Smith: Appletown seeks to keep its core

There goes Sebastopol again, meditating on how to block the real world at the city limits.

But wait. Maybe it’s reasonable for a town to yearn to protect at least Main Street from encroachment by same-everywhere chain retailers.

I love America, but it’s painful to see the personality and identity of communities melted into uniform monotony by the spread of the chains.

Enter most any city and there’s the standard signage and architecture of Starbucks, Shell, Safeway, Taco Bell, PetSmart, Wendy’s, Staples, 7-Eleven, Walgreen’s, Subway, Supercuts, Target, Kohl’s, Baskin-Robbins and on and on.

There’ll be no dialing back to central Mayberry, where the town’s commerce, employment and social engagement took place at Emmett’s Fix-It Shop, Foley’s Grocery, Floyd’s Barber Shop, Mayberry Savings Bank, Weaver’s Department Store and Mrs. Mendalbright’s Rooming House.

But good for Sebastopol, and Sonoma, for doing something to preserve what remains of the unique character, texture and charm of downtown.

I’M IRS. NO YOU’RE NOT: I’ll fully believe in evolution when no members of the human race still phone elders and work every ruse possible to con them out of their money.

Hot right now is the IRS scam. Seniors pick up the phone to have a stranger claim be an Internal Revenue Service officer and demand a payment.

Actual federal authorities say that across the country, more than 1,000 people have fallen for the swindle and have paid the crooks about $5 million.

A gent in Healdsburg played along the other day and told the caller to come on over, he was waiting at the door with the payment and a police officer.

End of that scam call. But there will be others. Hang up.

FREE CASH, FOR GOOD: There really are people who want to give away money.

The Sonoma County chapter of Bread for the Journey uses cash from donors to make small grants to people and organizations with projects or ideas to make life better for others.

“We think of them as seed grants,” said the group’s Sharon Bard.

Bread for the Journey has given up to $2,000 to many endeavors, among them the Free Bookmobile, the Ceres food for ailing people project and a fellow who needed help to buy an irrigation system for a community garden.

The best way to apply for a grant or learn more is to go to sonoma.breadforthejourney.org.

READ MY MIND? On “60 Minutes” a few years back, mentalist Mark Salem blew Mike Wallace’s mind.

Salem seemed to cause the time to change on Wallace’s watch. He rattled off the serial numbers on a dollar bill in the newsman’s wallet. He had Wallace draw a picture, conceal it within two envelopes and hide it at Central Park. Blindfolded, the former Moshe Botwinick found the envelopes and before opening them quite accurately duplicated the picture inside.

“What I do isn’t super- natural,” Salem said on the broadcast. But it is astonishing.

A friend is bringing Salem to Santa Rosa for public show Saturday at Congregation Shomrei Torah. Tickets are at shomreitorah.org/performance-series/.

What do you think?

Chris Smith is at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD.