July 22, 2009 10:21 am
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The summer of 1969 was the last summer I lived at home in Lomita with my parents. I had just completed my freshman year of college and spent that summer working and taking a class at Long Beach State. I had left my heart (and my soul) in San Francisco and couldn’t wait to get back. Come August I would move back into the same dorm with the same roommate and continue my college life.
In the fall of 1968 I arrived at the University of San Francisco with my mother and checked into Hayes-Healy Hall. My curiosity about my first college roommate had kept me awake nights, and I couldn’t wait to meet her. It didn’t take long to notice that all the other freshmen girls on my floor were paired up. When I asked where my roommate was, I was told my roommate was a sophomore. It was a cruel twist of fate to have to spend the first three days and nights of college without a roommate. There was no one to walk to dinner with, no one to go to orientation meetings with, no one in the room to talk to about the anxieties of those first days of college life.
When Claire finally showed up, it was with flair. At first I thought she was a princess with servants. A beautiful woman holding an armful of semi-formal gowns followed at her heels and spoke in French. A Japanese man carried everything else in multiple trips up and down the stairs.
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July 21, 2009 07:53 am
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As a matter of principle, I try not to give advice. If people take my advice, they’re likely to consider me responsible for both their successes and their failures.
But now and again advice happens. Right now I’m ambivalent about both the giving and the taking of advice. Last week I advised we all go play, and then I took my own advice.
Initially I visualized peaceful strolls through shaded forests, across little streams, through a visual paradise populated by strange life forms dancing to the music of the spheres.
For those who live intuitively, trying to flow harmoniously through time and space, life is one huge surprise after another. Which is as close as I can get to explaining how I ended up at the Oregon Country Fair.
The OCF is a huge hippie fair, said to be even larger than the Rainbow Family Gathering. I strolled through forests where even the delicate bleeding hearts had been preserved and, in spite of the fact that I kept moving most of the time, I probably saw about 30 percent of the fair and not a single bit of garbage.
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July 17, 2009 08:02 am
From the pages of the Del Norte Triplicate, July 1959.
Board urges no action on the Klamath Dam
At the suggestion of E. Larson Myers of Klamath, the Board of Supervisors Monday wired to an executive meeting of the Fish and Game Commission in San Diego not to take any action on an application by the California-Oregon Power Company to build a dam on the Klamath River until a public hearing has been held somewhere in Northern California.
Myers said his attention had been called to the matter by Charley Bohrmann, chairman of the engineering committee of the Associated Sportsmen of California.
In his letter to Myers, Bohrmann said the sportsmen oppose the dam, which under the plan would be constructed at Iron Gate, unless COPCO is required to provide, operate and maintain fishery relocation facilities below the dam, as is now being done on federal projects.
The Association Sportsmen have also asked the Federal Power Commission not to grant any additional power plant licenses to COPCO in California unless the fishery spawning grounds are protected.
Three Bees sInks
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July 17, 2009 07:59 am
It’s hard to look back at Del Norte High Warrior basketball from the distant past without reading or hearing the name Clyde Stowers.
Clyde was a 1938 Del Norte High graduate. During his undergraduate years he excelled in both basketball and baseball.
By present standards you wouldn’t picture him as the typical basketball standout. He was well under six feet in height, but he was quick and an outstanding shooter. During his junior and senior years he played forward on Warrior teams coached by Ed Frazer.
During those years he was the Warriors top scorer. In one 1938 contest against Hoopa, Clyde put up 37 points. This was during a time when most high scorers only amassed 12 to 14 points.
It was unusual to have a player score as many as 20. As I looked back at box scores from around the league I only found one other time during the season where someone in the league scored as many as 20 points.
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July 15, 2009 12:00 am
Rick’s old fraternity brother and his wife announced they were coming for a visit, so Saturday morning I dusted the guest bedroom we refer to as “The Mexican Room.” It’s where I keep souvenirs from the time I spent in Mexico.
There’s the delicate pitcher, a gift for my mother I found at a market outside Acapulco. The curved handle broke off but Mom painstakingly glued it back. I use the pitcher sparingly now as a vase for my garden flowers when guests occupy the Mexican Room.
Another pitcher, a squatty brown one, is folk art from Puebla with bright red and blue painted flowers. I use it to hold pens and pencils.
I lived outside Puebla in Cholula for four months. Cholula hosted an annual fair at its Great Pyramid that dates back to 2 B.C. I was on a tight budget but I scraped up 4 pesos to purchase a pair of hand-carved wooden candle holders signed “Artesanias de Tizatlaln Tlaxcala.” The artisans lived above Cholula and were known for their intricately carved furniture and chests. They worked year round on their projects and brought them down from the hills to sell at the Great Pyramid festival. I can still see the deep lines on the tanned and weathered face of the Indian man who carved the candle holders that sit on the dresser in my Mexican Room.
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July 14, 2009 08:03 am
Right now is a perfect time to ignore your garden. Yeah, I know. The glossy periodicals and talking heads would have us believe we need to be out there showing that garden who’s boss. Don’t bother — the garden occupants already know, and we’re not even in the running.
If you didn’t get spring plants in by now, it’s too late. One more thing you don’t have to worry about. What you did get started is probably able to take care of itself for a while.
It’s a few weeks early to start fall crops, but if you feel the need to do something about it, order fall plants, seeds and bulbs. If you’ve chosen water-thrifty plants, or have well-mulched soaker hoses, most of what’s growing will be happy.
Unless you’re watering it the grass isn’t growing fast, so mowing isn’t an issue. You don’t want to prune blossoms off anything yet. Some are still being enjoyed by wasps, butterflies, bumblebees and hummingbirds. Others will be setting and maturing seed.
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July 10, 2009 07:50 am
From the pages of the Del Norte Triplicate, July 1949.
They ran the Klamath— but ‘once is enough’
The Klamath River is tough, merciless. No one knows better than Oscar Taylor and Merton “Slim” Coates, the two Klamath men who recently made history by being the first to run the swift, treacherous waters from Yreka to Klamath.
Boulders as big as cottages, falls with 15–20-foot drops, they lost count of the number. But they never lost an oar and sheared but two propeller shaft pins in the entire 176 miles, although the drive line housing cracked and left only two slim water tubes to support and steady the motor, greatly reducing the speed.
The race, in which the only other entrants, Vernon and Loren Myers of Klamath, early lost their boat and were forced out, began near Yreka on July 8 at 5:25 a.m. By 7:30 p.m. that evening, the Myers brothers were out of the race and Coates and Taylor had made 66 miles.
That second day, Taylor said, was the toughest day of all. Telling of the long runs down canyons and over falls, Taylor goes on to say that he was most scared during the run below Happy Camp through the steep-walled canyon.
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July 10, 2009 07:47 am
My fondest memories from my Warrior days are about teammates that I played with, and friendships that were made that have lasted a lifetime.
Not every person that turns out for a sport is blessed with the natural talent that can make them outstanding.
Some turn out for a sport with the idea that they are going to make the best of the talents they have and do everything they can to help the team.
Joe Matoche was one of these. During my junior and senior years playing football for Del Norte, Joe was a backup at quarterback and a 1952 Warrior graduate. We all knew that everyday, Joe was going to be there pushing everyone to be the best they could be.
He became affectionately known by all his teammates as “Twee”.
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July 08, 2009 09:05 am
1928 Warriors 37, Ferndale 0.
This game was played long before my time, but it was played by people that I had the privilege of knowing as great Warrior supporters during my own days as a player at Del Norte.
It was the first game of the 1928 football season for the Warriors and was the fifth season under coach Ed Fraser.
The team was definitely looking to change things. During the previous four seasons the Warriors had not won a single game against Humboldt County teams. Things were about to change. During the 1927 season the Ferndale Wildcats defeated Del Norte 6-0.
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Opinion 
