DR. APFEL of the Anderson Valley Health Center called Tuesday to say that the late Salvadore Aguilar, only 20 when he died, had not been seen at the Anderson Valley Health Center, let alone informed there that he had AIDS. Aguilar was found dead at the Greenwood Bridge two weeks ago. The Mendocino County Sheriff's Department soon determined that he'd shot himself at a pot garden on Fish Rock Road, distraught at the loss of a girl friend and what he thought was a diagnosis of AIDS. His panicked fellow gardeners, tardily aware they were driving aimlessly with a dead man in their van, stopped at the bridge where they dragged Aguilar into the woods and left him.
THE SPORTS BOOSTER CLUB will host a big Spaghetti Feed fund-raiser at the County Fairgrounds in Boonville on Sunday, August 16th from 6-9pm. Social hour begins at 5pm. $10/adult. $5/age 6-12. Under 6: Free. Raffles, prices and live and silent auctions. Dinner includes classic spaghetti, bread, salad, beverage and dessert. All are welcome.
ANDERSON VALLEY'S firefighters have been kept hopping since Saturday afternoon's nearly catastrophic Yorkville fire at the old Marie Hill place, about four miles east of Yorkville Central where a mysterious blaze blew suddenly up from beside 128 and, with the afternoon winds driving it ominously into the trees, raced east. Before the firefighters could bring it under control an hour later “a couple of outbuildings” had burned and, Chief Wilson said, “every bit of 30 acres had burned.” The Chief added that Anderson Valley had committed most of its emergency capacity to beating back the fast moving flames. Additional forces included a heli-tak bucket chopper manned by 8 airborne firefighters from CalFire – all this and a couple of air tankers swooping in for precise treetop drops of fire retardant. The Chief was particularly anxious for the welfare of a young mother with an infant child whose home “was at the head of the fire.” She and her baby got out safely, but the fire, before it was beaten back, had come within 150 feet of her home. Fortunately for us, the Chief said, “there were lots of units available.”
MONDAY MORNING the alarms rang early as a fire in the far east hills of Grizzly Peak in the area of the old AVTV translator was touched off by a down power line. That one was quickly extinguished. At about four a kind of all points bulletin went out that a large fire had broken out off Robinson Creek Road, Ukiah, and was moving northeast into the heavily populated area of South Ukiah called Oak Knoll. Firefighters from all over the County, including Anderson Valley, spent most of Monday night and Tuesday morning engaged in what Chief Wilson described as “structure protection.” No structures were lost, and chalk up another big win for this county's firefighters.
SHERIFF ALLMAN was in town Monday morning. He said he was committed to keeping two resident deputies in the Anderson Valley, that he was still working towards a sort of back-to-the-future version of the old County Farm for inmates of the “frequent flier” type, and that his department's brilliant and fascinating website's booking photos are drawing an average of 6,000 visitors a day. The County's ingenious top cop said he hoped soon to allow some paid advertising on the site to help defray his operating costs.
NATALIE MATSON of Signal Ridge is the new Senior Bus driver, replacing long-time wheelman, Dick Sands, now retired. If you meet the basic Senior Bus standard – “Darn kids call that music?” and need a ride, call Natalie at 895-3609. And the kindly, friendly fellow who supplies the Center's fresh flowers is Patrick Ford, a former Marine Corps basketball player among whose many skills is the rare ability to chase away the gophers undermining the Center's foundations.
DAVE EVANS, the always ebullient maestro of Navarro Store Presents, is justly proud of last weekend's shows, about which local are still marveling. “It was great! Double great! Everything went right, from the weather to the music of Guitar Shorty to the music of the Sub-Dudes.” Dave says he's taking this weekend off but promises “the summer has just begun to rock!"
Be First to Comment