EARLY rainfall totals suggest that this season’s El Niño isn’t shaping up to be as big a beast as those of 1997-98 and 1982-83, but there’s still a long way to go before knowing definitively how it compares, forecasters said Friday.
THE RAINS are over for a week. Monday dawned hard-frosted, but the flowering quince at the foot of the office stairs is blooming, and I couldn't help deflowering a sprig for myself.
UNSOLICITED PLUGS. Charlie Seekins-Paget, now the owner of Pugh's Pump and Power. Arguably the most reliable young person in the Anderson Valley, Charlie is the local guy you want for your pump work. Charlie did the work on our project in the center of town, and got it done promptly at a reasonable charge, and in bad weather, too.
AND LOCAL GUY Justin Johnston is a wizard of a barber. A certain high roller who spends time in SF and Philo says he used to pay upwards of fifty bucks for a trim in SF, but Justin's haircut was not only better, it was much more reasonably priced.
THE BOONVILLE PANTHERS are eating everyone in sight. Our varsity teams traveled to Geyserville last Tuesday and both teams, girls and boys, came out winners. Potter Valley offered up the next sacrifices to Boonville's rampaging quintets, as Tony Pardini Jr. racked up 15 points to lead the boys to a big win. Tuesday night, too late for our deadline, we were in Mendocino for crucial matches against the always tough (at home) Cardinals. Friday it's off to Covelo for games against the much improved Round Valley teams.
EVER WATCHED the show American Pickers on the History Channel and thought, "Gee, Mike and Frank would have a heyday in my shed!" Well now is your chance. They'll be filming in California in March. They're currently on the hunt for characters with interesting and unique items such as vintage bicycles, toys, unusual radios, movie memorabilia, military items, folk art, early firefighting equipment, automotive stuff and pre-50's western gear. If you think you might have a collection the show would be interested in, call 1-855-OLD-RUST (653-7878) or email AmericanPickers@cineflix.com.
WE WERE UNABLE to confirm Glen Ricard's claim that the County Planning Department's is the reason for the dilapidated condition of his "building" in South Boonville. According to Planning Department records for his parcel at 14341 Highway 128, Ricard filed an application for a permit in '04 to build a new foundation, revamp plumbing, storage, in advance of a two-story commercial/office building to replace his uninhabitable existing structure. The sketch and the architectural plans for the new structure were no longer in the file, apparently because Mr. Ricard didn't pursue the proposal. It appears that his permit was approved with conditions, but since the file does not contain the actual permit, we don't know what those conditions might have been. It's possible that the conditions would have cost Ricard more than he wanted to pay so he withdrew the application. There's a reference in the file to a letter having been sent to Ricard asking if he wanted to keep the permit active a year after the permit was semi-approved, but apparently Ricard did not respond to that letter, so the Planning Department disposed of the application/plans. If the conditions had to do with water and sewer, that might explain why Ricard is so happy to hear that there might eventually be a municipal water and sewer system in downtown Boonville. There's nothing in Ricard's file after that 2005 follow-up letter. So, if the permit conditions were the reason Ricard didn't proceed with his initial plan, we would have to see those plans and the County's response to see if there's any way to work around them.
A CLASSROOM was vandalized at the high school a couple of weeks ago and the maintenance shed broken into. Deputy Walker soon had the culprits in custody, two of whom were arrested and hauled off to Juvenile Hall, the third was cited and given a court date. Seems that the classroom break-in was a crude expression of hostility for a specific teacher. As his predecessor, the legendary Deputy Squires, you're not going to get over on Walker. He knows who's doing what in the Anderson Valley even when he's assigned to Ukiah.
WE'RE STILL SHORT a school board member in the wake of Erica Lemons' resignation. Present trustees include Dick Browning; Eric Arbanovella; Wynn Crisman; Natalie Matson. It's a thankless job which, if you do honestly, the school apparatus shows up en masse for a whine-in. But if you lay on a lot of blah-blah about what a swell job everyone is doing "for the kids" — all evidence to the contrary — you're wafted out the door after every meeting on a cloud of pure wuv. Sign up today!
WELL, WHAT THE HELL. It's my paper. Might as well say it. I think the entire public ed mission ought to be re-thought. I think young people are being ripped off every which way, and are certainly not being prepared for the world they will somehow have to live in, which they will face with no skills and not being able to read very well, if at all.
THE AV HEALTH CENTER'S meeting minutes are now posted at the Center's website. Gene Herr, eternally vigilant, asks these questions, some of them, in our opinion, rather intrusive considering the Center's board is a group of unpaid volunteers:
1. Who are the present Board members? What are their qualifications? What is their record of attendance in the last year? When do their terms of office expire?
2. What is the new Chronic Opioid Therapy Policy and Procedure approved by the Performance Improvement committee and the Board? What effect will this have on patients needing opiod therapy?
3. What are the "Social Determinants of Health" that are worth $217,000 in a new grant from the feds, did our application go in on time, and what are the odds on our getting it? Who evaluates what grant requirements will cost us in changes to existing program priorities or staffing and facilities?
4. There was no Finance committee meeting in Dec. The report from Nov. is just a one-pager "snap shot". According to the December minutes "There is no annual third party audit-report draft yet on finances, but AVHC is coming out financially ahead due to HRSA supplemental grants, the Affordable Care Act and improved billing practices. The reports we receive from Price Waterman are very reliable." Which is just dandy, except we cannot see the Price Waterman reports. Remember that Price Waterman does our bookkeeping, the company owner is our Financial Officer, yet we don't know what she says to our board, nor is there any third party verification of any of this.
5. Supposedly the Board has a Priority List for 2016 and beyond, which we all are invited to comment on. Where is this list? Have you had your chance to comment? Please share.
OK, I'M SHARING. The Health Center took on a big load of debt when it went big shot with a whole new wing and a buncha programs already available over the hill in Ukiah only 30-to-45 minutes away for most of us, including most hill muffs. The money thus expended still weighs heavily on the Center's annual budget. One doctor, one nurse, and someone to answer the phone. How did we get away from that?
OPIODS? Stoners absolutely love them, legitimately hurting people gotta have them. But if we have a pharmacy right here in Boonville at our clinic, dopers have to be kept out of it, hence a lot of bureaucratic time spent keeping them out. And in a country that spends much of its waking hours under the influence of one drug or another, it isn't easy securing the prescription larder, let alone accounting for missing pills.
AS FOR BOARD membership, something odd happens when otherwise rational people get elected or appointed to local boards, which are pretty much self-selecting to begin with as The Nice People work to keep everything Nice, i.e., rolling blandly along without external realities intruding, e.g., the Health Center is broke, Boonville students don't learn how to read, write and do a few simple calculations, cigarette smoke is bad for you but pot smoke somehow isn't, the wine industry is a major net negative for every aspect of life in the Anderson Valley, Public Radio Mendocino County is public radio and not a private club, and so on. The reality function is the exclusive preserve of Boonville's beloved newspaper.
THANK YOU, Boonville. Thank you, Nice People. The paper, with a martyred sigh, says it will continue to help wherever it can. But seriously, why do otherwise rational people go all authoritarian on us the instant they get a teensy taste of power?
THE WILD HORSES of 253. A small, ghostly herd of pale white horses has run wild for many years in the unsettled backcountry of upper Robinson Creek at the Ukiah end of Highway 253. The horses are very real, but their origins, in local myth, may lie with a 70's-era doctor with land at the west end of Robinson Creek Road. He is said to have simply freed several of the herd's forbearers when he sold out and moved on, much as some outlaw pot farmers leave behind their pit bulls when they move on. Last week, some of the horses were corralled as they grazed near the pumpkin patch on the Ukiah side of the hill. Sonoma County's Equine Rescue is trying to find homes for the captured animals whose brothers and sisters continue to roam free between South Ukiah and the Anderson Valley.
A LARGE-SCALE POT EVENT has been proposed for May 14-15 this year at the Boonville Fairgrounds. Boonville organizer Chad Rae seems rightly worried that Sonoma County now hosts the formerly Mendo-based Emerald Cup, an enterprise larger and more lucrative every year, an enterprise that rightly belongs right here in the Emerald Triangle, not in Sonoma County amidst a buncha winos. And the Boonville Fairgrounds is a far nice venue than post-industrial Santa Rosa, far more mellow here in Boonville than the frenetic suburb to the south. Rae proposes a Mendo version that would draw some 2,000 stoners and fellow travelers. Bring it on home, Chad!
AS RAE HIMSELF puts it: "A Seed Has Been Planted. The Mendo Grow Show: Documenting Cannabis in Mendocino County, The Emerald Triangle, and Beyond. The Mendo Grow Show is a cannabis activism internet TV organization dedicated to working with Mendocino and California cannabis industry organizations, workers, advocates and enthusiasts to bring news and information to our community, both here and worldwide. As our inaugural event we are planning the 2016 The Spring Planting Show - an event that will focus on education, information and activism. We are looking for your voice of support as we begin the process of planning this event.
Many of us in the cannabis industry have been hiding for years due to prohibition of cannabis and we are now just starting to be able to come out into the sun. We have a Tentative Date: May 14 and 15, in Picturesque Boonville, California with an Industry welcome party Friday night. We still have to work on the Details with the Fairgrounds and the County Officials.
So Clear your schedule Now!
CHAD'S CREDENTIALS? He "is a multiple-year, top-ten winner in the cannabis division of the Emerald Cup. Because of this and his decades behind the camera, shooting music festivals including Reggae on the River, the Sierra Nevada Music Festival, The Kate Wolf Music Festival and multiple years shooting main stage cannabis events including the Seattle HempFest, Rea has a unique perspective and context for bringing a 'home-grown,' locally-focused, locally-produced cannabis event to Mendocino County."
NEEDLESS TO SAY, there is already local opposition to Chad's plans, but considering that the Boonville Fair needs the money, and considering there's already several annual festivals at the Boonville Fairgrounds devoted to altered states of consciousness…
GREG KRAUSE REMINDS us that the Philo Grange has emerged as a fine Valley fun center. "First Friday Films & Social Night will feature beyond the cool flick about how women have made bands special and are stepping into bigger shoes in “Girls in the Band.” What could that be…. Pizza with potluck snacks in the Social hour. This event is a donation and nominal charge for pizza to fuel the film club. It is this Friday evening at the Grange with social and food at 6 and film at 7 PM. What a cool meet up and time to share a nice flick. You can check out the newly sanded, painted and polished hall floor which was prepped for the Variety show and the next event - The Valentine Day Bistro on Feb 13 at 8 PM featuring the Ukeholics and The Tiny Orchestra. The Hall will become a bistro of steamy love and emotion with a photo op beyond the Kodak viewpoint & camerawoman, the subject your couple, dated and saved for eons! The $15 admission grabs complimentary truffles for a couple. There will be flowers to purchase for that special gal and guy. A no host bar plus snacks to fuel the emotional load. Who could believe Grangers could create such romance!"
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