http://apps.theunion.com/utils/blogs/index.php?id=Blog:63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91e&plckBlogPage=Blog&sid=sitelife.theunion.com All the quirks and backroom knowledge on this gold rush town. If you would like to contribute to this blog, e-mail Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller at dmoller@theunion.com.

]]> Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:30:00 GMT http://apps.theunion.com/utils/blogs/index.php?id=Blog:63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91e&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91ePost%3aee550e83-30f9-4c7d-8e02-6f956a67f642&sid=sitelife.theunion.com Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:30:00 GMT Wrong. As soon as I brought it in, they showed a feature on Jacko's last appearance at the Super Bowl. With that, I yelled at the TV, and opened a book.
]]> http://apps.theunion.com/utils/blogs/index.php?id=Blog:63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91e&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91ePost%3aee550e83-30f9-4c7d-8e02-6f956a67f642&sid=sitelife.theunion.com http://apps.theunion.com/utils/blogs/index.php?id=Blog:63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91e&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91ePost%3ae36b3d05-d2e6-4a03-885c-7e9b60c4cb6e&sid=sitelife.theunion.com Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:18:00 GMT For some reason I decided to walk out Bennett Street earlier this week, which proved a great mistake and reminded my why I am not an avid outdoorsman, camping and hunting type.
As I walked along Bennett, I quickly ran out of shoulder and had to pop on and off the pavement as cars flew by me. About the fourth time after I stepped off I noticed a strange feeling on my neck.
I reached up and pulled a red ant off and then realized they were all over me, into my hair, up into my ballcap, down my shirt and biting like mad. I imagine some motorists got a laugh when they saw me on the side of the road whipping my shirt off and around my head like I'd just won the Lottery or something, jumping up and down, cursing and pouring water all over myself in a wild attempt to rid myself of the pesky beasts.
When I interviewed Doug Plumley about his weed and bug eradication business this week, he told me I must have stepped on a whole nest of red ants, who attack when it happens.
I think I won't venture out Bennett Street again, preferring to walk trails elsewhere.
I can also sympathize with President Obama, who was criticized by the PETA people this week for killing a fly in the Oval Office. If I'd had a grenade, it would have gone off in that ant nest.
]]> http://apps.theunion.com/utils/blogs/index.php?id=Blog:63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91e&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91ePost%3ae36b3d05-d2e6-4a03-885c-7e9b60c4cb6e&sid=sitelife.theunion.com http://apps.theunion.com/utils/blogs/index.php?id=Blog:63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91e&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91ePost%3a90051ffc-a689-45d2-9d32-a1d9ed3f61c7&sid=sitelife.theunion.com Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:18:00 GMT For some reason I decided to walk out Bennett Street earlier this week, which proved a great mistake and reminded my why I am not an avid outdoorsman, camping and hunting type.
As I walked along Bennett, I quickly ran out of shoulder and had to pop on and off the pavement as cars flew by me. About the fourth time after I stepped off I noticed a strange feeling on my neck.
I reached up and pulled a red ant off and then realized they were all over me, into my hair, up into my ballcap, down my shirt and biting like mad. I imagine some motorists got a laugh when they saw me on the side of the road whipping my shirt off and around my head like I'd just won the Lottery or something, jumping up and down, cursing and pouring water all over myself in a wild attempt to rid myself of the pesky beasts.
When I interviewed Doug Plumley about his weed and bug eradication business this week, he told me I must have stepped on a whole nest of red ants, who attack when it happens.
I think I won't venture out Bennett Street again, preferring to walk trails elsewhere.
I can also sympathize with President Obama, who was criticized by the PETA people this week for killing a fly in the Oval Office. If I'd had a grenade, it would have gone off in that ant nest.
]]> http://apps.theunion.com/utils/blogs/index.php?id=Blog:63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91e&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91ePost%3a90051ffc-a689-45d2-9d32-a1d9ed3f61c7&sid=sitelife.theunion.com http://apps.theunion.com/utils/blogs/index.php?id=Blog:63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91e&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91ePost%3a4e048c86-b7d0-4d87-b3d6-58393231b00b&sid=sitelife.theunion.com Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:58:00 GMT
Both towns and the county have numerous boards and committees that deal with growth and it can be an exhausting, if not excruciating process for those not used to it. The rules and regulations are voluminous, the result of many years of meetings and concerns from residents.

Those rules and regulations are downright mind-boggling to most and the average Joe who wades into them to start a businesss or build something is often shocked that they don't make what most people call, "common sense."

If you're looking for common sense in criminal law or planning regulations, you're in the wrong place because things are driven on a need to keep a standard, now what nine out of 10 people think at any given moment, or street smarts.

For instance, some people think a person's full criminal past, including their juvenile record, should be evidence in every case the person is ever tried in. The law for the most part says people should be treated only for the crime at hand, and that evidence is used, not what they did in the past.

Some people call that fair, while others call it plain stupid and a lack of common sense.

Planning cities got complicated through the decades as well. The local cities first built initially in downtowns with housing above the storefronts and homes clustered to the central retail and business activity.

Later, homes and stores were split into different areas, creating sprawl and pollution. Now Grass Valley's philosophy is a return to to basics with projects bringing homes together with retail and commercials uses again. To do that, a lot of development rules needed to be rewritten and were two years ago.

So when tattoo parlor owner Zoey Hunter came forward to keep her shop in Grass Valley this week and was told she can't unless the new owner of her building says OK, or if she moves to certain areas of town specifically set aside for it, she wondered why. Why can't I move next into any commercial building in town if I'm not doing anything illegal?, she wondered.

The answer is zoning, which places like businesses together. That stops butcher shops from being next door to veterinarians, and drive-through fast-food restaurants out of historic downtowns. It would push Hunter's shop to areas with offices and auto detailing shops, along with fortune tellers and pawn shops, which she resents.

It also causes people like Hunter who have built strong businesses we need and who contribute to local charities and causes to climb their walls. To her, city zoning regulations look like a detriment to business. To others it represents order.

Rules and regulations are needed in this world but as time goes on, they start to stack up and often contradict or fail to make sense.

If you want to have common sense in your city's rules and regulations, you will have to attend countless meetings, fight for everything you believe in against those who don't. You must also prepare for those who don't deal with planning every day to not fully understand it and question you strongly one day for your actions.

So you will end up planning continuously if you don't want the future to bowl you over and you will for the most part keep your town's style, but you won't necessarily be making sense to everybody on the block.



]]> http://apps.theunion.com/utils/blogs/index.php?id=Blog:63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91e&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91ePost%3a4e048c86-b7d0-4d87-b3d6-58393231b00b&sid=sitelife.theunion.com http://apps.theunion.com/utils/blogs/index.php?id=Blog:63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91e&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91ePost%3ae330a65d-8bc2-47a2-aa46-3bbade8944ac&sid=sitelife.theunion.com Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:03:00 GMT When Sue and I were growing up in the Midwest, she was the captain of the cheerleaders, the homecoming queen, utterly gorgeous and not stuck up about it one bit. Sue's father was a judge and the family was well-respected.
During high school in the late 1960s, Sue's parents were very strict and rarely allowed her to go out, unless it was on a date or to cheer at a ball game. During that time most of the people I knew experimented with drugs but put them down after the hippie movement petered out and maturity settled in with families and jobs.
It turns out Sue didn't put the drugs down for a long time. She got into hard drugs during college when a boyfriend introduced her to needles and was a full-fledged junkie in the late 1970 and early 1980s, bouncing from job to job and without a family.
It got so bad for Sue that she spent two stints in prison for sales of heroin. Fortunately the second time she got out, she met two old high school friends who by then were in the drug recovery business. Sue ended up marrying one of them and the other is now CEO of his drug and alcohol rehabilitation firm.
I got to talk to all three of them on the phone from a party recently and it was interesting to say the least. Sue is now strong in the drug recovery business herself and on several state commission to battle addiction.
Sue is proud of her turnaround, but she wonders what might have been if she hadn't allowed the first guy to put a needle in her arm. As I told her, she should feel lucky. Most people involved in drugs to the depths Sue did don't just end up busted and in prison. They end up dead. Long live Sue.]]> http://apps.theunion.com/utils/blogs/index.php?id=Blog:63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91e&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a63fcbcad-d415-436c-b7cf-583bc368b91ePost%3ae330a65d-8bc2-47a2-aa46-3bbade8944ac&sid=sitelife.theunion.com