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always for the community
February 2010
VOL 15, NO 4
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
SPOTLIGHT
Teacher with a Broadway history By Dan Sutorius
W h e n Danville local Ry a n We i b l e graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Arts Performance Studies degree in the spring of 20 02 , h e wa s faced with a difficult decision. Ryan Weible After securing an offer to lead the drama department at San Ramon Valley High School directly out of college, he decided to put his dreams of a successful Broadway career on hold. Some might call it settling, others may call it being grateful, but if you ask Ryan Weible, he calls it simply that, “a calling.” Ryan knew early on that he had a calling
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Greenbrook Elementary dad, Staff Sargent Zignano and son Andreas (holding flag) get ready to raise the well-traveled flag with the help of the Boy Scout Color Guard from Troop 815. See page 6 for story.
Helping children through crisis and helping in memory of horses in need Al Kaplan horses and pairing them with By Dan Sutorius
As human beings, we want to know how we can rebuild broken trust, not only in our own lives, but in the ones that cannot help themselves. No stranger to mending broken fences of trust is Melanie Buerke, founder of Danville’s nonprofit SonRise Equestrian Foundation. Buerke charges ahead to provide love and support for disabled children with the aid of rehabilitated horses. The SonRise Foundation is into its fourth year of providing a therapeutic achievement program that advocates skill building techniques for children who are riddled with different degrees of social, emotional and physical challenges, including terminal illness. SonRise was formed back in 2006 with a dual interest mission statement of rehabilitating abused and neglected
troubled children who need the affectionate love and trust that these furry four hoofed helpers are known to inherently have. Children like Veronica Tallon, age 10, who participate in the SonRise Foundation activities, learn to develop social skills, confidence and a sense of responsibility. Two years prior to attending one of the many programs that the SonRise Foundation provides at no cost,Photo Veronica Tallon was by Mark Curtis Jordan Silas and Old Joe diagnosed with Trichotilliomania, or TTM for short, and impulse control disorder. After a year of attending SonRise functions with their daughter, parents Michael and Pamela no longer have to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, because they can actually see See SONRiSE page 11
You care about what you put in your body... Remember to care about what you put on your body too. See page 14 730 Camino Ramon, Danville, CA 94526 • 925-362-0767
Alpheus (Al) Ross Kaplan
Al Kaplan went to be with the Lord December 28, 2010 after a brief illness. Al Kaplan was born in Oilmont, Montana where his mother, Bessie Mathews Kaplan of California, and father, Archibald Kaplan of Minnesota, were homesteading. At the height of the depression they moved to Weaverville, California. In 1945, Al moved to the Bay Area and was drafted. He entered WWII but never left the Army induction center at Camp Beale in Marysville, See KAPLAN page 4