The East Sacramento News

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www.valcomnews.com Community News in Your Hands East Sacramento News since 1991 August 15, 2013 Sacto Chicken Co. takes over old Merlino’s Freeze See page 2 School: Meet the new principal at St. Francis .... 5 Janey Way Memories ...............................8 Will Durst at Sierra 2 .............................. 12 Know your neighbor: Amber Stott ........... 13 Sutter’s Landing feature............................ 18 Greek grandmas v. Mulvaney at the 50th Sacramento Greek Festival See page 3 see photo spread page 11

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Within the boundaries of the East Sacramento News are Midtown Sacramento, an up-and-coming center for economic and residential activity; the McKinley Park and Fabulous Forties neighborhoods, homes and homeowners so famous they have been featured in major Hollywood films; River Park, a welcoming community along the American River; and St. Francis High School and Sacramento State University.

Transcript of The East Sacramento News

Page 1: The East Sacramento News

www.valcomnews.comCommunity News in Your Hands

East Sacramento Newssince 1991

August 15, 2013

Sacto Chicken Co. takes over old Merlino’s Freeze

See page 2

School: Meet the new principal at St. Francis ....5Janey Way Memories ...............................8Will Durst at Sierra 2 .............................. 12

Know your neighbor: Amber Stott ...........13

Sutter’s Landing feature ............................ 18

Greek grandmas v. Mulvaney at the 50th Sacramento Greek Festival

See page 3

see photo spread page 11

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� East Sacramento News • August 15, 2013 • www.valcomnews.com Valley Community Newspapers, Inc.

In your neighborhood, but where?Photo by MONICA STARK

The Glenn Dairy, two-story building, is lo-cated at Alhambra Boulevard and Q Street and currently houses doctors’ offices and clin-ics. According to “Sacramento’s Midtown: Sacramento” by the Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center and the Histor-ic Old Sacramento Foundation, the building was owned and operated by Edwin Betschart and C.P. Inderkum, the highly modern Glenn Dairy opened on Nov. 29, 1924. “It was seen as another triumph of Sacramento’s industri-al power. Built at a cost of $120,000, the two-

and-a-half story milk and cream processing plant was an impressive sight at the southwest corner of Alhambra and Q Streets.”

East Sacramento Newsw w w . v a l c o m n e w s . c o m

east sacramento news is published on the first and third Thurs-day of the month and delivered by mail and home delivery in the area bounded by Business 80 on the west, the american River on the north and east and Highway 50 on the south.

Publisher ................................................................ George macko General manager ................................................... Kathleen egan editor ........................................................................ monica starkart Director................................................................. John ochoaGraphic Designer ....................................................serene lusanosales manager ...........................................................Patty colmeradvertising executives:

linda Pohl, melissa andrews, Jen HenryDistribution/subscriptions ................................... George macko

e-mail stories & photos to: [email protected] vol. XXII • no. 16

2709 Riverside Blvd.sacramento,ca 95818t: (916) 429-9901f: (916) 429-9906

cover photo by:steve crowley

other photos:Greg Brown courtesy

Sacto Chicken Co. Takes Over Old Merlino’s Freeze Food Stand

by GREG [email protected]

I must admit: I enjoy the Colonel once in a blue Ken-tucky moon. Yes I “ate the bones.” But it’s always good to think outside the buck-et and check out a local Sac-ramento chicken joint. Com-ing soon: The Sacto Chicken Co…Bucket not included.

That’s right, cruise on down Stockton Boulevard near UC Davis Medical Center and you’ll see the bright, colorful, orange food stand that housed a Sacramento old school orig-inal, Merlino’s Freeze – a unique frozen treat started in

1946 by Bauldie Merlino and his wife Mary.

The historic food stand is coming back to life. A Res-urrection. The new chicken stand on the block is the Sac-to Chicken Co., which will open near Sept. 1.

The Sacto Chicken Co. bills itself as a “No gimmicks chicken joint offering jerk and fried chicken and tasty sides.“ They will be serving crispy fried chicken, tender jerk chicken, fresh squeezed lem-onade, tasty sides, and the ice cold Merlino’s freeze.

The owner, Zak Rever, is very excited about his new chicken joint on Stockton

Boulevard and says he was “drawn to the vibrant and unique Orange Freeze stand right away. I’m a sucker for funky food joints.” Zak said, “I have been eager to bring a ‘Jerk Stand’ taste and feel to Sacramento. The old freeze building accomplishes that!”

“We are also very excited to re-ignite a fun, inviting, and pleasant vibe at our location.”

I have a feeling Zak will give the Colonel a run for his mon-ey. Perhaps the Sacto Chicken Co. will become a Sacramen-to Institution like Merlino’s. Look for the open sign soon.

Sacto Chicken Co. is locat-ed 2790 Stockton Blvd.

photo by Greg BrownOpening sometime around Sept. 1, Sacto Chicken Co. will be serving crispy fried chicken, tender jerk chicken, fresh squeezed lemonade, tasty sides, and the ice cold Merlino’s freeze in the funky joint located at 2790 Stockton Blvd.

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By MONICA [email protected]

Two grandmas Faye Vallas and Voula Cazanis will be ganging up on chef Patrick Mulvaney at the YiaY-ia Cookoff while two or three non-Greek judges decide if they have what it takes to beat out the master chef with their eggplant moussaka.

The showdown happens Saturday Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. at the 50th annual Sacramento Greek Festival held at the convention center.

Faye and Voula are parishners and “they do a really good job cooking,” An-nunciation Greek Orthodox Church Parish Administrator EffieThe-odor said. “Mulvaney — he doesn’t do Greek” so it’s OK he knows ahead of time what the grandmas are mak-ing, she said. “I think the grandmas will have an edge, but only a very small margin I’m sure,” she said. The press re-lease pretty much summed it up: “We all know who we are rooting for.”

Chalk full of lamb or beef, onions and various spices all poured over rice or eaten with bread, Faye’s stifado, her Greek stew that is, sells really quickly at the festival. And Voula makes just about any Greek food item there is.

Mulvaney catered the church’s 90th anniversary much to everyone’s liking. So it should be interesting.

Prior to that, Rick Kushman, Sacra-mento Bee Wine Critic and New York Times Best Selling author, will be dis-cussing the excellence of Greek wines at 3 p.m. at the festival. Those premi-um wines will be available from the bar to accompany festival dining.

And there will be other cooking dem-os through out the festival, so here’s a tip: check out their schedule online.

The festival is jumping on the farm-to-fork bandwagon but truth be told, farm to fork works into the Greek’s culinary lifestyle. “It’s always been like that,” Theodor said.

“A lot of Greeks have their own gar-dens. They use their own fresh ingre-dients. We all have olive trees and fig trees. Those are standard. (Greeks)

like to plant things that will bear fruit.”

Theodor’s dad used to take them to the olive orchards where Coun-try Club Plaza now is. “We would pick olives off the trees. We cured our own olives.”

She said at the festival it’s always inter-esting when someone asks if they have any butter for their bread. The answer is always, ‘no’, but sometimes the explana-tion is that they used all their butter in the cooking. One word: Baklava.

Because if one truly needs a butter fix, they might be encouraged to just buy some Baklava as many layers of dough is separated with melted butter.

Volunteers have been cooking through out the summer to prepare for the big weekend. For instance, a lot of the spanakopitas are already frozen and they are baked every single day at the festival.

While 50 years is a big deal and plenty reason to celebrate, the festival gradually has been getting bigger and better every year. “We’ve always been doing cooking demos and we are try-ing to add a few more (still),” she said.

Over by the bar, there will be a booth that sells squid. “The calamari is excellent. It’s very tender. You gotta get it early. We do sell out,” she said.

There will be a book and print signing by renowned Greek-Amer-ican artist Gregory Kondos. Just off the phone with his wife, Media Re-lations Strategist Rosemary O’Brien said Kondos will be at the Festival on Friday and Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. “And, he is looking forward to en-joying Festival Fries!! They are yum-my Greek French Fries with Feta and Greek seasoning!”

There will be the usual Greek “Plaka” shopping mart featuring clothing, pottery, jewelry, paintings and more. There will be a Greek dance instruction, live Greek mu-sic showcasing the celebrated Takis Kokotas, a Greek Taverna featuring Greek libation and an array of Me-zethes (appetizers). And like usu-

al, there will be a Greek pastry shop (Zaharoplastion) featuring scrump-tious desserts and cookies.

The kids zone will be back and put up center, right by the food so parents can eat and drink while their children have fun. “We see this as a family out-ing. We try to keep them all occupied,” Theodor said.

And when the kids get older, they might be recruited to help out at the festival, running food back and forth to wherever it’s needed.

Not to brag but we really do have tasty food. “It is good. I’ve been to others (Greek festivals). They’re not always as good. I think Sacramento does a very good job in presenting the various foods there are — not really wild spicy but food that appeals to a lot of people .. we do a good job … We have a good community,” she said.

Theodor will be working the a la carte line on Saturday and Sunday where she’s sure to see a lot of familiar faces. “I see a lot of people I haven’t seen all year.” Like Christmas? “Yeah! Like Christmas.”

As the Church recently celebrated its 90th anniversary, major renovations and expansions are in the works. Inside the church building, they pulled up the car-peting and cleaned up the marble un-derneath. And they are currently raising funds for the expansion of the educa-tion and administration buildings that will replace their aging counterparts.

Currently the church is in the fund-raising stage, though “we have some money in the bank and we are hoping to build in the next couple of years,” Theodor said.

Theodor’s expecting the new building will fit right into the neighborhood and she’s hoping the new space will be used for

the annual festival. “The festival used to be on the church grounds, but you just start growing and you don’t have space for cook-ing and storing stuff .. But, somewhere down the line once we rebuild that entire courtyard area, we are hoping to bring the festival back to the home grounds. That way you could do a tour of the church. It’s a different feel. It’s not just one big open area like the convention center.

It would be nice for people to be able to sip their coffee and enjoy the festi-val outdoors, but also have the oppor-tunity to go inside if they want.

“We will have to see… probably will get the big crowds but will accommo-date it somehow,” she said. She even sug-gested they might use parking lot as po-tential festival space, noting however: “It does a problem for parking. It would be a good problem to have. When we get to that we will figure it out. God helps us out a lot around here,” Theodor said.

50 years in the making:

Photos courtesy of Effie TheodorAbove left: BaklavaAbove right photo from the left: Faye Vallas, Executive Chef Patrick Mulvaney, and Voula Cazanis.Left: Gregory Kondos, “White Boat”

IF YOU GO:WHAT: 50th annual Sacramento Greek Festival, featuring food, dancing, cooking workshops and more at the Sacramento Convention Center.WHEN: Aug. 30, 31 and Sept. 1. Festival hours: Friday, Aug. 30, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 31: noon to 11 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 1: noon to 10 p.m.COST: General admission for ages 12 and up is $5. Children under 12 are free. There will be free admission on Friday Aug. 30 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For a complete listing of events, visit:/www.annunciation.ca.goarch.org/?q=content/greek-festival-program

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By SuSAN [email protected]

This month, the halls at St. Francis Catholic High School are filled with fresh, new faces, eager for all the new school year will bring.

Among those new faces all the all-girls high school is that of Theresa Young Rodgers, the school’s new prin-cipal. Her favorite color is red, she loves spumoni ice cream and her fa-vorite sport is women’s volleyball. She played the sport in high school.

But there is a lot more to this new-ly-married school administrator than meets the eye.

She is a woman of great depth of character. This is a good thing, be-cause Rodgers comes to a campus facing some changes. During the last two years, several key staff at the school retired or relocated. A much-loved art teacher died in an accident off campus last December. Add new technologies, including iPads in the classroom, unstable economies and a changing world...it can be quite a challenge. But it is a challenge Rodg-ers is up to.

“Change can be difficult for some, and there are several new faces on cam-pus this year,” she said. “(However), I believe that these changes are bringing rejuvenation to campus: new energy, fresh ideas and a different perspective. It is my goal this year to build relation-ships on campus, to get to know the students, staff and parents. I am very much looking forward to this.”

Rodgers believes in “educating the WHOLE child – that is: spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and physical-ly; the most important being the spiri-tual. I believe my job as an educator is to empower our young women to be the best version of themselves – to grow in holiness and to change the world.”

A California native, Rodgers earned her master’s degree and teaching cre-dential from U.C. Berkeley. She earned her teaching credential from Chapman University and holds a bachelor’s de-gree in English a graduate of the Uni-versity of La Verne in Southern Calif.

Right out of college, she taught Eng-lish for two years in American Samoa, then came home to California to teach at Antioch and Clayton high schools. For the last nine years, she was the assistant principal at Dublin High School.

Rodgers will replace outgoing Prin-cipal Patrick O’Neill, who will take over the principal’s office at nearby St. Mary’s School in East Sacramento. He is delighted with the position, and is also pleased that St. Francis will have an outstanding new principal.

“We are blessed to have her,” he said. “Theresa is really ‘good people.’”

Theresa Young married the love of her life, Robert Rodgers, on her

40th birthday, last September. The couple honeymooned in Rome. Since her husband works in the Bay Area, the couple will relocate from Brent-wood to a location that works for both of them.

Rodgers didn’t know about St. Fran-cis High until she visited the Diocese of Sacramento website to look for a job for a friend.

“When I came across the principal-ship opening (at St. Francis), I jumped on it,” Rodgers said. “Once I got the job, I realized how many people from the Bay Area have connections to the school and how highly St. Francis is regarded.”

The Catholic faith is an important part of Rodgers’ life. “It is the center of my life,” she said.

In many ways, Rodgers feels that the position of principal at St. Francis High School is a divine calling. There are many signs. But one in particular got her notice.

While in Italy, the newlyweds picked up souvenir tiles to give to friends upon their return. They kept one to hang in a prominent place in their home.

“We were in Assisi, where Saint Fran-cis – the actual saint – lived,” Rodg-ers said. “The tiles said ‘Pax et Bonum,’ which is Latin for ‘Peace and Goodness.’ When I interviewed at St. Francis (the high school), and learned the school’s motto is ‘Pax et Bonum’ … I almost got chills. So many coincidences.”

Rodgers is looking forward to the new school year with joy and excite-ment.

“St. Francis is rich in history and tradition. I am still learning about the traditions and the myriad opportuni-ties our school offers our students in all areas,” she said. “ There is no doubt that our girls excel in everything they do. What makes St. Francis so won-derful is the foundation of faith, which creates a unique and support-ive campus community.

“ This is my dream job!” she contin-ued. “I have wanted to be a Catholic school principal for a long time and just needed the right fit. St. Francis is a perfect fit for me…The St. Fran-cis staff has welcomed me with open arms. I had some wonderful transi-tion time with Patrick O’Neill, out-going principal, which was invalu-able. He did an amazing job leading the school and was very gracious in sharing his knowledge and experi-ence with me.”

St. Francis High School has a stan-dard to which each Troubadour strives: The Four Pillars. These are: Faith, Ex-cellence, Leadership and Service. As the school moves forward, Rogers sees the first pillar, Faith, as a foundation stone as well.

“I want each of our young women to understand her dignity as a child of God,” Rodgers said. “I want our young women to have a better understanding of their own unique God-given gifts and talents, through which they will change the world. I want them to have a strong, articulate understanding of the Catholic faith and to grow in their own spirituality.”

St. Francis High School welcomes new principal to campus

Photos courtesy of St. Francis High SchoolPrincipal Theresa Rodgers and two students in leadership, Ashley Kyalwazi anvd Martina Penalosa.

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By MARTY [email protected]

The advent of the drive-in movie dates back to 1933, but it reached its peak of popularity in the 1950s and 60s. By that time, American culture had become much more mobile, and taking your car to the drive-in sym-bolized that new mobility.

My first memory of going to the drive-in dates back to the late 1950s. By that time, my father had left the Sacramento Police Department’s Patrol Division and transferred to the Detective Division, so he got more week-ends off. That change worked out great for our family.

One summer evening, dad said, “Let’s go see a movie.” So, mom

made up a big bag of popcorn, threw some sodas in the ice chest and off we went. We drove to over to Stockton Boulevard, then head-ed south. As we approached Fruit-ridge Road, dad turned right by a tall hedge and drove into the Fruit-ridge Drive-in. When we reached the ticket booth, dad showed his police badge to the attendant, and she waved us on. We thought, wow, that’s cool.

Into the drive-in we rolled. Dad turned into a lane with available spaces, and then parked in the mid-dle of the lot. There, he exited the car and laid out a blanket in front of it. My brothers and I set out on the blanket to watch the film while mom and dad set in the front seat of the car. It was a blast.

After that, we went to the Fruit-ridge Drive-in many times. I re-member seeing great films like “the

Lilies of the Field”, “Cool Hand Luke”, and “In the Heat of the Night” at the drive-in.

By the time, I hit 16 years of age; I often attended drive-in movies with my friends. I re-member one night, Bob Pesce drove up in his red 1960, Ford Fairlane convertible and said, “Let’s go see Fireball 500 (a film about stock car racing) at the Starlite Drive-in. Lou Viani and I checked our wallets and said, “ We are broke.” Bob said, “Don’t worry, I will sneak you in.”

So, we hopped in Bob’s car and headed off to the Starlite. As we drove down 47th avenue to the the-atre, Bob stopped and opened his trunk, and said “climb in.” Reluc-tantly, we got in and Bob closed the door on us. It seemed very dark and dank in that small space. I re-member hearing voices as Bob paid the attendant. She must have won-dered about one person going to the movie, but then we moved slowly into the theatre. Soon, Bob opened the trunk door and out we jumped. The movie was very entertaining and the price was right.

These days, the drive-in theatres have virtually all disappeared, but I fondly remember the good times I had watching movies in that set-ting. Nowadays, they are just an-other care-free Janey Way memory.

Janey Way Memories

Drive-in Movies

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Sac State dance collective has the moves; see them perform in September

Dancers have been rehearsing since mid-summer for Sac State’s “New Moves Dance Collective,” a mix of dance styles and works featuring original student choreography. Selected pieces explore a search for place, and examine emotion-al honesty. Directed by Lorelei Bayne, performances are Sept. 11-15 in Sola-no Hall’s Dancespace on campus, 6000 J St. Tickets are $5-$12, available at the Sac State Ticket office, (916) 278-4323 or www.csus.edu/sfsc/ticketoffice/ . Contact (916) 278-6368.

Photo by Craig Koscho, Sacramento State

“New Moves Dance Collective” includes Meghann Van Vliet, left, Jeremy Garrett, Gawzong Vang, Alexander Karavay, Linda Starrie Le and Diego Campos.

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Faces and Places: The McKinley Playground grand openingPhotos by STEPhEN [email protected]

Thank you to our wonderful community for bring-ing back the beloved playground to McKinley Park. It couldn’t have been done without you. Since the grand opening, held Wednesday, July 31, so many children have had the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful new play-ground. The photos here show the children who enjoyed playing there on opening day.

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From LSD to OMG, this will make you LOLBy GREG [email protected]

Nationally known political comedian Will Durst will be performing an all-new show called “BoomerRaging, from LSD to OMG” at the Si-erra II Center in Curtis Park. It’s a tribute to the history, growth, achievements, joys, and the loom-ing doom of the Baby Boom Generation in today’s youth obsessed society. One of the segments is, “Hey you punks, get off my wireless router!”

The show is Friday Aug. 23, 7 p.m. at the 24th Street Theater. There will be complimen-tary drinks from 6 to 6:50 p.m. before the show. Tickets are $20 in advance. Tickets may be pur-chased securely online at humortimes.brownpa-pertickets.com. And $25/30 at the door. Or or-der over the phone at 455-1217.

I spoke with Will Durst over the Internet. I was going to do the Q and A via text message but my thumbs gave out. Here’s it is: The title of your one-man show is From LSD To OMG, which made me LOL. What is the drug of choice of the Baby Boomers these days? That’s the great thing. We Baby Boomers are still doing lots of drugs- only now there’s a co- pay.

Who’s attending your show? Is it all baby boom-ers or are the Gen X or Generation Z’s also at-tending? It’s just a funny, funny show. I’d say we’re getting about 80 percent Baby Boomers and 20 percent others. Including Millennials and Gen Xers, and the Greatest Generation.

What do you think next Generation should be called? Lucky. The Survivors. Enforced Mutators. Gill People.

What topics are you riffing on in the show?The big 3. Sex, drugs and politics. Bunch of oth-er stuff. Pretty inspirational. Some nostalgia. But not a soupcon of regret.

In your one- man show you use an overhead pro-jector. It’s like an old- fashioned power point pre-sentation with jokes! Yes. That’s the point. There’s something warm and fuzzy and comforting about an overhead projector. And in perhaps too apt an analogy, 3M stopped making them last year. Cue the Jaws music.

How are the Baby Boomers coping with all this modern technology? Baby Boomers are technologically limber. We are organic spores of the Space Race. Transistors, television, Tupperware, we were there for all of it. The fork with the built in calorie alarm. That was us. The only problem now, is the pace of change. Change keeps changing so changingly. You got to run twice as fast just to stay in the same place. And our knees ain’t what they used to be.

What first caught my eye about your one-man show at the Sierra 2 Center was complimentary drinks. Huh? What? Oh yeah, that’s right — as much Ensure and Metamucil as you can put down.

See Durst page 13

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Know your neighbor: Amber StottBy MONICA [email protected]

Edibles everywhere!River Park resident Amber

Stott exclaims as she guides me through her backyard . Once a weed patch, her yard was transformed into an edi-ble wonderland with the help of Turf Wars a few years ago and in just a few weeks, on Saturday, Aug. 31, it will be the site of a dinner fund-rais-er for her non-profit, the Cali-fornia Food Literacy Center.

Stott is hoping with the ex-tra dough (tickets aren’t cheap – $250 for a dinner for one) she will be able to hire a vol-unteer coordinator to help run CFLC. Hank Shaw of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook is a good friend of Stott and will be the master chef. He’s a James Beard Award winner, which is the highest honor in food. The price is a tax-deductible donation to CFLC. Ninety-one percent of the students they reach are on free or reduced school lunch, and the meals they make in class are often the last time they eat that day.

There will be limited seat-ing – basically whoever can fit at the bar in Stott’s backyard. “It’s just beautiful when it’s all dressed up for party,” she said.

Hailing from New Jersey, the chef lives in Sacramen-to though he spends so much time in the woods, at the ocean “or wherever else he goes” said Stott. “He’s gone probably 4-5 days a week.”

A foraging-kind of friend, Shaw gave Stott some mush-rooms last week. “I have some nice ones he gave me yes-terday. Some chanterrelle.. Woohooo. I’m really lucky. He’s the nicest guy in the world. So I asked him if he wouldn’t mind cooking a din-ner for us and he was like: ‘Ab-solutely: Where do you want me to do it?’ He’s just great.”

So what’s on the menu? “There will be zucchini, clear-

ly,” Stott said. (She has trouble eating all of it herself.) “Hank has a fun eggplant dish in mind. There’s going to be some fun meats from his personal collec-tion. So that will be a surprise – as far as the meat.”

Her house painted a bright cheery yellow is much like Stott’s cheery personality.

Eager and excited about the life growing in her yard, she laughed a lot during the tour.

Finger lime, lemon grass, herbs, a Meyer lemon, a pineap-ple guava (which came with the house), Asian pear and pluot tree, persimmon, three blueber-ry bushes, persimmon, three blueberries, a spineless edible cactus, two olive trees (which are getting “super tall”), a mature orange tree, gooseberries, a lime tree that produces twice a year and of course, a vegetable gar-den on the side of her detached garage which is chalk full of to-matoes, peppers, egg plant ,mel-ons, herbs, lots of zucchini pret-ty much sums up the food there. Stott laughed when asked what doesn’t she have and said – “trust me, there’s a list.”

Stott was working at a differ-ent non-profit at the time they bought their house five ago and the executive producer of Turf Wars was a volunteer there and was telling Stott about this new show she was working on and Stott eagerly said “pick me. I have this house that has a blank canvas. And she said we were the target demographic.”

So they sent in a couple of pictures and sure enough the yard fit the profile. “We def-initely had a need to make over the space,” she said.

“Everything is growing beautifully now.” Pointing to

some non-edible flowers she motioned with her hands sug-gesting a teeny tiny size and said: “Those purple flowers used to be this big so yeah, it’s just wonderful how everything is coming together.”

Busy with keeping up with the 60 active volunteers and working sometimes seven days a week and sometimes from the moment she wakes until the moment her head hits the pillow, Stott said the workload can “get away from me pretty fast” if “if I’m not constantly checking my email.”

“I’ve pretty much dedicated my life to (the non-profit) so it comes with the territory,” she said.

The nice thing for her though is that she gets to work in paradise – that is from her own home. “I can go outside

for lunch see what’s growing. I’ll just grab some tomatoes, throw them into a bowl, add some olive oil, Mozzarella and basil and call it lunch.”

So Stott does a lot of that – going out to the garden, grab-bing something and eating it in between everything else she has on her plate.

Like the song says, What a drag it is getting old….what’s so fun-ny about losing bone density?Hey, those creaks in my bones keep me alert while driving. And my knees are better at predicting the weather than the guy on TV.

Tweeting or Facebooking? Yes. Indeed. You bet. Both. But it’s frustrating. Finally fig-ure out MySpace and it’s over. “Soooo 2007.” That’s why I know Facebook is doomed. Be-cause I’m on it. And my aunt is on it. No, no. My Aunt.

What are your thoughts on former NBA star turned poli-tician Mayor Kevin Johnson? Go KJ. Keep those Kings in the 916.

Rand Paul. He’s no Ron Paul.

Jerry Brown. Was governor at the age of 36. And again at 72. So we’re go-ing to have to go through this every 36 years. He’ll be 108, just a head in a jar, but run-ning again on the platform of “experience.”

The Royal baby. Feel bad for Harry who dropped to 4th in line of suc-cession. 3 accidents are just so much harder to arrange than 2. Of course, everybody living in the same house helps.

Do you have a favorite comedian? Yes, Leonard Alfred Schneider.

What publications/websites do you read to get all your top-ical information? Politico. NY Times. San Francisco Chronicle. ABC’s The Note. USA Today. The Examiner. The Week.

What do you think of Sacra-mento? Love the Sacratomato. Could live there in a minute if it weren’t for a little thing you call August. Me and triple dig-its- not a match- the board goes back. An inveterate fog lover.

Where was your first onstage experience? Can’t remember. But I do know that at the age of 5, my mother says I asked her where I could go to go to school to learn to become a comedian. And have been at it ever since.

IF YOU GO: What: Fund-raiser dinner for the California Food Literacy CenterWhen: Saturday, Aug. 31Where: At Amber’s house in River Park (you can get the address if you sign up)How to sign up: Visit californiafoodliteracy.org

Photo by Monica StarkAmber Stott in her backyard.

DurstContinued from page 12

Page 14: The East Sacramento News

1� East Sacramento News • August 15, 2013 • www.valcomnews.com Valley Community Newspapers, Inc.

East Sacramento youth gives her prime time to local felinesBy GINA [email protected]

Kate Neubuerger is a 13-year-old East Sacramen-to resident who loves cats. She likes to “ be around animals” even if she has to get her hands dirty. This eighth grader at Coun-try Day School will al-ways schedule her volun-teer work at Happy Tails Pet Sanctuary around her after school activities like karate and skiing.

The cats at Happy Tails Sanctuary are either housed at the Happy Tails Adop-tion Center located at 6001 Folsom Blvd or in an of-ficial Happy Tails foster home. There are even a few fostered dogs available for adoption. The Center was founded in 1993 and is a no-kill, nurturing environment for these cats.

Some of the kitties come from the center’s feral com-munities where unfortu-nately people may leave a cat they can no longer care for but those felines can’t sur-vive among the ferals. Hap-py Tails will take them in to their Catnip Gardens rehab should they need it and find an appropriate placement. There are sad stories of an-imal abuse but with Hap-

py Tail endings and families who can no longer afford to keep a pet. But even though the facility includes a com-fortable space and lots of toys and beds for these cats,

Happy Tails is currently at capacity.

There are many stories about the cats; their person-alities, backgrounds and res-cues. One particular father/

son pair had been aban-doned in front of the Happy Tails building. They are so bonded that when one was adopted he reverted to his feral behavior until he was returned to Happy Tails and was alongside his father. Now they need to be adopt-ed together.

Mary Harrison who works with the junior pro-gram says “ The kids are amazing. We are very for-tunate to have help from youth. We get home-schoolers and youth after school from all over the

area”. The volunteer shifts are 3 hours and there are also adoptions at PetSmart at Arden and Watt on the weekends. They don’t have a mandatory number of hours and are very flexible with schedules.

Kate states “I hope to do this through high school and college and stay around here so I can still have time with cats.” When I grow up I’ll always be surrounded by cat and dogs.” When asked to give advice to other kids who may want to volunteer she says, “It’s fun but be pre-pared to work a little more than you think. It isn’t just playing with cats.”

Happy Tails annual fund-raisers include Saturday, August 31 for the 9th An-nual “Painting For Paws” Art Show & Silent Auction. The artwork is created by the animals of Happy Tails; a painted paw-to-canvas medium. Plus there is orig-inal work from local artists and a silent auction.

There is also Fall Bake Sale to call awareness to an-imal causes on Tuesday, Au-gust 20, 7:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. on 11th & L Street, Down-town Sacramento. This will be outside the north en-trance security doors into the Capitol Building on the plaza. Donations of baked goods are needed.

For more information about these events or how you can get involved, including donating items for the animals, or foster-ing, call Happy Tails at (916) 556-1155, email [email protected], or visit www.happytails.org.

Photo courtesyKate Neubuerger

Page 15: The East Sacramento News

1�www.valcomnews.com • August 15, 2013 • East Sacramento NewsValley Community Newspapers, Inc.

CAPITOL ELECTRIC

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• RAIN GUTTER CLEANING• ROTOTILLING/& SOD PLACEMENT• CONCRETE REMOVAL• HAULING/SPRINKLER REPAIR

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Specializing in installing, sanding, and fi nishing hardwood fl ooring

or repair and refurbish your current fl oors.

Call Michael – (916) 383-8742Lic # 544159/References Available

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Page 16: The East Sacramento News

1� East Sacramento News • August 15, 2013 • www.valcomnews.com Valley Community Newspapers, Inc.

3675 R StreetSacramento, California 95816

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Your services are needed! call (916) 429-9901 and

COMPUTERSGOT COMPUTER PROBLEMS? Pocket Computer Technician. I do on-site visits in the Pocket area. $45/hr. Outside the Pocket area, travel charge will apply. Problem not fixed? No pay! Free estimates/consultation. Call cell# 296-7161

HANDYMANHANDYMAN SERVICES No job too small. Make your “to-do” list and give me a call. Electrical, Plumbing, Tile, Sheetrock,Plaster, Stucco, Repairs and Remodeling, you name it! Lic# 908942. Call Steven at 230-2114.

SUMMER CLEAN UP SPECIALSRain gutter’s cleaned, concrete removal, sod placement, rototilling, pressure washing/power spray, yard work, hauling, painting, tree & shrub removal, general labor, fence repair, odd jobs & more. References available. Licensed. Call Les at 838-1247.

#1 BOOkkEEPER30 yrs. exp. in industries like Auto, Mechanics, Restaurants, Caterers, Massage, Doctors, Chiropractors, Non-Profit, Retail, Martial Arts, Barber, Construction, Wholesale, Investment Clubs, Corp, Partnerships, Sm Business. We are experts in General Ledger, Payroll, Profit & Loss & Quarterlies. Call for yr specialized appt. Same low 1990 rates. Ask for Irene Senst (916) 640-3820, Nevada (775) 410-3422. www.taxirene.info

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HARDwOOD fLOORSREfINISH OR INSTALLInstall, sand & finish hardwood flooring or refurbish your existing hardwood floors. Call Michael at (916) 383-8742. Lic#544159 Ref available

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Holy Spirit Parish & Saint Vincent de Paul Society

Fundraiser-Shred EventSaturday, October 5, 2013

9 a.m. - 12 noon in the Church Parking Lot3159 Land Park Drive

$10.00 donation per file boxProceeds go directly toward food, clothing, furniture, emergency housing and utility as-

sistance to individuals/families in need.

Questions? Please call 922-9521 or church at 443-5442 (on-site shredding by

Iron Mountain Shredding Co.)

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Send your event announcement for consider-ation to: [email protected] at least two weeks prior to publication.

August

Rotary Club of Pocket/GreenhavenAug. 15: Guest speakers address local, re-gional and international topics. Visitors welcome. 7:30 a.m., every Thursday. Avia-tors Restaurant, 6151 Freeport Blvd. (916) 684-6854. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Bi-Polar AnonymousAug. 16: Free 12-step program/support group, for people who have Bi-Polar and those who love them. Meets every Friday,

7-8:30 p.m. 4300 Auburn Blvd., Room 106. (916) 889-5786.–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Kiwanis Club of East Sacramento-MidtownAug. 16: Visitors Welcome, weekly break-fast meeting on first, second and third Fri-days at 7:00 AM and Dinner meeting on fourth Thursday at 6:00 PM. Topical week-ly speakers and ‘first meal for visitors on us’. Meet at The Kiwanis Family House, (at UCD Med Ctr/ 50th St & Broadway) 2875 50th Street Sacramento, CA 95817. www.eastsacmidtownkiwanis.com <http://www.eastsacmidtownkiwanis.com> , Meeting/Membership info: 916-761-0984, volun-teers always welcome!––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

w w w . v A l c o M n e w s . c o Mview this PAPeR online

Page 17: The East Sacramento News

1�www.valcomnews.com • August 15, 2013 • East Sacramento NewsValley Community Newspapers, Inc.

•Art & Crafts Vendors•Sidewalk Chalk Art•30 Musical Acts•Beer Garden•Food Trucks

•Art & Crafts Vendors•Sidewalk Chalk Art•30 Musical Acts•Beer Garden•Food Trucks

•Art & Crafts Vendors•Sidewalk Chalk Art•30 Musical Acts•Beer Garden•Food Trucks

CHALKITUP.ORG

FREE FAMILY FESTIVAL

A B E N E F I T F O R C H I L D R E N S A R T S E D U C A T I O NA CHALK ART AND MUSIC FESTIVAL

Family Campout at Fairytale TownAug. 16, 5:30 p.m. through Saturday, Aug. 17, 7 a.m.Spend the night at Humpty Dumpty’s house. This exciting overnight adventure includes a theater performance, arts and crafts activities, a scavenger hunt, bedtime stories and a sing-along. Wake up the next morning under Fai-rytale Town’s canopy of trees to a light conti-nental breakfast. Prices range from $25-$30 per person and include all activities. Member dis-counts are available. For more information, visit www.fairytaletown.org or call (916) 808-7462. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Fire Station 13 Open HouseAug. 17: The Sacramento Fire Department will be hosting Fire Station Open House from 2 to 4 p.m., located at 1100 43rd Ave. You are invited to bring your family and friends to visit with firefighters, take a tour of the fire station, and more! For more in-formation, call 808-1011.––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Music in Carmichael ParkAug. 18: Capitol Pops Concert Band, 50-piece concert band, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Carmichael Park Band Shell 5750 Grant Ave. 485-5322. www.carmichaelpark.com. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Rotary Clubs of Arden-Arcade, CarmichaelAug. 20: Guest speakers address local, re-gional and international topics. Visitors wel-come, every Tuesday. Arden-Arcade meets at noon, Jackson Catering and Events, 1120 Fulton Ave. (916) 925-2787. Carmichael meets at 6 p.m., Palm Street Pub & Grill, 6416 Fair Oaks Blvd. www.rotary.org. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Soroptimist International of Sacramento North meetingAug. 20: An organization for the better-ment of women and children meets at the atria El Camino Gardens at 2426 Garfield, Carmichael. Call Sheila at 624-4643.––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

East Sac RotaryAug. 21: Meets at noon, Evan’s Kitchen, 855 57th St. Sacramento. www.eastsacrotary.com. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Food trucks at Carmichael ParkAug. 21: From 5 to 9 p.m., enjoy food from various food trucks at Carmichael Park, 5750 Grant Ave.––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Rotary Club of Pocket/GreenhavenAug. 22: Guest speakers address local, region-al and international topics. Visitors welcome. 7:30 a.m., every Thursday. Aviators Restau-rant, 6151 Freeport Blvd. (916) 684-6854. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Kiwanis Club of East Sacramento-MidtownAug. 22: Visitors Welcome, weekly break-fast meeting on first, second and third Fri-days at 7:00 AM and Dinner meeting on fourth Thursday at 6:00 PM. Topical week-ly speakers and ‘first meal for visitors on us’. Meet at The Kiwanis Family House, (at UCD Med Ctr/ 50th St & Broadway) 2875 50th Street Sacramento, CA 95817. www.eastsacmidtownkiwanis.com <http://www.eastsacmidtownkiwanis.com> , Meeting/Membership info: 916-761-0984, volun-teers always welcome!––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Gala opening reception with wine and hors d’oeuvres: Aug. 23: Art at Casa Gardens, featuring creations by David Lobenberg [acrylic wa-tercolor landscape] and Henry Evans [bo-tanical linocut] — from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the Casa Garden Restaurant, 2760 Sut-terville Road, Sacramento; 916-452-2809. Come talk with David Lobenberg and Mar-sha Evans. Tickets $20 each available at www.casagardenrestaurant.org––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Bi-Polar AnonymousAug. 23: Free 12-step program/support group, for people who have Bi-Polar and those who love them. Meets every Friday, 7-8:30 p.m. 4300 Auburn Blvd., Room 106. (916) 889-5786.––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The Humor Times presents Will DurstAug. 23: The Humor Times presents na-tional touring comedian and five-time Emmy nominee Will Durst, in an exclusive Sacra-mento engagement with his all-new show, “BoomeRaging from LSD to OMG.” The one-night-only event will take place at 7 p.m. at the Sierra II 24th Street Theatre, 2791 24th Street, Sacramento. Tickets (which in-clude complimentary drinks), are $20 (or $25 preferred seating) in advance, or $25/$30 at the door. They may be purchased online through Brown Paper Tickets http://humor-times.brownpapertickets.com/. More info: 455-1217, [email protected]––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Music in Carmichael ParkAug. 24: The Count, 60s-90s Classic Rock (with a little soul) from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Carmichael Park Band Shell 5750 Grant Ave. 485-5322. www.carmichaelpark.com. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Jackie Greene Live at Fairytale TownAug. 24: Gates open 6:30 p.m. Concert starts 8 p.m. Sacramento favorite Jackie Greene returns to Fairytale Town for a fifth annual benefit concert. Taking place on the park’s Mother Goose Stage, the outdoor concert supports Fairytale Town’s education programs and park improvements. Ticket prices are $35 in August. For concert rules and restrictions, please visit www.fairytaletown.org. For more information, visit www.fairytaletown.org or call (916) 808-7462.––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

City of Elk Grove Multicultural Festival Aug. 24: The City of Elk Grove is again hosting the annual Multicultural Festival at Elk Grove Regional Park from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This event is Elk Grove’s pre-mier community-wide celebration of diver-sity. More than 5,000 participants are ex-pected to attend the popular event, which features ethnic foods, entertainment, music and fashion shows representing Elk Grove’s diverse community. http://www.elkgrovec-ity.org/multicultural-festival/––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Fire Station 15 Open HouseAug. 24: The Sacramento Fire Department will be hosting Fire Station Open House from 2 to 4 p.m., located at 1591 Newbor-ough Dr. You are invited to bring your fami-ly and friends to visit with firefighters, take a tour of the fire station, and more! For more information, call 808-1011. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Music in Carmichael ParkAug. 25: River City Concert Band, 50-piece concert band, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Carmichael Park Band Shell 5750 Grant Ave. 485-5322. www.carmichaelpark.com. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Get Your Motor Runnin’ and Support Shelter Animals!Aug. 25: TEAM (Teaching Everyone Ani-mals Matter) and car enthusiast group Eu-roSunday will host the first-ever Wheels For Wags – a celebration of cool cars and even cooler Shelter animals – from 8 to 10:30 a.m., to benefit the Sacramento County Animal Shelter. This free family-friendly and dog-friendly event will feature rare, exotic and vintage cars from around the Sacramento area. Attendees can also tour the Shelter and win prizes in a fabulous raf-fle, with all proceeds benefiting Shelter an-imals. Attendees that bring a donation of dog or cat food will receive three free raf-fle tickets! 3839 Bradshaw Road (between Highway 50 and Kiefer) in Sacramento. For more information on Wheels for Wags 2013, contact TEAM at 916-876-PETS,

email [email protected], or visit www.sacanimalshelter.org, or check out Eu-roSunday at EuroSunday.net or Facebook.com/EuroSunday. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Rotary Clubs of Arden-Arcade, CarmichaelAug. 27: Guest speakers address local, regional and international topics. visi-tors welcome, every tuesday. Arden-Ar-cade meets at noon, Jackson catering and events, 1120 Fulton Ave. (916) 925-2787. carmichael meets at 6 p.m., Palm street Pub & Grill, 6416 Fair oaks Blvd. www.rotary.org. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

East Sac RotaryAug. 28: Meets at 6 p.m., Evan’s Kitchen, 855 57th St. Sacramento. www.eastsacrotary.com. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Rotary Club of Pocket/GreenhavenAug. 29: Guest speakers address local, re-gional and international topics. Visitors welcome. 7:30 a.m., every Thursday. Avia-tors Restaurant, 6151 Freeport Blvd. (916) 684-6854. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Bi-Polar AnonymousAug. 30: Free 12-step program/support group, for people who have Bi-Polar and those who love them. Meets every Friday, 7-8:30 p.m. 4300 Auburn Blvd., Room 106. (916) 889-5786.–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Kiwanis Club of East Sacramento-MidtownAug. 30: Visitors Welcome, weekly break-fast meeting on first, second and third Fri-days at 7:00 AM and Dinner meeting on fourth Thursday at 6:00 PM. Topical week-ly speakers and ‘first meal for visitors on us’. Meet at The Kiwanis Family House, (at UCD Med Ctr/ 50th St & Broadway) 2875 50th Street Sacramento, CA 95817. www.eastsacmidtownkiwanis.com <http://www.eastsacmidtownkiwanis.com> , Meeting/Membership info: 916-761-0984, volun-teers always welcome!––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

50th annual Sacramento Greek FestivalAug. 30, 31 and Sept. 1: Food, dancing, cooking workshops and more at the Sacra-mento Convention Center. Festival hours: Friday, Aug. 30, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Satur-day, Aug. 31: noon to 11 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 1: noon to 10 p.m. General admission 12 and up: $5. Children under 12 are free. Free admission on Friday Aug. 30 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For a complete listing of events, visit: http://www.annunciation.ca.goarch.org/?q=content/greek-festival-program––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Join the neighbors for a good ol’ fashioned Sweat-a-thon on Saturday, Aug. 17 from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Win raffle prizes, pick up some great gear, and support a great cause! Join us for a good ol’ fashioned Sweat-a-thon. Win raffle prizes, pick up some great gear, and support a great cause! For tickets, visit www.McKinleyParkCenter.org

Page 18: The East Sacramento News

1� East Sacramento News • August 15, 2013 • www.valcomnews.com Valley Community Newspapers, Inc.

The future of Sutter’s Landing:

Open space, solar park, BMX park, or McKinley Village thoroughfare

By MONICA [email protected]

Sutter’s Landing is at an important crossroad and visions for its future are aplenty. There are the en-vironmentalists and nature lovers who want it pre-served as open space with a nature-centered park. There are BMX-ers who would love to see the old landfill a 5-acre BMX track. Ideas of soccer fields and solar panels have been thrown around. And most recently, the Sacramento Bee reported that Caltrans is looking to either Sutter’s Landing or McKinley Village sites as possible places for devel-oping a new railyard and maintenance facility.

But how can all or some of these visions be com-bined and shared? How can the community work together to come up with a shared vision?

Community meetings have been held, one recent-ly at the skatepark on Wednesday, June 19, where about 200 concerned citizens who are interested in helping set the direction for future park develop-ment gathered to discuss their vision.

Rather than placing solar panels atop the old landfill, some people have recommended increasing the amount of shade in the dog park and picnic ar-eas by moving additional solar panels there instead.

Late last year, the city received a $1.5 million grant by the California Natural Resources Agen-cy, which is meant to be used to improve Sutter’s Landing Park. Sacramento was likely chosen be-cause of the site’s historical significance and the wide community support for one of the City’s most valuable amenities.

Councilmember Steve Cohn stated then that they were successful landing this grant “because the com-munity spoke with one voice on the need to restore the natural river habitat at this unique location.”

Specifically, the money will be used to extend the multi-use Two Rivers Trail three-quarters of one mile from the Park east to the Union Pacific main-line tracks next to the Business 80 highway. (Cur-rently, the City’s Two Rivers Trail starts at Tiscor-nia Park and ends at State Route 160, a total of two miles.) At the end of the trail, there will be a turn-around loop with interpretive panels and seating. The City expects a future phase will connect the trail from the railroad tracks to CSU-Sacramento.

The project will restore more than three acres on the banks of the American River with native un-derstory vegetation, and provide interpretive sig-nage. The project will serve as an historic gateway to the 31.5-mile American River Parkway, which sees about eight million visitors per year.

According to a 2006 survey commissioned by the City, local residents have strong opinions about how

the future park and recreation properties should be developed. Top priority included “large habitat ar-eas for walking and hiking, where interpretive and educational programs can take place; 71 percent of the community at-large and 68 percent of registered voters selected that as their number one priority.

“Second priority is to develop parkways and areas along the American Riverbank that can accommo-date large groups of people, picnics, and family-ori-ented attractions; 66% of the community-at-large and 74 percent of registered voters.

“Third priority is to construct amateur sports complexes for all ages that would make possible re-gional, statewide, and perhaps national events, such as state play-offs in soccer, baseball, etc.”

To the Friends of the River Banks, Sutter’s Land-ing is the only place where Sacramento has the op-portunity to preserve such natural beauty in the heart of the city. “It could be an exciting regional nature park, the Gateway to the American River, with gathering places, trails for hiking and biking, canoe/kayak launch, amphitheater, nature center, and much more,” wrote Laurie Litman in an email to members of the group. “Future generations will thank us,” she said.

To FORB, soccer fields and solar panels can be placed anywhere but this special riparian habitat along the American River, home to all manner of wildlife, cannot be re-created.

The fact that Sutter’s Landing was a landfill will put constraints on the site, but landfills have been converted to nature preserves in other places and FORB urges the city to explore new technology and innovative, creative techniques to do that here.

According to the group’s website, www.friend-softheriverbanks.org, they have been collecting in-formation on species found around the Sutter’s

Landing area for five years. At least 102 species of wildlife, not counting all the amazing invertebrates (including insects) have been documented there. This includes 81 species of birds, 15 mammals, 6 reptiles, and 3 amphibian species.

To avid BMXers group, having a 5-acre BMX track atop the old dump is something that will pro-vide youth to enjoy. As Bob Horowitz encouraged the city: “Please do what you can to accommodate the pump track (a modified BMX style dirt track). The city needs more healthy activity for local youth. A pump track is a perfect fit for Sutter’s Landing.”

Upon agreeing with the need for more activities for youth to do, River Park resident David Moffatt noted how Sacramento has a very healthy and active cycling community. “If done properly, this area (Sector 12) could be a regional destination … Developing for use by bikes will help take pressure off of the bike trail and offer a healthy alternative to young people look-ing to express themselves in an individual manner.”

Moffatt also criticized the possibility of solar pan-els going up if they will impact the said “I’d like to go on record by stating I am concerned that the pro-posed ‘photovoltaic park’ does not constitute what one might consider to be defined as the intended use of a park or open space. I’d like some clarity on how this designation ‘photovoltaic park’ falls into the category of a park.”

Litman said it’s not that the group is anti-BMX. “It’s that our concern about a BMX track is that, like we’ve seen with the dog park, once people are in the vicinity they don’t stay at the facility but come down to the river and off-road bikes are already causing a lot of damage to the river habitat. We just think there needs to be an overall vision that protects the natural resources and the amenities at the park should be ap-propriate to that vision.”

American River – (File photo) All other photos by Monica StarkSutter’s Landing sign welcomes visitors to the beautiful park.

Overlooking the old city dump. The dog park at Sutter’s Landing.

Page 19: The East Sacramento News

1�www.valcomnews.com • August 15, 2013 • East Sacramento NewsValley Community Newspapers, Inc.

SACRAMENTO RIVER CATSgames are fun for the entire family!

Buy tickets today at rivercats.com or by calling 800.745.3000

Toyota Family Value TuesdayEnjoy $1 hot dogs & desserts, yum!

Free Parking Wednesdaypresented by Jiffy Lube

Mom & dad will love Free Parking!

Fireworks FridayFireworks are now on Friday nights too!

Sutter Health Fireworks SaturdayFireworks light up the Sacramento Skyline!

U.S. Bank Sunday FundayEnjoy kids run the bases & player autographs plus face painters and

balloon artists!

Don’t miss these fun family events:

Scholarships available through Sacramento Pioneer AssociationBy LANCE [email protected]

The Sacramento Pioneer Association – a 159-year-old organization that was founded by early prominent Sacramentans such as Gov. John Bigler, C.P. Hunting-ton, Mark Hopkins, August Heilbron, B.F. Hastings and Dr. John Frederick Morse – is presently offering history themed scholarships for high school students.

During an interview with this publication last week, River Park resident Monica Pope, the association’s presi-dent, shared details regarding the organization’s scholarship opportunities.

“About 10 years ago, we be-gan presenting scholarships to high school students who were passionate about the history of our region,” Pope said. “These scholarships are available once a year and are awarded at our annual pio-neer dinner every March.”

Pope added that the schol-arship review committee looks for the students’ degree of commitment and person-al growth as a result of vol-unteering, and authenticity in the interest of the volunteer endeavor.

The scholarships are avail-able to junior and senior stu-dents in high schools in the Greater Sacramento area who have volunteered at museums that promote the history of Sacramento and surrounding regions.

These scholarships, which are in the amount of $500 each, are designed to be used for the recipients’ future his-torical education pursuits.

Pope said that the associ-ation is eager to spread the word about the scholarships, so more students have the opportunity to compete for these scholarships.

Since the establishment of the association’s scholarship program, about 20 area stu-dents have been awarded schol-arships, and no more than two scholarships have been pre-sented in a single year.

The most recent recipients of the award were Sacramen-tans Amanda Wong and Ma-rie Milan.

Wong, who volunteered as a historical interpreter at the 2011 Gold Rush Days

in Old Sacramento and be-came a docent at the Cali-fornia State Railroad Mu-seum in 2012, was inspired by her grandfather to study California history.

In her pioneer scholarship essay, Wong, in regard to a positive history research re-lated experience with her grandfather, wrote: “We had never bonded until our shared love for American his-tory was revealed. One night, I was preparing for a presen-tation on the Chinese influ-ence on the Gold Rush when my grandfather arrived. As I explained to him my activi-ties, he surprised me with his prior knowledge. It sur-passed mine completely. We begun (sic) to talk and de-bate our interpretations and realized that we shared very similar passions. After that, the similarities began to pile up. We found that while I was the editor in chief of my high school newspaper, he had been the editor of his college campus newspaper. Where I loved to study the impact of women on history, he loved to study the impact of the Chinese. In each other, we found kindred spirits.”

In expressing her apprecia-tion for her time as a docent, Wong wrote: “Since I have begun volunteering with the California State Rail Road (sic) Museum, I have learned to be confident in my words. This is something that will help me in the future. I plan to go into law, where I will be called to speak before others.”

In her own essay, Milan, who served as a Sacramento History Museum volunteer, also shared details regarding her history related experienc-es.

Milan explained how the museum introduced her to segments of Sacramento his-tory that she had not previ-ously learned during her his-torical studies.

“Seeing the different pic-tures, letters and objects that surrounded me (at the mu-seum) and represented a mo-ment in time of Sacramen-to’s history, I realized I had no idea about what role (Sacra-mento) had in the making of California,” she wrote.

Milan made references to the importance of Sutter’s Fort and the Gold Rush in

California’s history, and their significance in Sacramen-to’s history.And she also ex-plained that her experiences at the museum and working with the tour guides of the underground tours section of the museum led to a memora-ble moment during an under-ground tour.

During that particular tour, she interacting with a couple who required additional as-sistance to enhance their tour experience.

Regarding that moment, Milan wrote: “After hav-ing been in the museum for about six months, I was glad that I had learned so much, because that day I found out that I now truly knew my Sacramento history. As the tour went on, I told them lit-tle stories and things that I thought were most interest-ing, and I remember how as-tonished they were to find out that when the big ark storm hit in 1862, there was an in-land sea that stretched almost 300 miles. That experience of being able to retell the histo-ry of Sacramento to another made me feel proud and suc-

cessful for having shown this other side of Sacramento to someone else.”

In concluding her essay, Milan wrote: “I am grate-ful to the museum and the people there that encour-aged me, because without them I wouldn’t have been able to acquire these quali-ties that help me in the field of engineering for which re-volves around team work. Being able to talk to others and stand my ground on de-cisions are all things that I learned at the museum and are things that will carry on with me throughout my life.”

Essays such as the ones written by Wong and Mi-lan are part of the require-ments that must be fulfilled in order to be considered a candidate for the associa-tion’s scholarships.

All applicants must write a 500 to 1,000-word essay de-scribing an enriching experi-ence while volunteering for a historical organization in Sacramento. The essay must also include details regard-ing skills they learned during their volunteering experienc-

es that relate to their future education and career.

Each nominee must also fill out a form that describes their interest in the cultural or nat-ural history of the Sacramen-to area.

Additionally, applicants must provide one letter of rec-ommendation from the nom-inator volunteer director/co-ordinator.

To be considered a candi-date for a Sacramento Pio-neer Association student vol-unteer history scholarship, students must fulfill the re-quirements for the award and submit their essay and a com-pleted application form to the association by Dec. 10.

The scholarship winners, who will be selected by a re-view group committee desig-nated by the association, will be presented their scholar-ship awards during the asso-ciation’s annual dinner at the Sutter Club at 1220 9th St. on March 13, 2014 at 5:30 p.m.

To obtain a scholarship ap-plication, write to [email protected] or call Lynda Otto at (916) 447-7411.

Page 20: The East Sacramento News

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