A remarkable woman named Bernie Endrosolan, a Napan for more than 30 years, will celebrate her 60th birthday Sunday by competing in a triathlon “Escape From the Rock.” Starting from a point near “The Rock” (Alcatraz) she’ll swim to Aquatic Park, a distance of a mile and a half in cold Bay waters — and that’s just for openers. The triathlon continues on dry land with a 2 1/2-mile run to pre-parked bicycles, a 13-mile bicycle race and finally a 7 1/2-mile run to the finish line at Crissy Field.

Top right: Ali Amaral is announced as Justin-Siena's homecoming queen. The announcement came during half time of Justin-Siena's football game against Redwood High School. Bottom: Napa High School homecoming king Jose Calderon and queen Jennifer Keisling.

Napa Valley sees its share of celebrities — but few who owe their fame to autobiographical books.

Helping change attitudes toward those with mental illness is one of the goals of the Staglin Music Festival for Mental Health, held in September; the other is to raise money to research the causes of mental illness, and help find ways to treat and even cure this devastating problem.

Long ago, people believed that physical diseases were caused by sins or demons, but now we know that most are triggered by environmental factors such as microorganisms and chemicals. And recently, we’ve started to understand the important role in illness of defective genes inherited from our ancestors.

From Register Staff