Rural America’s local dumpsites have always been a magnet for me, partly because of their fairly convenient accessability compared to city and suburbia’s formal garbage pickup services, partly because they also are serendipitous social centers,…
Posts published in “Essays”
My encounter with Charlotte Mailliard Schultz was brief but spectacular. The legendary San Franciscan and I had two long telephone conversations 30 plus years ago. I have never forgotten them. The first was brief, and…
Why would Nicole Glentzer, a hitherto invisible Ukiah Unified School District administrator, suddenly decide to run against incumbent Michelle Hutchins for Mendocino County School Superintendent, especially since Ms. Hutchins has established the agency as effectively…
The Auditor-Controller calculates the property tax rates, the distribution factors for ad valorem taxes, and distributes $160 million dollars to the County, Schools, School Districts, Colleges and Special Districts. The Controller is the chief accounting…
One of the most famous trees in music is the one hymned by the title character in the opening scene of Handel’s 1738 opera Xerxes. The Persian King—in the original production sung by a male…
The last thing I wanted to do was piss off my dentist. As usual whenever I get in trouble my lament is: “But I didn’t do anything!” Nonetheless here I am six months later with…
What do you think of the idea of Mendocino County restricting and/or regulating so-called short-term rentals (STRs), rented mostly by vacationing tourists? What about the right of property owners to rent housing units? As most…
I’ve been in this Carolina town about 15 minutes (couple months, actually) and already I’m more knowledgeable about its roads and streets than after 100 (40, actually) years in Ukiah. Here I can give you…
I can only testify to the Mendocino ball players I saw play or played with and against. Being from a sports oriented city like Fort Bragg (nothing to do for a male except fish, sports…