Here it is September already with lovely weather, no hurricanes, tornados, or earthquakes. Happenings for your calendar: September 1st- Community Club dessert meeting at 7:00p.m. September 4th Breakfast Sunday in the Ferry, September 8th School Board meeting at 6:00p.m. September 13, History and Museum meeting 9:00a.m., September 14th Garden Club at Bev Hay’s home, September 22nd  MAC Meeting 7:00p.m.
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Congratulations Robert Brunker on being honored by the Oakdale Cowboy Museum. He received special recognition for his El Rancheria Del Rio Estanislaus, a winter range for beef cattle.
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At the M. A. C. meeting, Supervisor O’Brien told there was no one running for the open positions on the MAC so all are to be reappointed. D. Johnson and Heather Wright from the Army Corp spoke on many activities. With some stimulus funds, the Army Corp did some needed paving and roadwork. The new tank at Honolulu Bar on Orange Blossom Road was put there by Fish Bio and Oakdale Irrigation District as mitigation for removing one elderberry bush (the Elderberry beetle is an endangered species) during gravel smoothing and blackberry removal in a side channel. They had to plant 75 elderberry plants for the one removed and the tank is the water supply for the drip system. Also discussed by the Army Corp personnel was the fact that the covered bridge was examined to be on the National Monument Status! The National Park Service also cat-scanned the bridge and there is a sag in it so there will be NO driving of any kind, or large crowds, on the bridge until they determine what can be done. Also they informed the committee of the drop in the water level in the river, starting the 29th of August through September 9th to 400 CSF (it has been over 3000 CSF). This is to allow some work on the river channel and the adding of salmon gravel at the base of Goodwin Dam. Carol Davis from the History and Museum Associates announced the last side of Miller’s Hall is being replaced. Mike Brennan spoke about the idea of a trail from Goodwin Dam downriver for 55 miles. The trail would not be all on land, some would be water travel. This idea is being talked about in the towns along the Stanislaus River and Mike was informing the MAC and looking for their support.
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National Public Lands Day is September 24th at the Knights Ferry Recreation Area. Come and volunteer and help maintain public lands with cleaning trails, picking up trash etc.; this starts at 8:00a.m.
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Our local I.O.O.F. Lodge (Odd Fellows) gave $1000 to Knights Ferry School’s Sixth grade for their Outdoor Education Camp that they would be attending September 19 to 23.
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Lee and Mary Sue Shearer and Eric and Laura Ray joined other Porsche enthusiasts for breakfast in Sonora and then a tour of Cal Fire’s Air Attack facilities in Columbia. Since a fire was burning outside Yosemite, they got to see the fire retardant bomber being filled with retardant and take off. It only takes five minutes to load and then it was back in approximately half an hour for more retardant. They also got to see where the retardant is mixed. The spotter plane’s role was explained by the spotter coordinator, who has to have radio contact with the base and all planes and fire ground crews (incident commanders). He directs the bombers on their retardant drops. The group also got to see the helicopter and they were given an explanation of rescue, fire and medical calls and the equipment used for each. It was very informative!
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Those Ferry residents interested in high-speed wireless Internet connection, the information is posted at the Post Office.