Dinner to benefit Dayton family who lost home to fire

The benefit Spaghetti Feed for Bruce and Shirley Allen, whose house burned June 9, takes place from 2-6 p.m. Saturday at Our Park, just west of S & S Mini Mart. The Allens who are known for their involvement in horse rescue, have given much to the community.

"This is our opportunity to do something for them," said benefit organizer, Dorothy Wingard.

Central Lyon County Fire District firefighters will be honored guests and will also be bringing a fire truck and Hazard House for children of all ages. There will be face painting and a Red Hot Car and Motorcycle Show. To enter the show (there's a $10 registration fee), contact Butch or Janis Bricker at 246-8797. Numerous prizes have also been donated for a raffle and silent auction.

The main course will be cooked by Lee Kennedy of Daytona Casino. Dinner also includes salad, french bread, dessert and beverage. Cost is $6 for adults and $3 for children.

Show Bruce and Shirley you appreciate all they've done and come out for a wonderful, family-oriented event.

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Apparently there's panic running through Dayton regarding the new school. Parents are reporting that Sutro and Dayton elementary schools are to give one-third of their desks and such to the new school.

The story is that teachers moving from Dayton and Sutro Elementary schools are being asked to bring their desks, student desks, text books and even, (gasp!) paper-towel holders. Pass the hat and let's buy toilet paper! all because there's no money in the budget to provide the new school with these necessary tools of the job.

Comments have included "we're not losing one-third of our students, so what's going to happen to them?" to "When the new school in Fernley opened they got all new..." to "where did the budgeted money for furnishing the school go?" to "It's NOT an overflow school."

Superintendent Nat Lammori said the situation is not so dire as the rumors would have us believe.

First, the new school IS an "overflow school," where students will be pulled from the existing schools. Enrollment will drop from 600-400 students with an estimated 400 students going to the new school. Therefore, desks and textbooks that would be needed by those students can go with them.

The rationale of sending computers and textbooks is that these things have a shelf life where, if they sit unused, they will be outdated before they're needed. This way, books and computers can be used and replaced as they normally would.

Second, students will not be seated in hallways or classroom floors due to a lack of desks at any of the schools. As Dayton grows, and more students transfer into the schools, new desks will be purchased.

Third, the schools had enough one-year hires that were not renewed because the grant that covered them was over. There may be a new grant and more hires if needed, Lammori said, adding that classrooms will be staffed to meet required state law.

Fourth, there's no truth to the paper-towel holder tales.

Please do not shoot the messenger (that would be me). Further questions can be directed to Lammori, at (775) 463-6800, ext. 131.

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Recently, my friends and I made the pilgrimage to Haight-Ashbury to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love.

Being in the city is always such a reminder of the beauty of diversity, artistic and creative expression and the energy of the collective free thinkers.

And then there's the traffic.

There was the flag of the Rainbow Nation flying high on the hill, right next to where we needed to be. But could we get there? As we wound through the streets, we passed the place where my folks had lived when I was born in 1964. We drove endlessly through North Beach, where my grandmother had spent the better part of her early life, the little hottie, whose claim to a bit of her fame was that she dated Joe DiMaggio long before Marilyn ever got her hooks into him.

I tried to close my eyes and imagine San Francisco 1936 and 1963/1964 and feel what that must have been for my grandmother as a young woman, my father as a child growing up and finally for my mother, who came to the city from a farm in Idaho, by way of Los Angeles.

Golden Gate Park, with its drumming circles, homeless population, obvious drug deals and swarm of activity surely felt and sounded then (in the '60s) much as it does today.

The actual observance was June 9 and went from a crowd of 20 to 50,000 throughout the course of the day. There were people of all races, creeds and orientations in various states of dress or undress, perhaps. There was a booth for anarchists, psychics, a virtual tea-party and medical marijuana registration and information.

We met a 70s-something woman named Cheryl, whose youngest daughter had brought her to the festivities because in her words, "I want to eat a pot brownie before I die." Her oldest daughter had declined to bring her, telling her mother she was too old for that kind of behavior.

Signs on street posts said women could make up to $320 by being tested for herpes (there's a career!); Bush's impeachment was called for via spray-painted crosswalks, but my favorite was the word "Peace," and its correlating symbol, etched simply into a part of the sidewalk.

The Red Victorian World Peace Center had poets sharing their thoughts and music played at both ends of the venue, which of course, was Haight Street.

People who survived the actual Summer of Love, spoke about continuing the message of peace through words and action.

Showcased there, was the brightest and best part of what the Summer of Love embodied.

After being immersed in that environment the better part of two days, hugging the Big Red Ball of Love and waiting for friends to receive their legal delivery of THC-infused medical products on the corner where SF Police Department's "Mobile Command Unit II" was parked, I was ready to come home to quiet little Dayton. A bit too surreal for even me.

But now I can check "Went to Summer of Love Celebration" off the list of things I have to do before I die.

Peace to each of you as we celebrate our nation's independence!

• Contact reporter Karel Ancona-Henry at kanconahenry@sierranevadamedia.com or 246-4000.