Your account does not include highlighter on images.
Searches Highlighted on Image
National Sponsors
| July 6, 2011 Indian Valley Record |  |
|
©
Indian Valley Record. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 18 (18 of 32 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
July 6, 2011 |
|
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader 
|
8B Wednesday, July 6, 2011 Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
EDITORIAL AND
OPINION
EDITORIAL
Make this
the year you
enter the fair
With the July Fourth holiday weekend be-
hind us, we can now turn our attention to an-
other of the major summer events here in
Plumas County: the Plumas-Sierra County Fair.
The heart and soul of any county fair is its ex-
hibits -- where locals show what they have
grown, made or raised.
The 2011 Plumas Sierra County Fair has re-
leased its annual exhibit guide, inviting all
Plumas and Sierra county residents to enter
their handiwork.
Entering homemade jellies, quilts, artwork
and even home brewed beer is the most impor-
tant tradition of the county fair.
Traditionally, the fair has published a print-
ed exhibit guide, and this year is no different.
However, in an effort to save resources, includ-
ing money, the emphasis is on accessing the ex-
hibit guide online at plumas-sierracount-
fair.net.
It's possible to download the whole guide or
specific sections, such as floriculture or live-
stock, as a .pdf file. Entry forms are also avail-
able online in a separate file.
If a resident doesn't have Internet access, fai/"
staff will be happy to print out the needed por-
tion of the guide, including entry forms, for
pickup at the fair office.
There are a limited number of complete,
printed exhibit guides available at the fair of-
rice, local libraries and bank branches.
More than one-third of California's county
fairs now offer their exhibit guides online only.
For the immediate future, the Plumas-Sierra
County Fair will offer a limited number of
printed exhibit guides in addition to the online
availability.
Most entry forms are due July 13. So you
have a week to ponder the possibilities. Dead-
lines for delivering entries to the fairgrounds
are listed in the exhibit guide.
"The number of entries is a great indicator of
the health of our fair," said fair manager John
Steffanlc. "Very few fairs can hold a candle to
our Art Barn and quilt displays. We would love
to see more home arts and mechanical arts en-
tries."
The fair truly is what we make it. Participa-
tion is the essential ingredient. We urge yoti to
show your stuffi
Here at Feather Publishing we have a strong
tradition of participation, and more than a few
of our employees can boast blue ribbons, partic-
ularly in the home arts categories.
We hope to see you there.
00ea00ng
per
go to plumasnews.com
Michael C. Taborski ............. Publisher
Keri B. Taborski ...Legal Advertising Dept.
Delaine Fragnoli ........ Managing Editor
Alicia Knadler ........ Indian Valley Editor
M. Kate West ............. Chester Editor
Shannon Morrow .......... Sports Editor
Ingrid Burke • .Copy Editor
i
Staff writers:
Michael Condon Dan McDonald
Ruth Ellis Pat Shillito
Will Farris Brian Taylor "
Barbara France Kayleen Taylor
Mona Hill Trish Welsh Taylor
Susan Cort Johnson Sam Williams
Diana Jorgenson
Feather River
Bulletin
(530) 283-0800
Lassen County
Times
(530) 257-53211
Portola Reporter
(530) 832-4646
Westwood
PinePress
(530) 256-2277
Chester Progressive
(530) 258-3115
Indian Valley
Record
(530) 284-7800
BE HEARD
Don't sit back and let
others do the talking for you.
Express yourself in our
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Resorts should join forces to pay for marketing
,; !;:}ili!4,4&. ................. _:___
MY TURN
, DAN McDONALD
Staff Writer
dmcdonald@plumasnews.com
Sometimes my job can be tough.
Maybe that is because I actually have two
of them: .Reporter by day; small-business
owner by night and on weekends.
Don't get me wrong, I'm having a blast re-
porting the county's news. And I equally en-
joy building campfires and tracking down
extra toasters, pillows and wine glasses for
my guests at Camp Layman.
The tough part is right now I'm suffering
from a major case of conflict of interest.
It's this whole county budget mess.
Reporter Dan: The fact is the county's
budget is being squeezed like never before.
Our Board of Supervisors is facing agoniz-
ing choices about how to get by on less.
They are making cuts all over the place.
They have to.
Business Dan: What? The county com-
pletely cut funding for the visitors bureau
and the chambers of commerce?
You've got to be kidding me.
The visitors bureau's website (plumas-
county.org) alone is responsible for 42 per-
cent of the traffic to camplayman.com.
And the Eastern Plumas Chamber has
been invaluable with their advice and assis-
tance.
This could be bad for business.
Really bad.
Reporter Dan: Would you like a slab of
cheese to go with that whine?
Everyone in the county is going to take
their financial lumps this year.
County employees are staring at pay cuts.
And be thankful you don't work at the visi-
tors bureau.
Business Dan: That's my point. We need
the visitors bureau. Tourism is Plumas
County's second-biggest industry.
Lodging providers like myself rely on the
bureau's an0 chambers' marketing to bring
vacationers to the county.
Reporter Dan: You really think people
will stop vacationing in Plumas County
without being prodded by the chamber and
visitors bureau?
Why should county taxes be used to pay
for your advertising?
H/here in the World?
Cheryl Vieira, of Bailey Creek, recently spent three weeks traveling with Overseas
Adventure Travel visiting Panama and Cartagena, Columbia. Transit of the Panama
Canal was aboard a 24-passenger catamaran, giving an up-close and personal view
of the locks. Next time you travel, share where you went by taking your local
newspaper along and including it in a photo. Then email the photo to
smorrow@plumasnews.com. Include your name, contact information and brief
details about your photo. We may publish it as space permits.
Do it yourself.
Business Dan: I do. But I can't afford to
market on a grand scale. I count on the cham.
bers and visitors bureau to spread the word.
Besides, isn't that what the 9-percent tran-
sient occupancy tax (TOT) I charge my
guests is supposed to be used for?
Reporter Dan: No. The TOT revenue goes
to the county's general fund. In theory that
money is used to pay for the services the
county provides visitors: roads, police pro-
tection, clean water, that sort of thing.
Business Dan: Well then, what if we just
raise the TOT by 2 percent and make sure
that extra money goes to the chambers and
the visitors bureau?
I'm pretty sure my guests wouldn't mind
paying an extra two bucks for a cabin.
That's cheaper than a glass of wine.
And that 9 percent we are charging is
pretty low compared to the 15 percent TOT
in places like Anaheim.
Reporter Dan: Good idea. But it's not a
new idea. I heard it discussed at the Board of
Supervisors meeting a couple weeks ago. My
butt is still numb from sitting through that
meeting: six and a ha!f hours!
Business Dan: I thought you said you
liked your job?
Reporter Dan: Most of it...
Anyway, the problem with raising TOT is
people would have to vote for an increase.
And it costs money to add stufflike that to
the ballot, with no guarantee that it will pass.
Business Dan: Why wouldn't it pass? It's
not a tax on county residents. The visitors
who put their heads on my beds would foot
the bill.
Reporter Dan: I agree with you. But
some voters see the word "tax" onthe ballot
and vote "no" as a sort of gag reflex. I guess
we can thank the tea party for that.
Business Dan: Hey, watch it. I'm a Re-
publican.
Reporter Dan: So am I.
Actually, there is way to raise money that
is sort of like a TOT, only better.
It's called a TBID.
Business Dan: Stop with the acronyms
already. Your paper uses way too many of
them as it is.
Reporter Dan: Sorry. A TBID is a
Tourism Business Improvement District.
I'm just learning about it, actually. But a lot
of cities in California are doing it.
It starts with lodging owners forming a
sort of coalition and putting their own spe-
cial tax initiative on the ballot.
The general public wouldn't be allowed to
vote on it, just the lodging providers who
are affected.
All it would need is a simple majority ap-
proval to pass ... And voil6... You have your
extra two dollars per cabin.
The TBID, since it is literally taxing itself,
could use that money for anything it chooses.
It could use some to fund a visitors bureau.
Business Dan: So then the county could
spend its money on county stuff. And not
have to worry about sales and marketing.
Reporter Dan: Now you get. Great minds ...
Hey, where are you going?
Business Dan: Sorry, gotta run.
My guests from San Francisco are asking
for more wine glasses.
REMEMBER WHEN
KERI TABORSKI
Historian
75 YEARS AGO ...... 1936
Ending a six y&r shut down, the Quincy
Lumber Company sawmill will re-open
next month announced C. A. King, compa-
ny general manager and Quincy resident.
The sawmill shut down in 1930 and since
then the operations have been centered
at the Sloat mill. Logs for the Quincy mill
will be cut in Butterfly Valley where
Quincy Lumber Company purchased 80
million board feet of government owned
timber.
50 YEARS AGO ...... 1961
The Plumas County Board of Supervi-
sors this week agreed to the purchase of
the old First Western Bank building in
Greenville to be used to house the Plumas
County justice court there.
The proprietor of the Almanor Inn was
robbed at gunpoint Thursday afternoon of
$3,800 on his way to the bank in Chester to
make a bank deposit. The gunman is still
at large.
25 YEARS AGO ......... 1986
Greyhound bus service will discontinue
all service to Plumas County effective this
week. Before the February floods washed
out State Route Highway 70, Greyhound
used to run from Reno to Oroville daily.
For four months after the floods the bus
continued to run from Reno to Quincy with
a stop in Portola and back daily.
10 YEAIS AGO ........ 2010
A $38.00 annual solid waste tax imposed
on Plumas County property owners has
been renewed by the Pumas County Board
of SuPervisors , generating some $600,000
for the county each year.
1)o you know where youl, children are?
MY TURN
M. KATE WEST
Chester Editor
chestemews@plumasnews.com
"It's 10 p.m., do you know where your
children are?" was the question asked on
nightly television, usually about the time
of the evening of curfews, which based by
county or city ordinance, was either 10 or
11 p.m.
It was a national message, a very well-
recognized public service announcement
that played daily on the ABC television
network from the 1960s through the 1980s.
And, as this is a personal opinion piece,
I'm going to jump right out there and say it
was a damn fine question that still holds
tremendous relevance today.
This question has been on my mind a lot
lately, primarily because of the rash of
e
teen burglarms and vandalism that has oc-
curred in the community of Chester.
Chances are that if those kids had been
home by curfew there would have been a
whole lot less heartbreak and inconve-
nience for the youth, their families and
the local business community.
While the happenstance was tragic, the
basic message is still very sound for a
number of reasons including just ensuring
that each child receives the rest necessary
for healthy development and making good
decisions.
I don't know about the rest of the world
but when I'm overly tired I'm not as good
at many things as I could be. I'm slower
to complete tasks, more easily distracted
and my overall judgment and mood are
poorer; all things that don't spell success
for that particular day.
I would think that would go for people
of all ages, including those that are
younger and more resilient.
Teens are tough. I've had a few myself
so I do understand that sometimes, in
spite of the best efforts of parents, what
happens with and around a child is going
to happen. Control is not always within
your grasp, no matter how you grapple
for it.
In other circumstances, there are those
teens that place a high enough value on the
privilege of their social life that they tend
to, for the most part, follow the rules.
Contrary to the stance some folks would
take, being a good parent does not mean
that a child will never be in trouble.
My issue, as it relates to the original
question posed, would be with parents
who either don't bother to ask or don't
see the need to set and enforce boundaries.
Even though I said earlier that the
question has been on my mind a lot of late,
I didn't mean to imply that this was the
first time I've repeated the question to
myself since those early days.
It tends to pop into my brain under a
number of circumstances, like when I see
way too many very young girls pushing
baby strollers or I hear about parties in
our local woods or, in this circumstance,
that the community vandalism likely
happened between 1 and 3 a.m.
Unless it is an emergent circumstance,
I just can't see a reason for any youth to
be out of bed and away from home in the
middle of the night.
But then as my son would say, "You're
old-school."
So, do I think that way because I'm
old-school or do,I think that way because
that's what is right?
Or, is that another topic for another
My Turn on another day?