MORGAN BAYNHAM reminds us all that the Anderson Valley Grange Variety Show is this Friday and Saturday. Tickets are available at the Philo Market and All That Good Stuff, Boonville. “Buy your tickets NOW for an easy entry into the show. Come early and join the parking lot tailgate crowd, or be entertained by all the people in line who didn't buy their tickets early.”
A FORMER RESIDENT of Boonville, Isaul Reyes Delgado, 36, was been sentenced to five years and ten months in federal prison for “conspiring to distribute 300 pounds of marijuana.” Delgado owns property in the Anderson Valley and in Covelo. He was arrested in Boonville by a multi-agency task force in January of 2009. Federal police confiscated $500,000 in cash; six parcels of property located in Anderson Valley and Covelo; several vehicles; and “multiple firearms.” Delgado was one of five persons arrested. He pled guilty in September.
STEVE SPARKS reminds everybody that his popular Trivia Quiz resumes at Lauren's this Thursday night, March 4th, 7pm.
DAVID MEEK'S passing was not unexpected, but it's still painful to lose a man many of us have known for a very long time. A pioneer land owner at Rancho Navarro, Dave headed north out of San Francisco for the Anderson Valley back when you could buy in for a few bucks down and a few more a month. A handy guy always available to help out his neighbors with their rural infrastructures, Dave got around. He told me once he even had a share in an old gold mine east of Yreka. As he battled cancer, and the guy certainly battled it, he still stopped by the Navarro Store every day to see friends despite being unable to talk with them. Dave was always good for a laugh. He'd lost his voice by the time I last saw him at the store, but he cocked his hand behind his ear like he couldn't hear me. We both got a hoot out of that one. And he really liked to get over on me with his Word of the Day on the Navarro Store's chalkboard. “Here comes the word guy, the guy who gets paid for words. Try this one, Colonel,” he'd say. I got maybe half, and a couple of times we had to go for a dictionary when Dave, triumphant, would say to me, “Wrong, as usual.” We rode back and forth to Ukiah a bunch of times over the years. I'd see Dave waiting for the bus or hitchhiking, and I'd be on my way over the hill and who was better company? Dave, who was in court a lot, would tell me about his latest catastrophe in the amused tones of a Zen master. I always admired the way he could smile on through things. David asked me last year when he could still talk, “Will you please stop putting an S on my name, Bruce? It's Meek. You've got it wrong for 40 years.” And he'd chuckle like he always chuckled. Good-bye David Meek. Navarro lost a big chunk of its heart when you died on February 19th.
BILL COOK of Yorkville has had a tough winter. First he has a near-death experience almost literally in his backyard when he collapses with a dislocated hip trying to clear his water lines. He spends a whole day and into the night crawling back up towards the road and help, all the time thinking he just might be buying the store before he's found. He is found, just barely, that night when a deaf guy thinks he hears someone yelling and goes and gets a not-so-deaf guy who does hear someone yelling for help — Bill. Not long after this harrowing adventure, Bill is attending an EMT class at the Boonville Fire House when he sinks into a chair and tells Dave Severn he's dizzy. He sure was dizzy, dizzy with heart failure. But Bill got dizzy in the right place, the very nerve center of Anderson Valley's emergency services. Severn immediately “stabilized” Bill and, to fast forward through the poor man's Harrowing Experience Two, Bill emerges with a pacemaker and New Lease On Life, Take Two.
NORTHCOAST Artists Gallery, 362 North Main Street Fort Bragg features twelve gifted woodworkers, among them Anderson Valley's very own David Dart with a reception for the artists Friday, March 5th from 5 until 8. The work of the talented 12 will be on display the merry month of March.
ROBBIE ROWLAND, the great Cloverdale High School athlete, was recently featured in both the Press Democrat and in Tommy Wayne Kramer's must read Sunday column in the Ukiah Daily Journal. “I'm a guy who sets goals and I work as hard as I can to achieve. I don't get caught up in the high school party thing.” Now there's an unusual kid, and probably one headed for baseball's big leagues where his dad, also of Cloverdale, played for seven years or so. I've haven't seen Rowland play basketball, but he's the all-time small school scoring champ. I've seen a lot of fine high school basketball players around here; Robbie's dad Rich was one of them, but the very, very best I've seen with my own eyes was Mario Oropeza of Point Arena with his brother Lupe running a close second. Those guys could play. Robbie Rowland is headed to the University of Oregon next year where he'll play baseball. He's got the big fastball. As of this week, Cloverdale is headed to the state basketball playoffs where they've been before, and there's a town that knows how to do high school sports.
TERRY RYDER sent along the following invitation to the “Day of the Child” event on May 2nd at the Elementary School: “Can you do an AVA table? You may have something stimulating for kids/others or whatever. I remember I met you for the first time at the Anarchist Book Fair at the Hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. It would be something like that except valley residents instead of anarchists.” We'd be more in the 'whatever' category I'd suppose, Terry, but thanks for thinking of us.
RESIDENTS of Lambert Lane, Boonville, confirm a kind of local loose dog epidemic. As one told us, “I spotted a large dog with a dead duck or some other large fowl stuck under its collar that was greeted by two other loose dogs.” Don't farmers fasten dead fowl to young dogs to teach the dog to leave barnyard creatures alone?
BENNA KOLINSKY WRITES: “There are several opportunities to see Boonvillian Mo Mandel perform comedy ‘somewhat locally’ coming up soon: This Friday, March 12, Mo is headlining at the Napa Valley Opera House. On Wednesday, March 17, Mo will be on the Chelsea Lately tv Show. On Saturday, April 3, Mo will perform at our own Anderson Valley Grange at 7pm. The last two times Mo performed in Anderson Valley the shows sold out so get your tickets early. They can be purchased at All That Good Stuff in Boonville, Tangents in Fort Bragg, the Mendocino Book Company in Ukiah and the Gallery Bookstore in Mendocino. On Friday, April 9, Mo will be on Comedy Central airing his own half-hour special. Mo has just signed a contract to be part of a new sitcom pilot called Strange Brew about a family that owns a brewery. Hopefully that pilot will be picked up and then you’ll be able to watch him weekly in the comfort of your own home! Note these dates and check out Mo’s website: momandel.com. Born and bred in Boonville and doing well in LA! Now that’s something! GO MO!”
A FEW LOCAL folks conjectured that maybe all of these Black Elvis sightings in February has something to do with the AV Variety show. It is a couple nights of performing, and what Elvis could possibly resist? Maybe this white jump suit clad dummy is acting out because of that. Perhaps something might happen at the Variety show?
DIANE PAGET WRITES: “To help our community better prepare for disasters, a free community workshop, “Planning for An Emergency Volunteer Center: We’re on our own,” will be held on Saturday, March 6th from 9:30 am to 2 pm at the Anderson Valley Adult School. This experiential workshop will include information about disaster volunteer management, identifying key partners and how to operate a local emergency volunteer center. “We now know two things about major disasters: communities that are located far from urban areas may be on their own for an extended period, and community members will want to help their neighbors,” explained trainer Phyllis Onstad, an experienced disaster volunteer manager, and workshop trainer. This workshop will provide participants with the tools and the information they need to effectively be able to register and deploy volunteers. Registration in advance is appreciated; please contact Diane Paget at 895-3354, or email her at dpaget@mcn.org to register or for more information. The workshop is presented by the Anderson Valley Family Resource Center, the Volunteer Network of Lake and Mendocino Counties and Volunteer Center of Sonoma County. The program is underwritten by CaliforniaVolunteers, an office of State government. "
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