July 4, 2005

My first question was, "Did you see a ghost?" When told that Cub Scout Pack 912 visited the USS Hornet, which is supposedly haunted, on June 3. Scouts Tommilee O'Connor, Justice O'Connor, Arteen Zahari, Ryan Foster, Cord Zale, Able Martinez and James Martinez attended the overnight Camperall trip with 1,300 scouts and parent chaperones from all over the Bay Area. The scouts were accompanied by parents, Zouri Zale, Judy Bettencourt, Dan O'Connor, Zia Zahari and Christine Foster.

At this annual Scouting event each pack set up game booths and one even displayed a foreign language booth where the scouts could learn about their culture and games. They slept in a giant hangar, had an ice cream social on the freezing cold flight deck, earned badges, played miniature golf and were served a breakfast provided by Carl's Jr. restaurant.

Judy said, "James Martinez's highlight was making a sling shot from a toilet plunger. We had a really good time." Sunol Glen School 4th grader Able said, "We had fun. We slept overnight and ate breakfast. Touring around the whole place was the best part. I really enjoyed it." And about that ghost, Able confided in me that while they were waiting in a line he and a friend witnessed something glowing and white. You just never know.

Boy Scout Troop 912 has had a busy year. A Court of Honor award ceremony was held last May and the troop attended the annual Camporee. Currently at Brownsea Leadership Training are Adam Foster, Colton Sehmsdorf, Richard Foster, Murray Foster, Nick Sarraco and Galen Willet. Then next week, Adam and Colton will be leaving for New Mexico for additional training. What's next for this troop? A trip to Moaning and Mercer Caverns later this month and summer camp at Wolfeboro for a week in August.

It's funny, when mentioning 4th of July holiday plans, how many out of town folks have asked me if Sunol is having a parade or festival of some sort. My usual response is "Well that would be fun but probably really small".

We have one church, one school, one golf course, two restaurants, a few wineries, one antique store, one convenience store, a couple of riding stables, a repertory theater, an event center, girl scouts, boy scouts, 4-H, a skunk train, a few environmental groups and lots of extremely talented and gifted artists, writers and painters. Add a local politician (yes, we have one), a few kids on horses, and the assorted odd pets and that should be enough for at least a small parade on Main Street.

Heck, we don't even have any stoplights and if you don't count highway 84 or the Sunol grade, we don't have any traffic to detour either. It's too bad our former Mayor the late Bosco wasn't still around to lead the parade as Grand Marshall. We could even cap it off with a barbeque and bon fire in the Sunol Community Park. Maybe this will give someone in town an idea to start planning a parade for next year. I'll be there. Have a happy and safe holiday.