Man-Made Wonder

The Castaic Dam Visitors Center is free, which is the least of its attractions.

From its vantage point on a hill above the east end of Castaic Dam, you can see Castaic Lake, the Elderberry Forebay Dam and the surge tank above the Castaic power plant.

In the early morning mist, the scene is a delicate Japanese watercolor of soft grays and mauves. By midday, the bright sunlight bounces off the navy-blue water and gives the surrounding hills a look of almost menacing power.

No matter when you take the road up to this spot, just off the Golden State Freeway, it is an awesome sight.

Inside the center there are displays, slides and a film that describes how the facility fits into the 550 miles of aqueducts and pipelines designed and built by the State Department of Water Resources to supply water for residences, farms and industry in Southern California.

You can learn something about the area in the mountains southeast of the Angeles National Forest, which is the former site of a prehistoric Indian settlement whose artifacts date to 3,000 BC.

At the center there are operations people such as Gerald Reynolds--a noted Santa Clarita Valley historian--and William Brown, who will answer visitors’ questions.

Jean Enders of Burbank, who was recently visiting the site with her husband and children, said she had first come to the observation deck at the suggestion of a professor when she was a student at Cal State Northridge.

“I was caught up with the stories of scandals and all the loss of life it took to build this water system,” she said. “I had sort of a National Enquirer perspective.

“But when you get up here and see how vast and really beautiful it is, and how hard it must have been to engineer and build it, it really turns you around fast,” she added.

Enders said she was not just bringing her family up to catch the view.

“When you have small children, it’s hard to find ways to explain why we should conserve water,” she said.

“But if you bring them up here, you can show them how far the water has to come to us, how much effort it took for people to construct this system and how precious each drop of water is,” she said.

Down It Came

Hostilities threatened to break out in Calabasas recently.

The problem wasn’t the cityhood battle, it was a roof.

At the Park Sorrento condominium complex, across the street from the Calabasas Racquet and Swimming Club, homeowners had recently had a new roof installed.

During the first night of the recent rain, though, it became clear to many that the roof was not up to its mission. The next morning, residents were checking with their neighbors to find out if they, too, had had to sleep in the living room because their bedrooms were serving as water-collection stations.

There was much discussion about who had gotten it worst, and there was visible dismay as trucks arrived with pumping devices and giant fans to try to get rid of the indoor moisture.

By the second day, the grumbling escalated, including questions about who had hired the roofing company, anyway, and wasn’t the cost too high to begin with, and were the rain gutters cleared, and whose job was it to clear them.

By the end of the second day, things had disintegrated to: so-and-so was mean-tempered and parked too close to his or her neighbor in the garage, and so-and-so’s dog barked all the time, and a new oversight committee should probably be elected, and the Jacuzzi had leaves in it.

If the sun hadn’t come out the following day, along with the roofing company, there could have been some heavy casualties, hurt-feelings-wise.

“Our insurance will pay for this mess and the roofing people will make it right,” one of the residents said. “Why couldn’t people just hang together until things got sorted out?”

Lend a Hand

Nelson Tucker owns Attorney Services of Southern California, a Van Nuys-based firm that provides lawyers with support personnel such as paralegals and investigators.

During the Gulf War, Tucker put together a group of attorneys in this area willing to offer free legal services to families of the troops.

“My reasoning was that a lot of the families of reservists would be having financial problems since their incomes had been greatly reduced. As my contribution to the Gulf effort, I said that if the families would call my office, I would find them a lawyer in their area who would give them advice and assistance.”

He said the free offer still holds.

“When you start to fall behind in payments, it’s hard to catch up. So, even after the troops start coming home, they may need help,” he said.

The lawyers can help families make arrangements to pay off overdue bills or handle other non-criminal matters, he said.

“We owe these people so much, it’s little enough to do,” Tucker said.

Batter Way Up

This Saturday, 11-year-old Joey Bell of Mission Hills begins his Granada Hills Little League career, following in the footsteps of older brothers Charles, 14, and Zack, 13.

Joey and his 29 fellow Challenger Division players will lead the parade that marks opening day ceremonies for the 500-player league.

Then the Challenger players will help cut the yellow ribbon in the dedication of their almost-completed new field.

Joey can’t verbalize what all this means to him--he was born microcephalic, has Down’s syndrome, is slightly palsied, and has no speech. But, according to his mother, Marsha Bell, he doesn’t have any trouble showing his excitement.

“He is out in the back yard all the time working on his swing, and he is very proud of his new team uniform, an exact replica of the ones the Los Angeles Dodgers wear,” she said.

The boys and girls in this new Granada Hills division range in age from 6 to 19 and are challenged by wide-ranging disabilities, both mental and physical.

The game that they will play, with buddies to assist them, may not look like Little League baseball, but the spirit will be there, said Bell, who is the division coordinator.

“There won’t be any strikeouts, they can hit off a tee if they want to, and they will have a volunteer buddy to help them get around,” she said. “But don’t think this is a baby-sitting operation.”

Bell said once 10 players were recruited for each of the three Challenger teams, the parents and kids were out there looking over the competition and figuring out ways to win.

Although the national program is not new in the San Fernando Valley--Canoga Park started up last year--it’s been a big challenge for the adult leadership of the league.

There was some initial funding for equipment and for the new field, according to Mark Ziegler, Granada Hills Little League president, but they are working on the rest.

“We don’t have the fence up, or bleachers, or scoreboard,” he said. “We are hoping to find an angel or several angels, to underwrite the rest of the construction.”

“I know it’s all going to come together . . . .,” Bell said. “Those kids are sky-high and ready to play.”

Overheard

“My children think The Doors were something like, maybe, the Smurfs. Lord, I feel old.”

--Woman at lunch in Sherman Oaks