A MODERATE/MILD 3.2 magnitude earthquake centered about 3 miles northeast of Boonville jiggled the Boonville area for a couple of seconds about 4:45pm last Sunday, not Super Sunday.
LARGE OFFICE SPACE NOW AVAILABLE FOR RENT IN BOONVILLE : 14150(A) Hwy 128, located next to Boonville Post Office. Entry and restroom handicapped accessible; free water/sewer. Credit report plus $500 security deposit required. $875.00 per month. To view space contact Jeff Burroughs @707-234-1095 or joanburroughs0@gmail.com for further information.
TED WILLIAMS: ‘Which side are you on?’ During a Jan. 30 online forum hosted by the news site MendoFever and local radio stations, Mendocino Supervisor Williams made a point of tying Hicks to the political establishment. When Hicks said that California utility companies were too powerful and were overcharging ratepayers, Williams brought up the donations to the party from Sempra.
“Which side are you on?” Williams said. Williams is among those who believe Hicks has overstepped by fundraising and securing endorsements for his campaign while still sitting as chair of the party, he told The Press Democrat. “It’s worse than blurred lines,” he said. And raising off his statewide network will cut both ways if Hicks gains the statehouse, Williams said. “When those tough decisions come is he representing the people who contributed or the people who live in the district?” he said.
A READER WRITES. If you have a rental, please do background checks on prospective tenants, especially in the coming weeks. It might save you and your neighbors a lot of grief. I mean, it probably always would, but now is a good time not to be lax about it. Some people are so charming when you interview them, it’s easy to skip the background check. Sorry this is so cryptic, but try to imagine why that would be…
SARAH SONGBIRD
My original song Lichen On A Limb was born today. I have often been asked about the origins of songs that I have written, but this one will never be matched in the significance it’s had in my life. It has shaped me. Literally. My body is covered with the evidence. And somehow, most days, I still feel lucky. Lucky that I didn’t die. Lucky that I didn’t lose Jon, either in the car, or in the long, hard road back to picking up the pieces. He has held my hand, and been with me every step of the journey, whether that step was in a wheelchair, a walker, crutches, with a cane, or just side-by-side again, without any extra need for help. We have weathered this storm and have grown so much through the journey. I guess that’s the point. To grow. Even if we grow new skin, or new bones where we’ve been broken before, our stories and the compassion that we can gain from living them, they shape who we are, and who we can become. Some days I’m still not sure which direction I’m supposed to head in, but I know that I needed to share this song. That I needed this story to be told and I need to remember where it came from. I was pulled from the edge of death by strangers. I was held by the arms of my community and friends, and carried through when I couldn’t carry myself. I spent the last three years fighting my way back to standing strong on my own 2 feet. And through it all this song was my soundtrack.
I am so grateful that I took that zoom songwriting class with Abby Gardner @abbiegmusic . I’m so glad that I listened to the voice inner that told me I needed a guide to help me get my creative mojo back. It’s one of those times when a song just flowed through me and fell onto the page, and I barely caught it in time, but I needed help to open myself up to try again. And I’m grateful to @singersarahryan and @alexdegrassiguitar for helping me to capture and share this song. My healing process really slowed down the creation of this album, but they have been patient and supportive and
We Did It! We really did it.
Thank you life.
Thank you friends
Thank you Inner Strength.
JOHNNY SCHMITT:
We finally jumped the hoops!
Been meaning to reach out to you and let you know what we are up to. After almost two years of fighting with the County, the fire chief, the insurance companies, ABC, ADA and the health department, we are officially re-launching Offspring at Farrer as a full service restaurant with beer and wine and a full Italian inspired menu. Someday I will recap for you the ridiculous journey it took to get here, but only after we revel in the joy of the moment. In that spirit, we invite you to experience our latest creation. Roger Scommegna and I have fantasized about this for years, ever since we bought the property and now we are finally realizing the dream. We will be open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday, with lunch also on Saturday. Super excited to share this with the community. Johnny and the crew at the Boonville hotel.
I WALK A LOT, so I go through a lot of shoes. I recently paid $120 for a pair, a record footwear expenditure for me. The kid who sold them to me swore I could get them resoled. I liked ‘em. Liked ‘em a lot. No knee pain even after 6 or 7 miles into a walk. But when I took them to be resoled, the cobbler, last of the local breed, said, “Can’t be done, son. Sorry. These are disposables. You got ripped off.”
FOR YEARS I bought shoes at WalMart which, of course, lasted about a month given the miles I put on them. I haven’t had durably comfortable foot wear since the Marine Corps gave me a pair of boots back in 19 and 57. I loved those things. Had ‘em resoled many times. I could do anything in them except think, which is the way the Corps designed them. But I’ve never since been able to find re-sole-able, dress-shoe-looking footwear that I could afford. I can’t stand those multi-hued, zippety zoo-zah, Nike-like things a lot of serious hikers and walkers wear, and I don’t want some hush puppy knock-off the rest of the old coots seem to prefer for their perambulations. I want a shoe I can wear every day, all day, a shoe I can walk around The City in, depositing it efficiently into the crotch of random assailants or tiresome AVA readers, if need be. Not a boot. A shoe.
THE LATE MICHAEL TOMS, still annoying all the way from the Other Side: “I liken it to piles of puppies. When they are asleep they are all so peaceful and sweet. But have one puppy wake up and start to move around, pushing on another and soon you have a whole bunch of active critters romping and playing and doing their thing. This is what happened in New Dimensions, people are coming up with new ideas, colleagues are speaking up from a new sense of creativity and there is a new environment for it to grow. Yes, things do change and it can be messy, we have more meetings and we listen to each other and that takes more time. But there is more excitement in the air and new ideas are being implemented.”
ANDERSON VALLEY IS NONCHALANT about the inordinate attention paid to it by the outside media because there’s been so much of it, literal reams written about this place over the past 50 years, making it probably the most written-up community its size in the country. And we won’t even mention the number of television segments on The Valley featuring everything from cult murders to grapes, pretty much the same thing, come to think of it. The TV coverage of local events used to begin with Dueling Banjos, the theme music from the grisly movie, Deliverance. The visual media seemed to think ambush by sodomy-intent rednecks was routine north of Cloverdale. But when that hackneyed fantasy about our beautiful valley two hours north of San Francisco ended, wine, dope, and food stories began, and continue to this day.
ANYWAY, there were several stories in the New York Times like this one, “Illicit Weed May Find a Legal Home.” What struck me about the article was this paragraph: “Ukiah and Boonville (the most politically progressive town in Mendocino) and other small, quaint towns in the county look like typical sleepy communities, with a deli here, a cafe there, an animal hospital or two along the road. The vegetarian, ex-hippie crowd is outnumbered by the lumberjacks and plain folk. There are no pot paraphernalia shops in the county, and the only sign that displays any marijuana culture is a sign on Route 128, entering Boonville, that reads ‘Yes on G,’ with a marijuana leaf.”
THOSE WERE THE DAYS. The writer couldn't have known that Philo is home to more progressives than Boonville, seeing as how Philo has lately gone more for vaguely pwog candidates and causes than Boonville has. But the notion that Boonville is a hotbed of forward thinking is, well, errant, to put it as gently as I’m able. Furthermore, most of those “lumberjacks” and “plain folk” you thought you saw around town, well, most of them either smoke the stuff or grow it, not that I’ll argue with you about the deception inherent in the handsome appearances of the fine folk who inhabit this little piece of paradise.
VALERIE HANELT:
After fighting a 130-lb striped marlin for 26 minutes, Hans Hickenlooper of Yorkville successfully landed and released it back into the sea near Cabo. I’m ready to head in, but no, he is still happily fishing.
A READER WRITES: Mushroom walks into a bar, sits down, orders a beer.
Bartender: “Get outta here, we don’t serve your kind!”
Mushroom: “Why not?! I’m a fungi…”
SUPERVISOR TED WILLIAMS
Something is very wrong with how PGE manages the grid in Gualala (all of Mendo really). We are starting day 3 of current outage at our house in Gualala, with power not expected to be restored until this Friday. Last year it went 10 days and this doesn't even count the number of outages we've already had this season prior to this weekend’s strong storm. They just replaced a pole on our property at the intersection of the distribution line/transmission line, replaced the old pole with a brand new, larger steel one, complete with what looks like a lot of new tech, insulators and the like. Quite a few new poles replaced over the past year on the ridge between PA and Gualala. We have constant tree work, Family Tree here last week in fact - and as usual left another mess which I will have to pay to clean up. PGE doesn't reimburse customers for the money it costs to run our generators during the outages or the clean up after tree work. Generator gets expensive with a larger unit that powers a house. Specific to our area, with all the work being constantly done, you would think our grid would be more reliable. The stretch from Stewarts Point all the way to Point Arena specifically appears super fragile. In 2024 one would expect better from a large utility company and we get something that resembles a third world endeavor.
HEY, WE'RE THIRTY AUT SICKS, a punk band from Boonville, California!
We are interested in playing the Redwood Punkfest this year. here is a link to our songs that we believe represents our sound rather well: I hope we can make the cut!
CHARLOTTE BEAUMONT (Laytonville): The recent rain/wind storm it was another reminder we have no early warning system here that is not wifi dependent. On the Sheriff FB page absolutely nothing. about the storm, or current conditions. If not for Danilla Sands at Mendocino Action News no updates would be easily accessible. Remember last year’s snow emergency? Office of OES were unresponsive. We need an emergency warning system NOT Ukiah and wifi dependent. Paradise put in a system with wifi, satellite and manual activation. Lahaina Hawaii now uses local sirens. Redwood Valley installing early warning local system. We have nothing not wifi / Ukiah dependent in this area with poor wifi signals. During the snow emergency last year, traffic on the highway was not stopped and out of towners continued to funnel in, all the way to the stopped in the snow traffic on rattlesnake summit. There is an electronic remotely activated sign north of Willits, not used to warn people to not continue up here. That should be activated for these situations. Our limited services for locals much less many dozens of travelers endangers both.
IF SOMEONE had said to me at the time, “Mr. Anderson, by the year 2000 you will see a great big picture of a marijuana leaf a-settin’ right there in the northwest corner of Eva Johnson’s pasture,” I’d a said, “Son, you been smokin’ way too much yerself.” But there it was and, frankly, I still haven’t quite assimilated the sight of it.
A READER sent along a column from the Sacramento Bee called, “And top 10 reasons to like California are…” Reason number 8 is “The Anderson Valley. Hands-down the most beautiful and tranquil spot on Earth.” Beautiful? Yes. Tranquil? No. Tranquilized? Pretty much. Doomed? Three-quarters of the way there.
IN A SORT of cosmic way, though, this year's Super Bowl, even more than previous years, perfectly reflects where we're at, which seems to be where the accumulating catastrophes will explode in the November election of those dual titans of destruction, Biden and Trump.
TODAY, however, I'm taking in the big show whole and live, from the dueling anthems to the arms industry fly over, scolding myself for denigrating an occasion that brings so much happiness to millions of struggling, anxious citizens.
A GUY on the tv news said he'd maxxed out his credit cards to buy a ticket but still only had five thou when he needed at least nine thou to get in. “This is my last shot,” he said, as he was cut off by the verbal bubble machine doing the man-in-the-Vegas-street interviews.
THE YOUNG GUYS playing Sunday's game seem much more vivid and individualized than most professional jocks. You get a sense of who they are from the numerous stories about them and even more from their often lively live interviews. They're fun.
THERE'S A WONDERFUL short story by Dave Eggers called “The Comebacker” about a baseball player who astounds the sports world by speaking eruditely on a variety of unexpected subjects unrelated to baseball in post-game interviews. Eggers' story includes a riff on the team minder who monitors ballplayers to stick to the tried and true script. “I'm just happy to be here, and whatever I can do to help the team I'm here to do.” But the Comebacker — baseball for a ball hit straight back to the pitcher — breaks the mold, and becomes a sports sensation.
NOT THAT ANY of the Niners are likely to suddenly depart from football to denounce the IDF's on-going assaults on Gaza's civilian population, but within the confines of sports world the Niner players often say interesting, unexpected things. Nick Bosa said about Kansas City's offensive linemen, “They hold a lot.” And Christian McCaffrey said the fire alarm in the Niner hotel “went off on purpose” at 6am. George Kittle says all kinds of joyously funny things, and Brandon Aiyuk explained his miraculous bounce-off catch against the lions as the good luck brought to him “when a ladybug landed on my shoe.”
I'M WRITING three hours before kick-off. As a fan since the early Niner days at Kezar Stadium in SF, I always want the Niners to win, but I'd never dare bet against the great Patrick Mahomes, KC's magic man quarterback. …
WELL, call me the prophet. Mahomes pulled off another miracle. Great game, though, interesting throughout. 10-3 at the half. Interesting psycho-breaks on the Chief’s bench as Whatsherface's boyfriend flipped out on his coach, the unhealthy looking Andy Reid, a famous glutton, and it seemed like the whole team was screaming at their running back.
ENERGETIC half-time show with a lot of people running around shouting “Baby, baby, baby.” Nice for us old people that there’s only one lyric these days. Only three or four shots of Whatsherface. Moody kicked a 55-yarder as I knew he would. Purdy played well, Shanahan's game plan consisted mostly of McCaffrey. Jauan Jennings was the game MVP, I thought. Mahomes got a lot of pressure from the Niner D all of whom played well. Ads were especially moronic even by ad standards these days, and got seriously in the way of the game, forcing the players to stand around a lot, sweat drying, game rhythms wrecked.
FINAL SCORE, Chiefs: 25, Niners: 22.
FRED GARDNER WRITES: Loss of Greenlaw had me worried as soon as it happened. First pro football game I saw was from the upper deck at Ebbets Field.. The 49ers destroyed the Brooklyn Dodgers. I remember my dad saying that a left-handed quarterback (Frankie Albert) was very unusual. In the opening game his alma mater Erasmus lost to Manual Trades by 60-0 (approximately). Saw another game that year, Brooklyn vs. the Cleveland Browns with Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli and a great fullback named Martian Motley. I will never forget Motley carrying three men into the end zone. Also, Lou Groza’s field goals all landed in exactly the same part of the upper deck. He played tackle, too. His brother or cousin Alex played basketball at Kentucky and was caught up in a point-shaving scandal. Sid Luckman’s cousin lived a few doors down from grandma’s house on Georgia Avenue in Brownsville. He was the only kid whose parents didn’t forbid him from climbing on the roof when a Spaldeen had to be retrieved.
MARK SCARAMELLA: As soon as they lined up for that first point-after I could tell they spotted the ball too close to the line and I said to the tv (as I pointless do at time): “They’re too close, that kick could be blocked!” Sure enough, it was a low kick and a Tall Chief got his hand up and the Niners had a three point lead instead of four point lead. That extra point didn’t matter in the final score, but it could have changed the play calling in overtime.
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