Elks Lodge No. 6 commemorated the memory of 9-11 with a Patriots Day celebration on Sept. 11. At the dinner, which included patriotic items such as “Yankee Pot Roast” and “All-American Apple Pie,” Elks Exalted Ruler Ron Brusato presented plaques to “honor a fire fighter and a police officer who have done meritorious work for the community.”

Captain Mark Ramirez of the Sacramento City Fire Department and Officer Jeffrey Silva were both honored by the Elks that evening.

The purpose of the celebration, according to Brusato, was to never forget those who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

“If 9-11 is ever forgotten, the terrorists have won,” he said. “We won’t let that happen.”

susan@valcomnews.com

 

Within a week of its grand opening, the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library was vandalized over the Labor Day weekend.

Taggers virtually coated the library windows and stonework trim with blue spray paint.

“We were saddened that anybody would do such a thing to our library,” said Jason Weekley, circulation supervisor for the library. “But fortunately, we were able to clean it up quickly.”

Members of the community made calls of support to the library. Many others did the neighborly thing: they picked up buckets, scrub rags and sponges, rolled up their sleeves and got to work cleaning up the damage themselves.

“It really shows the support that the community has for the library,” Weekley said.

Sacramento Police Detectives are continuing to investigate the case.

“Nothing evidentiary value came up on the surveillance tapes,” said Sgt. Norm Leong, public information officer for the Sacramento Police Department. “A dark SUV was noticed in the early morning hours near the library that morning. However, that could simply have been somebody dropping off library books. Or, that person may have been a witness.”

Police received the first call about the library vandalism at 12:46 p.m. on Sept. 5.

“At this time, there are no new leads in the case,” Leong said. “We continue to hope that someone will come forward regarding the vandalism.”

Anyone with information regarding the vandalism of the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Public Library is urged to call the Crime Alert Hotline at (916) 443-HELP (4357). Callers can remain anonymous.

susan@valcomnews.com

The annual Fourth of July Spirit of the Pocket Parade, the largest parade event in the Pocket-Greenhaven area, is preparing for another magnificent patriotic celebration and is looking to the community for volunteers and floats. The parade, which is being held on July 3 this year, is a popular community-produced visual spectacle.

“We are looking for people to step forward with floats,” said Linda Pohl, parade committee chair. “Our main thing is to make this great visual presentation, so we would like a lot of floats.”

Held Saturday, July 3, the parade begins promptly at 10 a.m. at the former site of Lisbon Elementary School, 7775 S. Land Park Dr., and travels down Windbridge, ending at Garcia Bend Park.

Volunteers are needed to support the efforts (and the fun) of the 16th annual Fourth of July Spirit of the Pocket Parade. To volunteer in positions ranging from pre-parade phone calls, blocking streets (while sitting in a comfortable chair), parade marshals and helping with the after-parade activities at Garcia Bend, e-mail linda@valcomnews.com.

For more information on volunteering at the parade, contact Pohl at The Pocket News at 429- 9901 or e-mail linda@valcomnews.com.

Parade float entry forms can be picked up at The Pocket News office, 2709 Riverside Blvd., and Pocket Custom Framing, 7485 Rush River Dr., suite 715. Forms can also be downloaded online at www.valcomnews.com. Completed entries can be dropped off at these locations or emailed to linda@valcomnews.com. All pre-registered parade entrants will be part of the parade judging. Entries will be judged against others in their group type.

Preparations are already underway to make the parade bigger and better than ever before.

“We have the Friends of the Library doing something great – they seem to do a great float every year,” said Pohl. “In addition to booths after the parade, we will have a carnival put on by the Friends of the Library and the School of Engineering and it will have games and activities and there will also be a demonstration by the Sacramento Police K-9 Unit.”

A special addition to the event is Sacramento Police K-9 officer Bandit and his handler Officer Gary Dahl as grand marshals of the parade. Bandit was wounded in March during the apprehension of a suspect; he has since fully recovered and is back on duty. TV personalities Nick Toma, from Channel 31, and Angel Cardenas, from Channel 10, will serve as parade MCs, announcing the floats and the parade participants as they pass.

 

Garcia Bend Boat Ramp closed

Due to the path of the parade, the boat ramp at Garcia Bend Park in the Pocket area will close from 10 p.m. Friday, July 2, until 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 3 for Independence Day festivities.

 

Parade entry forms

Fourth of July Spirit of the Pocket Parade float entry forms can be downloaded bly clicking here. Download a parade waiver form here.

The Riverside-Pocket area undoubtedly has much history, but it is certainly not everyone who knows that the area has a direct connection to some of the capital city’s most renowned architectural structures.

Buildings such as the Memorial Auditorium, the Elks Building at 11th and J streets, the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, a portion of the state Capitol and various structures in Old Sacramento, for instance, have a commonality that link them together for an obvious local trivia question.

These local landmarks were all constructed with bricks that were made at the Sacramento Brick Co., which opened on Riverside Road (today’s Riverside Boulevard) in 1881.

Additionally, the company, which was originally owned by Thomas Dwyer, also supplied bricks for reconstructing part of San Francisco following the great 1906 earthquake and fire.

By this time in the company’s history, the brickyard was already quite notable, as is evident by a reference in the 1890 History of Sacramento County, which reads: “(The brickyard has) in operation four Quaker brick machines with a capacity of (manufacturing) 140,000 (bricks) daily.”

During summer months, the brick-making plant utilized clay-like soil for its production that was dug from the “clay pit” in the area of today’s Lake Greenhaven, near John F. Kennedy High School.

The bricks were created according to an on-demand contract basis, yet the demand was high enough to provide enough employment that such a large amount of clay – as it will be referred to for the remainder of this article – was eventually dug from the area that the “clay pit” reached the level of the water table, thus forming the beginnings of today’s Lake Greenhaven.

 

Brick by brick

The preliminary process of creating the bricks began in the winter, as the clay was dredged and placed on the south bank of the pit for the purpose of having it dry until summer.

Once dry, the clay was loaded into the plant’s ore car-sized locomotives and delivered to the brickyard, which was located about a half-mile away, across Riverside Road. The plant, which was situated on about 250 acres, extended southward from the levee area to near modern-day Gloria Drive.

Overall, about eight cars were used for this process in a rotating sequence along the tracks, which were moved according to the locations of each dredging project.

Once at the brickyard, the clay was loaded onto a large conveyer belt and transported to a hopper before being transferred into what was known as the “pug mill.”

It was at this mill that the clay was mixed with a precise amount of water, so that the bricks would not be too soft or too dry.

Following this process, the clay was molded into the form of bricks through machinery, which included moving belts and metal cutting wires, which cut the clay into the required size of the bricks.

After being stacked on pallets for the curing process, the bricks were then transferred to kilns for the firing process.

During the plant’s earlier years, 20-foot-wide by 40-foot-long, outdoor kilns, which were made of brick, utilized coal – a heating source that was later replaced by crude oil and for a period of time, gas.

Originally, bricks created at the brickyard were transported by horse-drawn wagons to local construction sites.

 

Building blocks

Pocket historian Dolores (Silva) Greenslate said that she recalls seeing a brick delivery wagon with a team of horses led by brickyard worker, Joe Prady pass by her childhood home on Riverside Road on various occasions during the late 1920s.

Eventually, the brick delivery wagons were altogether replaced by brick delivery trucks.

In addition to seeing the brick delivery wagons, Greenslate, as well as other children residing in the area at the time, was continuously entertained by the sight of the brickyard’s locomotives crossing Riverside Road.

“It looked as though it was a toy train, which we longed to ride,” Greenslate recalled.

Being that the area was a Portuguese settlement, Greenslate said that the brickyard provided a lot of employment for the local Portuguese people.

Among the Portuguese men who were employed at the brickyard were the locomotive and dragline operator John Azevedo, Joe Lewis, Manuel Enos, Jesse Alves, and Tony, Eddy and William Neves.

Greenslate added that Antone Perry, the son of her great-grandfather, 1850s Pocket pioneer Antonio Pereira Rodrigues, worked at the brickyard for many years.

Antone Perry, whose sons, Alfred and Bill Perry, also worked at the plant, was employed as a brick setter and was known among his co-workers as “Squirrel,” due to his ability to work in small, narrow tunnels, where he stacked bricks to be fired.

Although the Perrys resided within a close vicinity of the brickyard, many others lived in houses located on the brickyard’s grounds.

Four-room, two-story, wood-frame houses, which included upstairs living quarters and kitchen and eating areas, were rented on the grounds for $7 per month.

These homes were not the only houses located on the property, as the site also included the large house of the brickyard’s supervisor, a boarding house for single men and about 20 single-room cabin-like structures.

 

“Thing of the past”

Although the brickyard is certainly a thing of the past, having been closed on Jan. 3, 1971 due to development in the area, its history remains strong through a variety of elements such as many structures built with Sacramento Brick Co.-manufactured bricks, Lake Greenhaven and even Brickyard Drive, a Riverside-Pocket area street named in tribute to this famous, local landmark.

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com.

Dogs, it is said, have been humanity’s best friends since the beginning of time. One ancient legend tells a tale that when Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, the dog refused to leave them and willingly accompanied them into exile. In fact, the word “Fido” means “I am faithful.”

Whether one believes such stories or not, it is undeniable that Canis lupus familiaris has served humanity well as a beloved servant, protector and non-judgmental, empathetic friend. Every year, new canine talents are discovered by humans that continue to enhance lives – whether it is a dog that can detect medical conditions before they become apparent, or a pup who can console a troubled patient at a medical clinic.

Dogs are amazing.

Pocket area resident Beth Graham would agree. For the past two years, her service dog, Sajak, has enhanced the quality of life of this spunky 29 year old.

Beth was born with a debilitating bone condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, or OI. Also known as “brittle bone disease,” OI causes bones to easily break or fracture, and connective tissue is defective or unable to be produced in some cases. There are eight varieties of OI. These are graded as Level I, which is the least severe, to Level VIII, which is most severe. Persons with Level IV OI are small in stature with curved spines, barrel-shaped rib cages and have bone deformity that is mild to moderate. People born with OI are very bright and have a “can-do” attitude that is inspirational.

Beth was born with OI that is Level IV. She comes from a family of five, is the middle sibling and is the only one in the family with the condition. Her parents, while protective of her, raised her to reach for her full potential. So much so, that she moved from her native Pittsburg, Pennsylvania home to complete graduate school at Sacramento State and to land a job as a high school counselor at the Sacramento Academic and Vocational Academy (SAVA) in Elk Grove.

“I am completely independent,” she said. “I am in a wheelchair, but I am able to take care of myself. I drive a van with hand controls. I go to work like anybody else.”

It is the development of tools such as motorized wheelchairs, access-friendly vans and others that allow persons with disabilities to lead fulfilling lives. Dogs have long been a part of that equation. Beth was interested in exploring the option of having a canine assistant.

“I was substitute teaching at a school back east when a student with a severe case of muscular dystrophy told me about the Canine Assistants program,” Beth said. “He had a service dog who was amazing. I had grown up with dogs, so I decided to check it out.”

Canine Assistants is a non-profit organization that trains and provides service dogs for children and adults with physical disabilities and other special needs. To date, the program has not only sponsored more than 1,000 Canine Assistants throughout the nation, but also changed the lives of those individuals and their friends and families. In addition to physically assisting those with disabilities, Canine Assistants service dogs are instrumental in removing many of the barriers faced by the disabled in today’s society.

Most Canine Assistants service dogs are born, raised, and trained at the training facility in Alpharetta, Georgia, while some are occasionally adopted from local organizations or breeders. The majority of service dogs are retrievers, including both goldens and Labradors.

The dogs are raised and screened for personality, temperament, and general health. All are trained to provide assistance to a human companion. Some are also trained as seizure response dogs for certain recipients. Following general training, seizure response dogs are trained to perform one of the following behaviors, depending on the recipient’s need: remain next to the person during the course of a seizure, summon help in a controlled environment, or retrieve a phone prior to the seizure when indicated by the recipient. Certain dogs may even develop the ability to predict and react in advance to an oncoming seizure once they are placed with their recipient.

“My mom and I flew to Georgia to check it out,” Beth said. “I had filled out all the paperwork, had my referrals from the doctor and physical therapist and was accepted as a candidate for a Canine Assistant. That’s where I met Sajak.”

Sajak, who was a year and a half old at the time, seemed a little too frisky to Beth at first.

“He was full of energy, and at first I was worried that he might accidentally hurt me,” she said. “They breed the goldens so they are about 50 pounds lighter than the typical golden. Even then, Sajak looked pretty big to me.”

However, Sajak liked Beth from the start. Sajak immediately took to performing tasks for Beth.

“Our trainer Jennifer told me that she had never seen a dog bond to a human so quickly before,” she said. “He was still a puppy. Sajak has mellowed a lot since then.”

For the past two years, Sajak has helped Beth every day. He picks up objects for her on command, turns lights on and off and – most important – can go get help should Beth ever need it.

“He knows the command ‘Go get so-and-so’ – and I’ll name that person,” Beth said. “He will search until he finds that person. At school, he will search the entire school. I am fortunate that we haven’t had an actual emergency there, but it is good to know that he will go find the people I send him to look for. If he shows up without me, those people at school or in my neighborhood know that I’m in trouble and need help.”

Sajak has also developed a talent for which he was not trained: he is able to warn Beth of impending bone breaks.

“He will just refuse to leave my side when I’m on the verge of a break,” she said. “I may not even realize that I’m going to break a bone. There is a train of thought that OI may have chemical cycles that can be a factor in bone breakage. Whatever it is, Sajak is able to detect it – and I’ve learned to listen to him.”

One hundred percent of the Canine Assistants programs budget comes directly from private donations made by corporations, foundations and individuals. Those interested in learning more about the work of Canine Assistants can visit www.canineassistants.org to learn more about these remarkable dogs and how to support the work of the non-profit organization.

Companies such as Milk-Bone have played a huge role in the success of the Canine Assistants. This year, Milk-Bone has donated all marketing efforts to help promote the Canine Assistants program. This includes a return to broadcast advertising, with an ad campaign featuring Canine Assistants recipient Jake Jeter.

The Canine Assistants organization continues to provide assistance as needed to the dogs and their recipients. Should a team be in trouble, Canine Assistants will fly out to provide help if needed.

“Last year, Sajak got very sick. It turned out that he had a form of canine irritable bowel syndrome,” Beth said.

In a turnabout of events, Beth was the caretaker of Sajak.

“I took him to the vet first thing in the morning,” she said. “Sajak was very ill and in the hospital for three days. It was good to know that I could call Canine Assistants if I needed to. Fortunately, the vet I go to is amazing. To this day, Canine Assistants will even help with vet bills if I need it. It is a fantastic organization.”

Fully recovered now, Sajak hops into Beth’s van every morning and joins her in her work at SAVA every day. The students all know him by name. After school, they travel home and go for walks in the neighborhood.

“He is so popular, I have to tell the students that they can greet Sajak only once a day,” Beth said.

Because of Sajak, Beth has been able to juggle a challenging medical condition, independent living and a full-time job in the Sacramento area for over a year now.

Not only does Beth have a valuable assistant, she has a faithful, wonderful companion.

“He is a member of the family,” she said.

 

E-mail Susan Laird at susan@valcomnews.com.

May 16, 2013 edition

The Pocket News is a fine example of how important local newspapers are to small communities. A celebrated paper held in high esteem by its readers, the publication serves as the only newspaper for the Pocket and Greenhaven areas. The Pocket and Greenhaven communities are also home to a series of gated communities bordered by Rush River Drive, Lakefront Drive, and Pocket Road.