Serving the communities of Valley Springs, Burson and Wallace

Dec. 17

Candace and Buddy Keesey accept the Valley Springs Area Business Association's Citizens of the Year award.

Keeseys receive ABA Citizens of the Year honors

By Nick Baptista

   Whether it’s Boy Scouts, the American Legion, a Valley Springs Area Business Association event, or the Toyon Middle School PTA, you’ll likely find the couple honored Saturday evening as the VSABA’s Citizens of the Year playing an active role.

   Buddy and Candace Keesey of Valley Springs received the award during the ABA’s annual Christmas Dinner at the Veterans Hall.

    The Keeseys have lived in the area for the past eight years. Buddy has been a driver for Unified Grocers out of Stockton for the past 19 years and Candace is the owner-operator of Candace’s Cleaning.

    Buddy is an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 302 and Candace is the advancement chairperson, keeping track of the scouts’ ranks. They were also involved with Cub Scouts with Buddy serving as an assistant cub master and Candace as a den leader.

   For the American Legion, Buddy, a Vietnam veteran who served three 15-month tours while in the U.S. Navy, is a second vice commander, and Candace is the first vice commander in the auxiliary. They also are on the Barn Building Committee, which has raised $35,000 the past year in events, raffles and donations to help building a new Veterans hall and community center.

   Candace is the Toyon PTA information officer, taking notes and putting PTA information on the school’s website. She’s also the webmaster for the ABA.

   Buddy can be found behind the bar at ABA mixers and Candace is on the ABA board and secretary of the ABA’s Visionary Council. They also donate their time to helping with ABA activities and events such as the annual Christmas Parade.

   Candace attributed their community involvement to following the lead provided by former Citizens of the Year such as Betty Snyder, Diana Gigliotti and Barbara Stanley.

   “Betty has been a mom to me and Diana has been my best friend introducing me to so many people and getting me involved in the ABA,” she said. “Barbara has been so nice to me and I think she’s the one who nominated us for the award. However, there are so many more who deserve this award. We feel very honored.”  

A residence on the 700 block of Hogan Dam Road was destroyed by fire Dec. 13.

Family loses home in fire

By Nick Baptista

   A Valley Springs couple expecting a child lost their home to flames the early morning of Dec. 13 on the 700 block of Hogan Dam Road.

   Ryan DeVusser woke up at approximately 4:30 a.m. Saturday to the smell of smoke coming from his living room and by the time he called 9-1-1, the entire room was engulfed in flames and the fire had broken out through the living room window, said Foothill Fire Protection District Chief Michael Siligo.

   When the first firefighters arrived at the scene about four minutes later, flames had overtaken the entire residence, he added.

   “It was a huge, orange ball,” the fire chief said of the residence.

   The home was being remodeled and there had been some varnish work completed the day before in the living room, Siligo said. Firefighters suspect a faulty fireplace or fumes from the varnish caused the blaze that destroyed the 1,200-square-foot home.

   The cans and rags used in the varnish work were outside at the time of the fire.

   Ryan was home alone at the time of the blaze and escaped the flames uninjured. In addition, there were no injuries to firefighters.

   Units and firefighters from Foothill, Jenny Lind and San Andreas fire protection districts responded. The blaze downed nearby power lines that stymied firefighters’ efforts to fight the fire at the rear of the residence.

   Siligo estimated losses at $250,000 to the structure and $30,000 to contents. The DeVussers were renting the residence and did not have insurance, he added.

   A family member said the couple was expecting a child and donations could be made to their account at the Bank of Rio Vista.

Pliler's Market is closing its doors after at the site where for the past 123 years Valley Springs residents have shopped for groceries.

End of an era: Pliler's Market says goodbye

By Nick Baptista

   The end of an era has come to Valley Springs. Pliler’s Market, with roots going back to 1885, has closed its doors.

   A general store has been on the site of Pliler’s, 54 W. California St. (Highway 12) and continuously operated since early 1885, said Sal Manna, president of the Society for the Preservation of West Calaveras History.

   Ranjit and Maninder Gill purchased the market in October of last year. Maninder said they experienced a noticeable drop in business – especially tourists coming to the area for recreation - as gas prices started to substantially increase earlier this year.

   She plans to open the store one day this week for discount sales and then sell the rest of the inventory to a wholesaler. Efforts to sell the business were unsuccessful and she hopes to rent out the building.

   According to Manna, the original store was the second store built in Valley Springs. It was called Paulk Bros. & Johnson Farmers and Miners Union Store. Upstairs in the two-story wooden building was the original town hall, where church services were first held.

   The first storekeeper in Valley Springs, Thomas Joseph French, had moved his store from nearby Pattee’s Place to Valley Springs once the San Joaquin & Sierra Nevada Railroad determined that it would soon arrive in the new town, Manna said.

   French’s place of business was just down the street from Paulk Bros. & Johnson. In the early 1890s, French bought out Paulk Bros. & Johnson and moved his merchandise into their building, now called T.J. French’s Valley Springs Cash Store.

   In 1918, the 80-year-old French sold his store to John Pliler, who had worked there for more than a decade, and Pliler’s brother-in-law, Joshua Lillie - thus Pliler & Lillie, Manna said.

   The old wooden building was torn down in 1939 and a new one-story building erected, essentially what exists today, he added.

   Although her family sold the store many years ago, Bonnie Pliler of Valley Springs said, “I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sorry to see it go. We made a lot of friends at the store."

   Pliler’s joins Radio Shack, Quiznos, Countywide Home Loans, A-D & R Sports and First American Title Insurance Co. as businesses that have closed shops or offices in Valley Springs during the economic downturn that has now been officially labeled as a recession.  

Dec. 10

Sheng Chi Kung Fu students demonstrate some moves at Saturday’s Christmas Parade.

Head Start wins top award at 25th annual Christmas Parade

By Nick Baptista

   HRC’s Head Start students endeared themselves to the judges on Saturday and won the grand prize trophy for the 25th annual Valley Springs Business Association’s Christmas Parade.

   The Head Start pupils wooed the judges with colorful holiday-time outfits and their rendition of “Jingle Bells.”

   The parade, which traditionally begins the holiday season in west Calaveras County, attracted 33 entries and a large crowd along newly re-paved Daphne Street and in front of the Jenny Lind Veterans Memorial Hall where the annual crafts faire was under way.

   The association’s Citizens of the Year, Bing and Barbara Stanley, were the parade’s grand marshals, and a Christmas parade would not be complete without Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, who waited until the end of the parade to make their appearance.

   The remaining parade winners were, by category:

  American Legion’s Bill Brinlee Post 102, honor guard; Girl Scout Troop 535, scout troop; Sheng Chi Kung Fu, kids performing; Double Springs Ranch, vintage equipment; CHP, emergency vehicle; Foothill Classic Cars, classic cars; Melissa’s Dog and Pony Show, private/animal performing; Calaveras Twirlers, adult performing; Calaveras 4H and Jenny Lind 4H, tied for 4H entries; California Glass, commercial float; and Calaveras High School, band.

Dec. 5

Tatiana and Patrick Carvalho visit with Santa Claus in 2006 during St. Nick's ride-along with the Jenny Lind Fire Protection District.

Jenny Lind firefighters to help Santa on his wish list rounds

   The Jenny Lind Fire Protection District will continue its recent tradition of escorting Santa Claus around the area to receive last-minute gift wishes from neighborhood children.

   The fire protection district issued a press release earlier this week saying it is “once again honored to have received an invitation direct from the North Pole and from Santa Claus himself to help Santa on his rounds in Jenny Lind just prior to Christmas.”

   The third annual Santa Express with the fire district driving Santa through the streets of Jenny Lind and Rancho Calaveras on one of it fire engines is planned for the evenings of Dec. 17, 18 and 22.

   Santa and Fire Engine 116 will leave District Station One at 6:30 p.m. each of those nights. On Wednesday, Dec. 17, Santa will travel along Garner Place from Highway 26, Baldwin Street towards Highway 26 and end at Highway 26 for the night.

   The route on Thursday, Dec. 18, will be on Hartvickson Lane from Baldwin Street, the length of Hartvickson and ending at Silver Rapids, while the Monday, Dec. 22, route will begin at Garner Place and Baldwin Street traveling toward Kirby Street, Kirby to O’Reilly Street, Owens Way to McAtee Street and McAtee to Baldwin.

   “The Jenny Lind Fire Protection District is excited and honored to help Santa on his early rounds as Santa makes his final preparation for Christmas Eve,” said Chief Brian Chavez-Ochoa. “The district opens to see children and parents alike during this time and looks forward to your participation.”

   For those who live in homes not on one of the streets listed, the fire district encourages you to call headquarters at 786-2227 on the night Santa is closest to you home and the district will make every effort to get Santa close to your residence.

   “The Jenny Lind Fire Protection District wishes everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe holiday season,” the chief said.  

Valley Springs Boy Scout Danny Spears, above, photographed in front of the U.S.S. Hornet during a field trip and Troop 302, below,  is seen in front of a U.S. flag in the ship’s hangar.

Scouts spend night aboard famous WWII ship

By Nick Baptista

   Boy Scouts and parents from Valley Springs Troop 302 spent a memorable night last month aboard one of the vast armada of U.S. warships built shortly after the surprise attack 67 years ago at Pearl Harbor.

   Twenty-seven scouts and 14 adult leaders spent the night of Nov. 22 aboard the U.S.S. Hornet, CV-12, which has been preserved and turned into a public museum in Alameda. The scouts and their parents ate dinner and breakfast in the ship’s mess hall and slept just like World War II sailors in “racks” in the ship’s berthing area.

   “It was not comfortable, but you get the full spirit,” said Candace Keesey, one of the scout parents.

   Construction of the Hornet began in Virginia less than a year after the Dec. 7, 1941, attack by Japan on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor.

   The Hornet originally was named the USS Kearsarge, but was renamed in honor of the USS Hornet, CV-8, which was sunk in combat in October of 1942 at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. The earlier Hornet had been the carrier used to launch the famous Doolittle bombing raid over Tokyo and was one of the carriers to defeat the Japanese at the Battle of Midway.

   Through the rest of World War II, CV-12 compiled an equally impressive record as its predecessor and helped turned the tide of the war in the Pacific.

   CV-12 participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Battle for Leyte Gulf, and her planes gave direct support in the amphibious assault landings on Okinawa and were among those that attacked and sunk the mighty Japanese battleship Yamato.

   Her legacy did not end at the conclusion of World War II. The Hornet served through the Vietnam War and made a significant contribution to the Apollo space program when she recovered astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin from Apollo 11, the first moon landing mission.

   One of the exhibits at the museum is the Mobile Quarantine Facility, which resembles an ordinary camping trailer, where the astronauts were kept in confinement for three days after their return to Earth, Keesey said.

   “They thought they might have had ‘moon cooties,’” she said.

   The ship’s illustrious military career came to an end when it was decommissioned for the last time on June 26, 1970. However, she was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991 and opened as a museum in 1998 at the former Naval Air Station Alameda.

   The scouts visited various areas of the ship during their stay – including the brig, or prison, the hospital, torpedo room, and Combat Information Center, along with hearing tales about it being the most haunted ship in the Navy.