Like many political junkies, I vaguely followed the alleged presidential debate recently.

A Somewhat Reliable History of the Great Yuba Pass Chili Cook-offFrom The Mountain Messenger’s coverage of the inaugural Great Yuba Pass Chili Cook-off in 1994: At left, holding the first place trophy for the Great Yuba Pass Chili Cook-Off, Sierraville’s Jim Jansen. At right, wearing what didn’t go into the pot, Sierraville’s Wes Fowler proudly displays the second place award.We are given to believe that on social media, the “Honourable” Sheriff Mikey Fisher has claimed to have won this year’s Great Yuba Pass Chili Cook-off. There is even a picture circulating accompanying that claim.There’s always the one guy who didn’t get the memo. The festivity had been postponed to Saturday, March 9.Or perhaps we are being too charitable. Far be it from us to accuse Sierra County’s governing clique of being corrupt. But not that far. It may be the threat of mass incarceration discouraged participation. It may be the Sheriff’s closin

YUBA PASS — There was a time when the mere threat of a blizzard would have had no effect on the Great Yuba Pass Cook-off. That time was 30 years ago.We are dismayed to inform the public the mere threat of a few snowflakes has resulted in the Premier Social event of the year being postponed until Saturday, March 9.The aging process is almost certainly the cause of this unprecedented catastrophe, but several more palatable excuses are being offered: public safety, CalTrans’ convenience, highway closures, impending mass incarceration by the Sheriff’s Office, and the wrath of God have all been trotted out to explain the weakness of mortal ambition. In fact, all of those aforementioned powers have been interviewed and consulted. Only several of them have been true.

Having been raised a German Baptist, I had earned a PhD in Hypocrisy before I finished High School. That education served me well, both as an observer and practitioner.It has long been said that if you scratch a cynic, you’ll find an idealist. I am not sure this is accurate. In my own case, I suspect if you scratch this cynic, you’ll find a judgmental backslidden Baptist. Still, my own cynicism seems insufficiently developed to keep up with the Republican Party. And there is a fine line between being sinfully judgmental and simply stating the obvious facts.One needn’t be much of a student of history to notice the cult that has become the Republican Party is simply incapable of governing. That party did not bother to have a platform, plan or set of goals: the party merely agreed to whatever Donald “I alone can…” Trump wants on the spur of that moment. This is not how our republic was designed.No one disputes Donald Trump is rude and crude; what we ge

YUBA PASS — 31 years ago last fall, Loyalton hosted the first Timberfest, a celebration of all things logging, and a desperate attempt to keep that town’s sawmill alive. Incorporated into that festivity were logging contests, a parade of logging trucks, and a rib cook-off.Things didn’t work out well for the logging industry. Although “Red” Emerson ended up owning all of Southern Pacific’s land and most if not all the mills in the northern State, he found no profit in the Loyalton mill competing with his mill in Quincy. In ugly fits and starts, Red closed the Loyalton mill.The rib cook-off, however, had a more productive history. The rib cooks, having had a wonderful time at Timberfest decided the tradition should carry on. It was agreed that chili should be concocted at Yuba Pass in the dead of winter. We were relatively young: potable drugs may have been involved. It seemed like a good idea at the time.It became too much of a nuisance to set the dat

DOWNIEVILLE — Much to the consternation of Sierra County’s students, it appears that the County’s schools will remain open. That fact was to be discerned from the Plumas Sierra Joint Unified School District’s Board meeting this past Tuesday evening in Downieville.There were other discernments to be perceived also, as well as observing the terminally predictable behavior of those charged with overseeing our school system.Those worthies share at least one trait of the students: they loathe homework.The disinterested observer might hope board members had read the background information offered by the administration. That would streamline the meetings by relieving administrators of the duty to reiterate what they had already put on paper. It is not inconceivable that meetings would take less than the three hours Tuesday’s confab consumed.We have a theory why this hope will not likely be realized. It seems board members are given fairly generous healthcare bene