Bishop Myron Cotta- Service Influenced by Family, Friends, and Faith

Merced County Native Myron Cotta became Bishop of the Diocese of Stockton in March 2917.

Bishop Myron Cotta. The Dos Palos native is now Bishop of the Diocese of Stockton.  Photo: Diocese of Stockton

He’s never forgotten the words a nun in his Catholic school said to him growing up.

“Myron, one day you’re going to be a priest.”  

His response to the Sister at that time was a smile and just two words, “Yeah, right.”

While he may have responded to the nun with a quick answer, her comment and the words of others who used gentle encouragement stayed with him.

“When people have the courage to bring it up, that stays with you.”

Dos Palos in Merced County has a population of about five-thousand.  Photo: Steve Newvine

As a boy growing up in Dos Palos, Merced County, Myron Cotta loved his family, enjoyed his friends, and wondered what he would do when he grew up.  He attended Mass every weekend at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

He grew up on a dairy farm on the outskirts of town.  His family included one brother and two sisters.

He speaks fondly of his family upbringing.  “I’m Portuguese, so that comes with an extended family.  Cousins, uncles, and aunts, were always around. That was the way I was brought up.”

Sacred Heart Catholic Church is where Myron Cotta went to weekly Mass growing up in the 1960s and 1970s.  Photo: Steve Newvine

In his teens, he would occasionally entertain ideas of becoming a priest.

After high school, he put those ideas out of his mind as he pursued a degree at West Hills College in Coalinga.  

He also started to move away from the church.  “I sort of drifted away from all this.”

Upon graduation from college, he worked at a grocery store in Dos Palos and found his way back to the church.  

“I believe God allows us to drift in the process of our lives.  But he also permits us to come back.”

Downtown Dos Palos where Myron Cotta hung out as a teen.  It was also where he was influenced by family and friends. Photo: Steve Newvine

Within a few years, he made the decision that would change his life.  

He chose the priesthood.

“At my high school reunion, I had already made my decision to enter the priesthood.  I shared this with some classmates and they said ‘we had a feeling when you were in school that you might go down this path.”

He entered St. John’s Seminary to prepare for the priesthood in 1980.  

Those years in the seminary created strong bonds with his classmates.  His class included seminarians from the Los Angeles area who were taken by the strong bond of friendship among the Central Valley classmates.

“One of the Los Angeles seminarians asked those of us from the Valley whether we knew each other before entering the seminary.  My answer was no, and I think that’s something special about the Valley. It is a special connectivity.”

He was ordained on September 17, 1987.  In Merced County, Father Cotta served as an assistant pastor in parishes in Atwater and Gustine.  In Fresno County, he served at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Laton.

He was called back to Gustine following his assignment in Laton where he served at Our Lady of Miracles Church again, this time as Pastor.

Soon, he was called by the Bishop of the Diocese of Fresno, the late John Steinbock, to serve as Vicar General.  As the Bishop’s right-hand man, the now Monsignor Cotta helped run the Diocese that covers the Central Valley from Merced County to Bakersfield.

He served in that post for two six-year terms and might have considered another assignment when events happened that would ultimately change the course of his life.

Bishop Steinbock passed away in 2010.  Monsignor Cotta stayed on as Diocese Administrator in Fresno until a new Bishop was appointed.

In 2012 Bishop Armando Ochoa was installed as the new Bishop for the Fresno Diocese.  He asked Monsignor Cotta to stay on for a while to help during the Bishop’s first year in Fresno.

That assignment would run for another two years until he received a phone call from the Papal Nunzio in Washington, DC (the Papal Nunzio is a diplomatic representative of the Pope).

The Papal Nunzio notified Monsignor that Pope Francis was appointing him to the Auxiliary Bishop post in the Diocese of Sacramento.

A few years later in December 2017, he got another call from the Papal Nunzio.  This time, he was being asked to accept the appointment as Bishop of the Diocese of Stockton.

Bishop Myron Cotta was installed as Bishop of the Diocese of Stockton at a ceremony held at   -- Chruch in Modesto. Photo; Diocese of Stockton

He was installed on March 2018 at a service at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church in Modesto.  The church was filled with family, friends, and his colleagues.

“I had a good idea what to expect when I came to the Stockton Diocese,” he said.  “We’ve had some staff changes due to retirements and deaths, but we’re off to a fresh start.”

Bishop Cotta welcomes the opportunity to lead the Catholic faith communities in the Stockton Diocese that covers Stockton east to the Motherlode region.

He is a product of the Central Valley and feels blessed to be able to serve in the area he loves.

“At my installation, I spoke about family, friends, and faith.  These are important things to me.”

With family, he is grateful to have so many relatives within a short distance from one another in Merced County when growing up.  

With friends, he is satisfied with so many of them encouraging him as he responded to his calling to the priesthood.

With faith, he ties it all together back to that nun from Merced County who first told him:

“Myron, someday you are going to be a priest.”

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  He has written California Back Roads, Stories from the Land of the Palm and Pine, available at lulu.com

Steve congratulates the ten winners of this book from a recent contest conducted by MercedCountyEvents.com



 

158 Rooms, 53 Bells, and 2 Commanders in Chief

Santa Nella Hotel/Conference Center Honors Two US Presidents

Hotel Mission De Oro is one of those unusual points of interest in Central California.  

The architecture tries to capture the feel of a California Spanish mission with long sections of rooms, isolated spaces for reflection, and a bell tower.

The Hotel Mission De Oro in Santa Nella, Merced County.  Photo by Steve Newvine

The bell tower is nine stories high, and has over fifty bells.  

There is no public access to the tower’s upper levels.  

But it is impressive to the drivers passing by on Interstate 5 as well as to the visitors on the Hotel grounds.

I did not count the number of bells in the tower, but a travel website did.  

That website says there are fifty-three bells and that none of them ring.

Unfortunately, there is no public access to the inside of the nine-story bell tower, but thanks to the Hotel’s Director of Sales Shannon Cook, there is a photograph.  

To think of the vista one could experience from any window in that tower.

Inside the bell tower at The Hotel Mission De Oro.  Photo courtesy Shannon Cook, Director of Sales.

Amidst the sprawling grounds of the hotel, conference, and restaurant facility there is a tribute to two former U.S. Presidents.

Facing the complex from the back of a reflecting pool is the statue of Dwight D. Eisenhower.  A plaque beneath the bust of the thirty-fourth President commends Ike’s major domestic achievement:  the launch of the Interstate Highway system that includes Interstate Five.

The likeness of the thirty-fourth President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower on the grounds of The Hotel Mission De Oro in Santa Nella, Merced County.  Photo by Steve Newvine

The back of the Eisenhower statue faces the interstate highway.  

About thirty feet away from the Eisenhower representation is another reflecting pool and another statue.  This one is in honor of John F. Kennedy.

A statue of John F. Kennedy at The Hotel Mission De Oro in Santa Nella, Merced County.  Photo by Steve Newvine

The plaque beneath JFK’s bust cites the start of the San Luis Reservoir project in 1962.  

Kennedy traveled to the site of the Reservoir in August of 1962.

The Reservoir has provided flood protection for the area since formally opening in 1967, five years after the President’s visit.  

The Reservoir is just a few miles from The Hotel Mission De Oro.

The Kennedy statue faces the interstate.  

The sprawling grounds of The Hotel Mission De Oro in Santa Nella, Merced County.  Photo by Steve Newvine

The Hotel opened in 1975 and was acquired by a new owner four years ago.  Chris Rufer, the owner of the Morning Star Corporation, began renovations shortly after buying The Hotel Mission De Oro.  

A dining venue called the Kitchen at the Mission opened in July of 2017.  It is open every day for all three meals.

Mission Lounge is next door to the Kitchen at the Mission.  The bar has comfortable chairs, eighteen brands of beer on tap, and live music on weekends.  It opened in September 2017.

The Mission Lounge opened next door to the Kitchen at the Mission in 2-17.  Photo by Steve Newvine

According to Shannon Cook, there is more work taking place in the near future.

 “Renovations include more landscaping, creating a new wine cellar to hold two-thousand bottles of wine, and building a sound wall on the Interstate Five side to block the sound of traffic are in the works.”  

Other renovations will include work on the guest rooms, completion of the work on meeting and event space, and the addition of a gift shop.

The Hotel is actively marketing the facility for social and business events.  With one-hundred, fifty-eight hotel rooms, it can handle larger meetings and parties.

“I love introducing people to our newly renovated hotel,” Shannon says.  “We have lots going on. It’s very exciting.”

De Oro means “of gold” in English.  

The name likely connects the hotel to the discovery of gold in California back in the mid-1800s.

I stopped in to see the place after hearing some radio ads promoting the restaurant.  While I was impressed by seeing the bell tower up close, I kept going back to those statues of Kennedy and Eisenhower.  

They were two presidents and two structures that changed life in the Central Valley: Eisenhower and Interstate 5,  Kennedy and the San Luis Reservoir.

The men and the structures are connected on the grounds of The Hotel Mission De Oro in Santa Nella, Merced County.  

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

He writes about the fiftieth-fifth anniversary of President Kennedy’s visit to the San Luis Reservoir in 2017 and other points of interest in his book California Back Roads, available at Lulu.com

Surviving Sixty-Eight

With a perspective of fifty years, those of us who endured 1968 can now put things in proper perspective.

The Newvine family camper provided a lot of fun during a tumultuous 1968.  Photo: Newvine Family Collection

For the past five decades, we could summarize 1968 with a few quick images:  

• The springtime assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy within two months,
• The violence in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention that summer,
• The election of Richard Nixon in the fall
• The daily presence of the Vietnam War on the national television news.  

There is little doubt that year changed many of us.  

By the mid-1960s, seniors who were among the first to pay into Social Security were now collecting their benefits.  

Middle-aged people who thought they had been through the worst in World War II now scratched their heads as they watched television images of draft card burnings, college campus protests, and death in the jungles of Vietnam.  

Those in their teens and twenties feared the military draft as more and more young men would be brought into the south-east Asian quagmire.

I saw it all from a different perspective.  I was a fifth-grader in the spring of 1968. I grew up a lot during that year.

In April, we saw the aftermath of the King shooting, the rioting, the funeral procession, and the updates on the manhunt for the man who pulled the trigger.

The next month would bring tragedy to my family when my uncle Bill was killed in a car accident near my hometown.  Bill had endured a tour of duty in Vietnam. He had finished his service just six months prior to that accident.

 Finding Bill is the story about my efforts to learn more about my uncle who died six months after returning home from Vietnam.

I spent a good amount of time in later years tracking down soldiers who knew him.  I never got the chance to talk to him about his military service. He died when I was just eleven years old.  I knew that I would never know him as an uncle.

With that accident coming just a month after the King shooting, I put the events from the south out of my mind and focused on going through the grieving process with my family as we mourned the death of Bill Newvine.

In early June, the world saw Robert Kennedy gunned down in Los Angeles.  

I have distinct memories of spending a Saturday afternoon at my cousin’s dairy farm.  My cousins and I spent most of the day outside.

But whenever I came inside, my aunt Betty would be watching the Kennedy funeral on television.

I survived 1968.  Thanks to my parents.

My parents, Ed and Bea Newvine in a photo likely taken in 1968.  Photo: Newvine Family Collection

Like most parents, Ed and Bea sought to protect their children, and provide enriching experiences for them.

Our annual camping trips over the summer months remained on the calendar in 1968.  

We packed our camper and headed to Golden Beach State Park on Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks.  There, we joined with several other families from my hometown for a week of vacation.

The remainder of that summer would take us through images of violence at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago later that summer.

The Vietnam War would continue to rage seemingly out of control as more American soldiers paid the ultimate price.

But my parents sought to keep our summer as normal as possible.  In addition to the camping trips, we’d go to the weekly firemen’s field days in Port Leyden and surrounding communities.  

My brother, sister, and I would help Mom tend to the garden or assist Dad with projects around the house.  I spent many days riding my bike and being with friends.

On weekends, my parents would take us on family day trips to such places at the Saint Lawrence Seaway or a boat cruise through the Thousand Islands of northern New York State.

The summer ended with one final camping trip to another Adirondack state park.  We returned home on Labor Day, and I entered the sixth grade the next day.

On one level, the events of 1968 made me feel as though the world was falling apart.  But in my family circle, my parents were trying to fill our free time with things to do.  This in spite of the fact my Dad was dealing with his own grief over the death of his brother earlier in the spring.

Earthrise is the name of this photograph taken during the Apollo 8 mission in December 1968.  Photo: NASA

The most hope-filled moment of 1968 came at Christmastime when the Apollo 8 mission took three astronauts around the moon for the first time ever.  

Circling the moon was an important milestone for the space program as it proved NASA could safely travel there. Astronauts Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and Jim Lovell would fly close enough to the surface to identify favorable landing spots for the mission that would land there later in 1969.

But the moment that remains as a hopeful sign that times would get better came when the astronauts read from the Book of Genesis on Christmas Eve, 1968.

“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.”

Those words, coupled with pictures showing the earth looking like a bright blue marble, put a final touch on a year many would just as soon forget.  

The passage ended a year of tragedy with words of hope.

“And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”

1968 was filled with tragic events.  It was more than enough to endure for any child, or any adult for that matter.  

Thanks to my parents, there were some pleasant memories from 1968.

And for that, I am grateful.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

He wrote about the 1968 death of his uncle Bill in his book Finding Bill, available from Lulu.com

When a Pastor Dies

When a beloved member of the clergy passes away, a faith community feels the impact of that life.

Father Bert Mello.  Photo from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Bakersfield

Bert Mello of Atwater, Merced County came to his decision on becoming a Catholic priest late in life.  He entered the seminary in his fifties.

He was ordained in 2013 just a few weeks before celebrating his sixtieth birthday.

So when he passed away March 21 just a few months short of turning sixty-five, there was surprise and shock that this tenure in parish ministry was seemingly cut too short.

I first saw Bert Mello serve in the Lector ministry at St. Patrick’s Church in Merced shortly after arriving in the community in 2006.  

The Lector reads scripture out loud before the congregation during Mass.

What impressed me about Bert’s style of oral interpretation was his apparent memorization of some of the readings he delivered.  

A friend told me this was one of Bert’s signature habits as a Lector.

He would practice the readings so intently that by the time he read to the congregation, he usually knew the text so well that he could deliver it without looking at the written page.

The faith community at St. Patrick’s Church would see Bert during his years in the seminary.  He would come back to visit family and help out at the church during breaks from his studies.

While I did not know him well, his presence was felt in a positive way.

That presence was more than just being a familiar face.  In church, he was full of enthusiasm. When we learned of his backstory, we understood why he was so passionate about his faith.

At age 50, divorced from his spouse and separated from his church, Bert turned back to his faith.  He sought and received reconciliation. In that process, he found his life calling.

He entered the seminary at a relatively older age.  His enthusiasm came across as a man in a hurry to make up for lost time.  

My wife and I attended his first Mass as an ordained priest in 2013.  

The church was packed. I remember how everyone was proud that someone from our parish had become a priest.  

Father Bert gave a powerful homily describing his faith journey that led him to that very day.

He was immediately assigned to a church in Fresno and would eventually accept a post in Bakersfield.  The congregation in Merced would see him once or twice a year when he visited family and celebrated Mass.

In my forty-plus years of adult life, I have attended the funeral Mass for three priests.  While there is joy through our faith in knowing the soul lives on in heaven, there is sadness with the earthly reality of a special person separated from us.

People develop some kind of relationship with their pastors.  They are present at some of the most important times in family life:  marriages, baptisms, even funerals. Some become close personal friends.  

Some feel there is a comfort in life personified through the person who leads a faith community.

Many pastors generally work to keep some distance from their flocks.  Transfers in assignments are common. There’s a realization that the person serving in that role is loyal first to the church.  They go where they are needed.

Still, they are people.  They appreciate the kindness we show.  We acknowledge the sacrifice they make when they choose to enter church ministry.

And that takes us back to Father Bert Mello.  He was a man who came into religious life at a later age.  

A man described by some of his parishioners in Bakersfield as intent on cramming in as much activity in his church as he could possibly give.   

He did just that.  And for those who knew him, even for a brief amount of time, we are feeling the impact of his service and expressing our gratefulness for having him cross our path.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

His 2007 book Go Where You Are Needed is about a group of Sisters dealing with the closing of their convent.  

It is available at Lulu.com

Merced Falls- A Ghost Town with a Great Story

There was a time from the late 1800s until the early 1940s when the town of Merced Falls in northern Merced County was a center of commercial activity.

 The Yosemite Lumber Company employed 1,000 workers in the early part of the 1900s.  Photo from: Merced Lumber Company, Merced Falls exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum.

The gold rush created dozens of towns for the thousands of workers and families that would come to the Sierra Mountains and other western locations.  

Merced Falls was born of the gold rush but continued to flourish thanks to the need for lumber and an abundance of tourists.

At its peak, Merced Falls had a large lumber mill that employed one-thousand workers.  There was plenty of housing, a store, movie house, and a school.

A railroad served the logging industry and provided passenger service to take people to Yosemite National Park.

Like a lot of these booming areas in California in the early 1900s, times changed.  

Automobiles became more common reducing the need for railroad travel. Once the lumber mill closed in 1942, it was only a matter of time before Merced Falls became a ghost town.

This railroad serviced the Merced Lumber Company as well as tourists interested in seeing Yosemite National Park.  Photo: Merced Lumber Company, Merced Falls exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum.

Thanks to an exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum, we can explore dozens of restored photographs depicting life in Merced Falls during those boom years.  We can see how a typical worker slept and lived in a company bunkhouse.

We can understand the reasons why this focal point of commerce in Merced County declined and left only a few visual reminders from that era.

The exhibit is made possible by the County Courthouse Museum, the UC Merced Library, and some individuals who loaned their family photographs and technical expertise.  The Society and the Library co-present the exhibit entitled Yosemite Lumber Company, Merced Falls.

The intersection where Merced Falls Road begins going north was once a thriving business center.  Photo by Steve Newvine

As great as the exhibit is with its photographs, artifacts, and skilled docents explaining some of the finer details, to truly experience what was Merced Falls one should actually travel to the site of that former company town.

It is relatively easy to get to the major intersection of Merced Falls.  Taking highway 59 or Merced’s G Street to the community of Snelling, Merced Falls Road runs east just as one is leaving town.  

About four miles from that intersection, the road takes a sharp northern turn toward the Mariposa County line. That intersection where the sharp northern turn happens is approximately the center of the former Merced Falls.

The plaque placed at the site of Merced Falls by the group E Clampus Vitus, Estanislao Chapter No. 58.  Photo by Steve Newvine

There’s a plaque marking the site.  The group E Clampus Vitus placed the marker there in 1970.  It reads in part: The flour and woolen mills were built in 1854 and 1867.  

The town was destroyed by fire in August 1895. Yosemite Lumber Co. had a large mill here from 1912 until 1943.

Heading up the first incline in these foothills, the Mariposa County line is less than a half-mile away.  Commerce flourished when Merced Falls was in its heyday, but there is very little left to show.

Some foundations and these structures are all that remain of the once busy community of Merced Falls. Photo by Steve Newvine

Heading south down the incline to the intersection near the Hornitos Bridge, the remains of a couple of buildings can be spotted from the road.  Fencing prevents the curious from getting too close to the structures.

As the exhibit explains, there were flour mills, wool mills, and even a stage-coach stop in the community in the late 1800s.  These mills burned. In 1912, the Yosemite Lumber Company started operations in Merced Falls.

Loggers with a really big tree that would eventually be cut at the sawmills of Yosemite Lumber Company.  From Merced Lumber Company, Merced Falls exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum.

Back in those days, lumberjacks would deliver thousands upon thousands of logs that came from the higher elevations including El Portal.  A rail line, as well as the Merced River, kept busy moving the logs from the forests to the mill.

Some UC Merced students have been busy studying the area and some of the artifacts that have been contributed to the Museum’s effort to tell the story of Merced Falls and the Yosemite Lumber Company.

Being out in the open countryside looking at the remaining structures can get the imagination going.  What was it like back then when this area was an active and thriving community? What factors contributed to the decline of Merced Falls’ commercial backbone?  

What would Merced County look like today had the Yosemite Lumber Company either continued operation or a new business had moved in to replace it when YLC closed?

The Merced County Courthouse Museum has created this display that suggests what a worker in a Yosemite Lumber Company bunkhouse might have had.  Photo by Steve Newvine

The general story is clear:  Merced Falls was a gold rush boom town that continued to thrive through the mid -1900s thanks to the Yosemite Lumber Company, the Merced River, and a rail line.  

There are likely many reasons why it could not survive longer. Some point to the automobile. Some point to the shift in the population centers of the San Joaquin Valley as well as the Bay Area.  

There are, no doubt many reasons.

Thanks to the efforts of the Merced County Courthouse Museum, UC Merced, and some key individuals who wanted the history of Merced Falls to be preserved, more answers are now available for future generations to study and appreciate.  

They are on a journey to learn more.

All it takes to be part of that journey is to take a short drive away from the City of Merced to see what remains of this historic site.

The Merced County Courthouse Museum is open Wednesday-Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00 pm

An interactive map of the Merced Falls area as it once was will soon be available on ArcGIS.com

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  His book California Back Roads is available at Lulu.com

Reflections on Daffodils and Mr. C

This spring, the American Cancer Society will distribute millions of daffodils and raise over sixteen million dollars through Daffodil Days.  If you want to donate to the cause or help the Cancer Society deliver the flowers and raise the funds, you can go to their website.

The first flower of spring, representing hope.  Photo by Steve Newvine

I have a memory involving daffodils that takes me back to my sophomore year in college at Herkimer County Community College (now known as Herkimer College).  

Our television broadcasting professor arranged for a local television station to help students produce public service announcements to air on the station.  

Public Service Announcements or PSAs were commercials for non-profit organizations.  Stations still air them for free, but usually in the overnight hours when the available airtime has not been sold.  

Each week during the spring semester, we’d go to station WUTR-TV and use their equipment and tap into their expertise.  

For the students, this was a unique opportunity to actually get some experience working in a real television station.

Our class was divided into pairs of producers; we had to identify a non-profit, determine whether there was a need for a PSA, and work with the agency to be sure they approved of the messages we were producing.  Students would rotate roles such as camera operator, video switcher, and director.  

When it was our turn to produce, my classmate Matt and I went to the local office of the American Cancer Society in nearby Utica.  

We were there initially there to talk about producing an anti-smoking ad, but the Executive Director of the agency had other ideas.

“Daffodil days are coming up,” he told us.  “It would be great if we could stir up some interest in this year’s campaign.”

Matt and I had our mission.  We worked on a concept, selected music, and ran our ideas past our professor Dave Champoux, who we would frequently refer to as Mr. C,  and our “client” at the Cancer Society.

I still remember some of the lines from the script:

The daffodil is the first flower of spring, and it stands for hope.

Hope is the message from the American Cancer Society.

Your dollars support outreach, services, and research.

Be generous when your Cancer Society volunteer comes calling.

A public service message from Herkimer County Community College and W-U-T-R TV.

“Actually, this is pretty good,”

I recall Mr. C telling us after we presented our plan to produce a thirty-second PSA.  

“At the very least, you are focusing on the positive rather than harp on about the dangers of smoking.”  

As our night approached to produce the PSA, Matt and I were nervous.  The thoughts I recall from some forty plus years ago were along the lines of:  will it be effective, will we get it done in the amount of studio time we had, with the Cancer Society like it, will Mr. C  like it.

Well, our mix of slides, camera cards, instrumental music, and voiceover (mine, as I was working at a radio station on weekends and had access to a good audio studio) all came together.  The spot was well received.  I’m sure Matt and I got a good grade, but I honestly don’t recall.  I do remember the sense of accomplishment we felt when the project was finished and how that feeling continued over the next several weeks when the PSA aired.

Later that spring, the broadcasting department held an awards ceremony for all the students.  The daffodil days PSA picked up a couple of awards.  

That night was special.  Everyone in the class treated it like the Academy Awards.  Our music professor recruited Matt, another singer named Irene, and me to provide some song and dance interludes throughout the evening.  A week later, we would graduate from our two-year program.

This photo from the early 1970s shows my broadcasting professor Dave Champoux (Mr. C) being interviewed by a student.  Photo- Herkimer College

I remained in contact with Mr. C  over the years.  He sent me a couple of notes during my broadcasting career congratulating me and offering advice on adjusting in my chosen career.

 I spoke to him by phone shortly after accepting a job as an adjunct college lecturer many years ago.  He remained one of my favorite teachers.  

Flash forward to about three years ago when Mr. C tagged me on Facebook one spring day.  It was about a year before he lost his battle with cancer.  

Then retired in North Carolina, he called my attention to a photograph he shared.  The photo was of a daffodil.  The message from my professor was to the point- “Hey Steve, does this look familiar?”

It sure did look familiar.  It took me back to a time when youth was in ample supply; where energy abounded and optimism filled the air around me.  

Like the daffodil, it was a time of hope.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  His book California Back Roads is available on Lulu.com

A Valley Golf Course Saved from the Bulldozer

The obituary for this Central Valley golf center was already written:  the land was purchased by Children’s Hospital of Central California for expansion.  But before the bulldozer, there was a reprieve.

River Park Golf Course was a par-27 course below the cliff where Children’s Hospital Central California stands.  Photo by Steve Newvine

River Park Golf Course in southern Madera County was a neat executive course where a golfer could play nine holes in about an hour.  

The course and large driving range have lights so golfers could play until eight o’clock at night during the winter, and later during the rest of the year.

I played a few rounds there in the years since arriving in California back in 2004.  My first trip there was with visitors looking for something to do.  

We played the attached mini-golf course and had a good time.  That mini golf course closed shortly after our visit.

A few years later, I played the golf course for the first time.  Every hole was a par three, compelling me to put away my driver and rely only on my irons.  

The course was perfect for my irons.  I think I improved that part of my game thanks to the short distance holes there.

At that course, I perfected what I call “no-huddle golf”.  I would play nine holes in as short a period of time as possible.  No-huddle golf to me meant “don’t think about the shot, just hit it, and keep moving”.  

That style of play served me well on days when time was at a premium.

I read about the pending closure in the fall of 2017.  

I was not surprised.  In my time in California, I’ve read of at least four courses closing.  Some went out of business because the drought demanded too much of the precious water that kept the grass green.  

Some ceased operations because owners grew weary of chasing greens fees from golfers who had many choices including on-line deals and newspaper coupons.  

Some closed simply because the land was more valuable for development.

 The closest my ball ever got to the cup off a tee shot happened at River Park Golf Course in Madera.  Photo- Steve Newvine

River Park was also the site of my greatest shot ever.  

I’ll never forget the day my swing from a six iron on a 135 yard par three took the ball just six inches from the cup.  There was hope that someday that evasive hole-in-one would happen.

With the announcement of the closing, I made peace with myself that a hole-in-one was not going to happen at River Park.

 River Park Golf Course ceased operations when the land was sold to Children’s Hospital of Central California.  The new name for the course is Valley Golf Center.  There’s new management, and a revision to the Hospital’s plan to use the land for expansion. Photo by Steve Newvine

When I flew into Fresno Yosemite International Airport following a vacation, I gathered my luggage, loaded my car, and left the parking lot.  

Checking the time, I knew I could spare one additional hour before coming home to Merced.  So I headed to highway 41 North, got off at the Rio Mesa exit just over the Madera County line, and drove to River Park Golf Course.

While I could not be certain at the time, my instincts told me this would be my last round at this course.  I played a relaxing round of golf.  No-huddle golf would have to wait for some other time at some other course.  I shot a 35 on the 27 par layout.  

It was not my best round there, but not the worst either.  I walked into the pro shop, thanked the man at the register for several years of enjoyment, and headed on my way.  

It was my farewell.

The new name for the former River Park Golf Course is Valley Golf Center.

But then in late December, there was a surprise Christmas present for the hundreds of golfers who have used the course.

Children’s Hospital modified their plans, at least temporarily.  The course was saved.  

The new name is Valley Golf Center.  There’s new management, and a revision to the Hospital’s plan to use the land for medical offices.

A return to this newly named, old friend of a golf course in the first weeks of 2018 was a special time.  

I shot a 32, just five shots over par.  With a smile on my face, I went inside the pro shop to thank the new person behind the counter.

Saved from the bulldozer, this golf course has been revived.  

And a lot of golfers are happy about that.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

His new book California Back Roads is available on Lulu.com

UC Merced Downtown Campus Center Open for Business

Watching the work crews add some final touches to the exterior of the new UC Merced Downtown Center, a life-long Merced resident looked at the sight, and with a degree of pride said, “I’ve been here all my life.  I feel like saying ‘where did this come from’?”

School colors blue and gold adorn the entrance to the new UC Merced Downtown Campus Center.  Photo: Steve Newvine

The new thirty-three million dollar three-story  Campus Center officially opened with much fanfare on January 23.  The Center will be the workplace for three-hundred UC Merced non-academic employees. 

The building provides 67,400 square feet of office space.  It is state-of-the-art energy efficient, having earned a Gold designation from LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) from the US Green Building Council.

Open space will greet the visitor to the UC Merced Downtown Campus Center.  Photo- Steve Newvine

The new facility replaces leased space that has served the University well in the early years of operation.  With any rented office, the tenant usually modifies the existing space to fit the needs of a particular department.  

The new space was designed specifically for the departments that will use the offices.  Groups that frequently need to work together will now be down the hall, or up a level or two within the new building.

All of this gives the University greater flexibility in managing the growth of various departments.

The meeting space in the UC Merced Downtown Campus Center was designed for the specific needs of each department using the building.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

According to the UC Merced website, forty non-academic departments are being brought into the new Center.  

The departments will move according to a three-phase plan that begins immediately and ends by the summer of 2019.  

Resources from the University teaching, research, and public service departments will be integrated into the Downtown Center.  It is hoped this collaboration of University resources will help create and nurture partnerships throughout the community.

The Downtown Campus Center is direct across the street from Merced City Hall.  Photo- Steve Newvine

The Center’s location is no accident.  Directly across the street from City Hall, the facility is symbolically linked to the future of the City of Merced.  

With three-hundred new workers soon to inhabit the downtown area, there are a lot of eyes watching to see how downtown will adapt and change with this new anchor employer in place.

Already, transitions are taking place in UC leased space at the Prominade, Mondo, Castle, and Venture Lab locations.

Construction workers checking details as the final touches are being made to the UC Merced Downtown Campus Center.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

The Downtown Campus Center drives home the point that the UC is a legitimate part of the downtown Merced community.  

It always has been that way since even before the Lake Road campus opened.  

But now, with permanent office space that many would agree is a centerpiece of downtown, UC Merced has made a mark on our city.

As that lifelong Merced resident said to me as we looked at the new building, “this is truly amazing.”

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

He has written California Back Roads, Stories from the Land of the Palm and the Pine.

A Couple of Chipped Mugs

We tend to do a lot of cleaning up, throwing out, and organizing in the early days of a new year.  A few found items have me recalling some happy times.

Coffee mug from the two years I spent as a television journalist at WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama.  Photo- Newvine Personal Collection

Take this coffee mug with a broken handle that’s been glued back on.  

The mug shows the logo for WAAY-TV where I worked as a television journalist for two years in the early 1980s.  

Everyone who worked there got a coffee mug.  The coffee maker was in the general manager’s office.  We were told it was his way of getting to know everyone.  

If we wanted caffeine, we had to go through him.  

Those of us in the newsroom were often so anxious to get coffee, the general manager’s secretary started making announcements over the station public address line.  “Attention, the coffee is ready.”  We’d make our way to the manager’s office, say hello, and fill our mugs.

The cup went with me when I left for greener pastures.  The handle likely broke during one of several moves to new cities and new jobs.  I held on to it all these years because of the memories it generates.

My daughters got me this mug a few years ago, and I promptly dropped it creating a crack and making it useless for beverage holding.  Photo- Newvine Personal Collection

Father’s might expect a number of tee shirts, coffee mugs, or hats for Father’s Day, birthdays, or Christmas.  

I had my share of specialized gifts from my two daughters over the years.  

But this coffee mug was special as it came to me later in my life.  My daughters got it for me a few years ago, but unfortunately, it would not last long as a holder of coffee.  

I dropped it within months, rendering it useless for beverages.  But as with other broken special mugs, I repurposed it to hold pencils and it sits on my dresser.

Over the years, I have collected coffee mugs from the many places I’ve worked, cities I have visited, or as gifts from friends or relatives.  

One of my going away gifts from New York State was a ceramic mug made by a clay artist who lived in the community where we lived at the time.  I used it for a while, but now it rests in a cabinet in our foyer; it’s a memory from a very special time in my life.

I just put away Christmas tree decorations and came across a special mug featuring a photograph of our daughters from a visit to Disneyworld back in the 1980s.  

We cherished the mug so much and never used it for beverages.  It remains part of our Christmas house decorations.

There’s a mug that plays to the characteristic of northern New York winters, a mug from the farewell party of a beloved priest friend (that one includes a prayer for vocations to the religious live), and many others.  

Each mug has a special meaning for me.

But the two with the greatest emotional attachment are those two cracked cups.  Each mug holds a special place in my heart.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

He has written California Back Roads- Stories from the land of the Palm and the Pine, available on Lulu.com

A Top Ten of Blessings for 2017

Four generations come together to celebrate three birthdays.  Photo-Newvine Personal Collection

Looking back on the year, I find it helpful to reflect a handful of things that turned out rather well.

 A top ten list helps focus some of the most important things that happened in my life in the year.  In no particular order, here is my top ten.

1.  In March, four generations came together at our home in Merced to celebrate three birthdays.  The birthdays were for my oldest daughter, my father-in-law who turned ninety, and my sixtieth.

2.  Due to a change in a living situation that brought my in-laws under our roof as permanent residents, my wife and I did a staycation week in July.  We did a series of day trips in Merced and surrounding counties.  We saw San Luis Reservoir, San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery, and Oakdale Cheese while exploring the countryside.

3.  I played at least one 9-hole round of golf every week throughout the year.

4.  California Back Roads – Stories from the Land of the Palm and the Pine became my eleventh published book.

Country Music Singer and Songwriter Bill Anderson met my wife and me prior to his October show at the Gallo Center in Modesto.  Photo- Newvine Personal Collection

5.  I met one of my country music heroes, the legendary Whisperin’ Bill Anderson, before his performance at the Gallo Center in Modesto.

6.  The presentation of my lecture of Soft Skills for Hard Times was done for both the spring and fall sessions of Love Plus, a life skills training program of Love INC Merced.

 My trustworthy Chevy Cruze purchased new in Merced six years ago, turned over the 100,000 mile mark.  Photo- Newvine Personal Collection

7.  My car turned over to 100,000 miles after six years of service on the main highways and back roads of California.  This is the second car purchased new in California that has made that six-figure milestone over the past thirteen years.

8.  My grandson, who will be three in January, visited California for the first time in 2016.  I saw him again when I flew to Colorado for Thanksgiving.

5 K runs, like this one at UC Merced, helped keep me healthy in 2017.  Photo- Newvine Personal Collection

9.  I woke up every day to reasonably good health.  I owe a big thanks to my doctors, my wife, and daily runs through the trail network in my neighborhood.

10.  A great neighborhood makes a lot of difference and we have that here in our cul de sac in Merced.  Whether it was a Fourth of July picnic, the gift of strawberry preserves or something from a garden, or just knowing we could pick up the phone and ask a favor, we’ve got the best of everything in our little corner of the world.

My best wishes to you for this holiday season and 2018.  

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

He’s published California Back Roads, available in paper and e-book editions at Lulu.com .  

Steve will be the lead guest on the December 23rd edition of Community Conversations at 6:05 a.m. on radio station KYOS 1480 AM

California Back Roads. A preview of my new book

California Back Roads is my eleventh book

California Back Roads is my eleventh book.  I’ve taken about three-dozen essays, many from my regular column here on MercedCountyEvents.com, updated each with new information, added a few essays from other publications, and included some never-before-seen material to create this book.

The book starts with an explanation of the “where the palm meets the pine” phrase we often hear about Central California.

 MercedCountyEvents.com webmaster Brad Haven told me my January 2016 column on the palm and the pine was among the most popular essays I’ve done in terms of web hits, shares, and visits.  

That seemed like a good phrase to use in the title and a good start to the book.

• places

• people

• heroes

• golf

• music

• ...And postscripts.  

The places section includes stories about the All Souls celebration in Hornitos and the Port of Stockton.  

The people section includes the story of Joe and his 1953 Chevy: a car he’s held on to since he drove it off the new car lot over sixty years ago.  

The heroes section remembers the brave men who defended our nation in the military as well as the people who go above and beyond in their support of our armed forces.

The essays on golf include my farewell round of golf at Stevinson Ranch from a few years ago.

The music section features a popular piece I wrote last summer about the Central Valley’s connection to the legacy of Tony Bennett.

Every page in the book connects to California; most of the stories relate to my experiences here in Merced County.

This drawing is included in the children’s fiction story The Giant Bulldozer, co-written by my wife Vaune.  The story is based on the real giant bulldozer at United Equipment Company in Turlock

There’s also something new to my writing- a collaboration with a writing partner.  

My wife Vaune joined me for a children’s short story I have included in this collection.  We present The Giant Bulldozer, inspired by the real thing at United Equipment in Turlock.  Here’s a preview:

The next morning Kasper bid goodbye to Mommy and Daddy as they left for their vacation before they ate breakfast.  

During breakfast Gram said, “Gramps has a surprise for you Kasper.”

“You do Gramps? What is it?”

Gramps laughed.  “Have you ever seen a bulldozer as big as a house?”

“No.  That sounds silly.”

“Well after breakfast we are going on a ride to see it.”

After breakfast was cleaned up, Gram strapped Kasper into the child seat in Gramps car.  Then all three of them headed off to see the great big bulldozer.

They drove to a place called United Equipment Company where Gramps turned off the car, got out, and unlatched Kasper’s seat.  

“Take my hand,” Gramps said.  “Let’s go find that bulldozer.”

After a short walk through the parking lot, Kasper spied the giant bulldozer. His eyes grew large with wonder.  His mouth opened wide.  He was speechless.

“What do you think?” Gramps asked him.

“It’s as big as a house!” Kasper exclaimed.

Gram and Gramps laughed.

I hope you like this book.  Thank you for taking the time to read the columns posted here on MercedCountyEvents.com.  

My best wishes to your family and you in this holiday season and happy New Year in 2018.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  California Back Roads is now available through this link:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/steve-newvine/california-back-roads-stories-from-the-land-of-the-palm-and-the-pine/paperback/product-23431833.html

First Lieutenant Peter Joseph Gallo-Remembered in Merced County

Behind the name of anything that honors an individual is a story.  Here is the story of a soldier’s sacrifice and a memorial to that life.  

First Lieutenant Peter Joseph Gallo.  Photo from Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund http://www.vvmf.org

Often, that story is told briefly on a dedication plaque.  Sometimes, it is up to others to tell a little bit more.

This is about the life of Peter Gallo whose sacrifice on the battlefields of Vietnam is remembered now with the veterans’ center recently named in his honor.

The First Lieutenant Peter Joseph Gallo Veterans Resource Center is located on the Merced College campus.

The Gallo Memorial Foundation worked with the College to provide a gift of eighty-thousand dollars to help remodel the existing Veterans Resource Center and to name it for the soldier who lost his life in the Vietnam War.

Plaque behind the entrance sign at the First Lieutenant Peter Joseph Gallo Veterans Resource Center at Merced College.  Photo by Steve Newvine

A brief story about First Lieutenant Peter Gallo is told on the back of the sign in front of the Resource Center.  

It reads in part that he was born in 1946, attended Livingston High School, Merced College, and Cal Poly.  

He enlisted in 1966, graduated from Officer Candidate School, and became an armor instructor at Fort Lewis, Washington.

The plaque goes on to read:

“Gallo began his tour of duty in Vietnam on December 9, 1967. On March 30, 1968, at the age of22, and while serving with Troop C, 3rd Squadron,5th U.S. Cavalry, 9th Infantry division, 1st Lt. Peter Joseph Gallo was killed in action during Operation Kilo in Quang Tri Province.”

There’s more information on that bronze plaque.  

First Lieutenant Gallo was posthumously awarded a number of medals and honors.  He’s buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The plaque does not mention that Peter was the son of Joseph Gallo, founder of Joseph Farms of Livingston in Merced County, one of California’s largest dairy farms.  

Joseph passed away in 2007 and his obituary mentions that Peter was killed in action during the Vietnam War.

Fast forward from the 1960s when Peter served in the Army, on through the early part of this century when his father passed, and now to the present time when veterans services are near the top of our awareness.

Merced College was already providing services to students who served in the military.  But there was a need to improve the physical location where those services were based.

It was that need to upgrade the facilities, coupled with a desire to honor the sacrifice of Peter Gallo that led the Gallo Foundation to fund the Merced College Veterans Resource Center remodel project.

Thanks to that gift and the vision to enhance the facilities for those who served and those who continue to serve, Merced College veterans now have a special place.  

It is a spot where they can relax, get help with problems unique to this category of student, and know that they are not alone in their higher education journey.  

Counselors are available.  

New friendships with other veterans can be fostered.  Dependents have a more visible resource.

The First Lieutenant Peter Joseph Gallo Veterans Resource Center is part of student life at Merced College.  Photo by Steve Newvine

The idea behind the remodeled Veterans Resource Center was to give Merced College’s veterans a better place on campus.

Whether they needed someone to talk to or just a quiet space to be alone with their thoughts, the hope was to provide a little bit of everything.

The Gallo Veterans Resource Center serves approximately one-hundred, fifty veterans, active reserve, and their dependents.  Photo by Steve Newvine

Vice President of Student Services Michael McCandless says the Center is now a meeting place as well as a resource center.  

“We wanted a space that veterans could use inside and outside,” he says.   “(The Center is) an anchor to attract them to a place where they have the resources to be successful.”

More than one-hundred fifty veterans and their families are served through the Center.  

In addition to meeting space and counselors, other services include a lending library, computers, and printing services.

“The faculty and staff of the Center work hard to function as liaisons between student veterans and the campus community,”

Michael McCandless says.   

“They serve as advocates, spearhead fundraising opportunities, and work with student veterans in regard to access to educational and community resources.”

Some of the student veterans are on active reserve. That status frequently requires modifications in the way instruction is delivered.  Center staff often needs to intervene with instructors to help accommodate the student schedule. 

“This is a pro-active group,”

Michael McCandless says.   

”The Center has allowed the faculty and staff to interact closely with students and best learn how to serve and encourage success.”

That success is measured in many ways, from improvements in academic behaviors as well as in enhancement of support systems for these veterans. 

The legacy of Peter Gallo’s service lives on at the Veterans Resource Center named for him at Merced College.  Photo from Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund http://www.vvmf.org

Thanks to the website Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund ( http://www.vvmf.org) , visitors can learn even more about Peter Gallo and others from that era who lost their lives in the war.  

Peter was born on January 29, 1946 and was killed in action on March 30, 1968.  

His war record, including honors received and the battles he fought are listed on the page dedicated to him.  

Beyond these facts, the website has a feature where people who knew a soldier as well as those who may not have known the soldier but wish to express their feelings can do so.  

Some of the testimonials help fill in a few more details about the kind of soldier First Lieutenant Gallo was.

John Mandrano of Greensboro, North Carolina was so moved by Peter’s service, he posted on the website:

“My heart aches by their loss of life and the loss by their friends and family. I'm deeply saddened. I will try to honor them by living a good and helpful life to others. Thank you for the posting by Peter's classmate about how they have not forgotten him. We are now connected by them....from the West Coast to the East Coast.... We are Americans. “

Peter J. Gallo served two years in the US Army.   Photo from FindADeath.com

In another post, Vernon Cole recalled his high school classmate.  

“Peter, it's been 45 years and your high school classmates still talk fondly of you... You will never be forgotten. “

The First Lieutenant Peter Joseph Gallo Veterans Resource Center was completed in the early summer.  

A dedication was held in August.

Peter Gallo served his country, gave his life, and left many memories among family and friends.  His name is now linked forever with a Resource Center that helps other veterans, active military, and their families.  

It is a legacy that makes all of us proud.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

His new book, California Back Roads- People and places among the palms and pines of Central California will be published in December

Off the Beaten Path- James Dean Memorial in Cholame, California

When I first saw the sculpture honoring movie star James Dean, I found it unusual.  I’m not a big fan of markers for tragic events. 

James Dean Memorial in Cholame, San Luis Obispo County, California.  Photo by Steve Newvine

In this particular tribute, I found it odd that a memorial for the man killed in a car accident was steel wrapped around a tree.

Dean’s car accident in 1955 at the intersection of Highways 41 and 46 in San Luis Obispo County marked the end to a promising movie career. 

His death was the result of a collision of his sports car with another vehicle that authorities believed pulled out in front of Dean.

At that time, investigators believed speed was not a factor, but rather an apparent lack of visibility by the other driver.  Highway Patrol investigators believe the driver of the other vehicle likely did not see Dean’s car heading west on Highway 46. 

According to accounts at the time, neither that driver nor Dean's passenger were seriously injured.

Fans still bring flowers or drop coins at the James Dean Memorial.  Photo by Steve Newvine

The memorial is a piece of steel that wraps around a tree in the parking lot of the Jack Ranch Café, less than a mile away from the actual crash site.  

Bronze plaques explain the tribute and touch briefly on Dean’s career.  

This sign was placed at the junction of highways forty-six and forty-one in Cholame, San Luis Obispo County, California.  Photo by Steve Newvine

Even more interesting to me is the green highway sign at the intersection of highways 46 and 41.  That sign looks no different from other markers dedicating sections of roadways after police officers, first responders, or political leaders. 

This sign does not dedicate anything.  It says “James Dean Memorial Junction”.

Hopping out of my car to take a photograph of the sign, I couldn’t help but think about what it must have been like on that night in 1955.  James Dean, fresh from finishing the filming of the motion picture Giant, had returned to Hollywood from his location shoot in Texas.  

Having received a speeding ticket in Bakersfield earlier in the day, he might have considered flooring the gas pedal on this somewhat desolate highway. 

Investigators ruled out speed as a factor, so we can only presume he was just focused on his final destination. 

His death forever froze an impression on the minds of the generation that produced such stars as Natalie Wood and Dennis Hopper. Hopper had a small role in Giant.  

Natalie Wood worked with Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.  

Jack Ranch Café on Highway 46 in San Luis Obispo County, California.  Photo by Steve Newvine

That era marked by James Dean’s death is celebrated at the Jack Ranch Café, a diner where the metal Memorial is maintained in the parking lot. 

The walls inside the Café are covered with photographs, paintings, and souvenirs of Dean.  Among the tee shirts, coffee mugs, and postcards, I spotted a photograph of Clint Eastwood with the operators of the Café. 

On another wall, there’s an enlargement of the speeding ticket Dean got near the intersection of highways forty-six and ninety-nine in Bakersfield. 

Some might say it’s over the top.  Some might ask why we still care.   

Clint Eastwood posed with the operators of the Jack Ranch Café when he visited the James Dean Memorial.  Photo by Steve Newvine

Every year, the Dean Memorial and the Jack Ranch Café are seen by tens of thousands of drivers passing by this lonely stretch of highway that connects Highway 101 to Interstate 5. 

Whether it is just a place to satisfy a curiosity, or a desire to visit a spot to recall the promise that James Dean's life held, the crash site and the accompanying memorial continue to fascinate visitors who take the time to go off the beaten path.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  His new book on California will be published in December.

Bill Anderson, Classic Country in the Central Valley

In the circles of country music, Bill Anderson has been known as a singer and songwriter for nearly sixty years.  He has gold records, a house full of awards, and the affection of his peers not to mention his fans.

Country Music Singer and Songwriter Bill Anderson. Photo from Bill Anderson.com

He performs October first at the Gallo Performing Arts Center in Modesto.  He’s performed in the Central Valley before, but this will be his first time playing at the Gallo.  

“We’ve been in Fresno once, Sacramento once, and we played the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield several years back,” Bill told me in a phone interview.

The Crystal Palace was owned by the late Buck Owens who lived in Bakersfield.  Buck passed away in 2005.

“I didn’t know him well, but one time we were seated together on a flight from Los Angeles to Nashville,” he recalled.  “We talked about songwriting and performing.  We agreed on some things, disagreed on some things, but I certainly enjoyed the conversation.”

Bill remembers the night he heard another Central Californian, Merle Haggard, perform a new song called Okie from Muskogee.  “It was the first time he performed the song on stage,” Bill recalled.  “I talked to him about it after the show.  Merle told me he wasn’t sure how audiences would accept the song given it had patriotic overtones.  I told him not to worry, “I think you have a hit.”

Okie from Muskogee, written by Merle Haggard and Roy Edward Burns, was a number one hit for Merle in 1969.  

Years later, Bill interviewed Merle for his satellite radio program.  Bill told Merle he was his favorite singer.  “A tear fell from his eye,” Bill told me.  “I made Merle Haggard cry.”

He also knew the Maddox Brothers and Rose, a popular family hillbilly band who settled in Modesto in the 1950s.  “I knew Rose rather well and was acquainted with Fred.  Rose ran a nightclub in Ocean City that I performed at back in the sixties.”

While Bill is looking forward to performing in the Central Valley, he wishes he could have traveled throughout the western states more back when he lived in LA in the 1970s.  “We could never bundle enough dates together to make it work,” he says.  

But this time around, he’s able to play the Gallo Center and the newly renovated performing arts center in Red Bluff.  The singer/songwriter plays about forty dates a year in addition to his regular performances at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

“There are some songs I do all the time during a live road performance,” Bill says.  “I can’t get off the stage unless I do Still.”

Still was a number one song written and sung by Bill in 1963.  It’s about a man lamenting a lost love and how he carries a torch after many years.  

Other songs in his catalog include Po Folks, about growing up in a household short on money but full of love; I Love You Drops about missing someone to the point of tears, and the iconic Tips of My Fingers which recalls the same lost love theme.  

Tips of My Fingers has been recorded by a number of country and pop artists including Roy Clark, Eddie Arnold, and even Dean Martin.

In recent years, he has collaborated with other songwriters on tunes that have blossomed into big hits.  Give it Away was co-authored by Bill with Jamie Johnson and Buddy Cannon.  It was a big hit for George Strait in 2006.  Whiskey Lullaby, a sad song about alcoholism, was written by Bill along with Jon Randall.  It was a duet hit for Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss.

Bill hopes his fans leave his performances feeling satisfied and entertained.  He wants to be remembered as a good singer, and hopefully as an enduring songwriter.

As for his legacy, he says, “I don’t think much about a legacy, but I hope if I am remembered for anything, it will be for my songs.”

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

His new book on California will be published in December.

Linden California’s Pride and Joy - Aaron Judge’s Hometown

Aaron Judge’s official Major League Baseball photo.  Photo from MLB.com

Anyone with a passing interest in baseball likely knows Aaron Judge is the New York Yankees outfielder who has had an incredible rookie season in 2017.  

He is Linden, California’s pride and joy.

Aaron played his college ball at Fresno State University and his high school ball at Linden High. In high school, he played football and basketball in addition to baseball.

He set school records for football and was recruited by such schools as UCLA, Notre Dame and Stanford for football.  

But baseball was his favorite sport.  So he headed just a couple hours south from Linden down the road to play for Fresno State.    

The Yankees drafted him in the 2013 draft and he spent the next three years in the minors.  He hit a home run in his first Major League Baseball at bat and had his first grand slam just a few weeks later.

The downtown area in Linden, California.  Photo by Steve Newvine

In his hometown in Linden, there are few signs that this baseball superstar grew up, played baseball, or even has made it to the major leagues.  

On a visit in the late summer, one could find signs protesting a plan to locate a Dollar General Store in the community, a banner at Linden High generating interest in the start of football season, and a poster promoting an upcoming church dinner.  

Recently, small signs noting Linden as the home of Aaron Judge have been put up at the city limits.

While there may be few outward signs of this hometown star, many who live and work in Linden have not forgotten Aaron.  On the streets downtown, a merchant told me there’s a lot of interest in Judge and he’s often asked by visitors about the Yankee star’s connection to Linden.

A mural covers the upper interior walls of the mailbox section of the Linden Post Office.  Photo by Steve Newvine

At the local post office, there’s a special mural commemorating the history of this farming community.  There’s nothing on the mural yet about the Yankee outfielder, but there’s hope that someday Aaron’s likeness will be on display prominently in Linden.

Eric Weber is the athletic director at Linden High.  While Eric was not the athletic director when Aaron went to high school, he is proud of all the success this sports star has achieved in such a short period of time.

Linden High School is proud of their alumnus Aaron Judge.  Photo by Steve Newvine

“We’re very happy about his accomplishments,” Eric said.  “He is a humble person, respectful of his roots, and has an excellent work ethic.”

Those accomplishments include hitting thirty home-runs by the all-star break in 2017.  That achievement beats a record set by Joe DiMaggio.

Aaron has been a tremendous addition to the Yankees, and he’s brought a lot of positive attention to Linden.

The baseball field at Linden High School where Aaron Judge played.  He was also a star football player at Linden High.  Photo by Steve Newvine

“It’s really exciting for this young man, from a small town, to create so much attention. You wouldn’t believe all the media who have been calling us.”

— Eric Weber

That media includes the national sports magazines, television networks, and sports radio.  All are following Aaron Judge’s remarkable year.

And the community of Linden, as well as the entire Central Valley, is sharing in some of that spotlight.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

His new book about California will be published in December.

Labor Day Memories with Jerry Lewis

Labor Day and Jerry Lewis.  For most of my life, that weekend and that person were practically one-in-the-same. 

Jerry Lewis in Rochester, NY in the mid-1990s. Photo:  Newvine Personal Collection

I remember watching the annual Muscular Dystrophy Telethon in my family living room.  Jerry Lewis was very funny, but would frequently turn serious as he reminded everyone why it was important to call in a pledge. 

His appearances on television outside of Labor Day weekend were confined mainly to talk shows, where the likes of Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, and Johnny Carson would have him on frequently promoting a movie or an upcoming appearance in Las Vegas. 

There’s a show business legend that recalls one night in the early 1970s when all three late night talk shows (Carson, Griffin, and Dick Cavett) taped their shows in New York City.  

Jerry appeared on all three shows on the same night.  He made an appearance as a regular guest on one and then did quick cameos on the other two.

The movies had their moments.  

The films with Dean Martin were funny.  None of Jerry’s performances as a solo movie actor stood out for me. I enjoyed the Disorderly Orderly where he runs amuck in a hospital setting.  

As a teen watching the annual telethon growing up in the 1970s, I hoped that one day I would have a chance to be part of that tradition.  

Participating in fund raising antics for the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon.  Photo:  Newvine Personal Collection

I got my chance as one of the hosts from the Binghamton, New York affiliate of the Telethon’s “Love Network”.  For two years, I donned the tuxedo and supported the primary host Mark Williams as we broadcast local segments from the Oakdale Mall in Johnson City. 

I hosted some of the early morning segments while Mark got some rest.  It was fun doing that form of live television.  I left the station after two years, and even though my career would take me onward to four other television stations, none of them carried the Labor Day Telethon. 

It was a dream-come-true for me to be part of that incredible display of emotion and endurance on Labor Day.

Hosting the Muscular Dystrophy Labor Day Telethon at WICZ-TV in Binghamton, NY.  Photo:  Newvine Personal Collection

Nearly two decades later, Jerry Lewis was appearing in Rochester, New York with the Broadway show Damn Yankees. 

A coworker told me Jerry would be accepting an award from the County of Monroe at a ceremony taking place at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Rochester.  I called a friend at one of the television stations where I had worked and asked if I could accompany him to the ceremony. 

Jerry Lewis in Rochester, NY.  Photo by Steve Newvine

Jerry accepted the award, and then took questions from the local media.  He mentioned how he was writing a book on his recollections from the Martin and Lewis partnership. 

I asked him whether it was difficult to go back and recall that period of time.  He looked at me, smiled and said something to the effect:

“Not really, it was a very special time in my life, in both our lives.  I didn’t want to lose those memories with time.” 

The book became Dean and Me, and was co-written by James Kaplan.  

Mr. Kaplan was interviewed shortly after the news broke that Jerry had passed away at his home in Las Vegas.  The interviewer, pressed for time, wrapped up a five-minute live interview by asking him to describe Jerry in one word. 

Without giving it an extra second to think, Mr. Kaplan answered “genius”.

Jerry’s son Chris spoke at a meeting of Fresno Rotary I attended several years ago. 

Chris was raising money on behalf of the non-profit organization providing wheel chairs for people living in third world countries. 

While not mentioning his dad’s name directly, it was clear he wanted to keep the legacy of Jerry Lewis as a champion of the handicapped moving forward.

There’s no desire within me to explore the complications of Jerry Lewis.   

He was a gifted entertainer who used his life to help others. 

It was a life with purpose. 

Fortunately for many of us who remember those twenty-hour fund raising efforts on behalf of Muscular Dystrophy, Labor Day and Jerry Lewis will forever be entwined.

He made me laugh.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

His book on travels in California will be published later this year.

Pretty in Pink for Merced

Local Church School will Flock with Flamingos to Raise Money for Camp.

Think about your front lawn.  You make sure it gets enough water.   You time the mowing schedule so the grass will look nice for the weekend.  You take great satisfaction to add just the right amount of shrubbery to give the perfect look.

A north Merced home gets “flocked” with flamingos for charity.  Photo by Steve Newvine

Now imagine that lawn covered with dozens of plastic pink flamingos.  If you’ve seen a lawn with this pink overload in recent weeks, you are witnessing a flamingo-flocking. 

For thirty-five dollars, parents and students in the fifth grade class of St. Paul Lutheran School will cover a typical Merced lawn with up to forty flaming pink plastic flamingos. 

School admissions director Mary Ann Daughdrill says this is a fundraiser that has been going on for the past six years.  “We hope to cover the cost for the fifth-grade class to go to Hume Lake Christian Camp in the Sierra Mountains.”

Typically, a relative or neighbor will pay the School a suggested thirty-five dollar donation.  Volunteers will come to the lawn shortly after sunset and do their gentle redecoration.  The flamingos stay on the lawn for twenty-four hours. 

Plastic flamingo season in Merced usually gets started in August and runs through October when the fifth graders head off to Hume Lake.  Some weeks are very active with two or three lawns getting the pink treatment every night.

One year, the fund raiser was so successful, all of the dozen or more campers had their entire Hume Lake trip costs covered by proceeds from the flamingo flocking. 

There was even money left over to purchase in-house planters for the school and make a donation to the local animal shelter.  The class gets involved with ideas for donating excess funds.

Flamingo decorating is one of the several outside-the-box ideas local schools and non-profits are trying to raise awareness and money. 

Playhouse Merced produces a Broadway themed revue in the summer. 

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) stages an evening of video horse racing in the spring. 

Just about every other non-profit uses some variation of the dinner-followed-by- auction format to make money their cause. 

And who can forget the summer of 2015 bucket challenge to raise funds for continued research into Lou Gehrig's Disease?  

A small sign in the front left of this lawn tells the family living there and others that this decorating was done to raise money for the St. Paul Lutheran Fifth Grade.  Photo by Steve Newvine

The idea of strangers taking over the front lawn with over three dozen plastic flamingos can bring some risk. Families, their neighbors and the curious wonder what’s happening in their cul de sacs.

Usually, all it takes is a quick explanation of what is going on and why it’s all for a good cause.

“One time, the children of one family were playing in the front yard when we arrived,” Mary Ann says.  “We waited for a while, and then just asked the children to go inside and look outside for a surprise in a few minutes.”

 Steve Newvine lives in Merced

San Luis Reservoir-Looking Good at Fifty

2017 Marks the Golden Anniversary of the Completion of the Reservoir

People have used the San Luis Reservoir in western Merced County, California as a barometer of just how bad the drought was, or how intense the flow of melting snow pack from the Sierra Nevada Mountains has been.

The San Luis Reservoir in Los Banos, Merced County.  Photo by Steve Newvine

I’ve always been impressed by this massive lake in the Pacheco Pass between Los Banos and Gilroy.  The visitor center at the Romero Outlook always made for a convenient and safe rest stops on trips to and from the coast.  

The Vista is impressive.

This spring and summer, friends and family who passed through the Reservoir along State Route 152 told us that the water level was at an all-time high. My wife and I made a visit there early in July to see for ourselves.

An up close look at the water in the San Luis Reservoir.  Photo by Steve Newvine

Display inside the center.  photo by steve Newvine

To a passing visitor not familiar with the Reservoir, it’s easy to lose perspective of just how high the current water table is.  

During the drought years, it was relatively easy to see little or no water down below from the observation point.  Now with water covering the Reservoir bed, it is clear that conditions have changed.

But to what magnitude that change has been felt, I had to ask the visitor center staff.

A staff person told us that at the peak of the California drought last summer, the Reservoir was at less than three percent capacity.  At the time we visited in early July of 2017, we were told that the water level was just over ninety-eight percent of capacity.

There’s no apparent danger that this Reservoir will exceed capacity as the water is controlled coming in through the California Aqueduct from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta.  

The water is held by the San Luis Dam or the B F Sisk Dam.  

Water from the reservoir irrigates over sixty-thousand acres in the Santa Clara Valley.  Electricity is generated as a result of all this water moving through the Reservoir.

The Visitor Center at the Romero Outlook of the San Luis Reservoir.  Photo by Steve Newvine

The visitor center has a number of photographs and historical artifacts from its five-decade history.   

President John F. Kennedy visited the area early in his presidency when construction of the project began.  You can see that speech on You Tube.  

In his speech at the dedication ceremonies on August 18, 1962, the President greeted the crowd humorously by saying,

“ It is a pleasure for me to come out here and help plow up this valley in the cause of progress.”

— President John F. Kennedy

The fifty-fifth anniversary of that visit is August 18, 2017.

One section of the visitor center features Ronald Reagan, who visited the project during his term as California Governor.   

Photographs of the two Presidents take up space along the walls of the visitor center.  

Then Governor Ronald Reagan’s image covers part of a wall at the San Luis Reservoir.  Photo by Steve Newvine

There’s a room with chairs and a loop of video that explains other details of this man-made wonder.  The Reservoir is now moving into the sixth decade of operation to provide water and hydropower.

There’s a lot of history of how this western Merced County’s engineering and construction marvel was conceived, built, and maintained.  It’s worth an extended visit the next time your travels take you through Pacheco Pass.

The vista of the Reservoir footprint is impressive.  At times, it has taken my breath away. It may do the same for you.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  He’s planning on releasing a new book about California in the coming months.

A Fitness Finish Line

Crossing the finish line at a five-K race meant more than a successful end to a run.  It put a meaningful exclamation point on a three-month effort to improve my health.

Crossing the finish line at the UC Merced Journey 5-K in September 2016.  Photo from the Newvine Personal Collection

The spring of 2016 was a rough time for my health.  

Symptoms included shortness of breath, an inability to take a deep breath without coughing, fatigue, and frustration.  

Something was wrong and there was a feeling that nothing could be done about it.

My wife made it her challenge to help find some answers.  She would accompany me to doctor visits and trips to see specialists. I had lab work, breathing tests, and a plan of attack to keep the condition under control.  

At the end of all these visits and tests was the conclusion that asthma and bronchitis were now part of my life.  

Medicines were prescribed, and a recommendation was made to exercise more.

I planned to start running daily beginning the day after Independence Day.  Two days prior to the execution of that plan, my back was stained.  

My start to better fitness was delayed another week.

On July 11th, I took the first step toward daily exercise.   I walked a pathway near my home.  Later in the week, I would begin running part of that path.  By the end of week two, I was running approximately a mile-and-a-half daily.  The distance was increased until the desired exertion level was achieved.  

Running was now part of the new normal.

Running got the heart pumping and the adrenaline flowing.  The time outside was good for the lungs and great for the attitude.  

The little annoyances from work and life did not seem to matter much anymore.  A new way to deal with the frustrations of life was discovered.  It seemed as though the running trail was my new sounding board.

Enjoying the accomplishment of a 5-K run at UC Merced.  Picture from the Newvine Personal Collection

By late summer, I had a routine that included a half-hour run followed by a fifteen-minute stretching exercise ritual.  I was feeling better.  Improved health had returned.  

Follow up visits to the doctors and specialists confirmed that the action plan worked.  The medicine took care of the symptoms; the exercise took care of me.

Just for kicks, I entered the UC Merced 5K Run in mid-September.  5K was about twice the length of my daily run.  It was for charity, and to make the past three months of daily exercise mean something.

Crossing that finish line was a proud moment that day on the UC Merced campus.  I removed my timing band, was handed a medal along with the other five hundred participants and promised to return next year.

Eight months after the UC Merced 5K, another finish line.  This time, the venue was the Mercy Medical Stroke Awareness 5K.  Photo from the Newvine Personal Collection

In May, I entered the Merced Medical Center Stoke Awareness 5K.  I did it for the same reason as the UC Merced Run.  I wanted to raise a little money for charity and prove that all this running had a deeper meaning.

9 From 99 w/new afterword

I ran in thanksgiving for the benefits from daily exercise.  Thanks to the proper medicine, the care of several health professionals, and my wife’s gentle but firm reminders, I feel great.  

Aside from a brief period with some aching joints, the routine continues.  The benefits accrue.

I have crossed the finish line, and am ready for the next race.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced     

American Pie Memories in Florida

Among the many memories, I cherish from growing up in the 1970s was the annual winter trips to Florida to stay with my grandparents who had a winter residence there. 

 I took this picture of my family in front of the Florida Welcome Station in the early 1970s.  Photo:  Newvine Personal Collection

Those trips were novelties in my teen years as my family discovered a whole new part of the country. 

The drive itself was an adventure.  It started with a very early wake-up call as we climbed into a car that had been packed the night before.   

When the weather cooperated, we'd zip through the Eastern Seaboard states.  It felt just a little bit warmer at each rest stop.  Our day ended at a motel where the whole family of five shared one room with two double beds and a roll-away bed.

 The next morning there would be another early start.

When we crossed the Florida line, we'd stop for orange juice at the state visitor center.

The days in Florida were filled with trips to the tourist venues, including Cypress Gardens or the newly opened Disney World. 

There were also many activities that were less travel-intensive.  Some days included a visit to a distant relative or a trip to the nearest shopping center to pick up souvenirs.  

Every year, my grandmother would treat us to the novelty of Kentucky Fried Chicken.  

Back in the 1970s, KFC wasn’t known by its initials. It was Kentucky Fried Chicken, it was indeed finger lickin’ good, and whoever was staying with Grandma and Grandpa that week was getting a real treat.

Just about every night, we could count on a game of cards.

 The family dressed up for Sunday dinner at a buffet-style restaurant during one of our trips to visit my grandparents in Florida.  Photo:  Newvine Personal Collection

I remember a warm Central Florida winter night in 1972.  Six kids between the ages of twelve and seventeen were enjoying the spring break by playing cards and listening to one particular song on the radio.

The kids were my siblings and the similarly-aged kids of my parents’ friends. The card game was racehorse pitch, the preferred card game of that era. 

The song on the radio was American Pie.

 Bye bye

 Miss American Pie

 Drove my Chevy to the levy,

 But the levy was dry

 And good ole boys drinking whiskey and rye

 Singing, this will be the day that I die

 This will be the day that I die.

That song was the big rock-and-roll hit in early 1972.  It seemed like it was being played every half-hour on the Tampa rock-and-roll station.

I was fifteen years old.  The symbolism did not yet resonate with me.  It was the way the words worked together that caught my attention.  I had little or no appreciation of poetry, but these lyrics were beyond catchy.

 Did you write the book of love

 Or do you have faith in God above

Stanza after stanza, the poem of American Pie fascinated me.  It would be years before I fully understood what singer/writer Don McLean was trying to say.   

To this day McLean doesn't talk much about the deeper meaning of the words he composed. 

He doesn't have to.  This is a work of art that stands just as that.

 I can't remember if I cried
 When I read about his widowed bride

Madonna recorded a cover version several years ago, and it's an interesting interpretation.  The Brady Bunch kids recorded a version that isn't interesting or even an interpretation. It's just bad.

In American Pie, Don McLean is recalling a specific point in his lifetime. Whenever I hear that song, I think of a specific point in time too.  I zero in on the opening words:

 A long long time ago
 I can still remember how
 That music used to make me smile

While McLean was referring to the day Buddy Holly was killed in an airplane crash, I go back to a much happier time.  

I return to a warm Florida evening in February 1972, surrounded by family and friends.

We were creating a memory that has lasted nearly five decades.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

His first book, Growing Up, Upstate is now available for a reduced price at Lulu.com