The week of December 7 through 11 saw the 3rd annual “Hour of Code.” School kids worldwide participated in this global event in more than 180 countries, according to the web site https.code.org.

Donna Lind has been faithfully serving ScottsValley for 47 years. Beginning as the City Hall Secretary when she was a young girl, she transferred to the Scotts Valley Police Department. Even though she transferred to the SVPD, she continued to take minutes for the City Council and the Planning Commission meetings for several more years.

Taxpayers need to protect themselves from scammers who want to steal the identities of unwary people. The California State Board of Equalization warns that identity thieves are becoming very sophisticated in the methods they use to obtain information.

The Scotts Valley Community Theater Guild needs help to improve their website. They need a volunteer who knows how to build and maintain a website to join their Marketing Committee and to take the lead on this important project.

The California Secretary of State’s office released information on November 23, 2015 saying that “thirty-one counties have now successfully deployed VoteCal, the voter registration database that will ultimately serve the entire state. VoteCal will replace the existing 58 county voter registration databases throughout the state.”

Jingle bells may be sounding in your ears and it may be cooler than usual from time to time in the Santa CruzMountains. We may even see more homes with smoke arising from their chimneys this time of the year than we did in the autumn. Unfortunately, the risk of home fires in the U.S. increases during the winter months, and those living in the mountains need to be extra careful.

ScottsValley’s Ashby Confections is one of only three Santa CruzCounty food businesses that have been officially named a finalist in the 2016 Good Food Awards. They are among 263 Finalists out of this year’s 1,937 entries. The other two local finalists are Friend in Cheeses Jam Company from Santa Cruz and Venus Spirits.