The Record's Editor Blog

Here is one of Google’s Street View maps cars used in Stockton. Surprising to see it parked outside this home off of Don Avenue near Sandman Park. You can see the camera, wrapped in a tarp on top of the car.

Google Street View Maps car in Stockton.

Offered without comment, this is the marquee at Stockton’s Bob Hope Theatre, as it announces a Millionaire Mastermind event for Saturday.

A few years ago I would have spent 90 minutes during the day editing a story. And there are still times when that happens. But days like today I spend more than 90 minutes editing video. It is a different way of storytelling that can be as equally and sometimes even more compelling than a standalone story. And there are times when both story and video work well as a complementary multimedia package. The adage is that for every three minutes of video posted online, we spend about four hours shooting, capturing, editing and moving it online. It certainly seemed that way today.

More than 40 years ago Tom Howard  owned a bicycle shop on El Dorado Street at Harding Way in Stockton.  In the early to mid-1970s he moved to Southern California to run a bicycle shop and to advance his acting career. It was a 1966 newspaper clipping of three riders wearing Stockton Bicycle Club jerseys that unfurled this little ball of yarn I continue to write about. You can read the initial column here. And the followup column here.

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Howard, left in the clip above and in a recent photo below, was one of the founders of the Stockton Bicycle club – he is remembered as “Hollywood” Tom – and with others from the area made several bike trips from Stockton to Southern California. He said he and friends once rode from the Canada border to Stockton, that’s about 900 miles.  But he has earned his living as an actor for a number of years. You can find him listed as Tom Howard and occasionally in his earlier work, T.J. Howard. The Oklahoma native said acting and bicycles were two of the things he always enjoyed.

Tom Howard in a recent photo. Courtesy of Tom Howard

Unlike a conventional job, owning a bike shop gave him the flexibility to go on auditions. All he had to do was find someone, often his parents, to cover his shop. And when trying to run a shop and act became too much, he sold the shop and focused solely on acting. Howard has appeared in a number of commercials, plays and movies including “JFK,” “Forrest Gump” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” You can find a sampling of his work here.

At age 74, Howard, who still rides 60-100 miles a week, is looking at semi-retirement but will continue to act and to ride his bike. He hopes to return to the San Joaquin Valley, a daughter lives in Stockton, to do a charity ride. For him, riding and acting are enjoyable ways to spend his time.

“I’ve been fortunate,” he said.

The white patch in center commemorates the1966 bike rally in Solvang attended by Howard and several others from the area. They rode 335-miles from Stockton. Photo Courtesy of Tom Howard

It was last week that I blogged about a confusing sign along southbound Feather River Drive near Barkleyville dog park in Stockton. The sign indicated the road turned to the right, when it actually turned to the left. Well, that problem has been fixed. I don’t when the new sign went up but I saw it on Saturday.

This new road sign along southbound Feather River Drive, near Barkleyville dog park, appropriately informs drivers that the road bears to the left.

And as a review, here is the old sign:

Southbound Feather River Drive, Stockton. Barkleyville is ahead to the right.

These photos are offered with little comment but some explanation.

The photo below is southbound Feather River Drive in Stockton as it approaches Barkleyville dog park. The sign indicates that the road goes to the right but the road appears to go to the left.

Southbound Feather River Drive, Stockton. Barkleyville is ahead to the right.

The second photo, posted below, is of northbound Feather River Drive as it approaches Barkleyville. Here, the road also appears to go left and this time the sign agrees.

Northbound Feather River Drive, Stockton. Barkleyville is ahead to the left.

What do you make of it?

Maybe it was LeBron James’ fault.

How else do you explain Miami claiming the 2012 “title” as the nation’s most miserable city from Stockton?

Stockton, which ranked No. 1 last year and No. 2 in 2010, dropped all the way to No. 11 in this year’s rankings by the influential business magazine Forbes.

It’s never something to celebrate when you’re picked as the 11th most miserable metropolitan area out of the 200 largest in the country. And we certainly think there are more than five more miserable places than Sacramento — a surprising No. 5 on this year’s list.

Forbes, as we’ve pointed out before, uses questionable statistics and broad brush strokes in painting these civic pictures.

They crunch the numbers in their Manhattan cubicles and then dole out rankings that truly can be biased.

That’s not to say Stockton doesn’t have problems. Mercy no. And in the categories which Forbes studies — crime, housing, etc. — we lag behind much of the nation.

Like the ground hog in Pennsylvania, Forbes has popped out of its hole in early February for this annual exercise.

No need for a rally on the Miracle Mile, or any mention past today really, in dealing with the issue this year.

Jennifer Torres, until recently, was a reporter for The Record. Her stories on many of the people and communities in Stockton and the surrounding area resonated so well with our readers. Jennifer recently took a community outreach position with the University of the Pacific.
She also is an aspiring author of children’s books and recently received a national honor. All of us at The Record pass along our proud congratulations.
Information on the award is here

Anyone who has not seen the monster dunk by the Los Angeles Clippers Blake Griffin from Tuesday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder must not be watching much television.

It was a right hand slam over Kendrick Perkins that will be on a poster sometime soon. It was a downright nasty filthy dunk. Yet Perkins had no problems with it saying afterward: “It happens. At the end of the day if you’re a shot blocker, you’re going to get dunked on. It was a great play that he made. Obviously I wish I wasn’t in it, but it was a great play that he made.”

Despite all of the basketball I have watched and dunks I have seen, one of the first dunks that came to mind was of Philadelphia 76ers Darryl Dawkins breaking a backboard against the then Kansas City Kings on Nov. 13, 1979.

The victim of that dunk was NBA journeyman forward Bill Robinzine who ran for cover as glass flew. Dawkins, named his best dunks. That one was called “The Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam, Glass-Breaker-I-Am-Jam.”

The game was delayed as the glass was cleaned up and a new basket and stanchion were brought in. During that era it was rare for a new basket to be needed during a game so the entire process was slow.

Dawkins would break another backboard just three weeks later, this time in a home game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Dawkins stopped throwing down with such authority after NBA Commissioner Larry O’Brien called him into his office and told Dawkins he would be fined and assessed a technical foul if he did not stop breaking backboards.

He stopped. Eventually breakaway rims were invented and on many shattered backboards pretty much became extinct.

Dawkins dunk is easily seen on the Internet. It is amazing to watch. It was the first time I had seen a backboard broken and I watched the game live on television. Is it better than Griffin’s? Hard to say.  With each one you had to see it live to really understand the moment.

Yet whenever I see that particular throwdown by Dawkins, I am reminded of a sad footnote to it. Robinzine, the victim of that dunk, would be dead just 2½ years later. During his seven NBA seasons he averaged 10.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in 21.6 mins per game. He earned $525,000 during his career but in today’s NBA he would be a millionaire many times over.

Apparently despondent over the end of his career Robinzine parked his Oldsmobile Toronado in a Kansas City storage locker, shut the locker’s door, climbed into the car with the windows rolled up and let the car run.

His father was the one who found his son slumped behind the steering wheel. Police ruled his death a suicide by carbon-monoxide asphyxiation. Bill Robinzine was 29 years old. Sept. 30 will mark the 30^th anniversary of his death.

Pennants of colleges and universities adorn the walls at Colonial Heights School in north Stockton. (Disclaimer: my daughters attend this Lincoln Unified School District school.) These pennants serve as a motivator and reminder to students to do the best they can with their studies. Here are a few:

Pacific pennant, far right, is grouped with the Ivy League schools, above the building's main entrance/exit.

Among these schools from the Southeastern Conference, Vanderbilt is perhaps best known for its academics. Several of the others for their athletic programs - LSU and Alabama recently played for the NCAA national football championship.

Record Editor Mike Klocke is a proud alum of this school.