ABOUT HALF AN INCH plus/minus of rain around Mendocino on Sunday. More upwards of four more inches were expected on Monday as a slow moving storm passes overhead. Cold as Christmas approaches with the possibility of snow in higher elevations as the weekend approaches.
Tuesday: Rain showers continue. Highs 51 to 61. West wind 5 to 15 mph.
Tuesday Night And Wednesday: Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain showers. Lows 37 to 47. Highs 48 to 58. Northwest wind 5 to 15 mph.
Wednesday Night And Thursday: Rain. Lows 33 to 43. Highs 43 to 53.
Thursday Night & Christmas : Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain showers. Lows 31 to 41. Highs 43 to 53.
Friday Night And Saturday: Partly cloudy with partial clearing. Lows 28 to 38. Highs 45 to 55.
Saturday Night And Sunday: Partly cloudy. Slight chance of rain. Lows 31 to 41. Highs 47 to 57.
— National Weather Service
KATHLEEN FINN RUDDELL WRITES: " Tonight while sitting in front of the computer, I began to think about my time spent at Highland Ranch. I was urged to google everything I could about HR in the late 1960’s and early ’70’s. I am inspired to write after reading Marshall Newman’s article from 2013. It’s been about 45 years since the last time I was there, but in my mind, I’m still riding Cha Cha, picking apples, riding in Bill’s truck to feed the horses, jumping in the pond, and waiting impatiently for every meal I knew Guy was preparing. I can still taste and smell his chocolate chip pancakes! My parents, my brother and I went every summer for 2 to 3 weeks for about 10 consecutive years. We would travel from Los Angeles. Upon arrival, all the guests would gather in the main house. We talked, laughed, played games, and ate our meals communally. We always stayed in the same cabin, and I even had my first kiss there from Cliff, one of the wranglers! When it was time to leave, even though our hearts were full, I would cry so hard. Thank you Mr. Newman for an emotionally evocative piece about HR and life in Philo in the 1950’s – 1980’s, and the tremendous value of neighbors caring for and about one another. I will always cherish my memories of summers spent at Highland Ranch with Bill and Guy. Pass the kleenex."
YES, ANDERSON VALLEY has a kind of government. It's called the Community Services District and oversees the few services which are mostly our collective responsibility. Just last week the CSD board of directors met at the Boonville Fire House to "discuss several items of interest to our continuing healthy enjoyment of life here in AV."
1) Reports on the Anderson Valley Ambulance service, how it will fare under new proposals by the County regarding requirements for ambulance exclusive operating agreements, and the status of discussions concerning possible merger with the Anderson Valley Fire Dept. — Nothing reported of significance because it's not yet known what all might be involved.
2) The status of attempts to abate the Ricard eyesore near the Boonville Fire Station. — We've learned that Mrs. Ricard has said she won't come to Boonville so long as there exists even the possibility of laying eyes on the Editor of the Boonville newspaper. The Editor has promised to wear a bag over his head the day the Ricards visit. Ms. Hanelt and Ms. McKenna plan to meet with the Ricards before the end of the year to see what they think about the plans for water and sewer in downtown Boonville. The eyesore aspect of the property is not on their radar so far. (Emil Rossi raises an important point about the Ricard wreckage. “Even if Ricard tries to do something on that site, the County would probably make it impossible.”)
3) Status of attempts to supply downtown Boonville with water and/or sewer so that businesses could continue, and the present part of the population which is precariously housed might stand a fair chance of getting housing if there was the infrastructure to support it. — The first meeting of the “Boonville Planners,” an ad hoc group to try to scope the project, is set for Tuesday, January 12, at 7pm.
4) Status of efforts of the Community Action Coalition to address traffic safety and the restoration of full-time deputies to the Anderson Valley. — No report. But over the past year, there has been virtually no crime in The Valley, and the crime that we have seen has not risen above the petty type. The popular Deputy Craig Walker, who spends much of his work time in the short-handed areas of the County, has said that when he isn't here much "things get a little loose around the edges," meaning our numerous tweekers are more visible, portable objects begin to disappear from their owner's properties. It seems, though, that it only takes him a couple of full-time shifts to send our miscreants scurrying for cover. As for traffic, much of it continues to flow through our four towns at unsafe speeds. Deputy Walker does make traffic stops when he's here. CHP appears in The Valley once or twice a week. It's an ongoing area of major concern for most of us.
5) Status of efforts to get ballot initiative to require County to give a portion of the Prop. 172 Public Safety sales tax money to fund fire department emergency services response. Prop 172 money now goes exclusively to law enforcement. Most people think the cops ought to get up off some of the money to help the County's far flung volunteer emergency services crews. — Ms. McKenna reported that Kit Elliott, acting County Counsel, has filed for an injunction against the planned initiative that the Fire Association wants to circulate. McKenna wasn’t sure what the point of Elliott’s filing is, perhaps something to do with titling the thing, but perhaps an attempt to stop the sharesies (sic) initiative tracks. (See separate report for a comprehensive discussion of the 172 money. It should be shared, but the cops presently don't want to give up so much as a nickel of the money.
6) Status of action by LAFCo regarding the "sphere of influence" of the district, i.e. where we may serve, and how that service will be paid for. (At the mere mention of LAFCo, MCCOG, MMSWA and the rest of the insider baseball acronyms characteristic of much public discussion by those self-same insiders, everyone else dozes off. Unfortunately, much of the stuff directly affecting life in Mendocino County is orchestrated by the Acronymn Gang. We here at your beloved community newspaper try to decode these matters for you. You're welcome.) — LAFCO has approved our new sphere of influence, which merely rubberstamps what our Community Services District is already doing.
7) The CSD Board swore in new directors Joanie Clark and Paul Soderman and thanked departing directors Neil Darling and Fred Martin for what has been their productive and much appreciated service to the Anderson Valley.
THE HEALTH CENTER'S website is still down and we haven't yet called to see how things are going after months of turmoil. That turmoil has receded, calm restored. Many of us look forward to the reopening of the Center's drug dispensary, sparing us the round trip to our County seat, never so bleak and dispiriting as in the winter months.
GENE HERR REPORTS: "The AV Senior Center calendar for January will be coming soon. I recently had to go to Santa Rosa for a medical procedure and was pleased to find that transportation could be arranged through the SC, so I could go to the appointment and be returned without having to drive in the dark. Check the various available bus service destinations and times at AVSC Bus 489-1175 and or talk to Gina at 895-3609 about developing plans for Santa Rosa destinations."
AND STEVE SPARKS reminds us that his and Wes Smoot's local history, Then and Now, all proceeds to the AV Historical Society, makes a perfect stocking stuffer.
THE BEGGING BOWL OLYMPICS. Anderson Valley Winners and Losers, Announced December 8, 2015. The envelopes please:
COMMUNITY PARK infrastructure. Amount requested: $9,500. Amount granted: $0.00
AV COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT: Amount requested: $9,830. Amount granted: $5,000 (for LAFCO fees if/when incurred, associated with activating the CSD's water/sewer powers, perhaps next year.)
KZYX. Amount requested: $19,445 (digital equipment upgrade). Amount granted: $0.00.
AV ELDERHOME Community Garden. Amount requested: $9,000. Amount granted: $5,000 (from separate Health and Human Services Agency funding).
AV HOUSING ASSOCIATION. Water heaters for Boonville Apartments. Amount requested: $9,300. Amount granted: $4,530. (We’ve learned that a local donor is working on fundraising for the other half of the hot water heater installation costs.
Hamburg also granted the CSD $5k for
AV FIRE DEPARTMENT. Amount requested $7,800 (emergency responder multi-gas detectors). Amount Granted: $0.00.
WE ALL have our favorite local wild places, but mine is the back country of the Rancheria river from the bridge on Mountain View Road to wherever one wants to emerge behind (west of) Philo. The last time I hiked it, it was so wild there weren't even signs of pot gardens, and pot gardeners are our most intrepid back country explorers. Almost every year, a canoeist or two is briefly presumed lost because he has put in at the bridge at Mountain View on the assumption the river is a straight shot to Hendy Woods where his friends are waiting for him. The river is serpentine back there, and in some stretches the banks on both sides are canyon-like and you have no choice but to stay on the water. The wild sections of the Rancheria would be bad places for mishaps. There's no easy way in or out.
YOU'RE A REAL old timer if you remember that July in 1963 when Hendy Woods was permanently set aside as Hendy Woods State Park. And you've got a heckuva memory if you recall that Jack Clow of Jack's Valley Store made the announcement.
COUPLA VALLEY sparkling wines got rave reviews in Sunday's Chron. Roederer Estate and a newby, Lichen Estate. And did I read right that my old friend Michel Salgues is Lichen's winemaker?
LIGHTS! CAMERAS! That was a car commercial being filmed near Dimmick State Park and south of Elk last week. We often see our vistas on half-time tv commercials, don't we? And they're always a lot more interesting than the vehicles being sold, that's for sure. My fave ad is Jack In The Box. Always makes me laugh, and please hold the Alzheimer-type insults.
THE MIGHTY AVA now provides a link to all Scott Peterson's ultra-cool video comic strips from this page: https://www.theava.com/special-projects
THE NEWS that another newspaper somewhere has gone broke and closed is so frequent any more that one hardly has time to properly lament the loss of even the weakest publication. "Total Trib Media is closing two of its western Pennsylvania newspapers after failing to sell them, leaving 87 employees out of work…"
LOCALLY, the buzzards have been circling Mendocino County's chain-owned publications for years now. Media News Group (or whatever they call themselves now) has even sold the premises of the Ukiah Daily Journal and the Willits News. Everyone employed by the Beacon-Advocate, the Journal, the News is waiting for their death certs. The newspaper paradigm has done shifted. People under the age of 55 seem to get all their information from television and their hand-held gizmos. They don't read newspapers. A Boonville kid told me just the other day he didn't even know there was a newspaper in Boonville! I asked him, "Where do you go to school?" Right here in Boonville, he says. "There's a high school in Boonville?" I asked. The lad was puzzled. Just funnin' ya, pal, but you oughta look around your hometown a little. You'd be surprised what's here. We got it all!
THIS NEWSPAPER? How does it stay in business? And it is a business with people to pay and an overhead that's got to be kept overhead. Our many critics whisper that the AVA is kept afloat by a big fortune that funnels money our way. If that were so we'd have a full-time writer, among other amenities, to get at the stories that take time to develop. We can't afford such a person, assuming that they exist. If we had the dough for a full-time writer we'd look for one in the creative lit vaults, someone who still reads books and has intellectual interests. There aren't many out there. And most creative lit these days is beyond awful.)
WELL dear reader, we have a healthy circulation both in print an on-line because, I think, we report in depth on local matters. And we try to keep it lively. Our on-line paper is doing better than we expected. Larger papers, even the New York Times, can't make on-line pay, probably because the Gizmo Brigades get their info in blips and bleeps set to music. Unadorned paragraphs take too long to decode.
OUR BASIC PROB at this point is mortality. We're old, and we don't see anybody coming along to replace us when we totter into full senility. Reading and writing in newspaper form is almost over. And so are we.
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