SHOP WITH A COP:Event benefits 53 children, A6 MORE INSIDE:State, nation and worlds news; Jamestown merchants offer holiday greeting,A5
THE MOTHER LODE'SLEADING INFORMATION SOURCE SINCE 1854 • SO NORA, CALIFORNIA
TUESDAY
DECEMBER 15, 2015
Sonora
A specialthank you to UnionDemocrat subscriber Sue Merrill, of Sonora.
CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS
TODAY 'S REABiRBOA RB BRIEFING
n, rsa •
l 'ei r
A*
Attic Henderson/Courtesy photo
A young pit bull was found Dec. 5 with her ears cut off.
Pit bull
found with ears cut ofV
Pic of the WeekTo submit your original photos, email a highresolution jpg file to editor I uniondemocrat. corn. Include a caption with information about the photo. Please, no more than one submission per month per photographer. This weekly feature typically runs Tuesdays.A2
Kings visitSacramento Kings dancers, members of the organizational staff and former National Basketball Association player and team alumni Henry Turner Saturday visited Calaveras High School.A2
FOOD 5 DRINK • FOOD PROJECT: Organization reaches big milestone.B1 • FOOD BY JUDE: Recipesmake quickie meals for drop-in guests.B1 • HOLIDAY CLASSIC: Inexpensivemussels can make a delicious, dramatic and very Christmas-y presentation.B6
SPORTS • POWDER TIMES: Dodge Ridge enjoying stellar snow conditions. C1 • MLB: Giants, Cueto agree to deal.C1 • NFL:Year may be over for Raiders' Condo.C1 • NBA:Warriors go back to work after 1st loss.C1 • PREPS Cat wrestlers compete at tourney.C2
NEWS TIPS?
By GUY McCARTHY The Union Democrat
u'
j Purchase photos online at www.uniondemocrat.corn
Man shares story behind annual holiday bean feed Sta~ with raw pinto beans. Add onions, celery andham. Feed a crowd of Christmas carolers Repeat every D.ecemberfor decades By GUY McCARTHY The Union Democrat
The man behind one of Sonora's longstanding Christmas traditions turns 89 next week.
'%''s
Galen "Mut" Mutzner was born Dec. 22, 1926, in Covington,Ohio.Hemoved toSonora in 1942. Over the years, Mut has become known in Sonora and across the Mother Lode as a veteran ranch hand, woodcutter, lumber piler and handyman who can handle plumbing and painting and most other odd jobs. Nowadays Mut is known for his crowd-pleasing culinary Christmastime offering: A legendary free bean feeddatingback to the early 1980s. His first job in the Sonora area was working for Tuolumne rancher Sam Booth when he was 17. The next summer he worked for the Forest Service, ftrefighting out of the Long Barn camp. Duringthe school year,he played football,baseball and basketball at Sonora High before he graduated in 1944. Then he started U.S. Navy training in December 1944 and went overseas to Okinawa. He was discharged from the Navy on June 6, 1946. "One day at work on a Friday years ago, I said'I won' t be at work tomorrow,' " Mut recounted in a recent interview at The Sportsman in downtown Sonora. See BEANS / Back Page
t
-g
By GUY McCARTHY
This year's Pop Hudson Memorial Christmas Sing is billed as the 36th annual edition. Rain or shine, participants in this year's Christmas Sing will assemble at Coffill Park next to Mi Pueblo restaurant about 12:30 p.m.
See DOG / Back Page
Woman
grieving theft of 'Santa' File photo /Union Democrat
Galen 'Mut' Mutzner rings the bell to start a past bean feed in downtown Sonora.
Friday in downtown Sonora. The sing-along will start at 12:45 p.m., and the community songfest will continue until about 1:30 p.m. Besides The Union Democrat newspaper staff, singing groups include Summerville Parent Nursery School, inmates from Sierra Conservation Center's Baseline Camp, Foothill L e adership A c ademy
By TORI THOMAS The Union Democrat
students, Sonora Regional Medi-
Santa Claus is missing from Morning Star Drive. Lydia McClenahan, 89, of Sonora, said when she went to bed on Friday night, a mannequin, dressed as Santa, who she calls Grant, was sit-
cal Center and Tuolumne Mental
ting on her front porch.
Health, among others. Each group leads the singing of a traditional Christmas song. City and county employees battle it out singing "White Christmas." The event is named for a long-
"Saturday morning, when I got up to say hello, he was gone," she said. All that was left were the two socks Grant was wearing, McClenahan said. The 6-foot-5-inch mannequin, dressed in a Santa suit
Christmas sing moved to CoNII Park The Union Democrat
PHONE: 770-7153,5fs4534 NEWS: editorLauniondemocrat.corn FEATUR ES: featuresluniondemocrat.cor n SPORTS: sporlsluniondemocratcom EVENTS ANDWEEKENDER: weekend erluniondemocrat.corn LETTERS :letersIuniondemocratcom CAlAVERAS BUREAU:770-7197 NEWSROO MFA705324451 SUBSCR IBERSERVICES: 533-3614
Guy McCarthy /Union Democrat
Galen "Mut" Mutzner, 88, tells the story of how his annual free bean feed began during an interview Nov. 27 at The Sportsman in downtown Sonora.
The young pit bull pup was eating trash on the side of the road, next to fast-moving vehicles heading up and down a busy Sonora thoroughfare. Allie Henderson said she saw a friend had stopped on Mono Way to check on the dog, so she stopped, too. What she saw made her sad and mad and protective, all at the same time. The dog's ear flaps were cut off, like somebody had taken scissorsor a razor to it,leaving long, dirty red scars across its scalp and its vulnerable inner ears exposed. It was Dec. 5 on Mono Way. What was left of the young dog's ears looked swollen with homemade stitches of fishing line still in place, Henderson sard.
See SING / Back Page
See SANTA/ Back Page
Calendar...............
Inside
™
~
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
.....A2 O b ituaries........
..... ca opinion ............
Weather
..... B1 TV......................
Page C6
.....As S ports............... Food St Drink........
PROMPT rIrt CARE
Today: High rta, Low 21
Thursday:I-lish aa, Low Ze
Sonora Regional Medical Center ~adventist Health
When there'surgency, but no emergency. Indian Rock Prompt Care 14540 Mono Way, Sonora
209.536.6680 Monday—Friday,8 a.m.to8 p.m. Saturday Il Sunday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Angels Camp Prompt Care 23 N. Main St, Angels Camp
209.736.9130 Seven days aweek 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 155699 t216t5
a
II IIIIIII 51 1 5 3 0 0 10 3
r