32,000 Cookies for Sale –

Girl Scouts Ready for Annual Cookie Sales

Pallets loaded with over twenty-six hundred cases of Girl Scout cookies were delivered on a weekday morning in late February to a parking lot behind Raley’s Plaza. Leaders filled their vehicles to distribute to the seventeen troops in Merced County for this year’s cookie sale. Photo: Steve Newvine

It was a great philosopher, my wife, who once said, “God made cookies so that kids would drink their milk.” She was right.

It is cookie time in the area this month as Girl Scouts and their leaders deliver pre-sale orders and conduct cash sales in front of selected locations.

To find where the nearest cookie sale is taking place, all it takes is a scan of a QR code and the entry of a zip code.

At the vehicles are loaded with all varieties of cookies, anyone interested can scan the Girl Scout Cookie Finder QR code. At the Girl Scout Cookie website, the entry of a zip code can lead to information on finding the hours and location of the nearest sale. You can find out right how where the cookies are being sold at this link: How to Buy Cookies | Girl Scouts

On a recent weekday morning, Merced County Girl Scout leaders took delivery of hundreds of cases filled with all varieties of the iconic treats.

They were all there: Thin Mints, Adventurefuls, Lemonades, Trefoils, and many others. One savvy Scout leader did some quick calculations on her phone calculator app and put the actual number of cookies coming into the pick-up location at just under 32,000.

Laurie Foster is the senior coordinator for the sales. She says this is the event that the Scouts and the community look forward to every year.

“We have one-hundred, seventy-eight girls engaged in Scouting in Merced County, and this is one activity they look forward to every year.”

Girl Scout cookies are an icon of the organization. The annual sales activity raises money for individual troops, and provides soft-skill training such as dealing with people and business ethics. Photo: Steve Newvine

In Merced County, there are seventeen Girl Scout troops. Each troop works on projects they choose to pursue.

Cookie sale profits will help fund projects that are determined by the girls in each individual troop.

“They can choose to put the cookie sale profits into a variety of initiatives,” says scout leader Angie Schone. “We have a flora and fauna project, a vernal pools study at UC Merced, an event called World Thinking Day in downtown Merced, and we even bought masks for first responders.”

Angie pointed to a local project funded with help from cookie sales in Atwater.

“The Girl Scouts from Troop 67 bought part of a new fence at the Bloss Museum using their profits from cookie sales.”

This vehicle back space is filled with all varieties of Girl Scout cookies available for sale this spring throughout Merced County. Photo: Steve Newvine

There are forty-two adult leaders helping the Girl Scouts in Merced County.

They do a little bit of everything from organizing group projects to picking up boxes of cookies in the family SUV. One mom seemed pretty proud after stowing away box after box of Peanut Butter Patties, Caramel deLites, and even a gluten-free selection among other varieties.

“I didn’t realize I had that much space in there,” she said.

TOP 5 GIRL SCOUT COOKIES IN MERCED COUNTY (based on orders by the local troops)

• Thin Mints
• Caramel deLites
• Peanut Butter
• Patties
• Lemonades Adventurefuls

As with so many things in life, it is not just about the cookies. The Scout website states that cookie sales teach goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics.

It’s good for the customer as well. Buying Girl Scout cookies helps these young entrepreneurs hone in on each of the goals stated on the website.

Plus, they taste good and they even may get adults to drink their milk.

Steve Newvine is the father of two daughters who sold their share of Girl Scout cookies when they were growing up.

He is working on a new book due out this spring.

His book Can-Do Californians is available at the Merced Courthouse Museum Gift Shop or online at Lulu.com.

A Big Car for a Growing Family-

That’s my older brother and me on top of a snowbank during a particularly heavy snow-filled winter in upstate New York. The family car, a Pontiac Star Chief, is parked below us. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

Remembering the family Pontiac

When I learned of the passing of former Merced Sun-Star editor Mike Tharp recently, I recalled the debt of gratitude I owe him.

Back in the early years of the 2000s, before MercedCountyEvents.com came along to provide me with a writing home, I would frequently write commentary pieces for the Sun-Star.

Mike was my point of contact. He would be the one to green-light my idea for an opinion piece for the paper.

Over the years, a commentary written by me on such topics as the Jeopardy game where contestants played against Watson the computer, the ending of NASA’s space shuttle program, and the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Jack Benny radio program were published in the paper.

Mike had only one note for me. “Are there any photographs of that family car?” he asked.

At the time I had no pictures of that automobile.

In later years, I found two in my dad’s family photo albums.

So, in tribute to Mike Tharp, here’s an edited version of that first essay from my Sun Star collection from 2009, now with pictures:

The federal government’s plan to restructure General Motors is designed to improve the finances for the ailing automaker.

The plan also calls for the end of production for the Pontiac line. While the car guys (and women) are mourning the end of Pontiac, I’ll miss that familiar brand for reasons that have little to do with muscle cars such as the Firebird or the GTO.

For my family growing up in Port Leyden, New York during the 1960s and 70s, Pontiac was the family car. In the mid-sixties, my dad bought a used 1964 Pontiac Star Chief. From that moment on, Pontiacs were a part of our household.

I remember that Star Chief really well. The color was mauve with a white top. Headlights were two to a side and stacked vertically. It had four doors and lots of legroom no matter where you sat. It also had, arguably, the largest trunk in the history of auto manufacturing.

The car was big, reliable, powerful, and apparently cheap to run. To be fair, no one thought much about the price of gas in the early days that preceded the Middle East oil embargo of the early 1970s.

My sister and dad were washing the Star Chief during one of my family’s summer camping trips in northern New York. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

I have no idea how big the engine was, but it was powerful. I remember the Star Chief was able to tow our family camper trailer during our summer outings to the Adirondacks.

The large trunk came in handy as our family of five would fill it with suitcases, beach gear, cooking supplies, and anything that wasn’t already inside the camper for each outing.

In a few years, Dad would replace the Star Chief with another Pontiac. The latest used Pontiac was a maroon Catalina that did the family proud until 1972.

That year, Dad purchased a brand-new car. You guessed it. It was a Pontiac.

As near as I can tell, no color photographs of a mauve Star Chief exist, but this flattering photo of a teal Star Chief gives some idea of the majestic style of the car. Photo: Matti Blume, Wikipedia

Pontiac was the only car in our driveway when we were a one-car family. After my brother and I got our driver’s licenses, we became a two-Pontiac family.

As a young family man looking to replace my Toyota pick-up truck, I tried to buy a Pontiac in the 1980s.

I went to the Pontiac dealership, but once the salesman determined what my price range was, he directed me to a used Plymouth Reliant.

I marked the passing of the Pontiac line with heartfelt memories.

The car guys may miss their GTOs, Firebirds, and Gran Ams. But I still miss my Dad’s Star Chief, and all the memories created with it growing up.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

A version of this essay was included in his book Microphones, Moon Rocks & Memories published in 2012 and still available at Lulu.com

Planada Gets Help-

Post Flooding Aid Assisting Residents

Residents in Planada are now putting water damaged furniture and building materials on the curb for pick up by County crews taking it all to a landfill. Photo: Steve Newvine

Fernando Rava looks at the pile of water-damaged boards and ruined furniture in front of his home in Planada. Many of the streets here are lined with the debris waiting to be taken to a landfill.

Fernando is thankful.

"We've been working together, my family and neighbors, and putting it all back together."

Fernando's family made Planada their home many years ago. So when the devastating January flood waters ravaged their community, there was no second thought about moving away and starting over.

“My brother and my father live right here on the same street,” he said. “We all did what we had to do to bring everything back.”

Flood waters from the mid-January rains covered the entire city of four thousand. Everyone was evacuated and many have still not been able to live in their homes.

Pallets of supplies are on-site at the Planada Community Center to serve homeowners trying to clean up and rebuild the damaged sections of their homes. Photo: Steve Newvine

The City’s Community Center is a hub for a variety of services to help residents.

Salvation Army has a Food Distribution truck there.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has come in with construction help for homeowners.

A portable washer and dryer truck is set up in the parking lot. Sixteen machines are running practically all day long.

Pallets of water, clean-up chemicals, and other supplies are available from this location.

Volunteers pass out containers of hot meals for citizens working on getting their homes back in living condition. Photo: Steve Newvine

Fernando pointed out how high the water rose at the worst point during that week of January 16.

At his home, the water was at least a foot deep inside the house.

There’s a telltale sign of just how high the water got: water stains on the front of houses.

Inside a trailer with washers and dryers that allow residents to complete loads of laundry in the City of Planada. Photo: Steve Newvine

“We’ve gotten some prices on just replacing our kitchen cabinets and countertop,” Fernando said. “We’re looking at nine-thousand dollars, and that’s just for the basic set up.”

Some residents have flood insurance, but others like Fernando are relying on the help of the agencies that have come to town with assistance.

But he has family and friends who can help him and who he can assist as well. For that, he is grateful.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (top) and the Salvation Army (bottom) have a big presence in the community of Planada. Other organizations include Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), Small Business Administration, area churches, and local government among many others. Photos: Steve Newvine

Fernando has been taken back by the outpouring of resources coming to the aid of Planada and other flooded regions of the state.

“People are not forgetting Planada,” he said. He feels it has been a true community effort, not only in Merced County but throughout the state and the federal government.

Fernando Nava looks out to a field some 500 feet away from his home. Off in the distance is a trash can that was carried away by flood waters. Photo: Steve Newvine

Businesses are reopening and there’s a sound of construction work permeating the community as little by little, life is returning to normal.

There’s a sign on the local post office saying it is closed for safety reasons until further notice.

When it reopens, it will be another indicator that Planada is coming back from those very dark days in January. For Fernando and many others, there is light at the end of those darker days.

-Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He is thankful for members of the Merced AARP group who helped support a fundraising effort for flood relief following his recent talk to their club in late January.

His books Can-Do Californians and California Back Roads are available for purchase at the Merced Courthouse Museum Gift Shop and online at Lulu.com

Filling a Sandbag of Hope-

Merced Community Steps Up to Help Flooded Families

This photo provided by the County of Merced, shows how flood waters covered lower land near Ashby Road off California Highway 99. Photo: County of Merced Facebook page.

Merced Mayor Matthew Serrato had one hope as the New Year was about to begin.

His wish: “I just want to see work get done.”

If the recent storms that hit Merced and surrounding areas are any indication, it would appear the Mayor got his wish.

The community went through a lot as a result of the powerful rains and winds from early January.

The week of January 9 will stand out as a week when the brutality of the weather was overpowered only by the capacity of first responders and volunteers to step up to help their neighbors.

The waters of Bear Creek just barely below the bottom of the McKee road bridge in Merced. Photo: Nathan Quevedo.

On Monday January 9, residents near Bear Creek were evacuated to shelters set up at the Merced County Fairgrounds.

A day later, the entire community of Planada was evacuated.

From the very beginning, the community stepped in to help.

Volunteers staffed the Love INC portable shower ministry that was moved to the County Fairgrounds where a shelter for evacuated residents was set up. In Atwater, volunteers moved quickly to fill sandbags for residents needing them. Photo: Love INC and City of Atwater Facebook pages.

Love INC brought their portable shower ministry to the Fairgrounds. Ordinarily, the showers are offered at an area shelter. This time around, the showers were available to anyone, including the families that were evacuated.

In Atwater, the City’s Facebook page describes the outpouring of help from neighbors simply as “community helping one another”. The volunteers filled sand bags and helped out wherever they were needed.

Even students at Our Lady of Mercy School got into the spirit of helping. They helped fill sandbags for distribution to any homeowner needed them.

The County of Merced provided some of the amazing aerial photographs seen here. The County set up a special storm information link on the County website and asked residents to donate supplies to three flood shelters. Within days, the shelters were stocked. Photo: Merced County Facebook page.

The strongest show of support and assistance from the community of Merced was seen in Planada.

The entire city, some four-thousand residents, was evacuated as rain and wind devastated everything within the confines of city limits.

People from all over the Merced area came in once the first wave of danger had eased off.

The floors of the Planada Community Church were covered with rain water.

Sacred Heart Church in the city is collecting donations of blankets and other needed supplies, working in conjunction with Catholic Charities of Merced County.

The inside of the Planada Community Church when helpers arrived later in the week of January 9. Photo: Annette Macias.

Stores were damaged.

Homes are now mucked up with water and mud.

But the people came, rolled up their sleeves, and got down to work.

On Thursday, the evacuation order was lifted. The County thanked the community and reported that all shelters are fully stocked.

The County asked residents to consider monetary donations and to make these donations through the United Way of Merced.

It’s been a trying January for Merced County and much of the state of California.

The silver lining in these storm clouds has been the willingness of so many people to donate money, goods, and time.

Mayor Seratto got his wish for the New Year. Work is getting done.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. 

The County of Merced has a website banner offering flood resources and information:  2023 Flood Resources and Information | Merced County, CA - Official Website (countyofmerced.com)

To donate to local flood relief:  United Way of Merced County (unitedwaymerced.org)

Steve’s book Can-Do Californians is available at the Merced Courthouse Museum Gift Shop or online at Lulu.com

Crop Values Up, Inflation Up

Values on the Rise in the County’s Ag Report

Merced County’s farm products were valued at $3.7 billion according to the 2021 Agriculture Commissioner’s Annual Report released at the end of 2022. Photo: Steve Newvine

This mural at the Merced County Fairgrounds reminds visitors how important local growers are to agriculture.

Farming continues to form the foundation of economic life in the community. The latest report from the County Ag Commissioner affirms that and offers a ray of hope for ag producers.

In late 2022, the County Board of Supervisors received the annual Agriculture Report from Agriculture Commissioner David A. Robinson.

The good news within the report comes on page four where the value of commodities is listed at $3,711,557,000.

That’s up from $3,401,610,000 in the 2020 report. The increase is approximately nine percent.

The annual inflation rate is seven-point-five percent. So while ag grew at a higher pace than inflation, many growers could live without the rising costs associated with farming.

For a column on the nut crop earlier this year, Merced County Farm Bureau President Joe Sansoni was not encouraged by the trend of rising costs for the things he and his members need to run a successful enterprise.

“For example, repair parts for equipment have doubled and in some cases tripled in cost, and often are back ordered or simply unavailable,” Joe said. “This goes for every single category including labor.”

Joe elaborated on the rising cost of fuel to run his farm equipment.

“A harvesting operation that had a $6,000/month fuel bill in 2020 would've had a $10-11,000/month bill during the 2022 season.”

Joe said situations like this will force some growers to take drastic steps.

“If costs don't begin to decrease along with much-needed increases in crop prices, many farmers will be forced out of business very soon.”

Pages from the 2021 Ag Report for Merced County. Photo montage: Steve Newvine

The report is done in compliance with the state Food and Ag Code. It summarizes the gross value of the County’s agricultural commodities, along with updates to the amount of acreage and production in the farming sector.

The numbers in the report represent only gross returns to the producer. It does not take into account the costs of production, marketing, or transportation.

MERCED COUNTY TOP FIVE COMMODITIES (2021 Ag Commissioner’s report released in late 2022)

• Milk $1,093,632,000 31.8%
• Almonds $485,858,000 14.1%
• Sweet Potatoes $317,789,000 9.2%
• Chickens $276,215,000 8%
• Cattle & Calves $278,246,000 7.5%

A breakdown of each category is available on the County website 906 (countyofmerced.com) . There are graphs and more detailed explanations included in the report.

The report also contains summaries on Agriculture Commission programs such as pest detection, weights and measures, and nursery inspection. In the report’s summary of all the countries that buy farm products from Merced County, there are twenty countries listed.

The top three importers are India, Spain, and Japan.

One thing for certain that will change when the next annual report comes out will be the name of the person running the department.

The County’s Agriculture Commissioner David A. Robinson retired at the end of 2022. In December, the Board of Supervisors named Sean S. Runyon as the new Commissioner

The previous year’s report had the shadow of COVID as farmers dealt with all the many issues the pandemic brought about.

The new report has the shadow of inflation. Rising costs continue to worry growers and their strategic partners.

The mural at the fairgrounds depicts a proud lifestyle in farming. While that may never go away, it continues to face challenges in 2023 for growers.

--

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

Two of his books, California Back Roads and Can Do Californians are available for purchase at the Merced Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.

His other titles are available at Lulu.com, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.com

Quiz Kings-

Seeing the Games and Meeting the Hosts of a Generation

Tom Kennedy was among several retired game show hosts who met with fans at the Game Show Congress in 2007 and 2009. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection.

Unless you grew up in Hollywood or New York City, you may have thought about one day meeting a movie or television star.

I certainly did, and while it took a few decades to realize that aspiration, I look back on that time with a smile.

As a preschool aged kid, I would play with building blocks. I did not make buildings with these wooden blocks; I made game show sets.

Some of the home versions of TV game shows

Throughout elementary school, I would occasionally walk home for lunch. That was allowed back in those days when many moms stayed home.

Mom would have a lunch ready for me, and I was permitted to watch whatever game show happened to be on our family black and white set.

Concentration was my favorite, but occasionally, I might see something new debut during my late morning lunch break.

The very first Jeopardy! with host Art Fleming debuted on March 30, 1964, and I saw it right there in my family living room.

Fast forward some forty-plus years where my wife and I are in the audience of Jeopardy! with host Alex Trebek. For a kid who built game show sets with his toy blocks, this was real progress.

Keeping connected to the genre over the decades was made easy with a collection of home versions of popular game shows.

I have about thirty of these games. I have not played with them in years, but they have been with me throughout my adult life.

The late Florence Henderson, who played the Mrs. Brady on the Brady Bunch, was one of several celebrities who met fans at the Game Show Congress. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

In 2007, I attended a conference for game show fans in Hollywood. As I wrote in 9 From 99, Experiences in California’s Central Valley, the Game Show Congress was honoring host icon Wink Martindale and the man who created many of the favorite game shows from the fifties through the eighties: Bob Stewart.

The ceremonies were sprinkled with a wide array of television stars that appeared as celebrity players on many of Bob Stewart’s shows.

Among the stars we met that day were Betty White, Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch), Teresa Ganzel (Tea Time Lady on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show), and Barbara Feldon (Get Smart!).

The stars loved the attention by attendees to the luncheon honoring Bob Stewart and Wink Martindale.

They posed with anyone asking for a photo, were generous with their insight into their careers, and provided all of us with positive experiences as fans of game shows.

Teresa Ganzel may be best known as playing the last Tea Time Movie Lady in the recurring sketch on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She also appeared as a celebrity player on a number of game shows in the 80s and 90s. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

As great as meeting these celebrities was, it was exceeded by the opportunity to talk and take pictures of some of the game show hosts and announcers from the past several decades.

I have photos with me standing next to current Jeopardy announcer Johnny Gilbert, the late Saturday Night Live announcer Don Pardo, the late host Tom Kennedy from You Don’t Say!, and the former Price is Right announcer Rich Fields.

The afternoon remains a highlight of my life as a game show fan. It was repeated two years later in what would become the final Game Show Congress.

That year, the host of Jackpot! Geoff Edwards and the late Allen Ludden were honored.

Moving to California in the early 2000s gave me the opportunity to see and do things I could only dream about growing up in upstate New York.

Meeting the stars of the daytime game shows that entertained me as a child has been a highlight of living here in California.

Seeing that these stars were decent people who appreciated their fans was the icing on the cake.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His book Dreaming Big is available at Lulu.com.

Two of his books Can Do Californians and California Back Roads, are available for purchase from the Merced Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.

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Telling Stories-

First-Ever Author Fair Brings Writers and Readers Together

Writers and readers got together at the downtown Merced Library in early November for the first-ever Local Author Fair. Photo: Steve Newvine

By all accounts, the first-ever Local Authors Fair held at the downtown Merced Library branch was a success.

The printed program from the event listed twenty-seven authors and a conservative guess would put the number of attendees at around one hundred through the three hours it ran.

I was among those local authors who met readers.

It was nice to listen to other writers talk about their experiences and it was especially gratifying to meet people who have already experienced one of my books.

My table at the Local Author Fair included several of my books and a display of book covers.

The event included three workshops for people to attend. One of the workshops offered insight on editing writing projects.

Thanks to author Stephen Cassidy, I picked up a few pointers. He spoke about the use of his informal group of family members and friends who look at his work as it is being written.

He asks this group for their unvarnished feedback. He takes some of the advice offered and rejects some that his instincts tell him he may not need.

It’s been a successful formula for him.

Other workshops included one on writing children’s books and one on translating research into comics.

Neither subject captured my curiosity, but others interested in the subjects did attend while I remained at my station.

From my small table flanked with a decade worth of writing projects, I met the most important people who took part in the event: the readers.

Without readers, one might ask why any author should stay with the process of writing books.

Readers can find things in books that an author never anticipated. Over the past ten years, I’ve learned a great deal from my readers.

I try to include my email address in my books and encourage readers to let me know what they thought of the work. In the past two years,

I added a special Facebook page to showcase books and columns from MercedCountyEvents.com . I encourage my readers to interact with me on that page.

Early in my book-writing journey, a reader told me how much she appreciated a section of one of my upstate New York books where I mentioned who was the most influential teacher I had in high school.

This reader told me that particular teacher was related to her spouse who was deeply moved to know that his relative made such an impact on me. For the record, that teacher taught me bookkeeping and typing.

I cited her as most influential because both courses taught specific life skills that I continue to use.

She mastered the subjects.

California Back Roads, Stories from the Land of the Palm and the Pine remains the most requested book from readers I meet at events such as the Author Fair held at Merced Library.

A reader from the Author Fair gave me some insight as to why copies of California Back Roads were outselling Can-Do Californians.

“Back roads,” he said. “Everyone likes to take the back road to a common location, or at least that’s what they say they like. Life goes by too fast. Taking the back road helps slow down the pace.”

A few years ago, a reader told me my first fiction book brought a tear to his eye.

That was not my intention, but it made us feel good to know that I touched on a special moment for that person.

It was great to meet other writers, and talk to people who read my and other author’s books. I take each encounter seriously. I appreciate their interest in my work.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

Copies of Can Do Californians and California Back Roads are now available for purchase at the Merced Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.

His book Soft Skills for Hard Times is now available for loan at the Merced Library. His current book is Dreaming Big and is available at Lulu.com

Nuts Have a Fighting Chance in 2022-

Inflation and water challenge growers in the Valley

An almond grower employs a water drilling company to go lower to find enough water to finish the 2022 season. Photo: Steve Newvine

Merced County residents recently celebrated nut growers with a festival at the fairgrounds.

But with drought and inflation menacing growers this summer, some wonder whether there was any reason to celebrate.

This has been one of the most challenging growing seasons for nut growers throughout the Central Valley.

“This is a difficult year for almond growers and the whole industry”, a spokesman for the Almond Board of California said. “Costs are up and prices have been down, while shipping issues and problems throughout the supply chain have added to the complexities of being a farmer.”

The challenge is so real, the US Department of Agriculture estimates this year’s almond crop will be down eleven percent from last year.

That estimate is seven percent down from their forecast at the beginning of this year’s growing season in May.

Inflation is one of the three top challenges for growers in the Central Valley in 2022.

Fuel costs are considered by many to be a stand-alone issue as it permeates a grower’s entire operation.

“Almond growers are putting what resources they can afford this year into producing their crop, and their efforts show,” the Almond Board spokesman said.

The President of the Merced County Farm Bureau agrees. Joe Sansoni says inflation has really hit all growers hard. “For example, repair parts for equipment have doubled and in some cases tripled in cost, and often are backordered or simply unavailable,” Joe said. “This goes for every single category including labor.”

In the spring when almond trees blossom, there is optimism for a good harvest, Photo: Steve Newvine

A lot of growers switched to growing almonds in recent years due to the higher return of investment the crop provided in the 2010s.

Those margins have taken a hit in recent years, but most growers expected some retraction as more crops were being produced. Availability of water also concerned growers in 2022.

According to the Farm Bureau’s Joe Sansoni, the challenges varied depending on where a grower is located and whether or not they had access to wells and/or surface water (supplied by an irrigation district).

“Growers with both wells and surface water in most parts of Merced County had enough water to grow a full crop,” Joe said. “Some growers were forced to dry up and remove lower yielding fields to divert the water they had to younger, more productive blocks, or in some cases to other higher-paying crops.”

Nuts provide an excellent opportunity for the value-add that many food manufacturers bring to the harvested crop. These are candied almonds that sold recently at the Merced County Nut Festival. Photo: Steve Newvine

In Merced, the second Nut Festival was held on October 22 at the Merced County Fairgrounds. This was the second attempt to celebrate the contributions of nut growers.

There was a two-year pause in the festival due to COVID restrictions. Organizers were happy with the broader expansion of the attendees in 2022. The second festival saw a near doubling of attendance.

More organizations sponsored the event than before, and a good foundation was built for future nut festivals.

“There will be a third annual event,” said organizer Necola Adams. “It is already being planned.” Those plans include opening up more vendor space and generating regional interest in the local event. “This year around four-thousand people attended,” said Necola. “We are hoping to draw ten-thousand people to attend next year.”

Attendees at the 2022 Merced County Nut Festival found all kinds of pistachios, walnuts, and almonds available with such value-added features as specialized flavoring. Plans are already underway to produce the 2023 event. Photo: Steve Newvine

Central Valley agriculture can still hold on to the promise that almonds, walnuts, and pistachios will continue to be major crops in the near future.

Two things are certain when it comes to the local nut harvest. One is that a festival such as the one held in Merced will continue to celebrate the successes of the crop that generates an estimated half billion dollars according to the Merced County Agriculture Commissioner’s 2021 report.

The other certainty is that growers will continue to work through the challenges they faced in 2022 with optimism for next season.

The Almond Board of California is optimistic for Central Valley growers saying than in spite of the challenges, this year’s crop in California will still be among the largest on record. The spokesman for Board says, “It reflects the efforts of growers to meet the high global demand for a steady supply of high quality California almonds”.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His book Dreaming Big is available at Lulu.com.

Two of his books are now available at the Merced Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.

Steve will join approximately twenty other local authors at the first-ever Author Fair at the Merced County Library Downtown Merced branch on November 4 from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

The Administrative Committee for Pistachios and California Walnut Board were contacted to participate in this column but did not respond to our inquiries.

A Community Mourns-

Kidnapping/ Murder Story Impacts All of Us

Photo: GoFundMe.com

We are a little off our game this week. We hope you understand. Maybe we are not in the mood for a light-hearted feature, or a story about one of our communities celebrating a special event.

We are a community in mourning.

We lost four souls on October 3rd in what our Sheriff’s Department believes to be a greed fueled robbery and kidnapping.

A mother, father, infant child, and one other family member were killed. Two men are in jail facing a host of charges that will likely result in a lifetime of incarceration.

The Singh family worked their business, raised their children, and had every hope of a life filled with earthly blessings That came to a frightening end when the four family members were forcibly taken from their business. Within hours, the four were murdered.

Killed were Aroohi Dheri, her parents Jasleen Kaur, 27, and Jasdeep Singh, 36, and her uncle Amandeep Singh.

Suspect Jesus Manuel Salgado was arrested. His brother Albert was arrested a short time later.

There’s no doubt we’ll be living with this story for many years as the criminal justice system deals with these two.

Bob Hart Square on Main Street in Merced has been transformed to a community memorial for Aroohi Dheri, her parents Jasleen Kaur, and Jasdeep Singh, and her uncle Amandeep Singh. Photo: KCRA/YouTube

To date, over four-thousand families, individuals, and businesses have donated well over four-hundred thousand dollars to the surviving family members through a Go-Fund-Me solicitation.

According to the description on the Go Fund Me site, the family “worked tirelessly for 18 years to achieve safety, security, and community for themselves and their families. Aman and Jasdeep were the primary bread earners for the family, supported their elderly parents, and lived under one roof.”

Some of the images of the families impacted by the brutal deaths of Aroohi Dheri, her parents, and uncle. Photos: Go Fund Me

The page goes on to explain how Jasdeep (also known as JB) and Jasleen Dheri were married in India just three years ago in India. Jasleen joined her husband in the US one year after their marriage once Jasleen’s immigration was finalized. Baby Aroohi was just eight months old.

JB’s brother Aman was married and had two children ages six and nine.

The Go Fund Me page raising money for the Dheri and Singh families.

Local faith communities presided over four days of memorial services held in downtown Merced. The four nights of vigils represented the four victims of this crime. While there are four victims, that number is much higher when considering the surviving family members, the business associates, neighbors, friends, and others who were touched by the lives of the family.

And there’s the loss of whatever sense of security many of us feel about life in Merced County.

When a hard working family can be taken away (based on security cameras that captured the kidnapping) in broad daylight, many are within their rights to wonder whether the same thing could happen to them.

But underneath all of this is hope. With memorials springing up almost immediately, and an overwhelming response to a crowdfunding drive, it is clear our community is speaking with actions.

These actions include the messages on social media offering prayers and support for the Dheri family. As local citizen Raj Sidhu wrote: “That is a great example of a great community and the outpouring of love for the Sikh community. I will keep praying for Merced” Raj speaks well for how many feel during this troubling time.

Our community witnessed this incredible chain of events that resulted in the horrible deaths of this family.

But we also saw a community of compassion play out during the four memorial services for the victims. The response to a call for help for the surviving family members is nothing short of astounding. All of this originated in the same community where tragedy struck.

So we have had some bad in this community, but we have seen a lot of good as well. Maybe that bodes well for the future. We may be a little off our game right now, but we will be coming back soon to continue celebrating the good things about life in our community.

-Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His books on California are now available at the Merced Historical Society Gift Shop and on line at Lulu.com

The weblink to help the Dheri family is:

Fundraiser by Jaspreet Kaur : In Memory of The Dheri Family (gofundme.com)

Centennial Cities-

Atwater and Livingston each mark their 100th anniversary

Big balloons are used to mark the special occasion of the City of Livingston’s 100th anniversary. Photo: Steve Newvine

It’s remarkable when a city can celebrate a special milestone such as a one-hundredth anniversary.

But when two cities less than ten miles apart can mark a centennial, it is nothing short of spectacular.

That’s the case in the Merced County cities of Livingston and Atwater. Both were incorporated in 1922.

Both have celebrated this special milestone in a big way.

Big balloons are used to mark the special occasion of the City of Livingston’s 100th anniversary. Photo: Steve Newvine

Atwater marked the passing of this special time in the City’s history with a special timepiece.

A large clock and tower was finished earlier in the year and dedicated over the summer.

The clock was envisioned as a central point of focus for the City. In the months leading up to the dedication, the local government’s City Hall was relocated to a refurbished space right across the street from the clock tower at 1150 5th Street.

The City has a special section on its webpage that includes a historical milestone listing and some black and white photos from several decades ago.

In 2022, the City of Atwater moved City Hall from its location on Bellevue Road to this former commercial business building on Fifth Street. Photo: Steve Newvine

The City says the move to the new space permitted more space for staff and the many services now offered to residents as well as local businesses.

The Executive to the City Manager Janell Martin says, “The City Council, City Manager, City Attorney, Human Resources, and City Clerk are located at 1160 Fifth Street.” There is another building that will house other City operations according to Janell. “1350 Broadway Avenue will house the Finance and Community Development departments.”

Those offices will be moving in the coming weeks. Space in the Bellevue Road location has been repurposed for use by the City’s Police Department.

This mural was painted at the Livingston Historical Museum in recognition of the City of Livingston’s one-hundredth anniversary. Photo: Steve Newvine

Just a few miles north of Atwater, the City of Livingston is Merced County’s other Centennial City in 2022.

The City formally celebrated the milestone on September 11th; combining the one-hundredth anniversary celebration with a 9-11 invocation and moment of silence in honor of the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

A special plaque marking the centennial of the City of Livingston has been mounted near the front door of the Livingston Historical Museum. Photo: Steve Newvine

Livingston’s history includes having its own telephone company, a large concentration of Japanese immigrant families who were taken to internment camps during World War II, and a long-standing agricultural connection with sweet potatoes and grapes.

The Livingston Historical Museum was profiled in this space a few years ago. The interment story is well documented within the walls of the Museum.

The cities of Atwater and Livingston are closely linked not only by the relatively short distance between the two but also by the agricultural heritage it shares.

Based on the special sections about this milestone on their websites, both cities are proud of their one-hundredth anniversaries.

Both are staying focused on the future as they continue to grow and contribute to the quality of life in Merced County.

They are Merced County’s 2022 Centennial Cities.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

Two of his books: Can Do Californians and California Back Roads are now available for purchase at the Merced Courthouse Museum Gift Shop as well as online at Lulu.com, Barnes & Noble .com, and Amazon.

Medic Alert: Paying it Forward-

Non-profit organization started in Turlock in 1956

Medic Alert was founded as a non-profit organization in 1956 in Turlock, California.

This is a story about a teenager, her parents, and the start of a non-profit organization that has saved many lives over the past seven decades.

Thanks to the Collins family paying it forward, an estimated four million lives have been touched in life-saving ways.

The story begins with our neighbor city to the north of Merced County: Turlock, Stanislaus County, California. It was 1953 and thirteen year-old Linda Collins cut herself while playing with her cousins.

She was taken to the ER where the doctor followed standard procedure and administered a tetanus antitoxin.

Linda had an allergic reaction to the antitoxin and went into a coma. She nearly died. Had her parents been with her at the time, they could have told the doctor about the allergy.

Chrissie Collins and her husband Dr. Marion Collins shared the belief that medical information should be made available to emergency personnel. They started Medic Alert from their Turlock home.

Escaping a potential tragedy wore on the minds of Linda’s parents: Dr. Marion Collins and his wife Chrissie.

From that point forward, Chrissie attached a small note to her daughter’s bracelet stating what the allergy was in case something like what Linda went through should ever happen again.

But Chrissie and Marion knew there had to be a better way for medical professionals to get that kind of information. Their concern went beyond their own family.

They wondered how to prevent something like this from happening in any family. Within three years, the Collins’ formed a non-profit organization that we now know as MedicAlert.

It was all based in the family’s hometown of Turlock.

Medic Alert bracelets come in many styles, including a Citizens Watch version. Photo montage from various internet retail sites.

According to the MedicAlert website, the first bracelet was custom made by a San Francisco jeweler who inscribed Linda’s allergies (she was also allergic to aspirin and sulfa).

Upon entering college in 1956, classmates saw the bracelet and asked about having some made for others with similar needs. The MedicAlert Foundation was formed as the Collins’ family believed strongly that providing vital medical communication was a public service.

The bracelets led to other items of jewelry and eventually to the establishment of a 24-hour hotline for medical professionals to access critical information about the conditions of MedicAlert members.

Dr. Marion Collins was proud of the creation of Medic Alert.

On the MedicAlert website, he is quoted: “I believe I can save more lives with MedicAlert than I ever can with my scalpel.”

Dr. Marion Collins came up with the idea of a custom-made bracelet with information engraved on it to help emergency personnel know more about a patient’s allergies and conditions. Photo: MedicAlert.org

The Collins family remained in Turlock all their lives. Linda’s father, Doctor Marion Collins passed in 1977.

Chrissie remained in Turlock in the years following her husband’s death. She served on the MedicAlert board and was known to ask pointed questions about the non-profit’s operations and the foundation's huge computer system.

She passed in 2001. Linda graduated from Stanford University with a degree in nursing.

She married, had three children, and later divorced. Linda was a gifted golfer, winning amateur titles including the California Women's Golf Association Championship.

She turned professional and won the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) Senior Teaching Division National Championship.

She died from breast cancer in 2004.

A sign was erected at one of the entrances to the City of Turlock showing all the active civic clubs, and proudly reminding visitors that the City was the home of Medic Alert. Photo: MedicAlert.org

The community of Turlock has never forgotten the legacy left by the Collins family.

There’s a story in Chrissie Collins obituary about how the community of Turlock came together to get Medic Alert up and running in the late 1950s.

In 1960 after a story ran in This Week magazine, an insert in Sunday newspapers, the non-profit received one-hundred thousand orders for MedicAlert bracelets.

Chrissie was quoted at the time that the whole town of Turlock worked out of the family room of their home to sign up new members and ship bracelets.

In 1981 the Kiwanis Club of Turlock presented a stone marker that was placed in front of the non-profit’s office on Colorado Avenue.

On the marker, these words are inscribed:

Medic Alert Foundation International. Founded on March 26, 1956 in Turlock , California by Marion C. Collins, MD to provide a lifetime of emergency medical identification for all people.

Presented by the Kiwanis Club of Greater Turlock, March 26, 1981.

Medic Alert moved from Turlock to an office in Salida, Stanislaus County, in 2015.

Four years later, it moved back to Turlock occupying an office on Lander Avenue. A year later, COVID forced all employees to work from home.

Eventually, the non-profit moved out of the Lander Avenue office. Medic Alert is now exclusively on-line. From that humble start in the mid 1950s to now nearly seventy years later, Medic Alert has over four million members in fifty countries.

Members pay $35 to join, and $15 in annual dues. Over the years, the organization has entered into strategic alliances to expand the reach of the system.

For profit companies, such as Citizen Watch, license products such as the Citizen Eco Watch with the Medic Alert logo. Medic Alert demonstrated that a near tragic situation could be turned into something positive.

The non-profit estimates that four-thousand lives are saved annually thanks to the bracelet and the phone system that provides information on members to emergency personnel.

That original medical ID bracelet that Linda wore is now stored in the Smithsonian Institution.

It represents the story of a teenage girl and her parents who would not let a near tragedy go to waste. According to the non-profit website, over four million Medic Alert members may very well owe their lives to the thoughtfulness of the Collins family of Turlock way back in the 1950s.

The Collins’ story of paying it forward has established a seventy year legacy that began right here in the Central Valley.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He first wrote on Medic Alert in his book 9 from 99-Experiences in the Central Valley.

On September 6, he will speak before the Merced Women’s Club at their facility on 707 W. 22nd Street in Merced.

He will talk about his writing for MercedCountyEvents and feature several of his books available for sale.

His latest novel is Dreaming Big, and it is available at Lulu.com The Medic Alert website is MedicAlert.org

How Did You Spend Your Summer Vacation-

Summer Prep Academy Helped Teens

Incoming sophomores, juniors, and seniors took part in the six-week Summer Prep Academy. Photo: Steve Newvine

When I was in grade school, one of the first questions asked on the first day of class was “what did you do on vacation?” Our school students are now back in class.

College classes will resume soon. For all intents and purposes, summer is over.

I spent some of my summer with a group of high school students in an enrichment program held on the UC Merced Campus.

The program was called the High School Summer Prep Academy. It was a program of the Harvest Park Educational Center, a non-profit based in Merced.

Harvest Park Education Center was created to provide at-risk, disconnected, and poverty-stricken children and older youth with supplemental education and new information to build on their basic skills.

Retired Merced County Director of Workforce Development Robert Morris helps students in the Summer Prep Academy research what they need to do in order to pursue their preferred career paths.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

The summer academy is the result of work by Gloria Morris, an educator who has been creating programs to help youth overcome the obstacles they face growing up and, in turn, provide an opportunity for these youth to prepare themselves for higher education and the workforce.

During the six-week session, incoming freshmen, juniors, and seniors were given a review of basic math, sentence structure, and parts of speech.

The four-hour, daily lessons included opportunities to explore career choices that the students were passionate about pursuing.

And there were guest speakers. That’s where I came in. I was approached by Gloria and her husband Robert to consider presenting a few lectures on my professional career and how higher education helped open doors for me to get better opportunities throughout my forty-year working career.

The three of us developed a three-unit set of lectures on college preparedness.

I provided insight on my career achievements, Robert showed the students how to research their career areas of interest, and Gloria presented sessions on her Principles Based Lifestyle Training or PBLT.

PBLT is an evidenced-based learning curriculum developed by Gloria that focuses on the development of a strong academic foundation.

The Harvest Park Education Center is a non-profit organization that houses programs such as the Summer Pre Academy.

In the first of my three meetings with the class, I told my story about being the first in my family to graduate from college.

I connected my education and work experiences to the success I achieved over four decades.

My second meeting with the group provided an opportunity to offer suggestions on how to succeed academically. I used real examples from my experiences as well as the experiences of friends and colleagues.

Many of the lessons and experiences shared in the Summer Prep Academy were first mentioned in my 2010 book Soft Skills for Hard Times

The third and final session was about soft skills. Soft skills are the work habits, communication strategies, and people skills an employee can develop to help succeed at work.

It meant a lot to me to be able to share my experiences with this group. Based on their feedback, their questions during the sessions, and their participation in the training, the program succeeded on many levels.

Those levels would include refresher sessions on math, language skills, and basic writing. We can all use a refresher on those topics from time to time.

It was good for the group to see adults who have enjoyed some measure of success in their lives come into a classroom and share their experiences.

Speaking of my own experiences growing up, a real person doing a real job always made an impression.

It was also a plus to have the sessions on the UC Merced campus. The sprawling array of buildings, athletic fields, and parking lots might serve to inspire many to see beyond the confines of their home and school.

So the answer to the question “what did you do this summer” can be answered by the participants of this program with a simple response.

“I went back to school to learn a little about the real world.”

---

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His book Soft Skills in Hard Times was a source for his talks to the students at the summer academy.

On September 6, he will speak at the Merced Women’s Club about his books and his twice-monthly columns here on MercedCountyEvents.com

The Oak Fire Nerve Center-

Command Post Set-Up at the Merced Fairgrounds

Several hundred Cal-Fire personnel are watch, listen, and take notes at the daily Incident Report meeting for the Oak Fire . Photo: Steve Newvine

Listen to Steve Newvine on the KYOS radio show about the Oak fire nerve center - click below

While the public gets around the clock images and details about the Mariposa County California wild fire (the Oak Fire) near Yosemite National Park, information that helps firefighters battle the blaze is being passed along from a command post set up some fifty miles away from the fire.

The Merced County Fairgrounds has been transformed into a so-called Incident Command Post (ICP).

The ICP is the operational nerve center for the more than three-thousand fire fighters and support workers charged with putting out the Oak Fire.

“Ordinarily, a fire in the Mariposa County region would have an incident command post set up at the Mariposa Fairgrounds,” says Cal-Fire Public Information Officer Natasha Fouts. “But the Oak Fire required more resources so we needed the larger space.”

One of several Cal-Fire managers pointing out critical spots on the map of the Oak Fire during one of the daily incident briefings from the command post at the Merced County Fairgrounds. Photo: Steve Newvine

The command post is important to be sure everyone is getting the most accurate information at the same time.

During the fire-fighting campaign, the daily incident briefing starts at seven in the morning.

“All fire crews report to the ICP for the morning briefing,” Natasha says. “Crews come for breakfast, to get ice, pick up line lunches and attend the briefing.”

The briefing is set up like a staff meeting at a corporation; with an agenda that includes incident commanders reporting on progress, a weather forecast for the day, updates from outside agencies such as California Highway Patrol, operational updates, and even a report from the finance department.

After the approximate thirty-five minute briefing, some individual teams have smaller update sessions with their personnel.

An Incident Command Post like the one set up at the Merced County Fairgrounds includes several portable offices where managers can monitor information from the field and throughout the Cal-Fire system. Photo: Steve Newvine

With about twenty team leaders giving reports, the briefing comes across as well organized and efficient.

That’s due in part to a concept known as Incident Command System (ICS). The System is an all-risk incident management concept that provides a structure to match the complexities of an incident like a wildfire.

The success of a major wildfire fighting effort can sometimes be threatened by jurisdictional boundaries.

The ICS takes that threat into account with a standardized, on-the-scene management structure.

“The System would allow someone like me or one of my colleagues to step into any emergency situation anywhere and basically pick up the work immediately,” Natasha says.

Fire departments from all over the state working in coordination with Cal Fire, are on the scene at the incident command post at the Merced County Fairgrounds. Photo montage by Steve Newvine.

The daily incident update briefing prepares the teams with information they will need during their shift up into the region where the Oak Fire is destroying forests, threatening homes, and putting thousands of residents in danger.

As of the end of July, more than nineteen-thousand acres have burned, making this the biggest wild fire in California so far in 2022. Sitting in on one of the daily briefings drove home the complicated nature of a wildfire.

Leaders from the various aspects of the effort are brought up before the group for short updates.

Firefighters get updates on the weather (“lower humidity in the coming days will make our jobs tougher”), safety (“remember, you represent all of us when you’re traveling to the scene”), and even a pep talk from one of the partners in fighting the blaze. “Everyone in this room has chased this fire real well,” one of the speakers at the morning briefing tells the group. "We need everyone now to keep up the effort.”

An incident report packet is made available to anyone coming into the meeting. The report contains over forty pages of information the teams can scan, make notes on, and take with them as they leave.

Preparing breakfast for hundreds of fire fighters is all part of a workday for the people supporting the incident command center at the Merced County Fairgrounds. Photo: Steve Newvine

Following the morning briefing and the sidebar meetings, some crews head on over to another part of the fairgrounds where a dining area is serving breakfast.

The workers will have breakfast before heading up to the fire site. This might be their only meal break during the shift depending on conditions in the field.

There is a lot happening when a wildfire breaks out in California.

Fighting the spread is the top priority. While that is going on, other agencies are preparing such things as emergency shelter for displaced residents, access for medical attention, and managing traffic.

The team working inside the Incident Command Post information center handles new information coming in and going out to the crews on the scene. Photo: Steve Newvine

Throughout the day, updates on all that is happening surrounding the fire is coordinated through the information center set up in the parking lot at the entrance to the fairgrounds.

Inside, public information workers gather what’s coming in, and turns it around so that everyone is getting the news in real time. Cal Fire will keep this command post up for as long as it takes. In the early days of this particular fire, an expected end date was set for the end of July.

However, as the week of July 24th progressed, that date was removed from update reports.

That’s likely an indication as to the unpredictable nature of this particular California wild fire.

As one of the speakers from the United States Forest Service told the group at an earlier daily briefing, “It’s absolutely remarkable, thank you very much. But the next few days are going to be clutch.”

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His latest book is called “A Bundle of Memories” and is available at Lulu.com , Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, and at IndependentBooks.com where every sale benefits independent booksellers across the nation.

Steve recently completed a series of three talks about career readiness to older youth participants in the Summer Youth Academy sponsored by Harvest Park Learning Center.

You can reach him at SteveNewvine@SBCGlobal.net or at Facebook/Can-Do Californians

Traffic Circles and Straight Lines-

Campus Parkway Extension Reaches Yosemite Avenue and Includes Bike Path Bridge

Roundabouts are prominent along the Campus Parkway connecting Highway 99 to UC Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

With local government leaders present and construction workers appropriately thanked for their labor, the latest extension of the Campus Parkway project was officially opened on July 8.

The roadway has the appearance of a beautiful, almost pristine, asphalt pathway that connects California Highway 99 to just south of the UC Merced Campus.

The primary characteristic of this latest extension of the Parkway is the near straight line it draws to Yosemite Avenue.

The road is a true connection of the 99 Freeway to the crown jewel of the Merced region.

“Government should and can do the big things,” Merced County Supervisor Josh Pedrozo said at the ceremony.

He represents the district where the new highway is located.

The one-hundred million dollar price tag is covered with state dollars from the Senate Bill 1 Transportation Package.

That transportation bill was cited by local leaders at the dedication ceremony as an excellent example of legislators working across the aisle on behalf of their constituents.

Local leaders were on hand for the grand opening of the most recent leg of the Campus Parkway road project connecting UC Merced to Highway 99. Photos: Steve Newvine

This highway expansion includes the addition of roundabouts at some of the intersections.

The roundabouts are junctions where traffic moves in one direction around a central island to reach one of the roads that meet the intersection.

They are also known as traffic circles. “When roundabouts started showing up in road projects, I hated them,” said County Board of Supervisors Chairman Lloyd Pareira. “But now I like them. They keep the traffic moving.”

The newly opened section completes the south-eastern portion of the so-called “Merced Loop System.”

The view from the new bike/pedestrian bridge over the Olive Avenue roundabout section of Campus Parkway.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

That loop system will one day run south of the City of Merced and connect with the City of Atwater.

Merced County voters passed Measure V, a countywide half-cent sales tax for transportation in 2016. This made Merced County a so-called self-help county.

Many leaders point to self-help counties as being in a better position to request state and federal highway monies because these jurisdictions have local “skin-in-the-game” through revenue streams such as dedicated local sales taxes.

The sales tax generates about $15 million annually for transportation.

This graphic from the Merced County Association of Governments shows the completed parts of the Merced Loop project. The Campus Parkway section is in the upper right.

Campus Parkway will help take traffic to and from the university. It will also help better connect traffic to Yosemite National Park.

Another special feature of the Campus Parkway is the bicycle/pedestrian pathway that runs along the western side of the highway.

The path includes an overpass at Olive Avenue so that cyclists, runners, and walkers may avoid crossing the street at grade level. The path helps soften concerns about road expansion projects taking away some of the quality of life issues neighbors around the area might have been inclined to raise.

A drone eye view of the new highway taken on the day of the dedication. Following the ribbon cutting, two Cal Fire engines led the way for the stream of vehicles belonging to attendees at the ceremony. Photo: Merced County Facebook page.

Local leaders said there was a lot of good to come about as the result of this one-hundred million dollar investment in the community.

With the bike path, the highway combines functionality with recreation.

It’s a long way from the first public hearings on the proposal to build the Campus Parkway highway 99 exit.

Those hearings started back in 1999. Our region has experienced a lot of change in those past twenty-three years.

There’s no doubt more change will be taking place in the coming decades.

* Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His latest book is A Bundle of Memories, and is available at Barnes & Noble.com and at Lulu.com.

He recently completed a series of three lectures as part of the Principle Based Learning Training in the Harvest Park Educational Center summer youth work study program held at UC Merced.

Steve is a passionate golfer who is proud to have earned his second lifetime hole-in-one on Independence Day 2022.

Fireworks Sales Sparkle for Area Non-Profits-

Proceeds help Organization’s Bottom Lines

The fireworks stand benefiting Playhouse Merced is in the Raley’s parking lot on Yosemite Avenue in Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

The Independence Day holiday brings out the best in our celebratory spririt when it comes to showing our love of country.

Flags will be waving, some communities will have parades, hot dogs will be grilling, and most of us will take in the sense of pride for the good things about the United States.

And don’t forget the fireworks.

This year, Merced County will join with others throughout the state in making the so-called “safe and sane” fireworks available to citizens.

The Merced Marching 100 benefits from fireworks sales from a prime location in the Merced Mall parking lot on Olive Avenue. Photo: Steve Newvine

The stands are sprinkled throughout the County and especially in the City of Merced.

Working with the fireworks wholesalers, non-profit organizations apply for permits, staff the booths, and raise a big portion of their annual budgets.

That's how it's done in California. “We have had a fireworks booth for 10 years or more,” a spokesperson for Playhouse Merced says. The Playhouse staffs the booth in the parking lot at Raley’s on Yosemite Avenue.

Some of the selection of safe and sane fireworks available at one of the many stands throughout Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine Getting a permit to sell fireworks is really not that hard for a non-profit organization.

The firework wholesalers coordinate the paperwork to secure the permits. The non-profit organization agrees to abide by the local rules governing the sale of the product.

Fire safety is part of the arrangement with the fireworks being stored in those metal storage containers that are nearby every stand. In exchange for agreeing to abide by the rules, the non-profit and their volunteers staff the booth right on through the July 4th holiday.

The profits are sizable, and the wholesaler takes back any unsold inventory.. “It does provide a large part of our operating income for our Youth Educational programs and our Community Theatre Live Productions,” the spokesperson for Playhouse Merced says.

These big boxes offer a variety of neighborhood ready fireworks. Some sell anywhere from $250 to $400. Photo: Steve Newvine

Most of the cities in Merced County handle the permitting and inspection of the fireworks booths through the local fire department. Merced County Fire performs this role in areas where either the city does not handle this role.

“This year, we did thirteen permits,” says Crystal del Toro from Merced County Fire.

It’s a big commitment for a non-profit organization to commit their volunteers and staff to working a shift at a fireworks stand. From my experience running a non-profit some fifteen years ago, it seemed as though the volunteers were eager to do a good job.

The staff did their best to pull a shift here and there while continuing to do their real jobs for the organization.

I recall doing an analysis of the profit versus expenses following the fireworks stand effort my non-profit organization operated back in 2006.

I recall the analysis concluded that while the profit helped the bottom line, it would not have happened without the tremendous amount of time committed by the volunteers.

The Merced Mall marquee promotes the fireworks stand operated by the Merced Marching 100. Photo: Steve Newvine

Some communities in northern California no longer permit sales of safe-and-sane fireworks due to the wildfire threats in recent years.

The City of Redding does not allow fireworks sales. City Manager Barry Tippen says the City has maintained this policy for the past several years.

Some of the local firework sellers will have a close-out sale on July 5, but by the end of the week, most of the stands will have been taken down and shipped back to the wholesaler’s storage sites. Another fireworks season will close.

That is unless some folks have put some of their fireworks away for a special occasion sometime over the next twelve months.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He is currently working on a new book to be released later this year. Ten of his books are available at Lulu.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and Amazon.com.

This summer, he joins several presenters at the Principles Based Lifestyle Training summer youth program being held at UC Merced.

Merced Knights of Columbus at 100-

Service Club Marks Centennial with Celebration

Here are the founding members of the Merced Council of the Knights of Columbus. The local Council was chartered in 1922.  Photo: St. Teresa of Calcutta Council, Knights of Columbus 

Put yourself into the year 1922 for a few moments and think about the men pictured in the black and white photograph above.  

They were the founding members of what was first called the Merced Council of the Knights of Columbus, a service club of Catholic men.

The Knights were started in 1882 by a Connecticut priest as a means for Catholic men to work together so as to help others and display patriotism.

From that humble start some one-hundred forty years ago, chapters of the Knights formed all over the country.  

In 1922, the Merced Council was chartered.  

The Knights founding principles are charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism. There are nearly two-million Knights throughout the world.

Displays of the accomplishments made by the St. Teresa of Calcutta Council of the Knights of Columbus in Merced, CA.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

The Merced group hosted receptions following church services on June 11 and 12 at St. Patrick’s Parish Hall.  Displays of some council projects and group history were set up for parishioners to see.

Longtime member Randy Starkweather says the local organization changed its name from the Merced Council to the St. Teresa of Calcutta Council around the time Mother Teresa was canonized as a saint in September of 2016.  The world-famous missionary died in 1997 and the canonization process began right away.

Locally, the Council provides support to the Alpha Crisis Center in Merced as well as a faith-based nonprofit organization known as Possibility Productions.  Local Knights also help seminarians as they study for pastoral roles in the church.  They provide service for a number of initiatives and organizations within the St. Patrick’s community.

The Merced Council of the Knights of Columbus changed its name to the St. Teresa of Calcutta Council to honor the missionary nun Mother Teresa upon her canonization in 2016.

In the years leading up to the Merced group’s founding, the Knights worldwide raised money and provided so-called “K of C” huts throughout Europe during World War I. 

The huts were rest and recreational facilities that offered social services to Allied servicemen of all faiths.

The huts sprung up throughout the United States and Europe providing religious services, supplies, and recreation under the motto, “Everybody Welcome, Everything Free.”

This effort led to the eventual development in World War II of the non-profit group known as the USO (United Service Organization).

Parishioners of St. Patrick’s Church attended celebration receptions for the St. Teresa of Calcutta Council of the Knights of Columbus.  Photo:  Randy Starkweather, Knights of Columbus

In the years following World War II, Knights all over America lobbied for public adoption of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Those words were officially added to the Pledge following the signing of a bill into law by President Eisenhower in 1953.

“We have the Knights to thank for those two words,” said Randy Starkweather in remarks he made to those attending one of the receptions.

While the international organization marks its 140th anniversary, the local fraternal group celebrates a century of service. 

Back in September 1974, the Merced Council of the Knights of Columbus took part in the cornerstone ceremony for the new Merced County Administration Building in 1974. They joined Merced's Masons group in front of the Administration Building in a show of unity. Photo credit: St. Teresa of Calcutta Council, Knights of Columbus

Looking back, some of the senior members and club historians still recall the time in 1974 when the Merced County Administration Building was dedicated.

The Knights marched in one direction toward the building, while the local Mason’s group marched in another direction toward the same spot.

“They met in the middle, by design, right in front of the new County Administration Building,” Starkweather said.  “And together they helped dedicate the new building.”

As the St. Teresa of Calcutta Council of the Knights of Columbus begins a new century of service, they can look back on some impressive achievements over the last one hundred years.  

Who would have thought among the men in that 1922 vintage photograph that this organization would continue serving the community well into the next century?  

It took hard work, strong friendships, and a little faith to make it all happen.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. 

He is currently working on a new book to be released later this year. 

Ten of his books are available at Lulu.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and Amazon.com.

This summer, he joins several presenters at the Principles-Based Lifestyle Training summer youth program being held at UC Merced.

That’s Where Starbucks Was –

As coffee chain builds new stores, the old locations are repurposed

The former Starbucks shop at the corner of Paulson and Yosemite Avenue is now vacant. A new tenant is being sought to occupy the space. Photo: Steve Newvine

A new Starbucks opened in Merced in May.  This one is the first beverage retailer in the new commercial development at the corner of G Street and Yosemite Avenue.

With the opening of the new location, the company closed the familiar shop just down the road at Yosemite and Paulson.

This is not the first time the coffee chain has moved to a bigger, and some might add a better, location.

When the original Olive Avenue Starbucks moved to a new spot near Merced Mall, the old space was leased to Pizza Hut.  The pizza chain moved across the street on Olive to take over the space while Dutch Brothers Coffee opened a brand new store at the former Pizza Hut spot.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

The store on Olive Avenue closed a few years ago and emerged in a bigger spot in the CVS commercial zone a block west of the former location on Olive Avenue.

In both cases, the public area inside the new stores exceeds the available space in the previous location.  Customers have more room for conversation, smartphone checking, and beverage drinking common in any coffee shop.

Both newer locations have drive-through service.  It’s common to see a line of vehicles idling away their nearly six-dollar gallons of gas as they order and wait on their five-dollar-plus cups of specialty coffee.

Merced’s Main Street welcomed the Seattle-based coffee retailer nearly two decades ago in what many considered a prime location: next door to the movie multiplex.  

That spot served downtown coffee drinkers for about fifteen years until a newer shop opened on 16th Street closer to the highway 99 exit. This location also has a drive-through window that the Main Street spot did not have.

ASIP Coffee now occupies the former Starbucks location on Main Street in Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

A couple of years ago, a Starbucks opened on West Main Street.  That one also has a drive-through.

So it’s clear that the big game-changer for the company is moving to locations where a drive-through can be built.  

But the spaces vacated by the coffee giant generally don’t stay empty for too long.  Pizza Hut moved across the street on Olive Avenue to take over the former coffee shop spot.  Ironically, the former Pizza Hut location was raised and it is now home to Dutch Brothers Coffee.

The former Main Street Starbucks location next door to the movie theater is now occupied by a locally owned coffee brewer.

There’s no word yet on who will occupy the former coffee shop at the corner of Paulson and Yosemite Avenues.

That spot has a special place in my heart. I spent an hour there every week for about ten years having coffee with a good friend.  That friend passed away earlier this year, so maybe it was a good thing that a once-loved coffee shop should close and move to a new location a couple of blocks away.

Fresh starts are good for all of us.  

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. 

His new book A Bundle of Memories is available at Lulu.com.      

Student Innovation Flowing Forward-

Water reuse among many ideas at UC Merced engineering event

This student team from UC Merced’s Innovate to Grow event designed a water recovery solution for the campus.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

During their four years as students at UC Merced, Rosa Ruiz and Robylene Seapno, had a strong enthusiasm for environmental sustainability.  

As the newest campus in the state system, UC Merced was built to the highest sustainability standards in place back in the early 2000s.  

For Rosa, part of the attraction to this new facility was the focus on making the best use of natural resources.

“I had a real interest in this,” Rosa said.

So it did not surprise these two when they paired up with two other students with similar views on conservation to work on an engineering solution that could help the entire campus community.

The four comprised a team within the School of Engineering who, along with other student teams, developed engineering solutions to problems facing manufacturers, ag producers, and non-profit organizations.

The UC Merced student team with their test-of-concept solution site on the campus. L-R: Rosa Ruiz, Kainoa Ferguson, Robylene Seapno, & Steven Nguyen.   Photo:  Rainwater Irrigation Planning team, UC Merced

The workgroup was among sixty-six student teams that showcased their findings to teachers, clients, and business community representatives at the annual Innovate to Grow final presentations held on May 13.

The projects ranged from aggregating data from cropland microcomputers to improvements in early childhood learning tools.  More than two hundred students worked on these projects throughout the semester.  They met with real clients, traveled on-site when necessary, and worked on their problems collaboratively under the supervision of their professors.

“The students delivered great projects,” said UC Merced, Director of Innovation Stefano Foresti.  

The UC Merced Gymnasium was headquarters for a tradeshow like project presentation held in the morning of the annual Innovate to Grow event.  Later in the day, each group presented specific findings of their research to judges in individual classrooms.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

The problem facing this particular student team was rainwater, and how to engineer a way to capture what little rain falls on the campus, and use that water for landscaping and other needs.

Campus leaders are considering installing a rainwater harvesting system. 

Right now, the only source of water for the campus comes from the City of Merced.  The City’s water system does not utilize non-potable water. 

The engineering team was given the task to address the goal of UC Merced’s leadership to design a system that will capture and use non-potable water to irrigate green areas on campus. 

The proposed design location for the system is the Academic Office Annex building.  The team calculated that an annual rainwater collection of 54,000 gallons could happen with the right solution. 

To demonstrate the solution, a proof of concept a prototype was designed and installed at the UC Merced Community Garden.  That prototype is expected to collect about 400 gallons of rainwater annually.

The students created a rainwater capture and storage concept using a small storage shed already on the campus as their prototype location.  

Their analytics showed that saving the water and storing it can be done.  Recommendations for more water-resistant plants and shrubbery were also entered into the calculations.

The University and the School of Engineering are satisfied with the team that took on the challenge.  It’s hoped that their work can be passed on to another student team in the fall semester to take the research up to another level.

According to Rosa, “We are not giving up.”

The student team proved that a water capture and storage project can be done, but at this time the solution may not be cost-effective.  Right now, it is less expensive to buy the water the campus might need for this effort from the City of Merced than it would be to build and maintain a system for the project.

This project will likely be turned over to a future Innovate to Grow team in hopes that an even better solution can be found.

That’s what innovators do.  They keep trying.

For Rosa, Robylene, and the rest of their team, there was a great deal of satisfaction in knowing they were part of a much bigger challenge to make the best use of the Valley’s water supply.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. 

His current book A Bundle of Memories is available at Lulu.com. 

Four of his books are now available via author search on bookshop.org where each purchase helps independent book store owners.

Sequoia Legacy Tree Stands Proudly in Visalia-

Challenges in providing proper care 

The Sequoia Legacy Tree in Visalia, California.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

In a sense, this is a story about two guys who shared an office and an idea.

Let’s go back to another time.  It’s wintertime in 1936 in the quaint small city of Visalia, California in Tulare County about ninety miles south of Merced.

Nathan was the Postmaster in a newly opened Visalia Post Office.  Guy was the Superintendent of General Grant National Park in the Sierra Mountains.  During the winter, the Superintendent shared workspace in the post office alongside Nathan.

Guy brought two small Sequoia trees to the office one day during that winter season of 1936.  The pair thought re-planting the three-year-old trees on opposing sides of the new post office building might give the downtown area a little natural beauty. 

They also hoped maybe the trees might encourage others to head up into the mountains to see more of the stately trees in the National Park.

The trees grew and grew.  

By 1940, General Grant National Park was folded into what we now know as Kings Canyon National Park.  The area where visitors can find the General Grant tree is now known as the General Grant Grove.

Nathan and Guy went about their work.  Both kept an eye on the post office trees throughout their careers and beyond.

One challenge lingered during the first fifty years the two sequoias adored the sides of the Visalia Post Office.  One of the trees became diseased and had to be cut down in the mid-1980s.

But the other one continued to grow.  Outliving both Nathan and Guy, that tree is now a very special part of the community.

With a history going back to the 1930s, the downtown Visalia Sequoia, better known as the Sequoia Legacy Tree, is a unique part of this city.

Four years ago, the City formally dedicated the Sequoia Legacy Tree.  

The Sequoia Legacy Tree can be found at the corner of of Acequia Avenue and Locust Street in downtown Visalia.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

The Tree is the focal point of a pocket park at the corner of Acequia Avenue and Locust Street in downtown Visalia.  Interpretive signs explain the story and get into some of the challenges in the care and feeding of a majestic tree that are normally found in the Sierra Nevada. 

The granite pathway the circles the tree is the approximate diameter of the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park.  Sequoia National Park is adjacent to Kings Canyon National Park.

This tree has a lot more growing to do.

Keeping the Sequoia Legacy Tree healthy and growing is a complication as it grows on the floor of the San Joaquin Valley far away from the majestic Sierra mountain range.

In the mountains, the sequoias take in water that flows from the snowpack in higher elevations.  On the valley floor, the Sequoia Legacy Tree depends on water from the City of Visalia water department. 

It also depends on the time and attention paid to it from both the public works department and volunteers who keep watchful eyes on any signs of danger that might pose a threat.

There is a sign near the tree reminding visitors that it is really up to each of us to use our water wisely to protect and conserve.

That may have been what both Guy and Nathan were thinking back in the mid-1930s when they made it possible for a sequoia to have a regular presence in one of our valley cities.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced and travels throughout the San Joaquin Valley to find stories of interest to readers. 

He’s published several books including California Back Roads where he examines more than three-dozen special places throughout Central California.  The book is available at Lulu.com 

John’s and Josh’s Favorite Eatery-

Wool Growers in Los Banos Enjoyed by NFL Greats Madden and Allen

Los Banos Basque restaurant, the Wool Growers, was one of many favorite eating establishments of the late NFL coach and analyst John Madden.  It is also a favorite of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.  

Lost in the many tributes and obituary pieces on the late John Madden was a connection he had to Merced County.

The former coach and retired television personality who died in December 2021, loved eating at the Wool Growers Restaurant in Los Banos.

Known for his hundreds of thousands of miles logged on the road in his custom-made bus (he hated airplanes), Madden had a lust for life both as a Super Bowl-winning coach and an Emmy-winning sports analyst.

He also had an appreciation for food and had favorite restaurants all around the United States.  Traveling from city to city to cover football games gave him exposure to where some of the best places to eat were in practically every region of the nation.

But his home base was the Bay Area, and one of his favorite places to eat was right here in Merced County.

“I hear people talking about him eating here,” says Wool Growers co-owner Ruth Reynosa who along with her daughter Talisa Vander Poel took over running the place a few years ago.  “He was a customer before we started here.”

Wool Growers Restaurant at 609 H Street in Los Banos is a family style French Basque establishment.   Photo:  Wool Growers Restaurant Facebook page.

As my writing colleague Tom Frazier stated in his Merced County Times column earlier this year, Basque country straddles the border of Spain and France. 

Many of the Basque people raised sheep and have been coming to California for over a century.  

The Wool Growers Restaurant began in late 1800s.  Specialties include roast lamb, pork chops, and baked chicken.  It is also known for a lamb stew that customers have enjoyed for years.

I ate lunch there once in the mid-2000s and immediately called my wife to let her know I would not be eating dinner.  That midday meal at the Wool Growers was filling.

“Running a restaurant is not easy,” Ruth says.  “Running it together with my daughter is much better this way as you need to trust your business partner.”

Daughter Talisa agrees.  “This place is set up family-style, our customers are like family, so it makes sense that a family runs it.” 

The interior of Wool Growers is set up for family style dining.  Photo:  Wool Growers Restaurant Facebook page.

While there are apparently no pictures of John Madden dining at the restaurant, Ruth shared one photo that was on Reddit.com showing what appears to be the back of his head wearing a Wool Growers hat. 

There’s also a reference to his affection for the place in a Sports Illustrated profile.  

Ruth says many people observed him at the restaurant on several occasions

.  “One customer who remembers him eating here told us he enjoyed the ambiance of the place,” Ruth says.  

Buffalo Bills quarterback and Firebaugh native Josh Allen dines at Wool Growers when he visits family in the off-season.  He’s flanked here by owners Ruth Reynosa and Talisa Vander Poel.  Photo:  Wool Growers Restaurant Facebook page.

That appreciation of the family atmosphere of Wool Growers seems to have been passed on to a new generation of NFL greats.  

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, a native of nearby Firebaugh, enjoys eating there when he’s in the area visiting family.

“He usually comes by in the weeks after the Super Bowl,” Ruth says.  “He likes our lamb stew and the last time he was here a few months ago he had a New York strip steak.”

Ruth and Talisa are happy their restaurant touched John Madden enough for him to keep coming back year after year. 

Now with Josh Allen making Wool Growers a regular stop when he visits during the off-season, both owners hope to see more of him in the coming years.

They hope all their customers feel the same way.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. 

His book A Bundle of Memories combines two memoirs along with thirty pages of new material. 

The book is available at Lulu.com.  It is also available via author search on bookshop.org where each purchase helps independent book store owners.