I don't usually respond to rumors and innuendo, but now that they're being repeated at government meetings, I must address them. First, I am certain there is likely drug use in the trailer park. You would be hard pressed to find any community that has not been affected by drug use. I just don't want you to forget that good people also live here, many of whom have nowhere else to go. Since I have lived here, fifteen years, we have had over 90% high school graduation rate. Loyalton High School's 2015 valedictorian lives here. A number of these young people have gone on to college. There are also a number of veterans living here who have served their country honorably.
"There's no owner" and "self-appointed ruler" are terms of convenience. This property is still owned by Steven Griggs. This man could be incapacitated, incarcerated, or institutionalized.
Nobody knows his current well being or whereabouts. But, his lack of communication with state and local officials does not warrant a total disregard of his ownership. I was hired as property manager by Mr. Griggs in July 2012 and Gregg Williams, court-appointed receiver, in December 2012. When the receivership ended, I was asked to continue collecting rent for Loyalton Mobile Home Park. I have not collected rent since the Permit to Operate was suspended. All rents due before January 2016 are still collectible. Storage rents owed are still collectible and the suspension has nothing to do with those fees. Mr. Griggs can legally regain control of this property at any time and he can hold people responsible for the destruction of his property and any entity that has failed to stop it can be held liable.
I am personally in possession of original signed rental agreements, signed by tenants and counter-signed by myself as manager. I have copies of checks and receipts from the City of Loyalton showing that the City has accepted payment from me. I have a copy of
a check from the county payable to me for a tenant's rent. I have signed documents from the sheriff's office relinquishing property back to me after evictions.
I believe this is enough documentation to prove that I am recognized as property manager when it's convenient.
"The county is making an effort to sell the place" is quite frankly an over exaggeration. This property has been up for auction four times is true. The part about an effort is not. The auctions start on a Friday morning and end on a Monday morning. That accounts for one business day per auction and a total of four business days in two years total. If you think that's an effort, your lucky I'm not signing your paycheck. Other counties have their properties open for bid for over a month at a time. To my knowledge no effort has been made to communicate with prospective buyer's working with the state who have an interest in the park.
I am being villified and made out to be a scoundrel for the actions I have taken to protect my home and the homes of people I care about. This is frustrating and confusing to me, as my intention all along has been solely to allow the people who live here to continue to do so. I do have legal representation along with a number of other residents. We do not wish to become embroiled in a full scale legal battle. We only wish to have security in our homes.
Ernest Rimmer
Jan,
Suppose you needed a financial advisor. You just inherited a huge amount of wealth, but like most of us “low rungers,†you haven't the knowledge of money matters that count in the millions.
There are several financial services in town, with successful reputations. There's the law offices of Clinton and Obama, or Trump, Inc.
Who would you be more likely to hand your 12 trillion dollars to?
O.K. so there's no chance you're going to inherit $12 trillion, so consider his: somebody is going to, come November.
The way that wealth is handled by that somebody will rise or lower America's “tide.†All our boats will rise.
We can get out of the mud. But be careful who you hand your fortune to. Make sure you can trust them.
It's hard to tell how we got so low in the water in the first place, 'cudda been Bush, but didn't we hand our fortunes over to the law offices of C and O, eight damn years ago. That money is gone.
Time for change? There's hope.
A Feets
Dear Editor,
Once upon a time, buying a new car may have sounded like a dream come true, but keeping your car through the “Cinderella Era†can mean more gold at the end of the rainbow.
The “Cinderella Era†is the period of time after the payoff when your car is still in great shape and needs only modest repairs. With proper care, the typical vehicle should deliver at least 200,000 miles of safe, dependable performance, and that's no fairy tale.
By simply allocating the equivalent of just one new car payment, motorists can cover an entire year's worth of basic maintenance and live happily ever after with their current vehicle. The most common maintenance procedures and repairs to keep a car operating safely and reliably while maintaining its long-term value involve checking the oil, filters and fluids, belts and hoses, brakes, tires and air conditioning. The council also recommends an annual tune-up and wheel alignment.
The end of the story is that a properly maintained vehicle is safer, more dependable, more fuel efficient, less polluting and more valuable. To help make it easy to follow a routine auto care program, the non-profit Car Care Council has free tools available at www.carcare.org, including the popular 80-page Car Care Guide and a customized service schedule.
Sincerely,
Rich White
Executive Director, Car Care Council
Have you ever thought of selling your home? Rodney and I never did, but as time went by and our health went down hill we knew we had to do something. I grew up in Loyalton, the youngest of five kids. My parents were Sherman and Alice Dawson. All of my sisters and one brother went to school in Loyalton and finished school here too.  A lot of the people that have been here forever can remember when Loyalton had a telephone office behind Vicki's Blue Moon Bakery. My oldest sister worked there. My next sister worked at the Bank of America which is no longer here. My other sister worked for Ed G. White & Sons and of course, Sherman, my brother, went to the Army then came home and started working in the mills and logging for Ed Hood.
Me, I worked at Sierra Valley District Hospital forever. Then in the 1980s I met Rodney Ferguson. We got married in 1995. We bought our home, thought we were there to stay. We were very happy in our home but as time went by it really got hard on us to stay there.
Our health was not so great any more. We would talk about selling the house but did nothing about it. Then
one day I told Rodney I thought we should sell it and move up to the Sierra Valley Apts. on Hill Street. He told me, “No!!†Then he thought about it for awhile and guess what. Our house sold within a month.
So here we are living in Sierra Valley Senior Apartments in Loyalton and we couldn't be happier. The apartments are a geat place to live. Rodney has Parkinsons and everybody watches out for him. We love sitting in our apartment and watching the wildlife and looking at all the birds. We are so lucky to have these apartments in Loyalton. They are very clean and well kept.
Betty Ferguson
Sierra Valley Apartments, Loyalton
I am disappointed with the Natural Resources, Planning & Building Inspection Committee's process & resulting ordinances relating to the cultivation of medical cannabis and redundant prohibition of commercial cannabis regardless of size. As if the only issue keeping the cultivators and the county from consensus is how much a patient needs for their illness or ailments is naive. What really needs to be discussed is the ideological divide between the board members, residents of Sierra County and the respectable patients and cultivators. Most patients & cultivators thought the success of the referendum against their draconian ordinance 1071 was a commentary on how we can and should solve the cannabis related issues in our county by sensibly regulating cannabis activities that have been taking place legally under state law for 2 decades. This approach would include creating a pathway for compliant growers to become registered cottage cultivators in accordance with new state guidelines and be held to best practices standards defined by the state and the Central Valley Water Board. However, most members of the board have made it clear that they have no intention to support growing cannabis with sensible & realistic regulations, further instigating more black market activity, degradation of the environment and disrespect of the proper processes. Their draft ordinance makes it clear that they think the problems can be solved by beating back growers and wielding a big punitive stick weather they be acting in good faith and practices or taking full advantage of our resources and community. This is where we have a lack of consensus. Sadly, Measure A was poorly written. Voters were asked if they want to regulate commercial cannabis activity without understanding the parameters, possible limitations and benefits available with local regulation. What were the 60% saying "no" to? I would like to believe that they were saying no to the fear of the unknown since the Yes-on-A campaign always argued that real solutions to real problems would come by way of regulation. I don't believe that the board has ever entertained this possibility. Their answer is to continue to try to make it so impossible for people to grow, even just enough for their own personal use, that they will leave the county, abandon properties, neglect property tax and add to the further decline to a state of poverty in this county. And to scoff at the 40% of the population who favor sensible regulation is an insult. The complex issues that a good governing body should delve into are what underlying beliefs each side has about how to solve problems. Sadly, our community is still divided, not because we could not find consensus on plant counts, but because we are not addressing the real issues.
Sarah Grew, Pike
As I am being driven criss cross the county to all of my medical appointments, I am inspired by the State of Jefferson campaign.
I truly feel that here in Sierra County we have a need to “Think Globally, Act Locallyâ€. The current Board of Supervisors is a much greater threat to the continued existence of the county than is the State of California.
I have spent the last year attending both regular Board of Supervisors meetings and also special meetings of the Natural Resources Committee, headed by Supervisors Lee Adams and Paul Roen. These Supervisors have spent the last two &1/2 years and multiple thousands of county dollars trying to fix a problem that never existed. The Natural Resources committee gets extra pay for each of their meetings and god knows what they've paid county council to craft revision after revision of the same unconstitutional BS. This political witch hunt/financial boondoggle was all to please the conscious of a few well connected individuals, in or near the Law Enforcement community. “Moral Mommy Brigade, Mtn Messenger Aug 2015â€
The documents obtained through the “Freedom of Information Act†showed that the Supervisors clearly voted against the wishes of their constituents. Supervisor Adams has said everything and anything to justify his position. He has said that it is a zoning issue, not a zoning issue and again a zoning issue but the current proposal is not zoning based.
The Supervisors are throwing good money after bad while our county is nearly a half million dollars in debt. Now there are squatters in the trailer park. I would like to ask Sheriff Stanley where I can obtain my Medical Meth Card because that seems to be no problem.
We don't need the State of Jefferson, we need the County of Jefferson. It is time to hold these Supes accountable. Stop bankrupting the county.
No Growth=Death.
People it is time to get involved. The current mindset seems to be the only opinions that matter are those receiving pensions. Young families, run for city council, it's not too late to recall your supervisors and start to have a say in your future. Do it for your kids.
Belle Starr Sandwith, Sierra Brooks,
County of Jefferson
I have announced my intention that I will "NOT" seek re-election to the Loyalton City Council this November 8, 2016.
Four years ago I stepped up to the plate and was elected as one of your five council representatives. With that decision in mind I would encourage anyone who desperately wants to improve our community to please sign up --- your ideas are more sorely needed than ever-before. Hopefully, you can help solve the serious financial problems our small city faces.
Lastly, I want to commend anyone who signs up for a position on the city council. it shows that you care about this place we call home.
Ernie Teague
