JOAN RAINVILLE, 53, the Ukiah woman who, drunk, drove her mother's car through a neighbors' fence and into their backyard party, will indeed face jury trial on a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon, Judge Ann Moorman ruled Tuesday.
MS. RAINVILLE, well known as the friendly presence at Ukiah's Mendocino Book Company, has drunk driving priors. This episode on May 26th was her second drink-propelled crash this year. The argument was whether a drunk woman behind the wheel of an automobile can be considered a weapon. The judge said yes.
=============================
INTERESTING STORY by Phil Barber in Wednesday’s Press Democrat on Phil Jordan, the first and only Northcoast guy to play in the NBA. Jordan, 6’10”, was born in Lakeport to a white mother and a Wylackie father, played for Willits High School, went on to college, then to the NBA where he played against the likes of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain from 1956 to 1963. Unable to play the night Chamberlain scored a hundred points against Jordan’s sub, Darrell Imhoff, Jordan left the game and died prematurely in a drowning accident in the state of Washington. Odd that not much more is known about him or his family, but then there are huge gaps in Mendocino County’s history, and much of what is known being either myth or heavily subjected to re-writes. Jordan’s brother pops up in Hunter Thompson’s famous book on the Hells Angels as a stabbing victim in a Willits brawl with the Angels.
=============================
LAKE MENDOCINO looks and is exhausted. Boat ramps are closed and the lake’s water is down to 43% of capacity. Mid-summer levels haven’t been this low since the 1970s, according to data from the California Department of Water Resources.
AND WHAT WATER there is is mostly owned by the Sonoma County Water Agency, which sells some of it on downstream to Marin County. Sonoma County is presently urging water customers to cut way back on consumption.
=============================
A STUDY SPONSORED by the Save the Redwoods League has found that over the past decade redwoods are growing faster in the sense of apparent growth spurts. Why the accelerated growth is a matter of speculation, but the majestic trees that pull so much carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere do not seem negatively affected by global warming. But given that redwoods can live for upwards of 2000 years, a ten-year study of their recent well-being really can’t be considered anything more than encouraging.
=============================
HOOPA VALLEY TRIBE PRESS RELEASE:
The Hoopa Valley Tribe decried the shut off of water needed to prevent a catastrophic fish kill in the Klamath River on the very day water releases began.
Scientists, federal officials and tribal leaders say the water is needed now. But at 2 pm, yesterday federal judge Lawrence J. O’Neill issued an order to block releases from Trinity River dams until at least Friday, and then today he extended the order until at least August 21st.
“I have received a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by Judge Lawrence J. O’ Neill that has an adverse effect on the scheduled release of Trinity River water to advert a Klamath fish kill. This TRO contradicts almost 60 years of laws pertaining to the diversion of the Trinity River, which put the Hoopa Valley Tribal water rights and the Trinity fishery over the needs of Central Valley irrigators,” stated Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairwoman Danielle Vigil-Masten.
The Tribe went on to say they hope once the judge has the opportunity to review the scientific documents and history of the Trinity River diversions he will lift the restraining order. They warn another catastrophic fish die off will have political ramifications that could potentially hurt both the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and Klamath River Basin water talks.
At issue is the recent decision from the Department of Interior to release 62,000 acre feet of water from the Trinity River reservoirs over the next six weeks to supplement low flows in the Klamath River to avoid a Klamath fish kill. This action is overwhelming supported by the public, Tribes, fishermen, and the scientific community, who claim similar actions in prior years were effective in avoiding fisheries disasters.
However, Central Valley water users, including the Westlands Water District, filed suit under environmental laws to stop the release of water last week, claiming releases will impact their future water supply.
The TRO was issued despite the federal government’s briefings, which stated, “Granting an injunction would result in immediate and irreparable injury to the public’s interest, including a significant risk of harm to fall-run salmon in the Klamath and Trinity River and, of special concern, the frustration of the government’s trust responsibility to the Hoopa Valley and Yurok Tribes to restore their fisheries.”
The Hoopa Valley Tribe and Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen Association intervened to support the government proposal setting the stage for a Klamath River water battle reminiscent of the water battles that lead to the Klamath fish kill of 2002, which killed upwards of 60,000 adult salmon, and severely limited Tribal and commercial fishing harvests.
Along with supporting the government’s temporary actions to avert a fish kill the Hoopa Valley Tribe is asking for long term solutions to the crisis in the Klamath and Trinity Rivers that reflect that most irrigators receiving water from the Klamath Basin are junior water right holders. They say proposals such as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and Klamath Basin Restoration Agreements would actually take more water from the Klamath and Trinity Rivers, and elevate junior water right holders over Tribes.
“Central Valley water users have made untold billions of dollars at the expense of Trinity River salmon and communities. The greed and aggression represented by this lawsuit and the hypocrisy of the plaintiff’s exploitation of environmental protection laws both stuns and saddens us,” said Vigil Masten. “But make no mistake,” she said, “If the injunction remains, then the Central Valley contractors’ attack on us, on who we are, on what we stand for, could launch a war for the Trinity that could engulf California from the Bay Delta Conservation Planning process to Klamath River Basin water settlement negotiations.”
=============================
ALTHOUGH IT’S BEEN under-reported, the City of Richmond has done quite a remarkable thing in essentially nationalizing or, if you prefer, city-izing hundreds of that battered town’s foreclosed homes, seizing many of them by eminent domain because title to them is difficult to find or prove, the mortgages having been bundled by swindlers and repeatedly sold off to distant suckers, the whole of the scamming resulting in the banking crisis of 2008. The City of Richmond hopes to revive hard-hit neighborhoods by selling the properties itself to people who will live in them, including their victimized former owners.
=============================
COMMENT OF THE DAY “The Edge...There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others — the living — are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later. But the edge is still Out There.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Hell's Angels
=============================
OVER THE HILL & FAR AWAY
by Malcolm Macdonald
The Mendocino Community Network (MCN) provides internet access to many in Mendocino County. The MCN Discussion List was designed to be “an open, unmoderated list intended for the discussion of items relevant to the residents of Mendocino County as determined by the list membership.” Sometime in late 2012, I signed onto the list, thinking it might be a place to better keep up with upcoming meetings and/or topics peculiar to the Mendocino Coast and Mendocino County.
Occasionally, an entry relevant to our locality creeps in, but much of the MCN Discussion List is dominated by a handful or two of the same people who far too often devolve into some of the vilest ranting and name-calling this side of an unkempt gas station toilet stall wall. After a couple of weeks of sorting through the dozens of posts a day that flood into my inbox through the MCN Discussion List I got in the habit of deleting almost every one. If something in the post’s title appeared to be of legitimate interest I opened it, but those have grown fewer and farther between as the months have gone by.
Though he doesn’t sink to the depths of the caustic, cursing, name-callers, our Fifth District Supervisor, Dan Hamburg, is a relatively frequent contributor to the MCN Discussion List. From late last year to this spring, it seemed that Supervisor Hamburg’s posts seldom held much relevancy for my life along the Albion River or, for that matter, any part of the Fifth Supervisorial District. In late May Hamburg provided a posting about burial laws, which one might conceivably say is germane to a rural setting. Beginning with his May 30th posts I decided to save all of Hamburg’s contributions to the MCN Discussion List. For the last two months I have also saved every offering of another frequent MCN Discussion List poster for something of a comparison.
The titles of Hamburg’s May 30, 2013 posts: “Noam Chomsky, The Kind of Anarchism I Believe In” and “Modified Wheat is Discovered in Oregon.” In the two months and ten days that I have kept track Hamburg has posted more than 85 times to the MCN Discussion List. Last Saturday’s Hamburg posts: “Ed Asner skewers the rich;” “New Mexico is the driest of the dry;” “Bad Prison Policy for Women.”
In fairness to Hamburg and in comparison, the other MCN poster had twice as many Discussion List entries, more than 175 in a 70 day period. That’s two and a half posts per day, typical for the ten to twelve individuals who dominate the MCN Discussion List, making it largely a waste of time.
Our Supervisor has the same freedom of expression as the rest of us. I would just like to think that an elected representative would spend his time concentrating more on issues pertinent and pressing to the Fifth District than posting articles about far off places.
In the past two months Hamburg’s MCN Discussion List offerings have included the aforementioned piece about home burials as well as a few posts in defense of his cutting off the public comment of a particular individual at a July Board of Supervisor’s meeting, but the vast majority of his contributions are merely recitations of articles found in national publications or internet sites. It might be a little more appropriate if our supervisor posted the articles of local or regional journalists as a public service, but I have yet to see Hamburg post an article from the Willits News, Ukiah Daily Journal, Mendocino Beacon, Fort Bragg Advocate-News, let alone any piece from the AVA.
=============================
EDWARD SNOWDEN gave his first interview since outing himself as the NSA leaker and took the opportunity to criticize the media's complacency post 9/11.
In his first interview since he outed himself as the source of leaked NSA documents, Edward Snowden said the media has given the government a free pass to grow unchecked power ever since the attacks of September 11.
“[It] ended up costing the public dearly,” the 30-year-old newly minted Russia resident told the New York Times in a Q&A published Tuesday.
Snowden’s interview focused on journalists and the media, which he said need to wake up to the realities of surveillance. “Any unencrypted message sent over the Internet is being delivered to every intelligence service in the world,” he said.
Snowden’s Q&A was, of course, done through encrypted emails. Laura Poitras, the documentary filmmaker who helped Snowden spill his secrets, served as intermediary, having won the former NSA contractor’s trust months ago.
“Laura was more suspicious of me than I was of her, and I’m famously paranoid,” Snowden told Times reporter Peter Maass.
Poitras may have reason to be suspicious.
Snowden, in describing his methods for choosing a reporter to work with while searching for a way to tell the world what he knew, said that basically all emails are possible targets for government surveillance.
Those from news organizations, he suggested, are all the more likely to be read.
“Assume that your adversary is capable of a trillion guesses per second,” he wrote to Poitras at the start of their work together, a relationship the New York Times documents alongside the Snowden interview.
“In the wake of this year’s disclosures,” he said, invoking the information about the NSA he himself leaked, ‘it should be clear that unencrypted journalist-source communication is unforgivably reckless.”
But Snowden, who had his American passport revoked in June and was recently granted asylum by the Russian government after weeks in territorial limbo, simultaneously faulted media outlets for being too permissive about government misdeeds in the post-9/11.
“The most important news outlets in America abdicated their role as a check to power,” Snowden told the paper of record, “for fear of being seen as unpatriotic and punished in the market during a period of heightened nationalism. From a business perspective, this was the obvious strategy, but what benefited the institutions ended up costing the public dearly.”
But for all their complacency, Snowden says, big media organizations are slowly returning to the way they once were.
“The major outlets are still only beginning to recover from this cold period,” he said.
Snowden’s own actions, meanwhile, have surely hastened the process.
(Courtesy, the London Daily Mail)
=============================
RETIRED SENATOR PAT WIGGINS PASSES AWAY AT AGE 73
SANTA ROSA, CA -- Patricia “Pat” Wiggins died today in Sonoma County, CA, after a long illness. Pat’s life included a public service as a member of both the California State Assembly and California State Senate.
“Pat lived life to the fullest,” said Guy Conner, Wiggins husband of 30 years. “As a parent, friend and public servant, Pat’s considerable talents and vivacious personality leave the people she touched far better off.”
Wiggins achieved significant local and statewide policy changes that reflected her love of the North Coast and its way of life, including adopting “smart growth” provisions in state planning and funding critical research on the phylloxera virus that devastated vineyards in the 1990s.
"Pat was a great friend and tremendous public servant. I've known her since before I started my career in public office,” said Rep. Mike Thompson. “She was with me in my earliest campaigns. I would not be where I am today if it wasn't for her guidance. Pat devoted her life to public service and to the idea that each of us has a responsibility to make our communities better places. Because of her work, Sonoma County has been left stronger for our kids and grandkids."
A native Californian from Pasadena, she moved to Santa Rosa in 1984.
She was elected to the Santa Rosa City Council in 1994, serving thru 1998. In 1998, Pat won election to the State Assembly. She served three terms, left the Assembly in 2004, and was elected to the State Senate in 2006. Pat retired from the Senate in 2010 after her term ended.
Pat put herself into the public spotlight despite developing a profound hearing deficit later in life, which required technologically advanced hearing aids to overcome. She rarely spoke of her condition and never let it affect her work. While some doubted that a severely hearing-impaired person could even effectively campaign for office, Pat’s policy achievements while in office showed a determination and spirit that defined her public service record.
She leaves a legacy of cooperation and innovation, one that shows what communities can do when they pull together.
“We are enormously grateful for Pat’s tireless work on behalf of our community and wine industry issues,” said Linda Reiff, executive director of the Napa Valley Vintners. “Pat gained our respect and admiration because she was willing to step up and take on some pretty weighty topics when others were afraid to do the right thing. She was the first to say ‘yes’ to help us pass legislation that allowed us to tax our vineyards in order to build more housing for farmworkers. And, our Napa name protection law never would have been passed without her early and constant leadership.”
Pat actively nurtured the development of other people for public office. She played a key role in the election of literally scores of local and state elected officials from the North Coast, changing the landscape of local elected bodies toward a more progressive and publicly accountable frame of mind.
Pat was blessed to have a large group of close friends, many of whom came to visit and reminisce with her about their time together, both in and out of politics.
"Pat was always very dedicated to her work, but she did like to kick back and have fun,” said her longtime friend Marty Roberts. “We shared many wonderful trips to the coast and even drove across country one time with her husband Guy and my dog Molly! She had a wonderful laugh and a twinkle in her eye."
Pat is survived by her husband, Guy, her two stepsons, Steve Silverman of Scottsdale, Arizona, and James Silverman of Owings Mills, Maryland, and her four grandchildren, Shane, Ava, Leah, and Solana.
A celebration of her life will be held at the Friedman Center in Santa Rosa at 1:00 Sunday, November 3. Contributions in lieu of flowers can be made to the Sonoma Land Trust, or to the Pat Wiggins Fund at Conservation Action Fund for Education.
=============================
FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR PLANT CLEANUP IN JAPAN APPROACHES DANGEROUS OPERATION
(Why won't the USA and Northern Hemisphere wake up and help?!)
By Aaron Sheldrick and Antoni Slodkowski
TOKYO, Aug 14 - The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is preparing to remove 400 tonnes of highly irradiated spent fuel from a damaged reactor building, a dangerous operation that has never been attempted before on this scale.
Containing radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released in the atomic bomb attack on Hirosihima 68 years ago, more than 1,300 used fuel rod assemblies packed tightly together need to be removed from a building that is vulnerable to collapse, should another large earthquake hit the area.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) is already in a losing battle to stop radioactive water overflowing from another part of the facility, and experts question whether it will be able to pull off the removal of all the assemblies successfully.
"They are going to have difficulty in removing a significant number of the rods," said Arnie Gundersen, a veteran U.S. nuclear engineer and director of Fairewinds Energy Education, who used to build fuel assemblies.
The operation, beginning this November at the plant's Reactor No. 4, is fraught with danger, including the possibility of a large release of radiation if a fuel assembly breaks, gets stuck or gets too close to an adjacent bundle, said Gundersen and other nuclear experts.
That could lead to a worse disaster than the March 2011 nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant, the world's most serious since Chernobyl in 1986.
No one knows how bad it can get, but independent consultants Mycle Schneider and Antony Froggatt said recently in their World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2013: "Full release from the Unit-4 spent fuel pool, without any containment or control, could cause by far the most serious radiological disaster to date."
Tepco has already removed two unused fuel assemblies from the pool in a test operation last year, but these rods are less dangerous than the spent bundles. Extracting spent fuel is a normal part of operations at a nuclear plant, but safely plucking them from a badly damaged reactor is unprecendented.
"To jump to the conclusion that it is going to work just fine for the rest of them is quite a leap of logic," said Gundersen.
The utility says it recognises the operation will be difficult but believes it can carry it out safely.
Nonetheless, Tepco inspires little confidence. Sharply criticised for failing to protect the Fukushima plant against natural disasters, its handling of the crisis since then has also been lambasted.
Last week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the government to take a more active role in controlling the overflow of radioactive water being flushed over the melted reactors in Units 1, 2 and 3 at the plant.
The fuel assemblies are in the cooling pool of the No. 4 reactor, and Tepco has erected a giant steel frame over the top of the building after removing debris left behind by an explosion that rocked the unit during the 2011 disaster.
The structure will house the cranes that will carry out the delicate task of extracting fuel assemblies that may be damaged by the quake, the explosion or corrosion from salt water that was poured into the pool when fresh supplies ran out during the crisis.
The process will begin in November and Tepco expects to take about a year removing the assemblies, spokesman Yoshikazu Nagai told Reuters by e-mail. It's just one instalment in the decommissioning process for the plant forecast to take about 40 years and cost $11 billion.
Each fuel rod assembly weighs about 300 kilograms (660 pounds) and is 4.5 metres (15 feet) long. There are 1,331 of the spent fuel assemblies and a further 202 unused assemblies are also stored in the pool, Nagai said.
Almost 550 assemblies had been removed from the reactor core just before the quake and tsunami set off the crisis. These are the most dangerous because they have only been cooling in the pool for two and a half years.
"The No. 4 unit was not operating at the time of the accident, so its fuel had been moved to the pool from the reactor, and if you calculate the amount of caesium 137 in the pool, the amount is equivalent to 14,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs," said Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute.
Spent fuel rods also contain plutonium, one of the most toxic substances in the universe, that gets formed during the later stages of a reactor core's operation.
"There is a risk of an inadvertent criticality if the bundles are distorted and get too close to each other," Gundersen said.
He was referring to an atomic chain reaction that left unchecked could result in a large release of radiation and heat that the fuel pool cooling system isn't designed to absorb.
"The problem with a fuel pool criticality is that you can't stop it. There are no control rods to control it," Gundersen said. "The spent fuel pool cooling system is designed only to remove decay heat, not heat from an ongoing nuclear reaction."
The rods are also vulnerable to fire should they be exposed to air, Gundersen said.
The fuel assemblies are situated in a 10 metre by 12 metre concrete pool, the base of which is 18 metres above ground level. The fuel rods are covered by 7 metres of water, Nagai said.
The pool was exposed to the air after an explosion a few days after the quake and tsunami blew off the roof. The cranes and equipment normally used to extract used fuel from the reactor's core were also destroyed.
Tepco has shored up the building, which may have tilted and was bulging after the explosion, a source of global concern that has been raised in the U.S. Congress.
The utility says the building can withstand shaking similar to the quake in 2011 and carries out regular structural checks, but the company has a credibility problem. Last month, it admitted that contaminated water was leaking into the Pacific Ocean after months of denial.
The fuel assemblies have to be first pulled from the racks they are stored in, then inserted into a heavy steel chamber. This operation takes place under water before the chamber, which shields the radiation pulsating from the rods, can be removed from the pool and lowered to ground level.
The chamber is then transported to the plant's common storage pool in an undamaged building where the assemblies will be stored.
Tepco confirmed the Reactor No. 4 fuel pool contains debris during an investigation into the chamber earlier this month.
Removing the rods from the pool is a delicate task normally asssisted by computers, according to Toshio Kimura, a former Tepco technician, who worked at Fukushima Daiichi for 11 years.
"Previously it was a computer-controlled process that memorised the exact locations of the rods down to the millimetre and now they don't have that. It has to be done manually so there is a high risk that they will drop and break one of the fuel rods," Kimura said.
Under normal circumstances, the operation to remove all the fuel would take about 100 days. Tepco initially planned to take two years before reducing the schedule to one year in recognition of the urgency. But that may be an optimistic estimate.
"I think it'll probably be longer than they think and they're probably going to run into some issues," said Murray Jennex, an associate professor at San Diego State University who is an expert on nuclear containment and worked at the San Onofre nuclear plant in California.
"I don't know if anyone has looked into the experience of Chernobyl, building a concrete sarcophagus, but they don't seem to last well with all that contamination."
Corrosion from the salt water will have also weakened the building and equipment, he said.
And if an another strong earthquake strikes before the fuel is fully removed that topples the building or punctures the pool and allow the water to drain, a spent fuel fire releasing more radiation than during the initial disaster is possible, threatening Tokyo 200 kilometers (125 miles) away.
When asked what was the worst possible scenario, Tepco is planning for, Nagai said: "We are now considering risks and countermeasures."
(Courtesy, Reuters.)
=============================
WINESONG 2013
A Benefit for the Mendocino Coast Hospital
Held on the breathtaking Mendocino Coast
Anticipation for Winesong 2013 grows as auction lots and artist of the year painting are revealed. All that plus award-winning wine, spectacular food and charitable giving and you have a steller event!
September 6th & 7th, 2013
Visit www.winesong.org for details
FORT BRAGG, CA. (August 14, 2013) - Winesong 2013 (www.winesong.org) continues to be the Crown Jewel of Northern California charitable events. First, the 29th Annual Winesong will offer guests the opportunity to get an insider's view of Anderson Valley Pinot Noir on Friday, September 6th as Winesong and AVWA (Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association) present "An Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Celebration" hosted by the Little River Inn. On Saturday, September 7th, guests can stroll through the enchanting Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens enjoying a spectacular array of wine and food from 100 highly acclaimed wineries and 50 top-notch Northern California restaurants. The spectacular wine celebration continues on into the Auction Tents for the always-entertaining Live and Silent Charity Auctions. Last years event raised $450,000 for the Mendocino Coast Hospital. "Wine, food, art and music lovers are helping position Mendocino County wines and our event with the top regions and events in California wine country," noted Executive Director Jeri Erickson. Winesong celebrity chef, Bradley Ogden (who is back for a second year), is in the final phase of menu planning for this year's world-class Live Auction Lunch with the help of local catering company, Karina's Catering. The fabulous menu will be paired with award-winning Mendocino County wines. This prestigious event is sure to sell out as it is a unique opportunity to attend a weekend like no other. A celebration of wine, food, art, and music in a captivating setting! Winesong is also pleased to unveil Laura Pope, 2013 Artist of the Year's painting created for Winesong 2013. Pope has worked as a woodworker, a silversmith, a painter, and used techniques from the three mediums in mixed-media sculpture pieces. She continually delights in exploring and inventing techniques while working with different materials. For 20 years she has participated in the Laguna Sawdust Festival and Laguna Festival of Arts with jewelry and painting. Her work has been in numerous galleries and museums in Southern California and Texas. In Mendocino, her work has been seen in North Coast Artists Gallery, Oddfellows Hall, the Mendocino Art Center, Highlight Gallery, Mendocino Jewelry Studio, the Miasa - Sister City Show, and other venues. There will be lively bidding for over 200 lots featuring spectacular wines from the most prestigious wine producers, rare and hard-to-find vintages, and special vertical and horizontal collections. Original paintings and art from highly acclaimed artists, vacation packages, and custom-made international wine getaway packages share the auction limelight.
2013 Honorary Auction Chairs Monty & Sara Preiser have created some exciting auction lots for Winesong. Here are some Hot Lot highlights:
• Beverly Hills Magic: 2 nights at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills, Dinner at AMMO Restaurant in Hollywood with Promise Wines owner and former President of ABC Entertainment, Steve McPherson, 6 Liter bottle of Promise wine, Tickets to Jimmy Kimmel Live accompanied by Steve McPherson, Photo-op and meeting Jimmy Kimmel, $750 cash to be used for air and airport transportation.
• Be a Celebrity: A rare invitation for 2 people to sit with the judges of the American Fine Wine Competition in Miami for 2 days and taste the stunning wines that have been invited www.americanfinewinecompetition, 2 lunches and dinners with the judges, Dinner at an excellent restaurant and 3 nights lodging. 3 nights in a top New York Hotel, 1 Broadway show, 3 dinners with each including a special bottle of wine, Guest of CBS with VIP seats for the David Letterman Show, join announcer Alan Kalter for a personal tour of the set and have your photo taken at David's desk in front of the New York skyline, along with a personalized song from Composer Paul Williams. January 16-21, 2014. Advanced purchase round trip airfare from any Continental US city to New York and Florida.
An Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Celebration: Meet the Winemakers
Friday, September 6, 2013 | 1 to 4pm
This exclusive event features Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley and tastes of Little River's finest culinary offerings. The focus of this celebration is to provide an exclusive opportunity to talk wine with the winemakers themselves in an intimate setting. Evaluate new wines and learn how classic Pinot Noir improves with age. Savor these lush and elegant wines while you meet and mingle with the winemakers at a seaside setting overlooking the spectacular Pacific Coast.
Wine & Food Tasting in the Gardens
Saturday, September 7, 2013 | 11am to 2pm
Each year, in order to offer a wide array of wines, Winesong invites 100 highly acclaimed world-class wineries to preview their new vintages. With producers coming from such diverse regions as Mendocino, Napa, Sonoma, the Central Coast, Sierra Foothills, Oregon, Washington State, Italy, Chile and South Africa, the tasting is truly world-class and unprecedented in its sheer diversity. A wonderful variety of culinary fare is provided by more than 50 fine restaurants and food purveyors from Northern California. Wine & food enthusiasts can stroll through the botanical garden paths along the bluffs overlooking the majestic Mendocino Coast while sampling this bountiful fare and enjoying performances of musical ensembles throughout the gardens playing a variety of styles including jazz, folk, classical, zydeco and more!
Silent & Live Auctions
Saturday, September 7, 2013 | Silent: 11am to 4pm Live: 2pm-5pm
There will be lively bidding on over 200 lots featuring spectacular wines and rare hard-to-find vintages from the most prestigious wine producers, original art from highly acclaimed artists, extravagant vacation packages, and custom-made international wine getaway packages. Bay Area celebrity Narsai David will serve as Master of Ceremonies.
Chef Ogden will be creating the lunch for VIP ticket holders with the help of local catering company, Karina's Catering.
• VIP tickets with reserved seating at auction and Celebrity Chef Lunch, and access to wine and food tasting: $200
• General Admission Tickets with festival seating at auction and access to wine and food tasting: $100
• General Admission Tickets for Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Celebration: Meet the Winemakers: $50
Winesong is produced by Mendocino Coast Hospital Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds for the Mendocino Coast Hospital. Its mission is to help the small rural Hospital provide the best possible medical care to residents as well as the many visitors to the Mendocino Coast. The Hospital Foundation has raised over $4.5 million in Winesong generated funds which has enabled the Hospital to purchase essential medical equipment and improve services.
For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.winesong.org or call (707) 961-4688.
Be First to Comment