GCCCD Grapevine

Volume 9, Number 3                                                                                      September, 1999

          Staff and Retirees Feted at College Cookouts

                   (all photos were taken by retiree Leon Hoffman, read left to right)

        
A long, hungry line serves carne   GC Pres. Ted Martinez,          Lee Shadell, Lee Engelhorn,   
asada at Grossmont College        GC faculty Hoke Simpson                 Mike Matherly

Retirees were hosted by the Risk Management/Benefits Office to a lunch at Grossmont and Cuyamaca
colleges, joining the regular staff in well-received outdoor cookouts. Thanks to Lori Carver for notifying
retirees and taking reservations and for providing district pins. Grossmont offered carne asada on
Tuesday, August 17 and Cuyamaca provided spaghetti on Wednesday, August 18. The Grossmont
lunch was organized by Mike Matherly, with help from Alba Orr, and other classified and certificated
staff including Tim Cliffe, John Meachum, Beth Smith, Dick Vessel, Patti Tsai, Peggy Shephard and
Joe Henry.

Retirees attending the Grossmont luncheon included Don Anderson, Shirl Collamer, Marcy Diehl, Jerry
Dickinson, George Dillon, Howard Donnelly, Roberta Eddins, Lee Engelhorn, Art Fitzner, Bill
Givens, David Glismann, Wayne Harmon, Leon Hoffman, Rob Larson, Angelita Martinez, Joe
McMenamin, Dick Mellien, Vick Mendoza, Toni Mueller, Gene Murray, Muriel Owen, Chuck Park,
Joanne Prescott, Tom Scanlan, Lee Shadell, Gordy Shields, Joanne Silva, George Washington and
Bob and Mary Wilson. Also attending were chancellor Omero Suarez, GC president Ted Martinez
and GCCCD board member Rick Alexander.

Retirees attending the Cuyamaca luncheon on Wednesday included Marian Dickinson, Bob Holden,
Charlie Hyde, Leon Hoffman, Joan Mayuiers and Tom Scanlan.

The weather was perfect, the food and camaraderie was exceptional--and no long speeches!!

     
Gordy Shields, George Dillon    Joe McMenamin, Vic Mendoza,      Gene Murray, Lee Shadell
                                                               Don Anderson

                        
              Tom Scanlan, Dave Glismann,                  Leon Hoffman, Lee Engelhorn,
                               Rob Larson                                               Lee Shadell

Editor’s Comments
      
         Tom Scanlan and
      grandaughter Shelby

I asked Gene Murray to co-write this issue’s editorial with me, so I’ll keep my part short. Gene is
helping produce the Grapevine, beginning with this issue and I want to thank him for his support.
I also want to thank the numerous other retirees who have contributed to this issue. I have credited
them in the appropriate articles, but I’d like to go beyond that and state once again that--it is the
individual retiree contributions that are phoned or mailed to me that make this a true newsletter.
Keep those stories and suggestions coming in. I depend on them. My range as editor/reporter
is limited.
Where are you, and what are you doing?   
                                                                                        Gene Murray

You have heard that old adage, "Don’t volunteer for anything." Somehow I goofed. Tom Scanlan
asked for help, and here I am. Fortunately, for you retirees it is only temporary. Tom will soon fire
me for incompetence. Hey, I’m an accountant, not a writer.

You all should get involved in the Grapevine; it’s your newsletter. With your input this publication will
become more interesting to you. Please let us know where you are and what you are doing.
Correspond with us even if you think you live in a normal place and do normal things that no one else
will be interested in. I live in San Diego in the same house I bought in 1957. Now, that’s not very
exciting, but that’s what we want. We get quite a few travel stories, and that’s great. Keep it up, but
you are doing other activities too, so let us know.

Harry McKinney, remember him? He joined the French Foreign Legion when he retired. It may not
have been the smartest thing he has ever done, but he was happy for a while until real bullets started
flying his way. Sarah Leonard learned to fly after leaving Grossmont. Now she is a bush pilot up in
Alaska. Most of us don’t lead such exotic lives, but we want to hear from you anyway.

We need more material, and you’re the source, so get busy and write to us at:

The Grapevine
Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District
8800 Grossmont College Drive
El Cajon, CA 92020

or email to: tscanlan@mail.gcccd.cc.ca.us

So long, old friends.

Notices and Reminders:

Lori Carver said that the new academic wall calendar will be available soon. Call her at 644-7710 if
you’d like to receive one.

Second request for retiree authored poems (no response yet to first request in previous Grapevine).
Please limit to about 40 lines. It’s time to rhyme!

There’s an informal no-host coffee and breakfast for retirees at 9 AM on the first Tuesday of each
month at Coco’s restaurant on Navajo Rd. Always enjoyable! (see photo below)

                     
                      Tom Scanlan, Rob Larson, Florence Larson, Pat Higgins, Virginia
          Steinbach, Bob Steinbach, Bob Holden, Bill Givens, Joanne Presscott, Lee Roper
                               (photo taken at Coco's on July 6, thanks to Lee Roper)

                                        Biblio-files
                                                            by Tom Scanlan

  Chasing Grace, Martha Manning (Harper San Francisco, 1996)***

Martha Manning is probably best known for her earlier book, Undercurrents, a highly praised account
of her fight against depression. A lighter read, Chasing Grace is the sometimes hilarious, sometimes
serious story of her growing up in an Irish-American Catholic family in contemporary New York.
Although it’s an autobiography, of sorts, it reads much more like a novel. The chapters are organized
loosely around the various Catholic sacraments, such as Baptism, Communion and Confirmation.

You don’t need to be Irish or Catholic or a woman to appreciate this book, but if you have children or come from a larger family it’s especially enjoyable, because much of the book is how the children in this large family interact. Part of the book’s appeal is that it takes you from her early childhood through her teens, then young womanhood, and finally wife and mother, and then partly through her own daughter’s life from infant to young woman. The lessons Martha Manning learned while growing up are mostly universal, but growing up Catholic puts a different twist on things which can be fascinating to the non-Catholic and all-too-familiar to the Catholic reader.

The last chapter is a gem.

  Rocks of Ages, Stephen Jay Gould (Ballantine, 1999) ***

Another gift book from my family (thanks, Karen and Mark) but the topic of this book and the quality
of Gould’s writing will make it an enjoyable read for many of you. He demonstrates that the conflict
between science and religion is not as widespread as many believe and needn’t exist at all if we
understand that some topics are largely the turf of science and others lie within the realm of religion.
The topic is clearly a large and important one, especially for those of us getting up in years and
pondering more about the meaning of life. Unfortunately, most of the literature dealing with this issue is
highly philosophical and difficult to read.

Gould’s use of examples, especially contemporary conflicts, are what make this book so interesting
and pleasurable (the current flap in Kansas over teaching evolution also make this a timely topic). The
science/religion conflict arises when certain fundamentalist beliefs ignore the empirical evidence of
science (e.g., the age of the Earth, evolution, etc.) or when scientists arrogantly assert that all
phenomena can be explained scientifically and therefore one doesn’t need to (and perhaps shouldn’t?)
believe in something that is unproveable.

There’s some intriguing history in this book concerning Darwin and his contemporary supporters and
foes. Much of the supposed conflict between science and religion stems from this time and a very few
individuals and their books which were overly influential--and do not include Darwin and his
Origin of Species. Nor, Gould shows, does this conflict exist in the mind of many contemporary
scientists and religious leaders

His recounting of the Scopes trial is especially fascinating and it is more accurate for many is their only
exposure to this important event). He then describes the 1981 "Scopes II" trial in Arkansas (he was a
key scientific witness at the trial) which pitted a young biology teacher and the ACLU against
Creationists and a state statute requiring equal time for the scientific and creationist views of evolution.
Although this ‘conflict’ issue remains unresolved for many, Gould’s book exposes the extremes and
leaves the reader feeling a bit more optimistic about the place of religion and science in their own
beliefs.

  The First Eagle, Tony Hillerman ( Harper Collins, 1998) ***

This mystery is classic Hillerman, and brings together his two favorite Navajo tribal policeman, Jim
Chee and Joe Leaphorn (back from retirement!). The setting is the Navajo and Hopi reservations and
involves some of the conflict between the recently re-drawn boundaries of these contiguous areas.
Some of the traditions of Hopi and Navajo are compared and are a factor in this story. The Hanta
virus and rodent-spread bubonic plague play a major role. All of this converges to give the story a
very contemporary feel.

A field biologist is reported missing at about the same time a Navajo policeman is found murdered. A
Hopi is arrested poaching eagles in the same area, once a traditional Hopi holy place and now
occupied by Navajos. An eccentric research biologist who believes there’s a doomsday virus at large
is working in the area. Lots of conflict and more than a few suspects make this one of Hillerman’s
more challenging mysteries.

If you’re a Hillerman fan, don’t miss this one. If you haven’t read Hillerman, you are missing a good time as well as a fascinating education. He’s my favorite ‘light reading’ and I mean no slight by that. I hope he writes at least a dozen more.

Bill Carden highly recommends And the Sea Will Tell, by Vincent Bugliosi (the famous trial lawyer
who wrote Helter Skelter, the chilling best seller about Charles Manson and his ‘family’) and Bruce
Henderson. It’s the true story of two couples, one wealthy, the other hippies, who separately sail to a
small South Pacific island in the 1960’s. The clash between their different lifestyles results in two
deaths. One of the two survivors ends up being defended by Vincent Bugliosi, who reconstructs these
mysterious murders and the trial that follows. This is a widely acclaimed mystery-thriller!

                                  Hobbies anyone?

Does anyone out there have any hobbies that he or she would like to share with the rest of us? People
have all kinds of hobbies. Some of you are artists; others have an interest in photography, sewing,
doll making, stamp collecting, etc., etc. Harry McCoy flies airplanes, and Gene Murray has started
building a model railroad layout. It will be fun to learn what some of you are doing. The types of
hobbies are endless. Let’s know what you are doing.    gm

Volunteer Opportunity:

Parents Active for Vision Education (or P.A.V.E.) is a non-profit educational organization which
works to identify and help children with learning related vision problems. There are opportunities to
do vision screening, grant writing, fundraising, office work and more. Your talents can be put to good
use. If you would like to lend a hand, contact Bev at 287-0081. For more information call Ron
Knight at 579-3296.

              Fringe Benefits Committee Needs Retiree Members

The Fringe Benefits Committee, which deals with such matters as employee and retiree health, dental
and life insurance, needs a classified retiree and an administrative retiree. Academic retirees are
currently represented by retiree Bill Hansen.

Meeting dates and times for 1999 are:
3:30 Thursday, September 16, 1999 @ Grossmont in room 325B
3:30 Thursday, October 21, 1999 @ Cuyamaca Museum
3:30 Thursday, November 18, 1999 @ Grossmont in room 325B

Please contact Lori Carter at 644-7710 if you are interested.

                                Risk Management/Benefits Now on Web

The Office of Risk Management and Benefits went online this July. Their webpage is now part of
GCCCD’s website and can be accessed at http://www.gcccd.net/rmb/ . The benefits page would
probably be the most useful for those retirees still receiving benefits such as health, dental and life
insurance through the district. There’s lots of information and some useful features there, such as a
comparison of the three different district health insurance packages and an explanation of COBRA
and who’s eligible.  Check it out.

                 Emergency Self-Help for a Heart Attack

                 (Thanks to retiree Sue Warren who forwarded the following information.)

(editor's note: The American Heart Association does not recommend that the pubic use this
method in a situation where there is no medical supervision)

                      HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE

Let's say it's 4:17 p.m. and you're driving home, (alone of course), after an unusually hard day on the
job. Not only was the work load extraordinarily heavy, you also had a disagreement with your boss,
and no matter how hard you tried he just wouldn't see your side of the situation. You're really upset
and the more you think about it the more up tight you become. All of a sudden you start experiencing
severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. Classic heart
attack symptoms! You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest you home, unfortunately you
don't know if you'll be able to make it that far. What can you do? You've been trained in CPR but the
guy that taught the course neglected to tell you how to perform it on yourself.

Without help the person whose heart stops beating properly and who begins to feel faint, has only
about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help themselves by
coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the
cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath
and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let up until help arrives, or until the
heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing
movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also
helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a phone and, between
breaths, call for help.

Tell as many other people as possible about this, it could save their lives!

From Health Cares, Rochester General Hospital via Chapter 240's newsletter "AND THE BEAT
GOES ON..." (reprint from The Mended Hearts, Inc. publication, Heart Response)

South Africa Experiences       
                                                                                Gay Russell

The first three months of 1999 was spent touring South Africa, with my friends, Ken and Bev Thorne
from Johannesburg. I spent nearly a year corresponding with them to set up this fabulous 40-day trip
around the country. My hosts would be the tour guides. We traveled in a Volkswagen van with a
trailer to carry extra supplies. After a short stop in Joburg, we took off for the Kalahari and then
traveled down to the Cape Town area, wine country, up through part of the Garden Route and then
back up to Joburg.

In Joburg we purchased supplies for the trip and headed north. We would be staying in a variety of
accommodations: tents, cabins, native-type huts, and a small trailer. We passed many active coal and
gold mines as we headed out of town. The countryside was very hilly and green providing good
pastureland for the cattle. Dotting the hillside are the native huts and other homes built of rock and
woven branches covered with clay and with thatched roofs.

Along the roads, the locals walk from place to place, often in bare feet. Sometimes it looks like
migration along the road. Women carry children on their backs wrapped in a blanket, and they often
carry large bundles on their heads. It’s amazing that they can balance it all. Along the roadside are
vendors selling mostly fruits and vegetables. In town there are stores, but the streets are still lined with
vendors.

               
            Giraffe, Kruger National Park                     Rhino mother and baby, Zululand

One of the first places we stayed was in some log cabins in a virtual rain forest. We spent a day in
Umfolosi National Park and saw herds of buffalo, wildebeest, impala, kudu, nyala, rhino, and giraffes.
The rains had helped to create abundant waterfalls, fields of wild flowers, and blooming trees. We
passed fields of wild Easter lilies and stretches of yellow acacia trees. The grass was high and lush; the
hills were covered in green. Families of zebra, waterbuck, and warthog were frequently along the edge
of the road. We stopped by a mud hole and watched a group of warthogs rolling and playing in the
mud.

We drove on to Kruger National Park, and within two hours we spotted four young female lions, and
shortly ran into two leopards walking along the road. Then we spotted our first elephant. After Kruger,
we went into the mountains to Blyde River Canyon, an area of great beauty, which is like a miniature
Grand Canyon.

          
           Elephant, Kruger National Park                 Black-maned lion, Kalahari National Park

After a short break, we traveled across to the gateway to Central and Northern Africa. We visited the
London Missionary Society where Dr. Livingston met his bride-to-be, then entered the Kalahari
Desert area to visit the Kalahari Gensbok National Park. This is desert area and very hot and dusty.
We saw lions, gemsbok, secretary birds, wildebeest, eagles, and ostrich every day. One afternoon we
went to a waterhole where the park rangers said that a lion had been spotted. I looked over and saw
lions curled around a water tank on their backs with their feet in the air, fast asleep. There were two
males and two females. The two males strolled across the road and plopped down on a sand dune on
my side of the van—only 10 to 15 feet from me. What a thrill!

We visited several more national parks and reserves and saw lots of beautiful scenery, birds, and
animals. A couple of the parks were special. The Bontebok National Park was set aside especially for
the bontebok, which had become almost extinct. There was a tame bontebok in the camping area that
would let us come within 2 or 3 feet of him to take pictures.

Next was the Addo Elephant Park, where we stayed in a lovely chalet. These special elephants are
smaller than the normal African elephant. There are about 250 of them living in the park. Every day the
elephants come down to a large water hole in front of the restaurant to drink and bathe.

One of the last parks we visited was the Mt. Zebra National Park, where the mountain zebras live.
There zebras have very distinct black and white stripes and live on the plateaus.

We made two other short trips to a private game area and a wetland birding area. All in all, I was
privileged to see all the Big Five of animals and spot and identify over 261 birds. It was a once-in-a-
lifetime experience. It pleases me to report that South Africa is very serious about protecting their
animals and birds, and several species of each which were almost extinct are recovering nicely. It is a
most beautiful and special country.

You can email Gay Russell at gmruss@theriver.com

                                                  Y2K Stuff

You’re probably as sick as I am of all the hype about Y2K (which if you’re still mystified, is an
acronym for Year 2000). Still, even if you aren’t on the internet you might want to check and fix your
Windows 95/98 by doing the following (Thanks to Bob Steinbach for forwarding this information):

Applications that run on your PC look for the system date in a field called "Short Date Sample". In
their infinite wisdom, Microsoft set the default of this field to a two-digit year format. You need to
change it to four digits to insure a pleasant 2000. To accomplish this:
double click on "My Computer"
double click on "Control Panel"
double click on "Regional Settings" icon
Click on "Date" tab at the top of the page
Where it says "Short Date Sample", see if it show a two-digit year (and it probably will!). This date
feeds application software and will roll over to 00 in the year 2000, which could be problematic.
Click on the button across from "Short Date Style" and select the option that shows mm/dd/yyyy. Be
sure your selection has four Y's showing. Click on "apply" then click on "OK" at the bottom of the
dialog box. That's it - easy to do, but potentially painful if you don't do it!

If you use the internet, you can find a Y2K fix for Windows 95 at http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/contents/wurecommended/s_wufeatured/win95y2k/default.asp?site=95 There’s a similar site for Windows 98.

And what about your VCR?   Here is something I bet you hadn't thought would be an issue for
Y2K. You may not be able to use the programmed recording feature. Will it recognize 00 as the year
2000 or as 1900? The days of the week are different, so it matters. Don’t throw out the VCR. You
can solve this potential problem (if your VCR has the problem) by setting the Year to 1972.
The days of the week are the same in that calendar year as in the year 2000.

Finally, buy your champagne for next New Year's (Millennium) early. Rumor has it there may be
shortages if you wait too long. Now there’s a Y2K problem!             ts

                                                Cyber-stuff
                                                 by Tom Scanlan

I’m going to assume that there are enough of you retirees out there who now have a home computer
and are connected to the internet (or are thinking about doing so) to warrant an occasional article
on internet stuff. If that’s true, then there are some tips and tricks that might make your time more
productive, less expensive, and more enjoyable.

Free e-mail  The internet has become virtually free now, both for e-mail and for surfing. If all you
want is e-mail, there are companies like Juno which will (for the minimal inconvenience of seeing a
few ads each time you go on-line) provide limited e-mail service absolutely free. With their free
service you will not be able to send or receive most attachments (e.g., pictures or sound clips).
You can start Juno by visiting their home page at http://home.juno.com or going directly to their
download page at http://dl.www.juno.com/bin/dynoget/site/get

Free Internet  If you’d like to use the internet as well as just sending e-mail, you should consider
one of the free ISP’s (Internet Service Provider) now available. Of the two I’ve tried, Netzero seems
to be the best (I had some problems with Alta Vista’s new FreeAccess). You can find out more at http://www.netzero.net/ .

Free Long Distance Voice Conversation  If you’d like to make free long distance calls anywhere in
the world, you can download software such as Yahoo’s Messenger at
http://messenger.yahoo.com/messenger/ . The people you call will also need to download and install
the Yahoo Messenger. The sound is very good, very few ‘break-ups’ and better fidelity than the
telephone--but only one of you can talk at a time. On the other hand, you can ‘conference’ with lots
of others at the same time and simultaneously send written notes to the group or to an individual in the
group. I was very impressed. Other free internet talk services include http://www.FireTalk.com/index2.html
and http://www.HearMe.com/ .

Hassle-Free Downloads  Have you ever tried to download a large file, and after waiting and
waiting, your computer or the server has a problem and you have to start all over? Very frustrating.
I’ve been using some freeware called Download Wonder and it takes the pain out of downloads
and speeds up the process. You can download it at
http://www.forty.com/download_wonder.htm

Which browser works best? What’s the best search-engine? Send me your ideas and stay tuned.

                          Neveu Vineyards Has Website Now

Ernie Neveu now has a webpage for his vineyard (see Grapevine, Nov. ‘98) . You can reach it at http://www.thegrid.net/pnoir . He tells me that his pinot noir crop is looking very good but the apples
didn’t do as well. His 98 pinot noir was excellent, so keep your eye on this site. Isn’t it great that we
might soon be able to order wine grown and produced by one of our own retirees?!

   Charline Lamons Now Convalescing in Home Town   

Charline has left the hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Grapevine, Mar. ‘99) and is now at a convalescent
home in her home town, Okmulgee, OK. She’d appreciate your cards or letters addressed to her at:
505 South Mission St, Okmulgee, OK 74447-5329, or you can phone her at (918) 756-6851.

Jane Spooner Dies      

Jane Spooner (Grossmont College, Speech, 1962-1983) died on July 10, 1999 at her home in Tucson.

(Don Scouller graciously supplied the following:)

Jane Spooner, my old friend, died recently and I’d like to share a few memories with those who
knew her. When I was first hired in 1965 the College was still under construction, and I was posted to
the 300 Bldg to share office space with the engineering faculty. I didn’t even know who the other
members of the department were, because I had been hired by Dean Charlie Collins and temporarily
assigned to Speech and/or drama/and or speech . I had been given the names of Martin Gerrish and
Jack McAuley, but I couldn’t find either of them. But Jane Spooner sought me out and came to my
office to welcome me. She brought me a text book that was being used, and took me on a walking
tour of the campus. That’s the kind of person she was. She cared about people, and acted uponher
concerns. We became lifelong friends.

When Joan and I moved to Tucson we visited her at her lushly beautiful desert acreage. She came to
visit us in our Sun City Vistoso home, and we hoped she would consider moving near us. Instead she
designed and had built a magnificent home. She charmed the general contractor and his crew and they
helped her work through the technical aspects of designing for the desert.

She was a member of Southwest Mystery Writers Group, and we went on "field research trips’ to the
sites of her stories. Once I had to convince her that a snub-nose .38 caliber handgun was not very
accurate at 150 yards downhill range. The three of us had many creative moments fiddling plots to
meet the terrain.

We shared good memories of her interest in acting, and her debut as a television star - or at least as a
bit player in commercials. She always kept her sense of humor at the ready, and could tell a good
story on herself with real glee. She was a lady of many parts, and I am glad to have shared some
good times with her.