The Californian from Salinas, California • 6

I Weekend, October 10-11, 2009 NEWS persuaded nine of his students to trek out to the early morning viewing party. Sparling said the event was not just about going to see colliding objects. "There's the adrenaline rush of getting to see real amateur Sparling helps get them interested in careers in science." The Associated Press contributed to this report. retiree who volunteers to run the telescope during public viewings, said the observatory is the only large telescope in this part of the state that's located in a dark site close to major population centers. "This is not replaceable," Hawley said.

"If they close the park, that's devastating to astronomy in this area." Brien Sparling, a science teacher at Anzar High School in San Juan Bautista, performed well enough academically to win scholarships and enroll in science and engineering programs at schools such as the University of California, Berkeley, and California Polytechnic State University, Pomona. The program has earned funding and recognition from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Rob Hawley, a San Jose Watsonville and frequently attends Saturday night observatory programs. According to Brown, more than 30 public astronomy events drew close to 2,000 observatory visitors in the past year. Brown also mentors students in a 3-year-old internship program with Hart-nell College.

According to program manager Andrew Newton, several of the past 18 observatory interns have "We're looking at every way we can to find funding," Fuzie said. Careers in science The observatory's loyal fans value its contributions to astronomy and to the local community. "This place is rad. They always have lots of cool stuff out here," said Eddie Dobson, who works for Orion telescope company in STOOD GXs)IW W) (300 0V8 to i JIT INm. 1 MOON Continued from page 1A soil could account for the lack of a visible plume.

Observatory staff trained the 30-inch telescope on a specific crater where, according to NASA, the Centaur rocket crashed first. The accompanying Shepherding spacecraft took measurements on the dust kicked up by the Centaur rocket's impact before plummeting into the same crater. NASA scientists are analyzing information from the Shepherding spacecraft to check for the presence of water on the moon, which will play a crucial role in future manned space missions beyond Earth. State budget cuts For many of the astronomy fans at Fremont Peak, the fact that the party occurred at all was reason to celebrate. The observatory almost became a casualty of state budget shortfalls last summer.

In September, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that cutbacks in state park operations and maintenance would occur instead of widespread state park closings. Members of the Fremont Peak Observatory Association, a group of 150 volunteers which maintains and operates the observatory grounds and equipment on a yearly operating budget of $3,000, still worry. Doug Brown, president of the association, said he thought the park might operate only weekends. Mat Fuzie, Monterey District manager for the California State Park Service, said the observatory could stay open even during periods when the state park closes or reduces its maintenance and operational staff.

"I don't see any impact on the observatory, just on whether or not we can clean said. Both the observatory association and state park association are searching for alternative sources of funding to supplant state budget shortfalls. SaUifday Sunday 'it. f- Lawmakers fail to reach water deal The Associated Press SACRAMENTO Negotiations seeking to forge a wide-ranging water deal in California ended quietly Friday night, despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's assurance hours earlier that a deal would be struck by the end of the day.

The Republican governor and the leaders of the Assembly and Senate said they would meet again Saturday to discuss roughly a dozen outstanding issues. Schwarzenegger sent confusing signals by agreeing to disband the talks Friday even though no water deal had been reached. Earlier this week, he had threatened to veto "a lot" of bills unless lawmakers agreed to a comprehensive overhaul of the state's water system. They are up against a weekend deadline because the period for Schwarzenegger to sign or veto about 700 bills ends midnight Sunday. Including ALL Pall and holiday 1 ecoi' 'Some Exclusions Apply Spend $50.00 and receive DRIIiTOtrS Ducks! JJ 0 t')K Bnnton Bucks are redeemable October 15-25, 2009 on a purchase of O.OO or more.

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