Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

The Union stepped into a media minefield by publishing a list of local business closures alongside its story about Meek’s Lumber in Grass Valley closing.

As one reader noted in the comments:

“It is important to note that a list of businesses in the context of this story may be out of date or in error.

“WORDS ON PAPER is currently Open and is a beautiful retail business on Mill St., also TOWERS CASINO bought Gold Rush Casino and moved it to Bank Street. They have done an extensive remodel and expansion and it is very sad to have that listed as closed. Also The Union story did not list businesses that have opened. Simplicity Bistro, This n That, Stucki Engravers and Gifts, Sunlight Scandiavian, Assemblage, Forever Vivid, Sierra Gold and Coin (this weekend) . Not only new stores opened, Tess’ Kitchen Store has a new owner, Passe Boutique has moved up the to West Main Street. Escott Place and Spiritual Council has moved to Pioneer Village on So. Auburn Street. Lynnette’s Bridal and Tailoring is now on Mill St. near the Safeway.”

It’s too bad, because The Union got the “scoop” on Meek’s closing. This misleading chart is akin to a “Meet your merchant” feature in reverse. As a result, we’ll no doubt be reading more of them from now until eternity. A good place to start: Words on Paper.

You’ve got to be super careful with this kind of information.

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The Veterans Day breakfast at the Veterans Hall in Grass Valley proved so popular that they ran out of breakfast and Bloody Marys before it ended.

The group had planned on 450 people, but more than 520 showed up, said one of the volunteers, who said people waiting in the hall for breakfast could get a refund if they chose to. (Breakfast for Vets was free; for non-Vets, it was $5).

There was a long line that stretched outside into the parking lot. Our son asked if we could get a FastPass, like Disneyland, to save time. “No,” I said.

This was no ordinary military meal. The couple across from us got the last two Bloody Marys. For a while, they were making Screwdrivers with the OJ. It was a tad too early for us, and we were with our son, so we passed.

Our family enjoyed the get-together. It was mostly older people, but there were some children too. We visited with county Supervisor Hank Weston for a while. Boy Scouts and 4-H Club members helped bus the tables.

We weren’t able to stay for the ceremony afterward. The Grass Valley Male Choir sung the National Anthem and God Bless America. Tom McClintock was the keynote speaker.

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Amanda Bontecou spent this past summer living on a farm at the Living Lands Agrarian Network in Nevada City, and she made a 20-minute documentary about her experience.

“Living Lands is a non-profit group that links with local land owners to make their land into productive plots,” as Amanda writes on her blog. ” One of the farms fills a CSA, one raises animals for meat, one is just getting going in its first season so building up the soil and working the land is the primary goal. All the farms combine their crops for the farmer’s market.”

I heard about Amanda’s documentary and called her when I found out her film was going to be shown at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival. I asked her to put up a “trailer” on You Tube, and she emailed me this week to let me know that it was there.

We’re fans of the “locavore” movement, because we like fresh, local produce. But we also see it as a “growth” business in our area, in our county and in neighboring Placer County. Like “eco-tourism,” it’s a new way to think about our region.

Some background on CSAs, shorthand for community supported agriculture, is here and here.

Here’s Amanda’s video clip:

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Like many families, we honor our Veterans today, who include both of our deceased fathers (who served in the Navy and Marines, respectively), as well as relatives and friends. My wife, son and I will attend the breakfast at the Veterans Hall in Grass Valley, say a prayer and get on with our day.

Here’s a video from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website:

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The other day I wrote about a PG&E SmartMeter executive who was caught infiltrating an online group that opposed the new devices using the name “Ralph.”

Well, now it seems “Ralph,” AKA William Devereaux, has resigned.

This comes as the California Public Utilities Commission has launched their own inquiry into the incident.

“It is of serious concern to the CPUC that a senior PG&E official may have been involved in unethical behavior,” PUC spokeswoman Terrie Prosper told the San Jose Mercury News. “We are investigating the allegations to ascertain the facts, and to determine whether any laws or regulations were violated, and whether sanctions are appropriate.”

“PG&E does not at all condone this kind of behavior,” a PG&E spokesman told the newspaper. “It is not in keeping with PG&E’s core values and expectations of our leaders.”

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In Alaska, Senator Lisa Murkowski is poised to win as a write-in candidate, having lost to Tea Party candidate Joe Miller (Sarah Palin’s choice) in a Republican primary in August.

If she wins, Murkowski would be the first write-in candidate to win a Senate election since Strom Thurmond in 1954.

“What all of this probably means is that some critical number of independent voters decided they didn’t like the options the two parties had given them, and they were willing to go to the trouble of writing in a candidate who seemed to have a real chance of winning rather than pull levers A or B,” writes the New York Times.

The Times also points to California’s initiative where voters approved an open primary system. (California, it adds, is a state where “most innovations — fast food, comptuer chips, etc. — spring to life before sweeping eastward.”)

The article is here.

Though there was a time when the primaries made sense, “independents have recently overtaken both parties, hovering around 40 percent,” as the Times observes.

“The idea is that nonpartisan voters, too, will get to take part in winnowing down their choices for November. And candidates will have to appeal to a much wider array of voters during the primary phase of the campaign, rather than just to Tea Partiers or the most liberal activists.”

Makes sense to me. As I’ve written before most of us are “in the middle” or political centrists.

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The Nevada City Council on Wednesday approved an increase in water rates.

The decision came after a public hearing and was expected. As I have written previously, the rates agreed to are:

5/8 inch meter size:
$19.17 effective Jan. 1, 2011
$22.29 effective Jan. 1 2012
$25.39 effective Jan 1, 2013

3/4 inch meter size:
$28.76 effective Jan. 1, 2011
$33.44 effective Jan. 1, 2012
$38.09 effective Jan 1, 2013

Rate hikes for larger sized meters are proposed as well, because “the city’s water rate fees have not been and will not be sufficient to meet operations and maintenance costs.”

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