USA Going Home

Yes, the Yanks are homeward bound. Yes, they did win the group and pulled out of group play with a memorable victory 1-nil over a scrappy Algerian side. Yes, they were confident going up against Ghana. And now, disappointment, soul searching, and a future with the inevitable questions with improbable answers.
Now, Germany and England play on; only one will continue. The European heavyweights will perform at a vigorous level, but only one can advance. Good Luck to the both of them.

USA v. Algeria

Sports fans: Do Not Despair, USA will pull this out. They are traditionally a second half team. They have been denied in the 1st half, bad luck and poor officiating, again. England has scored against Slovenia, so it's a must score situation.
Hopefully the center ref will slap his AR about and tell him to shape up. With 45 mins left to play, the USA team does not want to go home after group play. Can they do it?

Summer officially here

Well, that long awaited solstice has arrived. It seems as though it has taken forever to shake the grip of the "El Nino" winter. But, on the bright side, the Lake will be @the rim in a few morw weeks as the heavy runoff cascades into the basin from every direction.
It's a joy to observe the 2nd springtime of the year: above 7000', the alpine environment is coming alive. The heavy blanket of snow is melting at the rate of 6" per day. This moisture combined with the heat of summer will give the high meadows and slopes some longed for color. Get out your hiking boots.

Noticed some youngsters carrying vuvuzelas around downtown Tahoma yesterday. They must be soccer fans/players getting caught up in World Cup fever. Our representative in Argentina reports soccer mania taking over. Another rep in Brasil reports more of the same. I enjoy the games and our Minister of Sport and Recreation has watched every game, getting up at 4:30am everyday during group play to watch.
Group play is ending with many game 3's being played, starting at 7am(2 games at the same time to preclude collusion.)
Tomorrow the USA v. Algeria will get the locals all wound up. The Argentinian @ WESTSIDE PIZZA will be very attentive, I'm sure.

Go Giants

The Mayor and his minister of Sports and Fitness went to a Giants game Sat. nite. They played the Oakland A's @ AT&T Park IFO 36,089 fans. It was one of the warmest June nits on record in SF-in the 80's! The Gigantes won, although the outcome was in doubt until closer Brian Wilson came in the 8th inning and shut them down with the bases loaded. He gave up 2 hits in the ninth, but still prevailed and held on to a one run victory.
We took the GG Ferry in w/ 500 other fans and enjoyed the comfort going and coming. We topped off the nite with a snack @ the Brick & Bottle in Corte madera(old IZZY's).
We dropped early so the Mayor could rise early to watch world Cup soccer at dawn.
The mayor has enjoyed the World Cup, but, the vuvuzelas are making me crazy. The noise is obnoxious and I'm watching at home!
The players are having problems communicating, and I'm sure this noise maker issue will come up for discussion @ FIFA meetings soon.
I love the costumes and head dresses of the fans: looks like Mardi Gras.

Tahoe Swiss Village Water Rate Increase

Owner asks CPUC to approve request for rate increase

In a letter forwarded 2 days ago, a resident informed our office that the Swiss Village Water Co. asked for a rate bump up of 20%. This hardly seems related to anything but a need for more money in the coffers to increase the returns. Here we are, in the worst recession in 78 years, with serious deflation a reality(in housing), and he cites a few bills as a reason for the increase. This could force the issue to a head.
The line items are nothing short of operational costs. Are we to continue paying above the allowed rate of return?
What about all the money received for new accounts, 1e. the new structures added in the neighborhoods?
The usage rate is probably the lowest for any district, and that's probably a high figure. Like all utilities these days, Tahoe Swiss bears watching, constantly.
This increase would come on the heels of the Tahoe Truckee Waste Mgmt Co's 100% increase, spread over 5 years(we're in the 3rd years!) And this follows the Meeks Bay FD's 2nd parcel tax that they took to the bank last fall. Folks, we are under assault by these various agencies as they seek to protect their own pay and benefits when the rest of us are looking for work and tightening our belts.

Wine Country sojourne

The mayor went to Sonoma Valley to investigate the tourist areas: wine tasting sites and B & B's. My driver and I stopped at a hacienda on Linden Lane off of Arnold DR. This recently constructed home with guest quarters looks like a classic adobe style home with all the features: plastered walls, large, wood beam lintels, plastered columns supporting rafters, and generous use of tiles and flagstones. The extensive gardens and patios transport the guests to Sinaloa, Chihuahua, and points south. The affable owners, Roger and Cena, have created a unique experience right here in Sonoma. Roger, the designer of the main home, has included many authentic details: open beam ceilings, stained concrete floors, stone fireplaces, wood casement windows, and accessible terraces reached through classic glazed wooden doors.
The grand dining table, made of redwood slabs is a focal point inside and out. It features a wheeled base that allows the owners to roll it inside or out, depending on the weather.
The guest cottage is an independent unit with a complete kitchen and sitting area, and a covered patio. The arched entrance welcomes the guest into a private world away from real life. It is truly a special place. The mayor was unable to sample the food prepared for guests every morning; that will require another visit.
Bravo Roger and Cena!

On the return drive, my driver, Gomar, indicated by signing that he was thirsty and wanted some refreshment. As we approached Cline Vineyard Estate, I motioned for him to pull in. We took a chance that they were still open. To our surprise, they were wide open and busy. The lot was half full! We were welcomed by the staff who were in a pouring mood. Here's the list of our tastings:
2009 Sonoma Coast Viognier
2009 Mourve'dre'- a rose'
2008 Cashmere- a blended red w/ syrah and grenache
2008 Old Vine Carignane- COCO Cty
2008 Syrah Sonoma Cty
2008 Zinfandel- Silver Medal 2010 SF Chron Comp.
2008 Old Vine Zin
2007 Sonoma Zin -Healdsburg vineyards
2008 Big Break Zin CO CO Cty
2007 Live Oak ZIN CO CO Cty
2007 Heritage Zin CO CO Cty
2006 Los Carneros Syrah- priced to sell @ $16.80
The last 5 are their premium wines.
Most of their wine is very affordable @ prices ranging from $11. -$18. Club members get a 20% sconto.
The mayor had to take the wheel after this adventure.
200

MATTERHORN Part II

Author Marlantes felt his story needed some focus on his own actions as a new member of the officer corps of marines. A new, inexperienced 2nd Lt is not much more than a college student who has been taught to shoot a few small arms, read a map, and follow orders of his superiors. He is also expected to listen lots and keep quiet.
The Malles character gets in the head of a few superiors and reflects his own lack of experience in the field and in life. Reading these parts made me think I was reading the diary of a young man who wants to grow up in a hurry. Of course, young men often choose to grow up by drinking a lot and often. Malles and his junior officers find a few times to get very drunk. It is during one of these episodes author Marlantes takes a huge leap of faith: a fragging incident kills a drunk Lt. who was the unintended victim of unidentified black Marines. Fragging, the attempt by individuals to silence(kill) other Marines, had become a factor in officer/enlisted relations before 1969. (The term relates to the act of throwing a M-26 fragmentation grenade into the sleeping quarters of the victim at night.) Fragging usually occurred in base camps, not in the field. It is not the fragging that defies belief, but the aftermath: Malles lets it slide because the investigation would be too disruptive, would lead to divisiveness among his Marines and bog down operations. The investigation would also taint the reputation of his unit.

Sorry Marlantes, a 22 year old Ivy Leaguer doesn't pass on murder wherever it occurs. If he sincerely felt this need to look the other way, he is a soulless, amoral individual worthy of contempt! Having walked in his shoes up to this point, I cannot accept the scene as anything more than a plot device to shock naive readers into believing that is how combat Marines behave under stress. It is an accepted truth that certain casualties in the field were suspicious, but the fragging incidents were investigated fully.
The post battle scene involving Malles' own actions seeking revenge against the Colonel, only to be thwarted by his peer lieutenant, is another plot device that leaves me scratching my head. Come on, are we that gullible?
The climatic battle scene, a singular event over a singular day has many elements that ring true for this reviewer: artillery support questionable, weather causing delays of helicopter resupply, weather causing delays of close air support(bomb laden F-4 Phantoms), difficult terrain features, and lack of coordination in the attack. Marlantes own citation for the Navy Cross highlights some of these same elements, testifying to the veracity of facts.
Marlantes survives and continues on in his roll as a Lt. platoon commander, albeit, now with a little seasoning. He stayed in the field for a few more months and then transferred to an aviation unit where he became an airborne artillery observer, flying in the backseat of an OV-10 Bronco, the Marine aircraft used in this era. This is not mentioned in his story.
This is not a book for combat veterans, it's a book that helps a combat veteran shed the burden of his experiences and put his demons to rest. It is a story told for civilians who desire to read historical novels set in the mid- 20th century. Perhaps Marlantes' editors cut the politics and training environment out for the sake of the reader. What a blessing!

Note: The reviewer served in an identical role as the author in the same setting described in the book a year earlier, 1968- the pivotal year of the war.

book review

MATTERHORN by Karl Marlantes
This memoir/ novel , set during the later phase of the Vietnam war, tells the story of a recent graduate from an ivy league university who is sent to Asia, assigned to the 3rd Marine Division's 1st Battalion/ 4th Marine Regiment. The year is 1969, and the months are January and February. The narrator/ 2nd Lt. is given his first assignment as platoon leader in Bravo Company.
The story captures a brief time frame:from arrival to aftermath of the battle in which Bravo Company is decimated by a confrontation with North Vietnamese Army regulars on a hilltop set in the farthest north corner of then South Vietnam. The hilltop, called Matterhorn, is the site of an outpost or landing zone, that according to higher ups, provides a perch that oversees the route(s) to be used by the North Vietnamese as they mount an attack east, toward the coast with its densely populated cities, harbors, and supply centers used by American forces and South Viet forces alike. For anyone familiar with the course of the war, this is deja vu all over again. One could turn the clock back to 1967, and find the same tactics and strategy. Or, one could glance back to 1968, find similarities during the famously reported Tet Offensive of February,1968.
The author is not breaking new ground in terms of the warfighting timeline: it's the same war, over and over again. But 1969 brings new elements into the field with the Marines. A new attitude among the troops is detailed in repeated conversations with the enlisted men by the lieutenant. He is aware, like his peer group, that hostility to the war is at fever pitch back in the States; and the racial divide that has followed years of civil rights struggles has been accentuated by repeated violent confrontations.
Marlantes gives the characters the racial voice in the members of his platoon who are African American. They are now Brothers first and Marines second. The many scenes with Blacks discussing racial politics, at a grassroots level, add a flavor that borders on disbelief. Can these young men be more concerned with politics when their very lives are in jeopardy every waking minute? The Lt. character, Malles, seems to think that he can work with these platoon members and still do his job. There are several other characters: some NCO's, some superior officers, and some other lieutenants that enter into the story to some extent to fill out the texture of the narrative.
Marlantes included a scene that has a patrol member killed by a tiger. There was one recorded incident, verified, during 10 years of war: a Marine on recon patrol was attacked and killed by a large animal, believed to be a tiger. It sounds dramatic in any retelling. He also includes the various scenes with colonels and majors who make the decisions, sending the Marines hither and yon to find and destroy the NVA.
The back story about the book is that it was written 30 years ago or more, and was edited down from 1600 pages. It then followed a torturous path, following the author on his own life path. A small press took a chance and published it and then it was picked up by the larger house for general distribution. This is not uncommon in today's book selling strategies.

to be continued

Bear Cub Incident update

The June 2 issue of the Sierra Sun updates the west shore bear cub story. After investigating the incident, the Fish & Game has dropped all charges against the suspect, Mr. Wilkerson. The facts indicate this to be the prudent response to the event. The family asked for understanding regarding some strident voices from some residents and non-residents alike.
This is the end of the incident, as far as Tahoma is concerned. We will, as local residents, remain aware of our position as forest dwellers who share the local environment with many a wild creature. As an example, spring has arrived and with it, platoons of woodpeckers are making their presence known as they repeatedly attack wood siding, carving out circular holes, in an attempt to open up potential nesting sights. Oh, well, get out the owl figures, again!

The Cub Story part 2

Tahoma on the map
The AP put Tahoma on the world map yesterday when they put the bear cub story in a capsule news item on the wire/net. John Wilkinson was identified in the story as the perp. F& G has charged him with the illegal take of a bear, wanton waste of a carcass,and failure to notify Fish and Game of the shooting. Each has a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $1000. fine.
All these penalties are sufficient in dealing with the miscreant. Stupidity cannot be legislated, it is oft said. The Mayor agrees.
While the local buzz will continue over this incident, we hope it does not deter visitors from making plans to vacation on the Westshore.
Summer is here, and we look forward to an enjoyable experience despite the bad press.
More on the backstory later.