I thought this might be an opportune time for me to weigh in on some of today's pressing A/B controversies; you know, the "this versus that" type of comparison so common in today's conversation. This…
Posts published in February 2015
The power was out in our neck of the Mendocino woods for nearly five days last week. Can we blame PG&E? I do. With the money they’ve stolen charging millions of people ten dollars a month not to have stupid, er, smart meters, combined with the billions of dollars they spend annually responding to multi-day power outages all over the state, they could easily have afforded by now to bury all their power lines and be done with outages forever. But that’s not how monopoly capitalism works.
The Old Coast Hotel will not go gently into any Hospitality Center good night. Upwards of sixty people attended the Fort Bragg City Council meeting February 9th, on an evening when power was still out…
The Anderson Valley Election Committee is announcing an election for Mayor of the Valley. The PWEIP* party has put forth Steve Sparks as a Candidate for Mayor of the Valley.
NICE TURNOUT at the Buckhorn for Steve Sparks who, I swear, seems to be the reincarnation of Homer Mannix, Anderson Valley's Mr. Everything from 1950 to 1980. Sparks hasn't yet run for public office, but I agree with the letter writer that he mos def is our de facto mayor. The guy is everywhere making this place more enjoyable wherever he puts down, from the weekly Trivial Pursuit contests at Lauren's to the Senior Center. All he needs now is a gavel and presto! we have our first mayor since Homer.
Not-for-profit Mendocino County Public Broadcasting has a bookkeeper, so General Manager and self-styled Chief Executive Officer John Coate doesn't have to do the books. It has a program director, so John doesn't have to direct programs. It has an operations manager to manage operations, and an engineer who can be called to come and engineer, and a "business support coordinator" to, I guess, coordinate business. And still John Coate is being paid a salary of, I piece together from various stories, $60,000 a year, the equivalent of 1,200 (twelve hundred!) yearly $50 memberships, to do what, exactly?
With Valentine’s Day leading into President’s Day there was a steady stream of business at the Valley’s eateries and wineries this past weekend. And a good thing too. February, March, and April are traditionally the slowest times of year in the hospitality business and every little extra boost is significant. We have some excellent local restaurants and of course some world class wines so let’s all try to do our best to support them at this time, not to mention our other small businesses. And of course, it is stating the obvious to say that it’s not like we wouldn’t get to enjoy some wonderful food and drink while doing so.
The 32nd Annual Winter Abundance Workshop, known by regulars as the Seed and Scion Exchange, was held this year at the Mendocino County fairgrounds in Boonville on the last day of January. The weather was…
Bill Bennett, who had been Secretary of Education under Reagan and Drug Czar under George H.W. Bush, was on the talk shows last Sunday plugging his new book, “Going to Pot: Why the Rush to…