I moved to Willits 12 years ago. On occasion, "I am asked how do I like the area?" Generally, I am reluctant to answer because I have mixed thoughts. I am surrounded by beauty and tranquility but find little connection with the town itself and only few of its people.
Posts published in “Features”
IT HASN'T RAINED, really rained, since December of 2012. Now that it's likely that the summer months will begin with no water reserves anywhere in the County, the full array of drought-caused catastrophes will be unleashed, from large-scale wildfires to much higher food prices to the death of this year's fish runs.
THE CLOSING of Laughing Dogs Books is another body blow to the commercial life of central Boonville. Worse, it's a right to the jaw of our town's cultural life. You can also say it's a third blow to the tourism we are now so dependent on because Laughing Dogs' charming proprietor, Loretta Hauck, also functioned as the go-to person for many travelers-through, and so good at it it was almost as if she'd been specially selected for the task.
WHO COULD HAVE IMAGINED that endlessly sunny days, day-time temperatures in the 70s, could become ominous, oppressive even to those of us who assume rainy winters? We’re writing lots about the drought because it is The Story for California.
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN MLK…? Hi, Everyone knows where they were, etc., when JFK was shot. I'm interested in your stories of where you were, what happened, what you thought, etc., when MLK was shot.…
LOCAL AUTHOR PEG KINGMAN’S LATEST NOVEL is in the offing, and should be out later this year. It’s the third and final installment in her contract with W.W.Norton for a trilogy set in the 19th…
New satellite images show the true extent of the record drought hitting California, as the state declares an emergency and seeks federal aid.
CALIFORNIA DROUGHT EMERGENCY MADE OFFICIAL (01-17) 10:01 PST San Francisco — Governor Jerry Brown on Friday officially declared a drought emergency in California, asking residents to voluntarily reduce their water use by 20 percent and…
DEBBIE CLARK, long-time publisher of the Willits News, has announced she is retiring, one more sign that the chain-owned Mendo papers, all of them overseen out of Chico, will soon be down to even more…