Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Editor’s note: From the Summer issue of Sierra FoodWineArt magazine:

THIS SUMMER’S ANNUAL STARS AT North Star House concert features multi-Grammy winner Aaron Neville and band on the grounds of a historic mansion designed by Julia Morgan.

The August 5 event, now in its ninth year, will have a New Orleans theme and includes an evening festival celebrating local land conservation followed by an outdoor concert. It is produced by The Center for the Arts and is the single annual fundraiser for the Nevada County Land Trust.

“We are thrilled to work with the Land Trust on this signature event to benefit land conservation,” says Center Executive Director Julie Baker. “We are also excited to present the show at the North Star House, a beautiful setting under the stars.”

The event marks Neville’s first performance in the Sierra foothills. Dumpstaphunk, Aaron’s son Ivan’s band, will open the concert.

For five decades, New Orleans has been synonymous with the musical dynasty of the Neville Brothers. “Aaron Neville has one of the most angelic voices from New Orleans or anywhere else,” observes The New York Times.

The Stars popular annual concert brings renowned performers to magical outdoor venues. Past performers have included Ritchie Havens, Leon Russell, America and Mavis Staples, among others.

Concert goers bring lawn chairs and enjoy food, dessert, local wines, micro-beers and other beverages available for purchase, and a silent and live auction.

The Center for the Arts has grown into one of Northern California’s busiest production companies. Last year the Center presented more than 150 productions at their intimate downtown venue.

They’ve also had great success with “signature events,” such as Kris Kristofferson, Ani DiFranco and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, drawing capacity crowds to Grass Valley’s Veterans Memorial Auditorium.

Built in 1905, the North Star House was designed by the renowned California Arts and Crafts architect Morgan, best known for her work on Hearst Castle. This winter the building was admitted to the National Register of Historic Places.

For tickets or more information, go to www.TheCenterforTheArts.org or call 530-274-8384, ext 14

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

(click for larger image)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Kasey

On July 5, my daughter and I decided to go trail running. Unless circumstances prevent it, we never leave Kasey at home when we go on a run. We decided to run along the Yuba River where we would have some shade, because it was so hot.

Kasey waded into a shallow spot to get a drink, and we took our shoes off to dip our feet. The river is running too high to be safe, and we had no intention of going in. As Kasey climbed back up the rock, his wet paws slipped.

There was nowhere for him to go but directly into the whitewater. We called his name, not realizing at that point that he was unable to get out.

As the river took him around the bend, it appeared that he was drifting towards the middle. With our shoes off, we couldn’t climb down the rocks after him, and it was too dangerous for us to get into the water.

Rushing to get our shoes back on, we said a quick prayer and ran back down the trail, calling his name.

Along the way we stopped to ask if anybody had seen him. By the time we made it to the bridge, after spending an hour looking down the banks of the river, our hearts were at our feet: I was certain that he had not made it out of the water.

My husband joined us, and we spent the next three hours searching the river and questioning river-goers. Finally — sunburned, bruised and tired — we went home.

The next day I reported him missing with the Nevada County Shelter and the Grass Valley Shelter. A coworker, who had over-heard me, emailed pictures of Kasey to the park ranger.

SPREADING THE WORD

At the suggestion of the Grass Valley Shelter, we placed an ad on KNCO’s “pet finder” and an ad in The Union. My daughter emailed me a missing dog poster, which I copied at Staples.

We sent out emails to all of our local friends and our running club, requesting them to spread the word.

Wednesday evening, I ran the Independence Trail down to Jones Bar Crossing to post missing dog flyers, as well as posting them at the Hwy. 49 crossing and again looking for any sign of Kasey. Best Friends Animal Clinic posted Kasey on their Facebook page.

My daughter sent out a mass text message with his picture and story to all of her contacts, with a request to forward on. Thursday evening, I ran the Buttermilk Trail at Bridgeport looking for him even further downstream and posted more flyers.

By Friday, I was receiving emails from people as far as Vacaville sharing their stories and telling us to “hang in there.” Friends of friends of friends had posted Kasey’s pictures on their Facebook pages and forwarded texts to their contact lists.

It seemed like everybody knew he was missing, but nobody knew where he was. Heartsick, I decided to spend my lunch hour down at the Hwy. 49 crossing, planning that night’s and the weekend’s searches.

It was just my luck that the park maintenance crew was out with a map of the river. I planned my routes and headed back to the office.

STRANGER FINDS DOG

As soon as my cell phone came back into range, a voicemail message appeared. I pulled over and had to listen three times just to get the number right, because my hands were shaking.

When I called back, I was informed Kasey had been seen half an hour before trotting up the side of Hwy 49 about a mile past the bridge in the opposite direction.

The caller had attempted to catch him, but Kasey was having none of it and ducked back behind the railing and into the brush. Obviously, the choice was pretty easy — I was not going back to work.

So if you happened to be one of the drivers who saw the woman running down the side of Hwy. 49 towards her dog, with tears streaming down her face, it was me.

After about 30 ounces of water and a pack of hot dogs, I tried to interrogate him on the ride home. How far he drifted down river, which side he go out on, and where he had been for the past 73 hours? But he wasn’t talking.

I don’t know how the caller who told me where to find my dog got my number. Had he seen a flyer, received an email or text? Was he someone who had re-posted to his Facebook page? All I know is that my puppy is safe at home, and my family is grateful for all of the help and support we got while our furry child was missing.

—Jessica Palmer

Filed under: Uncategorized | 35 Comments »

Editor’s note: “Craig Huey ‘gets it,’” wrote our Congressman Tom McClintock in endorsing him for Jane Harman’s seat in a closely watched race in Southern California. Huey lost to Democrat Janice Hahn in a contentious race on Tuesday.

Once again, social views — on gay marriage and abortion, for example — are hurting the hard right at the California polls. Many Californians are fiscally conservative but socially moderate. This could be a “bugaboo” for Gov. Rick Perry, too, in a presidential run. “When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?”

“In a hard-fought special congressional election marked by sharp divisions in ideology and even sharper personal attacks, Democrat Janice Hahn defeated underdog Republican Craig Huey on Tuesday,” according to the L.A. Times.

“Unofficial election night returns showed Hahn won 54.6% to 45.4%.

“Democrats hold an 18-point registration edge in California’s largely coastal 36th Congressional District, based in the South Bay. Jane Harman, a Venice Democrat, gave up the seat in February to run a Washington think tank.

“Most observers had expected Hahn, a member of a prominent local political family, to have little trouble winning after Democratic Secretary of State Debra Bowen was edged out of the runoff by Huey.

“But Huey, 61, owner of a marketing firm and publisher of Christian voter guides, mounted a stronger-than-expected campaign, in large part by putting in more than $800,000 of his own money. He rallied ‘tea party’ members and other conservatives and, with his cut-spending/grow-jobs message, tried to appeal to independents and others he felt were fed up with the federal government.

“The race was contentious. Huey dismissed Hahn as another ‘career politician,’ and she criticized his ‘extreme’ views opposing abortion rights and gay marriage. He distributed videos of a local Fox News affiliate’s 2008 report linking her to gang members — subsequently discredited by at least two other news organizations and L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck.

The rest of the article is here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 23 Comments »

Editor’s note: To me, at least, the 2012 Presidential race is shaping up to be President Obama vs. Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Here’s another reason why:

“As he weighs whether to jump in to the 2012 Republican presidential race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been dialing GOP establishment bigwigs across the country,” according to the Washington Post. “In phone calls that sometimes stretch more than a half-hour, Perry asks the same questions:

“Is the door open for a new candidate? And how wide is it open? The answers: most definitely, and plenty wide.

“A vast reservoir of the Republican Party establishment — including elected officials, donors, strategists and activists whose support fuels presidential campaigns — remains untapped, say 19 major donors, strategists and party officials in 13 states interviewed this week.

“Party leaders said they are waiting to see which candidate can build and finance a national campaign, hone a strong economic message and, most of all, appear capable of defeating President Obama.”

The rest of the article is here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Editor’s note: In The Stone, a forum for contemporary philosophers on timely issues in The New York Times, University of Notre Dame Professor Gary Gutting discusses climate change:

“Consider, for example, current discussions about climate change, specifically about whether there is long-term global warming caused primarily by human activities (anthropogenic global warming or A.G.W.).  All creditable parties to this debate recognize a group of experts designated as ‘climate scientists,’ whom they cite in either support or opposition to their claims about global warming.  In contrast to enterprises such as astrology or homeopathy, there is no serious objection to the very project of climate science.  The only questions are about the conclusions this project supports about global warming.

“There is, moreover, no denying that there is a strong consensus among climate scientists on the existence of A.G.W. — in their view, human activities are warming the planet.  There are climate scientists who doubt or deny this claim, but even they show a clear sense of opposing a view that is dominant in their discipline.   Non-expert opponents of A.G.W. usually base their case on various criticisms that a small minority of climate scientists have raised against the consensus view.   But non-experts are in no position to argue against the consensus of expert opinion.

“As long as they accept the expert authority of the discipline of climate science, they have no basis for supporting the minority position.  Critics within the community of climate scientists may have a cogent case against A.G.W., but, given the overall consensus of that community, we non-experts have no basis for concluding that this is so.  It does no good to say that we find the consensus conclusions poorly supported.  Since we are not experts on the subject, our judgment  has no standing.”

The rest of the article is here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 15 Comments »