THE
Paper
Blow the Whistle
Michael B. Woolsey
NORTH BAY BOH EMI A N | SEP T E M BE R 1 1-17, 20 1 3 | BO H E M I AN.COM
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Whistleblowing is a courageous act. Just ask Chelsea Manning, who faces a sentence of 35 years in prison for supplying classified information in the Wikileaks case, or Edward Snowden, who can’t even set foot in his home country after leaking information about the NSA’s widespread spying program. Daniel Ellsberg, who famously leaked the Pentagon Papers, speaks this week at the Petaluma Progressive Festival in support of the two courageous Americans, along with Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, author and activist Norman Solomon and many others. The Progressive Festival gets serious on Sunday, Sept. 15, in Walnut Park. Petaluma Boulevard South at D Street, Petaluma. 12:30pm–5pm. Free. www. progressivefestival.org.
Paywalled Press FUTURE USE Loren Poncia, owner of Stemple Creek Ranch, and his father, Al Poncia, now a semi-retired rancher.
Family Plot
MALT makes extra effort to preserve agriculture in open-space acquisitions BY BRUCE ROBINSON
T
he biggest threat to family farms in the North Bay isn’t urban sprawl, the rise of industrial agriculture or even climate change. It’s inheritance taxes. “Estate taxes can be crushing,” acknowledges Jamison Watts, executive director of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT). Because the tax code determines
the worth of inherited farmland based on its value for potential development rather than agricultural use, “heirs can be forced to sell just to pay the tax bills.” For the past 33 years, MALT has offered a buffer, buying up the development rights for 72 family ranches in West Marin—46,000 acres of dairy and ranchland that comprise roughly half of the privately owned farmland in the county.
Purchased at a cost that averages $1,500 per acre over the years, these conservation easements permanently prohibit subdividing or building new nonagricultural development on the farms. But with MALT’s more recent purchases costing up to $3,000 per acre, it was agreed that stronger measures were needed. The nonprofit’s response has been to begin incorporating a Mandatory Agriculture ) 10
Mimicking attempts by newspapers around the country to begin charging for online content, the Press Democrat implemented a long-rumored paywall on its website last week. Readers will now be able to access only 15 free articles per month, after which a nominal $10 per month “digital subscription” will be enforced. (Existing print subscribers receive online access at no additional charge.) The New York Times, which owned the Press Democrat for 27 years until 2012, has been successful with a similar system in place for about six years, while the San Francisco Chronicle recently abandoned its online paywall after only four months. Workarounds to the paywall include utilizing simple advanced Google searches and being savvy with social media links, but it appears the Press Democrat hopes $10 per month is worth saving the extra keystrokes.—Nicolas Grizzle The Bohemian started as The Paper in 1978.