Memorial to a Leader-

UC Merced’s First Chancellor Served Seven Years

The stone marker with a brass plaque naming the Quad at UC Merced after the institution’s first Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey. Photo: Steve Newvine

Once the summer break comes to an end, a flood of college students will return to the two campuses in Merced.

There’s a new main entrance at Merced College; the result of a construction project that finished just days before the May commencement.

At the University of California at Merced, there’s nothing new for returning students to see upon their return.

But many will pass by a four-by-four-foot rock at the north side of the campus quad.

The plaque embedded in that rock is not new, but the person whose name is printed on the bronze is worth remembering once again.

The plaque honors Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, the first Chancellor of the institution.

She was named to the post in 1999, years before construction began and six years before students started their first classes.

As the first chancellor of UC Merced from 1999 to 2006, Carol Tomlinson-Keasey has been cited as the driving force behind the creation of the university. Photo: UC Merced

My connection to Chancellor Tomlinson-Keasey began at a reception in Fresno, where I lived back in 2004.

She attended a reception for business leaders that UC Merced held at a community room in Grizzlies Stadium.

The purpose of the reception was to introduce the reality of a new institution of higher learning to the Fresno business community.

I found her to be gracious, beaming with pride, and intent on telling the story of the effort to start UC Merced.

It was only after I moved to Merced two years after that first meeting with her that I began to appreciate that effort to locate the university to our community.

In 2006, I made it my first priority to schedule a meeting with Dr. Tomlinson-Keasey once I settled in as CEO of the Greater Merced Chamber of Commerce.

We had a productive visit. I shared my thoughts about the future of our community. She shared her deep appreciation for what the community did to get the campus built.

Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey leads students to the first commencement on the UC Merced campus in 2007. Photo: UC Merced

Thanks to an exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum celebrating the tenth year of the campus in the early twenty-teens, details of that effort to create UC Merced came into focus for me.

The exhibit shared icons from the groundbreaking, campus artifacts, and lots of pictures showing community members rallying for support to have the school built here.

We still have a number of individuals in the community right now who were either part of that initiative, or who remember just how far-reaching it was at the time.

In 2022, committee member Roger Wood shared his reflections of that time during an interview on the weekly public affairs radio program Community Conversations.

“There was a real sense of coming together for a common purpose,” I recall Roger telling me on that program. "I was proud to be part of it.”

The plaque imbedded in stone naming this part of the UC Merced campus the Carol Tomlinson-Keasey Quad. The plaque reads: In honor of UC Merced’s founding chancellor for her visionary leadership and tireless determination to launch the 10th campus of the University of California. Photo: Steve Newvine

The Merced Community, especially those who were part of the committee that helped get the Board of Regents to approve locating the campus here, remembers the work of the founding Chancellor.

But others, who knew her from her days teaching psychology at UC Davis also held her in high regard.

In the tribute section of her obituary, Tomlinson-Keasey was recalled as a teacher many would want to emulate.

One student expressed respect for her teaching style and was grateful for being one of her students.

Carol Tomlinson Keasey saw the effort to start UC Merced right through the first year of classes.

Those later years were tough as she battled cancer. She would soon announce her retirement and fought her disease for another three years. She died from complications related to cancer in 2009.

I recall the first commencement at UC Merced in 2006. While the campus had only been open one year, a handful of students who completed their coursework would be receiving diplomas that day.

I attended because I was invited and because I knew that many years from that day I could tell my grandchildren that I was there for the very first commencement at the campus.

The ceremony was held in a small auditorium on campus, but the sense of pride could have filled the entire Central Valley.

The students were smiling in their caps and gowns. The faculty, administration, and other staff were gleaming with satisfaction.

Dr. Tomlinson-Keasey had the biggest smile, the most touching speech, and a sense of grace. Her work was done.

The Carol Tomlinson Keasey Quad at UC Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

So now, with a group of returning students as well as incoming freshmen and transfers, another year of hope and promise awaits at UC Merced and other colleges and universities.

Hopefully, some of those students will take some time on one of those busy class days to read the words on that plaque on the north side of the quad named after the founding Chancellor.

“Visionary leadership and tireless determination “ are some of the words appearing in the tarnishing bronze.

Those are two phrases help define success in life.

Both phrases defined Carol Tomlinson-Keasey Both phrases are words to live by.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His California books are available at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Courthouse or online at Lulu.com

A Painting Passion for Merced-

Local Artist Completes Underpass Mural at Highway 99

Martin Figueroa with his pallet and brush working on the Canal Street underpass mural in Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

At his regular job, Martin Figueroa is a supervisor for an industrial insulation company.

But in his free time, he is an artist. His paintings have adorned public areas of local businesses.

But recently, his painting canvass was a concrete wall beneath highway 99 along Canal Street in Merced.

The mural Martin created can be found at the Canal Street underpass of highway 99 in Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

Martin earned the opportunity to paint a mural on that wall. He’s one of eight artists awarded grant dollars to create murals on underpass walls up and down the highway 99 corridor in the section that passes through the City of Merced.

“Caltrans and the City of Merced asked for proposals,” Martin said. “I gave them five, and they picked one.”

Artists were sought to engage with ideas for public art along the underpass walls.

Martin presented a portfolio of his work, a biography, and his ideas on what he could do for the space.

“It was my first large scale mural done just by myself,” he said of this early summer project.

Martin is applying what would be one of the final touches to his mural project; the final strokes in honor of his children. Photo: Steve Newvine

Martin says a friend encouraged him to submit a proposal when the solicitation was announced in May.

There were no parameters as to what he could propose, although the City of Merced and Caltrans had the final say before awarding the project to him.

This box full of spray paint cans is used by Martin as he creates his mural beneath the highway 99 overpass at Canal Street. Photo: Steve Newvine

His tools include several canisters of colorful spray paint, and some regular paint that comes in a can.

When I caught up with him near the end of his project, he was applying black paint to the figures of three individuals who appear at the bottom right of the mural.

“These are my kids,” he said proudly. “I’m really doing this for them.”

Martin enjoyed working on this new piece of public art in the City of Merced. He grew up in the City, rode bikes all over the many neighborhoods, and skated at the local parks.

Applying paint with brush. Martin hopes this project will lead to more opportunities to work as an artist. Photo: Steve Newvine

He says he was not bothered by the many cars, walkers, and bicyclists who passed by him while he was working on the project.

The noise above from the 99 highway did not seem to bother him at all either.

“No worries,” he shrugged when he was reminded of the hundreds of motor vehicles speeding along above him while he worked.

His only mild concern is how long his original artwork will last before graffiti rears a destructive force.

“I hope it doesn’t happen,” he says. “But I’m sure it will.”

Martin’s mural is called “Chase Your Dreams”, and depicts a galaxy of stars in the deep recesses of space. Photo: Steve Newvine

His three kids, ages ten, nine, and six along with his wife are supportive of his art. They encourage him to keep pursuing his passion.

So far, only his youngest has expressed interest in art.

Martin hopes that the youngster’s interest will grow over the years.
Helping young people to pursue their passion is why he is dedicated to this particular project.

“I hope all of these murals inspire the youth and others around town,” he said. He titled his mural “Chase Your Dreams” and from the story behind what it took to get him to this showcase art project, the title seems to fit the artist.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced

Two of his books: California Back Roads and Can Do Californians are available for purchase at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop or at Lulu.com

Cooling Off on the Coast-

Within a few hours, you can be at the ocean

An art instructor assists student artists in painting the Pacific coastline at Pacifica south of San Francisco. Photo: Steve Newvine

It’s been a selling point for the Central Valley for years: live here and you’re only a couple of hours from the ocean.

There’s more than eight-hundred miles of Pacific Ocean coastline in California. I’m been fortunate to have spent time at five locations along this span.

My first view of the Pacific was from a car crossing the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. I had only been in the state a few weeks when a friend decided to take me on a poor man’s tour of the state.

That day included lunch at a Sausalito restaurant, a drive to a residential neighborhood where we thought exteriors from the Robin Williams movie Mrs. Doubtfire were filmed, and a drive-by past the Transamerica building.

All of it was exciting, although too brief to appreciate the beauty of the ocean and the thrilling prospects of the city by the Bay. In subsequent visits for work and pleasure, I had the opportunity to visit Alcatraz, see Major League Baseball games for both the Giants and the A’s, go on a scavenger hunt at the Oakland Zoo, and stay at the Fairmount Hotel where Tony Bennett first sang his signature song I Left My Heart in San Francisco.

The Bay Area of California opened up so many opportunities for me in the thirteen years I worked for a company whose home base was in San Francisco. For most of that period of time, work required me to travel there at least once a month.

A daughter lived in the Bay Area throughout those years, and she still does.

What I enjoyed most about those trips to San Francisco were the occasional lunches she and I would have in a little pocket park just off Market Street. Both of us were on tight schedules, so the time was precious and we made the most of it.

The Pacific Ocean is part of the view from one of the holes at Pacific Grove Golf Course. Photo: Steve Newvine

About an hour south of San Francisco, the Monterey area brings back a lot of fond memories on a number of levels.

The public beaches speak for themselves with the din of ocean waves washing up on shore.

There is something ephemeral about the nightly sunsets as I take in the limited time I have before the sun disappears from view.

Nearby in the pier region of Monterey, Cannery Row captures some of the imagery from John Steinbeck’s novels. I lost myself for what must have been the better part of an afternoon browsing in an antique store in Cannery Row. Surely other visitors to this or other stores in that neighborhood have done the same.

The Monterey Peninsula may be best-known for the Seventeen Mile Drive, the roadway that circles this patch of California.

Pebble Beach tops the list of world-renown courses on the Peninsula. While I have been on the grounds of Pebble Beach, I haven’t had the pleasure of playing a round on this iconic course. However, I have played the one course many of the locals play.

Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links is unique for a number of reasons. The front nine holes are in a residential section of the City of Pacific Grove.

The back nine holes are along the coastline of the ocean. The front nine plays very much like a public course with the added benefit of deer near many of the greens.

You’ll see deer on the back nine as well, but the ocean view is the attraction here.

Throughout the back nine, here are areas of plant life that are marked with signs asking that golfers not tread into the vegetation due to the protective status.

A lost golf ball in these areas remains lost. The price is also a distinction. Green fees at Pebble Beach top over six-hundred dollars before cart and caddie fees. Green fees at Pacific Grove run in the fifty-dollar range with some breaks for twilight and junior players.

Pacific Grove is the poor man’s Pebble Beach. While not speaking for all golfers, my view of golf courses centers on how I feel about being on the landscape.

The views are important, but the people I meet, their stories from their experiences, the unique weather features such as ocean breezes or even an unexpected rain shower, are among the characteristics of a California coast golf outing.

That’s me taking a run on the Pismo shoreline years before I became serious about running. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

About an hour north of Los Angeles, Pismo Beach is churning out California Dreamin’ memories.

The beach town holds a distinction of being the second venue where I experienced the Pacific Ocean. My wife and I were in the area returning from a trip to Solvang in the Santa Ynez Valley.

We got off the highway 101 freeway and made our way to highway 1, better known as the Pacific Coast Highway.

As you probably know, the Pacific Coast Highway runs north and south along most of the California coastline. It shares the name with portions of other highways and is known as State Route One.

The logo for the tourism agency for Pismo Beach. Image from ExperiencePismoBeach.com

We were not sure where the beach entrance was, but we saw a cluster of cars at a public park.

We decided to park there, ask around, and see what would happen. We found ourselves in The Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove. Thousands of Monarch Butterflies flock to Pismo State Beach as it is considered a place that’s essential to successful migration.

From late October to February, the butterflies cluster to the Eucalyptus trees throughout the Grove.

We were overwhelmed by the hundreds upon hundreds of Monarchs that seemed to cover every inch of the Eucalyptus trees.

According to the ExperiencePismoBeach.com website, there were an estimated twenty-two thousand Monarchs in the Grove during the Spring 2022 count.

Yes, they actually do something that looks like a count of the number of butterflies.

Tracking the numbers can provide information on how the species is doing from year to year. Grade school students from several districts made their way to the Grove to take in this true marvel of nature. We just happened to stumble onto it.

Thank goodness for serendipity.

We eventually found the beach and enjoyed a great day in the southern California sun. I have been fortunate to have returned to Pismo Beach several times in the nearly two decades I have lived in California.

As breathtaking as the beach view of the ocean can be, the experience of watching hundreds of butterflies flutter among the trees in the Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove is something that I will never forget.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He thanks the members of the Merced Senior Club for supporting him as he competed in the Outrun the Sun 5 K to raise money for Planada flood relief.

Participants were told that over eight-thousand dollars was raised as a result of that event.

He’s working on a new book that will be a sequel to California Back Roads. His California books are available at the Merced Courthouse Museum gift shop and at Lulu.com

You Can Find it at Parker’s-

Hardware store closing after six decades in downtown Merced

Parker’s Hardware on 18th Street in Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

The announcement was plain and simple.

A recent social media post read that after sixty-three years, Parker’s Hardware on 18th Street in Merced was closing. Sixty-three years is a great run for any business.

For a small hardware store in this age of big box home improvement centers, six decades is nothing less than phenomenal.

One customer wrote on Facebook, “I remember going there as a little girl with my dad. He always said if you can't find it anywhere else you can find it at Parkers.”

Another person, not on social media, lamented, “You go to those big stores and you’ll spend way too much time finding what you’re looking for. It can be very frustrating.”

Inside Harry’s Hardware from the TV comedy Home Improvement. Photo: ABC

The small hardware store has been part of Americana for over two centuries. Back in the 1990s, the television comedy Home Improvement added a hardware store to the mix of humorous locations where the characters of Tim and Al could be funny.

While the show played it for laughs, Harry’s was a place where folks could gather, buy all kinds of home supplies, and get some “how-to” advice.

The local hardware store in my hometown was an associate store for the Western Auto chain.

Growing up in upstate New York, I always felt the local hardware store seemed to have it all.

The Western Auto in my hometown had bolts, nails, tools and everything in between. I got my first fishing pole, model car kits, and even home versions of TV game shows from that store.

It was the same place my dad would buy paint and window caulking for the house, or where my mom would get light bulbs and floor wax.

All of it came from the locally owned hardware store in my hometown. As a young father, I took my daughters to a locally owned hardware store. I was interested in the tools. My girls were interested in the penny gumball machine near the front of the store.

Merced Mayor Matt Serratto sees a local retailer with such longevity as Parker’s as a treasure for downtown. “Locally owned businesses are the backbone of a community,” he said.

This big sign inside Parker’s Hardware notes the business has served Merced customers for sixty-three years. Photo: Steve Newvine

Two years ago, the Mayor, County Supervisor, and State Assemblyman, drew attention to family-owned retailers by staging a raffle and hot dog roast at the store. The event was also put on to welcome back to Merced Derek Parker, whose family used to own the business.

At the time, Derek moved back to Merced from Sacramento to accept the post as the City’s Fire Chief.

At that time, the Mayor said of Parker’s, “Few things in this world are cooler than an old-fashioned hometown hardware store.”

Efforts are underway now to find the next retailer who might occupy the space where Parker’s Hardware stayed in business in downtown Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

After the store closes at the end of June, the focus will be on finding a new retailer to take over the space.

That will be a challenge as more retailers locate away from the downtown core.

But regardless of what becomes of soon-to-be former Parker’s Hardware, local customers can take some satisfaction in being part of the incredible six-decade run of this family owned business.

Local retailing has seen a lot of change in sixty-three years. To stay in that game for all those years speaks to the successful mix of giving customers what they need and keeping them coming back time after time.

To paraphrase the woman who remembers accompanying her dad to the store as a little girl, “you could find it at Parker’s.”

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His books Can Do Californians and California Back Roads are available for purchase at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop. His new book, Rocket Reporter, is available at Lulu.com

Preview of Rocket Reporter-

Rocket Reporter- Elvis, Huntsville, & the Space Shuttle Remembered. Now available at ROCKET REPORTER (lulu.com)

New Book Recalls Time Covering Space Shuttle

My new book is called Rocket Reporter- Elvis, Huntsville, and the Space Shuttle Remembered. It is about the two years I worked as a local television news reporter in Huntsville, Alabama.

The reporting assignment included the first three launches of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Huntsville was the home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The northern Alabama city was a company town that centered on the space program.

The book is also about the three visits made to Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.

I’ll share more about that part of the book later this summer. But for now, the focus is on a twenty-four year old newly married man who has taken his wife on a new journey to a seemingly foreign place.

The move from upstate New York to the heart of Dixie might be seen as an extreme culture shock. But for my wife and me, it was a new adventure. Here’s a preview:

April 1981

As the managers for the Shuttle Columbia got ready for lift off from the Kennedy Space Center, our television news department in Huntsville, Alabama was getting ready to cover the historic moment as a local news story.

Our local news department philosophy was that the network (in our case ABC News) was handling all the specifics about the lift off and mission.

As a local network affiliate, we saw our role as explaining to our viewers what contributions were being made by local employees at the Marshall Space Flight Center and any space-related subcontractors.

The press credential issued to me from the Marshall Space Flight Center permitting my crew and me entry to the NASA facility for one of the first three launches of the Shuttle Columbia. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

My job as the space beat reporter was to cover those local aspects of the bigger story. Every night leading up to the launch, I would report on some facet of the local impact of the shuttle on northern Alabama.

I would attend satellite news conferences first with the crew, and as the launch got closer, with the launch director and key members of his team. Satellite news conferences were a relatively new technology back in 1981, but that did not matter to any of us. The manager of the news conference would start the briefing.

After the launch director and members of his team spoke, the conference manager would have an engineer switch the audio to each of the NASA centers including the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Edwards Air Force Base in California, White Sands in New Mexico, and eventually to Huntsville.

We would ask our questions of the launch director or whoever was on the dais, and try to connect the answer to the local impact the space shuttle would have on viewers in our audience.

The weekend prior to the launch, I co-anchored the six PM newscast from the Marshall Space Flight Center.

But we had serious transmission problems getting the signal from Marshall to our receiver on Monte Sano Boulevard.

Most of that live reporting was lost due to those problems, but it turned out to be a good thing for the station.

After the weekend snafu, the station’s engineering department scouted out new locations on the Marshall property and performed signal tests.

They found a better location to originate our live reports for the upcoming launch. Had we not attempted the weekend live report, we might have lost an opportunity to do live reporting on the day of Columbia’s liftoff.

Much like NASA doing a shake-down test of systems prior to a launch, our station did a pre-launch shake-down of our Live Eye capability on the weekend newscast prior to the start of the mission.

The day of the launch (April 12, 1981) achieved exactly what we had hoped it would accomplish. NASA had a successful liftoff, the station delivered stories on the local efforts that helped make the mission a success, and our live signal from the Marshall Space Flight Center was clear.

Everything, to use NASA nomenclature, was nominal.

If there was such a thing as a club for journalists covering the space program, I guess I was now a member.

From Rocket Reporter- Elvis, Huntsville, and the Space Shuttle Remembered, by Steve Newvine. Available now at Lulu.com ROCKET REPORTER (lulu.com) Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He thanks the members of the Merced Senior Club for inviting him to talk about his books and his twice monthly Our Community Story column at one of the group’s meetings recently.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. 

He thanks the members of the Merced Senior Club for inviting him to talk about his books and his twice-monthly Our Community Story column at one of the group’s meetings recently.

Say Cheese in Hilmar-

Company’s Visitor Center Satisfies Area Children

Hilmar Cheese Visitor Center in Hilmar, Merced County. Photo: Steve Newvine

Growing up in dairy country in upstate New York, a grade school class trip to a milk processing plant was always a possibility for me. Some things never change.

Whether it’s 1968 when I was in grade school, or fifty-five years later in Hilmar. On any given school day, it is not uncommon to find a busload of school children taking the tour of Hilmar Cheese in northern Merced County.

Grade schoolers from Ceres Unified take part in a make-believe ice cream making activity at the Hilmar Farms Visitor Center. Photo: Steve Newvine

The company’s visitor center is a hit for school groups who want something close to the home, full of interesting things to see, and that ends with ice cream.

On a breezy morning in early May, grade schoolers from Ceres Unified School District, their teachers, and several parent chaperones took the free tour in Hilmar.

The easiest way to get there is to head west for five miles at the Lander Road exit from highway 99.

“They love it here,” one of the Hilmar Cheese gift shop employees said as a customer acknowledged the large crowd of youngsters.

The view overhead looking down on the Hilmar Cheese Visitor Center Gift Shop and Café. Photo: Steve Newvine

Hilmar Cheese has been part of the northern Merced community since 1984 when eleven dairy farms banded together with an idea scribbled on a napkin at a coffee shop.

The Visitor Center honors that humble beginning with displays showing how the company has grown over the past four decades. The Center welcomes children and others just about any day of the year with the exception of the major holidays.

The tour is free, and ends at the gift shop and café. There’s also an outdoor waterfall with a walking path to give visitors a chance to walk off any extra calories from lunch at the café.

A giant mural on the side of one of the buildings at Hilmar Cheese. (upper) The same mural in a photo taken from behind the waterfalls feature at the Visitor Center. Photos: Steve Newvine

The company says twenty-percent of all the cheese sold in the US comes from Hilmar Cheese.

In many cases, the cheese is sold under a different brand name. Cheese from Hilmar Cheese is sold in over fifty countries.

In most of the tours given by the team at Hilmar Cheese, visitors learn how cheese is made with hands-on exhibits about cows. They can see workers packaging large crates of cheese.

The visitor center includes a timeline that tells the story of how Hilmar Cheese got started back in 1984. Photo: Steve Newvine

On this particular morning in May, the children were involved in a game that simulated the ice cream making process. The youngsters were wide-eyed and anxious about the game.

That might have been the result of a subtle promise by the group leader of real ice cream for everyone at the end of the tour.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His books California Back Roads and Can-Do Californians are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at Lulu.com.

Both are also on sale right now at the Merced Courthouse Museum gift shop.

Steve will be the guest speaker at the Merced Senior Center morning meeting on May 12.

For more information, call the Center at (209) 385-8803 or email at tommysoto31@gmail.com

At that event, Steve will have his new book Rocket Reporter available.

The book is the true story of his two years in Huntsville, Alabama where he covered the first three launches of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Cars, Coffee, and Memories-

Monthly Car Show is a Win for Everyone

A classic car from nearly ninety years ago on display at Cars and Coffee Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

Tom Bustos remembers the day a car show provided a once-in-lifetime experience for a local woman. Back in 2022, a family cleaned up an old Dodge Dart that was exactly like the one their mom had back in her youth.

The family surprised the mom by taking her to the Cars and Conversation Merced show.

“They made sure the car was there before she arrived, Tom recalls. “She had no idea that this car was going to be part of their family that day. It was a joy to watch that reveal unfold.”

This Oldsmobile is one of many classics on display at the monthly Cars and Coffee Merced show held on the first Saturday of each month from March through October at the Merced Mall north parking lot. Photo: Steve Newvine

Personal stories like these keep Tom and his wife Emily putting on the monthly car show in the north parking lot at Merced Mall.

Cars and Coffee Merced started when Emily and Tom thought the time was right for a car show that was free, family friendly, and not too narrow in focus.

“There were a lot of shows, but they were very specific about car types or time periods,” Emily said. “We wanted a venue that was open to everyone, and any kind of car.”

From that basic concept emerged Cars and Coffee Merced. The property manager at Merced Mall offered the north parking area for displays, Merced Car Wash emerged as a partner to hold the events, and Jantz Bakery offered to provide morning coffee.

The couple use social media to let people know about upcoming car shows. Word-of-mouth has also helped spread the word.

On the first Saturday of every month beginning in March, Cars and Coffee Merced welcomes the cars, their owners, and the public for a few hours of nostalgia, reconnection, and car talk.

“We’ve been hosting Cars and Coffee in Merced since 2016,” said Tom Bustos. “We feel really blessed.”

The monthly activity provides all of the good things a car show can create and it helps community organizations along the way. The July event raises money for the Carlos Viera Foundation Race for Autism with a raffle for fireworks.

Other groups that benefit from the showcase of vintage cars include Cub Scout Pack 96 when the annual Pinewood Derby is staged on site alongside the automobile displays.

“That event includes a scavenger hunt where participants find cars with particular histories,” Tom said.

Tom and Emily Bustos along with their classic automobiles: a Maserati Granturismo and a Porsche 911. Photo: Steve Newvine

There are a lot of classic car enthusiasts in the Central Valley of California.

This monthly event provides the family friendly venue where everyone is welcome and any car can be displayed.

The Bustos get into the act with their two cars. One drives a Maserati and the other drives a Porsche. The other added bonus of Cars and Coffee Merced is the creation of new memories connecting people to a special set of wheels in their lives.

One car enthusiast shared a story about selling a classic car at a reduced price to a terminally ill friend so that the friend could enjoy it in what would be his final days.

Others can recall a specific type of car that was exactly like the car a close relative had back decades ago.

Still others just get a kick out of seeing all the cars.

A classic Chevy Corvette brightens the scenery at Cars and Coffee Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

Cars and Coffee Merced is held every first Saturday morning from March through October in the north parking area at Merced Mall.

There is no entry fee for cars and no admission charge to the public. A raffle helps generate enough money to provide some light snacks, pay for the event insurance, and purchase additional prizes.

The purpose is quite simple according to Tom: “The goal is just to bring motor enthusiasts of all kinds together.”

That goal is reached every month during car show season. Memories continue to be made month after month, wheel after wheel.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His books California Back Roads and Can-Do Californians are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at Lulu.com. Both are also on sale right now at the Merced Courthouse Museum gift shop.

Steve will be the guest speaker at the Merced Senior Center morning meeting on May 12.

For more information, call the Center at (209) 385-8803 or email at [tommysoto31@gmail.com][0]

[0]: mailto:tommysoto31@gmail.com

Back in the Buckaroo Saddle Again-

Classic Country Group Reunites After COVID-forced Break

The Buckaroos then with Buck Owens, and now. Photo Buck Owens Private Foundation

Over fifty years ago, Fresno musician Jim Shaw wanted to record his country band Nashville West in a new studio owned by the legendary Buck Owens in Bakersfield.

Little did he know he would meet Buck and be asked to record with him that very day. “Buck was recording and needed a piano player".

He was told there was a piano player in the building: "me.” While Owens did not know Jim, he came out of the studio to meet him and asked whether Jim could play in the session.

That session worked out, and would soon be followed by a few more before Buck asked Jim if he’d like to join the group. “By June of 1970, I was hired as a member of the Buckaroos.”

The Buckaroos with Dean Martin in a photograph from the 1970s. Buck Owens and the Buckaroos appeared on a number of TV variety shows in the seventies including the Ed Sullivan Show, and the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. Photo: Buck Owens Private Foundation

Jim has been part of the Buckaroos ever since. He played in the band during the Hee Haw TV show that Buck co-hosted with Roy Clark.

Jim was there for the road appearances, network variety shows, and in the recording studio.

He never left the group. Band members moved on over the years and were replaced by other musicians.

Jim along with Doyle Curtsinger, who joined shortly before Jim, have both remained with the band for over fifty years.

Jim Shaw in the foreground with two other members of the Buckaroos at the band’s reunion concert in March 2023. Photo: Steve Daniels.

The Central Valley’s country music heritage was on full display on the stage of the Buck Owens Crystal Palace in Bakersfield in late March.

The Buckaroos performed for the first time since COVID restrictions closed the place back in 2020.

While the Palace would reopen once restrictions were lifted, the band went into a sort of holding pattern.

Jim Shaw on the keyboards at the Buckaroos reunion shows at the Crystal Palace in Bakersfield. Photo: Steve Daniels

Buck Owens died in 2005, but the band continued performing at the Crystal Palace.

Jim has played with the Buckaroos along with serving as the managing director for the Buck Owens Private Foundation.

The Foundation runs the entertainment, publishing, and recording arms of the singer’s estate. When he signed on, he joined legendary guitarist Don Rich and bass player Doyle Holly who were stalwarts of the band. Holly left a year later to forge a solo career.

Rich died in a motorcycle accident in 1974.

Others became Buckaroos over the past five decades. So the reunion shows took on a special significance.

Vocalist and Buckaroo Kim McAbee was part of the reunion shows the band did in late March of 2023. Photo: Steve Daniels

Also on stage for the reunion was lead singer Buckaroo Kim McAbee.

On her Facebook page, she said of the reunion, “So much fun with the Buckaroos together again after three years.” Jim Shaw echoed the sentiments of Kim and others by saying the two shows at the Crystal Palace went very well. “Friday night was totally sold out and we had an enthusiastic crowd and a train-wreck-free performance.”

When he met Buck more than five decades ago Jim had no idea how his life would change.

“I moved into running Buck’s recording studio and took on other duties over the years. I’ve been a managing director of the Buck Owens Private Foundation for the past seventeen years.”

Buck Owens would perform at his Crystal Palace right up until his passing in 2005. Photo: Buck Owens Private Foundation

Jim describes recording for Buck as an experience that was at times challenging but also inspiring. “It was interesting,” he says of those years. “Buck was hard driving, a perfectionist. On the other hand, he brought out the best of us.”

The Buckaroos band was considered one of the best instrumental groups in country music. That’s due in part to that hard-driving leadership from Buck Owens and in part to the musical magic that can happen many times within a small band. Each member brings in something unique, and when the conditions are right, the results are almost magical.

The Buckaroos were co-founders of the so-called Bakersfield Sound, a distinctive style of country music that focused on a smaller number of musicians and the liberal use of electric guitars.

Buck Owens and Merle Haggard were the best-known country artists who delivered the Bakersfield Sound.

Behind those two country icons were the backup bands. Haggard had the Strangers. Owens had the Buckaroos.

“Back in our heyday, every major country artist had their own band,” Jim said. “Loretta Lynn had the Coal Miners, and Johnny Cash originally had the Tennessee Two. Now, an artist may have a band, but often the faces change, and rarely are they even named.”

It is different for the Buckaroos. They keep the flame burning. Thanks to reunion shows like the two performed in late March in Bakersfield, the Buckaroos continue to keep the Bakersfield Sound alive.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He has written several Our Community Story columns on the Bakersfield Sound and has featured Bakersfield in two of his books: Can Do Californians and California Back Roads.

Both books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Lulu.com as well as at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.

Where Were You in 1973?-

Courthouse Museum asks the question and stimulates memories from 50 years ago

Merced Mayor Pro Tem Sam Pipes and Mayor Edwin Dewhirst view the plaque commemorating the opening of the M Street Bridge over Bear Creek in August 1973. The plaque remains at the bridge. It cost under three-hundred thousand dollars to build fifty years ago. Photo: Merced Courthouse Museum

If you’re over fifty, reminisce along with me for this column.

If you’re under fifty, read this anyway because your day is coming.

The Merced Courthouse Museum’s latest exhibit focuses on the year 1973.

Using photographs acquired from the Merced Sun Star and other sources, the rooms of the Museum come alive with memories from that particular time fifty years ago.

The photos include the successful completion of the Bear Creek Bridge at M Street, protests over a plan to build the County office building in front of the Courthouse, and other projects from that year. Even how the community dealt with the Arab Oil Embargo gets a photographic representation in the exhibit.

As the year began, gas was thirty-nine cents a gallon. By October, the price would go up and rationing would start thanks to the Embargo.

This ARCO station attendant stands next to a gasoline pump in 1973 Merced. Gas rationing started shortly after the Arab Oil Embargo began. Photo: Merced Courthouse Museum

The exhibit includes icons from 1973 within the display cases. There are vinyl record albums, a fondue set, and a sample of the fashions worn by the hip wannabees of the era.

Plaid pants for the guys and a polka-dot skirt for the ladies.

Among the photos is a series of three shots of the dissembling of the Westgate Plaza sign from downtown Merced.

The Sun Star photos are in glorious black and white.

Display cases show icons from 1973. In the background of this photo is a sampling of fashion choices from that time. Photo: Merced Courthouse Museum

But for many of us, especially those who did not live in Merced County in 1973, the exhibit affords an opportunity to look back on our lives fifty years ago.

I was a sixteen year old who just got a driver permit. Walking out of the Department of Motor Vehicles Department, then housed inside the Lewis County (New York) Courthouse building, my dad said to me, “Now you’ll have to learn how to drive.”

I ran my first red light within minutes as I was leaving the village of Lowville. That was not a great start. But somehow, I got better at obeying the rules of the road.

Steve as a teen. I’m in the top row center of this photo of the South Lewis High School Tennis Club from 1973. Photo: The Talon (South Lewis High School Yearbook)

On weekday mornings in my hometown back in 1973, the sounds of two announcers at radio station WBRV would help me get moving for the day.

George and Ed hosted a popular morning show with segments that served as signals for me to get myself in gear to make it to the school bus stop near my house.

Here was the routine: breakfast by the 7:00 AM news, brush teeth by the 7:20 Swap Shop program, homework papers and school books ready to go by the 7:30 weather report, and out the door to the bus stop by the 7:40 sports program.

The bus arrived shortly before 8:00 and I was on my way to high school.

Steve’s parents. My mom and dad from about fifty years ago. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

In 1973, my family was among the fortunate to have cable TV. Gone were the days of using an antenna to capture two or three stations within range of the stations’ transmitting towers.

In 1973 with cable TV, we now had an amazing ten channels from which to choose.

One of those stations was WPIX in New York City where my brother could watch practically every Yankee game, and where my dad and I could watch reruns of The Honeymooners.

I can proudly say that I knew the dialogue of each episode of the original thirty-nine episodes before I entered college. Ralph and Ed from the Honeymooners were almost as common as the daily drop-in visits from my Grandma and Grandpa Newvine, my great aunt Myrtle, our neighbor Fred, and others who always found the Newvine home warm and welcoming.

Instant coffee with some kind of baked good was always served to our nightly visitors. If there was time, a game of cards would keep us entertained.

Courthouse Plaque. (Left) Local student Darcy Bentley looks at the plaque in front of the Courthouse Museum. A group known as the Merced Lawyer’s Wives conducted the first Courthouse Tour in 1973, (Right) The plaque remains in place with only the weather wearing the finish. Left photo: Merced Courthouse Museum. Right photo: Steve Newvine

While the focus on this exhibit is 1973, it is worth noting that the Merced County Courthouse Museum marks a fortieth anniversary this year. The Museum, established in part thanks to the efforts of the Merced Lawyer’s Wives group, opened in 1983.

1973 was a special year for the community of Merced. It was a time that made an impression on all of us, even if you did not live here then.
It was a pivotal time in our lives.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His California books are available for sale at the Merced Courthouse Museum Gift Shop. His childhood memoir A Bundle of Memories is available at Lulu.com

32,000 Cookies for Sale –

Girl Scouts Ready for Annual Cookie Sales

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Big Car for a Growing Family-

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

Remembering the family Pontiac

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

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

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

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

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

At the time I had no pictures of that automobile.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

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

Planada Gets Help-

Post Flooding Aid Assisting Residents

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

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

Fernando is thankful.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Salvation Army has a Food Distribution truck there.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

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

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

Filling a Sandbag of Hope-

Merced Community Steps Up to Help Flooded Families

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stores were damaged.

Homes are now mucked up with water and mud.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. 

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

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

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

Crop Values Up, Inflation Up

Values on the Rise in the County’s Ag Report

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

--

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

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

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

Kettle Stories-

Salvation Army Seasonal Fundraising Tradition Started in Bay Area

The Salvation Army has set up Red Kettles at a number of area businesses, including this one at the Raley’s store in Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

This time of year, several Merced County retailers open their places of business to the red kettle.

Salvation Army has a core of paid workers, augmented by scores of volunteers, ringing the bell, and raising money for the organization.

It’s interesting to note the tradition of the red kettle and the bell ringing started in the Bay Area some one-hundred, thirty years ago.

The local Salvation Army Captain was saddened to see so many poor families having a hard time during the holiday season. This Captain wanted to give every struggling family a Christmas dinner.

His problem: finding money to pay for everything. After many sleepless nights, this Captain remembered the so-called Simpson’s Pot near a naval docking site. The Pot was for the collection of loose coins anyone passing by might have for the poor.

The Captain copied that idea and placed a pot at the Oakland Ferry Landing on Market Street in San Francisco.

The rest is history.

This year, the Merced County Red Kettle Campaign will provide toys to over six hundred children, and a hearty Christmas dinner for two-hundred, fifty families.

Major Turnie Wright of the Merced chapter of the Salvation Army says the campaign is a highly visible focal point for the organization.

The Major is hoping for a good campaign because 2021 was challenged by the end of COVID restrictions.

“We have seen last year as a hiccup as the pandemic was winding down. But there was and still is today a need to help those in need.” That need is apparent in the local chapter's planning for Red Kettle monies this year.

The Major says two-hundred, fifty families will benefit from the campaign. Over six hundred children will receive toys for Christmas thanks to the generosity of people who drop spare change and bills into the bucket.

In addition, Salvation Army has Angel Trees in a handful of businesses where a shopper can pick an angel from a Christmas tree, and then shop for a particular toy written on that angel.

But the benefits from the annual campaign go well beyond the recipients of the holiday food and toys. There are some touching stories heard by the people who ring the bell at kettle locations throughout Merced County.

One woman with a British accent called the organization the “Sally Army” explaining that the moniker was used back in Great Britain where she lived as a child. “They (Salvation Army) had a great band that I remember hearing every Christmas. It was a wonderful tradition.”

A man shared the story about how he was helped by the Salvation Army many years ago when he had fallen on hard times. “I promised myself then that once I got back on my feet, I would never forget what they did for me.”

My connection with Salvation Army goes way back to the late 1990s when the Avon Rotary Club in upstate New York would ring the bell at an area store. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

Major Wright has some of his own stories about people touched by the Red Kettle Campaign.

He worked the location at the Atwater Save Mart where he would sing instead of ring a bell. A woman walked by and told him she’d be right back.

She came back later with a small stocking that she had knitted in her car.

“She enjoyed the singing instead of the bell and wanted to give, but at that stage, she did not have any other cash on her. So she knitted the small stocking.”

The Major related a story about meeting a young child who had a Mcdonald's Happy Meal. The child took the toy out of her Happy Meal box and asked that it be given to a young child that did not have anything.

Stories of generosity among givers have touched Major Wright and his team over the years.

“These small gifts stand out the most in my mind as it was the attitude of the giver giving the gift that just made my day.”

The Red Kettle started in California well over a century ago, and the need still exists for the many families struggling this year.

They each have their own story, and even the folks who help out the Salvation can tell their own stories about how a smile and the cling of a tiny bell have made an impact on their lives.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

Two of his California books are now available for purchase at the Merced Courthouse Museum gift shop. All his titles are available at Lulu.com.

Quiz Kings-

Seeing the Games and Meeting the Hosts of a Generation

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

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

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

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

Some of the home versions of TV game shows

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His book Dreaming Big is available at Lulu.com.

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

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Telling Stories-

First-Ever Author Fair Brings Writers and Readers Together

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

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

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

I was among those local authors who met readers.

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

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

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

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

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

It’s been a successful formula for him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She mastered the subjects.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

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

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

Nuts Have a Fighting Chance in 2022-

Inflation and water challenge growers in the Valley

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His book Dreaming Big is available at Lulu.com.

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

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

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

A Community Mourns-

Kidnapping/ Murder Story Impacts All of Us

Photo: GoFundMe.com

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

We are a community in mourning.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

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

The weblink to help the Dheri family is:

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

Centennial Cities-

Atwater and Livingston each mark their 100th anniversary

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

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

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

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

Both have celebrated this special milestone in a big way.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They are Merced County’s 2022 Centennial Cities.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

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