Murphys News

Teaching runs in John Hofstetter's blood. Born and raised in Jenny Lind, a tiny western Calaveras County town, he was taught by his mother in the same one-room schoolhouse that her father taught her in.

The lone bartender slid the wine glass across the stone-topped bar toward me, saloon-style. I was the only person in the grotto-like tasting room, and received full attention from the black Lab at my feet, as well as the woman behind the counter.

At a Thursday evening Board of Directors meeting the decision was made to close the Murphys Mother Lode Bank branch effective November 20.

Gravedigger Ted Campbell, of East Sonora, has dug graves for the past 24 years. Here, he stands in a grave he dug in a Murphys cemetery.

The Stockton Masonic Community is hosting its third annual haunted house from 6 p.m. to midnight today, 4 p.m. to midnight Saturday and 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Stockton Masonic Temple, 340 E. Market St., Stockton.

A few days ago I accidentally stumbled across another recall item concerning our motorhome.

Dean Khloth recently received his California license in civil engineering by Stockton's Siegfried Engineering Inc., a civil and structural engineering and land-surveying firm serving Northern California.

The Calaveras Big Trees Association recently elected its board of directors for 2009-10. The new officers, who serve one-year terms, are Marcy Crawford, president; Dick Watson, vice president; Rich Szukalski, treasurer; and Marilyn Regan, secretary.

Evelyn Reyes-Umana of Pacifica recently was named winner of the "Woman-Owned Business of the Year" award.

I've written about walking the beautiful Monterey recreation trail and tasting wine along the way to Cannery Row.

The black plastic bags that until recently covered a pair of signs in historic downtown Angels Camp pointing to the old Highway 4 may soon be back.

Clearing skies today signal the end of one of the strongest October storms on record in the Mother Lode.

Special Operations of the Calaveras County Sheriff's Department continues to prepare for what may be the worst of the remnants of the super typhoon Melor.

According to the National Weather Service Mother Nature could dump between three to five inches of liquid sunshine in the foothills starting Tuesday.

On Saturday, as the sun began to set, hundreds of turkey vultures circled and swam in updrafts across the street from the Stockton Road Save Mart in Sonora.

The Harvest Home Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Ironstone Vineyards, 1894 Six Mile Road, Murphys.

The Present Age Leadership Foundation Inc is offering free services to seniors. It will pick up old washers, dryers, water heaters, stoves and other metal as part of its waste fundraising program.

A spontaneous road trip yesterday "happened" to take me though the little California town of Murphys .

The Calaveras County Coroner Tuesday morning had not yet been able to positively identify the bodies of two people who were killed in a house fire on Monday at 2441 Butte Mountain Road in Murphys.

CAL Fire's Fire Prevention Officer Gordon Winningham has confirmed that two lives were lost in that Murphys Monday morning fire that destroyed a single family residence on Butte Mountain Rd.