On the gloomy, rainy afternoon of September 21, officially the United Nations International Day of Peace, some 100 peace-loving Pacificans gathered on Pacifica State Beach in Linda Mar to honor the victims of the Iraq war: American troops and Iraqi civilians. The war memorial observance took place in the midst of an American Friends Service Committee installation known as Eyes Wide Open: hundreds of pairs of combat boots representing fallen soldiers.

Pacifica Peace People (PPP) invited Pacifica Military Moms, Gold Star Mothers, and Veterans for Peace to join them in reading the names of the war dead, punctuating the reading of each name by striking a Tibetan prayer bell. These somber notes rang out across the beach, as several surfers and passersby stopped to witness the ceremony.

PPP holds monthly peace vigils at Highway 1 and Linda Mar, counsels students and parents about alternatives to military service, and conducts educational events in the community. PPP also hopes to persuade City Council to declare Pacifica a "City for Peace," joining 300 other American cities that have made this declaration. The crux of the issue is the Iraq war’s negative fiscal impact on local spending programs.

Story from Pacifica Riptide.  For more photos, see their stories here , here, and here.

Is your family ready for a fire, earthquake, flood, or terrorism?  You’re invited to Disaster Preparedness day at the San Mateo County Event Center, 2495 S. Delaware St, in San Mateo, this Saturday Sept 29 from 10am to 2pm.  The event features emergency kit and disaster plan instructions, first aid, police, fire, school emergency plans, emergency equipment demonstrations, and survival do’s and don’ts.

Admission is free. So are the hot dogs and soda. For more information, contact Office of Emergency Services at (650) 363-4790 or the Office of Supervisor Adrienne J. Tissier (650) 363-4572

Supervisor Rich Gordon’s office will be holding office hours on the Coastside Thursday, September 27 from 10am to noon at the Midcoast Sheriff’s Substation in Moss Beach.

The Ridge Trail Cruz will be held Saturday, Sept 29. The Cruz is the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council’s second annual trail event for hikers, bicyclists, and equestrians, beginning at Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District’s Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve.

The "Cruz" features a long section of the Ridge Trail, highlighting the fact that 300 miles of the projected 550-mile trail are already open for use. It also encourages community members to enjoy this recreational amenity by providing a fully supported and organized day on the trail. As part of the program again this year, a family hike suitable for children will be featured, and families are enthusiastically encouraged to attend.

Hikers may choose to go on a 12-mile hike, or up to 24 miles. A bus will shuttle hikers south to a Santa Clara County Park or the District’s Saratoga Gap Preserve so they can hike north on the return. There are two mountain bike options in District preserves for participants. Equestrians are welcome. Rest stops, water, lunch, snacks, a detailed map, and outing leaders are provided, plus bus transportation for hikers.

The fee is $40. Attendance is limited and advance registration is required.  Start time depends on the activity selected.  By joining the optional CruzAthon, participants can raise funds through pledges and receive special gifts.  Event proceeds will benefit the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council’s efforts to complete the proposed 550-mile trail.

Registration is open to the public at www.ridgetrail.org

The Bay Area Ridge Trail, when completed, will be a 550-mile trail encircling the San Francisco Bay along the ridge tops, and open to hikers, equestrians, mountain bicyclists, and outdoor enthusiasts of all types. The Council has dedicated over 300 miles of trail, which is permanently protected for public enjoyment.

The Bay Area Ridge Trail Council is the nonprofit organization that plans, acquires, builds, maintains, and promotes the Ridge Trail. www.ridgetrail.org <

The Council welcomes volunteers to work at rest stops along the route on the day of the event, or to assist with other preparations. Please contact Joel Gartland, the Council’s Volunteer Coordinator at (415) 561-2595 or [email protected].

Spellbound (97 mins)

Fri Sept 21 at 7::30 pm
The Depot at Johnson House
Higgins-Purissima Road, Half Moon Bay
$6:00 for adults;  $3:00 for Students

"A nail-biting competition film, an engrossing group character study and a wonderfully graceful comedy of manners." William Arnold,  Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Every spring since 1925, Scripps Howard newspapers has sponsored spelling bees at grade schools across the U.S. This award winning documentary presents the intense, real life experience of the National Spelling Bee as seen through the eyes of eight, driven young spellers. The film travels from the plains of Texas to the lawns of Connecticut, from redneck countryside to the troubled inner city of Washington D.C. On the way we get to know each kid, sharing their private lives as they advance through regional competition, prepare for, and eventually do battle at the national contest.

"An unassailably great film. Anyone who has not seen it assumes it’s good in the most earnest, studied kind of way—good for you. I’ve seen Spellbound four times, most recently with my grade 6 class, and the initial thrill hasn’t waned a bit. For a film about something as staid as a spelling bee, where requests for a word origin count as major plot twists, it’s as sly and disarming as can be."
— Phil Dellio, RockCritics.com

For more info see: Coastside Film Society

Reproduced with permission from Montara Fog. Videos by Darin Boville

The area often called the "Midcoast" (everything north of Half Moon Bay and south of Devil’s Slide) is one of the few unincorporated areas in San Mateo County. You can imagine how exciting it must be for the County Board of Supervisors to have to deal with us on a regular basis—how our micro-local concerns must seem to them when they are used to dealing with grander things.

Thus the Midcoast Community Council. That’s "MCC" for short. It was established in 1991 as a sort of local representation of the County. The Board of Supervisors had a way to learn more about what was going on on the coast and local residents had a way of being heard by the powers-that-be. Hurray.

But it has been tough times of late for the MCC. Small children, barely able to talk, can count how many members of the public attend the meetings. MCTV, the "community" access channel can skip televising a session or two and not a complaint is heard. The apathy extends to the Council members themselves—published reports earlier this summer noted that one member hadn’t attended a meeting in over a year—the remaining members suspect that she may have moved out of the area.

I’m not making this up, really.

But this year the MCC’s prospects are looking up. There’s a contested election—five candidates for three open seats.

To help the public get to know the candidates I offered to shoot a short introductory video of each. I set out a few basic rules, offered to shoot anywhere on the coast they wished, and gave them five minutes of screen time. The rest was up to them.

Pay attention to this race if you favor democracy here on the Midcoast.

Deborah Lardie
    Quicktime     Flash

Howard Lieberman
    Quicktime     Flash

Neil Merrilees
    Quicktime     Flash

Bob Ptacek
    Quicktime     Flash

Leonard Woren
    Quicktime     Flash

It seems that there’s a ceremony around the Devil’s Slide Tunnel every year or so on the Coastside. This year’s event marked the beginning of actual hole-drilling. Lots of dignitaries were on hand, as well as lots of awesome-looking drilling equipment. Darin has an essay about the event on Montara Fog and an album of photos on SmugMug.

In this case the organizers were planning to have a image of Lennie Roberts—the citizen-leader of the movement to substitute the tunnel for the "bypass" (read: four-lane highway through Montara into Moss Beach)—working the controls of the digging machine to make the first scratch into the mountain to begin the tunnel. Now look at the coverage on the television and local papers and we’ll compare notes about how many used that image—and ponder the independence of the press.