Housekeeping with Golf, Graffiti, and a Good Friend

In this case, there’s some new information on a previous column that may be of interest. I also have an update on a column topic that I have tapped two other times in the past year.  And the final item is about a good friend of mine.

The last time I did a housekeeping column, I thanked Modesto Bee writer Jim Agostino for the concept, especially for the phrase at the beginning of the piece telling the reader approximately how long it will take to read.

In this case, the estimated reading time is four minutes.

Stevinson Ranch Golf Course Flag, Photo by Newvine Personal Collection

Stevinson Ranch Golf Course just sent out an email to the people who were regular subscribers of their email service telling us that memorabilia from the course is for sale.

The course closed in July

People can buy flags from the putting greens for $20 each.   The remaining golf hole signs, carved into wood and showing the layout of a particular hole, are selling for $100 each.

I took a picture of one of those flags when I played there for the last time a couple of months ago.  My souvenirs from that course are the memories it gave me over the last couple of seasons when I returned there after an extended absence.

A flag would be nice, but I’d rather look ahead to the next challenging golf course that becomes my favorite.

Frankly, the whole story about Stevinson closing is kind of sad.

The owners did what they had to do.  I don’t blame them.

I accept their business decision, but I now have a round to play somewhere else.

Mail Pouch Tobacco barn

Mail Pouch Barn, South Merced, Photo from Newvine Personal Collection

Do you remember the column that posted in April of 2014 - CLICK HERE on the Mail Pouch Tobacco restored barn sign on highway 99 south of Merced?

That column got a lot of shares and a lot of hits for which I am grateful.

I did an update a few months later  - -"Barn Signs and Bureaucracy Collide in Mail Pouch Sign Controversy "-  when I learned that the state transportation agency Cal Trans was forcing the barn’s owner to have the advertisement painted on one side of the building removed.

Cal Trans says that’s because the ad violated some rule regarding distance from the highway to where the advertising is displayed.

The rule seemed silly at the time and I said so.  I believe I used the word “bureaucratic”.

The state of California ruled that the sign for Brent Jerner’s APG Solar company had to be painted over.

Ironically, if it wasn’t for Brent, the restoration would not have happened in the first place.  He was the one who secured a grant from a non-profit agency that paid for a local artist to do the restoration.

The update to the story is even sillier than the bureaucracy I described in that second column on the Mail Pouch barn last year.  The side of the barn with the solar company advertisement that had to be painted over is now covered with graffiti.

I’m not showing a picture of that because I don’t like giving graffiti trespassers the exposure they seek.

But to Cal Trans and their bureaucratic decision to take something positive and turn it into a negative, I do say “what do you think of the barn now?”

My first Merced friend

Steve Newvine and Jim North, Photo from Newvine Personal Collection

And finally, a personal note about the man I call my first friend in Merced.

Jim North met me at a golf outing at Stevinson Ranch about nine years ago.  I was new to the community, and we were lumped into a foursome.

Little did I know that pairing would last all these years.

Jim was an Air Force veteran.  He was one of many who came to Merced County to serve at Castle Air Base. After building a life with his family here, he made the community his home.

Upon leaving the military, Jim owned and operated the Hot Diggity Dog food cart seen at many community events.

Jim and I played golf on a number of occasions over the years.  I’ll never forget a day at Rancho Del Rey in Atwater when I pulled out a ball that was part of a dozen given to me by a friend from upstate New York.

I told Jim the whole story and he listened patiently as I explained how this ball from a good friend, how it the last ball in a box of twelve, and how it had my name and birthday stamped on it in honor of my fiftieth birthday.

I then hit the ball into a pond.  Jim looked at me, smiled and said, “Well, Happy Birthday I guess.”

Jim and his family have had a rough year.

I hope that story brings a smile to them because I still smile every time I think about it. Steve Newvine lives in Merced

A Journey with Rotary to the Paul Harris Fellowship

Paul Harris was a Chicago area attorney at the turn of the last century.  Believing that a lot of positive things could happen when business people got together and worked collaboratively, he founded the service organization now known as Rotary International.

While the logo for Rotary is a gear wheel, the name actually represents the original meeting tradition of rotating the site of the weekly meeting among the members’ places of business.

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The Paul Harris Fellowship was created to recognize contributors to The Rotary Foundation: the arm of the international service club that funds all kinds of humanitarian projects around the world.Most notable among these projects has been the elimination of polio worldwide through vaccinations in third world countries.

Rotary identified that universal goal of eliminating the disease and with the laser focus of a well-organized business, took on the challenge and achieved the goal.

Rot. Foundtion

While Paul Harris Fellows are recognized for reaching designated levels of support, contributors may also name someone else as a Fellow in recognition of that individual’s special achievements.

What makes this designation special for me is that I have not been an active Rotarian for the past eight years.I asked for inactive membership status when I changed jobs and knew that the travel requirement would make it nearly impossible for me to attend regular meetings of my Rotary club. 

I had been in Rotary since 1995, serving in three clubs over an eleven-year period.I was President of my club in upstate New York for a one-year term. 

When I asked to be moved to inactive status, I knew that Rotary would not be as big a part of my life now as it was before. But I believed in the Rotary Foundation.Wiping out polio worldwide was an achievable goal and the organization was primed to make that happen; and it did.

There have been other projects that are just as significant.When the Indian Ocean tsunami hit Sri Lanka in 2004, Rotary was there to help in the aftermath.Safer water for parts of the world where that just doesn’t happen has been a priority in recent years.

Rotary has been to earthquake worn areas within hours of the initial shocks.There are hundreds, of projects where Rotary International stepped to the plate, rolled up some sleeves and got down to the business of helping people.

So when it was clear to me that I would not be an active Rotarian as least through the duration of my current job, I did experience a sense of loss.At practically every Rotary meeting, someone mentions the work of Rotary and the need to support the Rotary Foundation. During my first ten years in Rotary, I heard lots of speeches about the work of the Foundation.

But during those early years, there were other demands on my family. About all I could do then was make a few token donations.

In the end, it was a twenty-year journey from becoming a member of Rotary International to achieving the Paul Harris Fellowship. While I haven’t been part of a local club in nearly a decade, I remain very proud of the journey and very blessed to be part of the effort that is stated so clearly in the organization’s Four-Way Test:is it the truth, it is fair to all, will it build goodwill, and will it be beneficial.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced

For more on Rotary International, go to www.rotary.org