Coastside Adult Day Health Center is sponsoring a casino trip on Friday, September 9, to benefit the center.

The fee for the Cache Creek Casino trip will be $38, paid in advance. This includes $10 of bonus money for playing. The pick-ups are at Canada Cove in Half Moon Bay at 8:45 am, Coastside Adult Day Health Center at 645 Correas St. in Half Moon Bay at 9:00 am, and the Pacifica Senior Center on Highway 1 and Crespi Dr., at 9:20 am.

The Casino requires photo ID for entry. Call Anne at 726-6119 for more information. Please make the check out to CADHC and mail to the Coastside Travel Club at 190 Creekside Dr., Half Moon Bay, C 94019. There are no refunds.

What a lovely day. I am enjoying the sunshine in a post-lunch reverie that involved someone else’s tomatoes. Good news is that is was so tasty and delightful that I am now back in the good graces of an unintentionally neglected associate, and, as a bonus, recovered in heart and spirit from the dismal duty of ripping out every single tomato plant I had in my garden. To a stem, they all succumbed to black blight, a common peril of this past long and wet season. I am not quite prepared to call it summer.

Tomato growing on the coast is an act of faith and hopeless optimism. I attempt it every year. And every year about this time, as I rip out the black-stemmed stragglers, I get a deeper level of respect for the truly talented farmers on the coast who are more successful at this endeavor than I seem to be. Happily, there are a few dedicated sorts who have found varieties that can thrive here, or ways to coax, cajole or harass the Black Prince Stupice into something resembling compliance with its genetic imperative to go forth and be fruitful.

Tomatoes this year need some help, and/or neglect, depending on how you look at it. The best tomatoes are dry-farmed heirlooms, where the plants are not watered after they have blossomed and set fruit. As the heat rises the tomatoes’ flavors concentrate into a nearly unbearable delish-ess-ness. But, dry-farming tomatoes this year has been a non-starter, and the late rains mean that while they are heavy and pretty, that intense ‘mater-ness is missing. So, I took a pile of fat, baby-bottom sized ones, cut them in half and stuck them in the oven at 250º with the door cracked a bit for the night. In the morning, they were pretty funny looking, I admit, but when I cut them into smaller pieces, sauteed them with some shallots and onions, julienned fennel and dill weed, flashed them off the pan with a shot of James Blond, and piled the whole delightful mess onto a thick chunk of sourdough, they were transformed into a tomatoey bruschetta o’ beauty. Shave a shard or two of Broncha over the top, serve with a side order o’ Dino-tongue salad ( that’s right , Big Steve, its all about the kale) and a bowl full of berries and juicy chunks of peach later, and that’s one lovely lunch that does a heart good.

The recent revelation that Martin’s Beach is probably now owned by an billionaire is a good enough reason to post a link to the Friends of Martin’s Beach Facebook page.

A fourth suspect in the Half Moon Bay’s August 14 gang shooting has been arrested for attempted murder with criminal street gang enhancement by San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office detectives in San Francisco.

Mason Paul Wessel, 19, of Half Moon Bay was seen leaving a car on the 2000 block of Hyde Street where his father was known to have an apartment.

During the arrest, the Wessel’s father and driver of the car, David Paul Wessel, 54, attempted to obstruct the arrest and had to be physically restrained by one of the deputies. He was arrested for obstructing a police officer, cited, and released at the scene.

Pacifica Community Television is preparing to take over community access television for the Coastside on Monday, September 12. Comcast subscribers will find the new station at channel 27, the current home of MCTV. The station will also be online at PCT26.com or “a soon to be unveiled new site” at www.PacificCoast.tv

PCT won the right to operate the Coastside’s public access station for the county after a competitive bidding process that included the incumbent, MCTV.

Coastsider spoke with PCT station manager Marty Anaya about his plans for the switchover, as well as including the Coastside in the station’s goverance and programming.

PCT already has agreements in place or is waiting for approval to record the meetings of all Coastside boards, except for Coastside Fire Protection District, which is using Montara Fog to record its meetings. Meeeting will be cablecast on channel 27, as well as available on the Internet for streaming or download. PCT will continue to cablecast the meetings of the Midcoast Community Council and the Half Moon Bay City Council live in prime time.

Meanwhile, on September 15, the PCT board will vote on three new board members from the Coastside: Rob Genovesi, head of operations at Coastside.net; Shannon Bowman-Sarkisian of Pescadero radio station KPDO; and Greg Bonaparte, chair of the Pescadero Municipal Advisory Council.

PCT is also looking at developing a Coastside history program in the spirit of its current Pacifica history program.

The San Mateo County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested three suspects in an alleged gang-related shooting in Half Moon Bay on August 14.

Christian Serrano DeLeon, 21, at 400 Metzgar Avenue in Half Moon Bay was the primary suspect. He was arrested in his home and charged with attempted murder with a criminal street gang enhancement.

Marco Antonio Barajas, 18, was arrested at his home on the 400 Block of Willow Street in Half Moon Bay and charged with attempted murder with a criminal street gang enhancement.

The third suspect, a 17 year old, Hispanic juvenile male was arrested at a residence in the 100 block of Corona Street in the Pillar Ridge Mobile Home Community. He has been booked at the San Mateo County Youth Services Center on charges of attempted murder with a criminal street gang enhancement.

Pescadero Grown!
New Market Location & Hours

We say goodbye to summer and hello to fall
New location: 350 Stage Road, Pescadero
New hours: 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM

We gladly accept WIC Farmer’s Market Vouchers and CalFresh/EBT

This week at the market: September 1, 2011

Pescadero Grown! features fresh & sustainable vegetables, fruit, honey, flowers, plants, beef, fish, chicken, eggs, cheese, jams, kimchi, fudge, cupcakes and more. All lovingly raised and produced on the South Coast.

Farmers and Producers:
Addwater Farm
Blue House Farm
Blue Ocean Smokehouse
Del Sur Farm
CSM Beekeepers Cooperative
Echo Valley Farm
Farmageddon
Farm House Frosting and Buttercup Cakes
Fifth Crow Farm
Fogline Nursery
Harley Farms
Joan Jama
Markegard Family Grass-fed
Tunitas Creek Ranch

Speaker Biography:
Torlakson’s journey has led him from the classrooms of Contra Costa County’s Mount Diablo Unified School District (where he remains a teacher-on-leave), to the Antioch City Council, Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, and the California State Senate and State Assembly.

During his tenure in the California State Legislature, Torlakson acted to protect education funding, improve student nutrition and physical education, and ensure school safety. He also championed legislation to increase funding for textbooks, computers, and other instructional materials, as well as efforts to close the digital divide, eliminate the achievement gap, and reduce the dropout rate.

In 1998 Torlakson authored legislation leading to the development of the largest system of after-school programs in the nation. In 2006 he authored the bill that led to a 300-percent expansion in these programs—so they now reach 4,000 schools around the state. That year he also authored the Quality Education Improvement Act (SB 1133), which dedicates nearly $3 billion to our lowest-performing schools.

As the chair and founder of the California Task Force on Youth and Workplace Wellness, Torlakson has been a leader in banning junk food from our schools, providing healthier school meals, promoting student health and fitness, and combating diabetes and obesity among our children. As State Superintendent, he continues his focus on these issues and expanding and streamlining support to the state’s 1,000 school districts.

Born in San Francisco, Torlakson served as a fireman in the United States Merchant Marine, earning the Vietnam Service Medal. He earned a BA in History, a Life Secondary Teaching Credential, and an MA in Education from the University of California, Berkeley. Tom lives in Pittsburg with his wife, Mae Cendaña Torlakson, a member of the Ambrose Recreation and Park District Board of Directors.

The secretive new owner of Martin’s Beach who locked out the public may be Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, reports Julia Scott in the County Times.

Surfrider Foundation has tied Khosla, who refused to answer questions from the County Times, to the purchase and requested a meeting.

The beach was purchased by company registered and managed by people with close ties to Khosla.

Khosla is founder and CEO of Khosla Ventures, one of the Silicon Valley’s best-known venture capital firms. He is well known for his commitment to clean energy technology and has been dubbed the “king” of green investing.

[...]

“There was a good enough preponderance of evidence pointing that way,” said Mike Wallace, a spokesman for the Surfrider chapter. “I didn’t expect to hear from him, but I wanted to reach him so he would know people are on to him.”

[...]

Approached outside his office on Monday, Khosla would not comment on whether he owns Martin’s Beach. He said he hadn’t seen the Surfrider letter, which was sent by certified mail on Aug. 3.

“I’m in the middle of a meeting,” Khosla said, walking away quickly. “I haven’t seen the letter. I’ll respond to the letter when I receive it.” He would not answer other questions and did not respond to a subsequent email.

Before the beach was purchased for $33.8 million in 2008, owners allowed the public access to the beach by a private road for a token fee.