NO CONFIRMATION YET, but we are informed that Rod Basehore has died. The popular resident of the Holmes Ranch was best known for his community theater productions at the Philo Grange. He had been ill for some time.
IN HAPPIER NEWS, Linda Brennan, hauled over the hill last week when she became short of breath, has been diagnosed with several ailments, none of them life threatening.
ANDERSON VALLEY'S undefeated Panthers racked up another lopsided victory last Friday night when they trounced the Laytonville Warriors at Laytonville. (See Ken Hurst’s report elsewhere in these pages.) As the Panthers were romping Laytonville, Mendocino was mauling a somewhat depleted Point Arena squad, thus setting up a rematch between Mendocino and coach Dan Kuny's Boonville pigskin juggernaut this Saturday night (November 8th) at the Boonville Fairgrounds. Kickoff at 6pm. It will be a great game to watch. Guaranteed.
WITH THE ANNUAL REDWOOD CLASSIC just ahead, one has to wonder why the long-stalled resurfacing of the Boonville gym is still on hold while a truly lunatic (and expensive and slightly ominous) cattle chute has been installed in the Elementary School parking lot.
SORRY TO HEAR that retired deputy Keith Squires is presently confined to a wheelchair, a result of recurring and severe back problems. The deputy now makes his home in Windsor.
MARSHALL NEWMAN WRITES: "I’ve been noticing some bizarre stuff in AV weather. The National Weather Service records either little (0.01 on 11/2) or no rain at its measuring station lately, and yet USGS shows impressive gains in lower Navarro River flow (up by about 60% since October 30. Clearly rain is falling in significant amounts somewhere in the valley, just not on the recording station.”
TO CARRY OUT a thorough taste test, we bought a six-pack of the Anderson Valley Brewing Company's first beer to be sold in cans. It's called “Blood Orange Gose, Highway 128 Session Series.” Frankly, we don't know what to think. We like it, but blindfolded, we would have guessed it was some kinda new soft drink. “Copious additions of blood orange during fermentation impart tangy citrus notes and a slight sweetness to compliment the salinity and tartness typically found in a Gose style ale.” That gets it, alright, but myself I'm sticking to Boont Amber.
THE WEEK THAT WAS for the fraught Anderson Valley Health Center began, “The [AV Health Center Board] meeting [on Tuesday evening] is an open meeting if it happens. However there is discussion about postponing the meeting until we can report on the actions we are taking in more detail than we could do at tomorrow night’s meeting. We are working as diligently and responsibly and quickly as we can to resolve the staffing issues but we have a huge responsibility here and want to make sure that every action we take is the best. There should be a press release coming to you today about progress to date.” —Kathy Cox, Board member
THEN Health Center Board Chair Ric Bonner chipped in with, “The Board of Directors of the Anderson Valley Health Center wants the community to know that we are in the process of completing a review of the recent series of staff changes at the Health Center. We have conducted initial interviews with every person on the staff, including those who have recently resigned or been terminated, and we have held a number of discussions with Dr. Mark Apfel. Dr. Apfel has been appointed as Interim Chief Medical Officer. We are exploring options open to us, for both short and long term staffing solutions with a goal of restoring stability and the community's faith in the Health Center's ability to deliver high quality, affordable care to our patients. We are continuing to gather sufficient information on which to base decisions. We are committed to ensuring that the Health Center fosters a healthy work environment and continues to be a valued asset to the community."
WE SOON LEARNED from Gene Herr: "Shannon Spiller is no longer employed by the AVHC, David Gorchoff has resigned as medical officer. Mark Apfel is interim Medical Officer. Directors have interviewed every present employee, and most past employees in the past week in an attempt to get an accurate view of personnel management problems and staff concerns at the clinic. They are recruiting for a chief executive officer, a procedure which will require collaboration between directors, staff (all kinds), and community; ultimately a change in management will require a report to, and approval of candidate by HRSA (aka the feds). Work to recruit will start immediately. If you have ideas, skills, and want to help recruit talk to Kathy Cox or Ric Bonner. Work on reinstatement of former providers can start tomorrow. All have indicated a willingness to return."
AND, "Sandy Parker has resigned from the Board. If you are interested in serving on the Board, contact Ric Bonner or Kathy Cox, stating your interest and any pertinent experience which might be helpful in management of the clinic. They are looking for new directors and to create a file of interested potential directors. They are also looking for community members to serve on the committees of the Board."
NONE OF THE “shared management team” out of Gualala, consisting of Diane Agee, Dave Turner, Lucrezia Renteria, the persons driving much of the recent distress, are no longer associated with the Center. All of their access to accounts, and to the HRSA electronic site for management of grants, and to the HRSA project officer have been terminated. We understand that the above mentioned's creation, Ms. Spiller, was paid $30,000 to leave her position as Center boss.
JUDY WATERMAN of Price Waterman accounting in Ukiah has been retained as an independent contractor to handle the Center's financial management. Maxence Weyrich, a student at Anderson Valley High School, is working on data input for the new web site. It will take a few weeks before the moribund old site is transferred to the new host.
CINDY ARBANOVELLA is back at work, and Dr. Logan McGhan, who must feel like he's stepped into some very weird Third Dimension, is continuing discussions on his agreement to return to work which, with any common sense at all prevailing, should be soon.
DR. McGHAN was fired by Ms. Spiller the day after the Center's schizo board of directors, masters of the disinterested stare-back, a uniquely Boonville response to questions from the floor, threw a meet and greet for the young doctor at the Center!
ED NOTE: The Anderson Valley Health Center's board of directors should now include Gene Herr, Heidi Knott and Fred Martin. They've consistently taken the reform initiative for the benefit of this community, while the sitting board's arrogant incompetence, startling even by Mendo standards, put the very survival of the Center at risk. Public benefit boards shouldn't operate like secret societies, and why is it even necessary to point out the obvious?
AND CAN WE at last get a financial statement out of the Anderson Valley Health Center?
DEPARTMENT OF UNINTENTIONAL HUMOR
Ukiah Daily Journal: Anderson Valley Health Center plans for bright future
HALLOWEEN seems to have passed largely without incident in Mendocino County, although there were the usual low-intensity, self-medicating nuisances out there wandering around. In all of the Anderson Valley there was only one 9-11 call summoning Deputy Walker to eject a 5150 woman who refused to leave the home she hadn't been invited to enter.
THE BOONVILLE WINTER MARKET begins Saturday November 8 in front of the Boonville General Store, 10-12:30. Come on down with your locally grown or made food or crafts, to sell or trade. No registration required. For more info, call Cindy at 895-2949.
THE ANDERSON VALLEY GRANGE is throwing its regular second Sunday Local Organic Pancake and Egg Breakfast on November 9, 8:30-11 at the Grange in Philo at 9800 Hwy 128. Breakfast ranges from $5-10 for kids through hungry folks sizes, with Mendocino Grain Project wheat and local bacon and eggs. Gluten free available.
WRITING IN SUNDAY'S CHRON, Tom Stienstra and weatherman Mike Pechner, discuss the possibility of a return to normal rainfall: "While hiking the Dipsea Trail to Stinson Beach with weather guru Michael Pechner, we noticed how muggy the humid the air felt on the coast. This is a product of warm ocean temperatures, in the mid-60s for two months, combining with an overcast ceiling to create what I call the 'steam-room effect.' About 15 years ago I published a theory that suggested that when water and land temperatures are about the same, the jet stream can deliver storms on a regular basis. The opposite of that is when the water is cold and the land is hot, like last year, which, in theory, creates a wall that diverts storms north. Pechner generally agreed with this theory and, with it, the decent chance that this will be a winter with normal precipitation, if not a wet one.”
GARDENERS, Farmers and Produce Growers of all kinds, please remember Food Bank days (3rd Tuesday of every month) as a place to donate your extra produce. It will be greatly appreciated. Please drop off on the Monday before, behind Boonville Methodist Church. Thanks. If you need someone to glean your produce to take to the Food Bank, contact Valerie Kim at valerie.h.kim@gmail.com. Denisse Mattei is the Food Bank director. You can reach her at 895-3763.
PETIT TETON FARM, on Hwy 128, four miles south of Boonville, grows the fruits and vegetables that go into a large array of farm-made fare canned on the farm: soups, relishes, jams, fresh krauts, pickles, etc. Also available in season are a variety of produce and eggs. Stop by the farm or email farmer@petitteton.com or call 684.4146 to find out if we're open and what's available or just drop in when the OPEN sign is out. Your beloved community newspaper heartily recommends a visit to this inspirational little enterprise, a model of the small-scale local farming taking hold in Mendocino County.
Why do these people always feel the need to hire top end administrators with fancy titles like “Executive Director” or Queen of the Maypole or whatever. Along with these types come the attendant exorbitant salaries and “executive” staff. Nothing but pure unnecessary overhead (or bullshit, depending on your bent).
All that’s needed is a good office manager and maybe one assistant.
If need be, such tasks as payroll for example, could be farmed out to a local accountant.
The money wasted on excess admin bodies, palace like offices, their cars and travel allowances and other unneeded crap can then go into reducing costs to the community users of the health center. What an idea, actually reducing costs to the end user.