Friday, January 14, 2000 2:54 PM Subject: Encina Update (65/70/75/80/81/85/90/95/alumni reunion/mailing lists/siblings/search/applebys/shelley burns/lance ballance/store/internet/klunkers/sugar bowl/whats new) ENCINA ALUMNI, Here's the state of the reunions. 1965 REUNION According to Tom Sertich 65, we need to get in touch with George Hullin or Joyce Rogers Brand. I have only a street address for George and Joyce. If you know how to contact them please let them know about the Encina website. 1970 REUNION Tom Henley 70 was one of the reunion organizers before he passed away last fall. Do we have anyone else on the reunion committee on the mailing list? Please write if you're willing to help and send mail to encina1970@egroups.com . 1975 REUNION Where: Sutter Club When: Saturday, July 15, 2000 Contact Jenny Bender Bittner (jedb@pacbell.net) and Jay Michael. 1980 REUNION The class of 1980 had a reunion committee meeting at Richard Stoffel's office on January 11th with Richard, Mark Zoeller and Mark Lawrence in attendance. The Reunion will probably be at the Firehouse on the second Saturday in October. They plan to send out a mailer soon to the class list to determine interest in the reunion this year. 1981 REUNION Melissa Tovar has volunteered to chair the reunion committee and has already recruited help for next year. 1985 REUNION We need to locate Melinda Cope, who helped organize past reunions. Anyone know how to contact her? Do we have anyone from the reunion committee on the mailing list? Please write if you're willing to help and send mail to encina1985@egroups.com . 1990 REUNION The class of 1990 has had their first reunion committee meeting. Denyce Bellinger wrote: Hello alumni! Well, the time has come to start planning for our reunion. Our class president, Tanya Monier will not be able to plan the reunion or even possibly attend. She now lives on the east coast with her husband. I am now attempting to coordinate our 10 year with the help of Hayley Fojut and Jinne Webb-Horger, of course my self, Denyce Bellinger. You may ask why a group of folks who spent less than four years at Encina are planning the reunion. I have two answers: #1 I refuse to go without a reunion #2 I can't locate Jennifer Townsend-Chavez I heard there was a 5 year reunion but no one I knew was in attendance. Evidently our reunion funds were spent at that time. This is not substantiated as of yet but I will attempt to verify. Any one involved with student government who would show mercy on us and give us a hand would be loved greatly. Also, whoever is in contact with any other alumni get their information and send it to us ASAP! If anyone knows where Jennifer is get her online, she may be planning a reunion also. We need to collaborate! If you have anyother info please contact me at: tiniegrrl@Aol.com, Hayley at: mskitty_13@hotmail.com, or Jinne at: jphorger@pacbell.net Come on APACHES! Ok, I'm not really that spirited but it would be great to compare notes and see how everone is doing. Until then, take care all! 1995 REUNION Do we have anyone from the reunion committee on the mailing list? Please write if you're willing to help and send mail to encina1995@egroups.com . ALUMNI REUNION Last week I wrote that Lorna Cline Gragg 72/73 and Lucia Churches 73 had proposed an Alumni reunion party. Event: Encina Alumni reunion party Date: Saturday, February 26 Location: Hickory Room, Country Club Lanes Time: Noon until 2am Cost: cover charge I asked folks to RSVP on the Encina Homecoming mailing list (encinahomecoming@egroups.com) so that those who had expressed interest in the Encina Homecoming party could see who had signed up. Unfortunately, many folks did not understand the way the homecoming mailing list works and did not understand why they were getting seemingly unsolicited mail. The RSVP list for the alumni party to date: 1973 Lorna Cline Gragg Lucia Churches Stephanie Dugas Pat Dunn Dona Lyn Jones Heather Kendall Bob Nannini Debbie Skalisky 1974 John Nunez 1975 Donald Bright 1976 Janice Patton Once again, the class of 73 is leading the way. If you are interested I encourage you to RSVP sooner rather than later. Just send an email to encinahomecoming@egroups.com with your RSVP. Because of the substantial charge of $250 to reserve the Hickory Room at Country Club Lanes, Lorna needs to know whether they are enough folks to make this proposed party a reality. EGROUP MAILING LISTS There are three mailing lists. Here is how they work. 1. Encina Update mailing list I am the only one who can post a message. Usually sent out once a week. 2. Class mailing lists Only folks on the class mailing list can post a message. Replies to messages go to the ENTIRE class mailing list. 3. Homecoming mailing list Only folks on the homecoming mailing list can post a message. Replies to messages go ONLY to the sender, not to the entire homecoming mailing list. There are signup boxes for these three mailing lists on the contact information and bio forms. If you said yes, you were added to the appropriate list. SIBLINGS Olivia Lamb 93 wrote: Olivia Lamb 93 Alicia Lamb 96 Dana Milner 89 wrote: Lisa Milner 80? Dana Milner 89 Gail Milner 82 (half-sister) Maryann Pearson 95 wrote: Mike Pearson 91 John Pearson 92 Andy Pearson 94 Maryann Pearson 95 Maryann is in touch with Amy Alexander and Emily Bennett. Kathie Kloss 67 wrote: Marsha Kloss 65 Kathie Kloss 67 ALUMNI SEARCH 1975 Tom Carter APPLEBY'S Kelly Fink 86 wrote that the Encina memorabilia is on the wall at the Appleby's near Encina. You may remember that Stafford Boyd 88 solicited memorabilia from us last year. Many thanks to those of you who contributed. You can now visit your old stuff at Appleby's . SHELLEY BURNS 70 Shelley Burns 70 wrote that she is having a CD release party: What: CD release party - concert and dance When: Sunday, February 13, 2000; 7:00 - 10:00 pm Where: Musicians' Hall, 1925 Del Paso Blvd. Sacramento's Shelley Burns, long associated with her popular "Avalon Swing" band, has finally completed a pet project - a jazz CD with Bob Fylling and Shelley Denny, two of Sacramento's finest jazz musicians. The CD's title selection, "In Our Own Time," was written by Fylling and Burns, and will be unveiled to the public at the Musicians' Hall on Del Paso Blvd. on Sunday, February 13th. Often appearing as "The Shelley Burns Trio," over the past twenty plus years, Shelley, Bob and Shelley have chosen wonderful standard jazz selections such as "A Fine Romance," "Tea For Two," "Nature Boy," and several Bob Fylling originals for this recording. Ms. Burns describes this as "the music that's closest to my heart. These are the songs I've loved forever, and I've always wanted to record them with Bob and Shelley. We've talked about it for years, and even started on the project once about ten or twelve years ago. The time was right, and I'm thrilled with the result." The CD release party will feature a one hour concert of tunes selected from the recording, and then two hours of dancing with Shelley and Avalon Swing. Enotria Cafe and Wine Bar will supply hors d'ouevres and chocolates, and a no-host wine bar. Those who choose to dine beforehand at Enotria will have valet parking available for the concert and dance. The lovely Musicians' Hall at 1925 Del Paso Blvd. will have valet parking as well. Admission is $12.50 at the door. For information or to make reservations, call S & B Productions, 927-5222, or email Jassbird1@aol.com. LANCE BALLANCE 85 Last Thursday, Lance wrote that: "This afternoon, and again tomorrow evening, I'll be a contestant on "Inquizition" on Game Show Networks (check your local cable company for listings). The show will air today (thursday) at 4pm Pacific Time, and then be repeated Friday Night at 8pm PST." This week Lance wrote: "I lasted through 2 rounds, and then, in the final round, I got smoked. I did walk away with the lovely parting gift...an "Inquizition" T-Shirt. It was a fun experience, but I am dialing that "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" number every day! :)" STORE You can get $25 off your next internet order at cameraworld.com by signing up to be notified of sales events and specials by email: http://www.cameraworld.com/mailpromo.asp CDNOW. $10 discount on purchase of $25 or more. The $10.00 discount automatically appears in your Shopping Cart when your purchase totals $24.99 or more (applicable taxes, shipping & handling not included). Limit one per customer. Offer valid thru January 25, 2000. INTERNET Can You Afford a Free ISP? We checked out AltaVista and NetZero for free backup Net access. by Paul Heltzel, special to PC World January 10, 2000, 8:46 a.m. PT Nothing is more exciting than a real grudge match. Pepsi versus Coke. Steelers versus Cowboys. Christians versus lions. Sadly, a contest between free Internet service providers produces only similar features and performance. Yawn. Looking for a reliable, no-cost way to connect, I installed the necessary software from AltaVista and NetZero. I wanted a clear-cut winner, a reason to tell Mindspring to take a leap (and save $20 a month). I got acceptable bandwidth, with just a few hiccups and, surprisingly, no busy signals. Before downloading the programs, I had to answer some personal questions (two pages for Alta Vista, nine for NetZero). In the download department, AltaVista easily trumps NetZero. At 600KB, Altavista's Free Access software is a breeze to pull down over a modem. The NetZero site claims the program is a 4.67MB download, but mine was more like 5.2MB. Setting up both programs is easy. AltaVista takes a slight lead here also, since the sign-up screen works just like Windows Dial-Up Networking. NetZero's Java-based program works pretty well, but does not always respond like a standard Windows program. Its menus look slightly different and may respond more slowly than you might expect. Sign on, Tune In, Log Off After establishing a connection, both programs automatically launch your default browser and jump to their respective start pages. The two services look and work almost identically. A banner ad appears at the top of the screen. The banner is surrounded by links to channels the services provide, including free e-mail and stock quotes. Click the top of either banner and you can place it almost anywhere on the screen. The banner always appears above any open program, so that you can't hide it off-screen. Like many Java-based programs, NetZero suffers from minor bugs. Menus sometimes stick, and the ad may redraw slowly or leave screen artifacts when moved. Most often, these little bugs disappeared quickly by themselves. If you click the Close box on the top right of either program to make the banner disappear, you also lose your Net connection. NetZero pops up one last ad before letting you go, and you must tell it again whether you want to disconnect. AltaVista disappears without a peep. Overall, AltaVista's Free Access is the smaller, friendlier program. But either program serves as a reasonable backup ISP. Those new to the Net may find the services a real steal, until they find a good ISP with strong customer service. I think both programs are great, and their slight annoyances are a small price to pay for free Internet access. The bottom line is finding the service with an access number in your area. In the small college town where I live, NetZero's nearest access number has a toll charge. Your mileage may vary. But AltaVista offers me a local number, and the only truly free choice. CLUNKERS Dan Tuning 79, CPA wrote: The subject of giving one's old (but extremely valuable) car to a charitable organization came up the other day with a client while doing some tax planning. I thought that since the tax topic has become more popular and has a potential for catching many "well-meaning" taxpayers, a few helpful words of advice might help some of you. I carefully explained to the client that donating a car can be a real tax trap if one is TOO generous when placing a value on their car. Here are some important things to consider: 1. If the organization that is receiving the car has been advertising that they will value your old beat up clunker at "high blue book" value--BEWARE!!! Marcus S. Owens, director, IRS Exempt Organizations division has made some public statements on this subject. Basically the Service will be scrutinizing those organizations that have made such statements. These organizations are at higher risk for audit. You may ask, "why does this matter for me?" When in the audit process with the Charitable Organization, a list of automobile donors will be obtained by the Service. The Service will then not only evaluate the Organization's practices, but will have the ability to track down each donor and review what each donor claimed on their individual return and propose adjustments and additional taxes, penalties and interest. 2. What should one do if you've made a donation? If the value of the donation exceeds $5,000, you must get a written appraisal from a "qualified appraiser." Complete and attach Form 8283 to your return along with a copy of the appraisal. Have the appraiser sign Form 8283, and have the donee organization sign Form 8283. With these steps you should be audit proof, but remember some common sense and realize that no auditor will accept a high blue book value for a car that didn't run and was towed away. Best of luck! Daniel E. Tuning, CPA SUGAR BOWL Kate Grebitus 75 reminded me: While watching the Florida State Seminoles fight off the comeback of the Virgina Tech Hokies, I noticed the Seminole fans doing the tomahawk chop and war chant on national tv. So much for political correctness... Makes you wonder why Encina had to give up the Apache mascot. WHAT'S NEW 1/12/00: Maryann Pearson 95/bio, John Pearson 93, Mike Pearson 91, Amy Alexander 95, Emily Bennett 95, Ellis John McManus 81/bio, Daniel Gutierrez 93, Kathie Kloss 67, Marsha Kloss 65, Chris Stone 92 update, Bhavna Parmar 84 1/10/00: Annalisa Co 93, Bob Bjorklund 80, Nancy McFadyen 79 update, Gerald Bennett 86 update, Keven Cull 79/bio, Jamila Shoman 90, Robin Jones 80, Geoffrey Shumway 89, Dana Milner 89, Lisa Milner 82, Nicki Tirapelli 87, Olivia Lamb 93, Alicia Lamb 96, Wanda Carothers 80, Jason Duncan 93 1/9/00: Robin Jones 80 1/6/00: Humberto Forero 73, Todd Brownell 73 update, Joey Lawand 82 bio, Mary Johnson 79, Erica Tescher 84 Have a good weekend! Harlan Lau '73 Encina webmaster www.encinahighschool.com harlan@rambus.com