Monday Night Group Stands Firm
Rudometkin Tries Again
 
An intractable Monday Night Group continues to take a hard line with the Modoc County Board of Supervisors, arguing that an interim chief administrative officer should be hired and that detailed budget and audit sessions be publicly conducted.

Added to that list is the recent move by CAO Rick Rudometkin to have the board act on a performance bond claim that reportedly could -- if made public -- reveal information on who was responsible for the misappropriation of nearly $20 million from the county treasury.

While it is not clear what his motive is, Rudometkin has placed the performance bond claim on the board’s agenda for Tuesday, Dec. 7, in his second effort to entice the supervisors to either vote for moving forward with the claim or stopping it from going to the county’s insurance carrier.

At the board’s Nov. 9 meeting Rudometkin said the claim, seeking $10 million damages, had “questionable validity” and that the county should not pursue it.

At that meeting the board tabled discussion of the claim indefinitely after Chair Dan Macsay said he questioned various sources District Attorney Gary Woolverton relied in an investigation that supported the filing of a claim against the county.

One source used by Woolverton was an article in the Modoc County Daily News Blog and reprinted in the Modoc Independent News quoting former county auditor Judi Stevens that she was ordered by the Board Supervisors to draw from the treasury to pay down the escalating debt at the Modoc Medical Center.

See “Macsay Questions Sources: BOS Stops Insurance Claim,” Nov. 9, 2010, Modoc County Daily News Blog.

Don Demsher of the Monday Night Group said he questioned the board’s authority to even act on performance bond claim.

“I wonder why that is even on the agenda,” Demsher said, referring to the performance bond claim. “That is the stuff the DA should be pursuing. I don’t see where the Board of Supervisors has any authority over that. Should they have authority over how they performed?

Meanwhile the Monday Night Group has repeated its stance that the board should hire an interim chief administrative officer to perform the unpopular task of putting the county’s finances in order before hiring a permanent administrator.

“An interim CAO is in the wisest interests of the county,” Demsher told the board at its Nov. 23 meeting.

The Monday Night Group is also calling for in-depth meetings open to public discussion for both the fiscal budget and the two state-ordered audits that are now expected to be released in January.

“There should be a full hearing on the entire document,” Demsher told the board, referring to the two audits. “This is important to all citizens of Modoc County.”

He added that the Monday Night Group continues to be opposed to the board seeking $15 million in bond sales in order to replace the funds taken illegally from the county treasury. The board has been under mandate from the State Controller’s Office for more than year to replace the money and has failed to do so.

Editorial

Time Is Running Out For
Macsay, Cantrall and Bradshaw

We think it’s time for the Modoc County Board of Supervisors to regroup, not that we have any confidence in their understanding the concept of retreat before moving ahead.
   
It’s time for Supervisors Dan Macsay, Patricia Cantrall and Dave Bradshaw to publicly come to terms with the fact that eventually their roles in the misappropriation of an estimated $20 million from the county treasury will come to light.
   
As for the roles of Supervisors Shorty Crabtree and Jeff Bullock, we believe Crabtree’s various votes on financial-related matters are in the correct place, but that Bullock is an obstructionist who should stop running scared.
   
It’s all a matter of time, and time is running out for three supervisors who have failed to meet a mandate from the state that the money must be replaced, who have failed to stand accountable in any way for the treasury theft, and have been nothing less than arrogant in their handling of the people’s money.
   
The taking of treasury money -- regardless of the unproven emerging rhetoric that it was for good of the Modoc Medical Center -- is a political scandal of immense proportions and encompasses both county and state offices.
   
Yet, the Board of Supervisors, with Macsay at the chair, has done nothing but continually display an amateurish, ignorant and dysfunctional attitude toward the public’s trust.
   
We admit to not having confidence in the majority of the Board of Supervisors doing anything to resolve the county’s fiscal crisis, but the one good thing about time running out is that a new board will be seated in January, and at least Macsay and Bradshaw will be out.
   
It’s just a shame that neither of them had the courage to invite Supervisors-elect Geri Byrne and David Allan to participate in unofficial capacities so they could be better prepared to take over this money mess.
   
That said, we believe it is asking too much of a new board, which we anticipate will shove Cantrall into the minority, to act instantly as the county’s fiscal savior. However, we do think Modoc County has an opportunity for a fresh start come January.
   
They will need all the support we citizens of Modoc County can give them.

 -- Ray A. March

Editor’s Note: This editorial first appeared in the December edition f Modoc Independent News

Corner Post

by Missy Merrill

    A few years ago, I was helping my husband move a bunch of yearling steers a horseback, when they took off in the wrong direction. He told me “Get ahead”! A command he frequently uses with the dogs.
    After a brief discussion, he explained what he meant to say was “Will you ride up there and stop them, please?”
    How often have you been chastised for your choice of words? Or how often have you misunderstood someone else’s meaning because they didn’t use the correct words? Or had someone purposely chose words to misrepresent the meaning?
    The term “factory farming” has been used by activists to denigrate modern agriculture. The term was first coined by Ruth Harrison, in 1964, in her book Animal Machines. Lately, it has been a catch phrase for Wayne Pacelle, the president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, among others.
    It is especially popular in media reports. For example, Katie Couric used the term “factory farm” or “factory farming” five times in a three-minute story about antibiotic use in livestock production.
    Consumers associate factory farming most with poultry production but second-with beef cattle production. Beef production as factory farming? It is hard to believe. This is especially true when you look at beef production in rural areas like Modoc County.
    Modoc County’s beef production is based in extensive, range land grazing by family ranches. The cattle graze on areas of mostly non-farmable lands thus doubling (more likely tripling) the land available to produce food in this area. The animals spend only a few months of their lives confined in a feedlot eating a high-quality ration.
    I can personally attest to the care and effort given to beef cattle. I’ve spent several Christmas mornings when feeding cattle took precedence over other activities and no holiday pay was given. Not to mention, the lack of sleep checking on newborn calves during the night, the days spent riding herd health with the snow blowing sideways, and the “family time” we have enjoyed scattering salt and mineral for critters. All of this was performed without overtime compensation.
    If beef production is factory farming then the cowboys, ranchers, and caretakers should form a union instead of adopting modern information in genetics, production practices, and technology. They should only work eight hour days, Monday through Friday instead of caring for your protein source and producing inexpensive, high-quality, safe food.
    Additionally, they should sell out to developers and allow the open, green spaces used for wildlife habitat, recreation, and food production to be divided up and paved over. It would be a sound business decision, not one based on quality of life or concern for heritage.
    This season give the gift of knowledge. Tell others how the beef raised in this part of America is not factory farmed but rather nurtured from the resources available- including the time, effort and care of locally owned family ranches and farms.  

Editor's Note: As a service to our readers we will be publishing columns by our regular contributors to the Modoc Independent News. Missy Merrill is a nutritionist and reproductive physiologist by education, a farm advisor by title, and a rancher/cowboygirl by birth and marriage. She has spent much of the last 20 years roaming around the west, going to school and working on ranches in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and now California. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and do necessarily reflect the position of the Modoc Independent News. 

*UPDATE*

Closure of Cedar Creek Trail and
Cedar Pass Ski Hill Operations

Cedar Pass Trail will be partially closed until further notice.  This closure is to safely accomplish helicopter logging in the area, which is part of an ongoing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act project.

Due to weather conditions the helicopter logging project in the Cedar Creek Trail area will be operating intermittently and has been extended for several weeks.  Cedar Creek Trail will remain closed except for .5 miles of the lower portion accessible ONLY from the Lower Cedar Creek Trail head off Hwy 299.  The trail is closed north of the Aspen Loop junction.

Logging operations has the potential to impact operations at the Cedar Pass Ski Hill.  For updates regarding any Ski Hill closures contact Erin Bevil (530) 233-6644.

For other updates concerning this closure, please contact Amy Hartell, Warner Mountain District Recreation Officer at (530) 279-8311.

Cantrall “Self-Dispatching” 
To Medical Emergencies


An Alturas resident has taken Supervisor Patricia Cantrall to task, alleging she dispatches herself to 911 calls and is unsupervised by any county agency in her capacity as volunteer emergency medical technician.
   
Ron Rutledge spoke before the Modoc County Board of Supervisors at its Nov. 23 meeting. Cantrall arrived as he was concluding his statement and did not publicly respond.

Following the board meeting, Rutledge confirmed that his charges were aimed at Cantrall although she is not named specifically in his prepared statement which follows in its entirety.

“It is the responsibility of every citizen in a democracy to be ever vigilant about the actions of their elected officials and bring to light any questionable actions by those officials. If this had been done diligently over the past few years Modoc County would not be in the financial mess it is in today. I also was not vigilant, so I am equally to blame with others who stayed home rather than pay attention to what public officials were doing.

“I sent an email to all five supervisors about a week ago expressing my concerns about what seemed like an unusual circumstance within our emergency, medical responder system. I received no response so I began doing my own research into this possible irregularity.

“One of our Modoc County supervisors is the subject of the following observations: Responds to medical emergencies regularly, but seems unsupervised and unevaluated by any county agency responsible for public health. Seems not authorized to respond to medical emergencies by any appropriate county agency. Not responsible to any county public health entity I contacted. Reports to nobody. Self dispatched to emergencies. No oversight by appropriate health professionals to insure public safety. Unprofessional and generally unacceptable radio procedures frequently used.

“I contacted the following county health professionals concerning this individual to determine which medical professional supervised this EMT/county supervisor: Director Of Emergency Services Belinda Gover ( by state law this should be the boss); MMC. CEO/CFO Monica Derner; EMS Director Dan Bouse; Modoc County Health Officer Dr. Richart. They all had virtually the same thing to say: The person has been performing very well as an emergency medical technician but doesn’t work for me or supervised by me and I’m not sure what county medical agency the person is supervised by. All said the person is not under their supervision, so what public medical department does supervise this person? I believe the previous description is commonly referred to as “a loose cannon.”

“This has been going on for quite a time and has come to seem quite normal. It may appear to some people as if everyone has been looking the other way because it’s a county supervisor with tremendous influence over the hospital. Nobody there dared question the actions of a county supervisor as long as they were being given a lot of free money. Hear nothing, see nothing, know nothing has created a perception of corruption and cronyism here, especially if the director of emergency services is a personal, lifelong friend.

"I don’t believe that anyone is above making a mistake and that’s what concerns me about this situation. If a mistake is made in the act of giving aid to a victim at an emergency 911 call and it’s found that the mistake was due to lack of professional medical oversight, training, supervision or performance evaluations the lawsuit will be huge. If county medical personnel did nothing to correct the situation or enabled it by actions such as providing a county two way radio the liability could be unimaginable.”