KIDS HAD A good time at the Modoc Fair last weekend. Ava Bunyard, age one-and-a-half years and all dressed up in pink, was busy checking her cell phone messages from the saddle. Ava’s from Fallon, Nev. and is the daughter of Zach and Shelly Bunyard and granddaughter of John and Susie Bunyard of Cedarville. The Fair was greeted with good weather and large crowds for its four-day run. Fair Officials said the overall turnout of people was good and reported no real problems. Jean Bilodeaux photo.

Good turnout expected for Hospital District vote

The County expects a good percentage of voters to cast their ballots in the Last Frontier Healthcare District election. According to the elections office, a large number of ballots have already been voted.
The ballots, all mail-in, must be returned to the elections office by close of business August 31.
Save Our Hospital President Mike Mason said the choice is now up to the community. “This hospital saves a lot of lives each year,” said Mason. “People need to understand that it could close without the tax support. Some people may dispute that, but the numbers don’t lie. It’s projected to lose between $600,000 and $800,000 this year. It can’t remain open under those circumstances. And we, as a community, need this hospital to stay open. It’s up to us.”
There are two questions on the August 31 ballot: Measure Q asks whether a district should be formed and Measure R asks, “Shall a measure be adopted to assess a special tax of $195 per annum per landowner, regardless
of the size or number of parcels owned by each landowner, which will be
assessed only if the Last Frontier Healthcare District is formed and shall be
collected in the same manner as taxes on real property, commencing in the 2010-2011 fiscal year.”
The plan is to establish the hospital district, approve a per unique parcel property tax of $195, and also offer a hospital service voucher worth $150 to each taxpayer. Modoc property owners would only be taxed once, not on each parcel they own.

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Bear invades kitchen at Cal Pines

Hungry, uninvited guests have been showing up under the cloak of night in the California Pines hill units.  Some Hill Unit residents say they also appear to be arriving earlier this year.
Sightings of substantially-sized American black bears, not always black in color, began appearing around the Fourth of July and continue, sometimes seen at dusk. Recently, one of the bears loomed large, standing tall, staring from across the road for about a half hour watching homeowner Bill Ruff and his dog in Ruff’s driveway. Ruff made commotion, yelling at the bear while the dog barked, and the bear lumbered off down the hillside, disappearing. “I thought maybe bears were passing through, but the federal game people said they live around here,” said Ruff.
Using their noses to find food, bears can smell food a mile or more away and their hearing is better than humans. One night after a family dinner, Ruff had instructed his daughter not to put the honeydew melon rinds outside in the trash, as it would attract unwanted wildlife.
As he retired that night, he left the kitchen window over his sink, open for air, but the screen was closed. Around 1 a.m., the scent of the rinds was too much to resist. A large bear with a “big head” entered the open window, tearing off the screen, climbing over the sink and knocking the sink faucet on leaving water pooling and running off the counter onto the floor. The bear ransacked everything and anything, opening cabinets, refrigerator, drawers, tossing packaged food, glass jars, and everything onto the floor and off the counters and out of the cabinets, foraging for food.  Ruff’s medium sized dog was first on the scene and stood silent at the sight of the bear. The bear didn’t bother the dog or Ruff when he shined his flashlight on the bear. The light apparently scared the bear, which made a quick but clumsy exit, scarring woodwork with his claws.

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High Grade mines look promising

There’s gold in them thar hills, meaning the north Warner Mountains and some silver too. At least that’s what the Golden Predator Corp. mines whose headquarters are in Vancouver, BC, Canada are finding.
A year ago the company secured clearance from the USFS and obtained 164 lode claims held under lease/option agreements and three patented claims along with approximately 310 acres of fee land owned by the company. The Company has secured, in Modoc county, the largest consolidated land position of the former High Grade District ever held by one company, with gold-bearing mineralization outcropping over three miles of strike length and one mile of width.
Access to the project is by six miles of improved county and USFS gravel roads from New Pine City on US 395 in the Warner Mountain National Forest or from Fort Bidwell on the Cave and Lily Lakes road.
The Golden Predator Corp. has named the project Golden Ridge because gold and silver is being found in veins in at least three volcanic-hosted areas.

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