Mandatory Garbage: I'm Livid!

I'm watching the February 19 meeting of the Eureka City Council on TV. Apparently, with the exception of Mike Jones, the Council seems to be set on mandatory garbage service for Eureka.

Chris Kerrigan, Virginia Bass, and I suspect Larry Glass, seem determined to institute mandatory garbage pickup. They even have a guy from the Humboldt Waste Management Authority that told the Council how great mandatory pick- up is.

This is disgusting. I'm pissed, and think we need to clean the City Council out.

More on this later.

****************

Ok, now that I've calmed down a bit, let's take another look at this:

I'm not sure just how Mike Jones stood on the issue. He was talking when I first started watching the meeting and I didn't really pay much attention to what he was saying until I realized what was being discussed.

Chris Kerrigan and Virginia Bass seemed strongly in favor of mandatory garbage pick up, if not downright enthusiastic, in Virginia Bass' case. I would of expected such of Kerrigan, although not Bass. I suspect if mandatory pick- up hadn't been already the issue, Chris Kerrigan would have made it one.

Didn't hear from Polly Endert, at least while I was watching, nor Larry Glass, although he was speaking when I first started this post, I couldn't make out what he was saying. I really need to watch that meeting again in case I was seeing or hearing things out of context.

For those of you outside Eureka who don't want to be forced to pay for garbage pick- up, beware: Some rumblings I heard suggest some might try to take this mandatory thing to other cities and even to the county level.

During one back and forth between Virginia Bass and a representative of the Humboldt Waste Management Authority, I believe it was Bass who said something along the line of, to paraphrase: "This won't really be effective unless it's done countywide...". To which the HWMA representative agreed. I suspect we'll be seeing HWMA lobbying other cities and the Board of Supervisors soon if they aren't already.

All in all, what little I saw seems to confirm concerns I mentioned here earlier on. This mandatory garbage pick- up thing has taken on a life of its own. The $10,000 a day fines that could be imposed on Eureka, for non- compliance is an excuse, not a reason, for mandatory pick- up.

I say that because people bring up the litter problem in Eureka and the rest of the county more often than they do the waste diversion rate. Mandatory garbage pick up will almost certainly bring more trash into the transfer station, not less.

The recycling were talking about here isn't single stream recycling (is that the right term?) like Arcata has. They're suggesting more people will recycle on their own if they're forced to pay for garbage service, and recycling.

I don't know that that will work. First, as I've said before, I don't believe you can achieve a 50% reduction in waste by simply recycling. I suspect the things that make up the bulk of our landfills are likely furniture, appliances and such that can't easily be recycled.

But, assuming recycling will bring us to 50% reduction, I'm skeptical it could be accomplished by voluntary cooperation of us trash makers. It's already fairly easy to recycle the simple things yet I still see dumpsters at apartments and other places with tin cans and newspapers that are simply thrown away.

The garbage would have to be screened at the transfer station for recyclables. I don't know that I've heard that seriously considered here. They can screen the refuse stream at the transfer station with or without mandatory pick- up. Recycling is just an excuse.

*****

As an aside, they mentioned Blue Lake's supposed over 80% waste diversion rate during the council meeting with no mention or questions of how or why Blue Lake accomplishes that 80% diversion. Strangely, the next thing I recall hearing was Bass suggesting mandatory pick- up should be done county wide. Hmmm??? I fail to see the connection.

*******

Keep an eye out for Sunday's Times- Standard. I just noticed a small announcement on the upper left of page A2 of today's Times- Standard. It reads: Mandatory Recycle- Coming Sunday: Other cities are looking to see how Eureka fares before moving forward with their own plans.

One has to wonder just what other cities are looking? Is Blue Lake?

Humboldt Pools

Here's the second big pool problem I've read about up here. College of the Redwoods' pool is leaking millions of gallons of water each year. Last time we heard of something similar it was Eureka High School's pool that was leaking. I believe it was the Arkley's that donated money to fix Eureka High School.

I don't know that I'd be that concerned about the chlorine leaking out, as some seem to be. Chlorine will evaporate over time when exposed to air, assuming it would eventually reach the surface. That said, the last time I was in the C/R pool it was heavily chlorinated.

I took at least one swimming class there decades ago. Those funky swimming goggles were pretty much a necessity and everyone wore them to protect their eyes from the chlorine. They used to give me a headache, though.

One day I decided not to wear my goggles. Seems to me the water burned my eyes a little, but it was after I got out of the water the problems really started. My eyes really started burning even though I'd gotten out of the chlorine. My eyes hurt so bad it was hard for me to see well enough to drive myself home. Lasted for hours. Last time I went in that pool without goggles.

On the upside, I imagine not many bad things survived in water with chlorine that strong. Think where that pool water's been.

Well, maybe that amount of chlorine could cause some problems if it leaked out and ended up on something that wasn't used to it. But, I think I'd be more concerned about simply wasting water and the associated costs than the chlorine itself.

*********

Speaking of Humboldt water, how many of you know how to swim? I was surprised, when I first moved up here how it seemed many local people couldn't swim.

Having come here from coastal Southern California, I just expected the vast majority of people learned how to swim at an early age, as I did, but that didn't seem to be the case with Humboldt County.

I haven't noticed people not being able to swim for the last couple decades, so maybe it was just coincidence that non- swimmers were the first locals I'd run in to up here. With the exception of one guy I know of now, I think everyone I know up here swims. Then again, I haven't bothered to ask and haven't been in the position where I would know if they could swim, or not.

Show and Tell...Again

Except I'm not going to show the picture here cause it was too big and I didn't feel like trying to make it smaller. My latest sweepstakes win, which I won within the last half hour, was a free breakfast of Philadelphia Cream Cheese and bagles. They supposedly include some other trinkets with the main prize.

They were actually giving away 6000 of these and I was hoping I'd win at least one. You miss out on at least one of 6000 prizes and you're a loser for sure.

Wow. Doesn't get any better than this, does it?

If anybody else wants to take a shot at winning this one, it will be running for 20 more days, ending March 20. You can enter here. After registering, all you need do is enter your e-mail address each day to enter.

Fred Endert: R.I.P.

Yet another local fellow who I seemed to keep bumping into, at least figuratively, since I moved up here. Fred Endert died Thursday. He seems to have had quite a full life, from the looks of his obituary.

I first ran into Fred Endert when I signed up for an English Composition class at College of the Redwoods back around '74ish. I liked the guy if only because he had a sense of humor and seemed to enjoy his job. He was much more pleasant than the guy who ran the English Comp class I took later on.

Don't remember if I finished Endert's class, or not. Maybe not, because if I had, why would I sign up for yet another English Comp class a few years later?

I next bumped into Fred when I was with A Company, 579th Engineers of the California Army National Guard. We were based at the Sequoia Park armory. He was actually with an Army Reserve Drill Sergeant unit at the time but did his weekend drills up here. I spoke with him briefly back then but he didn't remember me. How could you expect him to, me being one of hundreds of students he'd known.

I remember one drill I felt kind of sorry for the guy. We were doing something out at the North Jetty Coast Guard Station. They had (don't know if it's still there) a small NCO type club there where they served beer and such. One of the rules was on a plaque above the entrance: "He who enters covered here buys the bar a round of cheer". In other words, if you enter the bar wearing a hat, you buy the bar a round of drinks.

Endert didn't notice the sign and, being a Drill Sergeant, was supposed to wear his head gear at all times, or so he said. So he walks in, the bartender notices him with his hat on right away and sounds the free rounds alert by hitting the bell sitting on the bar with a mallet. "DRINKS ON THE HOUSE...!", shouts the bartender.

Poor Fred. He tried to talk his way out of it but the barkeep would have none of it. I could see Fred quickly checking his wallet to check if he had enough money to pay for all the drinks. Bummer, but better him than me, I guess.

I next bumped into him when I got my first list of registered libertarian voters up here. For some reason I was surprised he would be registered to vote as a libertarian. I made a point of always stopping by his house when I needed signatures from registered LPers, but he never seemed to be home. He used to live on D Street almost across from the house Richard Marks owns there.

A few years later I met a guy who turned out was married to Endert's ex- wife. I never had a clue there was a connection until I ran into her daughter, Cathy Endert, Fred's daughter. That relation would end up having me bump into her sister- in- law Eureka City Councilgal, Polly Endert, who I did some work for. I never met Polly in person. I just spoke with her on the phone.

People have different feelings about different people. I guess some people didn't like Fred Endert. His daughter, Cathy, once mentioned that some people didn't like her father and she asked how I felt. I felt the same then as I do now. He seemed like a nice enough fellow to me.

OH's: Save The Recipes!

I think I might have been in O.H.'s one time in my life long, long ago. I don't actually remember much of it, so maybe I didn't eat there, but I do remember the steaks on display in the cooler.

Many others have, though, and one common thing I've heard about O.H.'s is they had great onion rings. That and one other thing got me to thinking how we certainly don't want great recipes tossed into the dust bin of history.

One other guy actually had one of their recipes, given to him by O.H. himself. From the Times- Standard comments:

While my wife and I no longer live in Eureka, whenever we have the occasion to return there one of the draws was always the opportunity to have a wonderful Prime Rib dinner at O.H.s. We have never found Prime Rib as good as served there anywher else in the country. We know that the secret of course was O.H.s seasoning. Years ago when I was with the Sheriff;s Office, O. H. who was county supervisor at the time spent the day witn me and Robert Shaw on patrol on the Klamath River. At that time, I asked him for the recipe and he gave it to me and my wife. During our moving over the years, we have lost that recipe and we are wondering if Mayor Bass would be willing to share it with us again.

Jon and Dottie Williams
10147 First St.
Plainview, Arkansas 72857

jondot587 at cei.net

I'm sure Virginia will get that recipe to him right away.

I actually know the "Robert Shaw" the guy refers to. He's an old friend that worked at Humboldt Bay Power Plant with me. Wonder if he wrote down that recipe?

But what about those onion rings? How about it Virginia? Gonna tell us how they're done? We don't want such a great Humboldt creation lost for future generations.

Maybe you could sell the recipe to some other restaurant? If not, maybe you could have it published in one of the local paper's cooking sections? We don't want this lost.

*******

It's happened to me before. One of my favorite munchies in Humboldt used to be the deep fried potatoes at Tom's Sourdough Pizza in Myrtletown, Eureka. I loved those things. Some people called them Mojos.

They were big slices of potatoes, dipped in some kind of batter and then deep fried. Never had any others like them.

I used to be a regular at Tom's, back when I lived in Myrtletown. I got kind of friendly with the guy that worked the day shift there and tried to coax the recipe out of him. I told him I tried making them on my own but they weren't the same. He wouldn't budge, but he did say, "You might try a little buttermilk with the batter...".

I tried buttermilk and it still wasn't the same. I think what I needed to add was some eggs.

Nonetheless, when Tom's closed its doors, the recipe for the chips went the way of so many other things: relegated to memory.

There's actually a Tom's Sourdough Pizza still operating in Fortuna. All they make is pizza, though.

It seems almost criminal to let the recipe for those chips just disappear.

Let's save those recipes, Virginia!

Another M.C. Casualty?

I've deleted this post, except for the title. I was just having some fun, but some people were bothered by it- those people being some I never intended to cause a bother to. I'll leave the comments up, but will move on.

KMUD Sunday Talk

I've been wondering about this Sunday Talk show on KMUD I just heard for the first time last(?) month. I haven't caught the host's name but the main subject seems to be motorcycles.

Last month was just a general motorcycle moment and they got at least a couple callers. Right now they seem to be talking about motocross racing and motoring in the mud. I can't help but wonder how well that subject goes over with the SoHum crowd? After all, didn't they shut down that motocross track in Phillipsville(?).

I enjoy listening to the chatter, but not many others down there seem to, judging from the number of call- ins, or lack thereof. Seems to me it would be totally non- pc to be talking motocross.

Then there's that other Sunday Talk show on KMUD: The Edge of the Heard(?). Yes, Eric, I can't tell if it's herd or heard, either. Either works, I suppose.

I've been really enjoying that one and finally got the hosts name: Bud Rogers. He's fun to listen to, especially when he had that sidekick of his on there that one time. Seems to me Bud should be third member of the Cheech and Chong team. He's fun, but it was kinda weird that one show he had where he seemed to read from a book the whole show, with the exception of a few call- ins.

I don't always get to listen to Sunday Talk. Are they any other good ones I'm missing?

Williams: For the defense?

Rose already posted this, but I'll break with my usual tradition and post it anyway since I'm a bit baffled by it:

Is it just me? I must be missing something because I still don't see how Gallegos convinced the Grand Jury to indict Douglas and Zanotti, despite the Grand Jury only getting arguments from the prosecution.

There's this latest gem reported in this morning's Times- Standard:

Gallegos called expert witness George Williams to testify during the proceedings. Williams, a police training specialist, called the case a “clear case of suicide by cop,” and went on to call the SWAT operation “extraordinarily” well handled.

In his concluding grand jury instructions, Gallegos tears apart Williams credentials as an expert, and essentially asks the grand jury to disregard the expert witness' testimony.

What? So Gallegos own expert witness says the Moore operation was "extraordinarily well handled"?

I don't know that many of us, including law enforcement, think the situation was handled extraordinarily well. We're just saying things could have been handled better- perhaps much better- but, regardless, it didn't amount to criminally negligent manslaughter.

What really gets me, though, is Gallegos part in this and how he handles it during the Grand Jury proceedings.

I've heard that one rule lawyers go by is to never call a witness to the stand unless you know just how he or she is going to testify. If Gallegos considers the guy an expert witness and calls him to the stand, I'm assuming he knew what the guy was going to say.

Taking it further, I would expect that he considered this expert's testimony held some weight, otherwise he wouldn't have used him as an expert witness. Since the expert witness seems to believe the police handled the job well, wouldn't that lead Gallegos to absolve Douglas and Zanotti before bringing this before the GJ in the first place?

But, no, he just lets the expert witness testify on behalf of the police and then, to make things look even goofier, ends having to discrediting his expert witness in front of the GJ to try and save his case. That's nutty. Why bother having him testify in the first place if you're going to have to do a 180 and discredit him?

Hey, I think I've been pretty objective with Gallegos, at least I've tried to be since he became D.A., but more and more I thinking there's something seriously wrong with his judgment and job expertise.

I'm wondering just how much goofier this Dave Gunderson rape case will look after it gets a little more exposure in court?

Storm Warning Cancelled

Who'd a thunk you'd hear it first from The Daily Triplicate? Looks like the warning for a storm with real high winds was cancelled. I kind of had that feeling this morning. Sure doesn't seem like a big windstorm's on the way as I write this. Still they say there will be some wind, with gusts up to 45mph, they're saying. We'll see what happens.

Let 'Er Rip!

Ok, those of you out there that like to run people down on your blog can really let 'er rip now. A judge has ruled that it's ok to have blogs that run other people down. Of course, I would never do that on my blog!

Interesting thing about this story is that, while doing a search for more information on it, all the other news sites I found carrying the story had the same exact story, verbatim.

Also interesting that, while I spent little time actually searching for it, I couldn't find the target girl's blog on the redding.com web site. She supposedly has her own blog.

And last of all it's interesting, assuming I have the right blog site, the NoPhatChicks blog appears to be one of those invitation only ones. It wouldn't let me in, anyway. Why all the fuss then?

Show And Tell

Remember Show- and- Tell when you were in elementary school? I do it here occasionally.

Anyway, I've mentioned before one of my few hobbies is entering sweepstakes and, yes, I do win things. This Alienware computer I'm using right now was probably my biggest win. My Canon personal copier probably my next biggest. I've also won all kinds of lesser prizes through the years.

This Belkin Messenger laptop case is my latest win. I won it a month or two ago as an instant win in the Dell ATG Holiday Gift Upgrade sweepstakes. When it told me I'd won it I wasn't really sure what I'd won as I'd never heard the name before. It just said I'd won a Belkin Messenger. What the heck is that, thought I.

I'd actually forgotten about that win but, for some reason, kept thinking that something should show up on my doorstep eventually as it had been some time since I'd won anything. Sometimes they don't tell you you've won. They just ship the prize to you.

So I'm out in my garage yesterday and UPS stops in the middle of the street, in front of my house. I figured it was something Jeannette, across the street, ordered. She's always getting stuff delivered. Nope, he comes up to me and gives me a big box.

Once I opened the box and read the enclosed letter I remembered I'd won this thing. I'm surprised at the quality. Pretty nicely made nylon notebook carrying case. Design is pretty much the same as the one that came with the laptop some of you gave me but it's nylon.

Pretty cool, huh?

Whatever happened to....

...analog cellphones?

Anybody else have one of those old ones? I guess they're not quite gone yet, but the writing is on the wall. I'd heard some years ago that some cellphone companies weren't even accepting analog cellphone accounts anymore.

I received a notice from my provider, U.S. Cellular, yesterday. They advise that they'll stop supporting analog phones effective November of this year. They say they're actually being generous as many other companies are dropping analogs even earlier. Now what to do?

I have an old Motorola "bag phone" that I keep in my truck. I only use it on rare occasion, but appreciate having it available. It only costs a little over $10.00 a month and I suppose I could do without it completely, but it does give me some comfort knowing I have it if I need it. I've probably had that phone for over then years.

Thing is, I don't want, or even like, all the newer digital cellphones everyone else has nowadays. They're too small to hold easily, seems to me, and I don't need all the bells and whistles. I just need something to make phone calls on very rare occasions. Something inexpensive and durable.

Is there anything available like that nowadays? I haven't seen anything that suits my fancy.

I actually went to E- Bay a month or so ago to see if I could find an older, larger digital cellphone. I found out then that E- Bay had frozen my account a few months earlier for some reason, stating misuse or some such thing. Funny thing is, that was the first time I'd been to E- Bay for quite some time so I'm assuming someone hacked my account and misused it.

Anyway, then I tried to find some kind of cellphone I might like doing a search for cellphones and all that came up was pages with the same crappy cellphones all the rest of you have.

Anyone know of any cellphone manufacturers that make bigger, simpler digital cellphones. If I can't find one, I might just do without.

Sometimes being an old- timer who likes the simple things sucks.

Invasion!

Or so some seem to think, is almost upon us. From Paul Cienfuegos via Salzman's e- mail list, they mention a couple upcoming public meetings and want members to go and speak in opposition. First one is:

"#1 is a CalTrans public meeting tomorrow eve at 6pm (Wednesday the
 20th) re: the widening/straightening of the road through Richardson Grove
 to make it possible for ENORMOUS interstate highway sized trucks to
 reach our communities....
 PLEASE try to attend and speak out in opposition...."

MY GOD... Giant trucks bringing goods to Humboldt County!
We're doomed!

I'm curious how many of these folks are the same people wanting
the railroad up and running again?

Schwan's

They had this item in last Sunday's American Profile tabloid/ magazine. That's the one that comes with the Eureka Reporter(?) each Sunday. I believe the Times- Standard uses Parade(?) magazine.

I'd always noticed those Schwan's trucks. I've seen one driving around Eureka on occasion. Seemed to me it might be a fun job, working for Schwan's, delivering ice cream and other frozen foods. I always thought they just delivered ice cream until I read the story.

But I had to wonder because, for one thing, they seemed to always have a Help Wanted sign on the back of their truck. They always seemed to have a different driver, too. Something must be amiss, thought I. When a business has a large turnover and constantly has Help Wanted ads up, that's a red flag in my book.

Then a month or so ago my mail guy mentioned Schwan's when he delivered my mail. I guess he'd been talking to the Schwan's driver earlier in the day. This time it was a gal, I'd actually seen her earlier in the day myself and noted that, once again, Schwan's had a new driver.

So my mail guy tells me she told him the job was "not cutting it...". She supposedly works up to ten hours a day and works strictly on commission. No minimum wage or anything else. She was on the verge of giving up on it just like all those before her. She told my mail guy she just couldn't make enough money to live on with that job, despite the long hours.

Good thing I didn't try and quit my job for that one. It seems to work for that guy in the AP story, though.

Haven't seen that truck around town for a while. Couldn't they find another driver?

Presidential Race Stuff

Sorry. Couldn't help this one. Such BS:

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

Mandatory Garbage Pick- Up Again

I've been thinking there's only one way this mandatory garbage pick- up that some in Eureka City Hall keeps proposing might work:

Eliminating the amount of garbage that comes from Eureka. How would that work? Simple.

The City of Eureka could claim, since they have mandatory garbage service, the only garbage that Eureka should be held responsible for is the garbage that the City Garbage trucks bring in to the transfer station. That way, garbage from the outlying areas wouldn't be included when tallying up how much of Eureka's garbage ends up in the landfill. So, Eureka might get a one- time reprieve from dumping too much trash.

Clever, and almost fair, but I don't know that the powers- that- be are that sophisticated to try and pull a stunt like that.

Thing is, they'll still go after the city for whatever trash is dumped. Even if you take the outlying areas out of the equation, Eureka would still have trash taken to the transfer station given the figure of 100%. Then they'd have to take 50% out before it goes to the landfill. Back to square one, so that wouldn't solve much if you look at it that way.

As it stands now, I don't think they ask where you're bringing in garbage from when you dump at the transfer station. So how do they know Eureka dumps so much trash? Are they already just counting trash the City Garbage trucks bring in and not bothering with self- haulers? I don't know.

They used to ask what city your trash was from, some years ago, but I don't recall them asking me where mine is from and I'm in there all the time. Maybe it's because I mostly dump green waste?

Keep in mind that I subscribe (is that the right word?) to garbage pick- up already, and I think it's a bargain. What gets me is how this mandatory garbage pick- up seems to have taken on a life of its own. It seems to be no longer a means to an end, but the end in itself. That's why we keep hearing it proposed.

I may be repeating myself, but it probably bears repeating: Mandatory pick- up will likely increase the amount of garbage going to the transfer station. Some in City Hall actually say the same thing since they suggest mandatory pick- up will help decrease litter. Whether or not it amounts to more diverted, I'm skeptical.

It depends on how they do it. I keep hearing about "single stream" recycling. Well, they can do that with or without mandatory pick- up.

And what about the people from outlying areas? Will they no longer be able to haul their garbage to the transfer station? If they're still allowed, why not just let everyone else haul their own and have it all screened through the same way as City Garbage pick- ups would be?

The most disturbing thing to me about this mandatory stuff is, of course, it's mandatory. But it bothers me as well that I don't think just going through the trash and separating the current recyclables will divert enough trash. So, mandatory won't equate with solving the problem.

I was at the City Garbage recycling center yesterday and was looking at all the stuff being recycled. Volume wise it's probably a drop in the bucket compared to the trash that goes to the landfill. They need to figure out just exactly what the large volume and weight items are that are causing the issue. As I've said before, I suspect it's building materials and perhaps home furnishings; old furniture, mattresses and the like.

Can anybody tell us just what the bigger volume and weight trash items are? Surely someone must have looked into that? I just don't believe recycling more bottles, cans and cardboard will divert enough trash to get a 50% reduction.

I see mandatory pick- up as unnecessary and not dealing with the problem. It might even make things worse.

Zombie Does Berkeley

I just noticed Zombie, the photo- journalist from the Bay Area, has a new story up on her(?) web site. This one is of a recent protest in Berkeley over the Marine Corps Recruiting Office there. Both protesters and counter- protesters showed up. Rather lengthy and consists of two whole pages with photos and commentary.

I'm trying to figure out which side I would have felt comfortable with, assuming I was there. I'm not a pacifist but opposed the invasion of Iraq. I suppose I'd probably fit in best with the counter- protesters, but I think I'd just sit have sat on the sidelines, chat with each side, and watch and comment as I often do.

*********

I didn't follow the story all that closely in the papers. One question I have is, isn't there just more than one service's recruiting offices in Berkley? What about the Army, Navy and Air Force?

What side would you have stood with at the Berkley protest?
	Code Pink, anti- war
	Pro- military
	Stand on Sidelines
	Stay home
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Assembly Candidate Musgrave Makes UDJ

The Libertarian Party candidate for 1st District, State Assembly got his visit to Lake and Mendocino Counties covered by the Ukiah Daily Journal. Nice to see Ed Musgrave getting some press.

I mentioned earlier on that he'd stopped by my house in the pouring rain to gather our signatures. Those are the kinds of candidates parties need, especially third parties: Ones that are self motivated.

Again: an A for effort to Ed Musgrave.

Just Because You're Paranoid...

doesn't mean there isn't someone out to get you:




Meanwhile, surveillance cameras are still the rage amongst government officials across the globe.

Thanks to CLS, at the Classically Liberal blog, for the heads up on the video.

What???

From today's Eureka Reporter:

“You can’t prove a case without a victim,” Gallegos said.'

and

"Clanton requested that the alleged victim be allowed to share with the court her support and desire for Gundersen to return home.

Miles denied her the opportunity, but allowed Clanton to speak for her. “She is here in court to indicate on record that she doesn’t feel at danger,” Clanton said.

The alleged threats were nothing more than a misconstrued conversation, Clanton said. He added that the alleged victim looks forward to assisting the defense counsel prepare its defense.

The alleged victim confirmed that she attended the hearing to support her husband."

This is nuts! What the hell is going on here?

*********

As an aside, I find it very troubling the rush to judgment taking place in the comments sections of the blogs and newspaper web sites regarding this case. Looks like it's time to saturate the television networks with replays of The Oxbow Incident.

Prosecutions

This Gunderson case sure is a can of worms. It sounds pretty fishy to me, almost like he's been set up. Then again, if it's supposed to be his current wife that's the victim, and she "supports him", as Gunderson's lawyer claims, shouldn't he have been released by now?

She didn't show up at the hearing but was found outside the D.A.'s office and refused comment. Hmm???

The usual sides seem be have been drawn with the cop- haters following the story with glee and, what seem to be that anti- Gallegos folks, suggesting this is some sort of conspiracy.

I'll just wait for more details.

*********

I can't help but be a little disappointed with the outcome in this case. The guy's driving maybe twice the speed limit, kills a pedestrian, and gets four years probation?

I tend to be pretty merciful in cases of accidents where no harm is intended, but this was extremely negligent. He's the kind of driver than makes my blood boil when I see them racing around town. True, he doesn't have much of a criminal record, although I wonder what his driving history looks like, aside from a DUI a few years ago?

Some might say this is another example of Gallegos' soft approach to prosecution but the prosecutor was Max Cardoza. Hasn't he been with the District Attorney's office since before Gallegos?

If Cardoza is, in fact, a veteran prosecutor, I wouldn't blame Gallegos for this one. The Gunderson case, perhaps, if it turns out to have been fabricated, but not this one.

CPR Has New(?) Web Site

No, not our very own Carson Park Ranger. The Humboldt Coalition for Property Rights has a page up now. I'm guessing it's relatively new. I haven't seen it before and just saw it listed as a new entry on Humguide.com.

Another Postage Rate Increase

Yep, another one, come this May. This after the last increase took place less than a year ago, according to the Santa Rosa Press- Democrat. I thought they'd just had a fairly recent increase. They really need to get some competition in that business.

Interesting about those new Forever stamps: They'll remain the same price until the price until the price increase, then they go up another penny, as well. Now I see how that works.

I think I'll buy a roll of the forever stamps. That should last forever as often as I use stamps nowadays.

A Pleasant Surprise

Well, one of the few pleasant surprises in my life of the last few years: Just got my latest PG&E bill that I was worried about. I'd mentioned not long ago how I'd changed my heating practices in the house and was running the heater much more often than before. I expected my bill would double or triple.

The last one I got was $132.00 and I wasn't sure if the whole month included the new heating practices. I was worried. This most recent bill comes to $118.02. What???

Hey, I can live with that, but I'll not take that for granted. Maybe they misread the meter?

Whatever Happened To...

the case of those abandoned animals in the trailer out in Cutten? Last we heard was that it might have been a house- sitting arrangement gone bad. I guess it's safe to say no charges will be filed?

Leave Those Teeth Alone

I've never seen whale teeth, until now. Looks like someone almost got in trouble for lifting them from a whale carcass, but cooler heads seem to have prevailed and a federal case wasn't made out of it.

Stop The Drilling?

Looks like they're going to start up an old natural gas well in the Eel River Valley. I guess they started it back in the 60s but the price of natural gas back then didn't make it worthwhile to continue.

I'm wondering what sort of resistance there might be to this plan? After all, there are a number of people around here that, it's safe to say, hate the "extraction industries"- one local blog commenter saying a little while ago that's why he wants to get rid of supervisor Roger Rodoni. To paraphrase: He supports the extraction industries.

Seems to me we already have some natural gas wells up here. I believe there were some down by Salmon Creek(?) that were pointed out to me when I was on a timber cruise back in my forestry class days. I believe I might have seen some marked on a topographic map of the county some years ago, too.

So what will we get any with any protests for natural gas wells; Well sitters instead of tree sitters?

Ron Paul Cuts Back

Looks like Republican dark horse candidate, Ron Paul, decided to back off on his presidential campaign and instead focus more on his re- election to congress. No third party run, says he. I'm glad he's still going through the motions until the nominating convention, though. I'm curious to see how well, or poorly, he ends up doing after all is said and done.

The question for me now is what do I do in the general election? I certainly won't vote for the poor choices that will likely be available from the Reps and Dems. I'll likely vote for the Libertarian Party candidate, unless he comes off as War Party.

I'm referring to Wayne Root, who all the War Party libs are backing. That might be enough to chase me off from him but, after reading a bit about him on his web page, at least some of what he's saying about Iraq I might agree with, at least in part.

Actually, looking at his Iraq positions on his web page now (a bit hard to find- scroll down)- it looks like he might have changed his wording a bit but I could be wrong- He suggests letting the Iraqis vote on whether we go or stay. I believe I saw where he mentioned earlier that we have caused problems there and should fix them before we leave.

Can't argue with that. It goes right along with the old saying of, You break it. You bought it. The question is, when do we decide enough is enough and cut our losses?

So, we'll see how he looks, assuming he remains the front runner. If he comes off as more War Party than I think he is, then the question is to vote for him, since nobody will be watching anyway, or just not vote in the presidential race for the second time in my life (first time wasn't by choice).

There are actually a number of LP Presidential hopefuls that might be considered, but I'll let others decide who gets the nod.

HELP!

Anyone else out there download the latest version of the Firefox browser and not been able to get it to work?

Firefox automatically downloaded the latest upgrade, as it always has, and installed it. Ever since it supposedly upgraded, I can't go online with Firefox. I'm using Internet Explorer now. This happened just five minutes ago.

And no, my firewall isn't blocking Firefox. I checked. HELP!

No On Fluoride? YES!!!

I think I've mentioned before that I don't usually glue myself to the television to follow election results. There's just bad news to be heard, for the most part. I watched maybe ten minutes of election coverage last night and heard mostly bad news in the making.

When I finally got around to checking whatever results were in this morning it started with the bad news, as expected. Looks like the major parties chose two of their lamest candidates to carry their banner in the run for the presidency. No real big deal there since it looks like it might be between Hillary and McCain. Won't make a whole lot of difference which one wins given the two choices.

Then I found the developing results of the ballot initiatives. This might be a personal historical moment for me. Of the three ballot initiatives I voted No on, all three appear to be losing. That's kind of nice to win for a change. Seems I usually lose at least half of whatever ballot initiatives are on the ballot.

Then again, there's those indian gaming initiatives that I didn't vote on. I started leaning No on them after I'd voted some weeks ago. Looks like they might pass.

Still, no big deal with all of the initiatives. I wasn't all fired up about any of them and I suspect many others weren't either.

Then I became ecstatic. I'd forgotten about the fluoride measure in Manilla. Voters got to chose whether they wanted fluoride shoved down their throats. Looks like it was defeated pretty handily. YES... but why should I care? I live in Eureka and already have fluoridated water.

I've said before here that I don't have any particular fear of fluoridated water. My problem with fluoride is that some people don't want fluoride in their water and they would be forced to have it if this measure passed.

Fortunately for all, as far as I'm concerned, it was handily defeated. For some reason I think I felt that this was a great victory for libertarianism as the vote seemed to indicate a belief in personal choice by the residents of Manilla.

If the reasons people voted against the measure were known, though, I'm sure I'd likely be disappointed. While I'm sure some voted from the personal choice perspective most probably just felt it would an unsafe additive to their water. If it was some other chemical they deemed to be safe, they might well have been willing to force it down their neighbor's throats.

No way I'll ever know for sure so, for now, a win is a win. I'll just enjoy it.

N.C. Travelogue: Feb 3-5

Had to go to UCSF again, this last Sunday. Actually, I suppose we could of left on Monday but I felt more comfortable leaving Sunday.

We had a late appointment this time. Three in the afternoon. We'd probably need to get there by 1:30 to find parking and wait in line to get the wife's blood work done. That meant leaving early in the morning the day of the appointment instead of towards noon the day before as we usually do.

I certainly didn't want to have to leave that early and the weather we were having was giving me a good excuse to leave the day before the appointment. With all the rain, snow and ice, I wondered if I could be assured of making it there in the usual five to six hours.

Finally, I decided we should leave in the afternoon on Sunday and spend the night in Ukiah. That way we'd be past all the possible snow areas in the middle of the day but still wouldn't have to go all the way to San Francisco and beg another free night at Cathedral Hill from the Pacific Medical Foundation.

Worked out fine and there was little snow to be seen despite the closed roads of a few days earlier.

As usual, we stayed at the Ukiah Discovery Inn. That's probably our favorite motel of all the ones we've been in if only because the rooms give you lots of space. I felt a little frustrated on leaving Eureka, though. Driving past Eureka's Discovery Inn I saw they only charged $49.99 for single occupancy. Ukiah was charging around $90.00, single or double occupancy according to the rate poster in the room. What...no winter rates down there?

Ukiah Discovery has changed their free wi- fi now, too. You used to have to log in to get online there, using a password they'd give to guests. Now I guess you just connect to it and you're online- a Hot Spot they call that? Took me about twenty minutes to figure that out but I finally connected. Problem is, that makes it a less secure network so I disconnected from it when I didn't need to be online out of security concerns.

*****

I thought I'd slept fine Sunday night. I was planning on sleeping a little later than usual, too, since we should have had plenty of time to get to UCSF.

Woke up and saw the clock said it was 6:30am. I figured I might as well get up and get all my internet stuff done. Maybe twenty minutes later I realized my laptop's clock showed the time as an hour earlier than the room's clock. Then one of those weird dilemma's: How do you find out what the right time is?

We'd never even noticed it the night before. When the wife got up she said the room clock was probably right as we even used it with the TV guide and it seemed to be right. I figured the laptop was right and somebody had forgotten to turn the room's clock back for daylight savings time. I finally settled the issue by going out to my truck and checking the clock on the truck's dash. My laptop was right.

Regardless of waking up earlier than I'd intended, I must not have slept as well as I thought. After we came back from breakfast at the Inn's Breakfast Room, I became REAL sleepy, and it wasn't the kind of sleepy from just eating. I felt exhausted. This was NOT good.

We left the Discovery just after ten. I was SO sleepy. That was a long and dangerous two hour drive to The City. Even though we got to UCSF earlier than I'd planned, the timing ended up working out perfectly. The only glitch being the doctor was late in her appointments. She came in maybe 45 minutes late. Not too big a deal since we were staying that night in San Francisco.

We made it to the Cathedral Hill Hotel just after 5pm. Parking garage was filled up a bit more than usual. I figured it must be yet another meeting of some kind being held.

I was right. It was the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Maybe one or two hundred of them. I saw the label on one of the binders they had in their meeting room: Contract Caucus 2008.

Stereotypical bunch of union guys I thought to myself. Most of them big, burly guys. The kind of guys you'd expect to see busting skulls and breaking your legs at a strike. In fairness, though, they seemed very friendly. Every time one would approach me he'd smile and seem ready to shake my hand. I think they assumed everyone they'd bump into at the hotel was another union guy.

******

Left there about 9am next morning and had no trouble getting home except for physical problems. We've had them before as my truck's seats aren't the most comfortable. After a few hours my butt and legs hurt and my feet swell up in my shoes.

For my feet I usually stop and just loosen up the laces on my shoes. That seems to work for a while. This time I tried something different as my feet were bothering me more than usual. I took my shoes off and drove just wearing my socks.

Didn't work. It just felt different and the feel of the brakes and gas pedal was off. I really had to concentrate on what I normally wouldn't have to think about. It did feel good, though, when I'd put cruise control on and move my feet around. Couldn't use cruise control for any extended periods of time, though. When we stopped at Willits for lunch, I put my shoes back on and left them on. End of experiment.

Connie made herself a cushion to sit on this time going down. She said it seemed to help. I'll have to get her to make me one.

*********

Ron Paul was the hands down campaign sign winner for the entire trip. Starting out with one big sign I hadn't noticed before on Fairfield Street in Eureka as we were leaving town, he had scatterings of signs all the way down the The City.

One good sized one on the east side of 101 in Laytonville. Another on the west side of 101 on the south side of Laytonville.

Stopped at the Moss Landing rest stop between Laytonville and Willits and it took me a while to notice someone had stuck a Ron Paul decal on the side of the pay phone there. Not too big a deal as there was already graffiti and such all over the side of the pay phone kiosk(?). Then, as we back out to leave I noticed that same person had put another Paul decal on the sign to the Men's restroom. Tacky, rude and probably illegal, although I appreciate their enthusiasm.

Seems to me there was another one on the west side of 101 right in the middle of Willits.

A few here and there at other places along 101, including a couple in Marin just before the Golden Gate Bridge. Saw one John Edwards sign along the freeway in what I think was Novato. All it was was white on black sign that said John Edwards- the only other candidate sign I saw until SF.

Don't know if I remember seeing any from GGB to UCSF, although we might have. I was too tired by that time. I do remember seeing a couple Obama signs in an apartment window on Irving Street, though.

When we left the hotel on Tuesday we saw a whole bunch of Paul signs.

As we approached Lombard Street from Franklin, three signs all clustered together on a building on the north side of the intersection. Then, turning left, for maybe half a mile, or more, at least one Ron Paul sign per block.

Some were just taped on poles and such but, once again, someone decided to be tacky and taped some up on traffic signs. There's all these No Left Turn signs on that street. Just below the NLT lettering the signs list the times no turns are allowed. They'd taken the Paul signs and taped them over the time listings. Again: Tacky, if not illegal.

So that was it for the Paul signs but, to add to it, we were listening to some morning talk show and the hosts were talking about Super Tuesday and voting. One of the brings up Ron Paul right after we'd passed all those signs. The other one said he agreed with Paul on some things but not others and then they moved on.

All in all, the drive was one long Ron Paul moment.

Save Up To 50% On Heating???

I received an advertisement in the mail a couple days ago regarding this EdenPURE Heater. Anyone heard of these before? They claim you can save up to 50% on your heating costs by using one. I think they're being a bit loose in their use of words.

What these seem to be is just an additional heater that keeps a room at a given temperature using less power than it would take your home's heater to do the same. Since the room doesn't get as cold, your heater doesn't go on as much, thus you're supposed to save money. Hmmm???

But how much does it cost to run one of these heaters? They say the small one covers 300 square feet. That's enough to take care of this room, where I spend most my time in. That one would use 6.3amps/ 750watts. Anyone a little familiar with such things know if that would use less energy than my forced air heater fan plus the natural gas it burns? I'd just like to know how much power this thing would use compared to some other appliances. How does it compare to a conventional space heater?

Taking a look at a couple space heaters at Rite- Aid, their dinky little conventional space heater seems to use a lot less power. Their large ceramic heater looks like it uses a lot more, electricity- wise. I'll have to go back and compare the heat output between this and the Rite- Aid ones when I get the chance.

At a little over $200 for the small one (with their mail discount) I'm almost tempted to take a chance on it, but it looks like this might be a lot of fluff since I'll basically just be buying an expensive space heater.

Musgrave Pounds The Pavement

With all the rain yesterday I was actually surprised at the number of people I saw walking around town.

I saw a guy walking in front of my house all sopping wet and he turned and walked up to my front door. I assumed he must be placing those door hangar brochures for whatever business on my front door as he was carrying some papers with him. When I he didn't leave right away and I heard him knock on the door I went to go see what he wanted.

It turned out to be Ed Musgrave. He's out walking around in the pouring rain gathering signatures "in lieu of filing fees" for his intended run at the 1st District, State Assembly seat. He'll be running under the Libertarian Party banner.

It's nice to see a candidate really putting out such an effort, pretty much all by himself, but I wouldn't have expected him to be out gathering signatures on a day like yesterday. He gets an A for effort.

Seven Myths of Libertarianism

CLS, over at the Classically Liberal blog, has a pretty good post (February 3) on seven myths about libertarianism. Pretty well done, I thought. He often tends to ramble on but this one is short and sweet.

Looking for a song:

I have been looking for this song for the longest time, and have come up empty. Anyone know where I can find Lilly, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts?

It's a Bob Dylan song, but I like the Joan Baez version. I've looked all over the net with no luck.

Pear Tree Mystery Solved

Those of you that travel through Mendocino County on occasion may have wondered, as we did, what happened with that pear orchard that used to be on the east side of 101 in Ukiah. All of the trees were pulled up some time ago and piled on a lot on the west side of 101.

I was thinking it was either disease, or, maybe the owner sold out to development. Turns out it was neither, as the Ukiah Daily Journal reports. The pears fell victim to regular old farm economics: He couldn't make enough money selling them to meet his expenses.

I guess the good news is that he's going to try growing alfalfa in the old orchard and not corn.