THE FIRST ANNUAL Heroes of Health and Safety Fair, Saturday July 18th at the Boonville Fairgrounds, 10am-3pm. There is no cost to this family-friendly event. Many demonstrations and exhibits throughout the day will include jaws-of-life and CPR, health screenings, rescue vehicles, helicopters, search and rescue dogs, a bike rodeo, bounce house for children and free bike raffle for kids. Sponsored by Mendocino County’s Heroes Of Health And Safety Coalition, representing Anderson Valley and Mendocino County agencies. Join us in Boonville on Saturday July 18th from 10am-3pm. (AV Fire Chief Andres Avila and First 5 Commission representative Menaka Olson.
A REMARKABLE RAINSTORM this past Thursday, it felt like winter came and visited for a day. But this is something we’ve started seeing more of the past few years, these summer rains after a long dry spring. Then, in the middle of this strange weather day, just before noon, we felt a small but sharp earthquake. The sharper the jolt, the closer the quake. USGS tells us the epicenter was near Flynn Creek, about 5 miles deep, and 2.1 on the Richter scale.
IT SEEMS like the weather patterns are shifting more quickly and drastically now. Maybe our Mediterranean climate — wet winter, dry summer — is softening, becoming less severe. If we’re going to start having drier winters, these summer rains could be a good thing. Of course, along with these changes come the advent of summer thunderclouds, we see them stacking up over the interior almost every afternoon, and they portend a different danger: dry lightning. The Mendocino Lightning Complex fires of 2008 demonstrated what can happen from that.
IT'S AS IF we are part of an insane human experiment, to greenhouse gas our atmosphere and see what comes of it. Eerie times we live in, and until we break our bad habit with hydrocarbons methinks the weather is going to keep getting weirder. — Mike Kalantarian, Navarro
LIZ DUSENBERRY reminds us: "The library will continue having our $3 a bag book sale for the rest of July. Bring your own bag. Our last open day will be Tuesday, August 4th. We will then close for the summer and reopen early October. So, come on in and get stocked up for your summer reading. We have a great variety of books for sale. Library hours are Tuesday 1:30-4:30 and Saturday 2-4."
BETSY CAWN OF UPPER LAKE sends along this confirmation: "I had the distinct pleasure of waiting at the end of a long line of youngsters from your Anderson Valley Teen Club, who had stopped at our local Foster’s Freeze for treats on their way back home from Lake Tahoe. They were all delightfully charming, gracious with each other and the multitude of other customers stuffed into the old-fashioned establishment we patronize for ice cream cones on beautiful Sunday afternoons. I wish them the best, and hope your readers will enthusiastically support their upcoming fundraising events. The students and their accompanying teachers are exploring options for extended education (sometimes known as “college”) in the wider world than Mendocino County. Kudos to all, and happiness to Anderson Valley — your families are right to be proud of these lovely young people!"
SEVERAL LOCALS complained that they'd hauled their trash to the Boonville Dump last Sunday only to find it closed because the containers were full. One lady said she arrived at the dump at 1pm with her garbage stuffed into her CRV but was turned away. "After further investigation we determined that the Ukiah dump is not even open on Sunday so that option was out. The best we could do was Albion, or leaving all the trash in my car until TUESDAY! (insert expletive here)"
A READER ASKS: "Please ask Bruce McEwen to do a report in the ava on the drug bust in Philo on March 31 this year. It was Anthony Witt at 750 Smith Hills Road." McEwen is on the case!
ANTHONY JUNGER WITT, 43, of the Holmes Ranch, Philo, was arrested on suspicion of cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale, possession of a controlled substance, manufacture of a controlled substance and possession of methamphetamine. Witt was allegedly operating a second drug op at a property he owns on Cameron Road, near Elk. He was in court just this past Friday represented by Jonah Saxby of Ukiah, aka Mrs. Keith Faulder.
WITT'S FATHER is Paul Junger Witt, a well-known Hollywood producer who brought us such television hits as “Soap” and “The Golden Girls” and the movie, “Dead Poets Society.” Witt Sr. was recently in the news when he listed his Big Sur home for sale at $28.8 million, which must be good news to Ms. Saxby who is mos def gonna get paid.
BRUCE McEWEN ADDS: The prelim for Mr. Anthony and Mrs. Jacqueline Witt of 750 Smith Hills Road, Philo, resumed Friday — it had been continued from June 18th and took up all of the afternoon, yet had to be put over again because of a comment by the newly installed County of Mendocino Marijuana Eradication Team (COMMET) officer, Deputy Jeremy Mason — which infuriated defense counsel Keith Faulder — concerning facts alleged that were not in the police report. At 5pm Judge Moorman said she had to let her staff go for the weekend, and with a jury trial on Monday, the hearing cannot resume until Friday July 17th at 9am. This case is a real doozie — with Jonah Saxby representing Mr. Witt. We hope to have a full report in two weeks.
FOUND IN PHILO: A MORTAR ROUND. Chief Avila expressed thanks to the Sonoma County Sheriff's bomb squad who came up to the bucolic Anderson Valley over the weekend to detonate the thing, discovering post-detonation that it was not live but a solid metal shell typically used during training. How it wound up in Philo at Navarro Vineyards is anybody's guess.
HOW TO MAKE A BEAUTIFUL BUILDING out of an old garage. Mark Triplett, builder. Stephanie and Chris Tebbutt, owners. The structure is located on Anderson Valley Way, Boonville, and will function as a fruit and vegetable stand.
THE AMAZING DAVE EVANS of The Navarro Store presents the Subdudes this Saturday night, 6pm, at The Navarro Store. 'Amazing' is not superlative overkill here. Dave regularly brings big name musicians to his little country emporium on the edge of the redwood forests, which is amazing all by itself considering the size and remoteness of the venue. But Dave puts on wonderful events in this unlikely setting featuring truly great musicians, not to mention the memorable grill produced by Guy Kephart, a Boonville native and outstanding outdoor cook. The great Charlie Musslewhite says Navarro is his favorite place to play, and this from a guy who performs all over the world.
OPENING for the Subdudes at 3pm this coming Saturday at Navarro, are two well-known but locally-based musicians, David Hayes, of Van Morrison's band, and Gene Parsons formerly of the Byrds.
IF YOU'VE NEVER attended a concert at The Navarro Store, this one coming up Saturday night is a good place to begin, with Guitar Shorty coming up on Saturday night, August 8th, and Charlie Musslewhite on Saturday night, the 5th of September.
TOM McDERMOTT is coming in 2 Saturdays, July 18th at 7:30 at the Grange and if you love piano and almost any form of music, he will please. He plays Chopin, Ragtime, New Orleans Jazz and Brazilian. Tickets are at all that Good Stuff and Lemon’s. Children under 16 can attend Tom McDermott's Saturday performance at the Grange free, as per the Grange's mission of supporting the community. We really want children and young pianist to have the opportunity to be inspired. And he will inspire them. — Greg Krouse
THE ELK VOLUNTEER Fire Department invites you to its 11th annual Summer BBQ to be held Saturday, July 25, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Greenwood Community Center on Highway 1 in downtown Elk. Department members and friends are preparing to serve up grilled tri-tip, smoked chicken and portabella mushroom entrees, along with beans, garden salad, homemade Bundt cake and coffee. Fresh bread from the Center’s wood-fired brick oven will accompany the meal. It’s a bountiful meal for $20 for adults and $10 for kids 7-12 (6 and under free). And, as always, Elk’s famous Margaritas will be available, along with beer, wine and soft drinks.
A PHILO MAN WRITES: “So here is a recap on the bear who has visited here a few more times testing my bear-proofing protocols which have worked for years. It continues to visit some folks within a couple of miles who have orchards. Before the scat analysis I had determined it was a mature female because it was experienced enough to be both adventurous in going for food humans had left laying about and also generally wary of getting too close to humans, and also because it was not big enough to be a mature male. No one has seen any evidence of a cub. It is unlikely this bear will be hurting any reasonably commonsensical human, so unless someone does something really stupid like, say, shooting a generally harmless critter, we all are gonna be having a 225+ pound pest in the hood for a substantial period. I have had a couple of opportunities to shoot her myself but did not even consider it: she is just doing what bears do, doing it with grace, and it is my fault she was able to find some food around my place. And, sadly, I also did not even think to get out my camera so y'all could get a glimpse of my newest wild creature acquaintance. Oh, well.”
FROM PAUL McCARTHY of the essential MendocinoSportsPlus: "We heard from our friends at the Elk Cove Inn & Spa who reported: 'Our new French Restaurant, Chez Marie, is open on Tuesday and Wednesday nights only but just this week only, tomorrow night, Friday, we will be open. The other restaurant in Elk will be closed for a private event so you can experience this amazing French experience on a Friday night. Check out our web site for details- www.elkcoveinn.com or call us - 707-877-3321. Great opportunity to have an oceanfront view for dinner and then go to RD Beacon's bar for an after dinner drink!"
WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN! Not only is former Boonville school superintendent Jim Johnson now in charge of the Geyserville schools, Rebekah Rooha, daughter of Jerry and Kathy Cox of Navarro, is the principal at Geyserville Elementary.
FROM THE CHP: A teen-aged girl was uninjured Thursday afternoon when her vehicle plummeted down a hillside along Highway 253, the California Highway Patrol reported.
CHP Officer J. Slates said the driver was likely driving too fast for the wet road conditions when the Nissan Pathfinder she was driving west on Hwy. 253 around 3 p.m. July 9 left the roadway around mile marker 13.75 after a curve and plunged 100 feet to the bottom of a ravine.
Slates said the driver appeared to be uninjured, and crawled up the hillside and flagged down another driver, as her cell phone was still inside her vehicle.
Capt. Pete Bushby of the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority said since the girl was under 18, she would be transported to Ukiah Valley Medical Center. At least one firefighter crawled down the hill to retrieve some of the driver’s personal items and identifying information from the vehicle.
He returned with her purse, cell phone and skateboard, saying that “if she can walk away from that, she deserves her skateboard.”
WE CALL the above "Doing a Homer-Joe" after a famous over-the-sider that Homer Joe Mannix did right about where this young woman took her plunge. Homer Joe, some 30 years ago, was pinned in his car for two days. He said he "watched the buzzards watch me" until he was found.
A PHILO GUY says he's been eating blackberries for a month, concluding, "We're gonna have an early winter. Blackberries normally kick in in August."
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