AV HEALTH CENTER: The county is no longer providing COVID testing on Mondays at the fairgrounds. This doesn't mean people shouldn't be testing for COVID, we still have active cases in our community. Please contact the clinic for Tues/Thurs morning testing by appointment. You can also test at the Ukiah fairgrounds all days but Friday. Also please order rapid tests from the federal govt for FREE, it’s good to have them on hand in case of exposure, outbreaks, illness, travel etc. https://www.covid.gov/tests
Please call us for 2nd COVID booster info if you are over 50 years old. Thanks!
LAST WEEK, the CHP reported a minor, two-vehicle collision on 128 near “Booneville” It involved a grey Toyota truck and a blue Mercedes sedan. The incident was later listed as a minor injury accident.
THESE TWO comments instantly appeared on-line:
(1) It’s Boonville, no e after n; they’re sensitive to that common error, boont and all.
2) Use your Bucky Walter while enjoying a Horn of Zeese and some Bahl Gorms.
HELLUVA NOTE when a hardworking local guy can’t find a rental in the place he was born and raised. Ernie Pardini writes: " I just wanted to put this out here again. The house that I'm renting has been tentatively sold so I am looking for a rental in the Boonville area, or at least in Anderson Valley. My current landlord will give me an excellent reference. I'm always on time with my rent, take excellent care of the house and yard and never bother the landlord with problems that arise, but make any repairs that are needed from time to time myself. Will leave your house better than I found it."
BILL KIMBERLIN: These are some classic old buildings on the Mendocino Coast about 40 minutes from my place in Anderson Valley. I go over to the Coast a lot when the weather is nice. These buildings are what are sometimes referred to as, ‘vernacular architecture’, meaning a style based on local traditions. Sea Ranch, the famously designed community of mostly weekend houses on the Coast was done in a style that mimicked the local building style. My Boonville house is in the Sea Ranch style. When a lady friend visited recently she said, "It looks like a barn." Exactly.
MIKE McPHEE REMEMBERS:
I miss our foggy cool mornings.... When I was working in Windsor and leaving ay 4;30am I used to love having fog in the Valley, because that meant the top of the hill on 128 towards Cloverdale would be clear.... it got pretty gnarly up there a few times with fog so thick in order to see I was standing with the door open and foot on the brake in low gear to see the lines on the road....
AV SOCCER RETURNS APRIL 21
We are excited to start the new After School Program (ASP) Soccer for K - 2nd graders next week! There is still time to Sign-Up!
Dates: April 21 - June 2
Days: Thursdays 4-5pm
Location: Anderson Valley Elementary School (Front Lawn)
Students may ride the ASP bus home at 5pm
This is a Kindergarten-2nd grade soccer program in a supportive environment, focusing on being physically active, teamwork and fundamental soccer skills.
Equipment: comfortable clothing and shoes for running, a water bottle, and a mask if desired. Cleats and shin guards are not necessary.
AVES Students: If your student is not currently signed up for ASP but wants to participate they can be enrolled for Thursday practice ONLY - please call Mimi at Anderson Valley Elementary School (AVES) for a form. If your student is already enrolled, please let Mimi know you want them to practice on Thursdays.
Non-AVES Students: If you want to participate or any questions, contact Nat: (707) 354-3330 (speaks English and Spanish)
ARTISTS of ANDERSON VALLEY brings together local professional artists to increase awareness of the fine arts in this area and to create opportunities to promote their work. Two decades ago, the Anderson Valley Art Guild, artists in Boonville, Philo, Navarro, and Yorkville organized an annual, open studio tour to showcase the quality and diversity of the artists living here. We proudly continue that signature twenty year tradition, along with special group exhibitions, and community networking.
Current Members
- Bill Allen
- Deanna Apfel
- Nadia Berrigan
- Saoirse Byrne
- Martha Crawford
- Rebecca Goldie
- Toby Hill
- Jimmy Humble
- Doug Johnson
- Rebecca Johnson
- Xenia King
- Yoriko Kishimoto
MALCOLM MACDONALD: Ever consider trading your crying baby for a set of car tires? Probably not, but one Fort Bragg couple did back in the 1920s. How it transpired and what happened to the so-called “Tire Baby” is one of 22 tales recounted in my new book, Mendocino History Exposed.
Mendocino History Exposed is now available at two bookstores in Fort Bragg: The Bookstore at 137 E. Laurel St. 707-964-6559 and Windsong at 324 N. Main St. 707-964-2050.
Of course, you can always try Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino. 707-937-2665. Try out their easy to maneuver website: gallerybookshop.com.
Ever let your horse shoot a weapon? Well, amid the description of the Frost-Coates feud in chapter eight of Mendocino History Exposed, you will find the true events of the shooting horse which I fictionalized to some degree in the novel Outlaw Ford.
HOW MANY APRILS has this incompetent gardener brought his geraniums out of his greenhouse and into the weather too early? Too many, as a frigid high wind blew out of the north all day two Mondays ago, the next morning leaving a light coat of frost on everything new, budding, green, and exposed. Slipping back into my thermals and winter jacket, I hauled my ancient bones out at dusk Monday to cover the geraniums — I stick to plants I can't kill — but even the humble geranium needs basic protection. 90 one day, couple days later frost fans roaring, as April lives up to its reputation as “the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.”
A READER WRITES: “Life sure does creep along in circles....and I am referring here to the fate of the Palace Hotel. When I arrived in Ukiah in the early 70s, the Palace was a semi seedy-looking transient hotel, with long term residents. One of the hotel’s residents had been sent to the area by his spiritual teacher in the bay area to scout a new location for their temple. What he found, eventually, is now the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talmage.
The Black Bart Room, entrance on Smith Street, was open back then, a watering hole for Ukiah’s masters of the universe. In the mid to late 70s, restauranteur Pat Kuleto headed a building and restaurant refurbishment, and the talented Kathy Shearn painted murals and artsy ceiling decorations around the ground floor. At the same time, the hotel was also upgraded and the place was new/classy.
There was the Back Door restaurant, a small lunch joint and nightclub, entrance on School Street. Ann Kilkenny after she bought Mendocino Book Company located on the ground floor of the building. The larger bar, entrance on State Street, was a favorite amongst Ukiah’s lawyers, with people scurrying through the maze of the ground floor to the bathrooms for a toot or three.
Then the place closed, opened again, briefly, then closed and remained closed till, perhaps now, with new owners. And the cycle re-starts.”
ED NOTE: Our information is that Mr. and Mrs. Ishwar of Ukiah have title to the Palace but are in a 9-month escrow with an unnamed buyer who may do good things with the ancient structure. It will cost that person a cool mil to buy the property from the Ishwars, lots more to get it even partially up and running.
LAUREN SINNOT’S Ukiah Mural Grand Opening is on! You are all invited to celebrate this four-year project that tells many local stories and contains over 200 portraits. Most are humans, but also 3 wolves, 5 dogs, 2 cats, a bull and a duck.
The more of these portrait people and animals who can come to the party, the better our photo op will be! Please invite friends and family and share the flyer.
It is a somber time in the world, but here at home let's come together to celebrate community, and its depiction in public art. Mutual respect and cohesion in a community helps that region, nation and the planet.
THE SLOBBIFICATION OF EVERYWHERE: The numbers are in for trash removed from the Russian River in 2021 from Cloverdale north to Lake Mendocino: 39 tons. Russian Riverkeeper Casey Carr reports, 24 tons of it the hard work of
South Ukiah Rotary reinforced by various other organizations. Note: this doesn’t count the several tons former supervisor John McCowen removed by himself.
Rough estimate: 65% illegal dumping. 35% Homeless trash
McCOWEN NOTES: “All of the garbage that was removed by South Ukiah Rotary and myself from the riparian corridor of the Russian River was homeless trash. Most of the trash was immediately adjacent to the river, in some cases piled three feet deep and in some cases dumped in the river. Homeless encampments are very damaging for the environment. That should be obvious. They are also damaging to community quality of life, which should also be obvious. What is less obvious to the casual observer is that encampments are also very damaging to the people who live in them. If we're serious about helping people graduate from homelessness, we will follow the Marbut Report recommendations on improved service delivery coupled with enforcement. Marbut makes a compelling case that providing services only or enforcement only will fail. The most important recommendation for enforcement is to have a zero tolerance approach to encampments. This doesn't mean you will have no encampments and it certainly doesn't mean you won't have campers. But it should mean that known encampments are not allowed to fester and grow, but that the people living in them are engaged, services provided where possible and the trash cleaned up. Allowing known encampments to remain in place enables homelessness and defeats the efforts of those attempting to provide services. And is very damaging to the environment, the community and the campers themselves.”
DRIVING out the Valley or down the coast from Carmel we saw lupine and cali poppies everywhere. I've watched a small group of lupine on 253 for years. This year there are at least five different groupings which makes my heart sing. (Mary Pat Palmer)
HEALDSBURG TRIBUNE CLOSING DOWN. Mike Geniella writes: This is the worst possible news. Communities everywhere are suffering from the dearth of credible coverage of events and issues that are meaningful to their lives. There are some online news services that are reliable but they are struggling to finance their efforts. I am retired but trying in any way I can to help support them. Please help too. This is serious stuff about the fate of our communities.
LOCAL LADIES ENJOY SPRING TIME IN PARIS
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