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Mendocino County Today: Sunday, Sep. 16, 2018

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CYCLIST FATALITY IN UKIAH

On 9-14-18 at approx. 1300 hours, UPD officers, UVFA crews, and medical were dispatched to the intersection of Hastings Rd. and Talmage Rd. for a traffic collision involving a commercial dump truck and a bicyclist. The bicyclist was fatally injured as a result of the collision. UPD detectives, MCSO, and the District Attorney Investigators assisted in the investigation. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with any additional information is urged to contact Ukiah PD at 707-463-6262.

(Ukiah Police Department press release)

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A LITTLE BEFORE 11pm SATURDAY NIGHT a traffic collision/rollover involving a Honda Pilot SUV was reported about five miles west of Boonville on Mountain View Road past the Boonville dump. The vehicle was reported off the road and on its side. Scanner traffic didn’t provide much detail, but not long after the accident was reported, a Medical Aid chopper, its search light piercing the night sky, appeared over Boonville. Ground ambulances also responded.

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RV ON FIRE ON HWY 128 - ALSO VEGETATION - IN YORKVILLE

The scanner & the CHP Traffic "incident" page reported (4:37 pm) an RV fire that has extended into the vegetation on Highway 128 near Big Oak Drive in Yorkville.

The Anderson Valley Fire Department as well as CalFire ground, air & inmate assets have been dispatched.

CalFire Air Attack arrived over the "Big Incident" fire @ 4:54 pm and said, "One vehicle fully involved - there doesn't seem to be any extension into the wildland."
The air attack was canceled, ground units from Anderson Valley Fire and one CalFire unit will continue to the scene.

(Courtesy, MendocinoSportsPlus)

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LITTLE DOG SAYS, “The boss was way late getting his flower arrangement down to the Fairgrounds so I'm presenting it here this morning. Kinda weak, I'd say, especially against the fab entries I saw this year.”

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SUPERVISOR DAN GJERDE, complimenting outgoing Interim Planning Director Nash Gonzalez at last Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, said that Gonzalez and Mike Oliphant, Building Department Chief, had prepared pre-approved generic plans for two different “modest” house styles. We’re not sure if use of these plans would save any permit fees. “The intent and hope of the Board,” said Gjerde, “is that those plans be available to all Mendocino County residents whether they live in a city or a county or are a victim of the fire or just want to build a house.”

ALBION CONTRACTOR ISHVI AUM was the first person to suggest this idea in our pages back in January: www.theava.com/archives/78625

IT'S A GOOD IDEA. But this was the first we’ve heard that the County had taken steps in that direction. Usually, when the planning or building department does something genuinely in the public interest, even if it’s minor, they put out a press release saying so. But we have yet to see a press release with the details of this new development. Supervisor Gjerde’s casual mention of it for the 25 or so people who watch the Supes meetings hardly amounts to public notice.

SO on Thursday we of course called the planning department for more information. Of the four options mentioned by their machine we chose to leave a message for the “planner of the day,” whoever he or she is. (There was no option to leave a message for the new boss, Planning and Building Director Brent Schultz who was recently brought in for big bucks to replace Gonzalez.) As of the end of the day Friday, we have not yet received a call back.

WE’RE STARTING TO WONDER — given the absence of a press release and Gjerde's casual mention — if this has really happened or if it’s just something Gjerde was told had happened and he assumed it had been widely publicized. It hasn’t. There’s nothing about it on their website. If we ever get a call back with relevant info we’ll let you know. (— ms)

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IN A CONE IN FB

(Photo by Susie de Castro)

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MENDOCINO COMPLEX FIRE UPDATE — SEPTEMBER 15, 2018

(US Forest Service)

Throughout the weekend, crews will monitor fire activity and repair firelines on the Ranch Fire. There are 36 miles of fireline still to repair. Fire suppression repair work consists of cutting hazard trees to ensure firefighters are working in safe areas, reducing dirt berms, spreading cut vegetation and building water bars to minimize soil erosion.

Fire Closure Area: The Ranch Fire area is closed as described in Forest Order 08-18-15. The purpose of the closure is to provide for public safety, and for the firefighters who are engaged in repair efforts within the Ranch Fire closure area. The closure area applies to all public use, including hunting, the use of firearms and off-highway vehicles. The northern half of the forest is open for outdoor activities.

The B-Zone deer hunting season opened Saturday, Sept. 15 and will continue until Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018. Forest visitors need to exercise extreme caution and be alert to heavy equipment and firefighting vehicles utilizing roads in areas around the fire closure. Visitors can contact the ranger station nearest their destination for current information. For a high-resolution closure map, please use the following link: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/map/6073/0/88371

The Mendocino Complex: The Ranch Fire is 98 percent contained. The remaining two percent is located in extremely steep, rocky terrain and is far too dangerous for firefighters to construct direct fireline.

Crockett Creek (Click to enlarge)

The section will likely remain that way until a season ending weather event occurs. A season ending weather event typically includes persistent precipitation across a two or three-day period, with no hot and dry weather conditions in the long-term weather forecast. The River Fire is 100 percent contained.

For detailed Mendocino Complex information visit: inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6073/

Please note: The next Mendocino Complex update will be Monday, Sept. 17.

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NEEDLESS FIGHT

Dear Editor,

Enclosed you will find an updated version of a poem I wrote while incarcerated at the Indiana State Farm in 2014. I was one year into a four year bid for a robbery I committed while strung out on heroin. I was 19 when I wrote the poem and just had received news from home that my brother had overdosed and died.

The poem is what I wish I could have sat down and said to him before he put the same needle in his arm.

All across the country heroin is killing us. I’ve sold my soul for it and if it wasn't for the fact that since age 18 I've only been out six months I'd be dead to.

Please consider printing the poem. Maybe it will stop someone else's brother from putting the same needle into their arm and starting for themselves such a needless fight.

Yours Truly,

Jordan Stinson #88854

951 Low Gap Road

Mendocino County Jail

Ukiah, CA 95482

Stinson

Needless Fight

Is it worth it? Please tell me no.

Are you willing to throw your life away? Please say it isn't so.

Your life is worth living, I know you don't think it's true.

But believe me brother, because I once was just like you.

But then it was over, I threw my life in the trash.

Our mother cried as she watched good and evil clash.

She watched her baby stand in front of a man

Who didn't know him, but had a plan.

To fix her boy, to make him right

He grabbed her son and made him fight.

He's fought for freedom and he fought for his life.

He’s fought for food and he fought just to fight.

But now it his battle is over and freedom is finally within sight.

And now this man is ready, to do things right.

So heed this warning and please don't say it isn't so.

Your life is worth living — I love you bro.

J.D. Stinson, 2018

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MUSEUM BOARD REJECTS JOINT MEETING WITH LIBRARY BOARD, SUPES

by Mike A’Dair (Willits Weekly)

The Museum Advisory Board has decided it will not participate in a proposed joint meeting of the Library Advisory Board, Museum Advisory Board and the board of supervisors.

The decision was made during the Museum Advisory Board’s regular bi-monthly meeting, on September 10.

Chairwoman Rebecca Montez told board members the Museum Advisory Board had been invited by Library Advisory Board Chairman Marc Komer to participate in a joint meeting between supervisors and the library board, and asked her board members what they thought of the proposal.

Roots of Motive Power’s Troy James said he saw no reason to meet with supervisors. Assuming the topic under discussion at the meeting would be formation of a cultural services agency, James said: “What would be the point? It’s done. Our job now is to work to make this museum the best that we can for the people of this county.”

Mendocino County Historical Society representative Roger Kruger also opposed taking part in the meeting. “It sounds to me like it would just be one person ranting, and we would be there in the background, nodding. I don’t see much point in having that meeting at all.”

The only other Museum Advisory Board members present were First District rep Jim Eddie, new Third District rep Brent Walker and new Fourth District rep Ric Martin. It was the first board meeting for both Martin and Walker, and neither they nor Eddie offered an opinion on the matter.

Chair Montez determined the will of the board was to not participate in the meeting.

Cultural Services Agency Director Karen Horner said administrative steps towards creating the CSA are still occurring, and salary splits proposed in the case of Horner and other administrative personnel are continuing.

“The library administration is now the cultural services agency administration,” Horner said.

Horner informed board members she had proposed that – in celebration of the formation of the CSA and in acknowledgment of the nationally declared Library Card Sign-Up Month – anyone with a Mendocino County Library card will be admitted into the museum free of charge. According to an item on the board of supervisor’s September 11 agenda, the free admission policy will be “ongoing.”

Supervisors approved the item at Tuesday’s meeting, and the proposed free admission policy is now, in the words of James, “done.”

Board welcomes Walker, Martin

New members Ric Martin and Brent Walker were welcomed to the board.

Walker is a small businessman and museum volunteer. On his application for the appointment, Walker wrote: “I have been a volunteer at the Mendocino County Museum for the past five years and worked primarily at accessioning donated materials but have also been involved in several other aspects of the storage of museum artifacts.”

Walker estimated he had “volunteered several hundred hours in each of those five years.”

He added he is “interested in helping to make the Mendocino County Museum a top-notch venue for learning about our history. I am my family's genealogist as a hobby and am very cognizant of the importance of a quality museum in the process of learning about the history of a region.”

Mattson discusses works in progress

Museum Curator Karen Mattson discussed the work she and museum volunteers are undertaking to bring the museum up to snuff.

Walker has been heading up the textile freezing project, and both Mattson and Horner described the work as “well underway.” The textiles are being frozen to kill moths and moth larvae, which in too many cases infested the museum’s textile collection.

Textiles are being individually wrapped and are now housed in the museum’s textile room. They are also being photographed and documented in the museum’s inventory collection database. “The is our first example of having a place for everything,” Mattson said.

According to Mattson, museum volunteers have been building crates and racks, collecting textiles previously stored all over the museum’s back rooms and moving them into the textile room, putting oversized artwork into racks designed to hold oversized art.

Catalogue information has been updated.

In addition, museum staff and volunteers have repainted the old Willits Creamery exhibit and added period-appropriate signs that hung in the creamery during its heyday.

Mattson said she is planning to create a simple interactive exhibit to stand in front of the creamery. The intent of this exhibit will be “so kids can pretend that back in the day they were working at the creamery,” Horner said.

According to Horner’s written report, “The interactive component will be implemented next month.”

Mattson, it became apparent, is envisioning a major ongoing effort to clean, organize, inventory and preserve museum artifacts. She has been engaged in this work since being hired last November.

Willits Weekly asked her: “What percentage of the work that needs to be done on this project is now done?

“Ten percent, and that’s being generous,” Mattson said. A few seconds later she revised her answer. “Maybe it’s more like 7 percent. We’re not to the starting line yet in managing our collection.”

Later, Mattson told board members the same kind of work she is undertaking regarding the museum’s artifacts needs to be undertaken concerning the museum’s policies and procedures. The museum has no current mission statement, code of ethics, or collections and donations policies, she said.

Horner opined the museum’s vision statement is misleading and needs to be rewritten.

“There are many different versions of our various collections and donations policies floating around,” Horner said, “but they don’t agree with each other, and in some cases, they contradict each other. The only way we can move forward is to agree on one policy and get rid of the others.”

Montez asked for one or more board volunteers to collaborate with Horner and Mattson to draft five key policy statements, including the mission statement, the vision statement, the code of ethics, the collections policy, and guidelines for disaster preparedness. Walker and Montez agreed to work on that committee.

At the end of the meeting, Montez noted that, since the resignation of former Willits representative Saprina Rodriguez, the board does not have a representative from the City of Willits. Board members also noted they no longer have representatives from either the second or the fifth supervisorial districts.

(Courtesy, The Willits Weekly)

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MENDO FIRST RESPONDERS VS. DENMARK

THERE’S NO INDICATION that there was a CEO Report for the September 11 Board meeting. Nor did CEO Angelo mention it during the actual meeting. So there was no update on the status of a range of interesting subjects raised in the August 21 CEO Report. No budget reports, no sheriff’s overtime report, no report on the promised departmental reporting, and no update on the status of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the inland ambulance service Exclusive Operating Area (EOA).

ON AUGUST 20 we reported that the long-delayed EOA request for proposals (RFP) had been reviewed and approved by state emergency services and had been returned to the Sonoma County-based semi-private emergency services outfit, Coastal Valley Emergency Medical Services. Last year CEO Angelo and the Board announced that they would be discontinuing their $90k per year contract with Coastal Valley EMS, (the Sonoma-based agency which keeps Mendo’s emergency services protocols up to date and does (or did) other related duties as assigned).

COASTAL VALLEY EMS staffers were miffed last year when Mendo decided not to include dispatch services in the EOA RFP, choosing instead to continue with Calfire dispatch out of Willits. Coastal Valley has grudgingly continued to process the rather complicated ambulance services RFP (first announced more than two years ago) which only became an issue after Falck/Verihealth private ambulances started responding to Ukiah area ambulance calls in competition with Medstar, the long-serving local Ukiah outfit, thus creating an artificial need to consolidate the ambulance activity into one service.

COASTAL VALLEY has seemed to favor Falck while most Mendo EMS staffers, both government and private, have been very happy with Medstar. Coastal Valley’s insistence that dispatch services be included in the RFP was seen as a clear indication of Coastal Valley’s preference for Falck because Medstar doesn’t have any dispatch capability and couldn’t bid if dispatch was part of the RFP.

THE AUGUST 21 2018 CEO Report (the last one available) announced that “the Mendocino County Executive Office & HHSA staff have been working with the Coastal Valley EMS Agency to finalize an RFP for the Exclusive Operating Area Provider for Emergency Ambulance Services. A final draft of the RFP is currently with the State for approval prior to its release. Anticipated time frames for the RFP are as follows:

(Click to enlarge)

OBVIOUSLY, the “week of 8/20/18” has come and gone and the long-delayed, long-anticipated RFP is still not released. No explanation has been given, and since there was no September 11 CEO Report, no update was provided.

LOCAL FIRE OFFICIALS were skeptical last month that the RFP would be issued when the CEO had said it would. County officials — who decided last year to discontinue their arrangement with Coastal Valley EMS because of their unavailability during last fall’s devastating wildfires in Redwood and Potter Valley — still seem to think that the RFP will be issued soon and the potential bidders for the ambulance services in the Ukiah Valley area can begin to prepare their bids. But everybody else is doubtful.

SO FAR we know of only two companies expressing interest in bidding. MedStar (formerly Ukiah) Ambulance Service, the longtime service provider in the Ukiah area, and Verihealth Ambulance Service, a subsidiary of the huge Falck conglomerate out of Denmark, which began competing for ambulance calls in the Ukiah area a few years ago, precipitating the need for the exclusive operating area contract.

THIS WEEK we have learned that the RFP is now being held up yet again because Coastal Valley has complained to their state counterparts in Sacramento that Mendo shouldn’t be allowed to release it since Mendo doesn’t have an EMS agency (or won’t in a few months when the Coastal Valley contract expires next June).

THIS LATEST MOVE seems like yet another backdoor attempt by Coastal Valley to hang on to their contract and put as much leverage as possible on Mendo to give the contract to Falck. The secrecy and multiple delays surrounding the preparation and release of the RFP and the increasing tension between Mendo officials and Coastal Valley makes us think that Coastal Valley is still exerting too much influence over what should be a Mendo process. But it doesn’t help when Mendo’s own officials still haven’t come up with a way to handle the routine EMS protocol and procedures updates that Coastal Valley was doing.

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IT’S VERY MINOR, OF COURSE, but we couldn’t help belatedly noticing this item on the August 21 CEO’s report list of RFQs [Requests for Qualifications] being “updated.”

“RFQ# 10-18 Copy Paper (Executive Office/Central Services)”

MENDO NEEDS a “request for qualifications” for copy paper?

How about something like this: “The County of Mendocino requests qualifications from interested parties for copy paper. Qualified applicants must be able to deliver white pieces of paper, primarily 8.5 x 11 in size, in reams of 500 to designated offices in boxes of 10 reams. Experience delivering white paper in trucks is required. Availability of other sizes desirable.”

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ALSO in that now-somewhat dated list of RFPs in preparation were these two:

RFP# DR-18-03 Disaster Recovery Technical Support

RFP# DR-18-05 Disaster Recovery Project Management

WAIT A MINUTE! Didn’t Mendo just assign Nash Gonzalez to be Disaster Recovery Project Manager?

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READERS may also recall that the August 21 CEO Report contained some bold reporting promises. Monthly budget reports were promised, for example. They were specifically supposed to include “Vacancy rate with department projected savings to the end of fiscal year,” numbers we seriously doubt Mendo is capable of calculating, much less “projecting.” Also there was going to be monthly reports of Sheriff’s office overtime use since the budgeted amount was set artificially low just to balance the budget. But at the September 11 meeting there wasn’t even a CEO Report. So no report on the status of the “monthly departmental reporting” and nothing on the use of Sheriff’s overtime or the possibility of state reimbursement.

MAYBE THE CEO’S office should spend more time on reporting and emergency services and less time trying to find qualified bidders for copy paper.

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PETS OF THE WEEK

Friend is a sweet and easy going kinda dog. Our Adoption Coordinator fell in love with this guy as soon as they met. Friend is a 6 year old, male, mixed breed dog who weighs a svelte 65 pounds. Friend almost wanted to play when he met our big, fluffy tester dog, Chipper. Friend tested positive for heartworm, and we will treat him at the shelter. This gentle dog will be worth the trip to the Shelter to meet. Come down and take an easy stroll with him and see for yourself what a great dog he is.

You may not believe it by this picture, but Indy is a very friendly loving cat! He was not a fan of getting his picture taken and was in the process of letting us know that! Indy is a 5 year old, male short hair cat with very handsome tabby markings. For the most part, Indy seems like a pretty chill cat, so if you are looking to skip the kitten stage and prefer more mellow mature cats, he could be a purrrfect match.

The Ukiah Animal Shelter is located at 298 Plant Road in Ukiah, and adoption hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 10 am to 4:30 pm and Wednesday from 10 am to 6:30 pm. To see photos and bios of the shelter's adoptable animals, please visit us online at: www.mendoanimalshelter.com or visit the shelter. Join us the second Saturday of every month for our "Empty the Shelter" pack walk and help us get every dog out for socialization and exercise! For more information about adoptions please call 707-467-6453.

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AN ON-LINE COMMENT re the death of the Utah firefighter:

So basically a call to clear the area that required acknowledgement was never actually acknowledged and the air tanker came in at 100 feet instead of the prescribed 200 feet. And the large blob of water knocked over a big pine tree which fell on the crew that hadn't acknowledged the call to evacuate. I am sorry that is just plain wrong, it should never have happened. The reason acknowledgement is required is to protect the crews, failure to acknowledge should have caused cancellation of the scheduled event. That failure falls directly on whoever was responsible for allowing the continuance of the scheduled drop in light of the non-acknowledgement. It may be that the air tanker was too low (100 feet is really low) and had to dump to be able to pull out, but that was not mentioned in the article. In any case actual mistakes were made that cost a life and resulted in severe injuries. There is almost no job more dangerous or more difficult than this one, which is why the "rules" are normally strictly enforced.

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LAKE COUNTY’S UPSIDE DOWN PRIORITIES

Dear Editor (of the Lake County Record Bee),

Subject: Lakeport Fire District Board of Directors approves budget requiring 3 full-time firefighter positions to be cut — Lake County Record-Bee

Regarding your September 11th report in the Lake County Record-Bee, on the subject of the Lakeport Fire Protection District’s budget/staffing/service problems:

Even while our fire protection districts serve daily disaster needs (heart attacks, car accidents, brush and structure fires, scraping up bodies off the tarmac or dredging them out of the lakes), local governance and financing oversight bodies have coasted on past performance (or drifted into senility) — aided and abetted by the County of Lake’s arcane economic well-being machine and its handmaiden, LAFCo (Local Area Formation COmission) — and fire chiefs and dedicated fire/EMP front-line responders are once again between the ever-tightening service capacity rock and that hard place where most of us live.

Resident tax-payers who depend on these critical services need to get ahold of (comprehend and remedy) the state and local systems of financing public health and safety priorities, which have been subordinated to County administration pipe dreams — instead of Public Health and Safety services — for decades. Since the funding authorities for FPDs are ultimately the responsibility of the County Board of Supervisors, and trying to read the tealeaves of public meetings such as this one is a clearly daunting task to the unwitting public, it would behoove the “newspaper of record” to explicate the financing expectations and thwarted resources that need to be remedied for everyone’s sake.

Who would want to invest or dwell in a place where health and safety services are largely ignored in favor of marketing and entertainment schemes believed to be the solution to intrinsic economic malaise — even after 20 years of evidence to the contrary, and chronic crises like this one?

Betsy Cawn

The Essential Public Information Center

Upper Lake, CA

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CATCH OF THE DAY, September 15, 2018

Bermudez, Castillas-Vital, Dickerson, Esquivel

JESUS BERMUDEZ, Fort Bragg. Under influence, possession of toluene, failure to appear.

SALVADOR CASTILLAS-VITAL, Calpella. DUI, probation revocation.

RICK DICKERSON II, Covelo. Vandalism, protective order violation

BALDEMAR ESQUIVEL, Covelo. DUI, cruelty to child with possible injury or death, probation revocation.

Gillispie, Guevara, Hall

KYLE GILLISPIE, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

DANIEL GUEVARA, Talmage. DUI.

VICTOR HALL, Novato/Hopland. Under influence.

Horne, Joaquin, Johnson

DEBORAH HORNE, Santa Rosa/Point Arena. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, resisting.

DAVID JOAQUIN SR., Covelo. Probation revocation. (Frequent Flyer)

DEJA VU JOHNSON, Calpella. DUI.

Luranhatt, Newberry, Nunez-Carderas

NOAH LURANHATT, Ukiah. Criminal threats, parole violation.

BRYAN NEWBERRY, Willits. Under influence, resisting, probation revocation.

JOSE NUNEZ-CARDERAS, Ukiah. Domestic abuse.

Nutt, Sharp, Webber

ROBERT NUTT III, Fort Bragg. Trespassing/refusing to leave. (Frequent flyer)

JUSTIN SHARP, Elk Grove/Ukiah. DUI alcohol-drugs.

CHARLES WEBBER, Willits. Domestic abuse, kidnapping, false imprisonment, burglary, conspiracy.

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ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I was a transplant in NC from 2008-2018. That’s right, I just sold my house outside of Durham in July.

The only reason I stayed is because of the initial “grab a chair, the music is stopping” 2008 fiasco, and then subsequent retraining into Nursing so that I could LEAVE.

The few bigger cities, such as RDU and Winston Salem…they are seething pits of racism (I am Caucasian), misogyny (I am female), and such financial disparity (I am fortunate enough to be one of the dwindling middle class)….that everyday life was just pure misery.

I won’t go into the walking through hot soup, which is 7 months of the year, because that is well known.

The ignorance and mind numbing willingness in the South to remain so, is what will do these people in.

Yes, the soil is ruined from generations of farmers dousing the land with insecticides and poor farming practice.

But with the advent of, oh, say, GOOGLE…there is absolutely zero reason that anyone with half an ounce of sense would not know of the problems and the solutions to them.

My neighbors sure as shite knew how to fakebook and gossip about everyone on the internet, and access Faux News online…but they could never understand when I would advocate not using Sevin as a garnish on their dinnerplates, let alone how they were killing my honeybee hives with it.

The ignorance that elected politicians that banned the use of the phrase “climate change”. Lalalalalalalalaaaaaaaa if they can’t hear you, you haven’t said anything!!

The same people who would spout things like “If a N***r is gonna be elected, there will be blood running in these streets tomorrow!” Yet the cowardice of the average North Carolinian never brought such things to pass…just bluster and ignorance overflowing their mouths like the pig shit lagoons and the coal ash ponds of Duke Monopoly, I mean Energy.

I saw my solar panel reward go from Progress Energy awarding me $.05/kwh for generating, to Duke placing so many fees on me, that to cancel the contract that pushed my generated energy to them…COST ME $1000, not to mention I was paying Duke to allow me to generate power for them.

The land is ruined. The people there are being showered by pig feces and urine to “draw down” those lagoons every day.

ibtimes.com/hog-farms-spray-pig-urine-feces-air-around-north-carolinas-black-communities-2534348

There is also a great article in rolling stone about Chinese ownership of these farms polluting the land there.

Florence merely is shining a brief light on the average conditions there. Waterlogged, molding, and disease prone on a good day.

NC is accessible for those with cars only. There is no public transportation to speak of. The people routinely vote against their best interests because of the dog whistle politics….Gawd, Gays and Guns.

It was a miserable experience and I cannot believe that anyone would choose North Carolina to spend their remaining days fighting pretty much everything, including just breathing the air and drinking the polluted water.

Because you don’t shovel snow? Anyone who moves there deserves what they get. There is ample information available about the true living conditions, yet all of the rationalizations I heard were usually from middle aged men….who are too f****g lazy to shovel snow and don’t feel like wearing anything but bermuda shorts while sitting around complaining how hot it is and how little they are paid in their jobs.

I left the day after I graduated nursing school and sold my home shortly thereafter. I feel fortunate that I have gotten out at this time, when it looks like the housing market is collapsing. I made a healthy profit…hazard pay is what I am calling it…for living in what I would now consider the closest thing to a third world country.

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* * *

LIFE BEFORE THE DINNER TABLE

Editor,

I want to know that the animals that are part of my diet have been able to enjoy a quality of life. I just bought free-range chicken thighs, but what does that mean? Proposition 2, passed in 2008, didn’t spell out how much space animals were to be given in cages; it was left vague. There also was no oversight agency put in place to make sure that there were enforceable fines to ensure compliance. Proposition 12 addresses the vagueness of Proposition 2 and adds protection for both animals and consumers.

Kathleen Bottarini

Penngrove

* * *

* * *

PUNCH THE SUN

"Those who eat their fill speak to the hungry of wonderful times to come." —Berthold Brecht

The recording of last night's (2018-09-14) KNYO Fort Bragg and KMEC Ukiah Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio show is available by one or two clicks, depending on whether you want to listen to it now or download it and keep it for later and, speaking of which, it's right here: https://tinyurl.com/KNYO-MOTA-0298

In Other News: Also at http://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com you can find a fresh batch of dozens of links to not necessarily radio-useful but nonetheless worthwhile items I set aside for you while gathering the show together, things where just hearing about it wouldn't be enough.

Such as:

Further beautiful old motorbikes that probably are piercingly loud but I don't care; they are that beautiful.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/57688049/Pre-War-Motorcycles

Tough Vespas of Indonesia. https://tinyurl.com/RoadWarriorVespas

In the laundry room: “Definitely a change in energy. Do you feel that?” “Yes, I feel like chills are going down my spine now.” “Is it a ghost?” “Nah.” Also, the bedroom in the other house is bad. It's the center the entity is operating from. “It's like when I was choked in Switzerland.” Brother Carlos drives the incubus from the premises with a magical bible spell. Also hemorrhoids are exorcised by this method, as well as the demons causing suspiciously good-sport Realtor Sue's back pain.

https://www.cynical-c.com/2018/09/12/nathan-for-you-the-ghost-realtor/

How to do real-life psychic surgery energy work. https://tinyurl.com/PsychicSurgeryHowTo

So sweet, so cold, so fair.

https://tinyurl.com/KokoCalloway

And "Bang bang bang, skeet skeet skeet, she do that thing for three retweets." The Silmarillion/hip-hop connection.

https://boingboing.net/2018/09/13/stephen-colbert-connects-hip-h.html

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org

 

16 Comments

  1. George Hollister September 16, 2018

    On line comment of the day is correct, but then look at California from the view of North Carolina. Pretty much the same song sung, to a different tune. So I would not get too sanctimonious.

    • mendoblather September 16, 2018

      At least we’re not getting pig shit sprayed on us.

    • Harvey Reading September 16, 2018

      Exactly, George. And Mendoblather, you’ve got mismanaged watersheds and mismanaged forests to make up for the pig poop, and your leaders’ solution is to cut, cut, cut. Plenty of pesticides in YOUR ag, too. Insanity.

      • George Hollister September 16, 2018

        If Harv and GH ever agree on something it is rare, and never for the same reasons.

  2. james marmon September 16, 2018

    RE: AN ON-LINE COMMENT re the death of the Utah firefighter:

    My cousin David is one of 10 US Forestry Guide Pilots in the Nation and was on this fire. He’s been busy on other fires so I haven’t been able to talk to him about this, or if he was the Guide Pilot involved.

    Utah firefighter’s death caused by retardant drop from 747

    “The guide pilot “made a ‘show me’ run” for the 747 pilot over the intended path for the retardant drop, and marked the path for the jet with a smoke trail, according to the report.

    “Obscured by heavy vegetation and unknown to the (747) pilot, a rise in elevation occurred along the flight path.” The ground sloped up about 170 feet (50 meters) so quickly that the 747 cleared the hilltop in just two seconds, according to the report.

    The guide planes have two people aboard, a pilot and an “air tactical supervisor.” California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Mike Mohler could not immediately say if either would face investigation or discipline for not identifying the hill.”

    https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/09/14/utah-firefighters-death/

    David has been flying for the US Forestry more than 25 years and has protected millions of people and residences from death and devastation caused by wildfires. He flies into the smoke in a very small plane and risks his life hundreds of times during just a single shift. If anything, this was determinately an accident. He must be beside himself over this death, whether he was involved or not.

    James Marmon

    • james marmon September 16, 2018

      U.S. FOREST SERVICE
      ‘Caring for the land and serving people’

      Aerial Supervision Module/Lead Plane

      Aerial supervision modules/leadplanes coordinate, direct, and evaluate airtanker operations. Aerial supervision module/leadplane pilots and/or air tactical supervisors communicate with firefighters on the ground, other fire aircraft, and airtanker pilots. They release white smoke to show airtanker pilots where to drop fire retardant.

      Aircraft types: Beechcraft King Air 90 and Beechcraft King Air 200.

      https://www.fs.fed.us/managing-land/fire/planes

      • Bruce McEwen September 16, 2018

        ‘Caring for the land and serving the people’

        When it comes to vapid lies, that slogan takes the proverbial cake.

        The Forest Circus was chartered to protect the national watershed. Instead they sold it to the corporate interests they were supposed to protect it from — not only that, but the USFS took on the brunt of the expense in logging-off the watershed, which was building roads into the forests slated for liquidation,resulting in one of the grandest free-for-alls in history.

        Now that I’ve primed the old pump, so to speak, stand by for a gusher of platitudes and rationializations, as MM. Hollister & Marmon come to the rescue:

        Gents, you’re curtain call has come: Let ‘er rip!

        • George Hollister September 16, 2018

          Bruce, you are speaking on a subject that you know (almost) nothing about. Which is too typical. The UFS in California had the most advanced forestry practiced in the state when it was shut down by a bogus concern for spotted owls. Was it’s management perfect? No. Did corporations make money? Yes, but that in itself in not a sin. Were there manipulations made by those who were making money? Certainly, but that in itself is not a sin either. Did the timber economy support economies in rural California and the West? Yes, and that is what was lost because of a popular political narrative that says forests can not be managed if corporations make a profit. OK, then let it burn, and let towns like Covelo become what they are. How does that look? I know, it is better to “destroy the village(and the forest) in order to save it”.

          • Bruce McEwen September 16, 2018

            In speaking of the clear-cuts from Montana to Yellow Knife, a retired USFS bureaucrat working as a consultant for Louisiana Pacific in a Portland high-rise may talk like that, George, but you and I know a logger, climbing out from behind the wheel of the crummy at first light on a brisk fall morning, would just say, “There ain’t no global warming and no such a-thing as carbon sinks. Now, boys, we’re gonna go in there and cut them logs, and if you know what’s good for you, Longhair, you’ll shut the fuck up about it, or I’ll have Shorty, here, set a choker around your neck and I, personally, will drag your ass down to the log deck with the skidder, where you can catch a ride back to town with one of the log-truck drivers.”

            All of which goes to show, from the lethally contemptuous form of delivery to the preference of a different subject to talk about, such as what used to be called “bawdy,” that it is entirely immaterial to the crew whether any of it’s true or not.

            The same can be said of anyone who has taken whatever vapid oath they go by at the USFS, even though those college boys in smoky the bear uniforms can’t swear quite as eloquently as a logger, and so they come out with the same blasé blather spilling off your tongue, George.

            • George Hollister September 16, 2018

              The clearcutting issue was more philosophical than substantive. And I am not an advocate of clearcutting.

              But tell me, where is this “destroyed watershed”? I keep hearing about this thing, but have yet to see it, or even a current photo of it. The elusive “destroyed watershed”. I wonder if it looks something like parts of the middle fork of the Eel right now?

              • Bruce McEwen September 16, 2018

                George, the cedars of Lebanon did not disappear all in one reign, to build Solomon’s Temple. It takes time, steady work, like erosion, even with primitive tools, to turn a forest into a rocky dustscape.

                The grazing will help, the way it denuded everything between the Black Sea and the Holy Land, but still, it’s only been underway a short time, here, George, 200 years, a blink of the eye.

                Go Google-Earth Lebanon, just for a preview…

                • George Hollister September 16, 2018

                  Bruce, you are hopeless. The Cedars of Lebanon? I suppose Louisiana Pacific goes back to then, too? The USFS had a sustained cut policy. They were on the cutting edge in planting, pre-commercial thinning, harvesting, forest “regulation”, wildlife management, forest disease, and fire management. Not perfect, but they were learning. Were mistakes made? Of course. There was a lot of, “how do we make this better”, there. Research was actively done, at a university level, to understand how trees grow, how forests behave, what tree species did what. When the USFS timber program shut down, that all went away. The profession of forestry was set adrift, which is where it is today. (That is another subject in itself.)

                  To say the USFS could not deal with lumber profiteers is to say government is a complete failure. Private landowners deal with lumber profiteers when they sell timber and logs, all the time. The lumber profiteers are large and small corporations. Private landowners are profiteers as well, just as anyone is in life. The reality is, the USFS did deal with the lumber profiteers. There were ways. Much of that is lost, too.

                  The biggest problem is preventing the situation where there is only one buyer; one forest, and one lumber company. Private landowners have the same problem. Having one buyer for logs means the bidder can set the price. Not good. This is called monopsony. Lumber profiteers like this situation, and often have acted in ways to create, and maintain this. We see this locally with the Douglas fir log market. There are ways to thwart this as well. But the people at the USFS who knew anything about conducting a timber sale, in the public’s interest, are mostly long gone. The Bill Clinton administration made that happen.

                  • Bruce McEwen September 16, 2018

                    I envy you, George. Your challenge is much more colossal than mine, making your work far more demanding, your struggle more desperate, your few crumbling finger-holds so very much more gratifying, that by comparison my own insignificant victories are exponentially reduced, even the advantages I take in stride, in company with the most respected, if the least appreciated, majority in this absolutely divine county, my good man; for, you must surely confess that the end of all democracy is to become, as the Sufi’s say, divisible by the lowest common denominator — or is that too much algebra for a loggerhead?

                  • George Hollister September 17, 2018

                    There is some truth there. And we are where we are because of what is inherent to big government. Faith in political narratives, regardless of how boneheaded, have much more power than science and due diligence. The lowest common denominator would be better than what the USFS has today. In fact a version of the lowest common denominator was the original intent, it’s called multiple use.

    • Betsy Cawn September 17, 2018

      James, my deepest condolences to your cousin. I have no doubt that the accident itself would have been much worse had the plane crashed, and if the retardant load was released as planned — without knowing that there were people in its immediate path — or as a last-second necessity to avoid the much worse outcome, either way the pilot was innocent of any intent to cause harm. And I’m also sure that everyone involved, the other pilots, the dispatchers, the ground crews on the fire front and in the command centers, is grieving. My heart goes out to all of them.

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