in today's local behind the scenes of briar patch co ops similarly tranquil atmosphere with gleaming rows of fresh locally produced and park it's organic food discontent is brewing among minority owner members and some employees on monday an estimated forty people attended a board meeting to listen to a handful of people's voice concerns about store policies and future directions in a year of new beginnings the root of all those things is changing to certain people's own for comfortable said general manager paul hartley six months ago the earthy and slightly bohemian natural food store that employed seventy people moved from its old location on furiously drive to its not modern new green building site across from move almost tripled the square footage of retail space and doubled the number of employees it changes felt dramatically by decades old customers employees who feel a connection to their community market not unlike a dear friend or family member it's more than a supermarket it's a collective of people people who shop their fields are part of a culture said arthur capps he brought a patch board member for the past years some rejoiced at the expansion while a small number resisted the change at monday night's meeting simmering issues such as employees dissatisfaction with personnel policies and a call for an independent audit were brought before the board there are more issues raised  solved at said katz a ph d who had as a background in business and accounting says an independent audit needs to take place this year or next get mad you're saying not to perform now is premature so soon after a major move there should be transparency financial accountability and strong ethical conduct throughout their operation count said briarpatch as never conducted an independent audit in that thirty one year history and the landlord of the building and the bank that loan money for the building construction has not requested one part and said we don't want to do an audit this first year because we're still shaking out the system being a new store we're trying to work through kinks in the opening the purpose of the audit is to test accuracy bookkeeping reveal if the business is conforming to accounting regulations and examined distorts internal controls cast believes not it should be performed closer to the movi so the financial information from the smallest error can be used comparatively with the larger operation although an audit in two thousand and eight was agreed to in july it had was moved back to the end of two thousand and nine in august decision this is unacceptable they keep delaying can't say who was in a minority on the board for his opposition to the rescheduling of the arctic his special meeting may be called in december to continue the discussions on the issue even before the move a group of briarpatch employees had growing suspicious of management and were quietly considering you know unionized when several long time employees were let go for reasons they felt were unfair others begin taking a closer look at the personnel policies that govern their positions like many people in the state the ones who work at briar patch are considered at will employees if taken to the extreme this allows managers to fire an employee for no reason it's always been like down when people the status of employees but the board table the decision board president joseph goody goody said it's not the board's place to change the personnel policy for the board to determine personnel policy might be considered micro management as an alternative to hiring people at will briarpatch can sign contracts with new employees or employees can join a union and draft contracts of their own ca although briar patch is moved to luton hill has generated a whole new following of mainstream shoppers there are some who feel nostalgic for the way things work briarpatch has twenty eight hundred  missed the old store said sandy cumin a co op member for five years who sat at a sunny back patio table chatting with a friend and friends store on a recent afternoon the employees seem happy or seem happier but i still shop here every week cumin said her friend barbara swanson said she prefers the new store i always thought clamped in the old store sales have doubled since the move and i expected to reach twelve million this year hart who didn't know healthy eating could taste so good one clear indicator of briarpatch is ability to attract a new crowd is the growing number of high school students who stop for lunch instead of going out for fast food despite the bigger stores new mix upperclass and yuppie transplants from the bay area and los angeles many van driving soccer moms in barefoot locals wearing dreaded locks and pierced lips the core value remains the same hard and said i don't think we've changed the essence of what we are some are convinced they missed the cozy and familiar mom and pop charm of the former store and have sought comfort at their local retailers one shopper who didn't want to give her name said she prefers the flavor of a small rural home town market that's what this town is all about she said otherwise we're going to miranda everything charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs or drugs to students in the county's three in high schools it is a desire to bring the real dui trials to bear river nevada union and truckee high schools judge robert dam yet he said in a court issued news release i had the privilege of presiding over a real dui trial at nevada union school last year coordinated by the grass valley police department through a grant did received it gives students the opportunity to see real court proceedings in the school project will be returning grass valley police sergeant scott tele said i feel the program was very beneficial to the students who participated last year nevada county spirit court will coordinate with high schools to hold dui court proceedings decision about deer creek south can now the d a s can now to consider property owners demands for a thorough study of the environmental impacts related to replacing the historic flue moves during a special november twenty eighth meet attorney stephen stephen stephan volker representing trevor and sue robins who own fourteen acres adjacent to the canal noted the environmental impact will be significant in the proceedings with the construction without an environmental impact report would violate california environmental quality act or the c e q c e q case clearly this is a complicated project and there's a lot of state when a public agency is faced with such an issue it behooves the agency to leave no stone unturned in order to ensure environmental impacts are addressed he told the board at issue are eight segments of the eighty year old wooden flume system that are proposed to be replaced with elevated steel reinforced seventy two inch pipe  pipes are the final piece in upgrading the original thirty one segment the canal flows from lower scott's flat reservoir across floor better mountain to the glen book brazen and is a key water supply source for western  the eight segments in the question are near banner mountain trail road big blue road gold flat road and apple orchard road the finish system will increase the d a s canal delivery capacity by fifty percent and meet downstream water needs in western and southern nevada county the placement materials and appearance of the new pipes as well as the dramatic increase in wonderful wars a study detailed study according to several property owners who own land with sixty foot an i easements and ideally has maintained that there will be no significant impacts on the environment with mitigated measures and the board was scheduled to adopt a mitigated negative declaration during last week's meeting that vote with postponed  and id personnel will address raise concerns as scheduled for the matter for further consideration by the board in january bowker on behalf of rob and also presented testimony from two professors who have conducted recent field inspections and site environmental concerns geology professor a radius robert curry told an id board that flume number nineteen must cross to deeply incised his cox ravine and will require the most percent that is seventy cubic feet of water per second creates an environmental impact of its own that is a lot of water it will support fifty thousand more homes in this area that amount of water even if it's just supplied for two hundred days is worth more than thirteen million a year in revenue the possibility of inducement to urban growth is a significant environmental impact without dealing with this use simply you're leaving yourself vulnerable he told the board another professor cited by volcker was paid to feel or senior b botanist and conservative equal are just with w s p environmental straight strategies in oakland who conducted a field inspection on november fourteenth two thousand and seven as you noted that there would be significant impact on wetlands locate i want to point three acres on big blue road by flu number seventeen detailed his concerns on a more personal level a segment of the flow is about one hundred feet from his homes back doors the side of an open flume with rustic wood frame and cross members and the flowing water in full unmatchable he told the board during wednesday's meeting the scene is perfect nothing short of being in tom sawyer's island disneyland or persons general are we have found a home that i want to live on my live out my life in that is and tell this d s flume replacement project came along his concerns are that tree and vegetation destroyed during construction will not return until after many years in that steel pipes will be unsightly and will devalue his property he suggested and i dish you consider building modern replica of open bloom in the same location and alignment as the original if you choose to move forward with this project as it is there will certainly be a high risk it will end up in court he said i urge you read you reject the initial study and mitigated negative declaration and demand the right thing both legal and moral which is a full environmental impact report for its part and id says it is trying to provide more water to gum stream residents while also addressing concerns about three residents when replacement project by two thousand and nine if there is a new and increased raw water sales in areas supplied by the d s canal has been in place since january and i do water superintendent larry markey said he has to tell people just about every day that water is not available until the system can be upgraded at last wednesday's mean several speakers from scrap bark rough and ready recording road reiterated that they are in need of water now for example george for the in any enhancements any further delays and we will be damned see what's next and id personnel will look into the environmental concerns raised at wednesday's public hearing and the board will take up the matter again in january i appreciate the modifications that have been made to the environmental document but it wasn't enough said and i did board member nancy whether in closing remarks that wednesday's meaning in terms of empathy for all the people involved we have a ways to go if we have been responsive at the beginning we wouldn't be sitting in this room at loggerheads with each other this is a hard way to do it and there you have it for the long local news today bidding against the sophisticated fine art buyers which they don't you don't see every day said julian whose company julian's auction ran the charity sale friday and saturday for most parts metal heads were outbidding the art crowd three hundred dollars disco snickers bar and twenty six hundred twenty five dollars and a pair rocker trademark around glasses one for fifty two hundred fifty dollars julian said i was one factor made ordinary items command big ticket prices moments and memories of playing with his kids as they grew up the table vengefully ended up on the auction block and running eleven thousand two hundred fifty dollars the auction brought in eight hundred thousand dollars more than twice the nodule in predicted all proceeds from sales go to sharon osborne colon cancer program at cedar sinai medical center for celebrity garage sale it was pretty spectacular julian said and out of san francisco a man carried a semiautomatic handgun approached a group of san francisco police officers saturday afternoon and with a smile handed over pistol in exchange for one hundred fifty dollars in gift cards i used to fire it at bottles or do some planking in the wood sent to guns owner forty eight year old  but i have a six year old daughter now and my wife was uncomfortable with it being in the house for a few hours on a sunday yet briskets saturdays san francisco police officers accepted one hundred guns from about eighty people in the city second gifts for guns event the first event july brown one hundred seventeen handguns and two shotguns the idea is to make the streets seem a little safer than his city's murder rate has written says this city's murder rate has risen in recent years san violence another man walked up with a large black gun case he took out a black assault rifle with a folding stock and pistol grip and turned it in twenty years ago you couldn't buy a gun like that legally in california or where you could i'm sorry some once in a police custody their guns are checked with the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms to see if they were stolen always said ninety nine percent of the guns recovered are destroyed and if the guns were stolen they are returned to their owners if possible participants receive one hundred dollars gift cards for turning in rifles or shotguns hundred fifty dollars for revolvers or semiautomatic pistols and two hundred dollar cards for assault type weapons like a k forty seven s but not everyone participating in the gun program saturday believed it was helpful peter buxton a seventy year old gun advocate turned into prison saturday that he said were worthless he collected three hundred dollars in gift cards you can buy junk guns for ten dollars and then use the gift cards to buy new guns he said i saw have doesn't uniformed you son francisco police officers taken off the street to sit in for hours in city hall photo op instead of patrolling certain drug ridden gang infested neighborhoods i was a sour grapes person was the montana college student accused of shoving a pumpkin pie into the face of the shopping mall santa claus was being charged with a misdemeanor assault clint westwood not to be confused with clint eastwood twenty said that after the pirate is expected to approach center for a signature on a film release form but police arrived first it's a good thing he didn't wait around because i think santa would have laid him out and sergeant music police department westwards said he and companions had waited for a girl about fifteen years old to finish sitting on santa's lap before the pieties face but then we just decided it would be funnier if she was still sitting there and another hot spot as a ride on the bridge north and downtown north san juan and twenty two nine three one eight i wait forty nine next door to the brass rail great cafe opened its door on thanksgiving ridge top cafe hosted  beautiful belle starr doesn't get a call made bakery with coffee shop was sitting inside and outside the decor is done in an atmosphere is very relaxed it's an art deco t v open monday through friday from six am to three pm and eight am to three pm on saturdays and sundays this one guard paradise was a greatly anticipated spot to come and wake up in the morning is a great idea back as a level patio area that is very will offer some music and art of events in the upcoming months could be special events on the weekends and early into the night if you're looking for pies and this is a spot to bake organic apple organic duncan organic gone organic sweet potato organic cheesecake if you don't see it just let him know when you might be on the menu next week bill starr who is famous with your involvement with the group to trash the original outrage that has been a yearly modeling event for attire that's right it's time for the police blotter to pictures and a blogger not from these actual bands but use for visual aids only v news is on monday and through friday three pm and seven thirty pm every day on n c t v channel eleven comcast cable and also if you t v news would also like to thank our underwriters and the union you