A mini surge of coronavirus continues in Mendocino County. Now the Public Health Office reports a case each at Applebees in Ukiah and Diggers Bar in Willits. It comes days after a couple of other cases at 2 restaurants among staff. The latest cases in staff too. So the public and restaurant staff are warned if they’re not fully vaccinated and were at Applebee’s between June 4-7, or Diggers between June 3-5, to go get a COVID19 test which is free and available Sunday to next Thursday at the Ukiah Fairgrounds. Health Officer Dr. Andy Coren is reminding also of the importance of staying home from work if you have symptoms like fever, cough, and shortness of breath. He also says he hopes companies are encouraging their employees get vaccinated to slow the spread and protect the community.
Cal Fire in Mendocino County is doing a prescribed burn at Howard Forest, so you may see some smoke plumes in the air. It’s on 5 acres of state owned property in Willits on the 101. The burn will be next week on Tuesday and Wednesday to help with regrowth, enhance wildlife habitat, protect watersheds and to help train fire personnel. They say the reason they do any fuel reduction project is to change the size and composition of fuels in the forest. They will watch the burn under tight restrictions and if they can’t do it safely, they will cancel the burn altogether.
Millions coming to Lake County thanks to the latest stimulus package related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Rescue Plan Act had $1.9 trillion in it and of that, Lake got over $12,500,000. Congressman Mike Thompson was in Lakeport presenting ceremonial checks to city and county officials. Lake Co News on hand at the presentation reports Lakeport is getting $1.2 million. And Clearlake is getting well over 3 times that amount.
Another death reported in Clear Lake from last weekend. The Sheriff’s Office reports 60-year-old Efrain Antonio Menjivar of Martinez disappeared Saturday after he went swimming. His body wasn’t found until this past Wednesday morning in Clearlake Oaks. They’ve scheduled an autopsy for today. It’s the third death from last weekend, all of them offshore at Clearlake Oaks. We told you about the couple who died, the man Webster Medley III took his fiancé and 3 others out on his boat. He jumped in after his fiancé went in when their boat capsized. The two died, but 3 others on the boat made it to shore.
Tree sitters, as they’re called, sitting inside trees in Jackson Demonstration State Forest against logging. Mendo Voice reports trees are being taken down by contractors working with Cal Fire, which owns the forest. The activists from Mendocino Trail Stewards and EarthFirst are asking for a two year hold on logging in the forest. They were protesting in April too, tree sitters parked it inside 2 more than 150 year old redwoods. Some have been trying to block the entrance to the forest so loggers can’t get in, but apparently they got in anyway. Cal Fire has been warning folks to stay out of the area.
A fire that had been burning outside Covelo has been stopped from advancing. The fire started yesterday afternoon and was reportedly burning through brush east of Covelo, near the Eel River Campground. Cal Fire was on the scene but it was rugged terrain, so they had several aircraft out. The fire was under an acre yesterday afternoon with no structures threatened.
After a judge overturned California’s ban on assault weapons, the state’s taking action, appealing it to the Ninth Circuit. The governor and the mayor of San Francisco were with the Attorney General Rob Bonta when he announced the appeal yesterday. He brought up the mass shooting in San Jose last month as an example of his why. He said the overturning of the longstanding ban was disturbing and troubling. The judge in the overturning of the ban, issued a permanent injunction, but stayed the ruling for 30 days so there was time to appeal. The gov. said the judge was a “wholly owned subsidiary of the gun lobby” and needed to be called out.
A lawsuit is threatened against the US Fish and Wildlife Service because of a denial to protect the tiny animal, the Fisher. The Environmental Protection Information Center, known as EPIC, says they’re giving 60 days notice of their intention to file a lawsuit, which is required under the Endangered Species Act to challenge a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That gives the Service time to correct the violations of the law. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center are also part of the intended lawsuit to protect the Fisher, a carnivorous mammal in the same family as weasels, minks, martens and otters. Protections for the animal have been withdrawn over the years. They were listed as threatened in 2019.
There could be a buyer for the old Palace Hotel. The Daily Journal reports the receiver of the hotel, Mark Adams filed a report in Mendocino County Superior Court Wednesday saying there’s a new “potential buyer”. The report does not say who the interested party is, only that they “emerged” in recent weeks, and they’ve not spoken directly. He refers to the interested person as she, calling her “credible and sophisticated enough to take on this assignment”. So he says he’ll investigate further the potential receiver’s sale of the hotel with a long contingency-laden escrow period. The latest buyer took over in January of 2019, but apparently hasn’t done much. Adams was appointed to take control of the building after it was declared a public nuisance. It went on the market and sold at auction and has continued to sit.
After wildfires damaged parts of the Mendocino National Forest, campgrounds were closed along with hiking trails and off highway vehicle trails. They were all damaged by the August Complex last year and the Ranch Fire from back in 2018. They’re reopening for public use, but many of the closed recreation sites will stay that way. The Dixie Glade and Little Doe campgrounds, and Lower Nye trail head, are open to the public again along with three off-highway vehicle trails in the Stonyford Riding Area. You can see everything that’s opened… and closed on the Mendocino National Forest’s recreation webpages at www.fs.usda. gov/mendocino.
On Tuesday the state is poised to reopen again, like before times, but also, not so normal. There will still be many restrictions, but the long-held color-coded Blueprint is done then. The Governor made the announcement in April and said it again last month, things can start to get back to business as usual. Even though there will be guidelines to follow from the state, and the CDC, counties can still decide to be stricter if they want, not looser. You’ll be able to remove your mask if you’re vaccinated in most public spaces, following the recommendations of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’ll be up to individual businesses and companies about what you can do inside or while at work as far as masking and keeping your distance from others.
As people get vaccinated and the COVID19 case numbers are mostly down, Frontier Days is back in Willits. It’ll be the 95th year it’s hosted. This time it starts next Friday, June 18th and will go through July 4th. A little different, but expected, there will be sanitation stations and other pandemic safety precautions in place. The Hometown Celebration will take over Main Street Friday evening and the Rodeo Sweetheart contest will happen again, as will the fantastic Carnival, Dancing and Truck Pulls. Of course the big rodeo will happen too in the Jack Tharp Arena.
