Kudos to Linda Gast on bringing to our attention the bill that is now before the California legislature on spaying and neutering pets. We agree with Linda that it may not be a perfect bill but something in the United States not just California has to be done to stop this killing of almost 10,000,000 animals a year !!
A link to her story is here: Spay And Neuter Your Pets - Linda Gast
A dollar figure on how much this costs the counties around the United States would be an interesting figure to see! Irresponsible pet owners are the blame for this and if government does not step in this problem is only going to get worse. If you have any ideas send them in to us.

Coming back from the parade Saturday in Raymond on one of the most gorgeous roads in Mariposa County, Ben Hur Road, all in a good mood thinking back to the events of the day and people I met,
the road meanders through the rolling foothills in a snakelike fashion that just begs one to slow down and look around. The oaks in all their glory, standing  triumphantly dot the landscape along with wildflowers still in bloom. Rockwalls from the Quick Ranch and even a mine can be seen from this road.
Suddenly the mood changes as you come upon Silver Bar Road as the trees near the road have been mutilated forever. Mile after mile someone has let this happen to all the majestic oaks anywhere near the road. Looking like amputated arms cut off, the oaks have lost all their lower branches and now stand like spindly poles! Slowing down even further and noticing that the angle of the cut of some of these branches, that the branches could not have been anywhere close to hanging over the road. Who did this and why we wonder? Was their no oversight?  Will this part of Ben Hur Road ever look like the other still gorgeous parts of the road again ? Good questions to ask of the Director of Public Works. The Mariposa County CAO along with the district supervisor should take a ride with the Director of Public Works out there.
Stop and get out of the car and just look at some of those cuts and questions should be raised before this is allowed to happen all over the county!

Mother Nature did her part yesterday for Earth Day as the most rain since late February fell in Mariposa County as almost 3/4 of an inch of rain fell. It scrubbed a planned hike into Hites Cove, but there will be a few more weekends before BLM fire restrictions take place and the trail is closed for the year.

The Civil War comes to Mariposa County this week out at the Frank Long Ranch. To read about the events: Goldrushcam  Out And About In Mariposa County  A Monthly Listing Of Things To Do In Mariposa County. Scroll down the page to find the events.

Finally, we have made a Sierra Sun Times Lite page for our readers still on dial-up and have no access to high speed cable. Let us know what you think of the page.
For our readers with  DSL, Cable Modems and other high speed internet connections (87% of the Sierra Sun Times readers!) look more photo filled stories as this is going to be a very busy summer in Mariposa County !

Enjoy this last full week of April 2007!