TERRI RHOADES runs the School District's crucial food service program. She also teaches cooking and home economics. It's fair to say that Terri is vital to the daily functioning of the local schools. Last Thursday, when Terri entered her familiar kitchen at the High School cafeteria and smelled gas, she cut the jets at their intake valve. But when Terri re-lit the pilot light there was an explosion large enough to tear Terri's clothing and propel her backwards. Frightening as the accident was, Terri was not badly injured and, as we go to press, is back at work after a couple of hard earned days off.
DAVE BROADBENT of the Holmes Ranch is still at the Valley View Convalescent facility in Ukiah. Dave, 63, is recovering from several surgeries and ongoing medical complications.
ANYBODY OUT THERE know where door gunner Ray Hoagland went off to? Ray the horse guy? Ray who used to live at the bottom of Vista Ranch? Ray who lost his eye over Vietnam?
AMEEN GAZALI is a senior at Anderson Valley High School. As his Senior Project the inventive youngster has devised "Anderson Valley's Best of the Best Reunion Alumni Basketball Games" with all proceeds going to Haiti Relief via Habitat For Humanity. As old timers can tell you, Anderson Valley has produced some terrific hoopsters, and there's always interest around here in the game. So, then, on Saturday evening the 17th of April beginning at 6pm there will be three games: Game number one pits players from the 1980's and 1990's against this year's boy's varsity. Game number two will see the lady alums of 2004-2006 taking on the high school's girl's varsity. And game three will put male-type Panthers from the teams of 1998-2003 against the Panthers of 2004-2009. All this and food, a silent auction, music, entertainment, and the pure joy that comes from seeing old friends. Info at 895-3408.
STEVE DERWINSKI stopped in last week. He'd just heard that David Meek had passed away. "I have a couple of David Meek stories," Steve began. "I knew him pretty well. I worked with him, and I can tell you he was a good worker." Steve would know. He's also a good worker, one of these guys who seems to know how to do everything, inventive, ingenious. Pick your superlative, it applies. When Steve was building his boat across the street at the Hotel, where he'd also designed and built the guest house, I liked to drift by just to see what he was doing, and he was always doing something interesting. I asked him the other day if that boat he'd built, a thing of beauty that inspired everyone who saw it to think of sailing off for the South Seas, ever got in the water. "I sail it out on the bay out of San Rafael all the time," Steve said, which I found somehow gratifying because I'd spent so much time gazing at it as it was slowly realized in the middle of Boonville. Steve, like everyone else who knew him had his David Meek memories. Visiting the Navarro Store one day, Steve encountered Dave. "I asked him how everything was going in the Deepend." Dave replied, "How's everything going up there at the Shallow End?" Steve recalled Dave's famous trip to Paris, Paris, France that is. A former resident of Navarro who'd lit out in a hurry for the continent just ahead of some subpoenas, had sent Dave a round trip plane ticket. On the big day of his departure, Steve, on his way to Ukiah, saw Dave at the Boonville end of the Ukiah Road. He was holding a cardboard hitchhiking sign that read, "Paris." David got there and got back, too. Navarro's not the same without him.
DAVID MEEK would definitely appreciate the Deepend's newest enterprise, The Mendocino Marijuana Museum and Gift Shop, and look for it soon in the space to the northwest of the Floodgate Cafe, just across the street from Bev and Doug's house.
I DIDN'T BELIEVE that there could possibly be a guest rental in Boonville that goes for a thousand bucks a night. But there is, off Mountain View Road.
VERY PLEASANT LADY named Stephanie Abeyta has opened a re-sale shop for trendy women's clothes housed in the space recently occupied by Jitter Box Music at 200 S. State, Ukiah. Lots of fashionable duds at reasonable prices.
AT 221 NORTH STATE a group of talented young artists have opened a gallery called Tribe 13 Art Collective providing "Ukiah with a global pivot point of visionary culture." Whether or not Ukiah is ready to become a global pivot point for anything other than fast food and six miles of visual blight as its main drag, remains to be seen.
CALTRANS has announced that they will be installing another crosswalk pedestrian warning sign in Boonville. This one will be on the south end of town spanning Highway 128 near the Anderson Valley Senior Center where more chickens than human pedestrians ever cross the road. Several locals have told us that the hard-to-miss pedestrian flags in the middle of the road have slowed traffic down a bit.
BOONVILLE born and bred Chaya Mandelbaum, son of Benna Kolinsky and Dan Mandelbaum, is currently living in the West Village neighborhood of New York City and working as a trial lawyer for the United States Department of Labor. He is one of the lead lawyers in a large federal wage enforcement case currently being tried before a jury in federal
court in New Jersey. The case is against a New Jersey gas station chain that has willfully failed to pay approximately 1,000 hourly employees the overtime pay they were entitled to over the last seven years. Chaya and his team have filed to recover the withheld pay and to set the record straight for the gas station attendants who were being taken advantage of. Go, Chaya!
WATERFALL Hike and Spring Wildflower Walk: Anderson Valley Land Trust is sponsoring two spring hikes: The first is to Parkinson Gulch Waterfall on Saturday, March 27th from 1pm to approximately 5pm. This mildly strenuous interpretive hike will take us through an orchard, small vineyard, and forest to a beautiful waterfall that cascades into Parkinson Gulch and then flows into the upper reaches of Indian Creek. Chris Bing – a life-long birder and participant in the annual Audubon Bird Count – will be joining us, so bring your binoculars. The views are spectacular! The number of participants is limited, so sign up early. For the second, Clare Wheeler will lead our Spring Wildflower Walk on Saturday afternoon on April 17th at a ranch outside of Yorkville. More than one option of routes will be offered. Please call the AVLT office at 895-3150 (which is now in the Missouri House next to the Boonville Post Office) or email us at avlt@mcn.org to reserve a place on either of these hikes and for more information. There is no fee.
"HI AVA," began the cheery message, "as part of our community effort to take care of those in need during a crisis, the Red Cross is sponsoring a dog and cat CPR course this weekend. Would you kindly publish an announcement in your paper? Thank you, Sincerely, Amy Soderman."
THE ANNOUNCEMENT was laid out as a display ad, and the event was a paid affair complete with guest speaker. I wrote back to Ms. Soderman to say that by the AVA's grasping standards, and the facts of the event, she ought to cough up for an ad. $25 and we're arf-arf affirmative!
MS. SODERMAN WROTE right back. "I don't think the sponsor has the funds as this is only covering costs. Thank you." Then she wrote again: "Publications that approved: Ukiah Daily Journal, City of Ukiah, Mendocino Beacon, Independent Coast Observer, Fort Bragg Advocate. Publications that did not approve: Anderson Valley Advertiser."
I DON'T WANT AMY to think I'm an enemy of dogs. She has shamed me into a free promo, and here it is: "First Aid & CPR for dogs & Cats. Don’t Feel Helpless. Learn to keep pets safe & use proper emergency procedures until you can take your pet to a veterinarian. Excellent for professional pet care staff including dog walkers and pet sitters. Includes information on how to keep your pet healthy. Led by Allen James of the Santa Rosa Red Cross. Reservation Required. March 20, 2010. 10am-3pm. Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens Meeting Room. $65 includes lunch & Certification. Call for info (707) 937-2935. Mail check to: 11209 Gurley Lane, Mendocino, CA 95460. Sponsored by: At Last Farm Dog Day Camp."
Ed reply: Ground zero commercial Fort Bragg is a funny place to seek peace and quiet, Doug, and how could unamplified music inside a restaurant possibly disturb anyone? From the perspective of fast-fading Boonville, nighttime noise of a commercial nature would be most welcome. This Hemann character has sent you, his ex-wife and his girl friend to give us his versions of events. If he won't talk to our reporter how can our reporter report what he has to say? Has it occurred to you that the guy's a big cry baby? I find it hard to believe that Muto, a grown man, would toss eggs across the street at Hemann's shop. As for their physical encounter, Hemann is twice the size of Muto, and Hemann started the fight that sent him to the emergency room for bandaid injuries by barging into Muto's business and calling him names. The fight, such as it was, ended outside Muto's place of business. If Muto had been the aggressor, he would have been charged. Finally, the idea that Freda Moon would write a story for a meal and a bottle of wine is insulting. Me? I'd take the meal if it included dessert.
GOOD NEWS from the Deputy Dog Campaign. Thanks to substantial donations by the Lion’s Club, the American Legion Post 385 and the Auxiliary, the Unity Club, and the Independent Career Women the fund raising towards purchase of a K-9 dog for Sheriff’s Deputy Craig Walker got off to an amazing start. Letters requesting donations were mailed to most of the property owners in the Anderson Valley March 10th and 11th. We want everyone to own a piece of this project so if our mailing list did not include you please send your donation to the Unity Club PO Box 563 Boonville, CA 95415. Make checks payable to AVCSD. Notation: Deputy K-9 Dog Fund. Your donations are tax deductible and we will send you a receipt. The AV Elementary School is collecting pennies in a jar to cover costs of a bullet and stab proof dog vest. 7th and 8th grade classes are engaged in a K-9 project essay contest. One AVHS Senior is planning to base his senior project around the K-9 campaign. We invite everyone from Yorkville to Navarro to join us. Let’s show Craig how much we appreciate his work by providing him with a K-9 companion. If you have any questions call Bev Dutra/Unity Club at 895-3447 or Terry Ryder/AVCAC at 895-2146. — Beverly Dutra AV Unity Club
THE AV VARSITY baseball team dropped their season opener to Calistoga 4-3. The Panthers absorbed the loss on their impressively maintained home field behind the high school, a home field that now features a home run fence limning the outfield. Coach Ben Anderson cited the strong pitching of multi-sport athlete Garrett Mezzanatto, the line drive hitting of Sergio Gutierrez and Mike Blackburn, plus the stellar relief hurling of Omar Ferreyra as our side's star performers. Tuesday afternoon the Panthers hosted visiting Upper Lake.
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