Drawing from the Mattole Grange site.

Since May 8th, when volunteer firefighters around the tiny community of the Petrolia helped law enforcement find the vehicle of Shane Miller—the suspect in the deaths of his wife, Sandy, and his two young daughters, Shasta and Shelby—the rural area has been traumatized.  Residents have been afraid of the fugitive and they’ve had to deal with shelter-in-place requests, school closures, frequent searches, large numbers of law enforcement, and check points.  Over the last few days as shelter-in-place has been rescinded and law enforcement has begun to draw down, normal life has slowly been returning to the tiny community.

On Wednesday, May 16th, the Petrolia store resumed regular hours. They posted on the community bulletin board, “…[T]he store will be returning to normal hours today.  That means closing at 5:30pm and opening at 9am Monday-Saturday and 11-5 on Sunday.”

The Farmers Market is open this Sunday and the Mattole Grange is having its monthly pancake breakfast (From 8-11. See photos from last month’s event below)

The community bulletin board which announced the breakfast also says, “Lets get back to the happy and care-free environment that is the Mattole Valley…it is paradise here!! See your friends and swap stories about the last week’s crazy reality, and vent too!I know everyone has some story to tell and it would be nice to get back to our normal happy lives. Breakfast is only $5.00 per person and we bring the food to you and clean up afterwards.”

Life in Petrolia and surrounding areas hasn’t completely returned to normal.  The May Pole festivities have been canceled because the beach is still closed as a result of the continuing search for Miller. However, another 4.0 trembler shook the area Saturday….and that is practically commonplace for a town known as the Earthquake Capital of the US.