BIG LOSS FOR AV: JOHN TOOHEY LEAVES FOR LAKE COUNTY
We are so sad that John Toohey has moved to Lake County. It was a hard decision for him, but he told me he wants to work where he will be able to afford a home. (He has been commuting to school for some time now.) And also he has been wanting to get back to teaching History for work/life balance. (The Athletic Director position is all consuming, of course.) He said that he will continue to stay in contact and support the new PE teacher / Athletic Director, Joel Cassias, via phone as well as meeting up occasionally. He said that the school will always be in his heart and he will never truly leave. He plans to attend some games, events, etc… Needless to say, it is a huge loss.
With respect,
Kristin Larson Balliet, Superintendent
Anderson Valley Unified School District
FRED GARDNER:
Gopher Snake: I saw this one, which looked as if it had crawled through the snap-off top of a beer can. Next day I saw the one EK photographed, which looked like it was digesting a meal. Made me wish I had snagged “mine” and snipped off his collar.
D.J. KEN STEELY:
Originally: Highway 101, a.k.a. the Redwood Highway.
Now: Mountain House Road.
TWO years ago, at age 84, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The cure was simple; removal of my thyroid, taking with it my voice and senses of taste and smell, leaving me with a hole in my throat. Since, I’ve become not quite infantilized but wholly dependent on my family, especially my martyred wife of sixty years who, perforce, also now functions as my in-house nurse.
MY DAUGHTER is scheduler for innumerable trips to the City for innumerable tests and doctor’s visits. Because I can’t speak, dutiful daughter speaks for me with the doctors, a translator for my mute bulk. And my son serves as on-call driver.
I KNOW people somehow manage all this alone, but in my case I know I’d have been dead in a week without it.
THEN, as I adjusted to being voiceless but pretty much able to function normally, the medical machinery discovered prostate cancer, the treatment for which has been depleting, a total drain on my energy, which an enemy once described as “fiendish.” (I was flattered.)
I WOULDN’T wish thyroid and prostate cancers on my worst enemy, but only because they aren’t painful enough. There’s no pain of the cracked rib type. It’s like being half asleep every waking moment and being constantly short of breath. And there’s loss of appetite, and leaden legs and frequent dizziness. It’s a slog to walk a daily mile and a double slog to get through my daily push-ups.
THE CURE seems worse than the affliction. It commenced the second week in July with catheterization and a regimen of daily and powerfully debilitating chemo-pills, supplemented with periodic shots from a lovely young Chinese nurse whose terrible task it is to plunge a long needle of a magic curative into my aged, appalling buttock.
ANY modesty I may have had, and I had it all, is long gone. “Drop your pants, Mr. Anderson. Yes, Mr. Anderson, this goes into your penis. Yes, Mr. Anderson, remove all your clothing.”
THE PILLS and the shots end mid-September, whereupon a straight month of radiation commences, five days a week, four consecutive weeks.
AND I’m cured mid-October.
OR croak a week later from old age.
SOPHIE BATES (PENNYROYAL FARM):
It’s too late to plant your giant pumpkin to enter the #mendocinocountyfair, but there are lots of categories to enter and show off your fruits and vegetables, hand work, preserves, fine arts, photography. Entries can be made online or on paper. Check out https://mendocountyfair.com/exhibitors-guide-book-2025/
Or head over to the fair office for an exhibitors book! And if watching the #sheepdogtrials are more your thing, come watch the eliminations on August 16th and find out which of the top 8 of 20+ handlers and their dogs will go on to compete on Sunday September 14th at the fair! Jay’s cooking up his famous ribs in the grove after, join us in supporting the fair and the competitors!
VICKI WILLIAMS:
I will find out what was decomposing in those two pillowcases on Highway 128 at mile marker 1.87 if it’s the last thing I do. If you are someone who’s into police scanners and love to find Police reports and you can find anything from CHP from July 30 around noon I will do your hair and your family’s hair for free for the rest of your life. They promised me when I followed protocol and called CHP up and did not look inside the pillowcases that they would tell me what was inside and they lied through their teeth. I thought it would be easier if I didn’t have the visual and they just told me what was in there even though they said they would they didn’t ! You really don’t want to file reports and complaints against police officers because when you do, your number comes up as someone who’s gone against them, and you won’t get the help you need, especially if you’ve ever been stalked by a cop you will know that the last thing you wanna do is mess with them. I have been stalked by an officer in Fort Bragg, California that is no longer there. This was during a time that I was also being stalked by Rex Hastings. 2017-2018
I decided to become a volunteer for Caltrans and none of my supervisors are emailing me back. I can guarantee you I will be on the phone Monday morning and I will tell them that I do not feel supported and that I have been treated like a criminal. Instead of telling me what was in the pillowcases or trying to connect me back to that officer who lied to me CHP just told me it sounds like I can’t handle being out there because I don’t feel safe. I learned situational awareness like you would not believe when I did the training at project sanctuary. For me to ignore what I learned during a two-year course would be me being stupid and assuming that I’m always safe, I’m not safe. You’re not safe without situational awareness and without knowing what was in those pillowcases, I have no situational awareness because I’m lacking the information I need ! I would’ve looked myself and just dealt with the visual if I would’ve known that it was gonna take me a bunch of l$&)@” to get to the truth. It is a common practice for people that are local to leave their animals out on the side of the road on 128 in plastic bags because they don’t know what to do with an animal when it dies.
Believe me I had about 15 different officers that I spoke with over this situation tell me it’s probably “just an animal” I happen to see a bunch of sheriffs on their motorbikes in Elk and I asked them if I had the legal right to know what was in those pillowcases and they said it should be public record …(I hope somebody can find a record of that police officer going out there because if he didn’t write a report ….$&@)(/-!!!!!!!) Something that has a soul that bleeds got put in a pillowcase by a human being. The person who put that soul in the pillowcase has more rights in California than I ever will as someone who reported it…. Be safe out there and know one thing I will never rest until I get to the bottom of this. I solved my own assault case and it took me five years to figure out that Rex Hastings assaulted me, the cops in Fort Bragg told me that a car ran over me.
I have been through a lot in my life. I am not afraid of death. In fact, I really look forward to death. It’s all I can do to stay here.
I’m gonna though, because without me, you’d never know the truth! If you’d like to keep your head in the sand, I would push the Unfollow button and go ahead and block me immediately! If you’re just here because you want me to fail, it’s not gonna happen. My name means VICTORY!
PS. Please learn to bury your pets when they die. It’s part of the process. I really wish I didn’t have to share stuff like this, but it’s better that you know.
AVA: SINCE YOU APPRECIATE A GOOD BOOK COVER…
Here is my favorite, from 1886, “In the Heart of the Sierras” by James M. Hutchings. Interestingly, this was the cheaper version of the book; the expensive version was leather bound.
(Marshall Newman)
A 41-YEAR-OLD PHILO MAN facing seven felony sex charges involving a teenage girl appeared in Fort Bragg’s Ten Mile Court on Monday. The case was filed March 27. The filing alleges Ryan Clayton Davis either performed sex acts or tried to contact the girl for sex acts beginning May 1, 2023, and ending Oct 28, 2024. There is no allegation of force or threats in the filing.
Davis hired private attorney Robert Boyd, who appeared with him in court on Monday to ask for and get a continuance in the case.
The prosecution alleges that the victim was “particularly vulnerable” as defined by several state laws. This is listed as a possible factor in aggravation, which can figure into sentencing should the case be decided unfavorably for Davis.
Another possible aggravating factor alleged was that Davis allegedly took advantage of a “position of trust.” Protective orders were filed to keep the suspect away from the victim and a 43-year-old local woman. On April 15, he signed an agreement with the court to be released on his own recognizance (OR, a promise to appear in court).
That OR agreement specified he would be charged with a felony if he didn’t meet the terms of the release agreement. Davis appeared wearing a suit, sitting through four hours of court before Boyd was able to win him a continuance on the setting of a preliminary hearing. A preliminary hearing is when the prosecution tries to prove to a judge that there are enough facts to substantiate the charges against him and order him to face trial, or a negotiated settlement. When asked, Boyd said he had a policy of not commenting on ongoing court cases.
— Frank Hartzell (MendocinoCoastNews)
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