AMERICAN LEGION POST 385 will be honoring this nation's veterans on Veteran's Day at the Evergreen Cemetery on Friday November 11th. Ceremony to commence at 11am.
ALSO ON VETERAN'S DAY, Friday, November 11, Mary Paffard is doing a Restorative Yoga class from 4-5:30pm at the Studio SoBo. No need to preregister. The fee will be a donation of your choice, all of which will go to the Veterans. Bring a couple pillows and come join us. Thanks!
A TRIP TO THE MOUTH of the Navarro River Saturday found the sand bar fully in place. At high tide waves would at times breach the sand bar but not destroy it. When this happened up to three seals would appear to sit on the sand bar and wait for fish to go by. When they did the seal or seals would dive into the water in chase. I imagine they were successful at least some of the time, hopefully not all of the time. (David Severn)
HALLOWEEN was mostly quiet in the Anderson Valley. The heavy rain prevented the little ones from doing much door-to-door sugar garnering, but a marauding liberal apparently carried off the Trump sign a diehard Trumper had posted among the flurry of miscellaneous advertisements at the junction of 128 and 253. At the Philo Grange, a young man assumed to be under the influence of mind-altering substances caused a post-party ruckus when he had to be physically restrained after he punched a woman and bit a man. Deputies being engaged elsewhere, it was an hour before the professionals arrived to arrange him in a four-point restraint and haul him off.
NOTE TO AV AMBULANCE. At 5am there’s no need for a siren because there’s no traffic to get out of the way pre-dawn Monday morning. I’m up, and loggers are already on their second cups of coffee at the Redwood Drive-in, but everyone else is still deep in Dreamland.
SPEAKING of AV Ambulance, a buncha old guys were sitting around the AVA discussing events and personalities when one of the wheezes declared, “If I suddenly conk out I don’t want the last face I see in this life to be one of yours. Nothing personal, boys, but I hope either Angela DeWitt or The Baroness are my first responders. Of course those two angelic visages might make you think you’re already dead and in heaven…
KELLY BOSS was back in court Thursday, most of the day, with pretrial hearings. His big hope is that the report of Joan Sturgis on his financial status will qualify him as a Poor Hippy working to lift the burdens of the afflicted, not his bank account. Boss’s attorneys, E.D. Lerman and co-counsel Rebecca Mendribil, had produced the financial reports the judge ordered last week. It took about ten minutes for Judge Moorman to scan the papers and declare, “I’m highly doubtful I’d allow Ms. Sturgis, from what I’ve seen here, to opine that this grow was in compliance; that conclusion is not appropriate for an expert to make." Ms. Lerman was livid! She began to protest when Ms. Mendribil reacted --- first she hushed her law partner in the style of a librarian — with a shushhh! — then more demonstrably by sealing Lerman's lips with her hand and a preemptory popping of the eyes. "Let's get the 402 hearing started," Moorman said. "It looks like it will take all day." And my-oh-my what a beautiful fall day it was! I went home and put on my jeans and tennis shoes and went about winterizing my quarters. Poor old Kelly Boss (his lawyer complained to me about what other people were saying about him, and urged me to trust her, that Kelly Boss is “really a sweet guy!” and just might be, but a guy with a winery in Anderson Valley and a dope factory in Elk probably isn’t a pauper. Trial starts Monday! (Bruce McEwen)
ON SEPTEMBER 3 of this year Dandelion Allegra Mendoza, a 1998 graduate of Rancheria Anderson Valley High School, as a Paramedic Supervisor with American Ambulance in Fresno, was paged to an "officers down" shooting at the Fresno County jail. Arriving on-scene at the same time as the first arriving ambulance, Mendoza and her crew, under police protection, rushed to treat and transport two downed officers while the still armed assailant was being corralled but not yet subdued in an adjoining hallway. Both officers survived after each being shot in the head — one has been discharged and one is still critical but "improving every day". Upon graduation Dandy, a single mother, went to work for the Anderson Valley Health Center while simultaneously becoming an EMT and volunteering with our local ambulance service. Then, while still working at the clinic, went on to evening school in Ukiah to become a paramedic. Just recently, Dandy, now the mother of a second daughter, was issued a commendation for her "courageous" role in that horrendous incident mentioned above. Anderson Valley salutes Dandelion Allegra Mendoza!
AIRPORT MANAGER & Community Services District Trustee Kirk Wilder told the CSD Board last month that newly available FAA grant money may be spent on high-tech security lighting for the Boonville International parking area. The solar-energy light-systems run about $5,000 each. Wilder thinks there might be room for four of them, effectively spending about $20k of the FAA grant money should it be approved. Even though “security” is not much of a problem at the Airport, Wilder thought the lights could help pilots secure heir planes at night. Anticipating complaints about intrusive night-lights, Wilder explained that the lights not only have motion detectors, their beams are aimed down the tarmac, not at nearby residences.
THE AVA’S DAVID YEARSLEY will make a rare west coast appearance in the Bay Area this Saturday, November 12, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church at 1111 O’Farrell in San Francisco. Yearsley is not only a fine music historian and critic but also a top-notch classical organist and musician. The event includes an organ master class and, later that evening, a formal recital. The master class is from 9am to noon, the recital at 7:30pm.
For more information go to the San Francisco Chapter of the American Guild of Organists at: sfago.org/agoprog.html
A sample: youtube.com/watch?v=ghi_yZ8WLVs
ANDERSON VALLEY SPORTS BOOSTERS present the 1st Annual Turkey Trot 5k Fun Run/Walk on November 24th! AV Boosters is a non-profit organization which helps supply equipment and funds to the sports programs. This year, we are also raising $21,000 in order to replace the scoreboards at the AVHS gym. This is a huge task and we need the entire communities support in order to accomplish our goal. All of the proceeds from the Turkey Trot will help in our efforts to raise money for the scoreboards. Along with raising money, we also want to promote a healthy lifestyle and bring the community together to share in our blessings on Thanksgiving. We will start/finish at the high school near the tennis courts. Registration is $30/adults, $20/children, registration fee includes a race day t-shirt. Registration will be from 7:30-8:30 am and the race will start at 9am. For more information please call Shauna at 684-9126 or email avpanthersboosters@gmail.com
MENDOCINO COUNTY’S CHIEF PLANNER Andy Gustavson has announced that he is resigning at the end of November to take a top planning position for the City of Santa Rosa. In our limited experience with him, Gustavson was unfailingly helpful and certainly knowledgeable. He was particularly helpful and responsive to the Valley’s Community Services District’s requests for assistance in preparing the Water and Sewer grant applications. He seemed instantly aware that the Planning Department’s first review of the Blackbird Ranch was seriously deficient and quickly suggested that the issue be postponed until the application was properly reviewed. (The Blackbird Ranch application, however, is now scheduled for December, after his departure.)
EITHER WAY, the Planning Department will be left with very little in the way of senior planning staff. For example, the controversial Blackbird Ranch project will now be left to junior planner Adele Phillips. When asked by the Planning Commission last week about the shortage of Senior Planners, Building and Planning Director Steve Dunnicliff tried to put a positive spin on the situation by pointing out that they still had a couple of experienced planners on staff, that the department is increasing their recruiting efforts, that the junior staffers were getting training and that they’d be contracting out some planning tasks to experienced outside planning outfits. But the inexperienced planners will still be leads on pending projects.
SINCE THE BLACKBIRD application will be controversial — it is unanimously opposed by the residents of the Anderson Valley — and the planning staff’s decisions will be subject to close scrutiny by both Blackbird and the opposing neighbors, we’re afraid that the County may find itself in a legal bind if the application isn’t handled by the book. And Gustavson’s departure is likely to make whatever the County’s decision on the Blackbird application is much harder to defend.
BURN PERMITS & BURGERS — The AV Fire Department will issue free "winter burning season" burn permits at an Open House at the Boonville Fire House next weekend (weekend after next) — Saturday November 19th from noon to 4pm. They will have a BBQ out on the street and the first burger is free. Bring the kids or just stop in and see the fire equipment!
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