The

The Rising Voice of the Sierra

Mountain Chronicle

July 2011

The Murphys Historic HotelSince 1856

w w w . M u r p h y s H o t e l . c o mFor More Information Call The Hotel’s Front Desk (209) 728-3444

Happenings at “The Hotel”July

July 4th: Bring your Family, Friends, and Fire-works down to The Hotel. We will be serving Cold Drinks & BBQ. Food while lighting off fireworks at sundown! July 7th: The Monthly Grape Grower's meeting. Starts at 8:30am and is held in the Gold Room. July 14th: Wines of the World 5:30pm-7pm held in The Mark Twain Ballroom. Mike Stange from Metate Hill Winery will be presenting Iberian varietals. Open to the Public with a small fee. July 16th: Murphys Homecoming! Come Cel-ebrate the Awesome town of Murphys with us at The Hotel. We will have Live Music, Cold drinks, and mouth watering B.B.Q Food. July 21st: The Classic Car Show 5:30 - 8pm held in The Hotel's Parking Lot. This is a free event open to the public. There will be a D.J., Cash Raffle, Cold Drinks, BBQ Food. So bring your Cars down for a Great Night. July 31st: Steve Miller Concert @ Ironstone. Come Party with us here at The Hotel Before and After the Concert. We will be open until 2am serving Cold Drinks and Late Night Food.

For More InformationCall Brian @ 209-728-3444 ext. 416.

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Albeno Munari Vineyard - The Mountain Chronicle

2-4-Tuesday! Visit Munari Vineyard on Tuesdays through the month of July and receive two bottles of wine for the price of one. Munari was recently featured in The Mountain Chronicle so readers should be aware that at least two of Munari's wines received spe-cial accolades from the distinguished Mountain Chronicle staff. Yet wine is like art, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We recommend that one should visit Munari and take this opportunity to taste Munari's wines! Coupon Required - One Per Customer - Offer Good For July 2011

LAGORIO'S - The Mountain Chronicle

If you've always wanted to try the famous "Lagorio's Oysters" here is the opportunity! Lagorio's is offering a special treat for those traveling to or fro. If you order a half dozen oysters you get a second 1/2 dozen free! This is an unbelievable deal. There is no way The Mountain Chronicle staff would drive past Lagorio's and not take advantage of these wonderful crustaceans. And while you are there, might we suggest an exemplary Bloody Mary! Coupon Required - One Per Customer - Offer Good For June & July 2011

The Zucca Wine Bar ~ In The Courtyard - The Mountain Chronicle

Friday and Saturday From 5-8pmTwo glasses of wine for the price of one. Plus, "two for one" on tasting flights. The Zucca scene is one of the more romantic outdoor venues in Murphys. This "2-fer" deal is a great opportunity to try some of Zucca's fine wines and impress your sweetie. Zucca has a few varietals that are Mountain Chronicle staff favorites. Take a Flight! Coupon Required - One Per Customer - Offer Good For June & July 2011

Calaveras Lumber - The Mountain Chronicle

Calaveras Lumber is offering $10 off any purchase over $50.00. This is a great oppertu-nity to augment your garden. Calaveras Lumber is the "One Stop For All Your Summer Projects." Clean The House - Clear The Weeds - Plant The Garden - Build A Deck - Paint The House - Fertilize The Lawn Install A Sprinkler System - Furnish The Porch!Everything You Need At Great Prices - Come In Soon! Coupon Required - One Per Customer - Offer Good For June & July 2011

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Uniting Two Sweet Spots!

Facebook This: The Mountain Chronicle will never shrivel so long as we still have a few stiff, "Weiner" jokes to tell!

Opinion & Other Important Matters Volume 6, Number 7 July 2011 ● 6 The

Mountain ChronicleP.O. Box 26

Avery, CA 95224Phone: (209) 795-2222

E-mail: Ross@MtChron.comwww.TheMountainChronicle.com

Publisher~Ross Alford

From the Publisher: I will consider publishing “Letters To The Editor” of fewer than 300 words, which in-clude a name, phone number and area of residence. I’ll allow a few more words, if it’s really good!

Send Submissions To: Ross@MtChron.com (subject line: “Letter”). If we don’t run your letter you can consider buying an ad!

The Mission:"The Mountain Chronicle" intends to let the facts tell the story in the news section of the paper and raise hell on the OP/ED page. If you exploit, degrade or injure the community, you’re fair game!

Please remember we can only cover so many stories, so it helps if you send a pho-to and a few paragraphs of an event you attended.

If “The Mountain Chronicle” publishes something under the name of another author, that’s their opinion.

Please ask permission to use anything in the paper, and or, at least attribute material used in a contextually accurate manner.

Lastly, we here at “The Mountain Chronicle” are trying to tell the story of our time. If we make mistakes, we will try to set the record straight.

Breaking News:Please phone the newsroom(209) 795-2222

Cover ArtThomas Jefferson

Contributing WritersJim Stearns • Peter Bartczak

Joe Pescogniac • John BuckleyTed Denmark • David Alford

Michele Bachmann • Gabe BridgesKaty Stevens • C.S. Biggs

Featuring Prince Hans-Adam II

CartoonsB. .J. Smalling

Features EditorWarren Alford

Administrative AssistantKaty Stevens

Left, Right or Indifferent

"Now that we have certitude of what Weiner's wang looks like, let's use it to raise the debt ceiling!" —Jason Linkins

"Weiner-gate taught me a few things; if a pic posted of my weener on the web looks big: I posted it, if it's small, my account was hacked." —David Spade

"BREAKING NEWS: Anthony Weiner has apologized to Paul Revere." —Steve Martin

"How does America come up with guys like Boehner and Weiner? Boehner and Weiner– haaaaaaaaa ha haaaaaaaa."Schlitz Malt Liquor my American friends!!

-Prince Hans-Adam IIPrince of Liechtenstein

The Only Known Image ofSally Hemings

Provided By The Mountain Chronicle

The Strategy of Enlightened Procrastination and the Country's Birthday

By Ross Alford

I was thinking about the perilous American education system, and the failure to teach critical thinking or the evaluation of evidence. In par-ticular, I was thinking of Michele Bachmann, the absolutely gorgeous darling of the Republican Party, and her ducking a showdown debate with a 14-year-old civics prodigy. There is a long list of Bachmann quotes that illustrate her shortcomings regarding history, and political science; so much so, that if Vegas were making odds on the debate the only concern would be if the 14-year-old could cover the rather large spread! That, however, made me realize that I might only be able to go a few rounds with the 14-year-old myself before she “Mike Tysoned” me into the first row. So I borrowed an interesting book on American history, which leads me further into the digression.

Part of the problem of U.S. education is that, and this is not a good enough excuse, and I do have a heartfelt compassion for American high school history teachers, U.S. education is wasted on the hormonally challenged. And unfortunately, for the most part, high school U.S. his-tory and 8th-grade civics comprise the majority of American’s formal U.S. history education. Continues over of on the next column . . .

If one goes to college, one tends to get either a reenactment of the high school lesson with slightly harder tests. Or, one gets a splendid look into some instructor’s private passion, like how advertising af-fected feminism in the 1920s - E-gads!

Reeducating ourselves at some point becomes a personal respon-sibility. Essentially it’s about contextual understanding, and this comes with experience and education whether it is formal or infor-mal. There are a number of comprehensive US history books that most of us missed in our education that will refresh, or fill in one’s missing education. Regardless, the nuance of history becomes all the more entertaining, when you hear people cite the constitution or the “Founding Fathers” as examples of how they perceive the way the country should be run; more often than not they have not actual-ly studied U.S. history; which, is all the more astounding when they are people like Sarah Palin, the former candidate for Vice President, and congresswomen Michele Bachmann. Which reminds me of the Mark Twain quote “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” Palin recently claimed, and then stood by her claim, that Paul Revere was trying to warn the British and Bachmann believes that the Founding Fathers all fought against slavery.

The original debates and the beginings of the structure of our Feder-al Government are very illuminating. There were strong differences between Washington and Jefferson on many topics. Few of us real-ize that Washington and Jefferson were not allies in these debates. And Jefferson and Adams, bosom buddies, strained their friendship to the breaking point over these questions. Washington, the king of what’s is called “Enlightened Procrastination," avoided the issue of slavery so as to keep the union intact, back when even the federal-ists from the North were threatening to secede. And Jefferson, who may have been one of the more ironically twisted individuals in his-tory, was an unbelievably well educated, left-wing radical, who was damn near treasonous in his interactions with the French, and yet, despite his conviction that the American Revolution was an eman-cipation of the Americian soul, somehow decided to keep and never free his slaves.

All of this, essentially to me, is about the need for Americans to keep an eye on the evidence. Bachmann has said that the Founding Fa-thers were all about ending slavery, but Bachmann wouldn’t know a history book if it fell on her foot. This is a woman who thinks the Founding Fathers were all paragons of Christianity, and that America is a religious empire, and that "being gay is Satanic," and that any woman who has an abortion, even when they are at medical risk, should be prosecuted. Bachmann is essentially a Glenn Beck in drag, and somehow she is a leading candidate for a presidential nomination– when we least need another Imperial Presidency.

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The Bubble by Pete Kelly

The Only Known Image ofSally Hemings

SACRAMENTO– A unique coalition of fishermen, biologists and envi-ronmental groups are sounding the alarm that the $128 million taxpay-er-funded Battle Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project - the largest of its kind in the nation - is being jeopardized by erosion from upstream clear-cutting by Sierra Pacific Industries.

The coalition is calling on Governor Brown to immediately halt clear-cutting in the Battle Creek watershed until a comprehensive cumulative review of the various clear-cuts occurring in this watershed can be con-ducted. As shown in aerial snapshots checker board clear-cuts create erosion that is silting up the cold water ponds needed for salmon and steelhead populations to reproduce. Battle Creek, near Mount Lassen, is one of the largest tributaries of the Sacramento River and one of the few places left for wild run salmon.

"This enormous tax-payer funded effort to save Battle Creek is being sabotaged by Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI). The Department of Forest-ry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) and other regulators are circumventing the law by not requiring SPI to conduct a full watershed-wide assess-ment of the cumulative impacts of their ecologically destructive log-ging," said Marily Woodhouse, co-founder of the Battle Creek Alliance."The State's right hand is fighting the left hand; meanwhile we are los-ing an invaluable resource for bringing back salmon populations.," said Bill Jennings, Executive Director, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. “An immediate moratorium on clear-cutting in Battle Creek is urgently needed.”

"Battle Creek, like many Sierra watersheds, is being damaged by SPI's extremely aggressive clear-cutting. These waterways are essential to salmon recovery efforts and the fishing economy. Governor Brown needs to make protecting these waterways and forests a top priority before it is too late,” said Michael Endicott, Resources Advocate from the Sierra Club California.

Taxpayer Funded Fish Restoration Effort Threatened Fishermen, Biologists, Environmentalists Call on Gov. Brown to End Clear-cutting

All those little spots are clear-cuts in the Battle Creek watershed.

Barely ThereGallery Calaveras, 22 Main St., San Andreas Reception July 16 From 1 – 3 Pm

What is bare? Is it without? Is it nude? Is it undisguised or unconcealed? Is it an action to open up or withdraw?

Gallery Calaveras artists have created art pieces in watercolor, oil, digital art, and ceramics that are inspired by their interpretation of this adjective and verb. Visit the gallery and see a bear playing with fish, nude silhou-ettes, paintings with barely a hint of color, and ceramics of the human form. The pieces are thoughtful, creative, and moving.

Artists showcased are Sharon Baker, Barbara Cannon, Susie Hoffman, Lori Kelly, Pete Kelly, Sumiko Mancinelli, Pat Miltimore, Ruth Morrow, Donna McCormick, Lynn Lynn, Judy Morgan, Paul Neal, Renee Rondon, and Ken Winebrenner.

“Barely There” will be on display at Gallery Calaveras, 22 Main Street, San Andreas from July 2 to August 27. A special reception will be held on Saturday, July 16 from 1 to 3 pm.

The not-for-profit Calaveras Arts Council operates the Gallery Calaverason 22 Main Street in San Andreas. Hours are weekdays, 9am to 4pm.

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New Tennis Association Serving MurphysTennis players in the greater Murphys area have a new way to channel their love of the sport with the creation of the Murphys Area Community Tennis Association (MACTA).

“For years, many of us have gathered in an informal manner to challenge each other good naturedly and get some much needed exercise,” David Bowman, who along with his wife Gloria Miller, serve as Co-President of the fledging associa-tion, said. “We felt it was time to become better organized and to extend our outreach into the community.”

After months of discussion, information gathering and com-pliance with state and national regulations, MACTA has offi-cially incorporated as a California Public Benefit Corporation and received its 501(c) 3 non-profit status from the Internal Revenue Service. They are a community tennis association affiliated with the United States Tennis Association.

“We are now in a position to receive tax-exempt donations that will move us toward our goals of providing quality ten-nis courts and to promote and grow tennis programs for the community, with an emphasis on youth,” Bowman said.

Murphys' two public courts, located behind the historic School House on Jones St., will be the center for MACTA's activities. The association is finalizing a Joint Use Agree-ment with the Ebbetts Pass Veteran's Memorial District that has jurisdiction over the courts and their surroundings.“One of our first challenges is to make repairs and improve the courts that have deteriorated over the past several years,” Bowman said. “We anticipate being able to raise the neces-sary funds to do a complete refurbishment of the courts later in 2011. ”

Anyone wishing to join can do so by making an annual dona-tion of at least $25. Contributions can be sent to PO Box 344, Murphys CA 95247. For further information, David Bow-man can be reached at dbowman@goldrush.com.

Dr. Dennis Gervin Named Columbia College President

Columbia– The Yosemite Community College District Board, in a 6-0 vote, approved Dr. Dennis Gervin as the next Presi-dent of Columbia College at their June 8 meeting in Modesto.

Gervin has served in his current capacity as Columbia College Vice President of Student Learning since 2005. He previously held other administrative positions at Columbia College as the Interim Dean of Student Services and Interim Dean of Instruc-tion: Arts and Sciences. Prior to that, Gervin served as Dean of Instructional Services at Modesto Junior College (MJC) for four years, MJC Interim Dean of Library and Learning Re-sources for a year, and MJC Dean of Science, Mathematics and Engineering from 1999-2002. His career at the YCCD began in 1995 as a Professor of Microbiology and Biology at MJC, earning Tenure as a full-time faculty member in 1999.

Gervin replaces Dr. Richard Jones, who has served as Co-lumbia College Interim President since August 23, 2010. He replaced then-President, Joan Smith. Last August, Smith was promoted to head the District serving as Interim Chan-cellor, before being named permanent Chancellor earlier this February.

“The College has a brilliant and inspiring culture that is truly student focused. It will be a very special privi-lege to serve the College and Community as Presi-dent,” Dr. Gervin said. “I look forward to helping guide the college through the next decade, as the col-lege, our educational sys-tem and communities grow and change during these challenging times. Put very simply, there is no place I would rather be, and I can’t wait to get started.”

His selection comes after a nationwide search chaired by Co-lumbia College professor Raelene Juarez. The search began in March 2011 and produced 28 applicants. After interviews, the pool was further narrowed to three finalists, who participated in campus forums held at Columbia College in May.

Sacramento Residents Put Lungren On Notice For Pushing To End Medicare

SACRAMENTO – After hearing from lots of voters protest-ing the Republican plan to end Medicare, Dr. Ami Bera’s, CA-3, campaign released a new video today about Dan Lungren’s attempts to overhaul the hugely popular pro-gram’s guaranteed benefits to pay for more tax breaks for the wealthiest millionaires.

More than 6,000 Sacramento area residents joined Dr. Bera at two town hall meetings organized by the National Com-mittee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. Voters raised their voices and made it clear that Lungren’s plan is bad medicine for the country.

“We must protect Medicare’s benefits,” said Dr. Bera. “Dan Lungren’s plan is for the top 1 percent, by the top 1 percent, of the top 1 percent. His proposal would leave seniors on their own and millions without health insurance. As a doc-tor, I can’t stand for that. It doesn’t reduce the deficit either. It destroys the social compact we believe in as Americans.”

Lungren believes Medicare’s benefits should be dismantled and run by private insurers. His plan would raise out-of-pocket health insurance costs by more than $6,000 per year in 2022 and nearly $12,000 per year in 2032 for more than 125,000 Sacramento seniors and people with disabilities, according to a recent report by the House Energy and Com-merce Committee.

Dr. Bera believes Medicare can be strengthened while low-ering the national debt. Bera is a physician running for con-gress in California. He served as Chief Medical Officer to Sacramento’s 1.4 million residents, was Medical Director for Care Management at the five-hospital Mercy Health-care system and recruited and trained the next generation of health care professionals as Dean of Admissions at UC Davis School of Medicine.

The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 9Local News

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SERVING CALAVERAS COUNTY SINCE 1976

Dear Editor:

I would like to take this time to thank Sierra Pacific Foundation and Spence Ranch Feed and Supply for their continued support of the Calaveras County Fair and Jr. Livestock Exhibitors. For too many years to remember, both Sierra Pacific Foundation and Spence Ranch Feed and Supply have donated loads of chips, shavings and the trucking for those loads to the junior livestock exhibitors. Over the last several years, even with a slow economy, both businesses have continued that support.

The chips and shavings are used for bedding for all of the animal exhibits. This is an expense the exhibitors have not had to budget for, and as can be seen by the numerous posters and plaques throughout the barn area, is greatly appreciated by all who benefit from it. I want to quash any notions that the donations were different or smaller this year. These generous donations were, in fact, the same as we have been so fortunate to receive for the past several years. What was dif-ferent is that shavings were placed in the beef barn where chips are usually placed. This caused a shortage of shavings, but in no way should detract from the support and contribution made by Sierra Pa-cific Foundation and Spence Ranch Feed and Supply.

Jr. Livestock Exhibitors – I challenge you - If you haven’t already, take a moment and send a thank you to Sierra Pacific Foundation and Spence Ranch Feed and Supply or at the very least, say THANK YOU the next time you stop in at the feed store.

Once again, Thank You to Sierra Pacific Foundation and Spence Ranch Feed and Supply for continuing to be a part of our local com-munity and supporting us so generously.

Sincerely,

Debbie ArtiagaAsst. Beef Project LeaderMurphys 4H

Lee Croletto New Soroptimist PresidentBy Kathi Flores

Soroptimist International of Calaveras County (SICC) honored Lee Croletto of Angels Camp as their new President for 2011/2012 at their June 1st Instal-lation meeting.

As their new President, Croletto re-minded the club in her President’s Message that “…we always have new challenges and directions that life takes us, yet we can always rely on each other. Remembering that teamwork is the key to success and each of us has as a part in that, working together we will grow as a club and give back to the women and girls in our community. Croletto stressed that “our goals will be to keep growing as a team, fund raising to enable us to give back to women and girls in our local community, and retaining, growing and developing our membership.”

Croletto is Senior Financial Consultant for BBVA Compass Invest-ment Solutions, Inc. in Angels Camp.

President Lee and her Board of Officers may be viewed on the SICC website at www.sicalaverascounty.org.

Soroptimist International is a business and professional women’s or-ganization. Soroptimist is a coined Greek word meaning “Best For Women."

Willie Rocked IronstoneBy Ross Alford

I said this last year, and I still feel this way, but someone really needs to get the man a new guitar. I mean really. The thing is going to explode on stage. They send this roadie guy in to move the iconic historic relic around before and after Willie's sets, and even he's afraid to touch the ax.

Regardless, the 78-year-old is still great! The dude came to play. And I have to say, that last year I was digging him because he's Willie, and I was so glad to see him again, because it felt like seeing Woody Guthrie, but that is no longer the case, now I would go see him because he and his band are flat out great.

He doesn't play that long, and a few of his songs were sort of duds, but for the most part I was in a state of blown-away music ecstasy. He's still got the same crew, the stoic long-haired piano playing woman, a hipster harmonica player, an old Texan bass player and two random brothers who alternate playing one snare drum which makes for an eclectic group thats whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The only guys in the neighborhood his age that can still "bring it" are Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, and Willie has got them by a decade. His band is not giving up any-thing to anyone - Willie is setting the bar.

Quintessential Willie songs are apart of what make America great, and he played a few of the classics: Always On My Mind, Me And Paul, Good Hearted Woman and On The Road Again, and all of them were played beautifully, and the audio was crisp.

I was bewildered to see people leaving before Willie started to play and then after the show I had an epiphany: "There must be some misguided people in the world. Anyway, the Willie Nelson show was fantastic!

Willie at Ironstone -2011

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PINECREST – President and CEO, Sally Helm announced today Dodge Ridge will install a new Doppelmayr T-Bar surface lift this summer opening the second summit. The new surface lift, T643, rep-resents the next step in the Dodge Ridge Master Development Plan which completes the 1998 chairlift 8 expansion and is the kick off to the future lift infrastructure including a new chairlift 1 and high speed detachable.

T643 will position skiers and riders above and beyond chairlift 8 at second summit with new access to additional advanced skiable acre-age. The new addition will double the length of three expert ski runs above Granite Bowl and will also offer advanced skiers and riders the accessibility to explore more of the mountain including backcountry areas beyond the resort's boundary open to out of bounds pass holders registered with Dodge Ridge Ski Patrol.

T643 celebrates the epic and record setting snowfall total of 643 inches this past 60th Anniversary Season at Dodge Ridge. "We're excited to move forward in our development plan," President and CEO, Sally Helm, said. "This is an important step for what's to come in the next few years." The half million dollar investment is currently underway and will be fully operational for the upcoming 2011/2012 ski and ride season. Join us this season for the official ribbon cutting and celebra-tion of the T643 expansion. For more information on T643, future ex-pansions and 2011/12 season pass purchases contact Amber Jenquin at (209) 536-5307 or ajenquin@dodgeridge.com.

Located in Tuolumne County off highway 108, Dodge Ridge has easy access from California’s Central Valley, Monterey and the greater Bay Area. The resort offers a 1,600 foot vertical drop, 10 lifts and 832 acres of skiable terrain, comparable to many Tahoe area resorts.

Dodge Ridge To Install New Surface Lift Reaching The Second Summit

Hospital Announces Availability Of Community Grant Funding

Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital, through its affiliation with Catho-lic Healthcare West, has announced the opening of the 2011 CHW Community Grants Program. The deadline for submission of Letters of Intent is July 27, 2011. The objective of the CHW Community Grants Program is to award funding to nonprofit organizations whose proposals respond to services to underserved populations (economi-cally poor; women and children; mentally or physically disabled; or other disenfranchised populations).

“We are very pleased to once again offer the Community Grant Pro-gram” said hospital president Feliciano Jiron. “Partnerships with or-ganizations who share similar mission and values are important to the health status of our community. We look forward each year to this collaborative project."

Applicants must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or have a fis-cal agent that is a 501 (c)(3) organization and capable of administer-ing the project’s funds. Last year’s recipients included the Calaveras Children’s Dental Program, the Resource Connection Early Child-hood Programs, the Resource Connection Food Bank and the Calav-eras Senior Center. For an outline of the grants application, see the hospital website at www.marktwainhospital.com or contact the grant coordinator at 209-754-2526.

Wines of the World Thursday, July 14 from 5:30 to 7pm in the Ballroom at the Murphys Historic Hotel, 457 Main St., Murphys. An interactive and educa-tional program on Spanish varietals will be provided by Michael Stange, owner of Metate Hill Vineyards and Mark Skenfield, owner of Vinescapes.

“During July’s Wines of the World we’re going to hold an interac-tive wine competition with wines from the best regions in Spain,” said Stange. “There are 77 wine regions in Spain, but there are only three that are considered DOC, ‘Denominations of Origin of the highest quality.’ We’ll be exploring wines from those three regions in a blind tasting – Ribera del Duero, Priorat, and La Rioja.”

Stange has traveled extensively in Spain and will bring a map of Spain and soil samples. “We’ll learn all about Spanish wines and how we in Calaveras County are inspired by the wines from the su-perior regions in Spain,” Stange shared.

Wines of the World is an integral part of CWA’s educational pro-gram. Attendance is open to the public. As space is limited to the first 40 attendees, reservations are requested but not mandatory.

Cost is $15 for CWA members and $25 for non-members. For more information and reservations, call 209 728-9467 or visit online at calaveraswines.org.

The Hotel offers $5 off each entree for attendees staying for dinner.

Attention B. H. Grads of 1970 and 1971 You are invited to the Multi-Year Bret Harte Reunion to be held on Saturday, September 17, at Frogtown. The reunion committee is looking for interested alumni from these new years to be involved in reunion preparation and to help in securing names and current ad-dresses of their classmates.

The reunion will start with a social hour at 4pm on the lawn beside the Mark Twain Building followed by cocktails and then a steak and chicken dinner catered by Tim Folendort at 7pm. After dinner dance music will be provided by D.J., Marty DeAnda. On Sunday, Septem-ber 18, a breakfast will be catered by Aldie and Paula Broglio from 9am to 12pm on the Bret Harte campus. The cost of the dinner is $36 and the breakfast $6.

Contact Joann Nielsen Inks at 736-4731 or joinks@att.netGladys Engermayer Dillashaw at 736-2130 or jgdill@mlode.com. The "Art on the Lawn" fund-raiser for Hospice of Amador &

Calaveras raised over $22K with 172 folks attending !

New Lions Club Officers Installed

Arnold– An installation and awards ceremony was held on June 15, 2011 at Snowflake Lodge in Blue Lake Springs for incoming officers of the Arnold Lions Club. Gerry Sachs was elected as the club presi-dent for the 2011–2012 year.

According to Gerry Sachs, president, “I am looking forward to leading various projects and continuing the Arnold Lion Club’s commitment to serving the community, as we celebrate our 30th anniversary year in October.”

Barbara Guevara received the Melvin Jones Award by Lions Clubs International in recognition of her commitment to the foundation’s humanitarian goals. “It is very rewarding to help fulfill community needs, and it is a great honor to be presented with this award,” said Guevara.

Outstanding service award was presented to Ramona Green for “The Lion of the Year," and to Patty Turcotte as a new member for “Rookie of the Year."

The Arnold Lions Club meets on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday at 6:30pm at Snowflake Lodge. Lions clubs are a group of men and women who identify needs within the community and work together to fulfill those needs. For more information or to get involved with the Arnold Lions Club, please contact Lion Harry Tittle at 209-795-1655.

“Old Timers” Invited Guests At Murphys Homecoming Luncheon

Residents of Murphys, Vallecito, and Douglas Flat who are 70 years of age or older, and have lived in these communities at least ten years, are invited to be the guests of the Murphys Community Club at the Old Timers Luncheon to be held Saturday, July 16, at 12 noon in Murphys Community Park.

This annual luncheon is part of the Murphys Homecoming celebration and is sponsored by the Native Daughters of the Golden West, Ruby Parlor #46.

Caterer and café owner Jennifer Wren Stoicheff of Wren Creative Food is creating a fresh and festive menu, using local, seasonal ingredients. Guests will be treated to traditional meat-filled pasties, a summer green salad and a brownie for dessert. Live music from the Calaveras Com-munity Band will fill the park during mealtime.

To reserve a place at the table, eligible guests must call Kimberly at 728-9031 by July 8.

Those participating in Murphys Homecoming who do not meet the “old timers” criteria need not go hungry. The Community Club will be selling hot dogs, hamburgers, root beer floats and other tasty treats. Beer, wine and soft drinks will also be available for purchase.

Big Recycling NewsThe Department of Public Works, Integrated Waste Management, is very happy to announce that Calaveras County residents and business-es can now put all recyclables marked 1 through 7 in with our mixed recycling.

This is huge news for our county, as it includes Styrofoam products, which are normally marked with a number 6, as well as numerous other recyclables. Please check out our website, where you will find a useful link to the recycling resin codes.

Please share this information with your families, friends, neighbors and co-workers to help get the word out. Thank you.

www.CalaverasRecycles.org

Big Trees Visitor's Center Ground Breaking

Lion Will Roar At Smug MeetingMembers of the Sierra Macintosh Users Group (SMUG) will get a pre-view of the eagerly anticipated new Apple operating system during the club's Tuesday, July 12 meeting that will begin at 7pm in the assembly room of the Ebbetts Pass Fire District, 1037 Blagen Rd., just off High-way 4, in Arnold.

Brian Thomas, Technology Specialist and Trainer for the Calaveras County Office of Education will be making the presentation and lead-ing the discussion of Lion (all Mac OS X systems are named for fero-cious felines). This version is OS 10.7.

Topics will include what Macs are compatible for the upgrade, how the upgrade process works, and the newest features of the operating system. As always questions on these and any other computer subjects are encouraged.

SMUG meets the second Tuesday of each month. Meetings are open toeveryone and there is no charge to attend. The organization exists to keep Mac users abreast of the latest developments and to address the nagging questions that arise from time to time. Its goal is to take the mystery out of computers and to enable members to take advantage of all the features their Macs possess.

SMUG was founded in 1995 and is a non-profit organization run com-pletely by volunteers. Annual dues are $15. For more information visit the SMUG website at www.SierraMacintoshUsersGroup.org or call 795-3798 or 728-9012.

Murphys To Host Students From China

Murphys will have some visitors from China starting July 12 - July 26. Debbie Rocco will be coordinating and teaching 12 university students from China between the ages of 18-24. The students are accompanied by a 31 year-old teacher/chaperone. All are very fluent in the English Language and will be staying with "Host Families" here in Murphys.

Rocco's "teaching" will be taking place at the old Murphys School House. Much of her curriculum is structured and will feature experi-encing the hospital, firehouse, Government Center, Schools, Caverns.

In addition, the students will be given opportunities to go into town to explore on their own and it's expected that their host families will give them a tour around the community as well.

Eight of the students are 21 or older and may choose to enjoy and pur-chase local wines, and should have some sort of ID.

The Mountain Chronicle welcomes them to our community!

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The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 11 News Items

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The audience in the amphitheater for the ground breaking for the new Visitors Center at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Photo taken by Fran Devlin for the Calaveras Big Trees As-sociation. Also attending were special park supporters from Foothills Horizon, park employees and state officials.

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Juillet MMXI ● XII“Grape Reportage”La Chronicle de la Montagne

Exploring the Wines of CalaverasMilliaire Winery of Murphys

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MILLIAIRE SCORES A TRIPLE DOUBLE (GOLD MEDALS!)

Milliaire Winery of Murphys has scored a record setting three Double Gold Medals this year. The winery received prestigious Double Gold Medals for the 2007 Calaveras County Ghirardelli Vineyard Zinfandel at the California State Fair; 2009 Sierra Foothills Chardonnay at the El Dorado County Fair;

and for the 2008 Sierra Foothills Syrah at the Calaveras County Fair. A Double Gold indicates a unanimous award by the judging panel, and/or a score of more

than 98 out of 100 points. The State Fair also named the 2007 Ghirardelli Zinfan-del “Best Zinfandel in the Sierra Foothills.”

Steve Millier has had a very distinguished career for over 30 years. He began his journey at the David Bruce Winery in 1975, and has continued to make award win-ning wines at Stevenot, Ironstone and Milliaire.

"Zinfandel is the bedrock of what we're about, but over the years we have expand-ed our offerings to include Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz. We have just added our Port style offering which we call Fortissimo," Milliaire said.

The Milliaires also run Black Sheep. In 2007 David and Janis Olson decided to retire and ride their bicycles into the sunset, they decided to turn over the Black Sheep legacy to their good friends Steve and Liz Millier. Familiar with the Black Sheep style, they carried on the tradition. In Spring of 2007 they moved the tasting room up

Main Street to the current location in the historic yellow farmhouse.

The array of the recent awards, for Milliaire, is a testament to his winemaking philosophy: "You can make great wine from nearly every region in California, by understanding the unique characteristics "terroir" of each vineyard location." "We are very honored by these new awards for our wines. My son, Bob, and I are always striving to improve our wines on every level, and this recognition is a great payback for our efforts," Millier commented. "Our winery brings in grapes from many different regions, and this year we were also honored at the State Fair for Best Varietal in Lodi for our 2010 Clarksburg Gewurztraminer and Best Varietal in the Foothills for our 2009 Catherine's Cuvee Muscat."

Steve is not alone in the biz. Liz begain working with Steve in 1976, and they have been a winemaking partnership since then. To Steve's technical and artistic skills, Liz brings marketing and sales. Steve explains "We balance each other. Each partner brings their energy and talent to the winery. We discuss every detail of winemaking and share all the ups and downs of the creative process."

The Milliaires are committed to small lots of wine produced exclusively from Sierra Foothill vineyards. The first vintage consisted of three barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Frank Alviso of Clockspring Vineyards in Amador County. The first vintages were cellared in the basement of our home and at Bob Bliss's winery, Chispa Cellars. Today annual production is usually around 2,500 cases.

All the Double Gold Medal winners are available at the tasting room, located at 276 Main Street in Murphys, open daily 11 to 5.

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The Mountain Chronicle’s“Galería de Arte y Vino”

La Galería Continued →

July's Featured Artist:Leslie Hurst

Hatcher WineryMain Street - Murphys

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La Galería

La Galleria’s Disclaimer:Translation, as they say, is at best an echo - You should see this art for yourself!

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Impeccable Wines by Chuck Hovey

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La Galería Continued →

Bird On Flower 22 x 30 – Ink and Watercolor

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The End

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Cute Name, Serious Award Winning Wines.

Leslie HurstLeslie Hurst is an oil painter who lives and works in the Foothills of the Sierra. She Graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts. After raising her children, she returned to painting more than a decade a go.

Hurt’s Expressionist painting style is open and loose. Her landscapes and still-lifes are infused with light and contem-plative space. Her love of saturated and heightened color brings a dynamic sense of feeling and place to her work

To round out the other corners of her life, Hurst also owns and operates Woods Creek Olive Oil Company, and is a principal partner in Table Mountain Beef – a niche marketing company selling local beef. She also travels exten-sively painting in Alaska, France, Hong Kong, and Italy.

“Seeing the world for m an outsider’s point of view often opens my eyes to my own landscapes,” Hurst said.

To see more of Hurst’s works visit the Post Gallery in Sonora, or the Frog’s Tooth Gallery in Murphys.

I got the chance to go to V the other night in the company of the delightful Vonne; What a treat. We started off in the V bar with a bottle of Renner Viognier, where we ran into Cindy and her friend Craig. Oh, right before we got there we were in Frog's Tooth and they recommended the olives with anchovies as an appetizer and I'm not sure how it happened, but mi-raculously the little bombers arrived with the wine. I have to say that I've always been a fan of the olive and a fan of the anchovy, but never a fan of the anchovy stuffed olive - those days are over! The light sauté that Chef Bob puts on these units comes with my guess is a form of Italian hard cheese is exquisite.

The Renner Viognier is really quite nice - I think the thing I like about it is it's understated. It's certainly elegant and has plenty of body and character, but down played and subtle. What Vonne offered and I think she's right is that the wine tended to compliment the food. After a short visit with Cindy and Craig who were both drinking a "Bugsy Seagle," we were called to our table.

On our way to our table we ran into Doris Barger - she gave V a very seri-ous compliment, so serious that I felt my self-esteem growing just being there.

The thing about V and Chef Bob and Mary is that the there is no pretentiousness. The dining at V is very charming, but the food that I had was not complex, actually rather simple, but the attention to detail is fastidious. Vonne and I were going to Willie later so weren't ready

to go all out on the food so we shared a Caesar's salad, a mushroom polenta fungi and a Sea Bass as our entrée. You can tell from the start with the Tapenade, that V knows what they're doing. They are a intrinsically a classy outfit.

The Caesar was exceptional, arranged in a crispy holding vessel, that I ate. I have to say that even the miraculous V did not present a whole unencumbered anchovy on my Caesar. If that ever happens to me again I'm going to write a novel - however, the Caesar was wonderful all the same, and the mushroom polenta was dynamite. It even came engraved with a V right on the mushroom cap. When you go to V again and if you've been there I know you're going back, do not miss the mushroom. But what I've really wanted to talk about was the Entree'. I actually can't say enough. There were two of us eating on the Sea Bass and it was more tan plenty. I'm going to hazard a guess but I'd say Chef did a light- wine garlic, shallot and probably lemon reduction that was so subtle it let the fresh fish come through, and the grill job on the fish was perfect.

Plus the snow peas were completely crisp and the little tomato ac-coutrement was the perfect blend of flavour along with the spuds that augmented what the whole thing was about, the Sea Bass.

At V, there is no slight of hand, its just top flight ingredients cooked the way they are meant to be cooked.

We finished off with a nice scoop of homemade sorbet that very well could have been floating in the Bugsy Seagle!

One note: The Renner Sarah was the a very nice addition to the meal, flavorful in it own right, but again very complementary of the food.

The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 17“The Galley Slave”

V By Ross Alford

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The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 18“Special Feature”

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I used to get amused by my friend's or my family's reactions to our area. Some, after visiting on a 100 degree day, would state that our place is just too damn hot. Others, after visiting during an unusually low level dumping of snow, would remark on how cold and stormy it seemed to be. Another, who happened to hit on a 75 degree April af-ternoon with billowy clouds lazily floating across a brilliant blue sky, remarked how it was the most spectacular and beautiful area she had ever seen. Obviously all subjective perspectives, based almost exclu-sively on experiential data.

Sounds like the human factor. True for restaurants, vacations, cars, events, or any other number of things where people base their opinions entirely on their experience. This also includes, of course, our views on other people.

I remember talking to someone a while back, with whom I was only peripherally acquainted, and they told me that they thought I was one of the most horrible people they’d ever known. When I asked her why, she relayed a story that I hadn’t thought about for some time.

Many years ago I had a horse, a beautiful Palomino horse, a smart and loyal animal, golden in color with white mane and tail. Though I have had several horses over the years this horse, Zip, was my all time favorite. Oh and by the way anybody who tells you that horses are stu-pid has a limited perspective of intelligence. Horses may not be great problem solvers, but they are as tuned in to vibes as any animal alive. They can read the energy around (and on) them like no other creature. Anyway, decades back, I was having a fairly large weekend party at my property with several hundred people present. Suddenly, Saturday afternoon Zip became seriously ill, was clearly in great distress, and just wanted to lie down. Now anybody who knows horses knows that they have a one way system. They can’t throw up. If there is a block-age in their intestinal track it has to be dislodged through medication or physical action.

I called my vet, who was on another emergency call and would not be able to arrive for a couple of hours. He told me that under no circum-stances was I to allow Zip to stay down and that I had to keep her up and moving by whatever means necessary.

This clearly was going to be a job easier said than done. At first it wasn’t particularly hard as I enlisted the help of some other horse lov-ers who were present and we took turns yanking on the lead rope with all the strength we had to keep her up and moving. Up and down the driveway we went, time after time, a hundred yards at a time and then

she would collapse. After much coaxing and yanking we’d get her up again and kept moving over increasingly shorter dis-tances.

At this point I was sweating pro-fusely, every muscle in my body was aching and I was singly focused on my beloved steed. I didn’t care about the party any-more. I didn’t care about any-thing but keeping my horse alive. I needed to keep Zip upright and moving and hope that my vet would come racing in to the rescue.

Finally she went down, clearly in agony, for what seemed like the last time. It appeared she was giving up and was preparing to die. Four of us pulled on the lead rope to no avail. We tied her to a car and all we did was drag her a bit and we quickly realized that wasn’t going to work. She wasn’t going to get up and time was running out.

Then I did what under ordinary circumstance I would of course never have done. I went to get a bullwhip from the tack shed. I came back and started to whip my dying horse. Finally dripping with sweat, emotion-ally spent and muscles exhausted, I was able to get her up on her now wobbly legs and kept whipping her as another pulled on the lead and we stumbled down the road a few steps at a time before she collapsed in a chest heaving heap again. It was almost over. She didn’t have much left when suddenly the vet pulled up. He put on a plastic glove that covered all the way up his arm and reached up Zip's ass to the top of his shoulder and pulled out a chuck of hard packed horse shit. He told me that if we had let her stay down, she would have almost cer-tainly died.

So while my perception was that I had been, in my own little world, and to my own beloved creature, a bit of a hero and a life saver, to a woman watching from a distance I was a monster. Maybe just a cut above Hitler, an animal abuser, possibly a vicious and violent psycho-path. This woman's perspective of who I was revealed a valuable les-son we all tend to forget. We see things from a very limited perspec-tive and while our subjective view of people, places and events carries some validity, it hardly encompasses anything resembling the whole picture, or sometimes even an element of the truth.

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The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 19“Stearns’ Page”

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CateringThe HeadlinesUS Nuke Regulators Weaken Safety Rules Jeff Donn, Associated Press

Jeff Donn reports: "Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found."

GOP vs. World David Greenberg, The New York Times Intro: "After Barack Obama announced new troop withdrawals from Afghanistan last week, it was no surprise to hear rebukes from the mushrooming field of Republican presidential candidates. The sur-prise came in what they said: although some predictably implied that he was looking to cut and run, several others declared the move too little, too late."

Bachmann's Latest Conspiracy Theory Is a DoozyBy Steve Benen, Washington Monthly

Michele Bachmann's creativity is unrivaled in contemporary poli-tics. Consider her remarks yesterday to a gathering of the Republican Leadership Conference. "This hasn't been talked about very much - the president's plan for senior citizens is Obamacare," Ms. Bach-mann told party activists here. She added, "I think very likely what the president intends is that Medicare will go broke and ultimately that answer will be Obamacare for senior citizens."

In practical terms, Bachmann apparently thinks the president is se-cretly right-wing - she believes Obama wants to end the existing sys-tem of socialized medicine for seniors, and force these millions of seniors into the private insurance market.

Of course, there is a group of people who actually support such an ap-proach. They're called "House Republicans." Indeed, the House GOP budget plan - written by Paul Ryan and endorsed by none other than Michele Bachmann - seeks to end Medicare and convert the program into an ACA-style system. Bachmann's conspiracy theory is that Obama secretly agrees with her and her far-right colleagues.

This isn't just wrong; it's mad-as-a-hatter crazy.

Summer is in full swing and the bounty of summer is coming in with a warm welcome. Fresh, local fruits and veggies of all sorts can be found in local gar-dens, farmer’s markets and gro-cers. The flavors of fresh fruits and veggies can’t be beat, so make sure you enjoy whatever is in season now. But as we ap-proach the dog days of summer we can start thinking about fall crops. Many greens don’t do so well when the days are long and hot, but thrive when days and nights are mild. There are sev-eral vegetables that also do well

in milder conditions, such as peas, broccoli, carrots, radishes, turnips, beets, chard, kale, onions, and garlic. But why am I talking about this now? If you’re starting from seed, these plants need to be started from mid-July to mid-August. Your local climate will determine the urgen-cy. If you live at higher elevations your window for growing fall crops is smaller, if you live at lower elevations you might be able to grow fall/ winter crops throughout the winter months too. You can find many fall veggie starts at local nurseries; ask them what they might have. So start planning your fall garden now and follow your summer bounty with a bumper crop of fall veggies. Summer is a good time to use the power of the sun passively. Much of California is blessed with endless days of sun each summer. We can easily attain at least three of Dave Holmgren’s Permaculture Design Principles by using the sun. Principle #2- Catch and Store Energy- make hay while the sun shines. Principle #5- Use and Value Renew-able Resources and Services- let nature take it’s course. Principle #9- Use Small and Slow Solutions- The bigger they are, the harder they fall, slow and steady wins the race. Take advantage of our dry, hot summer. Reduce your energy consumption by setting up a clothesline to dry your clothes. Purchase or make a sun oven to cook breads, soups, frittatas, cookies and whatever you like. Dry fresh fruits and veggies in the sun.

Summer Plant Profile

I’ve decided to add a new piece to the article by doing a plant profile for each season. Four times a year I will discuss a perennial plant that is grown, used or harvested in the current season. I’ve chosen Sun-chokes for this summer’s plant profile.

The following information comes from Edible Forest Gardens vol. II, Cornucopia II and my own experience. Sunchokes, a.k.a. Jerusalem artichokes, (Helianthus tuberosus) are a member of the sunflower fam-ily and are native to eastern North America. It is a very large herba-ceous perennial, with a running habit and tuberous roots. They can tolerate many conditions from full sun to partial shade, acidic to alka-line soil and moist to somewhat dry soil. They can reach heights of 6-12’ and grow very fast. Sunchokes prefer disturbed habitats, mead-ows and thickets. The tubers are of excellent quality, and also act as a pancreatic tonic and balance the blood sugar. It is a good nectary plant and provides nectar for parasitoid wasps. There are a couple of characteristics to keep in mind when adding sunchokes to your site. The young leaves and shoots can possibly cause nervous system tox-icity in livestock. Sunchokes are also very expansive and will spread vigorously. Once they are established they are difficult to eradicate. The tubers can be harvested in the fall and will become sweeter after a frost. Whatever isn’t harvested will resprout the next spring. The clumps should be harvested once a year after the tops have died back, if they aren’t thinned out the remaining tubers will be in more com-petition with each other and you will end up with smaller tubers. The tubers are rich in insulin and are a suitable starch for diabetics. The tubers can be eaten raw, pickled or cooked in several different ways.

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The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 20“In The Garden”

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Vegetable Highlights at Outer Aisle

Hot weather and ripening fruit! Second week of exceptionally sweet, Arctic Star Nectarines, Patterson apricots and a white peach known as Snowbrite. Last week on cherries. These were really delicious last week and we'll be offering specials again!

New Red Potatoes following on the heels of summer squash (which is in extreme abundance). There's nothing quite so creamy and de-lectable as a new potato! Simply steamed and combined with a little butter, Truffle salt and ground black pepper to complement any meal.

Sweet red onions the kind you can eat raw and you're not left with onion breath all day! There's a great story behind these onions and it belongs to our once neighbors, the Vogliotti family. Born in the early 1900's they raised there own vegetables and marketed them on horse and cart around to the local miners selling their home-grown onions and tomatoes.

July 2011 ● 21The Mountain Chronicle “The Zone”

The Astro-Logger

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The ASTRO-LOGGER “We do our logging in the stars…”

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The astrology for the early portion of Cancer in June is a bit on the temperamental side this year with the Sun filling in the fourth position of the Cardinal Climax as it squares Prometheus (Uranus) on June 26th and opposes Pluto the next day (!). It won’t get around to forming the second T-Cross square with Saturn until July 2nd, making the whole period, going in from the Solstice until about the end of the first week in July, a bit more enigmatic, and for some (with the usual kinds of well-tempered astrology resonances), more dicey and dangerous than average. If there is anything avoidable that is troubling you during this period of time, don’t hesitate to take a little extra time in the hammock to rehearse all the angles of approach before committing to a plan of action—I would have to mark this as a major point of tension in the astro-weather. Nobody knows what will really happen, of course, in-cluding the gods and goddesses, but they doubtless already have alter-nate plans rehearsed with side bets at the ready.

The natural association of Cancer with housing in conjunction with the sense of unease and alarm in the country generally over failing finan-cial indices in the burgeoning potential sovereign debt crisis, leads one to suspect that Fanny and Freddy may be taken out to the woodshed during this period—I was recently shocked to see that property values in our area are estimated to have fallen about 10% in the past year, and what looks to be about 40% now from the highs of 2007—consider-ably more than I had realized (!). And the curve is pointed down again after being flat for some months … Our very own home country, the U.S. of A., with its birthday on our 4th of July Independence Day, so proudly celebrated by the expanded Sierra Foothill population taking up summer residence, will undoubtedly be further affected in some major way in this homeland department (and I’m not talking about real concerns of “terrorist attacks,” which may well be ginned up by the consolidated stealth security conspiracy).

But a lot of things are near the breaking point now locally (new Gov. Jerry “no gimmicks” Brown’s vetoing of his own party’s recently passed concoction of a state budget) and nationally (belated awareness of the exhausting and over-whelming costs of the lingering, highly unpopular Bush Wars). The cover on the real bottom line that will likely be taken as the way out of the gaping fi-nancial “default,” seems to have been blown by Libertarian Ron Paul, po-sitioned now as the second from the gate position in the Republican stable of the Bipartisan Party: big time inflation (only be sure to call it “quantitative easing” … oh, Bernanke, you’re almost as good as the now legendary night tripper, Greenspan the “gre-gre man”).

Try to imagine what might happen if Paul has made the right call, with his trademark bluntness in speaking truth to Repuglican conventional-ity, and inflation does rise nearly 50% (his number!) in the short term, let us say, to make the 2012 election more “interesting.” The standard Economics 101 formula is that it would somewhat ease the pain of mortgage holders with low equity (re-paying debt with inflated dollars if you have a job) and exporters (competing with the flood of cheap Asian goods), but stress low and fixed income people (like you know who) because of steadily rising prices for essential commodities and services like food and transportation. The cautious but wily Chinese will surely take greater advantage as they increase their strategic po-sition as Uncle Sam’s banker in preparing to assume their eventual goal and role as engineering manufacturers presiding over the world’s largest economy (many things could go wrong, of course) in the arm wrestle with the dead-locked larcenous lawyers of DC, the greedily obsessed high rollers of Wall St., and the faltering purveyors of the California dream. Even the “drill-baby-drill” yahoos of the Texas en-ergy sector are scramblin’ with their gambling.’

But it’s only money—if you have enough . . .

The Longest Spring By John BuckleyCentral Sierra Environmental Resource Center

Due to the incredibly wet, extremely cool weather that dominated most of the spring season, the foothill grasses and wildflowers persisted lon-ger than usual, and the snow line only edged upwards begrudgingly during a chilly month of May. All of that combined to stall the normal spring burst of wildflowers and snowmelt across the lower and middle elevations of the Highway 4 corridor. Where most years there might be grasses already drying out and wildflowers past their prime in local for-ests, this year there are still patches of snow and scattered snowplants with their iridescent, bright red hues.

This could easily turn out to be the “longest spring” in at least nearly 30 years as the slow melting of the snowpack and the saturated forest soils create ideal growing conditions for moisture-loving wildflowers. If ever there is a year to grab your camera and “catch up” with spring, you simply can’t miss for at least the next two months or longer.

On south-facing slopes where a couple of weeks of hot June weather seared the ground with scorching sunshine, some lower elevation coni-fer forests and brushfields have already dried out. But on the opposite side of the ridge or mountain, north or east-facing hillsides are still moist and cool with lots of early spring wildflower displays.

The key to this “summer-by-the-calendar” season is to choose your choice of seasons and simply match the right elevation and conditions. If you like soppy wet meadows just emerging from lingering snow, head up to Big Meadow along Highway 4 or try to get in to reach Sapps

Meadow as soon as Spicer Road opens. If you want late spring/early summer wildflower displays right now, head down through Calaveras Big Trees State Park to trails along the North Fork Stanislaus River.

Those who love to hike amidst wildflowers should have the entire sum-mer season this year to pursue spring and flowers. Recent press re-leases from the Stanislaus National Forest have publicized the fact that many middle and upper elevation roads aren’t even going to be open to the public until July 15th because lingering berms of snow still block road access. Ebbetts Pass itself still contains many areas with snow, and slopes facing away from afternoon sunshine will stay moist into August or later. The very highest elevations out in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness and Mokelumne Wilderness areas may still have lots of wildflowers into September. It’s a wonderful year to get out and ex-plore the Highway 4 corridor and to follow spring conditions up the slopes for week after week during the summer season.

Wildflowers are only a few tantalizing samples of the impressive beau-ty that awaits those who take the time to get out of their cars and “go forth” to savor the colorful displays throughout the forests and subal-pine areas of the region. Grab your camera, a day-pack, a canteen, and raingear or other key items in case of an unpredicted thunderstorm. Then snap some great photos, and think about sharing them with our Center so we can post your pictures for others to enjoy as well. (Send any photos of summer scenic beauty or wildlife to: johnb@cserc.org Then go to the CSERC website at: www.cserc.org to view galleries of wildflower and wildlife photos. If you don’t mind your name being posted with your photos, give us permission to list you as the photogra-pher of your stunning pictures. Go forth and enjoy!

Hair Styling • Pedicure • ManicureNails: Acrylic, Silk, Fiberglass

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The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 22“Mysteries Revealed”

GroceriesDeli

Fresh ProduceFresh Meats

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Supplies

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B e a r V a l l e y Enjoy a Slice of Local Color

Mike’s Pizza294 South Main Street

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Forest Meadows Golf Course

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Join The Revolution

GENERAL FORECASTWhat could follow an act like June? July doesn’t even try - it’s like comparing apples and or-anges. Merrily we roll along, over the bumps and cracks. Nothing you haven’t seen before, so don’t get too excited. We can make an issue out of how imperfect the world is, but been there and done that, and we’ve got better things to do. Thought for the month – only stupid people think they’re smart.

ARIESIt’s hangover time for Aries. Inevitable, but you are taken by surprise. Poor, innocent thing – how could this have possibly happened to you? Why are you still shocked after all these years? Good thing that you know how to take care of yourself, if only after you’ve gone too far and exhausted everything.

TAURUSYour trust of someone close to you is at an all time low and you wonder what’s going on. Stop feeling angry because they’re not being up front with you and chill out your imagination. Give this person time to approach you and come clean on their own. There might be circumstances that you don’t know about.

GEMINIThe trick is on you this time. How does it feel to be on the receiving end for a change? That should make you pull in your horns (I know it’s the wrong sign for horns) for a while. A little humility (usually from humiliation) is good for the soul and basically you’re a decent person, albeit misguided at times.

CANCERIt’s a shame that your sign is also a scary disease because it is so full of vim and vigor this month. This burst of energy is a byproduct of all the freedom in your life lately. Gather it all and store it for those dark, rainy days that you know are ahead. You can actually do it with all the magic now at your disposal.

LEOYou actually turned around a big problem in your life that you had given up on. Congratulations are due – you’ve been struggling with this for a long time. The damage has been done and the healing will take time, but you know, without any doubt, that you’ve made a breakthrough.

VIRGOHere you go again, running around like a chicken without its head, while everybody else is busi-ness as usual. It’s not that they’re stupid or don’t care, it’s that you are over reacting. I realize that it’s on your sacred turf, but lighten up, for crying out loud. A much-needed sense of proportion is called for here.

LIBRAYou are doing one of the weirdest balancing acts in your life and it’s a real cliffhanger. You feel more alive than you have been in a while but the exhilaration is exhausting. This may be taking the carbon off of your points, but your anxiety levels are disturbing your eating and sleeping habits.

SCORPIO You’re the opposite of Virgo right now. Get off your butt and do something! Isn’t it obvious by now that no one else is going to take care of it? Honestly, it’s your responsibility to deal with it and it’s not that big a deal, unless you let it fester for a while, which is one of your unfortunate hobbies.

SAGITTARIOUSSomehow you have fallen through the cracks, in a good way, and you are thoroughly enjoying yourself. Nothing has changed but even common chores are a pleasure to do. It’s not a new drug, it is just an instance, when, by pure accident, you are in tune with yourself and the universe. Don’t take any credit for it.

CAPRICORNIn trouble again, are we? No one’s surprised, they’re just disappointed – you’ve been good for so long. Maybe too long, if the evidence of your latest escapade is any indication. Luckily no harm was done to anyone – just a few feathers ruffled – but it is a warning of things to come if measures aren’t taken.

AQUARIUSLost at sea, sweetheart? We can all understand how that feels but do you have to be so dramatic about it? Get a grip – we’ve done all we can. You’ve got it in you, it’s just been a while since you’ve had to reach deep down in there and connect with your strength. We’re rooting for you.

PISCESYou’re an expert at being lost at sea and everyone’s concerned about it but you. Do you have a secret that we don’t know about or are you just too caught up in your dreams to pay attention to boring matters here on earth? Somehow Pisces can pull a rabbit out of a hat without a hat or a rabbit.

The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 23 Angels 5 Theatre

State-of-the-Art Projection & SoundFlip-Up Armrest “Loveseats”

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“The Perspective”

Sober grad night – what a great idea! For those new to the area (like myself) or visiting, this is an event supported and run by volunteering parents and teachers of Bret Harte and Calaveras High Schools in re-sponse to the teenage drunk driving deaths that happen when exuberant graduating teens drink too much and drive. The roads around here are very unforgiving – if you lose control of your vehicle, you usually get killed instead of just being injured.

What could be more natural than going crazy after graduating from high school? It’s an unfortunate tradition and instead of creating strict-er and crueler punishments, the schools decided to provide a safe, posi-tive, and fun alternative that the kids would love. Rock climbing walls, face painting, fortune telling, disco dancing, fat suits, bucking broncos, posing on motorcycles with real bikers (to name only a few of the many events), and me –drawing pencil portraits of as many kids as I could. This is all free to the students and they love it. In all of the towns that I have lived in over the years, I’ve never seen anything like it.

This was something that I’ve never done before but the cause was so good that I decided to just jump right in. I participated in both grad nights and didn’t have a clue as to what to expect. A friend had seen me about town, sketching people in my little leather book and asked me to participate. Both nights started at 10 p.m. and went on to 4 a.m. The kids can’t leave during that time (so they can’t sneak a drink or take whatever new designer drug is making the rounds these days) un-less they have permission from their parents and the truth be told, they didn’t want to leave. I saw a lot of happy faces.

The props were fantastic –a huge Golden Gate bridge made out of card-board, various building facades simulating New Orleans, Hollywood, New York City, and so on, fire pits to chew the fat around, go karts, and lots of food and non alcoholic drinks. Since I was busy plying my trade, I didn’t have a chance to really check things out.

Starting at Bret Harte, I set up my easel, two chairs, and a display of pencil portraits and waited. I didn’t know how I would be received but the kids wasted no time scoping me out and soon I had a long line of folks waiting to be drawn.

Luckily the room I chose was where the kids went to chill out, so it was reason-ably quiet and well lit. Portraits require an intense concentration and I didn’t need any distractions. Drawing faces is difficult even under the best of conditions – even adults have a hard time staying still and keeping their expressions the same. Imag-ine hyperactive teenagers in a building full of partying friends. I felt the pressure to draw my victims as quickly as possible, which is at odds with my desire to do a good job. I managed to average about fif-teen to twenty minutes a portrait but it varied because some faces are harder to capture than others.

I couldn’t believe how quickly the time passed. I’ve never done this type of drawing marathon before but the high energy flowing through the room supercharged me and the kids were very sweet about the whole thing and amazingly patient– as an early to bed and early to rise type of guy, I had no idea how long I would last. I promised the organizers a minimum of three hours and ended up spending six solid hours drawing one face after with just a brief break to gobble down some food and tank up on caffeine and sugar with a few soft drinks.

Calaveras was a different story. I was glad that I broke the ice first at Bret Harte because this time I was set up in an incredibly loud disco with flashing lights and a huge crowd of wildly dancing teens. Even with ear plugs, the sound was overwhelming and the thump thump of the beat reverberated in my ribcage. I was provided with two clamp lights but one had a blue colored bulb in it which made it difficult to see the shadows on the faces and the flashing disco lights and flash bulbs only added to the chaos. At one point a fog machine cut in and had my young model coughing. I had to laugh at how demanding the situation was but soldiered on. Miracle of miracles, four hours passed in a flash and I had the pleasure of drawing some wonderful faces

All in all, I was very touched by the generosity and kindness of all those I came in contact with and would do these events again in a heartbeat. Living in this area just gets better and better…………….

Bartczak's Bully Pulpit"Some Faces Are Harder To Capture Than Others"By Peter Bartczak

Peter Bartczak

Sonora Joe's July's Featured Artist: Carol L. Clark

Sonora Joe’s Coffee is proud to announce Carol L. Clark of Valley Springs will have her premiere exhibit in Tuolumne County beginning July 1st through July 31st.

Carol’s favorite medium at this time is oil painting. She en-joys painting a variety of subjects including local landscapes, large floral blossoms from her garden, still life of interesting objects, and historic buildings and structures. Carol’s current focus is on color and light. Her style is impressionistic to realistic. She occasionally uses flat poster design.

In the past Carol has taught Art in Southern California, Utah, and Pennsylvania. She completed her formal education at California State University at Long Beach. She also sold her work at the Birdsboro Community Fine Art Show, the Fall Festival Art Show and Sale, Pottstown, PA., and other local art show while living in Pennsylvania.

Today she and her husband Roger live in Valley Springs, where Carol enjoys painting and displaying her work, most recently, at the Ironstone Vineyard Annual “Spring Obses-sion” and other art shows.

Most of Carol's work is sold as originals, not as copies or giclée prints.

Come on by and enjoy Carol’s beautiful paintings while sip-ping your favorite coffee or tea drink, fresh fruit smoothie, Italian soda and fresh baked snack. Sonora Joe’s is located at 140 So. Washington St., Sonora.

Upcoming Art Exhibit

Metate Hill Lounge 448 Main St. Murphys209.728.8983 www.vinometate.com

Saturday, July 16 ERIN AND THE PROJECTSConcert $10, 21 and over, Concert starts at 8 pm. Description: Powerhouse Soul Music

Lindsay Erin (vocals/keys) and husband, Paul "The Project" Ezekiel (drums), have been impressing audiences across the country with their original music for the past 3 years.

The two full time musicians have performed both as a duo and with full band at well known North American venues such as The Bitter End in NYC, The Key Club and The Roxy VIP Lounges in Hollywood, The Mint and The Hotel Cafe also in Los Angeles, as well as jazz/wine tasting venues like Silo's in Napa, and Naggiar Vineyards in Grass Valley.

Saturday, July 30TODD MORGAN AND THE EMBLEMSConcert $10, 21 and over, Concert starts at 8 pm.

Todd Morgan and the Emblems are undoubtedly one of the

most exciting local bands in the Sacramento area. Since 2007, they've been delighting audiences with their sound and per-formance style. The band is led by Singer/Songwriter/Pianist Todd Morgan. Todd's original music takes elements from ev-ery faction and every era of American music from Jazz to Pop and Rock, and everything in between. The band consists of four musicians, and contains two soloists: Todd Morgan on Piano/Vocals and Jerad Williams on electric guitar. Together, the band gives their audience a show to remember.

Music In The ParkCindy Kalmenson

Greenhorn Creek/CAMPS Restaurant Wednesday, July 13 - 6:30 to 8 PMSinger/Songwriter/Story-Teller, Cindy Kalmenson comes to Angels Camp for Calaveras Art Council’s Free Music in the Parks.

Kalmenson is a California girl who moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and returned to the Golden State settling in Ojai. She is funny and honest and knows how to tell sto-ries, whether they be light hearted or sad. Her songs weave deep sentiments with honesty and humor. She is one of the winners of the 2010 West Coast Songwriters Competition for her song "Alabama Bliss." The title track of her debut CD, "Let Me Out Here," was featured in the HBO comedy Big Love in 2006. Her third independent release, "I'm Not Leaving," was nominated for song of the year and record of the year by the Los Angeles Music Awards.

In live performance she wears her heart on her sleeve and is willing to talk about how much of her music is about rela-tionships. She makes fun of herself and of men in her music including such songs as “Hobo Rock Star” and “Man of My Dreams.” Kalmenson has an infectious smile and her music spreads that easily. She's a storyteller with a knack for country and folk genres. Country fans will laugh and dance along to "80 Proof" and "Precious Things," while those who like folk will enjoy the family story Kalmenson tells in "Land of the Free" and the story of experiences she offers in "My Life."

Bring your low back chairs and picnics and sit back and en-joy the show. If you want to take it easy and buy local, the CAMPS Restaurant has a full selection of menu items for you to select from at reasonable prices.

To get to Angels Camp, Greenhorn Creek Resort and CAMPS Restaurant take Highway 4 West out of Angels Camp. Turn left on Angels Oaks Drive. Angels Oaks turns into Greenhorn Creek Drive. Turn right on McCauley Ranch Road. Turn into CAMPS parking lot. For more details about Music in the Parks, visit www.calaverasarts.org or call (209) 754-1774.

The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 24“The Scene”

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Todd Morgan and the Emblems

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At the "

Bart" July 3rd - 3

pm

The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 25

High Country Hellcats Ready To RumbleJuly 9 – Hellcats vs. Santa Cruz @ Sonora

Saturday, July 30 in Sheep Ranch, Calaveras County Going to the longest-running Cajun party in Calaveras County is almost like step-ping into a Louisiana bayou setting without the humidity. This is the 18th year of the Cajun Fête, the Calaveras Arts Council’s annual Din-ner/Dance Benefit, held in Sheep Ranch at the historic Pioneer Hotel, a nearly 100-year-old former boarding house for miners. With wrap-around verandas on both stories, the old structure, normally closed to the public, just begs for a relaxed down-home party, both inside, and outside on the spacious shady grounds. The date is Saturday, July 30, beginning at 5pm.

This year’s Emperor of the Sacramento Jazz Festival and Jubilee, Tom Rigney, will perform with Flambeau, the hottest music to spice up any evening getting your toes tappin, with Cajun / Zydeco music. You’ll be partying all night and dancing your socks off!

Prior to the dance party, a complete, specially-prepared Cajun dinner including Jambalaya prawns, barrel-smoked chicken, grilled Andouille sausage, beans, rice, salad, and Cajun sauces and seasonings will be served from the historic kitchen where miners once grabbed their grub. A no-host bar will serve wines, micro brews and the notorious “Cajun Kickers.” Free chicory coffee, lemonade and ice tea is also available. Popcorn too!

A Silent Auction Tent featuring “experience” packages and art will make it easy to make additional donations to the Calaveras Arts Coun-cil, a 30-year-old nonprofit organization that brings arts to education, free music to summer concerts, and many other valuable arts-related activities to the region.

Accented by fresh flowers, colorful tables, and beads galore, this year’s Fête will also feature complimentary candid photos and other surprises. According to Mary Jane Genochio, Executive Director, the Cajun Fête was designed 18 years ago to be as fun as possible so that people feel good about raising funds to keep the arts alive in the county. She suggests getting a group of friends together. “Our mantra is,’ Good friends, good times, and a good cause.’” As they say on the bayou, Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler (Let the good times roll)!

Since this limited-seating event is a sell-out, purchase your tickets now. Ticket prices are $65. All tickets much be purchased in advance….no sales at the event. You can order your tickets online by going to www.calaverasarts.org or call Calaveras Arts at (209)754-1774.

“Laissez le bon temps rouler”

18th annual Cajun Fete Fun and Fund RaiserMusic by Tom Rigney and Flambeau

Fiddler Tom Rigney - Blurred!

LadiesManThe

July 22-August 21 - East Sonora Theatre

Box Office: 532-3120 www.sierrarep.org

WOMEN’S FLAT TRACK ROLLER DERBYRoller Derby! Live Music! Come join us for a fun evening of Women's Flat Track Roller Derby. • Half Time Show • Beer & Tri-Tip and more!!Saturday July 9, 2011 - Doors open at 5:30 - Bout begins at 7pmHigh Country Sports Arena 18960 Waylon Way in Sonora.

BUY YOUR TICKETS PRE-SALE AND SAVE!!Cost: Pre-sale Adult tickets $10Door tickets $15All children's tickets (6-12 yr) $5Kids 5 and under are freeVIP tickets $20 online or from your favorite derby girl only

Any unsold pre-sale tickets will be sold at the door. All seating is on a first come, first serve basis.

The Mountain Derby Girls are the first Women’s Roller Derby League in Sonora. The league is a program offered by High Country Sports Arena and was founded in January 2009. High Country Sports Arena and Mountain Derby Girls is a non-profit organization run by volun-teer members of our programs. To raise funds for High Country Sports Arena and the Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby program. Proceeds will go toward buying roller derby equipment and maintaining HCSA which is a non-profit organization managed by a volunteer board of directors and run by volunteers in our community, and for our com-munity.

July 2011

Friday, July 1st

First Friday in the Park5:30pm - The featured entertainer is Chains Required, the always-pop-ular rock and soul music band. Lila & Sage Catering will be preparing dinner at $8 per person.

Girl's Night Out Girl's Night out at Ironstone Vineyards. Friday, July 1st, 5:30pm-8pm. Wine tasting, shopping and fun! Come check out the jewelry, make-up, and fashion vendors. Admission is $10 and benefits a local non-profit. For more information please call: 209-728-1251.

PLAN B - Double Header They'll be rocking from 4:30 to 6 pm at Ironstone from 9pm till 1am at Cactus Jacks!

Val du Vino Winery's 5th Annual Farmer's MarketMurphys-This year's farmers market will inspire your taste buds with it's wide selection of foods from around the county. Begins Friday evening July 1st - 4pm till dusk.Val du Vino Winery sits at 634 French Gulch Road For more information call 209.728.9911 or www.valduvino.com.

Fresh Fridays Farmer's Market 5pm to dusk at Utica Park. Call for more information: 209-303-7637.

Romeo & Juliet at the Cornelia Stevenot Memorial AmphitheaterMunari - 8pm. Fri. & Sat.Shakespeare's greatest love story!

Saturday, July 2nd

The Arnold Lions Annual July 4th Pancake BreakfastSaturday, July 2nd & Sunday, July 3rd. Pancakes, ham, and eggs cooked to order will be served from 7:30 to 11:30am at the Ebbetts Pass Gas parking lot. Bring the whole family for a great breakfast!!

Arnold's Annual Independence Day ParadeParade time is 10am. Participants must be in the staging area by 9:15am.

Ironstone Independence Day CelebrationSpend the evening with your family enjoying great food and wine, live music, bounce houses, climbing walls and games throughout the entire Ironstone winery complex. Gates open at 4:30pm with the spectacular fireworks show beginning at dark. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for ages 6 to 12 years, and children 5 & Under are free.

The 'Twisted' 5k, 10k, & Half Marathon.Presented by Twisted Oak Winery and "On Your Mark." Check-in and race-day registration opens at 7am at Twisted Oak Winery - 4280 Red Hill Road. Vallecito ( 4 miles below Murphy's on Hwy 4 ). Water: available on course. Post Race Barbecue: 11:30 - 1pm hosted by "On Your Mark." Post race barbecue available to adult non-runners for $10 and children for $7. For more information call 209.795.7832 o r email info@onyourmarkevents.com.

BBQ and Music at Cedar CenterBring a blanket or lawn chairs, and enjoy the Free Music by Snail at Cedar Center in Arnold from 2-8pm. BBQ fund-raiser for Ebbetts Pass Firefighters.

Sunday, July 3rd

Twisted Oak BBQAnniversary BBQ - 7pm - Vintage wines & Live Music with "The Snarky Cats! Info. and tickets: www.twistedoak.com/tixbbq.

Sunday, July 3rd

Tommy Castro at the Black Bart Playhouse - The show is a benefit for the Murphys Creek Theater Company, starts at 3pm and proceeds will go toward maintenance of the theater.

Monday, July 4th Independence Day at the Murphys Historic Hotel - "The Hotel" will be setting off fireworks at sundown.

Saturday, July 9th

Concert By The Lake, Ironstone Vineyards - 209-728-1251Featuring Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, the queen of classic Jazz & Blues. Admission $20. Gates open 4pm; show 5-7:30pm. For information call 209-728-1251 or visit ironstonevineyards.com

Dancing with the Sierra Stars Auditions, Murphys- 209-754-2603Saturday, July9th will be the casting call for amateur dancers over the age of 21 to audition for the 3rd annual Dancing with the Sierra the Stars fundraiser which will be held on October 8th at Ironstone Vineyards. Proceeds go towards the new Family Medical & Woman's Health Center in Angels Camp. For more information and to secure a time slot call -209-754-2603 www.dancingwiththesierrastars.com

Summer Dinner, Chatom Vineyards- 209-736-6500The first of their summer dinner series! Join Chatom for dinner. Cater-ing by Lunch Lady Catering and paired with a Chatom wine; Music by Plan B; 6pm to 9pm, $75 per person / $65 for Wine Club Mem-bers, Reservations required; please call 209-736-6500 and check out chatomvineyards.com for more information. Crazy Ivan at Cedar CenterBring a blanket or lawn chairs, picnic dinner or snacks and enjoy the Free Music at Cedar Center in Arnold from 6-8pm.

Horses, Wine & Art in the Gold Country, Copperopolis - 209-479-6845From 12-6 pm closing with a BBQ dinner, music, and the announce-ment of the Silent Auction winners. The equestrian demonstration starts at12:30. Wine Tasting from 1 �" 4. Tickets can be purchased in advance or the day of the event. General admission is $5 per person (children under 12 are free). Wine tasting will be $15 per person and you will receive a complimentary wine glass. Food, beer and non- al-coholic beverages will be available for purchase. Bridlewood Equestri-an Center at the intersection of Copper Cove and Steeplechase Drives. Banners and signs will be posted. Call for more information or visit bridlewoodequestriancenter.com

Wednesday, July 13th

Farmers Market, Arnold - 209-795-0400At the Rusty Knife, 2275 Hwy. 4. 11am-3pm until end of October.

Java and Jazz, Murphys - 209-728-8634Murphys Jazz Group presents Java and Jazz from 7:30 - 9:30 pm. $10.per person. Straight up Jazz at Gold Country Coffee Roasting Co., 90 Big Trees Rd. In Murphys. For tickets or more call 728-8634.

Music In The ParkEnjoy an evening in Angels Camp at Greenhorn Creek. Listen to good music by Cindy Kalmenson, singer and storyteller, pack a picnic dinner and enjoy! Bring lawn chairs or blanket. Various locations throughout Calaveras County. Every Wednesday night 6:30 pm - 8 pm June 15 - Aug. 17. Call for more information or visit calaverasarts.org.

The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 26“Out & About in Calaveras”

www.sequoiawoods.com

Presenting Music & Dancing In Our Lounge

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Sequoia Woods

We offer a full liquor bar, an ample wine menu including local offer-ings and there is locally-brewed beer on tap!

795 -1000

Country Club

“No Pane Too Extreme”P,O, Box 2260

Arnold, CA 95223795-3687

WINDOWS A PANE?!?GUTTERS A Mess?!?

Don’t Stress!

415 Main StreetMurphys

209.728.9771

The Mountain Chronicle July 2011 ● 27“Out E About in Calaveras”

New

Fresh Preserves

The Red Apple

www.TheRedAppleBunch.com

Home Made Pies • Pastries • Donuts • CiderFruits • Nuts • Veggies • Honey

And so much more !

209.728.8906

1308 Oak CircleArnold, California 209.795.5156

7-Days7am to 8pm

271 Main Street • MurphysTheFlowerLady03@yahoo.com

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Murphys, like Paris, is a woman’s town

with flowers in herhair!

Saturday, July 16th

Murphys Duck Races - 209-890-5471Sponsored by the Calaveras Humane Society. The fun starts at 1:30 with the first Kids Race and is followed by 4 more races.

Reswald Chat at Cedar Center,Bring a blanket or lawn chairs, picnic dinner or snacks and enjoy the Free Music at Cedar Center in Arnold from 6-8pm. Wednesday, July 20th

Farmers Market, Arnold - 209-795-0400At the Rusty Knife, 2275 Hwy. 4. 11am-3pm until end of October.

Music In the ParkEnjoy an evening in Angels Camp at Utica Park. Listen to good music by Patrice Pike, pack a picnic dinner and enjoy! Bring lawn chairs or blanket.

Friday, July 22nd

Farmer's MarketAt Val du Vino Winery, 634 French Gulch Rd. 4pm to dusk.

Fresh Fridays Farmers Market, Salsa Night, Angels CampFarmers Market every Friday 5pm to dusk at Utica Park. 22 July, 2011 to 23 July, 2011

"Romeo and Juliet", Murphys - 209-728-8422Shakespeare's greatest love story! What better way to spend an evening than to watch artists from all over the country perform a masterpiece for you while you enjoy the event outdoors at the beautiful Munari Winery.

Saturday, July 23rd

Blues and Bones Festival, Angels Camp - www.bluesandbones.comAt the Calaveras County Fair Grounds. If you like your food cooked slow & low, then step right up and order some of our BBQ. The folks selling you your 'Q at this years Blue and Bones festival are competing for prizes and championship status in our contest, so you know you're getting the best of the west! The Calaveras County Foothills will be echoing from the sounds of live Music, Featuring some of the areas Hottest Blues Bands. This is a Family event. Two stages of music fea-turing Seven Bands and still adding more! Visit bluesandbones.com for tickets and more information.

Saturday, July 23rd

Hills Brothers Band at Cedar CenterBring a blanket or lawn chairs, picnic dinner or snacks and enjoy the Free Music at Cedar Center in Arnold from 6-8pm.

Wednesday, July 27th

Music in the Parks, Various Locations - 209-754-1774Enjoy an evening in Mokelumne Hill at Shutter Tree Park. Listen to good music by the Bayou Boys, pack a picnic dinner and enjoy! Bring lawn chairs or blanket. Various locations throughout Calaveras County. Every Wednesday night 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm June 15 - Aug. 17. Call for more information or visit calaverasarts.org.

Friday, July 29th

Lucky Jenni and a Full HouseBring a blanket or lawn chairs, picnic dinner or snacks and enjoy the Free Music at Cedar Center in Arnold from 7-9pm.

Bear Valley Music Festival -July 29-31, Aug. 3-6, August 9-14. The Festival kicks-off with a Mamma Mia! on the Big Screen at 7pm. Ad-mission: FREE For more information call or visit bearvalleymusicfesti-cal.org for ticket prices and events!

Saturday, July 30th

Bear Valley Music Festival presents Adbacadabra - the ultimate ABBA tribute at 7pm. Get your 70's groove back on! Enjoy this fun-filled eve-ning. Wear your groovy clothes and we'll be dancing in the aisles.Information: bearvalleymusicfestival.org or call 209-753-2574.

Cajun Fete, Dinner Dance Party, Sheep Ranch - 209-754-1774From 5-10pm at the Historic Pioneer Hotel. A scrumptious Cajun BBQ dinner will be served and a No-host bar will offer Calaveras Beer, var-ious wines and Cajun Kickers. Music by Tom Rigney & Flambeau. Silent auction, frolic with free beads, and ham it up when we take a complimentary candid photo! Early Bird tickets before June 17th are $50 each; $65 each, afterward.

Mother Lode Volkswagen Show & Swap Meet, Angels Camp - 209-At Utica Park. Bring the whole family! 7 a.m. There is no pre-regis-tration for car show or swap meet participants. First come, first served. Show cars will be parked on the grass in the park. Swap meet booths will be located in the parking lot. Free to the public. Raffels, great priz-es. Judged car show entries $20.00 Swap Meet space prices: $10.00 for 2 spaces. Call for more information or email vwswap@hotmail.com

Chains Required at Cedar CenterBring a blanket or lawn chairs, picnic dinner or snacks and enjoy the Free Music at Cedar Center in Arnold from 6-8pm. Sunday, July 31st

Mountaintop Music and Lunch, Bear Valley - 209-753-2574

Steve Miller Band Concert, Ironstone Vineyards Amphitheater

Carter Nice, Music Director

New Adventures in Music

FreeJuly 31 Mountaintop Music and Lunch– Views From Bear’s Mountain August 3 Bear Valley Goes Broadway Pops!August 4 Duo Virtuosity! Olga Kern and Son, Pianists– Recital August 5 Russian Spectacular! Olga Kern, Pianist & Festival Orchestra

August 7 BVRI/BVMF Community BBQ Lunch &Music on the Beach August 9 Chamber Players and Wine-Guitarist Paul Psarras August 10 Cabaret- Passion & Peril– Pops Singers & Original MusicAugust 11 A European Adventure! Orchestra & Guitarist Paul PsarraAugust 12 GALA! Royal Wedding Reception- Dinner, Dancing, Auction

August 13 “Marriage of Figaro” with San Francisco Pocket OperaAugust 14 Bear Valley Rocks The High Country! 4 Rock Bands Not to Miss

Schedule And Artists Subject To Change

For Ticket and Information Call 209.753.2574www.BearValleyMusicFestival.org