A new Boyd takes his place serving in Iraq

Valdis "Ma" Boyd brought by a photo of her son, Marine Cpl. Christopher Boyd, who was deployed to Iraq on Aug. 24.

Christopher is a 2004 graduate of Douglas High School and was stationed at Camp Pendleton, where he met up with a fellow Marine, who served with his dad at the Mountain Warfare Training Center in Pickel Meadows.

Gunnery Sgt. Michael Meyer e-mailed Valdis a note about how he'd seen Christopher.

"Our family still keeps in touch with several of the Marines my husband had led at Pickel Meadows," she said. "We're very close to Mike and his wife, Monique, in North Carolina. It was great to see him looking so well, even though he has only been there two weeks."

Valdis said Mike is in charge of several vehicles and has been looking up friends while on trips to several different bases.

"He is doing fine and seems to be well-respected by his senior leadership, typical Boyd right there," Mike wrote. "I asked if he needed anything, but he was quite humble and wouldn't give me any requests, so I guess I will have to think up a few things and take them to him, if I get the chance, since I know where he works now."

Valdis said Christopher is working in the motor pool where he is relatively safe.

It's been more than a year since Sgt. Michael Boyd was injured when his Stryker straddled an improvised explosive device on July 18, 2007.

Valdis said Michael went through three Strykers while he was in Iraq and received a concussion in another IED attack. He is stationed in Tacoma, Wash., and expects to transfer to Fort Knox in the near future

Michael's wife Jennifer had a baby girl on Tuesday making Valdis not just a "Ma," but also a "Grandma."

Meneley Elementary School parent Lynn Oakes wants to pass around a petition to make U-turns in a school zone illegal. She said she was dropping off her two children at school recently when they were nearly hit by another parent's vehicle.

"I think it's stupid for parents to do that," she said. "I'd like to see what other people think. I know plenty of people who would sign a petition to get a law passed."

Douglas High graduate and former Minden resident Jazz Aldrich has his name on the certification of the only organic beer in the state.

Jazz and Tom Young are listed as the brewers of Organic Truckee River Red, according to the Nevada Department of Agriculture Organic Certification Program Web site.

They received the certification on May 19. Jazz is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno, and a brewer at Great Basin Brewery in Sparks.

Jazz is the son of Minden residents Jay Aldrich and Tina Fixman.

We'll be ordering in extra commas in honor of National Punctuation Day on Sept. 24.

The day was founded in 2004 to remind writers of the importance of proper punctuation for communicating clearly.

The Web site is http://nationalpunctuationday.com/.

Here at The Record-Courier we're working to break our habit of automatically removing commas in front of the word "and." Style is to kill them in lists, but it's proper grammar is to leave them in front of clauses.

n Kurt Hildebrand is editor of The Record-Courier. Reach him at khildebrand@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 215.