Cordell Koland—who served on Half Moon Bay’s Architectural Review Committee for several years before moving to Redwood Shores two years ago—has passed away after a long struggle with health problems.

Those problems didn’t stop him from championing numerous causes over the years and those he worked with are greatly saddened by his passing. He was especially proud of the work of the Half Moon Bay Open Space Trust (HOST) for which his wife, Ellen Koland, served as president at a critical time in its history.

The family asks only for blood donations to Red Cross in his name - if you can, when you can.

Taste of the Coast, the event held yesterday evening, September 30 at Sea Crest auditorium, was a wonderful benefit for Senior Coastsiders programs for seniors.  I’d estimate more than 200 people attended, ranging in age from twenty-something to eighty-something. They danced to a great band, enjoyed great food, talked to old friends and made some new acquaintances. Everybody looked happy to be there.

More than two dozen local restaurants participated with delectable samples of their cuisine. Even the restaurant servers, heroically standing behind their tables for three hours, looked happy.

This event was more than a Senior Coastsiders benefit; it was a Community benefit.

If you don’t believe what I’m saying, just take a look at the pictures of Taste of the Coast 2007 that Barry posted today. Many, many thanks to Cheri Parr for such terrific pictures.

And many, many thanks to all the volunteers and local businesses and organizations who made the event possible.

Suzanne Black
Board Member,
Senior Coastsiders

Saturday September 22, 2007—Proving once again barking dogs seldom bite, the # 1 Coastside Cougar Midgets swiftly beat the #4 San Mateo Bulldogs 22-0 at last Saturday night’s game under the lights at John Francis Field.  The teams were evenly matched—a rarity for Coastside. 

The overall strategy of Head Coach Mike Seaton prevailed.  He runs a tight ship, his players play clean but tough and are led by running backs Chewy Huerta Jr. and Blake Kastl and quarterbacks Nate Seaton and Joey Erdie, all smart on the field and off. 

The game kickoff by the Bulldogs was a great example of speed and smarts.  Blake Kastl recovered the attempted on side kick, carrying the ball over 30 yards for a Cougar first down.  The Cougar offense drove hard, but didn’t score until the end of the quarter when the Bulldog quarterback threw a deep pass which was intercepted by cornerback Timma Cruz near the 5 yard line.  Blocking by guardsmen Austin Krieger, Neal Seaton, center Dalton James and tackle Jose Uribe, allowed the Cougars to run it up the middle for the first touchdown.  Chewy Huerta Jr. kicked for the PAT, putting the Cougars at 8, Bulldogs 0 by the end of the first quarter. 

The start of the second quarter sent the Bulldogs whimpering back to their crate.  If the primary job of defensive linemen is to gain penetration past the line of scrimmage and disrupt offensive plays, Coastside Cougar Defensive Coordinator Bobby Ellison’s training is right on the money.  Defensive tackle Erik Procopio made a ferocious QB sack at the Bulldog’s 34 yard line.  The next plays had defensive tackles Will Smith, Matt Young, Jacob Spaeth, and Sean McCaffrey exploding off the line with lots of power and forward drive forcing the Bulldogs to punt on the 50 yard line.  Offensive Coordinator Dave Gibbs is exercising the arms of his quarterbacks, allowing more passing plays, which are always crowd pleasers.  While interceptions are a risk, the Coastside Cougar defensive is ready to pounce.  Cornerback Brian Martinez made a great outside tackle after a Bulldog pass interception, showing good instincts and anticipation—preventing the Bulldogs from getting to a first down. 

On the third play of the third quarter, the Bulldogs tried a sweep.  The Bulldog’s running back was deep in his territory when defensive end Joey Erdie tackled him for a loss of 15 yards, forcing the Bulldogs to punt.  The Cougar Orange offensive guards Kennedy Palmer, Neal Seaton, offensive tackles Manny Arellanes, Marshall Egger and tight end Sergio Covarrubias, blocked for running back Chewy Huerta Jr. like dog catchers picking up strays.  In one play, Sergio Covarrubias made two blocks.  The hard drive didn’t result in a score, but an incredibly deep punt by Chewy Huerta Jr. choked the Bulldogs when running back Timma Cruz with breakaway speed tackled the Bulldog receiver on the 15 yard line.  The Cougar defense kept the Bulldogs in their dog run.  On a fourth and long, the Bulldogs had to punt, but the power of Cougar defensemen Joseph Lowman, Patrick Meyers and Taylor James forced an unnatural punter pass, which was intercepted by safety Blake Kastl on the 3 yard line.  The Coastside Cougars score, but miss the PAT, bringing the Coastside Cougar lead to 14, Bulldogs 0 at the close of the third quarter.

Kicker Chewy Huerta Jr. showed off his strong leg and good kicking mechanics with a deep kickoff which had the Bulldogs down the ball on the 5 yard line.  The Cougar Defense was on fire.  Cornerback Taylor James proved tough to get past and jammed the Bulldog QB.   The very next play had defensive guard Will Smith staying low and firing off the ball, sacking the Bulldog QB behind the goal line, forcing a fumble.  Defensive lineman Sergio Covarrubias was quick to spot the fumble, fetched the ball and turned the play into a touchdown with the PAT.  The final score: Coastside Cougars 22, Bulldogs 0. 

Coastside Cougars rule, while the Bay Cities Bulldogs drool.  1, 2, 3…GO COASTSIDE!

FISHER, Dr. Alvan – age 57, of Half Moon Bay, CA, formerly of Barrington, RI.

Entered into rest September 28, 2007, after a short, but courageous battle with kidney cancer. Beloved husband of Pamela (Foster) for 35 years. Adored son of the late Maurice C., (MD) and Martha (Ellis) Fisher. Devoted father of Andrew Fisher of Berkeley, CA and Jeremy Fisher of Half Moon Bay, CA. Loving brother of Leanne Gitell of Hull, MA and Diane Cooper and her husband Harvey of Natick, MA. Caring uncle of Nancy Sciore, Steven Cooper, Seth and Deborah Gitell, and Ruth and Meryl Sherman. Cherished great-uncle of Marielle Sciore, Chloe Sciore and Max Gitell. Dear brother-in-law of Gerald Gitell and Paula and Michael Sherman.

Alvan spent 22 years in clinical practice in Rhode Island treating and advocating for patients with HIV/AIDS. As a founding member of the Board of Directors of Rhode Island Project AIDS he was instrumental in establishing standards for the comprehensive care of patients with this disease. More recently he continued his work in the field of HIV/AIDS treatment as Senior Director of Medical Affairs for Gilead Sciences in Foster City, CA

Services will be held at Stanetsky Memorial Chapels, 475 Washington St., Canton, MA, Tuesday, October 2nd at 1pm. The family will be at the home of Harvey and Diane Cooper following interment through Wednesday evening and at the home of Dr. Ronald and Sharon Gilman in Barrington, RI Thursday and Friday evening, to receive relatives and friends. In lieu of flowers donations in memory of Alvan may be made to AIDS Project Rhode Island, 232 West Exchange St., Providence, RI 02903, or to The Dean R. O’Neill Renal Cell Cancer Research Fund, c/o Foundation for the NIH, One Cloister Court, Suite 152, Bethesda, MD 20814-1460.

We’re moving Coastsider’s calendars to Google Calendar. This will give us a bunch of advantages. You will be able to subscribe to Coastsider’s calendars more easily in iCal, your RSS reader, or your own Google calendar. Soon, we will be able to integrate your organization’s calendar into Coastsider’s calendars. This means you’ll be able to update your own events on Coastsider’s pages by yourself.

The calendars are still in testing, so take a look and tell us what you think. We’re still working on updating and correct the calendar, so please check all events with the organizer. We’ve taken the calendar off the home page until we’re satisfied with it.

To get to Coastsider’s new calendars, click on the "Calendar" link below the Coastsider logo.

There will be a special meeting of the Midcoast Community Council Oct 3, Wednesday night, at 7:30pm where Coastsiders can meet the candidates for the Half Moon Bay fire district board. 

A representative from the League of Women Voters invited each candidate for the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District to this meeting to make a brief statement followed by a question and answer period.  The public is encouraged to attend and ask questions. A representative from the League of Women Voters will moderate this session.

If you have questions for any candidate and cannot attend this meeting, you can send questions to Gael Erickson – [email protected]. They will be handed to the session moderator.

Candidates for the Point Montara fire board, Midcoast Community Council, and the Montara Water and Sanitary District are invited to the regular Midcoast Community Council meeting on October 10 for a similar question and answer session also to be moderated by the League of Women Voters.

The meeting will be at Seton Medical Center Coastside, Marine Boulevard & Etheldore, Moss Beach Take Highway 1 to Marine Boulevard and follow hospital signs uphill. Attendees must park in the upper hospital parking lot as per hospital policy.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that the Point Montara Fire Board candidates would be at the October 3 meeting.

For the last two months, we’ve observed low flying small aircraft; mostly coming out of the East. 

The noise has been overwhelming, and a few of us have been complaining to both the Half Moon Bay Airport & the San Carlos one.

The responses have been that the pilots deny any infractions of the bylaws (of course).  And they referred me onto the FAA who basically told us unless we get the numbers off of these plane tails & can "prove" they’re flying low & over our neighborhoods, not much can be done.

But I heard that a neighborhood near the Distillery complained so much that they shifted the aircraft from their area.

I’m hoping to have others that are feeling these invasive planes to help support moving them off of our area.

Every phone call to both airports will help.

Thanks.

By Erin Tormey, organizer of the Coastside Farmer’s Market. In Half Moon Bay, the market is at Shoreline Station (at Kelly and Highway 1), Saturdays, 9am to 1pm

Well Marketeers, Fall done fell.

Which begs the question: What happens when it rains?

Well, all kinds of good things happen when it rains.  For one thing, the Market will be open and full, as will be - rain or shine- through November, every day until right before Thanksgiving.  Except , of course Pumpkin Festival Saturday.  Other than that we are here and at your service. Squash any rumors to the contrary.  Pun intended.

Fires in the hillsides get put out.  You can eke another few weeks of abundance from your lettuce patches and if your roses are in their second bought of flowering for the year, then you luck out and get an ever richer bloom.

And most importantly you get to eat some kinda tea and toast all three meals of the day, plus snacks if you want, and no one thinks you are weird.

Come to the Market and get a loaf of Greenlees’s Cinnamon Bread. They call it "Worlds’ Best Cinnamon Bread "and having done more than my requisite share of research on the issue, I concur.  All you need to do to have a seriously good morning is toast a piece of this stuff and put it on a good looking plate with slices of perfect new crop apples. Forget the butter or any other single thing.  But do have a great cup of coffee or a cup of Garimo’s Up & Atom Chai on hand to complete the effect.  Your coffee-break companions will offer to do small jobs, prune your roses or return your extension cords in time for Christmas-anything- to get asked back.

The price of Hetch Hetchy water is about to increase to pay for $4.3 billion in earthquake upgrades and new sources of water.  Bay Area water demand is expected to increase 13 percent by 2030 reports Julia Scott in the County Times. And the supply of water from the Sierra snowpack is threatened by changes in the global climate. The County Coastside Water District (CCWD) buys Hetch Hetchy water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to supplement its local water, Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD) gets all its water from local wells.

Customers outside San Francisco who buy their drinking water from the SFPUC, including most residents of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties, will see their water bills increase 40 percent on average as the agency charges more to pay for the improvements, according to the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA).

But during a series of public meetings on the draft Hetch Hetchy water system improvement plan this month, conservationists argued that part of the costs for that water won’t be worth it.

One of the project alternatives the SFPUC is considering would divert up to 25 million gallons per day from the upper Tuolomne River, which flows into the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. The Tuolomne already provides 85 percent of the water piped to Bay area customers.