Crown your Dad King for a Day See page A4
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID CLAYTON, CA PERMIT 190
IT’S YOUR PAPER www.claytonpioneer.com
May 5, 2006
925.672.0500
Native garden attracts migrating birds BEV BRITTON Clayton Pioneer
PICTURESQUE LANDSCAPES When selling at Ar t and Wine and Oktoberfest, Clayton photographers Teresa and Keith Peters mak e sure their stoc k includes plenty of local works. If you w ant a shot of the Pumpkin F arm, the Cla yton Club or the Post Office, they’ve got it. Then there’s Twin Peaks, Eagle P eak, Mitchell Cany on and Mt. Diablo. And don’t forget the wildf lowers and oak trees.
June Chambers’ front yard isn’t lik e the other w ell-manicured lawns on her Dana Hills street. No, she isn’t one of “those” neighbors whose yard is filled with w eeds and g rass g one to seed. Yet, it isn ’t the English country g arden she en visioned when she tore out the yard’ s drought resistant landscaping. There are h ybrid tea roses and Oriental lilies , but they are now outn umbered b y hummingbird sage salvia and bunc h grass – as Chambers stri ves to convert to all native plants. “I had to be pulled kic king and screaming into nati ve g ardening, because I lo ve that grass-green color,” she says. “So many nati ves are g ray-green, because that is what keeps them from dying.” But with constant researc h, she is able to satisfy her “colorful” nature while also remaining true to California. She adores her wild, blueviolet penstemon and the light lavender g rinnelli v ariety. “I’m busy planting them ev erywhere,” she enthuses . “It’s so beautiful – and it looks lik e a regular garden plant.” She also raves about her garrya elliptica, which she says can be found growing in the wild on the trail behind the Cla yton Library. “In J anuary, they are hung with what looks lik e strings of pearls,” she sa ys. “Oh, it’s just glorious.” Chambers was struck by the native bug after seeing an article in A udubon mag azine about the plight of migrating birds. “I read that the birds were starving as they crossed Califor nia because they couldn ’t see enough native plants, particularly along the coast,” she reports. These da ys, her yard is a haven for birds. They especially enjoy the ber ries of the nati ve Rhamnus californica, or coffeeberry. “I can’t tell you all the birds who are fighting here for food,” she says with pride. She also has her eye out for the pipevine sw allowtail butterfly, which uses her pipevine plant as a host for its caterpillar. Meanwhile, a quiet corner of her front yard is home for many local quail. Perhaps they saw the sign on the nearby fence, noting
See Art, page A4
See Native, page A3
DAVE SHUEY
MAYOR’S CORNER Funding park is a thorny issue Who w ants a do wntown park? Hold on – rhetorical question only. The answ er w as already given in November 2000, when the question was put to the voters and 55.7 percent indicated they wanted the downtown parcel to be a park (as opposed to a mixed used park and commercial). Now, there are at least 43 people who will read this and say they didn ’t vote for a park, or that the City Council ask ed the wrong question. Well, some people didn ’t lik e the question and some won’t like the answer, but that doesn’t change reality. Based upon this v ote, and after months of investigation and planning, a beautiful park was designed b y volunteer residents led b y a y outhful, energetic, suave, dashing and debonair chair. Figure out who it was? Come on, it can’t be that hard based on the description. More clues needed? OK, loud, weird laugh...car ries his winter weight year -round...Fine, it’s me. The committee w as an excellent cross-section of the community, and we did a g reat job. You can go to City Hall and see the design sitting on an easel. So naturally, I have a personal and council interest in seeing the funding for the park approved b y the residents this November. It will be the cornerstone of a revitalized downtown. But if a park w as already voted for , why hasn ’t the City built it? Since y ou asked, I will tell y ou. In an interesting twist to that v ote, a second question asked: “If you w anted a park, See Mayor, page A4
What’s inside SECTION A
Around Town . . . . . . . . . .A2 Upcoming Events . . . . . . .A3 Classifieds and Directory of Advertisers . . . . . . . . . .A5 Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . .A7 Home Work (new writer) . . .A7 Food for Thought . . . . . . .A8 EcoFocus . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A9 Tea for You . . . . . . . . . . .A10 Crossword Solution . . . . .A10 Weather Words . . . . . . . . .A11 Club News . . . . . . . . . . . .A11 Sharing History . . . . . . . .A12
SECTION B
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B2 School News . . . . . . . . . . . .B4 Paws and Claws . . . . . . . . .B6 Dining Around . . . . . . . . . .B7 Church News . . . . . . . . . . .B8 Community Calendar . . . . .B9 Tech Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . .B10 Tax Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B10 At the Movies . . . . . . . . . .B11 Music Notes . . . . . . . . . . .B11 Garden Girl . . . . . . . . . . .B12
Tamara Steiner/Clayton Pioneer
YELLOW TIDY TIP, BRIGHT ORANGE CALIFORNIA POPPIES AND LAVENDER PENSTEMON add color and texture to June Chamber’s back yard. The Clayton gardener is moving toward an all native plant garden at her Dana Hills home.
Local artists ramp up for Ar t and Wine BEV BRITTON Clayton Pioneer
For Cla yton resident Cath y Chatterjee, ceramics are a “hobby gone crazy.” “When w e g o out of town for trips , it’s lik e withdra wal,” says Chatter jee, who lik es to spend a few hours a da y in her home studio . “It’s just something that I enjo y so m uch that it’s not a dr udgery to w ork on my crafts.” Chatterjee will be among the vendors at this w eekend’s Ar t and Wine Festival in downtown Clayton. Although she dabbled in ceramics 35 years ag o, she started the craft up in ear nest two years ago. In her Dana Hills studio, colorful drag onflies poke out of a flowerpot while lazy tur tles wile away the hours on a nearb y shelf. Vases, teapots, birdhouses and f lowerpots fill nearly ev ery available space. “It’s just fun to w atch something emerg e,” she sa ys of her creations, “to think about, ‘What am I g oing to do different? W hat’s this one g oing to look like?’ ” Chatterjee begins with liquid
clay, called slip, which she pours into molds. Once set, the greenware m ust be fired at 1,940 degrees F for fi ve to six hours . After glazing them with colorful paints, she cooks them for
small electric kiln last year. “It’s nice to be able to do it all m yself and see it that da y,” says Chatterjee, who even has a baby monitor so she can hear the “bee p” when her ceramics
Tamara Steiner/Clayton Pioneer
CATHY CHATTERJEE is hard at work in her Dana Hills studio in preparation for 2006 Art and Wine Festival. another four to six hours , this time at about 1,840 deg rees. She used to ha ve her ceramics fired at the Mt. Diablo Adult School in Concord, but things are easier since she purc hased a
are properly cooked. This is Chatter jee’s second Art and Wine Fest, and she also sells at Oktoberfest. Although she felt that the car nival drew crowds away from the v endors
last fall, she was rewarded with the prize for Best Decorated Booth. But for Chatter jee, the rewards aren’t really monetary. “When I put this m uch into it, I can’t even think about what my time is w orth, because y ou just don ’t g et y our retur n on that,” she says. She tries to ha ve a variety of items on hand to pique the crowd’s interests . “Last year , earthy colors were very popular. But you never know – someone may just be looking for that raspberry color ,” she sa ys, pointing to a vase on the shelf.
Miwok residents fed up with neighborhood speeding TAMARA STEINER Clayton Pioneer
“Miwok has become lik e 680,” said Chuc k Bidondo addressing the Cla yton City Council. Bidondo, who li ves at 3043 Miw ok and sev eral of his neighbors, including Da ve Gra y and Ho ward Chrisman, appeared before the Council at the April 18 meeting to ask police to crac k do wn on motorists speeding down the hill toward Eagle Peak Drive in their residential neighborhood. “It’s like Daytona,” said Gray,
who li ves at 3031 Miw ok W ay, “someone’s going to get hurt.” Chrisman, who resides at 3054 Miwok, said “it’s the worst street I’ve ever lived on. And the problem def lates the v alue of our homes.” The neighbors cited sev eral instances of speeding cars r unning over the trash cans at curbside and swerving into oncoming traffic because they were coming around the curve too fast. Residents w ant quic k police intervention and suggested parking a decoy police car on Miwok, using the por table radar unit to
clock speeds , posting more speed limit signs and ultimately ticketing offenders. Meeting briefly with the residents follo wing the meeting, Police Chief Dan Lawrence suggested that a unifor med officer go door to door in the neighborhood with printed materials aimed at g etting dri vers to slo w down. He also ag reed to occasionally parking a deco y car in the area. “These (speeders) are clearly your neighbors,” said La wrence. “The k ey is a wareness—to jar them into a sense of safety.”
Tamara Steiner/Clayton Pioneer
Police Chief Dan Lawrence addresses speeding concerns with Miwok Way residents Chuck Bidondo and Dave Gray.