March 30

Bill and Carolyn Edwards, Patricia Nemee and Lisa Arioto stand in front of a tifaifai from one of the Moorea mamas. The quilt dates back 60 years and was part of the Rima Rau exhibit.

Locals attend unique quilt exhibit in Tahiti

   Patricia Nemee, Lisa Arioto, and Bill and Carolyn Edwards of Valley Springs just returned from eight nights visiting Tahiti and Moorea in French Polynesia in the South Pacific.

   They were members of the “Insider’s Tour to Tahiti” led by the internationally renowned quilter Dierdra McElroy of Lathrop. She specializes in the Tahitian tifaifai, the Tahitian quilt. 

   The group spent three nights in Tahiti and five nights on Moorea and while there were shown the “true Tahiti” by Dierdra and her Tahitian husband, Heinui. 

   While on Moorea, the women participated in the first cultural exhibition of 62 Tahitian and American tifaifais, called “Rima Rau,” which translates to “handwork”, where they exhibited their own quilts.

   Several of the Moorea mamas exhibited their tifaifais, which had never been shown before and dated back 60 years.  Also while there, Dierdra showed them how to design their own tifaifais to commemorate their trip to Tahiti, which they will now hand appliqué.

   The group stayed at the InterContinental hotels on both islands, swam with the dolphins, got a tattoo, shopped in the markets, bought black pearls, visited with the locals, basked in the tropical sun and learned much about the islands from Dierdra and Heinui.  The tour is an annual event organized by Christine Meny of Your Travel Source in Fairfield.  

March 28

Foothill Fire Protection District Firefighter Bill Estakhri, left, and Assistant Chief Steffen Sommer survey the scene of damage left behind by pipe bombs that were detonated Monday at the South Camanche Mobile Home Park.

Pipe bombs found at mobile home park

By Nick Baptista

   Two pipe bombs discovered during demolition work Monday morning at the Lake Camanche Mobile Home Park forced the evacuation of several nearby residences until the devices were rendered harmless.

   According to Sgt. Dave Seawell, spokesman for the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to the initial call at approximately 10:45 a.m. A dilapidated trailer in the mobile home park was being demolished by a backhoe when a construction worker discovered a suspicious looking object at the scene that appeared to be a pipe bomb.

   Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the site, confirmed the object was an explosive, and requested the bomb team. The deputies then evacuated four or five residences nearby that were threatened.

   During the investigation, a second, similar device was found in the mobile home. Due to the unstable nature of the two explosives, the bomb technicians deemed it was safer to detonate the devices in a pit nearby.

   No injuries or damage were reported.

   According to Capt. Clay Hawkins of the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Division, the devices appeared to be old and unsophisticated. He said the suspects have not been identified and the investigation will be turned over to the detective bureau.  

March 16

Linda Hasbrook, left, Bert Gonzales and Gail Belmont display the Fireworks Quilt donated by Belmont Family Quilts to help finance the annual fireworks show over New Hogan Reservoir.

Boosters gearing up for yearly event to finance Hogan fireworks show

By Nick Baptista

   The cornerstone event to help finance the annual fireworks show over New Hogan Reservoir is approaching.

   The Valley Springs Boosters’ annual Wine and Cheese Reception is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at the Jenny Lind Fire Station No. 1, 6501 Jenny Lind Road.

   Tickets are $20 per person and can be obtained from Booster members or by calling Steve Kearney at Longs, 772-9711.

   Proceeds from the wine and cheese reception support the annual fireworks show at Hogan and it is the first, and probably only, opportunity to reserve a table for the annual community barbecue and sit ringside at the Hogan Dam Observation Point to observe the lakeside pyrotechnic display scheduled for June 30.

   Kearney said the limited numbers of tables for the fireworks show generally are sold out at the wine and cheese reception.

   The wine and cheese reception will also feature the unveiling of the popular “fireworks quilt.” The quilt will be the fifth one prepared for the fireworks show. In the past, the quilt has been raffled with ticket sales going to help support the fireworks show and the Boosters’ scholarship and grants programs.

   However, there is talk of switching from a raffle this year and auctioning the quilt off to the highest bidder. The Boosters believe they can generate enough revenue through an auction and eliminate the countless volunteer hours spent hawking raffle tickets.

March 14

Standing behind more than 800 pounds of food collected to assist those in the county are, from left, HRC Food Bank Assistant K.C. Cooper-Pipes, left, Valley Springs Curves owner Colleen O’Connell and Curves members Vicki Westfall, Sylvia Whitten, Gustine Castle, Irma Gordon, Maria Charboneau, Marilyn Krueger, Diane Duhon and Sharon Martin.

Curves helps HRC feed the area's hungry

 By Nick Baptista

  Calaveras County’s hungry are receiving assistance this month from the members of Curves.

   Curves is conducting its annual food drive and this year’s effort is surpassing previous years’ food drives and it couldn’t come at a better time, according to K.C. Cooper-Pipes, HRC Food Bank assistant.

   The members of Curves’ fitness center in Valley Springs had donated more than 860 pounds of food recently and more was on the way. The drive is under way until the end of March and all five Curves locations in Calaveras County are in competition to see which one will out-do the other.

   Cooper-Pipes said it appeared Valley Springs had the early lead.

   The HRC Food Bank collects and distributes food to county food pantries and also provides direct service to Calaveras County's low-income and families in crisis situations.

   The HRC Food Bank is a non-profit organization and relies solely on donations and grants, Cooper-Pipes said. The food bank fed 1,280 families last March and the need is much greater this year, she said, with the food bank seeing the typical family size increase from three to five members.

   A month after the Curves’ food drive ends, local letter-carriers will conduct a drive of their own to help stock local food panties, Cooper-Pipes added.

   In addition, Cooper-Pipes said HRC is conducting an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. March 28 at the HRC office on 584 W. St. Charles St. It will be an opportunity for families in need to learn about a variety of services, including Reach, which is an energy assistance program. Reach is extending its hours that day for families unable to contact it during its regularly scheduled hours for an appointment.  

From the White House

President finally receives locally made Valor quilt

By Nick Baptista

   President George W. Bush has finally received a Quilt of Valor produced in Valley Springs.

   The quilt originally was commissioned by the Navy Special Warfare Group No. 1 based in San Diego and scheduled to be presented by the Navy Seals to the president during his visit to the Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego back in September 2005 to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the victory over Japan.

   However, the president had to cut his trip short due to Hurricane Katrina and the quilt eventually was returned to Gail Belmont of Belmont Family Quilts in Rancho Calaveras.

   After numerous attempts to get the quilt hand-delivered to the president, Belmont finally shipped it to him at the beginning of this year.

   The quilt featured a “Lone Star” pattern and was inscribed with “God Bless America” and “Land of the Free.”

   In addition to Belmont, who was the machine quilter; Patti Chandler was the piecer; Bert Gonzales and Virginia Belmont bound the quilt and Jan Boli laid the label.

   The label contains a quote from President Bush’s Sept. 20, 2001, address to Congress and the public: “Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.”

   In addition, the label has the names and email addresses of those who worked on the quilt, two Bible verses and a note that the Seals present the quilt to the president with a note of thanks, “Thank you for actively promoting freedom and justice for all. Sir, Operation Enduring Freedom continues on our watch. God Bless America!”

   In Belmont’s letter to the president that went along with the quilt, she discussed the Quilts of Valor program, which has a goal to provide a quilt to every service men and women wounded while in service to the nation. To date, the program has sent more than 7,400 quilts to those wounded in action.

  President Bush’s thank you letter is dated Feb. 15.

  It says:

   Dear Gail:

   Thank you for the handmade Quilt of Valor. I appreciate your kind gesture and thoughtfulness.

   America continues to be inspired by the courage, dedication, and sacrifice of our men and women in the Armed Forces. By answering the call of duty, our military personnel help secure our Nation, defeat terrorism, and extend freedom.

   Laura and I send our best wishes. May God bless you, and may God bless America.

   Sincerely,

   George W. Bush

   Belmont said the thank you letter was on 5- by 7-inch stationary, which one friend who has knowledge of White House protocol, said generally means it was signed by the president and not a machine.

   “That made me feel real good,” Belmont said.  

March 9

Former Calaveras High School student Spc. Misty LaMar is serving in Bagdad and helps save the lives of fellow soldiers with her work to reduce the number of convoys on Iraqi roads.

Area woman helps save soldiers' lives with her duties in Bagdad

By Nick Baptista

   One Valley Springs area soldier serving in Iraq is on the downhill side of her tour and looking forward to the day she returns home and sees her mom’s “smiling, proud face.”

   Misty LaMar is a Specialist E-4 in the United States Army and she is currently based in Bagdad. She has completed six months of her tour and has six more to go.

   She is a member of the 169^th Cargo Transfer Company out of Ft. Eustis, Virginia.

   Spc. LaMar works in a cargo yard, directly off the flight line at the military portion of the Bagdad International Airport.

   “I see all types of airplanes and helicopters everyday,” she said. “We operate forklifts, the 10k Atlas and the 4k. Also the Kalmar, a huge piece of equipment that picks up huge metal containers. I operate both forklifts and the Kalmar. We have 12-hour shifts, and I work the night shift from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.”

   “It was hard in the beginning to get used to working so much, but I’m used to it now. We build up and break down pallets with cargo on them. We have to make them fit to dimensions, to go on the Chinooks helicopters and to build up pallets to get loaded on trucks to move out the yard. That’s basically what I do every day.”

   And it’s “an awesome mission,” she added. “We keep soldiers off the roads and off of convoys. Instead of driving on the road with the pallets they are flown. It saves lives from the IEDs (Inexploded Ordinance Devices) set on or near a road to be blown up to kill soldiers. So far the first six months we have kept 720 convoys off the road.”

   Spc. LaMar joined the Army Feb. 1, 2005. She has re-enlisted for four more years and plans to simultaneously pursue a degree during her remaining years in the service.

   “That way when I get out I’ll be able to get a good job,” she said. “I’m pretty sure that is the plan, but we’ll see how life takes its turns.”

   She said she joined the Army to better herself.

   “Who knows where I would be right now if I didn’t leave,” she said. “Probably already had a baby, no job, running around in circles just to get high. I’d seen that in the people I was hanging out with at the time and I knew I didn’t want that for my life.”

   “I thank God with all my heart that he saved me from destroying my life,” she added.

   LaMar attended Jenny Lind, San Andreas and Valley Springs elementary schools before her family moved to Southern California, but she returned to attend Calaveras High School for her last three years.

   She played soccer her senior year at CHS and her fourth-grade teacher, Joanne Randall at Valley Springs Elementary, “has been taking care of me even out here. She is having her students make me the cutest and most sincere cards to encourage me. I love them so much and my heart goes out to them. I can’t wait to visit their class when I get back.”

   Her other favorite teachers include geology and archeology teacher Michael Chouinard and English teacher Sherry Look at Calaveras High.

   “Mr. Chouinard was so inspirational to me and Mrs. Look was just so fun and different.”

March 7

"Zodiac" hit the big screen on March 2.

"Zodiac" movie spotlights suspect with local ties

By Nick Baptista

   The movie “Zodiac,” based on the unsolved Zodiac murders in the late 1960s in the Bay Area, was the nation’s No. 2 box office hit the first weekend in March and revisits whether one of the prime suspects in the case had ties to the Valley Springs area.

   The movie, directed by David Fincher and based on author Robert Graysmith’s best-selling book by the same title, is a drama that follows the investigation of one of the most intriguing and unsolved crimes in the nation’s history.

   The Zodiac killer is linked to at least five murders in the Bay Area from Dec. 20, 1968, to Oct. 11, 1969, and once hinted that he killed 37 people.

   The Zodiac Killer captured the attention of the press and public with his taunting ciphers and letters to police and The San Francisco Chronicle.

   Former Valley Springs schoolteacher Arthur Leigh Allen has been identified by several investigators as one of the Zodiac Killer suspects and John Carroll Lynch plays him in the movie.

   Allen, who died of cancer in 1992 without ever being charged in any of the Zodiac killings, briefly lived in the Burson area and worked as a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at Valley Springs Elementary from late 1966 to 1968.

   He lost his teaching credential and his job at Valley Springs Elementary in 1968 after he allegedly molested a student.

   After leaving West Calaveras, Allen moved to Vallejo, site of three of the five murders attributed to the Zodiac Killer.

   The movie ends with a poll of investigators and most are convinced Allen was the Zodiac Killer.  

Children’s book author and illustrator Daniel San Souci discussed how his childhood experiences have found their way into his books at Friday’s Read Across America assembly at Valley Springs Elementary School.

Children's author relates to VSE students how life experiences influence work

By Nick Baptista

   Valley Springs Elementary School observed Read Across America on Friday with a special guest speaker – children’s book author and illustrator Daniel San Souci.

   San Souci latest efforts, his Clubhouse Books series, is about the adventures he, his brothers and friends had as children running around their north Berkeley neighborhood.

   The series began with “The Dangerous Snake and Reptile Club.” The second book the series was “Space Station Mars” followed by “The Amazing Ghost Detectives.”

   He just turned in the artwork for the fourth book in the series, “The Mighty Pigeon Club,” and expects it to be ready for distribution in six to eight months.

   San Souci talked to the students how he uses his real-life experiences as a child to write and illustrate his books. San Souci told the story how his parents added a room onto their small Berkeley home when they had a daughter. San Souci’s father used the spare wood to build the boys a clubhouse and it served as the focal point for their childhood adventures.

   The clubhouse served as the backdrop as the boys role played and acted out scenes from the books they read, such as “Treasure Island” and “Last of the Mohicans.”

   San Souci talked about the importance of literature and reading in his family. When be began reading, one of the favorite parts in a book for him was the illustrations and they created a burning desire in him at a young age to become a book illustrator. That desire led him to take every art class he could and major in art in college.

   Read Across America is observed on March 2, in honor of Sr. Seuss’s birthday. The National Education Association and the California Teachers Association sponsor it.

   San Souci’s visit from Oakland was sponsored by the Valley Springs Elementary School’s Parent-Teachers Organization and arranged by Learning Center Coordinator Deborah Giorgi.

   Writing runs in San Souci’s family. He shared that his older brother Robert is also a writer, with more than 100 books in print and was also the writer for the Disney movie “Mulan.”

   Principal Jan Matson said San Souci’s visit capped nearly a two-day observance of Read Across America. The day before several Calaveras High School students and Superintendent Jim Frost visited classrooms and read to the elementary school students.  

March 2

Paul Zykovsky outlines smart growth ideas Wednesday evening to a packed audience in the Valley Springs Elementary School multi-purpose room.

Valley Springs gets lessons in smart growth

By Nick Baptista

   Valley Springs area residents received a crash course on “Smart Growth” principles Wednesday evening when more than 200 people attended the MyValleySprings.com and the Foothill Conservancy forum at Valley Springs Elementary School.

   Paul Zykovsky, director of Land Use and Transportation Programs for the Local Government Commission, was the featured speaker and he outlined “10 Principles of Smart Growth and Livable Communities.”

   Wednesday’s presentation was the first in a series of programs MyValleySprings.com and the Foothill Conservancy plan to offer to bring citizens into the process of revising the Valley Springs Community Plan and the Calaveras County General Plan.

   The next presentation is tentatively scheduled for March 29.

   The principles, which Zykovsky attributed to the “Ahwahnee Principles” developed in 1991, begin with the preservation of open space, farms and the area’s natural beauty.

   Zykovsky’s second principle was to strengthen and direct development toward existing communities. He advocated the preservation and repair of existing historic buildings and revitalization of town centers. He added that communities should look toward clustering homes and development closer together to reduce runoff and the cost of providing services and infrastructure.

   Zykovsky’s third principal was taking advantage of compact building design. As the overall population increases in age, more compact development on smaller lots and within walking distance of services will become desirable, he said.

   Along those same lines, a mixture of land uses with retail and personal services near housing was Zykovsky’s fourth principle.

   He displayed examples of housing located over retail shops and restaurants, including a recent development in Murphys with housing situated over its Main Street shops.

   Zykovsky’s fifth principle was foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place. His sixth principle was to provide housing opportunities and choices for different income levels and stages of life. This includes a mixture of housing types from single-family homes to four-plexes and cottages within the same housing development and he added, “Affordable housing doesn’t mean poor quality.”

   The creation of “walk able communities” was Zykovsky’s seventh principle. He showed how communities could create safe, walk able streets, improved crosswalks and the benefit of roundabouts for vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

   Similarly, Zykovsky’s eighth principle was that communities should provide a variety of transportation choices including bicycling, walking and public transit.

   His ninth principle was to make development decisions predictable, fair and cost-effective. He said communities should target growth areas in their communities and make it clear to developers where they want to see development. State-of-the-art development codes and simplified land-use tables will enhance and expedite the review process, he added.

   Zykovsky’s final principle was to encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions. He said Wednesday’s full house was a step in that direction.

   Stephanie Moreno, the county’s Community Development Agency director, encouraged the public to get involved in the General Plan update process that is under way and predicted the update of the Valley Springs Community Plan “will be one of the most challenging” based on the community’s diversity.

   She added that the dates of upcoming General Plan hearings for Valley Springs would be announced soon.  

Mail: P.O. Box 1297, Valley Springs, CA 95252 
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