Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

People are not sure whether the story of a local who allegedly found a nine-pound gold nugget here — reported on the front page of The Union — belongs in National Geographic or the National Enquirer.

It is based on a “submitted photo,” and The Union has agreed not to photograph the man’s face or disclose the location of his land “for security reasons.” He is just Jim Sanders of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Locals also noted the politics of mining was mentioned several times in the article:

•”The San Francisco Bay Area businessman said he was reluctant at first to inform The Union about his find, though the land is remote. But when he thought about the tough economy here and the possible economic impact of a new gold mine, he decided to share the news.”

•”With a host of local environmentalists currently fighting the reopening of the Idaho-Maryland and Blue Lead gold mines, Sanders is under no illusions.”

“Did the paper do any fact checking?” one reader in The Union’s comments section asked.

As we all know, this gold “find” comes against the backdrop of skepticism of reopening big gold mines by many residents — not just environmentalists.

Let’s hope the situation is not somehow embellished for political gain. In the meantime, the Sacramento TV stations are in hot pursuit of the story as well.

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Congressman Tom McClintock’s rigid ideology jeopardizes our ability to land grant funding, a necessity in a rural area such as ours, as I’ve written before.

Many others are catching on: “McClintock’s refusal to consider budget earmarks hurts his district, critics say,” the Bee wrote recently.

Here’s one of most egregious examples yet, I’ve learned: McClintock’s letter of “support” for Nevada County Connected, the county’s much-publicized broadband initiative, supports the project but goes on to bash the funding program as “one of the most ill-advised acts ever passed.”

Some locals worry the letter will hurt the application — already facing intense competition. This comes after business and civic leaders here, including the county Economic Resource Council, worked tirelessly to submit the application to bring more broadband to our rural area. This should be an economic issue, not a political one.

“My support for the project should in no way be interpreted as an endorsement of ARRA, which I believe was one of the most ill-advised acts ever passed by the Congress,” McClintock wrote. “Inasmuch as ARRA must remove one dollar out of the economy for every dollar it puts back into the economy, there is no stimulus effect from its spending. Unfortunately, Congress has decided differently.”

ARRA refers to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The California Public Utilities commission has already approved 10 percent matching funds for the project and an additional 20 percent is being raised by the county Economic Resource Council.

The broadband project did not land a round one AARA grant. Round two grant applications will be announced this summer.

The letters from McClintock and Sen. Barbara Boxer are letters.

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Right-wing pundit Glenn Beck’s audience is down nearly 30 percent since the start of the year, from about 2.9 million viewers in January to 2.1 million in April, according to mediaite.com.

The website reports: “This statistic has, not surprisingly, generated some gleeful headlines from the Media Matters folks (among others) who posted a long piece about the ratings and declared that ‘making it through one of his insufferable, redundant shows feels like sitting through detention. The wow factor is long gone.’”

It adds, however: “I don’t believe that’s quite what’s happening here. I suspect the drop is more likely a symptom of a larger issue: namely that the fringe element (which turns out isn’t so fringe) in this country is, shall we say, no longer struggling to be heard.”

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Votes for the board of the BriarPatch Co-op begin this weekend amid a turnaround at the organic grocery store in Grass Valley.

“Despite the turbulence and volatility of the larger economic environment, BriarPatch experienced a return to growth in sales and profit and saw an increase in owner-members,” said General Manager Chris Maher.

Despite some well-publicized rancor in the past, other highlights I gleaned from the newsletter were:

•As previously reported, The Patch returned a dividend of $80,000 to 4,019 owner-members who made purchases during the year.

•There have been recent enhancements to the employee benefits package. A voluntary 401k retirement investment plan and employee assistance plan also have been instituted.

•The BriarPatch Community fund has given $12,000 to 40 local groups in the past nine years.

The candidates for the board are Jeff Gold, architect; Louise Jones, group and personal fitness trainer; Peter Lockyear, retired; Kerry O’Regan, office manager, summer camp educator; and Peter Van Zant, field director, Sierra Watch.

Congratulations!

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In my business I grew up with competition: At my first journalism job with the daily paper in Fort Lauderdale, we were required by the business editor — Mr. D. Kaine Stankovich — to read the competition.

In fact, we drew straws to go down to the corner drugstore and grab the Miami Herald’s “bulldog” edition when it arrived at 8 p.m. every night. Sometimes we had to return to work to chase down a story. After doing this a few times, you worked hard not to get “scooped.”

Here, I don’t see much of that — never have. Despite the competition from blogs and other news-gathering groups, The Union and KNCO still operate like they have media monopolies in a sleepy little burgh.

There’s a real arrogance to it too: Like if it didn’t get announced there, it didn’t happen. Anybody who reads this blog, Yubanet and other “alternative” media can attest that it happens regularly — including now with prominent obituaries. There also are efforts to discredit you (AKA insecurity) if you dare to bring it up. (Memo to self: more kevlar undies, please).

Here’s the latest example, involving a high-profile legal case that has spilled into the local political elections:

When I was over in Auburn on Thursday, Yubanet posted a story that parts of the AtPac lawsuit against Aptitude and the county were dismissed.

“Indeed, the complaint fails to allege any facts that would indicate what constitutes an unauthorized access of the software by County of Nevada; the complaint merely states there were limits on how County of Nevada could use it by making copies of it or disclosing it to third parties,” the suit read.

This is the same lawsuit that has stirred up dust in the clerk-recorder’s race, because candidate Barry Pruett had represented AtPac in the bidding process.

When the suit was filed in February, The Union reported it on the front page — but with a glaring omission, Pruett’s previous association with AtPac, as I noted here. It caught up later.

Yubanet posted the story about parts of this same lawsuit being dismissed at 2:53 p.m. on Thursday, so there was plenty of time to chase it down from Friday’s print edition. All it required was a visit to the web — not a trip to the drugstore as in my “cub reporter” days.

But I can’t find it anywhere in The Union, much less in the same prominent place it first appeared on the front page. Same goes with KNCO. (I did see a story about Tom McClintock winning a chamber of commerce award, however).

One of the readers on this blog has posted a comment with further information — “Placer County is eliminating the AtPac system as well,” he writes, a decision that throws cold water on Pruett’s “shop local” argument.

He also provides links to the documents, thanks to the web.

So there you have it: a “case study” in a prominent local legal dispute that shows why we need media competition, even in our small media market.

This is a management problem, by the way, that rests squarely with the paper’s Editor — not its staff. You have to set a tone as a newsroom leader (that is, if the Editor discredits the competition, the staff will too).

Let’s face it: The internet is causing a needed media revolution around here. Rather than ask what would you do without the major media, the question should be, what would you do without the rest? Change, it is a comin’.

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