Tuesday, Sep. 08, 2009

Jardine: Documentary maker seeks Dust Bowl migrants

From the e-mails and voice mails:

COMING ATTRACTION -- Filmmaker Ken Burns is coming to California this fall to research and film a documentary on the Dust Bowl.

A spokesman for KVIE, the PBS affiliate in Sacramento, said Burns is looking for people to tell their stories as Dust Bowl migrants. Call Bryan Shadden at 916-641-3559.

KVIE officials will be forwarding links to The Bee's series on the same topic, spearheaded by reporter John Holland, to Burns. The three-day series appeared Sept. 14-16, 2008, and included videos and graphics. You can find it at www.modbee.com/dustbowl.

Burns' most recent work, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," will begin airing Sept. 27 on PBS (KVIE locally). His other highly acclaimed documentaries include "The War" (2007), "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson" (2005), "Jazz" (2001), "The West" (1996), "The Civil War" (1990), "Baseball" (1994) and his Academy Award-nominated "Brooklyn Bridge" (1981).

THEIR 15 MINUTES -- Recently, I wrote about two women, Adeline Ellison of Modesto and Doris Wanty of Oakdale, who were members of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots. It was a civilian organization that flew military planes during World War II, and the women eventually became recognized as veterans. There were more than 1,000 WASPs during the war, and about 300 are still living.

The group was selected to collectively receive the Congressional Gold Medal, which will be on display at the Smithsonian once it has been designed and cast and the folks in Congress grab the photo op. Ellison, 89, and Wanty, 86, plan to attend the ceremony in Washington, D.C., sometime next year. The female pilots will get bronze replica medals.

Since the column appeared Aug. 25, they have enjoyed celebrity status. They've been invited to speak to groups in Modesto and Riverbank and one in Sonoma.

TECH TIES -- I received another reminder of how small the world can be in this era of electronic gadgetry. This one came in the form of an e-mail from a reader who found Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini's recent reunion with the mom who gave him up for adoption in 1953 to be fascinating (his word, not mine).

"P.S.," he wrote. "I am on a mink farm near Sheboygen, WI and just read (the column) on my Blackberry."

VICTIMIZED TWICE -- On the evening of Aug. 29, Sam Crum of Modesto drove along Hatch Road and waited for traffic to clear so that he could turn onto Boulder Drive. Before he could make the turn, a car slammed into the rear of his pickup, disabling it. The driver of the vehicle had no insurance, spoke no English and was driving under the influence of alcohol, Crum said. The California Highway Patrol confirmed there will be DUI charges filed, but said the accident remains under investigation.

Adding to Crum's problems: His pickup was towed from the scene by a local company that is charging him $170 for the towing, plus $40 per day for storing the vehicle. Crum can't afford to pay the charges, which are quickly accumulating and soon will overtake the value of the vehicle.

The other driver could do jail time but probably has no means of reimbursing Crum, leaving the self- employed handyman, who carried only liability coverage on his pickup, with no wheels and a growing towing company bill.

Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at 578-2383 or jjardine@modbee.com.