On Saturday, April 27, the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library celebrated spring with its second annual spring after-hours celebration. The event was open only to the Friends of the Library. The event featured books, food, wine, art, music and fun.

The following are bios of the local artists and authors who showed their works at the celebration.

Mary Highstreet is a Californian fine artist. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and later attended to college at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.  She graduated in 2009 with a BFA in Art & Design.  Following her graduation, she spent eight months in Los Angeles studying concept design for film under visual development artists and animators currently working in the film industry. Mary has worked in a variety of media and is currently working in oils, acrylics, and digital painting. Her subject matter delves into the deciphering of the human mind, literature, dreams, spirituality, and capturing the sublime.  Her style is primarily illustrative and impressionistic.  Visit www.maryhighstreet.com.

Twenty-three years old, Michael Panush has distinguished himself as a promising young writer. He has published numerous short stories in a variety of e-zines including:  AuroraWolf, Demon Minds, Fantastic Horror, Dark Fire Fiction, Aphelion, Horrorbound, Fantasy Gazetteer, Demonic Tome, Tiny Globule, and Defenestration. He published his first novel, Clark Reeper Tales, for his high school senior project. A graduate of UC Santa Cruz, Michael currently serves as a City Year Corps Member at Rosa Parks Middle School. His books with Curiosity Quills include The Stein and Candle Detective Agency, Volume 1: American Nightmares, Volume 2: Cold Wars, and Volume 3: Red Reunion, all featuring a pair of occult detectives in the 1950s, Dinosaur Jazz– where The Great Gatsby meets Jurassic Park — a story about a Lost World battling against the forces of modernization; and El Mosaico, Volume 1: Scarred Souls and Volume 2: The Road to Hellfire, a Western about a bounty hunter whose body was assembled from the remains of dead Civil War soldiers and brought to life by mad science. Dinosaur Dust and El Mosaico, Volume 3: Hellfire are expected to be released soon. Read excerpts from his work at http://curiosityquills.com/published-authors/michael-panush/ and follow him on twitter at https://twitter.com/Michael_Panush

Eighteen-year-old Sierra Brown is a senior at CK McClatchy High School in the Humanities and International Studies Program. She has won numerous awards over the years for her photography, writing, and art. She enjoys traveling and has visited every state in the U.S. (except Hawaii) and has also traveled extensively throughout Europe and the British Isles. Last summer Sierra spent a month in Rwanda, Africa, as part of a cultural and community service program with other McClatchy High School students.Many of photographs were taken during her travels. Sierra will attend UC Berkeley this fall and plans to study integrated biology.

Carol Ng has played the piano since she was 4 years old and has taught piano for more than 28 years.  Her second instrument is the harp, which she has played for more than 19 years and has taught it for eight years. She has been employed as a clinical certified music practitioner at Mercy General Hospital since 2008 where she has brought therapeutic harp music to the patient’s bedside.  Carol is the resident harpist for the Lutheran Church of the Master and an active member of the choir and bell choir.  Carol received her music teaching diploma from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in Hong Kong.  She composes and arranges music for both the harp and piano.  She is a freelance harpist and pianist for weddings and special events.  She has played before large audiences in Hong Kong and intimate settings in Sacramento. During her tenure as a piano and harp instructor, she has intimate musical one on one interaction with her students and has modified her teaching to accommodate their interest and learning abilities.  She has been an active member of the California Associate of Professional Music Teacher Association (CAPMT-MTNA), the Sacramento Capitol Valley Harp Circle, Harper’s Hall and was Vice President of the Association from 2004-2006. She can be reached at 391-2560.

In addition to her work in public relations and communications in Sacramento, Annette Kassis is a historian specializing in the Western United States, particularly the Greater Sacramento region and Northern California. She recently received the Sacramento County Historical Society’s Award of Excellence in Publications for her book, Weinstock’s: Sacramento’s Finest Department Store (The History Press, 2012), an examination of the history, people and innovations of the Sacramento landmark department store that began at 4th and K Streets in 1874. Kassis serves on the Board of Directors for the Sacramento History Foundation, and her background includes nearly 20 years as co-owner of Sacramento-based advertising and public relations firm K&H Marketing, LLC. Kassis studied journalism and history at Louisiana State University-Shreveport, and continued with graduate studies in United States history at California State University-Sacramento and the University of California-Santa Barbara. She and her husband Rich Kassis live in the Sacramento area.

The Fourth of July Pocket Parade organizing is now underway. This is a community parade. Kids, families, friends, businesses, organizations – you name it, join in. Ride your bike or build a float. The parade begins at 10 a.m. at Parkway Oaks Park (next to Lisbon Elementary on South Land Park Drive) travels down Windbridge, ending at Garcia Bend Park.

After the parade, join in festivities at Garcia Bend Park for a parade awards ceremony, local business community fair, hot dog eating contest, city animal care services adoption event and music. New this year will be food trucks!

Parade and pre-registration ends June 28. Walk-ons are gladly accepted, but pre-registering is encouraged. Parade entry forms are available at The Pocket News, 2709 Riverside Blvd. or Riverside Wesleyan Church, 6449 Riverside Blvd.

Volunteer! The Pocket Parade is made possible because of volunteers. Organizers are encouraging each parade entry to have members of their family, organization, or business volunteer. Call for a complete list of volunteer positions or email pastormike @rwcsac.org

Questions? Call Linda of the Pocket News at 429-9901 or email Linda@valcomnews.com

On Thursday, May 10, the Sacramento Elks 6 honored students and educators at their annual scholarship dinner. The event opened with a welcome from Stephen B. Clazie,
Scholarship Chair, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Boy Scout Troop 259, an invocation by Chaplain Valerie Keyser, and a prime rib dinner served by JFK criminal justice students.

The following is information provided by the Elks Lodge about each of the awardees.

Elks #6 Educators of the Year

Outstanding Middle School Educator for 2013
Mrs. Mikila Fetzer, Genevieve Didion K-8 School

Outstanding High School Educator for 2013
Ms. Lori Jablonski,  C.K. McClatchy High School

Sacramento City Teachers Association  & Elks #6 Scholarships
Presented by Debbie Eto, Exalted Ruler

Elks #6 & Boy Scout Troop 259
Eagle Scout Scholarship
Presented by Debbie Eto, Exalted Ruler

Dillon S. Thomas, C.K. McClatchy High School, $700

Mark A. Thompson, John F. Kennedy High School, $700

Elks #6 Golf Club Scholarship
Wes Okuhara,  C.K. McClatchy High School, $500
Chloe Kashiwagi, C.K. McClatchy High School, $500

Elks #6 Middle School Scholarships
Presented by Debbie Eto, Exalted Ruler

Tilton Hoyt, Sutter Middle School
He strives not only to do ‘A’ work but makes it as creative and original as possible. He is continually thinking outside the box.  He participates in spirit activities, has joined clubs and plays soccer.  He is involved in his local church and does community service.  He is an all-around student that would serve as a role model for our community.

Emily Louie, Genevieve Didion K-8 School
She is co-captain of the cheerleaders and has been a Girl Scout for eight years.  As a Girl Scout, she volunteered at the Special Olympics and distributed Girl Scout cookies for her church. She coordinated the collection of donated materials for military officers stationed overseas.  She earned a level four certificate of merit for piano, and was Elks 6’s April Student of the Month for Didion K-8 School.

Dipp Nguyen, Will C. Wood Middle School
This year, she has participated in Mathletes, MESA , Club Live, Korean Club, and Book Club.  In these numerous endeavors, she strives to uphold leadership roles.  She is team captain of her robotics team, treasurer of Korean Club, and president of Club Live.  Her commitment to these organizations shows her dedication to bettering herself and her peers.

Sacramento Elks #6  Elks National “Most Valuable Student” 2013
Presented by Debbie Eto, Exalted Ruler

Daniel Mingrue Li
As a junior at John F. Kennedy High School, he started the International Student Society, and the club has collaborated with Amnesty International. The group is starting an international women’s rights campaign.  He had a very unique opportunity of traveling across the world to Sacramento’s sister city in China as a youth ambassador.
(DISTRICT $400 & STATE $800 & $1,500 from Emblem Club and $36 from Elks 6 for a total of $2,736)

Keegan Pincombe
He has always been a positive force for hard work.  He has been in the Sacramento Children’s Choir, a youth ambassador to China through a Sister Cities program, and is an Eagle Scout. (STATE $800 & $1,500 from Emblem Club $436 from Elks 6 for a total of $2,736). John F. Kennedy High School

Derek Taylor
He is intensely competitive as an athlete and compassionate as a citizen.  He is wise beyond his years.  He will make his mark in the world in a way that will be both significant and positive.
($1,500 from Emblem Club & $1,236 from Elks 6 for a total of $2,736)
C.K. McClatchy High School

Keiko Jordan Fong
She completed the highest level of math C.K. McClatchy offers by her junior year, and as high school senior received an A in Math 402 at Sacramento City College.  She is an athlete, Girl Scout and accomplished musician, a professional math tutor, artist and an active member of he church group.  She also performs a wide variety of community service, both independently and with her dance troop, often entertaining the elderly at nursing homes.
($1,500 from Emblem Club & $1,236 from Elks 6 for a total of $2,736)
C.K. McClatchy High School

Christina Fang
She assists in the UC Davis Medical Center Trauma Department by performing basic patient care and completing clerical duties.  As a true leader, she is also humble and listens to other’s input.
(ENF SCHOLAR $1,000 for four years for a total of $4,000)
West Campus High School

Allison Yamamoto
Her passion for educational equality empowered her to initiate a volunteer tutoring program at my local library. The positive feedback she received from parents was overwhelming.  She has learned that she can create positive change in my community when there is passion motivating that change.
(ENF SCHOLAR $1,000 for four years for a total of $4,000)
C.K. McClatchy High School

The Gunther & Lee Weigel Medical School Scholarship
The Elks National Foundation is pleased to offer an exclusive scholarship opportunity just for Elks scholars pursuing a medical degree. The Gunther & Lee Weigel Medical School Scholarship will go to six Elks scholars (current or alum) entering the first year of medical school in 2013-14. The $20,000 scholarships were established through the generosity of Lee Weigel, widow of Gunther Weigel. Lee lost her husband of 51 years in November 2009. Gunther was a longtime member of Miami, Fla., Elks Lodge No. 948. He was passionate about the Foundation’s scholarship programs. Lee established these scholarships to help Elks scholars pursue a career in medicine. The application will be available in mid-March 2013 and will be due in mid-May 2013. If you are an Elks scholar pursuing a medical degree starting in 2013-14, email scholarship@elks.org for more information.

Matsuyama Elementary School honored its namesake and Sacramento’s sister city – Matsuyama, Japan – with a traditional Cherry Blossom Festival on March 1. Japanese heritage and culture were celebrated through food, crafts, performances and art. The day also emphasized the school’s warm relationship with Sakura Elementary School in Matsuyama.

On Feb. 23, the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library played host to Mr. Sunny as he introduced children and families to Nigerian culture during WaZoBia. The name is derived from three different Nigerian dialects, with each part being a way of saying “come!” The event was put on to teach visitors about Nigerian culture through song and dance.

Mr. Sunny started the show with a brief explanation of the cultural landscape of Nigeria, followed by a short lesson in how to speak several of its dialects. After the audience had learned three unique ways of saying “hello”, Mr. Sunny brought out his drum and started up a rhythm.

He told visitors that they’d be participating in a few of the songs and dances, and after cheers from the children and grumbles from the adults had subsided, the event got underway.

Mr. Sunny picked several members of the audience to stand in front of the group, and while he drummed and the rest of the spectators sang along, they started to dance. The dancers were told to dance as crazily as they could; the children were noticeably crazier than the adults.

After cycling them out for a new group, Mr. Sunny brought the entire audience out of their seats for a brief lesson in drumming. He had placed a very large collection of drums and chimes in from of the group, as well as enough drumsticks for everyone in the room.

As he led with his own drum, the audience followed along. It took a good amount of time before the kids in the room realized they were not supposed to simply pound on their drums as loudly and quickly as they could.

Before the audience could return to their seats, Mr. Sunny lined them up in rows and explained how they were going to combine their dancing, singing, and drum lessons. After demonstrating the steps, he beat a rhythm while the audience proceeded to spin, skip, and slide along the floor in unison. It took many tries to get it right, but eventually the group put on an acceptable performance.

Finally, Mr. Sunny took questions from the room about his culture and about himself. He prefaced the discussion by explaining that yes, Africans do wear clothes, and they also have houses.

After some laughs from the room, he said that out of all his performances, these were the two most common questions by far. Except for one kid who asked whether the cultural clothing Mr. Sunny was wearing had anything to do with the drums he was playing (it did), every question was asked by an adult, ranging from questions about Nigerian culture to what Mr. Sunny has been up to in the States.

Everyone seemed to have a good time at the event, and many people came up to shake Mr. Sunny’s hand and compliment him after it was over. Mr. Sunny won’t be back at the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library until next year, but the calendar of their other events can be found at http://www.saclibrary.org/Locations/Robbie-Waters-Pocket-Greenhaven/.

For much of his life, Tony Lutfi has had the goal of owning 50 restaurants before turning 50 years old. He was recently on the cover of Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine with the headline: Mega 99: Tony Lutfi soars from 52 to 134 units in three years.

Far surpassing his goals, Lutfi, whose corporate headquarters are in the Pocket area, is among the top 55 multi-unit franchises in the nation.

Born in 1960 in Amman Jordan as the youngest child for a refugee Palestinian family who then lived in Jordan, Lutfi immigrated to the United States in 1976 with hopes to pursue higher education in the medical field. He attended high school in Lodi and graduated in 1977, then quickly moved to Stockton and attended Delta College while sharing an apartment with his cousin.

“I did not want to be a burden to my family that struggled financially and I knew that I needed to work and make it on my own at age 16,” he said. He worked at a 7-11 for a short period of time and then was offered a position with Jack in the Box for the graveyard shift, which worked out well allowing me to attend classes in the day and work at night.

Life quickly took its course. Lutfi quit college and decided to accept a shift manager position with Jack in the Box. In 1980, the rest of his family immigrated to the U.S. and they decided to purchase a corner grocery store in Stockton. He quit his position with Jack in the Box and worked for the family business for two years while his family became more accustomed to the life style and learned English.

In 1993, Lutfi applied to work for a franchise and was given an opportunity with Rax Roast Beef as an assistant manager making $925 per month.

In 1984 Lutfi married to Anna, whom I dated for five years. He did not want to pay rent for a home and decided to purchase his first home by borrowing money on credit cards.

“I knew that I will work hard to pay the cards off and hoped that I will build enough equity in my home to use it later to buy a business. Life took its course again and our first son was born in 1985 and the second in 1987. I was right with my first investment, the house appreciated in value and the credit cards were paid off,” Lutfi said.

In 1988, he attempted to buy four restaurants from his employer, but lost the opportunity to another company who purchased the entire company and agreed to employ him.

A few years later, the president of the company decided to start a new company and asked him to be a partner operator. They purchased four Church’s Chicken restaurants in Sacramento and partnered up with a local Pocket area dentist, Greg Maroni DDS.

They remodeled the restaurants and started the company while he continued his employment with company. In 1998, Maroni and he decided to purchase the entire company and committed to a partnership.

“My goal has always been to own 50 restaurants before I turned 50. Time was running out as I turned 38 and had only a total of 11 which included three Long John Silver’s in the Bay Area, four Church’s Chicken in Sacramento and four Arby’s in Sacramento, Modesto and Tracy.

Maroni had two Arby’s, which he owned since the late 80’s in Auburn and Grass Valley.

They agreed to form a partnership and operate the 13 units.

They opened four restaurants between 1998 and 2000, one was Arby’s in the Pocket area Promenade Shopping Center. They either sold or closed all four locations within two years and decided that the only way they can grow is by way of acquisition minimizing risk.

In 2001 just before Sept. 11, they agreed to acquire four Church’s Chicken restaurants in Las Vegas. They took over the operations on Oct. 22.

“Naturally, the world changed after Sept. 11, especially in Las Vegas. Tourism came to quick halt and businesses suffered including our new acquired restaurants. I remember driving to Las Vegas weekly and working in the restaurants just to save labor and try to save the business. Luckily, we had great managers that maintained and quickly rebounded by 2003,” Lutfi said.

They paid off the loan for the Las Vegas stores in 2006 and began a journey of growth.

In 2006, they acquired 11 Church’s Chicken in Stockton and Tucson.

In 2007, they acquired 15 Church’s Chicken in Phoenix and opened their first Little Caesars Restaurant in Orangevale.

In 2008, they acquired 11 Church’s Chicken restaurants and opened their second little Caesars Restaurant in Carmichael.

In 2009, they opened another Little Caesars restaurant and a Church’s Chicken in Las Vegas

In 2010, Lutfi acquired 21 Jack in the Box restaurants in Modesto, Los Banos, Oroville, Marysville, Placerville and Sacramento.

In 2011, Lutfi acquired 14 Sears Hardware stores in Houston and St. Louis, and Sears Appliance Showrooms in Dallas and St. Louis, but also opened two restaurants, one in Galt and another in Las Vegas. Lutfi also acquired five Sizzlers in Auburn, Sacramento and the Bay Area.

In 2012, Lutfi opened another restaurant in Las Vegas and another in North Highlands and added a Sears location in Chino, Calif.

Lutfi and Maroni closed last year with their largest acquisition to date, 42 Arby’s restaurants in Oregon and Washington.

Today, Lutfi operates the following: five Sizzler restaurants, 21 Jack in the Box, eight Sears Appliance Showrooms, and six Sears Appliance & Hardware Stores.

With Maroni, Lutfi owns five Little Caesars, 43 Arby’s, 46 Church’s Chicken,

Lutfi and Maroni also offer management and consulting services to several organizations in Texas and California who operate 117 restaurants of various brands.

Lutfi is still married to the love of his life who worked with him years ago at the Jack in the Box. They were married in 1984 and had three boys, Metri 27, in the business operating the Jack in the Box Company and attended Fresno State, Stephen 25, a graduate from Fresno State as a civil Engineer; he also joined our company a few weeks ago and is currently our analyst; and Ramsey 20, in his third year at Fresno State pursuing his degree in Business.

Although the business has grown to near 150 in seven states, Lutfi says they remain a family business with several of the family leading and serving the business. Starting with my nephew Nader who has been an integral part of our continued growth and many others including Dr. Maroni who has remained committed for the entire ride.

Pocket area resident and attorney Shane Singh has been representing the MarLu Investment Group for over 11 years and handles a majority of their legal work.

The MarLu Investment Group office is in the Pocket area, 1531 Corporate Way.

Editor’s Note: This is part five in a series about the history of the Sacramento River.

Just as the indomitable Sacramento City was beginning to cope with and protect itself from the common natural disasters of flooding, man had a hand in placing new obstacles in the path of this growing city.
The Gold Rush brought population, prosperity and even the state Capitol to Sacramento, but it also resulted in new environmental challenges and a new source of flooding that ultimately led to dramatic changes in flood control.
These changes began with increasing the heights of the levees, filling in creeks and sloughs, rechanneling tributaries and expanding the breadth of the Sacramento River through the creation of weirs and bypasses.
The property and economic devastation of the flood of 1861-62 left the people of Sacramento with a feeling that nature and the rivers had done their worst. And then the unthinkable happened, as the American River rose to its highest level in 1867.
This same flood caused the Sacramento River and its many tributaries to overflow their newly created levees and destroy the hastily prepared dams and modifications that were put in by local districts and privates citizens.
These new high water marks established throughout the region called for a more coordinated flood control effort on the part of cities and agricultural areas within the Sacramento Valley.
One of the first big engineering endeavors was to take the big bend out of the west end of the American River that flowed into Sutter Lake, near the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers. This is part of the current location of the Union Pacific railyard, which is located north of the California State Railroad Museum.
The rechanneling project began in 1864 and was completed four years later.
As a result of this new channel, the American River met with the Sacramento River one mile further north.
Even after raising the levees and rechanneling the American River, the city experienced another flood.
The citizenry was perplexed in how the rainfall could be less, the snowmelt could be slower, the levees could be higher and yet the river could still overflow its banks.
The answer to this conundrum was found in the very phenomenon that gave the city its existence.
Gold brought wealth, people, and then it brought floods.
As the easy to reach placer deposits of gold dried up and deep hard rock mining became expensive, the miners turned to water power to seek their fortunes.
Hydraulic mining was used in small scale ventures in the 1850s, but by the following decade and into the 1870s, huge companies used enormous water cannons known as monitors to demolish large hills and even small mountains in their quest for gold.
After the gold was removed, the rest of the detritus was sent into streams, which flowed into larger waterways that filled the channels of the Sacramento River and its tributaries.
It became apparent to the engineers and many others that it was not rising waters that were causing the floods, but it was instead rising river bottoms choking the channels, causing the flooding and impacting navigation.
According to the 1957 book, “The Geography of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California,” by John Thompson, “By 1866, debris had ended the infamous side-by-side steamboat races along the Sacramento River.”
It also had a dramatic effect upon the farmers and their land, because the mining refuge left from the floods was not the same as the rich alluvium left by the natural annual rise and fall of the river that enriched the soil and increased production.
Instead what came down from the mines were rock fragments of varying sizes and elements. These waters carried mercury, cyanide and other poisons, which could sterilize the soil, kill crops and harm animals and even people.
Despite the obvious harm from hydraulic mining, the companies refused to halt or even limit this activity.
The hydraulic monitors allowed mine owners to hire a few men to perform work that once required hundreds of workers.
The friction created by this conflict of ideas caused a rift and debate among miners, farmers, environmentalists, navigation companies and recreationalists that lasted for decades.
Not everyone was going to be able to realize their objectives, so something would have to change.
The financially powerful mining industry and its strong political lobby was able to ignore the pleas of a concerned citizenry based on the concept that California and its Sacramento Valley were a state and a region born of the Gold Rush.
But as the waterways continued to fill with debris and mining slush, and levees failed and agricultural production decreased, it became apparent that channels, overflows and drains could not solve the problems created by hydraulic mining.
The unnatural flooding of the Sacramento River and its tributaries became a national, rather than a regional problem.
The mining interests were so powerful that they were able to defeat all legislative attempts to control the pollution and destruction. But 1878 became the proverbial “last straw.”
A city that had already endured several inundations and had gone to great lengths to protect itself from more flooding, once again found itself underwater, as Sacramento experienced another major flood on Feb. 1, 1878.
The 1880 book, “History of Sacramento County, California,” presented various details about this flood.
Included in the book were the following words: “At 2 o’clock on the morning of that day, a break was reported in the levee near Lovedall’s (sic) Ranch, on the Sacramento River, the city and Sutterville. Almost immediately thereafter, a section of the levee, some twelve feet in width, washed out, having been completed honey-combed by gophers. The noise of the torrent pouring through the crevasse could be heard distinctly at a great distance. (That evening), the Sacramento (River) was twenty-five feet, 2 inches above the low water mark, higher than ever before known.”
Sacramentans were tired of floods, tired of mining – which was no longer the center of economy – and tired of politics and politicians who thwarted meaningful attempts to control these unnatural inundations.
Concerned citizens found a way to circumvent the powerful mining lobby by controlling navigation rather than extraction to stop the devastation of the hydraulic mining. But it took another six years to accomplish.
How the city finally controlled the problem and one of the most exotic solutions of how Sacramento tried to deal with the problem will be covered in the next article of this series.

The poet pursues his beautiful theme;
The preacher his golden beatitude;
And I run after a vanishing dream—
The glittering, will-o’-the-wispish gleam
Of the properly scholarly attitude—
The highly desirable, the very advisable,
The hardly acquirable, properly scholarly attitude.

First stanza of ‘Properly Scholarly Attitude’ by Adelaide Crapsey

Henry Molina from John F. Kennedy didn’t realize that performing “Properly Scholarly Attitude” for a school assignment would change his opinion of poetry or that he would be so good at it that he would end up winning the Sacramento County Poetry Out Loud Competition for 2013.

Henry finished first from a field of 15 during the Sacramento County finals, held Thursday, Feb. 7, at Rosemont High School and earned the right to represent Sacramento County in the State Finals, March 25-26 in Sacramento. Carinn Candelaria, from Pleasant Grove High School in the Elk Grove Unified School District, is the Sacramento County runner-up.

In addition to Crapsey’s poem, Henry performed “The Charge Of The Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Henry Molina from John F. Kennedy High School, winner of the 2013 Sacramento County Poetry Out Loud competition. // Courtesy of the Sacramento County Office of Education

Henry said the event was a lot of fun, though a little nerve wracking, since the judges were local poets themselves and “knew what they were talking about.”

Henry said he came upon “Properly Scholarly Attitude” because of a classroom competition and he needed a poem to perform in front of the class. After he won the JFK competition, he had to choose another one.

“Before I started, I was not a big fan of poetry,” he said, but after he put his mind to the assignment over the course of a few months, he found himself enjoying it.

California’s overall winner will receive $200 and an expenses-paid trip to compete in the National Finals in Washington, D.C., held April 28-30, 2013. A total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends will be awarded at the national finals, including a $20,000 award for the National Champion.

Sacramento Poet Laureate Jeff Knorr served as the Sacramento County Poetry Out Loud master of ceremonies. The competition encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. The program provides students with the opportunity to perform poetry in English classes.

Modeled like the National Spelling Bee, the Poetry Out Loud program began in local high school classrooms, with winners advancing to school-wide, then regional competition. Schools countrywide are participating in regional competitions.

The Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) was once again pleased to partner with the California Arts Council (CAC) in promoting and supporting the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest in the Sacramento region. Sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Poetry Foundation, SCOE and its partners encourage high school students to study and appreciate poetry through practice, performance, and competition.

Tim Herrera is Communications Director for the Sacramento County Office of Education.

Jade and Edmund Abay in the Pocket Bistro. Photo courtesy Pocket Bistro.

In December, Pocket residents Edmund and Jade Abay will celebrate the second anniversary of the opening of their restaurant, the Pocket Bistro.

Edmund says over the past two years, the restaurant has become a community fixture, making it a “meeting place for the community” where guests constantly run into people they know. “We give the community a place to call their own – if you live here in the Pocket, you know where Pocket Bistro is,” he adds.

This is one of the things long-time Pocket residents Marina and Jeff Armbruster love about the Pocket Bistro. The couple says they see people they know all the time at the restaurant. “It’s a neighborhood place,” Marina adds. The Armbrusters also enjoy the “friendly bar atmosphere” and “wonderful” food, especially the clam chowder.

The Opportunity

The Abays had always dreamed of owning their own restaurant as both have experience in the restaurant industry.

Originally from the Bay Area, Edmund had received a degree from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco in 1995, and then worked for a variety of restaurants in Washington, the Bay Area and Sacramento, from private-owned bistros to chains like Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

Jade grew up in the Greenhaven Pocket area, having attended Genevieve Didion K-8 School and Sam Brannan Middle School. She says she worked at various restaurants all through high school and college, focusing on the front of the house duties such as bartending, serving, hostessing, and training serving staff.

Now raising their children in the Pocket since 2003, the Abays found themselves with an opportunity to make that dream a realty in their own community. “We felt there was a need in the neighborhood for (somewhere) the community (could) go to have a good meal, have a cocktail or a nice glass of wine, and not have to go all the way downtown,” Edmund says.

The Food

For the menu at the Pocket Bistro, Edmund says his motto is to keep it simple, straightforward, and good. That starts with the ingredients – Edmund says he looks for the best quality at the best price so he can give his customers the best value.

Additionally, he strives to satisfy the tastes of the various ethnicities in the Pocket through the menu. “We have a large Asian community, we have a large Portuguese community, there’s a lot of meat and potatoes out there,” Edmund explains. He says he tries to satisfy all the diverse tastes through a smaller menu with specials that help add variety.

Asian marinated skirt steak from the Pocket Bistro. Photo courtesy Pocket Bistro.

Edmund says some of the popular items on the menu include the braised short ribs and the skirt steak that he says is marinated in an Asian “sweet soy” marinade. Scallops, halibut, rib-eye and prime rib are popular items occasionally on the specials menu.

In addition to its lunch and dinner menus, the Pocket Bistro now offers a brunch on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering items such as salmon eggs benedict, biscuits and gravy, and omelets. “We wanted a place on Sunday where you can enjoy brunch and not have to go all the way to downtown or to Elk Grove,” Edmund says.

And for the sweet tooth, Pocket Bistro offers a dessert menu with all items made in house and from scratch by a pastry chef. “We wanted to stay away from purchasing outside of the restaurant for our desserts and keep everything in house – that was very important to me to make sure that we try to make everything in house,” Edmund says. And he says again items on the dessert menu – such as the coconut bread pudding – reflect the various tastes of the Pocket community.

The Community

When developing the menus for the Pocket Bistro, the Abays also decided to include a kids’ menu. “In the Pocket, there are so many young families with children, (and) ourselves, we have three young kids,” Edmund says. “We wanted to also give the value there for the kids.”

Kids can choose from a kid-friendly item like chicken tenders or grilled cheese, plus they receive a potato, vegetable, drink and dessert. All of this is served on a ceramic “TV dinner tray,” which Edmund says gives it a unique twist.

For first-time Pocket Bistro diner Michelle Miranda, the kids’ menu offered her a “good value to enjoy dinner together” with her husband, two children and dining companion Anna San Juan, who was the one who had suggested they dine at the Pocket Bistro that evening.

San Juan describes the Pocket Bistro as a convenient, family place that offers “nice dinner cuisine” in the middle of the neighborhood. Both Miranda and San Juan plan to come back to the Pocket Bistro.

Additionally, Jade says they feel they give the Pocket community “somewhere they can take their friends and family to eat when they’re in town – they don’t have to go all the way to downtown.”

Pocket resident Loretta Manfre agrees. A frequent diner at the Pocket Bistro, on this particular evening she was happy to have a place to take her friend visiting from Saratoga. Manfre says the Pocket Bistro “brings upscale dining” to the neighborhood, which is “something we have needed for a long time.” Yet, she says it’s still “casual enough you can just call and walk in.”

The Future

So what does the future hold for the Pocket Bistro?

In the near future, the Abays plan to expand offering brunch to Saturday as well as Sunday. Edmund plans to expand the menu a bit more by adding some specials that have proved to be very popular. “That’s what we’ve been doing over the last couple of years, you find out what the community is responding to – is it more seafood, is it more meat,” he explains.

And Jade says they plan on keeping things fresh, fun and exciting to “keep everybody on their toes.” “We don’t want anybody to get bored, so we definitely have ideas for the future,” she adds.

John F. Kennedy basketball star Lynette Johnson goes up for a shot in the 2012 Sac-Joaquin Championship Game against Oak Ridge. Kennedy won the game by a score of 62-58 and took home the section title. Photo courtesy of David Parsh

Kennedy High School senior hoops star Lynette Johnson has made opponents look bad on the court for three years so far, but things are looking good for Johnson herself as she signed a letter of intent to play college ball at Utah State next year.

Johnson, entering her fourth season as a varsity player, started playing basketball at such a young age that she doesn’t quite remember a time when she didn’t play. Growing up with two older sisters and a cousin who also played, Johnson was always around the game. “It’s kind of just part of my family,” she said.

The 5′10” guard/forward has awed coaches, teammates and opponents with her ability to shoot the ball and to just score in general. Last season in just 18 games, Johnson amassed 339 points, good for a team-leading 18.8 points per game.

The Cougars finished the 2011-12 season with a sparkling 26-9 record and a trip to the semifinals of the Girls Division I State Championships before losing to Berkeley High School 56-38.

Head coach Dave Parsh, who arrived in 2009 along with Johnson, talked about what makes his star player so special.

“She is always aware of what’s going on in the game and she’s tall enough and strong enough to see what’s going on under pressure,” Parsh said. “Plus everybody knows that she’s a great shooter.”

Beyond being a great player, Parsh described why it is so easy for her teammates to play with her.

“She has the type of personality that people follow,” he said. “People just gravitate towards her. She’s a vocal leader and she’s so smart she usually knows what play I’m going to call before I call it.”

Parsh also called Johnson the proverbial ‘Big Man On Campus’ in that she is very popular and everyone knows her around the school.

As for her senior season, Johnson hopes to take the team back to the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs at Sleep Train Arena, a destination that the team has traveled to three straight seasons with her on the team. The team’s record under the three-year tenure of coach Parsh and floor-leader Johnson is a stunning 73-26.

After this year, though, Johnson’s collegiate career is now set before her.

She decided on Utah State during a recruiting trip in October.

“It is a big culture change from Sacramento, but in a good way,” said Johnson of her trip to Logan, Utah. “Everyone was so about Utah State. You could really feel the culture and how much everybody cared about Utah State athletics.”

Johnson also had offers from schools like Pepperdine University, University of San Francisco, and  University of Hawaii, but her visit to Logan was all she needed to make her choice. “People found out that I was a recruit for the women’s basketball team and they were really excited to meet me and I connected well with the coaches,” she said.

Though her skills on the court are undeniable, Johnson wants to make her mark in other ways away from home. She plans to major in psychology, something that she has grown to love during her senior year at Kennedy. One of her older sisters is in school studying the same subject, so just like basketball, it seems to be in the family.

“I’m definitely nervous about being away from home and being completely independent,” she said. “But I’m also very excited to get started. I’ll just need to find that balance between school and basketball.”

Her college career will begin sooner than most, as she plans to attend summer classes at the school which start in June.

As far as what kind of player Utah State is getting, Johnson described her play as “pretty aggressive, but I can play under control too.”

Kennedy kicked off its 2012-13 campaign in the Christian Brothers Tournament on Thursday, Nov. 29 against Del Campo. Results of the tournament were not accessible at press time.