A fire that began uphill from the intersection of Highway l and the Point Reyes-Petaluma Road burned 10 acres of grass Sunday afternoon. The fire apparently started when sparks flew in brisk wind from where Dave Winter of Forest Knolls was doing metal work. No structures were damaged.
Poet Molly Fisk of Stinson Beach and Nevada City has won the $1,000 first-place in the 16th annual Billee Murray Denny Poetry Awards for her poem "The Dry Tortugas." Fish teaches with California Poets in the Schools and at Marin County's Juvenile Hall.
Marin Community Foundation on Saturday will award $5,000 Neighborhood Achievements grants from the Buck Trust to the Inverness Ridge Association, the West Marin Growers Group, and the Woodacre Garden Club.
Twenty volunteers from the Woodacre Garden Club have planted redwood trees, weeded, spruced up, and promoted a landscaping plan in Woodacre, while getting other people and groups to help.
Also getting a $5,000 grant will be the Inverness Ridge Association for its disaster-preparedness work before and after the Inverness Ridge Fire. The group is working to reduce potential fuel for wildfires and has coordinated disaster warnings.
West Marin Growers Group got its grant for supporting local food production, as well as the exchange of ideas between growers. It has supervised construction of two school gardens and is "contributing to the long-term health of West Marin's economy," said the foundation this week.
Gary Giacomini, the longest serving supervisor in California's 58 counties, is joining Hanson, Bridgett, Marcus, Vlahos & Rudy. He will head a new branch of the law firm in Marin County in January, 1997, upon the completion of his last term of office.
Giacomini, 57, was first elected in 1972 and re-elected to five successive terms.
His branch of the law will cover a broad range of services, including Giacomini's expertise in agricultural, land-use, and coastal issues, as well as business matters.
He has served on: Community Development/Priority Setting Committee, Countywide Planning Agency, Northwestern Pacific Acquisition Negotiating Committee/Task Force, California State Coastal Commission, ABAG Finance Authority for Nonprofit Corporations, Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District, Local Agency Formation Commission.
Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT), Marin County Capital Improvements Financing Authority, Marin County-Corte Madera Public Library Authority, Marin County Housing Authority, Marin County Open Space District, Marin County Redevelopment Agency, Marin County Transit District, Multi Agency Board Hamilton Air Force Base Reuse, Ross Valley Paramedic Authority, San Rafael Sanitation District, Bay Conservation & Development Commission, Redwood Empire Association (Supervisors Unit) and the California Coastal Commission.
Giacomini is a Marin native and attended elementary and secondary schools in the county. He received his JD Order of the Coif, from University of California, Hastings College of Law, in 1965 and his BA from St. Mary's College of California in 1962.
He lives in San Geronimo with his wife Linda and is the father of two sons: Andrew, 31, and Antony, 30.
For the second year in a row, Straus Family Creamery of Marshall has been named a winner of the 1996 Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP).
WRAP, sponsored by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, promotes public recognition of businesses that have made outstanding efforts to reduce and divert waste from landfills.
Straus Family Creamery packages fluid milk products in reusable glass bottles. A one-dollar deposit on each glass bottle encourages customers to return bottles to their grocer. Bottles then go back to the creamery for cleaning and reuse.
Straus Family Creamery is also dedicated to water conservation. Albert Straus redesigned his bottlewashing equipment to use 90 percent less water than was used in its original design. That water is reclaimed to wash floors. Waste water generated at the creamery is treated in containment ponds and is later used to irrigate pasturelands.
A daughter was born Oct. 3 to Laura and Jesse Bradley of Petaluma at Kaiser Permanent Hospital in Santa Rosa. The parents previously lived in Inverness, and Mrs. Bradley worked at the Bank of Petaluma in Point Reyes Station. She now works at a branch in Petaluma.
Emma Camille Bradley weighed 7-pounds, 15-ounces at birth and measured 20 inches.
Point Reyes Nurseryman Otto Quast dies at 72 By Dave Mitchell
Point Reyes Station nurseryman Otto Quast died Oct. 25.
Mr. Quast was a former director of the Marin Resource Conservation District based in Point Reyes Station and after his election defeat in 1988 continued to sit on the RCD board as a non-voting member.
Born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1924, Mr. Quast in 1977 told The Light, "I speak seven languages with an accent."
He was a shipyard carpenter until an accident in the early 1960s ended that career and moved him toward professional growing.
"The biggest step is from the hobbyist collector to the producer," he said. "If I knew then what I know now, I probably wouldn't have done it."
Mr. Quast did not use seeds in his nursery, he said: "With seeds, you don't know what you're getting. Instead you propagate from cuttings, and you get a plant the same as the parent."
It was a successful approach; Mr. Quast and his wife Lieselotte (Lotte) sold 300,000 plants per year, with customers having to place orders a year in advance. The plants ranged from sage and camellias to grapefruits and cedars.
The nurseryman took special pride that he and his wife were able to graft selected varieties of pine - something that supposedly couldn't be done.
At Mr. Quast's request, no funeral services will be held. He is survived by his wife Lieselotte of Point Reyes Station, and she asks that any memorial contributions be made in his name to a favorite charity.
Burial arrangements were handled by Daphne Funerals of Marin.
Stinson Beach resident Otto Walter Reutinger died in his sleep at home Wednesday, Oct. 23. He was 87. Death was from natural causes.
He was born in San Diego in 1909, the only son of Swiss/German immigrants to the citrus groves of Southern California.
After graduation from San Diego High School, he attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where he earned BA and MA degrees in English.
He then studied at Columbia University in New York, where he had acting roles off-Broadway.
He pursued further graduate studies at the University of California, specializing in the regional literature of Southern California.
At Berkeley he met and married Joan Castledine in 1937. They lived at Point Loma in San Diego for 27 years, except for service in the US Army during World War II.
During his career, he was a teacher and counselor with the San Diego City Schools. He was also on the board of the San Diego Symphony and was a precinct chair for the Democratic Party. An avid sailor, he built and owned a succession of sailboats and served as chairman of the San Diego Yacht Club Race Committee.
He and his wife built a weekend home at Pine Hills, near Julian in the mountains east of San Diego, where they raised apples, peaches, cherries, and grapes.
Wine-making with the Faculty Brothers was a yearly ritual. Until retirement, he was active in the Army Reserves, rising to the rank of lt. colonel.
In 1969, Joan and he retired to Stinson Beach, where her grandparents had built a home in 1908. They built a new home, designed and constructed by local architect Valentino Agnoli, and joined in the activities of the community.
Mr. Reutinger served as president of the Stinson Beach Community Center board and as a member of the Volunteer Fire Department board. He and Joan were emergency medical technicians with the Ambulance Corps of the Department.
He was an ardent conservationist and life-long birder. Active in the Marin Conservation League and the Mount Tamalpais Interpretive Association, he wrote and illustrated a guide to the Verna Dunshee trail.
He made a valiant but futile stand against the encroachment of pampas grass in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. He was also national membership chair for the Whooping Crane Association and was proud that Stinson Beach had more members than any other city in the nation.
Mr. Reutinger loved to travel. Joan and he made an adventurous drive to Oaxaca, Mexico, on their honeymoon in 1938. The trip was partly paid for with his photographs.
He led many family vacations throughout the western states and to New England. In their retirement, they made numerous trips throughout Europe, where they researched both of their family trees in Switzerland and England.
They returned to Mexico on several occasions. On a fishing trip with his children, he landed a 65-pound rooster fish off Buena Vista, Baja California.
He is survived by Joan, his wife of 59 years; his children Martin, Christopher, and Anne; his son-in-law Jay Clark; his daughter-in-law Elisa; and his granddaughters Anna and Eva.
A potluck celebration of his life will be held on Sunday, Nov. 24, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Stinson Beach Community Center.
The family requests that memorial contributions be sent to either Audubon Canyon Ranch (Box 577, Stinson Beach, 94970); or to West Marin Senior Services (Box 791, Point Reyes Station, 94956).
County supervisors on Tuesday, Nov. 5, will conduct a public hearing to consider an appeal from Bolinas resident Ralph Garside, who wants to legalize numerous structures on his property at 20 Ocean Ave.
County planning staffer Andrea Fox has reported the structures include: a 900-square-foot barn; a 1,137-square-foot addition to a house; a 747-square-foot aviary; and a series of decks, retaining walls, gazebos, stairs, and stair landings.
Fox noted that Garside "has filed an appeal [with the supervisors] because conditions of project approval require removal of the illegal residential addition, bird aviary addition, and decks, gazebos, stairs, and stair landings.
"Additionally, [Garside] is seeking a refund of fines and penalties imposed on the property."
A typographical error in a letter to the editor from Jerry Friedman transformed his environmental credentials into his emotional credentials. The Light apologizes for the mistake.
Water for Bolinas residents hissed through three-foot tall filters at a recent open house for Bolinas Public Uility District's new filtration station on Mesa Road. The new plant started up last month and serves 580 Bolinas customers, said District Manager Phil Buchanan. It is part of a $950,000 water treatment project mandated by the state to clean the towns turbid water supply drawn from Arroyo Hondo.
An altar-making workshop commemorating the Mexican Day of the Dead will be held from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at Marshall Arts.
Materials will be provided, but participants should bring photos or mementos of a deceased person or pet.
The workshop will be led by Taira Restar, who is currently exhibiting altars at Marshall Arts, and by Sandra Bernal.
An optional potluck dinner will follow at 6 p.m.