On September 27th the five candidates for three seats on the Fort Bragg City Council appeared at a League of Women's Voters forum. Their statements and responses to audience questions can be viewed on the…
Posts published by “Malcolm Macdonald”
What's the connection between a 16th century Pope and the songwriter of “War,” Edwin Starr? Absolutely nothing, of course. As any Baby Boomer can tell you, “Absolutely nothing,” is the lyrical response line to Starr's…
I started out to write about something more benign this week, but I can't stand it any longer. Wake Up, Dan Hamburg! Wake the freak up! You've been attending Mendocino County Mental Health Board meetings…
The first 25-30 years of logging near the Mendocino Coast was accomplished by men with axes, chopping down huge old growth redwoods that stood very close to our coastal streams. The logs were rolled, often with jackscrews, into the rivers then floated down to holding areas called booms and on to the sawmills located at or near the mouths of the rivers. The first sawmill on the Albion started operations in 1852 more or less at the same time as on Big River. By 1856 Alexander Macpherson had sawmills operating on both the Albion and Noyo Rivers.
A couple of weeks back I went on a walk with some of the people who are opposed to the proposed logging plan on Mendocino County's Little River Airport property. I have mixed feelings about…
Whenever the first days of August arrive I think of Uncle Leonard. Actually, Leonard Roy Ward was my great uncle, Mother’s side. He was born at the dawn of the twentieth century and by the time Pearl Harbor brought the US into World War II, Leonard had lived several lifetimes full of adventure as a gambler and rodeo cowboy.
There were 70 or more supporters of Scott Mayberry in the audience August 11th when Mayor Dave Turner asked for a show of hands at the outset of the meeting (another ten or so were there with concerns about water rates). The size of the crowd was impressive, considering many City Council meetings are sparsely attended at best. The Wow factor hit about 18 minutes in when Roberta Mayberry stepped to the podium. She is the wife of the police chief. At first Mrs. Mayberry turned her back to the City Council and city staff, directing her opening remarks to the crowd. Then she faced City Manager Linda Ruffing and her chief assistant, Ginny Feth-Michel, asking them “to maybe pay attention when people are speaking.”
August should be a month of adventure, entertainment and fun. For the last two, readers can't do much better than the Mendocino Theatre Company's production of The Graduate. If you're thinking, I've seen the Mike…
Last week I described how the Albion River had gone dry at the confluence of its two main branches. Well, in the last few days I've walked west from the Macdonald Ranch, and sadly I…