Inflamed


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The dramatic story of hundreds of senior citizens left in the path of a ferocious firestorm and what the quest for accountability reveals about the increasing risks to our most vulnerable population. “…a powerful work of investigative journalism about a particularly vulnerable segment of the population…. Alongside an engrossing account of the emergency as it unfolded in Sonoma County, Belden and Gullixson provide a definitive account of management’s woefully inadequate response at the two sister facilities. Their findings are a lesson to other care facilities —here’s what not to do.” —San Francisco Chronicle Just after midnight on October 9, 2017, as one of the nation’s deadliest and most destructive firestorms swept over California’s Wine Country, hundreds of elderly residents from two posh senior living facilities were caught in its path. The frailest were blind, in wheelchairs, or diagnosed with dementia, and their community quickly transformed from a palatial complex that pledged to care for them to one that threatened to entomb them. The rescue of the final 105 seniors left behind on an inflamed hillside depended not on employees, but strangers whose lives intersected in a riveting tale of terror and heroism. Headlines blamed caregivers for abandonment and neglect, but the truth proved far more complex—leading to a battle for accountability that stretched from the courtroom to the state legislature, and ultimately, to the ballot box. Inflamed: Abandonment, Heroism, and Outrage in Wine Country’s Deadliest Firestorm is the gripping and emotional narrative detailing what happened to these seniors, employees, and rescuers before, during, and after the Tubbs Fire decimated portions of Santa Rosa, including Oakmont Senior Living Villa Capri and part of Varenna at Fountaingrove. Anne Belden and Paul Gullixson are professional journalists and Sonoma County residents who spent three years recording each phase of the disaster in agonizing detail—from the botched evacuation and its excruciating aftermath to the investigations, lawsuits, and breakdowns that followed. They tell this harrowing story with a veracity and compassion only achieved by experienced reporters with local roots. Their narrative revisits the horrors of 2017 but also asks the reader to look to the future and consider how their community’s most vulnerable will fare as ten thousand Baby Boomers retire each day, the for-profit assisted living industry rapidly expands, and the climate becomes more volatile. If this travesty can happen at high-end senior living complexes, it can happen anywhere.




The Great Conversation


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In the face of climate change, species loss, and vast environmental destruction, Belden C. Lane's spiritually centered environmentalism suggests that we must look to teachers in nature to understand how to save ourselves. Pairing anecdotes of personal encounters with nature with the teachings of spiritual leaders from a range of religious traditions, this book invites us to participate once more in the great conversation among all creatures and the earth itself.







The Standard


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The California Ranger


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The Magarisse


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THE MAGARISSE may at first seem like any ordinary fantasy novel: in another world, the Magarisse, a brotherhood of magicians and generals, once fought to defeat the power-hungry Sharadar. Their leader is dead. His son has gone in search of help from someone who was left behind long ago... This much should sound familiar to any experienced reader of the fantasy genre. But the avid reader gets something new, unexpected as he delves further into the pages of THE MAGARISSE: the source of magical energy in the world is being quickly drained, creating a sense of desperation and instigating a search for a new magical source. This sub-plot is, of course, inspired by the current situation of natural resources on Earth. Again THE MAGARISSE strays off the beaten path of literature in regards to its villain. The growth of the villain can be tracked alongside that of the heroes, flipping the classic ´coming-of-age´ novel on its head. The level of detail in this novel makes you feel like you are in each scene, standing alongside the characters that fight their way through the end of one war... and into the beginning of another. THE MAGARISSE will engage you with adventure, humor, romance, suspense, magic, and surprises. It is the result of a three-year project by a high school student who moves the fantasy genre in a new direction by veering away from many widely accepted tropes while still maintaining a recognizable fantasy feeling.







Hidden History of Rocky Hill


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Many know Rocky Hill as the home of the oldest operating ferry in the country and its renowned Dinosaur State Park. However, there is a lot more history that is seldom seen. Abigail (Smith) Grimes was the imposing matriarch who laid the foundation for the town. Elsie Rhodes was a hero in two wars, although her name today is only barely visible on a memorial. Eli Rodman was an African American man who served valiantly in the Civil War, although his surviving daughters were nearly cheated out of his estate. Even a bit of whimsy, like the story of Hayes Farm's hairless cows, reflects the hardworking agrarian roots of the local community. Join author and Town Historian Robert Herron as he uncovers the forgotten stories and personalities that bring this unique town's history into focus.




California District News Letter


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