Shots Fired in Covelo during Blackberry Festival — Suspects flee

I disagree with a lot of it, actually.
“It was a bit better”. Fifty years ago it was a whole lot better. It was still better thirty years ago. And it is still better than many other places I can name you.

“If you kept to yourself, you were pretty good”. Obviously you don’t know how strong the community bonds were. And in so many ways still are. You can keep to yourself and that’s fine. You can also interact with a lot of very nice people. People who come together and help one another in time of need. Your neighbors knew you, knew if you were sick, or hurt, or had suffered a loss. They cared. And they showed up to help. To bring you food, run errands, mind your pets, your kids, care for your stock and your garden, help you fix your truck or your tractor. Give you a ride out of town.
They still do, every day.

“You still carried a gun when you went there.”
What, pack a sidearm for a day’s excursion?
Maybe if you were walking in the hills alone, or had chosen to embrace the Thug Life.
Country people carry a rifle or shotgun. Is that to be wondered at?
People in Covelo have always understood the nature of living in a very rural area. You protected yourself. But back when Scotty Baker was the sheriff’s deputy, he didn’t stand for any shit. You could walk anywhere at 2:00 AM. People rarely locked their doors. The town was dead silent by nightfall, the dark skies full of stars. Barely a car on the road.

As for the logging, etc., “supported some people”, the mill was a hive of activity, quite a number of people worked there. And the streets were swarming with cars at 6:30 AM, people on their way to work. The Hotel Cafe was bustling, serving up breakfasts. Many ranchers, then in the ’70s many farmers and back-to-the-landers. Restaurants, a co-op, a bookstore, a lovely giftshop (Nature’s Hideaway), the Yolla Bolly Roly Poly Bakery offered up divine baked goods, the Chadwick Garden Project, Island Press, Donna Lim taught Suzuki violin…there were basket-making and beading workshops and art shows and classes (there still are). There was theatre. There was a lot of music (there still is). There were artists and writers and poets. There still are. There was a tiny hole-in-the-wall library that no one dreamed would one day find a beautiful new home and go on to win a national award – The Best Small Library in America 2024.

Ronald Reagan, funny you mentioned him, rode the hills on horseback with his friend, the rancher and forester Richard Wilson. He fell in love with the valley and canceled his plans to build a dam and have it flooded. You can read the story in Ted Simon’s “The River Stops Here”.

Cannabis and many waves of growers, a lot of them very grabby and greedy, methamphetamine, and the cartel have changed Round Valley.
Many of the changes are painful and hard to swallow, and many of us long for days past.
But Round Valley’s unique and magical beauty abides.