[Occupymendocino] Minutes of the Feb 1st GA meeting

[she-la]

Present: Ann, Dan, Howard, Irene, Sheila & Jeff W.
    The meeting took place in the small room adjacent to the one where we regularly meet.
     Agenda:
  Discussion of Navy war training offshore--Ann
   ".              ".    of College of Redwoods--Sheila
   Organization suggestions for OM--Howard & Irene
   KZYX update--Sheila

    Ann said she had received a call from Roselind Peterson who has been very active in organizing  the community to protest plans for the Navy to extend its testing of weapons offshore.
   I had also spoke with a woman, Mary Ditton, who is working with Rosalind and thought she might come to the meeting to update us on what she is doing. She didn't show but did write a letter in the 2/5 edition of the AVA. In it she gave the website for the Navy's Environmental Impact Statement.--www.NWTTEIS.com--public comment is due by March 25, 2014.
     Ann said she would contact Jared Huffman through his Ft. Bragg representatives to get a position  statement.
  Daniel commented that he had taken part in a Town Hall phone conference and the topic wasn't discussed. He said he would get more info on how to get signed up for future calls.
  The Navy is hiring a contractor to come on March 7th to Town Hall to do a presentation on what the Navy is planning for this newest round of testing. 
   We discussed organizing a protest before the meeting. Sheila thought it might be effective to have people in sea creature costumes as she remembered a July 4th parade that had people in jellyfish and starfish costumes. Frank Hartzell's name was suggested as a likely person to wear a whale outfit.
    Sheila saw Frank in the library and he seemed open to the idea. She also volunteered to contact Terry Vaughn of Mendocino TV to see if he was planning to film the  presentation of the Navy plans.
   Some other suggestions:
     Organize a community forum to discuss the pros & cons.
     Invite Veterans for Peace to join us
     Write letters to the Advocate News & mcn list serve.
      Network w/ others--Stan Anderson of Abalone Watch--Sheila Simons--head of Noyo Science Skeleton Project.

     Whale Festival is approaching: Mendocino-1st & 2nd. Little River--8th & 9th-Ft.Bragg--15th & 16th 
       OPC--Ocean Protection Coalition is planning a Whale Festival  event on March 16th at 10 a.m. at the Library. 

College of Redwoods--Sheila gave a brief synopsis of a report by KZYX news person, Sherry Quinn on the current decision to lay off all but one full time staff position. CR 's President, Kathy Smith was interviewed & a part time employee that mentioned that the Humboldt staff didn't have the courtesy of emailing them personally about the decision but directed the full time employees to break the news to them. Also mentioned was Measure Q, the bond measure that is still in effect and what ramifications closing the local campus would have on funds that the Eureka campus received.
  Smith maintained closure was necessary due to declining enrollment. 
    The current lease on classroom space is ten years.  The future of that lease and other such leases that were suggested as a possibility was questioned.
    Dan Gjerde wrote an excellent letter, also in the 2/5 AVA paper, stating his strong opposition to the closing of the campus &
mentioning the community desire to have Mendocino College take over the operation of the local campus.
     Jeff mentioned that KMUD  was also planning to cover the story and indicated that there might be a collaboration by the two news departments to have better local coverage in the future.  He suggested we put OM on the KMUD Community calendar as they have  a lot of local listeners.
      Sheila volunteered to call Gloria Liner to get her perspective on future possibilities.  
 
      Howard lamented on the confusion caused by our regular meeting place not being available. He proposed OM  get better organized by delegating one person to deal w/ the media and /or a person to coordinate agendas, facilitators,etc.
       It does seem like we are getting more adrift with each with their own focus.
        Irene  felt their was too much discussion on the Internet. She proposed a motion that issues should be brought to the GA to be discussed so that all were included. It was decided to have a discussion and vote at the Feb. 15th meeting as there were too many people absent at the current meeting. 
     Sheila gave an update on the effort to find candidates that supported more communication between the KZYX Board and members. The election will be in March. Tune into the station to hear the Candidates Forum which has not been announced yet as the Directors cancelled their last meeting & haven't met since Oct. She passed around a new form of the petition to require the Bd. to publish their agenda and have access to members through an on air program. The new version has a designation for listeners and ex-members as too many people have stopped supporting the station for various reasons.
      Jeff suggested that various community groups consider reviving The Mendocino Country Independent that we can operate as a cooperative and get our message out w/o having to deal with the mainstream outlets. Christina Aanestadt used to publish it but she has moved down to SF and is pursuing other interests. 
                           Respectfully submitted, 
                              Sheila Dawn