Last week, Amador Ledger Dispatch Publisher Jack Mitchell published an opinion piece that was anything but civil. Mitchell fell back into an ugly, old habit I keep hoping he will outgrow: calling people names and demonizing individuals and groups with whom he disagrees.
In this week’s paper, the defamed citizens — and several others — responded. But not in kind. They called Mitchell on his bad behavior. But they also called out for respectful, civil discourse.
One letter-writer even pointed out that Mitchell had engaged in exactly that on his front porch when she knocked on his door to ask him to sign the referendum petition challenging the Gold Rush Ranch approval.
Good people can disagree without being disagreeable, juvenile, disrespectful, and hateful. They can, in the words of the famed negotiating book Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, “Be hard on the problem and soft on the people.”
That’s important everywhere. In small communities like ours, it’s critical. No matter what happens with an issue that causes us to disagree today, tomorrow there will still be neighbors to help, causes to support, and community needs to address. We must build and nurture the relationships that allow us to work together, not allow our differences to tear us apart.
I’m so proud of the good people in this county who realize that and put it into practice every day. They — not the folks who resort to personal attack when they don’t get their way — are our true local leaders. And they are the ones who will help us find a path to a prosperous and sustainable future while preserving the small town and rural values we all hold dear.
Plymouth’s median price listing for today is a two-story home on 2.16 acres, offered at $ 499,000. It has 4 bedrooms and 3-1/2 baths, and an attached garage. This home has 3170 square feet of living space. This beauty, and If you like nice woodwork you will know what I mean by beauty, is WAY DOWN from its original price of $729,000. OUCH! This one is out in the country with wonderful oaks and rolling hills.
This month’s Pine Grove and Pioneer area’s median price listing is a 2/1 with 1057 square feet, on .56 acre. This is a rented Short Sale, offered at $ 227,000. 
Today three listings tie for Jackson’s median price, offered at $ 250,000.A 1498 square foot, three bedroom one and a half bath log home on over ¾ acre, just off of highway 88. A short Sale 3/2 with great views new carpet and paint near the high school. And a 1201 square foot 3/2 not a short sale, with a great patio area in the back overlooking pastures.
The average listing price in Ione is $ 249,737 down about $11k from last month’s $ 260,816. 
These listings have a $ 364,182 average listing price, down about a thousand dollars from last month’s average of $365,571. Not really any change to speak of.
