hosted community talent shows almost a hundred years ago. Movies are screened, handcraft-ed gifts are sold, brass bands make it near impossible to sit still. The gorgeous painted back-drop shows up in images as di-verse as formal wedding por-traits and smart phone videos of traveling shows. And December is an espe-cially active time for this grand old lady. Just last week there were two remarkable Winema events, drawing a combined au-dience of more than 500 people.

RIVER RAGE 64 On Monday, the Rio Dell Scotia Chamber of Commerce sponsored “River Rage 64,” a commemoration of the 50-year anniversary of the Christmas Flood of 1964. The evening started out with a screening of a long trailer for the Jete-Miro documentary High Water Mark: Stories of the 1964 Flood, which is scheduled for release in early 2015. The theater was packed with survivors of the flood, their children and grandchildren, as well as people simply interested in Humboldt County history. Several people had brought along personal photos of the time, sharing them during the intermission along with their

The Scotia independent

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was freezing inside, and when you turned on the heater it made a huge racket without warming anybody up. During the occasional event the audience sat huddled in their winter coats, their breath misting in front of them. But all that’s changed now. Groups and organizations all over the county are beginning to appreciate the Winema for its beautiful, gracious, rustic ele-gance. People get married in there now. Ballet dancers pirou-ette across the same stage that

memories. After the screening there was a concert and mixed media presentation by Winema Winds and Scotia Saxes, two breakout groups from the Scotia Band. They performed a variety of mu-sic from 1964 accompanied by a slide show of iconic mid-60s im-ages: Gilligan’s Island, Mary Pop-pins, Louis Armstrong and the Beatles; GI Joe, Snickers candy bars and the Ford Mustang, among many others.

Text and photos by Lisa Baney Scotia’s Winema Theater has been experiencing a revival in the last several months. Just a few years ago only a handful of people outside of Scotia had ever been inside the theater; hardly anyone knew what it looked like in there. Bats soared, unafraid, from the raft-ers. Mismatched PALCO office furniture, extra theater chair parts and an assortment of mys-terious industrial items were strewn around the floor and propped up in dark corners. It Savannah Hopper plays the bells.

A 7th grade student at Hydesville School, Savannah is the youngest member of Scotia Band, and the daughter of percussionist Bryan Hopper and flutist Felecia Treece.

The Winema Theater in Scotia, first opened in 1920, is pictured here in its original splendor. Continued to “Winema,” page 3

Frank Talk with Frank!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone! As you can plainly see, we have the Scotia Center commercial area decked out with more lights than ever for this festive season. This time of the year, there are always lots of free community activities at the Winema Theater. Be sure to check out the excellent arti-cle in this edition of the Scotia Independent about the Winema’s recent renaissance. We’ve also included some very fine historic photos of the theater. Between Scotia School crafts fairs, con-certs and programs, holiday presentations by Dell'Arte Play-ers and venerable Scotia Band, and multimedia remembrances

of the 50th anniver-sary of the 1964 Flood, there's been something

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WINEMA THEATER UNDERGOES REVIVAL

DECEMBER 22, 2014 WWW.TOWNOFSCOTIA.COM VOLUME I, ISSUE XXI

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erosion control measures—sandbags, straw wattles, geotex-tile filter fabric, berms and trench plates, etc.—in place at storm drain inlet and discharge points all throughout the project to control the adverse effects of winter weather. Our contrac-tors can spend a little more time on paperwork, but a re-duced crew remains on the job, continuously working on the water, sewer and storm drain line realignment, sidewalk, curb and crossing ramps and road paving projects. Current activities focus in two areas. First, Wahlund Con-struction, our primary contrac-tor, continues to realign and re-place main water, sewer and storm drain lines on Mill Street, including the intersecting lanes, Eddy Street and Mill Lane. Second, on Church Street, Maples Plumbing has begun to

trench and connect sewer and water supply/service or "lateral" lines from the Phase I homes to the new main lines, earlier in-stalled by Wahlund and its crews. Maples will complete the house lateral work first for the Church Street residences and then move over to the Mill Street corridor and side streets. Maples will also conduct im-portant safety inspections relat-ed to the utility realignment, and secure water heaters as re-quired by law. Weather permit-ting, both areas of activity will continue throughout the winter. The Town of Scotia should enjoy its new infrastructure for decades to come. The infra-structure now being installed is all of first-rate quality. It's been designed and constructed under

for everyone to enjoy. We hope you have taken advantage of at least some of these oppor-tunities unique to our communi-ty, and that you have a very merry holiday season this year with your friends and family.

SUBDIVISION INFRA-STRUCTURE UPDATE

Well, it's finally started rain-ing. After months of drought, it's comforting to see some dark , wet days and nights for a change. The steady precipitation might wear out its welcome af-ter a time, but we're lucky and glad to have here and now. Winter weather has delayed some of our infrastructure re-placement and upgrade activities throughout Phase I of the Scotia Subdivision (see below map of Phase I). This was to be ex-pected, of course. We have

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Pipes are often inspected with remote control robot cameras: Here, an old drain line before replacement.

Sewer main being fused into one seamless length.

New water main installed on Church Street.

intense technical scrutiny and in accord with specifically author-ized county plans and Communi-ty Services District conditions and continuing engineering re-view. County and district inspec-tors are on site overseeing the work, reviewing plans, confirm-ing materials and testing and ver-ifying performance and quality control, essentially every day. Currently, the construction schedule calls for completion of all Phase I area construction by March, weather permitting. With the completion of the infrastruc-ture construction and paving in Phase I, the county can review and approve a Final Phase 1 Sub-division Map. A Draft Final Phase 1 Subdivi-sion Map is nearing completion

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And then, finally, the full Scotia Band played an excellent half-hour of holiday music. The Scotia Band was organized in 1935 by PALCO employees liv-ing in town who decided to pull their old high school musical in-struments out of their closets, dust them off, and put a band to-gether. Now an organized, fully functioning, countywide communi-ty band under the direction of Jill Petricca, they perform in the Winema Theater several times a year, including every spring for the annual Music Night.

THE DELL’ARTE HOLIDAY TOUR

The next morning, Tuesday, the annual Dell’Arte holiday show came to town. This year’s offer-ing was a very Dell’Arte treat-ment of the Astrid Lindgren sto-ry, Pippi Longstocking. The troupe, which is made up of third-year Dell’Arte students, pulled their van up to the thea-ter’s back door and immediately began unloading wood and plastic tubing, metal scaffolding, lights and stands, as well as a sound board, costumes, and myriad backpacks filled with wigs and

The Scotia Band keeps history alive at the Winema Theater.

Shawn Porter plays the timpani. Pippi (Alyssa Hughlett, here and above) and other cast members answer

questions from students after the school performance.

A young audience member attends dressed as Pippi Longstocking.

makeup and props. Then they got to work building the entire set from the ground up. It took them about ninety minutes. Watching them reminded me of a time-lapse video I saw once of a group of construction workers building a complete house in two minutes. This, though, was in re-al time. The troupe put on an early show for the Scotia school, after which they came down off the stage and talked with the stu-dents, answering questions, showing how things worked, and generally thrilling everybody. Most everyone wanted to touch Pippi’s braids. After that they

Technical director Spike Foster makes last-minute changes before the school show. The Dell’Arte stage is set for Pippi Longstocking.

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The exterior of the historic Winema Theater has changed little since its opening day in 1920, when this photo was taken. The theater has again

emerged as a community center for the townspeople of Scotia.

now. By the end of the year, the draft may be available for sub-mission to the County Depart-ment of Public Works and County Surveyor. A Final Subdi-vision Map will include survey references to individual lot lines, local utility and PG&E easements, public utility dedications, county maintained roads, and other "as-built" factors affecting individual subdivided parcels. The Draft Final Subdivision Map for Phase I could be under review by the county for perhaps a few months. By Spring 2015, the Phase I Final Subdivision Map should be ready for recording. At that time, our home sales program will begin. It will start with an initial 3-month period, during which TOS staff will work with current tenants occupying homes in Phase I under a lease to assist them in preparing for purchase financing, should they want to purchase a home. At the end of that 3-month period, or earlier if a tenant is unable or chooses not to purchase a home in Phase I, those homes will be offered for sale to the general public. While construction advances toward completion in Phase I, design work is already underway for Phase II of the subdivision. Phase II will include the upper Church Street homes, parts of B Street, Main Street and First and Second Streets. In fact, infra-structure improvement design work is already well underway

The Scotia Band poses in front of the Scotia Inn, 1937.

applause and whistles at the cur-tain call, this year’s show was a big hit. After the last audience mem-ber left and the lobby doors were closed up tight, the troupe broke down the set into the pieces they’d arrived with, packed it all away inside their van, and drove away. The next stop on their tour: Bridgeville School. And it's not the end of the season for the Winema Theater either. It's booked solid until Christmas, and the new year is already shaping up to be even busier than this one.

Continued from “Progress,” page 2 cially near a fireplace, furnace, wood stove or electrical connec-tions. Remember, Christmas tree lights are "UL" rated for varying, specific uses. Always use the ap-propriate kind of lights—for in-door, outdoor or Christmas tree ornamentation. Never overload electrical outlets, cords or strips. Do not splice Christmas tree light strings to extend their length. And neighbors take care of neighbors during this holiday season. That’s what the Scotia community is and always has been about. THE STORM THAT WASN’T We all looked with some fa-vor upon the "big storm" as its approach was projected the sec-ond week of December, with hopes that our drought would soon be over. The predictions of heavy rainfall and flood-cresting rivers were in the news for sev-eral days before the arrival of the storm. For Scotia, a flood crest of over 57 feet was pre-dicted by the U.S. Weather Ser-vice. That would have been the third highest ever recorded, sec-ond only to the 1955 and 1964 floods. In Scotia, fortunately, none of the houses in town would be inundated, even at that historic level of flood crest. However, Fireman’s Park, the Carpenter's Field baseball diamond and possi-bly the wastewater treatment plant and lumber mill facilities could be temporarily inundated

at those levels. Scotia immedi-ately assigned people, materials and equipment to deal with an event if it materialized. But it didn’t. This storm nev-er achieved the monumental in-tensity predicted. When the riv-er crested, it was at about 38 feet, rather than 57. That’s not even to flood monitor stage, and no river flooding damage oc-curred anywhere in Scotia. To-day it's back at about 20 feet, a healthy flow, bank to bank, but no risk to Scotia folks or proper-ty. The prediction and projec-tion of a heavy storm and flood-cresting rivers caused us all to remember the terrible flood event of 50 years ago in 1964. Since those historic floods, com-munication facilities, evacuation routes and emergency response resources of every sort have im-proved. The very storm drain infrastructure now being en-larged, realigned and made more efficient and effective as part of the Scotia Subdivision could help avoid adverse impacts. What may be most important is that the community remains vigilant, aware of changing cir-cumstances and follows the rec-ommendations of the appropri-ate authorities. It’s not really possible to “overreact.” Prepar-edness is a value in and of itself, and we can never be too pre-pared. Once again, merry Christmas and happy New Year from the Town of Scotia. Peace and bless-ings to all, from our families to yours.

wanted Pippi (played by the sun-ny-tempered Alyssa Hughlett) to show them her somersaults and back flips and other impossible-looking acrobatic moves, all of which feature prominently in this year’s production. She obliged, smiling all the while. In the late afternoon Wally Close from CC Market and Deli delivered dinner. As in years past, Wally instantly became the troupe’s favorite person. The evening show was packed; attendance was near ca-pacity. The three food barrels in the lobby overflowed with dona-tions, and judging by the lengthy

for all of South Scotia. The next phases of infra-structure construction will likely again take advantage of horizon-tal directional drilling for installa-tion of many water, sewer and storm drain lines and employ the most practical and successful methods and materials proven in Phase I. County Plan review and approval should allow construc-tion work to commence on these subsequent phases during Summer 2015.

HOLIDAY SAFETY As we head toward the holi-days, we want to remind every-body to remain safe and secure in their homes during the winter season. Especially with house-hold heating sources in opera-tion once again, seasonal decora-tions and/or live Christmas trees around, we all need to be espe-cially careful. We discourage use of any and all open-flame can-dles, lanterns or lamps during the holiday season. These days there are lots of safe alternatives readily available, and open flames are almost always dangerous. If you have a wood stove or a fireplace, keeping the flue clean is the best way to prevent chim-ney fires. When you operate your wood stove, always have the door completely closed. With a fireplace, always use a screen or metal mesh curtain in front of the firebox to prevent hot embers from entering the dwelling space. Never keep flam-mable or hazardous fuels or liq-uids of any kind indoors, espe-