Senate Republicans say Newsom must go. Democrats rally behind the embattled Governor

 Senate Republicans: 1 year later Newsom’s ‘one-man rule’ cripples California’s economy – Lake County Record-Bee (record-bee.com)

Gov. Gavin Newsom (courtesy CALMatters)

Sunshine Week reminds us Democracy depends on access to public records

 This is Sunshine Week and it seemed like a good time as any to revive my journalism blog. If you never heard of it, Sunshine Week celebrates accountability in a Democratic Society.

As the L.A. Times noted in their recent editorial,(follow link below) the event was launched in 2005 by the American Society of News Editors, now known as the News Leaders Association. 

Sunshine week: Keep pressure on government to be open, accountable - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

Unfortunately, even during the pandemic, governments have delayed access to public records, as documented by this report by the Associated Press' David Lieb:

As states prepared to reopen their economies following coronavirus shutdowns last spring, The Associated Press asked governors across the U.S. for records that could shed light on how businesses and health officials influenced their decisions.

Nine months later, after several more COVID-19 surges and shutdowns, the AP still has not received records from about 20 states. Some outright denied the requests or sought payments the AP declined to make. Others have not responded, or said they still need more time.

Public records have become harder to get since the world was upended by the pandemic a year ago. Governors, legislatures and local officials have suspended or ignored laws setting deadlines to respond to records requests. They cited obstacles for staffers who are working at home or are overwhelmed with crisis management.

The result is that information that once took a few days or weeks to obtain now often takes months — depriving the public of timely facts about decisions their leaders are making.

“The pandemic rages on, but investigative journalism doesn’t halt. The public’s right to know doesn’t cease to exist,” said Gunita Singh, a legal fellow at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which has tracked nationwide delays in responding to public records requests.

“Having these unnecessary measures in place that hinder open government sets a terrible precedent,” Singh said.

U.S. states and local governments are far from alone in their deferrals and delays. Dozens of countries suspended or altered their right-to-information policies last year while citing the pandemic, according to a joint tracking effort by the Centre for Law and Democracy and Access Info Europe.

Open-government advocates have started to worry about potential long-lasting effects.

The pandemic could “give cover for emergency measures to come into force that could then over time become permanent,” said Joe Powell, deputy CEO of the Open Government Partnership, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that works with governments in 78 countries, including the U.S., to promote transparency and public participation.

Even before the pandemic, some government agencies routinely blew past their own deadlines for responding to public records requests. But the number of such cases has grown over the past year, according to AP interviews with government watchdog groups.

New data indicates there has been both a higher demand for government information during the pandemic and longer waits to obtain it.

State, county and city governments experienced a sixfold increase in their time spent on public records requests last year, rising from an average of 346 hours in the first quarter to 2,121 hours by the last quarter, according to an analysis by GovQA, a company that provides cloud-based software to manage public records requests.

That surge was driven by both the volume and complexity of requests. After shutdowns led to a dip in records requests accepted by government agencies from April to June, the number of such requests shot up by 23% over the rest of the year, according to the GovQA data.

Processing delays were exacerbated by remote work, outdated public-records laws, underfunded budgets and increased oversight from top administrators wanting to review potentially sensitive data before it was released, said GovQA spokesperson Jen Snyder.

The AP last May sought copies of communications about the coronavirus between governors’ offices, state health directors and groups representing businesses, health care providers and local governments. By August, the AP had received records from about one-third of the states, revealing that some governors had allowed businesses to help write the reopening rules affecting their own industries.

The AP still has requests pending in Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New York and Texas. Illinois this past week finally provided 74 pages of documents, heavily redacted.

After months of repeated AP inquiries, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s office on March 3 released just two documents from last spring — one from a hospital association proposing criteria for resuming elective procedures, the other from a mayor’s group about guidelines for opening swimming pools and camps. A spokesperson for the Republican governor apologized for the delay, citing “human error” for a breakdown of staff communication.

Delaware Gov. John Carney was one of several chief executives who initially suspended the state’s response deadline for public records requests during the coronavirus emergency. With no end to the pandemic in sight, the Democratic governor reversed course and lifted the suspension in September.

But Carney’s administration did not fulfill the AP’s request until Feb. 10, when it provided 109 pages of documents and a note that more could come later. Though most were merely press clippings, the records included emails from representatives of car dealers, home builders and other industries seeking to keep operating during a shutdown.

More than a half-dozen states — Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Washington — continue to suspend some open-records requirements through gubernatorial orders, according to an AP review of public-records policies.

Hawaii Gov. David Ige, a Democrat, took the most sweeping action when he suspended the state’s entire open-records law in March 2020. Ige eased the suspension under pressure from open-government advocates. But his most recent order, issued in February, still allows deadlines to be suspended if hard copies of documents are inaccessible, staff are backlogged with other requests or a response would pull agency employees away from other COVID-19 work.

Some state legislatures also relaxed response deadlines for records requests during the pandemic.

The Missouri House in February overwhelmingly passed legislation that would suspend response requirements whenever governmental bodies are closed for extended periods. That bill is now in the Senate.

By contrast, Pennsylvania lawmakers pushed for quicker responses. After the state’s open-records office advised that days when public offices are closed don’t count toward response deadlines, the Republican-led Legislature passed a law prohibiting Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration from ignoring or suspending records requests during disaster emergencies.

Some local governments also have rolled back records law suspensions.

Last April, Virginia’s Albemarle County, which surrounds Charlottesville, extended indefinitely the deadlines to respond to records requests. The county board later softened that stance before finally repealing the extension in November — a move that came shortly after state Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat, said state law does not allow local governments to modify such deadlines.

Albemarle County spokesperson Emily Kilroy said the timing of the repeal was merely coincidental.

“The ordinance was not intended to get out of the responsibilities that we have under the Freedom of Information Act,” she said. “It was really in response to the pandemic.”

The Dallas Independent School District suspended all records requests for seven months while its employees were working from home with laptop computers. Staff likely could have processed some requests for electronic records. But because the legal team was unable to access other records stored in offices, it chose not to process any requests “in order for everyone to be on the same playing field,” district spokesperson Robyn Harris said.

When staff returned to in-person work on Oct. 7, the school district had a backlog of 424 records requests, she said.

Among those was a July 7 request from Keri Mitchell, executive director of the Dallas Free Press, seeking information about internet hot spots provided for students’ families during the previous school year. By the time she finally received the information, Mitchell had moved on to other news stories.

“If we can’t get timely responses to open-records requests, we can’t get people actual answers,” she said. “It just creates another barrier to the information people need to literally survive.”

___

Follow David A. Lieb at: http://twitter.com/DavidALieb

Halfway through COVID year 2020

Here we are more than halfway through COVID year 2020. I always meant to revive my journalism blog but a certain pandemic we are all familiar with now derailed everybody's timing and plans. Still working on my novel but at a very slow rate, was hoping to have that brushed off by end of calendar year 2020 which is also the year in which I turn the big 5-0 but the best laid plans as they say....

I think today the most rewarding aspect of the workday was talking to one of our subscribers who wrote a long letter saying she wanted to cancel her subscription which had been paid for a year in advance due to the same usual complaints. Not enough local coverage of local news and events, the newspaper leans too much to one ideology or another.

I did call her back, if not only to get her correct address so I can grant her wish to cancel her subscription but to point out that print newspapers have been in a steep decline, but not as a result of a bias of any kind per se, but many factors converging against the print industry: The rise of technology and the internet and social media, state laws that would like to compel the newspaper industry into making delivery drivers full time employees at a time when it may be impossible to fiscally do that. 

Also COVID 19's impact on our industry is as severe as many other local businesses. The ones in Lake County which have not shuttered their doors permanently are struggling to survive, trying to adapt to this changing economic landscape. It is not my place to tell you who to vote for in the upcoming 2020 election in less than 100 days, but the incumbent of course is making his case and the challenger is attacking what he believes to be an ineffective record. 

I don't have a crystal ball to predict outcomes, but I can tell you that I have a mechanism (as do you if you are on social media) to look back. A year ago to the day I was undergoing the seventh day of evacuations due to one of the big fires we have had here in Lake County, though I personally have only experienced a couple. As a resident and as a reporter, newspaper man, I am greatly concerned as is everyone else about fire preparedness, fire mitigation and response and planning. 

The Civil Grand Jury in their 2019-20 report brought up a valid point, one I am not sure our county or state leaders have fully addressed: What happens when or if a major disaster like the fire in Paradise hits our county? With COVID-19 still stalking us, this has the potential to be a catastrophic event.  I mean, it's not really possible to practice social distance in a crowded shelter. Where will people go? Can most residents even survive? Highway 29 for example is a major thoroughfare. But it could also be a death trap if there is no egress out of Buckingham, Soda Bay and the Clearlake Rivieras. I have experienced traffic delays and sitting still when there is a rollover accident like we had a few days ago, or during the crews cutting down the vegetation and trees on the side of the road. Can you imagine what would happen if there was a major fire and everyone took to the road trying to get out alive? 

These are some of the things and concerns that, on the eve of my 50th year on this Earth, keep me up at night.   

Thanks to Betsy Cawn, KPFZ programmer and the Essential Public Information Center in Upper Lake for this list of disaster preparedness resources. 

August 5, 2020 - Lake County Disaster Preparedness: Orgs/Agencies/Projects (D3) 

1. Lake County Disaster Council: Formed in 1996, Ordinance No. 2342. See Lake County Municipal Codes, Chapter 6 - CIVIL DEFENSE: https:// library.municode.com/ca/lake_county/codes/code_of_ordinances? nodeld=COOR_CH6CIDE. 

2. Lake County Office of Emergency Services: http:// www.lakesheriff.com/About/OES.htm. 

Lake County Emergency Operations Plan, Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan: http://www.lakesheriff.com/About/OES/Plans.htm 

3. Lake County Risk Reduction Authority: http:// www.lakecountyca.gov/Government/Boards/RRA.htm. 

4. Lake County Fire Safe Council: http://www.lakecountyca.gov/ Page3801.aspx. Lake County Community Wildfire Protection Plan: http:// www.lakecountyca.gov/Government/Boards/lcfsc/LCCWPP.htm. 

5. South Lake Fire Safe Council: http://southlakefiresafecouncil.org. 

6. California Fire Safe Councils: https://cafiresafecouncil.org/ resources/fire-safe-councils. 

7. Firewise Communities: https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Fire- causes-and-risks/Wildfire/Firewise-USA. 

8. Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network: https:// fireadaptednetwork.org. 

9. Lake County Community Organizations Active in Disasters (COAD): Website under construction; refer to the Napa Valley COAD for info, http://napavalleycoad.org. 

10. Lake County Resource Conservation District: https:// www.lakercd.org/about-us.html. 

11. Lake County Department of Public Health: http:// health.co.lake.ca.us. 

12. California Department of Public Health: https://www.cdph.ca.gov. 

13. California Emergency Medical Services Authority: https:// emsa.ca.gov/medical-health-operational-area-coordinator. 

14. Lake Transit: www.laketransit.org. 

More of the best columns from 2019

This one was published on the Record-Bee in the anniversary of the deadly Camp Fire in Butte County California. Mandy Feder-Sawyer is a career journalist and an instructor of journalism at California State University, Chico. She can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com. She is a former editor of the Lake County Record-Bee.

Fire People

One year ago, I became a member of a club I didn’t want to belong to – the fire people.

If this piece of writing seems fragmented, it’s because it is, much like our new lives.

We are perpetually straddling the line of gratitude and terror.

My daughter Nicole’s biggest fear – the house burning down – was amplified by tens of thousands when the Camp Fire struck our town and left us all running for our lives together as a family.

We escaped together as a family and we will stay together as a family.

A year later we live in a big Victorian house in Red Bluff – all of us – my husband, daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.

Faced with losing her entire family, my daughter Miranda, 26 then and her boyfriend Brad of Sacramento, took care of all six of us. Miranda’s an EMT and signed up for a strike team to come into the fire as we were trying to get out.

Our severed community floated all over the country like the ashes that whipped through the wind on Nov. 8, 2018.

In one fell swoop, we, the people who loved to spread sunshine, were incapable of giving. For months we had to be takers and we had nothing to offer anyone else who was suffering either. This was humbling and painful.

The people who helped us from near and far cried for us and showed us a kind of empathy I had never experienced. Conversely, some folks fell away with the discomfort of our new reality.

We approached everything matter-of-factly. As people shared their sorrow for our circumstances, we smiled and said we were OK. We wouldn’t know until much later that we were not in fact, OK.
The civilized life we led until Nov. 7 was turned on its head.

People were jumping into stranger’s vehicles. Nobody was wearing seatbelts because we didn’t know when we might have to leave the car and run. Those who were forced to shelter in place huddled and sobbed hour after devastating hour.

In the wake of the fire we lived in phases. Phase one was simply to have a roof over our heads. Phase two, we needed to get our fire damaged vehicles repaired.

We had an epiphany at the Toyota dealership.

“What’s your address?” The service manager asked. Larry and I looked at each other with blank stares. We explained that we were from Paradise. Tears filled his eyes and poured over his cheeks unabashedly into his goatee. He lost his own home to fire the year before in Santa Rosa.

Our granddaughter Eloise was 4 years old then.

After we checked into the hotel, we headed through the lobby to the elevator. Eloise jumped back away from it pointing wildly at a sign, the one that pictures someone running on stairs away from flames. “Use stairs in case of Fire.”

She thought the elevator was on fire.

We stayed in so many different places we never knew where we were when we woke up. That happens to us still.

Dining out and staying in hotels had lost its luster.

Yes, we are grateful for our lives on the daily. There are other feelings too. Feeling fortunate to be alive when many others did not make it out. Knowing that we suffered one day of running for our lives and people all over the world spend lifetimes doing so. Having family and friends who cared for us and insulated us through the biggest challenges, when many others have no one.

I clung to the routine of going to work. I missed only one day as a result of the fire. My Chico State students who were predominantly freshmen, matured at an alarming pace as a result of the fire. They became serious about journalism. I think in part to make me proud and also to show respect.

One student who was lackadaisical about attending class told me after the fire, “If you can make it to class, so can I.”

Larry did what he does, he wrote a song, “Sifting Ashes,” that chronicled the day. It took seven months to complete.

Nicole grabbed her sewing machine when we left. She made Christmas stockings for everyone in the hotel room while simultaneously caring for a 4-year-old, and a two-month-old.

Our dogs and cats were fostered out to friends and relatives until we could find a more permanent place to call home. One of our cats didn’t survive the fire.

Each second of that day plays back in slow motion like a movie montage. I can still see that wicked looking cloud, hear the roaring of the mighty engine that was the fire, the explosions and feel the ashes falling like hard rain.

It’s true that life does go on and there are many events aside from the fire in which we need to participate, such as weddings, births, and sadly funerals.

Mainly, I want to take the opportunity right now to thank every person who helped us through this. We couldn’t have done it without your grace and kindness. Our appreciation is endless. Each act deserves its own story.

We will not allow this blaze we narrowly escaped from take over our lives.

We will live, laugh and love.

“A town is a thing like a colonial animal. A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet. A town is a thing separate from all other towns alike. And a town has a whole emotion.” — John Steinbeck

Best columns of 2019

As 2019 is coming to a close I endeavor once again to update my journalism blog. Who knows if I will be successful in posting more in 2020? Well that is one of my goals. I thought I would start by presenting some of my favorite columns printed this past year. Dan Walters is a political columnist we regularly feature in our Lake County Newspaper. This is a column he wrote about Assembly Bill 5 known as the controversial "gig economy" bill. It's a great piece of writing. Enjoy.

Dan Walters. Courtesy of CALMatters

A titanic battle over work looms

It would be difficult to name an issue of more fundamental, far-reaching importance than how we earn our livings — and a titanic political battle is about to erupt.

 This week, a coalition of companies that use on-call drivers with their own vehicles to transport passengers and goods — Uber and Lyft most famously — filed an initiative ballot measure to overturn a new, union-supported law that would compel their workers to become payroll employees.

That law, Assembly Bill 5, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom just a few weeks ago, was easily one of the most controversial of the 2019 legislative session, implementing the state Supreme Court’s Dynamex decision handed down in 2018.

That decision created a three-factor “ABC test” to determine who could be an independent contractor and who must be considered an employee, thus striking at the heart of the business models Uber, Lyft and other companies use.

AB 5 lodged the ABC test into law, while granting exceptions to “licensed insurance agents, certain licensed health care professionals, registered securities broker-dealers or investment advisers, direct sales salespersons, real estate licensees, commercial fishermen, workers providing licensed barber or cosmetology services…”

The gig companies contend that the Dynamex ruling and AB 5 undercut the desires of their drivers for flexibility. They offered to create a hybrid model under which drivers would still set their own hours but with income guarantees, fringe benefits and other aspects of payroll employment.

Unions countered with “wedriveprogress.org,” a coalition of drivers who want to become employees, and argued that the “misclassification” of workers as contractors is rampant, depriving them of rights and benefits protected by state labor laws.

Rebuffed by the Legislature and Newsom, Uber, Lyft and DoorDash, a delivery service for restaurant orders and other consumer items, pledged $30 million each to overturn the new law. Their initiative would embrace the hybrid employment concept they proposed in the Legislature, including minimum income guarantees, health care insurance subsidies and vehicle maintenance stipends.

The sponsors rolled out their measure Tuesday during a Sacramento press conference featuring drivers who like the status quo. One, Jermaine Brown, told reporters he quit a full-time job to drive for Uber and Lyft because he wanted “flexibility to be home with my kids” and called the new proposal “the best of both worlds.”

The California Labor Federation immediately denounced the proposal as “another brazen attempt by some of the richest corporations in California to avoid playing by the same rules as all other law-abiding companies in our state,” and added, “California’s unions will join drivers who want fair wages, better treatment and flexibility to defeat this corporate ploy.”

However, it’s not certain that voters will have the last word because Brandon Castillo, a spokesman for the “Protect Drivers and Services” coalition, made it clear during the news conference that the firms “prefer a legislative path.”

In other words, they would drop the measure, even after spending heavily to qualify it for the November 2020 ballot, if the Legislature and Newsom would agree to a compromise. Otherwise, he said, “we’re going to spend what it takes to win.”

Although the proposal would apply only to drivers using “app-based rideshare and delivery platforms,” its adoption would create a new model that could spread to other industries.

Thus, the stakes, in both human and economic terms, are obviously immense. The “gig worker” model has been growing fast, particularly in California, and the state’s unions, whose membership is declining, are eager to have more payroll workers that they could potentially organize.

California legislators should not endanger newspapers

Source: Chico Enterprise Record, Bay Area Newsgroup An important Editorial on a subject that could have serious repercussions for our industry in our small rural markets.

As written, Assembly Bill 5, the so-called “gig work bill” sponsored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, would have a devastating economic impact on countless California residents and businesses. It would be especially harmful for many (if not most) of our state’s newspapers, especially in smaller communities that rely so heavily on local journalism for their news.

This much is certain: AB5 is going to pass. It’s already sailed through the assembly on a party-line 59-15 vote, and is certain to pass the Democrat-controlled state senate next month. From there, it’ll just be a Gov. Gavin Newsom-signature away from becoming law.

But first, changes can, and must, be made. If not, the result will be economic chaos for many businesses as 2 million independent contractors are transformed overnight from independent contractors to employees.

The bill is based on the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex decision, which means companies must pass an “ABC” test to determine if a person is an independent contractor or not. Specifically, contractors must be free from company control; perform work not central to the company’s business; and, have an independent business in their industry.

In other words, you can pretty much forget about businesses being able to pass that test in a majority of cases. And the economic impact will be devastating.

We all know independent contract workers and we don’t disagree that many are deserving of employee status. But this bill goes too far, taking that decision out of the hands of thousands of contractors who enjoy the freedom offered by non-employee status.

Our industry, already reeling from years of declining ad revenue and skyrocketing production costs, would be among those hardest hit. There’s no other way to say it — this bill, as written, would put many newspapers out of business, with those in smaller communities being especially impacted.

Sharon DiMauro, a retired publisher from Mendocino County, once won a statewide “A newspaper is … ” contest with the words “A newspaper is … the closest anyone will ever get to holding democracy in their hands.” This bill threatens to rip that piece of democracy right out of our grip.

The people who deliver our newspapers are independent contractors. For most, it’s a supplemental source of income. Some are students and many are retired people looking to make a few extra dollars every month. They contract with us for the routes; if they’re unable to fill the routes on a given day, they hire somebody who can.

Delivering the paper is their business, operated on their terms. And many are delivering multiple newspapers on their routes.

The financial impact of those drivers becoming employees would be more than our industry could bear. Opportunities would be lost, eliminating much-needed supplemental income for the drivers who like the freedom of being their own bosses.

Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City), one of the “no” votes on AB5, spared no words in assessing the bill’s overall impact.

“It’s a bad bill. AB5 and the Dynamex decision are poised to completely upturn the way people work in California,” Gallagher said. “The flexibility, efficiency and benefits to workers will be eliminated. This situation allows power brokers in Sacramento to arbitrarily pick winners and losers — and that’s never a good thing. From truckers to franchise owners, many industries will be impacted.”

Fortunately, there’s still time for amendments. The California Newspaper Publishers Association is seeking a newspaper carrier exception, along with an amendment allowing newspapers to continue to use freelancers — the loss of which would have a devastating impact on our ability to report local news and events.

We recognize the need for many independent contractors to earn employee status. As written, this bill casts far too wide of a net and will end up driving too many businesses either out of state or out of operation.

Please join us in contacting your state representatives and party leaders to urge Gonzalez to add the CNPA amendment protecting the right of newspaper drivers and freelancers to work as independent contractors.

Lake County musings

I had intended to update this blog more often in 2018 but as usual time is limited and sometimes the weekend rolls around and all I want to do is lounge around binge watching hulu documentaries or leveling my orc warrior in vanilla.

What a difference a year makes, about this time last summer I was practically putting the bulk of the Willits News out on my own until we hired a reporter but she came in around July and lasted about 4 and a half months on the job.

Now, I have transferred and moved to Lake County to take over the editorial duties at the Record Bee, a daily paper serving Lake County CA. After only a week on the job there has been a grass fire, a meeting with a U.S. Senator and today the Pawnee Fire in Clearlake Oaks has (as of 1 AM Sunday) burned 1,000 acres and 12 structures according to scanner and CAL fire reports. As I drove towards the Moose Lodge in Clearlake Oaks to hopefully speak to some folks and get a handle on the devastation on the area, it dawned on me that I had not even stopped to eat dinner (it was around 7:45 pm) and I would probably not have something to eat until I got back from the assignment about an hour or two later because I needed to get there before it got too dark, only aided by the fact that Thursday was the Solstice, meaning the days only get extra long from here on.

I was eerily reminded of the Mendocino Complex Fire and how it took Willits by surprise with city officials admitting that they were ill prepared because the city's emergency plan had not been updated since 2008. We did not have internet for several days until temporary service was established. I won't soon forget the sight of hundreds of residents flocking to the local library because even though it was not open after hours, due to their network being the only one operational during the emergency, most of the town gathered outside where they could get a signal and send out messages to loved ones, family members and friends.

I also thought about the conversation I had yesterday with Senator McGuire who represents the 2nd District. Among other topics we spoke about the fact fire recovery in California will be an on going, expensive long process and even though there is money from the General Fund to cover some of the damage from last year's fires, I hope that this fire season does not take to great a toll on the remaining reserves from the rainy day fund government has been working on to deal with emergencies like the ones we had today. I guess we will soon find out.

A year later

The  2018 Women's March is going on now in Washington and simultaneous efforts are happening nationwide, including Mendocino County.

https://t.co/P3W6GRvNob

— Twitter News (@TwitterNews) January 17, 2018

Man about Willits: End of the year edition

Batman used to be perched on top of my computer in the Willits News office since I started working there last fall. He was soon joined by his other pals in the Justice League. No matter how things were going, it was always nice to be able to come in and sit at my desk and get lost in the world of journalism and in the microcosm that was the Willits News office on Commercial Street.

After it was announced that the office would permanently close and all business operations would move to the offices of our sister pub, the Ukiah Daily Journal, I didn't know quite how to feel. I had mixed reactions, though I understood it to be a financial decision, I didn't think our readers would react favorably to the news.

One of our long time returning costumers who picks up her paper every Saturday (used to be Fridays before that) came in last week and sorrowfully surveyed the mostly empty space, with all kids of boxes stuffed and a ton of equipment, files and other items ready to be shipped to Ukiah and Lakeport.

"It's the end of an era," she said and it was a frequent refrain I heard constantly.

A few weeks earlier, because I knew she could keep a confidence, she was the first person I told about the company's plan to shutter down the space for good. She lamented the fact she would have to put quarters into the newspaper machines instead of having to come in and talk to our office manager on a regular basis, and we further discussed how these kinds of decisions are made by companies all the time. It wasn't really a surprise she said. One recent example was Bank of America pulling out of Ukiah by shutting down their local branch in that city. 

I got a little tired of explaining to folks that the paper was not folding that it would continue to publish, so I wrote this column which I hope assuages people's fears and answers some of the questions.

Around last November when I was new to the area, I would frequently go to the office for a few hours on a Saturday afternoons to use my computer, plan some of the coverage for the week ahead, or to quickly dash off my latest movie review. There has been little time for reviews this fall season starting with the Mendocino Lake Complex Fire in early October which crippled communications for a few days straight in Willits leading straight into end of the  year reports and the start of a busy holiday season.

Things haven't slowed down one bit, at least in the sense we are wrapping up our holiday coverage for the year. Today's annual event at the Roots of Motive Powers kicks off the holiday season in Willits, with holiday rides on the Skunk Train and the tree lighting ceremony to follow the Roots event which this year was a collaboration between several entities including the Willits Chamber of Commerce.

I hope to write in this blog more often in 2018 and I wish everyone has a Merry Christmas and a wonderful safe start to their new year.

Why I can't support the L.A. Chargers

Stan  Humphries, still the only Chargers QB to play in a Super Bowl

The rumors persisted all of last football season that the San Diego Chargers were getting ready to join the Rams in the Los Angeles market but I guess I still held out hope and was skeptical of the reports even though the Chargers had registered an L.A. based web domain and had been the only team on the TV landscape in Southern Cal, even prior to my moving to Texas three years ago.

From a journalism and specifically sports writing and sports coverage perspective, the Chargers moving to L.A. was an interesting story and presented the dilemma of how the San Diego fans would react to the announcement that their team was abandoning them this season. Also, would the media outlets in the San Diego market continue to cover the team?

So after it finally happened and team owner Dean Spanos took the cowardly way out and announced the team's move via the web, fans were upset and understandably bitter about the decision. A number of them gathered outside the team's practice facility in San Diego to burn their jerseys and gear and to say "good riddance" to a team and an owner who had turned their back on them after 55 years.

I have been a football fan all my life and I remember as a 10 year old choosing the San Diego team as my favorite even though I lived in the L.A. area and this caused conflicts. Nobody liked the Chargers in LA. while I was growing up, most were fans of our bitter rivals the Oakland-then L.A. Raiders then back to Oakland in the 90s. Others favored the Rams until they decided to move to St. Louis in 1995.

As long as I can remember I looked forward with great anticipation to another NFL season and especially to watching my favorite team. There were many frustrations over the years watching the Chargers because they were rarely contenders and often times they seemed cursed. There was a contest in the early 80s where they lined up to kick a game winning field goal in the waning moments of a game against the Denver Broncos, only to have the kick blocked and ran back for a winning score. There was also a Monday night game against Chicago when a player seemed on his way to a sure touchdown, only to fumble the ball away before crossing the goal line. Such misfortunes seemed par for the course if you were a Chargers fan.

There were some good moments though. I remember vividly listening to a San Diego radio station, Extra Sports 690 in 1992 in disbelief as the Chargers won the AFC West after posting an 11-5 record. They had started the season 0-4 and turned it around to make the post season. Two years later they had an even  better season guided by coach Bobby Ross and quarterback Stan (the man) Humphries, still the only quarterback to have led the team to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately the 49ers were better than SD that season and they trounced my beloved team in the big game. What I remember most about that championship year was the game against Pittsburgh which the chargers won to get into the Super Bowl. I remember watching and screaming in joy at the TV as running back Natrone Means ripped through the Steelers' run defense like a runaway train on several long runs.

The Steelers had proclaimed and boasted that the Chargers would not score that day but sweet revenge, the Bolts posted 17 points on their way to the Super Bowl.

Finally, there was L.T. the magic back, the guy who shattered the NFL single season TD record in 2006 with 28 scores. That's a record that still stands today and L.T. was a complete back. He could run, he could even pass for touchdowns! Unfortunately, following a season with a 14-2 record in 2006, the team fell in the playoffs to New England and would do so again two years later with an injured L.T. watching the Patriots advance to the Super Bowl instead. It felt like someone punched you in the gut to experience that bitter loss.

Fast forward to 2017 and the punch in the gut was even worse. I had been a SD Chargers fan for 28 of my adult years prior to this season! I was sitting at a pizza joint watching last Monday night's opening Monday Night Football game between the Chargers and the Broncos and I experienced a flurry of emotions. I felt angry that my former favorite team was now referred to by the play by play guys in ESPN as "L.A." and I cursed Dean Spanos for taking the joy of another season opener away from the San Diego fans. But the sports media in San Diego has not completely abandoned the team and neither have some fans. According to a poll conducted by the SD Union Tribune, most fans still consider the Chargers their favorite team in SD.  The media has also not abandoned the team.

I may yet rejoin the Charger fandom, at the moment I don't like the L.A. Chargers brand, but I won't "hate watch" or root against them to perform badly in L.A. Mostly I will go through this season like the last, mostly in blissful ignorance of the team's performance.
Management has always made terrible moves and always sell away the best players, this time they ripped the heart out of a loyal fan base the greedy bastards. The Chargers still have a  hall of fame caliber quarterback in Phillip Rivers. However, they don't feel like my team anymore and all the fake fans who could not have cared less about the team have jumped on the bandwagon egged on by the L.A. sports hacks who are forced to cover the team along with the hapless Rams.

Most can't even remember Lionel "Train" James, Natrone Means, Air Coryell or all the other great players who have donned the powder blues or the lighting bolts on their helmet. That's a real shame.

Non profit analysis states education proposal has problems

source: The Willits News 8/30/2017

A national nonpartisan nonprofit commended the development of the state’s plan for student success designed to comply with the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), but criticized its lack of a clear implementation process according to a report released last week.

“California’s plan includes several weaknesses that will limit its ability to effectively communicate with educators, parents, and other stakeholders,” the report hstates.
According to the report by the Boston-based nonprofit Bellwether Education Partners in collaboration with the Collaborative for Student Success, while the state appears to have solicited and utilized stakeholder feedback in the development of the plan and has also adopted high-quality standards and assessments, it is unclear how the state’s proposal for a “dashboard” accountability system will be gauged and incorporated into a comprehensive measure of school quality.

The U.S. Department of Education made public specific provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act after then president Barack Obama signed it into law on Dec. 10, 2015.
The law, among other provisions, advanced equity by upholding critical protections for America’s disadvantaged and high-need students, ensured that vital information was provided to educators, families, students and communities through annual statewide assessments and maintained an expectation that there would be accountability to effect positive change in low performing schools.

One specific concern outlined by the report is the state’s inability to completely spell out its approach to identify low-performing schools, which it says it will submit to the U.S. Department of Education in January 2018.
“The current method of measuring growth does not actually capture individual students’ improvement over time,” the report states. “Instead, it only tracks year-over-year changes at the school level, which is susceptible to differences in the student population enrolled in a given year.”

The report ranks the plan on a five point scale in nine categories. California earned low ratings in several of the plan’s component including a score of 2 for its overall vision articulated in the state’s academic goal for all student subgroups to achieve and sustain high performance.
“The state may find it somewhat difficult to quantify and track district, school and student progress towards realizing it,” the report states, adding the goal of all students achieving and maintaining high academic performance is tied to scoring high on state exams, which corresponds with meeting standards.

STATE RESPONSE


“The state has not yet determined the time frame over which schools must achieve this goal, or the time frame for schools identified for improvement to make sufficient progress. As such, it’s impossible to know if this goal is ambitious or achievable,” the report states.
The Bellwether Report also questioned the state’s plan to identify schools for comprehensive support and its methodology for identifying student groups most in need of targeted support.
The plan scored a 1 on this specific category because according to the analysis, “California has not clearly articulated how it will combine a school’s various scores across multiple indicators.”

The state’s proposal is based on multiple tiers of matrices designed to track performance levels using the School Dashboard. The average status score is a school that achieves around level three on an the state assessment, these schools are colored yellow. The average change score is also colored yellow and corresponds with little or no change from last year. For both these measures, the highest scores are colored green and blue, while the lowest are red.
The report said the current approach could potentially ignore some very low performing schools, for example, a high school could score red in both achievement and graduation rates but not be identified if it scored yellow on suspension rates.

Additionally, the state ranked poorly on the academic progress category, with a score of 1. The report points out there is little incentive for schools already performing above the state’s goals to reach toward higher levels, particularly because schools can score slightly worse performance from the first year to the next and still qualify as achieving its growth goals.
The state did however score high on the standards and assessments category with a score of 4 for its use of the Common Core state standards for mathematics and English language arts.

LOCAL RESPONSE


Although the implementation of the Common Core standards was controversial initially, local educators said there are advantages to using them and teachers have warmed up to them over time.
“It seems to me over the last few years the opposition from families has gone down,” said Jennifer Lockwood, director of Willits Charter School who added people were in an uproar at first over the fact students were not being taught skills in the same manner they learned, especially in mathematics.

“I like how the standards tie together to create a clear plan across grade levels,” she said. “It’s the same standard, but it expands over time. I think there was a lot of thought behind the creation of the common core standards to come up with a cohesive plan, before that was not the case. In math, for example, students have to know how to use skills and apply them to real life situations. I think California was pretty progressive when it came to implementing and training of Common Core.”
Willits Unified School District Superintendent Mark Westerburg said the issue is not with the standards, the real issue lies with state assessments.

“The problem is measuring the standards’ success,” he said. “We are implementing them and using them at every grade level but they aren’t very consistent. The state has created a test that is not widely acceptable so a lot of districts have gone to using third party assessments.”
Westerburg said California is one of the few states that does not require a national standardized test to measure student success compared to national standards.
According to Janet Weeks, communications director for the state board of education, the state has been working on a plan for how state funding will be implemented since 2013.

Weeks said the federal government provides funding for low income students, English language learners and foster youth, approximately $1.8 billion a year or about 2 percent of California’s overall education budget and added the nonprofit’s report did not look at the entire educational funding picture. She said instead of looking at all the federal requirements, they came up with their own rubric based on what the group felt the state should be doing.
“Our response is that it’s kind of unfair to rate us without looking at everything the state is doing,” she said. “We are really proud of what we are doing in California. We have increased the amount of money school districts have been getting and we have given local school boards more power on how they spend those funds based on demographics and other factors.”

Children Now, a policy and advocacy group based out of Oakland analyzed the state’s ESSA plan and stated the final opportunity for public comment will be available during the Sept. 13-14 State Board of Education meeting.

Higher Education report card alarming

source: The Willits News, Friday Aug.25, 2017

According to a new report from the California Campaign for College opportunity, the state is falling short in meeting both the needs of an economy in need of a well educated workforce and students in regard to college preparation, access, affordability and completion.
The report, issued earlier this summer grades the state on those four criteria and the results are not encouraging. The Golden State fails in providing college access to students and in college completion and also scores a “C” in affordability. College preparation ranked the highest with a “B-” grade for a less than stellar overall grade point average of 1.17.

The college preparation grade measures whether the state’s high school graduates are academically ready to successfully engage in college work. According to the non-profit’s analysis, to produce 1.7 million additional adults with college credentials by 2025, California would need 100 percent of students to finish high school, but only 69 percent actually do, according to the cohort graduation rate for the class of 2014.
Additionally, the data shows only 47 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds enrolled in college, while only 6.3 percent of 25 to 49-year-olds with no college credentials enrolled. To produce the required number of adults with college credentials over the next eight years, the report’s authors estimate the state would need to increase production of undergraduate degrees annually by 23,000 from a baseline of 420,000. Only 12,584 additional degrees were given over the baseline in the 2014-15 academic year for completed university work.

It is alarming that today, just under half of adults in our state have a college degree or credential, as is pointed out by the report’s metrics. If a growing demand for a more educated workforce requires that 60 percent of adults have a college degree or credential by 2025, as Michele Siqueiros, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity asserted, that means the state must produce close to 2 million more degrees over the next decade, a daunting task but one which can be achieved with some dedication and with a commitment from elected officials to provide much needed resources and funding.

Locally, educators are taking some steps to ensure that students have the tools to succeed and to meet the workforce demands of the future. Sanhedrin High School, once a credit recovery school has been transformed this year by the Willits Unified School District as a career Technical Education (CTE) site.
WUSD Superintendent Mark Westerburg said last year his first year on the job would be to focus on repairing the district’s aging facilities and added he would direct his efforts, along with district staff, during his second year to curriculum. So far he seems to be on track with his stated goals.

According to Westerburg, high school students who don’t attend WHS can instead choose to go the vocational education route by participating and choosing vocational programs at Sanhedrin, in order to graduate with marketable skills in multiple focus areas, or develop a personalized program that best fits their needs.
Willits students in grades 6 through 12 also have the option of attending Willits Charter School where this year staff are updating technology, including use of Google classroom and giving upper class students access to Chromebooks, as well as other platforms to ensure academic success and engagement.

Director Jennifer Lockwood said more Advanced Placement classes have also been added to address college accessibility at the school including the addition of AP courses in US history, environmental science, Spanish and calculus.
Educational success of course starts at the lower grades and Willits families have access to Willits Charter School, a free K-5 school for local students. According to Director Kara McClellan, this year teachers plan to emphasize history and social science, along with core academic subjects. There is also a push to strengthen the school’s art programs, music and other academic programs.

Westerburg said the district offers a smaller sized school like Sherwood Elementary where multi-grade classrooms allow for more one-on-one instruction with teachers. Middle School students can also select independent study options managed through Sherwood.
There is a lot state elected leaders can do to achieve the goal of ensuring students have the degrees and credentials needed to succeed and meet the state’s workforce demands including expanding financial aid funding in state and community colleges for low income families and students, reducing the time it takes for students to get through college programs and making sure completion of the college ready (referred to as A-G requirements) for students becomes a reality to open up doors for more of them to gain admission into the UC and CSU systems.

Only by maximizing our local efforts in these areas with the support and accountability from elected officials can the gaps in college preparation access, completion and affordability be bridged.
Ariel Carmona Jr is the city editor for The Willits News. He can be reached by email at acarmona@willitsnews.com or by phone at (707) 841-2123.

Sunday rumination: Federal probes of leaks threaten our Constitutional rights

According to The Washington Post, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Friday the government was stepping up its efforts to crack down on unauthorized sources of sensitive information.

Presumably the announcement that the Justice Department has more than tripled the number of leak investigations compared to the number under the Obama administration was made to appease President Donald Trump who has attacked the attorney general for not doing more to clamp down on leaks and, according to the report, to scare government officials away from talking about sensitive matters.

As the Post article points out, Trump "has complained vociferously" about unauthorized disclosures of information, especially when the leaks result in stories that are unflattering to the administration. (And there have been a lot of those since he took office as we all know.)

The most disturbing part of the report in my estimation is when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein refused to rule out the possibility that journalists would be prosecuted saying, "I'm not going to comment on any hypotheticals."

The Post article goes on to state that it has long been Justice Department practice in leak probes to try to avoid investigating journalists directly to find their sources.

It's hard to imagine that in the Trump era, where the commander in chief has branded legitimate news outlets like CNN and The  New York Times as "Fake News," an appellation which is as unfair as it is inaccurate, that previous policies such as those which were in place when then Attorney General Eric Holder Jr said that as long as he was  heading the Justice Department no reporter would be jailed for doing his or her job, will remain unaltered.

Admittedly, and to be fair, attacks on the fourth estate have never been exclusive to any partisan agenda. As the Post also pointed out in their report, prosecutors in the Obama era brought nine leak cases, exceeding the total of all previous administrations combined, and in the process called a reporter a criminal "conspirator." and surreptitiously went after a journalists' phone records in an attempt to identify the reporters' sources.

When the leader of the free world embraces the phrase "Enemy of the People" to describe the American news media, there are real negative consequences and he makes it okay for the public to view journalists with more distrust than they already do and recklessly puts journalists doing important work in danger.

Don't believe me? Think this is mere hyperbole on my part? Well considered what happened to  Guardian political reporter Ben Jacobs earlier this year.

Ben Jacobs, a Guardian political reporter, was asking Greg Gianforte, a tech millionaire endorsed by Donald Trump, about the Republican healthcare plan when the candidate allegedly “body-slammed” the reporter. In other instances, Trump supporters have been photographed at rallies wearing t-shirts emblazoned with such dictatorial rhetoric like "The best journalist is a dead journalist."

Americans who support the First Amendment and its guaranteed freedom of the press and who are also supportive of journalists' role in a democracy should shudder in fear when Sessions states that the government is reviewing the entire process of how media leak investigations are conducted, adding that they don't know yet what changes are coming down the pike, because they are taking a "fresh look."

The cornerstone of a free and democratic society is a free press. In America we don't jail members of the press for doing their jobs and part of that job entails speaking to sources and not compelling reporters to reveal their sources. Doing so would undermine a process that has been in place for years and which works to the benefit of society, not the converse, which the Trump administration would have us believe.

Without insiders providing information, journalists would be hampered in conducting probes and investigating government, an essential part of the checks and balances in our democratic process. Can you imagine Woodward and Bernstein being able to break a huge story like Watergate in the Vietnam era without the protections politicians have been trying to erode ever since?

Of course, Trump has shown himself to be either ignorant of these fundamental Constitutional processes freedoms and guarantees, or worse yet, he flaunts them openly in an attempt to conduct government in a fashion that dangerously borders authoritarian practices.

 So when Rosenstein, Sessions and Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, among others in the White House elite announce they will be looking at reviewing policy in regards to leaks, it makes me very nervous and concerned. You should be as well. 
    

Mental Health tax ballot measure is a step in the right direction

Source: The Willits News,  July 28, 2017

It doesn’t take a whole lot of detailed research to see that mental health facilities are still badly needed in Mendocino County. According to the county’s Behavioral Health Advisory annual report for 2015-16, the committee recognized the inadequacy of both substance abuse and disorder treatment services and urged the Board of Supervisors to prioritize financial resources.
Board members in their report supported maximizing the use of all available funding resources, locating and staffing substance abuse treatment disorder options county-wide and providing transportation support for those remote locations, among some suggestions.

On the law enforcement end, earlier in the year the MCSO announced they planned to stop responding to crisis calls and non-violent 5150s. Section 5150 of the state’s Welfare and Institutions Code authorizes a qualified law enforcement officer or clinician to section a person suspected of having a mental disorder that makes them a danger to themselves or others.
As reported by the Mendocino Beacon earlier this year, the costs are staggering with emergency room visits by people placed on 5150 holds.

Since the county has had no emergency facilities for mentally ill patients since the shuttering of the psychiatric health facility, known as the PHF unit in 1999, law enforcement and regional medical facilities have been burdened with a lack of resources to deal with the growing demand for services.
To address some of the issues, an ordinance was developed by Sheriff Tom Allman and a 12-member planning team which he assembled and placed on the November 2016 ballot.
The ordinance proposed to levy a half cent county sales tax limited to five years and was projected to raise $22 million towards the creation of a locked psychiatric facility in the county. The initiative also included development of a training facility for mental health and public safety professionals and citizens.

Dubbed Measure AG, the measure was defeated by voters when it failed to reach the two-thirds super majority vote required during the November election. As reported last week, county social service employees and Allman are taking a second stab at passing a mental health tax bill.
Members of the Board of Supervisors said they hoped the new measure has enough for approval from voters. It is clear that whatever shape the proposed retooled initiative takes that services in Mendocino and Willits are still desperately needed and this has been the case for quite some time.

While doing research for an article regarding drug prevention and health, I discovered last year there are few resources available locally in the Willits area and the services that are available for mentally ill patients are scattered throughout the county. For example, Redwood Community Services offers mental health crisis support in both Ukiah and Fort Bragg.
These centers are designed to deal with treatment options such as psychiatric consultations, referrals to follow-up services and assessment and crisis intervention.

This type of facility is non-existent in Willits and Frank R. Howard Hospital does not have the capacity to deal with the mentally ill.
Although drug abuse and mental illness are often linked, qualified therapists and specialized services can best be managed at a localized facility equipped to deal with the staggering demands in psychiatric care. Currently, there are not enough services offered and there is a lack of constant outreach and support on the local level.
The Frank R. Howard Hospital Foundation has been exploring the possibility of utilizing the old Willits hospital as a locked facility for in patient psychiatric care, but according to its board of directors President Margie Handley, it will still take two to three months even after (if) the new tax measure is approved by voters, to determine what it would cost to rehab the facility. She said it could be up to an advisory committee if the ballot measure passes to decide if the envisioned facility would become reality.

If more resources and funds become available as a result of voter approval of the retooled health tax measure, that is a step in the right direction.

Bravo to Rodriguez for speaking up in favor of immigrant resolution

source: The Willits News, June 22, 2017

Earlier this month the Eureka Times Standard reported the Arcata City Council adopted an ordinance making Arcata a sanctuary city.
According to the news report, a round of applause rang out in the council chambers after the council voted 3-1, with one councilman dissenting, to pass the sanctuary ordinance.
Contrast this with Willits City Council which recently passed a resolution by a 3-2 vote championed by Councilwoman Saprina Rodriguez affirming a commitment to non-discrimination and supporting immigrants in the community. The resolution was passed by City Council late last month, but not without controversy.

Although Rodriguez said she had to fight to get the item on the council’s agenda, on the night of the May 24 meeting, Mayor Gerry Gonzalez had announced that he was pulling the item from the agenda on advice from City Attorney Jim Lance.
Gonzalez took issue with the original resolution’s wording which he felt could potentially result in the city losing federal grant funding. Although the mayor had pulled the item from the agenda, fellow council members and members of the public in attendance urged him to proceed with the discussion of the resolution. By all accounts, by the time the item was brought back for discussion, a crowd of residents seeking to give input on the matter had thinned out. Some went home in disappointment upon hearing the item had been originally pulled.

Rodriguez said she let her fellow council members know she felt pulling the item was not OK and it was also an abuse of Gonzalez’ authority.
A controversial paragraph in the resolution which in part stated the Willits Police Department would continue its long-standing practice of not participating or aiding in the enforcement of federal immigration laws was revised, taking out the phrase “long standing practice.”
Rodriguez is to be commended for her staunch determination to bring the Willits City Council in alignment with many cities in the state and the nation with regards to supporting their immigrant populations.

The councilwoman said she felt it was her obligation to bring the resolution forward, despite being shut down initially by Gonzalez. She said she gave a draft copy of the resolution to Lance and City Manager Adrienne Moore on May 10, but the item had to make its way through a process before it could make its way to the council’s agenda for the May 24 meeting.
Even though Hispanics and other minorities comprise a lower percentage of Willit’s population and demographics, as Rodriguez correctly points out, there was clearly enough interest in the issue as an immigration town hall held in late March turned out to be one of the highest attended events in recent years, despite a low attendance by the population it was intended to serve.

We can hardly blame Hispanics and immigrants for staying away from this and other forums held throughout Mendocino County, despite reassurances from Sheriff Tom Allman and other law enforcement and county officials that they will have no direct involvement in carrying out federal immigration law in the wake of a federal executive order signed by President Donald Trump this January, there has been great confusion spreading over social media regarding possible ICE raids in Lake County.
I believe Rodriguez is also correct in her assertion that the loss of federal funds is an overplayed argument in opposition to these types of resolutions.

As public sentiment throughout the nation evolves and changes, support for local resolutions has increased from cities across the nation and they continue to be approved at a rapid race.
Gonzalez and other local leaders in Willits have advocated for restraint, fearing the loss of federal funds and citing direction from organizations like the League of California Cities in regards to adopting a sanctuary city ordinance, but as Rodriguez said, the threat of federal funding should not be a critical factor in adopting a resolution when it comes to safeguarding residents and allaying mass fear or confusion.

Leaders don’t always make a decision based on funding, and Willits is not out on an island, nor would it be alone in supporting its immigrant population - joining cities like Santa Rosa and Windsor which have passed similar resolutions or declared themselves as sanctuary cities, despite threats from the federal government.
I add myself to the list of those whom Rodriguez said have overwhelmingly thanked her for her moral leadership.

I spent part of Saturday visiting the Brooktrails Township and covered the Brooktrails Fire Department Open House for TWN.

In partnership with CAL FIRE, the department put together an open house/preparedness event this weekend for residents. With hot summer temperatures and fire season right around the corner, the Fire Department wants residents to be ready for any contingency or emergency.

There were tables full of pamphlets, information about preventing and dealing with emergency situations, as well as T-shirts and raffle items and baseballs with "Smokey The Bear" logos emblazoned on them.

I actually felt badly for the volunteer firefighters that were assembled there. There was only one thing missing: the Brooktrails Township residents.

Where were the residents?
Except for one lone straggler toward the end of the allocated time for the event, most of the Brooktrails residents were no shows. Now you can argue that there were a lot of events going on this weekend and that the forecast called for rain, but it still seemed like a shame to me that the FD would go to the trouble of advertising the event and it ended up being sparsely attended.

The same story was true for a tour of the Brooktrails Community Garden in which resident Anthony Ward was scheduled to read excerpts from his book on gardening and spirituality. 
The pending threat of rain and cold weather in June seemed to deter residents from stopping by.

But for the other events, is it a lack of marketing to blame? I can't be sure.
This isn't the first event in North Mendocino County I have covered which suffered from a lack of participation from the very people it is intending to serve.

A couple of months back I attended a workshop of the Mendocino County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services Committee aimed at educating community members, particularly cultural groups such as native Americans and Hispanics, about the services available to them in terms of counseling, mental health and other areas.

Once again that workshop was missing members of the community, despite the fact I was told that there is a staff member employed by the county whose job description includes driving around the county promoting such events. Sadly, the counselors and presenters may as well have been talking to themselves because there was zero community input.

I have not attended other workshops, though I am told others have been better attended. Later this month on June 29 in Redwood Valley, another event, this time a cross cultural training, the byproduct of a collaboration between the Consolidated Tribal Health Project and the County's Behavioral Health and Recovery Services will feature a couple of speakers and discuss topics such as sharing of local practices.

I hope this workshop will see better community attendance and participation. The event is scheduled from 9 to 4 p.m. and lunch will be provided. Those interested in attending should contact Dustin Thompson at thompsondu@mendocinocounty.org