65.4 F
Scotts Valley
December 8, 2024

Scotts Valley’s Jacob Horton victorious in his MMA debut

Scotts Valley native Jacob Horton made his mixed martial arts debut nearly two months ago with his first amateur fight at the O’Banion Auditorium in Los Banos.  With little to no experience in the octagon, the 19-year-old made the Main Card in the event hosted...

A Fresh Start for Longtime Radio Host

After nearly 31 years behind the microphone at KSCO, Ben Lomond resident and local celebrity Rosemary Chalmers is reinventing herself. As the long-time host of “Good Morning Monterey Bay,” the UK-born Chalmers found her home at 1080 AM in the 1990s—first as the station receptionist,...

Hitchcock Festival packs Scotts Valley’s new theater

It was a sell-out crowd for the big Alfred Hitchcock Festival opener last weekend at the new performing arts center in Scotts Valley. The life-size bird replica on his left shoulder of one attendee was proof of just how engaged local residents were in the...

Treat bronchitis the right way

Acute bronchitis, an infection causing inflammations of the lung’s airways, is one of the most common of human ailments.

Controlling diseases and pests on fruit trees

the mountain gardener
I love it when a nice reader takes the time to call me to suggest a topic they’d like to see me write about or remind them what needs to be done at a certain time of year. Take Helen, who lives in Spring...

The Mountain Gardener: Trim and prune trees with care

The big wind we experienced not long ago was just the beginning of the wild weather that is coming our way. Looking up at the trees violently swaying from one side to the other I wondered how they could survive such strong wind gusts. Not all of them do survive, as they come down and block driveways, roads and sometimes land on a house or a car. There are ways of trimming, pruning and managing trees that can help them stay upright in a strong wind. Don't endanger yourself, your family, your property or your valuable trees by mismanaging this valuable resource.

Boulder Creek family loses second house to fire

On Sunday, Boulder Creek resident Eric McFarland was unloading some items from the family vehicle when he heard some strange noises. The CZU Lightning Complex Fire survivor was distressed to see flames behind the house, climbing one of the trees and devouring the winter woodpile. “It...

BC’s oldest building for sale

The Board of Directors of the San Lorenzo Water District voted last week to declare its original home – and the home of its predecessors – as “surplus property,” with the intent to sell the small frame administration building on Highway 9 in Boulder Creek.

Opinion April 17th

Do you need Personal Protective Equipment for protection from Coronavirus? Are you making masks, face shields or other protective equipment? Get what you need, or share what you make with those who need it. Visit our local Coordination Hubs for personal protective gear.

Hollywood lawyer to MCT director

Peter Gelblum sits in the darkened, empty Park Hall in Ben Lomond and reflects on his former hectic life, when he was named One of the Best Lawyers in America – a life that saw him on the worldwide stage as part of the legal team that won a $33.5 million wrongful death judgment against O.J. Simpson.But he found that it was a profession with little creativity.“I hadn’t gone to a lot of plays,” remembers Gelblum of his 30 years working as a partner at Mitchell Siberberg & Knupp in Los Angeles. “I didn’t think about it at all.”But he found that it was a profession with little creativity.“I hadn’t gone to a lot of plays,” remembers Gelblum of his 30 years working as a partner at Mitchell Siberberg & Knupp in Los Angeles. “I didn’t think about it at all.”He certainly thought about drama when he walked past Park Hall shortly after renting a house in Ben Lomond in 2008.“I poked my head in one day and then got really involved,” he says. “Now it’s a very big part of my life.”In addition to serving as vice president of the theater board, Gelblum is currently directing Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, a comedy playing on weekends through May 28.Life has come full circle for Gelblum, who earned a performing arts degree at Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1974. He soon moved to New York City to ply his trade as an actor, working as a waiter between auditions.After a brief stop in San Francisco to work as stage manager for Hold Me!,Gelblum followed the play as an understudy when it moved to Los Angeles in 1977. He continued to pursue acting.Viewers can see him on YouTube as Ralph Donner, a psychopathic killer, on a 1978 Kojak episode entitled “Halls of Terror.”“I thought I’d made the big time,” he says, adding that his agent fired him after his big break. “I never worked again.”For “fun” he entered Southwestern School of Law and earned a degree summa cum laude in 1982. He soon began representing high-profile clients in civil courts of law.Goldblum fought for the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, against Napster’s ability to stiff artists, and represented the family of Fred Goldman, whose son, Ron, was brutally murdered along with Nicole Simpson in 1994 in the civil suit against O.J.Although Simpson was found not guilty of murder charges after a 1995 criminal trial, the Goldman’s filed civil charges in Santa Monica Superior Court in 1997.“It wasn’t about money,” says Gelblum, referring to the Goldman’s inability to pay for the massive legal tab. “There was no doubt in our minds that he (Simpson) had done it.”Gelblum oversaw the photographic expert witnesses and all of the punitive witnesses and evidence. Of the $33.5 million award, Simpson has paid the Goldman’s about $500,000, according to Gelblum.Gelblum’s work tying the photograph of the now-famous Bruno Magli shoes to Simpson is legendary, especially considering that the former football star said he would never wear those “ugly ass” shoes during his 10-day deposition.Twenty-two witnesses disputed Simpson’s version of the events.“He (Simpson) was very charismatic and completely unethical to truthfulness,” remembers Gelblum.Currently, Gelblum, who lives in Boulder Creek with wife Michel, is essentially retired, except for an appeals case in which he represents the heirs of Walt Disney in a matter that involves “several-hundred million dollars.”The couple discovered Big Basin while exploring an old-school style paper map while visiting friends in Corralitos. “We’d never heard of San Lorenzo Valley,” he says of their initial visit. “It was magical; everyone was so nice.”Gelblum was key in resurrecting the mountain theater company after it lost the rights to publish the stage version of Miracle on 34th Street, reducing the non-profit’s budget by about $12,000 annually.Gelblum and his attorney brother Seth came to the rescue and worked and at deal with the story’s owner, 20th Century Fox to get the rights back. He played Kris Kringle in the play from 2010 – 2012.Gelblum is currently working with a group of volunteers reviewing 30 plays that have been submitted for next year’s season. That number will be reduced to four productions.One thing is constant for Gelblum, and that’s believing in O.J. Simpson’s guilt as he comes up for a parole hearing this summer for a 2008 burglary conviction.“I don’t have any sympathy for him,” he says. “He got away with murder.”The Play: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Friday through Sunday, May 29, Friday and Saturday 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., Park Hall, 9400 Mill St., Ben Lomond

SOCIAL MEDIA

2,479FansLike
6FollowersFollow
762FollowersFollow

Scotts Valley Unified School District’s financial review shows surprise revenue gains

Back when Scotts Valley Unified School District officials were charting a course for the 2023-24 school year, they figured they’d bring in $26.2 million...