Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Still no word from the Swift-owned media chain, either The Union or Sierra Sun, but a default has been filed on Royal Gorge LLC by its lender. The background is here. The responses are here:

From Royal Gorge LLC:

Local newspapers have recently reported on a “Notice of Default” filed on our property by our lender. Please be advised that we are working cooperatively with our lender to resolve this matter.

An unfavorable weather cycle last season and a tough economy have proven to be very challenging for Royal Gorge and many other businesses in the region. But we are confident we will resolve this matter with our lender and continue operations “Business as Usual”.

Please note that Ice lakes Lodge in Serene Lakes is under separate ownership and is not involved in this matter.

Kirk C. Syme, Managing Partner, Royal Gorge LLC.

From SierraWatch:

DONNER SUMMIT PROPERTY IN DEFAULT
 
ROYAL GORGE GIVEN 90 DAYS TO PAY OFF $16 MILLION LOAN

Nevada City, CA –First American Title Company filed a Notice of Default on the Royal Gorge property on Donner Summit June 23, 2011.
 
According to the notice, filed in both Nevada County and Placer County, Royal Gorge property owners owe Armed Forces Bank of Irvine (successor to Bank Midwest) an outstanding balance of $16,743,442.91. 
 
If the balance is not paid within 90 days from the date of the notice, creditors can sell the property.
 
“The development proposal for Donner Summit never made any sense – economically or otherwise,” said Tom Mooers of Sierra Watch.  “Now we turn our attention to a conservation resolution that permanently protects one of the truly iconic regions of the Sierra Nevada.”
 
In 2005, would-be developers bought the nearly 3,000-acre Royal Gorge property on Donner Summit, including the existing Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort, the upper reaches of the American River Canyon, and the headwaters of the Yuba River. 
 
Two years later, they released an initial development proposal that would have carved the Summit landscape into a series of sprawling development projects – extending from the edge of Sugar Bowl and over the crest of the Sierra.  In order to service the new subdivisions, developers proposed to remake Donner Summit with new roads through local forests, new dams in Sierra headwaters, and 200 acres of sewage ‘spray fields’. 
 

Sierra Watch worked with local allies to build support for an alternative vision to permanently protect the irreplaceable values of the Royal Gorge property and Donner the Summit.
 
Default and subsequent sale may provide the opportunity to make their vision a reality.  According to Mooers, “It’s our job to make sure that, if the property does indeed change hands, it moves away from speculative development and into permanent conservation.”
 
 

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“Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation requiring public schools to teach students about the contributions of gay and lesbian people, making California the first state to adopt such a measure,” the Sacramento Bee is reporting.

“The bill was cheered by gay rights advocates, and Brown said in a written statement Thursday that it ‘represents an important step forward for our state.’

“The legislation requires instruction in the social sciences to include the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, as well as people with disabilities and members of other cultural groups. It would prohibit teaching from textbooks or other instructional materials that reflect adversely on people because of their sexual orientation.

“‘History should be honest,’ the Democratic governor said in a written statement. ‘This bill revises existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education and ensures that the important contributions of Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life are included in our history books.’

“Written by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, the legislation was approved in the Legislature along party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
Republicans and conservative groups railed against it again on Thursday.

“Sen. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, said Brown is ‘out of touch with what I think are still mainstream American values.’

“‘That’s not the kind of stuff I want my kids learning about in public school,’ LaMalfa said. ‘They’ve really crossed a line into a new frontier.’

“Leno’s Senate Bill 48 is similar to a proposal that was approved by the Legislature in 2006 but vetoed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, argued that students were already protected from discrimination.

“Existing California law requires public school instruction to include the contributions of women and other minorities, and it prohibits materials that reflect adversely on people because of race, gender or other characteristics. Leno’s bill adds gay and lesbian people to that group.

The rest of the article is here.

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Editor’s note: Les Hinton, now of The Wall Street Journal, is coming under scrutiny for what he did and did not know when he ran Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers, the New York Times is reporting. It comes as the Journal’s longtime previous owners are expressing “sellers remorse.”

“A number of key members of the family which controlled The Wall Street Journal say they would not have agreed to sell the prestigious daily to Rupert Murdoch if they had been aware of News International’s conduct in the phone-hacking scandal at the time of the deal,” ProPublica.org reports

“‘If I had known what I know now, I would have pushed harder against’ the Murdoch bid, said Christopher Bancroft, a member of the family which controlled Dow Jones & Company, publishers of The Wall Street Journal. Bancroft said the breadth of allegations now on the public record ‘would have been more problematic for me. I probably would have held out.’ Bancroft had sole voting control of a trust that represented 13 percent of Dow Jones shares in 2007 and served on the Dow Jones Board.

Lisa Steele, another family member on the Board, said that ‘it would have been harder, if not impossible,’ to have accepted Murdoch’s bid had the facts been known. ‘It’s complicated,’ Steele said, and ‘there were so many factors’ in weighing a sale. But she said ‘the ethics are clear to me — what’s been revealed, from what I’ve read in the Journal, is terrible; it may even be criminal.’

“Elisabeth Goth, a Bancroft family member not on the Board who had long advocated change at Dow Jones, expressed similar sentiments. Asked if she would have favored a sale to Murdoch in 2007 knowing what she does today, she said, ‘my answer is no.’

The comments by family members in interviews with ProPublica came as the crisis engulfing Murdoch’s News Corporation threatened to spread to the U.S. with two senators calling for an investigation into whether the company broke U.S. laws over the phone hacking scandal.

The rest of the article is here.

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The Nevada-based Swift Communications chain newspapers, including The Union and Sierra Sun, write small-business profiles but one keeps escaping them — the ongoing competition posed by Truckee-based Moonshine Ink, an independent media in Truckee and North Lake Tahoe.

Moonshine Ink, whose staff is composed of some ex-”Swifties” (David Bunker and Melissa Siig come to mind) consistently publishes the most issue-oriented journalism in the area — in English and Spanish. Another example is here.

As the monthly publication explains: “Moonshine Ink was born from a simple dream – to create a genuine community-based newspaper in Truckee/North Tahoe. This means keeping people informed on the issues and assets of the community, while reflecting its passion and spunk. It means employing locals, buying local, and staying local.

“In 2010, Moonshine Ink is celebrating 8 years of existence. In this time, we have grown to be an award-winning publication that retains its local flavor to the core – it truly is ‘Media FOR and BY the community.’

Don’t let newspapers fool you: It’s not a lack of resources that hurts them — It’s a lack of managing them, just like in any business.

In the July issue of Moonshine Ink, Melissa Siig has written about the impacts of redistricting after the 2010 census: None expected in Nevada County, she reports (The Union makes the same finding this morning, also quoting county executive officer Rick Haffey).

But in Placer County’s District 5 — whose supervisor is the lone Democrat, Jennifer Montgomery — change is afoot.

“To give District 5 the population boost that it needs, it has to include the City of Auburn (13,000 people) and unincorporated North Auburn (7,000 people),” according to Moonshine Ink.

“For Supervisor Montgomery, there are pros and cons to this. On the plus side, picking up Auburn won’t mean added responsibilities for a District 5 supervisor since the town already has its own city council and fire and police departments.

“On the other hand, adding Auburn changes the demographics of her district. Historically, the west side of Placer County is more conservative than the east side.

“What does it do to the east end of Placer County when the bulk of population is in the west end?” Montgomery told Moonshine Ink. “By definition it will dilute the east side’s voting.”

Montgomery downplays the impact on her own political future. She is up for re-election next year. But the shift will make it hard for someone from the east side, like her, to get elected in the future. It also could mean that a more conservative candidate gets elected.

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