The people in Angwin are in a giving mood. And it lasts all year. For the first 11 months of 2011, they gave 29,649 food items to the Angwin Food Pantry, meeting the needs of numerous other Angwin residents.

The organization is administered by Monte Butler, professor of Social Work, at Pacific Union College. With a lot of help from his social work students.

The annual year-end Angwin Community Council meeting followed its traditional pattern saying "Thank you!" to the people who serve as fire fighters and ambulance rescue crews.

The major "cheerleaders" were Jennifer Klingbeil, Council president; Avery Browne, fire chief; and Quentin White, CEO of the Angwin Ambulance Company. Here are some excerpts from their remarks.

Jennifer Klingbeil reported that the Council had successfully lobbied the Council for highway improvements, donated money to the schools in Angwin, and redesigned the organization's website.

She also reported on the success of the annual Community Day which this past summer included not only the traditional Flea Market, but also the Antique Auto Show, an Art Show, and a special event to recognize the installation of the Comcast service in Angwin. The latter event drew the participation of this district's Congressman Mike Thompson.

Results of voting for Board members were announced. Dennis Helmer was re-elected. Rex Heywood will be a new member of the Board.

Quentin White spoke highly of the sacrifices made by ambulance crews. The company has responded to over 200 calls this year. A wide range of emergencies heart attacks, auto accidents injuries, and pneumonia attacks.

Avery Browne announced:

Major improvements in the dispatch system, keeping response times down to 4-6 minutes for fire calls.

Sixteen new candidates for firefighting training which will take six months.

180 calls during the year, down considerably from the usual number as the community got through the high-fire-season exceptionally well.

Election of Chris White as "Fireman of the Year."

Special recognition of retired veteran Ken Trumble for his 42 years as a volunteer fireman.

Browne also introduced Gary and Starr Piner for their years of service providing ambulance service to the entire Napa County. He spoke highly of their personal devotion to that task, particularly the opportunity they provided to young men and women who would go on to become doctors and nurses.

Pacific Union College has put a huge chunk of its 1900 acres on the market. Copies of the broker's prospectus for a proposed "Howell Mountain Estates" are circulating through Angwin.

The college has not held a public meeting to give Angwinites any of the facts or explain how, if at all, the sale of 600 acres would affect the community. So conjecture is rampant.

All of the acres offered for sale are east of the airport, except for one parcel which wraps around the north end of the runway to occupy part of the old farm. Presumably, the parcels purchased would be at least 40 acres, large enough to conform to Napa County subdivision rules.

The prospectus states that 600 acres are being offered for sale. However, a look at the parcels available reveals that their acreages add up to 1,533 acres. The college explains that it has deliberately offered that large area to permit purchasers to carve out parcels they like. One presumption is that the most attractive parcels would span the Window Tree Field and Mill Valley, but that if a purchaser wanted to acquire some of the 711-acre forest beyond, he could do so.

For those instances, the College would impose conditions, such as maintaining access for college people to popular viewpoints at the far reaches of the forest like Inspiration Point and Redwood Flats. Julie Lee, PR director for PUC, states that any purchase proposal will be rigorously reviewed by the Board of Trustees.

Southern access to the estates would be from Las Posadas Road (at the 90-degree turn) and northern access would lead through or near the Helmer & Sons construction yard.

The marketing prospectus makes the point that much of the land is ideal for grape-growing. It is assumable that the large parcels envisioned would produce boutique wineries. The area would become a fenced and gated enclave.

The impact on the Angwin community could be minimal. Whereas the college has wanted to build as many as 580 housing units in one of its past plans, this development would bring in only 9 to 18 households. And probably over a number of years. So there would be not much traffic, and little impact on other infrastructure - schools, sanitation facilities, water and public services.

Some Adventists in the community are more disturbed. Their concerns arose eight years ago when the college trustees first accepted the notion that most of the school's 1900 acres and all of its businesses were "non-essential" assets and should be sold off. Some believe that the natural environment - the woodlands and meadows east of the airport - are not "non-essential" but are essential to the educational and spiritual mission represented in PUC's slogan. That slogan perceives PUC to be a place "Where nature and revelation unite in education."

That historic philosophy was summarily dismissed in 2003 when the prospect was raised that the college could enjoy an endowment of $60 million to $100 million from land sales. That was just too much money to permit other considerations.