Volume XIV Issue 117 | Tuesday, January 11th, 2022
The Good Stuff by Shelley Bennett
Are you a New Year’s Resolution maker? I never have been. It always seems to me that New Year’s Day is still a celebration and then it’s my dad’s birthday the next day, so we are still celebrating, staying up late, and eating a lot of delicious (but not the healthiest) food. If I made a resolution, it would be broken by noon on January 1st.

Instead, I prefer to take the first couple of weeks to enjoy a fresh start and then decide how things might change, or not, in the new year.
A couple of years ago (2020 in fact), my students chose a word for the year. There were some great choices: perseverance, goals, satisfaction, grace, journey, etc. Rannon chose “Yeet”.

When I asked what “Yeet” meant, he told me that yeet could mean anything you wanted. It could act as a verb or noun. You could “yeet” around whether you were doing really well or having a bad day.

It could also be used as a greeting, as in: “Yeet” said Rannon and Landon responded, “Yeet!”

Yeet can be an exclamation. Like, Yeet! I can’t believe the Raiders won that game!

Urban Dictionary defines yeet as “to violently throw an object that you deem to be worthless, inferior, or just plain garbage.” This certainly fits when you think about the year 2020. In fact, I thought we “yeeted” that year over 365 days ago and got rid of it! Yeet!

“Pivot” was the word for last year and the never-ending school schedule changes as we went from in-person to distance learning, distance learning to hybrid. By March I was dizzy, confused, and just plain tired.

This year, I propose we all choose the same word: respair, the opposite of despair. I first heard about this word from Dan Rather’s Facebook post. He credited the etymologist Suzie Dent with its “re-discovery” and defined the word as “fresh hope, recovery from despair”.

A tweet from Haggard Hawks adds that respair is a “word for a renewed or reinvigorated hope, or a recovery from anguish or hopelessness.”

It’s an archaic word, first coined by Andrew of Wyntoun, a Scottish poet who lived between 1350 and 1423. At some point, English speakers stopped using respair, yet continued on with its cousin despair. When did we decide we need more negative than positive in our language?

The year 2022 needs this word. I urge you to use it in a sentence, post it on your social media, and say it as your mantra each morning. Respair is what we need to survive this month and make it through the next wave of illness, quarantines, and canceled events.

If we can make yeet happen, respair should be a piece of cake.
Remember when news was ‘newsy’? When you read about weddings, family events and engagement announcements in the newspaper? If you have something that might be newsworthy, please submit it to shelleybennett24@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to include it here in “The Good Stuff.”
Online Survey: City Seeking the
Public’s Input on Proposed Tax Increase
The City of Susanville is using an online survey to gather input from city residents about placing a general tax measure on the June 2022 ballot, and they want to hear from you. Your input is valuable as city administration and the City Council focus on prioritizing essential services, while considering the need to cut some services if a measure doesn’t come to fruition.

According to the city, the tax measure is needed, “due to past and projected budget shortfalls in its general fund.”
“The tax measure will be accompanied by an advisory measure that will provide advice to the Susanville City Council regarding how to spend the tax revenue if the ballot measure passes.”

“Seventy-six percent of the city’s general fund is currently spent on police and fire services, which are essential to our community’s safety and economic prosperity, therefore if additional revenues cannot be identified the city will be facing some tough decisions regarding the need to reduce police and fire services and personnel.”

A local sales tax measure, according to city officials, is the quickest way to solve the city’s revenue problems.

City Administration would love to hear your thoughts. To take the survey click here and follow the link.
Agenda: Lassen County Board of Education January 12th, 2022 Meeting
The Lassen County Board of Education will be meeting January 12th, 2022 at 4:00p.m. at the Lassen County Office of Education, 472-013 Johnstonville Road.

Click here to download an agenda for Wednesday’s meeting.
Banner Lassen Announces Reopening of Lab Draw Station on Bunyan Road
Banner Lassen Medical Center has reopened their Lab Draw Station in Susanville, once again providing outpatient blood and urine collections, urine drug screen (by appointment only) and breath alcohol testing at a convenient location on Bunyan Road.

Community members can utilize the Lab Draw Station for their outpatient testing needs. Patients are able to bring their orders from their healthcare provider to the Lab Draw Station.
The Lab Draw Station is located at 1445 Paul Bunyan Road and they can be reached at 1.530.252.2076.

Hours are Monday through Friday, 6:30 to 11:00a.m., and 12:00 to 3:00p.m.
Coppervale Tow Gets Stiff Test
January 11, 1955

The ski tow at Coppervale made some successful experimental runs last weekend. Saturday, in a snowstorm, the Westwood High School ski team gave the town a hard test. Sunday about 50 skiers and club enthusiasts tried to find weakness in the general setup.

The general consensus seemed to be that with a few improvements a fine ski run will be available to the people in the Westwood-Susanville area.

Thought developed that another smaller tow be put below the large tow in order that beginners could use the more gentle slopes and that other skiers could also utilize more slope area. This might be explored more fully.

Many other minor improvements are being made.
If you are a fan of our daily history stories you should join the Lassen Historical Society! It's a fun way to be a part of our county's rich history. When you sign up you'll receive regular Historical Society newsletters with interesting stories and information. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in area history.

Through your membership you help preserve local history. You can download a membership application by clicking here.
SusanvilleStuff WebXtra is a copyrighted feature of Couso Technology and Design