I remember hugging her, and her momma. Little did I know that little bit of empathy would help me embark in a lifelong relationship with this miraculous and resilient young woman.

The absolute beauty of our community, (I know I have said it again and again) is the proximity in which we live, work, and grow up with one another. I have gotten to see little Mary blossom.

Every time I saw Mary since that fateful day, I was always greeted with that 1,000-watt smile and the warmest of warm hugs. She truly made my day better every time I saw her. I got to watch her grow from a little girl into the beautiful young woman she is today, and even better my girls get to have “Ms. Mary” as a role model.

Ms. Mary is currently a senior at Lassen High School. Aside from being incredibly smart, Mary spends all of her time dancing. (She is a beautiful Kickette) and spends a lot of her time teaching the littlest dancers to follow in her footsteps. And let me tell you, she is a great teacher.

She has a knack for teaching even the squirelliest little dancers and is so sweet and loving to them. In a crowd of people, Peach will see Mary and make a beeline for her favorite Kickette to go get a hug from her. Turns out my daughter loves Mary’s hugs too.

Mary is sweet, modest, hardworking and kind. She is also incredibly brave. I remember watching her compete in the Miss Lassen County Scholarship program and was in awe of her poise.

I love Mary so much, I hope she realizes what she has done for me throughout my career.

Mary is a reminder of the importance to not let the job harden you, but also to remember how the smallest actions can have the biggest impacts. I am so proud of her, as she plans to fly out of the nest (Susanville) for college, but I am also so sad. I am really going to miss her.

My little Mary is all grown up, and while I know she will be successful where she goes, I am really going to miss seeing that beautiful smile light up my day.

No matter where she goes, I want her to know I will be back here, waiting for my Mary hug and that she will always be one of the reasons I love where we live.

During operations, the northern parking lot will be closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Operations should not impact public access to the boat launch; however, visitors are advised to be aware of extra vehicle traffic and heavy equipment. Please proceed with caution as you travel the road toward the ramp.

Visitors wanting to hike the Lake Almanor Recreation Trail may access it at USFS Dyer View or PG&E Rocky Point.

Masticating equipment can create safety concerns for the public as equipment can throw chipped material at high rates of speed and long distances. The public is asked to stay away from equipment during operating hours.

“This project is the next step prior to reforestation efforts and restoring recreation opportunities in the Canyon Dam area,” says Russell Nickerson, District Ranger of the Almanor Ranger District.

For additional questions on this ongoing project, you can reach the Almanor Ranger District office at 530-258-2141. Contact your local Ranger District office for the most recent conditions on roads, trails, and developed recreation sites.

“We would still sponsor the spay/neuter program for the Lassen County Animal Shelter, as well as to provide financial assistance for Veterinarian identified emergencies.”

“The goal of Lassen Human Society is to maintain a program we can support.”

According to the letter, this year to date LHS has provided the following subsidies:

“Did you know that in just seven years, a single pair of cats and their offspring could

produce a staggering total of 420,000 kittens?*”

“This is not a funding level we can sustain, but we are committed to use our benevolent donations to continue to reduce the number of unwanted kittens and puppies being born each year. There is much more work to do.”

“We cannot continue to help make an impact on this problem without the generous support of the business and citizens of our local county, and we cannot continue to be successful without the many volunteers.”

“We then pay a subsidy for each cat’s spay neuter; if it is feral, we also pay for the rabies vaccination.”

“Lassen Humane Society is a service organization. As such we do not have any legal authority, nor do we have any facilities. We do not rescue animals, and most importantly, we are not affiliated with the Lassen County Animal Shelter. We do assist them financially with projects they do not have funding for and do spay/neuter dogs and cats personally adopted from that facility.”

“As you can see our one-time funding will not last long enough to make a big dent in the

problem of overpopulation of unwanted kittens and puppies. If you appreciate the current

efforts your Humane Society is making to reduce the unwanted kittens and puppies being born each year, there are many ways you can help.”

• Join the Humane Society as an active member and volunteer some of your time so we can increase our fundraising activities.
• Offer financial support.
• Sponsor an area of the county to encourage neutering and reduce unwanted litters.

Do you want to see what we do and maybe join the Humane Society? Come to one of our monthly meetings. We meet at 5:15 on the 2nd Wednesday of each month in the Lassen County Board of Supervisors’ boardroom, 707 Nevada Street.

The gun collection of R.E. Hefner taken around 1944 – from the Eastman archive at UC Davis

Susanville Man Has 150 Guns

December 6, 1945

The guns which have played a vital part in making of America and of California are the hobby of R. E. Hefner, 706 Pine Street.

In a room at his home these guns, some 150 of them, are arranged on the walls.

Dating all the way from an old Brown Bess, which almost certainly came to this country as a Red Coat’s weapon and likely ended up on the shoulder of a Continental, to a Filipino guerrilla’s gas pipe gun, the weapons tell a lot of history.

Prize of the collection and shown in the above picture, is a rifle made for and actually used by Jim Bridger, mountain man and one of the great western pioneers.

There is no question about its authenticity. Hefner has the documents to prove that Bridger actually owned the rifle.

Anyone picking it up realizes what mighty men those old pioneers were. In comparison, a modern big game gun feels like a feather.

The rifle, which is a .55 caliber weighs 13.5 pounds, and feels much heavier. Made in the early 1840’s, it used percussion caps and handmade balls.