There’s nothing funny about suicide, unfortunately; one cannot employ humor to mitigate the horror, not and remain within the bounds of humanity and good taste. It’s just too sad, and even though I crack wise…
Posts published in June 2015
Active Shooter, Drought, Earthquake, Hazmat, Pandemic, Wildland Fire, Winter Storm — what do all of these events have in common? Answer: Anderson Valley is ready for them. On paper. In theory. Last Wednesday night at…
Homeless Biz;
Sanhedrin Fire Contained;
Island Mountain Raid;
Adolescent Marijuana Use;
Timber Regs;
Feather;
Thirsty Billionaires;
Growers Initiative;
Ukiah Stabbing;
Yesterday's Catch;
Public Radio;
Achenbach;
PaintCare;
Flag Trouble;
County Vacancies
I just read in the UDJ that Ukiah’s newly hired City Manager has negotiated an open-ended contract, with total benefits starting at $251,699 per year. Wow! That’s nearly six times the estimated median household income in Ukiah for 2012 of $42,539. At no less than 10% more than the highest paid department head, is it any wonder that the city can’t afford to fill the potholes in it’s streets?
Julie Cook retired to what she assumed would be the bucolic peace of 22 acres at Third Gate, west of Willits. She jokes that she's "the only person at Third Gate who isn't in the…
The drought has reduced California’s water supply to an all-time low, prompting officials to mandate strict cutbacks in urban communities. Farmers, who went unaffected by the regulations, have said they have already made enough sacrifices…
Trust is a tricky thing. Long ago, I held writing workshops for groups of eight people meeting for two hours once a week in my living room, each course lasting eight weeks. At the outset, I would reiterate what I had explained to prospective participants when they called to sign up for the process: we would be doing my original writing exercises and there would be no lecturing or criticism or analysis of anything we wrote, by me or anyone in the group, and no one had to read aloud anything he or she wrote unless he or she wanted to.