Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Since 1998, Todd Johnson of Foothill Flowers in Grass Valley has gone to Pasadena to help decorate Rose Parade floats. I’ve written about this local connection to the world-famous parade previously. Since I was born in Pasadena, I’m proud of it.

This year Todd, whose family owns Foothill Flowers, departed Monday to help decorate floats for the parade — on Jan. 2 this year because of a longstanding “Never on Sunday protocol.” (Details here).

Todd works for Fiesta Parade Floats. One of the floats he’ll be working on will be for Paramount Studios, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The parade float business is year-round. Here’s a video of from this week:

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“Don’t look now, but Mitt Romney suddenly seems like the Iowa front-runner,” Politico is reporting.

“The former Massachusetts governor has carefully tempered expectations in Iowa all year, visiting only a handful of times and saving the bulk of his television spending for the final weeks of the race. But as a crowd of conservative opponents keep the anti-Romney vote divided, his odds of a victory in the state that humbled him four years ago have never been better.

“Even as he tried to keep talk about his prospects in check Tuesday, a slew of public and private polling and anecdotal evidence on the ground suggests that Romney is within striking distance of a first-place finish in Iowa — especially as Ron Paul’s momentum spurt appears to have run into the reality of front-runners’ scrutiny.”

The rest of the article is here.

Here’s an “Anti-Mitter” video by The Chronicle’s Mark Fiore:

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Editor’s note: This newsletter was posted on the local tea party’s Facebook page. It provided some impassioned political rhetoric, as well as news about (another) tea party meeting featuring our Congressman.

WISHING YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!!!

President’s Message

This will be my last newsletter as the President of the Nevada County Tea Party Patriots. I have served in this position, officially and unofficially since February 27, 2009. During that time so many good things have happened that I can’t list them all here. Besides all the positive impact that we have made in our community, our state and around the country, the most impressive thing of all is YOU. You have come together as a united front fighting for the benefit of all Americans, Americans of all faiths, all colors, all ages and all political parties.

You have started the new American Revolution based on the principles of our Founding Fathers. You have already changed the political conversation around our country. We have seen those changes taking place and history will note what you have done. You have changed America.

In reality, we are just at the very beginning of this movement even though it seems like we have been at it a very long time. The original American Revolution took around nine years to complete. And like our movement, there were some setbacks.

In every war there are significant battles that must be won. Our most important battle coming up is the primaries in 2012. We must elect people that represent our Conservative values. This part alone can determine the future of our country. Then comes what may be the final battle of our lifetime, the 2012 General Election.

This will be the battle for the very soul of our country. YOU must be willing to take part in this epic battle. You cannot, and must not, expect others to do your part. You must say NO to those who wish to turn this country into a gray Socialist wasteland. It will happen if you do nothing. Every one of us must take part for us to survive as a great country.

It has been a great honor working with each of you. You have become my friends and family and I will treasure the memories we have created together and those we will create in the future.

God Bless each of you.

Stan Meckler, President
Nevada County Tea Party Patriots

SAVE THE DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our January 11th lunch meeting, featuring Congressman Tom McClintock, will be held at the Ponderosa Hall in the NEVADA COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS: 11128 McCourtney Rd., Grass Valley.

Ponderosa Hall is located between Gates 2 and 3. Parking is available to us by both Gates 2 and 3 of the Fairgrounds, which will be open for our events.

Ponderosa Hall offers greater capacity than our previous venues, with great kitchen facilities. In addition, we are pleased to help support a valuable asset to our community as we will be holding most of our luncheons and evening meetings at this location.

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“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,” I wrote last Saturday.

One of the items: “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.”

Later I added an update that read: “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.” The item generated some reader comments.

Then, sure enough, this “Town Talk” became the subject of The Union’s “Town Talk,” with readers referring to the original report and update: “Comment From 3:31, Sierra Foothills Report reported today that the GV Chamber move is only temporary.”

Then at 4:09 The Union weighed in: “TheUnion: Mary Ann VanMeter confirmed the chamber is moving to 422 Henderson St., next to the Beam Easy Living Center. Owner Bob Medlyn is on the chamber board of directors. They will move by the end of next week and will look for a new, permanent home with the hope of moving in spring. We’ll look into the future of the chamber in more detail tomorrow. . . . 5:09
TheUnion: That will be all for Town Talk today folks. “

I can’t wait! Internet publishing is changing how we communicate and get information in small towns, not just with this blog but with others. Remember how Don Pelton’s “Sierra Voices” helped galvanize the community around a “save the library” effort? Locals who comment on Facebook include local “electeds,” civic and business leaders, who often provide us with news and information before the “mainstream media.”

All this is happening, despite an effort by the mainstream media to now charge for “premium” content with a paywall. It seems a little surreal.

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