NEWS ARTICLE ARCHIVE — in chronological order, with pagination below
-
Volunteers work hard to stretch Food Bank dollars
When I first saw the young man sitting in his car in the Fort Bragg Food Bank parking lot, I had no doubt he was a very unwilling court referral, forced to choose between doing community service at the Food Bank or jail by a judge. He sat bolt upright, listening to his stereo cranked…
Read More » -
Contradictory legal opinions on Laura”s Law
When they ponder Laura”s Law this month, Mendocino County supervisors must take a side in a passionate split that divides legal minds, as well as advocates, for the mentally ill. If the supervisors vote yes, Laura”s Law (AB 1421) would set up a process where certain officials, and family members of mentally ill people who…
Read More » -
Coats for dogs and people among many Food Bank extras
The San Francisco Giants are partly responsible for a popular new program at the Fort Bragg Food Bank — sweaters for dogs. Long time Food Bank volunteer Nancy Milano has crocheted about 100 doggie coats, which have been given away to Food Bank clients by Second Chance Rescue. She made many while watching her favorite…
Read More » -
Exhausted Food Bankers now need Christmas turkeys
Volunteer Shirley Harbour was spending the first of three busy days at the Fort Bragg Food Bank on Monday making fruit cups for the workers with her pal, Nina Pivirotto. Outside, the line extended down South Franklin Street. After a wild and busy Thanksgiving week, the Food Bank still needs more turkeys or hams for…
Read More » -
Mental Health: Data unavailable, questions remain
A continuing series Andrew Weber had a big smile when he talked about the fact he was turning 21 in 12 days. “I can”t wait,” he said, following last week”s mental health board meeting, when he told his story as an illustration of the community collaboration strategy implemented by Mental Health Director Tom Pinizzotto. Weber”s…
Read More » -
Season of Sharing: Food Bank”s senior food deliveries bring big smiles
As Allied bombs fell nearby, 14-year-old Ingeborg Hartung was in school learning textile arts. “War should be illegal. Why do young men have to go war for something they don”t understand, and die? for what,?” she says. The Fort Bragg grandmother remembers a Germany where the only soldiers left alive to fight were teenagers. She…
Read More » -
40-gallon diesel spill results in fines, probation
A 65-year-old Fort Bragg man has pleaded guilty to spilling diesel fuel into the Pacific Ocean on June 12, the largest of about 25 Mendocino County incidents reported to the California Office of Spill Prevention and Response in 2011. Much smaller drips, overflows and other spills in the pint-to-quart range often go unreported and could…
Read More » -
Food Bank challenges community to give turkeys, more
A homeless man said he needed the box of “executive hair dye” to prepare his beard for his next job interview. A 57-year-old unemployed woman, whose fortunes collapsed along with the economy in 2008, informed the rest of us in the lobby of the Fort Bragg Food Bank that she has never had a gray…
Read More » -
Howard Wheatley” Allen: How does he do it?
When Mikhail Gorbachev reached for a metaphor to describe how the standoff that threatened the planet for half a century ended, the last Soviet president chose a goose. “During the nuclear arms race, I was given a gift by an American, a little figure of a goose in flight. I still have it at my…
Read More » -
Wave energy proposed again for Mendocino
Wave energy is back off the Mendocino Coast, at least on paper. Green Wave Energy Solutions has refiled for permits to develop wave energy off the village of Mendocino and San Luis Obispo; both sets were thrown out by the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission last fall. FERC revoked the Thousand Oaks” company”s 2009 permits citing…
Read More » -
FBUSD gets new board member
Jerry Matson was chosen last week by the Fort Bragg Unified School District Board from a list of four applicants to fill an open seat. Matson, 56, owner of Matson Construction and Matson Building Materials, spent nine years as a member of the Fort Bragg Planning Commission. He has also been a Fort Bragg Rotarian…
Read More » -
Mental Health Board makes a difference — without funds or power
Part two of our Mental Health Services investigation looks at the Mendocino County Mental Health Board Before this summer”s murderous spree made headlines around the world, Mendocino County Mental Heath Board (MHB) chairman Guy Grenny was looking for an additional board member from the Coast. Now, the MHB has its most controversial applicant ever, Jim…
Read More » -
$19M more sought for county conservation easements
More than $40 million in state bond funds headed to Mendocino County this summer will help create “lots of jobs,” said Art Harwood, executive director of the Redwood Forest Foundation Inc. While RFFI is still preparing for its first timber harvest, another logging-preservation nonprofit, The Conversation Fund, is already creating jobs in the three big…
Read More » -
Security for forest operations
Last month”s murders created fear in local forests and renewed questions about landowner security just as $38 million is being spent to create sustainable wilderness logging in the north and south ends of the county. What is the security strategy of these new style logging-restoration nonprofits? “Jere Melo was our security man,” said Art Harwood,…
Read More » -
Laura”s Law might save county money, force better services
Mental Health Series Following the murder of three people by a deranged Nevada County man, the California Legislature passed Laura”s Law to give counties a new way to practice preventative mental health care. After two local horrific murders and three attempted murders by Aaron Bassler, whose family had also sought mental health treatment for their…
Read More » -
SmartMeter protesters rally outside local PG&E office
Ned Vernoga of Chico was enjoying a Fort Bragg vacation when he spotted the vigorous SmartMeter protest July 29 in front of the PG&E office on Main Street. About 50 people showed up to protest the ongoing installation of the wireless devices, which read meters in real time. “There has been a lot of people…
Read More » -
Spaghetti feed funds help senior daycare
Ruth Auerbach started her 101 years as the daughter of immigrants in old Brooklyn and like the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles before her birthday party in Fort Bragg. That”s where the diminutive centenarian was enjoying lunch on Monday with her friends in the Redwood Coast Senior Center”s Day Program. For $55 per day, the…
Read More » -
Albion activists plan Fort Bragg SmartMeter protest
SmartMeters are coming to the Coast and some have already arrived quietly. A group called the Albion Community Awareness Network is planning to make some noise about that at an anti-SmartMeter rally on Friday at noon at the Fort Bragg PG&E office at Main and Laurel streets. PG&E is now installing SmartMeters despite a county…
Read More » -
Pigs, dogs and even a pet psychic on Todd Point
Call Carol Becker the animal communicator, the doggy reader or even the pet psychic. She is more concerned with what animals are saying than the names people come up with, which aren”t always so complimentary. The Fort Bragg woman provided “pet readings” for $5 at her booth among a full day of animal festivities on…
Read More » -
Salmon rumors, calm ocean lure fishermen
For a really big traffic jam last weekend, forget the Los Angeles freeway “Carmageddon,” — try Noyo Harbor. Boats lined up in the early morning hours to take turns going out to hit the ocean. Pickups jammed the big boat launch parking lot in the South Harbor and there was no parking from the barbecue…
Read More »