Scott Valley Bluegrass
Festival: Scottie the Bluegrass Bear is starting to tune up for the Third Annual Scott
Valley Bluegrass Festival on July 15 and 16. If you weren’t able to attend last year,
you missed a wonderful event. Local favorite, fiddler Annie Staninec and the Donner
Mountain Bluegrass Band will be returning. Headliners Alan Bibey and Blue Ridge, Frank Ray
and Cedar Hill will be featured, along with legend Don Maddox of the Maddox Brothers and
Rose. Order your tickets through http://www.scottvalleybluegrass.org/
Lend a Hand, Need a Hand: Leadership
Siskiyou County has teamed up with a respected website that matches volunteers with
organizations in need. March is the month when all Siskiyou County organizations in need
of help may begin to register on www.volunteermatch.org
In April, anyone who may be interested in volunteering their time or talents may begin to
register. The website will make referrals of eligible and interested volunteers to
registered local organizations in need. I am told that the Yreka Community Resource Center
(CRC) has already found a local volunteer through the site.
Family-based Relapse
Prevention: The Yreka CRC is also well into a pilot program for its new family–based
relapse prevention program for folks recovering from drug and alcohol abuse. Two groups of from 10-12 participants, including
the alcoholic/addict and one or more family members, will each test drive a separate
curriculum: the “Matrix;” or “Stop the Chaos.” Feedback on the pilot
program will help the CRC to perfect a final 12 week facilitated program that can be used
by local Resource Centers throughout the county. Feedback, so far, has been very positive.
Child Abuse: April is the
month to wear a blue ribbon to recognize Child Abuse Prevention Month. The Siskiyou County
CAP Council has planned a series of activities throughout the county to draw attention to
the problem of child abuse and to offer some suggestions for good parenting. (Contact your
local Family or Community Resource Center.)
Child abuse comes in many forms: physical injury; physical neglect;
sexual abuse; and emotional abuse. Many people fail to recognize that constant
criticizing, yelling, belittling and rejecting a child can cause serious damage and is a
form of child abuse. More than 3 million cases of child abuse and neglect were reported in
the United States last year and about 5 children die everyday. Child abuse is everybody’s
business.
Board Workshops: This
year, several Board of Supervisor’s workshops are being planned for the last Tuesdays
of the month, when we normally do not meet:
April 25, the workshop will take on the topic of National Forest
management. When the National Forests were reserved from settlement, Congress passed a law
allocating 25% of revenue from timber and other products to local county schools and
roads. This was in recognition that non-taxable Forests lands prevented communities from
growth that would allow them to support their infrastructure and services through property
taxation. After the Northwest Forest Plan and related environmental actions virtually shut
down a substantial portion of the Forest from harvest, Congress passed the Secure Rural School and Community
Self-Determination Act to replace the lost revenue to rural counties. This Act is
scheduled to sunset this year, returning to the old formula. Naturally, the County has
expressed its interest in seeing an increase in the sale of timber and other products from
the Forests. This public workshop will explore how that could be done.
May 23, a public workshop
will be offered on the impact of methamphetamine and other substances on the county. This
will include presentations from the District Attorney, Child Protective Services,
Behavioral Health, law enforcement and other departments.
May 30, a training session
for the Board of Supervisors will be provided on the emergency system and process. This
session will be opened to other interested local public officials. The session will
include familiarity with the Incident Command System (ICS,) Unified Command, the operation
of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC,) and how this all fits into the NIMS (National Incident Management System) and SEMS (Standardized Emergency Management System.)
The training will emphasize the role of the public official in this process.
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