Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

This is funny:

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

“It’s beautiful day for a ball game”: Warm weather, the Dodger-Giants opener and a barbecue.

For this milestone day, my barbecue is going include ribs from Chico-based Llano Seco Ranch (go to BriarPatch or Cal Organics) and grilled fresh asparagus on the “Big Green Egg,” and a local red wine. Once you try organic pork, it’s hard to go back. You can really taste the difference.

The “Big Green Egg” is one of the best smokers and grills. It’s derived from an ancient clay cooker called a “kamodo.” We’ve had ours for a decade. I know some other locals who enjoy them regularly.

Grilling is not just a “man’s” work. A recipe from “Grill Grrrl — Adventures of a girl on a grill” is here. I just use fresh cracked pepper and a little salt, however. Play ball!

Filed under: Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

I applaud this workshop, being hosted by LAFCO:

“Why do so many public meetings run long?
Why do many people feel they are a waste of time?
Why do interested parties often feel ignored?

You may find the answers in our workshop on open and effective meetings.

The workshop will explore and explain the requirements of California’s Open Meeting Laws (including the Brown Act) — and the benefits of satisfying them. The workshop will also present techniques to ensure public agency meetings are effective and inclusive.

Whether you attend public meetings, participate in their proceedings, or are called upon to manage them, this workshop will help you understand what’s going on and make sure your voice is heard.

Thursday, May 19, 2011, 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Nevada County Board of Supervisors Chambers
950 Maidu Avenue, Nevada City, CA 95959

Presented by:
Michael G. Colantuono, of Colantuono & Levin; Auburn City Attorney
William (Bill) Chiat, Executive Director, California Association of LAFCos

COST: $15.00
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: May 9, 2011

To reserve your seat for this workshop, please complete the form below and return it with your check to Nevada LAFCo, 950 Maidu Avenue, Nevada City, CA 95959. (No credit card payments.)

If you have questions, please call 530-265-7180 or send email to lafco@co.nevada.ca.us.”

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

On Wednesday, I wrote “A central figure in the Barry Bonds trial — a big national news story this week — is a Nevada Union High School grad,” interviewing some of Greg Anderson’s former classmates. The article is here. (It was promoted on the Sacramento Bee’s website too, as part of the newspaper’s blogging network).

Lo and behold, a day later, our local newspaper The Union came up with its own version, combining an AP article: “Bonds’ trainer, an NU grad, at center of steroids case” The article is here.

This timely “nugget” would have made a more enlightening column about the Bonds trial (with a local angle, no less) than this one.

Blogging is changing the way we communicate, just as in this example:

•”Scoop: Amgen bike race expected to come to Nevada City and Grass Valley again!” on Feb. 7 is here.
•Then two days later, after a press release was issue: “Tour of CA to race through Nevada City” is here.

Or this one:

•”Scoop: Judy Collins coming to Grass Valley! on Feb. 14 here.
•Then on March 8, after the press release was issued: “Judy Collins concert scheduled for September” is here.

The response by the media monopolists is not always encouraging:

•jackerman@theunion.com: “Grab your five blog friends and get a room.”
•Or a cartoon from RL Crabb, making light of a serious discussion about racism. It is here. There is a pattern— no doubt about it.

This is what we did back at CNET in the ’90s: Outhustle the mainstream media and build our traffic with a website started from scratch. (Yes, we ruffled feathers along the way, including Bill Gates’.) Now CNET is part of CBS. Whodathunkit.

Throughout America, the Internet is helping to break up the bottleneck of communications that occurred for decades. It was aptly labeled the “media monopoly” by UC Berkeley journalism professor Ben Bagdikian back in 1983 — “increasing centralization of the media by a small number of private organizations.”

In our case, the Nevada-based Swift chain owns The Union in Grass Valley and Sierra Sun in Truckee, as well as the other Tahoe papers. We have other bloggers, such as Don Pelton’s “Sierra Voices” and a local aggregation site, NCVoices, built by Anna Haynes. Many locals have robust and informative Facebook pages. Besides the internet, there is new print competition too: Such as Moonshine Ink in Truckee/Tahoe.

Small towns like ours have been subjected to a “media monopoly” for decades, though newspapering during the Gold Rush was an exception. In our town, I’m often surprised at what doesn’t get published or broadcasted (and should) more than what does.

This sidelight venture — Sierra Foothills Report — is breaking new visitor records almost monthly, with March being the biggest yet. More than 22,500 signed comments have been recorded. The discussions are intriguing.

As of this week, we went ahead and registered a web address: SierraFoothillsReport.com. You’re now being redirected there. Change is all around us.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 15 Comments »

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Here the latest on CABPRO’s “Business Advocate of the Year” Dan Logue from the state capitol, shining a light on his leadership skills:

“Assemblyman Dan Logue was rebuked (yesterday) in the Assembly for angrily tossing 800 pages of state regulations onto the floor during debate on a bill to bolster renewable energy requirements,” according to the Sacramento Bee.

“Before littering the floor, the Linda Republican said businesses are so overregulated that many are leaving California. Increasing renewable energy requirements would make matters worse, Logue said.

“Logue tossed the papers onto the Assembly floor and said, ‘This is what you’ve done to the state of California.’

“Immediately, Logue’s comments were disrupted by Assembly Majority Leader Charles Calderon, D-Whittier.

“The request was to use materials on the floor — not to throw them all over the floor,” said Assembly Majority Leader Charles Calderon, D-Whittier.

The Assembly passed the bill, SBx1 2, and sent it to Gov. Jerry Brown.”

The rest of the article is here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 27 Comments »

“CNN has a new poll out showing their highest-ever level of unfavorable views for the Tea Party movement. According to the poll, 47 percent of Americans now have an unfavorable view of the Tea Party, as compared to 32 percent with a favorable one,” according to the New York Times.

“Let’s keep this simple: is the poll some sort of outlier or part of a trend?

“In the chart below, I’ve plotted all polls from the PollingReport.com database that asked people for their impressions on the Tea Party, and then plotted a smoothed regression line on top of them. Favorable or positive views are shown in blue; unfavorable or negative ones in red.

“The trend looks reasonably clear: unfavorable views are on the rise. Although the CNN poll may have exaggerated them slightly, they now register at about 44 percent, according to the trendline.”

Filed under: Uncategorized | 23 Comments »

A central figure in the Barry Bonds trial — a big national news story this week — is a Nevada Union High School grad.

Bond’s former personal trainer, Greg Anderson, is an NU grad from the class of ’84. Greg was an infielder on NU’s baseball team in Grass Valley in 1983, according to some of his former classmates.

“He used to brag that he knew Barry as a neighborhood friend in the Bay Area in the mid to late ’70s,” one of them told me. “At that time Barry was playing at Arizona State, and we didn’t pay much attention. We all knew of his dad, Bobby Bonds.”

Anderson is refusing to testify in the perjury case against Bonds, his childhood friend. He has been jailed three times as a result. On Tuesday, Colorado Rockies slugger Jason Giambi testified that Anderson supplied them with performance-enhancing drugs, as the S.F. Chronicle is reporting. Bonds has pleaded not guilty.

“There is something deliciously defiant about a single man standing up to a federal government obsessed in its zeal to teach a prima-donna athlete an expensive lesson,” writes sports columnist Drew Sharp in the Detroit Free Press. “But though tempting to portray Anderson as a sympathetic martyr and Bonds the quarry of a government witch hunt, it’s important to remember that we should neither forget nor forgive those who feel compelled to lie before a federal grand jury.”

Bonds and Anderson have known each other since they attended a suburban San Francisco middle school. Anderson became a personal trainer.

In the past ESPN journalists have called NU to interview some of Anderson’s teammates or coaches, including Mike Cartan — the husband of NU’s superintendent — who was Anderson’s baseball coach at the time. They didn’t have much to say, except that they knew him and he was a “good kid.” An ESPN profile of Anderson is here.

PublicSchoolReview.com lists some notable Nevada Union High School alumni here:
Notable alumni

Greg F. Anderson, personal trainer
Rich Brooks, football coach
Hunter Burgan, musician
Alela Diane, musician
Spencer Havner, football player
Zach Helm, writer and director
Joanna Newsom, musician
Rick Rossovich, actor
Gabe Ruediger, mixed martial arts fighter
Chris Senn, professional skateboarder
Noah Georgeson, musician and record producer

Filed under: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »