Country Christmas Faire Results

December 8, 2009 jd

Gingerbread House Competition Results and Canned Food Drive Results

A successful canned food drive, more than 100 vendors, sixty five gingerbread houses built, and nearly 10,000 attendees made the 25th annual Country Christmas Faire at the Nevada County Fairgrounds a huge success.

The 7th annual Gingerbread House Competition was a crowd-favorite this year, with more than 65 entries received. Of those entries, the Best of Show winner was Wanda Dunn of Penn Valley, and the People’s Choice Award went to the gingerbread house built by Joanne, Megan and Sydney Perilman and Cody Lawson (entered as The Perilman’s plus Cody and Crew), all of Cedar Ridge. The Best of Show is chosen by the judges, and the People’s Choice is selected through ballots cast by individuals who attend the Craft Faire.

First place winners in the individual categories include Madison Nestell (child 5 & under); Sonora Slater (child – ages 6-8); Maura Devlin (child – ages 9-12); Jenna Hook (kits – ages 8 & under); Toria Kinney (teen – ages 13-17); Wanda Dunn (adult – 18 -64); Mary Abbott (adult – 65 & over); Hennessy Tiger Cubs After School Program (group – children 12 & under); That 70’s Group (group – teen 13-17); The Casto Family (group – family); The Perilman Family and Cody Lawson and crew (group – adult 18 & over); and Brailey Sears (special needs).

With the help of HOPE (Help Other People Eat) in Nevada County, Sunday’s canned food drive collected 547 cans of food and cash donations. These donations will be used at the organization’s December food distribution. HOPE in Nevada County is a program established through the Grass Valley Elks, who partner with the Food Bank of Nevada County to feed those in need. HOPE distributes food once a month to anyone in the county in need of food.

The 2010 Country Christmas Faire is planned for Thanksgiving weekend, November 26 – 28, 2010. For information, visit Nevada County Fair or call 273-6217.

Nevada County Information

Snow in Nevada County December 7, 2009

December 7, 2009 jd

Scotts Flat Lake about 8 am this morning December 7, 2009 (from my deck)

We’ve finally had a real snow fall in Nevada County last night and early this morning. We’ve also had the power go out in Cascade Shores, (where I live), last night for about 4 hours.

I measured the amount of snowfall this morning on my back deck after it stopped snowing and it came in at 11 inches. The pictures tell the rest of the story.

Looking down Broad Street Nevada City December 7, 2009

Another shot from my deck

Starting to Clear Scotts Flat Lake 12:30 pm December 7, 2009

Bits & Pieces

Bits & Pieces in Nevada County

December 5, 2009 jd

December 5, 2009

They continued work on the new Walgreen’s that’s coming in at the corner of Brunswick Road and Sutton Way. They paved the parking lot yesterday, just in time. Snow and rain is suppose to be here this coming week, at least that’s the latest forecast, which changes according to how the weatherman feels. If he’s depressed, a storm is coming in, if he’s happy, it’ll be sunshine.

How much money is in drugs anyway? We seem to have eight or ten pharmacies right now. With CVS, Rite Rite Aide and now Walgreens, I think there is a lot of money in drugs. Legal ones that is. Why is it that in any other industrial country, you can get the same prescription you buy in the United States so much cheaper? The argument is the drug companies spend so much money in research that we have to pay for their research. How come the rest of the world doesn’t? It seems the only business that is growing right now are drug companies and drug stores. Anyhow, that’s my rant of the day.

Enjoy the holidays.

John O’Dell

Local Writers & Contributors, Nevada County Home & Land Statistics

Contest for 2010 Nevada County Fair Slogan

December 4, 2009 jd

WIN $250 IN LOGO DESIGN CONTEST

Submit the winning logo for the 2010 Nevada County Fair and you could win

The Nevada County Fairgrounds is sponsoring a contest to find the best logo to illustrate the 2010 Nevada County Fair slogan – “Rooted in Tree-dition” – featuring trees, one of our counties top ten agricultural products. If you’re a talented artist, and you’d like $250, then this is the contest to enter!

The contest, which is open to Nevada County residents only, takes place now through Friday, January 15. If you submit the winning design, you will win $250 and a 2010 Nevada County Fair package that includes admission tickets, parking and carnival coupons. Additionally, the winning artwork will be used on various Fair promotional pieces, print ads, buttons, t-shirts, banners, posters, and flyers.

Interested artists may use any medium and can submit up to three entries, which must be on 8-1/2 by 11-inch paper. Entries can be delivered to the Fairgrounds Office at 11228 McCourtney Road or mailed to the Fair Office at PO Box 2687, Grass Valley, CA 95945. A complete set of rules can be found on the Fair’s website at Nevada County Fair, or by calling the Fair Office at 530-273-6217.

Hollie Grimaldi Flores of Grass Valley submitted the winning slogan, “Rooted in Tree-dition,” for the five day Fair, August 11 – 15, 2010.

Source: Wendy Oaks Nevada County Fair Publicist

Nevada County Information

Grass Valley Group’s Parent Company Files for Protection

December 3, 2009 jd

grass-valley-group

The Grass Valley’s Group parent company, French media technology company Thomson has breached its debt covenants and has been in talks throughout most of 2009 with creditors.

Thomson now plans to ask creditors to vote on a restructuring plan on 21 December.

This plan will be based on the terms agreed by many of its senior creditors in July.

Chief executive Frederic Rose said: “After 10 months of constructive discussions with a majority of our creditors, I am satisfied that we have now a clear timetable for closing our debt restructuring. [Safeguard] allows us to provide clarity and certainty to our employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders.”

Safeguard is the French equivalent of Chapter 11 and prevents anyone that is owed money by the company from attempting to call in debts or instigate winding up proceedings.

Thomson said that it has enough available liquidity to be able to continue to operate under normal conditions during this period.

Various parts of its business, including broadcast equipment manufacturer Grass Valley, have been put up for sale in an effort to help with debts.

The Grass Valley sale was expected to have been completed by September but a ‘challenging’ market has delayed the process.

Thomson also owns Technicolor, the parent company of the Soho visual effects facility Moving Picture Company.

Source: Broadcast

Real Estate

Attorney Scott Rothstein Arrested in $1.2 Billion Ponzi Scheme

December 2, 2009 jd

How many Ponzi schemes can there be? I don’t know, but it seems like every day another one is discovered. Here’s one in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where attorney Scott Rothstein’s suspected Ponzi scheme may have taken $1.2 billion from investors. One investor calls it a “tragedy” who says he is at risk for tens of millions of dollars. The scandal has sent lawyers, investors, and politicians alike in a tizzy while investigators are scrambling to learn exactly how much money has been lost.

Rothstein, a partner of the law firm Rothstein Rosefeldt and Adler, is suspected of running a covert investment scheme on the side and may have walked away with “substantial sums” put up by investors, according to a lawsuit brought by his partner, Stuart Rosenfeldt.

In what federal authorities say is the biggest fraud case in South Florida history, the 47-year-old faces five counts of racketeering and fraud related to his alleged scheme. Prosecutors say Rothstein ran the scheme out of the 70-lawyer Fort Lauderdale law firm where he was CEO, swindling his own friends and clients. He allegedly forged federal court documents, including judges’ signatures to make his investors believe the settlements they were buying into were legitimate

He once graced the society pages of local newspapers and gave big to Florida politicians, but on Tuesday, Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein was arrested on federal fraud charges, accused of running a $1.2 billion mini-Madoff Ponzi scheme. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 100 years in prison. How did he spend all that money? Well, the fed’s grabbed $60 million of his toys, including 20 luxury cars, 15 real-estate properties, an 87-foot yacht, 304 pieces of jewelry and $12 million stashed in Moroccan banks

Click HERE to read the federal charges against Rothstein.

Source: ABC News

Real Estate

Why Not Walk Away From My House?

December 1, 2009 jd

Untitled-1

I wrote earlier that we should not walk away from your house if you are upside down on your mortgage. I’ve changed my mind. If you lost your job or had a great reduction in income for whatever reason, the banks don’t seem to care. I’ve read and seen were they’ll stall until you have used up your savings, made the very last payment you can and than foreclose on your home.

Here’s a portion of a great article on the subject of walking away from your home that appeared in the SF Chronicle:

“Go ahead. Break the chains. Stop paying on your mortgage if you owe more than the house is worth. And most important: Don’t feel guilty about it. Don’t think you’re doing something morally wrong.

That’s the incendiary core message of a new academic paper by Brent T. White, a University of Arizona law school professor, titled “Underwater and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear and the Social Management of the Housing Crisis.”

White argues that far more of the estimated 15 million American homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages should stiff their lenders and take a hike.

Doing so, he suggests, could save some of them hundreds of thousands of dollars that they “have no reasonable prospect of recouping” in the years ahead. Plus the penalties are nowhere near as painful or long-lasting as they might assume.

“Homeowners should be walking away in droves,” according to White. “But they aren’t. And it’s not because the financial costs of foreclosure outweigh the benefits.” Sure, credit scores get whacked when you walk away, he acknowledges. But as long as you stay current with other creditors, “one can have a good credit rating again – meaning above 660 – within two years after a foreclosure.”

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“How does White’s 52-page manifesto go over with mortgage lenders? Predictably, not well. Officials at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – investors who fund the bulk of all new mortgages in the country – disputed White’s characterization of how quickly after foreclosure a walkaway borrower can obtain a new loan. It’s not three years, they said, it’s a minimum of five years, absent extenuating circumstances such as medical or employment problems that caused the foreclosure.”

Remember, before you walk away from your home, check with your accountant and or a tax attorney.

This is a great article, read the rest at San Francisco Gate

So what do you think readers?