Editor’s note: I don’t get much out of The Union’s “Town Talk” feature, so I figured I’d just start my own — with some real news and information. It will run from time to time (for free). And I’m betting some of the items will wind up on the front page of the local paper. (What would newspapers do without bloggers?)
Retired Judge Al
•Tongues are wagging around town about retired
Superior Court Judge Al Dover’s chiding of The Union’s editor/publisher in a column this week. Dover writes: “In the editorial of Dec. 13, 2011 (Child molesters catch a break in Nevada County), the editor makes clear he joins the view of the District Attorney’s office that the judges should have sent these defendants to prison. He says to not do so means children are an acceptable casualty of molestation, sends the wrong message to child molesters, and even encourages molesters to move to ‘liberal’ Nevada County. Lest we forget, he reminds us that judges are elected officials, so, just in case we ‘don’t like what they are doing’ we can ‘un-elect’ them. I think the trouble is that in failing to understand how judges ‘choose’ sentences in these difficult cases, the editor imparts misinformation to the public and damages the important value of judicial independence at the same time.”
And the kicker: “Cheap shots, political bullying and lack of education about how judges make decisions in difficult cases does not help a community make wise choices about their judges or court system. Unfortunately, that seems to be what I see when I read the paper more often that not these days. The article is here.
Lola Montez
•
Barring a last-minute “switcheroo” in its thinking, the Grass Valley/Nevada County Chamber of Commerce is expected to soon relocate to the Beam Center from the Lola Montez house in downtown Grass Valley. The Chamber has long had its offices at the historic Lola Montez house. People are of two mindsets of this idea: Though it would lower the chamber’s rent, it also would put the offices farther from where visitors hoof around town. In Auburn, for example, plans are underway to relocate the tourism visitor center
closer to downtown, where the tourists are.
Howard
•Howard Levine doesn’t retire from the Grass Valley Downtown Association for another three months, but
he is telling more and more people about his plans to run for Grass Valley City Council next year — as first reported here. Several seats will be up for grabs. If you don’t know Howard, you can see a drawing of him on the Del Oro Theater in the downtown, reflecting his contributions over the years.
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