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September 14, 2011     Indian Valley Record
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September 14, 2011
 
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lOB Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011 Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter EDITORIAL A N I) O P I N I O N EDITORIAL Show up and speak up to help direct county's future The Plumas County Planning Department has reached a milestone: the draft Plumas County General Plan is ready for public comment. There are few documents as important tcta county as the General Plan, which will guide land use in Plumas for the next decade. You may view the draft on the county's web- site, plumascounty.us, under Planning Services. Upon request, the planning department can email the material to you or send you a CD. Hardcopies are limited and printed in black and white. There is also a counter copy available for viewing at Planning and Building Services, 555 Main St. in Quincy; and each of the county libraries has a copy. You may submit written comments to Randy Wilson, planning director, by email at randy wilson@countyofplumas.com or by mail to Planning and Building Services, 555 Main St., Quincy, CA 95971 (attention: Randy Wilson, planning director). In addition, the Plumas County Planning Commission has scheduled an all-day meeting to- morrow, Thursday, Sept. 15, at 10 a.m. in the Plan- ning and Building Services conference room, 555 Main St. in Quincy. Public comment is encour- aged. The commission will hold a second meeting, if necessary, for further discussion Thursday, Sept. 22, at 10 a.m. For more information or to request a copy of the draft, contact Nancy Fluke in the planning department at 283.7012 or nancyfluke@countyofplumas.com. The draft plan includes nine elements: land use, housing, noise, circulation, economics, pub- lic health and safety, conservation and open space, agriculture and forestry, and water re- sources. The first seven are required, the last two optional. But given the importance of forestry, agriculture and water resources to Plumas Coun- ty, county supervisors have rightly decided to in- clude those elements. The draft General Plan will be used for an en- vironmental review, required under the Califor- nia Environmental Quality Act. Officials antici- pate final adoption of the General Plan, with ad¢i-,:: tional 9PP0rturity for public corrmnt, in late,,.., sprmg 2012. Now is the time to help articulate a vision for Plumas County. We encourage you to read the plan, attend the meeting and comment. A • Feat00ng paper Breaking News .... I go to plumasnews.com I 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 Staff writers: Michael Condon Ruth Ellis Will Farris Barbara France Mona Hill Susan Cort Johnson Diana Jorgenson Dan McDonald Pat Shillito Brian Taylor Kayleen Taylor Trish Welsh Taylor Sam Williams Feather River Westwood Bulletin PinePress (530) 283-0800 (530) 256-2277 Lassen County Times (530) 257-53211 Portola Reporter (530) 832-4646 Chester Progressive (530) 258-3115 Indian Valley Record (530) 284-7800 Check OutOur PLUMASNEWS.COM I I] Eden rediscovered in Cornwall MY TURN MONA HILL Staff Writer mhill@plumasnews.com Tim Smit began the Eden Project when he and five others acquired a clapped-out clay quarry near St. Austell, Cornwall. Ef- fectively wasteland, the steep-sided pit con- tained no fertile soil. The idea was to create a biologically di- verse site founded on the principles of re- cycle, repurpose and reuse. The project's first biome opened in March 2001. Over the last 10 years, Smit and his col- leagues have created a vibrant series of gardens. One biome, the largest, provides a tropical climate that supports ecosystems found in rainforests worldwide. The other recreates the Mediterranean and California's dry, temperate climate. Olive trees, wine grapes and yellow pop- pies line the wandering path through the biome. Other ecosystems are in the outdoor bio- me, including an American prairie, a pre- historic, flowerless garden and plants from the Cornish countryside and industry. From Day One, Smit and company in- sisted on a sustainable, green site that re- cycles, reuses, repurposes and redirects what anyone else would consider garbage. Because they didn't want to truck in soil, organizers created 82 tons of it onsite us- ing green waste and residual minerals, sands and clay. Lots of it. The site traps the ever-plentiful British rain and uses it to flush toilets and water gardens. Nothing goes to waste -- nothing. Ma- chine parts become art and soda bottles make sweatshirts. Plastic cups evolve into coasters, clocks and sundials. Eden is not just about plants and cli- mate; it's also about the people who inhab- it the natural world and how to solve the problems of human impact on ecosystems. The Eden Project is an educational char- ity that provides humankind with food to eat and food for thought through demon- stration garder/s and educational displays such as The Plant Takeaway that illus- trates what would happen if there were no plants. Rather than preaching, Eden encourages fair trade and sustainable business prac- tices. Eighty percent of the food served in Eden comes from local Cornish producers. Five principles inform purchasing deci- sions for Eden's gift shops: buy local; use natural materials and limit the use of inor- ganic plastics and metals; choose fair trade goods; promote products for greener, sus- tainable lives and offer recycled goods (those soda bottle sweatshirts are a good example). Eden does something to change its im- pact on the environment, however small or seemingly insignificant, and offer ideas about how individual people can change their lifestyles to use a smaller footprint. The project's end goal is to be waste neu- tral -- after reduction and reuse, the vol- ume of waste leaving the site is equal to or less than the volume of products made from recyclates it buys. Eden partners with Kew Royal Botanical Society and the Royal Society for the Pro- tection of Birds to provide youth with ca- reer and educational information about green technologies and with the Universi- ty of East London to offer a masters degree in environmental adaptation and sustain- able engineering. Eden promotes a better connection be- tween the outdoor world and children through its Changing the State of Play with Mud between Your Toes program. More and more children from the inner cities and rural areas alike are moving out- side to play. In addition, Eden trains educators and. caregivers in using the natural world as a natural classroom. Eden also operates garden programs for homeless people (Places of Change) and former prisoners (Growing for Life), teach- ing them to grow their own vegetables. The Places of Change Garden encour- aged new skill development using planti- ng, gardening, design, construction and carpentry during the garden's develop- ment, winning a silver medal at the presti- gious Chelsea Flower Show in 2009. At bleak and forbidding Dartmoor Prison, which looks like something out of a Bronte novel, the Eden Project's Growing for Life has become a community-based en- terprise that provides freshly grown food and life skills. Ten years on, the Eden Project has be- come a popular tourist attraction. Adult tickets are about $35 (depending on the current exchange rate). During those ten years, 12.8 million visi- tors have helped the Eden Project pump more than a billion pounds (roughly $1.6 billion) into Cornwall's economy. All on an investment of 140 million pounds (about $224 million) -- who said going green does- n't pay? What's more, Eden is thriving as the ulti- mate in demonstration gardens for the possi- bilities and challenges of modern-day living. Just goes to show: You can eat your principles. Where in the World? Members of the Quincy History Club take a break with their hometown newspaper during a two-week "whirl- wind tour" of Italy, Greece and^the Greek Isles. Behind them soar th columns of the Parthenon in Ath'ens. From left, in front: Katy Dyrr, Kate DiCarlo, Linda Beachman, Susan Donald, Cathy Rahmeyer, Lucas Donald and Michael Donald. From left, in back: Michele Redman, Zachary Vaughan, Daniel Vaughan, Steve Rahmeyer and Dayne Lewis. Not pictured: Kathryn Scully. For more information about the club, call Cathy Rahmeyer at 283-5644. 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 nanie, contact information and brief details about your photo. We may publish it as space permits. She's irritated by all the bickering, MY TURN ALIClA KNADLER Indian Valley Editor aknadler@plumasnews.com This constant bickering and whining via emails and complaints at staff meetings has got to stop. My message doesn't seem to be getting to the right person, or people, because every time a photo of students from one school runs in the newspaper, I receive the same message: Why did that school get front-page bining and not the prestigious award re- ceived by someone at the other? I am so tired of this, I am literally ready to go to one of these staff meetings and blow off some steam. Instead, I'll just let go right here and now so this madness will stop, hopefully, once and for all. Yes, we do make mistakes, as many readers will verify. Just last week there was a Combination of errors when one person created a new headline with a number that was about seven years off what it should have been -- we're sorry, Pastor Fred. But the instance of that now nefarious front-page ice-skating photo last year ver- sus the small award photo that ran inside was not a mistake. Shall I repeat that for anyone? People I will not name at the school knew full well I was leaving on vacation and needed to handle that story early, be- fore the presentation. They knew the scoop and refused to divulge it early. So be it. Then they sent me a cellphone photo of such poor quality, all we could do was make it a small black-and-white. That was definitely not front-page quality. The scant information sent by the people who should have cared the most about the recognition wasn't up to snuff either. It was a very special award, and the man who received it has always gone above and beyond his duties to enrich the education and even personal lives of his students. I've seen his legendary dedication on nu- merous occasions over the past almost 18 years -- I could have easily made some- thing up about him myself, but that is not the way I'm supposed to work. Other needed to step up and share the informa- tion I asked for in a timely manner. Instead it was left to an obviously biased administrator, who also disappointed a few of the more seasoned staff members. The few words he did share were bland, short and quite untimely. Three and four weeks after an event is rather old for news to be shared. Readers are already disgruntled after searching for an announcement of this caliber. What we need here is better communica- tion and a much better economy. Newbies here seem to find it difficult to grasp the intricacies of small town weekly operations and often expect from us the same things they used to get from their daily newspaper experiences. ff one waits until Monday to call in a news story about a meeting, good deed, complaint or some such thing, forget it. Usually only deaths and disasters can squeeze in by then. The presses are al- ready roiling. Do you know how your hometown news- paper is created each week, about the ef- forts we take to make sure we put out the quality product you readers expect? If not, I encourage you to call Feather Publishing at 283-0800 and ask if you can tag along with the schoolchildren one Tuesday soon, when we offer tours and educational encounters in each depart- ment. We also attend career days when invit- ed, and will give talks to students about our work. I am proud of the Way our newspaper family strives to serve you readers, and I abhor the persistent efforts of these few people who refuse to form more educated and honest opinions. OK, my steam is blown, and my kettle is not whistling anymore, which is good, because it's the week of the full moon.