Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Dave Moller, the most experienced reporter at The Union, has quietly disappeared from the newspaper’s masthead.

Dave had considered relocating to Oregon, as I reported previously. Instead, according to my sources, he has accepted a position to become Editor of the weekly newspaper in Louisiana, Missouri (circ. about 2,500). This buzz has been going around the community for weeks, but I waited until Dave’s name disappeared from The Union’s masthead to report it.

Dave previously has been City Editor of the newspaper in Jefferson, Missouri, and is familiar with the Midwest territory. Louisiana (don’t let the name fool you) is on the banks of the Mississippi, not far from Hannibal and Mark Twain’s fame. It’s a good match for Dave and the paper.

It is sad to lose Dave’s institutional knowledge. It also is sad that there is no mention of his departure in The Union. And it is triple sad that people who also knew about Dave’s departure (as I did) were reluctant to talk about it.

When will people speak up independently? The Internet is changing the way our community communicates and you can’t “put the genie back in the bottle.”

Dave’s departure is a sad loss, but sadder is the way it was (or wasn’t) communicated. With Dave’s departure, Jeff Ackerman (editor/publisher) is the longest “surviving” member of our local newspaper’s newsroom.

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Our county’s Tea Party keeps claiming it is “nonpartisan” and doesn’t endorse candidates, but that isn’t stopping it from telling us how to vote on the state ballot propositions in a new posting on its website. And it also has a link reading: “Thinking it’s time to get involved with local politics? Here is a list of what’s open in Nevada County.”

This would seem to go well beyond the “Motherhood and Apple Pie” statement that “We believe in Fiscal Responsibility, Limited Government, Free Markets (and) Respect for our Constitution and Bill of Rights.”

Here’s a list of the propositions for the November 2010 ballot “with recommendations from the Nevada County Tea Party Patriots. Keep this information for November and be sure to vote,” it reads:

•Prop. 18: Safe, clean and reliable water supply act of 2010: NO

•Prop. 19: legalizes recreational marijuana use: NO

“THIS WILL CREATE ANOTHER CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT
BUREAU THAT WILL HAVE TO BE STAFFED AND FUNDED BY YOUR TAX
DOLLARS. THE CLAIMS OF THE PROPONENTS OF THIS PROPOSITION STATE
THAT TAXES COLLECTED WILL PAY FOR THIS NEW AGENCY. WE DO NOT
AGREE.”

•Prop. 20: Congressional reapportionment, YES

•Prop. 22, YES

•Prop. 23, rolls back AB 32, YES

“BOTTOM LINE – BUSINESSES IN CALIFORNIA ARE SUFFERING UNDER THE
BURDEN OF AB32. WE HAVE SEEN SEVERE JOB LOSSES AND BUSINESSES
LOCATING TO FRIENDLIER STATES BECAUSE OF THIS ONEROUS LAW. LET’S
CREATE A JOB FRIENDLY, BUSINESS FRIENDLY ENVIORNMENT NOW SO THAT
WE CAN AGAIN CREATE A VIGOROUS CALIFORNIA ECONOMY.”

•Prop. 24, NO

•Prop. 25, NO

•Prop., 26, YES

•Prop., 27, NO

Our community needs to wake up and smell the coffee about our local Tea Party: They are promoting a highly conservative political agenda well beyond any “Motherhood and Apple Pie” statements.

Exit question: How do you think our local Tea Party would have advised us to vote on Prop. 8?

And don’t expect to read about any of this in the local media: It is towing the Tea Party line again this weekend, with another AB32 “hit piece” — this one by George Rebane. Except for a single pro-AB32 article by the Sierra Business Council’s Steve Frisch, the paper has given more ink to the other side (with “other voices” by Dan Logue and others in the past).

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The Union has a long-winded report on big-box stores this weekend, which tells us what we already knew for a while: We don’t want to Roseville Grass Valley.

But the write-up completely ignored the more pernicious threat to our Mom-and-Pops: the Internet. Instead of going into town or “off the hill,” we just sit at our computers and go shopping. Nowadays shipping often is free. Shopping from mobile devices is on the rise too.

Despite the recession, online retail sales have totaled $66.9 billion through the first half of 2010, which is also a 9 percent increase over the $61 billion that was reported during the first six months of 2009, according to ecommercejunkie.com.

This time of year, we get “back to school savings” email blasts.

Here’s why Internet shopping is a threat to our local businesses:

•It is convenient and a time saver. More than 85 percent of Americans have purchased a product online, such as a book, toy, music or clothing, according to a Nielsen report. There’s no driving involved. Instead, the goods are “carpooled” up the hill to us.

•Books are still the most popular purchases, but clothing and shoes are hot on their heels — providing head-to-head competition with our Mom and Pops. Many of these same businesses line Mill Street or Broad Street or our local shopping centers.

•High-income online Americans are more likely to herald the benefits of using the Internet to shop. They also are uniquely loyal.

•Seniors have become a lucrative market for e-tailers. More than half of online seniors shop on the Internet, according to Pew data.

•Online shopping is a challenge for tax collection — a downside for our municipalities.

• We are indirectly encouraging more online shopping too: There is an effort to connect more of us to the Web in our county with federal grants, and it will undoubtedly result in more online shopping.

How can our local businesses offset the “sucking sound of the Internet”? By providing unique products, friendly customer service, enticing stores — and embracing the Internet themselves.

Here’s one example: Florio’s Olive Oil Co. on Mill Street in Grass Valley has opened an online store for buying its California certified-extra virgin olive oil.

“As a small and independent business we are able to keep costs low and bring you the largest variety possible,” the Website reads. “Shop online or visit our tasting room.”

More of our local businesses are embracing social media too. The background is here.

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