Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Our county is getting “high” visibility in the Cal Pot News, thanks to the publisher’s commentary in The Union and some high-profile busts.

CalPotNews.com aggregates news and opinion articles about marijuana with a focus on California. “Blogmaster Bud” chimes in from time to time. Ads include the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute.

“Jeff Ackerman, editor/publisher of The Union in Grass Valley, achieves must-read status with today’s excellent column on Prop. 19,” writes Blogmaster Bud, pointing to Jeff’s column.

Other examples:

•Nevada County bust yields 40K pot plants, tied to “Mexican nationals” is here

•Fed, sheriff raid Nevada County grow site with ties to Sacramento medical marijuana collective is here.

•Nevada County pot verdict set aside, then appealed is here.

Between the publicity our county receives in Cal Pot News and from our home-grown Tea Party co-founder Mark Meckler, we are becoming a magnet for some real “middle of the road” kind of views. Kudos to all!

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The Union’s ad director, Lynn Virgilio, has left the paper, sources in town told me. I checked the masthead on Tuesday, and sure enough, her name is gone.

Though an ad director, Lynn occupied what was once the Editor’s office when she came to the paper.

At The Union, the ad director reports to the Publisher/Editor.

Good luck to Lynn in her next venture!

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Florio’s Olive Oil Co. plans to reopen in Nevada City within 45 days after a fire closed its store in downtown Grass Valley, owner Neil Sarchett told me on Tuesday.

The store will open on 317 Spring Street in Nevada City — between Sushi in the Raw and Nevada City Winery. It’s a “hip” location.

“I couldn’t wait for construction to be completed before getting back in business,” Neil said.

Grass Valley’s loss is Nevada City’s gain. Neil is a wonderful young entrepreneur (we need more of them here), and I like his business model of olive oil bars, including a “green” strategy. If you return the bottle, you get a discount.

The concept is catching on. A “B.Y.O.B” wine shop is planned in Nevada City, too, similar to ones in the South of France, as I wrote previously. And an eco-friendly store called S.O.A.P also features a bring-your-own container strategy. I made a video here.

My son and I were in Neil’s store to buy a bottle of olive oil and join his olive oil club the same day the store burned. The fire occurred hours later. It was eerie.

The bottle is displayed prominently in our kitchen.

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The upside to passage of Prop. 19, at least to the print media, would be a slew of new pot ads.

The timing is right because the ongoing recession has slammed newspapers, TV and magazines.

The jury is out on whether the media accept the ads or not because pot is still illegal unless you have a medical marijuana ID.

KCRA-TV does not air medicinal marijuana ads, nor does the Sacramento Bee or Sacramento Magazine. Facebook bans pot leaves it its ads, including ones from the pro-Prop. 19 “Just Say Now” campaign.

Conde Nast also has declined to run ads supporting passage of Prop. 19 because it “does not want to financially benefit from this issue.”

KCRA also does not run ads for hard liquor, and it doesn’t run ads for cigarettes or escort service-type businesses.

“Attitudes about smoking marijuana have changed, but I am against its legalization,” wrote Mike O’Brien, publisher of Sacramento magazine. “As we considered what to do about accepting cannabis ads, we spoke to medicinal marijuana dispensers, lawyers, readers and advertisers, and decided not to accept the advertising.”

O’Brien told KCRA: “Dollars are always appealing, but you know, each medium has to determine their audience and ways to serve that audience — that’s our current decision.”

The Carson City-based Swift Newspapers — including The Union and Sierra Sun — have been running marijuana ads, however. I’ve never seen an explanation to readers, as O’Brien provided, the “right thing to do” journalistically.

Next week Sacramento’s FOX affiliate KTXL “Fox 40″ will air what is thought to be the first time an ad for marijuana has ever aired on mainstream television. To its credit, the TV station aired and wrote a story.

The upside can be significant for media outlets: About 15 percent of the Sacramento News & Review’s ads are for medical marijuana dispensaries, its chief executive told KCRA news.

Some outlets such as social news site Reddit are running pro-pot legalization ads for free.

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