Valley People

CURTIS ‘CURT’ BERRY, long-time resident of upper Greenwood Road, has died. We hope to have a full obituary in next week's paper.

POINT ARENA'S high school baseball team is justly proud of being the first Mendocino County small school baseball team to win a Northcoast Sectional championship. Coached by Jerry Moyles and assisted by Trevor Sanders, the Pirates took it all the way with a 5-4 win over Ferndale last week. The Press Democrat story by the invincibly uninformed Bob Padecky, described Point Arena as "on the northern Sonoma Coast," and went on about how cute PA is, "a town with no stoplights where kids can play unsupervised, where everyone knows everyone else," and so on and wholly untrue. Anyway, Moyles did a heckuva job over there in the fog belt and congrats to him and his boys.

KRISTEN MARIE ANDERSEN of Anderson Valley High School, has been awarded the prestigious Northern California Scholarship Foundation's partial college scholarship of $8,000 a year for four years, a total of $32,000 for the young scholar. Kristin called to correct me that $8,000 a year, a full ride when I was a kid, only gets you about a third of the way these days.

CINDY WILDER informs us that the Mendocino County local food guide is now online at mendocinolocalfood.org "thanks to the Anderson Valley Foodshed, North Coast Opportunities, Cloud Forest Institute, and the talented Torrey Douglass of Lemon Fresh Design.

ON THURSDAY June 14th, there will be a tour of the Navarro Gauge from 9am to noon led by USGS representative Mike Webster. The tour will begin with a classroom component from 9am-10:15am. held at Husch Vineyards, where participants will be oriented to the USGS website and the real time and historic data specific to the Navarro River. The tour will then head out to the field to view the gauging station in situ from 10:45-12:00. For the field component: participants will need to ford the river through 1.5 foot deep water to get to see the gauge on the far side! So plan accordingly by wearing shorts and stream shoes, sandals or waders. Bring water, a hat, and sunscreen, and plan to be out in the elements. This is a unique opportunity to visit the gauge. Mike Webster has been manning the Navarro Gauge for close to 29 years. He has observed many changes in this part of the river over the years and surely has some stories to share. Breaking Good News! Funds have been found for 100% USGS funding for the Navarro River gauge for this fiscal year and in the long-term! The gauge is an essential, valuable asset for both safety concerns, as it is a flood warning gauge, and also for the historic data it represents, and more and more importantly the reliance and use of the present time data for various stakeholders in the Navarro watershed. We welcome you to join the tour to learn more about the Navarro Gauge and its value to the Navarro River Watershed. Space is limited to 20 people. For more info and to register for the tour; email rivercenter@mcn.org or call 895-3230. This is a free event.

CHAMP DE REVES, the ghastly makeover of Edmeades Winery heralded by an oversize corporate-inspired sign on 128 opposite the proportionately modest Navarro Winery, is now owned by Kendall-Jackson. But you know that. You probably also know that Champ de Reves translates roughly as "fields of unending nightmares," and one wonders why KJ simply didn't go all out and call the place "Va Te Faire Mettre, Anderson Valley," which more accurately reflects his regard for The Valley and spare us this nausea-inducing statement which appears in his jive handout: "My family has a deep respect for the heritage and past (sic) of Anderson Valley. Our future and commitment to Pinot Noir in the region is embodied in our high elevation vineyard and in the people who grow and make the wines." I ask you, Where is God when you really, really need Him to strike someone down?

JACKSON'S WIDOW, Barbara Banke, apparently now runs the show which, in Anderson Valley alone, consists of several ecologically blitzed ridges and Edmeades, the irony being that the guy who made Jackson famous was Jed Steele who brewed his first wines with Deron Edmeades then went to work for Jackson as winemaker at Jackson's fledgling enterprise based in Lake County. When Steele left to make his own wines at his own winery, Jackson, a tort lawyer (of course), sued Steele, claiming that Steele couldn't take the "recipes" for Jackson wines with him, arguing in Lake County Superior Court that the "recipes" belonged to Jackson because Steele had been working for him when he developed the wines. Steele argued with what seemed to everyone else irrefutable logic that the so-called recipes consisted entirely of Steele's olfactory equipment — nose and tongue — gifts that can't be reduced to recipes. Steele lost the suit and the Big Wind blew off to develop his wine empire.

NOT ANOTHER ONE! As of early Tuesday morning, the old Philo Post Office has been fenced off and gutted down to its framing, and the prevalent speculation is that we will soon see a tasting room where Thelma Pinoli and Dot Becker put up the mail for years and years, and before them the man who lived on nearby Ray's Road who, in the first years of World War Two, was so convinced that the Japanese would wade ashore at Navarro Beach that he tunneled an escape route from his back porch to the tree line. The Valley is changing so fast it's almost disorienting, and if two living local landmarks, Morgan Baynham and Bill Clow, beaming out of a crowd of strangers, hadn't greeted me this morning at Mosswood, I might have had to call emergency services to find out where I was.

ELK'S BEEN UNREAL for years, ever since the hippies cleaned up, went purple, dropped back in, and Charlie Acker took over. But Bobby Beacon has always been real, and anyone who's ever been up the hill for a drink at Bobby's Beacon Light by the Sea gets at least a glimpse, and often a lot more, of old time Mendo. The joint was recently written up in the New York Times, which is sure to attract a lot of undesirables of the wine type now prevalent in the Anderson Valley. But the Beacon Light, a much more resilient institution, will be there, impervious. Here's a review from twitter: "This place is as cool as it gets. It's a stand-alone bar/firehouse in Elk, CA. There is a flashing red light visible to most all of Elk whenever it is open. The guy who serves/owns the place there is a real cool old timer who is local fireman, veterinarian, bar impresario! They generally have good top shelf booze and sell it at lower than average price. The place is like a museum filled with great Mendocino artifacts, good times and good booze. This made my stay in Elk far better than it would've been because it's incredibly unique. You're sure to hear some amazing stories while being served."

WE'RE ALL HOPING that Bobbie Hiatt will soon be up and around after suffering a couple of back-to-back in-home falls recently.

HADN'T BEEN INSIDE Wiley's Barn at Navarro since Eric Labowitz used to show movies there, but intrigued by Rebecca Johnson's art I stopped in for a close-up look. To say that I like her work a whole lot is to understate my admiration for it. I think she gets the colors of this unique place just right, and that isn't easy to do. And Barbara somehow also gets the vibe right, the colors against old redwood, the feel of it. I'm saving up to buy one.

THE ARENA Theater Film Club will present Will, a 2011 film by director Ellen Perry with a screenplay by Zack Anderson and Perry, on Monday, June 11 at 7pm. Will (Perry Eggleton) is an orphaned soccer fan who journeys across Europe to see his team, Liverpool FC, play in the 2005 Champions League Final in Istanbul. The film features a host of award-winning movie stars including Bob Hoskins (“A Christmas Carol”; ”Who Framed Roger Rabbit”), Damian Lewis (“Band of Brothers”; Showtime’s upcoming “Homeland”) and Alice Krige (“Chariots of Fire”; “Star Trek: First Contact”). Former Liverpool Football Club Manager Kenny Dalglish and soccer superstars Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard have cameo appearances. Producer and award-winning co-writer Zack Anderson will attend the screening. He was nominated by the Writers Guild of America for Best Screenplay for co-writing the political documentary, “The Fall of Fujimori,” which premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. “Fujimori” received rave reviews from A.O. Scott in the NY Times and was deemed a must-see by Kenneth Turan of the LA Times. Anderson is currently developing screenplays with Jerry Offsay’s Parkchester Pictures. He is a graduate of Anderson Valley High School and has a degree in history from Harvard University. The movie is not rated at a runtime of 102 minutes. The Arena Theater Film Club shows classics, independent and foreign films, and documentaries on Monday evenings three times per month. The Cineaste membership level of the Arena Theater ($70 per year) includes free admission to Monday evening Film Club events as well as discounts to regular movies and many live events. Guests are welcome to attend Film Club movies for an $8 (adult), $5 (teen) admission. For more information visit www.arenatheater.org.

IN TIME for the Mendocino Count Fair and Apple Show in June? Yes, if you wish to fill out an entry online. Mendocountyfair.com. If you prefer a hard copy entry form, the Fair Office is expecting Fair Books to be delivered soon. Info at 895-3011. Deadline for entries is Friday, August 17, 2012. Only ten weeks from now!

HOSPICE VOLUNTEER TRAINING — Hospice of Ukiah is having its Hospice Volunteer Training Course for eight sessions on Saturdays and Wednesdays starting Saturday, July 9, 2012 from 10am to 12:30pm and Wednesdays from 6pm to 8:30pm. This eight-week course is designed to prepare Hospice volunteers in providing support to the terminally and chronically ill and their caregivers. Course Facilitator is Leah Middleton RN, CHPN. Class is held at 620 So. Dora St., Ste. 101. To register call: 462-4038.