Crafts, food, music, rubber ducks at Walker Festival

This Saturday and Sunday is the annual event of crafters, artists and flea marketers, as well as the rubber duck race. There will be lots of interesting things to check out in the booths, as well as good food, music and raffles. This year, they will again be raffling off a beautiful big stainless steel gas barbecue, as well as an outdoor fire pit, Native American jewelry and many other good items. The ducks will take off at noon on Sunday, with the winners getting some very nice prizes. It's always a fun day, so try to get out and enjoy all the booths and the race.

Fire safety program

This Friday, our Antelope Valley Fire Department is putting on a program for all the school students in Coleville and will include the smoke trailer and other interesting presentations. The purpose behind their programs is to help our young people to know how to react to fire and emergency situations. Everything they will learn is very important information for them and their families.

Shingles vaccine

As mentioned before, these shots must be reserved for the Oct. 23 vaccinations. If you haven't reserved already, you can do so now by calling the Mono County Health Department at (760) 924-1830. The clinic will be from 2- 3 p.m. that day, with a cost of $155 for the vaccination.

This and that

-- If you missed the Antelope Valley Lions Club's Deer Hunters Barbecue last Saturday, you missed a fun evening. The raffle prizes were excellent, the food was delicious and the company was great. It looks like that was the best turnout they have ever had, which is great for the support of their many community causes. Don't miss it next year!

-- The Coleville football and baseball teams just keep rolling! They are both undefeated in their leagues, and it sure looks like they'll be in the post-season competition. Their next home games will be Oct. 20, so try to get out and support their good play.

-- On a very personal note, I'd like to stress that our senior citizens deserve our courtesy and respect. Recently, I've been dealing with possible elder abuse (both emotional and financial) of my mother. Those issues can and will be dealt with, but the most irritating and ignorant thing has been peoples' generalization about certain aspects of senior life.

My mother had cataract and glaucoma surgery, after which it became more difficult to be in the kitchen and reliably cook herself meals or to clean her house well. She decided that she wanted to move to an assisted care facility to have meals and apartment cleaning. This was a great idea, except for the generalization and assumption that people, even some in health care services, seem to want to make about people in assisted care residences.

I have been appalled to find out that many ignorant people think that you must be demented/incompetent if you are in that sort of facility. People - it isn't true! Many people move to these homes for physical reasons and not because they are demented. Please don't generalize - just respect and appreciate them as the experienced, previously active generation they are. The key word is "respect." Thank you for letting me vent.

-- Lynne Katusich can be reached at lynnekat@schat.net or (530) 495-2552.