LEMONS MARKET, PHILO, was burglarized early Tuesday morning, very early Tuesday morning as Deputy Walker, instantly on the case, places the meticulous burglar in the store at about 3am. It's not known what if anything was stolen. The would-be thief carefully removed a window to gain entry. It was found intact carefully placed on a patch of grass some yards from the store. A surveillance tape shows a clean-cut, medium-size white man inside the store. Deputy Walker can be reached at 272-0567.
FIRST REPORTS Sunday afternoon about 4 made it sound like the mother of all traffic catastrophes, Boonville division. Three vehicles had collided near the junction of highways 128 and 253. People hurt, maybe dead. Not. Sorted out, two cars had sideswiped each other five miles south of Boonville around mile signpost 34. Vehicles badly damaged. But no serious injuries. Or any injuries at all. That was it.
A SECOND, more grisly accident occurred Saturday night outside the Boonville Fairgrounds when a motorist ran over the leg of a pedestrian. The injured man hobbled off, as the responsible vehicle irresponsibly sped from the scene as AV emergency services people tried in vain to locate the injured man. The incident was not reported to police.
DON'T FORGET the Fair Board at the Boonville Fairgrounds, Monday (October 29th) 6:30pm at which the annual Sierra Nevada World Music Festival is up for discussion. And the Fair Board's annual meeting is on for Monday, November 12th.
REWARD OF $100 for the return of a set of keys possibly lost in the area of Pic'N Pay or the Redwood Drive-In or Tumbling McD. If you find them, please call Jackie at 391-3877.
ANDERSON VALLEY FIRE CHIEF Colin Wilson has announced his plans to retire as of November 1st of 2013. In a letter to the Community Services District Board of Directors, Chief Wilson suggested that the Board begin planning to hire his replacement so that person is in place by September of next year to allow for a smooth transition from Chief Wilson, the man who created the effective, well-supported department we see today.
"IT IS MY INTENTION to make myself available to the department as a volunteer for a few years following my retirement in whatever capacity the new chief desires and my health and fitness permits (meaning firefighter to battalion chief with a similar commitment as other volunteers filling those roles). I may also be willing to participate as a committee member depending on the desires of the board and the new chief. I believe it will be necessary to provide both healthcare and CalPERS retirement benefits to the next fire chief's employment package in order to attract qualified and desirable candidates. I anticipate this will add approximately $30,000 to the cost of the position. I suggest that a subcommittee of the budget committee be assigned the task of researching the necessary steps and actual cost to provide these benefits as soon as possible so they can be incorporated in the budget process for next year."
CHIEF WILSON ADDED, "I'm just burned out. I think it's a good time for the department to get rid of me. I'm maxed out with all my duties. It's time to retire."
JOHN MATHISON runs a skydiving operation out of Oakland. He's asked the Boonville Airport people for permission to "temporarily store approximately 1700 gallons of jet fuel in a fuel truck" at the airport from which Mathison refuels his turbojet skydiving aircraft.
ACCORDING to the summary of the request in Fire Chief Colin Wilson's draft response to Mathison, refueling would be conducted principally on weekends at Boonville while the skydiving occurs elsewhere. Mathison estimated that his fuel truck would be located at Boonville International two to six of the good weather months.
PER MATHISON'S REQUEST, Chief Wilson suggested a series of conditions the skydiver would be expected to observe. After some discussion — jet fuel is not without peril — the CSD board requested that Mathison make a formal written application for permission to conduct the refueling operation that addresses safety precautions and includes a surety bond and proof of insurance.
MATHISON approached the Boonville airport after having been turned down for refueling operations at both Cloverdale and Healdsburg airports. Locals do not know why those airports turned Mathison down. There was some speculation that it may have involved possible competition with the refueling ops already in place at those airports.
CHIEF WILSON told the CSD board that the new fire station on the Holmes Ranch is on schedule and is expected to be completed in a matter of weeks. Mendocino Redwood Company is providing a forklift and operator to unload the metal building from the delivery truck at no charge. Local contractor Ramon Avila and his crew have volunteered their time to erect the heavy steel portions of the building, and Navarro based backhoe operator Steve Mize has donated more than $4000 worth of backhoe work to prepare the site.
ANDERSON VALLEY'S volunteer department participated in six strike team assignments during the 2012 fire season, Chief Wilson reported, dispatching an engine and a crew to four out-of-county fires in northern California in September and October. And a water tender was sent to the Cow Mountain fire east of Ukiah and three engine crews fought the recent Flynn Fire in Comptche. CalFire reimbursements are expected to reach $67,000, about $20k or so of which will go to the Anderson Valley Fire Department, the rest to the firefighters themselves. About $8,000 has been spent on repairs and replacement tires for the busiest engine.
PLEASED that two new recruits from Yorkville have entered training, the Chief said one of the High Rollers is a paramedic, the other from the Fish Rock Road area. There's also a new recruit from Boonville, a "prospect" from Philo, another "prospect" from Holmes Ranch and five recruits from Rancho Navarro, for a total of nine prospects or active recruits. "We are still recruiting and hope to get a few more prior to the beginning of the annual County Fire Academy which begins in January," added Wilson, noting that some attrition during training is to be expected, but even with the loss of some recruits the net gain in volunteers enhances in the Fire Department's ability to cover the Anderson Valley.
THE DISTRICT'S recreation committee considered a "college trip" organized by Teen Center Coordinator Cesar Maldonado who has since resigned as Teen Center Coordinator. The Board voted to approve the trip provided a responsible person oversaw the prospective scholars as they toured centers of higher learning. Directors Hanelt and Wilder were prudently opposed on grounds that the request was submitted too late and there were too many unresolved concerns about who would be in charge.
TRISH BEVERLEY dropped off a copy of a formal complaint she's registered with the Boonville school authorities. Trish is concerned that the outdoor classroom west of the lower field at the Elementary School is dangerously situated, resting, as it does, below the eroded banks of Anderson Creek and the combined Rancheria. The concern is that in a big rain year the banks could come tumbling down on an outdoor class.
THE AV Lending Library is up and running again after a summer hiatus for the fair. In recognition that it will take time for the community to get back into the routine, no overdue fees will be charged on books due in October. This grace period will end Saturday, November 3rd. There is also a large collection of sale books, including those donated from the estate of Bruce Longstreet. Drop by the library on Tuesdays, 1:30-4:30 and Saturdays, 2-4pm and get a pile of books for rainy day reading.
SHERI HANSEN WRITES: "The AV Historical Society is hosting a Holiday Open House/Christmas Memory celebration on December 9, 1-5p. We are seeking members of the valley that have special Christmas items or memories they would like to share. Some of the memories that will be shared include a Christmas Eve war memory, a depression era gift and memory, an early Anderson Valley settler nativity scene, an antique toy display, a rocking horse. We want to add your special memory/item to this sharing of Christmas Memories. Call Sheri Hansen and arrange to share your 'special' memory. 272-7248 Sheri Hansen."
THE COUNTY'S REPUBLICANS have opened an Election Headquarters in Fort Bragg at 247 N. Main Street, #1. The Headquarters will be open 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Monday — Saturday through Tuesday, November 6th. In addition to election information materials, the movie "2016 Obama’s America” will be shown each day at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM at no charge. For further information contact Stan Anderson, 707-321-2592.
THE AV LION'S CLUB will not be holding its annual Halloween Parade at the high school this year and thanks "everyone who has participated in these in this event over the years and wish you all a happy and safe Halloween."
MANY LOCALS were mesmerized by last Wednesday night’s spectacular meteor and ensuing shower as it cut a fiery streak across NorCal's evening sky at about a quarter to 8. The meteor was accompanied by a sonic-type boom as its plummeting mass trailed by sparks violently penetrated the earth's atmosphere. People who only heard the boom thought it heralded an earthquake. The meteor, in the words of a Boonville witness, "looked like an airborne Buick" before it exploded into a streaking reddish smear on the early dark sky as bits of it fell to earth in the hills running north from the East Bay to Napa and Sonoma counties.
INDIAN MARATHONS were held in 1927 and 1928 to promote the newly completed Redwood Highway, which began in San Francisco, continued north through Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino and on to Grants Pass, Oregon. The Native American distance runners ran and walked 462 miles for a top prize of $10,000. These widely distributed photos are among many collected by NorCal newspapers and, lately, contained in book form.
THE MUCH DISCUSSED RELEASE of the Boy Scouts perv files sent locals running to the on-line Scout archive in search Mendocino County references. There was (of course) a Ukiah guy who has since disappeared and an even more intriguing account of an AWOL soldier named William Charles Garaux who put down in the Anderson Valley in 1969.
IN MAY OF 1969, Garaux, under the alias of William Francis Elton, was apparently staying with a certain Van Jones of Philo. Garaux also functioned as an assistant scoutmaster for Anderson Valley's Boy Scout Troop 51, an odd bit of community volunteerism for a guy on the run from the Army.
BUT GARAUX was not sexually interested in boys. It was the underage girls that got him memorialized in the Scout's perv archive where he's commemorated as a sort of adjunct perv, but not for anything he did under the auspices of the Scouts.
ONE DAY in May of 1969, Garaux picked up three underage girls from the campus of Anderson Valley High School, drove them to the Jones residence in Philo where he probably attempted, as they said in more chaste times, "to have his way with them." Well, there was certainly the suspicion of that and, according to the Press Democrat of the day, drugs were also subsequently found at the Jones home, reinforcing the overall impression of Serious Sin in the Anderson Valley where, in 1969, the Manson Family had only just introduced Valley youth to marijuana.
GARAUX, described as 5'5" and 165 pounds, blonde hair, was soon under investigation for corrupting eminently corruptible Boonville maidens. He fled, and has never again appeared in Anderson Valley. That we know of. In Mendocino County it's entirely possible he simply re-branded himself and went to work as a Public Defender.
WE REMAIN curious about the guy, and curious about the three wild girls, listed as a 13-year-old and two 14-year-olds. The would-be floozies would be 50 now, matrons, perhaps members of the Unity Club, gearing up to vote for Romney and, as the Republicans like to say, "old fashioned values." And who was Van Jones? How did Garaux come to be a resident of the Jones home?
WHENEVER Anderson Valley's colorful past is the subject of inquiry the first thing that becomes clear is how transient a place it has been, seemingly more transient than most places in our transient country. The sociology of the place has fully changed three times since I arrived in 1970.
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