Young Accident Victim
Identified
Cat Munson-Ring worked in Alum Rock Village
In mid-December, the Mercury News carried brief stories about a 33-year old
mother who had been run over by her own car in Boulder Creek. The short items
said that the unidentified young woman was struck by her car as it rolled down
her driveway with her six year old son in the back seat. Her condition was
described as “critical.” The Mercury News never reported to its readers the sad
outcome of the story or revealed that this young woman worked in Alum Rock
Village and had done so for more than six years.
On Wednesday, December 8th, the staff at Eastside Planned Parenthood Clinic
on Alum Rock Avenue was notified that one of their Clinicians, Certified
Nurse-Midwife Cat Munson-Ring, was hospitalized in a coma at Dominican Hospital
in Santa Cruz. She had been brought into the hospital as a “Jane Doe,” but,
because she had worked earlier at Dominican, she was recognized by staff there
who alerted Planned Parenthood.
Most of the details of the tragedy were related by Cat’s little boy, Carter,
who turned six just days before. Carter said that he and his mommy were starting
their usual day getting ready to leave their hillside home – he for school, she
for her workday in San Jose. After starting the car, Cat got out briefly, only
to see the Toyota suddenly begin rolling backward uphill toward their garage –
with Carter in it. Carter climbed out of the back seat and tried to turn the car
off. Unfortunately, it then began rolling rapidly down the steep driveway toward
a forty foot ravine and creek below.
Apparently knowing that the car, if not stopped, would flip into the creek
and Carter could drown, Cat ran down the hill and, finding no other way to stop
it, flung herself in front of it. Carter got out of the stopped car and ran to
neighbors for help. Emergency rescuers found Cat unconscious with the
still-running vehicle on top of her.
The next day, Dominican’s neurology staff determined that this selfless young
woman no longer had brain activity and on Friday she was taken off life support.
Cat, a single mother, died soon after with her parents, David and Marcy Munson
of Concord at her side.
Who was this heroic Cat Munson-Ring? Who was this young woman who could – and
did – sacrifice her own life for that of her little boy? Well, in retrospect, if
anyone had ever thought to ponder just who among us might have the fortitude to
carry out such a feat of bravery, one would probably have singled out Cat.
Slender and lithe, Cat was outrageously bigger than life. She was fiercely
independent, anti-war and passionate about politics. She said she named her
little boy after President Jimmy Carter whose values she revered. A vegetarian
and serious about her stewardship of the Earth and all its creatures, she didn’t
even drink vodka because it’s filtered through animal bones, she would say. On
her own, she earned two masters degrees – one in Nursing and one in Psychology.
Earlier she had earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from UC Santa
Cruz. She was just about to become certified as a counselor. All this by age 33.
Cat was known around Eastside Planned Parenthood Clinic as having a heart big
enough to encompass all of the hundreds of patients she saw. She was a steadfast
champion of the disenfranchised. If there were a program to be ferreted out to
lighten the financial burden of a struggling young mother, Cat would find it.
She was gifted and confident and smart, but she didn’t make others feel small.
She was never condescending or patronizing.
NNV readers may well have seen Cat in The Village. With her long honey-blond
hair pulled back in a prim bun (or occasionally flying loose like a golden mane)
she visited Rafiki’s Coffee Hut and Thai White Rock Café regularly. You may have
seen her walking hand-in-hand with Carter to the YSI Thrift Shop where she
purchased many of his clothes (and often her own) plus occasional toys and books
which she thriftily preferred not to buy new.
It still seems impossible that Cat is gone, that she could have had the very
life squeezed out of her. Impossible that her magnificent brain could be robbed
of its sensibilities as she lay with her face pressed into the earth. It seems
like a terrible dream from which one might awaken and gratefully see that Cat is
still among us doing good works and teaching us, by example, to be better human
beings. Alas, her family, patients, friends and colleagues won’t be seeing Cat
again, but she is surely alive in little Carter and in the hearts of everyone
she touched.
Click here to see some photos of Cat Ring
and Carter.
NNV Note: Your editor is a ten year volunteer
at Eastside Planned Parenthood and knew Cat and Carter well. The Mercury News
did not respond to our suggestion that Cat’s life had “news value” to San Jose
readers. We heartily disagree and suggest that San Jose suffered a huge loss
with the death of Cat Ring.
Contributions to benefit Carter Munson-Ring
may be made at any branch of Washington Mutual, Account No. 334-6364164 or to
Liberty Bank in Boulder Creek, Account No. 02-1672703.
Oh, No, Not Again! Mail
Thieves Make Holiday Incursion
Grinch pinches mail on Christmas Eve
Please tell us if YOUR mail got nailed!
About seventy-five families on Highland Drive and Alta Vista Way awoke on
December 24th to find their mailbox doors hanging open and the boxes empty. A
crusty thief apparently slipped from box to box, stealing the contents of all of
those which hadn’t been emptied the previous afternoon after the mail was
delivered. All those open boxes, looking as though their tongues were hanging
out, were an extra rude poke-in-the-eye from the low-life thieves who live off
other people’s hard work.
Sheriff’s Deputy Solorio came up to have a look later in the morning. He
collected evidence found near some of the boxes and attempted to extract
fingerprints from several. He picked up what appeared to be a DVD box addressed
to a Highland Drive family and carefully put it in a plastic bag saying he hoped
to dust it for prints later. As he left, he said that he would tell the evening
shift to increase its patrols of the East Highlands.
Well, that being almost a month ago, NNV hoped to learn whether any progress
had been made. We wanted to tell our readers just how many families “lost” mail
– we know that two of our immediate neighbors did. When we phoned the
Investigations number on the “Event” card to ask whether the prints panned out,
the woman who answered said that there was no report on the particular event
number which was on the card.
After many tries and blank alleys, we did finally reach Deputy Solorio on
Saturday, January 22nd – two days short of a month after the thefts. He said
that he still had the DVD box in his possession because he couldn’t “find the
address.” NNV promised to figure out the address and give it to him if he would
call back later that day. He did not call so we assume that the victims don’t
yet know their mail is missing. Many neighbors were away on vacation at the
time of these thefts and have no way of knowing that they had mail stolen. When
the mailman delivered mail on the afternoon of 12-24, he simply stuffed the mail
into the open boxes and shut the doors. Thus, people who were away on Christmas
Eve morning, would be unaware that their box had been opened. Maybe they’re just
now realizing that a holiday check or bills to pay are missing.
Deputy Solorio says that no one else in the neighborhood ever called the
Sheriff’s Department to report their mailbox opened or rifled and he had heard
nothing from anyone other than us. He was very surprised to hear that some
neighbors with locking boxes had had their boxes bashed, jimmied or pried.
Apparently the case is at a standstill until the deputy gets permission from the
DVD owner to use the box as evidence. Doesn’t sound like a rip-roaring
investigation, does it?
No one else at the Sheriff’s department has a, well, clue about the
event. Phoning the non-911 department phone numbers is difficult at best and
demoralizing at worst. It is understandable that, in these lean times of
understaffing, people can’t just have the deputies at their beck and call.
However, when the neighborhood had a spate of mail thefts in the summer of 2001
(before the economy got so tanked) the Sheriff response was just as
uncoordinated and lackluster!
Did you lose mail? NNV is willing to compile information about mail thefts if
readers will share details. It doesn’t feel good to not do anything.
Please share your experiences with us and ask your neighbors to call or e-mail
us too. Someone should be getting a handle on this. NNV: (408) 272-7008 or
JudyET@NNVESJ.org.
Click here to see
our mailboxes with their tongues hanging out. Check our
Letters to the Editor page for letters related to
this article.
Notable Neighbor: Al DeRose
Winemaker, Mentor, Car Collector, Wood Carver,
Chivalrous Gentleman
Al DeRose probably would prefer not to be labeled an “old-timer,” but, truth
be told, he has been on this planet for 89 years – though he could easily pass
for a man decades younger. He has enormous sweet charm - perhaps derived from
his Italian roots. Those roots conferred his livelihood upon him and shaped the
character of his life.
Alphonse (as his parents named him) was born in Calabria in Southern Italy
and moved to San Francisco with his family as a five-year-old. The DeRoses
brought a longtime fruit-growing heritage with them and, after earning a little
stake in America, acquired sixty acres of land in the Willow Glen area where
they grew prunes, apricots and cherries from 1928 until 1970. If you look
carefully as you drive along Southwest Expressway, you’ll see a sign marking a
street called “DeRose Way” – the DeRoses left their family name on that orchard
land. But grape growing and wine-making were in their blood as well.
In 1967, after many years of gazing at the east foothills from their home on
Eleventh Street and vowing to live “up there” some day, fruit-grower Al and his
charming Italian-American wife Lee (nee Valenti) bought a piece of property in
the East Highlands. It had a small house on it which was moved and they had a
new and better one built. To carry-on his ancestors’ wine-making tradition, Al
had a wine cellar dug under the new house. In 1974 he began making small lots of
wine in that cellar.
The next year, Al’s two nephews Pat and Nick (brother Gene DeRose’s sons) and
two family friends joined Al’s fledgling wine operation. They hand-made wine in
that tiny cellar until 1988 when they bought an old vineyard in the Cienega
Valley near Hollister. The vineyard had excellent lineage having been planted in
1854 by a French immigrant and nurtured later by a German immigrant until it was
purchased by Almaden Vineyards in 1953 and produced red wines. In the late
1980’s the DeRose consortium bought the vineyard and cellars and began producing
wine under the Cienega Valley label.
The family’s first year of production turned out only 600 gallons of
zinfandel, cabernet franc and pinot St. George. By 1990, annual production was
up to 9,700 gallons and nowadays is about 5,000 cases. According to the DeRose
Vineyards brochure, “The ultra-premium DeRose Vineyards label was introduced
with the release of the 1993 wines.” The focus now is on “big, bold, rustic
wines with native yeasts and little-to-no filtration.” Their nationally
respected wines now include zinfandel, cabernet franc, negrette (the wine
formerly known as pinot St. George), viognier, cabernet sauvignon, Hollywood Red
(a zinfandel-based proprietary blend), chardonnay and a cabernet franc port.
Their 2002 Zinfandel was the perfectly delicious wine your editor served to Ed
and Connie Allegretti at our farewell dinner.
The winery founders, including father-son winemaking team nephew Pat and his
son Al (named for beloved Uncle Alphonse, of course), give credit to Al DeRose
as “the inspiration for everything,” as founder Dr. Tony Cedolini, told NNV.
There is an antique car museum associated with the vineyard and, it, too, has
grown from a hobby of Al’s. The nucleus of the collection comes from Al’s
collector cars. One, it turns out, was previously owned by Debbie Reynolds. If
you like, you can arrange a visit to the car museum when you go for a wine
tasting session. “Museum first; wine-tasting afterwards,” says the family hoping
to prevent an overly enthusiastic hands-on response to these decidedly
“hands-off” beauties.
Al and Lee enjoy a tree-house view of the Country Club area from their living
room window and the land around their house makes visitors feel as though they
just stepped into a rustic Italian garden. Al is a gifted wood carver who took
his first inspiration from a piece of knobby walnut wood which looked a bit as
though a gnarled grape stem was attached to it. He followed the lead of that
“stem” and carved leaves and fruit growing from it. Since that first piece, Al
has carved more elegant fruit motifs, many whimsical bunnies and human figures.
Lee is an artist as well and showed NNV her creations of enchanting, small
faux purses made from sumptuous old silk and damask fabrics and antique trims.
Each little handbag has many unique features and all look as though they could
accessorize the most fabulous ballgowns. Lee also shared her collection of
Christmas tree ornaments which she also made from rich old dress materials,
braids and trims.
Al DeRose is a handsome gentleman “of the old school.” He is gallant and
chivalrous and charming. “You must have been a child bride!” he exclaimed when
your NNV editor mentioned being married for almost 43 years. Now, is that sweet
– or what? He and Lee also plied your editor with a glass of scrumptious DeRose
Port. Just think: the precursor of that little glass of wine was made in a
rustic barrel in the DeRose’s cellar on Highland Drive!
You can arrange for a visit to the DeRose’s vineyard by calling (831)
636-9143 or click here for their Web
site. DeRose wines are available at Antipastos on McKee Road at Kirk.
Click here for photos
of Al and his car collection.
NNV Writer Flies South –
Permanently! - Gives up Bay Area Ties
He trades amoral San Jose for God-fearing Mississippi
Edward Allegretti, NNV’s most prolific-but-controversial writer, won’t be
writing for the newsletter anymore. At least not with the regularity NNV readers
have come to expect. And, yes, there’s a story involved.
When NNV was just a pipedream (is it kosher to say that in these anti-tobacco
times?), Edward Allegretti came forward offering to support our newsletter
effort “because I really want to see it succeed,” he said. Not only was he
enthusiastic, he offered to write stories about the history of our area and
growing up in the neighborhood. And, boy, could he ever write up a storm! Ed
could take an idea and turn it into prose in less time than it takes your editor
to get her computer warmed up.
It’s not exactly that Ed came with strings attached, but he did come to us
with rather unusual biases for a forty-year-old Bay Area native. Perhaps during
our second meeting, totally out of the blue, he solemnly announced, “I think you
should know that I am politically very conservative. You might even say
that I’m an arch-conservative.” I remember thinking, well, okay then … so
what?
“I am anti-gay-marriage and anti-abortion,” he said gravely.
“I’m a volunteer at Planned Parenthood,” I told him, wondering if he’d
instantly loathe me and change his mind about contributing stories. He didn’t
look at me witheringly – or with any particular emotion on his face, in
fact. However, it was as if, from then on, we had an unspoken agreement not to
get into each other’s ethos.
Sometimes, in some of his stories, little anti-liberal allusions crept in
which made a few NNV readers uncomfortable. We edited out some more flagrant
challenges to Silicon Valley sensibilities, but we pretty much “let Ed be Ed.”
One reader “un-subscribed” when he felt that some assumptions were made about
our reader base (and about this particular reader by extension) simply by our
publishing Ed’s tiny pointed digs at our Bay Area moral turpitude. One reader
e-mailed wondering if NNV’s Ed Allegretti was the same Edward Allegretti who
wrote homophobic diatribes complete with biblical allusions to The Metro,
downtown San Jose’s wicked weekly newspaper.
“Well, yes, actually Ed and Edward are one and the same,” we admitted, “but
he doesn’t write that sort of stuff for NNV!” In order to demonstrate that Ed’s
philosophies were not NNV philosophies, we printed a good pro-gay-marriage essay
written by Mary Parker-Eves, the pastor at Alum Rock United Methodist Church. Ed
objected immediately, but was quite contrite when we explained that we were
trying to counter flak we were getting about his biases. He was willing to back
down – “for the good of the newsletter,” he said – and he continued to write
mostly in an apolitical way.
Ed and his wife, Connie, and sons Chris and Andrew, moved to Mississippi late
in January. To Ed, Mississippi represents the world as it should be – or at
least as close to perfection as he can find. He believes that the people there
are friendlier, better Christians who share his Bible-inspired convictions.
Perhaps he decided to go to Mississippi after his detractors told him that his
against-the-current views would be right at home there?
Probably not everyone would agree that Mississippi’s gain is San Jose’s loss,
but NNV sees the loss to San Jose as very real. Ed Allegretti leads a life of
service to community. He takes on responsibilities and leadership which most of
us shun. We watched him stand up to his fellow commissioners on the County’s
Historical Heritage Commission. He cares about homeowners’ rights and
tried very hard to get an ordinance written which wouldn’t dictate arbitrary
restrictions and penalties on homeowners in our county. His grasp of the
commission’s work was extraordinary. He clearly did his homework and didn’t
allow himself to be buffaloed by County staff. If all of our commissions could
be peopled with conscientious folks like Ed Allegretti, much more good work
would get done – better and sooner.
Ed and Connie joined us for dinner on one of their last evenings in San Jose.
He was philosophical about leaving his birthplace – somewhat sad that he and
Connie were leaving many friends behind, but buoyed by the prospect of finding
his new niche after this one no longer fit. We wished them well as Ed gave your
editor a last hug. They will truly be missed.
Click here for photos of Ed and Connie
on their last night in San Jose and here
for another NNV article on Ed. Click here
for a list of the stories Ed has written for NNV.
NNV Note: In December, Ed interviewed his
second cousin, Dom Cortese, for NNV. That story should appear in the March
edition. And, intriguingly, Ed told us that a woman they had met in Mississippi
has invited him to write an article answering his new community’s burning
question, “Why would a successful young man like Ed Allegretti want to chuck his
Bay Area ties and bring his wife to tiny Ellisville, Mississippi?” Ed assured us
that he would copy us on the story. It should be a good one!
Councilmember Nora Campos
Supports San Jose Grand Prix
Many East Foothills connections!
“There will be something for
everyone”
By Dan Gentile, NNV Neighbor, Writer and Photographer
On July 31, 2005, the streets of downtown San Jose will be transformed into a
high speed race course, where open wheel racing cars (Champ car series) will
come roaring down Santa Clara St at over 200 miles an hour. The inaugural Grand
Prix race will be held on the streets of San Jose in and around the HP Pavilion.
On January 6th, a press conference and official preview of the race was held
at the HP Pavilion. Bob Singleton, Vice President and General Manager of the San
Jose Grand Prix introduced Mayor Ron Gonzales who expressed his support and
excitement about the first ever event to be held in San Jose.
The Grand Prix is being held in San Jose Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez’s District
3. On hand at the meeting was only one other city council member, none other
than our own District 5 Councilmember, Nora Campos. In addition to both
Councilwomen developing an immediate rapport with a certain young and handsome
Latin driver, Nora expressed great enthusiasm for the race. She sees this event
as a great boost to the local San Jose economy as well as to help put San Jose
on the map for international auto racing events.
Also on hand for the event were two returning Champ car race drivers, Jimmy
Vasser and Rodolfo Lavin of Mexico. Jimmy Vasser is our local celebrity driver.
Jimmy was born and raised in Morgan Hill and started his racing career right
here in the Bay Area. Both drivers expressed excitement for the upcoming race
and acknowledge their appreciation for Mayor Gonzales and the city council’s
support to approve such an event for the city of San Jose. Champ car driver,
Rodolfo acknowledged the large Mexican population living in the San Jose area
and he encouraged all to attend the race this July.
The race has two purposes, first, to bring professional auto racing to the
streets of San Jose. Second, to raise the awareness for the need of research
into early cancer detection. The Canary Fund is a non-profit organization
dedicated to help find ways to improve early detection. The fund was created by
a past technology executive of Cisco Systems, Don Listwin. Don recently lost his
mother to cancer as well as other family members. The Canary Fund is the
official social cause of the Champ car series.
What else does our neighborhood have to do with auto racing and the SJGP?
Plenty. First, we have two past Indy car drivers living right here in the ‘hood
who drove open wheel cars in the past. Joe Leonard (1965 –1973) and Willy T.
Ribbs (1991 – 1994), both now retired. Battalion Chief Jim Carter of Alum Rock
Station 2 is on the committee to help organize the San Jose Fire Department’s
support team that will be on hand for the race weekend. Local Model T speedster
owner, Ray Fontaine, will bring his bright red vintage racecar and a couple of
other club cars to the weekend event. And yours truly is working with the San
Jose Grand Prix to help promote the event. You may have seen me working at the
SJGP booth at the San Jose Auto Show. I will also help to coordinate the already
450 volunteers who want to help put on this inaugural weeklong event. I’ll
report on the progress of this event in the coming months and we’ll take a look
at the careers of these two past Indy drivers living in our neighborhood.
I encourage all to attend this unique event being held in downtown San Jose.
Come and experience world-class auto racing during a weeklong non-stop festival
both on and off the track. There will be something for everyone there.
www.sanjosegrandprix.com. If you
would like to volunteer for this event, look for the Volunteer link at the
bottom of the Home page.
Click here for photos
of Councilwomen Campos and Chavez with the cars and drivers.
Click here for Section 2
of the February 2005 Newsletter
(This newsletter is in two sections to reduce the
download time for this page)
--------------------------- Contact and Subscription Information
---------------------------------
Copyright© 2005 by Judy Thompson, 16174 Highland Drive, San Jose, CA
95127
Phone: (408) 272-7008, E-mail: JudyET@NNVESJ.org
Fax: (408) 272-4040
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Copyright© 2005 by Judy Thompson. All rights reserved.
Updated 2/14/05.
