Opinion

Fifteen minutes isn’t enough time to get to know a guy. And my first question during a short meeting with Fair Manager John Steffanic probably wasn’t appropriate.

“Are you crazy?” I asked.

Steffanic just laughed. He laughs a lot. They are the sort of belly laughs that make you think he doesn’t take things too seriously.

The reason for my question was to hopefully understand why Steffanic would figuratively jump on a grenade to save the Plumas-Sierra County Fair.

Regardless of the content of my stories, I am a big county fair supporter. I’ve written about this before so I won’t belabor that point.

Under the heading of “other duties as assigned,” I’m responsible for coordinating the fair supplement in this week’s paper. It makes sense because the county fair is my beat; I cover the board meetings and all the news centered on the fairground operations, whether it’s “The Fair” or missing septic tanks.

Most rural fire departments in Plumas County – essentially all comprised of volunteers – already face a daunting challenge: Balancing adequate fire protection services against the increasing financial costs to provide that service.

Assembly Bill 29x, also known as the “rural fire tax” will negatively affect the county’s fire districts by forcing many homeowners to pay up to an additional $150 annually to CalFire for “fire prevention.”

The California Highway Patrol has a serious image problem in Plumas County.

We hear the complaints from people on the street, and we read them in our letters to the editor.

Our residents say they are afraid of our CHP. They say that young, aggressive patrolmen are looking for any reason to pull them over.