East County Times Column Oct. 30, 2008

Tomorrow is Halloween, time for kids young and old to enjoy a day of trick-or-treating, show off their favorite character costumes, carve jack-o-lanterns, read scary stories, watch horror movies and visit haunted attractions. All of those activities can be found right here in Oakley.
Halloween is actually one of my favorite days of the year. I enjoy having the kids trick-or-treating at my door, especially the little ones who are just learning what it means to dress up and walk the neighborhood. The unfortunate thing this year is over the past few weeks parents have been considering forgoing the evening’s walk because they are concerned that there will be no one around to give out candy.
Although over the past few weeks some of the foreclosed homes on our block are selling, there are still many that worry that too many are vacant, leaving the kids disappointed.
So, what are parents going to do with their kids this year? A few neighborhoods are offering parties for the neighbor children. One neighborhood is planning to gather up a bunch of pumpkins so that the kids in their neighborhood can have a pumpkin-carving contest. Other families have decided to stay in for the day and rent a bunch of horror movies and read scary stories.
The Girl Scout Troop 1437, with the help of a local Boy Scout Venturing Crew, will be hosting a haunted house. The activities will take place at a home at 936 Carpenter Road. The Girl Scouts have had the haunted house open weekends since Oct. 10. They had originally planned for tomorrow to be its final day open, but decided later that there was an interest to let it go on until Saturday night.
The organizers of the activities are Girl Scout parents Andreina Sanve and Yvonne Fee. Sanve says that the girls really get into scaring kids that come though the door, but it’s all in good fun.
Sanve calls herself a “Halloween freak” because she enjoys decorating. She decided why not let the girls have some fun with it, and let it be a fundraiser for their activities. The $2 entrance fees goes to camping trips for the girls and sponsorships for those in the troop who need a little extra help with expenses. Half the proceeds are going to the boys in the Venturing crew.
The activities include an 8-by-22 foot pirate ship manned with a 6-foot animated pirate, a city morgue, grave yard, four rooms completely decorated in scary delight, a mad scientist lab, a 24-by-48 foot chainsaw massacre site, a clown section and even an electric chair display. The backyard is full of activities as well, with inflatable air characters.
“There is something for all ages,” Sanve said. “Usually if the parents ask for us to go easy on the little ones we just send word in ahead to let the girls know. Sometimes though they just tell us to go all out.”
Girl Scout Cathy Fee has been involved in helping out at the haunted house for the past six years and is really enjoying herself. “I really have fun scaring and seeing the reaction of the kids. It’s also really fun being here with the girl scouts,” Fee said. The haunted house will be open from 7 to 10 p.m.