MENDO SPORTS HISTORY. A reader writes: “After reading the AVA for 20 years I finally found a mistake. (sic) Seb Coe never set foot in Mendocino Co. It was his arch rival, Steve Ovett. They are commonly associated as they are both English, were the two best milers in the world, each won Olympic gold medals in 1980 (Ovett 800 meters, Coe 1500 meters) and exchanged world records in the mile and 1500 meters over the early '80's. I was there and saw Ovett put on his racing shoes while sitting against the side of a barn (long gone) on Orchard Ave. This was the only year that there was a mile race (run basically around the Pear Tree shopping center). The field included 8-9 guys who were four minute milers. Ovett won in 3:55-3:56. A couple days later my son, a college kid who worked at Penny's sold Ovett a suitcase. The traditional Penofin race was a 10K (6.2 miles) which started at the Penofin offices on Lake Mendocino Drive, turned south onto State and finished at the Seventh Day Adventist School 200 yards west of the end of State Street. The winner would get $5-$7K (unsure of the amount) and there was money for the top ten. This attracted top quality runners, many from Africa. They would come in 4-5 days before the race. I lived on Stanley on the west side and from my front porch would see skinny black guys on training runs, their feet not touching the ground. The Ovett race was on Saturday. He ran in the 10K the following day, but jogged it as a light workout, finishing 30th or 40th.”
AND THIS COUNTY'S PREMIER Senior runner, Jim Gibbons, fresh off yet another triumph, age 68, but finishing fourth overall in the 9th Annual 5k Redwood Run in Ukiah, elaborates: “Your mention of the '86 Penofin race last week, which made me look it up and realize Seb Coe did NOT run the Sub 4 Invitational Mile. In fact, there was NO mile in '86, just the 10K. The Sub4 Mile was the year before, when Steve Ovett outkicked five others who all finished under 4 minutes! A first for California! Coe was there, but only as a rep for Nike, he didn't run, though he did hold the world record in both the mile and the 800 meters. I'm in the process of writing about it, though I'm trying to find Jerry Drew (I don't know why he's hiding out) and discuss it. Hopefully I can finish this piece before putting it away again for another 26 years!”
WE TRIED to look it up but all we could find is a garbled account on the Ukiah Daily Journal's website that was so garbled I was forced to resort to my hazy memory of the big events. Much appreciate the clarifications because they were big events, and wonderful of Penofin to have sponsored them. I'm still trying to find out who won the recent Boonville Bike Race, another big event featuring some ranked cyclists, but nobody seems to know who from what, and the bike websites are non-responsive. From what I can gather, about 60 ace cyclists, men and women, set out from Boonville, up the Manchester Road, north to Elk, east on Greenwood Road, through Philo and back to Boonville, and here's where the cream separated from the cheese, back up the nearly vertical Manchester Road, past the Boonville Dump to the finish line at Faulkner Park. Wow. Double wow. And they did it in about three hours! But who won and exactly how fast these remarkable athletes accomplished this amazing feat remain some kind of two- wheeled secret.
RECOMMENDED READING: In an excellent piece by Laura Rena Murray in last week's SF Weekly. Called “Collapse of the Vanguard,” Ms. Murray details how “A con man, a leftist hero, and white guilt have brought down a storied foundation.” The storied Vanguard Foundation disappeared in 2006, and millions disappeared with its “heroic” founder, Hari Dillon, who packed his board of directors with famous “leftists” as he and a character called Mouli Cohen helped themselves to the millions duped liberals sent to them to do good with. Skeptics were, as usual, denounced as reactionaries, racists and so on as these two guys looted the thing.
THE SAME KIND of vilification and non-personing by dwarf Stalinists continues on what's left of the left, as long-time members and listeners of KPFA can tell you. Fraud happens when (1) grasping little cliques of self-certified “radicals” manage to get themselves put in charge of the money, and (2) star-struck liberal groupies get out their checkbooks as soon as they spot Ed Asner on the masthead.
CLOSER TO HOME, a small group of NorCal crooks are still collecting money under several “non-profits” to save Headwaters and to help Daryl Cherney find the person or person who bombed Judi Bari! (Cherney often joins Scott Peterson and OJ in a tripartite house-to-house for their respective villains. BTW, we're still on the hunt for the mother of the infant that Cherney has lately brandished at showings of his movie, “Who Bombed Judi Bari as channeled by Kim Il Sung.”)
JAMIE STOVER of Ukiah has submitted a claim against the County of Mendocino for $2,500 plus medical reimbursement. Ms. Stover reports that her daughter, Ashliey Criss, was walking home on Brush Street around 9:45 the evening of June 14th. An absence of illumination caused the girl to trip and fall in a County pothole. She suffered a deep puncture wound and a broken ankle. Ms. Stover feels the County is on the hook because there should have been something done about the pothole along that stretch of Brush, which is County territory.
ALSO FILING A CLAIM is Mark Gregg who wants $50 from the County for clothes he says were lost at the County Jail after he turned himself in to serve a weekend sentence on June 10, of 2012.
THIS YEAR’S GRAND JURY noted that there was a big jump in the cost of administering the County’s pension funds: “Finding #17: The hiring of a full time director and staff increased MCERA salary costs from $167,000 a year in 2007 to $322,000 a year in 2010.”
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS response: “The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors disagrees with this finding. The County of Mendocino budgets on a fiscal year basis so it is not possible to determine expenditures for any given calendar year. As shown in the County of Mendocino adopted final budget books, actual line item expenditures for MCERA staff Total Salaries and Employee Benefits for fiscal year 2006-07 were $188,105; for fiscal year 2007-08 - $259,000; for fiscal year 2008-09 - $372,377; for fiscal year 2009-10 - $429,811; and for fiscal year 2010-11 - $364,855.
TRANSLATION: It’s worse than the Grand Jury said, but there’s nothing that can be done about it.
ON AUGUST 5, the Caspar Inn and Cafe Noir is welcoming the jazz group the Dixie Devils. The group will begin their monthly First Sunday Sessions celebrating the music of New Orleans. The festivities will be enhanced by Chef Joe from Cafe Noir, featuring his specialties, Cajun and Louisiana cuisine. The event will be from 5 -8 PM with dinner and special entrees available throughout the evening.
THE 30th ANNUAL ROUND VALLEY BLACKBERRY FESTIVAL! Mark your calendars. The 30th Annual Round Valley Blackberry Festival will be held this year on August 18th and 19th at the festival grounds in downtown Covelo. While the gazebo and arbor have been on the festival grounds since the first festival in August 1983, the grounds have undergone many changes. Thanks to current owners John Marshall and Russ there is now wisteria to cover the arbor and offer shade to the booths. The grounds have been planted with numerous trees and shrubs which create an almost park like setting. The Blackberry Jammers will kick off the festivities at noon on Saturday in the gazebo followed by various musical groups throughout the entire weekend. Mickey the Clown will be back as master of ceremonies. Enjoy a blackberry slush while strolling around the surrounding arbor which will be full of various arts and craft vendors and community organizations. Saturday night join the community for a fun square dance. There will be a 5 & 10K run/walk on Sunday morning (http://www.roundvalley.org/library/race.pdf) as well as a country style breakfast. Later in the day enjoy the antique car and motorcycle show featuring local, and out of town, vehicles worth seeing. The festival runs from noon till 7:00pm on Saturday and 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Sunday. Admission is free. Further information can be found at www.roundvalleyblackberryfestival.com.
JUST IN FROM HACKLAND. Rose City Daily captured by Florida crackers. City rejoices. Cries of “Hang them all, crackers!” resound through Santa Rosa's normally quiet streets as crowds gather at the Press Democrat's Mendocino Avenue bunker, shouting for the paper's new owners to execute remaining staff, beginning with Pete Golis and Kyse…
Halifax Media Group, which acquired The Press Democrat in January, unveiled a new organizational structure Monday that divides the company into three units under the direction of regional publishers. Its three publications in California — The Press Democrat, Petaluma Argus-Courier and North Bay Business Journal — will be placed with 11 other newspapers in Florida and Louisiana under new Central Region publisher Roger Quinn, formerly publisher of The Spartanburg (N.C.) Herald-Journal. Press Democrat Publisher Bruce Kyse will continue to oversee the Sonoma County publications and will report to Quinn, who will be based in Panama City, Fla. as if anyone could possibly care. Last month, Halifax closed a deal to buy eight daily and 11 weekly papers in Florida and North Carolina from Freedom Communications, widely regarded as the second worst papers in the English language, Halifax a consensus worst of all, increasing its holdings from 17 to 36 media companies.
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