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Being a cynic I thought, “Miracles? Yeah, right.” I mean, I still needed my knives sharpened, but I certainly wasn’t expecting a revelation.
So I called the man whose name was on the card, Richard Ethridge, and brought him my first round of knives.
He’s an open and very interesting person. Spending his youth in the Marine Corps and hanging out in San Francisco at the height of the Haight-Ashbury days, Ethridge is something of a free spirit and nomad. He got into knife sharpening in 1968 and fell in love with it.
“Steel makes sense to me,” he said.
With that talent under his belt he started wandering from place to place around the country, doing odd sharpening jobs to support himself, and picking up and leaving whenever he wanted to move on.
When he was in his 40s, Ethridge apprenticed with Exclusive Cutlery in San Francisco for two and a half years. He then worked for some of the large clothing manufacturers in the city, sharpening their tools.
He is now retired but likes to keep his hand in the sharpening business. And he does it for the love and the art and the craftsmanship of it, not just to make a buck.
Ethridge is an artist as well as a master craftsman, working in pencil, pastels, photography and graphic design, in addition to the metalwork. “But I always come back to working with steel,” he said.
He does all his work freehand, by feel and eye, something most people don’t do anymore. But just how good are his sharpening skills?
A couple of days after I dropped off my first batch of knives, he called me to say that they were done. When I arrived to pick them up he showed them to me, and not only were they exceptionally sharp but they were polished and more beautiful than the day that I bought them.
Then he demonstrated to me just how sharp they were by shaving the hair off a spot on his arm. Which makes me wonder, how is it anybody in the cutlery industry has any hair left on their arms?
That evening as I started dinner preparations I pulled out one of the newly sharpened knives and was absolutely amazed – no, not amazed – struck with fear at how sharp my knives had become. I mean, in the kitchen the knife is my tool, to do what I command, yet right then I had respect for the blade’s ability.
All I had to do was point my knife at an eggplant and just out of sheer terror it immediately fell apart into perfect slices, as if it would rather fall apart of its own free will rather that feel the blade. Maybe that is an exaggeration, but seriously, the knives Ethridge worked on are so sharp that they slide through their tasks without effort.
I have since brought to Ethridge every kind of knife I have to be sharpened: chef’s knives, filet knives, paring knives, even some of my favorite gardening tools like my asparagus knife, and my prized Japanese machete. My daughter even had him polish and sharpen her woodworking tools. Every time, I’m stunned with the beauty and the quality of the job.
I’m convinced that if you were to give Ethridge a rusty harmonica he could return it to you as a razor sharp kitchen tool that could still be in tune (not that you would want to have it near your mouth in any way)!
There are people everywhere who do a great job at what they do and I appreciate every one of them, but very rarely can I call someone a “master craftsman” without any hesitation or fear of overstatement like I can with Ethridge. He not only makes knives work to their full potential, but he also beautifies them beyond expectation.
Since he’s retired now and works in his own small space, Ethridge can’t really manage large items like swords or saws. He prefers to do fine cutlery restoration, to work with knives, scissors, clippers, and smaller garden tools.
His prices are very reasonable, especially considering the quality job he does. So reasonable that I have never asked him how much a job would be, I just ask him “What do I owe you?” when it’s time to pick up my knives. If the job is big enough, say a beauty shop or cooking school, he can do the work at their site, but with the cost of gas and everything I wouldn’t expect him to come to my house for my small amount of knives.
Ethridge is on my list of true hidden jewels of the county, and we are far richer to have him here.
You can get your knives sharpened with Ethridge by calling him at 707-631-1772. His place in Nice is easy to find in a beautiful park, 2570 Lakeshore Dr. No. A-3.
Ross A. Christensen is an award-winning gardener and gourmet cook. He is the author of "Sushi A to Z, The Ultimate Guide" and is currently working on a new book. He has been a public speaker for many years and enjoys being involved in the community.
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The filings, due from all candidates last week and submitted to the Lake County Registrar of Voters, covered the period from March 18 through May 17 with additional tallies for 2008 thus far.
The nine candidates across three supervisorial districts raised a total of $22,873.19 in this reporting period, and $35,127.67 for the entire year to date thus far, documents showed.
Total expenditures for all candidates reached $21,702.52 for March through May, and $29,435.43 for the year.
Raising the most money across all campaigns for both the year and the two-month reporting period was James Comstock of Middletown, running for the District 1 supervisorial seat. So far this year Comstock has raised $11,519.19, with $9,727.19 accumulated during the latest reporting period.
The second-largest amount raised for the year so far was accumulated by Robert Stark, who is challenging incumbent Rob Brown for the District 5 supervisorial seat. Stark raised $5,025 from March through May, and $6,125.22 for the year.
District 1 Supervisor hopeful Susanne La Faver raised the third-highest amount for the year among all candidates, $5,998.26, as well as the third-highest amount for the reporting period, $3,704.
Brown has spent the most so far this year of any candidate – $9,335.08 – nearly twice the next-highest spender, Comstock, at $5,773.86. Brown said he had raised money last year which was held over for this spring's expenditures. Brown raised $3,961 this spring and $1,523 from March through May.
Incumbent District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington, who is running unopposed, raised no money in either the reporting period or the rest of the year.
The following are basic breakdowns of total amounts raised and expenditures for the two-month reporting period. Contributions of $100 or more that must be listed per election rules also are included.
DISTRICT 1
JAMES COMSTOCK
Total raised this reporting period: $9,727.19 ($200 in loans)
Expenditures this reporting period: $5,240.57
Total raised calendar year-to-date: $11,519.19 ($700 in loans)
Expenditures for calendar year-to-date: $5,773.86
Contributions received: William A. Throop, Calpine power plant tech, Clearlake, $100; Peter Luchetti, cattle rancher/Luchetti Ranch, Sausalito, $5,000; Larry Menzio, Menzio Tire, Middletown, $150; Michael R. Wilson, chief executive officer of Bi-Coastal Media, Hidden Valley Lake, $200; Bill Djernes, cattle rancher/Djernes Cattle Co., Middletown, $150; Rudy Smith, grape grower for Mount St. Helena Vineyard, Middletown, $1,000; Richard Traverso, retired, Hillsborough, $200; Fletcher Thornton Sr., Judo instructor/Middletown Judo Club, Middletown, $250; Helen Esaacson, housewife, Middletown, $250; J. Kurt Steil, retired, Middletown, $1,000; Ron Minudri, insurance broker/Minudri Insurance, Kelseyville, $100; David L. James, retired, Clearlake Oaks, $500; Ken C. Porter, contractor/Kimco Development, Hidden Valley Lake, $250.
DON DORNBUSH
Total raised this reporting period: $800
Expenditures this reporting period: $315.28
Total raised calendar year-to-date: $1,800 ($1,000 in loans)
Expenditures for calendar year-to-date: $851.21
Contributions: Robert Riggs, attorney, Kelseyville, $500; Patricia Dornbush, retired, Santa Rosa, $300.
SCOTT FERGUSSON
Total raised this reporting period: $1,000
Expenditures this reporting period: $1,497
Total raised calendar year-to-date: $2,970
Expenditures for calendar year-to-date: $2,386
Contributions: Patrick M. Clark, self-employed/handyman, Lower Lake, $200; Larry Boardman, LT Boardman Enterprises, Finley, $400; Hollis Hadley, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Lower Lake, $400.
SUSANNE LA FAVER
Total raised this reporting period: $3,704
Expenditures this reporting period: $4,003.23
Total raised calendar year-to-date: $5,998.26 ($257.26 in nonmonetary contributions)
Expenditures for calendar year-to-date: $5,446.89
Contributions: Wendy White, retired, Glenhaven, $100; Beverly A. Norton, retired, Sacramento, $299; Terri Anne Chase, IS director/Ritz Food Services, Hidden Valley Lake, $100; David James, retired, Clearlake Oaks, $500; Lois M. Moore, professor/University of San Francisco, Novato, $250; Christopher Layton, owner/Christopher's Inn and Pine Grove, Calistoga, $250; Marilyn G. Davin, freelance writer/editor, Ferndale, $100; Robert Riggs, attorney, Kelseyville, $1,000; South Lake Democratic Club, Clearlake, $100; National Women's Political Caucus of California, Oxnard, $500; Pacific Gas and Electric Co., San Francisco, $100.
JOEY LUIZ
Total raised this reporting period: $1,044 ($200 in nonmonetary contributions)
Expenditures this reporting period: $984.28
Total raised calendar year-to-date: $2,044 ($200 in nonmonetary contributions)
Expenditures for calendar year-to-date: $984.28
Contributions: John Amdt, Lower Lake, $100; Brian Fisher, Kelseyville, $150; RAH Signs and Outdoor Media, Hidden Valley Lake, $200 worth of magnet signs (nonmonetary contribution).
ROBERT MACINTYRE
Total raised this reporting period: $50
Expenditures this reporting period: $800.99
Total raised calendar year-to-date: $710 ($20 in nonmonetary contributions)
Expenditures for calendar year-to-date: $1,868.68
Contributions: None listed over $100.
DISTRICT 4
ANTHONY FARRINGTON
Total raised this reporting period: $0
Expenditures this reporting period: $782.81
Total raised calendar year-to-date: $0
Expenditures for calendar year-to-date: $782.81
Contributions: None.
DISTRICT 5
ROB BROWN
Total raised this reporting period: $1,523
Expenditures this reporting period: $6,506.43
Total raised calendar year-to-date: $3,961
Expenditures for calendar year-to-date: $9,335.08
Contributions: Citizens Anti-Crime Committee, Rancho Santa Margarita, $500; Don Emerson, retired, Cobb, $200; William Kearney, pharmacist, Lakeport, $200; Jim Jonas, petroleum distributor, Lower Lake, $100; Michael Lampson, retired, Kelseyville, $100; Steven Ellis, rancher, Lower Lake, $100.
ROBERT STARK
Total raised this reporting period: $5,025
Expenditures this reporting period: $1,571.93
Total raised calendar year-to-date: $6,125
Expenditures for calendar year-to-date: $2,006.83
Contributions: Wendy White, retired, Glenhaven, $100; Robert Riggs, attorney, Kelseyville, $500; Therese Nelson, retired, Cobb, $100; Thomas Slaight, retired, Cobb, $500; KW Homes, contractor, Cobb, $250; Rendee Burns, Realtor, Cobb, $100; Robert Morrison, retired, Sunnyvale, $300; Bill Sullivan, retired, Cobb, $100; Milt Andreason, retired, Cobb, $100; South Lake Democratic Committee, Clearlake, $100; California United Homecare Workers Political Action Committee, San Bernardino, $1,000; Patricia Keel, retired, Cobb, $100; Thomas Slaight, retired, Cobb, $500; Stephen Klein, librarian, Long Beach, $200; Rob Roy Golf Club, Cobb, $250; Elaine Robinson, retired, Cobb, $100; Steven Zalusky, retired, Cobb, $250.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Loren Uriarte, 20, was stabbed by an as-yet unidentified assailant in an incident that happened in the early morning hours of May 16 in downtown Kelseyville.
His mother, Christine Diener, said her son was hospitalized, underwent surgery and is now recovering at home in Kelseyville. But if the knife had hit an inch or so in any direction from its contact point in Uriarte's stomach, the story might have ended differently.
Uriarte and friends Darrin Sullivan and Josh Ponce were at Uriarte's home that night watching movies when they received a phone call from Sullivan's father, Dave, who asked them to come to Kelseyville to give him a ride home. He had been having drinks and said he couldn't drive.
Kim Sullivan, Dave Sullivan's wife, confirmed her son and his friends went to pick up his father at about 11:30 p.m. May 15.
The three young men got into Ponce's new Honda Accord and headed down to Kelseyville to pick up Sullivan at the Saw Shop Gallery Bistro, said Diener.
When they arrived, they found a melee – a fight with numerous individuals and Sullivan on the ground being kicked, said Diener.
As the three young men jumped out of the car, they yelled, “We don't want to fight!” A large man, standing about 6 feet, 2 inches tall, ran toward them, said Diener.
Ponce got back in the car. Meanwhile, Uriarte was “clocked” in the face by the large man and went down on the ground, Diener said. When Uriarte got back up that's when he was stabbed in the stomach by an unidentified assailant.
On instinct, he ran back to the car, clutching his stomach, but not quite sure of what happened, according to his mother. While Uriarte was in the car, Diener said the large man started hitting and kicking the car.
At the scene Darrin Sullivan also was punched, said Kim Sullivan.
Ponce drove Uriarte to his grandmother's Kelseyville home, where an ambulance was called to take him to Sutter Lakeside Hospital.
As Uriarte was at the hospital, his mother called the hospital about 1 a.m. and they put her son on the phone, she said.
She said his wound was located on the left side of his abdomen, a few inches from his belly button.
He underwent a four-hour surgery later that morning, in which doctors removed 6 inches from his small intestine, said Diener.
The doctors told the family that the stabbing was done with “great force,” and that if the weapon had struck to the right side of the stomach rather than the left, it could have perforated the liver or the major artery.
Uriarte was hospitalized for five days at Sutter Lakeside, whose staff his mother praised for their care and attention to her son. He's now home, still recovering.
Dr. Keith Long also was present at the scene, officials confirmed, but he has offered little comment other than to say he was “jumped” during the fight.
Because of the ongoing nature of the investigation, the sheriff's office has not offered specifics relating to others involved or their role in the situation that night.
However, Sheriff Rod Mitchell said Friday that progress is being made on the case.
“There's still some significant steps that need to be taken,” he said, before the investigation is concluded.
That includes more interviews, including another with Uriarte, he said.
Diener said her son initially spoke with a sheriff's office patrol deputy at the hospital in the early morning hours of May 16.
Kim Sullivan said sheriff's investigators interviewed her son and husband early on May 16 also, and followed up with them on Friday.
Dave Sullivan was off from work for four or five days, Kim Sullivan said, and has been suffering from headaches.
Mitchell said he's confident the case will reach a conclusion.
“We will be submitting this to the District Attorney,” he said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Artist Gail Salituri will hold a drawing at her Inspirations Gallery on Main Street at 2 p.m. Sunday as part of her Barbara LaForge Memorial Fund, which is assisting in raising funds for Lake Family Resource Center's shelter building effort.
The Sunday drawing will announce the winner of a raffle for a lithograph of artist John Clarke's watercolor “Golden Gate.” Clarke will draw the winning ticket, Salituri reported Friday.
A silent auction for Salituri's original oil “Lake County Hills Spring Bloom,” also will end on that day.
In addition, she will announce the art that will be available in the next silent auction, which will end in the late summer.
Salituri began the effort earlier this spring in honor her friend, Barbara LaForge, who was murdered in 2002.
For the remainder of the year Salituri plans to hold raffles and silent auctions to raise funds for the shelter.
Tickets for the raffles will be available at Inspirations Gallery, 165 N. Main St., Lakeport; Lake Family Resource Center, 896 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport; and the Lakeport Chamber of Commerce, 875 Lakeport Blvd.
For more information call Salituri at Inspirations Gallery, 263-4366, or visit her Web page, www.gailsalituri.com/Memorial.html.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Berg, D-Eureka, sent four bills to the state Senate during the session that ran from 9 in the morning until 10 at night. The long meetings are in keeping with the “house of origin” deadline: Assembly bills that fail to emerge from the Assembly before the gavel falls Thursday can no longer be considered during this year, the final year of a two-year session.
Berg won approval for a bill that requires doctors to give desired information to their dying patients; a bill that fights Medicare insurance scams; a bill that encourages medical students to study geriatrics; and a bill that would empower the state to help collect financial penalties from spouse abusers.
“It was a very good day,” Berg said last week, tired from the long session. “I think we made progress.”
Joining her package of bill that had previously been sent to the Senate were:
– AB 2487, which would help victims of domestic violence by using the state’s existing collections tools to help recoup civil judgments. Too often, said Berg, victims of violence are left destitute, even if they win a judgment against their abuser. The state’s Department of Health Services estimates that 1 in 5 women who went hungry for lack of money in the last decade also was a victim of domestic partner violence.
– AB 2543, which would help physicians and other health professionals repay their student loans in exchange for a commitment to serve the state’s growing elder population. Right now, there is only one board-certified geriatrician for every 4,000 Californians over the age of 65. Similar statistics are cited regarding specially trained nurses and social workers.
“The Baby Boom generation is on the verge of retirement and old age,” said Berg. “We have to have a workforce that’s ready to deal with that.”
– AB 2842, modeled on a law in Maine that puts restrictions on the way insurance agents can deal with seniors when they try to sell prescription drug plans as part of the federal Medicare Part D program. This is one of three bills Berg is authoring that deal with the way seniors are targeted in the financial and insurance marketplaces.
– AB 2747, which requires health care providers to answer the questions of their dying patients, when the patients want to know their options. Studies have shown that too often doctors resist talking about dying and death with their patients because of a professional culture that considers death a failure. Berg says dying people are better served when they are allowed to know the details of treatment options and pain management that other patients have received during their final days.
“Now, it’s on to the Senate, and then to the governor’s desk,” said Berg, who will leave the Assembly later this year, having served the three terms allowed under the state’s term-limits law.
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Ken Estes' Holistic Solutions on Olympic Drive was the site of an enforcement action by Drug Enforcement Administration agents, accompanied by the Lake County Narcotic Task Force.
The Clearlake dispensary, along with other dispensaries Estes manages in San Mateo and Richmond, as well as the homes of his managers and grow sites in Oakland, San Leandro and Humboldt County, were targeted, according to a statement from California's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
Lt. Mike Hermann of Clearlake Police confirmed that the raid took place, but said the department wasn't directly involved. DEA, he said, notified the department that their agents were in town for the operation.
One Clearlake Police officer who is on the Lake County Narcotic Task Force was present, Hermann said.
The Lake County Narcotic Task Force referred questions about the Wednesday action to DEA.
A brief statement issued by the DEA to Lake County News confirmed that an “enforcement operation” had taken place, but added that all documents relating to it were under court seal.
“Searches were conducted at several locations throughout the Bay Area and Northern California,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Javier F. Peña said in the statement. “Items of evidentiary value were seized from these locations. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.”
Dave McCullick, whose D&M Compassion Center has been in Clearlake for the last two years, said his business partner, Matthew Ward, witnessed the DEA at Estes' business in the early afternoon.
Lake County News was unable to reach Estes Thursday. McCullick said Holistic Solutions has been in Clearlake for three years, and in its current location on Olympic Drive for less than a year.
California NORML and McCullick called what took place at Holistic Solutions a “smash and grab” – where agents take all the operation's cannabis and patient records, along with any money on hand or in bank accounts.
“The last couple of years when they've been doing the busts, people aren't arrested or even charged,” McCullick said.
McCullick said there's no rhyme or reason to why certain dispensaries are targeted, and the DEA hasn't indicated why they pursue some rather than others. Based purely on manpower, McCullick said he doesn't believe DEA can get to all of the state's numerous dispensaries.
The California NORML statement noted that Estes “believes that the raids were initiated on the tip of a former associate who was facing a lengthy federal sentence on cultivation charges.”
McCullick said his business hasn't had any issues with the DEA.
Nor has had he had any problems with Clearlake Police, according to McCullick, who said he has worked to keep the lines of communication open with Police Chief Allan McClain as well as with other local officials.
However, last October, the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized nearly 100 marijuana plants from his business partner's home in Lakeport. Ward, who was at the compassion center when the raid took place, maintained that the plants were part of a legal medical marijuana grow.
A few months earlier, in August 2007, the FBI seized 30 mature plants from the Lakeport home of Howard Holtz, as Lake County News reported.
McCullick pointed to the ongoing friction between state and federal law, which he says is placing both medical marijuana patients and law enforcement in the middle. Dispensaries like his, he said, are just trying to give patients access to good, safe medicine.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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