STUART CAMPBELL has functioned as KZYX's acting general manager since his soul bro, John Coate, more or less left the job. The prevailing assumption among station watchers was that Campbell was certain to get the nod as station manager, that the selection process was wired for him. But the station's board of directors selected Lorraine Dechter instead. Campbell was and is very unhappy. But Dechter, who has been contributing news items to the station recently, would seem to be the better choice because, as a relative newcomer to years of managerial psycho-dysfunction at Public Radio Mendocino County, she raises fewer hackles going in.
TWO PILLARS of Valley business retired this year, Mike Shapiro of North Country Real Estate and Karen Altaras of Rookie-To. One of these venerable enterprises, North Country, continues in the capable hands of Anne Fashauer. Ms. Altaras' Rookie-To property is for sale.
WE'RE ALREADY EXCITED about the big showdown that pits the top two small school basketball teams in the county against each other. Sure to be a beaut — Mendocino vs Anderson Valley on Friday, January 8th, 8pm in the Boonville gym.
TALK WAFTING out of the Anderson Valley Health Center says the Clinic's pharmacy should be re-opened by mid-January, which is very good news to the many people in The Valley who've had to drive to Ukiah to get prescriptions filled ever since our Clinic's pharmacy was suspended for reasons never specified more than a year ago.
ADD LOOK ALIKES: Luke Walton of the basketball Warriors and Paulen Severn-Walsh of Philo.
THE BOONVILLE FAIR has received a $115,552 grant from the California Food & Agriculture Department, according to Supervisor Carre Brown. The money should help fatten the Fair's lean coffers considerably.
FROM THE AVA of April 9th, 1963, a headline reads, "Fort Bragg Pair, On Relief, Ask For $32,000 Building Permit." The story begins: "Is it really possible to receive county aid through the Mendocino County Welfare department and still make plans to build a $32,820 home?"
YES, and a few years later commenced a full-on deadbeat assault as the back-to-the-landers, aka hippies, gamed the system, making it much more difficult ever since for people in true need to get help.
THE '63 CASE featured a pair of female chiropractors named Mary Jane Reed and Ella W. Rocks who'd moved to Fort Bragg from Oakland and almost immediately applied for public assistance because they said they couldn't find work. The County promptly agreed to pay their rent, utilities and threw in ten bucks a week for groceries only to discover that the ladies had considerable resources, enough anyway to buy a lot and qualify for a loan to build a house, which they said they intended as a care home of some kind. The back and forth on the matter is delicious. Welfare director Kussow said in defense of the chiro-paupers, "They had no money." Supervisor Oscar Klee thundered back, "Neither do I. If such a policy is continued we'll soon have 100,000 people in Mendocino County."
I HAVEN'T YET been able to find the follow-up story about what the Supervisors decided to do about the two ladies, but I do know that Oscar Klee was an aggressive populist whose tenure on the board was stormy, to say the least. I've heard he was handy with his fists in his youth, which became one fist after a logging accident severed one of Oscar's arms. An autodidact, Klee studied law on his own and became a justice court judge on the Coast. He was eventually imprisoned for tax evasion, which really wasn't evasion because Klee had fought the IRS on what he considered principle, and lost. And then there was the famous War of the Warrants, about which I want to write at much greater length.
ANYONE SEE CALEB SILVER?
Sheriff wants to have a little chat with him
The Mendocino County Sheriff's Department has been distributing this poster (it was in the Elk Store) in regards to recent burglaries on Greenwood Ridge in Elk previously posted at MSP. (Courtesy, Mendocino Sports Plus)
IN FACT, Silver is probably the prime suspect in a couple of break-ins on Greenwood Ridge residence last Wednesday that were posted on the MCN Listserve. “At 1pm a CHP showed up and said he saw this guy walking down the road in the rain. He slowed down to see if he was ok, and he bolted onto my property. He dropped a bag, and ran down a forested ravine. The CHP couldn't find the guy after looking around for an hour. The ravine is super steep and all poison oak. The CHP said he found an iPad and a laptop and some weed and a Mikita bag with serial numbers on it in the bag he dipped. After the CHP left at 2, I left for work for a couple hours. When I got home, I realized that the door was not locked, and I noticed a window broken. I immediately called 911 and drove away. 40 minutes later 5 cops arrived. They searched the property and didn't find the guy. They did find his wet cap underneath the shop building here which meant he was hiding there while the CHP was looking for him. I went through the house with them and found that he ate food from the fridge and tried to cook a pizza. He stole camping gear. He stole clothes and boots and cash. He left his old clothing in my bedroom. The police continued to search the property and neighboring properties, but didn't find him. They figured he is camping somewhere nearby in the forest. He also broke into 2 other houses this morning on greenwood ridge. I live a couple miles north of the town of elk. He is probably heading north. He is 5'11to 6' feet tall. Dirty blonde. Wearing a carhart jacket and my brand new Danner black leather side zip boots. He is probably heading north of Elk looking for vacant buildings or recently vacated buildings. Or camping in my bright orange tent. He would be in the area of Cameron Road or Little Geyserville next.
THE OTHER break-in on Greenwood Ridge by the same bandido involved the theft of a royal blue Surley Long Haul Trucker bicycle.
PS. The Sheriff may want to take a closer look at the “Kaileb” (Kaileb Davis, Stockton, arrested 12/26 for possession a hypodermic needle) they picked up a couple days ago:
There are certain similarities… Esp. the ears.
PREDICTION 2016: THE WATER AND SEWER system proposed for downtown Boonville will get some funding for planning but will stall when some locals oppose it, some locals can't decide exactly how big the service area should be, and some locals realize that downtown Boonville has been so far out of compliance for so many years it can't be unscrewed-up.
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