Onions & Orchids

by Toni Locke

To our readers: The Metro needs a writer/manager for this column. If you think you would enjoy collecting and meting out praise and blame, please e-mail metroreaders.com, or phone Toni at 530-8079.

Orchids to Ed Cabral, manager of the Dimond Safeway Store, for his heroic crusade to crack down on crime and restore public safety in the Dimond.

Orchids to Debbie Koppmann, Oakland Public School art teacher, for the striking new mural at Bret Harte Middle School on Coolidge Avenue, featured in the school's annual Student Expo on May 13.

Orchids to the exceptionally good neighbor on 39th Avenue in the Laurel who found an ATM card near the BofA branch that belonged to High Street columnist and poet Adelle Foley, tracked her down, and left a message on her phone.

Orchids to Greg Ross, manager of the Laurel Albertsons, for the many improvements to the store and parking lot and his willingness to cooperate with the community.

Orchids to Mildred Ellison. She has been home-cooking dinners, packing them up as individual meals, and distributing them to homeless people every Thursday for the past three years. She now has the support of Everett Chapel A.M.E. church and distributes at the needle-exchange program on 23rd and E. 12th St.

Orchids to Susannah Eloyse Prinz of Harbor House Ministries, a young Oakland artist whose eloquent portraits of a wide spectrum of Oakland women are on view until July in the nave of the Fruitvale Presbyterian Church, 2735 MacArthur Boulevard. Each portrait is accompanied by a moving personal story. (See story page [?].)