# 349 - March 6th, 2013

Greetings one and all – if you are sitting comfortably then I shall begin… And even if you are “sitting comfortably,” then any discussion of last week’s farcical developments at the local high school would no doubt soon put an end to that… This may not be the appropriate place for such a serious topic but The Old Buzzard did want to chime in with a comment at the end of this column in his ‘Signs of the Apocalypse’ piece… Read on…

       Public Service Announcements… Calendars and pens at the ready… #761 - The Vets from Mendocino Animal Hospital will return to the Farm Supply in the Valley twice this month – tomorrow, Thursday, Mar 7 and then on Mar 28. If you are a previous client you can call them 48 hours in advance (462-8833) to ensure that your pet’s charts are brought ‘over the hill’ and also order any medications your pet might need. New customers and their pets are always welcome… #762 – St Patrick’s Day is approaching and in celebration there will a special corned beef, cabbage, and potato dinner on Saturday, Mar 16 at The Apple Hall in Boonville to benefit the Senior Center. With Green Beer and Irish coffees, music from Chorus Eight Voices, and a no host bar, tickets are $20, Kids under 12 & Seniors $15. Available at A.V. Senior Center, Laughing Dog Books, Lemons Market, Rossi Hardware, and Rancheria Reality… #763 – The 22nd annual Variety Show is this weekend, Fri/Sat Mar 8/9, curtain at 7pm each evening…

       As a bonus P.S.A. here is the menu for the next week at the Senior Center… The Center asks for a $5 donation from Seniors and charges $7 for Non-Seniors for lunches, and $6 and $8 respectively for the evening meals. On Thursday, Mar 7, the lunch, always served at 12.15pm, will be Pineapple & Pepper Chicken, rice, Cauliflower, Wheat berry Salad, and a Raspberry Whip for dessert… And then next Tuesday evening, Mar 12, at 6pm, Marti Titus and her crew will be serving a dinner featuring Oven BBQ Chicken, Twice Baked Potatoes, Broccoli, Rolls, Quinoa Salad, Orange Gelatin, and Pineapple Dream Cake - a feast that will be followed by Bingo at 7pm… Hope to see you there…       

       Moving quickly on to a few of the topics and Valley events under discussion this week at The Three-Dot Lounge – yes it’s “Moans, Groans, Good Thoughts, and Rampant Rumors” from my favorite gathering place in the Valley where people get together and share their thoughts about Valley life…

… Local gift store and so much more, ‘All that Good Stuff’, is planning to move on Sunday (March 10)… Owners Leslie and Claudia are leaving The Farrer Building, where the business has resided for the past 23 years, to their new location in SoBo, next to the fire house, where they will re-open on Wednesday, March 13, with a Grand Re-Opening Party to follow – details of which are to be announced next week…

… As for the space left at The Farrer Building, rumors abound… Some folks are of the opinion that initially it will host the expansion of the Farmer’s Mercantile Store from next door. In the future, and should the expansion not work, it is anyone’s guess what will happen there, although a pharmacy, a real pizzeria, a bank – things the community would really benefit from, or a carrion deli, stocked with a wide range of decaying animal flesh, are all unlikely. This is a business space and it needs to make money. Even if it ends up being a place selling costly items to people with the money to spend on such things there is nothing wrong with doing that… But I do know a few folks who would agree that a carrion deli would be a lovely addition to the downtown commercial district… 

… With summer approaching, I am informed that the tasting room count in the Valley has hit thirty!... For them all to succeed, it must be hoped that the tourists are particularly thirsty this year, not to mention locals and certain birds of prey too… See you among the vines…

… From our 3-Dot regular, The Old Buzzard, comes another in his insightful series – ‘Signs of the Apocalypse’… Buzzard reports, “Well it certainly seemed to some folks that the Apocalypse had arrived this past week when events at the high school took on an almost circus-like appearance. In the uncomfortable atmosphere of an edgy School Board meeting, held at the school cafeteria on Monday evening and attended by yours truly and over 100 other members of the public, a series of faculty members, clearly in favor of Mr. Jim Tomlin staying on as Principal, unanimously sang his praises, with just a couple of conflicting opinions coming from a parent and former teacher, both in favor of his tenure being ended. Many folks believe Tomlin to be a decent man, but as a Principal of the high school a number of Valley people obviously feel the school can do better and the result, made by a Board clearly not swayed by this heavily-weighted gathering, was 3-2 vote in favor of the decision to fire Mr. T…. A major part of discussions behind closed doors was probably based on whether his tenure as Principal was providing continuity or was it creating a comfort zone of complacency. The majority of the Board, three members who represent a wide range of the community, obviously thought the latter was the case, along with, one has to assume, other shortcomings in Mr. T’s performance. These were not spoken of by the Board at this time with the result that, as night fell over the Valley, the faculty was not happy and there were rumblings of some form of protest.

        “Unfortunately for them, and other supporters of the beleaguered Principal, early the next morning, Mr. Tomlin, apparently having decided that this whole process had become personal, seemed to take leave of his senses and saw fit to fire the high school baseball coach Ben Anderson - the same Ben Anderson who was one of the three Board members to vote in favor of Tomlin’s termination the previous evening. Reverberations were immediately felt around the Valley, covering a range of emotions from confusion and incredulity to anger and disgust. Any sympathy for Jim felt by his opponents evaporated and by lunchtime on Tuesday, following some rapid back-peddling by school administrators, Anderson was back in the dugout, Tomlin was on ‘sick leave’, the faculty was assumed to be reeling at the behavior of their ‘leader’, and the series of events was being held in head-shaking disbelief on the streets and in the gathering places of the Valley. If this ‘plot line’ had been presented on a daytime soap, it would have been regarded as implausible, if not downright ridiculous… Now we hear that some of Mr. T’s supporters are pushing for a recall of the three Board members who voted for his dismissal. I have a feeling this may be a fruitless endeavor. This is our school, not a soap opera, and one would hope that the firing fiasco could quickly be put behind us, the vote of the Board adhered to, and the new opportunities that have arisen be seized upon as a chance for a positive and enlightened move forward with the backing of the community as a whole.”

       Oh, dear, has the Buzzard upset somebody? Surely many people agree with his comments? O.K., just in case, I’ll get him out of here and escort him back up into the hills… But before doing that, and until we talk again, remember to – ‘Keep the Faith’; be careful out there; stay out of the ditches; think good thoughts… And may your god go with you… Oh, and of course, one final request, “Let us prey”… Humbly yours, Turkey Vulture…

p.s. You can contact me with words of support/abuse either through the Letters Page or by e-mail at <turkeyvulture1@earthlink.net>

p.p.s. On the sheep, Grace…