FIESTA TIME IS ON ITS WAY!
• The return of the Johnson Valley Cinco de Mayo Fiesta happens on Saturday afternoon, May 7th –mark your calendar, you don’t want to miss it!
10.00 per person, gets you a free frozen margarita, the Taco Grill Dinner, and your favorites from the Dessert Bar! If you go for another margarita, it’s 3.00.
More details to come, but the doors open at 2:30, the event lasts from 3:00-6:00 p.m, and the Taco Grill is working from 4:00-5:30.
Stay tuned for the full menu choices, we promise it will all be good! Only a month away!
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SATURDAY BREAKFAST
• Start any weekend right, at the JV Saturday Breakfast: bring your family, bring your guests for a good choice of menu items and the never-empty coffee cup.
Got a crowd? Let someone else do the cooking and dishwashing!
How about the Breakfast Burrito, with spicy fresh salsa if you want, for only 8.00.
Another popular item: the Omelette with cheese and bacon, 8.00
Or, choose from our traditional Saturday Breakfast favorites:
1. Hash Browns with a Biscuit, or
2. Pancakes, or
3. Biscuits and Gravy, or
4. French Toast
all with two eggs any way, and your choice of bacon, ham, or sausage.
The Large breakfast plate is only 8.00; the Small plate (one egg, smaller portions) is only 6.00.
Order to-go, if you wish: call 760-792-4555 (don’t leave a message, just call back if it’s busy.)
Cash, check, or credit card accepted.
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HOMESTEAD VALLEY VOICE
• Newcomers may not know that the desert region that Johnson Valley lies in is designated as the Homestead Valley.
The Homestead Valley Community Council is a union of four historic communities connected by Hwy 247, originally settled by homesteaders in the 1950s: Yucca Mesa, Flamingo Heights, Landers, and Johnson Valley. HVCC acts as our voice on government issues that affect us all.
If you have any questions or issues that should be brought before County, State, or Federal agencies, you are welcome to come to a meeting and tell them about it. HVCC meets on the 3rd Monday of every month. The meeting place rotates among the four community centers.
To see what it’s all about, go to www.hvccsite.org for Council actions.
Legislation: Recently added: letters you can download concerning bills now in the California Legislature presented by our representatives, State Senator Shannon Grove and Assemblyman Thurston Smith.
Industrialization: Also see the info on those meteorological towers that recently appeared without warning in JV north of Hwy 247, to measure winds. We know the winds blow; we know the state is pushing to save the planet by replacing oil and gas with so-called renewable energy, we know a bunch of experts sat down and figured out the open lands we view from our homes should be disfigured and ruined by “green” energy projects.
Well, we agree the wind blows for free and the sun shines for free. It’s the horrifying costs involved in erecting wind turbines and solar fields kinda take the “free” part out of the plan. Not to mention (whisper) the wind doesn’t always blow.
But, hey, if we don’t save the planet, who will? After indoctrinating us for years about endangered desert tortoises, golden eagles, yucca rings, creosote rings, burrowing owls, and Joshua trees, the experts now seem to expect them to be happy to co-exist with this industrialization. And what kind of ugly pylons will grace the scenic corridor of Hwy 247, wastefully transporting the occasional power to the big city?
The promise of the federally-protected Johnson Valley OHV Area seems a bit dimmed too. Let’s hope nobody runs into the cables supporting the met towers.
So, maybe the earthmoving equipment digging craters for the enormous foundations for wind turbines will be operating on batteries? The concrete mixers, too, do you think?
We hear our neighbors on the Marine Base won’t like this too much either.
“Glamping” presents another dismaying problem, a large parcel of open desert just south of Flamingo Heights, proposed as a campsite with lots of amenities for glamorous camping – a permanent village with a fluctuating population of up to 300 city folks who think they will be enjoying the desert experience. Its site on the curve of Hwy 247 as it approaches the big dip into Pipes Wash seems like a risky entry and exit from a two-lane road.
Once again: protections for Joshua trees, desert tortoises, and burrowing owls are dismissed as insignificant with “mitigations.”
History: Also on the website, see years of HVCC newsletters posted; see projects and developments in our desert that the Council has actively promoted or opposed.
What’s happening now? If you log onto www.hvccsite.org the weekend before a meeting you can see the agenda and any documents related to hot topics under discussion.
Our County Supervisor Dawn Rowe, Fire Departments, and law enforcement officials are always invited. They attend whenever possible and are happy to answer your questions.
On Monday, April 18, come to the Yucca Mesa Community Center at 3:00 p.m. The address is 3133 Balsa Ave. Travel Hwy 247 into the region of the black lava buttes. After you come up out of Pipes Wash, turn left immediately onto Aberdeen Road. Balsa Rd is approximately 2.5″ miles, turn left, and the Community Center is just ahead on your right.
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BREAKFAST HELP IS STILL NEEDED!
• The volunteer roster for Saturday Breakfasts and our First Saturday Dinners has shrunk almost to nothing, due to circumstances beyond JVIA control.
We’re delighted to say we gained two recruits who have their food handler permits, but we still are in dire need of cooks, pancake cooks, servers, and dishwashers.
Please consider helping out, even if only part of a shift. Call Kim Abramson, at 760-792-4555, or talk to her when you come to Saturday Breakfast, 7:00-10:00 a.m., where she usually volunteers as the cashier.
Thank you in advance!
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FREQUENTLY ANSWERED QUESTIONS—-
JVIA ADDRESS & DIRECTIONS
• To new readers of the JV NEWS who have not visited the Johnson Valley Community Center:
The mailing address is
JVIA
50567A Quailbush Rd.
Johnson Valley CA 92285
From Hwy 247, turn onto Larrea Road, go 1-3/4 miles to Quailbush Rd. The Community Center is on your left at the corner.
The Paul Van Hook Desert Dreams Garden is next to the parking lot, open to all.
The garden trees and shrubs are showing spring green, and we see more visitors.
(Please help keep kids and dogs out of the garden railway layout; it’s easily damaged, and the trains won’t run with dirt on the tracks.)
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😄More humor from my high school alumni newsletter:
“My tolerance for idiots is extremely low these days. I used to have some immunity built up, but obviously, there’s a new strain out there.”
“It’s not my age that bothers me, it’s the side effects.”
“I’m on two diets. I wasn’t getting enough food on one.”
“My mind is like an internet browser. At least 19 open tabs, 3 of them are frozen, and I have no clue where the music is coming from.”😐🎶
Keep smilin’
Betty
Betty Munson
Betty Munson
c/o Ship-It-Shop
51720 Hacienda Rd.
Johnson Valley CA 92285