Valley People

BILL MANNIX has died in Santa Rosa. Bill, who was 94, wasn't as well known in the Anderson Valley as his brother Homer, but Bill was quite well known in the outside world as one of the writers of the Forests Forever initiative and the only Air Force colonel known to have joined the Peace and Freedom Party. Here in The Valley, Bill owned property up on Redwood Ridge west of Boonville, which he characteristically protected via a conservation easement. The full obituary will appear in next week's paper.

A CYNIC WRITES: “Subject: Savoy's New State Water Permit. In a rare case of a vineyard owner bothering with getting a State Water Board permit, Savoy Vineyards of Boonville and Philo just got one got approved on December 2nd.

ANOTHER READER asks, “Did you know the famous black woman who lived up on Mountain View next to the Piper's who was a UC Berkeley grad named Ida Jackson? Have I asked you this before? She was a cousin of Mahalia Jackson, gospel singer, who sang, did ya know, at the very first opening of Hendy Woods? Are there any pictures of that over there in AV?”

AS WES CHESBRO would say, “We're looking into it.” I know that Jack's Valley Store has just produced a file of newspaper clippings describing early Hendy, so we should have confirmation soon of what exactly the opening ceremonies consisted of.

AV HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR Lily Leighton is going to Haiti over Christmas where she will work with the Reveil Matinal Orphanage. Lily's expedition is the practical end of her senior project

NOBODY KNOWS YET how the Post Office cuts will affect the Anderson Valley, but the cuts are another swindle engineered by the Republicans, who in 2006, got a bill passed that required the post office to prefund retirement for the next 75 years, and who ever heard of another employer prefunding retirement for 75 years? The Post Office would be in the black except for this pension pre-fund requirement. Social Security and MediCare aren't broke either, but that's another story. Every day, a new lie from The Party of Lincoln.

NORM CLOW WRITES from Las Vegas: “I’m one of those odd Panther fans who would certainly not be unhappy if Anderson Valley had ever won more than two championships — 1966 and 1981 — but was really more interested in seeing some different teams and some higher grade of basketball, no matter who won. I figured the league campaign was more important as far as titles went. The two best basketball games ever played in that gymnasium were the 1990 title game between winner Bethune, South Carolina, and Brentwood of LA, which Johnny Bazzano and I broadcast live on KZYX radio, and the 2002 championship won by Hoopa in a last-second, come-from-behind, OT game over Branson. As my father posed once, do you want to see some really good basketball or do you want to see Geyserville and Covelo for the 500th time? Nothing against those two schools, but I think he made his point.”

MYSELF, if I want to see good basketball, I'll head for the USF gym, but locally give me Covelo vs. Geyserville, or Covelo vs. Anyone. As a Covelo-phile, I think that community is endlessly fascinating, and endlessly fascinating in a physical setting as beautiful as any in the land.

PASTOR BILL NOBLES is moving on from his Boonville church to the Assembly of God pulpit in Willits.

POT BUST at the high school a couple of weeks ago netted two boys apparently selling the stuff. And last week, a day prior to deputy Walker's campus appearance with his dope dog Bullet, high school principal Tomlin announced they'd be coming, and thus nullifying Bullet's Boonville debut. A local said he thought Tomlin's warning was also intended for staff.

BULLET, by the way, is the same breed — Belgian Malinois — as the dogs the Navy Seals deploy with, a dog now advertised as the dog that cornered Osama bin Laden. Here in Mendo, our Belgian Malinois will be pretty much confined to pursing Osama bin Tweekers.

LAST THURSDAY early morning two young residents of Lifeworks Group Home, the only two residents remaining in the home, broke into two cars in downtown Boonville — one parked behind PicNPay the other at the Elder home on Highway 128 — and tried, unsuccessfully, to punch out the ignitions to hotwire them. The two absconders finally found a Saturn sedan on Anderson Valley Way with the keys in it, which they drove back to their county of origin, Alameda. The Saturn was recovered Friday in Hayward. The two boys, both of whom have lengthy records of serious crimes, remain at large. One had only been in the Valley for two months, the other somewhat longer.

TERRY RYDER reminds us that Lauren's-Sing-Along is this Saturday beginning at 8:30pm. Which reminds me. Chatting with a local friend the other day, he asked, “Have you noticed how many deadbeats there are around here? A lot of locals don't tip, and they'll show up at, say, Lauren's, to take in a show but won't buy a meal or even a drink. One guy even has the nerve to leave religious tracts in lieu of a tip!” I'm not surprised. The libs, in my experience, which mostly derives from lib-lab potlucks, are the worst nickel-nosers, probably because they've never lived with the wolf at the door. (You bring real food, they show up with of seaweed.) But Lauren is particularly worthy of full support beyond her unfailingly modest graciousness, she not only hosts a lot of local events that would otherwise have no venue, she buys local produce as a matter of restaurant policy.

SUFFERED a minor shock myself last week when I visited my optometrist to get another pair of glasses. My originals had disappeared and I was reduced to reading through Edell's, which is like reading through the bottom of a Coke bottle. I biked up to 414 Clement where Kimberry La, the friendliest, most thorough lens person I've known, maintains her office. It's a family affair with Kimberry, her husband and a daughter. Before I'd become a customer I'd stopped in one day because a lens had popped out onto the sidewalk. I was so please at how Mr. La had not only snapped the lens back into its frame, he'd tightened the frame and had thoroughly cleaned the glass. I could see again! Last week, Kimberry's store front office was closed. There was no sign on the door explaining why. I returned the next day. Still closed. I called the office number. No answer, no message machine. I went on line where I learned that Kimberry was dead, carried off by a fast-moving cancer only the week before. She couldn't have been much over forty, and I can't even imagine what that close-knit family is going through at her loss, but it explains the silence at Kimberry's passing.