Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

I was surprised to see this post from George Rebane: “And ignore the following as distracting noise, pabulum, or simply entertainment – 3. Pedophiles in athletics.”

Fox News, no less, has provided an in-depth report on this issue, called “The Crisis at Penn State.” The details are here.

We watched the investigative reporting by Fox tonight, and it was well done. To downplay this episode is disturbing. Rebane, you might recall, does commentary for The Union and KVMR.

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The “supercommittee” is about to fail to reach a compromise on our nation’s debt crisis, because the ideologues (most of whom never signed a check on the “front” are digging in their “just say no” heels). Meanwhile, here’s the burning issue for our Congressman — concealed weapons. Despite his compassion for the “little guy,” this guy has never held a non-government job and is a “double dipper” when it comes to pensions — drawing from both our state and federal reserves. Many of his supporters are equally hypocritical, supping from the same trough they seek to reduce.

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Editor’s note: A regular reader here passed on this communication from the UC Davis Chancellor to alumni and friends:

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Friday was not a day that would make anyone on our campus proud; indeed the events of the day need to guide us forward as we try to make our campus a better place of inquiry, debate, and even dissent. This past week our campus was a site of week-long peaceful demonstrations during which students were able to express their concerns about many issues facing higher education, the University of California, our campus, our nation, and the world as a whole. Those events involved multiple rallies in the Quad and an occupation of Mrak Hall which ended peacefully a day later.

However, the events on Friday were a major deviation from that trend. In the aftermath of the troubling events we experienced, I will attempt to provide a summary of the incident with the information now available to me and the steps we will follow going forward.

After a week of peaceful exchange and debate, on Thursday a group of protestors including UC Davis students and other non-UC Davis affiliated individuals established an encampment of about 25 tents on the Quad. The group was reminded that while the university provides an environment for students to participate in rallies and express their concerns and frustrations through different forums, university policy does not allow such encampments on university grounds.

On Thursday, the group stayed overnight despite repeated reminders by university staff that their encampment violated university policies and they were requested to disperse. On Friday morning, the protestors were provided with a letter explaining university policies and reminding them of the opportunities the university provides for expression. Driven by our concern for the safety and health of the students involved in the protest, as well as other students on our campus, I made the decision not to allow encampments on the Quad during the weekend, when the general campus facilities are locked and the university staff is not widely available to provide support.

During the early afternoon hours and because of the request to take down the tents, many students decided to dismantle their tents, a decision for which we are very thankful. However, a group of students and non-campus affiliates decided to stay. The university police then came to dismantle the encampment. The events of this intervention have been videotaped and widely distributed. As indicated in various videos, the police used pepper spray against the students who were blocking the way. The use of pepper spray as shown on the video is chilling to us all and raises many questions about how best to handle situations like this.

To this effect, I am forming a task force comprised of faculty, students and staff to review the events and provide to me a thorough report within 30 days. The task force will be chosen this week and convene immediately to begin their work. As part of this, a process will be designed that allows members of the community to express their views on this matter. In addition, I will hold a series of meetings and forums with students, faculty and staff to listen to their concerns and hear their ideas for restoring civil discourse to the campus. In the interim, two UC Davis police officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave following their use of pepper spray.

Related to current policies, I am asking the office of Administrative and Resource Management and the office of Student Affairs to review our policies in relation to encampments of this nature and consider whether our existing policies reflect the needs of the students at this point in time. If our policies do not allow our students enough flexibility to express themselves, then we need to find a way to improve these policies and make them more effective and appropriate.

Our campus is committed to providing a safe environment for all to learn freely and practice their civil rights of freedom of speech and expression. At the same time, our campus has the responsibility to ensure the safety of all others who use the same spaces and rely on the same facilities, tools, environments and processes to practice their freedoms to work and study.

I spoke with students this weekend and I feel their outrage. I am deeply saddened that this happened on our campus, and as chancellor, I take full responsibility for the incident. I pledge to take the actions needed to ensure this does not happen again. I feel sorry for the harm our students were subjected to and I vow to work tirelessly to make the campus a more welcoming and safe place.

Sincerely,
Linda P.B. Katehi
Chancellor

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Editor’s note: The first whiff of problems from UC Davis’ handling of protesters came from social networks and online-only publications. A full day transpired before the UC bureaucrats and mainstream media caught on to the video, which went viral on the Internet. It is a classic example of how the Internet is reshaping how we communicate.

I experienced this “revolution” playing out in coastal California a decade ago. Now it’s spreading to the foothills. In our small town, The Union reporter commented here, but I have yet to see the paper post a story about the incident. (Lots of students from here go to UC Davis).

“University of California President Mark G. Yudof issued a statement today saying he is appalled by images he has seen of police actions at campuses this week, including at UC Davis where officers sprayed protesters with pepper,” according to the Sacramento Bee.

“Yudoff said he will hold a meeting of campus chancellors to discuss police response to campus protests and will put together a group of experts and stakeholders to assess police actions.”

Mark G. Yudof, “you go boy.”

The rest of the Sunday coverage — in the Sacramento Bee — is here.

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“NASCAR fans booed First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, before the start of the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway,” according to the Sun-Sentinel (my first full-time job in journalism in 1982).

“Obama and Biden served as Ford 400 Grand Marshals, where they addressed the drivers’ meeting Sunday afternoon before presiding over the cermonial starting of the engines for Sunday’s race.”

The rest of the article is here.

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We regularly order chickens from Chuck Shea’s Wandering Star Ranch in Penn Valley, as I’ve written previously. This year, we ordered a turkey from Chuck. He brought it by the house on Sunday. It’s a 15-pound “double-breasted white turkey.” He also has some “Black Spanish” turkeys.

All told, Chuck sold about 40 this year. This week, he’s hopping in the car and going to Manhattan Beach to visit his children with — get this — a 45-pounder. This is a hobby for Chuck, who also owns the Parsonage B&B in downtown Nevada City. We also enjoy his horse-drawn carriage rides around town.

More and more we’re eating fresh, locally grown meats — from Chuck, Karin Sinclair’s Sinclair Family Farm in Penryn (lamb, pork and chicken) and Jim Gates’ Nevada County Free Range Beef. We like Karin’s pork, but Llano Seco Ranch in Chico also is tops for organic pork. We often get our eggs from Karen or Chuck. You can get lots of fresh, local meat at BriarPatch.

We also are regulars of the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club, which provides locally grown meats to residents of Placer and Nevada Counties. Members order from a list of cuts of beef, lamb and pork on a monthly basis.

It’s fun to buy food from your neighbors, and it’s healthier and better tasting.

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We’re regulars at the pancake breakfasts in Nevada City (fall) and Meek’s Bay at Lake Tahoe (summer). We’re grateful for firefighters, since we reside in wildfire regions.

Last week’s fire in Reno should be a sober reminder of the risks. At the Meek’s Bay Fire Department, you can see photos of the damage from the Angora fire. Once we had a gas leak at the house, and we were thankful for the quick response.

I understand the concerns about rising public pensions and “double dipping” for public safety workers (and wrote about it long before it was a such a political “hot button” issue). I’m glad it’s being addressed by our governor and others.

But rank-and-file firefighting is dangerous work — with a pragmatic purpose.

People need to do their part too: providing defensible space (which costs $$$) and supporting their fire department or district. We consider it an “investment” — not a “tax.”

When people chose to reside in a rural area, there are costs that need to be considered: Fire suppression, wastewater treatment and so on. Too often we let ideology stand in the way of pragmatism.

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Our family was “out and about” on Saturday, including stops at the Mandarin Festival in Auburn, which was packed, as well as Sierra Starr’s release of “Zinjolais,” a holiday wine made in the traditional Beaujolais Nouveau style — among other adventures.

Our itinerary also included the open house for Utah’s Place at 1262 Sutton Way in Grass Valley. It is the permanent home for Hospitality House. It is named after HH’s co-founder, the late Utah Phillips, a folk singer, storyteller and ardent advocate for the rights of homeless people.

Escrow had closed and remodeling will soon get underway for a year-round shelter for guests. Utah’s Place — the permanent home — is expected to open around late April, Cindy Maple, executive director of Hospitality House, told me.

It is a good space for a homeless shelter, big and airy and located down Brunswick Road past the Safeway shopping center. You can see all the way down the street from the upper floor, providing an interesting view. There also will be a bus shelter within walking distance of Utah’s Place, she said.

We toured the building, my son enjoyed a home-made cookie (or two), we listened to music, and we visited with board members and others who attended.

We visited with board members Ben Emery and Julia Jordan of the Downtown Association, among others, who comment here. Ben and I had never met. We met Julia’s “significant other” Daniel. We visited with Fred Buhler of Friends of Nevada County Military, which sends support packages and cards to deployed troops. (My son and I write a card each year from the group’s booth at the fair grounds). The open house was well attended.

Board Supervisor Terry Lamphier presented a certificate (which we knew was receiving the finishing touches on Friday at the Rood Center, because we were over there for an unrelated meeting. The Rood Center administrative staff is adept at multi-tasking). Former Nevada City Mayor and Council Member Robert Bergman was in attendance.

I learned about another worthy project between Hospitality House and the Alliance for Wellbeing from executive director Heather Peterman and Tom Durkin, a freelance writer and photographer who also is a Hospitality House staff monitor.

The Alliance Re-New sewing project has made several dozen pillows for guests of the Hospitality House. It includes sewing classes for adults and youths. All classes are free. It’s a “civil” touch, providing a hand-made pillow to sleep on; most airlines have abandoned the practice, I noted.

The Alliance for Wellbeing is a non-profit that offers support services. Here are some more photos by Tom Durkin. A gallery is posted here, on his Facebook page.

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