ON SUNDAY, April 25, after hearing equipment operating nearby for several days, some long-time owners of property on the Nash Ranch asked an able bodied neighbor to investigate for them what was going on. He discovered that another neighbor had trespassed onto the friends’ property and was in the process of excavating a pond with a bulldozer right in the middle of Little Mill Creek. The bulldozer had become stuck. The section of the creek that was being destroyed runs year around and was a favorite family spot. Fish had regularly been seen there in the past. Material removed from the creek was also blocking a road. Horrified, the owners contacted both the Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Fish and Game. Deputy Craig Walker came out that evening to assess the situation, and CDFG biologist Kevin Joe came early the next morning and inspected the god-awful mess. Joe proceeded to go to the home of the bulldozing neighbors and he issued directives for an immediate clean up. With rain threatening, there cetainly will be some downstream damage. And the quiet, verdant pool in the creek will take a long, long time to recover. What sort of charges and penalties will result remains to be seen. Is there any wonder that salmon are disappearing?
ELWIN MAXEY has died at age 94. Mr. Maxey, a Valley old timer, was profiled for our issue of November 11th, 2009 by Steve Sparks. That interview is available on-line. Mr. Maxey has died at the Philo home he shared with the Dave Gowan family, and was blessed by the special care he received to the end of his long life from his devoted granddaughter, Danielle.
ETHEL MANNIX, wife of Bill Mannix, has also died. Bill and Ethel own property on Redwood Ridge west of Boonville. They are well known to many people in the Anderson Valley. Bill, of course, is the brother of the late Homer Mannix, founder of this newspaper and, for years, judge of the Anderson Valley Justice Court. Bill Mannix retired as a Colonel in the Air Force.
MURIEL ELLIS has not only freed herself from her hospital room, Muriel was in fine form at Lauren’s Restaurant last Thursday night where her team finished a mere half point behind the winners who, as often happens, was the team containing Stephanie Gold and Jerry Karp, a married couple who should be separated for the purposes of this contest because they're too smart in tandem.
BRUCE HERING, organizer of Sunday, May 2nd’s 28th annual Boont Classic foot race, walk, or, for some of us, shuffle, has hurled a challenge right in my face. “I don’t see how you can succeed this year unless you plan using performance-enhancing drugs. I should disclose my results the last few years have been improved by a piggy valve in my heart. You may start out in the lead, but you’ll always fear to hear a faint ‘oink-oink’ right behind you, knowing I will soon be passing you.”
FULLY ANTICIPATING DEFEAT, I'll be there, Bruce. I ran the inaugural Classic 28 years ago — well, jogged it, and I'll walk it this year. The Colfax family got the race going, and here we are nearly three decades later still enjoying the event. Of course I'll never catch Mr. Hering even with a performance-enhancing drug. Which, by the way, and according to a geezer writing for one of the sports mags, really do make you stronger, a lot stronger. This guy, a man in his 60s, said steroids similar to those ingested by ballplayers not only got him bench pressing his weight at his advanced age they improved his vision so much he said he threw away his glasses. I could use a little more upper body strength myself; irate readers seem to be getting younger and more belligerent by the day.
BIG ORANGE descended on downtown Boonville last Friday to begin the resurfacing of 128. Several business owners complained that the roadwork was going to interfere with business, only to change their tune before the afternoon was out saying that somehow foot traffic was actually higher while the Big Orange Machine was laying down asphalt. By 4pm they were gone, and Boonville now awaits their next asphalt assault on the neighboring road segments downtown.
ERICA KANE of Yorkville will offer a three hour introduction to beekeeping workshop on the Apis Mellifera or honeybee at her Yorkville apiary on Saturday, May 29th, and again on Saturday June 12th, both classes noon to 3pm. “This is a rare opportunity,” Ms. Kane promises, “to learn the basic inner workings of a hive to get a real feel for working with honeybees.” A very big bargain at $40 with full consideration to a sliding fee scale. Classes are limited to six people, so reserve your space early. Individual instruction is also available. 894-9174
CORRECTION: Meade Williams said last week that she was surprised to hear that she was leaving the Valley because she's not. She's merely leaving the Teen Center to focus full-time on her Master's thesis, which she’s finishing up in Santa Barbara. Meade said she was heartened to hear that so many of us were sorry to hear she was leaving, and now just as pleased to announce she's staying. Meade will remain with the Teen Center through June where she's working on a couple more projects for the Center before she withdraws. And, the energetic young woman assures us, she'll remain available for selected Teen projects and her time allows.
“SPRING INTO SUMMER” on June 5, 2010 from 11am to 4pm with the Anderson Valley CSD as they celebrate 40 years of excellence in community leadership and advocacy. There will be live music and entertainment, a Tri-tip BBQ $10.00/adult and $5.00/child, a “Kids Fun Zone” that will include activities such as face painting, relay races, games, a bounce house, fire truck rides and much more. A raffle and auction will be held in the afternoon with great prizes from local vendors through out Mendocino County. All proceeds will be allocated to the Anderson Valley Teen Center program. Anyone interested in participating or volunteering at the event please contact Serina Wallace at 707-895-2075. See you all there! (— Serina Wallace)
CANDIDATE for 5th District supervisor, Wendy Roberts, was in Boonville Monday evening for a Meet The Folks evening at the Boonville Brewery, an evening organized by Larry Mailliard. The next day, Mrs. Roberts stopped by our office to say hello, and by golly it's been a while, a very long while, all the way back to Gentleman George Hollister of Comptche since a candidate combining such intelligence and grace crossed our always welcoming threshold. Sic 'em, Wendy!
PANTHER BASEBALL! The big cats split a pair with Laytonville last week here on the home field. According to Coach Ben Anderson, Noe Benevides was outstanding but Garrett Mezzanato was even more outstanding, managing to play through major pain after taking an errant Laytonville throw in the teeth. Garrett managed to carry on despite five emergency stitches, shutting down the visiting Warriors 3-1 from the mound and rapping out a bunch of base hits, including a home run.
“OPERATION COOLNESS” wafted in out of cyber-space the other day, a press release which began, “Your neighboring small town, Cloverdale, has been selected as one of America's coolest small towns by a major travel magazine.....” Oh yeah? What major travel magazine is that, the one in Braille? Cloverdale has its virtues, not that I can think of one other than its relative proximity to San Francisco, but for pure small town cool Boonville has it every which way!
THE LEADERSHIP high school at the High School is looking for a Fair fridge, a refrigerator for the school's fundraising potato booth. Got one? Call 895-3496.
AND THE SCHOOL'S senior class needs a few people to judge Senior Projects. Kim Campbell for what judging involves at 895-2360 extension 118.
AND GOOD ON the kids for their clean-up of Robinson Creek where the battered stream wends its fraught way past the high school. The clean-up was Maribel Garcia's senior project, and she and the rest of the cleaner-uppers are grateful to Alicia Perez who hauled her taco wagon to the site to revive the workers.
THIS NOTE BEGAN, “Do you speak Teen?” No, and I don't care to learn, but those who might are invited to the high school's Career Center on Thursday, May 6th at 5:30 for casual instruction in Dude-Speak as conveyed by the prevalent variety of hand-held gizmos.
EVERY TIME there's a local election someone or someones from one or the other opposing camps is out there taking down enemy signs. A couple described only as “two scraggly-ass hippies in a scraggly-ass hippie truck with a scraggly-ass camper shell on it” were spotted near Navarro throwing Wendy Roberts' signs into the back of their scraggly-ass vehicle.
A READER WRITES: “This is not a formal letter to the editor, but a friendly jab. In your most recent Off The Record you wrote 'whenever I hear the word vision used un-ironically, I become slightly nauseous....' Amazing. I am aware that you have occasionally made people sick, but I never imagined you would cop to it. From The Elements of Style, Strunk and White, chapter IV: Misused words and expressions: Nauseous. Nauseated. The first means sickening to contemplate; the second means sick at the stomach. Do not, therefore, say 'I feel nauseous' unless you are sure you have that effect on others.”
MADAM! Our entire weekly enterprise is aimed at causing as much upset, nausea if you will, as possible. Back to your Strunk and White!
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