A6 — Thursday, April 16, 2015
Sonora, California
THEUNIONDEMOCRAT
VIEWS Continued from Page Al Creation Studio, the business he startedat age 19 in hisbedroom at his parents' Mi-Wuk Village home. He said he has never had to advertise and makes his living off referrals. Tascoe has designed swimwear for Nike and jerseys for Yamaha Motor Company. However, 50 percent of his clients are in Tuolumne County. In 2013, Tascoe took second place on "HGTV Design Star," a televised reality competition aimed at launching undiscovered designers into success. He said being a finalist gave him credibility, which has propelled his design career. He also, on behalf of the DIY Network, presents his hometown success story to students all over the nation. Tascoe in 2013 spoke to students at Angelo State University in Texas. He told the students all of his goals were accomplished while living in the small-town area of Sonora. Tascoesaid he often hears people say, "If only I can get out of here, I can bebetter, " but Tascoe told the students their passion lies within and can be pursued right where they Tascoe said he has been drawing since he could hold a pencil. He was born Dec. 31, 1979, in Redwood City and moved with his parents in 1980 to Mi-Wuk Village. "While other kids were out riding their bikes, I was drawing," he said. He was a student at Twain Harte
Elementary School where he met his first and only art teacher, Laurie Sylwester.
rs
Jesse Jones /Union Democrat
JeribaiTascoe, of Sonora (above left), stands in a room he designed for his home and had featured on HGTV. Tascoe holds a motocross jersey he designed for Yamaha Motor Company (above right) while working at MKM Sportswear. Sylwester, now an art professor at Columbia College, said Tascoe was a joy to have as a student and inspired her as a teacher with his creativityand drive. Tascoe in elementary school was "obsessed" with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls basketball team, he said. He would routinely draw the Chicago Bulls logo and pictures of basketballs. Sylwester said she was not a sports fan, but subscribed to a sports magazine to help her relate and teach the aspiring artist she saw in Tascoe. One day in his fifth-grade art class,Sylwester asked Tascoe to draw something other than his basketball pictures. He penciled his first-ever three-dimensional
sketch of the classroom, and the young artist turned designer. Tascoe said he was inspired by how he couldcreateeffectsofshadows and shades. Tascoe graduated in 1998 from Mother Lode Christian School in Tuolumne. His first job was at age 15 at the Pac 'N' Copy print shop in The Junction shopping center. It was there he was ushered into the digital age of design. "It was like building a sandcastle within minutes and knocking it down and rebuildinganother,and I could create so many things, so quickly!" he said of the new digital design programs. T ascoe, while w o r king f o r Pac 'N' Copy, designed business logos, cards and invitations.
DROUGHT Continued from Page Al "Anything we can do to take pressure off businesses here would be a good thing," THCSD Director Gary Sipperley said Wednesday."We don't have another river we can dam to get a new supply of water, and we can't expand Lyons (Reservoiri ourselves, but we're doing everything we can." The district's water deliveries from Tuolumne Utilities District were cut in half last summer due to 50-percent cutbacks imposed on TUD's wholesale customers. THCSD buys water from TUD and delivers it to customers in the Twain Harte area. Meanwhile, TUD's domestic customers elsewhere in the county were required to reduce their usage by only25 percent from February through June 2014. Now, TUD's water supply outlook is worse than last year, with the 18,000acre-footPinecrestReservoir not expected to fill for the first time since 1924. In addition, Gov. Jerry Brown has enacted unprecedented statewide water restrictions that require all California water districts to reduceusage by atleast 25 percent or facefinesofup to $10,000perday. THCSD board members have been waitingto get a better idea of what TUD plans to propose for water restrictions before imposing their own, Sipperley said. TUD officials have publicly stated a probable conservationtarget of30 percent,which is what THCSD officials are shooting for as well. Sipperley said it would be "unnecessarily confusing" on THCSD customers to ask for a different conservation target than TUD's, like last year. Twain H a r t e
Maggie Beck /Union Democrat
Tom Mannix, of Sonora (above), putts on the putting green at the Twain Harte Golf Course last week. Twain Harte Community Services District officials and local business owners expressed concern over Twain Harte Lake's (below) uncertain future.
He createdthe logos for Dave Wong's Off-Road outlet, shirt logos for Dodge Ridge, MMI machines and the Ironstone Amphitheater. In 2002 he took a job as art director with Sonora-based M&M Sportswear. While there, Tascoe digitally designed several ATV and motocross jerseys for Yamaha Motor Company. Tascoe said he loved doing design, but at age 23 thought he could not realistically support himselfby doing art, and he had no idea how to run a business, so he went to work for his father's paralegal firm in Twain Harte. One day at work, Tascoe's dad said, "Son, if art is really what you love to do, then pray about it, and go after it with all you got."
drought that keeps ongoing.... We need a break." Another drought-related issue threatening the area's economy this summer is the possibility of not having enough water to fill Twain Harte Lake in time for the recreation season. The lake was emptied when the dam's granite footing — known as the 'The Rock" — cracked last August. Twain Harte Lake Association leaders have requested water from TUD to fill the lake, but the district still isn't sure whether it can meet the request due to the projected limited supply in Pinecrest. The district is also waiting to hear from the State Water Resources Control Board for clarification on a 1977rulingthatprevented a private lake in Orange County from being filled that drought year, and whether the same would apply to the Twain Harte Lake situation. Twain Harte business owners are
Within three months of doing legal work, he was back to the design business ascreative director for Reverb Communications in Twain Harte. Tascoe said his father's encouragement was the inspiration he needed, and within weeks projects started lining up for him. Tascoe said as his business grew, there was something else missing. "Accomplishments don't really matter if you don't have someone to share it with," he said. In 2005, at a Los Angeles business conference, he met Michelle Avena,and in her found the companion he wanted. The two fell in love and were m arried on Aug. 17,2008,atSierra Glen Apple Ranch. Tascoesaid his greatest accomplishment has been the "granddesign" of his family. The couple have two children, Angelo, 5, and Chiistian, 3.
Tascoe is currently re-designing the website for Merced Community College. He designed the website for Columbia College in 2013 and the "referrals kept coming," he said.Last year he also designed websites for Yuba Community College, Woodland Community College and Clear Lake Community College. "Team Tascoe," as he refers to himself and his wife, on Tuesday wrote down goals for the future. They include launching a website where Tascoe teaches online drumming lessons, continue expanding his services to include interior design clients, and "adding another family m ember" by having a baby,hesaid.
The lake closure put the golf course in a "very bad situation" last
year, Burmester said, explaining he saw a drastic drop in business patronsas soon asthelakeclosed. "It seemed like visitors just closed up the cabins and went home early," he said. Dianne Dunnigan, manager of 'The Rock of Twain Harte" restaurant on Fuller Road, was also concerned when she heard the lake may not open for the summer. "Everyone left when the dam broke last summer," she added. "We lost business this year because it didn't snow. Twain Harte Lake really needs to open." This is the first full summer without the lake since the cracked dam, so Dunnigan is waiting to see how the lake's closure will affect her restaurant before she makes any"drastic" changes, she said. "I try not to worry about things I have no control over, but this could
worried about the lake not having be devastating on businesses in water, because the popular swim- Twain Harte" she said. ming hole typically plays a central Kimberly Darr, owner of Twain role in the area's tourist economy Harte Rentals, said her business has over the summer. seen a "significant" decline in bookAt a TUD meeting Tuesday, Twain ings and a number of cancellations Harte Lake Association President due to the news of the lake still being Lynn Crook said business activity in closed. Twain Harte has declined 30 percent Darr said she's trying to remain since the dam broke. She added that positive and combat the effects f'rom cabin rentals are also down 50 to 70 the lake's closure with a marketing percent, forcing some businesses to
compared with other areas of the county. The district in 2014 managed to use62 percent lesswateroverthe previous year in the first month the restrictions were enacted, Sipperley sald.
The district r eceived nearly $500,000 from a state grant last
summer to construct its new well on b u s inesses and Meadow Lane in hopes it would lift
residents met THCSD's 50-percent some of the burden off its customers target last year mostly by cutting and TUD's limited water supply. indoor water-use, because of the genAdditionally, THCSD later reeral lack of lawns in Twain Harte ceived another $450,000 through
lay off employees and at least one to shut its doors. the state's Integrated Regional WaThe 12-acre lake is typically open ter Management Program to build forsummers and used forrecreation a second well that's still pending by the Twain Harte Lake Associaconstruction in the Shadybrook sub- tion's roughly 800 members, as well division. Sipperley said drilling is as vacationers renting cabins from members. expected to begin in mid-May. 'This is just devastating to the The district is currently asking forcustomers tocutback 20 percent local market," said Diane Kurgan, voluntarily, but Sipperley said most owner of Shadow Ridge Vacation have been conserving in excess of 30 Rentals. percent. Jeff Burmester, manager of Twain "We'll handle what gets thrown at Harte Golf Course, said this sumus," Sipperley said."We had the Rim mer will be difficult" for commerce Fire a few years ago and now the iftouristsdon'tcome.
strategythat promotes recreational
opportunitiesand reasons to visit Tuolumne County besides the lake. The business has redesigned its website to incorporate information about other activities and attractions the area has to offer, such as local theaters, hiking tours and restaurants. "In the long run, this really could have a silver lining, because we're all going to have to focus on bringing new tourists to Tuolumne County,"
she said. "When the lake does reopen, we could see the return of our regular customers along with new ones."
AWARDS
FIRE
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we celebrate asalargergroup in April, said Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools Margie Bulkin. Winners selected from each of the county's 12 school districts included: Kath Christensen, Columbia College; Michelle Costa, Soulsbyville; Yvonne Denton, Sonora High School; Alissa Hodge, Summerville Elementary; Kimstar Knowles, Twain Harte; Sally McClellan, Sonora Elementary; Paul McIlroy, Curtis Creek; Lisa Pritchard, Big Oak Flat-Groveland; Kim Ramorini, Columbia; Roxanne Scoggins, Belleview; Tom Thompson, Jamestown; Shane Warner, Columbia College; Karen Wessel, Summerville High; and Liz Bryun,Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools Office, Department of Special Education. Award recipient Lisa Pritchard teaches special education at Tenaya Elementary School in Groveland. "This is a very tough job," she said. "I'vebeen doing itfor15 yearsandfeel honored to be recognized by my fellow teachers." A career achievement award was given to Sonora High School teacher, coach and athletic director Rick Francis, who will retire this year after a 42-year career at the school.
fied burn injuries and was flown to the University of California, Davis, Medical Center in Sacramento, according to Cal Fire dispatchers and Robitaille. Robitaille refe r r ed further questions to the
Seen Carson /Union Democrat
Several Tuolumne County educators were honored at an awards ceremony held Wednesday night at the East-Belt Tuolumne Masonic Lodge. Award recipients (from left) include: ShaneWarner, Kimstar Knowles, Sally McClellan, Paul Mcllroy, Roxanne Scoggins, Rick Francis, Yvonne Denton, Lisa Pritchard, Tom Thompson, Liz Bryun and Alissa Hodge. Tuolumne County District 3 Supervisor Evan Royce (sixth from left) and Superintendent of Schools Margie Bulkin (eighth from left) attended the ceremony, officiated by Master of the Lodge Roger Walker (third from right). Wancis — a former Sonora High County," said Lodge Secretary Harry School student — graduated in 1966, Hughes, who delivered the awards at only to return in 1972 as a teacher. He Wednesday night's ceremony. "As a coach, Francis has one of the began coaching shortly aker, and was later promoted to athletic director. best records in the state, winning over Francis received numerous awards for 660 games," Hughes said. "Sonora both his teaching and athletic service High School has been blessed by his during his career with Sonora Hig. tireless dedication and service for the "Rick is one of the most respected past 42 years." and beloved teachers in Tuolumne Former career achievement award
winner Trudy Loomis, of James Elementary, shared this sentiment. 'The career achievement award was
made for guys like this," said Loomis. "Francis sets the standard for education in this county." Francis was humbled by the award. 'There are some super educators in this county and to be recognized in frontofmy peersisspecial,"hesaid.
Calaveras County Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's Office provided no statement on the fire. Robitaille s ai d th e cause is under investigation. According to one neighbor, the fire occurred in a rental home. Bruce Schlicher, however, thought it was not currently rented. "I got here maybe five minutes ... I was unloading groceries and the police knocked. It was in back of my lot." Firefighters from Cal Bre and the Calaveras C onsolidated, Mok e lumne Hill and San Andreas Fire departments responded.