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Mendocino County Today: Monday, Nov. 14, 2016

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LOOK UP, MENDO! Tonight and tomorrow night we get the largest supermoon in 68 years. The November full moon — also known as a Beaver Moon — is at its closest position to Earth since Jan. 26, 1948, about 30,000 miles nearer than it typically is. That proximity will make the moon seem 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than normal.

LITTLE DOG SAYS, "I was just a kid back in '48 during the last Big Moon. Mom wouldn't let me stay up to watch it, but Uncle Scaramella put me in a good spot tonight to see this one rise tonight. The coyotes were going crazy!"

dogatmoon1

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HEADED BACK TO MENDO COAST - CA-128 STILL FLOODED BUT PASSABLE @ 6:30 PM

The Navarro River sandbar STILL hasn't breached and Highway 128 just east of the bridge remains partially flooded. We've been gone more than seven hours and the water level on the roadway has increased. A check of the USGS Navarro gauge found it at 3.94' @ 6:15 pm - up from 3.88' this morning and 3.83' all day Saturday. We thought the large ocean swells combined with King tides (plus Friday night's rainfall) would be enough to breach the sandbar at the mouth - but those forces have been to no avail - so far. The sandbar was breached once this Fall, Saturday, October 30 around 10:00 pm. It closed back up after four days. (courtesy MendocinoSportsPlus)

This was the look at the scene Sunday @ 10:45 am (photo courtesy MSP)
This was the look at the scene Sunday @ 10:45 am (photo courtesy MSP)

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ON SATURDAY December 3rd at 5:30 pm, the final day of the 2016 Redwood Classic, the Anderson Valley basketball team of 1966, and arguably the best Panther team ever, will be honored. The '66 team won the Classic — the oldest tournament in the Redwood Empire — that year, defeating Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa, among other large-enrollment schools.

pantherbkball1966web

I RECOGNIZE many of the 1966ers. There's a Pronsolino, Charlie Hiatt, Rick Cupples, Jerry Blattner, Gene 'Yewgene' Waggoner, Danny Huey, and maybe Tony Summit. I don't recognize the other guys in the photo, but I'm confident by tomorrow night someone will have identified every one of them.

I GOT TO KNOW those I do recognize in — pause while I gaze back through the mists of time — 1971-2 when my crew, newly arrived in Boonville, often played men's league's games against the Boonville boys. The very first time we played Boonville we worked them over by about twenty points. We had two former college basketball players, including my late brother Ken who started for three years at Cal Poly where he averaged 12-15 points a game as a small forward. All of our "hippies" had played in high school. (We weren't hippies but, as Valley newcomers, we got lumped in with the hairy beasts who were also freshly descended on Mendocino County.)

OFF OUR FIRST contest with the Boonville boys, with us victorious, the Boonville guys promised next time they would have "Yewgene." We chuckled about that one for a week. "Look out, here comes Yewgene," we'd laugh.

NEXT GAME — we played Sunday afternoons in the high school gym — Yewgene indeed showed up. Looking at him you saw an unprepossessing dude of about 5'10" and not particularly athletic-looking. Catching a few warm-up glimpses of him, we figured "Yewgene" for a good player but nothing special.

THE GAME started with Yewgene immediately glassing one from about 25 feet at an oblique from the hoop. "He lucked that one," was our consensus but unspoken opinion. But Yewgene certainly didn't luck the next twenty or thirty shots he hit from every possible angle, and even from inside where we had some big guys we assumed could handle him. He was very quick, great passer, had a kangaroo-like vertical jump, played great defense. Yewgene and one other guy to in-bounds the ball to him probably would have beat us by themselves.

CHARLIE HIATT for Boonville was also a formidable outside shooter, and all of the Boonville guys were very good players. (I don't see LeRoy Perry in the photo but I remember men's league's games with him. Very good hoopster.) Yewgene was the difference, though. He was a college-level athlete who played, in fact, at Ol' Miss. We had some good athletes but none who could keep up with Yewgene.

IN THOSE YEARS, when we were all still young enough to get up and down the court and do something when we arrived, the men's leagues of Mendocino County were very strong, lots of good, even great basketball players. When Yewgene went head-to-head with the legendary Ukiah athlete, Kelvin Chapman, large crowds turned up to watch. My opinion? I'd say Yewgene had the edge over Chapman, but Chapman, who went on to play major league baseball with the Mets, is probably the best basketball player to ever come out of Ukiah, and certainly among the best ever from Mendocino County.

LAST YEAR'S PANTHERS were an excellent team, and a living testament to the coaching abilities of Luis Espinoza. But both the '66 team and the '81 team would have beat them, and beat them fairly easily. Coach E took a gang of excellent athletes and very good football players last season and made a basketball team out of them. But none of them could shoot. They made up for a lack of offense with full court defensive hustle and tenacity. For pure spectator value, however, last season's Boonville team was a delight to watch, the most fun team I've watched in all my years here. (Cesar Soto, Abraham Sanchez, Jared Johnston, Erin Perez, Alejandro Soto, Will Lemons, Joshua Sanchez, Izac Parra, Tony Pardini, Gerardo Torales, Christopher Espinoza, Cristian Natareno, and Elvis Gaxiola.)

THE TOLMAN TEAMS of the early 1980s simply blew everyone away except for Cloverdale, a team Boonville played tough, a team that went on to win the state championship a couple of years later. (The blow-outs by the Tolman teams included Ukiah, twice, and Ukiah would never play Boonville again.)

THE PANTHER TEAM of '66 also probably blew out a lot of the Northcoast's large and small schools, but nobody but sadists enjoys sitting through blow-outs. Last year's Boonville squad seldom blew anyone out but were a joy to watch even when they did.

THE '66 team, like the '81 team, could put five guys on the floor who could shoot. And they were big and strong.

The '81 team of Tolman, Aron O'Brien, Jeff Burroughs, Brian Roberts, Richie Wellington, Zack Anderson, GP Price, Olie Erickson, and Dennis Kerwin, with Yewgene as coach, and they played like Yewgene — run and gun, little to no defense — would, I think, lose to the '66ers because the '66ers would probably shut them down defensively. The Panthers of 2015-16 would also give both the earlier teams trouble on defense.

A GAME between the Panthers of 1966 and the Panthers of 1981 would be interesting, but I think '66 would win because they were big, strong, tough kids. '81ers, except for Tolman, would have been out-toughed by the '66ers. The 2016 kids were tough and fast, but tough and fast doesn't put the ball through the ring.

I'M TRYING to think back, trying to recover the best players I've seen in the County, and I always come back to the Oropeza brothers of Point Arena. I saw them play a couple of games I thought were flawless. Those two guys were right up there with Yewgene and Kelvin Chapman.

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MEANINGLESS GIBBERISH and seemingly random numbers are a staple of Mendocino County reports to the Board of Supervisors: 28 miles of roads, 1231 clients, $370 million in the bank, 0.03% interest, 980 full time staff, six vote counters, 28,844 votes left to count, six more weeks, 92% success rate… — We just made those numbers up, of course. But they’re as good as most of the numbers that Official Mendo likes to present — always out of context, frequently strewn in with even more meaningless descriptive terms like “visits,” “applications,” “helped,” “requests,” etc. The Supervisors never ask what the numbers mean or what the trends are. They keep no records. They let their presenters drone on meaninglessly for hours on end, saying nothing. Then they vote to “accept” the report. The entire Board room would erupt in outrage if a Supervisor ever violated niceness protocol by voting against “accepting” one of their meaningless departmental reports. (Actually, former Supervisor John Pinches did grumble once about a report from North Coast Opportunities and had to listen to another half an hour of more pseudo-explanatory gibberish from Supervisor Hamburg and the staffers as punishment for expressing skepticism).

IN THIS WEEK’S SUPERVISORS AGENDA we’re told that Redwood Quality Management Services — the County’s new Mental Health Services contractor (replacing the widely disparaged Ortner Management Group as of July 1) — has “served” 408 clients over the period from July 1 to September 30. The “service” was provided by RQMS’s subcontractors Manzanita Services which “served” 142 clients, the Coast Hospitality Center which “served” 70 clients, the Mendocino AIDS/Viral Hepatitis Network (MCAVHN) which “served” 26 clients, and Redwood Community Services (a subsidiary-ish subdivision of RQMS) which “served” 170 clients.

IS THAT GOOD? BAD? How many “clients” went “unserved” — i.e., delayed, disqualified or uninsured? Nothing. No numbers. The rest of this week’s Mental Health report doesn’t even bother to provide meaningless numbers. But we’re informed that Mental Health has “knitted together” a system of care and “expanded the capacity” and outpatient services. They have “collaborated” and “streamlined” and “supported consumers.” They are “dedicated.” They have expanded crisis services and outreach services; added a crisis residential program. They are “working collaboratively to expand the housing continuum” by addressing “the high cost of residential services.” They have identified the “need for local supportive living environments,” and “emergency, transitional and permanent living arrangements.” They are working on “other collaborative opportunities” with “new paths,” developing plans, “leveraging funding” including funds for the “whole person care pilot program” and the “National Stepping Up Initiative.” And on and on — the usual meaningless gibberish.

FOR FUN, we went back and looked at one of Ortner’s “reports” from June of last year. In Ortner’s “Access/Crisis Response” report they “serviced” 834 clients, 134 in “crisis” and 157 with “access.” 70 of them were even “billable.” Ortner also broke down their responses by response time and success at meeting arbitrary “goals.” The numbers didn’t even add up, not that it mattered or that anybody noticed.

BUT ORTNER allegedly “serviced” 834 clients while RQMS says they “serviced” only 408. By that measure Ortner was twice as good as RQMS. So what’s the problem? Why did Ortner have to go if they were servicing so many more clients?

OF COURSE the numbers mean nothing one way or the other. In fact, none of the reporting that Mendo does on anything means anything at all. Staff spends millions of dollars of taxpayer money and thousands of hours doing… something, managers spend time managing and cranking out meaningless stats and buzzwords. But nobody has a clue whether any of it is doing any good. It’s kinda like President Eisenhower used to say about the CIA: “The only thing they’re really good at is spreading money around.”

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HOME INVASION MARIJUANA MURDER IN LAYTONVILLE

On Friday, November 11, 2016 at 3:39 PM, Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were summoned to a reported man who had been murdered on a remote property located in the 49000 block of North Highway 101 in Laytonville, California. The property was a rural parcel approximately five miles from Highway 101, on a dirt road that traveled in a westerly direction.

Settler
Settler

Deputies responded to the scene confirming there was a male adult who was obviously deceased as a result of what appeared to be a violent assault. Mendocino County Sheriff's Detectives were summoned to the scene, along with Investigators from the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office and Criminalists from the California Department of Justice. During the investigation it was determined the deceased male adult, Jeffrey Quinn Settler, 35, of Bethel Island, California, was operating a commercial marijuana growing operation on the property.

In the early morning hours of 11-11-2016 (Friday), multiple subjects who had been recently employed by Settler as marijuana trimmers returned to the property in the middle of the night with the intent to commit robbery of processed marijuana. The investigation has revealed the subjects knew the marijuana was stored in the same structure where Settler slept and the subjects violently assaulted him during the robbery, causing his death. The subjects were believed to have fled the property in at least two vehicles and were believed to have stolen over 100 pounds of processed marijuana.

Stock blue 4-dr VW Golf sedan
Stock blue 4-dr VW Golf sedan

The subjects are believed to possibly be fleeing to Southern California or out of state. One of the vehicles is believed to be a blue 2017 Volkswagen Golf 4-door sedan displaying Virginia license plate number VHR5611. Sheriff's Detectives have obtained a murder/robbery felony arrest warrant for Zachary Wuester, who was identified as being one of the subjects involved in this case. Sheriff's Detectives have also identified Frederick Gaestel, Gary Blank III, Gary Lynn Fitzgerald and Amanda Weist as being participants in the robbery/murder. A statewide Be-On-The-Look-Out (BOLO) was disseminated for all the subjects and Sheriff's Detectives will be seeking arrest warrants on the remaining subjects in the near future. The investigation has shown no evidence or inference that the marijuana growing operation was for medical purposes and Sheriff's Detectives believe it was solely for the purpose of commercial gain. Any persons with information about this incident, or the current whereabouts of the named suspects are encouraged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Investigative Services Unit at 707-463-4421 or the Sheriff's Office Tip Line at 707-234-2100.

wgwsuspects
Zachary Wuester (L-with sunglasses), 24 year-old male from Haskell, New Jersey; Frederick Gaestel (M-middle), 27 years-old from Clifton, New Jersey; Amanda Wiest (R-right), 26 year-old female from Fairfax, Virginia

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RE: THE PHOTO OF KZYX'S NEW GM

Green
Green

It's Wally Shawn. "Never go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" "Inconceivable!" And so on. Perhaps Mr. Green isn't so Wally Shawnish in front view, but from the side, there he is.

I know I'm in the minority about this, but I didn't appreciate the movie version of Princess Bride; I was horrified at how they ruined an unruinable book, chiefly by casting. Mandy Patinkin and Billy Crystal, okay; everyone else, feh.

Wally played a number of small, much less well-known parts in his career, including an alien (human) scientist who offered to help the tenth-season Stargate SG-1 pair of Daniel and Vala be released from their unwanted techno-psychic bond with each other in return for the replacement of a stolen necklace. Wally's creepy-comic reverie, in his patented smarmy, arch, frog-lipped vocal fry, about sexy nights with Vala (actress Claudia Black) sticks in the mind. That's casting.

It might be too much to hope for, but when Terry Green introduces himself to KZYX listeners, if he can nail that Wallace Shawn voice and inflection, that'll be great. Or, better, if it just comes naturally. I don't know; I've never heard him. We'll see.

Here's a cartoon from the Santa Cruz Sentinel involving Terry Green and KUSP.

2747766

Apparently he managed KUSP for twelve years. By the time he was fired, a year ago, the station had been hemorrhaging at least $100,000 per year (his own salary?) on a budget of $1,000,000 (!), and had accrued, let's see, AllAccess reported, "$280,000 in loan debt and $435,000 in debt to NPR." /Debt to NPR/? By the time KUSP filed for bankruptcy, its "$843,000 debt included $56,000 to American Public Media, $12,000 to CPB, and $10,000 to the Pacifica Foundation."

So, when you say he'll be perfect for KZYX, I have to assume you mean he's their kind of combination fox-in-henhouse/potential scapegoat.

It's physically not possible for a radio station to cost that much to run, nor even a quarter that much, even if you're paying the airpeople what they're worth, which KZYX doesn't at all. The people running KUSP (R.I.P.) and KZYX (close to R.I.P) must have been something more than merely incompetent all along. Incompetent squared. Stupidly demonstrably incompetent. Not adorably naively well-meaningly mildly careless.

I know never to attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity. But stupidity alone just doesn't go far enough here.

If you have a 4,000 watt transmitter and electricity costs 15 cents per kilowatt-hour, it costs sixty cents an hour to keep a local airperson on the air. That's not 60 cents per listener, but a /total/ of 60 cents an hour. Add tower fees for a couple of translator stations, music publisher fees, lights, phone, internet and misc., pay all the airpeople $15 per hour of airtime and an hour extra for prep-- hell, add a whole brand new house on a fresh quarter-acre of land every year with a pony in the garage of each one and it still doesn't come anywhere close to a million dollars.

And here, you may be familiar with this cartoon. It was originally meant to describe software development, I think, but consider the recognizable tire swing at the end as radio:

tree-swing-project-management-large

Marco McClean
memo@mcn.org
http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

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HASN'T SAID YES YET

Subject: New GM at KZYX has bankruptcy expertise

Dear Editor:

I want to correct an error in the AVA’s Nov. 13 Mendocino County Today regarding the KZYX general manager position. The KZYX Board of Directors voted Nov. 7 to OFFER Terry Green the job of general manager. Mr. Green has not accepted. The KZYX Board of Directors will inform the AVA and all local media as soon as a new GM is hired.

Sincerely,

Jane Futcher

VP, KZYX Board of Directors

Willits

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goodlookingobjectsweb

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FROM THE AVA ARCHIVES (MCT, March 9, 2016):

There are two "wild card" candidates running in the primaries this year, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Granted, Trump is a lot wilder than Sanders, but as far as Democrats go Bernie "the Socialist" is getting pretty far out there. This is the year of the wild card.

Like the last time the baseball Giants won the Series, when they backed into the playoffs as the lowliest wild card team, then woke up and beat all the better-record teams to win the title. That was the year of Bumgarner.

But here we are two years later, and Americans want their political candidates anti-establishment. So up pops Donald Trump, one of the most unlikely candidates of all time, who finds himself boasting and berating his way to the top of the Republican heap. The GOP establishment is terrified (as are we all) but Donald is the man of the moment and he is seizing the opportunity. Trump has not locked it up yet, but it is getting very close.

On the other side, the Democratic Party has done a better job of propping up their establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton, and suppressing the people's will for something a little more risky. Many Democratic voters deeply Feel the Bern but the donkey overlords are steadily tamping that fire, and that will be to their ultimate detriment.

For if it comes down to Trump, the ultimate outsider, versus Clinton, the ultimate insider, I think the crude huckster will win. He will have passion and excitement and energy on his side, whereas Democrats will be trudging to the polls with betrayal, anger, and disappointment. President Trump will be a nasty shock, but not a surprise, and it will be just what the donkeys deserve. Sometimes, when things get rough, it helps to have a lighter hand on the tiller.

— Mike Kalantarian

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maddownotus

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MENDO MOBILIZES AGAINST ORANGE MAN

Thank you to the 100 people of all ages and many backgrounds who showed up yesterday in the heart of Mendocino at the #MobilizeMendo event to share their concern about a Donald Trump Presidency (even typing those words is surreal).

Thank you to the people who drove over from Laytonville, Ukiah and Willits, and up and down the Coast, after hearing about this event just on word of mouth, the list serve and Facebook.

The children led our march, and they are the ones who stand to lose the most. Thank you to the children for their courage and trusting that they could be heard.

Thank you to the people who helped to organize this first event on short notice, and who are helping to set up a Facebook Group and/or Facebook Page for #MobilizeMendo (stay tuned)

This was truly a beautiful gathering of people who were mobilized with less than 48 hours notice to come to the ocean, to gather in the little village of Mendocino and to express many different, but often similar, concerns about why we need to #DumpTrump and #MobilizeMendo.

There was a reporter at the event from our local paper, I can’t wait to see you all in print.

I received some questions about who/what this event was about. Thank you to those who continue to think critically and ask the hard questions. And, thank you to those who pick their words carefully, knowing this is a small town. This is not an organized group — yet. This is us, wondering how the heck Donald Trump could be President of this country?!

The 100 people who showed up yesterday seemed to know exactly why we were there. We probably wouldn’t agree on all issues, but across the board we are concerned about the many, many scary and even ridiculous promises (threats?) made by the person who we are told was elected President.

People talked about Trump’s threats to limit civil rights, reproductive rights, freedom of speech, his refusal to acknowledge climate change, Trump’s pledge to eliminate National Parks, concerns about the status of women and girls in a country that would elect a person whose behavior seems so predatory, and whether this person is even fit emotionally, mentally, educationally and morally to be a US President.

I lived my youth and now my life in the presidencies of Carter, Reagan, Bush, Bush, Clinton and Obama. And I’m not sure how I’m going to handle a Trump P-residency. I most certainly will be protesting for 4 years - for all the living things and the earth-home we share.

Please let me know off list serve if you would like more information. Best, Your neighbor, Jezreela Anderson

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MRC RESPONDS

To the Editor:

A Letter to the Editor, titled “Stop Hack & Squirt” by Steph Darling contained a number of comments that would benefit from correction, clarification or commentary.

Measure V was a ballot measure to address fire safety and unrelated to the use of herbicides.

The author’s estimate of 5 million treated tanoak trees substantially exceeds anything that has occurred on the MRC ownership. Over 18 years about one (1) million tanoak trees have been treated resulting in more than 14 million additional redwood and Douglas fir trees.

MRC is regulated by seven (7) state and federal agencies, including CalFire. Among many things, CalFire reviews THPs for fire safety and requires mitigations where appropriate.

In fact there is a lack of correlation between treated stands and fire safety. The fire fighting community was split on support of Measure V and several leading local fire chiefs publicly opposed Measure V.

MRC is unaware of any litigation or pending litigation nor any attorneys retained or acting on our behalf actively challenging Measure V. MRC sent a letter to Mendocino County CEO Carmel Angelo dated July 6, 2016 detailing existing state and county regulations on the issue of public nuisances. The letter can be found on our website.

MRC used the opportunity of Measure V to invite the community to talk about our forest management practices. Campaign laws are very complicated and punitive so out of an abundance of caution we reported spending over $250,000 to the state election commission around Measure V. Some proponents of Measure V filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practice Commission over MRC’s reporting. Upon reviewing our disclosures the FPPC found MRC fully complied with election reporting laws in regards to Measure V. Rather than take our word for it please come see our forest for yourself. We will take you anywhere on the property, to the place of your choosing, to see our forest restoration efforts. I can be reached at 707-272-1177 or arrange a trip to the forest through our website www.MRC.com.

John Andersen, Director, Forest Policy,

Mendocino Redwood Company, Ukiah

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LOG GRAPPLE

loggrapple
(Photo by Annie Kalantarian)

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MORE TAXPAYER ABUSE

To the Editor:

Once again the Ukiah Daily Journal has alerted the public on chicanery promulgated by Mendocino College. Perhaps college president Arturo Reyes, head coach, Frank Espy, and Athletic Director, Matt Gordon should review the purpose of a Community College. I was under the impression it was primarily to attract and accept students from the local community since it is supported by local tax revenue. I see it as an abuse of the taxpayer dollar to import sports team players from outside the district. Community College is not the place to stroke the egos of the coaches, or to prepare an athlete for the NFL or NBA. It is a place to get an education in preparation for the life ahead.

We are constantly barraged by the educational system pleading for more money and yet this exemplifies the contempt they have towards the taxpayer. We need more, more, more. It is time for this to cease. It makes it impossible for me, a taxpayer, to vote for increased funding in our educational system when there is such abuse.

HR Fernande, Ukiah

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CATCH OF THE DAY, November 13, 2016

Acosta, Lucas, Lyons
Acosta, Lucas, Lyons

ALBERTO ACOSTA, Talmage. Vandalism, probation revocation.

MARC LUCAS, Ukiah. Suspended license, evasion, assault on peace officer, probation revocation.

JORDAN LYONS, Stockton/Ukiah. Vehicle theft.

Mabery, Marrs, McPeck
Mabery, Marrs, McPeck

CHAD MABERY, Willits. Probation revocation.

JULIE MARRS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

ROBERT MCPECK, Willits. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

Moynihan, Nelson, Pocza, Vinson
Moynihan, Nelson, Pocza, Vinson

SEAN MOYNIHAN, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JOSEPH NELSON, Ukiah. Leaded cane, billy, blackjack, slungshot, sandclub, sap, sandbag.

JOHN POCZA, Ukiah. Drunk in public, resisting, battery on peace officer.

EARL VINSON, Redwood Valley. DUI with drugs causing great bodily injury, under influence, under influence with weapon, concealed weapon in vehicle with occupants.

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

For as long as I can remember, the Republicans have been known as the party of the rich. They have never changed their tune. Even after they & George W Bush almost destroyed the country economically, they still wanted to deregulate, lower taxes for business and individuals, get rid of social security, let corporations run wild, etc. You would think that people would have learned after eight years of Republican rule almost ruined the country, that people would have figured out that their recipe doesn’t work. Here we are, eight years after that debacle, and they have won again. It seems that that old saying: Democracy contains the seeds of it’s own destruction, is more appropriate than ever. I guess we deserve to go where we are headed. I guess, cynic that I am, if we are collectively that stupid, then we deserve to go down.

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countrygirl

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THE WEST COAST DIFFERENCE

It doesn’t make much difference if you are a fourth-generation Californian like my family or a transplant like most of my neighbors. We all know one thing: This region is different.

But we did not realize how big the difference was until the shock of Tuesday’s election. Take a look. We all voted for the loser, and by huge numbers.

Hillary Clinton carried San Francisco with 85.3% of the vote. The next president of the United States got only 9.9%. Well, that’s to be expected. You know San Francisco. But Alameda County voted 79 to 15 percent for Clinton. Marin’s total was 78 to 16, San Mateo 76 to 19, Santa Clara 73 to 21, Sonoma 70 to 22, Contra Costa 68 to 26. The closest President-elect Donald Trump got was in Solano County, where he lost 61.9 percent to 32.5. That’s pretty amazing.

Not to mention the vote in California: 61.5 percent for Clinton, the loser, 33.2 for Trump, the winner. The whole Pacific Coast — California, Oregon and Washington — all ended up on the wrong side of history this month.

Or maybe not. Perhaps the United States is out of step with us. The Trump message, “Make America Great Again” and all the rest, didn’t resonate in this part of the world. Perhaps that’s because we really are different.

You can see this for yourself.

Don’t just go to some familiar restaurant or park in your neighborhood. Go to the Embarcadero or Montgomery BART stations in San Francisco. Stand at the foot of the escalator and look at who is riding: whites, Asians, Latinos, black folks, straights, gays, everybody, going to work. Just look. These people don’t resemble the vision of the America Trump sees, or even what Clinton saw.

— Carl Nolte, SF Chronicle

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blamedolly

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ATTENTION ACTORS!

AUDITIONS for Morning’s At Seven, the first show of the 2017 season, will be held on November 14th and 15th from 6:30pm to 9:00pm at the Mendocino Theatre Company.

Originally performed by MTC in 1987, this comedy by Paul Osborn focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in the early part of last century. The show has 21 performances between March 2 and April 9, 2017. Rehearsals begin on January 16th.

Auditions consist of reading scenes from the script. For more information, please phone the director, Bob Cohen, at 937-1949.

Parts available:

Women

  • Aaronetta (Arry) Gibbs (mid 60’s)
  • Cora Swanson (70)
  • Ida Bolton (66)
  • Esther (Esty) Crampton (72)
  • Myrtle Brown (39)

Men

  • Theodore (Thor) Swanson (72)
  • Carl Bolton (68)
  • David Crampton (75)
  • Homer Bolton (40-ish)

* * *

THE ECONOMIC DYNAMICS BEHIND TRUMP'S VICTORY

Join hosts John Sakowicz and Sid Cooperrider with guest, Thomas Ferguson, on Monday, November 14, at 1 pm.

THOMAS FERGUSON

Ferguson is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and senior fellow of the Roosevelt Institute.

On Election Day, Ferguson told KMEC Radio: “Everyone’s instinctive response is that ‘the Deplorables’ have won and the American establishment is reeling. The Establishment certainly is. But take a close look at the exit polls:

“Clinton, not Trump, took the two bottom groups with respect to income: Under $30,000 and under $50,000. Trump won all of the rest, sometimes narrowly, but he won them. And white women college graduates only slightly favored Clinton, while trade and state-of-personal-finances badly hurt Clinton. Views of the parties are polarized, but more people have a better view of the Democrats than the Republicans. So Trump now has to make policy for Carl Icahn, Peter Thiele, and his other supporters, while also doing something real for the heartland. The Democrats and the other Republicans all failed at this."

Ferguson’s books include Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems (1995) and Right Turn: The Decline of the Democrats and the Future of American Politics (1987).

Background: Ferguson interview with The Real News, “Who is Supporting Trump?” is found below:

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=15165#newsletter1

KMEC RADIO

We broadcast at 105.1 FM in Ukiah, CA, from the Mendocino Environmental Center, and we stream live from the web at www.kmecradio.org. Our shows are archived and available as podcasts.

18 Comments

  1. Lazarus November 14, 2016

    I used to say, “if you grow long enough, at least one of 3 things will happen; Ripped off, gun in your face, jailed”.
    With the advent of legalization I suspect I will add a 4th, murdered…
    As always,
    Laz

  2. George Hollister November 14, 2016

    Gone unreported were anti-Trump riots in downtown Comptche over the weekend. As of Monday morning in the downtown area a single store, the post office, a church, and a small elementary school remain. Goats can be seen grazing around burned stumps. Traffic is light. Coffee at a reasonable price is available for survivors at the store.

    • Bernie Norvell November 14, 2016

      What remains of the more rural areas such as the incorporated parts of Comptche. Are the deer and bovine still allowed to play.

  3. james marmon November 14, 2016

    RE: MENDO MOBILIZES AGAINST ORANGE MAN

    The 7 stages of post-election day grief

    “After avidly following the polls for months, retweeting politically-charged memes on Twitter and frantically refreshing your browser on election night, the results are finally in. If your preferred presidential candidate lost and you’re extremely upset about it, here are the seven stages of grief you’ll go through in this situation.”

    http://www.redandblack.com/election/opinion-the-stages-of-post-election-day-grief/article_c6a3f984-a6a1-11e6-b72e-2376e7d482f5.html

    James Marmon MSW
    Personal Growth Consultant.

  4. BB Grace November 14, 2016

    re: Ferguson interview with The Real News, “Who is Supporting Trump?”

    What the ballot looked like to Trump supporters and voters:

    Clinton = globalist
    Stein = globalist
    Johnson = globalist
    Trump = Bill of Rights per US Constitution

  5. Jim Updegraff November 14, 2016

    the year 2016 will be the hottest year on record and we have a fool for President who thinks climate change is a sham. The stupidity of Trump seems to be shared by many of his supporters. Clinton who is a vile and corrupt person clearly understands what is happening with the weather and the steps that need to be taken. That is why any thinking person should have voted for her.

    • Harvey Reading November 14, 2016

      If the country was filled with thoughtful people, Jill Stein would now be president-elect. Instead, the country is filled with angry people, many of whom — enough to get the electoral votes needed — have been sold out by the likes of the Clintons, Obama, and their despicable ‘party’ which differs little from the other right wing of the single major party of wealth in this country.

      Angry people don’t think. They react. I feel more compassion for those people than I do for a bunch of disappointed, crybaby yuppies, many of whom live in ‘gentrified’ elegance, made possible by making homeless the people who lived in those areas before the yuppie invasions.

      • LouisBedrock November 14, 2016

        Amen.
        I could not agree more strongly.

  6. Jim Updegraff November 14, 2016

    A vote for Stein is a vote for Trump- -by thoughtful people I assume you are talking about people that think like you. I am afraid that kind of talk is too self-centered for people who understand putting your head in the sand doesn’t represent a thoughtful vote. If you were an African-American or Hispanic you might think differently.

    • Harvey Reading November 14, 2016

      I disagree with your logic: a vote for Stein is a vote for Stein, as well as a vote against the others. I made the decision to vote for her before the primary season got fully underway. The other party, both wings of it, had fielded utter garbage from my perspective (there are valid reasons why so many in this country refuse to even register, let alone vote).

      By ‘thoughtful people’, I mean those who assess their needs and wants, then measure them against what the candidates bellow (usually lies when it comes to the ‘craps and ‘thugs) as well as their track records, particularly for those who have held office.

      Ms. Clinton, to say the least, has never measured up for me, nor did the bad actor and clown, nor did Sanders for that matter. People will likely learn, soon after his inauguration, that the president-elect is just another rethug (another Clinton) out to screw us commoners.

    • Mike Kalantarian November 14, 2016

      I also disagree with the “vote for Stein is a vote for Trump” nonsense. For starters, our antiquated electoral system means no matter how you voted, here in California in 2016, our 55 winner-take-all votes were going to end up in Hillary’s pocket, no matter what you or I or he or she did. So you could actually make the silly argument that a vote for Trump, here in California, was a vote for Hillary. In fact, all Californians voted for Hillary (even those who did not vote, or could not vote). Yes, our electoral system is beyond horrible. Why in the world are we still using it? Because the powers that be like it this way.

      I voted for Jill Stein because the Green Party has one of the few platforms (along with P&F) that comes even close to reflecting my desires for good government. I also voted Green because I wanted to help push the party toward recognition and legitimacy. So I think my Stein vote actually counted for something, insignificant and futile as it may seem.

      I disliked the Democrat in this election even more than the Republican. The two major parties in this country do not represent me in the slightest. Why would I vote for that?

      The two party system in this country is a simple divide-and-conquer charade. They split the electorate in two and pit us against each other. We end up fighting among ourselves, rather than against our true common foe (the plutocracy). As long as too many people continue buying into it, we are screwed. It’s time to peek behind the curtain.

  7. Jim Updegraff November 14, 2016

    You don’t have a problem with our new ‘Know Nothing’ Party? Have you visited the mosque closest to you and discussed with them their concerns? How about your LGBTQI Friends- have you discussed with them your vote for Trump via Stein? Trump is not just another Clinton – if you think that you have totally missed his program.

    • Bruce McEwen November 14, 2016

      The faithful at “my nearest mosque” may have some fascinating things to say, but frankly, I don’t care; and neither do I wot what the local Catholic priest or the Mormon bishop have to say; nor yet even the monks up at the Buddhist temple.

      But I tell you what it is, Jim. The Pope did not order the death of Dan Brown for his novel ridiculing the Catholic religion, and the Mormons didn’t order the death of Mark Twain for making fun of theirs, and the great Buddha has never issued a fatwah.

      Your Muslim friends cannot make this boast, as the Novelist S. Rushdie is in hiding to this day for a book he wrote when we were wee lads.

      Now, I suppose, you’ll gird your grandson in a suicide vest and send him to the AVA offices… because we must never make light of Muslims, those who have sworn to kill us all, just for being Americans — no, never!

    • Harvey Reading November 14, 2016

      There’s nothing new. What you call the ‘New No-Nothing Party’ has been thriving at least since Reagan took office. In fact, it’s been in existence much longer, with about a 15-year lull after the end of the McCarthy years until the end of the Vietnam Invasion. That’s the whole point.

      Trump or Clinton are/would have been simply more of the same. I thought that I had made it clear that I have no use for either wing of the ruling party. They seem intent on turning us eventually into a nation of integrated, zombie slaves. A weird sort of ‘equal opportunity’, and something that I truly do fear.

      You seem to forget that Obama deported record numbers of people and murdered many innocents in the Middle East. What do your Muslim and African American friends think of that (by the way, a lot of African Americans quietly sat out this election)? His justice department has not been effective in its pursuit of civil rights violations in cases of police or Neighborhood Watch shootings of African Americans (again, what do your African American friends think of that?). Sweet Hillary, or Ms. WeCameWeSawHeDied, was no better, nor was her husband, nor was Al Gore, George Bush, nor his daddy, and so on.

      So, tell me, just what can Trump do that is so much worse than what his predecessors already have done? War with the Russians? That would have been far more likely under Clinton and her sidekicks, like Victoria Nuland. A wall? Sorry, that was George II’s bad idea. Didn’t work. Won’t work, and is an ecosystem nightmare. Deportation? He’ll have a job on his hands to beat Obama’s record. Besides, ‘illegal’ immigration will continue anyway, as long as there is a demand here for low-wage, no-benefit employment by the chamber and by agricultural interests. Such business interests prefer that the size of the labor pool far exceed demand…

      People love to be afraid, especially of things they know they really don’t need to fear. They love the boogie man. I think it makes them feel important, since if someone is ‘after’ them, then they must be important enough be sought ‘after’.

      As I’ve already suggested, my opinion is that Trump is just another right-wing loudmouth (like so many others from both wings of the ruling party), no worse and no better than his colleagues in congress…from both wings of his party. I hope when this reality becomes apparent that those who voted for the man — not those who voted for him for reasons of race, rather those who voted for him for reasons of having been sold out and double-crossed by democraps — start looking at alternatives, like Jill Stein, alternatives that will actually do them some good. Hillary Clinton was NO such alternative, and I suspect they recognized that. They are not stupid, no matter what yuppies and the media may say.

      You take care of yourself. I am tired of repeating myself.

      Finally, a vote for Stein was a vote for Stein and a vote against the others, period. Sorry for the redundancy in the preceding sentence.

      • Harvey Reading November 14, 2016

        Know Nothing, not No Nothing. Apologies.

  8. Bruce McEwen November 14, 2016

    Hark! Hark!

    Is that the muezzin I hear calling the faithful in Boonville to prayer…?

    And, Allah forefend, where have I left my prayer rug?

  9. Jim Updegraff November 14, 2016

    Bruce; Keep talking talking we know your are a religious bigot but How do you feel about LGBTQI people? How many Black people do you know and do you think they are uppity? You sound sure like a Trump supporter. Don’t bother to response – I am shutting down for the night (Have to go to the mosque so I can tell my Muslim friends about how funny you are).

    • Bruce McEwen November 14, 2016

      Go to bed you tedious old bore.

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