Volume 1, Number 10
December 21, 2006
Fifty Cents
Forest Service Meeting On
Off - Road Vehicle Routes
White Pines the U.S. Forest Service held the first of
three public meetings December 11th to discuss the
possible route designations for all of the trails within
the Stanislaus National Forest.
The Ernest Mann and Steven Ferrari memorial, at the accident site in White Pines, where many
of the two boy’s friends have left personal momentos as offerings.
Mann’s Defense Opens Strong
Witness Claims The Driver Was Missing A Shoe
A Tragedy and a Trial
By Ross Alford
San Andreas - Calaveras County Courthouse, The Anthony Mann trial started here on Tuesday Dec. 14th, some
two and half years after the fateful car accident that took the lives of Mann’s 16 year old brother Ernest, 17
year old Steven Ferrari. severely injured a third, Nick Tuana and sent both Mann and the final occupant of the
car, Anthony Linebaugh, to Mark Twain Hospital where both Mann and Linebaugh were treated and released.
Mann, who is now 20, is charged with two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, 2 counts of unlawful driving, 1 count of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and 1 count of regular vehicular manslaughter.
Deputy District Attorney Dan McConnell claimed at the preliminary hearing that Mann was the driver of the
vehicle that, on May 11, 2004, careened off Blagen Road, collided with a concrete embankment and landed on
its side in a creek bed. Mann’s attorney Cyril Ash disputed the prosecution’s claim that Mann was the driver of
the vehicle and Mann pled “Not Guilty” to all of the charges.
The trial started with the selection of a jury. There were only two empty seats in the courtroom, most seats filled
with prospective jurors. Mann’s attorney, the 70-something, Cyril Ash confidently evaluating the juror pool, the
late forty-something Dan McConnell only casting occasional glances. The mother of Steven Ferrari sat in the
front row to the right, her face now held emotionally stoic after nearly three years of exhaustive emotion.
See “Mann Trial” Page 3
The Forest Service offered a panel of experts, the first
of which said that there is a national mandate to determine what areas of the forest should stay designated
“unmanned recreational use” and what areas should
be “motorized.” Forest Service officials said there are
a number of areas that need to be reviewed in the Stanislaus Forest for fire fuel reduction and landscape fragmentation. Of the 120 national forests in the country,
California’s forests are some of the first to go through
this designation process. So far officials said there has
been a coalition of support from the disparate entities
that include OHV people and environmentalists. All
seem to agree that there should be consensus on what
is happening in the forest. The meeting on Monday
was a working meeting for interested parties to get
their ideas on to maps. The forest service provided big
plastic coated maps so all could jot their ideas down
on what should occur in a given area. Mostly this tool
will help the forest service eliminate the areas that
have little to no controversy and allow then to concentrate their effort on the more difficult areas.
One main objective was to achieve a system of trails
that are financially sustainable. Most of those have
to do with existing roads and trails. Existing roads
have 4 categories: One, old logging roads that have
been put to bed, no longer used. Two, rough graded
roads that non-street legal vehicles can use. Three,
roads that are maintained for street legal vehicles.
Four, paved road. The forest service made a number
of suggestions for various roads within the Stanislaus
Forest and discussed some of the working issues on
the ground. Some issues included the fact that some
trails head off into the forest, but then dead end into
private property, which creates problems for the land
owner. In many of these cases the road continues on
the other side of the private property. As such the Forest Service is in the process of trying to obtain easements where they can.
In the end they hope to have a consensus on peoples
expectations for the Area, determine the routes that
are missing, find out what areas have resource degradation issues, and figure out the sustainability of given
trails and ascertain where people what OHV activity.
Additionally, recreation managers are encouraging a
preliminary discussion of ideas on the roads system as
it relates to dispersed camping, vehicle parking, and
other activities. Forest officials, specialists, and staff
were on hand at the meeting to answer questions related to the route designation process.
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Opinion/ Editorial
Mountain Chronicle
Letters
The Mountain Chronicle
1316 Oak Circle
Arnold, California
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 32 Arnold, CA 95223
Phone: (209) 795-2222 Business Phone: (209) 795-2224
E-mail: [email protected]
Managing Editor
Ross Alford
Contributing Writers
Columnists
Advertising Director
John Hamilton
Mark Johnson
Kristy Moore
Jim Stearns
Tim Mehren
Ted Denmark
Kristy Moore
Circulation
Mark Newton
To Contribute:
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include a name, phone number and area of residence. Submissions: MTChron@
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the paper and raise hell on the OP/ED page. If you exploit, degrade or injure the
community, you’re fair game!
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Photos made possible by Sierra Photo Express
Editor’s Notes:
I’m tired of issues like this long hair issue at Bret Harte. Here is a kid who is obviously a solid citizen, a good student, a charismatic leader, and a good athlete. He
wants to play basketball and they won’t let him because of an archaic hair length
policy. On the other side, in opposition to him, we have a rule that is so obviously
wrong it laughable. Not only is it laughable it’s obvious sexual discrimination, and
the guy who’s being discriminated against – his father is the ex-DA of Calaveras
County! My first thought was, these guys are playing with fire. Let see, the girls can
have long hair, but the boys can’t. That takes about one second to see the big picture,
some old-school bureaucrats are at the helm. Then to make matters worse they plan
to enforce the rule until the next board meeting, which, essentially punitively punishes the hair offender. It seems obviously they’re doing the wrong thing, and they
know it, and worse they’re taking a kid’s crucial time to make changes. To quote
Michael Jordan, I think, “Just do it!”
This hair rule is so obviously wrong I wondered, how sophisticated do you have to be
to realize it, so I asked a kindergartner what he thought: Do you think its fair that the
boys have to cut their hair and the girls don’t? “No.” Do you think the boy shouldn’t
be allowed to play basketball until the next meeting, a month from now? “No.” I
could ask ten thousand impartial people and get the same answer. I could ask dolphins or apes the same question and get the same answer, I’d have to descend down
the animal chain to the Big Cats who knowingly eat their young before I’d find an
opposing opinion. There is a weird force at work in our school system, I’m feeling
it in the “abstinence only” presentation that got nixed at the last moment, I’m feeling
it the resistance by some board members to the school garden at Michelson, and I’m
feeling it in this latest hair issue. It’s time for our elected board members to get off
their heels and lean forward proactively into the issues. Get the tractor into the garden, call an emergency meeting and get the kid playing ball and smack a few wrists
on the “holier-than-thou” abstinence program. Let’s get new-school bureaucrats!
Ross Alford–Mountain Chronicle
December 21, 2006
Dear Editor;
The Community Action Project, or CAP, is a community-based, community-focused project in Calaveras County whose mission is to promote citizen participation in local government.
CAP is accomplishing its mission by helping individuals and groups to better participate in the community planning process, and working to make important public
information more accessible. To that end, CAP has helped facilitate the birth and
growth of the Calaveras Planning Coalition. Comprised of local ad-hoc community
groups and local non-profits groups, the Coalition is bound by a common understanding of the critical need for a comprehensive update to the Calaveras County
General Plan.
CAP and the Coalition are not anti-growth. CAP and the Coalition stands with
those thoughtful people who recognize that growth is inevitable in Calaveras
County, but refuse to accept that sprawl is inevitable, or that resource conservation
is naive, or that the healthy, clean, and open life we love is doomed.
CAP and the Coalition believes that in a democracy, the citizens and taxpayers who
support the County should establish the growth policies of the County.
CAP and the Coalition appreciates the efforts of many in County Government to
finally address the long-standing problems associated with growth and planning in
Calaveras County and we look forward to being full and active participants in the
public participation process of the General Plan update.
CAP is a project of the Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch, and is supported through grants
and the generous donations of our supporters. For more information please visit
www.CalaverasCAP.com or call 754-3317.
Ward LaValley
CAP / Calaveras Planning Coalition
Ross,
Your last editorial note said that the local community affects the world. What we do
here has an affect there. Here for instance is a poem that a friend wrote and sent me
this morning:
We flew over Darfur at 30,000 feet.
They served us breakfast in a box ––
Scrambled egg and sausage, a half
Tomato and three mushrooms steamed,
A dish of fruits, a tiny bread roll with Fresh butter, brewed coffee and a piece Of
sponge cake drenched in syrup –– Thank God British Airways Still can serve a decent meal ––
Outside the window
The Libyan desert stretches featureless And interminable, the yellow sand Becoming
white and then gray-blue In banded layers that could be mountains Or cloud, that
could even be lakes but for The absolute absence of water.
Smoke from the villages far below
Like the cries of the horsemen burning them Does not reach us here, nor can we see
The victims twisted and dismembered Their women raped and children tossed Like
trash onto the flames.
The relentless engines alone
Sustain us at this altitude
As tenuous as hope
The edge of the yellow world
Bleeds into sky with no
Horizon visible.
Poetry reaches deep within us.
What could be more local?
Thanks,
Mike Powell
Mountain Chronicle
Local News
They’re Back!
December 21, 2006 PAGE 3
Mann Trial
Continued From Page 3
The filled Courtroom included members of the press seated to the left: The Union
Democrat, The Calaveras Enterprise and The Mountain Chronicle, and the Sheriff
Department’s bailiff equipped with a high-tec communication device. Hovering behind the scenes dressed in a purple suit, was Kate Storm of the DA’s office offering
assistance to Steven Ferrari’s family. And behind the defense sat investigator Jack
Smith distinguishably dressed, and in possession of a heavy black leather satchel.
After a significant period of time bailiffs lead Anthony Mann into the court room.
Mann was dressed in a crisp gray suit with a gray and red striped tie; his short black
hair, neatly crew cut, making him look younger than his 20 years; more, he looks like
the 17 year-old he was on that fateful evening in May of 2004.
When all had taken their seats, Judge William P. Lamb dramatically entered the court
room. After taking his seat he began by advising all the prospective jurors in the
courtroom to remember, “the burden of proof in a criminal case rests on the prosecutor, and that this burden is much greater that that in a civil case. In a civil case guilt
can be found by merely, the preponderance of evidence. In a case such as Mann’s,
the Judge told jurors that the burden is much more stringent, the prosecution must
provide evidence that proves Mann is guilty beyond a shadow of doubt.
Arnold –The CHP issued 59 tickets before 9am on Saturday December 15th.
Saturday was the second day of ski season and skiers were in a hurry to get to the
slopes. David Rhein of the CHP said at one point they had put their opperation in
place above Dorrington, facing up the hill, and just as they were setting up a Porche
passed them going in the other direction that was clocked going 118 miles per hour.
Rhein said that all the CHP cars were faced the wrong direction and the Porche managed to pulled off and hide somewhere in the subdivision.
Ordway Found Guilty
By Jim Stearns
After a six week trial full of exhibits, expert witnesses and sometimes emotional and
riveting testimony, Patricia Ordway was found guilty of first degree murder. Despite
the fact that there was no unimpeachable physical evidence to tie Ordway directly to
the murder, the jury took just one day to reach its verdict.
Deputy District Attorney Dana Pfeil systematically outlined a strong circumstantial
case against Ordway. She based the foundation of the case on the theft of some
money, a forgery, and the discovery of the murder weapon and some clothing that
were dumped along Rolleri Bypass Road. shortly after the murder. All of which, she
proved to a jury, tied Ordway to the murder.
Ordway’s attorney, Robert Forkner attempted to portray Ordway as a dupe in the
murder who had been framed by some unsavory associates. He cited a lack of any
physical evidence including any fingerprints on the murder weapon that could tie the
crime to the Ordway.
When she returns to court for sentencing in January, Ordway faces the possibility of
life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Field Studies Offered at Columbia
The Mother Lode comes alive after the rainy winter season and Columbia College
is offering two popular courses this spring to enhance your enjoyment of living in
the foothills. Wildflowers of the Mother Lode (BIOL 159) and Mushrooms of the
Mother Lode (BIOL 160) are both 1.5 credit courses, which are being offered on a
credit/non-credit grading basis.
The wildflowers class is a non-technical approach to identifying botanical traits
and learning common as well as scientific names of local plant species. The
instructional course on mushrooms is a survey course with special emphasis on
mushroom taxonomy, identification, differentiation between common edibles and
poisonous fungi, ecology of fungi, and fungi’s impact on civilizations.
Jury Selection
Then the names of 18 prospective jurors were called and they filed into the jury box
chairs. One juror carried a John Grishm novel. Another’s shirt read, “Everyone is
entitled to an opinion.” Then the selection process began.
There were a number of preliminary questions that eliminated some of the prospective jurors. One such question was: Do you know anyone that has been involved in
a drinking and driving arrest? Almost every one of the 18 people knew someone that
had received a DUI. “If so,” the question continued, “would this affect your impartiality?” A number of potential jurors were removed. Another had to do with the fact
that Mann looks Asian; his mother is Pilipino and his father Caucasian. No potential
jurors were removed for ethnic bias.
One emotional moment occurred when one juror was asked how she came to the conclusion that she was impartial, then under examination she revealed that she didn’t
want to see a young boy, the age of her son, sent to jail. The prosecution had her
removed from the jury pool. The best question was asked by Mann’s attorney who
asked a prospective juror, if he were Mann, would he want all of the jurors to be of
his current mind set? The gentleman thought for a time then answered, “yes;” McConnell used one of his 10 challenges to remove him from the jury pool.
Finally, after eight hours, they’d arrived at twelve jurors, and the judge dismissed the
remaining jury pool. In his last comments to the selected jurors, the judge reminded
the jury not to discuss the case with anyone, and to avoid reading about the case in
the media.
See “Mann Trial” Page 10
Local News
Mountain Chronicle
Bear Valley Ski Club
December 21, 2006 PAGE 4
National Scenic Byway
Celebrates New Charter Members
The Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway Association honored the first individuals, organizations and businesses to step up to the plate showing their support for the Ebbetts Pass
National Scenic Byway as lifetime charter members at Bear Valley Lodge December
9. A group of approximately 40 gathered in the massive Cathedral Lounge amid a
roaring fire and holiday décor for a wine and appetizer reception hosted by the Bear
Valley Lodge.
Lifetime charter members were presented with framed Ebbetts Pass National Scenic Byway postcard artwork by Michelle Plotnik, EPSBA Board President and Jan
Hovey, EPSBA Marketing Director. The lifetime charter members include: Arnold
Black Bear Inn, Bear Valley Business Association, Bear Valley Lodge, Bear Valley
Mountain Resort, Bear Valley Real Estate, Benjamin and Sylvia Johnson, Bill Broll
family, Calaveras County Board of Supervisors, Camp Connell Store, Carol Phelps,
Don Fry Realty, Dorrington Hotel, Ebbetts Pass Plumbing and Heating, Ewe-Phoric
Yarns, Sierra Nevada Adventure Company and Tamarack Lodge Bed and Breakfast.
The 2006-2007 Bear Valley Ski Club
The objectives of the ski club are to encourage and to organize enthusiast
towards the enjoyment of Alpine skiing, and to that end they organize a
number of events during the year including pot luck dinners, gourmet pot
luck lunches on the sun deck, the group purchase of tickets at a reduced
rate, a dinner-dance in the winter, a golf tournament in the summer, a ski
swap in the fall, a wine tour in the spring and an annual ski trip.
This year’s ski trip is to Kitzuhl, Austria.
Debi Lamb, the Bear Valley Ski Club’s Social Director helped pull off a
great “New Member” pot luck this December 9th. “I greatly appreciated
everyone’s help and support in making our new members feel welcome,”
Lamb said. “I especially would like to thank Bill and Barbara Brown for all
of their hard work and Bill Nelson (a new member), for his great job on the
tri-tip.”
Annual membership is $15.
For more information call Fred Evens at: (650) 949-2801
E:mail: [email protected]
Susanne Bergum of Ewe-Phoric Yarns in Arnold was excited to be the first lifetime
charter member of the recently-formed non-profit. “The community has worked so
hard to obtain this national designation, and we wanted to show our full support to
the organization that’s going to pioneer a number of projects on the byway,” said
Susanne.
The EPSBA charter membership program was launched in November and continues
through December providing funds to enable the non-profit organization to get off
the ground and ensuring an initial funding stream that will support critical organizational development, membership development and marketing efforts.
“We were awarded a $25,000 seed grant from the Federal Highways Administration;
however, the federal government has been slow to pass a budget this year, and we
don’t know when we’ll actually receive the money,” reports Michelle. “We hope it
will be available in the next couple of months, but we still need to move forward. The
charter members have enabled us to do so, and we are very grateful to them for their
early and generous support.”
Ebbetts Pass was honored with the prestigious designation of National Scenic Byway
in Sept. 2005 by the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, joining the elite group of six other designated byways in California and 125
such designated byways in the United States.
EPSBA was formed with a mission to preserve, enhance and promote the byway
for generations to come. Working in collaboration with local groups and agencies, a
spirited 10-member Board of Directors meets monthly to begin implementation of
goals set forth in the approved Corridor Management Plan.
Now a California non-profit tax-exempt Corporation, EPSBA is currently in the process of applying for federal tax-exempt status. Upcoming projects include placing
signage along the corridor identifying Ebbetts Pass as a National Scenic Byway,
creating a self-guided interpretive tour, developing and distributing marketing materials highlighting the scenic beauty of the byway and establishing an EPSBA visitor
center.
EPNSB is a 61-mile stretch of Highways 4 and 89, between Arnold in Calaveras
County and Markleeville in Alpine County. The benefits of a National Scenic Byway
include national exposure and recognition, preservation of the corridor’s scenic and
recreational assets and access to federal and state grants for implementing enhancements on the byway as outlined in the Corridor Management Plan.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the response from our community with the charter
membership campaign,” said Michelle. “These generous individuals and businesses
are giving us a great base from which to move forward to accomplish some of our
key initial projects.”
For information, visit online at www.scenic4.org or call 728-3115.
Mountain Chronicle
School News
VUSD News
Green School Committee Presents School Garden Idea!
December 21, 2006 PAGE 5
Columbia College News
Take a college course this spring
Columbia College’s spring semester runs from Jan. 8 until Apr. 28 and with enrollment fees reduced from $26 to $20 per unit, the time is right. A number of interesting
classes are still available for enrollment.
For instance, if your interests tend toward graphic design, try a course in typography. Listed as ART 56/Sec. 0945 or CMPSC 56/Sec. 0944, this three-unit course will
be taught by local graphic artist Kath Christensen. The class meets on Tuesday and
Thursday evenings from 6:00 to 7:25 p.m. in the Sequoia 8 classroom.
Christensen will introduce students to the techniques of digital typography as part of
the college’s new digital graphic arts and multimedia web design certificate program.
Training for the 17 unit certificate will provide entry level skills in the field of graphic
design. A number of growing industries require digital design professionals, among
them are communications, advertising and marketing firms; the entertainment industry; schools; corporations; manufacturers; distributors; and governmental agencies.
For those who enjoy reading, analyzing and discussing literature, veteran instructor
Ray Liedlich will be teaching a Survey of American Literature (ENG 18/Sec. 1067)
on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:40 to 11:05 a.m. in Redbud 2.
The newly elected Vallecito Unified School District board members
were sworn in at the Michelson campus December 13th.
Murphys- The new VUSD school board voted 5-0 to have Trudy Lackey continue
on as president of the board. One of the most interesting things that happened at the
meeting included a presentation by a subcommittee of FoCuS, the “Green Schools
Committee.”
Josh Bridges led a group of three in presenting to the board the idea of building a
garden on the Michelson campus. He said using the garden as a teaching tool, or a
“life lab” would help studets learn the importance of not only nutritions, but also
the earth’s natural cycles. Bridges said that the garden could also be used as a fundraiser for itself by growing flowers for events like Mother’s Day. Bridges said that
the project would also help kids learn about where their food comes from and the
importance of locally produced foods. In addition the project would make learning
fun and help connect the school to the community.
The group is collaborating with other parents and school officials to help bring
change in the school’s food program, including the choices of food offered in the
school cafeteria. One of the members is a local caterer who is interested in bringing
energy and excitment to the program. Board member Ralph Emerson seemed to
be the most excited about the program. “We do have an area for a garden and we
can get the water there,” Emerson said. He added, “This can only be a good thing
to teach kids the way a garden works.” Bridges, went on to say that there have been
a lot of success stories with programs such as the one he’s suggesting, including
schools that now have healthy vending machines, but mainly Bridges said, “gardens
get kids passionate about the eco-system.”
In other news: The board then divided up the various committees that board members chair, depending upon their interests. Mike Milward picked up the majority of
out going board member, Felice’s Cizmich’s, committees.
The board then heard reports from the principals from the three campuses.
Hazel Fischer:
Boys Basketball has started.
In January Hazel Fischer will start a Chess Club.
Michelson:
A successful crafts making day put on by parents club.
Two alumni are now coaching basketball, Warren and Wyane Whitehead,
Student have raised $1,000 to give to families that are in need.
Jan 3rd 4th graders are going to Sacramento on a field trip.
Jan 9th the skiing program begins.
Avery:
AMS had two successful band performances.
Boys Basketball will scrimmage at Mark Twain (coaches on the court).
Mid-quarter grades have gone out.
The three unit course will study the works of late nineteenth century writers to the
present. The list includes Twain, James, Crane, Frost, Eliot and Faulkner, as well as a
number of contemporary writers.
In addition, noted travel industry professional, Bruce Tepper, CITE, CTC, will be
teaching a class on meetings, incentive travel and event planning (HPMGT 171/Sec.
1010) this spring on Mondays from 6:00 to 9:05 p.m. in Fir 2.
Titled Planning Meetings and Events, the three unit course will introduce students to
the meetings, incentives, conventions and events business and will cover planning,
implementation, design and delivery in all of these areas. Topics will include program
design, costing and pricing events, promotion, community issues and more.
This class is a must if you’re interested in a career in this exciting and growing segment of the travel and tourism industry.
Enrollment for these and other Columbia College classes is available online at www.
gocolumbia.edu, by touch-tone phone at 536-5400, or in person at the admissions and
records office at the Sonora campus and Calaveras Center in Angels Camp.
Ask for a free printed copy of the Columbia College spring 2007 class schedule at
your local county library, or for a complete list of local distribution sites, go online to
gocolumbia.edu/Spring07/DistributionSites.htm. An electronic copy of the schedule
is also available at www.gocolumia.edu.
Community News
Mountain Chronicle
In Memory
December 21, 2006 PAGE 6
Community minded, he worked for organizations such as the AMA Boosters and
helped park cars at Frog Town. I’ll never forget my last conversation with him.
Having only met him a few times over the years, I’d gone into Calamity Joan’s for
a sandwich, and he was finishing his lunch. I was thinking, is that Pete Daniels, as I
was trying to place him, he said, “you gonna run a liberal paper.” I laughed and he
said, “just tell the truth, the town needs it.” In fact he’d had a contentious relationship with Sierra Sentinel Editor, Patty Shires, during his years on the Fire Board.
Another group he’d have coffee with in the morning is the Liars Club at Just Delicious. I asked those gathered there if anyone had a Pete Story they wanted to relate.
One guy asked me, “how much time I had,” and another said, “none of my stories are
fit for print.” Former CHP officer Al Cartwright was there; he was a good friend of
Pete’s for 35 years. He said once when he was working up at Cabbage Patch, Pete
lit off a fire cracker next to him, “I thought about shooting him,” Cartwright said.
“While I was debating it, Pete said, ‘it’s alright kid, you’ll get me back.’”
Pete Daniels
1938- 2006
Dorrington - Pete Daniels died here Wednesday morning of a brain aneurysm. Those
close to him said he seemed in good health though he had diabetes, and he’d had
a hip replacement operation; his death came as a surprise. No more so than to the
group of local folk he’d have morning coffee with at the Dorrington General Store,
promptly at 8am. The group is a cross section of society, and that is essentially who
Pete touched in his life. An Assyrian, and proud of his heritage, he was a staunch
republican and member of the NRA. To a person, all have said Pete was a man of
deep conviction, in fact opinionated about his beliefs, a man with a gruff exterior,
they have said, but an inside soft as a marshmallow.
In his final act, in complete Pete fashion, the night of his death, after his wife Kathy
went to bed and without bothering her, Pete drove himself to the Fire Station in Arnold and got himself an ambulance; he died on the way to the hospital.
Pete is survived by a son, two daughters, his wife Kathy and a number of grandchildren. The community is less one grand character.
Editor’s note: Please accept my apology for the absence of important facts about a
man’s full life; Pete’s death occurred the day before our deadline.
Dear Editor,
At your request, I sat down to write a bit of history about Pete, but that’s not what
came out. It turned out more personal. I would be glad if you published it because I
don’t mind sharing my intimate thoughts about Pete.
Those who knew him said that he had mellowed in his later years. In his younger
days he’d driven equipment for CalTrans, and as such, many Pete stories centered
on his ability to find a place to catch a nap, or altercations with various drivers along
Highway 4. One story that sounded particularly Pete followed a traffic encounter
at Cabbage Patch. At some point in a raucous encounter, the driver of a car had
threateningly pulled out a knife. As the story goes, Pete then pulled out his 45. and
nonchalantly scratched his ear with the barrel. At some point following his CalTrans
career Pete downsized his fire power and switched from carrying a 45. to carrying a
Derringer.
As far as some history, Pete was born and raised in San Francisco just north of the
Golden Gate Park Panhandle. He spent time working in Turlock for an automobile
dismantler. He moved here to the mountain in, I believe circa 1964, and he and his
wife Kathy raised three children.
Pete’s professional career was with CalTrans. He was a demolitions expert and
worked on creating the roadbed for modern Highway 4 over Ebbetts Pass. He volunteered countless hours teaching several generations hunter safety. He taught hunter
safety to logger and wood sculptor, Andy Enzi, and then, 32 two years later he taught
hunter safty to Andy’s boys.
After retirement Pete found ways to occupy himself, usually on his own schedule,
including a stint as chef at the Lube Room Saloon. For a time he wore a full chef’s
outfit, but the notoriety became too much for him and he gave up the full chef ensemble. Yet as Darla remembers, “people got a bit of a show with their meal.” Known as
a mountain man, friends say he competed in full buckskin attire at the black powder
shooting contests. He was also seen upon occasion wearing a t-shirt that read, “Don’t
trust anyone who lives below 5000 feet.
He maintained a gun and small engine repair shop in his office next to his home. Everyone knew Pete had coffee every morning at 8 a.m. at the Dorrington Gen’l Store,
and each day folks would stop by with their chain saws and power tools that needed
repair to drop them off with Pete. Pete had a generous and open laugh that endeared
everyone to him, even as he tried to be the gruff old man on the mountain.
Warm regards,
Steve Lauterbach
Mountain Chronicle
Community News
FoCuS
UPCOMING EVENTS
December 21, 2006 PAGE 7
Elves Wrapping Up The Season!
We personally invite you to the 2nd Sustainability Stakeholders Forum. The forum
will be held on Saturday, January 27th 2007, from 10 am to 4:00 pm at the Douglas
Flat Community Center (old schoolhouse) on 1358 Main Street, Douglas Flat. In
the spirit of celebration, from 4pm onwards, the dance floor will be open and led
by a dance duo. Reservations required. $5 donation at the door. Dinner $15 ($12
for members).
The Solar Age Workshop Series....FoCuS on NUTRITION & FOOD. An all day
workshop at Querencia Bed & Breakfast, Murphys on Saturday February 3rd,
2007, from 10am to 4:00pm Teaming up together, guest speakers, Steve Lauterbach
MD, Jakob Jaggy MD, and Chef, Nutrition Educator and Cooking Coach, Jeannine
Hebel, to bring you a sensory and educational experience. Luncheon included. Ingredients procured locally. Registration essential. Space is limited. Fee charged.
FoCuS is actively seeking financial sponsorship from individuals, organizations
and businesses for the Solar Age Workshop Series. The Series is designed to increase community awareness and move us in practical ways toward creating sustainable local communities. Workshops will focus on five main tenets of sustainability: Food, Shelter, Agriculture, Energy and Health throughout the calendar year.
All workshops are open to all and sponsorship received will directly go towards
building a scholarship fund that will ensure entry to all. Interested parties should
contact Christine at [email protected].
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & PROGRESS:
Congratulations to Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch on their collaboration with Forest
Ethics and the ongoing battle with SPI on the issue of clear cutting. A full report can
be accessed at www.forestwatchers.org.
Green Schools Committee, a coalition of parents has recently formed to address
nutrition and create a school garden program in our local VUSD school district in
Calaveras County. School Community Garden has sprung up at the Sierra Waldorf
School in Jamestown through the efforts of the FoCuS on Agriculture Seed Pod.
Networking Opportunities: FoCuS would like to know of businesses and organizations that are working towards sustainability in our community. We are in the process of compiling a database and are looking at putting together a directory for our
foothill bioregion that reflects our individual and collective endeavors in this
direction.
New Christy Minstrels
At Bret Harte January 6
The New Christy Minstrels, under the direction of Calaveras County resident Randy Sparks, will be performing two concerts in Angels Camp on Saturday, January
6, one at 3:00 pm and another a few hours later at 7:00 pm.
The performances kick off the “Ovations” performing arts series of the Calaveras
Arts Council, which aims to bring a wide variety of quality musicians and dancers
to the Mother Lode region this winter. The 350-seat, state-of-the-art, Bret Harte
Performing Arts Theatre on Highway 49 in Angels Camp will be the site of this
“Minstrels” concert and the four other performances of this season’s “Ovations.”
It has been more than 40 years since the group comprised of eight young men and
two women made their national TV debut on the Andy Williams Show in 1962.
That group, The New Christy Minstrels were so well received, they would go on to
win a Grammy for their very first album.
Randy Sparks, who has lived on a few-hundred acre ranch in Calaveras County
since moving there in 1970 from his 19-room house in Bel Air, was the brainchild
of the original New Christy Minstrels. Contributions of songs and lyrics from members of the group were occasionally accepted, but most were Randy’s material. In
the summer of 1963 their first song to reach the top forty was “Green, Green.” The
lead vocal and co-writer was Barry McGuire whose booming voice gave the song a
distinct sound. McGuire, who now lives in New Zealand, will be one of performers
in the January 6 concerts as will be Randy Sparks.
In January of 1964, the Minstrels performed for Lyndon Johnson at the White
House, in response to an invitation that had been extended by John F. Kennedy, a
fan of the group. From 1962 to 1965, they issued nine albums. Titles of some of
the most popular songs are “Saturday Night,” “Today,” and their Grammy-winning version of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” Then for two decades
a variety of changes occurred. Randy formed a couple of other groups, the Back
Porch Majority and the New Society and continued writing songs, but he’s always
maintained an interest in the charms of great group harmony.
The New Christy Minstrels were re-launched about two years ago, when they started performing throughout the West to audiences made up of adoring former fans
and those who simply enjoy the enduring, refreshing pop-folk style. On March
23, 2006, the California State Legislature honored the group with resolutions in
both the Senate and Assembly. Randy Sparks was recognized for his 50 years in
the recording industry, and the group recognized for its 45-year contribution to the
music industry.
All tickets are for assigned seating, whether at the 3:00 or 7:00 pm shows. Adults
are $25; youth to 17 years old are $10. There are discounts for groups of 12 or
more. Tickets will be available at the theatre’s box office starting a half hour before
curtain. The Theatre is located on the campus of Bret Harte High School at 323
Highway 49. Free parking is available. Besides on-line advance purchasing, you
many phone toll-free to High Sierra Tickets: 1-866-463-8659. For more information, phone the non-profit Calaveras Arts Council at (209)754-1774.
The elves displaying a few of the toys they make throughout the year.
The Arnold Elves are a group of elves who make more than 250 hand-made wooden
toys for Santa’s Express to give to the children of Calaveras at Christmas time. The
Elves were originally started by Bob Manning who gained the title, “The Toy Master.” Bob has since moved to Spokane Washington, but he left his legacy to his ten
associate elves: Rahn Becker, Jim Boldt, Mike Brown, Bill Cleveland, Norm Haseltine, Mike Heffernan, Gerald McCall, Dez Ooghe, Fred Sorderer and Dick Watson.
The Elves make a variety of toys including: Dump trucks, tractors with trailers,
bulldozers, car carriers, small trains, block trains, CD carriers, rocking horses,
toddler rockers, spindle cradles, jumping frogs, dinosaurs, and a hanging mitt that
comes with a ball and a bat.
Some of the toys are augmented with hand painted designs, painted on by women
close to the elves. The painting is really as amazing as some of the toys. And all of
the toys fall into that rare category of toy that you hope you’ll always have to hand
down to the generations that follow; Primal Toys.
The toys are made by the elves in four various workshops scattered around Arnold,
four in all, each shop specializing in a few of the toys. A good percentage of the
material is donated to the elves from the scrap piles of various woodworkers including Ron Glass of The Lumber Mill.
Visit the Cyber home of :
The Mountain Chronicle
Ebbetts Pass Community News
Thepinetree.net
Mountain Chronicle
“The Zone”
The Rhetorical Man
December 21, 2006 PAGE 8
The Local Moment
By Tim Mehren
By Jim Stearns
It’s time to make New Year’s resolutions so we can set about breaking them
sometime in January. I wonder how many people will list losing weight or
getting into better shape in 2007. Tons of them, probably, but not yours truly.
Sorry, but I can’t think of a single reason to participate in an exercise regime,
firmly adhering to the philosophy of “No Pain…Good!” And I won’t resolve to
reduce my alcohol consumption either. After all, wine is made from fruit and
everyone knows fruit is good for you. Brandy is distilled wine, which means
they take the water out so you get more fruit. And beer is made from grain,
which is good for you too. So, bottoms up in 2007!
In this time of the season the focus is often on gifts. Though many are uncomfortable with the way Christmas is now played out, it is difficult to extract oneself from
the cultural paradigm and try to create something different. Maybe, in the middle of
the mind numbing commercialization and materialism that has sapped the very essence out of the spirit of Christmas some might try to pay some attention to the more
abstract gifts.
Two of Arnold’s most unheralded community-minded residents, Bob and Carole Fox, have been hung up in Portland, where they were celebrating their
wedding anniversary. Carole’s actually been laid up, with a broken ankle. Bob,
meanwhile, was recovering from a leg infection, but that didn’t stop him from
making a quick trip back this month, and serving as Santa Claus at a number of
tree-lighting ceremonies. The Foxes plan to return home in January if Carole’s
recovery remains on schedule.
Out-of-wedlock births were at an all-time high in 2005, accounting for nearly
40 per cent of all babies born during the year. Now that’s disturbing news on
the surface, but when you think about it, there’s some encouragement there, too.
If out-of-wedlock births were up, it follows that marriages were down, at least
in part of the population. Since something like half of all marriages eventually
end in divorce, we may soon see a decline in that statistic, too. And if we don’t
have as many divorces, we won’t need as many lawyers. And if we have fewer
lawyers we may one day have fewer politicians. There’s always a silver lining.
Now, to polish off some old business: Last time, we wondered how many pies
and rolls Calamity Jane’s Bakery in Arnold would produce for the Thanksgiving holiday. Wonder no more: The crew turned out more than 200 pies – about a
third of them pumpkin, of course – and more than 1800 of their artisan-quality
dinner rolls. Both totals slightly surpassed their 2005 production. So what are
Pat, Anne and company doing for the upcoming holiday? Well, they’re turning off the oven, locking the doors and taking a break as of December 22, but
they’ll be back at it in January.
O.J. Simpson crawled out of wherever he was hiding in November with his
on-again, off-again hypothetical epic, “If I Did It.” The book never made it to
the shelves, but it is responsible for a number of similar tell-nothing tomes in
the works. One is reportedly by Bill Clinton, called “If I Did Have Sex With
That Woman, Hillary’s Too Busy Running For President To Care.” Not to be
outdone, by George W. who is said to be at work on “If I Did Put My Foot In It
In Iraq, It’s Really Dick Cheney’s Fault, Because I Do Whatever He Tells Me
To.” And, word is that a group of poker afficiondos in Murphys are working on
a book called “If We Did Play Poker Once In A While, Don’t The Cops Have
Anything Else To Worry About?”
We always hear that the best things in life are free and somewhere deep within we
know that is true. The love and closeness of family and friends, even if it is our own
personal dysfunctional manner, is a gift without a price tag. The warmth, comfort
and safety of our home and the love of our own raucous and self centered children
can never be replaced by anything material. The commercials on the radio, internet
and television might offer quick fixes for all that ails you but ultimately any purchase
made with that intent becomes but a brief band-aid for a much deeper wound.
Other moments bring us back to that quiet recognition that indeed the best things are
free. The birds singing at dawn, a breathtaking sunset from a high country rock, a
stroll along a river or just a walk in the park. And while the music, movies and drama
cost a little money to experience, it is those elusive and unpredictable moments of
rapture, awareness, emotion and mind expansion within that framework that give us
richness, depth and scope.
Another level of gift that can be as elusive but significant are the gifts that come from
“left field.” Perhaps a comment made by a stranger, friend or relative that motivated
us or changed us in some way. Going through a rough period in life and finding out
who truly stands behind you with unconditional love and support and who you can
simply call “fair weather friends.” This thinning of the herd, for lack of a better term,
is one of the benefits of adversity. An unreasonable boss fires you and you go on to
find a job that you deeply love. Someone gets in an accident, has an illness or goes
to jail and miraculously their life is changed for the better. Indeed, gifts can come in
strange packages.
One of the oddest gifts I ever received was from a rattlesnake. I was living in a remote wilderness area and was going to build a small cabin. It was the late seventies
and I was part of the ‘back to the land’ movement. I went barefoot much of the time
and had a disdain for power tools and modern machinery. The very first day I was
getting set to place some pier blocks near a mound of rocks when I spotted a large
rattlesnake coiled up right where I was going to begin. I sat down and started to ponder my choices. Though I wasn’t particularly comfortable with it, my first thought
was to kill it. It was right there where I was trying to work and likely lived nearby,
which meant I would probably have to deal with it again. What if it was on the path
when I was walking at night? What if it got in the cabin? What if it was under some
wood pile when I was working? Killing it seemed reasonable to me, but I continued
to ponder the possibilities as the snake and I looked at each other from twenty feet.
My next thought was the possibility of moving the cabin site but I had my heart set
on the beautiful southern exposure with a large deciduous oak on the east side and
a view to the west. Finally I decided that if I saw the snake again while building I
would kill it. In the meantime, I would take the day off from the project and come
back the next day.
Though it took me several months to finish the cabin and I lived in it for almost ten
years I never again saw that rattlesnake, but it gave me a gift I have never forgotten.
Not a single move was made impulsively, not a foot or a hand placed without carefully examining where it was going. Without a doubt that snake helped me establish
a focus and concentration that I continue to carry with me today when I undertake a
project. However absurd it may seem, never in my subsequent years have I had an
accident of any consequence nor made any serious blunder and much of the credit for
that must go to the rattlesnake.
As we move into the days of brightly wrapped packages, glitzy lights and piles of
food and sweets I try to remember the gifts that really matter. Those I love, the places
of beauty, the subtle gifts of life and those crazy things that come out of the blue
when I am open to them, like the one from my friend the rattlesnake.
Mountain Chronicle
“The Zone”
The Astro-Logger
“We do our logging in the stars…”
By AEons Astrology (Ted Denmark)
contact: [email protected]
Dowd’s Hill The Winter Solstice, of course, is the time of the shortest day and
longest night or the time when the days start to lengthen once again, hence a good
candidate for the beginning of the New Year.
Jupiter transited into its own sign Sagittarius on Thanksgiving day this year, giving it
an enhanced feeling of holiday ease. Jupiter returns to its Sagittarius ingress every 12
years and stays for about a year, ushering in a time of truth-telling, being the bountiful sign of open and honest sharing of feelings, information and wealth (the origin
of the gifting ritual).
The Sun/Pluto conjunction on the 18th with the Moon conjunct Jupiter and Mars,
will probably mark the major year-end political snafu of the current Washington
government being forced to turn towards a more honest accounting of its intentions
and various failed activities. One of the major things happening in the USA chart is
that Mars is turning retrograde which correlates well with an American fighting force
that has been stalemated along with the similarly linked American manufacturing
enterprise, particularly cars and trucks, that has been offshored or competitively stymied. It is all a very dicey situation, but one that naturally falls into the background
at this time of year as we hopefully wish for the best in our own characteristically
optimistic Sagittarian way (The USA chart has Sagittarius rising). It is nonetheless
this season’s prayer.
The New Moon in Sagittarius, just a day before the Sun moves to Capricorn the day
of the Winter Solstice gives a kind of emptiness conducive to quiet reflection and
mindfulness upon the state of the world and ourselves up to the present moment, and
how to bridge between our hopeful expectations and the more realistic planning for
the bottom-line scramble. Mars squares Uranus just a few minutes before the Solstice moment at 4:23 that Thursday afternoon (“Thor’s day” the Scandinavian name
for Jupiter) as well which adds an element of risk or danger to travel or temperament.
The Moon is in Capricorn and conjunct Venus so the time begins and ends with
Santa Claus’ (there’s a Jupiterian image for you!) mixed bag of goodies, distributed
between the rulers of the two Solstice cusp signs, Sagittarius and Capricorn: easy
abundance and hard won efforts. For my part I like to give ripe persimmons from
my “Christmas trees” where they are revealed like ornaments after the windstorms
of late Fall blow off the leaves. When the leaves of this hardy tree turn color a little
earlier, they are also among the most beautiful, yielding fruit that make perfect little
gifts showing the symbolic color of joy and a distinctive flavor and sweetness the
equal of a mango.
Christmas eve and day comes with the Moon in Pisces (sensitive and sentimental)
occulting Uranus (lots of electronics and more unusual gifts?) and Mercury conjunct
Pluto in late Sag (thoughts about how to integrate the fractured state of our understanding of what we thought we knew), trailing off into an ordinary low-key week
which for many will be welcome.
2006 is nearly over and we will be hearing much about the flicks, flaps, flips and
flops of this year’s run around the calendar and Zodiac. We now know a great deal
more about the nature of the elephant in the room than we did at year’s beginning,
and this is a good thing. Next year will probably reveal if that elephant is capable of
doing the required heavy lifting or whether it is a rogue that has merely run wildly
through our crops causing widespread damage that we did not want to notice. The
danger is that the big tusker Wronghorn will be turned into the sacrificial scapegoat,
and the commotion of disposal will obscure what has really happened thus far in the
Orwellian world of Century 21 America.
But for now we wish you a very happy Christmas with as much health and prosperity
as you desire or deserve and as much insight into the nature of the world you have
claimed and created for yourself that an aptly balanced attitude can yield. More and
more the notion of a rich but balanced life seems the worthy, even Shakespearean,
ideal for all our best wishes for ourselves and others we touch during this glowing season of the spirit that witnesses the rekindling of the light of the world.
December 21, 2006 PAGE 9
The Galley Slave
A Holiday Tradition
…this galley slave didn’t just eat, she shopped… ‘tis the season…
By Kristy Moore
Visiting Murphys over the holidays has become a tradition over the years for
me and my family, though because I live here now, I tend to forget what is at
my doorstep. The tradition then is carried forth by my sister, who travels here
from neighboring Tuolumne County.
She enjoys perusing the various shops full of unique items never found at the
traditional department stores to fulfill her Christmas shopping list. This year,
like every other, we started the traditional shopping day with breakfast…and
this year, like every other, we ate breakfast at her favorite eatery, Grounds.
Grounds is a mainstay for area locals as well as frequent visitors. Their unique
menu satisfies every palette, from the traditional, to the California style, with a
few southwestern dishes. Grounds even lends itself well to the meat and potato
folk who rave about their USDA Prime New York steak dinner. Specialty coffees and pastries are also available for those sitting for breakfast or on the go.
Lunch and dinner menus feature regional and out-of-area wines, but of course,
we are in “wine country” so I suppose that is a given.
As tradition goes, we didn’t vary from our traditional breakfast either. A half
order of French toast. The French toast is great, two large, interestingly sliced,
superb quality pieces of sourdough bread with a side of thick-cut bacon, cooked
to perfection. The French toast is offered with real butter, the traditional maple
syrup or with one of Ground’s specialties, marionberry syrup. I don’t know
what a marionberry is or where it grows, or what it looks like but there is no
question that it is one of Ground’s unique offerings and I order it every time.
Top it off with one of their specialty coffees, and we are good to go.
We head out to Main Street, ready to fulfill my sister’s gift list and begin. We
find a unique variety of clothing, Christmas décor’, household items and many
new tasting rooms from the various wineries. One of the winery tasting rooms
was gated with a sign that read, “sold out,” and I contemplated what that meant
for a small winery. Did they exceed their expectations and are now swimming
in cash, or were they just getting started and sold out of everything they were
able to produce for the year?
My sister made her purchases at the various shops and at some point we found
ourselves in the Twisted Oak Winery tasting room and the sense of humor of
whoever was behind this winery instantly gained two new fans. They’ve got
the best motto on their shirts, “get twisted.” We quickly purchased a few for
people on her shopping list and she vowed to come back and purchase her own
after the Christmas season was over. Their other “motto” is the rubber chicken.
I can’t go into the particulars here, all I can say is that if you want some twisted
humor interjected into your holiday experience, visit Twisted Oak Winery, get
twisted, and of course, don’t leave Murphys without experiencing an excellent
breakfast, lunch or dinner at Grounds.
Mountain Chronicle
Trial Coverage
Mann Trial
Continued From Page 3
Opening Statements
The opening statements began on Friday morning. The prosecution started by laying
out the events that led to the accident. McConnell said that throughout the school
day the group of boys had made plans to celebrate Ernest’s 16th birthday. When they
got out of school, they enlisted an older person to buy them a thirty-pack of Budweiser from Big Trees Market. McConnell said they took the beer to the gazebo between Kline’s and Snow Shoe Brewing Company and proceeded to smoke some pot
and drink the beer. McConnell said that in less than 45 minutes the boys slammed
the 30 beers. The defendant then called his father to have him come pick him up, and
according to McConnell, the two drove home, and then the defendant’s father turned
his car keys over to Anthony Mann. Mann then returned to the gazebo.
At this point the prosecutor paused and said that the weakness of the case rests on
the fact that the eye witness’s testimony is unreliable. And he asked the jury to carefully evaluate the witnesses and their motivations. He said that in fact one of the
boys, Nick Tuana, had been in a coma for a month following the accident. And that
all of the boys had been drinking and smoking pot, and that he was not sure what
they would say on the witness stand, but that he had had the accident analyzed by a
Multi-Discipline Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) and that after all of the physical evidence had been analyzed, the prosecution was sure that Mann had been the
driver of the vehicle. He also implied that more weight should be given to reliable
expert testimony than the faulty memories of the occupants of the car or other eyewitnesses.
The prosecutor then continued with the narrative of events. He said that after the
boys finished drinking the beer they drove to White Pines Lake. During this process
the boys were alternating the driving of the car. At the lake they decided to drive
to the Sierra Trading Post (STP) gas station in Arnold and there they managed to
somehow obtain a bottle of hard alcohol, (100 proof, Hot Damn Liquor). McConnell
said that Nick Tuana, whose brain injury created some memory loss, does remember
that at that time Linebaugh was driving the car, but that he was driving so erratically
that it had infuriated Mann, and that Mann took back the keys to the car at the STP.
McConnell also said that at some point one of the boys broke the bottle of liquor,
which he said may also have added to Mann’s rage, and that Mann then drove recklessly back towards White Pines Lake speeding up, then slamming on the brakes
and squealing the tires. The prosecutor said that because the car was traveling at a
rate of 53 miles per hour it couldn’t make the turn and subsequently hit a concrete
abutment and crashed down into the creek landing on some boulders; coming to rest
on its side. McConnell finished his opening statements by instructing the jurors to,
“keep their eyes on the ball.” “In this case,” he said, “the ball is the keys to the car.
Who had the keys?”
The Defense
Cyril Ash started his opening statement be saying that the prosecution had an advantage in the case as the accident was over two years ago, and that at least one witness
was gone and they are unable to find her. Ash said, that Mann, had been living in
Arizona with his mother, and when the charges were brought against him he voluntarily returned to face the charges. Ash said that because more than two years had
transpired since the accident the memories of the available witnesses were cloudy. In
addition, the memories of the occupants of the car were impaired, in some instances
by alcohol and drugs ingested before the accident or by injuries sustained in the accident.
December 21, 2006 PAGE 10
Despite the challenges, Ash said the Defense does have an eye-witness who says
that Anthony Linebaugh was the driver of the car at the time of the accident. Ash
said that Linebaugh, who also suffered head injuries in the accident, says he doesn’t
remember who was driving, and Tuana who lay in a coma for a month following the
accident say’s he doesn’t know who was driving. The defense said that they also will
offer expert testimony by the best experts in the field, that prove that Mann was not
the driver of the vehicle at the time of the accident.
The first witness the prosecution called was Rodney Helzer, Helzer said he had
lived in the area for 6 years and had been a working at a computer at a house close
to the scene of the accident when a person in the house said they’d heard a horn. He
said he stepped out side to investigate, and heard a horn stuck and blaring. He and
another occupant of the house, Ethan Rector, walked towards the noise. When asked
by the prosecutor how the light was, he said “It was dusk, you could see, but you
couldn’t see.” Soon they arrived at the scene and Helzer said there were two older
gentlemen with small flashlights standing on the road above the accident. Helzer said
he scrambled down the embankment and peered into the car. Seeing and arm on the
steering wheel he yelled up to the people on the bank to call 911. Then he yelled for
Rector to return to the house and get flashlights. Then he returned his attention to
the car. Helzer testified that he is a certified EMT with a bit of experience. He managed to coax the inhabitants that could move, to crawl from the car. The two boys in
the front seat had to crawl over the front seat to the back and out the back window.
And the boys in the back were not moving. At that point Helzer said one of the
boys climbing out of the car said, “I lost my shoe” and Helzer said he replied, “don’t
worry about the F’n shoe.” Next he tried to get the life signs of the boys in the back.
He realized that one of the boys had no pulse, and that another’s was very weak. At
some point following the accident Helzer was approached by a CHP investigator and
was asked about the accident, at that point he had stated that, “the passenger looked
Asian.” When he was asked when he’d started recognizing the people in the accident, he said he recognized Seven Ferrari after he had been placed on the gurney. He
also stated that the second boy out of the car was Mann. In addition, he testified that
in his initial statement to the CHP Investigator he was relatively sure that it was the
driver who lost his shoe. The defense hammered this point home. Ash’s final question to Helzer was, “who lost the shoe?” Helzer agitatedly replied that he already
said, at the time, “He thought the driver lost the shoe.”
The Second Witness called to the stand by the prosecution was Kathy Scott. Scott
lives near the intersection of 4th and E in White Pines. She testified that her son was
playing outside and heard the screeching of the tires and the horn, then called for her
to come outside. She says she then drove up the street passing two girls along the
way and pulled over at the accident site. When the two girls tried to get closer to the
site she ordered them back to the car, then she looked over the embankment, when
Helter yelled up to her to call 911.
She raced to neighbors and was met at the door by a lady holding a phone in the process of calling 911. She then returned to the accident. When she looked back over the
edge she saw movement in the front of the car and none from the back. She testified
that she saw Anthony Linebaugh exit the car, and she testified that he was coming
from the passenger side of the car. She also testified that she didn’t see Mann exit
the car, but she said she recognized Linebaugh as he was climbing the embankment.
When asked how she’d recognized Linebaugh she said he had grown up around her
kids in the neighborhood, “I gauged the height of my kids against his height as they
were growing,” Scott said. She reiterated under cross examination, that she had only
seen one person exit the car and that person was Linebaugh, and that Linebaugh had
lost a shoe. In addition, she said that as she stood on the bank the defendant climbed
up from the creek bed to the road and when he reached the top he said, “I need to get
out of here, I’m in trouble.” Under cross examination by Ash, Scott admitted that
Mann did not say why he was in trouble.
The third witness was the first CHP officer to respond to the call, Ed Parsons.
The first person Parson’s identified at the scene was Nick Tuana, from his wallet.
And before the end of the evening he was able to identify the body of Steven Ferrari. Yet after two years even a CHP investigator’s memory was challenged; when
asked how he identified Ferrari he couldn’t remember. He noted that there was a lot
of blood on the clothing of all of the car’s occupants, and that both Ernest Mann and
Ferrari had multiple traumatic injuries. He then related the evidence that was gathered at the accident site including: a pot smoking pipe with residue at the bottom, a
tennis shoe, a backpack, a pint of 100-proof “Hot Damn Liquor” (broken), no other
open containers, two airbags, hair from the mirror and an ID card from Mann.
The Judge decided to recess the trial until Wednesday morning at 8:30 am.
The Mountain Chronicle will be in attendance.
Mountain Chronicle
The Mountain Chronicle
Ebbetts Pass Community News
Public Meetings
The Bulletin Board
The Mountain Chronicle
Ebbetts Pass Community News
Christmas Calendar
School Board Meetings
December
Calaveras County Board of Education
Thru Jan 2 - Calaveras Arts Council
Affordable Gifts of Art Show - San
Andreas - 754-1774
Wednesday
20 Folk Dance - 6:30 p.m.
Mountain Yoga - 795-2503
Monday
25 Free Christmas Dinner - Murphys
Native Sons Hall - 736-6177
Wednesday
27 Open Floor Belly Dance
Mountain Yoga - 795-2503
Saturday
30 Calaveras Christmas Bird
Count - Audubon Society
795-5456
Sunday
31 New Year’s Eve in Murphys
Celebration - Black Bart
Playhouse -296-8004
Meetings: Last Monday, 4:30pm
Call for Location: 736-4662
Bret Harte Union High School District
Meeting: First Monday, 7pm
Call for Location: 736-8340
Vallecito Union School District
Meeting: Third Wednesday, 5:30pm
Call for Location: 795-8000
Government Meetings
Calaveras County Board of Supervisors
Meeting: Every Monday, 9am
Government Center
Calaveras County Planning Commission
Meetings: 1st and 3rd Thursday 9am
Government Center
January 2007
CCWD
Friday
5
Bluegrass Jam Copperopolis - 785-3047
Meetings: 2nd and 4th Wednesday, 9am
District Office - San Andreas
Ebbetts Pass Fire District
Meetings: 3rd Monday, 9am
Arnold Fire Station
Community Meetings
White Pines Park Committee
3rd Monday
7 p.m. – Arnold Library
Arnold AARP
3rd Thursday of Every month – 1 p.m.
Angels Murphys Rotary
Thursdays at noon – Ironstone Vineyards
Calaveras Community Band Rehearsals
Mondays – 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Open to Anyone who can play an instrument!
Calaveras Needle Arts Guild
Every Thursday - 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Ewe-Phoric Yarns - Arnold
Friends of the Logging Museum
4th Tuesday of the month – 7 p.m.
Moose Lodge
1st & 3rd Tuesday – 7:30 p.m.
Independence Hall Quilters
Mondays – 9 a.m. 728-8647
Arnold Lions
1st & 3rd Wednesday
Snow Flake Lodge
Saturday
6
Free Winter Trails Day - Bear
Valley Cross Country - 753-2834
6
New Christy Minstrels
Bret Harte High School
Theater
6
Bald Eagle Tours - Pardee
and Camanche - 772-8204
Saturday
7
Wine Tasting- Copperopolis
Armory- 4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Proceeds to benefit
Maintenance and restoration
Of historic Copperopolis
Buildings -785-4081
House for Rent: Meadowmont: beautiful
view, on huge lot, southern exposure, 2br,
1 bath, wood burning stove, covered parking. Has laundry room.
$800 plus $800 security deposit.
Available immediately. 736-2026
House for Rent: Angels Camp: beautiful
old stone house on acre overlooking town.
3 br, 1/12 bath plus office and formal dining room. Huge storage garage included.
$1400 plus 1500 security deposit.
Available Jan. 10. 795-4920.
December 21, 2006 PAGE 11