteer went to feed the cats today and was stopped by several law officers who told her to stop; that she was not allowed to feed the cats. She was told if they caught her she would be fined. And then if she continued after the fine, she would be arrested! My husband, a friend and I went and fed as many cats as we could find late today. They were starving!"

And the Harbor Lite Lodge has been hearing about it from the Noyo Habor cat lovers too.

Comments are showing up on the Facebook page like this:

Really not okay that they made the city tear down the cat shelters and feeding stations because of a raccoon complaint. I won't recommend this place to anyone anymore.

Very upset that they have requested local officials to destroy harbor cat condos and stop the community from caring for the abandoned animals!

The motel can't do anything about the HUMAN transients that drink, smoke pot & openly urinate during daylight hours on the path down to the harbor from the motel but they can certainly do something about that pesky cat population — and the couple raccoons who also hang around.

FBcats2

PHOTO—A viewer photo of the cats in Noyo Harbor Tuesday night.

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JUST IN: City Changes Course After Howl Of Protest From Cat Lovers
Will Now Build $10 Million "Cat Wall' In Harbor

The Fort Bragg City Council met in emergency session this morning and canceled the plans to sell the feral harbor cats to the Hospitality House to be used as the main menu item at the proposed cafeteria run by homeless, unsanitary transients at the Old Coast Hotel.
"

The public has spoken loud and clear," the Mayor said, "they do NOT want us to sell wild cats like they were wild salmon, but we do still have a problem with feral cats in the harbor."

"In order to address this problem," the Mayor continued, "We have applied for an emergency $10 million federal grant to 'wall off' the cats from climbing the city's hill and possibly getting into the city and mix with the civilized city cat population."

The city is also hoping the management of the Hospitality House will oversee the construction project (for a hefty $1.5 million fee).
The mayor said the 20-foot 'wall' will be see-through chainlink fence topped with razor wire. "To some it might appear like we're taking a page out of the Donald Trump playbook, but we've been thinking about this for a while. It'll look like the scenic fence the sheriff designed for the Mendocino Adult Detention Facility off Low Gap Road in Ukiah," he said. "It will be pleasing to the eyes of the many transients who have spent time locked up, it'll be nostalgic for them actually."

The passive solar-electrified fence will run along the city property line on the hill to the north of Harbor Drive and hopefully confine the felines to the harbor. There will also be a low-voltage solar-charged, electrified, "cat proof" but "people friendly" gate on the access trail to the harbor.

Plus the City Manager has indicated she will direct the Fort Bragg Police to assign three policemen to patrol the fence 24-hours per day (using expensive aerial drones and even more expensive electric motorcycles so they can sneak up quietly on potential felines trying to escape) to make sure no feral cat gets into the city. They have been assigned "00" badge numbers to indicate their "license to kill cats" status. She will be seeking a grant for the "emergency" policing.

The city council, on a 3-2 vote, agreed with the mayor and City Manager the grant should be applied for — the sooner the better — they said. 
Construction may be started as soon as July.

(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

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SKUNK SKUNKED for RemCo parcel? Tonight's Willits City Council meeting should be a hot one. Robert Pinoli Jr., primary owner of the popular tourist train that once linked Willits and Fort Bragg, says he thought he had a fair shot at acquiring the central Willits parcel to develop it around the train only to see the property awarded to Willits developer Ed Mitchell and Willits mayor, Bruce Burton. The disputed site has long been vacant while it was cleansed of pollutants.  Anne Farr of the Remco Remediation Trust said Monday that Pinoli had never “renewed” his offer after both offers expired.  Mitchell’s group did renew their expired offer, according to Farr.  Was it because the Willits City Council in July asked for “planning, financial records and completion guarantees” from both buyers? If so, was that not prudent to ask if the Skunk Train had the $2 million to develop the site – that’s what PInoli told the Press Democrat it would cost for his plan. Or was it because the Trust asked both buyers to agree to continued access by the Trust for monitoring groundwater, and Pinoli said no?

 


From: Robert Jason Pinoli

Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Subject: Skunk Train - REMCO Property, Willits

Greetings –

After it became known that Mendocino Railway was working with the Willits Environmental Remediation Trust (WERT) to acquire the REMCO property, Mayor Bruce Burton and [local Willits businessman] Ed Mitchell suddenly expressed an interest in the same property. WERT subsequently unilaterally imposed new conditions on its signed agreement with Mendocino Railway, effectively shutting Mendocino out of the purchase process. If you followed the Willits City Council meetings last June, July, and August you could see this happening. Mendocino Railway arrived at the meetings fully prepared and ready to respond to questions from the City Council. Mendocino also presented a detailed, and factually supported plan, for the use of the property, which has a clear benefit to the entire community. Yet Mendocino Railway was, and remains, shut out and representatives of the City of Willits won't even discuss REMCO with us.

A Willits City Council meeting is scheduled for tomorrow night (Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 6:30 pm) at which it appears the City may consider the sale of the REMCO property to Mayor Burton and Ed Mitchell.

We are giving you notice of this meeting in the event you wish to attend and express your concerns about the process or express your support of Mendocino Railway and the Skunk Train.

Thank you,

Robert


 

REMCO SALE: WILLITS COUNCIL BEING ASKED TO DECIDE

by Linda Williams

The Willits City Council is poised to decide the fate of the Remco Hydraulics site at Franklin Ave. and S. Main Street at tonight’s council meeting. The original two proposals for the site, one from the Skunk Train and the second from Mayor Bruce Burton and business partner Ed Mitchell, were tabled in July 2015 until certain legal and financial issues associated with the final site cleanup were addressed.

Since that date, according to information provided on May 10, 2016, by City Manager Adrienne Moore, the Skunk Train is no longer being considered a viable purchaser; leaving the Burton-Mitchell partnership with the sole suitable development proposal.

According to Philip C. Hunsucker representing the Willits Environmental Remediation Trust (WERT), the city is being asked to approve, by May 11 or soon thereafter, to approve the proposal for redevelopment of the Remco site prepared by the Mitchell group.

WERT, according to Hunsucker, will not enter into a contract with the Skunk Train for the sale of the Remco site. “Among other reasons, the Trust will not enter into a new contract with the Skunk Train because it has refused to enter into a declaration of environmental restriction that would make conditions necessary to protect human health and the environment run with the land, requiring any subsequent owners to adhere to the conditions.”

WERT is requesting the city affirm that on the date the Remco facility passes from WERT to the buyer, in this case the Mitchell group, any obligation for WERT to remove the building be satisfied.

That this proposal relieves WERT from having to remove the structure is clear. How this proposal satisfies the city’s requirement of WERT that any developer who expects to reuse the structure has provided sufficient assurances and timelines for project execution is unclear.

On Jan. 13, 2016 the city council withdrew from a portion of the Remco cleanup lawsuit and paved the way for an historic agreement between all those financially liable for the cleanup to move forward. This agreement, once approved by the court, fully funded the final cleanup of the site by the Willits Environmental Remediation Trust (WERT).

The framework now exists to finish the site cleanup sufficiently to receive a “no further action” letter from the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. This is estimated to take another 5 years.

Once the final cleanup was assured, the council required WERT to require any developer wishing to purchase the Remco site from WERT to present the city with a “development plan and detailed project financing plan, including phase by phase budgets and financial statements (including “sources and uses” breakdowns) reasonably acceptable to the city; and completion assurances, such as payment bonds, performance bonds, or other construction related surety bonds or completion guaranties, reasonably acceptable to the city, to guarantee completion of development work through issuance of a certificate of occupancy.”

Two groups made offers on the property in June 2015, The Skunk Train and the Burton-Mitchell partnership. The Skunk Train proposed a year ‘round terminal, museum, maintenance and construction facility. Burton and Mitchell proposed a brew pub and commercial and industrial complex. These offers expired last year.

In June 2015 WERT asked the city to allow it to sell the property as is and avoid the more than $1.5 million cost to remove the structure and foundation of the existing Remco building. The original Remco settlement provided the city a unique oversight role in the future development of the site. By agreement, if the city doesn’t approve the WERT recommended development—which reuses the building, it can instead require WERT to remove the building down to bare soil within 15 months.

The federal court approved the final amended consent decree in the Remco action on May 6.

(courtesy The Willits News)

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LE STILL LOST AT SEA

On Monday, 05-09-16, at about 8:00 AM, a 57 year old man from Oakland, and several of his friends and family went into the Pacific Ocean near Moat Creek Beach, Point Arena, in search of abalone. The missing person was diving nearby and did not surface. As the group searched for him, 911 was called. Members of the Redwood Coast Volunteer Fire Department were dispatched, Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies and Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue volunteers also responded, and the United States Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter. The diver was not located and by the time search divers had arrived the ocean had become too rough. The searchers continued to search along the beaches until the evening without locating the diver. Mendocino County Search and Rescue volunteer divers plan to dive the area at daybreak on 05-10-16, weather permitting.

*UPDATE* 05-10-16: Mendocino County Sheriff Volunteer Search and Rescue members resumed the search this morning, assisted by maritime wardens of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW). In addition to SCUBA divers, searchers examined the area from the bluffs with binoculars, and a DFW vessel assisted in the efforts. The missing person, David Tan Le, was not located before the search was suspended due to hazardous sea conditions. The search will resume on 05.11.16.

*UPDATE 2* 05-11-16: Mendocino County Sheriff Volunteer Search and Rescue members resumed the search this afternoon, again assisted by maritime wardens of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) and the US Coast Guard. Today SCUBA divers searched the area at high tide, which provided access to underwater areas that were inaccessible the day before and also provided improved water clarity. The divers and searchers on the bluffs with binoculars thoroughly searched the place where David Tan Le was last seen. A DFW vessel also assisted in the efforts. David Tan Le was not located, nor were any indication of additional areas to search identified. The search has been suspended, pending indications suggesting where to resume the search.

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LOGGING PLAN ALONG GUALALA RIVER FACES OPPOSITION

by Mary Callahan

A disputed plan to log century-old redwoods along the Gualala River is running into stiff opposition from environmentalists who say the days of timber operations near North Coast streams, even on land long used for commercial logging, should be over.

Opponents of the proposed timber harvest in northwestern Sonoma County are again taking aim at a project they say poses potential harm to wildlife and plants. It would harvest trees on about 330 acres in the river’s flood plain.

The use of heavy equipment in such an area to handle and haul away downed trees is not appropriate and shouldn’t be allowed by the state, opponents say.

“It’s an ecosystem. It’s not just a tree farm,” said Chris Poehlmann, president of Friends of the Gualala River, a nonprofit group that has taken a tough stand on other logging and vineyard conversion projects in the watershed, home to greatly diminished runs of coho salmon and steelhead trout.

But representatives of Gualala Redwood Timber Inc. say the proposed logging, revised from original plans, is not the intense harvest that critics fear and will be carried out with safeguards for the environment. The company is the relatively new owner of more than 29,000 acres of timberland straddling the Sonoma-Mendocino county line and stretching inland from the coastal town of Gualala and the mouth of the Gualala River, site of a Sonoma County park.

State rules prohibit any logging within 30 feet of a stream, said Gualala Redwood Timber spokesman Henry Alden, and require 80 percent of the canopy cover left intact within 150 feet.

“The rhetoric is about the devastating impact,” Alden said. “… I understand the concerns, but I don’t think they’ll be realized. In fact, I’m confident they will not.”

The debate reflects continuing friction over traditional timber practices in a region where conservation interests have acquired large swaths of forest land to manage for habitat restoration and wildlife corridors, with limited logging away from sensitive areas.

It also represents a tug of war over continued logging on a swath of mixed redwood and Douglas fir forest that conservationists had coveted before it was purchased last spring by the Roger Burch family and their company, San Jose-based Pacific States Industries.

Environmental activists point to damage done by a century of logging and other activities in the watershed. They argue that it needs a rest.

Many in the coastal community also cling to hope that the regional park at the river’s mouth may one day be expanded to take in some or all of the riverfront acreage at issue. Sonoma County Regional Parks was among the conservation interests outbid in the property’s purchase last year.

Community wildlife columnist Jeanne Jackson and her husband, Richard, have collected over 1,000 signatures on a petition urging Gualala Redwood Timber to preserve the redwood stands along the river and consider selling the land to a conservation group.

Many of us have walked this land for decades,” Jackson, a resident of nearby Anchor Bay, wrote recently. “We call it the ‘Magical Forest’ and the ‘Enchanted Forest.’ To log it would be a disgrace.”

The area was clear-cut at the turn of the last century, and has been thinned a few times since, leaving second-growth redwoods all in the 100-year-old range, said Alden, the Gualala Redwood Timber spokesman, who also managed the property under the previous owner.

The new owners were “fully aware that there’s a movement that would like it to become a park of some sort,” he said. But those owners have relied on logs from the site for more than 30 years to keep sawmills running and will continue to need that supply going forward, Alden said.

A sale to conservation interests, he said, is “not something they are willing to contemplate at this point.”

The so-called “Dogwood” harvest plan, now up for a third round of public review, covers 402 acres divided among nearly two dozen sites strung along eight miles of the Gualala’s South Fork, beginning about 200 feet beyond the Gualala Point Regional Park campground. Standing trees will screen the logging site, Alden said. About 70 acres would remain unlogged.

In addition, the company must leave the 13 largest trees on each acre of land untouched, a practice necessary to meet the requirement to preserve 80 percent of the forest canopy.

Cal Fire Timber Administration Manager Bill Solinsky said it was likely the proposal would earn approval soon after the current 30-day public review period closes Monday.

But Robert Coates, executive director of the environmental group Forests Unlimited, said the plan needs a closer analysis that would give a fuller account of its potential impacts.

Coates signaled that his group is considering a court challenge against the project on environmental grounds.

“We feel that there’s more than enough evidence to sustain a successful lawsuit,” he said.

Annapolis biologist Peter Baye said approval of the plan would jeopardize the survival of potential wetland plant life, invertebrate populations important to salmon as food and the flood plain’s ability to filter sediments.

Regulators that “clamored” for rules to protect fish aren’t upholding them, he said.

“This is in the flood plain, and there are special rules for it, and they’re blowing those off,” Baye said.

But Jim Burke, senior engineering geologist and a forestry specialist with the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, disagreed with Baye’s assessment and said the project has adequate safeguards. He said he has carefully considered public comment, revisited the logging sites and harvest maps, and believes the company “did a good job of it.”

“I keep a pretty close eye on this property,” Burke said, adding that he had inspected a 112-acre harvest in the flood plain on the opposite side of the river.

“It looks OK,” he said.

(Courtesy, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.)

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CATCH OF THE DAY, May 11, 2016

Ball, Bolton, Bradshaw
Ball, Bolton, Bradshaw

STEPHANIE BALL, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia.

JOHN BOLTON IV, Willits. Drunk in public, probation revocation. (Frequent flyer.)

RYAN BRADSHAW, Willits. Failure to appear.

Bruno, Etherton, Freeman
Bruno, Etherton, Freeman

CLARENCE BRUNO, Rio Linda/Covelo. Possession of ammo by prohibited person.

RYAN ETHERTON, Ukiah. Controlled substance, probation revocation.

MICHAEL FREEMAN*, Covelo. Probation revocation.

Guzman-Velasquez, Holm, King
Guzman-Velasquez, Holm, King

LORENZO GUZMAN-VELAZQUEZ, Ukiah. Pot cultivation, possession for sale, armed with firearm,

ELIZABETH HOLM, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

SHANE KING, Redwood Valley. Failure to appear.

Martin, Oothoudt, Saulter
Martin, Oothoudt, Saulter

JENNIFER MARTIN, Kelseyville. Failure to appear.

CLAYTON OOTHOUDT, Nice/Ukiah. Drunk in public.

MICHAEL SAULTER, Willits. Drunk in public, failure to appear.

Shively, Strong, Vassar
Shively, Strong, Vassar

TYLER SHIVELY, Willits. Petty theft.

THEODORE STRONG, Oakland/Ukiah. Domestic battery.

RUSTI VASSAR, Willits. Carjacking, vehicle theft, dog theft, suspended license.

*Backpfeifengesicht

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DOCTORS AGREE WITH SANDERS on Universal Health Care

http://newamericamedia.org/2016/05/doctors-agree-with-sanders-on-universal-health-care.php

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CALIFORNIA STATE PARK RANGERS, assisted by multiple agencies, raided an illegal marijuana grow in Humboldt Redwoods State Park removing marijuana seedling plants, an assault rifle and toxic chemicals Monday, May 9, 2016.

Three armed suspects were located in a nearby illegal camp near Bull Creek and fled on foot when contacted by law enforcement. The three suspects remain at large.

At the illegal camp, rangers recovered an MK99 type assault rifle with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Rangers also found rodenticides and Furdadan, a highly toxic pesticide, within the grow site. Approximately 2,000 seedling marijuana plants were removed.

Twenty acres of State Park land had been illegally cleared of native vegetation. The marijuana plants were watered directly from water diverted from the tributaries of Bull Creek.

Forty cubic yards of trash, fertilizers, pesticides, rodenticides, water hoses, hazardous material and other supplies were removed from the area. Disposal costs were paid for in part with assistance from the Humboldt County Public Works’ “Measure Z” public safety funding.

The marijuana grow and camp was found within a quarter-mile of pristine old-growth redwood forest. Rangers were assisted by the California National Guard, California Highway Patrol, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Lear Asset Management. A team from the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps assisted with trash removal.

Anyone with information regarding this particular resource crime or others on our State Parks lands please contact California State Parks at (707) 445-6547.

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Book&Gun

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KZYX: IS ANYBODY HOME?

To each MCPB (KZYX) boardmember: answer your damn email, so writers can trust it's even getting to you, and that you're at least reading it.

MEG COURTNEY WROTE:

Dear Marco,

The board has received your email.  It is up to individual Board members whether they reply to it or not.  Unfortunately, your email seems to be more your opinions than facts. You are welcome, however, to express them on the BOD list serve or at our meetings during the public comment period.

MARCO McLEAN REPLIES:

Meg, after waiting over a week, how do /I/ know the board members have received the email? Watch this, here's how to do it: I just got home and sat down to deal with email and I'm taking a moment to reply to people who expect it, or might expect it. I expect this same courtesy of each of the board members. Last Tuesday I wrote, "Reply requested." If none of you have even a minute a day to deal with the public, why are you on the board of a public radio station?

Dues-paying members talking for three minutes at a board meeting once per year while the lot of you sit there stonefaced and pursed-lipped and then you say, /Next,/ is not enough. It's like talking to a wall. That's the way you're used to, because that's the way you've been allowed to get away with it. Nothing has changed with the advent of your so-called new regime; you've just painted over the problems with a friendlier-seeming color. That's a fact. And then you get all huffy when someone gets justifiably frustrated with you. You didn't need to call the cops on Jeff Wright. That was just mean. Likewise your surly cheerleader throwing his drink on Derek.

Your superfluous program directors both previous and present-day don't reply to email any better than the boardmembers do. I've been waiting for more than four years for my show to be scheduled on KZYX. Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio has been a gem among radio shows in Mendocino County for two decades — another fact. Oh: also you're paying people a thousand miles away very well to do their shows but you refuse to even consider paying locals at all, and that's not right.

There's plenty of money to do it, too. KMFB paid all of us by the hour to do our shows, and paid us a percentage of the underwriting money we brought in. KMFB covered the county with two transmitters, and didn't get any six-figure government grant, and paid $3,000 a month for fricking ever on a long-term loan, and paid the manager and /paid the owners/, and did everything for what I'm now told was about $200,000 a year. And that was a commercial operation. Think about that for a minute.

KNYO just had its tenth birthday party last Saturday. It was more pleasant and better attended than the KZYX annual membership party on May 2nd. Mountains of free pizza. Several permutations of a live band. Fire dancers... The main difference between KZYX and KNYO is transmitter power, meaning you have to pay about $20 a day to run your transmitters and KNYO has to pay more like forty cents a day. That's a difference of about $7,000 a year. Both stations maintain internet service and phones and various types of STLs. (KNYO has several more remote studios than KZYX does, and our various internet-based STL links break down less often than your /insanely expensive and byzantine system/.) Both stations have music publishers' fees to pay and all the FCC paperwork to do. KNYO has an office and storefront performance space in town; you don't have that, but our basic arrangement is very similar to yours. Yet KNYO operates on between $10,000 and $12,000 a year, everything included. /You/ have to pay about $30,000 a year for NPR pablum — even so, keeping all the NPR shows, even though if you ask Lorraine you'll find out that the biggest complaint is /too much NPR/, really you could run KZYX for about $50-$60K a year. Pay the airpeople, and pay the manager by the hour for hours actually worked for the station, pay a competent engineer to pare things down and keep them simple, buy economical replaceables, and you could easily do the whole job for less than the CPB grant gives you and never have to do another egregiously unlistenable pledge drive again, and you could make every citizen in the service range an honorary, voting member. KZYX has been mysteriously pissing away more than half a million dollars a year each and every year since the beginning — that's just a plain fact. The only thing that's kept MCPB afloat all these years, since the very beginning, because of overpaid incompetent management chosen and employed and defended by people like you, is the CPB grant. Without that, you would have failed utterly every year. FOUR MILLION DOLLARS — that's how much tax-derived money KZYX has absorbed and frittered away so far. These are all facts, Meg.

Lorraine is darling. She even charmed Bruce Anderson. Keep Lorraine. But she can and should do the job of radio station manager without needing Raoul or David Steffen or anyone else to sit in the office and pretend to be useful, and — getting back to KNYO — Bob Young does all necessary management by himself, for free, in a lazy afternoon per month. Bob Woelfel managed KMFB and also answered the phones and did the paperwork. Radio is /easy/. If Lorraine is being run ragged babysitting the equipment and manually connecting and disconnecting remote shows, and if that's the reason you feel the need to pay her $5,000 a month (five times the entire monthly budget of KNYO!), replace the offending equipment with something made in this century, from off the shelf at Best Buy, and solve that problem, so she can do what she's there to do and relax.

Last year I applied to manage KZYX, and the hiring committee that Stuart Campbell appointed, as his last act in a series of sleazy acts as board chairman (so he could be manager), tossed my application as soon as it arrived. John Sakowicz had to shame Clay into acknowledging that I'd applied at all. If I hadn't copied my application to the AVA and the MCN Announce list you wouldn't even have known. More facts.

All right... point me to the BOD subscription page, then, so I can subscribe. I'll try that for awhile, then I'll share it with my listeners on KNYO and KMEC, and start a letter-writing campaign if it occurs to me to be necessary. If anyone's show belongs on KZYX, mine does. And if you're going to keep paying the bosses and the chair-fillers in the office, the airpeople deserve to be paid first. If after all this time you can't grow up and figure out how to straighten that out, you don't deserve to be in proximity to the levers of power there. The three frequencies you use don't belong to you to be secretive incommunicado Nixonian control freaks with them; they're natural resources that belong to all of us. Act like it every day.

And, to each boardmember: answer your damn email, so writers can trust it's even getting to you, and that you're reading it. I don't believe for a minute that you're overwhelmed with missives from the public.

—  Marco McClean

memo@mcn.org

http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

* * *

BERNIE HAD HIS CHANCES, he could have hit Clinton hard from the start of the campaign. He could have reversed course and left the party.  But now he finds himself in league with the Neocons, the Kochs and the Bush family oligarchs, ready for Hillary.  Whether he ends up on the ticket or just a pied piper, the Feel The Bern Movement is as good as dead and buried as a force for change, just as the Democrat establishment always intended.

— John Stauber

* * *

RAIN DELAYS LEAD TO MOTHERS DAY CELEBRATION

With unexpected showers causing a delay in the 2016 opening of Ukiah Speedway, Mothers were treated to a special day of racing. Saturday found clouds and misty conditions as diehard fans took their seats in the grandstands at Ukiah Speedway. As the cars warmed up, the sky clouded up and drops began to fall on the track. The decision was made that Mother Nature was in charge and fans were given rain checks for a future race. Because of the imposition of calling a race, racing promoter David Furia decided to treat all Moms to Mothers Day free grandstand entry.

With sun on the horizon, cars came out from under their covers and the racing was underway. The classes included Bandoleros, Taco Bell Bombers, Legends, Mini Stocks and Pacific Challenge Series Late Models. It was an exciting day of racing with trophies making their way to proud drivers.

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TWO FISH & GAME COMMISSIONERS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR APPOINTED

by Dan Bacher

Governor Jerry Brown on May 6 announced the appointment of two new members of the California Fish and Game Commission, Russell Burns of Napa and Peter Silva of Chula Vista, to replace Jim Kellogg and Jack Bayliss who resigned at the end of last year.

The California Fish and Game Commission became embroiled in a heated controversy over the past couple of months when they broke a promise to anglers to require regional reviews of "marine protected areas" created under the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative every five years. On April 13, the  Commission moved forward with a controversial final Marine Protected Area “Master Plan” that instead postpones environmental assessments to every 10 years.

The three current members of the commission – President Eric Sklar, Vice President Jacque Hostler-Carmesin, and Member Anthony C. Williams – voted unanimously to approve the plan at its June meeting, in spite of the objection of California anglers and conservationists.

You can probably expect little change in direction with the two new Commission members, since both are apparently political insiders with the Brown administration. Judging from his resume, Burns appears to have little experience in fish and wildlife issues.

Silva has served in positions at the Metropolitan Water District, one of the major proponents of Governor Jerry Brown's Delta Tunnels, the U.S. EPA and the State Water Resources Control Board.

Burns, 55, of Napa, has been business manager at Operating Engineers Local Union 3 since 2006, where he has held several positions since 1994, including treasurer, financial secretary, district representative, special representative to the business manager and business agent.

This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Burns is a Democrat.

Peter Silva, 63, of Chula Vista, has been president and chief executive officer at Silva-Silva International since 2011. He served as assistant administrator for water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2009 to 2011, senior policy advisor at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California from 2005 to 2009 and vice chair at the State Water Resources Control Board from 2000 to 2005.

Silva was deputy general manager at the Border Environment Cooperation Commission from 1997 to 2000 and served in several positions at the City of San Diego Public Utilities Department from 1987 to 1997, including deputy director for water utilities, assistant deputy director for the clean water program and civil engineer. He was a resident engineer at the International Boundary and Water Commission from 1983 to 1987.

Silva was an engineer at the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board from 1982 to 1983, at the Otay Water District from 1980 to 1982 and at the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board from 1977 to 1980.

This position also requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Silva is a Democrat.

Then on May 9, the California Fish and Game Commission announced the hiring of Valerie Termini to serve as its Executive Director to replace Sonke Mastrup, who resigned from his position last year. Ms. Termini comes from California Ocean Protection Council staff where she has served as the fisheries policy advisor and as interim Executive Director.

“We’re very pleased that Ms. Termini has stepped up to serve this historic Commission,” claimed Commission President Eric Sklar. “She has shown real vision in addressing challenges and has demonstrated expertise in facilitating resolution to complex issues working with diverse groups of stakeholders. We are thrilled that she will be bringing this skill from her previous experience to the Commission’s work to the great benefit of the state.”

“We look forward to Ms. Termini’s guidance at the dais,” said California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham. “We’ve heard from a number of stakeholders that the Executive Director should be up to speed with the Commission’s vast authorities and have specific knowledge of marine policy issues. Ms. Termini’s background brings precisely this expertise.”

"Ms. Termini will be the first female Executive Director in the Commission’s history. She begins on May 16," according to the Department press release.

You can expect little to change under the leadership of the newly appointed Fish and Game Commissioners and the Commission's new Executive Director, since they will be following the marching orders of Jerry Brown, one of the worst Governors for fish, wildlife, water and the environment in recent California history.

Background: Jerry Brown's Terrible Environmental Legacy

The Governor's Delta Tunnels/California Water Fix "legacy project" poses a huge threat to the ecosystems of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Klamath and Trinity River systems, but it’s not the only environmentally devastating policy promoted by Governor Jerry Brown. Brown is promoting the expansion of fracking and extreme oil extraction methods in California and is overseeing water policies that are driving winter run-Chinook salmon, Delta and longfin smelt and other species closer and closer to extinction.

Jerry Brown also oversaw the "completion" of so-called “marine protected areas” under the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, overseen by a Big Oil lobbyist and other corporate interests, in December 2012. These faux “Yosemites of the Sea” fail to protect the ocean from oil drilling, fracking, pollution, corporate aquaculture and all human impacts on the ocean other than sustainable fishing and gathering.

As if those examples of Brown’s tainted environmental legacy weren’t enough, Brown has promoted carbon trading and REDD policies that pose an enormous threat to Indigenous Peoples around the globe; has done nothing to stop clearcutting of forests by Sierra-Pacific and other timber companies; presided over record water exports from the Delta in 2011; and oversaw massive fish kills of Sacramento splittail and other species in 2011.

Brown spouts "green" rhetoric when he flies off to climate conference and and issues proclamations about John Muir Day and Earth Day, but his actions and policies regarding fish, water and the environment are among the worst of any Governor in recent California history.

For more information about the real environmental record of Governor JerryBrown, go to:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/25/1506146/-Govenor-Jerry-Brown-Celebrates-World-Water-Day-As-He-Promotes-Salmon-Killing-Delta-Tunnels

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Caesar

ALL HAIL CAESAR! This dog is what is known as a shelter gem. He has a great personality, and while he is considered a "senior," he's got LOTS of energy, loves walking (is good on a leash), and is very happy to be around people. He's got a mellow disposition, and he's in great health. Caesar would be a perfect fit for someone looking for a companionship without the need for lots of activity or training. Caesar will be thrilled to lie by your feet, sniff in the yard and hang on the couch. His easy going nature makes him a great dog to take on outings long or short. Caeser is 9 years young, 49 pounds and neutered—AKA ready to jump in the car with you TODAY. If you are looking for a lovable friend to spend your days with, please stop by the Ukiah Shelter today and meet Caesar. Or, call the Adoption Coordinator at 707-467-6453. Check out all the dogs and cats currently staying at the shelter at www.mendoanimalshelter.com. For lost pets, follow the link on our website to the county's Facebook page, for the most updated information.

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THE TRASH TRANSFER STATION THE MENDOCINO COAST DOES NOT NEED

Notice Of Availability And Notice Of Public Hearing And Request For Comments On The Revised Draft Environmental Impact Report For The Central Coast Transfer Station Project

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Caspar Joint Powers Authority (JPA) of the County of Mendocino and City of Fort Bragg, as Lead Agency, has completed a Revised Draft Environmental Impact Report (Revised Draft EIR) for public review and comment for the Central Coast Transfer Station project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).The Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority (MSWMA) is the representing partner agency of the Caspar JPA.

Applicant: Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority (MSWMA)

State Clearinghouse Number: 2014012058 AVAILABILITY OF DOCUMENT: Public review and written comments on the Draft EIR are invited. The document is available for review at the following locations:

1) MSWMA office, 3200 Taylor Drive, Ukiah, CA 95482

2) Fort Bragg City Hall, 416 N. Franklin Street, Fort Bragg, CA 95482

3) Fort Bragg Library, 499 E. Laurel Street, Fort Bragg, CA 95482

4) MSWMA website at: http://mendorecycle.org/

PUBLIC REVIEW AND COMMENT PERIOD: State law requires a minimum 45 day public review period for the Revised Draft EIR. The public review period begins on May 11, 2016 and ends June 24, 2016 at 5:00 p.m. All comments must be submitted to the MSWMA within this time period.

Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15088.5(f)(2), new public comment on this Revised Draft EIR shall be limited to the chapters or portions of the EIR which have been revised and recirculated (i.e., chapters 2.0, 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 3.9 and 4.0). In other words, the partial recirculation of the Revised Draft EIR is not an opportunity to re-submit comments or add additional comments on previously published topics left unchanged in the Revised Draft EIR.

Comments may be provided in writing, by email or orally at a public hearing or meeting. All comments received by the close of the comment period will be responded to in writing in the Final EIR. The Final EIR must be completed and certified by the Caspar JPA before a decision can be made on the proposed project.

Written comments may be submitted to: Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority, 3200 Taylor Drive, Ukiah, CA 95482, Attention Mike Sweeney, General Manager: sweeney@pacific.net. Telephone (707) 468-9710, Fax (707) 462-3517.

PUBLIC HEARING: A public hearing is scheduled for purposes of receiving public comments on the Draft EIR on June 16, 2016 at or after 6:00 p.m. at the Fort Bragg Town Hall, 363 N. Main Street, Fort Bragg, California.

PROJECT LOCATION: The proposed project site for the new transfer station is located in unincorporated Mendocino County approximately 3.5 miles southeast of downtown Fort Bragg. The site lies within the Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) at 30075 State Route 20 and includes a portion of Assessor's Parcel Number (APN) 019-150-05.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The project is the construction and operation of a municipal solid waste transfer station serving the incorporated City of Fort Bragg and the surrounding unincorporated coastal area of Mendocino County extending from the town of Westport to the Navarro River. The proposed transfer station location is within a 17-acre portion of JDSF (APN 019-150-05), adjacent to State Route (SR) 20, at 30075 SR 20, Fort Bragg, California, and is 3.0 miles east of the intersection of State Highway 1 and SR 20.

CEQA STATUS: The Revised Draft EIR has been prepared consistent with CEQA (Public Resources Code [PRC] Section 21000 et seq.) and the State CEQA Guidelines (California Code of Regulations [CCR] Title 14, Section 15000 et seq.). The project could result in significant impacts and mitigation measures have been proposed to reduce the significance of impacts to a less than significant level in the areas of: air quality and odor, biological resources, cultural resources, geology and soils, hydrology and water quality, and transportation. All other resource categories were deemed to be less than significant or have no impact. The project site is not on any of the lists of hazardous waste sites enumerated under Governmental Code Section 65962.5.

The original Draft EIR was issued in February, 2015. The Revised Draft EIR modifies the following chapters: Project Description, Aesthetics, Air Quality & Odor, Biological Resources, Hydrology & Water Quality, and Alternatives Description & Analysis, and adds an Appendix L Bishop Pine Mitigation Plan. All other chapters of the original Draft EIR are unaltered and are incorporated by reference into the Revised Draft EIR

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Chloe

CHLOE is a calico kitty living it up in the Cat Colony Room at the shelter. She's inquisitive, adventurous and likes to roam and be independent. She loves children sometimes she will even play with cat toys! Chloe would make a great family cat, however she does need a dog- free home as canines cause her some trepidation. Chloe is spayed, thus ready to take off for new adventure ASAP. If you think Chloe would be a good fit for your family please stop by the Ukiah Shelter today and meet her, or call the Adoption Coordinator at 707-467-6453. Check out all the dogs and cats currently staying at the shelter at www.mendoanimalshelter.com. For lost pets, follow the link on our website to the county's Facebook page, for the most updated information.

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TrumpRich

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BOOK LAUNCH:  So Much to be Done by Barbara Brenner

So Much to be Done:  The Writings of Breast Cancer Activist Barbara Brenner will be launched at a book celebration at Gallery Bookshop on Sunday, June 5th at 4:00pm.

Known within the Mendocino community, Barbara and her partner Suzanne Lampert spent many a holiday on the coast.  The power behind the national organization Breast Cancer Action, Barbara Brenner brought an abundance of wit, courage, and clarity to the cause and forever changed the conversation. Brenner's columns and blog posts, collected in So Much to Be Done, form a chronicle of breast cancer research and health care activism that is as inspiring as it is informative.

Join the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County along with the Mendocino Coast Jewish Community and Gallery Bookshop in launching this posthumous collection of her writings.  It will be informative and inspirings.  Please join co-hosts  Suzanne Lampert, Margaret Holub, and Sara O'Donnell as we celebrate and discuss Barbara Brenner's work. Praise:

"Barbara Brenner was anything but silent. She embodied the spirit of Audre Lorde, who believed that 'when I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less important whether or not I am afraid.' Barbara Brenner reminded us that sometimes it takes ruffling a few feathers to dislodge complacency." —Gayle A. Sulik, PhD, author of Pink Ribbon Blues

"Barbara was the person who most influenced my own thinking and writing about breast cancer. Only now is the rest of the world catching up to where she was over a decade ago on critical issues: the limitations and harms of screening, the problem with pinkwashing, the conundrum of DCIS, the dearth of funds for metastatic disease, the need to merge breast cancer activism and environmentalism, the need to better track research. I owe so much to Barbara as a writer, as a thinker, as an activist, as someone living with breast cancer, and as a woman." — Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter

"A visionary like Barbara Brenner comes along so rarely, and when such a person has left a wealth of insightful commentary filled with brilliant analyses and trenchant wit, we are doubly fortunate. Social justice activists, breast cancer and consumer advocates, academics, feminists, and anyone else interested in how breast cancer intersects with other key environmental and women's health concerns will find this edited collection of Barbara's writings a treasure trove of tools and ideas for making this world a better place for all." —Judy Norsigian, cofounder, Our Bodies Ourselves

"Barbara transformed how health scholars and advocates think and act politically. Her pointed and often comical reflections on pink ribbon culture and her experience of living with ALS challenged her readers to ask difficult questions about well-intentioned generosity and compassion, both individual and corporate. A thinker and a doer, Barbara inspired us to move beyond passive skepticism and toward action to challenge the status quo of health funding, research, and care." —Samantha King, author of Pink Ribbons, Inc.

 

7 Comments

  1. Bill Pilgrim May 12, 2016

    re: Jane Austin Book & Gun Club. Apart from the misspelling, brilliantly arch!
    Next up on their reading list:
    ‘Sights and Sensibility
    Ammo
    Lead Persuasion
    Winchester Park

  2. Bill Pilgrim May 12, 2016

    oops. Did it myself. Make that Austen.

  3. Bill Pilgrim May 12, 2016

    …The WaPo has been dead set against Bernie’s candidacy and proposals from day one. The WaPo is a neocon, neoliberal megaphone for the Establishment elites. Not one WaPo analysis of his economic plans should be taken seriously.
    Their steady stream of disinformation, omissions and distortions border on the hysterical.
    Perhaps that’s why trust in the mainstream media is now at a historic low among the citizenry…6%. Lower than Pravda was in the mid-twentieth century.

  4. Jim Updegraff May 12, 2016

    Dear Bruce, there is an article in today’s Sacramento Bee which is a must read for you: “Tribal members rock opera paints a sordid side of Sutter”. It is about Sacramento pioneer John Sutter and portrays him as a human trafficker who kidnapped women and children and enslaved hundreds of Indians and as a pedophile and murderer. aside from Sutter it also portrays Indian hunter Kit Carson and Capt. John c. Fremont.

    The opera was written by Indians and cast was all Indians from a number of tribes and many of the songs are sung in Niseman, the original language of the Maidu indians. Also discusses how the U. S. screwed the Indians out of 8 million acres of land. There will be shows at sierra College as well as Grass Valley and Auburn.

    Their next opera should be about the genocide of Indians in Lake, Mendocino and Humboldt Counties.

  5. Judy Valadao May 12, 2016

    Yes, Mayor Turner I do sometimes write for the AVA, just as I am doing now. I’m happy to hear that you read (or have read to you) articles in this paper. At least you get both sides that way.

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