Greetings one and all. If you are sitting comfortably then I shall begin. News Flash! The ‘Original’ Crab Feed, being held this coming Saturday, Feb 5th, is sold out! There are no tickets left anywhere and the organizers tell me that none will be available on the door either.
Meanwhile. Last week I passed on information about what you can do to save one of our local birds of prey (barn owls, hawks, and yes, even Turkey Vultures) if you come across one that is injured: take it to the Mendocino Animal Hospital in Ukiah, where it will get cared for and there will be no charge to you. This week how about saving a deputy sheriff? Yes, folks, there is a very real possibility that the Valley may be losing the admired and well-respected Deputy Craig Walker at some point this year for budgetary reasons. A couple of letters in the AVA’s letters page touched on this subject in recent weeks and on further inquiries by Bald Eagle, my ace investigative reporter, there have already been cutbacks in the duties that Wallker and Deputy Squires are being asked to fulfill in terms of pro-active policing and even traffic violations. Walker’s police dog, which the com-munity had paid for, is on hold, there have been hardly any DUI arrests in the Valley since before Thanksgiving, patrols have virtually stopped, and the only winners in this situation are going to be the ‘bad guys.’
Already I have heard that the Valley’s ‘tweekers’ and other ‘ne’er-do-wells’ are very aware of the situation and are taking full advantage of it in the form of increased petty theft and excesses of unsocial behavior — crimes that are not ‘serious,’ but pretty annoying to those affected all the same. Just a day or so ago my neighbor had gas siphoned out of his truck and a few days before that I received this message from Pat Hulbert at the Philo Church: “Someone stole 100 gallons of Kerosene from our Philo Church. Sure wish I could find out who it was. Have you seen a truck with a tank on it by the left side of the Philo Church? Who ever it was got a real good deal, I had just sent the gas company $300 plus to pay for it. God Bless, Pat H.”
Now I am certainly not a Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes when it comes to law-enforcement but a certain degree of police presence and law enforcement is undeniably necessary in any decent, functioning community and if the current planned cutbacks are taken to their expected conclusion, then I feel, along with many others, that we may well be heading for a ‘wilder west’ than has been seen here for many, many years. To keep our deputies here in the Valley, and carrying out the fine job they have done to this point, do I hear a cry out there of ‘Let’s get a Community Petition going!’? What about direct pleas to our recently elected 5th District Supervisor, Dan Hamburg, a good man in my experience, to see if this can be sorted out? He will be a very important ‘player’ in the process over the next few months and let’s hope he is able to help us in some way. Then, of course, there is Sheriff Allman himself. Perhaps a petition organized among Valley folks and sent off to him might work wonders? Meanwhile, as fate would have it, the Sheriff will be ‘appearing’ in Boonville as the guest at the Unity Club’s monthly meeting at The Fairgrounds tomorrow, Thursday, Feb 3rd, at 1pm. Why not attend, share some of your opinions, and ask some questions? (No rotten tomato throwing, please.)
Moving on to more pleasant matters. This Sunday at 3:30pm, it’s the Green Bay Packers against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. That’s #45 to the non-Romans among you. It’s two of the NFL’s most storied teams in what should be a very close match-up. In fact the Packers are favored to win by less than a field goal. Here we go then, with my annual ‘Guaranteed, Stone-cold Lock for the Super Bowl’ — and I’m going with the Steelers to win 24-20 to claim their seventh title in eight attempts.
With that in mind how about this comment on sports by doom-and-gloom, yet quite brilliant author, George Orwell, for your Quote of the Week, “Serious sports has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence; in other words it is war minus the shooting.” And that was before he’d even seen the Steelers’ defense!
Public Service Announcements. #226. Mendocino Permaculture’s 28th Annual Winter Workshop will be held on Saturday, Feb 5th, 2011, from 9am to 4pm at the Anderson Valley High School domes in Boonville. This is a public service event free to all. There will be no charge for admission, classes, scions, or for seeds. For further details call Barbara/Rob Goodell at 895-3897. #227. The ‘Original’ Crab Feed, only for those who have tickets already, will be at 6pm this coming Saturday, February 5th at The Apple Hall in Boonville. #228. On the following Saturday evening, Feb 12th, you will get the chance to see local resident and very accomplished actor of stage, screen, and television, Rene Auberjonois appear in a play, ‘Off their Cuffs,’ along with co-star Howard Hesseman (Johnny Fever, hip dj on television’s ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’). It’s at The Grange for one night only, with a 6:30pm social hour and curtain at 7:30; a fundraising event for the AV Education Foundation. #229. Time again to remind you of the excellent service provided for many in the form of the Bookmobile Library. Over the next month it will be in the Valley on Tuesdays, Feb 8th and Feb 22nd. On each of those days, they will be in Navarro from 9am-9.30am, (then off to Comptche from 10.45am-11.30am), at The Floodgate 1pm-1.45pm, Philo 2pm-2.45pm, and then the Boonville Apple Hall Building 3pm-3.45pm. Make another note on your calendars, it’s a wonderful thing.
Time to take my leave. Be careful out there; stay out of the ditches; think good thoughts; and may your god go with you. Final request, “Let us prey.”
Poking & stroking egos wherever necessary and, humbly yours,
Turkey Vulture.
PS. Keep the Faith.
PPS. Contact me with words of support/abuse either through the Letters Page or at turkeyvulture1@earthlink.net.
PPPS. Hi, Silver Swan. Behaving yourself? Hopefully not!
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