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All I had to do was recall those inexpensive — by present standards, anyway — Hangtown fries at the Rosemount Grill, and presto: I triggered others’ memories of their favorite meals right here in River City. Writing from her retirement home in Seattle, Dorothy Kennedy had a vivid recollection of “superlative minestrone which my husband and I used to scarf up at …” At that point Dorothy hit a partial mental block.

“I remember the place as the Clunie,” she writes, “floating in the fog of my long-term memory, Bedell’s.”

Actually, she was correct on both counts. What she was referring to was the Clunie Coffee Shop — an adjunct of the hotel which has been supplanted by the Darth Vader building at 8th & J streets — and the manager was the same Ed Bedell who later had Bedell’s at 11th and L.

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One of the more entertaining evening’s we’ve enjoyed of late was spent viewing a 10th anniversary production of the River Stage Theater at Cosumnes River College. Fittingly, it was a reprise of “Mrs. California,” a comedy by Doris Baizley, which happened to be the very first River Stage production in 1995.

It was at the urging of River Stage production director Frank Condon’s wife Kim that the revival was staged for the anniversary celebration. It also was Kim, he wrote in a program note, who had urged “Mrs. Calfornia” as the first production in 1995, even sewing the costumes for the budgetless new company.

Sadly, Kim was unable to enjoy the anniversary restaging. She died on February 19.

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My late friend Al McCook, a Marine who served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam, had an autographed photo in his den of Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, inherited from his own father, who served with Butler back in the first two decades of the 20th century.

Al’s gone now, and so too, of course, is Smedley Butler, but just recently someone sent me a statement the general made in 1933:

“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers.

“In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”

The general goes on to say he “helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914 … helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in … helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics … helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 … brought light to the Dominican Republic for American interests in 1916 … (and) in China I helped to see that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.”

Of course, I’ll never live long enough to see it happen, but I can’t help wondering if the day will come when some retired four-star U.S. general in his memoirs will look back on what he did in the Mideast for Big Oil.

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Ever go through one of those soul-searing personnel evaluations at your place of work? Harrowing, wasn’t it? But it could have been worse if you were the subject of some of these written by federal government evaluators:

“Since my last report this employee has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.”

“I would not allow this employee to breed.”

“This employee is not so much of a has-been, but more of a definite won’t-be.”

“Works well under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap.”

“When she opens her mouth, it seems that it is only to challenge feet.”

“This young lady has delusions of adequacy.”

“This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.”

“This employee should go far, and the sooner he starts, the better.”

“He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.”

“A gross ignoramus — 144 times worse than an ordinary one.”

“When his IQ reaches 50, he should sell.”

After retiring from a long and respected career with The Sacramento Bee, Stan Gilliam found that he just couldn't stop writing. So he brought his "Stan's Sacramento" column to the Spectrum, where it has been a favorite of readers for 15 years ... and counting.

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