The La Honda Voice

Rodgers quote on Clos de la Tech and La Honda

This excerpt is from the April 14th edition of the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/business/14solar.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=75ec5ae357544968&ex=1302667200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)  Note that most of the NY Times article discusses T.J. Rodgers' involvement with a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor, called SunPower, that manufactures solar cells, however I've extracted the last four paragraphs at the end of the article specifically related to La Honda. T.J. Rogers owns a vineyard in the hills above La Honda which he calls Clos de la Tech.

"But even as Mr. Rodgers has become enthusiastic about one of the environmental movement's favorite technologies, he remains his prickly self, independent of the cause.

He is in the process of building an ambitious vineyard he has named Clos de la Tech in La Honda, a small community in the hills west of Silicon Valley. Local residents have accused him of contaminating their water supply with the runoff from his grapes, which are planted on the steep hillsides overlooking town.

Both sides are now awaiting the results of an environmental study.

"They're hassling me about the water," Mr. Rodgers said. "The good thing about the environmental impact report is that you get professional environmentalists who are trained scientists, who get away from the little girl who gets up in one of the meetings and says she found three dead rabbits in her backyard and wants to know if it was caused by the vineyard."

On April 21, this correction was printed under the article, "An article in Business Day last Friday about T. J. Rodgers, a Silicon Valley computer chip entrepreneur whose company has put a focus on solar power and who is building a vineyard near La Honda, Calif., referred imprecisely to the views of some residents near the vineyard. They are concerned that proposed development of a particular hillside will allow herbicides and pesticides to run off into a watershed that supplies 85 percent of their drinking water. They did not accuse Mr. Rodgers of having already contaminated the water."

Bay Area hiking trails are all mucked up

Bay Area hiking trails are all mucked up (Not surprisingly after this past winter)
"…One of the Bay Area's best family bike trails took a big hit. The Old Haul Road, which connects Portola Redwoods State Park to Pescadero Creek County Park near La Honda in the Santa Cruz Mountains, was torpedoed by a 30-foot sinkhole. Repairs will cost $2 million to $3 million, according to David Hamilton, San Mateo County Director of Parks and Recreation…The Old Haul Road wipe-out at Pescadero Creek County Park is the worst of the reported landslides, blown-out culverts, downed trees and some 25 trails temporarily closed to biking and horseback riding to prevent erosion. At preserves operated by the Midpeninsula Open Space District, slides have closed access to Coal Creek Preserve (at Alpine Road), Soda Gulch Trail in Purisima Creek Redwoods, Mindego Trail at Russian Ridge, Ridge Trail at Skyline Ridge and the trail to Schilling Lake at Thornewood… Many trails are closed to biking until the surfaces dry out and become firm…" [from Tom Stienstra, SF Chronicle on Tuesday, April 11, 2006]

Flood Watch Warning until Wednesday

FLOOD WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO CA
315 AM PDT TUE APR 11 2006

...FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THIS MORNING THROUGH WEDNESDAY
MORNING FOR THE NORTH BAY AS WELL AS SAN MATEO COUNTY AND THE
SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS..
...

* A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF
  MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN TO NORTHERN AND CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. THIS
  SYSTEM HAS PLENTY OF MOISTURE ENTRAINED INTO IT. RAINFALL TOTALS
  UP TO 4 INCHES IN THE NORTH BAY AND UP TO 3 INCHES IN THE SANTA
  CRUZ MOUNTAINS AND THE COASTAL HILLS OF SAN MATEO COUNTY ARE
  EXPECTED BY LATE WEDNESDAY MORNING...WITH LOCALIZED HIGHER
  AMOUNTS POSSIBLE. PERIODS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL WILL
  CONTINUE INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING.

* WITH THE SOILS STILL VERY WET...THE POTENTIAL FOR TREES FALLING
  AND MUDSLIDES OR DEBRIS FLOWS IS VERY REAL...PARTICULARLY IN
  HILLY AREAS WHERE HEAVIER RAIN FALLS. ALSO...THE POTENTIAL FOR
  LOCALIZED FLOODING OF ROADWAYS AND SMALLER STREAMS WILL HAVE TO
  BE WATCHED.

A FLOOD WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING BASED ON
CURRENT FORECASTS.

YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE ALERT FOR POSSIBLE
FLOOD WARNINGS. THOSE LIVING IN AREAS PRONE TO FLOODING SHOULD BE
PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLOODING DEVELOP.

"http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/warnings.php?wfo=mtr&pil=XXXFFAMTR&zone=caz509&productType=Flood%20Watch"

April 1st Edition of The Voice

[Note: I deliberately delayed uploading this post in respect for the family of Jesse Cole, whose memorial post occured on 3/28. Otherwise this April Fools post would have come up right after it]

The April 1 edition of the La Honda Voice is located at
http://www.lahonda.com/voice/_TheLaHondaVoice_1Apr06.pdf

Articles include:
La Honda declared a Rain Forest
Wineries Proposal to Flatten County - Endangered Animals Discovered
County Converts Highway 84 into Amusement Park Ride
La Honda has new Zip Code
Skyline Ski Slopes
Election Committee Approves Gun Duels
Resident Sues God for Storm Damage
New Earthquake Fault in La Honda
Banana Slugs Smarter Than People

I also made hard copies of the articles listed below and put them in the Post Office.

P.S. You may also want to see the April 1 edition from last year. Go to http://www.lahonda.com/voice/_TheLaHondaVoice1Apr05.pdf

More Rain and Landslides - County Declares State of Emergency

Rainy month likely to set record - from Inside bay Area ( http://www.insidebayarea.com/search//ci_3654340 )
"...This month is likely to be a record-breaker for Bay Area rainy days. San Francisco recorded its 23rd day of rain so far in March on Wednesday, tying a record that goes back to 1904, according to the National Weather Service. And it's not over, according to weather service forecaster Brook Bingaman. "We are expecting another frontal system on Friday, so there's a good chance we could break that record," she said, adding that the total amount of rain this month, 8.32 inches, also could surpass the El Nio level of 9.83 inches set in 1983...The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services is monitoring the county's landslide-prone areas, especially in places like La Honda. Officials warn that the saturated hillsides could move and that large trees could fall on power lines. "

Drenched: Concern grows as rainstorms continue to saturate soil -from SJMB, By Gary Richards and Lisa M. Krieger
(http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/14258556.htm)
"...In the San Mateo County community of La Honda, the town's 500-foot landslide has crept an additional 32 feet since December, breaking a road, rupturing a water main and threatening homes and part of the town's water supply, said Janet Clark, president of the Cuesta-La Honda Guild... "The slide has been moving all winter long, more or less consistently," said Ray Wells, a USGS geologist who lives in La Honda..."

Prepared for April showers? By Dana Yates (http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=56816)
"Officials continue to keep a close eye on an ongoing landslides in opposite ends of the county. A landslide on Highway 84 in La Honda has been worrying residents and troubling motorists for close to a year. The San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services is monitoring it, said OES Supervisor Bill O’Callahan."

Devil's slide and Shamrock Ranch slip-out are both deteriorating by Barry Parr, Coastsider (http://coastsider.com/comments/1291_0_1_0_C/)
"Wednesday afternoon, Coastsider visited the Devil's Slide just 48 hours after our first visit on Monday. We were surprised by the amount of deterioration both at the Slide itself and at the slip-out at Shamrock Ranch. It was clear that in just two days the situation had become significantly worse. The principal cracks in the pavement at the Slide were wider, the differences in the elevation between each side of the crack had increased from a couple of inches to six inches, the number of smaller cracks in the pavement had increased, and the whole section of highway at the Slide had become a noticeable dip in the road. Meanwhile, the slip-out at Shamrock Ranch had gone from being a dip to a hole." (See http://coastsider.com for the best coverage and photos of the Devil's Slide area)

County Declares Emergency by Dana Yates (http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=56989)
"San Mateo County set a record yesterday by declaring its fourth state of emergency to help coastside businesses set to suffer from the indefinite closure of Highway 1 at Devil’s Slide. If the declaration is approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, businesses on the coast could qualify for small business loans to keep them afloat while Caltrans is attempting to repair three problems at the dangerous section of Highway 1. The county has already declared states of emergencies for the broken levee in East Palo Alto, an ongoing mudslide in La Honda and the New Year’s storms that caused about $20 million in damage, said Lt. John Quinlan of the San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services."

Man fights off Machete Attack in La Honda

Thanks to Carl Bralts for breaking the story on Wednesday morning about why a helicopter was circling over La Honda (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cuesta-ciac/message/353) and Tom Lichtenberg for posting a link to the story from The Examiner on the La Honda message board the following day (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaHonda/message/11117).

Below is excerpted from http://www.examiner.com/Local-a69782~Machete_attack_fended_off_with_knife.html from Kate Williamson, The Examiner
"A man fought off a machete-armed assailant Wednesday afternoon in La Honda, sending both to the hospital, police said. The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office arrested Samuel Bakalian, 19, of Wyoming, for attempted murder...At around 10:10 a.m., Williams said, "the caretaker at the Creekside [Apartments] had told him that he needed to leave; as he turned and walked away, Samuel hit him over the head with a machete." The caretaker turned and struck out at his attacker with a small knife he was carrying, and a knife fight ensued, Williams said. Neither has life-threatening injuries, though Bakalian was injured in the face and head and was airlifted to a hospital to receive medical care...Bakalian is in custody at the hospital and will be brought to court when his injuries have been attended to...".