The Mountain Messenger

No Delays for Community Center Remodel

IMG_3001.jpgBilly Epps and Lee Brown on the Community Center construction site

DOWNIEVILLE — Despite sub-optimal weather in the last few weeks, the Downieville Community Center Remodel Project is meeting its optimistic scheduling targets. According to Public Works Director Bryan Davey, demolition is already being finished, with the reconstruction phase to begin shortly. No issues have been found during the demolition phase that would cause a delay or change in project scope. An update is expected to be presented at the next Board of Supervisors meeting on March 19th in Loyalton.

2024 Yuba Pass Chili Cook-off: Jenny Varn Wins Again?

IMG_2485.jpgParticipants set up chili stations and amenities

YUBA PASS — The 30th anniversary Great Yuba Pass Chili Cook-off occurred last Saturday after being postponed a week due to weather. Despite the date change, attendance and participation were remarkably high. A total of 16 teams brought homemade chili to be judged by hundreds of visitors, including a large group of snowmobilers there to enjoy the favorable weather and recent snow.

varnWithTrophy.jpgJenny Varn commandeers the 1st place trophy

Although Jenny Varn, a five-time winner, did not bring chili to the Pass this year, she managed to get her hands on the winner’s trophy and claimed the victory for herself. Instead of acquiescing, however, the many judges picked a different winner.

IMG_2965.jpgAndy White raises his winning trophy

Another many-time champion, Andy White, reigned supreme this year with his “Lizard Country” chili. White first won over the judges in 1996 with his “Head First” chili and has now claimed victory five times. After passing Rick Simi’s three titl...

Plumas County Election Results

PLUMAS COUNTY—After publishing Sierra County’s election results, we received a request to cover Plumas County’s results. The Plumas County website notes that as of March 11th, 1,540 ballots were still to be counted. Additionally, the county initially failed to include local Sales Tax Measure A on Portola ballots and sent supplemental ballots to Portola voters, which may affect the current totals for that race.

The following tallies have not been updated since 8:25 p.m. on March 5th. The remaining ballots will be counted on Thursday, March 14th, and results are expected to be posted that afternoon.

Update: The following results have been updated as of 11:37 a.m. on 3/15. Approximately 250 votes remain to be counted.

Local Races

Superior Court Judge, Department 1

William Abramson has secured just 56 more votes than W. Wayne Yates, Jr., with 2,976 to Yates’ 2,920. The race is still too close to call.

County Supervisor District 1 — Dwight Ceresola - 100%

Ceresola is running unopposed and has secu...

Local Labor Markets After COVID

DOWNIEVILLE — We are now “celebrating” the fourth anniversary of the COVID outbreak, a time associated with a drastic reduction in the nation’s labor force and the number of people employed. Significant increases in unemployment and the percentage of the labor force without work were also recorded in 2020.

As the table below shows, none of our local labor markets were exceptions to these economic experiences. Between December 2019 and December 2020, the counties of Sierra, Plumas, and Nevada all saw consequential drops in the number of people working or even looking for work. These areas noted significantly higher unemployment rates, as well, even though labor force participation fell.

So, how do the numbers developed by the Employment Development Department’s Labor Market Information division for 2020-2023 show these labor markets have faired over the ensuing years?

In Sierra County, the size of the labor force and the number of people employed remain below the levels seen in the year be...

Another First, Gold Diggers Triumph at Trivia

DOWNIEVILLE — There were no ties to resolve at Boomtown Lounge’s Trivia competition last Thursday, 3/7. Instead, a new entrant in this year's series, the Gold Diggers, a team hailing mostly from Camptonville, held the lead throughout the game and ultimately ran away with the contest by answering 80 percent of the questions correctly. As a result, their final score was 70 points ahead of the runner-up and 100 points higher than the one posted by the previous week's winner.

As for the Yuba Dawgs, they overcame a poor Round 2 score primarily by acing — going 5 for 5 — in Round 4 to a gain a second-place finish.

Pangpeople, another new entrant, also aced Round 4, scrambling their way up from trailing everyone in Round 2 and then matching the leaders scores through the rest of the game to earn the third-place prize (a $5 Cold Rush gift certificate).

Meanwhile, The Evil Twins needed just one more correct answer in the last two rounds to force a tie with the Pangpeople. Alas, the Twins came up s...