BOCCE, EVERYONE'S GAME, IS POPULAR IN CASTRO VALLEY

Bocce (pronounced bow-chay) is an ancient Italian game that purportedly was originated by Roman soldiers trying to combat boredom. At that time, they threw a rock and tried to see who could come closest to it with another thrown rock. Today, it is basically the same game but is played with balls instead of rocks. A small ball (the pallino) is thrown down the court and then the larger balls (the bocce) are thrown in an attempt to get as close to the pallino as possible. Any bocce closer to the pallino than the opponent's bocce scores a point. There are many different games of bocce like Volo, Raffa, Raffa Volo, etc. Most of the bocce played in our area is under U.S. Bocce Federation Open Rules, which are basically what I described above…

When the incorporation issue came up in 2002, I began submitting some opinions via “Letters to the Editor” to the Castro Valley Forum on that issue. I guess the editor was impressed with what I wrote and suggested that, even after the incorporation brouhaha ended, I write more regularly ...

My life began on March 16, 1931, at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley. My parents, who resided in Albany, were George and Adele Martin. I was either so perfect or so imperfect that they never saw fit to produce another child.

I lived in Albany until 1937, when my parents ...