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Posts published in “Day: July 16, 2014

Food Prices

“U.S. food prices are on the rise, raising a sensitive question: When the cost of a hamburger patty soars, does it count as inflation?” — Ben Leubsdorf and Jon Kilsenrath The sentence above opens a…

Crime & Punishment In The Garden

The mouse sniffed its way through the dark. Rejecting the wild pea vines, it scurried past the oak barrels full of strawberry plants. Been there, snipped that, tucked away in its nest. The mouse knew…

Letters (July 16, 2014)

Don MacQueen, 88, a long-time AVA subscriber and contributor, died in Eugene, Oregon, on June 28, 2014. He was a major part of Sonoma County's literary scene in the '80s and '90s, helping found the Russian River Writers' Guild, which sponsored a lively reading series, quarterly newsletters and occasional poetry collections, notably “A Stone's Throw,” a major anthology of local poetry, including several Mendocino County writers. Don helped edit Rich Benbrook's feisty quarterly “The Tomcat,” and “Tiny Lights,” Susan Bono's periodical of short fiction. He also helped with “Green Fuse,” which published political and environmental poetry, some of which appeared in the AVA. Don's terse, witty poems appeared in virtually every Sonoma County publication of those years.

Dredges From A Reporter’s Notebook

Slow week at the County Courthouse last week. In recent years we’ve had some riveting murder trials in the summertime, but this year, so far, the most sensational murder, that of a prominent physician’s wife,…

Jared Huffman: CalTrans Errand Boy

Last week, the US Congressional representative for California's North Coast, a former Natural Resources Defense Council attorney named Jared Huffman, threw the full weight of his legislative power behind the most environmentally destructive project in the recent history of Mendocino County, the California Department of Transportation's Willits Bypass. This more than $300 million project, as presently designed, requires the largest filling in of wetlands in northern California in more than 50 years.

Off the Record (July 16, 2014)

COUNTY AUDITOR Meredith Ford’s proposal to hire herself as an “extra-help” trainer for her replacement, Assistant Auditor Lloyd Weer at $440 per day was approved unanimously without discussion at last Tuesday’s Board of Supervisor's meeting.…

Valley People (July 16, 2014)

DR. MARK APFEL has been relieved of his duties as medical director and chief medical officer at the Anderson Valley Health Center. No reasons given, and if there's a distinction between the two functions, if…

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