The Best of 2023-

Looking back on memorable columns in 2023

(Left) Flood damage in Planada. (Right) Muralist Martin Figueroa working on his project in Merced. Photos: Steve Newvine

Peering through the archive of my twice-monthly columns in the past year reminds me of how much change our community went through in 2023.

The year was barely new when in January heavy rain caused considerable flooding throughout the county. Especially hard-hit was the community of Planada where every house had water damage.

I visited the community, talked with residents, and shared the stories that offered some rays of hope in two columns about the restoration. Residents were beaten down by the heavy rain, but optimistic about assurances that help was on the way.

That help came in the form of a host of community service and non-profit organizations setting up relief services in the center of town. Pallets of bottled water, trailers with full-sized washers and dryers, and daily drive-through meal pick-up sites were just some of the ways these agencies offered to help.

Government dollars were promised and by the end of the year, some concerns were raised about how this financial help will get to where it is needed efficiently.

It is a story that is still evolving.

By early summer, mural artists were busy creating public art on the walls beneath overpasses on all the Highway 99 exits passing through the City of Merced.

I spoke to an artist named Martin who works a regular job by day and pursues his passion for commercial art in his off-hours.  

Martin applied to Cal-Trans for the grant money to paint his mural. The work honors his three children and their sense of optimism and opportunity.

(Left) Parker’s Hardware closes on 18th Street in Merced after six decades of operation. (Right) The Merced Fire Department displayed the pumper Old Betsy at an exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum. Photos: Steve Newvine

By mid-summer, customers said goodbye to the staff at Parker’s Hardware store in downtown Merced.

The store was an institution in the City with one of the best testimonials coming from a comment found on social media: “If you can’t find it anywhere else, you can find it at Parkers.”

After six decades on 18th Street in the City, the Parker family closed up shop. As for reasons why, some point to the competition from big box home improvement centers; a store employee told me there just wasn’t enough interest in the next generation of the family to continue.

Upon closing up on that final day, the Parker family could look back on a successful local business that helped homeowners, contractors, and just about anyone else who would stop in to find what they needed for various projects.

The Merced Fire Department marked a milestone in 2023:

One hundred fifty years of continuous service to the community.

To celebrate the occasion, the Department brought out a restored pumper acquired in 1874.

The pumper named Old Betsy was the star of the show at an exhibit at the Merced County Courthouse Museum.

The Fire Department hopes Old Betsy will rest on a permanent display at City Hall in the future.

(Left) The site where the Billy Graham Crusade in Modesto was held in 1948. (Right) One of the few remaining Dust Bowl travelers shared his story about a childhood journey from Arkansas. Photos: Steve Newvine

Along the way, the Our Community Story column marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Central Valley Billy Graham Crusade with a look at how part of the money raised from that Modesto event was invested in helping the less fortunate and how that initial investment continues to reap dividends.

We met a man who made the trip west from Arkansas to the Central Valley as part of the Dust Bowl exodus in the 1930s.

Charlie was just a baby when his parents loaded up the family vehicle with everything they had, and left the ruins of the Dust Bowl for a land that promised nothing more than an opportunity for a better life.  

The move paid off for Charlie.

In many ways, these stories showed how hard work and a strong belief in doing the right thing paid off for the people we met in our community.

From the Planada residents who faced rebuilding their damaged homes to the proud display of a retired fire tanker and everything in between, it was a year of resilience.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His new book Beaten Paths & Back Roads is available at Lulu.com or at the Merced County Courthouse Museum Gift Shop or online at BEATEN PATHS AND BACK ROADS (lulu.com)

Entering Elvis’ Building-

Recalling 3 Visits to Graceland 4 Decades Ago

In front of Graceland, the home of the King of Rock-and-Roll Elvis Presley. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

When my book Rocket Reporter was released earlier this year, I promised an Elvis Presley story for “later this summer”.  

Well, as we wind down the year, here’s that summer story. What can I say? It’s been a busy year.  

There is a timely “hook” to this story. December 3 marks the 55th anniversary of the Elvis Comeback Special.

That 1968 television show on NBC was the first small-screen appearance of Presley in seven years. It transformed Elvis from a poor-quality movie-making machine to a dynamic stage performer. Sadly, that transformation lasted only a few years before prescription drugs and a less-than-healthy lifestyle would take his life in 1977.

That program made an impact on a young grade school boy who watched with his parents on that cold December evening.

I became an Elvis fan that night. Little did I know I would connect to his legacy in my adult life on three occasions.

Rocket Reporter is a memoir of my two years working as a television news reporter in Huntsville, Alabama back in 1980-1982.  

I visited Graceland three times during the two years I worked in Huntsville, Alabama (1980-1982). Memphis was about four hours away from Huntsville. Elvis had passed just a few years prior to this time. As a fan, I knew how important the singer was to the South.

I could not squander the opportunity.

In the years leading up to the spring of 1981, fans were allowed to walk onto the grounds of the mansion.

We could see the gravesites of Elvis and some family members. We did not know it then, but paid tours inside the house were just a year away.

That first visit was personal, but as a local television news reporter, I saw an opportunity to return to Memphis and do some stories for the sweeps period when stations were rated on how many viewers tuned in.

I proposed a three-part series on Elvis for the November ratings period.

My photographer and I would shoot and report the story during the August commemoration of Presley’s death.

We pick up the next part of the story with this excerpt from Rocket Reporter:

Fans were lined along the extended driveway from Elvis Presley Boulevard on up to the front of the mansion. People were everywhere. Across the street was a strip mall retail center with every store selling souvenirs of Memphis, Elvis, and Graceland.

   One of the advantages of being a television reporting team was the privilege to head to the front of the line. With camera and microphone in tow, my photographer Bill and I made our way to the guard gate shack. From there, we were escorted through a line of more visitors to the right side of the mansion.

   Back in 1981, the interior of the mansion was not open to the public. Visitors were directed along the right side of the property to where Elvis’ grave marker, along with the markers for his mother, father, twin brother (who died at birth), and grandmother were located.

   We had plenty of things to shoot on the grounds.

   We interviewed some of the visitors waiting their turn to enter the area where the grave markers were. I did a couple of stand-ups where the reporter talked on camera from the scene of a story. 

   One of the stand-ups was for the fourth-anniversary story. Another stand-up would be used in the three-part series to air later in the fall. We then went back out onto Elvis Presley Boulevard where I did another stand-up.  

The TV Guide advertisement promoting The Elvis Influence series of special reports that aired on station WAAY-TV in 1981. Newvine Personal Collection

There’s plenty more to share about the time we shot the Elvis story in Memphis. Included in the extensive chapter about Elvis in Rocket Reporter, is the story behind my chance encounter with Sam Phillips, the man who first recorded Elvis in the Sun Records studio in the mid-fifties.

I interviewed Phillips and asked him about that often quoted comment he made back in the fifties about finding a white artist who sounded like a black rhythm-and-blues singer.

He confirmed his comments and elaborated on exactly what he meant.

Our television story on the fourth anniversary of Elvis’ death aired the next night on the six o’clock news. The three-part special report called, The Elvis Influence aired over three nights in November. 

   I would visit Graceland one more time just one year later in the weeks before leaving the station. That story is in the book as well.

 Telling a small part of the story of Elvis Presley remains one of my personal career highlights from over forty years ago. It was topped, or maybe tied with the other big story I was privileged to report back then: the first three launches of the space shuttle program.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

Rocket Reporter is available online at lulu.com

Steve is indebted to the late Twila Stout, a local woman whom he met on a couple of occasions while speaking about his books before local civic groups. Twila was a fan of his books and a true community steward.