Grace Elizabeth Reichert
December 1, 1919 – July 26, 2015Services will be held on September 5th 2014 for Grace Reichert who passed away peacefully at the age of 95 with her loving family at her bedside. Born in Oakland, California, the daughter of Welsh emigrants, Grace attended Fremont High School, and helped her country in the wartime efforts by working in the factories, turning armatures at the General Electric Plant in Oakland.Grace married Cliff Taber in 1939. Throughout the 1960’s and 70’s, Grace worked in her husband’s construction business in the San Lorenzo Valley. She facilitated meetings between subcontractors and their clients. She was a resident for 55 years. Mr. Taber preceded her in death.Grace was the coordinator, bus driver, and lead organizer for the Ben Lomond Senior Center for many years. It was at the Center where she met, and later married, Hal Reichert. Grace and Hal enjoyed many travels in their R.V. as members of “Thousand Trails Motor Home Club.” Grace was a familiar face at all Pancake Breakfasts at the Senior Center and was an accomplished artist in both painting and crafts. Her family will forever remember and cherish the memories of her love of the Christmas season with the decorating and fun that it brought.Hal preceded Grace in death in 2013. Grace lived at Oak Tree Villa for 9 years and left many dear friends and health care workers that miss her vibrant spirit. Grace’s family would especially like to thank the care givers at Blue Hammock Care Home in Freedom for their love and concern in making her final days so restful.She is survived by her daughter, Diane Beardsley of Ben Lomond, her son Don Taber of Santa Cruz; her brothers, Donald Davies, Kenneth Davies, and Jake Davies; her beloved grandchildren, Donald and John Beardsley, Jesse and Meriah Campbell-Taber; her great grandchildren, Nicholas and Lindsey Beardsley and Chloe and Zephyr Jones.Friends and family are invited to attend a burial service on September 5, at 11:00 a.m. at Felton Cemetery, where she will be laid to rest beside her late husband Hal Reichert, and her son-in-law, Richard Beardsley who preceded her in death in 2012. A farewell ceremony will continue at the Ben Lomond Senior Center, following the burial. Any acts of charity can be made in Grace’s memory to the senior center. You can share a memory or condolence with her family by visiting www.pacificgardenschapel.com
New commerce options begin to bud for medical marijuana
Credit card transactions at cannabis clubs may be the future of buying the medicine. State Board of Equalization (SBOE) panel, comprised of industry leaders, politicians and financial experts convened their first meeting in Sacramento last week to discuss financial impacts of the booming industry, which currently operates on a cash only basis.Board Member Fiona Ma, CPA led the meeting, with a statement that access to banking is one of the biggest challenges faced by medicinal marijuana providers.“As we move towards a paperless society, it is unfair for a whole class of citizens to live their lives using cash and manual transactions,” she said.Though the 1996 Proposition 215 legalized dispensary operations in California, cannabis club owners have been unable to function like any other business due to federal restrictions imposed on banks.Jeff Angell of Creekside Collective in Boulder Creek said that prior to last year; he handled all his transactions by getting money orders and paying in cash. Approximately a year ago, one of the local banks created an infrastructure that allows medical marijuana dispensaries to open business accounts. Having that happen has been a time saver because it’s now easier to do basic things like payroll.“I am encouraged by the meeting they have had because we believe in sensible regulations, and we are proud to pay taxes. That legitimizes us,” he said.But despite the fact that Creekside Collective’s bank facilitates some of the day-to-day routines; the system has its limitations.“Our situation is we are in the middle,” he said. “We have some access to banking, but we don’t have access to using credit cards. If we needed a line of credit, we couldn’t do it like any other business.”Angell said that as far as he knows, none of the dispensaries are allowed to accept credit cards, and everyone faces the same obstacles when it comes to accounting.“Our patients have to use ATM and get charged a fee,“ he said about the teller machine that’s on site. It’s so much more convenient when everywhere else you go you can use a credit card.”Angell’s business currently serves a few hundred patients per month; some come more frequently than others. For everyone’s safety, cash is stored off site. There are security cameras inside and out, and overall Angell said he considers himself lucky to be the owner of a small dispensary in a peaceful community.To keep up with fair reporting to the government, Angell uses a point of purchase system that tracks every transaction the collective makes. That way, should an audit occur, the information is all in one place. The collective also keeps a paper record of transactions with vendors.Even if the SBOE meeting marks the first step to progress, decisions are expected to be slow going forward. Since Angell became owner of Creekside Collective in 2012, he has seen little change in the way the state handles medicinal marijuana commerce.“Sadly, I don’t think we’ll see real change until Congress acts,” he said. “Because cannabis is considered a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance, the Feds have to do something about it.”
IOOF Softball
In the Independent Order of Odd Fellows' San Lorenzo Valley Softball Men's Summer League two semi-final games, played last Wednesday at Highlands Park, there were two, contrasting patterns.In the first game, Mountain Mechanics jumped to an early lead and were never threatened, as they hammered the Nailers, 20-6. During the regular season, a 10-point lead would kick-in a mercy rule and the game would be over, but in the playoffs the teams must play 7 full innings (unless there are extra innings).In the evening game, between the Sharks and the Woodpeckers, the game was close until the last inning. Tied at 20-20, the Sharks scored a run at the bottom of the 7th inning, and so they will meet the Mountain Mechanics in the championship game next Wednesday, August 12, at 6 p.m. at Highlands Park.The August 12 game has a “Shakespearean-like” family’s conflict side to it. There will be a first-ever grandfather/grandson duo on the Mountain Mechanics team. Chris Currier and his grandson, Ben Knudson, will be pitched against a “Father with Three Sons” (Mark Mullins with his sons Billy, Robert and John, all former jocks at SLVHS) on the Sharks team.
The Mountain Gardener: Gardening with Kids
My friend Adelyn came to visit the other day. Adelyn just turned three. We always have a good time exploring my garden and checking out the forest. This time, her visit was even more fun.I didn’t have any cherry tomatoes to share because Mr. Gopher got to the plants first but there are always lots of flowers to admire and some have a wonderful fragrance. Over a dozens hummingbirds visit my feeders daily and they love the flowers that produce nectar, too. Songbirds have their own feeders plus suet to eat and all the little seeds that nature can provide. My sunflowers will soon be ripe for the goldfinches to enjoy.To share one’s excitement and knowledge of the outdoor world with a child is fun and rewarding. The wonder that can be seen on a young person’s face as they discover a swallowtail butterfly or a flower just starting to open or a bird feeding in the garden is priceless.Sure it would be great to have a large vegetable garden to share with Adelyn. We could build a teepee out of fallen branches and plant scarlet runner beans around the outside. Alternatively, we could grow a pizza garden in a circle divided like pizza slices with long wooden stakes. We’d plant tomatoes, sweet red peppers and basil in the slices and use stepping stones to mimic pepperoni slices.But I have lots of other cool things to do, so when Adelyn comes to my house we become a couple of naturalists and horticulturalists and that’s OK with us.For Adelyn’s last visit I made a bird book for her with pictures that I took at my house. It has photos of other things besides birds — butterflies, flowers, a tree frog and pictures of family members when they have visited. It was fun to watch her run around and identify which bird or flower had a picture in her book.In a short time, she had seen the Grosbeak, Junco, chickadee, purple finch, goldfinch and nuthatch all snatching a seed from the feeder. The flowers were easier to find since they can’t fly. She really liked the blue hydrangeas and the red flowering maples. Hiding among the huge hosta leaves was fun for her, too.We took some more pictures during the afternoon and printed them out on the computer to add to her little book. The book is one of those inexpensive four by six inch photo albums with sleeves for the photos. We looked for the chipmunks to photograph for the album but they were out feeding elsewhere in the forest.Finding things to do in the garden is easy. You probably already have some edible flowers in your garden. Tuberous begonia petals taste like lemon. Calendulas are spicy as are carnations and marigolds. Dianthus are clove-flavored, nasturtiums give a hint of horseradish and violas, pansies, hollyhock, squash blossoms and johnny-jump-ups taste like mild lettuce. You can also freeze flowers like violas, fuchsias, geranium, stock and thyme in ice cubes.Flowers that kids can cut will be interesting for them, too, especially when planted in their own garden. Cosmos, planted from six packs, provide instant color as well as attracting butterflies. Zinnias come in a rainbow of colors and are a favorite of swallowtail butterflies. Another easy to grow flower for cutting is the snapdragon.Besides flowers, fragrant plants like lemon basil, lemon verbena, lime thyme, orange mint and other herbs engage the senses and can be included in a kid's garden. Lamb's ears are soft and furry.Get a kid into gardening and nature and they'll be good stewards of the land for a lifetime. Plus you’ll have a lot of fun in the process. -Jan Nelson, a landscape designer and California certified nursery professional, will answer questions about gardening in the Santa Cruz Mountains. E-mail her [email protected], or visitwww.jannelsonlandscapedesign.comto view past columns and pictures.
Fishy Transactions
In the fifth season of the Hotel Ben Lomond, G. L. A. Smith became its fourth proprietor/lessee. A sportsman himself, Smith advertised his resort as a happy hunting and fishing ground. “Five deer,” he advised the Sentinel in August, 1893, “have been killed during the past week within a short walk of Ben Lomond station, and yet the woods are full of them.’ During his second season, the landlord and a guest went angling near the hotel and bagged 117 speckled beauties, including a four-pounder. His message to the press—“Trout are plentiful.”Mr. Smith understood the enthusiasm of his audience. “Since the opening of trout season,” observed the local paper, “the trains bring numbers of visitors and tourists, who enjoy catching the tempting beauties — Wells Fargo and Co. is daily carrying baskets of trout, daintily packed in fern leaves.”“What’s the matter with our trout law?” the Sentinel inquired with tongue in cheek, knowing that there was no one enforcing it. “Our fishermen think it’s all right. It never troubles them, although scores of splendid salmon trout have been pulled in the last two weeks.”California had enacted some tough Fish and Game laws. As early as 1886, when Santa Cruz District Attorney W. T. Jeter protested against obstructions on the San Lorenzo, the head of the State Commission had replied that: “The builder who builds a dam without putting in fish ladders should be punished.” The problem was that enforcement was left to local authorities. The economy was depressed, and the county supervisors felt that the hiring of a Fish and Game warden would be an unnecessary expense.The summer of 1895 not only brought yet another keeper to the Hotel Ben Lomond, but also a new owner. The purchaser of J. P. Pierce’s remaining real estate holdings, D. W. Johnston, was an associate of timber-owning millionaires, Timothy Hopkins and F. A. Hihn.The new regime soon faced a challenge when Thomas L. Bell decided to erect a hotel of his own. Regarded by the Santa Cruz press as Ben Lomond’s unofficial mayor, Bell had accumulated acreage on the Felton side of the river, including the site of the original Pacific Mill.Bell’s plan was gradually unveiled. An official of the Southern Pacific Railroad became a silent partner. “Next year,” it was predicted, there is the possibility of our having a grand hotel which will outrival the famous Del Monte.” A feature of the resort would be a body of water the Sentinel dubbed “Bell Lake.”When Bell’s Hotel Rowardennan opened for business in the summer of 1896, its arrival was celebrated by a bright display. The repurposed mill dam that created the artificial lake was also employed to generate electricity for the hotel buildings. “Lights are scattered about the ground,” noticed the Surf, “and over the water of the river — where boating parties are numerous.”Meanwhile, friends of the fishery were becoming worried. A dam, “south of Ben Lomond, which obstructs passage of the fishes” was singled out for criticism. The Sentinel urged the supervisors to appoint a Fish warden. “The game preserves and fishing streams, which have so long been the resort of rod and gun, need protection, or our game will be killed off entirely and our streams emptied of their fish.”A petition, “signed by almost everybody,” insisted that the owners of dams across the San Lorenzo river be required to provide fish ladders. “Our streams,” insisted the Mountain Echo of Boulder Creek, should be kept free from obstruction by dams, and from the deposit of deleterious substances.”While the editor impatiently awaited a response from the Fish Commission, other citizens took action. “Recently,” the Sentinel reported in February, 1897, “dams at Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek have been blown up with dynamite by unknown parties. Some think it was because the Fish Commissioners failed to put fish ladders in the dam, while others say it was for the purpose of giving the fish a way upstream. It was a fishy transaction, anyway.”Less than a week later, Bell’s large house on the Rowardennan grounds burned to the ground. “Nothing was saved,” reported the Mountain Echo, excepting a few things which Mrs. Bell threw out of the window.”Within a matter of days, the train from San Francisco brought a member of the Fish Commission to Ben Lomond. The offending dam in Ben Lomond had only suffered minor damage and, the State official was pleased to find, was now “furnished with a brand new ladder just put in, and satisfactory to the requirements of the law.” To Be ContinuedRandall C. Brown is a local historian and is a member of the SLVWD Board of Directors
Infant-toddler center opened in Scotts Valley
Established in 1968, Scotts Valley's Baymonte Christian School is an independent, interdenominational Christian school for children ranging from preschool through eighth grades. It also runs three day care centers: one at the main Granite Creek Road campus, Baymonte Christian Preschool Too on Scotts Valley Drive and another one on Bethany Drive. In addition to the existing preschool for students between the ages of 2-years, 6-months old through kindergarten, they just opened an infant-care center.“We consulted Santa Cruz County's Children Development Resource Center before committing to open the infant-care” said Steve Patterson, Baymonte's principal. “Apparently there's a vast shortage of infant-care services, they encouraged us to have 35-beds facility, but we decided to go with just an 8-bed license for now, to see how it goes. We do mostly care about the quality of care” he said. The infant-care center will accept 2-month-olds that will stay at the upstairs unit until they're potty-trained and ready to move to the daycare unit downstairs, which accommodates up to12 toddlers.The bad news for those interested is that both units are already full, and there's a waiting list. At the opening ceremony last week, combined with the Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce mixer, city dignitaries mixed with chamber of commerce members, teachers and parents. It culminated in the perfect-PR ribbon-cutting photo, with all yelling “Babies!” in unison.
News Briefs | Published Sept. 12, 2025
Fun run, emergency preparedness fair set for Saturday
On Saturday, Sept. 13, the City of Santa Cruz will be hosting Race the Wave, a 3K...
