Almanac’s Survey Called ‘Full of Prunes’ : Mayor Outraged by Yuba City’s ‘Worst’ Rating

The mayor of Yuba City--until now best known for its almond groves and Juan Corona’s mass murder of 25 farm workers in 1971--says he is outraged by the “worst” rating given his city by a New York-published almanac.

Rand McNally’s new Places Rated Almanac gave the quality of life in the Yuba City area, including Sutter County and neighboring Marysville and Yuba County, the 329th position among 329 metropolitan areas in the United States with more than 100,000 population. Pittsburgh, Pa., was No. 1.

Yuba City Mayor Charles Pappageorge told a reporter, “I feel we’ve been dealt a bum deck of cards. I can’t believe someone would be so narrow-minded. I’m basically outraged.”

Said Andy Karperos, superintendent of the Yuba City Unified School District, which got a near-bottom rating in the survey, “I think they’re full of prunes.”

Joe Benatar, chairman of the Sutter County Board of Supervisors, said: “I don’t know where they got their facts. The fact that Pittsburg was rated first suggests to me that someone from Pittsburg paid for the study. They should stick with making maps.”

Marysville Mayor Harold Sperbeck, said the almanac “is the least desirable book to read.”

The ratings were based on nine facets of life, with ratings ranging from one for the best to 329 for the worst. The scoring for the Yuba-Sutter area:

--Health care and environment, 323.

--Transportation, 319.

--Arts, 317.

--Education, 308.

--Recreation, 299.

--Economic outlook, 260.

--Crime, 255.

--Housing, 164.

--Climate and terrain, 68.