ELAINE HORN
I want to thank everyone for all the prayers and love that they have been sending to Elaine, and all of us. And I know a lot of people need closure. Many of you know that Elaine was a leukemia Survivor. She had been in remission for many years, but there are long-term effects from going through the amount of chemotherapy that cured her. We had many extra years with Elaine because she was "one tuff cookie". I know she is resting in peace and well-loved. We are having a small memorial for her here in California with just family.
Elaine loved animals and if you would like to contribute a donation to safehavenfarmsanctuary.org in her name as a tribute to her I know she would love that. Thank you all and take good care of yourselves.
Joanne Horn, her sister.
PLEASE HELP ONE OF OUR OWN
Tickets are $10.
Fundraiser For Carolyn Livingston & Family.
On Monday, January 14, Carolyn Livingston, our sixth-grade teacher at Anderson Valley elementary, lost her home in a fire. Luckily, her family and pets are safe. Unfortunately, her home was a total loss. To help offset some of the costs that the family will incur, we are having a drawing. There will be six gift baskets including a variety of handmade gifts, soaps, local wine, gift certificates to local markets and restaurants and many more items. We are accepting monetary donations if you are not interested in purchasing a ticket. All donations will be greatly appreciated. Tickets are $10 each. The drawing will be held on Friday, February 1. Call the Elementary School for time and place at 895 3010.
MEET SHERIFF TOM ALLMAN
Program: Law and Order in Mendocino County
AV Unity Club, February 7, 2019, Fairgrounds Dining Room, 1:30pm. The community is invited to join the Unity Club for complimentary cookies and coffee during Sheriff Allman’s presentation. Questions: Val Hanelt, 895-3526.
THE STORM LAST WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY was, in its violent winds and heavy rains, emphasized by the thunder crashing down on us about 3am. The deluge closed 128 at Flynn Creek Road to the Coast, as it always does with the big rains. 175 Hopland to Lakeport was closed and the Garcia ran too deep over Highway One between Manchester and Point Arena to permit through traffic this morning (to all but Jan, Jan the Intrepid, Mail Lady) but was passable early afternoon. Rancho Navarro lost power, residents being informed by PG&E's robo-messager that an estimate for power restoration might be available by late Thursday afternoon. Veteran outback dwellers reconciled themselves to low priority status when they bought in. Most are prepared to lose contact with the great world outside, while a relieved minority welcome it. Local Caltrans crews did their usual efficient job keeping the Boonville-Ukiah Road and 128 from Navarro to the Sonoma County line free of the inevitable mudslides and boulders. Ditto for PG&E crews who labor in all kinds of weather and rugged terrain.
A BOONVILLE READER COMPLAINS: "My Mexican friend who wants to learn better English, and works at Mosswood, told me she took the English class for $11/semester. But if you want to take the Spanish class, it's $259.00 now! At the Elementary. So we're all shit canning the Spanish class at the elementary and buying the Lyrica App instead.”
THE ADULT SCHOOL'S NOOR DAWOOD EXPLAINS:
We understand there is some confusion about why AV Adult School English classes cost $11 while Spanish classes cost $200, and we are happy to explain why this is the case.
The state has targeted specific objectives for adult education, and we are only allowed to use state funding for those purposes. The state-funded classes/services we provide are: English, High School Equivalency, Citizenship, Basic Computer Skills, Reading and Writing, and Parent Education. These programs are fully funded by the state and thus free to students. (Note that we do administer many of these programs in partnership with Mendocino College, and the college charges $11/semester). Additional state-funded objective areas include Adults with Disabilities and Career Technical Education.
The Adult School strives to respond to needs in our community and provide classes that will be of use to all community members. Unfortunately, many services we’d like to provide -- including Spanish classes for English speakers -- are not eligible for state funding. We thus created “Community Enrichment” classes -- fee-based classes where the amount of money that participants pay is used to cover the cost of the class.
This semester’s Beginner and Intermediate Spanish classes run for 2 hrs/wk for 15 weeks and cost $200 each. This cost covers the following:
A certificated teacher for 30 hours of instructional time + half hr planning time/class, a Native-Spanish speaker assistant for 30 hours + half hr prep time/class, administrative costs (marketing, facility coordination, human resources, payroll, facility overhead) with a total semester cost of $1,997 ($200/student, if 10 students enroll).
If we have ten students this means each person pays $6.70/hr for a class with fellow community members offering hands-on learning in an Elementary School classroom. As with all of our classes, free childcare is available.
We calculate the cost based on a goal of ten students enrolling per class. If we get more than 10 students, the price goes down. We also offer payment plans and are happy to dialogue with people for whom the cost of the class is a barrier. We know learning a language and taking a weekly class requires a lot of effort and initiative from the students, and seek to make the class as accessible as possible.
The workbook for the class is $56. Students in all of our programs are welcome to either borrow or purchase the corresponding materials. (We don’t provide free books to our English students either.)
We wish the state of California was able to offset the cost of the Spanish classes, as it can be very helpful in CA (and particularly here in AV) to communicate in Spanish, but sadly that is not the case. If you are interested in motivating our representatives to increase funding for Adult Education in this regard, we encourage you to contact them here and here.
The Adult School exists to increase opportunities for adult learning, however possible. We encourage community members to seek cost-effective ways to learn a new language. Individuals who wish to use online language programs and need an internet connection and/or computer access are welcome to use an Adult School computer during the hours of our Computer class.
KATHY BAILEY reminds us: “It's your last chance to buy original art from Kisumu, Kenya and necklaces, bags, earrings, mobiles, and more, all to support Equip Manyatta and the Manyatta Youth Resource Centre in Kisumu. Show comes down Sunday. If you have had your eye on an art piece, please make an offer. Prices on some art is negotiable. Thanks again to Lauren's for providing this wonderful opportunity.” (The AVA’s resident aesthete recommends at least one purchase. This stuff is beautiful!)
I ASKED my grandson, a first grader, how many Trumpers were in his class. “One,” he said, “and he likes Lady GaGa too!”
FRESH MILK SHARES
Hello Anderson Valley. Got Fresh, Golden, Cream-Top, Raw milk? Well, we do! It is delicious and we are excited to share. Our flexible cow herd-share allows locals to join as members of our farm and pick up milk from our farm, 2 block out of downtown Boonville. We will also have eggs, olive oil, yogurt, cheese, and other treats available from the farm. Please see the flyer below for more information. Thanks and we hope to hear from you and see you on the farm soon. (Lambert Lane across second bridge)
WHIMSEY LIVES! Driving up the Ukiah Road one recent morning, as I rounded the corner about three miles up I was delighted to see a pumpkin perched atop a boulder on the south side of the road, which had required some effort by the jolly someone who placed it there. Maybe it was the same spirited person who painted the boulder pawnshop gold at the SoCo end of 128 that looks like the world's biggest nugget. And the same person who drapes the baby fir in Christmas ornaments every year, also on the Ukiah Road. Whoever you are, you've got to know that your whimsey has amused thousands of passersby. If there's anything this country needs more than regular cash, it’s regular laughs.
REMEMBERING MARTIN LUTHER KING on his 90th birthday it occurs to me that lots of people, especially the young, don't know much about him beyond his iconic status as a civil rights martyr and as a day off. And few people will want to recall that King was vilified on a daily basis by the newspapers of the time. Then, presto! magico! millions of Americans were liberals! Still the best book on King is "Martin Luther King, Jr: A Life" by Marshall Frady available in that nifty Penguin series whose biographies range from Elvis (also recommended) to DaVinci. What has always struck me about MLK is the pure courage of the man knowing, as he said, he was doomed but keeping on nevertheless. His home was firebombed with his wife and children in it, the police withdrew even a pretense of protection, every lowdown cracker in the country was out to kill him… And the arch-weirdo, J. Edgar Hoover, was busily taping MLK's private life. And here we are a little more than 50 years later with armies of "liberals" counting on the suddenly unimpeachable FBI to bring down Trump!
MENDOCINO PERMACULTURE’S 36TH ANNUAL WINTER ABUNDANCE WORKSHOP Saturday, February 9, 2019 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fairgrounds in Boonville — Rain or Shine. Seed, Scion, & Cutting Exchange, Classes + Hands-on Fruit Tree Grafting Clinics
Free classes all day on tree & vine propagation; how to grow your own food; how to save seeds of all kinds of food plants. You can purchase fruit tree rootstocks cheaply here and then graft your own trees from our free scions. Please bring seeds, scions, cuttings, and your love of plants. For more information go to https://mendolocalfood.org/ (scroll down) or call Barbara/Rob at (707) 895-3897, Richard 459-5926, or Mark at 463-8672. See you there!
If you can and want to volunteer this year, please contact Barbara at bgoodell@mcn.org or 895-3897.
ONION STARTS FOR SALE. Bunny Bill will be selling onion starts at the Feb. 9th Winter Abundance Fair. He will have Red River, Copra and Silver Star. Due to low demand, if you want Walla Walla or Leeks, you are strongly encouraged to call him at 895-2609. He may not order them this year. Get your beds ready!
PETIT TETON MONTHLY FARM REPORT - DECEMBER 2018
We are happy to see 2018 in the rear-view mirror, not that it looks any better that way, but it is smaller, slightly faded and rain spattered which may make it less significant. We are also happy watching the rain not just spatter but soak everything in our valley, and we were thrilled to have to turn over our full to the brim 5" rain gauge after two days of downpour and for the fifth time this season. It is a joy and a relief to see green hills and to listen to the tree frogs chorusing again. Of course we're aware that the political evils have not been expunged and that this year will be painful. But we are catching a scent of change in the air - a whiff of hope is wafting over us and we are hoping some sanity will also, eventually. Best wishes for this year and take care of yourselves and others.
Nikki Auschnitt and Steve Kreig
DAVID KING WRITES about the sorry condition of the Comptche-Ukiah road:
“Due to our soil being Franciscan shale we are prone to slides and the roads giving way due to saturation. Comptche Ukiah road is prone to these problems and huge amounts of our tax dollars have gone into repairs. What concerned me is between Tom Bell flats and the town of Comptche some government agency installed cables on some logs to create a log jam. Log jams themselves don’t concern me because at first glance it seems like a great idea to slow down the water so salmon have a place to rest. My concern is in the location of the log jam. They have chosen to put it right next to the road. In turn it substantially raises the water level on the high side and adds saturation to the ground. So naturally we see the road starting to give out. Majority of the river is well off the road except for this one location. For the life of me I can’t see why they would jeopardize public safety and stick us with the costly repair of the road. Besides the safety issue I don’t think it is right that we have use our tax dollars to fix the road that a non county agency undermined. As for the salmon safety I feel it is a bad idea to be so close to the road. I have seen some shady characters parked there walking towards the low side of the log jam. The low side is where you will find the salmon trying to get past the log jam. I have no proof but one of the shady character I witnessed is a frequent flyer on our sheriff booking logs and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was poaching salmon. Let’s not remember this is the same kind of stream Nixon paid people to pull everything out of the streams so they would run faster so I may be having some trust issues in regards to government ineptitude.”
NO FOOL like an old fool. I couldn't resist the annual free throw contest at Drake High School last Saturday morning. For ten bucks benefitting The Needy Families of Marin, and all ages welcome, I went 6 for 25. But no air balls! Around the rim every time! The gaffer shooting next to me looked like he was shooting cannonballs, firing up ten air balls in a row. My 24% on the morning was, among the dentured class, almost respectable.
RENEE WYANT of the Senior Center reports that the weekend's crab feed was "a great turn out! Probably the most ever!" The silent auction featured a pair of donated Warrior tickets successfully bid on by Renee's bro, Bryan Wyant. And one more crab feed coming up, this one benefitting the Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church on Saturday evening February 2nd.
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