Off the I-15

Barstow got a visit from the Guitar Wizard of San Diego on Saturday, June 30. Hopefully some of his magic wore off on the crowd.

Greg Vaughan came to the Uma Martial Arts Academy to present and film a guitar clinic. He operates the Temple of the Sacred String guitar studio, which blends guitar lessons with eastern philosophies. In between guitar demonstrations, Vaughan imparted various Chinese proverbs to the crowd. An example: “It is better to spend years searching for the right teacher than studying under the wrong one.”

Vaughan has an extensive musical and martial arts background having trained in several different disciplines. Vaughan has studied with former Scorpion’s guitarist Uli Jon Roth and won Guitar Center’s 2005 San Diego Guitarmaggedon.

When not teaching guitar, Vaughan performs in a number of bands, including Blasphemous Guitars and The Shimmy Sisters and Danyavaad. The Shimmy Sisters and Danyavaad recently appeared in Vision Magazine.

-David Heldreth Staff Writer

Pictures not good enough? Check out this video of Fort Irwin’s new Lakota helicopter.

After reading this story about gigantic hay bales spread across the I-40, sports and news writer David Heldreth asked this question:

David: How do you get that (a 2,000 pound hay bale) off the road?
Aaron: A really big pitchfork.

We all had a good chuckle.

April Beth Pitzer

April Beth Pitzer, who had been living in Newberry Springs, has been missing for three years. Pitzer, who was about to board a bus to visit family, disappeared in late June 2004 at the age of 30.

Arkansas native Pitzer, who also went by the name April Coggins, is a white woman with dark brown hair. She is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighed about 120 to 130 pounds at the time of her disappearance. She has no upper teeth, and there is a scar on the left side of her stomach.

Anyone with information about Pitzer’s whereabouts can call the Barstow sheriff’s station at (760)256-4838. To remain anonymous, call WeTip at 1(800)78-CRIME.

Let’s Bring Them Home is sponsoring a $50,000 reward for Pitzer’s recovery and the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for her disappearance, the Desert Dispatch reported in May. For more information, go to www.letsbringthemhome.org. The organization’s tip line is 1(866)479-LBTH.

I think space is really cool, and the landing of the space shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base is even cooler.

Check out this video and these photos from the shuttle’s landing provided by NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. And check out desertdispatch.com and Friday’s Desert Dispatch for a closer look at Fort Irwin’s new helicopter, the UH-72A Lakota, and Barstow’s connection the space shuttle landing.

Download:

Day 3: Dawn in Barstow, California, 28 January 2007

My father, David Aupperlee, an avid amateur photographer in Ada, Mich., recently sent me a link to some photos Ken Rockwell took while passing through Barstow at the end of January. The shots present some classic Barstow-scapes in a new light — or at least at a new angle — thanks to his super-wide 14mm lens.

Rockwell lives in La Jolla, but one of his hobbies is traveling around finding new and interesting things to photograph.

He writes on his Web site, “I love traveling California and the world and creating beautiful images. I love feeling nature and beauty. I love all the arts and the outdoors.”

Rockwell has exhibited his work in museums and has been published in newspapers, magazines and hardcover books.

Check out the photos at kenrockwell.com.

This year’s Relay for Life netted $116,400, according to Desert Dispatch contributor Bette Moses. The event’s wrap-up party took place June 27 at Rosita’s.Task Force Irwin received the Team Spirit Award. Back on Track was the Top Fundraising Team

Read more about the wrap-up party in Around & About, Bette Moses’ column, in the July 3 Desert Dispatch.

The Desert Dispatch has entered the video age. Check it out…and stay tuned for my local videos on at desertdispatch.com

— Aaron Aupperlee

For Loretta Chavez, the day her mother was shot in the foot and her aunt was seriously injured offered an extra blow; the shooting took place in her grandfather’s house. Catarino Renteria, Loretta’s grandfather, built the house in 1952 and died there in March 2001.

“I never thought anything like that would happen in my grandfather’s house,” she said. “It’s always been a very sacred place.”

To Chavez, memories of the family’s Fourth of July celebrations give the home special significance.

Family ties are among many reasons people come to regard places as special or even sacred. The space can be specifically set aside for religious use or just inspire deep feelings.

For some, that might mean a fondness for evenings wading in the ocean or a tendency to frequent the cemetery where a loved one lies. Perhaps a location takes on special meaning because it is the site of a wedding, birth or other special event.

What spaces are special to you? What gives a geographical location emotional or spiritual significance?

When the space shuttle decides to touch down at Edwards Air Force Base, Fort Irwin is there. Chief Warrant Officer Eric Metcalf, a Fort Irwin helicopter pilot at the Barstow-Daggett Airport, said Fort Irwin’s Blackhawk helicopters provide medical support for the space shuttle if it lands at Edwards.

The space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth on Friday afternoon by way of a landing strip in the desert. Inclement weather prevented the shuttle from landing in Florida on Thursday.

John Wagstaffe, a spokesman for Fort Irwin, did not yet know if the helicopters were on hand to provide medical evacuation, but he said they have responded in the past. Also in question is what helicopters Fort Irwin flew to the site. Traditionally, the Blackhawks respond, but Fort Irwin recently received the military’s newest helicopter, the Lakota. The Lakota was designed to better serve in medical evacuation missions such as a potential shuttle disaster.

The last time a shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base was in 2005, the first flight after the Columbia disaster in 2003. Atlantis’ landing was the 51st time a shuttle has touched down in the Mojave Desert. It will be transported back to Florida on top of a modified Boeing 747.

In April, Fort Irwin soldiers practiced a shuttle landing at Edwards.