Sierra Sun Times |
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SUMMARY OF EVENTS The fires of the last ten days demonstrated to Mariposa County the power and strength of the Fire and Emergency Services both here in Mariposa County, and the State of California. Unfortunately twenty-one homes were destroyed. On the other hand hundreds were saved. That doesn't make the losses any more palatable. The theme that has repeated itself over the last fifteen to twenty years about defensible space had a precise demonstration. I recall when State Code 4290 was first introduced we in county service saw it as an intrusion on the private rights of property owners. Imagine having to clear around your property, at first it was 30 feet, and later 100 feet. Having an 18 foot wide driveway with a turn around at the end on dead end roads and driveways, seemed excessive. No longer. Having a 2500 gal water tank with a hydrant was an imposition. Not now. Buying new properly equip Fire Trucks cost too much. Some of my friends would pay anything to have their property back. It is interesting that within days of the passage of the measure to properly equip the Mariposa County Fire Department that such an incident should occur. I met and got to know many of the young fine firefighters and their officers. Professional is the appellation that must be applied here. Even as I write this many are still here. I lived through the Harlow Fire forty seven years ago, which could not be stopped short of the town boundaries of Oakhurst. How many small communities were wiped out in that fire which would survive today? Hundreds of homes were burned to the ground. Homes of working families which were often bare shelter but absolutely necessary. Men who worked in the woods of the Sierra National Forest. All gone including gas stations, post offices and grocery stores. Little was defensible in those days from the fire storm that boiled out of Nelson Cove on the Chowchilla River, taking everything in its path. Gene Warren, at that time Manager of Mariposa Telephone, survive by diving under his truck near Ahwahnee, while an elderly couple died driving off a dirt road trying to escape the flames. No reverse 911 system, in fact no 911 system. The Sheriff's office was still in the Court House with one telephone and closed at 5PM. How things have changed. Yes it costs a lot more to have all of these community services but they are worth it. Over 30,000 acres burned, twenty-one homes lost, and not a civilian causality. I see Mariposa County from the perspective of one having lived here over 65 years and I can identify progress and change. Change for the better. In 1943, there was no hospital, no fire department save for the California Division of Forestry for about five months in the summer, no dependable water and sewer system in Mariposa and Coulterville, no 24 hour police and fire services, one library with the exception of a couple of book outlets in Bear Valley and Bootjack. Someone said to me the other day that there are too many retired people living here now, not knowing that I am about, for the third or fourth time, become one again. Retired people are not the problem because there are productive, progressive citizens in this county of all ages. And, if you want me to point them out, I would be happy to except I don't want to insult or embarrass anyone. But I can tell you that there are Scope members, volunteer Firemen and women, including chiefs, all well past retirement age, and yet they still serve; Red Cross workers, Salvation Army, Manna House, and any number of community service organization members old enough to take their leisure that, probably the results of Medicare, are still important contributors to the welfare of our society. One member of the Board of Supervisors is of my generation, a caring and competent individual. I can not understand the need to destroy this county, its political structure and citizens. We are 18,400 folks pretty much in the same boat, all loving our rural lifestyle. It will be protected by the decisions we have made over the past twenty years, but we can always do better. Do better we should and can by working together. Sure there will be an argument or two, which is normal, but in the end demand only one thing of our public figures in and out of government. Do not act in self interest but work to understand the positive result that working as a community can bring. WILLIAM JOSEPH BOMPREZZI On Tuesday, July 29, we held services for a member of our family, Bill Bomprezzi. At ninety-four years of age he just plainly wore out. But when he was 70 and I was probably 51, we cut wood together. He could work me into the ground and I am, or was, no slouch. Bill was born in Madera on a ranch. But the depression caused this young man to look for work in Yosemite National Park. He worked there as a wood cutter in the summers, and whatever he could find in the winter. I first knew him when we both worked for Sid Ledson at Badger Pass in the winter of l949 or 50. He was a regular for the company and I started as a dish washer, or really the pots and pans. But he really became part of our family when his daughter Heidi married my brother David. Bill was special because of a tomato called the "Bomprezzi" which came from somewhere, he keeping it going and passing it on to Bob Ringrose. He was special for his home made wine, not the bonded fancy Merlot that we once bottled, but something in a jar with a cloth cover to keep out the flies. None the less, it went well with pasta, although from year to year it could probably cause brain damage. He was special because he was Italian, loved the earth, his cattle and his family. Well, I am well passed the wood cutting and raising sheep and cattle and wine grapes but I will always remember the day I presented Bill with a bottle of our finest Merlot wine. First he made fun of the cork, kiddingly wondering what it was. Then he took a couple of sips, and I suppose because it did not hit him with a thud, he went looking for his jug wine, politely thanking me but passing on a second glass. He was probably right; men who drink corked wine could probably not make it through the depression. Leroy Radanovich Leroy Radanovich Email: Leroy Radanovich To Read More By Leroy Radanovich: Leroy Radanovich's Mariposa Life Archives |
August 5, 2008 |