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Valley People (March 23, 2022)

JULIA ACKER KROG has been appointed Director of Planning and Building Services. On March 3, 2022, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Carmel Angelo appointed Julia Krog as Director of the Department of Planning and Building Services, effective March 6, 2022. Mrs. Krog was born and raised in Elk and graduated in 2013 from Humboldt State University with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Management and Protection. She began her career with Mendocino County in December 2013 as a Planner I with the Department of Planning and Building Services. Over the last 8 years, she has served in various positions within the Planning Division of the Department and served as the Assistant Director since January 2021.

JOHNNY SCHMITT on AV Schools bond measure: “From the outside I’ve always been impressed as to how well both schools have been kept up… I agree with Jay, let’s focus on education and not worry so much about the physical comforts. As we’ve learned from the pandemic, you can learn in any environment if you open your mind and get creative. Also, getting back to some basics and teaching kids some building/maintenance skills would be a great starting point, let them rebuild their own schools… They will learn a lot more than they would sitting in the classroom, and maybe will be able to build their own houses, since it’s unaffordable for anyone but the rich to do so any other way!

BAD MUSHROOMS, Mr. Blanton's Saturday night. “At 10:49 p.m. dispatch informed local emergency services that a male was lying in the middle of State Route 128 impeding on both lanes near Philo. The reporting party told dispatch the man could be heard yelling and they heard him say he was not going to move from the roadway because he ate some ‘bad mushrooms’.”

WHAT SOUNDED LIKE a routine call to Anderson Valley's emergency services turned out to be a wild encounter with a berserk Fort Bragg man who, before he was finally subdued by a CHP officer and two AV first responders, damaged a first responder's private vehicle and broke out the driver's side window of a Philo-based fire truck driven by Don Gowan. Jesse Blanton’s psychotic break occurred near Handley Cellars.

REMEMBERING SALLY SCHMITT, a reader writes: “This brings back so many memories, and it was so fun to read how Sally's various ventures came to be. As a child, my parents made the trek from the East Bay to the Chutney Kitchen often. When French Laundry opened, we went there when I was about 12 (1982-ish). It was an unforgettable experience, like being a guest in someone’s home. It was a beautiful summer evening and hours of slow dining, with a walk through the garden in between courses. Later, we began visiting the Apple Farm in Philo and my parents built a house nearby. That is a fun place to visit, they sell chutney and other items on an honor system. The property and buildings are so beautiful. Rest in peace, Sally.”

Sally and Don Schmitt

AV SPORTS REPORT:

The baseball and softball teams have already played some preseason games. Softball played against Cloverdale's JV team last Wednesday, but they lost. They also traveled to play Tech last Friday with the baseball team and lost their second game. They are a new team, with a new coach (Amy Burger), and it is going to be exciting to see how they develop. Although they lost their second game against Tech, they did score 11 runs. 

As for baseball, this is coach Bullington's third season (though his first season was cut short to one pre-season loss to Tomales before the pandemic canceled all sports); we had 8 pick-up games last season against tougher teams and went 0-8. For the first three preseason games this year, we also have fallen short, only scoring 6 runs in three games. However, Tuesday night in Calistoga, things turned in our favor. Here is a recap from Coach Bullington: 

"After two years of blood, sweat and tears, the Anderson Valley baseball team finally secured their first victory yesterday against Calistoga by a score of 14-9. The Panthers were led by stellar pitching from Andres Garcia (grade 11) and Travis Wilson (grade 11), along with good offensive scoring contributions from nearly every player in the lineup (most notably juniors Diego Perez and Alejandro Carrillo, who reached base repeatedly and scored multiple times). The baseball boys worked extraordinarily hard for this win. Our next game will be the first league game on Tuesday, March 22 against Point Arena. Hopefully both softball and baseball will come out victorious."

Tennis has their first Match scheduled for March 22 in Mendocino. 

— Arthur Folz

THE ANDERSON VALLEY COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT has hired a new General Manager to replace Joy Andrews; the popular and capable Andrews had announced her plans to move to Oregon last fall. Ms. Andrew’s replacement is Cora Haynes. As the new GM, Ms. Haynes will be paid $23 per hour for 80-90 hours per month, plus a $200 per month health insurance stipend. Ms. Haynes, who lives in Ukiah, told us she has previously worked at Community First Credit Union and before that she was a server at the former “Crush” restaurant in Ukiah. Ms. Haynes has some big shoes to fill. Ms. Andrews has done an excellent job as CSD GM, smoothly steering the CSD through various bureaucratic thickets, including the complicated strike team billing process, ambulance merger, billing and budgeting, and the endless paperwork associated with the years-long water-sewer project, as well as keeping the office open and on task, especially during 2020’s “Public Safety Power Shutoff.” Ms. Andrews’ last CSD meeting will be in May. She will be missed both personally and professionally. (— Mark Scaramella)

AV UNIFED UPDATE Superintendent Simson reports that the schools have been covid-free for the last coupla weeks. 

Ms. Simson thanked “all of the elementary and family members for attending the outdoor assembly” last week, commenting, “It is starting to feel a little bit like normal with special events like that and sports at the Jr./Sr. High. We appreciate the attendance at the LCAP meetings too. A list of priorities from both meetings has been created in a brief survey, so we can determine a little information about rankings from the full community. 

English Survey <https://forms.gle/bNrovB5hjJhD5aFs9>” 

The Wellness Committee Meeting has been meeting regularly at the high school, as has the Measure M committee. “Please join this community committee led by Philip Thomas if you would like to learn more about the plans that Philip and the committee have developed.” 

AMONG THE INNUMERABLE media stories on the Anderson Valley, a sentence from a recent one seems awfully careless: “As the quaint town of Boonville comes into focus three final wineries step up offering you a variety of bubbles worthy of a day trip.” Quaint? In the ye olde-ye olde sense we can only offer, in all of Mendocino County, the “village” of Mendocino. I suppose a writer who drives all the way up here for “bubbles” our dusty, depleted little town could seem quaint.

DOG ETIQUETTE, a Boonville reader writes: “For those of us who enjoy walking our pets around Airport/Meadow/Estates Drive. I walk most every day with my pup and the amount of feces left by other pet owners is insane. Not only is it gross to look at, it spreads disease and can negatively affect animals and humans in the long run. I get that we live in the country but that doesn't mean you get to leave your dog turds in mine or my neighbors yards. Please be respectful and pick it up. If anyone needs poop bags I have plenty. I'm more than happy to give some out. I will add a photo of what my pup and I use for poop collection. Take time to read this article on the negative effects of not cleaning up after your pet. Thank you!”

THE MEAN GIRLS have kicked off another round of their endless campaign to vilify County Superintendent of Schools, Michelle Hutchins, who is running for re-election. The Get-Michelle offensive kicked off in Boonville seven long years ago when Mrs. Hutchins was superintendent of the Boonville schools. The persons libeling her, all women, all employees of the district at the Boonville elementary school, have never ceased their active hostility for Hutchins, now going on a decade. I remember thinking, “Valley people entrust their children to these nuts?”  

THE ELECTION of County Superintendent of Schools is of zero interest to the wider public, and this election for Superintendent in June is in the issue-free tradition. So far it’s just a lot of nasty, surreptitious slurs aimed at the incumbent.

LAST TIME AROUND, the Ukiah schools and their vapid, over-many administrators ran one of their own against Hutchins and the rest of the county, an indistinct male called Brian Ballard. The Ukiah school district had enjoyed sweetheart funding deals with former long-time Superintendent Paul “The Lexicographer” Tichinin, but The Vaps lost to Mrs. Hutchins four years ago and savvy politicos that they are, this time persuaded a female administrator named Nicole Glentzer to run against the female incumbent. “Duh, maybe a gurl could beat another gurl.” 

THE ONLY ISSUE in this issue-fee contest, besides the sordid libels aimed at Mrs. Hutchins, is this one — the Ukiah School District wants first dibs on all that cash money flowing through the County Office of Education from the state and the feds. The incumbent has always made sure that edu-dollars are distributed equally throughout Mendocino County. She should be re-elected. There are zero reasons she shouldn't be.

THE FIRST FROST FANS of the Spring roared into life this morning about 5am as I stood gaping at the full moon to the west before setting out for an hour's walk in the dark, but seldom early enough to beat Jan Wasson-Smith and Alicia Perez as we inevitably pass somewhere between the Elementary School and Bud Johnson's place. (I've mentioned this before, but walking in the dark has its hazards. One morning I brushed past a guy standing in the roadbed so close I jumped to the side and took up a pugil-stick fighting stance with my walking stick. Startled hell right outta me, and I wonder to this day if that guy, who had to have heard me coming, deliberately tried to scare me. Which he did, for sure. Another dark morning I walked straight into the side of a sheep. Dark is really dark without a moon, but walks in the dark on a full moon are transporting, heavenly even.

A SMALL FARM SOUTH OF BOONVILLE

The greenhouse is full of over 750 starts of tomatoes, soon to be followed by an equal or greater number of peppers, then cucumbers, and on and on. Once their roots fill the six pack, they will all need to be “stepped up” before planting out; none will be field planted until after our last frost date in mid-May; and none will start producing until July or later. We must be crazy? Perhaps, but we think we’re also realists: we look directly at the now which morphs into the then. The constant fear of fire, flood, landslide, tornadoes, etc., a country split into thinkers and fantasists or worse, the horror of a world in chaos, and the overarching and ever more immanent collapse of earth’s climate hovers over all of us. We plant because to live requires food (and to live a mentally and physically healthy life requires well raised food), because farming instills in us hope for a future, because it’s the best example we can think of for living in balance, because it is a positive activity in a rather negative world, because it’s a creative act on which to use our money, because it’s physical and hard work with the rewards being food and beauty, because it requires a small community, because we love it! Destruction is easy; creation is always hard. 

We’ve been reading “The Dawn of Everything” in which there is much discussion of agriculture. The authors debunk the prevalent belief that the coming of agriculture was one of the lynch pins in the evolution of society. They must have studied a bit about “farming” since their arguments are in our view, spot on. Why would hunter gatherers give up their easier way of life for the risks of feeding themselves from farming? Weather, bugs, wild animal incursions, physically hard labor, much required pre-planning are only some of the negatives of farming. Wouldn’t any sane person prefer to amble through the woods collecting nuts, berries, and greens, sit by a stream fishing or hunt for a wild pig or rabbit? Population pressure is why farming exists to the extent it does. We are in our 18th year and we’re still fighting all the negatives but we’ve also learned a few things. We let some plants go to seed so they can regenerate themselves which they do anywhere they please. That’s as close to foraging as we can get with farming and still be able to sell the food. Hunters shoot deer and wild pig on the land in season and though we have a freezer full of their meats, we are not allowed to sell it. 

There was a reason small farms (and businesses) were the backbone of our country for generations. They generated small communities of people working together to create a regenerative life. Then corporations took over turning the country to factory farming to provide for the massive population, because “progress” was required to make money for them and their shareholders, and progress is predicated on more folks buying more “stuff”. We buy way more “stuff” than we’d like but most of it is for the farm to improve infrastructure and efficiency. Take care, find joy and don’t buy too much “stuff”, especially no Russian “stuff”! 

— Nikki Auschnitt and Steve Krieg

CALLING ALL MENDO COAST YOUTH! Come tryout for the Junior Lifeguard program on April 9th or May 7th! Junior Lifeguard program is one month long focusing on Aquatic Safety, Teamwork, and Leadership while introducing youth (ages 9-15) to safe marine and aquatic recreational opportunities. The program is designed to provide quality water safety education, develop understanding and respect for the surrounding environment and culture and improve participant’s physical conditioning.

FREE FOOD PHILO, an initiative of Love to Table, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, is distributing meals in town to those in need.

We cook nourishing meals using produce from our farm and others, and would love to offer you a warm lunch on Monday March 21. If you could use a home cooked meal, or have a friend in mind who does, please call or text Arline Bloom (415) 308-3575, who will head up distribution in town.

~ This week’s menu ~

Lentil Bacon Soup, Homemade Bread, Beet Salad, Chocolate Chip Ghee Cookies 

Thank you for letting us be of service.

For more information on Free Food Philo / Love to Table, check out: unconditionalfreedom.org/love-to-table/

If you’d like to volunteer with us to cook or prepare the meals, please reach out, and you can donate to our efforts here as well: unconditionalfreedom.org/donate/

Our meal this week is made possible with donations from New Agrarian Collective, Big Mesa Farmstead, Sonoma County Meat Co., Central Milling, Sierra Nevada Cheese Company, Ancient Organics Ghee, Community Grains.

DARN STORM ANYWAY. Soon as we're not looking the thing disappears. “The storm is underperforming in the North Bay,” meteorologist David King said Saturday afternoon. “It didn’t even materialize in the higher elevations, which is where we expected it.” (Press Democrat)

INTERESTING STORY in Sunday's PD about the Cardinal Newman's girls’ basketball team being declared a “competitive anomaly,” meaning they whomp the competition so bad they're about to be downsized: “If approved, the Cardinals’ league schedule would be reduced from 10 to five games, but they would get the automatic playoff bid from the Oak division.”

THE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS should be in their own Bay Area league, especially in football. Marin Catholic, for instance, competes with public high schools in a Marin County league they have dominated for years, not getting any real competition until the playoffs where, invariably, they play another Catholic powerhouse like Santa Rosa's Cardinal Newman. 

IN THE EAST BAY, there's De La Salle, an even more powerful prep powerhouse than Cardinal Newman and Marin Catholic. These schools claim they don't recruit, which is true, the recruits come to them. Say you're a Philo 8th grader who benches 400 pounds, run a 10 flat hundred meters with ambitions to play football in college and maybe even the NFL. You need pro-level coaching to get there, sooooooooo next thing you know you're in Sister Concepcion's English class at Cardinal Newman learning how to say your Hail Marys.

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