In February, I inaugurated a book-of-the-month, that featured Sagebrush Reflections. After all proceeds from book sales not only help support operations, but help finance future publications, in this case the stories behind the brands of the Pioneer.
April 1, 2014 marked Lassen County’s 150th anniversary. My sesquicentennial gift to the county is a quirky, entertaining look of the past 150 years. As Jane Baxton Little of the Sacramento Bee observed: “Purdy, Lassen’s self-appointed historian, juxtaposes the rural area’s colorful history with its not-so-distant past. He pairs a 1910 sighting of the Honey Lake serpent with the Army’s efforts in 2003 to get rid of the lake and its new monster, reportedly oodles of explosive debris from decades of Army operations. Honey Lake eventually was sold to the state for $8.6 million, a figure Purdy reports was redacted in public documents.
“His sardonic account of the cycles of history does not flatter the democratic process. In 1915 voters approved a $125,000 bond to build a new county courthouse. Its $39 million replacement was completed in 2012 without voter approval.”