January 19, 2004
Dear Members,
Happy 2004!!!! I hope
the New Year brings you happiness, health, prosperity
and the desire to get involved with NABO 2004!
We have a lot of work ahead of us and we will
need everyone’s help to make it happen!
So let’s get excited and let’s get
involved in 2004!!! AUPA!!
I want to start off by
thanking all of the volunteers who showed up
the last two weekends. It’s amazing the
amount of work that can get done when we all
work together! Thank you all!! Maybe the Romans’
can’t build Rome in a day but I do believe
the Basques’ could!! They are such hard
working people! We had volunteers taking down
Christmas decorations, cleaning out and organizing
the shed, assembling new tables, trenching,
laying irrigations pipes, planting bushes, breaking
cement around the picnic area, pulling big tree
suckers with a backhoe along the fence line,
and planting trees in the park. All of this
was happening while President Larry Errea and
Lourdes were busy in the kitchen cooking breakfast
and lunch for everyone! We had one member to
stop by the clubhouse with an esnopila for the
workers and another member made gato basque.
That’s what our club is all about –
sharing your talents! It was wonderful to see
so many people working together. You could just
feel and see the POWER and PRIDE of the members!
I used to think that Basque people were just
good-looking and sexy but you know they have
a lot of talent too! (Just kidding!) Again,
thanks to all of you!!
KCBC
MUS TOURNAMENT
Reminder – Saturday, January 31, 2004 is
the KCBC Mus Tournament. The tournament will
begin at 8:00 a.m. so get there early to register.
It will be $30 per player, which includes lunch.
All players must be KCBC members in order to
participate. We are hoping to beat last year’s
showing of 34 teams. So come join us for a fun-filled
day of competition! First and second place winners
will go on to play in the 2004 NABO Mus Tournament,
which will be held on June 5, 2004 in San Rafael,
hosted by Marin Sonoma Basque Club. The World
Mus Championship will be held in Acapulco, Mexico.
Good Luck to everyone!
2004
KCBC ELECTIONS
The nominations are in and now it’s time
for you to vote! Please take the time to show
your support by voting for the new KCBC Slate
of Officers and Board of Directors for 2004.
All ballots must be returned by Monday, February
2, 2004 in order to be counted.
KCBC
MEMBERSHIP DINNER & DUES
The KCBC Membership Dinner will be held on Saturday,
February 28, 2004. Cocktail hour begins at 6:00
p.m. Dinner will be served at 7:00 p.m. It is
very important that you make your reservations
on time. All reservations need to be in by Tuesday,
February 24, 2004. No exceptions!!! Call Lourdes
Iturriria at 393-1886 or Marilou Onaindia at
831-2527. If you make reservations and find
out that you won’t be able to attend, please
call and cancel. It is important for us to have
an accurate count since we have to pay per reservation.
Remember this is a membership dinner, which
means members only, no guests! There will be
no exceptions this year!! This event is one
of the benefits of being a Basque Club member!
A dance will follow after the dinner and meeting.
Enclosed you will find
the annual membership renewal form. Please fill
out the form with your name, birth date, address,
e-mail and phone number and send it along with
your dues in the enclosed envelope. Birth date
information will help us to determine honorary
members. E-mail addresses will make communication
with our members easier. Renewal fees are $60
per couple, $30 for singles. If you know of
anyone who would like to become a member of
the Kern County Basque Club please give me a
call at 831-2527 and I will be happy to mail
him or her a membership form. New membership
dues are $110 per couple, $60 for singles. Don’t
put this off, mail in your dues today!
** To be an Honorary
Member you must meet one or more of the following
requirements: (1) Be a member of the Basque
Club for 20 years and be over 70 years of age
regardless of national descent, (2) Be 80 years
old and of Basque decent regardless of whether
the nominee is a member or not. (3) Nominee
must have done some noteworthy deed or donated
cash in the amount of $5,000 or more. **
KCBC
INTERNET PRIDE
As you know in 2003, the KCBC created a web
site KCBasqueclub.com which has been very successful
and a highly visited site. Hats off to Pierre
Igoa, who is responsible for designing and maintaining
our web site!!! In one short year - from February
to December 2003 - we saw our web site grow
to nearly 80,000 individual visitors. Among
the many thousands of daily visitors - our statistics
show that Basque visitors responded to e-mail
messages - with close to 700 visitors on a given
day.
Internet search engines
from Google, Yahoo, MSN to AOL have listed our
site in the top ten of sites when visitors search
for "Basque Recipes." And we rank
#3 if one is looking for information on "Basque
culture"!!
Visitors came from across
the globe; France, Canada, Spain, Euskal Herria,
Netherlands, UK, Australia, China, Saudi Arabia,
Germany, Singapore, Japan, Argentina and other
European, S. American and Asian countries. (KCBC
intelligence even tracked one visit from underground
Iraq, believed to have been Saddam Husseim.
Just kidding!) But what made us most proud were
the many military servicemen and women who visited
the KCBC web site!
Steve Bass contributed
to our web site with his research on "Basques
in the New World" a fascinating chronology
of how Basques helped discover and form the
Americas. This too is easily found on any major
search engine like Google.com
The PIC-OF-THE-DAY soon
became a favorite of visitors. And we now feature
special oral histories (audio) and registered
members can view special slide shows. We want
to hear from you so go to MINTZA - our chat
community forum - Visit today - don't miss it!!!
http://www.kcbasqueclub.com Thank you to every
visitor for making the web site such a success!
Continue to spread the word and happy Internet
surfing. AUPA KCBASQUECLUB.COM !!
BASQUE DANCE
INSTRUCTION BEGINS FOR YOUTH
Aupa Dantzariak!! It’s time for us to start
kicking up our heels and having some fun! Dance
practice will begin on Sunday, February 29,
2004. Dancers must be four or older to participate.
The schedule is as follows: C Group – 11
to 11:45 a.m., B Group – 12 to 12:45 p.m.,
A Group – 1 to 1:45 p.m. If you have any
questions, please call Marguerite Moore at 664-0384
or Kristie Onaindia at 831-2527. Please be sure
to wear shoes you can dance in! No dress shoes
or thongs please!!
NEW
ADULT DANCERS AND THOSE COMING OUT OF RETIREMENT
There will be a meeting for all adult s interested
in either learning Basque dancing or who are
coming out of retirement and just want to brush
up on their dancing skills Sunday, February
29, 2004 at 2:30 p.m. at the Basque Club. Depending
on the turnout, we may be able to have you perform
a dance or two at NABO 2004. Come learn how
to Basque dance so you can enjoy the festival.
If you have any questions, please call Kristie
Onaindia at 831-2527.
DANTZARI
GAZTEAK
There will be a meeting on Sunday, January 25,
2004 at 3:00 p.m. at the Basque Club. Dancers
who have graduated from A Class are welcome.
Hopefully we will have a big showing this year
of committed dancers. We want to show off our
KCBC talent!!! Aupa! Aupa! AHHHHHHH...........................................!!!!!!.
KCBC KLIKA
Want to toot your own horn and have someone
listen to you? Well the KCBC Klika is the place
for you! Anyone interested in joining (experienced
or not) please call Michelle Iturriria at 393-1886
today! We want our Klika looking and sounding
better than ever for NABO 2004!!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS –
NEWLYWEDS!!
Congratulations to the
newlyweds – Mikel Etxeberria Oteiza and
Andrea Bidart!! They were married on Saturday,
December 20, 2003 in Erratzu, Nafarroa, Spain
CONGRATULATIONS
– NEW BASCOS!!
Congratulations to Javier & Terry Echeverria
on their new little boy, Joseph Michael Echeverria.
He was born on November 12, 2003 and weighed
7 lbs. 12 oz.
Congratulations to Matthew
& Jenny (Ansolabehere) Etcheverry on their
new little boy, Jean Pierre Etcheverry. He was
born on December 7, 2003 and weighed 6 lbs.
14 oz. and was 20 1/4¼ inches long.
Congratulations to Andy & Colette (Bachoc)
Iturriria on their new little girl Elise Marie
Iturriria. She was born on January 11, 2004
and weighed 7 lbs., 14 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches
long.
CONDOLENCES
Condolences go to the family of honorary member
Yolanda Ansolabehere who passed away on January
4, 2004. Yolanda was the wife of one of the
KCBC founding fathers, John Ansolabehere. Yolanda
always supported John in his involvement with
the Basque Club, but was proud to say she was
Italian!!
Condolences go to the
family of Robert Garcia who passed away on January
13, 2004. Robert was not of Basque decent but
enjoyed attending the different Basque functions
with his good friend Susan Dalia.
Our thoughts and prayers
go out to both families!
Gero Arte,
Marilou Onaindia
KCBC Secretary
2002,
Pierre Igoa