He lost all his possessions, but at least he got his little buddy, Reo, back

Also: Recommendations for the beer/wine festival and GT’S trike race; and hoping for shared info from casino

Thumbs Down: We feel terrible about what happened to Rex Shafer while he was visiting our community. But we feel wonderful that his little dog Reo is safe.

The Vietnam veteran, who lost a leg to diabetes and was living out of his van, pulled into the Harter Parkway Walmart. He was going to grab some food and a few winks before hitting the road again. In the 30 minutes or so that he was inside the store to buy grub, his van was stolen ... along with all his possessions ... and along with his best buddy, Reo, the Chihuahua.

On Monday, the van was discovered down in the bottoms. Stripped of everything and burned out. Reo was no where in sight. On Tuesday night, a woman came upon the little fella and arrangements were made to reunite the buddies.

Special thanks went to Yuba City Police Officer Ricky Jurado.

A Gofundme page was set up to help Shafer recover from his material losses. Go to the site and search for Rex Shafer. Click on the image that shows pictures of Reo and Shafer and the burned out van.

As of Friday afternoon, the total was $1,650. They’re hoping to raise $12,000. Remember, he had all his stuff in that van. Now he has nothing ... except his best buddy, Reo.

* Thumbs Up: We’re pleased that the Enterprise Rancheria has their casino/hotel project well underway, with the helping partnership of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

We think that the tribe deserves as much as any other to have this economic boon.

And we realize it’s their business. But we hope they’ll see it as the entire community’s and the Yuba-sutter region’s business, to some extent. It’s their tribal land and property and they’re a sovereign entity. But running and hosting and living next to a full-scale casino operation can be a bit tricky. We just hope management will be open with us about the property, construction, operations, security, employment, benefits, and how they will deal proactively to prevent the ills that can accompany full-scale gambling operations.

That said, it looks like a full-ahead opportunity for Yuba County, bolstering the county’s sports and entertainment zone along Forty Mile Road.

* Thumbs Up: We can personally recommend today’s premier local event: the annual California Beer & Wine Festival on beautiful Plumas Boulevard in Yuba City. It’s happening from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. at the Town Center. The cost is $40 at the gate, but you get all those tastes of beer and wine and there’s food and, in our experience, all sorts of happy people ... especially the beer people ... they’re always happy when they get to compare a bunch of different styles of beer, different amounts of hoppiness, different tastes. It makes them feel as special as wine tasters. And this festival will be graced by the local homebrewers’ club, who, according to event organizer Sarah Norris, is “bringing fourteen 100-percent unique, microbrews.”

Brews, wines, food and live music ... on a pleasant afternoon outdoors.

And we appreciate Norris and her family, business, and horde of volunteers. They’ve organized something that’s a real benefit to the local scene and raises money for charities (they figure, in this, the ninth year, they’ve generated about $200,000 in charitable giving.)

* Thumbs Up: We’re also hoping to make it down to GT’S 3rd Invitational Challenge Race. We have been unable to attend either of the previous two challenges in which teams are given all the parts to build a person-powered vehicle, have to put it together and then race it around a course.

It’s something happening in Marysville’s historic Chinatown – 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at First and C streets. Doesn’t cost a penny to stand around and gawk.

It’s organized by Gordon Tom and inspired by his love of racing. Steve Miller is Editor of the Appealdemocrat

* Ugh: (Have I used this before?) A police officer called the dispatcher: “We have an interesting case here. An older woman shot her husband, apparently, for stepping on the kitchen floor, which she had just mopped.” “Have you taken her into custody yet?” “No, not yet,” the officer said. “The floor’s still wet.”

“Thanks,” she says. “That means a lot.”