Calistoga

Tribune
Calistoga
u ‘No Cut, No Color’
Calistoga’s first “blow out”
salon opens on Washington
u On to Round Two!
Set your clocks backward
one hour Saturday night
before you go to bed
By Pat Hampton
Tribune Publisher
A year after conceptual design review, the proposed expansion for the Indian Springs Resort is once again coming up
before the Planning Commission, this time aiming for a use
permit and a development agreement.
John and Pat Merchant have owned the property since 1988.
They now hope to add 75 more rooms, a gym/yoga studio, an
event building, and a restaurant, as part of a major expansion.
See INDIAN SPRINGS page 6
Chief Mitchell Celaya III
UC Berkeley Police Chief
Mitchell Celaya III, 51, accepted
the position of Calistoga’s newest
police chief on Tuesday and will
start his career here on Jan. 1,
2013.
Celaya was chosen from a field
of 15 applicants that put in a bid
for the job, according to city manager Richard Spitler. An interview
panel of three working chiefs
Rain doesn’t dampen spirits
of first Halloween Festival
Photo by
Chick Harrity
By Michelle Wing
Tribune Senior Staff Writer
Children
gathered up
close to see
the results
of the
“Spin &
Win” at the
Halloween
Festival,
where they
were able
to spin
a large
wheel, and
receive
a corresponding
handful
of goodies from
the nearby
table.
Despite the
rain, the
Communnity Center
filled up
right after
the parade
for games
and the
costume
contest.
Rain or no rain, Calistogans
show up for a parade. The
witches and princesses, the
goblins and ghouls, just made
the best of the situation on
Wednesday night by wearing
see-through ponchos, carrying
umbrellas, or, with the older
kids, assuming a cavalier attitude, and allowing the water
to run right off of their carefully constructed costumes
and drip off of their noses –
even if it did make their makeup run.
The first-ever Halloween
Festival at the Community
Center did face some challenges. No one was brave
enough to play on the jumpy
house, or other outdoor equipment.
Organizer Olivia Lemen,
aquatics and recreation manager, said she heard that it was
the first time in 15 years that
there had been rain on a
Halloween. “I did the ‘no rain
dance’ all day; obviously, I
didn’t dance hard enough.”
See HALLOWEEN page 7
Driver killed at speedway during commemorative race
Tyler Wolf
The black tire marks are still visible
on the cement barricade at the end of
turn two where sprint car driver Tyler
Wolf, 20, crashed and died Saturday
night during the Calistoga Speedway’s
75th Commemorative Race.
It was the first fatality at the halfmile dirt track since 1983 when driver
3
Both soccer teams advance
to second round of playoffs
16
New top cop picked
Tribune Senior Staff Writer
Tribune Publisher
Driver crashes on racetrack;
first death here since 1983
UC Berkeley police chief
By Michelle Wing
By Pat Hampton
Friday, November 2, 2012
q Speedway Fatality
Below
50¢
Independently owned and published in Calistoga for Calistogans since 2002
Indian Springs expansion
in front of commissioners
Daylight Saving
Time Ends
Gary Patterson, 47, was killed in the
final race on Memorial Day weekend.
Wolf was the 2011 sprint champion
at his home track, the Silver Dollar
Speedway in Chico, but this was his
first competition on the half-mile dirt
track in Calistoga.
Wolf was one of 24 drivers in the A
Main race, and started on the inside of
row six after finishing second in the B
Main race just before the 25-lap feature
race.
It happened so quickly, no one is
sure what caused the single-car accident that sent Wolf’s car sideways into
the cement wall with a force so powerful it moved the cement barricade about
eight inches, said Calistoga firefighter
See FATALITY page 10
including interim chief Susan
Jones narrowed the field to three
finalists, and Spitler made the
offer to Celaya with the condition
that he pass a routine background
check.
“We’re fortunate to attract a
person of his caliber to this town,”
said Spitler on Wednesday morning. Spitler said Celaya’s demonstrated management and superviSee CHIEF page 10
Time to
vote on
Tuesday
By Pat Hampton
Tribune Publisher
Over 28 per cent of the county’s mailed ballots for the Nov. 6
election have been returned to the
Napa
County
Elections
Department as of Tuesday, with a
larger total expected to be
announced today.
Registrar of Voters John Tuteur
announced early this week that
17,500 ballots out of the 61,552
mailed to voters have been
returned. He could not say how
the ballots were distributed over
the county, but expects a turn-out
that will match the 84 percent of
Napa County voters who participated in the 2008 presidential
election. He said Napa County is
traditionally 10 percent higher in
voter turn-out than the statewide
average.
“I usually do not predict turnout except to say that we are usually 10-20 per cent above the
statewide average. There does
seem to be growing interest in this
election,” Tuteur said.
Ballots and sample ballot pamphlets were mailed Oct. 11-12 to
the county’s registered voters.
“We will exceed the November
2008 registration total of 71,523
which was our highest ever. The
new online voter registration system pioneered by the Secretary of
State had a positive impact on our
numbers which reached the highest total in County history at
72,592,” Tuteur said in a statement.
He is inviting the public, the
media, members of the Grand
Jury, political party organizations
and anyone interested in the election process to observe all aspects
See VOTE page 10