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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I’ve lived here 33 years and I still don’t take notice of the proposed location for the GV Chamber. Is it safe to assume that the Chamber had done all it can to negociate with the owners of Montez home? I hope the owners reconsider.
The Union is one of the few remaining local papers in the nation. However, the intentionally emotive language the editor uses is the reason why myself and many others dropped our subscriptions years ago. The man intentionaly feeds hate and trolls for assissins. The staff at The Union do a great job and it’s so unfair to them to have such a boss. The paper could be the pride of Nevada County, which it tries to be in some regard. We’ve considered resubscribing on a few occassions but……..there’s the arrogant editor. As the digital universe encroches on printed sources the Union probably will not be around in a few years.
Regarding the Chamber move…what are they thinking? The Chamber office needs to be in the downtown area to be available to people (tourists) walking around town. If this takes place the new location will have very few visitors and a staff with not much to do. When I am in downtown NC I have been asked numerous times where the Chamber of Commerce office is. All I have to do is point out the location a block away.
Russ Steele has followed up on this post with his own item on the GV Chamber relocating. (He praises the RV parking at the Beam Center, though there is parking at the Lola Montez house too).
But Russ shows his ignorance on town-wide tourism initiatives when it comes to drawing business from Beale. This, along with the the paved road from GV, has been happening since long before he complained about it NOT happening in a CABPRO newsletter item. I just ignored it then, but now I feel obliged to set the record straight:
We have been distributing our tourism magazine and the Placer Visitor Guide at Beale for a long while, much of that time on the new paved road that he didn’t know existed.
We also joined the Downtown Association and city in sponsoring a GV booth at the Beale Air Show last year. And we joined the Downtown Association in sponsoring a “Beale Appreciation Day” at Cornish Christmas earlier this month. In fact, the Downtown Association has been a leader in “bridge building” with Beale.
I bring this up, because I note that Russ has been blogging for a long time about our towns, just like The Union. But that doesn’t mean he’s informed.
With self-publishing, there’s room for needed new blood in informing people. And with “new blood” in our towns there is room for refreshing initiatives and entrepreneurism that will invigorate our towns. It is long overdue.
Update:
I talked to the Chamber, which confirmed the move to Beam Center in about a week. But they hope it is only until May or June, when the GV Chamber finds a permanent home with the Downtown Association somewhere that is more centrally located near downtown Grass Valley.
If Chamber of Commerce offices are located downtown they should be called “Visitor Centers” so tourists will know it is a place to go to find information.