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Valley People (March 15, 2017)

COSMO KNOEBBER, the sage of Comptche, nicely sums up the feeling of most of us about Daylight Saving: "YAY! My watch will soon be right again!"

BRUCE PATTERSON WRITES: “Wow, finally got the AVA and learned of all the damage from the rainstorms. I worked a couple of jobs up atop Peachland and had friends living up that way. The last time I saw Bo Hiatt he was coming down the road in an empty dump truck, we stopped in a wide spot and shot the breeze some. I think the picture of the washout on the front page is where Bo and the rest of the Hiatt bunch were working back then. Strictly patchwork. It's very difficult holding a road in place when it's built across a landslide. Might need a viaduct to do it right but who knows how wide the right of way is or how deep the bedrock is? Maybe wisest to re-route the road but who wants to stir up that kind of trouble? Besides, even if you do get it done, most the cost will be in getting all of the necessary permissions and putting the new route on paper. Another fine mess.”

A READER COMMENTS: “We went to Lizbby’s last night. Really great! Like Libby’s. Definitely will be successful if people try it out. A good number there for a Sunday night.” Everyone who has eaten at Lizbby’s has raved about Boonville’s newest restaurant. The verdict is in — it’s great, as little old Boonville becomes a veritable gourmet alley with more really, really good restaurants than any other town in the County.

AV FIRE CHIEF ANDRES AVILA REPORTS: “Peachland road failed during a February storm completely cutting off vehicle access. The FD was able to find an alternative route with an extended response time. Since then, the county has partially restored the road for small vehicles. I have tested our patrols and the ambulance which will be able to pass through the small section of repaired road. On the other hand, no wildland engines or structure engines will be able to access Peachland Rd, Lone Tree Ridge Rd or Black Oak Ridge Rd, which have approximately 25 residences and three working vineyards. County Roads believes that a contractor will be starting on a permanent repair for the slide in May at the earliest. This time frame will mean that we will have limited access for many months ahead including the beginning of wildfire season.”

BLACKBIRD FARMS manages to regularly annoy everyone. The year-round wilderness camp deep in the hills west of Philo busses in "at-risk youth," housing the risky youth in flimsy, non-code yurts. As Blackbird's application to expand their ridge-top facility to nearly 300 transients of the paying type remains pending, they outrage their neighbors by tearing up the access roads and, now, firing guns in barrage-like volleys at the northwest edge of their property, spooking the horses next door. Ordinarily, guns and "at-risk" youth don't mix, but Blackbird seems to enjoy a unique exemption from rules and reason.

A CALLER said Thursday that he knows for a fact that ICE is working in Mendocino County, and has already picked off for deportation several people with heavy criminal backgrounds.

PRAISE THEM! Howard Dashiell's County Road crews do a remarkable job considering the dual whammies of funding shortages and this year's road-punishing rains. Dashiell's macadam marvels managed to bridge that 60-foot-long stretch of Orr Springs road that disappeared in a massive slide-away less than three weeks after the road was severed. Orr Springs Road opened to light vehicles Friday afternoon. It's one way on an ingeniously engineered, pre-manufactured Bailey Bridge that Dashiell says cost $135,000, most of which will be reimbursed by disaster relief funds at about 90 percent.

TONY PARDINI JR. has been honored by being named to the All-Empire Small School Football team. A gifted three-sport athlete, young Pardini has ambitions of playing at the college level, and having watched him on the gridiron since his days in pee-wee football, we think he has a good shot at it.

I’VE HEARD for years that Sarah Larkin is a wonderful singer and, as a regular customer of Sarah’s essential Boonville nursery, Goodness Grows, I invested a few bucks in a recording called The Real Sarahs, “music and lyrics by Sarah Larkin and Sarah Ryan,” the second Sarah a pre-school teacher who also lives and works in Boonville. I’m happy I made the investment. The lyrics were affecting and affectingly sung. and I liked The Real Sarahs very much and look forward to seeing them when they perform again in the Valley.

NICE NOTE from SRJC football coach, Lenny Wagner:

“Good morning, Bruce, happy to talk with you about the boys. They are all doing very well. Logo Tevaseu works full time in our financial aid office in addition to coaching the D Line, and is also one of our strength coaches. Martin Tevaseu is teaching classes at the JC and coaching D Line. Also one of our strength coaches. Willie Lemons received the award for Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year. Very hard worker, going to be a guy for us this year. Just getting to know Cesar, but he is working hard and seems to be a very good kid. I have played games in that rodeo arena up there in Boonville for Coach Kuny, I know what kind of guys I am getting. Tough, hard-working, and love football.”

Logo, Martin Tevaseu

THAT’S US, all right. Logo and Martin are the memorable football players who developed their games right here in Boonville and went on in to Division One and, in Martin’s case, the NFL. Will Lemons, AVHS class of ’16, is a Little Abner look-alike who is poised to make the huge jump to big time football, and SRJC is certainly big-time. For pure grit, Cesar Soto can play any sport with the best. SRJC grads, year after year, are found on the starting teams of colleges around the country.

THE TRUE ATHEISTS are spraying Round-Up on God's splendid Spring green, and why not at least wait until the grasses begin to brown to kick off 2017's local chemical wine warfare?

TOP GLYPHOSATE (ROUNDUP) USERS, MENDOCINO COUNTY, 2016

By Permittee:

Beckstoffer Vineyards-Mendo [winegrape] 442 gallons

Mendocino Redwood Company [timber] 373 gallons

Chevalier Vineyard Mgt Inc [winegrape, pear] 269 gallons

Roederer (Anderson Vineyards Inc) [winegrape] 267 gallons

Ardzrooni Vineyard Management [winegrape] 152 gallons

Hildreth Farms [winegrape, pear] 90 gallons

Brutocao Vineyards [winegrape] 86 gallons

Constellation Wines [winegrape] 78 gallons

Shadowbrook Farms [winegrape, pear] 69 gallons

Valley Foothills Vineyard [winegrape] 64 gallons

Downey Management [winegrape] 54 gallons

Devin Gordon (Whispering Oak Vineyards) [winegrape] 51 gallons

Redwood Empire Vineyard Management [winegrape] 51 gallons

NOTE: Larger entities (like Beckstoffer, MRC & Roederer) often manage their own poison work; while smaller outfits tend to hire that work out (to management companies like Chevalier & Ardzrooni).

By Vineyard:

Beckstoffer Vinifera Vineyard [Ukiah] 178 gallons

Bald Eagle Vineyard [Potter Valley] 74 gallons

Beckstoffer Hopland Ranch Vineyard [Hopland] 68 gallons

Beckstoffer Mendocino 101 Vineyard [Ukiah] 67 gallons

Valley Foothills Vineyard [Philo] 64 gallons

Beckstoffer Russian River Vineyard [Ukiah] 53 gallons

Beckstoffer Feliz Creek [Hopland] 48 gallons

Lakeview Vineyards [Hopland] 46 gallons

Madonna Vineyards [Ukiah] 44 gallons

Brutocao Bliss Ranch [Hopland] 39 gallons

Orsi Vineyards [Hopland] 36 gallons

Roederer Clark/Perkins Ranch [Philo] 32 gallons

Haiku Vineyards [Ukiah] 31 gallons

(All figures derived from Mendocino County Agriculture Division data https://mendocinocounty.nextrequest.com/requests/17-27)

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Buyer Beware: Wines Made From Beckstoffer-Mendo Grapes

  • Cartlidge & Browne Cabernet Sauvignon North Coast
  • Clos du Bois Chardonnay North Coast
  • Clos du Bois Merlot North Coast
  • Constellation Wines Chardonnay
  • Fetzer California Chardonnay
  • Francis Coppola Diamond Collection Gold Label Chardonnay
  • Frey Vineyards Mendocino Chardonnay
  • Hess Select Cabernet Sauvignon
  • Landmark Vineyards Chardonnay
  • Mendocino Fog Chardonnay
  • Mendocino Wine Company Chardonnay
  • Parducci Mendocino County Chardonnay
  • Topel Chardonnay

(List compiled from information provided at http://beckstoffervineyards.com)

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