Much about the Good Luck Fund—a private foundation with lofty public goals—remains uncertain. How will it select businesses for the properties it buys? Can those enterprises succeed in a market in which labor is scarce and housing expensive? Will residents open their wallets to support the fund, which could quickly burn through founder Chris Hulls’s initial $15 million donation?

For all the questions surrounding the enterprise, one thing is crystal clear: Point Reyes Station residents want it to succeed. 

Last Wednesday, about 250 of them packed into the former Station House Café building and cheered on Mr. Hulls as he sketched out his vision for the fund, whose mission is to preserve historic downtown properties, attract and retain key businesses and sustain the community’s 20th-century ranch-town vibe.

People spilled out of the building’s dimly lit interior and into the courtyard, where the garden was abloom. Mr. Hulls, a 41-year-old tech entrepreneur whose style is straightforward and self-deprecating, was startled by the size of the crowd.

“We were expecting maybe a couple dozen people,” he said. “I just started preparing for this about five minutes ago, so I’m kind of winging it. The idea was just to get people together and get feedback.”

A procession of people came forward to ask questions and share their ideas for transforming two of the fund’s recent purchases—11180 Highway 1, the former home of the Station House Café, which moved across the street—and the Inverness property that housed Vladimir’s Czech Restaurant, which closed two years ago. 

Attendees’ ideas ran the gamut, from restaurants to a community theater to a plant nursery.

“I have some personal ideas about what to do with Vladimir’s, but not everybody agrees with them,” said Tom Pillsbury, an Inverness resident. “Some of my friends would like it to be a breakfast spot, but I think it would be a perfect Mexican restaurant. That’s my two cents.”

Rich Clarke of Point Reyes Station proposed a community swimming pool, a place that could unite West Marin’s burgeoning elderly population with younger community members. 

“The kids could learn to swim and play water polo, and the adults could do water aerobics,” he said. “The health of our community, at this point in our lives, is dependent upon how active we stay and how much we put into taking care of ourselves.”

Mr. Clarke’s suggestion was greeted with boisterous applause. 

Other people proposed installing a mix of businesses at the former Station House, which sits on a large lot. Lynette Le Mere, who owns a Santa Barbara catering business and recently moved full time to Inverness Park, said the space was big enough to accommodate a variety of food-oriented enterprises.

“For this place, and Vladimir’s, a lot of people with good ideas for food and cooking could come together and participate in community,” she said. “We have lots of delicious ideas.”

Amid all the brainstorming, people also raised questions and concerns.

Michel Venghiattis, a professional food consultant from Nicasio, stressed that small, start-up enterprises might need some sort of economic boost to succeed.

“I’ve been an entrepreneur all my life,” he said. “I went bankrupt once, so I know how tough business can be. I think what you’re doing is wonderful, but I think it’s important to remember that this is a small town, and the amount of income that can be generated from any business is very limited. Somehow, a structure needs to be built so that rents are reasonable so that folks with local businesses can make it.”

Mr. Hulls said the fund would take a businesslike approach to selecting prospective tenants, examining business plans to ascertain their strength and sustainability. While the fund would seek enterprises that could support themselves over the long haul, it might subsidize rents up front. 

Cas Adler-Ivanbrook, an Inverness Park resident, inquired about the structure of the fund and the procedures it would follow moving forward.

“You’ve told us that you’re going to seek out proposals, get feedback and make decisions,” he said. “What is the decision-making process? Who gets a say in what the decision process is going to be? Do you have a structure in mind for that? Would it be just one person or a group of people?”

For now, Mr. Hulls said, the fund is operating as a private foundation in which one person can make quick decisions, but its procedures could evolve moving forward. In addition to soliciting community business proposals, it plans to appoint citizen committees to review ideas that come in, drawing on local expertise to assess them. The details will be ironed out as events unfold.

“My model is, you jump of a cliff, and you build the plane on the way down,” said Mr. Hulls, who grew up in Point Reyes Station and is the founder and C.E.O. of the location-sharing app Life360. “We really don’t have too much of a plan. We’re figuring it out as we go. It’s going to be a little chaotic and messy, but we’re just going for it.”

Other audience members pointed out that the lack of affordable housing has made it difficult for existing businesses to staff their operations, with many employees driving from Petaluma or Santa Rosa. 

Buddy Faure, 23, who grew up in Inverness and would like to spend his life here, asked whether Mr. Hulls had considered building affordable housing.

“It’s important is to recognize how many people end up growing up here and then end up leaving and never coming back,” he said. “It upsets me, you know. I want to stay here my whole life, but it’s very hard to see a way forward.”

Mr. Hulls suggested that housing could possibly be built in conjunction with an enterprise at the former Station House site, which has ample septic capacity and a substantial parking lot out back. But he said that the local community land trust is better equipped to take on housing challenges while the foundation focuses on attracting suitable businesses.

Mr. Hulls said the fund has no fixed notions about what those businesses should be, but he did offer ideas about general characteristics they might have. He pointed to the Old Western Saloon, another fund acquisition and a classic dive bar that caters to ranchers, construction workers and landscapers as wells as the tourists who pass through town.

“To be honest, a little rough and tumble and weird is something I want to preserve,” he said to applause. “It seems like there’s been a lot of support for that. The eccentrics and weirdos make this town.”

Some of the ideas put forward at the meeting would duplicate or compete with existing businesses in town, including new restaurants, a gallery, a nursery and a performance space. Giving the newcomers subsidies could put longtime establishments at a disadvantage, Ken Taymor, an Inverness Park resident, pointed out. “How are you going to make sure you don’t cannibalize existing businesses?” he asked.  

Mr. Hulls said he had conferred with local business owners, some of whom were nervous about the prospect of new competition, but he found that most of them welcomed the fund’s efforts. “The general theme I’ve heard is that vibrancy builds vibrancy, and having half a downtown dead is bad for everybody,” he said.

For more information or to submit ideas, go to https://goodluckfund.org

YORKTON – It was been a great season to-date for Kain Salmond in terms of chuckwagon racing.

Heading into a huge week where he is scheduled to run three days at the Yorkton, then heading down the road to race Saturday and Sunday in Sheho, Salmond was leading the season results in the Eastern Professional Chariot & Chuckwagon Association.

“Last year I was running pretty tough,” he told Yorkton This Week before the first heats in the city Wednesday. “I was sixth overall last year.”

This season Salmond, who hails from the Bertwell area in Saskatchewan, made a change to the team he runs on the wagon.

“I changed one horse. That really set me up,” he said.

Salmond, 22, explained that the new horse is his right lead horse, which of course is a key member of a team, in part because of its ‘smarts’.

“You can get by with a dumb one on the pole. . . A lead horse has got to be a little smarter,” he explained.

The new horse is the final cog in the engine one might say.

That said Salmond noted the other three horses he runs were with him last year, and that means they have experience, and that plays into a solid running team.

“Three of the four are the same . . . they know each other better,” he said.

Familiarity means cohesion in the traces.

Of course once on top the goal is staying there, which Salmond said will not be easy.

“Anyone can beat anyone,” he said.

For Salmond the top spot in the standing is another step in a driving career that was near destiny given his family lineage. His dad Clint has been driving chuckwagons since he turned 16 – the minimum age to drive.

“Grandpa Wayne was driving horses back in the bush logging when he was 11 or 12,” said Kain, adding he has raced for years.

The family experience is something he draws on too, adding he and his Dad often discuss “who we’re hooked up against, or what the track conditions are like.”

A couple of his horses come from Grandpa too.

Salmond said he certainly wouldn’t be at the level he is today without the help and support of what is a very extensive racing family – he expected 10 would race in Yorkton.

It’s the same with sponsors, another key partner in success, said Salmond.

“We wouldn’t make it down the road without them,” he said.

So Kain grew up around race tracks and horses.

“Every summer I travelled with Dad and Mom,” he said, adding he developed an interest at a young age “and here we are I guess.”

Kain started out driving chariots – as most drivers do – and still runs those too. In fact he often runs two teams, using the spare horses he carries on a second hitch as a way to keep them in shape should they be needed on his main chariot or the wagon.

Interestingly his first wagon run came in Yorkton back in 2021.

“Obviously there were more nerves,” he said, adding he just wanted to “get around the track.”

After the race the excitement manifested.

“I’d been waiting a long time to get in the wagon box,” said Salmond.

The North Jackson volleyball program is technically under new leadership, but that new leader is a familiar face at the school.

Arielle Haynes, a former three-sport standout and 2022 North Jackson graduate, was recently named the school’s new head volleyball coach. She will be the head coach for both the Chiefs’ varsity and junior varsity teams.

“The goal is to build a competitive and respected program,” Haynes said. “Clear objectives have been set for this year’s team. Our focus this season is to strengthen team culture, establish a strong identity and develop leadership qualities. These goals will help us grow into a more competitive and successful team. I want these girls to succeed both as athletes and as students at North Jackson. I want them to hold each other accountable, compete in every set and take pride in wearing the NJ logo every match.”

Haynes was an all-county basketball player and a state champion softball player for the Chiefs before playing one season at Calhoun Community College. She served as the North Jackson junior high volleyball head coach last season — players from Bridgeport and Stevenson Middle Schools play together under the North Jackson banner at the junior-high level — as the Chiefs went 16-1 and won a Jackson County Tournament championship. 

Haynes also served as a varsity/junior varsity assistant for Melissa Brown, who stepped down as head coach last spring after two seasons. Haynes also is an assistant softball coach for the Chiefs.

North Jackson volleyball competes in Class 4A Area 16 with DAR, Madison County, New Hope and Plainview. 

Haynes said the Chiefs must “demonstrate discipline, consistency, energy and a coachable mindset” and being “team players” and working “well together under pressure” will be pivotal to their 2025 campaign and beyond.

Haynes said coaching at her alma mater is added extra motivation for her.

“Coaching at the school where I once played and graduated from carries a greater responsibility and a deeper emotional connection for me,” she said. “I’m now coaching in the same gym where I played, made mistakes and discovered who I was. Now I have the privilege of teaching and guiding the next generation through that same journey. I understand the culture of North Jackson and the expectations that come with it. I hold myself and this team to a higher standard so that the players can experience the pride and success I once did. I am not just here to coach this volleyball program. I’m here to build teams that stand for something greater. I’ve been blessed with this opportunity and can’t wait for the season to begin. I care deeply about these players, this school and this community and I’m ready to give back to all that North Jackson has given me.”

CLEVELAND – UC Santa Barbara Athletics has won its first-ever Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) All-Sports Trophy, tallying 235.00 points to claim the prestigious title for the 2024-25 school year.

“What an honor for our UC Santa Barbara campus and department to be recognized with the All-Sport Trophy by the D1-AAA Athletic Directors Association,” said Arnhold Director of Athletics Kelly Barsky. “It is a reflection of the incredible efforts and grit showcased by our Gaucho Student-Athletes, the leadership and expertise of our head coaches, and the incredible service and care provided by our coaches, staff, and community across the board.”

 

According to the DI-AAA ADA, the All-Sports Trophy is awarded to the institution that has the highest point total in all sports in which at least 25% of the eligible I-AAA membership sponsor the given sport. In layman’s terms, this trophy is given to the best all-around Division-I athletics program that does not sponsor Football, of which there are 98 institutions. The 21 sports included in the points total are Baseball, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Men’s and Women’s Cross Country, Men’s and Women’s Golf, Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse, Men’s and Women’s Soccer, Softball, Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving, Men’s and Women’s Tennis, Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track, Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track, and Women’s Volleyball.

 

Three Gaucho programs finished atop the DI-AAA ADA standings in their respective sport—Softball, Women’s Tennis, and Men’s Outdoor Track & Field.

 

Overall, the Gauchos were lifted by having five conference-championship teams. Along with Softball and Women’s Tennis, Women’s Soccer, Men’s Swimming, and Women’s Swimming all claimed Big West titles; it was the first time since the 2004-05 school year that four women’s programs won conference championships. Men’s Soccer and Men’s Tennis also earned at-large berths to the NCAA Tournament.

 

“On behalf of our Association, I would like to congratulate UC Santa Barbara for capturing its first-ever DI-AAA All-Sports championship this year,” said Shaney Fink, DI-AAA ADA president and current vice president for athletics at Seattle University.

 

UC Santa Barbara edged out Pepperdine (212 points), Providence (202.5), Creighton (198), and the University of Denver (174.5). For more information about this award, visit nacda.com.

 

General | 7/2/2025 1:56:00 PM

PITTSFORD, N.Y. – St. John Fisher University had an Empire 8-high 257 student-athletes named to the conference’s President’s List for the spring 2025 semester, the league office announced on Wednesday. The Cardinals also had 25 teams honored as E8 All-Academic Teams, the second most in the conference behind Nazareth (26).

President’s List honorees include E8 student-athletes who achieved at least a 3.75 grade-point average during the spring semester. Teams that earned E8 All-Academic honors logged a 3.20 GPA or higher. 

A total of 1,660 student-athletes and a league-record 190 teams earned recognition from the E8 for their academic excellence this past semester. 

St. John Fisher All-Academic Teams (25)