ORGANICS
SHIRLEY KIMBERLIN Everything I list turns to SOLD!
Show: Sept. 27 - Nov. 17 Reception: Oct. 11, 5-7 p.m.
805-886-0228 skimberlin@aol.com
Juried by
Hank Pitcher
This week’s listings on the back page
HANK PITCHER, View from Augustine 2012, oil on board COURTESY OF SULLIVAN GOSS
Local woman survives black bear attack close to home
Scouting for surf
By LeA BOyd
A Carpinteria woman returning home from a hike up Rincon Canyon was attacked by a black bear at around 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 22. The bear scratched and bit Emily Miles, who ultimately fended off the 300-pound animal and ran to the safety of a nearby home. “I’m very, very lucky, and I know that,” said Miles. “That bear DuGRé could’ve eaten me alive emily Miles on Sept. 6 in two minutes.” The California Departat Carp-A-Cabana. ment of Fish and Wildlife has set live traps in an attempt to capture the bear. Bear DNA collected from Miles will be used in the effort to identify the correct animal, which, if located, will then be euthanized. Fish and Wildlife representative Janice Mackey said that any bear that attacks a human
BEAR ATTACK continued on page 28
SuBMITTED PhOTO
The Juniors Girl Scout Troop made waves on Sept. 21 when its members, from left, Lilly Pendergast, Sierra Mayoral, Sky Souza, emma Holstrum, Kate Cooney, Samantha Thompson, Mary Johnson and Olivia dorion, took a surf lesson through the City of Carpinteria’s Parks and Recreation department. The salty fun celebrated a successful cookie sale season and gave the young water women an opportunity to develop new athletic skills.
MacMurrays named Avofest honorary chairs
Tim MacMurray has an empty space on the wall of his office just waiting to be filled on the first weekend in October. The 2014 California Avocado Festival poster that ultimately adorns the wall will mark the year that Tim and wife Wendy served as the festival’s honorary chairs and joined an elite list of Carpinterians who have helped to define the valley’s avocado industry. “I was thrilled,” said Tim of being selected as this year’s co-chair. Tim grew up in New York and didn’t meet his first avocado until he moved to California in 1970. Wendy, on the other hand, is essentially avocado royalty. She is the daughter of the late George Bliss, a longtime Carpinterian who left an indelible mark on the avo industry and Carpinteria as a whole. Tim and Wendy were set up on a blind date in the 1970s, and eventually, Tim laughs, “I married into avocados.” Bliss founded Carpinteria Motor Transport, an agricultural trucking businesses, which Tim and Wendy now operate as CMT. These days, they haul avocados exclusively. CMT trucks pick up avos from ranches
between Cayucos and San Diego, and handle at least 75 percent of the fruit produced in Carpinteria, according to Tim. Most of the avocados are then delivered to the Calavo packinghouse in Santa Paula. In one day, CMT can move 700,000 avocados from ranch to packinghouse. The couple’s Casitas Pass Road home, in which Wendy’s father was raised, is surrounded by 50 acres of avocados that remain in the Bliss/MacMurray family. “We eat avocados daily,” said Wendy. Like many, Wendy’s favorite avocado dish is guacamole. Tim enjoys slicing an avocado in half, taking out the pit, filling the cavity with Italian dressing and scooping out the meat. The MacMurrays are proud to represent a festival that promotes the avocado industry, educates consumers and brings tourist dollars to Carpinteria. In their lives, the avocado has played a critical role. Wendy said, “The avocado put our kids through school and food on the table.” ––Lea Boyd
Boyd
Tim and Wendy MacMurray will balance a Carpinteria avocado on the nose of the Seal Fountain on Friday, Oct. 3 as the symbolic kickoff of the 2014 California Avocado Festival.