Valley People

BILL HARPER brings us the terrible news that Henry Hill died last Wednesday at his Navarro home. The story of Henry's remarkable life appears in next week's paper.

MUSSELS gathered on the Mendocino Coast are again declared unsafe for human consumption, according to the State Department of Health. Some people say you can cook the toxics out, the Public Health people say you're asking for it if you try because some of the toxins found in mussels have no known antidotes.

JESSICA JOHNSON is very pleased that “Tom Towey from the Buckhorn is again stepping up and helping out Anderson Valley Youth Football &Cheer. We will be having a pizza buffet on May 8th from 6:00-8:00pm. Football players and Cheerleaders will be selling tickets around town for the next week. Tickets will be $15 each and that includes all you can eat pizza and soda. For each ticket sold, AVYF&C gets $10! Our goal is to sell 300 tickets, so of you cannot find a player or cheerleader, please call Jessica Johnson at 272-7000.

THERE WERE THREE AB DIVING DEATHS over the weekend, one off MacKerricher north of Fort Bragg identified as that of Henry Choy, 50, of San Bruno. Kenneth Liu, 36, of San Francisco was caught in a rip current while diving off Fisk Mill Cove in Sonoma County, and retired Pacifica firefighter Cedric Collett, 66, brother of former SF 49er Elmer Collett, was found about 15 feet below the surface. Collett was still wearing his weight belt, prompting experienced divers to speculate that Collett may have been carrying too much extra weight in his dive belt which prevented him from surfacing.

AS OCEAN GUY Ken Kelton has said, “The ocean is a dangerous place, but it's also a place you can go and have to yourself, a place that's clean and yes, wild. If you go into the ocean you're making a choice. You need to know you can drown, you can get lost, or you can be eaten by great beasts.”

DAN KUNY is all but back as high school football coach, which is very good news because with the departure of last season's coach, John Toohey, for a job in Ukiah it looked like there might not be football this year at AV Unified. Which would be a shame considering all the work Logger Dan and Friends have done over the years developing skilled players at the Pop Warner level. All those kids who've come to love the game would have no place to play it if the high school program disappeared. A charismatic guy who keeps himself in tip top shape, Kuny, the proverbial role model come to life, generates real enthusiasm kids for correct ways of living in a time kids are surrounded by incorrect ways of living.

DUDE FEST this Saturday at the Fairgrounds, Sunday the annual Boont Classic Foot Race. The BeerFest will draw somewhere between 7 and 8 thousand dudes and dudettes, the Boont Classic maybe a coupla hundred of mostly little dudes and dudettes in the form of elementary-age youngsters, their parents and teachers plus Bruce Hering and Jim Gibbons. A big weekend for Boonville, and a hot one, too, with temps in the low 90's.

THAT TRUCK LOAD of confiscated dope that sailed through town last week as locals assessed its quality from what they could see of it, came from over the hill near Elk where two men were arrested on two successive days of raids on indoor grows. Jimmy Jose Garcia-Rodriguez, 28, bail set at $20,000 and Shannon Abel Bennett, 41, whose bail was $25,000.

WARREN GALLETTI, Point Arena High School principal and basketball coach, has taken a job with the Ukiah School District as Director of Student Services.

RENEE WYANT WRITES: “It's been a great week for Panther Tennis! Anderson Valley clinched the league title last Wednesday winning the match against Mendocino (always great beating Mendo in any sport). Also, AVHS sent several team members to compete in the Coastal Mountain Conference Championship Tournament (CMC) held at Mendocino College on April 26 and 27. Gabby McDonald and Maxence Weyrich braved the singles competition and unfortunately were eliminated early in this very stiff competition. AV's Super Twins, Alondra and Esmeralda Espinoza, advanced in the ranks of women's doubles, moving on to Saturday's semi-final battles but ultimately lost to a Kelseyville team that would go on to win the women's doubles championship. An AV men's doubles Danny Espinoza/Alexis Oseguera (No. 5 seed) started out strong but were knocked out in the quarterfinals.

AV TEAMED UP their usual number one and two singles players Colin VanRee and Drake Mezzanatto (No. 3 seed) to create a dynamic duo in men's doubles. Due to their high seeding, VanRee/Mezzanatto received a bye in the first round. The two breezed through their second round match against a pair from Rincon Valley, winning 8-2 (pro set). Competition heated up a little more in a close match against Cloverdale but the Panthers prevailed winning 6- 4, tie-breaker: 7-6 (7-3), advancing them to Saturday's semi-finals. The Panthers had a serious case of deja vu in the semi-finals on Saturday morning when Colin and Drake found out that they were to face the very same opponents from Kelseyville that had defeated them in the quarterfinals last year. This year would be different. A lot different. This high octane match proved to be nothing short of thrilling! Colin and Drake stunned the cocky Lake County boys by easily winning the first set 6-3. Kelseyville snapped out of their funk and took the second set 4-6. Now dealing with split sets, and very nervous fans, VanRee/Mezzanatto pulled off the win, finishing 6-4 in the third set and advancing them to the championship match. The Panthers would face a truly awesome Rincon Valley team in the championship match and would lose. Final match scores of 2-6, 1-6 which really doesn't reflect the caliber of tennis which was played in the match. AV fought hard, they surrendered several of the games in deuce, they played their best and lost to a really great team. What more can you ask for? Number 2 out of 32 ain't too shabby.

CONGRATULATIONS to AV Tennis for a great season, for winning league and doing such a great job in the CMC's!”

MENDOCINO COUNTY CONTINUES EXPLORATION OF ATTENTION AV AMBULANCE: “Dear Mendocino County EMS Stakeholders and Community Members: Thank you for your participation in the community meetings held last week throughout the County. We were pleased to have nearly 200 participants overall, at six meetings covering the five Supervisorial Districts. Each meeting provided its own insight into community concerns and EMS issues. We heard you when you expressed concern about retaining volunteers, and not to negatively impact successful community-based ambulances or implement a system that could increase costs and downgrade service. We recognize that in order to have strong EMS systems, they must be supported by the communities they serve. We also recognize that not every community has the same needs or expectations, and that any potential solution needs to address the unique needs of individual communities. We hope that those who attended can also understand the perspective of other communities in the County; that some areas do have significant issues that need to be addressed and the County has an obligation to do so. Your input, feedback, suggestions, and concerns are noted by our team and will be incorporated into the study. Many questions regarded certain key areas, so we prepared a response to these “Frequently Asked Questions,” which is posted on our website.

We expect to have a draft report in May, 2013. We do not yet have a specific date set for the Board of Supervisors to determine whether to pursue an EOA or other specific options to sustain EMS. This is still the beginning of the process, and we anticipate many more discussions with stakeholders and more research on the issues. Please watch for more information by visiting the project website at: http://www.co.mendocino.ca.us/administration/EMS.htm Carmel J. Angelo, Chief Executive Officer Richard A. Keller, Partner County of Mendocino Fitch & Associates, LLC

DEAR MR. KELLER. We're happy with out ambulance service as it is, and we certainly don't want some outside corporation picking up our roadkill, er, accident victims. Please be sure to tell the supervisors thanks but no thanks.