Dear Editor,

On the front page of the April 18, 2024 Mountain Messenger, a Caltrans District 3 press release titled “I-80 Construction Ramps Up for New Season” contained an insult to Sierra County folks as well as some residents along I-80.

As bold as the black ink in the release, “Yuba Gap” (an exit on I-80 a few miles west of the Highway 20 intersection) was called “Yuba Pass.”

Now we can excuse a poor field reporter in a KCRA “Snow Tracker” vehicle (who may have been lost on I-80) calling “Yuba Gap” “Yuba Pass.” But how can we excuse Caltrans District 3 for such a mistake? After all, they name those exits and post and maintain the signs that announce those exits. I can’t excuse such a flagrant insult from a state agency. I choose to “yell” at them.

But my stubbornness, and concern for what is right, raises a second question: Should I hold the Editorial Staff at the Messenger complacent in this insult? Perhaps. Those folks know the significance of “Yuba Pass” to all Sierra County Residents. After all, the Messenger always covers the annual E/W Chili Cookoff staged at Yuba Pass And the Messenger has carried a number of stories about the tree removal that seems to have been the demise of the Yuba Pass Campground.

Perhaps it is editorially correct to allow mistakes in a State Agency Press Releases. Perhaps Sourdough Jack will find a way to admonish the Messenger and its staff so that I won’t “yell” at them.

/s/

Rick Maddalena

Sierraville

(Prone to yell at windmills)