By Duncan A. Kennedy

CALPINE – In our April 28th edition, The Mountain Messenger detailed what is taking place in the current Plumas County electoral scene. This week, we are exploring the state of the races in Sierra and Nevada counties as the June 7th general primary draws closer.

Sierra County

Nine public offices are up for election this year, but only one is contested. The races are listed below, with incumbents depicted by an asterisk(*):

In the one contested race, with no incumbent due to the retirement of Sierra County stalwart Peter Huebner (Supervisor for District Two since 1999), two candidates have emerged to replace him.

Lila Heuer, age 75, is a long-time resident of Sierra City and the proprietor of a motel, My Sister’s Cottage, there. She also drives the Golden Rays Senior Citizens bus from Downieville to as far as Reno and Sacramento for her fellow seniors. She spoke at the Gold Nugget Republican Women’s April 20th candidate luncheon, an event The Mountain Messenger covered, and she has also expressed interest in speaking at future Sierra County Democrats events.

Heuer’s opponent is Gerald “Sandy” Sanders, a native of Georgia whose parents met in Sierra County and spent time in Sierra County every year during his youth; in 2021 he was able to fulfill a long-time dream by escaping here from the Bay Area. The Messenger interviewed him recently and will publish his story soon.

Continue reading “Local Elections, Part 2 – Sierra and Nevada Counties” →

By Carl J. Butz

Oddly enough, this past weekend both the Feather River College’s Golden Eagles baseball and softball teams played a best two-out-of-three series against the Consumnes River College (CRC) Hawks during the first round of the California Community College Athletics Association’s (CCCAA) Northern California Regional Championship tournament. FRC hosted the baseball games and CRC hosted the softball games.

On Friday afternoon in Quincy, FRC’s baseball team took an early lead by scoring five runs in the first two innings. Behind strong pitching by their starter, Dylan Cabral, the Golden Eagles held their 5-0 lead for seven innings. However, in the top of the eighth, the Hawks rallied and scored four runs to chase Cabral and reliever Dakota Todd off the mound before Jason Christianson came in to end the inning two strikeouts In the bottom of the inning, the Golden Eagles responded well by putting two more runs on the scoreboard. In the top of the ninth Christianson struck out the side, earning a save in the home team’s 7-4 victory.

On Saturday morning, with the host team batting first, the Golden Eagles again took an early lead by scoring six runs in the top of the second inning. This time, though, the Hawks countered quickly, hitting two home runs and scoring five runs. But then, for the next five and a half innings, the pitchers for the fielders for both teams played excellently and the score remained at 6-5 in favor of the Golden Eagles going into the bottom of the eighth. Unfortunately for FRC, in the bottom of the inning, the Hawks took advantage of errors and questioned walks to score three unearned runs. In the top of the ninth, the Hawks’ stopper, Nate Thompson, who struck out 11 during his six and two-thirds innings on the mound, had no problem closing out an 8-6 victory for CRC.

Continue reading “FRC’s Ball Teams Play in Northern California Regional Championships” →

By Duncan A. Kennedy

SIERRA CITY – Saturday, April 30th, saw Sacramento big-shot Wade Crowfoot, Director of California’s Natural Resource Agency, traveling to Sierra City for a special meet-and-greet hosted by Sierra Pines Resort. The event was set-up and moderated by District Two Supervisor candidate Sandy Sanders, a longtime friend of Crowfoot.

Crowfoot is a native of northern Michigan who moved to California in the mid-1990s. His formal education consists of a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1996) and a Master of Public Policy (London School of Economics, 2004). Crowfoot has previously worked as West Coast regional director for the Environmental Defense Fund and as a senior environmental advisor for Gavin Newsom during his tenure as Mayor of San Francisco. Wade met Sanders on a men’s soccer team around two decades ago; according to Sanders, “Crowfoot and [Rob] Bonta [currently California’s Attorney General] were our two best players.”

Crowfoot began with of primer on the history of fire in the West and how putting all fires out by “10 AM the next day” rule was the wrong approach, both from an ecological and fire safety standpoint. According to Crowfoot, “we now know the notion of healthy forests as untouched to be absolutely wrong,” a stance defying modern conservationist dogma but backed heavily by scientific research in fire ecology and Native American oral histories on land and fire use.

Continue reading “Sierra County Visited by California’s Natural Resources Agency Secretary, Wade Crowfoot” →