Thompson Drives By Ukiah
Health Care, War & Congressman Corktop in Ukiah.
Dining With The Pot People
Pot growers and sheriff deputies broke bread together in Ukiah recently at an unprecedented event: a holiday party hosted by Julia Carrera, one of Mendocino County’s medical marijuana inspectors. A grower in a beanie and a hooded sweatshirt, talked shop with Sheriff Sergeant Randy Johnson, who was decked out in a pinstriped shirt and a […]
Another Census Undercount
The US census recently finished its national population count leaving rural residents restless over fears of undercounting since the census data is used to determine how much a tax-paying community receives in federal funding. “In 2000 the census listed Anderson Valley having 22% of the population at poverty level, currently the Valley’s free and reduced […]
Eco-Motion Stalled
The city of Fort Bragg was founded as a prison to hold local Native Americans. Though more than 150 years have passed, the city remains a prison, as elected leaders hold a lock and key to city to traditional power structures over local movers and shakers. One of those movers and shakers is Nicole Kench, […]
New Pot Rules Create More Confusion
Mendocino County is taking another step towards legitimizing medical marijuana with new regulations for collectives. But federal law is getting in the way. Medical marijuana collectives can grow up to 99 plants per five-acre parcel through a new countywide permitting and zip-tie program. It’s an exemption to the county’s 25 medical marijuana plants per parcel […]
Over-The-Horizon Logging
A look at how Mendocino Redwood Company is changing the way company personnel draft Timber Harvest Plans.
Fertilizing Grassroots Radio
Community radio enthusiasts descended onto the small town of Garberville, California on May 14th-16th for the 15th Annual Grassroots Radio Conference. Station managers, show hosts, producers and newsmakers from around the country gathered for the three-day conference to share skills, network and discuss all things radio. Author and independent news producer Laura Flanders was the […]
Cox Case Settled — But Questions Remain
Deputy Jason Cox’s long anticipated sexual harassment lawsuit against the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office was dismissed late last week “with prejudice.” The terms of the suit’s settlement are as bizarre as the allegations Sheriff Deputy Jason Cox made— claims of workplace sex discrimination, wife swapping, denial of promotion, and on the job drunkenness. Cox worked […]
Blue Ribbon Fish Protection
Coastal residents are protective of Mendocino County’s wild and rugged coastline — so protective that when the state announced a process for new marine protection zones, environmental groups and seafood harvesters started organizing. The State of California is drafting rules which will restrict activity in new areas off the Mendocino, Del Norte and Humboldt county […]
The Blue Green Water People
The Havasupai or People of the Blue Green Water live 3,000 feet below red and white earth at the base of the Havasu-wa Cataract Canyon in Arizona. The village is accessible only by helicopter and packing horses. In 1882 the US Government relocated the Havasupai from the grand canyon to this dry desert and its […]
McGuire Ranch Clean-Up
Fort Bragg’s Georgia Pacific mill site dispersed tons of fly ash — the left over residue from burning wood — to several locations on the Mendocino Coast before the company closed the mill in 2002. The McGuire Ranch is one of those fly-ash destinations. But, Georgia Pacific’s in-kind gesture has turned into a toxic legacy. […]