It causes havoc with the central nervous system, but this farm chemical is barely regulated

The cloud was moving in Rachael Woodard’s direction so slowly, she and a fellow gate attendant at the Bena landfill took out their cameras and snapped photos. It was that unusual, that ominous a sight.

Had they fully grasped the danger, they might have immediately abandoned their posts at the county dump and made a run for it.

But the cloud of gas — an insecticide that drifted from an adjacent orange grove — overtook them last Saturday with unexpected speed, and within seconds Woodard and several others were gasping for breath.

A county haz-mat team was immediately dispatched to the landfill about 15 miles southeast of Bakersfield. Detox workers tried to get Woodard to remove her contaminated clothes, but she could barely move. They did it for her.

In all, six employees of the county’s waste management division were treated for exposure, having reported nausea and vomiting, heartbeat irregularities and breathing difficulties. Woodard was taken to Mercy Hospital with a highly elevated heart rate.

What was this chemical, this poison with such neurological power it can render a healthy young woman unable to move and barely able to breathe? Some battlefield remnant from World War I?

Nah, it was just good, ol’ Nufos, an insecticide so common (and supposedly benign) that growers don’t even need to notify the county ag commissioner in advance of their intention to apply it, as they must with certain other chemicals.

Nufos’s active ingredient is chlorpyrifos, a neurotoxin that has been the subject of controversy almost since its first commercial availability in 1965. Certain commercial formulations were banned in the U.S. for several years, starting in 2000, because of suspected links to childhood leukemia and disorders of the reproductive and immune systems.

This stuff is scary, and it’s everywhere, in a stunning array of grocery- and hardware-store items. Among them are various products in the pet flea-control aisle. Chlorpyrifos-based anti-flea drops resulted in 44,000 complaints last year, and the EPA is investigating.

In 2003, its maker, Dow Chemical, was subjected to the largest penalty ever administered in a pesticide case, $2 million, and required to stop advertising Dursban, a household version of chlorpyrifos, as “safe.”

In 2007, a coalition of farmworker and advocacy groups, citing health concerns, filed suit against the EPA trying to end agricultural use of the chlorpyrifos. The following year a federal judge imposed 1,000 foot buffer zones around waterways, banning the aerial application of chlorpyrifos within that range.

That’s certainly good news for fish.

Meanwhile, growers can still spray the stuff on crops almost anywhere in California with few restrictions.

Woodard, who was placed on two days’ bed rest, per doctor’s orders, spoke to ag commissioners’ investigators Wednesday and was back at work Thursday. On Friday, she was back at Bena.

No word yet on whether the grower, Gless Ranch, will face any kind of sanctions. The ag commissioner’s office, which has the power to levy fines, said the investigation could take a week or more.

Woodard’s mother, Paula Woodard, now wonders what else is drifting past our noses (hopefully much more diluted than the chemical overspray that sickened her daughter) here in agriculture-rich Kern County.

“I just want to know why we don’t have the right to unpoisoned air,” she said. “Something’s wrong.

“The farmer said the chemical was not toxic, but all his workers were wearing hazmat suits while they were spraying it. It makes you not trust whoever’s making the regulations.”

Strange bedfellows (once removed): The Gavin Newsom-Michael Savage connection

Because some things are just too weird to let go without noting, I pass along, without comment, this oddity from blogger Josh Richman:

"Rockstar energy drink founder and CEO Russell Weiner — son of Michael Weiner, aka Bay Area-based, nationally broadcast conservative talk radio talk host Michael Savage — on Monday made a $25,000 contribution to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's 2010 gubernatorial campaign.
"Yes, the son of Michael Savage, who just last October was saying Newsom is "in love again with the gay mafia" and "a whack-job as a mayor — 'Any-twosome' Newsom." Y'know, Savage — the guy the Brits don't care to have around.

"So what's the deal? 'We're personal friends, went to the same high school at different times,' Weiner told me a short while ago. 'And he's a businessman, I'm a businessman, so I hope he'll be good for the business community if he's governor.'"

Richman's blog: http://www.ibabuzz.com/politics/

Richman also notes, with some wonderment, that Savage supported Jerry Brown in his 2006 run for attorney general. Richman: "Wonder if that means this Republican father and son will be disagreeing over who to support in next year’s gubernatorial primary – the Democratic primary, that is."

Did valley congressmen really boycott the very first UC Merced graduation ceremony?

This week's most dubious absence award goes to California's Central Valley congressional delegation, which somehow managed to find other things to do Saturday, as UC Merced's first graduating class accepted the sheepskin.

Most troubling was the absence of Rep. Devin Nunes of Visalia, one of the driving forces in the school's birth. Why? Because the commencement featured first lady Michelle Obama. At least Nunes came right out and said so: He skipped because of his unhappiness with the Obama administration.

How silly. This was an historic event for the San Joaquin Valley. It was supposed to be about the graduates, a pioneering class that took a chance on a new, unproven institution. It should have been about Merced, a town that finally reaped some economic reward after years of uncertainty and struggle over this university.

Nunes and his valley colleagues (including Bakersfield's Kevin McCarthy, who instead attended an art competition and the birthday party for Dewar's candy shop) might have used the occasion to illuminate some of the valley's specific concerns, including water, but they missed the chance.

"It's bad manners, it's bad form and it's an insult to the community," CSU Stanislaus political science professor Lawrence Giventer told the Merced Sun-Star. I agree.

The party went on without them. Hotels were packed throughout Merced, sending people north to Turlock and south to Chowchilla. Merced was expecting a huge take in tourism dollars, but you can't put a dollar sign on all that community pride.

Too bad the valley's congressmen didn't deem the occasion worth their time. It was a landmark day.

UPDATE: It bears mention that, although he has been supportive of UC Merced, to the point of fighting to prevent an interruption in funding, McCarthy's district is the farthest geographically from the campus among the valley's members of congress. My point is that it would have been nice to see the valley's entire congressional delegation on hand, not only to celebrate the completion of a hard-won fight for higher education in the valley and to honor these pioneering grads, but because these congressmen themselves deserved a public handshake. I hope they didn't really think it was more important to snub Michelle Obama.

The alien's name is Gerald

I get the best mail. Today it's an alien from a faraway galaxy. He’s running for president and wants me to get Maria Shriver to help him. I'm not sure what Gerald — that's the alien, in his earthly form — thinks California's first lady can do for him (maybe it's a Kennedy thing), or why I am uniquely qualified to do the convincing, but there you have it -- the star of today's mailbag.

Gerald, who lives in Bismark, North Dakota, says he'll give Ms. Shriver a planet of her very own if she can lend a hand. (I'd go for one with a nice beach and absolutely NO GIANT FLESH EATING INSECTS.) Oh, and Gerald would like Maria's husband Arnold to be his secretary of defense, which is a nice gesture, since Arnold will have been out of a job by the time the 2012 presidential election rolls around.

Gerald has a lot more to say, but I sort of skipped to the end of his rather long letter. Anybody have an suggestions to help me get Maria's attention on his behalf? Ideas that won't get me arrested?

No more cigarette butts at the beach?

Some will cite this as another example of government assault on personal freedoms, but I'm having a hard time seeing the downside of a state senate bill banning smoking at state parks and beaches. The bill passed the senate Thursday and now heads to the assembly.

The author, Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, says the bill, SB4, is intended to protect marine life and reduce fire danger statewide, and those are absolutely worthy goals — especially when we try to fight inevitable summer wildfires with this battered state budget.

But I'll be happy just to start seeing fewer cigarette butts at the beach. I spent a week at the Central Coast over spring break and was frequently alarmed and disgusted to see smokers flipping lit cigarette butts around as if the shore were their personal ash tray. Not every smoker is an inconsiderate slob, I know, but enough of them are to make quite a mess. Even more considerate smokers are faced with a disposal problem when they're lounging under a beach umbrella. Ever see a smoker "pack out" his butts after an afternoon at the beach? I haven't.

If the problem were just my tender sensibilities, that would be one thing. But Oropeza’s No Smoking at State Parks and Beaches Act (nearly identical to a bill with the same number that she introduced in late 2006) targets the fact that sea critters regularly ingest and are harmed by cigarette butts.The Ocean Conservancy says smoking-related waste (butts, cigar tips, packaging, etc.) accounts for 38 percent of all the debris on U.S. beaches.

Meanwhile, the California Department of Forestry says smoking causes more than 100 California forest fires every year, burning 3,400 acres annually. Smoking caused the 1999 Jones wildfire, one of the most devastating in U.S. history.

I know, I know — government is taking away all of our rights, one by one. I'm not too worried about this one, though. Especially if it has aesthetic, health, environmental, public safety and budgetary benefits.

Dubious honor, but we're No. 1

The bad news: California State University trustees have approved a 10 percent increase in undergraduate and graduate student fees for the coming school year. The increase of $306 a year for undergraduates will bring average annual basic fees to $3,354 beginning in this fall, compared with the present $3,048, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The borderline good news: The least expensive campus in the 23-school system, based on on-campus housing, food, books, transportation and other expenses, is still CSU Bakersfield (a mere $15,891 annually). Highest is San Diego State ($20,388).

The fee increase is intended to help offset state cuts in the system’s $2.6 billion budget, including $96 million in 2008-09 and an additional $57 million for 2009-10. Things will get worse if education funding propositions on the May 19 ballot fail.

In other words, things will almost surely get worse -- just in time, practically, for my eldest to head off to college. Of course, if she doesn't figure out calculus, it may be a moot point.

So much for that no-call list

The car warranty people are back. (See previous post.) The "Theme from Mission Impossible" ring tone on my cell phone started blasting just as I was wrapping up a land-line phone call at work. I pressed "1" to talk to an agent and asked to be taken off the call list. I am not holding my breath.

Sen. Schumer, get the FTC to do something about these people.

I'll tend to my expired car warranty myself, thank you

It's about time somebody in Washington took some action against those invasive and persistent "your car warranty has expired" robo-dialed cell-phone calls. Apparently it took a senator getting bugged by a call in the middle of a health care meeting on Capitol Hill — Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, in this case — for something meaningful to happen. (Well, we'll see if it's meaningful.)

Schumer is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the companies behind these calls, which somehow get around (or ignore) the "Do Not Call" registry. Several states have tried to take action — but the calls continue, so maybe this is indeed a job for the Feds.

I started getting these calls a couple of months ago. At first I ignored them (just hung up), but finally I pressed "one" to talk to an agent. I asked the guy to tell me what kind of car I had and got a canned response that dodged the question. So I then asked how he knew my warranty was up. He hung up on me.

I did the same thing the next time I got the call, asking where they got my name. Answer: "From the database." Database of what? The agent hung up.

I did the same thing a third time --- this time told the agent I wanted to get a warranty extension on my 1948 Hudson. She said that was too old, they only warranted cars that are 1985 or newer. Did I have another car? I said no (since I was fibbing already). She volunteered to take me off the call list. I haven't heard back from them — but it's only been about a week.

My rule of thumb is, only do business with businesses with whom you initiate contact.

Dumbest letter to the editor in history

Writing a letter to the editor of one's local newspaper is a civic-minded and patriotic thing to do. Published letters also frequently showcase the writer's steel-trap logic. But public letter-writing can leave the opposite sort of impression too. To be blunt, sometimes it just exposes the writer as a lame-o. I've seen some breathtaking examples.

This one takes the cake, though. The depth of cluelessness here is staggering. This guy was apparently trying to send "turf" -- as in manufactured "grass roots" -- by selecting some pre-written talking points from the organization he supports, and then inserting them into his "own" letter. But he messed up and sent the instructions instead:

To the Editor,

It is important that you write the letter in your own words. Nothing is more persuasive to the media, lawmakers, and the public than the experiences, opinions, and feelings of concerned citizens. To help get you started, we've provided simple talking points to the right (click the talking point once to add it to your letter), but please remember to use the words that mean the most to you.

REMEMBER: DELETE THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE WRITING YOUR LETTER AND INCLUDE YOUR DAYTIME AND EVENING PHONE NUMBERS.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Contact Phone: [Your Phone Number(s)]

Insert laughter here.

Jurors in the Bakersfield molestation cases speak

After having written Sunday about a juror in the Pitts molestion case of 1985, I heard from two more jurors today, one who worked the Kniffen-McCuan case, another who didn't say which case she was on. Here, without their names, are their e-mails:

I read your article in today's paper (Juror left to ponder fallout of reversals) with emotion. I too was a juror in one of the molestation trials and it was a wrenching experience. I had a one year old baby I had just weaned and was in the joyous rapture of young motherhood (I was 31 at the time). Why I was selected as a juror ran continuously through my mind for years. Day after day we heard the burning testimony of the children,watched the blank faces of the accused and took voluminous notes. On the day we found the two defendants guilty I cried. I was consumed with a sadness I have not felt since. After the other jurors left one of the district attorneys approached me -I was sitting in the courtroom crying. He said to not feel bad about the verdict, it was well deserved and there was even more evidence that absolutely proved guilt but was not admissible in court. I ended up in counseling for several months. How could anyone do what these people did to the children? I still relive those days and wish the best for the children - now adults. What kind of parents are they? How has this influenced their roles as mom and dad? You were right to remember the jurors in the trials - we were damaged too.
s/anonymous juror

Thank you for your article. Finally someone has remembered the jurors in those cases. Mary K Stanley spoke my sentiments exactly. I was on the Kniffen-McCuan trial and I went through the same thing. I didn’t want to find the parents guilty, but the facts and children made them appear guilty.
s/anonymous juror

I also got an irate phone from a guy who left a message. Didn't I know how much stuff the DA screwed up? Didn't I know how badly these defendants were treated? Didn't I do any research? I know a lot about these cases, and anybody who has paid attention knows they've been broken down over and over in The Californian and elsewhere. Lord knows I am leading the league in harassment of this DA. But this story was about the jurors, the one group central to the story that's been pretty much ignored. Sorry -- somebody had to tell that story.