5/30/2012
Dear Editor:
Sad to say, that so often, the choices offered us, with regards to candidates, boils down to selecting the one who has the lesser amount of negative baggage!
However, with Brian Dahle running for the 1st Assembly District, we have the opportunity to correct this.
I know Brian and his family; I don’t live in Lassen County but I enjoy reading and hearing about how he has served and performed as an integral member of the Lassen County Board of Supervisors, including being chair. His resume of accomplishments, dedication, concerns, attention to duties, etc. are long and respectable. And those include fiscal integrity. I just wish more government entities would be like Lassen County, and stand up and state that they practice fiscal responsibility, integrity and ethics, resulting in being debt free. Brian certainly can. His stewardship on the Board should be the norm.
Brian is the epitome of a grass roots candidate! The Dahle family own businesses in the area and are respected and are very involved citizens. They believe in the conservative way of life, expect the same for Sacramento!
It is with honor and pride that I will be voting for Brian Dahle – I want him to be my representative in the Assembly.
If you are tired of the status quo, and want things to be the way they should, then cast your vote for Brian Dahle - a farmer, and conservative whom we need in Sacramento.
D. ROHDE
MCARTHUR
052312
Dear Editor:
We have come to a very upsetting place in our electoral process. Doug Lamalfa, in order to advance his political career, has made a habit of destroying others lives. As Bruce Ross points out in his recent Record Searchlight editorial, "this bit of juvenile underhandedness is the sort of dirty trick LaMalfa and his political entourages have long made a specialty. This is the guy who, back in 2004, sent out ads linking Tehama County Supervisor Barbara McIver and pornographer Larry Flynt." Most recently, his Chief of Staff, purchased and paid for a website that defamed Sam Aanestad. Doug's supporters are so passionate in their devotion to him, they will call these recent charges "mud slinging", but these allegations are far from "political spats"! Once again, Doug is in the near vicinity of a person's character assassination. It happens too often to be a coincidence, and it is deplorable! Are we so insensitive to this type of behavior that we see it as a reality game show? Lies have been told, and yet we will overlook them. Doug told KRCR...this website was "outside the campaign"...that it has been "taken care of" and we need to move on from this "show in an election they are losing". Is Doug above the law? His first response was he knew nothing of it. Then he altered his answer, a person must have thick skin and be able to take political satire.??? Have we declined, as a people, to the level we will support, endorse and vote for a person that destroys others to advance his political career? This is deplorable. Doug should be ashamed of himself and his staff! Additionally disciplinary action should be taken with his Chief of Staff.
Preston Dickinson
Chico Ca.
May 14, 2012
Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to the Honorable William Pangman’s letter published in your last issue. I want to address the perception that I seek the support of the people of Sierra County in my quest to be elected Judge of the Superior Court based merely on “friendships and family history.”
I do assert that I have a rich web of friendship and family history in Sierra County. But it is not the bare fact of their existence that is significant. Rather, they are indicative of the knowledge and respect that I have for Sierra County and its people, and that so many of its people have for me. And much of the point of this today boils down to the difference between an educated outsider with judicial power looking down from on high as he deals with the problems that come before him, involving people who he doesn't know and cannot relate to, as compared to my situation of being equally educated in an academic sense, but having a lifetime of knowing and working with people whose families have been sustained by mill work, mining, working in the woods, ranching, working long hours to maintain small businesses, etc. I have worked alongside many local people through the years, doing many kinds of work, often not very glamorous; I have counseled people as they have made their way through difficult child custody disputes, involving children who I know and love; I have provided formal legal representation and informal legal advice to untold numbers of Sierra County residents; I have maintained friendships with people in Loyalton through the years of such drastic changes in the town's economy and character; I have worked hard to maintain the integrity and beauty of the little corner of Sierra County that I tend, at Salmon Lake; I have made many new friends in Downieville in more recent years. With this knowledge come respect and affection. I communicate readily with all kinds of people. I can listen with humbleness to the well-to-do or the poor, whether educated or not, and I do it informed by awareness of the course of change in Sierra County over the past 50 years. This background gives me a much deeper capacity to understand the circumstances of people's lives and to craft useful and meaningful intervention than somebody who has never really engaged with this community.
These past few months, my opponent and I have been turning up at all kinds of community events, and knocking on a lot of doors. I am sure this process has been as much of a pleasure for him as it has been for me. This county is full of great people who are interesting to talk with. I know I have spoken with as many people who I already knew as people who are new to me, and I wonder if the person who has already served as judge here for several years can say that, or whether all of his non-job related connections with local people have been triggered by my challenging him for the job. I hope that voters will think about that as they prepare to cast their votes, and that they will decide they would like a judge with genuine long-term connection and commitment to Sierra County.
Sincerely,
Sidonie Christian
050912
Editor:
Judge John Kennelly has my complete support, recommendation and endorsement for reelection to the office of Judge of the Sierra Superior Court. He is, in my opinion, based on the facts outlined below, not only the most- but the only candidate qualified to immediately carry out the highly demanding job requirements in a judicial as well as an administrative capacity, both of which are required in our two judge court.
If you have decided to vote for Judge Kennelly, “thank you” for your wise choice. If you want to know the basis for my endorsement, please continue reading.
You should know that my opinion of Judge Kennelly has been formulated over more than a twenty-year period in our respective professional capacities, first as lawyers, and during the last seven years, as judicial colleagues. We have a very cordial professional relationship but are not “drinking buddies”, nor do we have any other social or business dealings which would form the basis of any “cronyism” suspicion. My perspective is also based on over 40 years in the legal profession, practicing in both Southern and Northern California since 1970. I know, and have seen in action, a great many lawyers and judges as a “base-line” for comparison.
Prior to his appointment to the bench in 2006, Judge Kennelly practiced extensively in our Superior Court, handling criminal, family law, and juvenile cases. Up until my appointment to the bench in 1997, as County Counsel I represented Sierra County and the Department of Social Services on numerous cases in which (then Mr.) Kennelly was appointed to represent parents or children who were parties to child dependency actions. Emotions run high in such proceedings, and John always conducted himself in a professional, courteous and highly competent manner.
After my appointment as Superior Court Judge in 1997, because of his expertise and professional demeanor, I appointed him to represent defendants in serious criminal cases, including one of the few murder cases in Sierra County’s history. In that matter, the then District Attorney brought in a special prosecutor with a statewide reputation for successfully handling difficult, high-profile murder cases and John did an excellent job representing a client with both facts and emotions stacked against him and his client.
John was very active on our “conflict appointments” panel to represent adult and juvenile defendants when the Public Defender had a conflict or in multiple defendant cases, handling hundreds of matters in varied legal subject matters.
After Judge Skillman’s retirement in 2005, I was very pleased that Judge Kennelly was appointed because of his exceptional professional and personal qualifications.
Many are understandably unaware that, while Sierra County obviously has a much lighter case load than do larger counties, in a small court such as ours, a judge (particularly the Presiding Judge) has to be able “to do it all”- both in terms of all types of cases as well as the administrative obligations both within the county and on a state-wide basis. I assure you that it literally takes years, even with an extensive and broad legal background, to adequately learn to cover all of these responsibilities. Judge Kennelly came into the job with the legal experience, intelligence, and demeanor for excellence. He now has over seven years of judicial experience, the last year and a half as Presiding Judge.
Because of the demands of being Presiding Judge, the California Rules of Court wisely provide that a judge is not eligible to serve as Presiding Judge until he or she has at least four years of experience as a judge [CRC 10.602 (b)].
The task is daunting and Judge Kennelly is doing the job in a manner above reproach. He has and far exceeds the required qualifications. As someone attending the candidates’ forum in Downieville last Thursday night (May 3) wisely asked …”Why would we [the voters and ‘employers’] want to make a change when we have someone already doing the job well?”
It is not my intention to in any manner demean Ms. Sidonie Christian. I know and like her personally and she has appeared in my courtroom. Her father, Winslow Christian was an exceptional jurist, both as Sierra Superior Court Judge and then on the Third District Court of Appeals. He did the honor of conducting my oath of office ceremony and I greatly respect his memory. But this election is not about friendships or family history. It is about a continuum of judicial excellence. To quote the Sierra County Prospect, (and concurrently aggravate Don Russell) “There is simply no way to over-estimate the importance of the position of judge.”
We The People, have a critical “employment decision” to make. In my opinion, “we hold these truths to be self-evident”.
I strongly encourage you to cast your vote to re-elect the Honorable John Kennelly as Judge of the Sierra Superior Court.
If you have further questions on this matter, please feel free to contact me. My office number in Downieville is (530) 289-0100.
Hon. William W. Pangman (Ret.)
041812
How did Gabby Fringette get so cool? There's only a couple of things she
needs to correct. Public school is where those who don't have can get
some. Those who teach can and do excel in many other areas. Teaching
is really difficult, sort of like parenting is a really tough job. I
like Gabby Fringette's creativity and I think her mom and dad are
lucky to have her and she is lucky to have them. Carry on.
Lisa of Larkrising
041112
Your Letter to Zimmerman is interesting, some facts are missing and will never be known, even the investigators will never figure it out completely. Only Zimmerman will know for sure, and have to live with his actions, but what I really wanted to say is that it is about time you changed your thinking!. Quit watching the brainwashing of TV shows, they are SO programming everyone with stereotyped people and activities on Tv.
Every time I hear about or see someone of our generation, or older, especially people I know, putting labels or condemning young people because of the way they look, their race, or the way they dress I get a little angry and let them know they are most likely wrong. Then I remind them of their own youth and what they were like in their younger days. Somehow I think people tend to forget their youth, and condemn the younger generations for doing now, exactly the same things we did when we were young.
So whenever I see a young person with their pants slung low and a nose ring and maybe messy looking dreadlocks or whatever, I think back to when I went to work riding a bad loud motorcycle, big boots, jeans with holes, an old T shirt and a dirty heavy leather jacket with chains on the jacket and pants and really long hair, etc. I think back of the way I looked and my actions and how much of a rebel I was and all the things I did that I wouldn't approve of today. I think I turned out ok, most of us did.
I look back at my youth and then these kids today look pretty normal and they will turn out ok too.
Its a very confusing world we live in today epically for the younger folks and the best we can do is accept them as they are, help answer their questions if we can and help to guide them through the rough and confusing times because we were there once. Remember, that same bunch of kids going down the road with their ipods and low slung pants and purple spiked hair are the ones that will be running the world one of these days, just like we are now. And they will get older and condemn the younger generations for their actions too.
I just realized that some things never do change . . . . . . .....
Have a great day !
Bobby
032112
Dear editor
At a recent Chico Tee party meeting congressional candidate Doug LaMalfa spoke about his devotion to conservative values. If elected he would go to congress to fight for less taxes reduce spending reduce welfare and save us from the burdensome government regulations. After all, Doug is the home town boy, one of us and feels our pain.
Well Doug’s record on these important issues is quite different from his campaign rhetoric. While the nation is facing a 16 trillion dollar dept and the people in his district have been struggling to make ends meet, including small farmers. Doug has been living the good life thanks to the largest of hard working American taxpayers
Over the years Doug and his family have collected $4.7 million dollars in government rice entitlements, rice welfare if you will. If this was not enough Doug took advantage of a loop hole in the law that allowed him to split his ranch among family members to circumvent the $180,000 per year limit. In addition he authored legislation to turn useless rice straw into a $400,000 tax payer wind fall for rich farmers who do not need the money. According to The Heritage Foundation the majority of farms subsidies go to large commercial farms with incomes over $200,000 and not to struggling family farmers and cost Americans taxpayers billions per year. This is not the profile of a conservative. There are other good candidates in this race. We can do better
James Ledgerwood
031412
Dear Editor,
My name is Kim Sharp and i was a contestant in the Yuba Pass Chili Cookoff. I just want you and Gabby to know what a great job she is doing. Shes a good little reporter. I think she has a future in the business and I enjoyed meeting her. Keep up the good work Gabby, and hope to see you next year!
012512
Mr. Editor,
I work for Don Russell, not always pleasant, let me tell you. Especially on Wednesdays, when I often have down time, as I wait for my boss to drink his dinner and begin rolling out the front page of his paper. I must find distractions and humor for myself on Wednesdays, or I would be likely to quit, or kill my boss.
I look forward to the Sierra County Prospect hitting my e-mail, so I can print it out (it isn't news to me unless its on paper) and read it. Imagine my surprise when there was nothing for me to read on the 18th of January. I had to search your archives to try and find some humor I hadn't already read! No luck there, so I had to spend my time not only listening to Mr. Russell, but I had to actually do some work! Oh the shame of it all.
Did you know that before coming to work for Mr. Russell at the Mountain Messenger, I never drank, swore or smoked? Not only am I a champ at those 3, I am now considering registering to vote as a republican!! Help me Mr. Wizard!!
Please, next time you feel the need to have a black-out, do so on your time, like a Thursday, which is my day off.
Jill
p.s. I heard you are looking for a secretary? I am sure Mr. Russell would write me a glowing letter of recommendation before he fires me.
Dear Jill,
We’re sorry you were forced to enjoy Mr. Russell’s company instead of being informed and entertained by the Prospect; we realized it would inconvenience some readers, but didn’t realize it would force people to spend time with Don Russell, let alone do work. As you know, normally that is not what the Prospect encourages. As for the drinking, smoking and swearing, Mr. Russell continues to provide a bad example to the children of the county. But, what the hell.
We can’t afford to lavishly reward our employees with minimum wage like Mr. Russell can. Also, we’re worried if you worked for the Prospect you might actually begin to read the Mountain Messenger. We can’t be responsible for that.
Besides, we’ve heard Mr. Russell’s glowing reports on your work habits, and we think you benefit the Prospect most right where you are!
However, you’re a cherished reader, and we’ll try to get the Prospect out earlier on Wednesdays so you have something to do at work.
011812
My dear, ethereal scribbler:
Having fancied myself as a champion of sloth, you can only imagine my dismay at being bested by an obvious Grand Master.
While I admit your recent Wednesday edition is the most erudite you have ever, ah, published, banished to the ether, encoded (however it is you describe whatever it is you do to speak in ones and zeroes) or printed, I stand in awe at the ease with which you put it together.
On behalf of a grateful national government, I suggest you keep up that really good work. The education you've provided a hungry readership is right up there with the effect your guns have had for freedom and limited power.
Oh, well. Back to the grubby business of providing misinformation and creative facts for us. Enjoy your holiday, er, protest, you hippie, commie dog.
PS: If I ever read your (rag?) (handkerchief?) (kite?) I'd be tempted to cancel my subscription.
ever yr servant
troglodyte, luddite & gutenberg, LLC
Editor's reply:
No kidding! When I thought of this I actually got a little giddy, partly because I know there is no way, not even by putting your byline on a hundred DFG press releases will you ever top this!
Yours in words,
l
PS Sticks and stone may break my bones, but 10011011001100011010101001001010010101010010101
011112
My esteamed up colleague:
Goddamn! Three years of writing on air. We are occasionally envious. We know how easily those electrons are elongated, stretched and accelerated to fill the space available. Not, of course, that you aren't windy enough to fill up any space required.
Speaking of spacey..... oh, never mind. We're congratulating you.
I see with a great deal of pleasure that you have now adopted child labor. We have been concerned about your air-stained children, never knowing the joys of paper cuts nor the bellowing of profane frustration from letter crunchers. Alas: we can only imagine how difficult those tykes will have it when, or if, they survive to face the real world.
Still, reflecting on your experience contrasting with ours, we know only periodically do readers insist our journalistic magnificence is not worth the paper it is written upon.
Your readers and unanimous and unceasing in declaring that of your efforts.
One of the things about which you might inquire if you attain an afterlife is the effect of your projected electrons on alien civilizations. We wonder if Martians get your news a week late? Or does the sun recycle your efforts? Is there a cosmic Waste Management Board? Are there eternal penalties?
Otherwise, keep up the good work, but toughen up there, Buttercup. A brief perusal of yr recent airnews suggests you're getting soft on our local governors, suggesting they might not all be evil incarnate. Devita: they're politicians! Get a grip. Please quit deluding the public and puffing up their egos. Even if you caught one of them doing some good, and even have the original negatives, have the common human decency not to mention it. Yours might not be the only children reading it, however unlikely,
PS: wanna cover that water meeting for me?
the mess
010412
Letters to the editor: I appreciate your common sense approach to living in Sierra County. Too many “do gooders’ think everyone should be like them. Somehow they think their s… doesn’t stink. Take Care Ed Doonan
120711
RE: Letter on dead salmon.
The Spaniards named the Feather River "Rio de Las Plumas," because of the millions of feathers coming down the river from nesting sites in Sierra Valley. I wonder what the Spaniards would name the North Fork of the Yuba, with millions of dead salmon (and other fish) coming down into the "Great Central Valley of the California."
Signed: Just wondering.
113011
Regarding Fairies and Trolls
Good article, left a little bit out but . .. we all know that the salmon will die after they spawn in the river, so you should ask your fried what they think of the idea of hundreds, maybe thousands maybe tens of thousands of large dead fish floating in the river ?. what about the river water quality then, or when they pile up into the whirlpool at the swimming hole downtown Downieville ?. will the tourists flock to see swirling masses of large rotting dead fish ?. makes you want to jump right in and go swimming . . . and what about the masses of floating dead fish when they get to bullards ?. no where else to go. the infectious bugs will flourish and the algae will bloom !. The dead salmon will undoubtedly attract the attention of the bears and the tourists might come to see the bears along the river banks in town fighting over the salmon.
It will be an interesting, but I don't think long lasting experiment of humans again screwing nature and themselves.
Bob
September 29, 2011
Dear Editor:
I just have to tell you how much I enjoy Gabby Fringette’s articles. Although I have enjoyed most of her articles, her latest one on Story Problems was a killer.
I never knew what my problems were with math when I was a student, but this article certainly opened my eyes and taught me a whole new way of thinking. I may have thought like Gabby a little.
This new perspective has allowed me to no longer worry about my inability to deal with the “odd” numbers like 3,5,7,9 or any two digit number they might appear in. I have a fondness for 2 and 4 as they are particularly agreeable to work with, no wonder they are called “even”.
Gabby Fringette is clearly a talented writer and I look forward to reading her for many years. I believe she is in servitude to the Prospect but at some point she will be free to follow her own and possible write the next Great American read, fiction or non-fiction, I will be one of the first to order an advance copy.
Sincerely,Beth Fisher
Downieville
070411
061511
No Sunday Edition: Calculated Sloth?
Sir:
I cannot believe you are abandoning your readership on the Sabbath day.
There is, after all, only so much worshipping that can get done in one day. Not to mention now I'll have to watch and/or play baseball, putter, joyride or drink to excess, having my Sunday not spoken for.
I presume this is the aging process in view, and not the mere sloth as so many say.
But I remind you what some famous old guy said: ya don't work, ya don't eat.
Oh: is this some diet plan you'll get rich off? You crafty devil, making laziness a paying proposition.
I stand trumped.
personally, I never read the digirag, Dvl
060811
All one has to do is follow the lead of our Conservative legislators. For starters, they would scrap the federal income tax and replace it with a sales tax (estimated to be somewhere between 23%-30%).
Now here's the beauty of it all. Since minimum-wage earners are barely able to purchase much of anything as it is, the money they would save by not purchasing food, clothing and shelter could be applied towards private retirement, health care and college tuition savings accounts that would replace Social Security, Medicare and government support for education.
Just think of the opportunities for minimum-wage earners. Now all they have to do is re-examine their investment portfolios and buy their stocks in the petroleum, insurance and pharmaceutical industries.
032011
My dear destroyer of allegories,
Unable as you are to simply accept my attempts to assist you, and knowing you were once a bureaucrat for a care-nazi organization, I'll take a page from that experience of yours and cram some help down your worthless, undeserving throat. Bear in mind that I am on slightly better terms with local law enforcement than you are, and they have guns, handcuffs and jails.
While I appreciate the bottle of booze you proposed to purchase, I must inform you that really, really good hooch is available for considerably less than $18 million and small change. Considering this, you might lower your ad rates.
However, purchase it you did. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I graciously accepted the gift-wrapped jug, stopping only briefly to read the note informing me the jug was mine. (Actually I thought the 18 mil was from you; I didn't know you'd conned some other fool out of $7 mill more)
Now you believe you are entitled to every swill of the jug you just gave me? This is called native-american giving, and is considered poor form.
Therefore, I'd like you to fund me a lawyer to make my point publicly clear.
But then, you're telling me there are no Lahonton at the end of the Rainbow? Blarney, my culturally deprived friend, is your long suit. Which bull went over which Roman fence?
/s/ A soon to be gruntle deprived, albeit rare, reader.
Dear Decrepit Gruntle,
Letters like this bring new meaning to the term "booze addled". Still, I can see you’re trying to tell me something.
I understand you think the land belongs to TNC, and social services is a kind of enslavement.
Clearly, it’s time to bundle you off to rehab. A few weeks with patient, insistent counselors will also help you deal with your anger issues.
Our imaginary mutual friend, and indeed all your imaginary friends, and I hope to do an intervention soon, we’re just waiting for you to hit bottom. We’ll keep an eye on the blotter!
Cheers!
030611
Dear poorly disguised Crusty Editor,
Did TNC send you a plastic bladder of wine?
I can’t hold your liquor, and you can’t hold your water. What the hell kind of Communist are you, anyway? Look at it like this: You, an imaginary mutual friend and I decide to buy a bottle of booze. I put in $7 million, the friend puts in $11 million, and you put in a buck. You buy the booze and tell us it’s yours because you bought it. See? The imaginary mutual friend and I would beat the crap out of you, wouldn’t we? It’s like that!
The Lahonton Cutthroat Trout aren’t going to threaten anyone until they stop wet humping Rainbows. There’s yer problem right there.
Two last questions: 1. Have you ever even been to Independence Lake? 2. Do you have a mug with a leaf (pot leaf excluded) or a panda on it?
Take care, and try to stay off that liver!
Fringe
011611 RE: Nutcase
My dear Digisir:
Dear Hoary Editor,
I am delighted to hear you sounding so well! A mutual friend ran into you the other day, and reported that they thought you’d passed on.
You’re quite the humorist, particularly your assertion that you are a “sane, decent, upstanding, sensible citizen”, since you are most often unable to upstand, and are generally insensatable. Has your memory become so calcified you forget I learned nutcasedness at your now arthritic knee? Google “nutcase” and you’ll find 183,459 pictures of you, and half a million photos of dog scrotums. If government were working properly that would be one search you couldn’t make.
You can’t worry me with Judgement Day, my indulgences are all fully paid and up-to-date. If Republicans are running heaven like they claim, I should be good. You, on the other hand, are unlikely to get religion now that Rasputin is dead.
At least I’m spared your attempts to save my soul. I’ve heard of such attempts you’ve made on the wayward, and the tales are told over and over in group therapy sessions as far away as Nevada City.
Each of your letters is fully as enjoyable as the fifty before, much like mosquito bites.
Remember to have some peanuts and pretzels with that scotch, a balanced diet is important, and remember that pulling your pants up isn’t really exercise even if you do 50 reps a day!
Yours in the Fourth Estate,
Fringe
One of these men is a crazed, messianic cult leader and the other is Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin.
121910
Dear Crusty Editor,
We very mildly resent your use of the terms "nag" and "woman of quality" to refer to Dissenting Editor Fisher.
I do know about the Gutenburg method of newspaper production, as I once visited a Museum called The Mountain Messenger Newspaper to see this primitive process in action.
I think, sir, in your complaining about our fine newspaper, you forget the fact that we had to go to a Sunday edition in order to steal from your newspaper, which inconveniently is published on Thursday.
As for stealing news, you, Sir, are a piker. You steal far less news from us than we do from you. You have spent decades cultivating your news sources, leaving many of them docile and severely addicted to the grape. As you know, we are teetotalers, a decided handicap when trying to get the news from Old Boys and Girls so long in your tutelage.
Finally, you know very well we had no news, and were forced to tease and coddle and swear at general rumors from distant locations to cause it to flower forth in a dazzling display of opinion and legerdemain. You needn't steal that from us, since your gnarled fingers bang out copious loads of such inflated drivel on your worn and creaking Underwood/Mac.
I will congratulate you, though, on being able to navigate your letter making machine so well at four bells past five cups.
As always, it was delightful and confusing hearing from you.
meditor
082510
Sir, I hate to quibble, but inasmuch as I absolutely NEVER read your
ethereal digitization, and thus you lack the best editorship, I feel
obligated to point out a mistaken perception of yours. I hope. It
might just be hopeless egotism.
You claimed to be evenly of "two minds" regarding those too cheap to
buy their own choir robes.
You overestimate by an infinite number, Sir.
And I'm of half a mind to come over and kick your....
got any whiskey?
DSR
Sir,
How good to hear from you, the rumors were clearly premature. I've been wanting to compliment you.
I happened to be gutting fish the other day and needed something to catch the slimy innards, so opened your illustrious journal and my eye happened to fall on several sentences that made sense. Naturally, I wondered, "has he had a lucid moment," then I realized it was Click and Clack. Needless to say, your fine newspaper did its job well, holding several pounds of cold, wet gills and guts.
Indeed, I was praising your prose the other day, on the corner near the Dville grocery (I know better than to say anything nice about you near St. Charles). I was saying to several friends and numerous passers by, "Don Russell does an incredible job with the Mess, given his many obvious handicaps. It can't be easy using only words invented before 1919, and imagine trying to type on that decrepit Mac keyboard with fingers the size of sausages; the backspace key and those around it must be worn thin. Still," I went on, glowingly, "he manages to capture all the news he can imagine." I think your real gift, though, is rewording press releases from Fish and Game. I stand in aaaawww.
Thanks for the kind offer of the ass kicking, and no doubt your half a mind is pretty lonely, but save your strength. Besides, we can't have you blazing over the pass in your old clunker, you're sure to blow a tire and end up blocking both lanes at the bad turns.
Also, sorry, no whiskey. I find it attracts writers of a certain ilk. If there's any lying to be done around here, I'll do it.
Yours in words and gestures,
Fringe
0
053010
Digaeditor:
Having, in some rare instances, been less than supportive of your Os and 1s enterprise, I must admit there is some good to it. Late last evening I was huddled over my computer in the darkened room, reading your miserable missive. In walked a young woman of my acquaintance, and ho, boy, I'm busted. Fortunately, I was able to convince her I was only looking at pornography, and so my reputation is intact and my standing in the community remains.
yrs truly,
A nevertime reader
Dear Nevertime,
You join the many who never read our newspaper but still manage to complain about the content.
Your story is completely believable except the young woman entering your environs. We’ll assume it was a beggar and you were in your cups.
Pornography is an acceptable category for our enterprise. First, there can scarce be a more pure form of liberty and self-determination than the production and enjoyment of recordings of human coupling. Surely it must be protected as free expression, because if we are forced to lie about our inner nature we’ll be forced to accept lies about the limits of our liberties.
Pornography lays bare not only the human body, but our fragility as a species. The simple and pure expressions of our frantic desire to inseminate and be inseminated acknowledges what, without these desires, there would be no humans, not even self-righteous ones. Only Jesus, it is claimed, is born free of the grunting, hairy, sweaty grasping which pulls the rest of us into this world.
The Prospect can’t lay claim to such perfect and honest exposition of the human condition, but as pornography we still reveal persons stripped naked. We try to lay bare the social person, revealing their vulnerability, their fear and greed, the touching character of their piety, the commonality of their longing, and seeing others so disrobed you see how you would look, if you had the courage to expose yourself in public. It scarce matters, when you look at others so displayed you have revealed that fragility in yourself.
So, dear Neverreader, you can honestly claim to be looking at pornography when reading the Prospect, and you need not shame in switching to the silicone goddesses you have open in other windows.
Live long, be humble!
Ed.
RE: allegations from a candidate for Board of Supervisors from District Two. You may have heard allegations during candidate's night in Downieville or you may have received a letter from this candidate recently in the mail. The candidate is mistaken and I resent his allegations toward myself, Peter Huebner and toward the County in general. The Board of Supervisors committee did not intentionally put off action on the solid waste program "until after June 8 so that the 12 year incumbent will have a better chance to be re-elected." The Board of Supervisors adopted a final 2010-2011 solid waste budget at its latest meeting which included a $40,000 expenditure reduction and no increase in any fee or assessment. The Board of Supervisors and its committee take the issue of solid waste disposal services very seriously and have conducted over a dozen public meetings and discussions on the future of the County's landfill and solid waste services. I appreciate the opportunity to comment and set this record straight. Most sincerely, Lee Adams, Supervisor, District 1 Sir, I suppose I must congratulate you this time. You're half right: However, you call for an improvement of the system, at the expense of "calling caseworkers to task" (or however clumsily you put it). Nope. Caseworkers are public employees. Our employees. They most certainly They have taken, often usurped, vast power and authority often unto tyranny. Practitioners of this tricky art or craft should be taught to run scared. I remind you, as at least one will anon learn, social workers do not have the immunity of cops. Accountability is one of the glues of family, of society, and most certainly government. As our Clamper friends are wont to say: Hang the Bastard! The only difference, right now, betwixt myself and that Clamper is that I'm sober. Alas, I shan't have the opportunity to redress that personal problem for some time yet, but we can go about fixing our government right now. A half-proud occasional reader in the County Seat where journalism is still a fine art, brought to perfection in the local rag. 4-18-10
05/21/10
Editor and District 2 Voters:
05/16/10
a remarkable improvement.
should be called to task when they run amok.
My dear misguided Sir:
I take as an article of faith you are merely misguided, not the devious lying SOB that you appear to be. As I’m reminiscing over my good life I spot four children walking toward me, in shorts and cotton tee shirts with cheap pool toys under their arms. The oldest is perhaps 12, in a thin life vest and a plastic circular inflatable in her hand, the others are younger with similar attire, the last child is 6 or 7 years old, no life vest and carrying a small beach ball. My trained eye immediately detects candidates for a drowning. With instant alarm I ask them how far they will be going. Four miles they answer. Holy s’mollies, Yikes, not good. They are with some kayakers upstream. I reach a woman that is walking her boat around the first rapid. I approach her with my concerns. They are planning on the kids walking the riverbank between rapids. She says "don’t you think it will be safe after the rapids?" I say an emphatic "No". stating there are more rapids and the water is way to cold and much to swift to be safe for the children. There is a high risk of hypothermia. I explain that with the weather warming rattlesnakes are starting to move along the rocky shore, that while some places can be walked others cannot. Help, in case of an emergency, is not easily available. My professional experience in teaching river safety and of assisting the general public out of near drowning settings made me try to do a quick introduction to river safety. I say I know they don’t want to lose any of their children. The river is much more dangerous than it looks and I strongly encouraged them to rethink their plans telling them of some roads they could hike out if need be. I left feeling grave misgivings. My quiet day to relax in the flourish of spring flowers had been destroyed. I could not enjoy my surroundings as my adrenaline pumped and imagination surged. Abandoning my plans I returned to my car, crossed the bridge and drove a mile down stream where I hoped they would have terminated their trip at least for the two Moms and the children, thinking I might help with transportation. I saw they were beyond that spot and heading away from the road access. I climbed down a steep bank and crossed a fork of the river on foot to check on them while they were pulled over on the bank. They said they were all right and were going to continue. The pool toys were gone so perhaps they had taken my warning into account. It appeared they fit the kids into their kayaks and canoe. Did their day end in tragedy? I don’t know. Did they make it to their destination and think what they had done was safe? Did they understand the risk taken or did they think their poorly planned outing with inadequate gear and little knowledge or training for the conditions was okay? There is a saying, "God protects fools and children" but I know from experience don’t count on it. Don’t be a fatality or lose someone you love. Owning a raft does not automatically mean adequate training or experience is onboard. There is no risk free activity on the water or in life, however a quality commercial trip with a well-known company improves the odds of a safe fun trip down the river.
So, in the spirit of friendship, goodwill and camaraderie, I hereby endeavor to lead you to the light of truth and beauty.
You have a serious problem when you suggest potential commercial gain to hard working merchants through "exposure" in your quasi-medium. As you well know, your screeds are delivered in a series of ones and zeros, to be translated by machines that may yet prove untrustworthy.
In fact, you offer nothing but bent and warped electrons flowing through the ether.
Print media lay around the house, under parakeets and puppies for, often, a long, long time, giving the advertiser many more chances that his message will be perceived and received.
Print media are translated by the eyes and brains of the recipient, with no intervening forces of potential mischief.
Print media, as you have admitted, have uses beyond its initial impact: recycling, if you will; green power, not coal-generated electrons wasted forever.
Now, assuming as most of your readers probably do know that you in fact exist, I urge you to get an honest job, or at least one on a newspaper, before trying to cheat the unsuspecting out of their hard- earned advertising dollars.
I hope this letter, and consultations with your spiritual advisor, assists you in becoming a better person, although naturally I am somewhat cynical about that possibility.
Humbly yours,
Don Russell, media empire magnate
My Good Man,
My 100101101 goes to every corner of the globe. Further, do either puppies or parakeets have Visa; for that matter can they read, with the part that mostly faces the paper? If so, sir, that is news.
I nod to the carbon footprint of dead trees.
I had an honest job, or near to one as I could get, working for you. I lost money.
Finally, if you aren't my spiritual advisor what was all that crap with the robes and the laying on of hands?
Yours,
DeVita, Humble Servant of the Readers
04-14-10
It’s a beautiful sunny spring day, bright green grass, tall in the breeze, purple Lupin scenting the air beside orange poppies. I’ve got the whole day before me to soak up the season along the Yuba River with its spring runoff water. This is how I enjoy rivers now, along the riverbank with trekking poles a picnic and a book; beached with a back injury. Gone are my days of youth as a whitewater river guide, eleven glorious years of commercial boating on California rivers.
04-14-10
Sincerely
Susan Jorjorian
Sierra City
3/31/10 Kathy Kelley 3/24/10 Editor: I would like to take this opportunity to pledge my support for the re-election of Peter Huebner to the position of District 2 County Supervisor. Peter and I have worked together for over eight years, and I continue to be impressed with his abilities as a supervisor and his dedication to the job. While Peter is one of the most pleasant, hard working and effective individuals I have met, his strongest attribute is that he cares. He cares about his family, he cares about his community, he cares about his county, but most of all, he cares about his fellow man. Peter has taken on many important, time consuming projects over the years. As a member of the Sierra Economic Development Council, he helped secure start-up funding for a number of small businesses in the county, and he helped secure a grant to repair some on the residences in Alleghany. He volunteered to be on the Loyalton Business Park Committee, even though it was out of his district, and played a significant role in its establishment. Recently, working on the County Health Committee, Peter helped identify lower cost health insurance for our county employees. In addition, Peter was instrumental in the building of the Sierra City Visitor’s Center, and the establishment of a community park in Sierra City. No project has ever been too big or too small for Peter. Sierra County is very lucky to have Peter Huebner as one of its county supervisors. The Board of Supervisors is also very lucky that he is on the board. I therefore strongly urge the citizens of District 2 to vote for Peter in the upcoming election. Arnie Gutman Former County Supervisor Editor: The purpose of this letter is to enthusiastically endorse incumbent Peter W Huebner in his effort to continue his duties as our County Supervisor in District 2. We were introduced to Peter when he first established his residency in Sierra County and have since become his permanent neighbors. As Peter's neighbors, we have had the opportunity to witness many of the events in Peter's life as a truly dedicated public servant. Peter is a man of accomplishment whose bodies of work in the fields of business, philanthropy, advocacy, and public service are remarkable. He is an example of what someone with perseverance, a positive outlook, compassion, and determination can do in a land of opportunity. He learned a new language, moved to a new country, succeeded in business, and has passionately served the community he loves since his arrival. Peter has not been elected repeatedly because he is a "career politician". He has been elected as a result of his performance in office. He is an extremely hard worker who treats his position as a full-time job. He prioritizes--and commits his effort to what he feels is best for Sierra County and its citizens. Our county is fiscally better off than many because Peter has been willing to do the necessary legwork outside the county to gain available funds, and has been willing to roll up his sleeves within the county borders to promote its business opportunities. He also has a deep appreciation of the natural features, resources, characters, history, and cultural aspects that make Sierra County a special place. Possible Peter's best quality is his loyalty to the constituents of District 2. He answers the phone when called, and will go to great lengths to solve problems. We are especially grateful for the support and advocacy he provided our aunt, Babe Lewis, while she endured difficult times in the last few years of her life. He will get our votes. Sig and Joni Ostrom Sierra City
Over the last 4 years, I have had many interactions with the Sheriff's Office staff. This experience, as traumatic and unfair as it has been, has taught me several important lessons.
The most relevant of these lessons is the relative merits of the three candidates for Sheriff.
I must cast my whole-hearted support for John Fatheree in his quest to become the next Sheriff of Sierra County.
Officer Fatheree has proven to be fair, professional, objective and supportive in his relationships with the citizens of this County. He has demonstrated his intelligence and his concern for every member of every community in the County. He understands Community Policing and believes in Protecting and Serving. He is respected by the other members of the law enforcement community.
Please join me in voting for the next Sheriff, John Fatheree.
Go Peter!
BRAVO PETER 032110
Peter Huebner's participation on behalf the county. 032110
Editor,
I forward this letter as a means of supporting Peter Huebner in his endeavors outside of Sierra County, activities that benefit his County. I am on the Board of Directors for the California State Association of Counties-Excess Insurance Authority (EIA). This joint powers authority provided a myriad of insurance and excess insurance programs to 54 of the State’s 58 Counties as well as a large number of other public entities, such as cities, special districts, and schools. The key to good governance and stewardship of funds in this organization is member participation. Without engaged and active members, the tens of millions of dollars that entities pay for access to these critical programs would be subject to ineffective management. This critical participation includes participating in three board meetings a year and, even more importantly, participation at the committee level. Peter has been an active member in the EIA in this manner and, having sat on the EIA Legislative Committee for two years, his participation has resulted in excellent stewardship of the dollars Sierra County and all other member Counties contribute to a very effective organization. Peter has been an EIA leader and his activities have positively contributed to all EIA risk pool members’ bottom lines. Whether a critical piece of legislation that could add millions of dollars to workers’ compensation costs for public entities or acting as a proponent for change and progress in establishing EIA policy, Peter’s selfless attendance at EIA Board and Committee meetings has greatly enhanced his public service contributions, not just to his County, but to public entities throughout the State. There has apparently been some criticism of Peter’s participation in these types of activities, but, as a taxpayer, I see an inactive and disengaged Supervisor as someone who is not fulfilling his commitment to taxpayers. I just hope that critics will research the mission of the EIA and its importance to good local fiscal management and the importance of having members like Peter that are willing to spend time away from home and family in order to positively contribute to public fiscal stability in a time of instability.
Gregory S. Borboa
February 2010
Dear Editor and Citizens of Sierra County
It does not seem fair that our county supervisors stepped forward to guarantee maintenance on the state funded purchase of the Yuba Theatre in Downeville a few years ago ,with no vote needed from the voters for maintenance on the building.We had to go thru the work of convincing our neighbors, by a two thirds majority vote on the June ballot, to maintain the Loyalton pool for twenty years. We were denied this simple right just to put this measure on the ballot.
Thank you,
Sierra Valley Hay
sierravalleyhay.com
1/17/10
Letter sent in by reader Tom Dotta, about the "Roundup Group".
Dear Tom,
1/17/10
Dear Editor,
Robert Thran's letter in the Prospect is the same "piece" published in the BOO in November. It's not completely accurate. His parcel numbers, ownership record, and maps are public record. Here it is in a nutshell:
-The 250 acres is West of hwy 49- on the valley floor.
-He owns and has sold other properties adjacent to the 250 acres.
-I think he subdivided the original property he purchased into four parcels. This is easily discovered.
-Sierra County is NOT bankrupt
-There is NO limitation on the size of a residence on Williamson Act properties.
-HSRA people do live here.
.
Mike Freschi
1/13/10
Letter from: Bob Thran
Reg: tentative parcel split of 250 acres in Sierra Valley
I have been working with the county of Plumas on a tentative parcel map for a 250 acre parcel in Sierra Valley that is zoned 80 acre minimum, the 250 acres we are talking about are in the foothills with rock outcroppings. This land is well above the high water table of the valley floor. If this property is split into 80 acre parcels, it will still remain in agricultural preserve. The argument I have been given by the County Agricultural specialist is how you could split this property in 80 acre parcels and have an economically viable property. They are saying that keeping it 250 acres will make it an economical viable property? According to long time residents and neighbors of this property, the ranch was never economically viable even when it was 1000 acres. I have been given photos of the property before the wells were all "sucked dry", by large irrigation operations in Sierra Valley, there were springs and ponds on my property. Has anyone taken a look at the success of the Sierra Valley Farms owned by the Romano’s , it is less than 80 acres and has been a viable food producing operation for 14 years.
And now we come to High Sierra Rural Alliance. This group of people and groups like theirs, seem to have caused more damage to rural life in America than all of the floods, storms, and droughts to have ever hit this land. These groups don’t live here, they contribute to our economy in very few ways, if any. Yet they want to tell us what we can do with our land. Groups like this have caused 95% of my family members that farm or ranch, to move to other states, or just give up on a business that has been going on for five generations on my fathers side, and six generations on my mothers side. . What’s next for these people? Maybe when they knock on your door and tell you to turn off your lights because they can’t see the stars, or tell you not to build your house or barn on your property because it blocks their view of the sunset, maybe then you will know what these people are all about. When the High Sierra Rural Alliance and their members are done with Plumas County it will look just like Sierra County, economically bankrupt, no jobs, no business, no people. I believe these people have already infiltrated our county offices, and also the local newspaper. How naive of me to think the county employees would be impartial and do their jobs with fairness and unbiased, every step of the way in this process, they have said they will do one thing, and months later when I ask about progress, they change what they’ve said. Each time I ask "What do you need?" they say "Just this"…..and each time I complete a task, they say they need something else.
This process should have taken a few months to complete, instead it has been years. The county has never said anything about a planning change until now, wouldn’t you think someone would have stepped up and said something to me before now? Before I have spent thousands of dollars on this parcel map? I have been in the planning department numerous times, my land was zoned 80 acres in the master plan that was in effect when I purchased the property. I am not asking to change the zoning, my property is in the Williamson Act, according to some members of the High Sierra Rural Alliance, the fear is MCMANSIONS will be built on these parcels, have they read the Williamson Act? It is very clear that no dwelling can be more that 2400 sq. ft. that isn’t much of a McMansion. Their line of defense is to use words like "subdivisions" and "McMansions" to hit nerves with the public who don’t know otherwise.
This project was started in good faith by my son and I, we have compled 85% of the clean up of the land, we have removed 42 old cars, 28commercial chest type freezers, two mobile homes, 46 TV’s stoves and refrigerators, wire fencing, tin roofing, box springs and everything else that the people of beautiful Sierra Valley chose to dump on this property. I almost forgot the tires, I’ve been trying for four years to forget the tires, we had over 800 of them, 400 of those were still on the wheels, these had to be cut off with a sawzall, we went through over $200.00 in blades. You can see from the pictures, it has not been an easy job. You may now know why I get upset when someone calls me a developer. I am not here no rape the land and move on, I ask where were are all these people when my son and I were cleaning this place up? I hear them call themselves stewards of the land, and environmentalists, they are only paper pushers, they know how to lobby and put pressure on politicians, like you supervisors. I don’t envy any of you for the job you have to do, these people don’t live here, and they won’t get their hands dirty here, they just want to dictate what others should do with "their" land.
These properties can contribute to the economy of this State. Maybe only in a small way, but in a positive way. I know these three parcels can contribute more to the county and state through taxes, jobs and of course agriculture, than if left in one parcel. If the people of High Sierra Rural Alliance want to stop all progress in Plumas County, they should have bought this land,. If they owned it, I wouldn’t be standing here today telling them how to develop it, if they had started this process years ago, Plumas County would be just like Iraq, stuck in the 12th Century. When you go home tonight, make some cookies and thank a farmer, when you have friends over for a bar-b-que, thank a rancher, and if you succeed at putting us all out of business, thank yourselves.
I am currently in Iraq, supporting my country and hope this letter reaches some people who understand my frustration and perhaps help me with some answers, is there anyone else out there that feels the same way I do? If so, now is the time to speak up for your rights as property owners, don’t wait until it is too late.
Thank you,
Robert Thran
1/13/10 From Reader: Angela Ronson It started December 16, 2002, when I was 32 years old. I had a bleeding stroke at work, an AVM (arterio-venus malformation) burst. I didn't know about it and drove home for lunch. I lost consciousness for a bit and had an accident. I was taken back to work. I got a bad headache at my office and walked with help to the clinic. 1/10/10
At the clinic I stopped breathing. They took me to a hospital where they put me on a helicopter and flew me to a trauma center. There they did brain surgery to stop the bleeding. That surgery was risky, something like 30% survival. Afterwards, I was in a coma. I remember my family being told I would always be in a coma, and if I came out, I would be a vegetable.
I did come out of the coma, but couldn't talk or move, which made me appear to be a vegetable, although I could understand what was being said. I was alive, but had something in my head that could kill me at any time - from something as simple as shaking my head "no."
The AVM was large and too deep in my brain to be removed. It was just left there though the bleeding stopped. I was only able to move my left side after some therapy. I taught myself to talk. I taught myself how do things with limited movement on my non-dominant side; I was right handed but could only move my left. I taught myself how to manipulate the control on my electric wheelchair with my left hand, how to type on the computer with my left index finger, and how to write left-handed. I had worked with babies as an infant development specialist, so I already knew a lot of what to do. It was good that I could talk again, then I could tell others what had to be done. I still wondered what kind of vegetable I was, and I would ask others.
In 2004, doctors at Stanford were able to remove the AVM, and I was able to move my right side again. Since then I have been learning to use my right side and do things like typing with both hands. In therapy, I'm basically doing everything to my right side that was done to my left. Because of my infant training, I was already familiar with how to get development started. Now I just repeat what I remember what was done to my left.
As great as it was was to move my right side, the most important thing about surgery is that I no longer have that thing in my head anymore. Nobody expected this kind of recovery: What kind of vegetable can think, talk or write? I still don't know what kind of vegetable I am.
Dear digieditor,
Your current where's it at photo is, as you note, a federal facility.
I believe it unreasonable to ask Sierra County residents to be
familiar with such gummint houses, as we live in these back woods to
evade and avoid the awesome power of the Federal authorities.
Or are you just trying to find out how many sympathizers there are
for the usurping, over-reaching, tyrannical bureaucrats who would
lash us into serfdom, who would crush us with their might? Or make us
visit them where our visages and presence will probably be
photographed, fingerprinted and DNAed?
Just whose side are you on, anyway?
A RED white and blue reader in the styx.
PS: having just read more of your digirag, I am delighted that
Sierra County's mediums have a nutcase such as yourself.
If nothing else, you make Messenger editor Russell appear pretty
goddamn normal.
A thankful, if occasional, reader who really doesn't like electrons
in any form (except maybe pornography and morning toast)
Dear reluctant reader,
I was dropping the netflix in the chute when I thought “oh, shazblat, we don’t have a new ‘where in Sierra’”. I took a picture of what was in front of me. That’s the methodology we generally use.
The last thing we here at the Prospect would do is to encourage people to participate in anything govern-mental. The next to the last thing we would do is ask you to give up some DNA, which might well result in the scrapping of the whole idea of evolution. We have already publicly acknowledged that the Mountain Messenger’s Don Russell is pretty goddamn near, but by no means completely, normal.
It is rare to find a reader with such a nimble command of the language, or such a facile sense of rhythm; might you be one of the unclaimed children of said Russell; have you any idea who your pa might be (don’t fret, it’s a wise child…)? Was your ma fond of drink?
Finally, please send the link to the porn site that will toast bread.
P.S. It must be hell living in the styx.
January 6, 2010
Dear Editor of the Sierra County Prospect,
I have been meaning to write you for a many a moon (twelve) now. Congratulations on your online newspaper! It is really “cutting edge” or perhaps ‘over the edge.” (Doesn’t that sound sharp?)
As you toil, dear editor, and chisel words for no compensation and feeble hopes of fame, who would of guessed that you would become a member of the “fourth estate” and I would become a member of the “second estate.” (Twelve moons now.) It appears that many “estate” things are going on, but alas, no money to be found. These estate holdings, puts us at polar opposites. You know, I say “tomato”, you report “potato.”
Truthfully, I must admit, that I only read the “Prospect” to check on “Cooter.” You say he is a “good boy?” He must be if you are his master and what he has to put up with in that respect.
We can always use more opinions and voices rising out of the pines, the gold mines, the rushing rivers, deep canyons, clear creeks, mountain tops, and alpine valleys. As Julie Andrews once wailed, “The hills are alive.”
She meant music, but opinions are like music to us small town politicians, especially when they tend to favor and roll our way. (Hint, hint!)
Keep doing what you are doing but please stay on your side of the Sierra and don’t come over hill and dale to listen to our “govmint” meetings, I don’t want to read about myself in that gosh dern, prospecting for dirt, cyber horse and pony show, that you have so lovingly created.
Happy New Year!
Lori A. Simpson
A Citizen of Plumas County
Quincy, CA
December 27 09
December 11, 2009
December 1, 2009
Editor:
The Miss Jody Community Thanksgiving Dinner was a great success once again. Thanks to the efforts of many wonderful people the event was a joyous, happy occasion for those who came to dine and the many volunteers who made it happen.
We thank everyone who helped and the following are those we know, there are many who donated anonymously and I may have inadvertently left out someone’s name that helped but we are so grateful for your help.
We especially acknowledge the efforts of Dan and Ingrid Larson at Downieville Grocery, Larry and Kathy Breed at the Sierra City Country Store, Don and Mary Kay Potter of the Grubstake, Don Russell of the Mountain Messenger, sierracountyprospect.com, E. Clampus Vitus Downie Chapter #1849 and Cindy McCreary of Sierra Hardware.
The dinner was wonderful thanks to the efforts of Nancy and Lou Phillippi, Irmke Schoebel and Glenn Deibler, Anne Hutchison and David Hutchison, Frank and Betty Jo Lang, Lee Adams, Emily Kidwell, Amanda Sanchez, Frank Sanchez, Kaydee Haldsted, JoAnn Kies, Steve Kies, Tom and Susan Hopkins, Steve Behrens, Pat and Larry Hudson, Doris Carpenter, Liz Fisher, Kathy Whitlow, Danielle Burr, Linda and Paul Guffin, Nancy Carnahan, John and Liz Luster, Miriam Dines, Will and Jean Clark, and Justin and Hannah Ryu, Mary Jo Rust and other volunteers who I may have missed.
Some of the many donations were received from Marian LaFollette, Gary and Lora Lee Grutkowski, Michelle Anderson, Gunnar & Cindy Ellsmore, Michael and Karen Galan, Dr. Hiroyasu Hataoka, Patricia Lawrence, Docia Bostrom, Marian Kinzler, Barbara Seley, Laura Marshall, Mike Fogli, Bailey Edgeman, Evan Dailey, Jean, Julie and Jeff Newfarmer and many donations were left anonymously at the check stands at the grocery stores in Sierra City and Downieville. Thank you all so very much.
Over $2,200.00 was received in donations. After paying expenses for the Miss Jody Dinner which served 132 including 12 home deliveries more than $1,800.00 will be given to the Western Sierra Food Bank to use for providing food to those who need supplies and the Christmas Baskets delivered in time for Christmas meals.
Although this is a wonderful amount from this community, it does not begin to fill the need for year round food assistance. The Western Sierra Food Bank helps anyone who needs food. No prequalification needed. This year has been especially difficult for many families, people with loss of income and fixed income seniors and the WSFB has been hit hard. We thank everyone for helping so much and we ask that those who can donate remember hunger happens all year long.
Happy Holidays to you and yours and once again, Thank You.
Downieville Lions Club
Gold Circuit United Methodist Church
Assembly of God Church
Thoughtful and Intelligent Reader Writes:
Dear Digiteditor,
Besides, the aforementioned literary endeavor probably needs the money, and knowing how your type loves a warm and fuzzy feeling, you'd cop one, knowing you are buying local and supporting Sierra County businesses. I believe the transaction can be accomplished at mtnmess@cwo.com
yours truly, Dear Aged Colleague, I believe if you’ll put your glasses on you’ll see that all those 1s and 0s in the bathroom are actually your hair. Your suggestion that the hoary reputation of the Mountain Messenger should be sullied with my ranting for the sake money is shocking, sir. There is a name for people who do such things for money, and it isn’t a polite name. I also scoff at your suggestion that the Messenger might need the money. It is known up and down the state that the Mountain Messenger, California’s oldest weekly newspaper, is also the only newspaper of record in the county. Everyone knows the old miners in the county don’t make a movement without the Messenger. No, the Messenger’s place as the receptacle for county and other business is secure. On the other hand, publishing the Prospect in the Messenger would kill more trees. If they were Sierra County trees and biomass, it would almost be worth it. Anyway, getting that warm, fuzzy feeling you allude to is easy when you’re the editor of the Sierra County Prospect! Ed.
a concerned sometimes reader and news-know-it-all
We reserve the right to edit all submissions for space, content, or the use of naughty words.
Here are a few simple tips for your "letters to the editor:"
1. Don’t drink hard liquor or do meth before writing to your editor. Writing rambling, pointless text is my job. We’ll snip your rambling to a paraphrase, and you don’t want that. We’d like to see letters no longer than 250 words. You can send more, but we might leave some out.
2. Don’t insult anyone by name. Law suits give me prickly heat. If you want to call someone out into the street, go out into the street and do it. (If you’re going to do that, we’d appreciate a heads up: 448 9092.)
3. Hate. We have freedom of expression in America. If you really want to air your mindless hatred against this group or that, send it in, we might publish it, BUT we will also critique it and make editorial remarks about it and above all have fun with it. Think it over.
Some "do’s:"
1. Do write in to thank people for helping you or making a contribution to the community. We should, and will, fill pages with that. It is the ten thousand acts of selfless kindness that our people do that keep our communities alive.
2. Do write in to inform your neighbors and cousins about what is going on with your group, your family, or yourself.
3. Do use the Letters to complain about specific problems with government representatives. However, to avoid looking like a loon, be sure to get your facts straight. Your first complaint should be to the department of the person or decision of your complaint. Once your facts are straight and you’ve given the department a chance to correct the problem and they haven’t, by all means, write in. We will contact that person or department for a response. Do it, it’s good for the community. Encouraging violence against the government, not so much. We don’t condone that, and will edit or ignore such letters.
4. This is also the correct forum for remarks about public policy. Be specific, share how bad policy has caused problems, and how good policy is helping.
5. Do use the Letters to complain about OR compliment local businesses. Be specific and factual.
If you’ve read this far, and still want to write to the Editor, please email to: lte@sierracountyprospect.com
OR actually write with pen or crayon on paper and send it to:
LTE
Sierra County Prospect
POB 155
Calpine, CA 96124
