The La Honda Voice

La Honda History: Remembering Kammy Chan (v2)

By Joe Cottonwood

Kammy Chan was a friendly little man who worked in the Pioneer Market in La Honda. If he wasn't at the store, he was wandering around in front of the restaurant or the post office. Or he'd just be sitting on a curb staring at the redwoods and smoking a cigarette. He seemed to have no home. More than once somebody would ask him, "Where do you live, Kam?" He'd smile vaguely and say, "I'm still in the same place." And that's where he remained until April of 1986, when all hell broke loose in the life of Kammy Chan. (continued on page 2) The Face of Local Music - Ted Kratter by Craig Eddy Writing this month‘s Face of Local Music has a bit of a difficulty factor built in. Ted Kratter, although not a resident of the La Honda area, has played more music here than anywhere else. Ted passed away Easter Sunday leaving his musical family at a loss as to how to fill the void. Ted gigged on a regular basis at the local venues with his band The Day Late Fools. He also played with the local jam groups and hasn't missed a La Honda Fair in several years. I don't think Ted missed a Strawberry Music Festival in many years either. Ted was equally at home playing acoustic guitar in his bluegrass band Wires and Wood as tearing it up on electric guitar at some of the weekly jams. Truly a Hank to Hendrix kinda guy. His influences included Jeff Beck, The Dregs, Grateful Dead, Santana, and on and on. I have known lots of musicians with egos they didn't deserve, and even though Ted would have been justified in having one, he didn't. (continued on page 2)

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Café could change hands (continued from page 1) ―Despite having no prior experience in restaurant management, Sullivan made her restaurant into a de facto town hall for the La Honda community. It's been a place where people would gather to learn what was going on in the area. The restaurant hosted a popular literature night every month and became the meeting place for the burgeoning La Honda Historical Society…

News that Sullivan's was looking at change set off a lengthy discussion on the La Honda community online chatroom, where residents traded ideas for how the eatery could survive...‖ Jane outside Sullivan’s

The Face of Local Music (continued from page 1) Constantly asked why aren't you out as a full time pro, he would always reply "that would be work, I just want to play with my friends." Ted has been in lots of bands over the years. Early on he played with Equinox. When I first met Ted, he had just finished a stint with the band Freakwagon. Ted's education focused on math which helped him have a great understanding of musical theory. He had amazing arranging skills and was always willing to help someone improve their playing. He made a name as a great Bluegrasser playing guitar and mandolin. Nothing would crack us up more than when he would start playing Metallica on the acoustic guitar. La Honda area has a huge musical family and one of our dearest members has gone on. His generous nature and big heart all made playing music with him a warm and energizing experience. His closest musical friends jammed with him during his hospice time and these moments will be with us from now on. At some point there will be a memorial musicfest to honor his life and music. Rock on Ted.

Remembering Kammy Chan (continued from page 1) Kam came to the USA legally with his family. With some other partners Kam's family ran an export business in San Francisco, but his parents died. The partners booted Kam out. It was 1970. Kam was a young man from Hong Kong all alone in Chinatown with an expired visa. Somehow, Kam came to the attention of a man from La Honda who was doing a job in San Francisco. The man offered Kam a sanctuary in his remote La Honda home. The sanctuary came at a price. In the words of many La Hondans, Kam became a virtual slave for this man and his wife, caring for their children, cooking, cleaning, and doing household chores. Eventually Kam got free of this couple by moving to, and working at, the home of a more generous-spirited La Honda resident, Dick Fox. A quick learner, Kam would help with various building projects on the property in exchange for room and board. To earn more money, Kam started working in the Pioneer Market for the owner, Pat Dancer. Kam found a room he could rent at the Church of the Redwoods. When Bob Cook bought the Pioneer Market, Kam came with it. By this time there was no longer a room for rent at the church. Kam had to make other arrangements. This was the beginning of the period when Kam would smile vaguely and say, "I'm still at the same place." Bob said, "Kam and I figured out butchering together. We'd cut up sides of beef and see what went wrong. We learned from our mistakes. Kam did a day and a half's work in a day and slept in the back of the store, but nobody knew." (Actually, everybody knew.) You might hear other versions of Kam's origin. In one version he came to the USA legally on a student visa, which expired. In another version Kam's family was mixed up with Hong Kong mobsters who killed everybody else and were searching for him. Whatever the version, a kid from Hong Kong ended up in a tiny town deep in a canyon in the redwood forest. 3

Kam took those non-answers to heart and made up some of his own, such as "I'm still in the same place." He was a master of the vague smile. After 16 years in La Honda, Kam somehow came to the attention of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which started demanding documents. Sources in La Honda claim that the man, who they say once held Kam in virtual slavery, got into a dispute with Bob Cook and reported Kam just to make trouble for the grocery store. Instead of coming after the store, though, the INS came after Kam. Everybody who knew Kam described him as "sweet." He was too trusting. People took advantage. According to several people in town, a woman in La Honda who drove a big-rig truck offered to marry him as a way to legalize his status. They say it was strictly a financial arrangement, and Kam was the loser. He moved in with her in an attempt to make the marriage look legitimate, though nobody in town believes it was ever consummated. When the ruse failed, according to these same people, the woman dropped him but ignored his request to annul the marriage. The town got involved. Petitions were signed in support of Kam. Bob Cook hired an immigration lawyer. But nothing would move the INS. According to Bob, part of the problem with Kam was: "He was secretive. He never filed any paperwork, whether out of fear or ignorance. There was an amnesty, but he missed it. And he trusted the wrong people. Except for that bogus marriage, Kam never spent money. He had fifty-five thousand dollars when they deported him." The end came suddenly. Three black limousines pulled up at the Pioneer Market. Most people in La Honda believe it was no coincidence that when those black limousines pulled up, Kam's old nemesis, the man who first had brought him to La Honda, was standing there, watching. The INS agents pulled Kam out of the store and whisked him away. Bob Cook and his lawyer went to San Francisco for Kam's hearing. According to Bob, he and his lawyer thought they had prevailed. They were talking to Kam outside the hearing room when three INS agents tackled Kam. Bob jumped in. So did the lawyer. It was a melee in the hallway. Bob, the lawyer, and little Kam were no match for the three INS agents. They handcuffed Kam and led him away. Bob never saw Kam again. A few weeks later, Bob received a postcard with a picture of Hong Kong at night. On the back Kam wrote, "It's expensive to live here. I'm homesick." So Kam did have a home. Of all this big planet, from his birth in Hong Kong he found home in the little strip mall of La Honda, sitting on a curb smoking a cigarette and gazing at the redwoods, or sleeping in the back of the store. He can never come back. Now, 25 years later, Kam remains in Hong Kong. He has two children though he can't legally marry the mother because he is still, on paper, married to somebody somewhere in the USA. Who knows what might have happened? Perhaps Kam's life is better than before. Right now, it's difficult to say. Or as Kam might put it: "I'm still in the same place." 4

Quake Concerns for Pescadero High School [A series of articles have been written over the past month on the concern over the earthquake safety of Pescadero High School - some of the highlights are excerpted below]

Quake Hazard Maps Redrawn for Pescadero High School (Excerpt from www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? file=/c/a/2011/04/11/MNRS1IRBQ6.DTL)

―In southern San Mateo County, two miles east of the Pacific Ocean, lies the blue-collar town of Pescadero, a tourist destination and geologic time bomb. …Pescadero is just one school that found itself in a fault hazard zone one day - and gone the next. ...For the town of Pescadero, the change was striking. The old Franklin Point Quadrangle map from 1976 shows uninterrupted borders smoothly running north to south, outlining an earthquake danger zone. Pescadero High is firmly within that zone. On the newer map, created in 1982, the hazard zone takes a sharp right angle - neatly carving out a supposedly secure zone around the school.

"Faults don't go at right angles," said Peter Yanev, a World Bank earthquake engineer with 40 years of experience, who reviewed the maps for California Watch. "It doesn't look right because faults don't do this." Fault Hazard Zone near PHS in 1976 Lack of Oversight, Sloppy Record Keeping Raise Concerns About School Safety

Redrawn Fault Hazard Zone in 1982 He didn't think much about this unsettling but common piece of California geology, he says, until a few years ago when the school put a new roof on the gym. Then he noticed symmetrical cracks going down one of the gym walls that made him question the structural soundness of the building….

But when Burns got in touch with the field engineer in charge of the La Honda Pescadero School District, the engineer didn't know anything about the high school. Burns did some research into state records, and discovered that the recent construction on the gym was not earthquake certified….‖

South Coast residents press Pescadero district ―For more than three years, two Pescadero residents have made it their mission to make sure school officials are held accountable for a litany of troubled construction projects at the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District.

Pescadero residents Bryan Burns and Jeff Gananian are trying to compel San Mateo County prosecutors to take legal action against as many as 35 former board members and top employees at the South Coast district. Gananian has been plantiff in a two-year court battle over safety issues at the school...

On the South Coast, Burns and Gananian say school officials have neglected to perform mandatory safety inspections on new school buildings as far back as the early 1980s.

One of the buildings he singles out is the Pescadero High School gymnasium. … Burns said the gymnasium is particularly troubling because it acts as a public emergency shelter…‖ 5

Tom O‘Connor is sitting at his kitchen table with a cup of coffee. He has taken a break from mowing to talk to me. He doesn‘t look like your typical retiree even though the plaque on the wall behind him commerates his 22 years in the Park Service. In fact, his eyes light up and he looks like a kid when we talk about the La Honda racing team for which he plays an integral role. He says, ―Go to 24hoursoflemons.com to see how Jay Lamm, who used to race cars, thought up the idea.‖ According to the web site and video, Jay Lamm conceived the idea when he was sitting round at lunch at a Chinese Restaurant with a bunch of his gear-head friends. Lamm says,‖ When you had a good time on a car event was when something would go wrong.‖ So, he put a limit on the amount of money anyone could spend on the cars; they couldn‘t cost more than $500.00. Not including the safety equipment. He wanted to make racing more accessible to the average person as well. Tom O’Conner with Trophy

Pat Williams, who still lives in La Honda (his wife Carole works at La Honda Elementary) and is a team member confirms saying., ―I have known Terry and Dana Buck since second grade, Tom O‘Connor, Sr. from living in the area for the past 45 years (Tom says it is 59 years in LH, but that was before Pat was born), and Tommy Jr. since the mid 70‘s. I think I first met Chuck O‘Connor in the early 70‘s through Tommy, Sr. He adds, ―I never raced before competitively before. I‗ve done open track for fun. But, I have raced around La Honda all my life.‖

Tom‘s son, Tom Jr., found their car, an old Porsche, in Woodside buried under a tree for 10 years, O‘Conner says. He adds ruefully, ―Yeah, the car cost under $500.00 but we had to put $2,000.00 into it in safety equipment like a roll bar, seat belts, tires, etc.‖ He says he maintains the car and it is stored in his shop. ―I am retired after all.‖ But he says that all of the other team members throw money at it all the time. O‘Connor says, ―We have a lot of people to thank. Cheryl O‘Connor for doing all of the art work on the car,‖ (the car sports a La Honda Bandit- the former mascot of La Honda Elementary School plus a Grateful Dead sticker, not, obviously, Cheryl‘s artwork but I know Tom, Sr.‘s been a Dead Head from way back when), ―Graham Thomas, Joe Barrett, and Bob Bowers for all the work they have done on the car.‖

―I asked Tom how often they change drivers. He said,‖ We are supposed to change every two hours but they don‘t really enforce it. We usually do though, first of all, I have to go pee after 2 hours. Pat is nervous when other cars surround him, Dana is a big guy and gets uncomfortable, and Tommy is 6 ft 5 and gets leg cramps. Terry (their most experienced driver) could go all day, but we don‘t let him. Our problem is we lose 6

* The La Honda Elementary School no longer uses the term "Bandits", not politically correct, I guess, but the raccoon still is the mascot. La Hondans Savor Water, Drink Wine (excerpt from www.hmbreview.com/news/article_835db112-6622-11e0-bd1e-001cc4c03286.html) ―In a water-tasting event organized by the Cuesta La Honda Guild, local residents were comparing unfiltered water from the local plumbing with bottled water to see which tasted better.

The challenge came about after a Cuesta board member claimed last month that La Honda's water, drawn from the nearby streams and ponds, was the best-tasting around.

But many residents connected to the waterworks strongly disagree, saying they find it undrinkable unless heavily filtered. Many residents say they have reason to be wary. The Cuesta guild has sent out notices occasionally in the past warning its ratepayers to boil their water due to possible contamination.

So to settle the matter, local resident Peter Bohacek proposed a blind tasting at the tail end of the regular Cuesta homeowners meeting.

Coincidentally, several bottles of wine had also been donated for the public to enjoy at the meeting. La Honda attendees were drinking some wine, but they were savoring the water that night.

"It was a reversal of the normal ... After they drank the water, did you see them rinse out their palate with wine?" Bohacek joked. "This idea just came up in conversation when someone said how good our water is."… At the blind tasting, public reviews of the specially treated La Honda water were mixed. Three tasters said they preferred bottled water; two others said the tap water was superior…‖ Kim Hussey sampling the water

July 10th $25 a Space Call Karen at 747-0515 7

…As the riders approach San Gregorio there is electricity in the air, the riders are getting ready for the sprint. They know that there is a prize up for grabs for the first to reach the old bridge, just before the point where the road turns up to La Honda. There is a crowd waiting, You can hear their shouts, their cheering for they know the riders are on their way. Here they come! Here they come! The riders are coming! They say. ..‖ 8

Go to gardens.eventbrite.com for additional details All's Fair In Love and War - Signs of Spring by Craig Eddy

Wet spring portends another big year for snakes The title says it all – go to www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? f=/c/a/2011/04/10/SPFE1IRN4G.DTL or the LH Message Board for more details

La Honda Kid on Animal Planet (excerpt from groups.yahoo.com/ group/LaHonda/message/25730) ―Proud mom boast!! Look for Stone this month on Animal Planet "Killer Outbreaks" as Devonte King, and Discovery Channel "I Almost Got Away With It". Then in May as Piggy in the Palo Alto Children's Theater Production of Lord of the Flies, opening May 20th. It‘s going to be a great production!‖ 9

La Honda Transportation Survey Would you like more transportation options in and out of La Honda? Lynnette Vega is organizing a study to determine if plans should be made to move forward and provide other transportation options. Lynnette said that she will also set up a table at the local Post Office on Friday, May 13th, to help get the forms filled out. The form deadline has been extended to May 14. Please return the forms to lahondalynnette@earthlink.com or to PO Box 205, La Honda 94020. 10

La Honda Properties, Inc. PO Box C131 La Honda, CA 94020 We currently have 3 ‗spotless‘ apartments available in La Honda

1)Studio: $900.00/month includes all Utilities + Dish TV and water & trash pickup 2) One bedroom apartment: $1250/month includes water + trash pickup 3) One bedroom apartment $1275/month includes fenced patio, water and trash pickup - Beautiful backyards & gardens overlooking La Honda Creek - Onsite Laundry Rook for tenants Call 650-747-9713 for showing

Contact Angus Blackwood or Robert Worthington at White Space Financial robert@ourwhitespace.com 11

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