Valley People (Oct 21, 2015)

APOLOGIES to the three football players who missed the Upper Lake game. They were in Sacramento to take their SAT exams, not absent from the big game for frivolous reasons.

AND APOLOGIES to two dead men, Larry Blackshear and Jason Blackshear. We confused the two last week in the big hed on the front page. Larry Blackshear was the Philo musician who moved to Oakland and was soon murdered in his Oakland home by a burglar. Oakland PD, for once, caught the killer who was duly packed off to the state pen. Jason Blackshear was, one might say, a Fort Bragg blackguard who may or may not have been deliberately choked to death by a Boonville native, James 'Red' Kester. Kester was convicted of second degree murder and is presently living out his days in state prison.

THE ANDERSON VALLEY PANTHERS crushed undefeated Calistoga Friday night in Boonville, 44-24. The defending NCL III champs — that's us — were upset by Upper Lake last week 34-22. The loss to Upper Lake was to a team that hadn't won a game the prior two seasons, and that was bad enough, but having our 16-game winning streak snapped seemed to provide plenty of angry incentive for us to knock off the undefeated league leader Calistoga.

THE PANTHERS took a 20-10 lead at the half and held a 36-10 lead at the end of the third quarter. Calistoga managed two TD's (and PAT's) in the last six minutes to make the game look closer than it was.

THE PANTHER DEFEAT of Calistoga means four teams have only one loss in the NCL III — Anderson Valley, Calistoga, Point Arena & Upper Lake as the Panthers head for a playoff probably with either arch-rival Point Arena or another game with Calistoga.

PICTURED. Anderson Valley Coach Dan Kuny freshly returned from fire prevention logging at Lake County's "Valley Fire" in time to coach the Panthers against Mendocino in the Apple Bowl.

STEVE SPARKS' excellent soccer report of their big wins over Rincon Valley and long-time rival Roseland Prep at the Homecoming game can be found on-line at www.theava.com.

MY SISTERS went to lunch in Fort Bragg, which would be last Saturday, and the apologetic waitress told them the only drinking water available was the bottled type, and it would cost them a buck a bottle. My sisters, long accustomed to cooperation in times of deprivation, had no prob paying for the water. But FB, now a tourist town, is in serious water trouble, as is the Yorkville Market, which had to close Sunday for lack of.

RUMORS wafting out of Philo say that the Philo Mill has been sold, and an application for a rezone from Industrial to Commercial has been filed. The parcel is five to six acres of flat land, and had lasted as long as it did as a mill on the off chance a viable timber industry might one day return to Mendocino County because it would be impossible to start a mill from scratch in the prevalent political climate.

CREEK TALK, AV residents only. Briana Burns writes:

Wonder of wonders, I just got my AVA of 10/7 yesterday, on 10/13, the quickest delivery I've ever had here in Wisconsin! (Today I got the 9/23 issue!) In response to your publishing my letter to you commenting about the new culvert under 128 (and you misspelled my name, by the way, after all these years!), I asked my questions of Linda MacElwee of the Navarro River Watershed Project. She was confused at my calling it Conn Creek, as she said it was Graveyard Creek. I have since learned from John Scharffenberger that she is right. There are two creeks that come down from Lone Tree Ridge, and according to google maps, they don't show a name for Conn Creek but do show the name Graveyard Creek. So maybe the latter carries more water in the rainy season. All I know is that there used to be fishing in Conn Creek on Phil Wasson's land years ago. As for the dam and the pipe, Linda explained that she believed it was temporary, to provide a way for any water flow during the construction of the new culvert. I am relieved to believe now that both the dam and the pipe will be removed when the project is completely finished, so if there were any fish trying to go up Graveyard Creek (and presumably up Conn Creek too) there would be a possible way for them to do so. Since I believe Tony Creek, on my property, which flows into Conn Creek, was permanently affected by the clearcut logging of our property back in 1952, I have been concerned about the watershed for all my 42 intermittent years in Anderson Valley. When my kids Wendy and CT Rowe were little, we hiked from our home down to Indian Creek where Helen Libeu had saved old growth redwoods. Some years later when there was concern about water temperature in Indian Creek, I hiked from Helen's down a mile or more (very rough clambering!) to where Parkinson's Gulch (coming from Emerald Earth's property) joined Indian Creek. Sure enough, the water in Parkinson's Gulch was noticeably cooler than that in Indian Creek. I believe Parkinson's Gulch is such steep terrain that it has never been logged. Indian Creek's bed was such difficult terrain because most of it had been logged, and the terrain was nearly impassable, with giant boulders in the creek bed, and steep eroded sides I've forgotten how deep! Jan Pallazola tells me that sometime in more recent years she and Flick MacDonald hiked all the way from Helen's all the way downstream to Highway 128! I wish I were still up to such a hike, as I'd like to see how the creek canyon continues to change. Thanks for sharing my interest and being curious about the new Graveyard Creek culvert!

RE: MRC TIMBER HARVEST PLAN #M612T, off Masonite Road, Navarro, a reader writes: "My brother just pulled onto the job a couple of days ago, and promised to get back to me with some more specifics. So far, he says that nothing but good is happening out there. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything else coming from him. He told me that it's definitely a fire suppression project going on out there, and that they have more planned for the future if this one works out okay. I'm not sure if they're doing strips or blocks, apparently the project he's on now is over 625 acres and runs along a ridge. He said that the strip or block is about 600 feet wide, not 80 feet like I first reported. He also told me that there were several top CalFire executives on site last week observing and taking pictures of the operation. My brother says that it 'looks like a freaking park out there.' Nice to hear that they are masticating instead of using poison (hack and squirt). He said it's a pretty clean operation that primarily targets the oaks and underbrush. Some logs are being harvested but it is not a 'clear cut' project. I would love to get a look at it, but until then I'll have to rely on my brother's observations. If all is true, their foresters deserve a big thumbs up. There is no sense in taking the chance of letting all that timber burn up if it can be saved and responsibly harvested someday. Too bad that MRC has to be so secretive about everything they do. 'Kick 'em when they're up, and kick 'em when they're down,' I guess. They're certainly using both backwards and forward memory on this one. (Update, Sunday afternoon) Due to fire danger, mastication has been halted until it starts raining again. It makes sense, those giant grinders spin at an astonishing rate of speed and can cause sparks when they hit rocks. Fire season is still here guys, be careful. Shutting down the masticator for a few days is really using some good forward memory. Red Flag warnings this week, high fire danger."

UNSETTLING REPORT from the Ukiah Police Department, at least unsettling to those of us who know Roger. "…Upon arrival the officer contacted a subject who he knew as Roger Schoenahl age 43 of Ukiah. While the officer spoke with Schoenahl he noticed the extreme signs of alcohol intoxication. Schoenahl was found to be too intoxicated to care for his safety or that of others and was taken into custody for drunk in public. Schoenahl was booked into county jail on the violation."

RS IS A NATIVE of Boonville and scion of a once-leading Anderson Valley family — the Schoenahls prospered from apples and a large packing shed operation, plus significant real estate holdings — Roger is one of many persons wandering the County who should be receiving mental health help. He should not be drinking or using street drugs, but that's what he's doing and now turns up regularly in the police logs.

WE HAVE a pile of pine logs free to anyone who wants to haul them off. They're limbed and cut in roughly twenty-foot lengths and easily accessed. Yeah, yeah, pine burns faster than oak and madrone, but it's a good mix with the more dense species. And it smells good. Call 895-3016 for directions.

THE CSD'S BIG TICKET ISSUES, as viewed by former CSD manager, Gene Herr, all of which could financially impact the district, all at various stages of decision-making, and several still without full discussion by directors:

1) The Fire Districts' Association request for reassessment of County role in fire protection and prevention, including but not limited to re-allocation of the percentage of the sales tax earmarked to emergency fire responders.

2) The possible major impacts of any assumption of operation of an ambulance service by the AVFD.

(The Anderson Valley Ambulance Service has trouble finding and retaining enough responders for basic life support services, they have even more difficulty getting an advanced life support response capability. Many of the AVAS responders are also AVFD EMT responders. Duplicate training and shift conflicts are a problem.)

Four years ago an outside private ambulance service began operations in the Ukiah Valley, competing with the Ukiah Valley ambulance service which AVAS coordinates with (as well as the air ambulances) to enable advanced life support service. The County funded a couple of hundred thousand dollars worth of outside consultant study to determine what could be done to set up exclusive operating areas for ambulance service.

The resulting "Fitch Study" decreed that 24-7 advanced life support was a "required" service (it's not), and that to provide it, the county should contract with specific agencies for specific areas, and for an additional big contract Fitch would provide the necessary contract advice. The County then decided that 24-7 ALS service was not necessary everywhere in the county, especially not on the Coast (having first said it was necessary because tourists could not be expected to come to an area without urban quality emergency services, but it was necessary for the Ukiah Valley, and maybe partially necessary for AV, Laytonville, Covelo, so they would work out exclusive operating agreements for those areas.

3) The request from the Recreation Committee that the AVCSD acquire and operate the "Community" park area on the AVMS/HS campus.

4) The major financial, organizational and District-wide development implications of assumption of water/sewer powers by the District which will be involved in the on-going Boonville "water project".

UKIAH SENIOR CENTER Jazz and Broadway vocal ensemble will be singing at the Ukiah Senior Center's October Ice Cream Social on Monday, October 26th at 2 PM - "Sounds Promising" features the 4-part vocal harmonies of Oni LaGioia, Karen Gowan, Neil DiBernardo and Charlie Seltzer, with songs from Broadway, Cabaret, and Jazz. (we do house concerts and sing-alongs — this is an opportunity to see us in a public performance) $2 for all this: Ice cream and pie, prizes and entertainment.

GREG KROUSE WRITES: There have been several articles about the ongoing fracas between the National Grange and the State organization (CSG) that the Anderson Valley Grange affiliates with. I want to reassure local folks that we are as informed as we can be and maintain our relationship with our original state office and its 185 halls. At the recent annual meeting of the CSG, the affiliated halls chose to support our elected leaders and their lawyers in the legal dispute. The lawyers were unable to inform us because the suit is directed toward our State offices and its officers. We are fraternally committed toward those we elected. In the meantime, we will know little until the January trial. We intend to do what we local Grange halls do best, serve our community with great pancakes, a large place to meet, great shows, plus social and film nights. We appreciate your support and will keep you informed."

SO I'M WATCHING the Niner's game Sunday afternoon when, out of the corner of my good eye, a wrinkled guy who faintly resembles the Bob Dylan I recall from my youth. This Dylan is doing an advertisement for IBM. Can't be, I muttered. Can't be the troubadour of the left. Can't be the guy who sang us into the streets back in '62. Can't be Dylan. He must be a billionaire. He doesn't need the money. Why would he being doing ads for IBM of all entities? Refugee relief maybe. Botox? Surely not The Enemy. I thought Dylan was some kind of isolate, the creative guy in a cabin way off in the woods. Nope, it was him. Bob Dylan. The Times Certainly Done Changed, didn't they?

DRIER AND DRIER, and lots of people hauling water, and the experts say don't look for rain any time in November, but the latest long-term projections from the National Weather Service suggest although November will be much, much drier than normal, it doesn't mean that the predicted mother of all El Ninos will be a no-show. Meteorologists are comparing it to the weather pattern in 1997-98, when the rainy season started slowly before bringing a damaging deluge for the first three months of the new year, flooding waterways across the region and setting off the biggest landslide in Bay Area history. “This El Niño is not supposed to peak until the spring, which leads me to believe we will have a normal weather pattern in November and December,” said Mike Pechner, of Golden West Meteorology and a former Mendo guy. “The likelihood is the heaviest stuff will come in January, February and March.”

AN OUTSIDER NO LONGER was the title of a recent Chron piece on the well known artist, Cate White, who grew up in the Anderson Valley on Greenwood Road and attended Boonville schools. Ms. White is the daughter of Al and Mary White of Ukiah. The artist's Mendo link is described as occurring "in a speck of a town in Mendocino County, living way out in the woods with back-to-the-land hippie parents.”

IF AL 'WINE GUY' WHITE was ever a hippie, he's the un-hippiest hippie there ever was. And Boonville "a speck of a town"? Well, shut my mouth. Never heard such an insult.

THE SUBJECT came up on our website when a couple of people wrote in with harsh words about Marin County in general and San Anselmo in particular. I should say when print ruled I had the great joy of arguing with random people in print every week about all kinds of things. The print ava has become much less combative than it used to be because no one except Gordon Black wants to fight. Herewith I announce my intent to get in at least one on-line beef every day.

SAN ANSELMO. I'm now a part-time resident of San Anselmo due to circumstances beyond my control. I can also say it's got to be the most boring town in the world, but maybe that's just me. Going to SA for a few days every week is like shoving oneself into one of those wall beds in Japanese airports. But just down the road, in Fairfax, there's a lot of regular people, and a lot of nuts, and a lot of Section 8 housing. Marin is tricky, though. Yeah, there are a lot of rich people in the hills living in vulgar, over-large houses filled with a lot of tasteless crap inferior to garage sales, but there are even more people a pay check away from the streets, as there are everywhere in our doomed land. San Anselmo is home to lots of young people with children. The schools are supposed to be good. Maybe they are, but standards are so low who can tell? On closer inspection, the young people I've gotten to know are often living in modest houses they inherited from their parents or grandparents, and those parents and grandparents were from a time when all of Marin, except for Ross and Belvedere Island, was home to ordinary working people with ordinary incomes. In 1950 you could buy a house almost any place in Marin for twenty grand. Or less. San Anselmo, though, is hot and quiet, like a back ward somewhere. Walking its silent streets you get the feeling everyone is just behind their window curtains trying not to scream. Boonville is much more interesting, and Mendocino County is positively thrilling.

DAVID SEVERN REPORTS: At the Boonville Redwood Drive-In a 10 gallon tank of gas costs $41.49. The window washing water is dirty, the squeegee doesn't work and there are no paper towels. In Ukiah, the same 10 gallons costs $28.79 with all of the expected amenities provided and working. I remember when Valley gas was only 3 or 4 bucks a tank more. I have been harvesting some of the Mosquito Fern from the River with plans to use it as mulch and compost for my garden. Wikipedia says it is good for that. Yesterday after raking some up onto the stream bank a very large 3 1/2 inch Scarab-like "beetle" scurried out and quickly began looking for a place in the piled up fern to get under. The beached fern being too tightly packed relative to when it was floating in the water afforded no refuge so the guy wasted no time in running to the river. Even though I would like to have had a longer look, two long forelegs appeared to be pinchers and I was chicken to grab it. That was wise as Wikipedia identifies it as Lethocerus Americanus or Giant Water Bug and says it has the propensity to deliver a painful bite that delivers a dose of digestive toxins. It is also known as Toe Biter. In all my years I've never seen one before in our River. Also squiggling out of the raked up mosquito fern were a number of small worm looking things from two to four inches long that I believe were baby eels. Apparently the rapid squiggle is a defensive maneuver as there was no attempt to get under any of the fern and no movement that looked like they were running away. After awhile they would settle down and start poking around for a place to go. These I did scoop up with my hand and throw back in the water. The River is clinging to life but just barely. It jumped up a few tenths of a cu/ft per sec back in mid September following a hopeful rain flurry but now it's back to a trickle. Hallelujah! Jeff Skoll finally removed his pump from the River. Bah Humbug! Before doing so, from 9/29 until 10/18 he sucked 3 1/2 acre/feet (152,460 gals.) of water to use on his Shenoa property that has sat empty and unused with 8 houses and 15 cabins since he bought it more than 10 years ago. Skoll's cross stream neighbor, Roland Wentzell, seems to have stopped pumping as well but his 3-inch galvanized pipe set-up doesn't appear designed for removal. In the same time period as Skoll, I'm guessing Wentzell used about two acre/feet (87,120 gals.) of water on his grapes. I had a good chuckle this morning while on my walk when I stumbled upon a scat pile consisting solely of whole but shriveled pinot noir grapes. There is no doubt they had come out of some animals rear end but no chewing had taken place just all the juice in the intact skins was gone and what remained was packed in a tight little round torpedo loaf. Within an eighth of a mile I found two more. I'll buy anyone a beer that can explain why I found this discovery so amusing.