Mardi Gras in Crockett

A good reason to come to Crockett. Copied from the West County Times

A little of New Orleans made an appearance in Crockett Saturday at the fourth
annual Crockett Mardi Gras Festival on Second Street.
The Crockett Chamberof Commerce, which hosted the event, encouraged festival-goers to dress in Mardi Gras costumes and join the fun, which also was a fund-raiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The weather cooperated as an outdoor stage featured live jazz, blues and rock 'n' roll music. Street performers, booths with vendors selling arts, crafts and other items, face-painting and more lent the appropriate good-times-roll feel to the festival.

An evening concert in the John Swett High School auditorium featured jazz singer Mary Stallings, the Neo Classsical Jazz Ensemble and the Terry Henry Trio.
For more information on the Crockett Chamber of Commerce and upcoming events, call 510-787-1155."

Crockett's Mardi Gras

Saturday, Feb 25, will be celebrated in Crockett as Mardi Gras. At least for part of the day, 2nd Avenue will be closed off, tables and booths will be set up (the Museum has one), music will play, and all those good things. Mary will have books, t-shirts, cards, etc for sale. It is a way to Celebrate Crockett. In the evening there will be a Jazz concert in the John Swett Auditorium. Be there.

Soybean Growers Arise!

Cargill moves ahead with glycerin business - 2006-02-22 - The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

Things are looking up for soy bean growers.

Celebrate Crockett T-Shirts Arrive

The Museum has received its order of 500 t-shirts. These will be sold for $10 (sm, med, lge, 1X) and $12 for 2x and 3x. Already 9 shirts sold. I think these will all go and our loans will be repaid. Mary will have a table at the Mardi Gras on Saturday.

Bay Area Levee Concerns

Levee funding changes may sink some islands


Posted on Mon, Feb. 20, 2006
TIMES WATCHDOGLevee funding changes may sink some islandsBy Kiley RussellCONTRA COSTA TIMES

The New Year's storm that tormented many of the Delta's aged levee systems blasted through the earthen walls protecting little Fay Island, submerging it under 10 feet of water. The privately owned, 115-acre island in San Joaquin County suffered a roughly 65-foot levee break early New Year's Day. "The wind was anywhere from 45 to 60 miles per hour. I have never seen wind like that in this area before and I've been here for 57 years in the Delta," said the island's caretaker, Frank Craffey. "It was just horrifying. The water was spraying over the levees tremendously and just eating them up."
The wind and waves that sank Fay and damaged several other Delta islands are now quiet, but another storm, perhaps more powerful, is brewing in Sacramento as politicians and state water officials contemplate changes to the way levee maintenance districts are funded. So while the immediate effort to pump out and rebuild Fay Island is fraught with complications, its owners -- along with dozens of other landowners and levee district mangers in the Delta -- are also casting a worried eye toward the future. "A couple partners and I bought the island about five years ago. It was in terrible shape. The levees were all torn up," said Paul Edwards, who sits on the board of Reclamation District 2113, the local agency responsible for the island's levees.
"We've been working for the past four or five years to build the levees up to an acceptable state and make it so we could last through a storm like last winter, but we didn't quite get there."
To salvage their investment, Edwards and his partners have embarked on a reclamation project and are still trying to discover how much, if any, state money they can corral. If they can't enlist state assistance -- and state money -- for levee reconstruction and water removal, they will have to shoulder the entire $190,000 bill. Compounding Edwards' troubles is a growing debate in Sacramento among lawmakers and state water officials about whether islands like Fay, which protects little of statewide interest, are worth saving at all.

The Politics of Sugar

To understand the power of Florida sugar, it is illustrative to look at the very wealthy, very private members of the Fanjul family of Florida. With an enormous sugar empire that dwarfs even the U.S. Sugar Corporation, the Fanjul family's sugar holdings in Florida and the Dominican Republic total more than 400,000 acres, operated by a family of companies under the corporate umbrella of Flo-Sun, Inc.
Four brothers -- Alfonso 'Alfie,' Jos� 'Pepe,' Alexander, and Andres -- are the principal owners and managers of Flo-Sun. The Fanjuls are Cuban-American descendants of the wealthy Gomez-Mena family of Cuba, which controlled much of the American-dominated sugar industry in Cuba until Fidel Castro seized power, and the New York-based Fanjul family. Matriarch Lillian de Fanjul and her four sons make their home in exclusive Palm Beach, Florida, an hour's drive and a world away from the gritty sugar plantations of western Palm Beach County.
Unlike U.S. Sugar Corporation, its Florida rival, whose offices are smack in the middle of Clewiston's sugar fields, Flo-Sun is headquartered in a posh complex in Palm Beach. The Fanjuls themselves live in multimillion-dollar mansions set among the palm-tree-lined streets of the town. "

A Bit Of History

Insects Affecting Sugarbeets in North Dakota: "The earliest record of sugarbeets being produced in North Dakota indicates that they were first planted in1890. While sugarbeet trials were conducted over the next 30 years, there was no amount of commercial production until the first sugar factory was completed at East Grand Forks, Minnesota in 1926. The first record of sugarbeet production is for 1924 when 2,600 acres were harvested in North Dakota. The total value of this crop was $194,000.
In 1953 there were 34,800 acres of sugarbeets harvested in North Dakota with a value of $3,729,000. By 1977 sugarbeet production had reached a peak of 155,200 acres harvested in North Dakota with a total crop value of $ 59,257,000. Sugarbeets have played an important role in the developing economy of the Red River Valley. Also,certain insects have played a role in the production of sugarbeets. Historically the sugarbeet root maggot has been without a doubt the main insect culprit affecting sugarbeet yields, but in recent years, cutworms, grasshoppers, flea beetles, white grubs and a few other shave managed to take their 'bite' out of sugarbeet profits as well."

Dakota Beets are Best

Fertilizing Sugar Beet in Minnesota and North Dakota: "The three grower-owned cooperatives in Minnesota and North Dakota vary in their payment programs. Some programs pay strictly on net sucrose quality, which is determined by sugar beet root quantity and quality. Other programs give financial incentives for delivering higher quality sugar beet roots to the factory. In both cases quality is determined by the concentration of sucrose and impurities in the root that need to be separated during the refining process.
Optimum sugar beet production in Minnesota and North Dakota relies on a sound soil fertility program. A sound fertilizer program can enhance the quality of the sugar beet. The recommendations suggested in this publication for the supplemental application of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are based on thirty years of scientific research in the sugar beet growing areas of Minnesota and North Dakota. "

Billeci murder

From the CROCKETT SIGNAL Friday, August 26, 1910

Two Sicilians Killed and Four Injured

Scow Town, that section of the Crockett Waterfront lying directly east of the old Eppinger warehouse, the inhabitants of which number mostly Sicilians was the
scene of a cutting and shooting affray last Saturday night about 9:30 o’clock that resulted in the death of two persons and the wounding of four others. All the parties concerned in the affair are related and the exact cause leading to the trouble is hard to ascertain because of the conflicting stories told. The truth will probably not be known until the matter is sifted out in court. Out of the varied accounts the writer has secured the following story which shows that a misunderstanding, added by a family feud, resulted in the death of Joe Billici and his niece, Rosa Billici, by shooting, while Steve Billici and Mrs. C. Enea were wounded by shots and Mrs. Steve Billici and Mrs. L. Bruno injured by cutting.

Harmony has not prevailed in Scow Town for many months especially between the family of Joe Billici and the families of L. Bruno and Steve Billici. Two month ago last Saturday night, or to be more explicit on June 25, Joe Billici created a disturbance at the home of Bruno and his brother Steve for which he was arrested on the following Monday and fined $30. This instance is cited to show the unfriendly feelings existing
between the families.

Last Saturday night Joe Billici, accompanied by a man named Enea, came uptown to make some purchases and entered the Toscano saloon to secure a drink. Shortly after entering another crowd, said to have been friends of Steve Billici, came in and wanted to drink at Joe’s expense but he refused because of a lack of money. Some words were passed and trouble ensued between some of the party that resulted in their being ejected from the building. Constable Fox appeared on the scene at this juncture and put a stop to further trouble, the crowd dispersing. Some of them were from Scow Town and they happened to return home ahead of Joe. The latter’s wife inquired after him and was told that he was coming. She was also informed of the saloon quarrel. When he did appear he was scratched about the face and his wife thought he had been fighting with his old enemies. Under this belief she hastened to the home of Steve Billici and smashed a front window. This brought Mrs. Steve Billici to the door, also Mrs. Bruno her mother. Joe’s wife accused Steve’s folks of beating
her husband and wrangling ensued. In the midst of this quarrel Joe appeared
armed with a razor with which he slashed his brother’s wife about the head and
face and also made two long gashes, extending almost from ear to ear, about the
throat of Mrs. Bruno. The screams of the women brought Steve to the door and he
received a gash on the forehead. Steve retreated into the house and secured his
revolver, his brother Joe returning home. As Steve came out with his weapon
another brother, Frank, who was attracted by the disturbance, grappled with him
to secure the revolver. In the struggle the weapon was discharged, the bullet
barely breaking the skin on the left arm of Frank but striking his 9 year old
daughter Rosa, standing off several feet, in the right eye. The child lived
about three hours.

From this point the rest of the evening’s affair is muddled. Steve claims that after the revolver was discharged that Salvador Billici, eldest son of Frank Billici, shot him in the right wrist while he and Frank were struggling over the weapon. Then Frank secured the weapon and he and his son disappeared.

In the meantime, it is claimed, Joe rushed home and secured his rifle and was returning to the scene when Steve emerged from the house with a rifle and opened fire. One bullet passed through the corner of a storeroom and struck Mrs. C. Enea in the right breast. As the force of the bullet had been spent it made merely a slight flesh wound. The second bullet from Steve’s rifle pierced Joe’s head,. entering at the left eye and emerging at the back of the head, making a gaping wound. Death was instantaneous.

Constable J. J. Fox, followed by J. J. Lewis and Oscar Prytz, hastened
to the scene after the first shot was fired. In the darkness they were unable to
distinguish just where the trouble was. All was quiet then in Scow Town, so
Constable Fox hastened to the Lucido house on the bluff side where a commotion
was going on. When he reached there the first person he encountered was Mrs.
Steve Billeci, who had fled from her home and from whose head and face blood was
streaming profusely. While this woman was trying to explain to him the trouble
two more shots were fired from below and Constable Fox rushing toward the place
found Steve with his smoking rifle. Throwing his revolver on Steve, Constable
Fox disarmed him. In the meantime Lewis discovered the dead body of Joe. Pacing
Steve, who was weak from loss of blood, inside the house, Constable Fox passed
the rifle to Lewis and arrested Frank Lucido on suspicion for witness purposes.

Shortly after Lucido had been taken into custody, Constable Fox arrested
Salvator Billeci on suspicion that he had taken part in the shooting. Lucido and
Salvator were placed in jail.

Later Frank Billeci was also arrested and turned over to Deputy Sheriff Veale and Constable Palmer of Martinez who conveyed their prisoner by launch to the county jail. Lucido and Salvator were taken to Martinez the following day and placed in the county jail. Lucido was afterwards released, evidence showing that he had nothing whatever to do with the affair. Young Salvator and his father were brought down from Martinez Wednesday and taken before Justice of the Peace O'Neill, who released the father on $500 bail, as it was shown that he had acted in the role of peacemaker. Salvator’s bail was placed at $5,000, which friends raised for him
Wednesday.

Doctor G. W. Sweetser and A. W. Rickey and Druggist A. A. Paul were summoned to attend the injured, who were placed in the Bruno home. The sight presented the medical men on entering the place was one they will not soon forget. The house represented a shambles more than a dwelling place.

INJURED TAKEN TO HOSPITAL
Steve Bellici and Mrs. Bruno, the ones suffering the most injury, were taken to the county hospital at Martinez Sunday morning. While at first their cases were considered dangerous, under skillful treatment they have made good progress toward recovery.

Steve is suffering from the effects of two wounds, one in the right wrist which he claims his nephew Salvator inflicted with a revolver and the other from a bullet wound in the right breast. Then again it may be that another bullet was fired aside from the one laid at Salvator’s door.

Mrs. Bruno’s close call from death was miraculous. Had the razor blade
sank a fraction deeper, arteries and windpipe would have been severed. The cuts
made exposed the throbbing arteries and windpipe.

CHARGED WITH
MURDER
As soon as Steve Billeci, now in the county hospital, recovers from his wounds he will be taken into court to face a charge of murdering his brother and his niece. As he admits killing Joe and it is known that the shot he fired with his revolver killed Rosa, his niece, he stands a small chance of going free.

SALVATOR CONFESSES
It is said that Salvator Billici admitted in the sheriff’s office Tuesday that he shot
his Uncle Steve after the latter had killed his sister while Steve and the girl’s father, Frank, were struggling over possession of the weapon. It is reported that he did the shooting with a revolver throwing the weapon into the bay after the firing.

FUNERAL SERVICES OF THE DEAD
The funeral services of Joe Billeci and his little niece Rosa were held Tuesday at Martinez under the direction of Undertaker J. J. Hauser. The services were largely attended, two processions forming that stretched several blocks. Services were held at St. Catherine church and interment made at St. Catherine cemetery.

Brief History of Brickmaking in California

Brief History of Brickmaking in California: "Among them is the oldest brick plant in California, the McNear Brick Company on the shores of Marin County which has been in operation since 1868."

Celebrate Crockett News

C & H Sugar will participate in town celebration of the C&H 100th birthday. They will have music, balloons, food and games at Rithet Park. The Museum will have finger food, deserts and drinks with some short speeches at the Museum. Stay tuned.

Wine or Sugar

By the looks of things I need to shift my interest from sugar to grapes!


Record grape crush raises price worriesCelia Lamb
California winegrape processors crushed a record quantity of grapes last year. The 2005 total, 4.3 million tons, stomped the 2004 crush by 19 percent, the California Agricultural Statistics Service reported today.
Benign weather helped growers produced a bountiful grape crop last year. Crushing operations took more red and white wine varieties, up 35 and 34 percent respectively, and cut back on less-desirable raisin varieties by 36 percent. The table grape squeeze was down 6 percent.
Chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon made up nearly 30 percent of the crush.
Despite the plentiful supply, the average price in California rose by 1 percent for red winegrapes and 3 percent for white varieties, reaching the highest levels since 2001. Growers worry that the bumper crop will lower prices for this year's harvest.
Winegrapes from the Sierra foothills sold for an average of $1,093 per ton, compared to $529 in the Delta and $427 in other parts of southern Sacramento and northern San Joaquin counties. Those were bargains compared to the state's better-known growing regions. In Napa County, the average was $2,887 a ton for grapes that weren't grown at the winery where they'll be bottled; one variety went for more than $5,000 a ton.
In the region which includes Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, a ton went for an average of $1,028.29. In the Monterey region, the average price was $979.04.
Statewide, prices for raisin and table grapes plummeted by 18 percent and 39 percent, respectively.

A Bit of North Dakota Past

Several parts of the struggle between opposing cultures yet remain sources of legend and controversy. In 1876, units of the 7th Cavalry commanded by Lt. Col. George A. Custer left Fort Abraham Lincoln near Bismarck, North Dakota to search for Dakota who had refused confinement on reservations. The resulting annihilation of Custer's immediate command at the Little Big Horn River in Montana Territory made names such as Crazy Horse, Gall and Sitting Bull familiar throughout the nation. Many Dakota moved to Canada to escape relentless punitive expeditions sent by the army. The remnants finally surrendered at Fort Buford in 1881.

Good News or NOT

The European Commission has issued a statement warning sugar beet producers of the likelihood that sugar quotas will have to be cut for the 2006/07 marketing year.

US SUGAR Grows

CLEWISTON - A local sugar producer may have delivered a potential long-term solution to questions concerning its future.

Well into the 2006 harvest season, the United States Sugar Corporation is continuing to expand and upgrade its Clewiston sugar processing and refinery facilities, and expects the expansion efforts to give the company an extra spring in its steps towards regaining the prosperity of years past.
U.S. Sugar announced in November plans for consolidating, expanding and modernizing its sugar milling operations at the Clewiston Mill. The project, termed "Breakthrough," is one of the largest private industrial construction projects in the United States, and will result in the world's largest raw sugar milling operations. The highly automated operation will enable U.S. Sugar to be a low-cost sugar producer and greatly enhance the long-term future of the company.
According to U.S. Sugar Corporate Communications Director Judy Sanchez, the core project team has a very aggressive fast-track project schedule that demands that engineering, procurement and construction are conducted almost in parallel - at the same time that the mill and refinery are running full speed in processing this year's cane crop. There are 68 individuals in management, engineering and construction making sure the project stays on track.
In the past year, a great deal of progress has been made on the project. Demolition of existing structures started in March of last year, allowing the construction crews to begin work in mid-April on cane preparation and evaporator building earthworks and foundation structures.
The hurricanes that struck the Southeast affected some of the equipment and structural steel fabrication facilities located in Louisiana and Texas, putting the project slightly behind schedule. However, with the tremendous momentum the project has at this stage, they expect that this lost time will be caught up within the next couple of months.
Project Facts
* Six-mill facility will be the largest in the world
* Each mill weighs 550 tons
* 382,950 total engineering/management man-hours
* 2.6 million total construction man-hours
* 6,200 cubic yards of concrete poured
* 20.8 miles of piping to be installed
* 7,500 tons of structural steel
* Evaporator capacity of 1,736 tons/hr is equivalent to evaporating the water in 28 swimming pools per hour.
To date, approximately 80 percent of the equipment required for the process has been procured and 39 percent of the construction is completed with the majority of concrete foundation and structural steel installed. A total of 366,000 man-hours have been worked on the project without an accident.
Major pieces of process equipment have been arriving since mid-October, including the milling units from Brazil, juice heaters from France, and evaporator vessels from Louisiana. The evaporator vessels were shipped by barge along the Gulf of Mexico and through Florida via the Caloosahatchee River to the Port of Clewiston. Additional deliveries of specialized equipment are expected during the next two months from England, Sweden and Finland.
Phase I of the project was completed prior to the crop in October, 2005 and the majority of the project will be completed in Phase II by October, 2006. The demolition of some of the existing raw sugar processing facilities will begin in May of this year, making room for the new process equipment that will arrive toward the end of the year. Once installed, this equipment will complete the third and final phase of the Breakthrough project.

Molasses Anyone

MolassesOne of the by-products of sugar refining is molasses. Molasses that is consumed by humans is derived only from cane sugar. Some molasses is produced by directly boiling the sugar cane.
Many different grades of molasses correspond with the flavor and level of processing of molasses. Blackstrap molasses is the lowest grade of molasses available because of its dark bitter qualities. All the molasses in graded foods is unsulphured (6).
Beet sugar molasses is not fit for human consumption because it is too bitter. Beet sugar molasses is fed to dairy cows and cattle. The syrup is added to their food to make it taste sweeter. The beet molasses is also sold to yeast-making industries (1).
The molasses syrup which is consumed by humans has not gone through any bone char or carbon filter. About 95% of the molasses is removed before the sugar travels through the bone char or carbon filter. Any molasses which has gone through the char is used in animal feed or for fermentation purposes. Molasses companies often buy their initial product from sugar refineries and then further refine the syrup. They do not use any type of char filter because they do not desire to eliminate the brown color (5).
Brown sugar is basically refined sugar with added molasses. The brown sugar produced by the beet industry uses cane molasses, but this molasses has not gone through the bone char. Cane sugar companies which use bone char will utilize bone char to refine brown sugar (6).

First Pineapples Then Sugarcane

Del Monte Pineapple is Pulling Out of Hawaii
Del Monte has announced that it will stop planting pineapple on their Kunia, Oahu plantation effective immediately, and that Del Monte will completely cease operations in Hawaii in 2008 after the last of the 2006 pineapple crop has been harvested. Del Monte says they were forced to make this decision because it is no longer economically feasible to grow pineapple in Hawaii because it can be produced for less in other parts of the world. Del Monte has been growing pineapple in Hawaii since 1916, when their company was called California Packing Corporation. Del Monte's main competitors in Hawaii are Dole Pineapple of Wahiawa and the Maui Pineapple Company.

Dangerous Sugar Beet Industry

Just why anyone would be on the highway with a load of sugarbeets in January in North Dakota is a real puzzelment. I think there needs to be an investigation!

"A sugar beet truck tipped and spilled its load in the westbound lane of U.S. Highway 2 near East Grand Forks this morning, injuring the driver."

Potatoes Being Consumed

Finally, people are realizing the outstanding value and taste of North Dakota spuds.

"The amount of potatoes in storage in North Dakota is at its lowest January level in 16 years, and officials say a waning diet craze is one reason. Growers, dealers and processors had the equivalent of 11.3 million hundred-pound bags of potatoes in storage on Jan. 1, down 35 percent from a year ago and the lowest January level since 11 million hundredweight in 1990, the Agriculture Department said."