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What can the City do for the Skunk Train?

Fort Bragg Mayor Dave Turner says the City is willing to do whatever it can for the Skunk Train. He took umbrage with statements printed in this newspaper by Skunk Train boss Robert Pinoli that the City had not reached out to the extent Willits had.

The Skunk”s tunnel number 1, located under Sherwood Road a few miles east of the Fort Bragg station, collapsed on April 11, trapping all the trains in Fort Bragg. A shortened trip is being offered while Pinoli seeks to raise the $300,000 he says is needed to keep the Skunk open.

Turner said this newspaper should not have implied through Pinoli that the City could or should provide a check to the Skunk Train. Turner called both Pinoli and Willits Mayor Holly Madrigal and demanded to know if they had implied this could happen and confronted this newspaper over the article.

“I was standing up for the City,” said Turner.

This led to a conversation between Turner and this reporter about what the City can and should do for the Skunk.

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Frank Hartzell

Frank Hartzell has spent his lifetime as a curious anthropologist in a reporter's fedora. His first news job was chasing news on the streets of Houston with high school buddy and photographer James Mason, back in 1986. Then Frank graduated from Humboldt State and went to Great Gridley as a reporter, where he bonded with 1000 people and told about 3000 of their stories. In Marysville at the Appeal Democrat, the sheltered Frank got to see both the chilling depths and amazing heights of humanity. From there, he worked at the Sacramento Bee covering Yuba-Sutter and then owned the Business Journal in Yuba City, which sold 5000 subscriptions to a free newspaper. Frank then got a prestigious Kiplinger Investigative Reporting fellowship and was city editor of the Newark Ohio, Advocate and then came back to California for 4 years as managing editor of the Napa Valley Register before working as a Dominican University professor, then coming to Fort Bragg to be with his aging mom, Betty Lou Hartzell, and working for the Fort Bragg Advocate News. Frank paid the bills during that decade + with a successful book business. He has worked for over 50 publications as a freelance writer, including the Mendocino Voice and Anderson Valley Advertiser, along with construction and engineering publications. He has had the thrill of learning every day while writing. Frank is now living his dream running MendocinoCoast.News with wife, Linda Hartzell, and web developer, Marty McGee, reporting from Fort Bragg, California.
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