Las Noticias Jun 2012 - Sister City Committee

Editor: David G. Gorbet (805) 687-0057 davcaj@aol.com Website:sbpvsistercity.org
and now I’m just trying to replicate
her footsteps. Thank you Jan.
One very immediate opportunity for
camaraderie among our members is the
excursion to the Solvang PCPA
musical, “Little Women” on June 20th.
President’s Message
Interesting transition… One day I’m
just a carefree member of the Board of
Directors…participating in committees,
yes, but not having the responsibility for
the results…The next day, I’m cast into
the Presidency, bearing the
responsibility for the leadership of the
SB/PV Sister City Committee. You’ll
never know how it feels until you have
to make sure that this event happens
or that that committee’s action takes
place as planned, “and keep all of
those balls up in the air”. I’m not
complaining, but just expressing
myself about the many tangents of
activities that our committee tackles.
All of a sudden I’m vividly aware of
what it takes to make our “peopleto-people” program work. Luckily, I
had the good fortune of watching
Jan Olivas, who served as an
excellent presidential model at work,
This live musical is a wonderful
production and the cost ($35:00)
includes transportation from La
Cumbre Shopping Center’s Parking
Lot. You won’t want to miss this
and be able to attend with your
friends from SB/PV. Call Barbara
Ellis (805-898-0245) or Barbara
Najera (805-687-6034. If you love
live theatre, you’ll want to save
money and buy the 4-Event
Package for $125.00. Last time I
checked with Barbara Ellis there
were still a few seats left. You’ll
want to dress warmly because this
is an “open-air” theatre and the
evenings get chilly. Please see the
accompanying ad in this newsletter.
Another SB/PV sponsored event is our
annual Strawberry Festival on June 24th
at the lovely home of Art & Barbara
Najera. This too, is a great opportunity
for us to get together in a social setting.
Please refer to the accompanying article
for details.
Our immediate challenge is to
prepare for the Puerto Vallarta
Visitation…a delegation of 28 persons
plus a few police officers who come
for training and a few city officials
who come to represent their city
government. That figure might change
slightly as the time draws near, but
come July 19th, they’ll be here.
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Our immediate task is to get our
“Housing Committee” to find available
guest rooms in our members’ homes to
house them. If you have a spare guest
room and care to have a close
relationship with a member or a couple
from Puerto Vallarta, please call Jan
Olivas (805-687-4412) or Jacqueline
Duran (805-284-2037). Those of us
who have shared our spare guest room
in the past still have warm relationships
with our guests and this gets to the
heart of the “people to people”
program ideal.
!
Our next immediate task is to
get our “Activities Committee” to plan
for a week’s worth of activities to
entertain our guests. The “Gran
Fandango” Committee has been at work
for over a month planning the Tardeada
Event for Sunday, July 22nd. (I’ll give
you a hint… The Martinez Brothers
Band will play at the event)! That event
will be the highlight of the visitation
and you will want to make your
reservations early because El Paseo will
hold us to a specified seating capacity.
The committee is hard at work to verify
a host of other activities that we will
sponsor. Don’t overlook this
opportunity for you to get to know our
Puerto Vallarta guests better! Sign up
to attend the events!
If you happen to have a good idea for an
event or place to take our guests, please
call the committee chairs: Marti Correa
de Garcia (805-965-8561), Raul
Navarro (805-680-4272) or Blas Garza
(805-963-9847).
If you ever needed a vacation with
plenty of local friends and everything
planned for you…This Is It!!
Our Visitation to Puerto Vallarta is
scheduled for November 6th to the
15th, but we must begin planning for
that right now. Puerto Vallarta is a
safe city and not having any of the
problems that other cities of Mexico
are having! This is a 10-day trip
which is sure to be packed with
dinners, dances and excursions.
Once again, we will be staying at
Hotel Playa Los Arcos, right on the
beach and in the middle of
downtown, but your reservation
must be in to Alice Vazquez by June
15th with a deposit of $545.00 per
person. The balance, per person,
depending on room occupancy, will
be due on September 1st. Total trip
cost per person is:
Single Occupancy: $1582.00;
Double Occupancy: $1206.00;
Triple Occupancy: $1080.00.
You definitely will not want to miss
the June General Meeting, which will
be held at “El Torito” on Cabrillo
Boulevard. The guest speaker will be
Bud Bottoms, who plans to detail for us
his work for the Dolphin Fountains
(Santa Barbara and Puerto Vallarta).
These fountains have now become the
symbol for our sister city relationship.
Finally, when you fly out of the Santa
Barbara Airport, you can look forward
to seeing a large painting
acknowledging the Sister Cities of
Santa Barbara as you depart from the
escalator. The Six Sister City
Committees of Santa Barbara are
cooperating with the airport to bring
attention to our “people-to-people”
activities and the Board has approved a
$210.00 contribution to go toward the
project. This is an excellent opportunity
for the “flying public” to know of our
sister cities.
Well, that’s enough for my first
newsletter article. See you at our
events.
Blas Maria Garza Jr.
El Presidente
DINNER MEETING
Date: Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Social hour: 6:00 p.m.
Dinner: 6:30 p.m.
Price: $20.00
Place: El Torito – 29 E. Cabrillo Blvd
(by the Beach)
Menu: A sumptuous combination plate
of an enchilada, taco and chili relleno
with rice and beans and a beverage!
Sounds good to me….I’m hungry
already!!
Program: Bud Bottoms and how he
cast and produced the duplicate Dolphin
Fountains in both Santa Barbara and
Puerto Vallarta….quite an interesting
story! You need to hear it from the man
himself…
E-mail your meal reservations to
LaV Peery at mail4laV@gmail.com
or call 963-5449 by Sunday, June 3.
prefer you make your meal reservations
by e-mail to mail4laV@gmail.com at
all possible. PLEASE REMEMBER
TO MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS
NO LATER THAN SUNDAY, JUNE
3…..OR AS SOON AS YOU RECEIVE
THE NEWSLETTER!!
RESERVATIONS ARE CALLED IN
ON MONDAY AFTERNOON.
PLEASE MAKE YOUR
RESERVATIONS EARLY!
AND REMEMBER……A
RESERVATION MADE…..IS A
RESERVATION PAID!
NEXT BOARD MEETING
Board Meeting June 12, at 6:30 p.m. at
Merrill Lynch, 1424 State Street
(courtesy of Jacqueline Duran).. All
members are welcome to attend.
BADGES
New members - Let me know when you
are coming to the dinner meeting so I
can be sure to have your badge. Please
either call me at 684-4724 to make
arrangements to pick up your badges or
come to our dinner meeting and see
what a great time we have! This is what
Sister City’s all about. People to
people.
Alice Vazquez
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UPCOMING CALENDAR
June 6
June 12
June 24
July 7
Dinner Meeting
Board Meeting
Strawberry Social!!
Art/Barbara
Najera’s Home
Dinner Meeting Joe & Alice Vazquez
Home
July 10
July 19-26
July 22
Aug 19
Sept 9
Oct 25
Nov 6-15
Board Meeting
PV Here – Stay
tuned for events
El Fandango –
Special Anniversary
Edition!
US/MSCA BBQ –
Redondo Beach
9/11 Concert –
Unity Church
UN Dinner
To PV
-------------------
Renewals
The following members have renewed
and are continuing to have fun being
part of this organization!
Socorro Zavala
John Kelly
Jose/Irene Ornelas
David/Rickie Minier
Wanda Wheelan
Tom Tomasi
Pat Fallin
Maria Ellen Recod
Kathy Koury
Jan/Richard Olivas
…and then we ALL have these new
members:
Lupe Cabrera
Zahida Carrera
Rosanne/Harold Crawford
(Old – but new again!)
Rose Ballestero
-
Wellness
Get well cards were sent
to:
Kevin O'Dea
Barbara Najera
Sympathy cards were sent
to:
Cheli Hidalgo
Suki Ornelas
If you know of anyone who is ill,
PLEASE let either JANE GORBET or a
board member know! No cards can be
sent unless you let us know how our
members are doing. The phone
numbers for your board members are
included in every newsletter. Jane may
be reached at 687-0057. Thanks for
your help.
Santa Barbara/Puerto Vallarta
40th Anniversary
In the various celebrations being
planned, if you find one that really
“calls” to you, Marti Correa is the
chairperson of the committee. Give her
a call….I’m sure she’d be glad to have
your assistance.
And don’t forget our trip to
Vallarta….it’s going to be a year long
party! You know what a great time we
have on a regular trip. Just imagine
what it will be like on an anniversary
trip!! We will be taking deposits until
June 15 so hurry and make up your
mind to come party with us!
Host Families for the 2012
Summer Visitation
We have had a most gratifying response
to our request for Host Families for our
Puerto Vallarta Brothers & Sisters.
President Laurel Carrillo informed us
that they would be sending 27 guests
plus additional governmental
representatives to Santa Barbara for our
celebration of 40 Years of Friendship
Visitation. I would like to extend
heartfelt thanks to the following
declared hosts:
Bob & Becky Betancourt
Raul Navarro & LaV Peery
Craig & Marcia Nielsen
Helen Caldwell & Barbara Ellis
John & Barbara Ahlman
Blas & Mary Garza
Gil & Marti Garcia
Richard & Jan Olivas
Barbara & Art Najera
Angie Shaw
Joe & Alice Vazquez
Dave & Jane Gorbet
Evie Treen
We still need to place one couple and
two single women plus the city
council representatives and possibly
the Mayor of Puerto Vallarta. We
have work to do but because of the
generosity & loyalty of the above
members, we can take a deep breath
and step forward to finish this task
with the confidence that we will
locate more excellent host families
for our guests. Why don’t you call us,
join this illustrious group of Santa
Barbara Sister City Members and
host a visitor, thereby ensuring a most
excellent summer.
Jan Olivas: 687- 4412
Jacqueline Duran: 284-2037
Host Family Committee
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Opening Ceremonies
You missed a great time at our May
Dinner Meeting….WOW!! Our very
own “Spirit of Fiesta,” then there was
Omar Arreola (sigh) followed by Lois
Mahalia (gulp)….world class
entertainment for a world class
audience…The hall looked like a
cabaret (thanks to Romie & Angie). We
had excellent food…. excellent
company – we had past presidents from
“way back when…” to now. But YOU
weren’t there – and we missed you.
And YOU are what make Sister Cities.
Maybe next time when we call and ask
you to come out……you will say
YES!! Sure hope so!
_______ ______
2012 Strawberry Social
June 24th
2:00 – 4:00
Home of Art & Barbara Najera
1397 Santa Teresita Drive
Santa Barbara, CA
Cost:$10 plus
A-L delectable desserts
M-Z salads
RSVP:LaV Peery (805) 963-5449
Strawberry Social with a Theme
Many of you attended our 40th Anniversary Kick-Off Dinner at the Elks last month. Some of you brought your photo albums to share.
There was so much going on at this meeting that most of us didn’t get to see the albums. We thought that the relaxed environment of
the Strawberry Social would be a great venue for leisurely perusing these albums. Please bring them to this event so we have another
chance to look at these precious photos. Cheli Hidalgo made an album especially for our anniversary and this album will be available
for your review.
Past Presidents might want to share their experiences by creating a story board. You can purchase a three way board at Staples for $6
and display the photos of your year(s) at the helm. We want to encourage a year of sharing & appreciating what we have created
together.
Jan Olivas
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TAXCO, GUERRERO, MEXICO
FRIENDSHIP VISITATION
August 5-9, 2012
On August 5, 15 Taxco visitors are coming on a friendship exchange to Santa Barbara and they return home August 10. We look
forward to sharing Santa Barbara, Solvang, and Bakersfield hospitality and they will share a video on their silver jewelry artistry.
Artisans from Taxco are world famous for their handcrafted jewelry. They transform pure silver into lovely jewelry with either classic
or trendy designs.
Last May 2011 a group of Sister City members went to the Mexico/US Sister Cities Conference in the state of Morelos, Mexico. We
toured several “pueblos”, prior to the conference and one was Taxco, Guerrero. Taxco de Alarcon, Mexico's silver capital, is a
charming colonial town nestled in the mountains of Guerrero between Mexico City and Acapulco . The town's winding cobblestone
streets and whitewashed houses with red tile roofs, and its impressive Santa Prisca cathedral all combine to make Taxco a lovely and
picturesque town.
This is our first announcement asking for host families. A schedule of events has been prepared. On August 7th, we take them to
Bakersfield where they will be hosted overnight by our famous Bakersfield annex Sister City members.
If you would like to be a host family, please contact Marti Correa de Garcia (805) 680-2163 or e-mail her at marti@gilgarcia-aia.com.
Keep in mind; we plan a trip to Taxco again in 2013 and you will not want to miss the warm hospitality they offer with home hosting
when we visit.
Taxco, Guerrero
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Theater in Solvang
UPDATE ON PCPA OUTINGS:
There are a few tickets left for the remainder
of the season:
The Rivals - a comedy Legally Blond - a musical Daddy Long Legs - a musical -
Seats are going fast!
Don't miss out!
Wednesday, July 11th
Wednesday, August 9th
Wednesday, August 29th
Join in the fun!
Call or write Barbara for your reservations:
bjellis1@cox.net
898-0245
Jaime Sodusta, president of the San Juan/SB
sister city committee and his wife Anita are
members of the Filipino Community center on
State Street where they teach line dancing every
Friday at 7pm and all are invited.
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PV Trip - Last Call
Reservations have been made at “our” hotel in Puerto Vallarta for this year….and they know it’s our anniversary! So you know
they’ll be doing something “special” for us.
We have diligently worked with our travel agent to come up with a fare that will entice you to join us!
We will once again be flying Alaska and as was the case last year, airline fares will have to be paid by July 1and the balance of the trip
will be due September 1. So we will be calling the “air fare”the “deposit.”
Deposits will be $545.00 per person. Last day to make reservations/deposits will be June 15, 2012. Final payment will be due
September 1. There will be no refunds if you cancel once you have made your deposit. Our reason for no refunds is that when tickets
are issued and then our members cancel, the tickets may still be used within a year (subject to fees).
The Terms and Conditions form is included with this newsletter. Please fill it out completely and return it to Joe and Alice Vazquez at
4726 Malibu Drive, Carpinteria, CA 93013. If you want travel insurance, please check with the travel agent you generally use. We do
not provide these forms.
You will note a new line on the Terms and Conditions form. Alaska Airlines now requires your Passport Number as well as your
birthdate. So don’t be afraid of putting down your birthdate….no one will know except for Joe and myself….and we’re not telling
anyone (except Alaska)!!
Mark your calendars! Bring your deposit checks to the May dinner meeting! We’re going to Puerto Vallarta! Prices for this year’s
trip are as follows and are per person:
Nov 6-15
Single Occupancy:
Double Occupancy:
Triple Occupancy:
$1582.00
$1206.00
$1080.00
Deposit: $545.00 per person. And don’t forget....dues must be current
2012 - 2012 Board of Directors
Blas Garza, President…..............963-9847
Pat Fallin, 1st Vice Pres….....…..688-2760
Raul Navarro, 2nd V P…….....…..963-5449
Romie Alvarado, Director……….963-7549
Miguel Avila, Director……..……..896-0581
Bea Molina, Director…………….966-7490
Marti Correa, Treasurer...............680-2169
Jacqueline Duran, Corres Secy..284-2037
Alice Vazquez, Recording Secy..684-4724
Jan Olivas, Ex-Officio………..….687-4412
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SANTA BARBARA/PUERTO VALLARTA
SISTER CITY COMMITTEE
2012 ANNUAL PUERTO VALLARTA VISITATION
TERMS & CONDITIONS
This trip is planned only for paid-up members of the Santa Barbara/Puerto Vallarta Sister City
Committee. No one who is not a member is allowed to attend or participate in its functions. The
Committee acts only in the capacity of an agent for contractors in Mexico and the United States. Such
contractors shall be responsible for providing the services outlined on the express condition that the Committee
shall not become liable for any injury, loss, accident or negligence of any contractors, such as hotels or
transportation companies, or if any person rendering the services of accommodations as outlined herein cannot
be provided due to delays or other causes beyond the control of the Committee such as weather, strikes, or
quarantine. Each participant shall become liable for any additional expenses resulting from such unforeseen
delays and/or other causes.
The Committee is promoting this visitation as a package and the price being paid is for the entire package.
Each participant will be responsible for his own medical devices/equipment required on this visitation. If any
special requirements are expected from the hotel, each participant will notify the Committee at the time of the
initial deposit for this trip.
November 6, 2012 – November 15, 2012
Round trip airfare from Los Angeles
Ground transportation round trip - Santa Barbara/Los Angeles
Hotel accommodations at Playa Los Arcos - Puerto Vallarta
I have read and understand the terms and conditions above.
Signed:_____________________________________
Date:_____________
Print name:__________________________________Birthdate:__________
Passport No:_________________________________
Signed:_____________________________________
Date:_____________
Print name:__________________________________Birthdate:__________
Passport No:_________________________________
In emergency notify:_____________________________________
PH:__________________________________
PLEASE SIGN AS YOUR NAME APPEARS ON PASSPORT OR BIRTH CERTIFICATE
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Photos from the May SB/PV Sister City Friendship Dinner
(top left) Blas Garza receives Presidential gavel, badge & Presidency from Ex-Offico
Jan Olivas
(top center) Ed Foley, SBPV President 1975, addresses the group
(top right) Daniela Zermeno enchants the group with her flamenco renditions
(middle left) Past Presidents honored at 40th Anniversary Kick-Off Dinner
(middle center) Ruben Cintron receives Law Enforcement Exchange Plaque of Honor from Evie
Treen
(bottom left) Sheriff Geoff Banks of the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department addresses the
group
(bottom right) The 2012-13 Board of Directors is installed by Evie Treen
(photos courtesy of John Ahlman)
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