### With the new wine bar opening in the Laurel's World Ground Café, co-owner Uffe Gustaffson said the cafe is also reinstituting evening hours. His co-owner and wife, Martha, is a wine maker and will preside over the wine bar. Uffe said the opening of the new restaurants in the Laurel was an inspiration.'
### That MacArthur Metro Food Bank Team keeps going and going. Coordinator Dal Sellman said this past May the Team was honored. On that same day they, "plus other volunteers emptied 17 (yes, that's seventeen) bins of apples, bagging them from a conveyor line (think Lucy and Ethel with candy)—a real workout!" The Team's efforts also remind us that we have plenty of people who need the food.
### On your way to or from the Laurel Street Fair on August 14, take a bit of a walk over to the free outdoor Community Health Fair at Imani Community Church, 3340 MacArthur. Imani's Life Care Ministry Chair, Robert Newells, says the Health Fair, open from noon to 4 p.m., is part of a comprehensive health education program designed to inform, educate, and empower the community to adapt healthier lifestyle behaviors. For more information, 282-1532, newellsrobert\@gmail.com, or www.imanicc.org.
'### Read any good books lately? The Dimond Branch Library has an Adult Summer Reading Program. "Read a book," their flyer says, "enter a raffle, and have a chance to win a prize." The library is also inviting readers to write brief reviews. Need more info? Call 482-7844.
### I'm currently reading Presumed Dead: A True Life Murder Mystery. That's Dimond resident Henry K. Lee's telling of the 2006 murder of Oakland resident and mother of two, Nina Reiser. Lee followed the case as the San Francisco Chronicle's crime reporter. He details the search for Nina, the trial, and the events leading up to the tragic and senseless killing. You can get Henry's book at Laurel Book Store.
### One of the Metro area's hidden gems was also connected to another tragic and senseless murder. Eleven years ago, on July 23, little Jaquita Mack was killed and her body dumped on Jungle Hill. One way her memory is kept alive is with a memorial on the top of the hill that sits between Ransom and Santa Rita. Benches flank the memorial and provide a place for meditation and a view, especially at sunset. Jungle Hill is the site of extraordinary past community collaboration, too. Search www.macarthurmetro.org for stories of how neighbors created a gem that even made it to the Oakland Museum. It's a shame to see it overgrown and littered.
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