I didn’t have Stephen Berkowitz’s classes in high school.
But after reading the tributes to him on the obituary page, I sure wish I had.
I noted one person lamenting that he didn’t take the time to send Mr. Berkowitz a note, saying how much he appreciated his effort. It’s a common lament, I suppose. None of us says “thank you” often enough.
But one of the few times I did was after I graduated from high school. I sent notes to Lois Owen and Bill Johnson, my sophomore English and junior year chemistry teachers. They both wrote back and said how much they appreciated the effort. (Of course, my selection overlooked a dozen other wonderful teachers, but …)
If you have kids graduating from high school, recommend they attempt this little effort. They’ll feel good afterwards — for years.
A number of readers were ticked off by an editorial cartoon published Thursday that made fun of Fox news, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and town hall meetings.
Several readers said they were offended and were considering cancelling their subscriptions.
We try for a mix of cartoons on the page, both right and left, but some readers were especially piqued by this image, drawn by Chris Britt, who is a syndicated cartoonist.
You can view it here: http://www.lodinews.com/opinion/political_cartoons/chris_britt/
Choosing cartoons and columns can be a perilous task. We know most of our readers are conservative, but some are liberal. We want to provide a balance of viewpoints in both columns and cartoons.
We don’t intend to inflame readers, but this cartoon obviously did.
So: How do we provide a diverse and engaging page without inflaming readers?
Is that even possible?
(Not long ago, we heard from a reader who said our page was too conservative. He, too, threatened to cancel his subscription.)
I’d be interested in your thoughts on this particular cartoon — and our guiding philosophy of trying to provide a balanced blend on our editorial page.
A few quick items:
• City Editor Andrew Adams has departed for a job in the wine industry. Andrew has roots in the Napa-Sonoma region and a background in winemaking, so this sounds like a great opportunity. He was a stalwart here, first as city hall reporter, and then as city editor. All of us in the newsroom wish him the very best of luck.
• The arm I busted falling off my bike two months ago is healing nicely, so it is back on the bike and pedaling around Lodi and environs again with Judy.
Cycling through Sunwest recently, we saw a banner I liked:
“Wine a little. You’ll feel better.”
Also, took the advice of a biking buddy and headed out to Thornton last weekend. Serene vineyards, a great mixture of new, big houses, old barns and vintage farm cottages.
Thornton has always struck me as a place apart. It’s pretty. Lush and damp and with the Moke running through it. We had a gulp and a snack and headed back.
Round trip was about two hours and we covered roughly 26 miles.
If you are novice cyclists like us exploring the area, you might like this ride. Here is the route:
Woodbridge Road west to Ray Road.
North on Ray Road to Kile Road.
Kile Road west into Thornton.
And back again.
Hope you enjoy the trip as much as we did.
• Is the Starbucks parking lot in front of Safeway the busiest, bumper-bendiest place in Lodi? Having a cup with a friend, we noticed a couple of pedestrians dodge trucks and cars, several near-misses between vehicles, and one hit, though minor. Maybe it is the caffeine.
We don’t often editorialize about issues not well publicized in our paper, but I’ve always been nagged by the thought that talking on a cell phone while driving isn’t a great idea. So when I heard a story on National Public Radio about this, my ears perked up.
Rich and I usually decide the Saturday editorial on Wednesdays so I pitched him on this and he said we could probably make a link to the CalTrans worker who was killed while planting a tree beside the highway.
We didn’t have a story about driving distractions and cell phones from the Associated Press but you may want more on this topic. And there’s lots. We took our cue from NPR and NPR took it’s cue from a story from the New York Times.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did an extensive study on the issue. According to NPR and the Times, the study was quashed by members of Congress who didn’t want the NTSHA lobbying state governments, but the study’s documents were made public after a Freedom of Information Act request by the non-profit Center for Auto Safety. Click here for a link to the documents.
A poll on NPR.org says
• 59 percent of people “often use a cell phone while driving”
• 26 percent “only in emergencies”
• 15 percent “never use one while behind the wheel.”
People often complain that Rich and I don’t sign the editorials. I supposed we might sometimes because the writing usually falls to one or the other of us. Nevertheless, we almost always work up the ideas together and read each other’s copy. And once in awhile, like on the driving distractions edit, it’s a true joint effort.
But getting back to this week’s editorial: Now I’ve editorialized against cell phone use and other cognitive distractions while driving. Does that mean I have to turn off the radio and stop listening to books on CD while I drive?
I had this weird thought while riding my bike and listening on a portable radio to the story in question: What if some guy using a cell phone swerves and hits me? What if I don’t see him coming in my rearview mirror because I’m listening to the radio? Which unsafe “cognitive distraction” is worse.
Let’s have a beer and discuss it. But not while driving … or riding a bike.
Bozant “Bo” Katzakian passed away last week.
Bo was a friend of mine (and hundreds of others in town), a former mayor, a Lodi icon.
Soon after learning of Bo’s death, I asked Steve Mann, a former mayor himself and a local historian, to share some thoughts on Bo.
Steve grew up near Bo’s home in downtown Lodi and was a good friend of Bo and his family.
I used some of Steve’s thoughts in the obituary we published on Bo last Saturday, but felt many in the community would like to read them in their entirety.
Here are Steve’s words:
Bo Katzakian was Mr. Lodi.
Every generation has its pillars. For me, Bo Katzakian is one of those pillars. Few people have contributed as much to Lodi as Bo Katzakian. Also, few people are as highly regarded as Bo.
Bo invested his whole life in Lodi, serving on countless community boards and committees, including the city council. He was a tireless supporter of and cheerleader for Lodi, contributing large amounts of his time and money in the city he loved so much.
Advanced in age and long after most men would typically retire, Bo was still working and contributing–many times behind the scenes–towards the betterment of Lodi.
Katzakian and Schaffer was one of the most enduring and successful business partnerships in Lodi’s history, a testament to quality of person Bo was.
Indeed, the name Katzakian is synonymous with Lodi. Bo is the patriarch of the Katzakian name in Lodi, which has been an enduring symbol of strength, integrity and quality.
When I think of Bo Katzakian, I think of someone with boundless wisdom and sound advice. While he had the wisdom of a wise grandfather, he was ageless. Bo was someone you could count on to help chart a straight course, offering wise counsel in just the right way.
Bo’s endorsement was much sought after, but sparingly and carefully given. Bo preferred to remain publicly apolitical, but would generously support the people and causes in which he believed.
I grew up next door to Bo and his family. His son Reggie is one of my best friends. Bo loved boats and fishing. I remember one time in the early sixties going water skiing for the first time with the Katzakians at Lodi Lake. With Bo at the wheel, he tried mightily to get me up on two skis, but alas, it was not to be. After several tries, ending with me being dragged under water for 50 feet, Bo decided some people are not meant to water ski.
When I owned and operated a local newspaper, Bo and his real estate company were faithful advertisers. This was not so much because he realized a great return from the ads, but because he wanted to help local businesses prosper. It was his way of giving back to the community.
When my own father died in 1970, Bo was one of the first to comfort me and my family and to offer support during those difficult days. My family and I have never forgotten his kindness.
Bo will be missed. He was genuine. But, as we all know too well, all good things (and people) must pass.
Steve
It was a concert, a wine fest, a dance party.
Who says a few hundred baby boomers can’t rock the house? Or maybe rock a whole grove of oaks?
Blushed with wine, sparked by a blues-rock-all-around-helluva musician named Shane Dwight, they all had a whoopin’ Saturday night at Jessie’s Grove.
We bloggers at the LNS have been writing about the best of Lodi recently.
Let’s add to that list Groovin’ at the Grove, the series of bluesy concerts at the winery-farm-music venue off Turner Road.
The late afternoon skies were schizoid: Warm and sunny one minute, gray and oozing rain droplets the next.
It might come down, we thought. Better bring the umbrellas. So we headed out to the freshly mown meadow sprinkled with young oaks. A stage sits at the meadow’s edge.
Like most, we hauled an ice chest stuffed with munchies: bread, cheese, fruit. We brought blankets and folding chairs. And the umbrellas.
We brought (and bought) some of Jessie’s finest. (A happy bonus: The brownies served at the wine tasting booth, baked up our pal Marcie, a part-time Jessie’s worker. Sharing the booth with Marcie was her daughter, the charming and talented Staci, a UC Davis student.)
A couple of good friends, Kathy and Pete, sat with us. And we bumped into a dozen friends we didn’t even know would be there. That kind of scene.
Featured attraction: Shane Dwight, a blues-rocker-American-grassroots musician. The guy can sing. And he can play the guitar. He can pick fast and hard or slow and sweet. Cool and super-gifted — and going places.
“How you all feeling?,” Dwight asked, grinning out below his signature shades. “Goooood!,” roared the chorus.
Shadows lengthened. The sun dipped below a veil of lavender. Many just sat and sipped, or tapped their sandals. Others rose and dodged through the trees, the blankets and the coolers to the front, below Dwight and his band, dancing or swaying to the pulse.
Baby boomers, mostly, in middle-aged revelry.
“Oh, my ears are going to be buzzing for days,” said one gray-bearded dude in a Hawaiian shirt, contorting maybe 10 feet in front of the speakers.
“And it will be worth it,” a friend shouted to him.
Fine zin, great friends, amazing music.
Dwight looked out and smiled at the throng.
“Tell me now,” he asked. ”Tell me: Who has a good life?”
The wine flowed, the man with the shades and the guitar played into the night.
We didn’t need the umbrella.
What could be more American than a bicycle? The Wright brothers sold them before they built an airplane. And since Americans will race anything, we must have been racing bicycles from the beginning.
But riding rural roads dressed up like a candy bar in Spandex is strictly a European import. And until Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France, Americans who raced road bikes were a small clique mostly in college towns.
But look, if you’re lucky, you’ll get old — too old for football, too old for baseball (hardball, anyway). When you’re 57, like me, if you want to do more than watch sports on TV or stay cooped up in the gym, you’ll have to do something outdoors that your joints can stand.
Bill Scharffenberg — my old next door neighbor who never conformed to standard American taste in sports — once showed me a racing bike with 10-speeds, a 15-pound steel frame and sew-up tires. I was hooked by this piece of mechanical art. That was 40 years ago.
This morning I got on my ten-year-old Cannondale 21-speed and got in an hour and 15 minutes of exercise before my morning shower. The air was clear (except for the dust from a couple of vineyard sulphur rigs), the rising sun was cool and orange. There was nothing to do but watch the road, make the pedals go around and think about the day ahead.
Lately, I’ve been passing more and more guys and gals in those strategically padded Spandex shorts. Sunday, there’s going to be two or three hundred riders here for a professional race through the streets of Lodi.
Mon dieu, jump in the peleton.
I passed attorney Ron Beckman and Lodi P.D. officer K.C. Schlader on the sidewalk this afternoon.
Ron and I had last seen each other at the Thursday Lodi Rotary meeting where we heard FBI Special Agent Rob Born relate his experiences as an explosives expert in Afghanistan.
“You know the guy’s got to be pretty good,” I said. “He still has all his fingers and no visible scars.”
“He must be a supervisor,” said Schlader.
Nice one, K.C. Only cops who actually go out on patrol get away with a line like that.
Just glimpsed TV coverage of Michael Jackson’s memorial service at Staples. Is this all fitting - or really over the top?
I found it odd listening to NBC’s Brian Williams discussing and analyzing this like a major news event on the order of a political convention.
Well, it wasn’t. It was a show.
Yes, Jackson was brilliant and a superstar. And a gala farewell tribute is justified.
But, at least IMHO, his death and related commotion is gaining more attention because this is summer, many newsmakers are on vacation, so there aren’t all that many stories from which to choose.
We’ve played up both local and national angles on the seemingly nonstop deification of Jackson.
My hunch: People are both repelled and fascinated by it all.
Too much coverage?
I enjoyed Lauren Nelson’s post on The Beat listing some of her favorite things about Lodi. So much that I want to start my own list - and expand it over time. See Lauren’s list here:
Herewith my first few items:
• The summer breeze that rises at night from the Delta, cooling and freshening the air across the town.
• The little produce stand on Guild (near Turner) where you choose your own juicy, flavor-filled tomatoes that were picked from a garden maybe 40 feet away. (The stand, by the way, opened last week.)
• The fact you can almost always go to the downtown cinema and get tickets, even for a pretty popular movie. And parking is generally easy, too.
• The wafting sweet smell of cake mix and Cheerios being made at General Mills.
That’s my start.
What do you think?
I’d love to have suggestions from our esteemed readers.
And Marty, you are a nearly life-long Lodian.
How about chipping in here?
