The Press Democrat from Santa Rosa, California • 33

D9 Life THE PRESS DEMOCRAT, SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 8, 1 998 TODAY Bodega Volunteer Fire Department Chicken Barbecue 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., chicken barbecue, games, agricultural exhibits, raffles, and music by Major Music. McCaughey Hall, 17184 Bodega Highway. Barbecue is $7 adults; $3.50 children. Proceeds benefit Bodega Volunteer Fire Department.

876-3124. Old Adobe Fiesta 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.. living history features crafts, music, dancing, costume contest, food, pony rides, performances re-creating life in the 1840's. Sponsored by the Old Adobe Association; proceeds benefit animals at the adobe.

$2 adults. Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park, 3325 Adobe Road. Information; 762-4871. English Country Dance 2 to 5 p.m., learn variety of spirited and graceful community dances from the 1600's to today. Wear flat, comfortable shoes.

$5. Sebastopol Community Center, 390 Morris Sebastopol. Information: 874-1335. September classes. Residents with servicing experience interested in helping out can call Ronald Graham at 887-2856.

Volunteer tutors needed Volunteers are needed for the Sonoma County Library Adult Literacy Program, which sends adults to tutor jailed inmates who are performing below the sixth-grade level in reading or writing. A two-day tutor-training program is planned Sept. 7 and 14. Those interested also go through a security orientation required by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department. To sign up, call 544-2622.

Calling all classmates These reunions are planned: A combined reunion of the Classes of 1961 of Montgomery and Santa Rosa high schools will be held Friday, Saturday and Aug. 25. Friday events start at 7 p.m. at the Flamingo Hotel at $15 a person for classmates only. Saturday activities will be at 7 p.m.

at the Doubletree Inn with dinner and dancing at $90 a couple and $45 for singles. Sunday's events start at 11 a.m. at Galvin Park adjacent to the Bennett Valley Golf Course at $7 per person with salads and soft drinks provided and participants bringing their own meats to barbecue and bread or buns. Call 546-5697 or (415) 353-5680 for Montgomery questions, and 528-6877 or 575-4745 for Santa Rosa. Petaluma High's Class of 1966 also plans a Classmate Night Friday, a dinner and dance Saturday at the Petaluma Community Center, and a Petaluma River cruise followed by a family picnic Aug.

25 at Lucchesi Park. Further details are available by calling Gloria Kane-Pearson, 778-7050, or Charleen Silva-Champion, 541-7114. The Class of 1981 of Casa Grande High School is planning a Sept. 21 reunion. Call Nicole Benson-Powell, 773-4680, or Dana Owens, (415) 898-8593, for information.

Neal Kirkwood Quartet with original works and jazz, classical music, local writers presenting their works, sidewalk chalk drawing and other events including "A Mad Hatter Tea Party" serving tea and tarts. WindsorFest to benefit church Our Lady of Guadalupe Church will benefit from WindsorFest, featuring Mexican entrees and a chicken barbecue from noon to 7 p.m. Aug. 25 at 8400 Old Redwood Highway in Windsor. The festival includes local artists and businesses, musical entertainment, children's games, arts and crafts, food booths and a raffle.

Family and community fun is planned. Healdsburg plans barbecue Raising funds to support the Healdsburg Urban Growth Boundary Initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot, the Gator Beat will perform from 2 to 6 p.m. Aug. 25 during "A Day in the Country" at the Hoot Owl Creek Picnic Grounds on Highway 128 in Alexander Valley.

Grilled tri-tip steak, side dishes and a first glass of wine or beer costs $15 for adults, or $20 at the event Food and drink for children age 6-12 costs $5 in advance, or $8 at the event Tickets are available at Toyon Books In Healdsburg. Call 433-8678. Mendocino to pick Miss Mexico Selecting Miss Mexico of Mendocino will be one of the high points of a pageant starting at 5 p.m. Aug. 31 by Concilio Latino Americano of Mendocino County at Carl Purdy Hall at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds in Ukiah.

Six contestants seek the title. The evening opens at 5 with cocktails followed by a dinner and ending with a dance. Sangra Brava, a troupe of San Francisco Flamenco dancers featuring Mercedes Molina, will perform during dinner. The event marks the start of the celebration of Mexican Independence Day. The cost is $25.

Call Alicia Peterson, 468-0740, or Terry Rolling, 462-9253. All proceeds aid the Concilio Latino Scholarship Fund. MONDAY Cotatl Planning Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall, 201 W. Sierra Cotati. Commission on Human Rights 6:30 p.m., monthly meeting.

Permit and Resource Management Center, 2550 Ventura Santa Rosa. Information 527-2693. American Sewing Guild 7 p.m., St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church, 4595 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park. Information: 538-9511.

TUESDAY Kid Street Theatre gala set Kid Street Theatre, 54 West Sixth St. in Santa Rosa, will hold its fifth annual Summer Gala at 6:30 p.m. Friday, starting with a reception and auction. At 7:30 p.m., children will present the play "Nowhere To Go But Up." The cost is $25 per person with the money used to keep the theater program alive. Call 525-9223 for tickets and information.

Windsor toxic roundup planned Windsor area residents can discard old and unwanted household toxic materials for free during the Household Toxics Roundup from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Windsor Civic Center on Old Redwood Highway. Disposing of toxic items in drains or sinks is illegal. The Windsor collection will accept aerosol containers, antifreeze, auto and household batteries, cleaners, fuel, paints, pharmaceuticals, pool and spa chemicals and many other items.

Explosives, ammunition, and radioactive materials will not be accepted. Businesses also will not be able to discard items at the roundup. Further details are available by calling 1-800-207-8222. Air museum hosts open house Antique and military aircraft will be included in the annual open house of the Pacific Coast Air Museum on Becker Boulevard and Laughlin Road at the Sonoma County Airport from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday and Aug. 25. In addition to museum exhibits, surprise aircraft are scheduled, including a T-34 and an F-18, with rides in each, a raffle and the sale of aviation items. Admission is $5 for adults, with children under 12 free. Phone: 575-7900 or 484-6400.

Mobile blood bank at SR church Blood Bank of the Redwoods' mobile donor unit will be at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1780 Yulupa in Santa Rosa from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. New donors are needed because of vacations and other events that reduce the number of regular donors. Call 1-800-425-6634, extension 1 18, to sign up or for more details.

Jewish group sets annual meeting The first annual meeting of the Jewish Community Agency of Sonoma County will be at 4 p.m. Aug. 25 at B.R. Cohn Winery, 15140 Sonoma Highway, Glen Ellen. Anyone who wants to get involved may attend, and vote on the board of directors, agency officers and by-laws, as well as help plan for the future.

The provisional officers and directors have planned a presentation on the agency's goals, services and activities. Participants should bring chairs or picnic blankets for outdoor seating. For reservations, call 528-4222. Museum exhibit highlights wood "Of Time and the Craftsman: Utility and Beauty in Wood" is the title of a new exhibit opening Aug. 31 at the West County Museum of the Western Sonoma County Historical Society, 26 1 South Main St.

in Sebastopol. Highlighted will be wooden items, the artistry and the basic processes used by woodworkers through the centuries. Admission is free. The museum is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.

Camp reunion set for September Former staff members, campers and volunteers are SR youth attains Eagle Scout 1 Jonathan Newton Magers, 17, is the latest member of Boy Scout Troop 55 of Santa Rosa to qualify for the rank of Eagle Scout with ceremonies at 8 p.m. Aug. 31 at the troop's Family Camp at Camp Masonite Navarro in Mendocino 'V. County. Maeers.

son of John and Sherrv Ma- gers, will be a senior this fall at Mont- Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, 8:30 a.m., supervisors' chambers, 575 Administrative Drive, Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa City Council, 100 Santa Rosa Ave. 543-3039. Sebastopol City Council, 7 p.m., Sebastopol Library Forum Room, 7140 Bodega Ave. Corvettes of Sonoma County Car Club, 7:30 p.m., Northbay Savings Bank, 6301 State Farm Drive, Rohnert Park.

Organ Concert and Dinner 6:30 p.m., Tony's Cafe, 3125 Cleveland Santa Rosa. $14 dinner and concert, $3 concert. 545-6959 or 539-4218. Terrific Tuesdays 1 to 3 p.m., watershed and water pollution demonstration at the Discovery Center in the Santa Rosa Plaza, downtown Santa Rosa. Information: 575-1014.

WEDNESDAY Windsor Town Council, 6:30 p.m. Call for location. 838-1000. Central Sonoma Country Art Association, 7 p.m., Spreckles Center, Rohnert Park. Information: 546-6156.

Guerneville Fire Protection District, 7 p.m., Public Library Forum Room, 14107 Armstrong Woods Road, Guerneville. Rancho Adobe Fire Protection District, 7 p.m., Fire District Headquarters, 1 E. Cotati Cotatl. 795-6011. Fiesta Latina, 3 to 5 p.m., free food, drinks and music to welcome Latino seniors to the Windsor Senior Center, 9231 Foxwood Drive, Windsor.

Information 838-1250. Dispute Resolution Workshop, 7 to 9 p.m., self-help seminar for parties who have a dispute to resolve but cannot afford legal representation; alternative to formal court proceedings, sponsored by Sonoma County Legal Services Foundation and RECOURSE Community Services. 4-H conference room, 2604 Ventura at the County Administration Center, Santa Rosa. $5. Information: 546-2924.

Parents Without Partners, 7 to 9 p.m., Round Table Pizza, 1003 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa. 649-0346. "Hats Off to Summer!" Luncheon, noon to 2 p.m., hat designing techniques by Ellie Agee of Jeanelli Originals, music by Stylish Serenade, speaker on "design for living." Sponsored by Santa Rosa Christian Women's Club. $11; being notified of a reunion to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of Camp Wasewagan through the Camp Fire Council and operated by Camp Fire of the Pasadena Area, formerly Camp Fire Girls. The camp drew participants from far and wide since it opened in 1936.

The reunion is planned Sept. 13 to 15 at the camp. To attend, write to Camp Wasewagan, Camp Fire Council of the Foothills, 136 West Lime Monrovia 91016, or call (818) 305-1200. Harvest Fair entries open Guidebooks and entry forms for the Sonoma County Harvest Fair are now available at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds and chambers of commerce offices throughout the county. This year's Harvest Fair will take place from Oct.

4 to 6 at the fairgrounds. The deadline for entries, strictly enforced, is 5 p.m. Sept. 3 in most categories. The Harvest Fair, the county's fall festival and wine show, includes competition in fruits, vegetables, food, wine, art, photography, waterfowl, livestock and other categories.

Entries also are being accepted for such Harvest Fair events as the world championship grape stomp, the cow milking contest and Clover-Stornetta Farms' super sundae contest. Members sought for new chorus billed as Santa Rosa's newest chorus, is accepting singers for what will be a 24-member group with tenors, basses and altos especially needed. Weekly rehearsals are held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays with several performances planned each year, according to Musical Director Fred Stoufer. Auditions are not required.

Call Honora Clemens, 576-1231. Magers gomery High School with engineering studies planned after graduation. He is an honor student. His Eagle project involved covering the Canyon Trail Bridge with wooden planks and adding a walkway and handrail for the Anna-del State Park trail where it meets the Spring Creek Trail. Luncheon to fete volunteers Dry Creek Vineyard, 3770 Lambert Bridge Road in Healdsburg, is the setting for the 1 1 :30 a.m.

luncheon Wednesday to honor 70 volunteers of the Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society. The volunteers serve as receptionists, aid with membership, handle records, assist in research and handle other tasks including publishing and mailing the monthly newsletter. Catholic group cites Green family Maggie and Reg Green of Bodega Bay will receive the Pope John XXIII Award from the Italian Catholic Federation Aug. 31 at the federation's annual convention at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Burlingame. The Greens' son, Nicholas, died of a gunshot fired by would-be bandits in 1994 while the family was touring in Southern Italy.

The family arranged to donate organs from their son to benefit a number of other children. The award recognizes a person or, in this case, a family, for displaying the highest humanitarian qualities of the late Pope. Nicholas' parents now are working to erect a monument to their son and children everywhere involving a hundred bells, including a majestic bell blessed by the Pope. Italians have donated most of the bells. Help offered for grandparents Registration is open until Friday for grandparents and other care providers to attend a survival conference from 9 a.m.

to 3 p.m. Sept. 7 at the St. Rose Center, 398 Tenth St. in Santa Rosa.

The sign-up fee is $15 in advance or $20 at the door. The conference is sponsored by the Council on Aging Services for Seniors and Catholic Charities. It will address issues of caring for a family member's children. Lunch is included. Workshops also are planned.

Phone: 522-0242. School seeks computer helpers A new school year is about to open and Forestville School wants to make sure its computers will be ready for eager fingers when it comes to pointing and clicking. Volunteers are being sought to make sure about 25 Apple computers, printers and monitors are ready for Fine arts come to SR park "A Fine Arts Affair" is the title of the annual Arts in the Parks summer performance sponsored by the Santa Rosa Recreation and Parks Department from 1 1 a.m. to 6 p.m. today at Juilliard Park.

Co-sponsored by radio KRSH 98.6 and the Sonoma County Independent the event is free and includes the Top complimentary child care by reservation. 528-9562 or 578-8430. FRIDAY Grandparents Parenting Again Survival Conference, deadline today for registration for Sept. 7 workshop for those parenting a family member's children. Topics include legislative issues, local resources, family law attorneys, social workers and child welfare supervisors.

$15, lunch provided. $20 at door. Information: 522-0242. Pacific Coast Air Museum Open House 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., barbecue, auction and museum events, benefit for the Elsie Allen Ag Boosters. Becker Boulevard and Laughlin Road at the Sonoma County Airport.

Donation: $25. Information: 579-5539. SATURDAY "Empowering the Provider," 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., for licensed child care providers interested in training and networking, sponsored by Sonoma County Child Care Association. Free to SCCCA members, $10 non-members.

Choice of workshops. East auditorium, Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. 575-4214. "Living Your Life Out Loud," 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., creativity workshop for women.

Author Padi Selwyn will facilitate seminar. Continuation from Aug. 17 seminar. Spring Haven, 1007 Spring Santa Rosa. 542-3619.

Redwood Empire Bonsai Society Show, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., collection includes many plants 350 to 500 years old, and collection of Suiseki or Japanese viewing stones. Prizes, refreshments, plant sales. Continues Sunday. Free admission.

Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building, 1351 Maple Santa Rosa. Parents Without Partners Family Picnic, 2 to 6 p.m., barbecue, Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve Picnic Area, 17000 Armstrong Woods Road, Guerneville. 649-0346. I think I offer specific, straightforward ideas. I have a reputation for being decisive.

It's not hard to get a yes or no from me." JAMIE TARSES former NBC colleagues who say she doesn't have experience with several crucial aspects of her new job, including dealing with affiliated stations and the intricate task of scheduling shows. Admits her shortcomings "I have no misgivings about admitting what I don't know," Tarses says. "I also know that I learn fast But I think people should be experts at things, and scheduling is an art" She cites NBC's chief scheduler, Preston Beckman, who, she says, "took scheduling to a new level." "NBC started winning because of its programs, but it won a lot sooner because of the way Preston approaches scheduling," she says. "I like the idea of having somebody do that for me." Tarses has chosen Jeff Bader, an ABC programming vice president to be the vice president of program planning and scheduling. This should help free her to do the job she still loves best working with writers to build hit shows.

"Finding shows is what it's all about developing hit shows and nurturing them," she says. "But you know, so much of this business is arbitrary. You use your best judgment and hope things go well. "It still comes down to the writer. It all comes out of his head: his voice captures the characters.

Our job is just to switch on the light in the right direction and hope to help them from thereA live. Tarses has a brother, Matt who also resisted his mother's best intentions. He is a scriptwriter on his father's new CBS comedy, "Public Morals." Her sister, Mal-lory, is a teacher and fiction writer. Tarses majored in theater at Williams College, where she found herself drawn not to writing, but to working with writers. "Anyone doing a play would come to me to get my reaction," she says.

"I was a dramaturge before I even knew what a dramaturge was." Once out of college, she landed a job as a casting director in Hollywood. But before long, her father mentioned her to Brandon Tartikoff, then president of NBC Entertainment, and he hired her as a beginner in the program department. Worked in 'current comedy' She worked as an executive in "current comedy" shows already on television and in her early 20s was attending script meetings for shows like "Cheers" and "227." "I was very young," she says. "I had no experience. You have a writing staff looking to me to give them notes.

I was -nervous. And then you give them notes and they respond and your confidence is generated from them." Among the comedies Tarses says she helped in important ways are some of NBC's biggest hits, including "Mad About You," "News Radio" and "Friends." Tarses says the offer from ABC came "totally unsolicited." "It was never a goal of mine, up until the day I decided, to become a network president" she says. "I think my credibility has been damaged a little bit because I would not stop talking about my lack of interest in becoming a network president Continued from Page Dl to find places for both Tarses and the man who had the job she was being offered, Ted Harbert. After protracted negotiations involving both ABC and its parent, the Walt Disney Tarses became president of entertainment on June 24. Harbert was named chairman of the division, with Tarses reporting to him.

At a news conference in late July, Harbert and Tarses went to some lengths (including using introductory theme music of the Turtles singing "So Happy to project a solid alliance. For Tarses, much of her career can be summed up by her ability to work with others. In particular, she says: "I love to work with writers. I love good storytelling." Tarses at ease with writers Indeed, she can trace her rise at NBC to her ease with writers, finding script flaws and suggesting improvements. "Some of it is instinct" she says.

"I've always had good judgment I think. And I think I offer specific, straightforward ideas. I have a reputation for being decisive. It's not hard to get a yes or no from me." Working instinctively on scripts is a skill she began to develop as a child in the 1970s at the dining room table, where she listened as her father read scripts that he had written for series like "The Carol Burnett Show" and "The Bob Newhart Show." "My mother didn't want her children involved in Hollywood," she adds. "We lived in the Valley." That's the San Fernando Valley, where the high-profile players of Hollywood are least likely to I told everybody I loved the job I had.

"I never had another agenda. It was never a means to anything else for me. The ABC offer was just an opportunity that comes along, and then you think it's wrong not to accept this challenge." Different work at ABC What she develops at ABC may differ a bit from the shows she helped put on NBC. NBC made sure of that by signing all the staff members who were close to her to new long-term contracts. "I take that as a a compliment" she says.

In her personal life, Tarses was divorced earlier this year from Dan McDer-mott, now an executive with the Dreamworks studio. She has been dating Robert Morton, David Letterman's former executive producer. It was to his place in Tuscany that she escaped twice this year after her departure from NBC She has heard some comments from her Sugar Addicts Anonymous 7:30 p.m. Aug. 25 at Church of the Incarnation, 550 Mendocino St Agnes Room, Santa Rosa.

Self-help support group. A scent-free meeting where those attending are asked to refrain from wearing of fragrances. Phone: 829-5771. Community Calendar information is supplied by the sponsors of the events. Notices should be submitted two to three weeks in advance of the expected date of publication..