By Jeremy Couso
SusanvilleStuff Publisher
Happy Friday! Welcome to the 2023rd year of the Common Era and the twenty-third year of the third millennium! It’s a wet, stormy beginning to the year and a lot of people around here are doing their best to hide inside this week.
Even with school back in session, town has been uncharacteristically quiet, and a lot of people are still recovering from the holidays. And storm after storm doesn’t help the prevailing mood either…
Gray, gloomy and wet. This is the wettest beginning to a winter I remember since back in 2005. Which is neat, and I’m glad we are getting the much-needed water, but it is gloomy, nonetheless.
Dr. Bateson, Susanville’s resident meteorological expert measured a whopping 7.84 inches of water falling from the sky in the month of December, which is 208% of average!
According to Bateson that brings us to 9.54” of precipitation for the year, which is more than 120% of our yearly average and there are still storms backed up out in the pacific with lots of moisture headed our way.
And, oh boy, is the river up in town. The rest of winter is going to be interesting.
Jacksons Service Center
It should be noted, as a point of Susanville historical interest, that Jackson’s Service Center has sold.
When I got my license and started driving back in 1986, I can remember going to Jackson’s and filling up for eighty-six cents a gallon. In my ‘54 Ford pickup you could cruise Main Street for an entire night on a handful of change.
Travis and Terry and their families are fixtures in this town, and despite the sale and retirement, their legacy will continue. According to the Jacksons, the service center’s new owners will soon take over and plan to keep the name.
Thankfully, Al, who knows our Mazda better than I do, and his crew, will also be staying on after the sale.
There are few things more satisfying to me than seeing good people run a nice local business for 50 years before being able to retire and pass along their legacy. Congratulations to Terry and Travis for half a century as one of Susanville’s truly outstanding businesses.
Impress Your Friends with Your Geologic Knowledge
The Honey Lake Valley, while still technically a valley, is more accurately described by the geological term Graben, which is an “elongated block of the earth’s crust lying between two faults and displaced downward relative to the blocks on either side, as in a rift valley.”
Here in our valley, we are sandwiched between the Modoc Plateau and the Sierra Nevada block which are slowly moving apart. Which means the Honey Lake Valley is continuously getting a tiny bit wider, and the valley floor is always sinking a little.
I just found this out and thought you would like to know.
Sheriff Dean Growdon
As I grow older, I find a very singular thing happening that I never even considered in my younger days – after a lifetime of depending on the advice and wisdom and support of people older than me, I find myself now surrounded by talented, accomplished, and solid individuals who are steadily getting younger than I.
It seems weird, and I’m not sure anybody ever prepared me for that.
One of those youngsters is Sheriff Dean Growdon. Now, I grew up in the era of Ron Jarrell and, don’t get me wrong, because Ron is one of my favorite people, but he was the ‘old gruff Sheriff’ when I was in high school. He was like a scary, adult authority figure.
But Sheriff Growdon is just a kid! I remember him playing high school basketball for Westwood after I graduated in 1988. And anything that happened after 1988 can’t be that long ago.
And yet, today I see that Sheriff Growdon has been sworn in for his fourth term as Sheriff. Fourth term!
29 years with the Sheriff’s Office, and 12 years as Sheriff, and I honestly and truly cannot think of anyone better for the job. Even though he is just a youngster.
Congratulations Sheriff!
Have a wonderful weekend everybody and stay safe in the wintery weather!
