The La Honda Voice

September 15th - Coastal Cleanup Day!!

Part of the 400 pounds of trash collected at San Gregorio State Beach at last year's Coastal Cleanup Day.

This year's event at San Gregorio State Beach will be Saturday, September 15th, 2012 from 9am-noon. Parking has always been free for cleanup volunteers. Bring sturdy shoes or boots, layered clothing, sunscreen, and the whole family!  We encourage reusable water bottles, heavy gloves and plastic buckets for cleanup, but we'll have plenty of supplies on hand.

There are many other cleanup locations along the coast and inland.  Visit Coastal Cleanup Day to find more information about the event and how to find cleanup sites.

San Gregorio Environmental Resource Center (SGERC) is proud to have been site captains for Coastal Cleanup Day at the State Beach since 2003. SGERC has also assisted in cleanup efforts at Pomponio and Tunitas Creeks. The organization also has adopted a stretch of highway along Hwy 84, keeping that area cleared of trash since 2007. To find out more about SGERC, call their office at (650) 726-2499, or visit their website sgerc.org.

Training for Stream Monitoring - September 9th

San Gregorio Environmental Resource Center (SGERC) will lead a training session for anyone interested in stream monitoring Sunday morning, September 9th from 10am-noon. 

The session will be on Alpine Creek, meeting at Heritage Grove parking area at 10am. We'll provide everything you'll need, though you may want to wear rubber boots if you want to get into the stream.

You'll learn how to properly collect and handle water samples, perform five basic water quality tests, and keep good records.  It's all fairly easy, good for all ages, and helps provide important information about the health of our waterway.  Each monitor is part of a team that visits their site on a monthly basis, so it's not a large commitment of time.  Most teams choose to monitor Saturday or Sunday morning, usually starting at 9 or 10am. Monitoring our streams is a rewarding experience, as evidenced by the many members of our group that have participated for more than 10 years!  

SGERC would love to see more members of the community become involved in some way with our organization.  If you're not interested in monitoring, maybe there's another way you'd like to assist.  We sponsor a number of activities, including highway and coastal cleanups, public events and educational opportunities. Maybe you'd like to help with our website or maillist, data analysis, GIS layers, or grant writing.

Please call if you have questions about this event or our organization, otherwise hope to see you the 9th!  -  Neil


Neil Panton - Executive Director
San Gregorio Environmental Resource Center
PO Box 49, San Gregorio, CA 94074
650-726-2499

The Face of Local Music - Bill Dickson

by craig eddy

This month's choice for Face of Local Music is one well traveled musician. Bill Dickson is originaly from Manhattan. His first exposure to music was from what his parents listened to. Mom was into Classical while Dad was a Jazz lover.  When Bill was first learning music he played flute and French horn. At six or seven years old he heard Hard Days Night by the Beatles and started longing for a guitar. He finally got a guitar and a Beatles song book when he was 11 years old. Bill actually played with friends in Iran for a few years when his father worked there. They just might have been one of the very last rock and roll sessions as the revolution happened and they were forced to come back home. Maybe the revolution happened because Bill was over there playing Rock N Roll. Bill attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music earning a BA degree. He completed his masters in music compostion at the Manhattan Conservatory of Music. He returned to San Francisco Conservatory and ran their recording department. He is hoping to dive back into the classical composition world as he still has a chamber orchestra piece that needs finishing up. Bill has always been a solo performer but has been known to jam with the rest of us hacks now and then. Bill usually shows up and sits in at the July 4th Playbowl event as well as the October Jamfest at Playbowl. Bill has four albums of his works out and you can check out his music on his website at billdickson.net. Bill loves all types of music, slide blues, Bob Dylan, Beethoven, John Cage, Leo Koetke and of course the Rolling Stones. Bill is an excellent teacher and whether you want to learn easy Rock n Roll or study indepth musical theory, Bill is the guy. Bill has played music on the east coast, West Coast, London and Iran. Hopefully we'll see him doing one of his rare solo shows again soon here in La Honda. For more information on lessons or his musical projects please check out his website.

August 2012 Edition of the La Honda Voice

Download TheLaHondaVoiceAug2012

July 2012 Edition of the La Honda Voice

Download TheLaHondaVoiceJuly2012