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At this same time last week, I was sitting in a Santa Barbara courtroom. Seated directly in front of me were Dr. Andrew Bourne and his wife, Gilann. They were holding hands, occasionally sharing a whispered thought back and forth.

The following is what I wrote on my legal pad:

“Standing by a loved one in the eye of public humiliation. Others perceive it as pathetic. How can you stand by someone who broke your heart in that way? And yet … there is something profound about it. Noble. Simple. Real. It strips away everything that one’s life has been adorned with. It’s just two people, partners, lovers, trying to get through something. Just waiting together. Holding hands. Just like it was in the very beginning. In the moment in a way they might not normally be in everyday life. It makes me want to go home and hug my wife.”

Today, I have someone to go home to and Gilann does not, and that is a very wrenching thought.

I have heard more rumors and secondhand information about the Bourne/Walker case than you can possibly imagine. I have no idea how big the iceberg is, or what part of it still remains hidden beneath the surface. I don’t know whether the case is relatively benign or wildly salacious, whether the case is isolated, or whether it reflects a pattern of behavior for either man.

I do know studies suggest a clear link between high-risk teen behaviors and subsequent depression and even suicide. According to Dr. Jane Anderson, writing for the American College of Pediatricians:

“In the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health, 13,491 adolescents in grades 7 to 11 were interviewed in 1995 and again one year later. The authors differentiated the cause and effects of depression and found that early high-risk behaviors, including sexual activity and drug use, were linked with later depression.

“Clearly, the adolescent years are a time of rapid brain development, a time of susceptibility … High-risk behaviors encountered during these vulnerable years can have lasting adverse consequences and should be avoided.”

I also don’t believe the police just invented the whole thing. Wrong was committed on some level. Wrongs. I ask myself what if it had been my daughter? What is a just punishment? Could I forgive?

They say that in life, there are no coincidences. So perhaps it was no coincidence that I watched Sir Richard Attenborough’s film “Gandhi” on Monday night.

I last saw the film in the theaters when I was 14.

In one of the later scenes, just before Gandhi’s assasination, Hindus and Muslims are engaged in Civil War, slaughtering each other, and Gandhi undertakes a hunger strike to stop the fighting, vowing not to eat until the violence stops.

And a Hindu man, clearly anguished, visits him, and tells him that he is trapped in a personal hell because he has murdered a Muslim in retaliation for the Muslims killing his son.

Gandhi suggests to the man that there is a way out of his hell – and that is to adopt a young Muslim boy and to raise that boy as a Muslim.

As Gandhi said, “The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts. And that is where all our battles ought to be fought.”

We traditionally look upon doctors as gods, not as flawed individuals. In some respects, I have great pity upon doctors, because they carry this great weight of expectation. To elaborate on what Hartley says in his column this week, the ethical standard required to be a Republican candidate for President is a helluva lot less stringent than the standard required to practice medicine.

May 17, 2003. I had just finished publication of the fourth-ever issue of The Sheet and drove home to Sunny Slopes and on the way stopped in to have a few drinks at Tom’s Place. And on my way across the highway I was stopped by a CHP officer who had been laying in wait and claimed that I had crossed a double yellow-line making a left turn.

So he put me through the various tests which I passed without a hitch and … he let me go. But if I’d stayed a bit longer and had a few more drinks, maybe The Sheet would’ve ended before it began.

I vowed that night that if I wanted to become anything more than a historical footnote – if I really wanted to remain in the community and have a voice in the community – that I needed to adhere to a higher standard. But it was easy for me to crawl inside the boundaries of my little self-imposed box. It can be cold and dark out there in the wilderness. And I had spent enough time out in the wilderness to know.

It makes me want to go home and hug my daughter.

I think about Andy Bourne and that straight-and-narrow path of a doctor. Maybe he never spent enough time out there in the wilderness of spectacular failure, unrealized dreams and general uncertainty. Maybe he just got claustrophobic, temporarily insane …

I’m just trying to understand.

That’s why I find his apparent suicide so frustrating. I find that it provides an enormous blocker to a conversation that needs to occur, that should occur. How does a community heal, understand, reach closure, look itself in the mirror when that mirror’s been effectively shattered.

I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had over the past several weeks where women have told me about adolescent sexual experiences they had with significantly older men. Experiences that they undoubtedly never shared with their parents. For some, it was nothing more than that – an experience woven into a mosaic of experiences. For others, it had longer-lasting impact, longer-ranging repercussions.

I hope this teenage girl is okay, that this does not affect her ultimate life’s arc, her ultimate fulfillment.

My wife recalled the other day one definition she heard about forgiveness (sorry, no attribution), which is to “waive the right to hurt someone because they hurt you.”

Or, as Gandhi said, “For myself, I’ve found we’re all such sinners; we should leave punishment to God. And if we really want to change things, there are better things than derailing trains or slashing someone with a sword.”

A fund for the benefit of Gilann Bourne & Family has been set up at the Eastern Sierra Community Bank in Mammoth Lakes. In lieu of sending flowers, contributions may be made to “FBO Gilann Bourne & Family” (Account # 5015553) and dropped off or mailed to:

Eastern Sierra Community Bank
307 Old Mammoth Rd.
PO Box 5069
Mammoth Lakes, CA  93546
ATTN:  Yvonne Martin

760.923.1500
ymartin@escbank.com

A Celebration of Life Ceremony for Bourne has been scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 4, from 2-4 p.m. at Cerro Coso. All who were touched by Bourne’s life, talents and energy are encouraged to attend.

“Wonderful Life” opens 

Perhaps the only question that patrons to Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre’s new show, a “radio” play rendition of “It’s A Wonderful Life” will have to ponder is, “Do you watch or listen to it?” The enduring Christmas tale centers on George Bailey, who spends his entire life giving up his big dreams of travel and living a larger, worldly life, for the good of his town, the fictional Bedford Falls, NY. After marrying his love, Mary, he witnesses the impact of the October 1929 stock market collapse’s impact on his town, and by Christmas Eve, he is broken and suicidal. His dad, who ran a building loan company, died earlier in the year, then he was mortified by the misplacing of an $8,000 loan and the machinations of the evil millionaire, Mr. Potter. George decides to do himself in, a controversial theme in the 1940s, but is saved at the last minute by his guardian angel, Clarence, who shows him how his town, family and friends would be had George never existed.

Director Shira Dubrovner’s version of “It’s A Wonderful Life,” which is now playing at the Mammoth Lakes Foundation, adjacent to Cerro Coso College’s Mammoth campus, is audio production veteran Tony Palermo’s faithful radio play drama adaptation of Frank Capra’s classic 1946 film about dreams, sacrifice and redemption in small-town America. (Palermo has won numerous awards for his work in radio and audio CD book production.)

The set is a 1946-era radio studio during the holiday season, and the audience is part of the production, in which most of the actors play multiple supporting roles, reading from the script into microphones, with Sound Effects artist Tim Casey performing live on stage with them.

Dennis Kostecki makes his MLRT debut as George, with his own fresh, crisp delivery, as opposed to just copying the timeless, indelible Jimmy Stewart characterization. Another newcomer, Roger Freed, plays the part of Clarence. His take on the angel trying to get his wings is as modest as Henry Travers made him in the movie version, and yet every bit as sympathetic and endearing. And Julia Runcie, who wowed audiences this summer in Sierra Classic Theatre’s “Twelfth Night,” would make Donna Reed proud with her eloquent performance of Mary Hatch.

The entire ensemble, though, deserves a lot of credit for not only delineating all the various co-lead and supporting roles with appropriate, unique characterizations, but also helping provide suitable background atmosphere in several scenes.

Rounding out the troupe are Rick Phelps, Jim Marcotte, Chuck Scatolini, Eva Poole Gilson, Noelle Deinken, Dee DiGioia, Maureen McLain Jacoby as the Stage Manager, Blair Lee, Hannah Linaweaver, terrific as Zuzu and Jimmy the Parrot, Barrett Mannetter as Young George and Petey Bailey, Lynda Roberts and Greg Young, who also serves as the show’s announcer.

“A radio play is a fun way to demonstrate a little bit of media history, while presenting family-friendly entertainment,” Dubrovner said. “Today when so many movies are about explosions and crashes, it’s nice to tell a story with basic human values that tugs at the heartstrings.”

All the actors are dressed in period costumes, and the show even comes with some very entertaining period commercials, so watch or just close your eyes and listen.

“It’s a Wonderful Life,” the live radio show, plays through Dec. 18 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7 p.m., and Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. Special ticket pricing: $15, and $12 for Seniors and Students. Reservations: 760.934.6592.

Qualls and Meads

For a California high school to send an athlete to the California State Finals is truly remarkable. For Mammoth High School to send two athletes to State Finals is astronomical.

Two athletes, Mammoth Junior Toby Qualls and Freshman Jody Meads, not only made it to the State Finals, both finished near the top of their respective races.

The course is located in Woodward Park, Clovis, Calif. and is 5k, or 3.1 miles in length with rolling hills. In order to medal and be awarded “All State Champions,” a runner must finish in the top 10.

For Meads, the path to the State Championship had been a whirlwind experience. Only 10 weeks ago, Meads ran her first high school race.

Meads ran the course in a time of 19:22, finished 13th out of 175 runners, and missed being named to the “All State” team by a mere three runners.

This was Qualls’ second year in a row to go to the State Finals. His goal was to finish top ten in order to set himself up to have a chance at winning the State Championship his senior year.

On race day, Qualls met his goal and finished the race eighth out of 182 runners with a time of 15:57. He medaled and made the “All State” team, plus qualified to run on the front line of the Foot Locker, Western Regional Nationals on Dec. 3. (Qualls was entered in the “Seeded Boys Race,” and started at the front of the pack, based upon his previous qualifying times. The seeded race is reserved for only the very fastest qualifying runners. Out of the 218 top runners, Qualls finished 45th with a time of 16:33 for the 5,000 k course. Qualls’ time would have won the Senior Boys and Junior Boys races, and in fact, out of 1,016 high school boy runners for the day, Qualls would have finished 46th.)

Professional running coach, Andrew Kastor, traveled to the State Finals to watch both Qualls and Meads and was very pleased with both Toby’s and Jody’s performances.

Friday Freebie

Don’t forget that Mammoth Mountain is offering free lift tickets to the public on Friday, Dec. 9 if you simply sign up for My Mammoth. Once signed up visit any MMSA ticket window to redeem your free lift ticket, valid Dec. 9.

According to www.mammothmountain.com, Rollercoaster Express (Chair 4) is now open. Canyon and Eagle lodges are scheduled to open Wednesday, Dec. 14.

Restaurant Rapture

Local chef extraordinaire Frederic Pierrel and the Lakefront Restaurant were featured in an online Wall Street Journal article on Dec. 1. The article’s author, David Netto describes his experience at Lakefront as one of two extraordinary, mind-altering dinners he has had in unexpected settings in his lifetime.

“I arrived crunching in snow boots and left in a state of elation,” Netto describes in the article titled, “Dining in the Great Outdoors.” Find the article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204449804577068930245788796.html.

Good Life Cafe owner Miguel Herrera

Miguel Herrera, owner of the Good Life Cafe in the Mammoth Mall, came to the United States as a teenager in 1985.

Miguel was the eldest child of a tight-knit family. His father, a teacher, didn’t think he’d last.

“He said I was so attached to the family, especially my mother, that I would not be able to stay away,” recalls Miguel. “He thought wrong. The first time I left, I didn’t return for nine years.”

And now, after years and years of working 14-16 hours/day, five days a week, Herrera now finds himself the owner of a very successful local business which has recently expanded to now serve dinner nightly.

Sheet: Are you still working the same hours?

Herrera: Yes, but now it’s my business. It’s exciting to see the results.”

Herrera attributes the restaurant’s success to consistency in service. “That’s what drives a business forward,” he says.

This consistency starts with the food preparation. Herrera’s cooks, on average, have worked at the Good Life for about 10 years. One has been there 18 years.

His new manager Sandy Graves has worked at the Good Life for five years.

Sheet: What’s the key to personnel management?

Herrera: I’m easygoing. They like me. As long as you do your job, we’re good.

Miguel and a pair of partners bought the Good Life back in 2004 from Randy Martin.

Herrera bought out his partners in 2008.

Dinners, say Herrera, are picking up. “From the first to the second month, we saw a 30% increase,” he says. Entrees go for about $15.

Though he plans future changes, the dinner menu is currently similar to the lunch menu. The Good Life offers Mexican and American cuisine. The best description: Comfort food. “There’s something for everyone,” says Herrera,

The youthful-looking Herrera is, amazingly, a grandfather. He has four children, two from a previous marriage. His current marriage of eight years to wife Patricia has yielded two children ages 2 and 6.

The Good Life Cafe is open every day of the year, holidays included, although Herrera acknowledged that might change slightly, in the near future anyway, now that he’s serving dinner.

“I think it might be nice to finally get a chance to celebrate some of those family holidays,” he said with a smile.

GFAJ-1 can build DNA with arsenic rather than phosphorous. (Photo: www.edmonton.ctv.ca)

We are not alone. Felisa Wolfe-Simon from Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration may not have found ALF or E.T., but believes a small, gnocchi-shaped microbe found in local Mono Lake waters is just as important. She announced her discovery on Thursday during a NASA press conference.

Bacterium GFAJ-1 was pulled from the bottom of Mono Lake and taken to Wolfe-Simon’s lab. The microbes were transported from the lake along with some mud and placed into artificial water that simulated the water of Mono. They were not given any phosphorous, an essential building block of life, but instead were doused with arsenic.

“Something grew where it should not have,” Wolfe-Simon explained during the press conference. “The fact that this microbe did something different than what we expected cracks open the door to life elsewhere.”

Why? According to Wolfe-Simon, the thought that an organism can survive without phosphorous opens the doors to exploration that life forms may be able to survive in completely different forms than were previously believed. Until now, it has been thought that every life form must contain phosphorous.

“We don’t know what makes a habitable environment on other planets,” said Pam Conrad, an astrobiologist for NASA. “Knowing that organisms can tolerate arsenic means that they might be able to tolerate other things as well. Things we may not have thought of yet.”

This is not the first time that scientists have had to rethink what life on other planets might mean. In 2004, a bacteria was discovered in the Southeastern Pacific Ocean that does not require either light or oxygen. This discovery led the way to a whole new line of research regarding life on other planets.

Wolfe-Simon’s recent discovery may once again require scientists to reinvent the wheel.

Back on Earth, Dr. James Elser, an expert in phosphorous and professor at ASU, participated in the press conference via phone and discussed the positive implications that could come about for Earthlings as well. Elser’s excitement was audible as he considered what clever organisms that have evolved away from phosphorous could mean for the world’s bioenergy problems.

Phosphorous is scarce, (according to Elser there are only a few countries where phosphorous mines are found), but it is used in large quantities for fertilizer. If there is an alternative to phosphorous, this could help solve bioenergy problems, because we would not have to rely on a finite resource, Elser said.

Many biofuel crops, for example, demand large amounts of phosphorous fertilizer.

Dr. Steven Benner, a chemist from the Foundation of Applied Molecular Evolution, also attended the press conference in order to, as he stated, “throw a wet blanket” on the whole discussion.

“Exceptional results require exceptional evidence,” Benner explained. He described arsenate (arsenic) in DNA as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

“Arsenate in DNA is unstable. An organism wastes a lot of energy trying to put it into a DNA backbone only to have it break apart.”

Benner conceded that an organism could evolve to manage this weak link but did not seem convinced that’s what Wolfe-Simon’s bacteria was doing.

“The evidence that the molecule can’t exist is more overwhelming than the evidence that it can,” Benner said.

“It’s really not about arsenic or Mono Lake,” Wolfe-Simon replied. “It’s about asking questions about habitable life. We’ve shown a microbe that doesn’t need phosphorous when every living thing we’ve ever thought of needs phosphorous. So what other questions can we ask now?”

Wolfe-Simon clarified during a Q&A session that the microbes do have some phosphorous left in them but not enough to support the growth that was observed.

“We can think more broadly about environments that might be habitable,” Conrad added. “It will help us recognize life on other planets because when we find it, it’s not going to be a human being walking around. That would be too easy. We would hate to go somewhere and not see it.”

“In other words, it’s like the Horta from ‘The Devil in the Dark’ episode of ‘Star Trek,’” said Mary Voytek, director of NASA’s astrobiology program. “Maybe we can find E.T. now because we’ll know what we’re looking for.”

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