Press "Enter" to skip to content

Valley People (November 18, 2020)

THE AV SENIOR CENTER is fundraising with See’s Candy again this year. We have order forms available at AVSC on Tuesdays and Thursdays or you can call 895-3609 or email avseniorcenter@pacific.net to place an order. We are trying to only place custom orders this year since there will not be a Holiday Bazaar or dine in meals available to make additional sales so there will be very limited extra candy on hand. Please order by December 1st. Thank you.

AV FIRE DEPARTMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUING BURN PERMITS THIS YEAR. Permits are available from the Air Quality District and Calfire. See the following links:

CONTROLLED BURNS. Used to be that "training burns" were a kind of local joke, the joke being a controlled burn is a controlled burn until it isn't when several got out of control, a couple way outta control. These run away fires were the work of the old CDF, as I recall. The Anderson Valley Fire Department is far more prudent, and just today successfully torched and extinguished, for training purposes, ten acres of a Gowan orchard bordering Hendy Woods in Philo.

JOHNNY SCHMIDT of the Boonville Hotel is keeping The Valley's central hostelry going in these most trying circumstances: “We are adapting with the adventures of the day and season! We have six tables in private rooms, spread throughout the dining room & hotel, offering a lot of space and airflow. Plus a few outdoor tables for the truly hearty folk!!

We’re serving up beautiful four and five course prix-fixe dinners Thursday through Monday evenings. Perry posts the menu on Wednesday afternoon for the upcoming weekend at boonvillehotel.com. Give us a call to reserve a table!! 

RECYCLING at the Boonville Dump is an early morning affair because the bins fill up fast, very fast. More people are recycling more stuff because they're staying home, and recycling lots of stuff that comes in boxes, esp Amazon boxes. 

USED TO BE we had a modest little recycling center at the Boonville Fairgrounds, but like everything else that used to be in the Anderson Valley the Fairgrounds recycling convenience went away. We heard it went away because the Fairgrounds demanded some exorbitant rent for the otherwise unused space…

JIM GIBSON was startled to find himself driving home behind a river otter scurrying along Mountain View Road not far from Faulkner Park. Jim speculates that its habitat is so dry the disoriented critter was trying to find enough water to comfortably make his home.

A READER WRITES: “All patriotic Americans who have been stocking up on guns and ammo must go outside and fire them into the air!  Each bullet will kill thousands of airborne viruses! It’s a win-win!”

VAL MUCHOWSKI, fanatical Democrat, posts a lot of stuff from the AVA on her Facebook page. Not that we mind but she should attribute the re-posts to us rather than imply they came from her. Also note that Val never ever re-posts our criticisms of the Democrats.

ANOTHER sign of our nervous times. A man who lives deep in the hills tried to slow down an habitual speeder. The speeder was a new-ish green rush guy who didn't seem to understand that outback hill roads aren't designed for speeding giant dude trucks. So one afternoon our guy sees dude-child roaring towards him and boldly steps out in the middle of the road to explain the obvious. Dude-child leaps out of his truck with a handgun and, pointing the weapon at our guy, demands, "Do you want to die?" Well, no. But darned if dude-child didn't do an immediate schizo-180, explaining that he'd suffered serious financial reversals and admitted he hadn't been in his right head in a while. He apologized to our guy and promised to be a better neighbor.

THE FLYNN CREEK neighborhood is abuzz over an episode that saw a big guy hit a little woman and throw her to the ground, an assault a Spanish speaker characterized as the behavior of a “pedazo pequeno pedazo de mierda apestogo.” The big guy had been managing the little woman's and her late husband's Flynn Creek property. When the little woman asked the big guy to leave her Flynn Creek property, he punctuated their relationship by punching her and slamming her down. Hard. Somehow the big guy felt he was the victim of the little woman and took out a temporary restraining order against the little woman. Big guy is at home near Mendocino, little woman is at home in Fort Bragg. Both parties will slug it out in court.

DR. ROCHAT is the new medical man at the Anderson Valley Health Center. He supplements the ancient warrior of AV medicine, Dr. Mark Apfel, who soldiers on. I've had two face-to-face visits with the new guy, and I'm here to tell you he is thorough and patient with the irreparable complaint that I brought to him — claw hands. Well, not that bad yet, but arthritis in the paws, as my wheezing peers can attest, is expressed in an annoyingly numbing, in my case the left paw particularly. Unlike a lot of medical people in my fortunately limited experience with medical people, Dr. Rochat pays attention to what you're telling him. Here's hoping he's with us long-term.

FINALLY, THE VERDICT IS IN! WE GOT ARIZONA!

Who’s on for the Georgia Senatorial race?

The four of us: Kira Brennan (Elk), Anne Marie Praetzel (Berkeley), 17-year-old Pele Clark (Elk) and 18-year-old Sydney Harris (Santa Cruz) embarked on a trip to Phoenix Arizona one week before the elections. Our goal was to get out the vote for Biden/Harris, Democratic Senator Mark Kelley and Yes on Proposition 208 in support of Education. 

We worked with three groups: the local nonprofit Lucha, Seed the Vote, and Election Defenders. These groups, through a series of Apps, connected volunteers (us) to go door-to-door to educate people about the importance of voting, where to vote, ballot protocol questions, legal issues. We also provided transportation to the polls! On the day of the election we worked at a polling site to maintain safety and support for voters. All of the organizations were efficient, Covid-safe and awesome.

I believe I speak for the four of us in saying that  this was a transformative experience: hard work, but incredibly rewarding. If we got even one person a day to the polls to vote—many of them first-time voters—we knew we were making a difference. 

And we did it!!! Arizona turned blue, the first time since 1996! And with Biden holding a mere 11,000-vote lead, we know every vote counted. We got Kelley and Prop 208, and most importantly, Trump is out!

I encourage you all to consider supporting the runoff efforts happening in Georgia, from now to Jan 5th to help turn the Senate. We need this. 

There are various ways to help, from going to Georgia, making calls, or making donations.  Please consider making a donation or getting involved with the organization Indivisible. They are a nationwide movement of thousands of volunteer-led local groups with a huge focus on the Georgia runoffs.

And Thanks to all of you out there who helped turn this election. Now let’s turn the Senate. Every act matters. (Kira Brennan)

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

-