ANDERSON VALLEY is in line for an easily accessible recycling operation at the Boonville Fairgrounds run by Solid Waste of Willits. According to this week’s Supervisor's agenda: "Pursuant to the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding between the County of Mendocino and the Anderson Valley Apple Show and Fair, the Fair has the authority to grant the use of the County-owned property to other entities with the written consent and approval of the County. The lease agreement between the Mendocino County Fair and Solid Wastes of Willits, Inc. is for a portion of property to be used for the storage of recycling bins for the collection and storage of recyclable materials and for the purpose of continuing the operation of a certified buy-back and drop-off recycling center for the community of Anderson Valley. The space to be leased is a 12’ x 12’ area within the parking area of the Fairgrounds, and a 30’ x 24’ area inside a gated fence area adjacent to the parking area.”
XAVIER FRANCIS, 20, formerly of Boonville, presently of Ukiah, has pled guilty to aggravated trespass of a residence, a misdemeanor. The DA will request that Francis be ordered to pay restitution to the Sanchez family of Boonville from whom several guns were stolen. Francis is assumed to be one of several young thieves who broke a sliding glass door to enter the Sanchez home and take the guns, for a total loss to the Sanchez family and their insurers of more than $9,000. Francis's fingerprint was found at the scene. He has maintained his innocence and has refused to identify the other young men assumed to have assisted him with the burglary. Francis will be sentenced on March 22, 2012 at 9 o'clock in the morning in Department A. He faces three years probation with up to one year in the County Jail as a condition of probation.
IN CONJUNCTION with the Elementary School's biannual Book Fair, on this coming Tuesday, 5-6:30pm, the 6th of March, there will be a pajama and ice cream party at the school, complete with story telling and games. Your little ones are sure to enjoy the heck of this one.
GENE HERR REMINDS US that the County's Planning and Building Department "may finally be getting around to Anderson Valley's zoning. But they intend to redo the land use codes first, and didn't we just do that? Is anyone left at the purged Planning Dept. with any idea of how they spent several millions of dollars in studies and drafts and hearings in the past six years? We have been 'reached out to' on multiple occasions but hardly every listened to."
ALSO from the Planning Director's report to the Supervisors. Land Use Code Update: "Work has started on analyzing the existing code to identify needed revisions and new sections that need to be added. This work involves critical review of the Inland Zoning Code, the Subdivision Ordinance and other Resource management codes and review of other jurisdiction codes. We are also in the process of trying to schedule a series of community outreach meetings which are anticipated to occur in Ukiah, Anderson Valley, Willits, and Fort Bragg. This work is partially funded through the Sustainable Communities Grant that was secured last year in partnership with Health and Human Services and the Cities of Ukiah and Fort Bragg."
TWO SCHOOL BOARD meetings are scheduled for in March, one on Monday the 5th of March, the other on Wednesday the 14th of March. According to Ms. Ivey of the district office, "There has not been an expulsion hearing scheduled as of today as both entities continue to work together to possibly resolve the issue."
EXPECT A RADICAL improvement in girl's softball this season at Boonville High School. Ms. Amber Mesa, who played the game at the college level, has assumed coaching duties from Pastor Bill Nobles whose instructional specialities seemed to be “sliding practice” and various forms of calisthenics more appropriate to Vegas chorus lines than girl's softball.
PAM LAIRD WRITES: “I’m off to Brooklyn for the release of my daughter Eliza Factor’s novel, The Mercury Fountain. The story takes place in a utopian (dystopian) mining village in SW Texas in the early 1900s. Just found out its getting a great review in the New York Times this Sunday which puts it in the tradition of Upton Sinclair and Emile Zola! The farm stand will reopen March 8 for greens and lettuce on our Thursday through Saturday spring schedule.”
THE COOLEST BIKE RACK you'll ever see now rests on the north side of Paysanne, the coolest ice cream and coffee kiosk you'll ever see, both right here in Boonville, Mendocino County's most happening place. The bike rack was designed by the endlessly creative Tim Glidewell, a modest man whose gifts are considerably more than modest.
IN OTHER BOONVILLE developments, that pavement work at the old Schoenahl apple stand is, I'm informed, one link in a sidewalk to run north a block or so.
TWO WEEKS AGO at the Mendocino County Vineyard Pruning contest at Nelson Family Vineyards in Hopland, finishing in the money were locals Apolinar Felix Robles of Roederer; Oscar Ojeda Hernandez of Goldeneye; and Fernando Bucio, Ardzrooni Vineyard Management of the Anderson Valley.
THE POSTAL SERVICE plans to close its Petaluma sorting center, meaning Mendo’s and the rest of the Northcoast’s mail will be sent to Oakland for processing before it wends its way back north to us. 228 jobs will be lost and our mail will take longer to reach us, this in the name of efficiency. Some of you will recall that Republicans, in their ongoing effort to eliminate government altogether, enacted legislation requiring that the Post Office set aside estimated retirement pay in advance, the only agency of government required to do that. In one move, that requirement bankrupted the people who got the mail delivered rain, sleet and snow. And did we mention that a functional Postal Service is a specific requirement of the US Constitution? Here in the Anderson Valley our post offices at Boonville, Philo and Yorkville are safe. For now.
POINT ARENA's boy's basketball team, as we go to press, remains alive in the small school basketball playoffs. Mendocino lost to perennial small school power, Ferndale, the AVA's fave team, Laytonville, got dumped by Rincon Valley. Point Arena's strong girl's team lost by one to San Francisco Waldorf, while a very young Anderson Valley girl's team of freshmen and sophomores coached by Bryan Wyant fought Pleasant Hill Adventist all the way to the final minutes only to lose to the Adventists, 56-48.
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