DAN KUNY is recuperating at his Ukiah home after the logging accident that nearly killed him two weeks ago. The Kuny family remains grateful to the emergency care their patriarch received in Modesto, less pleased with the convalescent facility the popular logger and football coach was placed in following emergency care. The Kunys packed Dan up and drove him home after Garden City Healthcare Center simply left him on the sidewalk after Dan complained about the non-care he was receiving. Dan, 61, told the Press Democrat that the unsedated nine-hour drive in his wife Tammy's car from Modesto to Ukiah almost finished him off. “It took forever. By the time we got here, I’m pretty sure I was in shock.”
WE TALKED with the patient Monday morning, expressing the hope that the pain from his multiple injuries was subsiding. "I feel a little better every day," the irrepressible tree faller said, adding that he didn't like the pain drugs the doctors have prescribed. We weren't surprised that Dan was toughing out the pain. "I can get up but I get tired fast. Mostly, with my ribs and all the other broken stuff all I can do is wait it out. That 45 minutes after the tree fell on me? I thought I was done. I've done it a hundred times, but I kinda relaxed and it cost me. I wondered why I couldn't push myself free, but when they cut my boot off the bottom of my foot was looking at me. The doctors put all kinds of stuff in it —bolts, nuts and grease fittings."
LOGGER DAN wanted us to make sure people knew how thankful he was for his old friends — Jimmy Brown, Mike Crudo and Tony Pardini — who've built a ramp to the front door of his Ukiah home "so I can get in and out."
ANDERSON VALLEY FIRE CHIEF Andres Avila told the Community Services District board last week that he is becoming concerned about an apparent reduction in volunteer response to Anderson Valley emergency calls.
"MANY THINGS are changing that may have caused this to happen,” wrote Avila, “but it is noticeable enough to report to the Board as an issue. Several things cause low responses with a volunteer fire department such as: calls during work hours, vacation drawdown, repeat false alarms, etc. These are normal conditions that cause low response and are characteristic of a volunteer organization.
"MY THEORY for this response reduction is based upon the observation of two major changes: the advanced life support (quick response vehicle that has been implemented during the exclusive operating area pilot program and also the year-round presence of CalFire (paid by emergency drought funding).
"BOTH the QRV and CalFire are paid response entities that are in quarters at the time of the call which results in them arriving at the scene before our [volunteer] responders do. In one way this is good; it provides a quick response for the public. Most of the time our units are not needed and are canceled. This creates a difficult problem to address when our responders are required to endure hours and hours of training in the hopes that they can use their skills in the field but are not getting any payoff for their efforts. The new trend of not being needed as much at the scene has made it very difficult to inspire volunteers to respond (particularly late at night and on minor incidents). I am concerned that the Anderson Valley Fire Department volunteers inspiration to respond is down and it is making it increasingly difficult situation to press the new [skill] requirements on them. This situation in my perspective is not good for the overall wellness and efficiency of the long-term of the department. I will provide the Board with updates on this as needed, but I felt that it was appropriate to disclose this as an important issue.”
ALSO LAST WEEK, the CSD Board routinely approved its annual Fiscal Year 2016/2017 budgets for public review. At first there seemed to be some interest in enlarging the notice to include a summary of the annual revenues and expenses of the department along the lines of the South Coast’s annual notice. But Chief Avila objected, saying that a budget summary served no purpose. The board quickly reversed course and voted 3-1 not to provide the budget along with the newspaper notice that the budgets are available for review.
CHIEF AVILA POINTED OUT that the budget is available at the firehouse and is posted on the department’s website. He said a summary of the budget would be out of context and perhaps misleading, somehow causing certain Valley residents to think…
THE CHIEF didn’t say it, but he seems apprehensive that the Department’s relatively rosy budget picture might jeopardize donations the Department continues to receive either directly or through the Volunteer Firefighters Association. Board member Kathleen McKenna was the only vote in favor of publishing the expanded budget, saying that it's simply a matter of transparency and that it might encourage the public to take more of an interest in the Department.
FOLLOWING a motion by board member Kirk Wilder to publish the summary with a second from newly seated board member Paul Soderman, the motion was defeated 3-1 after the Chief's objection. (Wilder abstained.)
OLIVIA ALLEN is graduating from the University of California at Irvine magna cum laude. Why are we not surprised? The brilliant and vivacious daughter of Bill Allen and Nancy MacLeod of Signal Ridge had no more difficulty with university fare than she had pulling straight-A's at Anderson Valley High School.
TOM WODETZSKI alerts us that the Anderson Valley Land Trust is leading a geologist’s hike through the Floodgate landslide area “to learn about the geology of our watershed, and view photos of the Floodgate slide then and now. This hike will be on July 10th. (Call 895-3150 to RSVP. I canoed down the Navarro River soon thereafter (spring of 1995 or more likely 1996) and wrote up a report of what I saw, and you ran it on your front page, I believe. I’d like to send an electronic copy of that article to the AVLT and the hike guide. Can you email me that article? And any other you wrote about that slide? If so, that would be greatly appreciated."
UNFORTUNATELY, our electronic archive didn't begin until '96. Eventually we hope to scan in all the issues prior but that's a project we can't afford at this time.
I REMEMBER that slide. I walked in via Floodgate creek off Gschwend Road to have a look for myself. 'Massive" doesn't begin to describe it. It was so big it blocked the flow of the Rancheria for some time, creating a virtual lake behind it. The whole hillside had come down.
MONTE HULBERT was living on the creek in his ingeniously converted redwood stump at the time. Monte was (and is) a committed and true steward of the land. The access property when he lived there was beautiful and perfectly maintained. When George Gowan succeeded Monte the property was quickly converted to a kind of combination tweaker compound and Museum of Post-Industrial Detritus, since condemned by the County.
LATE-SEASON turbulence brought cooler temperatures and a few rain showers to the region last week. Temperatures seldom reached the 70s, and light rains periodically sweetened the air. Mild, unsettled weather is expected to continue for at least a few more days.
AFTER A FLURRY of hysterical and totally unfounded speculation last week that KZYX was censoring discussion of Measure V (standing dead trees as nuisance), station manager Lorraine Dechter calmed outpatient anxiety with this soothing assurance: "We are running Charlie Acker's live show tonight at 7pm. We are satisfied that the main opposition, MRC, was given the opportunity to participate, but chooses not to. We will also continue to cover this measure and surrounding issues in other formats, besides the Ecology Hour."
THE ANDERSON VALLEY CHAPTER of the Independent Career Women is holding an open house tonight, Wednesday (25 May) at the Anderson Valley Brewery's tasting room, food provided, 6:30-8:30pm. Any woman interested in joining is invited and most welcome to attend. Consistent with the newly adopted federal gender guidelines, any male who feels like a woman is also invited to attend.
A FEW WORDS in praise of Sue Marcott, who would be and is the estimable and multi-talented Sue Marcott of Yorkville whose father you old timers will remember as the unforgettably vivid Leo Marcott, also of Yorkville, who for years regaled customers of his tiny Yorkville restaurant with much impromptu merriment along with the best tacos ever. So, ever since the revival two years ago of the Yorkville Market by Lisa Walsh, I've been enjoying the Market's oatmeal cookies as dessert for all the other delicious foods on sale there in the most pleasant mercantile circumstances found anywhere in Mendocino County. I'd heard that the modest Ms. Marcott was a talented musician, talented to where she was able to make her way playing professionally before returning to her Yorkville roots. I hadn't known the perfect oatmeal cookies offered at the Market were Sue's creation and, more intriguingly, that Sue had gotten the recipe from Gloria Ross's home economics class at Anderson Valley High School. Will the circle be unbroken! If you haven't stopped in at the Yorkville Market you really should. It's a wonderful place which, all by itself, has put the Y back in Yorkville.
AND YOU CAN see and taste for yourselves at Taste of Yorkville this very Sunday as Yorkville celebrates local, sustainable, delicious this Memorial Day Sunday! On Sunday, May 29, from Noon to 5 PM, wineries, artists, chefs, craftsfolk, farmers and other community members will offer “tastes” of their labors at the first annual Taste of Yorkville event. Held at the Yorkville Market in bucolic downtown Yorkville, locals and visitors will have a chance to sample, enjoy and purchase the bounty of local purveyors. The event, which is free to the public, is intended to showcase all that is wonderful about Yorkville — wine, food, lodging, art, culture, natural beauty, and diversity. Our community boasts wineries, vineyards, farms and gardens supporting sustainable agriculture and organic growing practices. Info at 707-894-9456
ANDERSON VALLEY'S red-hot baseball team rolled confidently into Point Arena last week riding a 14-game winning streak for the regular season-ending confrontation to determine the NCL III league championship. When the dust cleared, the once-defeated Point Arena Pirates left no doubt who was the better team — they handled the Panthers 7-3 in the first game (Gavin Malik got the win on the mound) while Cody Cissna's three-run homerun to center provided the margin of victory in the second game 5-2. Brett Hoguin picked up the win on the mound for the Pirates. The real story of the game was errors — Anderson Valley committed NINE in the two games — as well as the jinx the Pirates seem to hold over the Panthers: Point Arena has now won the past 11 consecutive games over Anderson Valley and have a record of 22-4-1 extending back to April 20, 2005.
Box Score First Game
AV 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 / 3 Runs, 6 hits, 4 Errors
PA 1 0 3 2 0 1 X / 7 Runs, 8 hits, 2 Errors
Winning Pitcher Gavin Malik (4 strikeouts)
Losing Pitcher Jared Johnston (9 strikeouts, 2 hit batters)
Box Score Second Game
AV 1 0 0 0 1 / 2 Runs, 2 hits, 5 errors
PA 0 0 3 2 X / 5 Runs, 5 hits, 1 error
Winning pitcher Brett Holguin (4 strikeouts)
Losing pitcher Tony Pardini
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