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Posts published by “Malcolm Macdonald”

When The Well Runs Dry

Charles Mallory Hatfield was certainly the most successful person to practice the art of pluviculture, or artificial rainmaking. Born in Kansas but raised in southern California, Hatfield first gained broad public acclaim when, in 1904, he climbed to the top of Mt. Lowe and released a secret mixture of chemicals into the air.

‘At No Cost To You’?

Exactly one week before Christmas I received a bill in the mail from the Mendocino Coast District Hospital for $2,635.47. Immediately after arriving home from the post office, I called the hospital’s billing department. I spoke at some length to two women who worked there.

Affinito Denied; Ortner’s Mendo Man

A week before Christmas the Fort Bragg Planning Commission denied Robert Affinito a use permit to convert his property at the corner of Franklin and South Streets into a Dollar Store. That’s been reported in…

River Views

I spent several days in mid-December in the Sierra. Most of the time was occupied with backpacking from the Donner Summit area north by northwest to the Peter Grubb Hut. It was constructed in the…

River Views

It has been a cold, cold December by California stan­dards, though by the time this is read nighttime tem­peratures should return to seasonal norms. What is abnormal is the lack of autumn rainfall. Walking upstream…

Where Was Carlos Marcello?

Fifty years on and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy remains a national puzzle wrapped inside the enigmatic riddle that was Lee Harvey Oswald. Did he act alone? Or was JFK killed by a…

River Views

We’re the bright young men, who want to go back to Nineteen-Ten, we’re Barry’s Boys. We’re the kids with a cause, yes a government like grandmama’s, we’re Barry’s boys. We’re the new kind of youth…

River Views

Open enrollment for health insurance under the Affordable Health Care Act began on October 1st. Anthem Blue Cross, California’s largest for-profit health insurance company, sent out notices of open enrollment that didn’t reach many customers…

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