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Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic Food is served at the Wednesday Club’s Dickens–themed Christmas party, Wednesday.

Dickens

From Page One

1850,” Hanson wrote. “We have a lady in our club, Pat Broschard, who reads so well. I love her voice so I had her read ‘The Gift of the Magi.’ She was wonderful.”

Barb Gardener handled the role of Scrooge, wearing a nightshirt and cap to wish all a resounding “bah humbug.”

“Our Ghosts were straight out of George C. Scott’s Dickens movie,” Hanson wrote. “They were Jean Kelly, Victoria Cook and Hannelore Baffico.”

Evelyn Wickham portrayed of Jacob Marley’s ghost. Her husband Gregg Wickham led the carol singers.

Penny Fisher and Lynden Knoff were Mr. and Mrs. Fezzywig. Ed Houk and Donna Schmid were the Cratchits.

Hanson’s son, Andrew Hanson, and his wife, Sherri Hanson, traveled from Sacramento to play Father Christmas and to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas as he stood on the porch of the club greeting the guests.

The production took four days to set up.

Hanson wrote in her email that it was wonderful to be back together in the Sacramento Street clubhouse. Some had not been together in a very long time. It was like an old home week, Hanson wrote.

Club members will not rest long on their laurels.

The annual crab feed is Feb. 5. Tickets are $80. Call Pam Wright and 707432-0922 for tickets.

The annual spring fashion show is “Fantasy Island” and is scheduled April 13.

Russia

From Page One

sanctions targeting Russia’s biggest banks and its foreign exchange access, people familiar with the matter said last week. Yet banning Russia’s access to the Swift payments system would harm ordinary citizens, so officials are more inclined to go after its ability to convert rubles into Western currencies, the people said.

Germany’s new government, which includes the Green party, has come under pressure to link the fate of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Russia backing off Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose Social Democrats previously backed the natural gas link as Angela Merkel’s junior partner, hasn’t tipped his hand yet.

Biden on Saturday warned Russia of “devastating” economic penalties if it attacks Ukraine and said more U.S. and NATO troops would be sent to defend allies. Separately, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke with her German counterpart on Friday to discuss steps that could “impose severe costs on Russia’s economy” if needed.

With increasing numbers of troops and military equipment deployed near Ukraine’s border, the U.S. has warned for weeks that Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn up plans for an invasion that could take place in early 2022. Putin has denied any intention to invade.

Putin and Biden spoke on a two-hour video call last week, in which the Russian said he’d be prepared for an in-person meeting, according to footage shown on the Rossiya-1 TV channel on Sunday.

That’s “pretty unlikely” right now, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and backed a separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine in 2014, the U.S. has imposed a series of sanctions, including travel bans, asset freezes and finance and trade restrictions. Those measures, and European economic sanctions, have failed to dislodge Russia or halt fighting in eastern Ukraine.

A senior State Department official expressed confidence on Saturday that a broad group of countries, including other G-7 nations, would join in imposing costs on Russia if it moved on Ukraine.

G-7 members agree that changing European borders by force would have “enormous political and economic consequences,” Annalena Baerbock, appointed last week as Germany’s first female foreign minister, said in comments on ARD television.

River

From Page One

early Tuesday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s precipitation map on Sunday morning showed that over the past 24 hours, San Francisco International Airport recorded 0.07 inches of rain, while Oakland International Airport saw 0.08 inches. In Concord, 0.12 inches were reported, Kentfield in Marin County saw 1.14 inches, while 0.91 inches of rain fell in Santa Rosa.

The Sierra Nevada, especially the peaks, will see up to 10 feet of snow from this “very cold system,” Lorber said.

Later Sunday, an unstable air mass was expected to move into the Bay Area that “could trigger some thunderstorms” into late Monday morning through the evening, Lorber said. The thunderstorms will probably be isolated over the waters and along the coast, he said, but have the potential to “drop large amounts of rain in a short amount of time over a relatively small area.”

The region is in for chillier temperatures as well, Lorber said. Highs Sunday and Monday were forecast to be about 5 to 7 degrees cooler than normal for most of the Bay Area, and about 10 degrees below the average on Tuesday, Lorber said. High temperatures Tuesday are likely to only reach the low 50s in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, he said.

An advisory warning of “dangerously strong winds” was scheduled to go into effect at 4 p.m Sunday and last through 10 a.m. Monday for the immediate Bay Area, encompassing the San Francisco Peninsula, East Bay, South Bay and Santa Cruz.

“We could see some gusty southerly winds” at 15 to 25 mph and gusts reaching 30 to 40 mph, topping 50 to 55 mph along the coast and hills, Lorber said.

The storm system will continue to move into Southern California, but the Bay Area won’t have much of a break before more rain rolls in, according to the weather service.

“A secondary system is going to come through Wednesday afternoon into Thursday evening,” Lorber said. “It’s definitely not as potent as this current system, and could drop another half inch to an inch of rainfall with higher amounts in the North Bay...It doesn’t look like the winds will be as strong with this system.”

Lorber said such rainy weather systems are normal this time of year, as the region enters “peak rainfall season.” December is one of the highest rainfall months for the Bay Area, and atmospheric river events are not uncommon, he said.

The rain is “definitely beneficial, as we’re coming off a pretty dry November” after a good start with rain in October, he said.

“This rain will give us a nice boost and help allay fire concerns, especially for the southern portion of California,” he said. “It will be really beneficial throughout the state.”

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Match three in order for top prize; combinations for other prizes. tornadoes that leveled parts of Kentucky that was unusual.

“I don’t think we have ever seen one this late in the year. But it’s also historic. Even the severity and the amount of time this tornado or these tornadoes spent on the ground is unprecedented,” Criswell said.

When asked if climate change was a factor in the storms, Criswell said: “This is going to be our new normal. And the effects that we’re seeing from climate change are the crisis of our generation.”

Beshear said Saturday at least 10 counties could report casualties.

A 42-year-old woman was killed in Taylor County, Taylor County officials said.

Warren County Coroner Kevin Kirby said his office was working 12 cases related to the severe weather. Kirby said Sunday several were children.

He said the FBI was helping to make identifications.

“There are some children . . . there were several,” said Kirby. “It is a broad range of ages.”

All but one death occurred in the Russellville area.

Eleven people died in Muhlenberg County, Coroner Larry Vincent said. One of the people killed in Mulhenberg County was Brian Crick, a district judge for McLean and Muhlenberg counties. Beshear told NPR’s “Weekend Edition” on Sunday two of the victims were his uncle’s first cousins.

Caldwell County Coroner DeWayne Trafford said in a radio interview that the county had at least four deaths, including a husband and wife.

He said the deaths were all in the Dawson Road area of the county in a 3 1/2- to 4-mile radius.

“This is the worst devastation I’ve seen in my life,” he told WKDZ radio.

In Graves County, 40 of the 110 people working at a candle factory have been accounted for on Saturday. Beshear said Saturday it was highly unlikely the 70 others who were working at the Mayfield Consumer Products factory in Mayfield would be rescued.

Relatives of the 70 employees were asked to come to a church in Mayfield on Sunday with a photo of the missing relative and any additional medical information, according to a Facebook post from Graves County Emergency Management. Beshear said the last successful rescue at the factory was at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday. “It would be a miracle” if other live survivors were pulled from the factory, Beshear said Sunday.

“It’s 15-feet plus of steel,” Beshear said of the site of the Mayfield Consumer Products factory. Cars in the parking lot are also now on top of that pile of rubble.

An official total of the number of killed in Graves County has not been released. Phone calls and emails to Graves County officials have not been returned as much of the area is without power.

Beshear said Sunday the state had opened 11 shelters but only six remain open “ because people have opened their homes.”

Western Kentucky hospitals have been able to manage the surge in the number of people seeking treatment, he said on NPR.

“Local hospitals have received calls from all over Kentucky offering help,” Beshear said. “We have been able to move people who need a higher level of care to other hospitals.”

More than 75,000 customers in Western Kentucky were still without power early Sunday as rescue and recovery operations resumed following a series of deadly tornadoes that tore through the state.

In total 77, 246 households and businesses were without power as of 9:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a website that tracks power outages.

Areas with the most outages include Warren County and Graves County. In Warren County, 12,221 households and businesses were without power as of 9:30 a.m., according to Poweoutage.us, which tracks power outages statewide. In hard-hit Graves County, 5,288 structures were without power, nearly half of the power customers tracked in that county.

Meanwhile, National Weather Service survey teams were still in the process of gathering additional information about the tornadoes that hit Kentucky.

One tornado in Western Kentucky had a historic long track and was categorized as being at least an EF-3 tornado. The maximum width of the storm was at least three-fourths of a mile, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service will be gathering data to look at wind speeds and to assess storm strength.

The National Weather Service said winds reached 155 miles per hour in Bowling Green, 115 miles per hour in Hardyville and 105 miles per hour near Falls of Rough. The tornado in Bowling Green was categorized as an EF-3.