Last week, our board of supervisors recognized that some old guy retired from County employment. That guy had become stuck in a rut, having worked the same dreary job for 50 years, without a promotion for 42. Still, he’d been a part of the labor force for nearly 30 percent of the County’s existence. It is likely that old guy was our most accomplished politician since Tirey Ford. (You can look him up.)

It is not easy being the Planning Director in a county where people are fiercely protective of property rights, as in “it’s my land and I can do whatever I want with it.” Beals’ job was to say “no you can’t,” which often meant he was not the most favorite of County employees. He was routinely the object of ambitious, or greedy, reformation politicians who ran against Beals rather than the opposition on the ballot. In the end, he’d outlasted all them bastards.

“You know, 40 miles south of Reno is the Carson Valley, once a huge agricultural producer. Now it is a suburb, houses as far as the eye can see. About that same distance from Reno is the Sierra Valley, still a huge agricultural producer,” noted former Supervisor Dave Goicoechea. Of course Goicoechea, a rancher, believes any land use other than agriculture is an affront to the food chain, and thus life itself.

If “conserve” means more than “hate” in our modern lexicon, Tim Beals was one of the most conservative people in northern California. “If you like the way Sierra County looks, you owe that to Tim Beals,” Supervisor Lee Adams agreed.

Following the formal laudatory, well over 200 people showed up to a dinner marking Beals’ retirement. We’ll not live long enough to learn how many were celebrating, and how many were sorrowful.

Ed “Change” Wurster returned from the Chosin Reservoir with a profound respect for the Chinese communists and a really bad attitude toward American capitalism. Before his cremains were interred in the Relief Hill cemetery, he was fond of declaring that “You shouldn’t own what you can’t keep your eye on.” For years all his property could be packed on two donkeys.

For all these many years, we’ve been aware of how little the Forest Service has kept its eyes on. As that agency moved out of Downieville, then Jackass Flat, retreating to Nevada City to be eligible for an urban housing bonus, Sierra County which contains a huge chunk of the Tahoe National Forest, returns to oblivion. It is, evidently, just too much trouble to pay much attention.

Without notifying the County, the Forest Service closed Sand Pond, near Sardine Lake, to the public. Sand Pond joins the myriad of campgrounds that remain closed, now for years, because of “hazard trees.”

“You would think an agency called the “Forest Service” would know how to handle trees,” Supervisor Lee Adams noted. “It’s like they just noticed there were problem trees. So what have they been doing the last three years?”

Evidently, nothing. The dump station at Loganville, installed with Sierra County money, is closed. Loganville itself is closed, as are the Ramshorn, Chapman Creek, Sierra and Yuba Pass campgrounds. It is hard to see these properties from a Nevada City office.

“There is no one working any campground. You can’t blame the snow. This is the only season we have to make money,” Supervisor Lila Heuer reminded Forest Service personnel attending the supes’ meeting.

As the supervisors ponder having our national political representatives join the County in complaining of the dismissiveness of the Forest Service’s attitude toward Sierra County, one small miracle did occur. A Hotshot crew went up, and in one afternoon dropped the appropriate trees. And reopened Sand Pond.

It is not rocket science, beyond getting somebody in the agency to go to work.

Of interest, the supes’ meeting of last week was held on the 172nd anniversary of the killing of Fred Cannon by the bloodthirsty Mexican murderess known to history as Juanita.

If all goes well, as has been known to happen, Sierra County will move toward the 21st century and modern policing. Sheriff Mike Fisher has two deputy candidates beginning the police academy. Probation Chief Chuck Henson also has a deputy candidate beginning formal education.

The state of California has changed some rules that will be felt throughout the whole criminal justice system. When we, the citizenry, are not talking like revenge crazed tyrants, we talk a pretty good line about the presumption of innocence and the desirability of rehabilitation. Sierra County’s record in the rehabilitation business is already pretty impressive.

Out in the real world, using the better angels of our nature has proven to be more effective, and cheaper. Very often, sending pistol-packing police officers to deal with an upset or crazy person is counterproductive. The state is not defunding the police: it is insisting departments hire more psychological expertise for crisis response teams.

How Sierra County will work this out is a work in progress, but will certainly involve the courts, sheriff, probation and behavioral health.