Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Our son’s “challenge” word in spelling this week was “potato,” which he managed to spell correctly.

I congratulated him and told him the story about one of our vice presidents — Dan Quayle of Indiana — who couldn’t spell the word correctly in 1992. (William Figueroa, 12, was the boy who knew how to spell “potato” even though the veep insisted on adding an “e” to the end).

Our son was quite smitten. Here’s the famous video of the veep and William in a Trenton, N.J., classroom:

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Last election season, you’ll remember I mentioned the parody Twitter account to ridicule me anonymously. Some of it was funny, but other parts disclosed private, personal information about other family members. That was not so funny.

This latest election season, someone has anonymously signed me up for a never-ending number of magazine subscriptions using my home address. You name it, it’s been coming to our house: Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Outdoors, Forbes and so on.

My wife and I laughed when the Cosmo rolled in, and the wheels started turning. The most blatent tip came with the Forbes subscription, which was addressed to “Blow Hard Bar,” care of my home address.

When people don’t like what you write, they can’t just have a civil discussion. They turn to anonymous childish pranks.

Whatever. This blog keeps rolling along, shining a light — apparently — where the sun hasn’t been shining much before.

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“Watch George W. Bush’s PR video for his book — Decision Point — below,” writes newslinemagazine.com. “He seems to be smiling and smirking in all the wrong places as he reads from his teleprompter.”

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A Pacific Gas and Electric Co. executive in charge of the utility’s SmartMeter program admitted Monday to using a fake name in an effort to join an online discussion group of SmartMeter foes.

“William Devereaux, senior director of the $2.2 billion SmartMeter program, used the name ‘Ralph’ when he sent an e-mail to the moderator of a discussion group for people trying to block deployment of the new, wireless electricity and gas meters. But his real name appeared next to his e-mail address,” as the San Francisco Chronicle and other media reported.

The Chronicle’s article is here. The Stop Smart Meters press release is here. PG&E’s discussion of the SmartMeter program is here.

PG&E, based in San Francisco, has installed 7.1 million SmartMeters throughout central and Northern California, including the foothills. We received one in September.

It was unclear whether PG&E would discipline Devereaux over the incident, The Chronicle said.

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“For the third year in a row I have been approached by the appointed department heads representing 18 positions to voluntarily forgo the 4 percent scheduled increase for July 1st,” according to the county executive officer in his weekly memo. “They previously had given up 3 percent each of the last 2 years. This represents a total of 10 percent given up by these public officials. I have accepted their offer. We will be bringing the necessary resolutions to you to make this change. I would like to thank all of them for making this large contribution to the County’s well being.”

A list of Rood Center salaries — sans benefits — is here:

AGRICULTURAL COMMISSIONER $102,876.67
ASSESSOR $123,065.41
ASSISTANT COUNTY EXECUTIVE OFFICER $146,555.08
AUDITOR-CONTROLLER/TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR $138,024.26
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER $150,129.72
CHIEF PROBATION OFFICER $119,480.98
CLERK OF BOARD OF SUPERVISORS $86,304.66
CLERK-RECORDER/REGISTRAR OF VOTERS $119,480.98
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY DIRECTOR $146,555.07
COUNTY COUNSEL $150,339.55
COUNTY EXECUTIVE OFFICER $168,000.00
COUNTY LIBRARIAN $90,364.80
DEPUTY COUNTY EXECUTIVE OFFICER $131,214.86
DIRECTOR OF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH $119,480.98
DIRECTOR OF BUILDING $102,876.67
DIRECTOR OF CHILD SUPPORT SERVICES $124,966.42
DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH $102,876.67
DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES $122,468.04
DIRECTOR OF PLANNING $113,667.98
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS $124,966.42
DIRECTOR OF SANITATION $119,480.98
DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES $119,480.98
DISTRICT ATTORNEY $154,087.70
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES AGENCY DIRECTOR $146,555.07
PUBLIC DEFENDER $125,455.03
PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR/HEALTH OFFICER $151,799.29
SHERIFF-CORONER-PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR $146,591.00
MEMBER, BOARD OF SUPERVISORS (4) $39,446.64

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“Tony Loverde is among the millions of American military veterans we will honor Wednesday,” begins The Union’s editor/publisher’s column about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy this morning. “He served his country honorably for more than seven years, including two deployments to Iraq as a staff sergeant for the United States Air Force.” It is a sympathetic article about a gay soldier who spoke out.

Well done — except Veteran’s Day is on Thursday, Nov. 11, not Wednesday. In fact, it is typically observed on Nov. 11 — the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War 1.

A New York Times article on the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” facing a struggle in Congress is here.

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David Linzey, who is expected to replace Ralf Swenson as superintendent of the Nevada Joint Union High School District, has been in the hunt for similar job and gets mostly positive marks from students.

“Linzey is the best principal ever,” said one student on ratemyteachers.com, when he was principal at Huntington Beach High four years ago. “He is not just a suit — he puts students first.”

On the other hand, Linzey did rile some students. “He took away our gum,” said one student. “Not cool.”

No gum policies are not uncommon on high-school campuses.

Linzey has been a consultant at the Lynwood Unified School District, near South Gate and Compton in the L.A. basin; chief academic officer for the Alliance for College Ready Schools, as well as principal at Huntington Beach High and Diamond Ranch High in Pomona.

In October 2009, he was one of six finanists for superintendent of the Pomona Unified High School District.

“Returning to the district would be ‘a natural progression of my career,’ he said,” according to Pomona Now.

Another candidate, Pomona’s interim superintendent Richard Martinez, was chosen instead.

During Linzey’s tenure with The Alliance, several of the schools under its management have made significant advancement in raising their academic performance index scores, some going on to become California Distinguished Schools.

An email about Linzey’s choice went out to district staff people on Monday morning. There was no information posted for parents on the school’s website, however.

NUHS faces declining enrollment and low test scores with some groups of students.

Linzey’s hire is contingent on salary negotiations.

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