Last week I shared remembrances with you about former Sheriff Tony Craver who recently passed away. When Sheriff of Mendocino County, we talked about everything and anything we found interesting. In my book, if somebody can talk intelligently and make you laugh at the same time, I listen to them.
Back in the late 1990s-early 2000s, we joined forces fighting the Supervisors over their short-sighted support of the Mental Health Department's idiotic demand to close the Psychiatric Health Facility. Craver said that police frequently encounter individuals who are not lawbreakers, but merely folks who are mentally ill. "These people we pick up on a 5150 are not criminals," Craver said. "They're just mentally ill individuals who need professional help."
Craver told me that when he was assigned to the Coast Patrol (1980s-90s) , "there was this guy who whenever we had a full moon he would go into this pasture just off Highway 1 and howl at the moon. He thought he was a wolf. He'd go into that pasture just as naked as the day he was born. He'd be down on all fours, howling and snarling, but he never bothered anybody, didn't cause any trouble.
So, if there was a full moon and I was on duty, I'd stop by that pasture and check on him, just to make sure everything was ok and he didn't need any help. One night I got out of my rig and walked up to the fence and called out to him, 'Hey Mr. Wolf, how you doing, everything all right?' He was probably about 20 yards away still howling at the moon. He turns towards me, keep in mind he's naked, and hot-foots it over to me on all fours. He stops right by the fence where I am, lifts his hind leg and pisses on the ground, and then scampers away on all fours again, I just laughed and told him good night. Now could I have 5150'd him. Sure, but why do that? He was no harm to himself or others, hell there was never anybody around at that time of night. So, anyway you just have to use a little bit of horse sense when you're dealing with people who may be a little mentally off. You never want to over-react, that's how you can lose control of the situation and it's escalated to a point that's not called for."
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Laytonville Grocery Store To Re-Open
Here's a few quick updates regarding the Laytonville Long Valley Market:
• In the past few weeks, in my role as chair of our Town Council, I've had several discussions and meetings with the new owner of the former Geiger's Long Valley Market.
• Haji Alam is CEO of he Faiazan Corporation, the company that purchased Geiger's Market from Michael Braught last August.
• The name of the store has been legally changed from "Geiger's Long Valley Market" to "Laytonville Long Valley Market."
• On May 29th, a Superior Court judge ruled that Braught had violated certain terms and conditions of the original purchase agreement by not making required payments to Faizan.
• The judge ordered Braught to turn over the keys to the store so that Alam could begin the re-opening process.
• According to Alam, numerous items, equipment, and assets that were part of the purchase agreement were missing and/or unaccounted for.
• Alam, said on my radio show last Saturday that the store should be re-opened by June 24th.
• He also said that the Market will not carry hardware and tool items as was the case with Geiger's Market. Instead, the new Market, in addition to operating a traditional grocery store and meat market, will offer camping, picnicking, hunting and fishing items. He explained it didn't make any sense to him to compete with Laytonville's existing Building Supply and Nursery operated by Lurane Dalton, selling hardware and tool items.
• I've been able to verify that most, if not all, former Market employees have been contacted regarding job offers to return to work.
• Alam also said he plans to apply for a County permit to open and operate a gas station on the Market's property. He already owns the former Strider Real Estate property, located next door (immediately to the south) of the Market. He plans to demolish the old real estate building and expand the Market's parking lot. The gas station will be sited on the northwest corner of the parking lot. Of course, this proposed project will have to go through the County's Planning and Building process for final approvals.
• Another interesting development is that several weeks ago, Braught put his Geiger's Hopland Market up for sale at $3.4 million.
• Also at the same time, Braught put his Montana ranch up for sale; he's asking $6.6 million.
While no on knows for sure what Braught may be up to with these attempted sell-offs, it appears he may have a cash flow problem
Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer's editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program "This and That" every Saturday at noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org
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