SERVING CATALINA & ITS MAINLAND
every week - since 1914
FRIENDS
FRIDAY April 7, 2017
VOLUME 103, ISSUE 14
Www.THECATALINAISLAN DER.COM
BRIE[S
Water level
As of April 6 the water level at Middle
Ranch Reservoir measured 604 acre
feet.
Pet of the ~
J
Week e ~i~~ ~'~'~ 1 ~ ~
Meet Bailey, ~ i °
the Catalina
Islander Pet of
the Weekl
See story,
page 2
All Things Bailey
Scuba
Among the many regular visitors to
the Casino Dive P ark are the black
giant seabass.
See story, page 2
Only on Catalina
No, you did not hear a
blow.
See story, page 3
train whistle
On the Water
Capt. John King has added the title
of "chaplain" to his resume.
See story, page 4
Rest in
Peace:
Leslie
Gordon
Widely known
and beloved
Bay Area
acitvist, and
granddaughter
of Catalina
residents,
Leslie Gordon
died recently at
the age of 55.
See story, page 5
Leslie Gordon
Conservancy Ball draws
sell-out crowd
The Catalina Island Conservancy and
more than 500 guests celebrated
"Taking Flight" at the 22nd Annual
Conservancy Ball last weekend in the
historic Avalon Casino Ballroom.
See story, page 6
Around the Island
The creators of the Chamber of
Commerce website recently won a
gold award for the site's design.
See story, page 7
Straight Up Builders win
softball league championship
Last week's second softball
game between Coyote Joe's and
Straight Up Builders had the league
championship on the line.
See story, page 8
I
I
I
Prime-Timers paint
Casino with Island
artist to take home
BY DAN HUNCKE
FOR THE ISLANDER
The Prime-Timers, a group of Avalon seniors, pictured above, recently learned the painting process from Porschia Denning of Rain Dance Arts.
Courtesy photo
The Prime-Timers were on the
move again and for the month
of March it was an afternoon of
painting a picture of the Catalina
Casino, lunch and wine followed
by desserts. With the best turn-
out to date, 37 Avalon commu-
nity seniors (and guests) were
led by Porschia Denning from
Rain Dance Arts as she coached
the group through the painting
Paint, page 7
Chamber Challen
Islanders support Year for 2017) along with his wife
Pat Stockhausen and their son TJ.
efforts as yearly Mike, Pat, & TJ all understand how
campaign continues critical it is for divers to have ready
access to a chamber if the need
BY KEN KURTIS arises. And they also realize that
FOR THE ISLANDER chambers like ours, which ONLY
treat diving accidents are becoming
Catalina's hyperbaric chamber rarer and rarer. So they understand
the need to keep our Chamber
saves lives but is costlY. Every year
people on the island come togeth- financially healthy.
er to raise money, culminating in How about you? If you could
"Chamber Day." give $5,000 that would be fan-
We made it past $10,000. tastic but $1,000, $500, and $100
WAAAY past and are at $12,010!!! donations - or whatever you can
This is thanks to a single donation, afford - all help. It's when we come
It comes in the form of a together collectively with our dona-
$5,000 Platinum-level donation to tions that our Chamber stays on a
us from longtime family support- steady path.
ers Michael Emmerman (who is So who's next??? Our next big
also DAN's Rolex Diver of the benchmark is $15,000. Who will
as goal tops
help get is there???
CHAMBER CHALLENGE
2017 $12,010 total (Updated Bronze(S100-499)
Sunday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m.). New Laurie Kasper
donors are marked with a bullet Mike Faust
point. Stephen Benavides
Cindy Shaw & Patrick Smith
Platinum ($5,000-9,999) Margaret Donat
• Michael Emmerman, Pat Dana Rodda
Stockhausen, & TJ • JJ Gibbons
Markus Self
Gold ($1,000-4,999) Michael Wynd
Beach Cities Scuba
John Delaney Other (less than $100)
Cynthia Yonker (& EJ Gallo Debbie Rubin
match) Jim Whyte
Pacific Wilderness --Ken Kurtis, chairman,
AndyPilmanis Chamber Day~Eve 2017 and
the entire Chamber Day 2017
Silver ($500-999) Committeemwww.chamberday.
In memory of Dr. Lee Somers orgB310.652.4990.
Don Lake
Mysterious Island
Catalina's facts, folklore, and fibs
This Week: THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF GUSTAVE
CARLSTROM
BY JIM WATSON
Editor's Note: Jim Watson
is the author of "Mysterious
Island: Catalina," available on
Amazon, Kindle and in
stores in Avalon.
The only reason I
didn't name this week's
column "The Mysterious
DEATH of Gustave
Carlstrom" is, quite sim-
ply, because the body
of this
45-year-old Swedish immigrant,
shoemaker and early Avalon curio
vendor, supposedly out in the
hills, has to this day never been
found.
But back in the wild and
wooly days of Avalon's
early history, such discrep-
ancies and the where-
Withal to resolve them
were not uncommon. The
Island's interior was still
considered something of a
Watson, Page 10
Somewhere in the hills of Catalina lie the remains of Gustave Carlstrom who disappeared under mysterious
circumstances in 1888. Courtesy photo
t=
