THE FOOTHILLS PAPER - APRIL 8, 2016

D E P A R T M E N T S

News from Your Clinic .......... 2

View from the Rock ............. 3

Chef Randy .......................... 5

Jim Laris .............................. 8

S-T Crime Stats .................. 10

Take My Card .................... 11

FRIDAY • APRIL 8, 2016 TELLING THE TRUTH FOR OVER 11 YEARS! VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 8

FREE

Spotlight on Business: Bel-la’s Paralegal

................2CV Sierra Club’s “Sudan Egypt”

................4LAFD Captain Kris Larson

................9

All these stories and more can be seen at: http://facebook.com/thefoothillspaper

I N S I D E :

O V E R 2 0 0 D I S T R I B U T I O N S I T E S I N T H E F O O T H I L L S A R E A

THE ELECTION’S OVER — WE ALL WON!

They Made Their Voices Heard!

2 — FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2016 • THE FOOTHILLS PAPER www.thefoothillspaper.com • VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 8

Fresh Free Range Harmony Farms Turkeysavailable for your dinner parties—all sizes

818-248-306810%

On selected items.

Come check out one of the largest

selections of wild game meat!

off

For the absolute best steak, get Harmony Farms’Australian “Kobe-style” Wagyu Beef!

by Sam Samalin, Pa-C

Nearly every week, someone comes into our clinic and asks if we can help them with weight loss information. So many people struggle with eating in an attempt to enjoy a healthy life and control weight. First, avoid unneeded calories — the worst of which are french fries, potato chips, soda and meat. Meat means beef, chicken or pork; if you eat some fish each week, that is good. You can also get lean protein from beans, eggs, yogurt, peanut butter, tofu, quinoa, nuts and seeds, etc. Next, avoid sugary carbs and limit your carb intake. Sugary carbs are white bread, rice, tortillas and any baked items with flour. Good carbs are whole grains, pasta and potatoes. Avoid sugar by not eating packaged food of any kind or at restaurants, and just making food with your own fresh ingredients such as whole grains, vegetables, fruits, lean proteins and olive or soybean oil. What to eat is half the solution. How much to eat is also key. That means knowing when to stop. Always enjoy every bite of food, take the time out of your day to relax and enjoy

eating. If after eating for a while you don’t enjoy the taste of your food as if it’s your first bite, this is your body telling you you’re getting full, and it’s time to start finishing up your meal. If you feel upset about eating, just stop. Even a little overeating can devastate your quality of life. Many of us can’t control our eating, however, and we need help. That means eat with someone who can control their food intake and follow their behavior, or eat planned, prepared meals, and don’t eat alone or other than the plan. If your BMI is over 25 seek medical help. Often patients are unaware of the calories in their food, or need therapy or support. Eating is naturally a pleasurable part of life, the best plan restores you to the simple enjoyment of eating. Come to First Aide Urgent Care for support for your eating and weight control.

News From Your Urgent Care Clinic

Dr. Sam.

Obesity: A Multi-Strategy Solution

Dr. Sam is a Physicians Assistant and is certified at the

Urgent Care Clinic, 7204 Foothill Blvd.

My name is Lynda Lepe, and I am a family law parale-gal. I have been a resident of La Crescenta for many years. I specialize in divorces, child custody, child support, restraining orders and guard-ianships. I work with many clients who cannot afford to pay expensive attorney fees. Many of my clients do not have the funds to pay high retainers for attorneys. I can offer low-cost attor-ney representation. My busi-ness came to be after I found myself in a court battle many years ago. I was dragged into court by a cruel family member. I had suffered many years of abuse by this person and his next step was to try to steal my child legally from

me. It took me a couple of years but we won our case and my child was no longer forced by law to spend any time with the abuser. I discovered that my situ-ation was not uncommon. I went to school and received my certificate as a paralegal.

I have since been working in family law with attorneys. I am committed to helping those who are in need of legal help. I cannot stress the fact that many people are afraid of the legal system but we

Bella’s Paralegal Services

Emma Gagnon(2-11-25 to 3-10-16Emma Gagnon passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She is survived by her husband of more than two decades, Cam Gagnon, and her two daughters, Pam Gardner and Cindy Gardner-Hathaway and two grandchildren.

She was married at the Tujunga United Methodist Church. She retired from a long clerical career as Mrs. Sterling from Verdugo Hills High School. She also worked at Mt. Gleason Jr. High. She lived in Tujunga on Tinker Avenue for nearly 40 years. She was active in church, choir, square dancing and travel.

Being part of the generation that survived the Depression and WW ll, she always appreciated having a few dollars, a good meal and the miracles of super glue!

Services were held on April 2 at 4 p.m. at the United Methodist Church Northridge on 9650 Reseda Boulevard in Northridge, California 91324.

Spotlighton Business

see Bella’s, page 10

THE FOOTHILLS PAPER • FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2016 — 3VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 8 • www.thefoothillspaper.com

THE FOOTHILLS PAPERis published bi-weekly. All contents are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without written consent of the publisher. All submissions to this newspaper become property of THE FOOTHILLS PAPER and may not be republished in whole or in part. The opinions expressed by contributing writers do not necessarily express the views of the publisher nor staff of this newspaper. TFP is available free of charge. No person may, without prior written permission from TFP, take more than one copy of each edition (stated value: $1). Only authorized TFP distributors may distribute THE FOOTHILLS PAPER. THE FOOTHILLS PAPER is a non-profit newspaper produced by the OSS-Spectrum group.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR/PUBLISHER

Dr. David DeMullé[email protected]

TECHNICAL EDITORRandall Fleming [email protected]

STAFF ASSISTANTDyan McManus

WITH THANKS TO The ILS Foundation for Their Support

THE FOOTHILLS PAPER TheFooth i l l sPaper .COMP.O. Box 444, Tujunga CA 91043

818-951-0943

Press Photographers Associationof Greater Los Angeles

L.A. Press Club

International Combat Camera Association

For all of you that participated in or followed the STNC election last Saturday: THAT WAS A SQUEEKER! I was really im-pressed to see the community get polarized enough to come vote for their candidates. Everything was going pretty good for about a month before the election, then BANG! It went crazy. Arnie got busted for allegedly having mari-juana at the St. Andrews Collec-tive which he does not own, the Nina was still going around tout-ing her non-existent newspaper, and the Cleghorn machine was re-ceiving death threats. We have everything necessary to write a local book we could call “The Lard Of The Flies!” (With all due respect to William Golding.) But I’m going to stand-down and give the newly elected council a chance to prove themselves. And boy, will they have to do something wonderful to undo what the STNC and the machine have done these past years.

What I find most interesting it that the newly elected (unop-posed) Treasurer Ms. Shooshig S. Avakian is going to have to sort through the non-existent meeting minutes and find out WHO autho-rized the payment of all that mon-ey to the chamber of commerce. The NC is paying the chamber’s rent every month, and they don’t even have someone to man their office. I’m really looking forward to the new secretary to set up a way to keep the minutes honest. It can be done, but it’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. On the local front, we’re still having a traffic fatality a month on our streets. WE DO HAVE A LARGER POLICE PRESENCE, but they can’t be everywhere. Drug busts are up, attempted sui-cides and ODs are up and the tran-sients are still migrating from one campsite to another. But the LAPD is doing something abso-lutely wonderful: Some of their officers are taking special training

on how to contain and defuse a person with a mental problem without anyone getting injured. So yes, boys and girls, once again we have the chance of be-coming a normal community. One of our local racists, Kurt Koesler, sent me photographs of his steal-ing hundreds of our newspapers. He doesn’t want you to be able to read them. Cindy Cleghorn is yelling LIAR at me for stating the truth about her turning in people with display signs. There has to be some truth in how the machine

has been controlling our local community – I never had someone throw bricks through my company windows or have to get restraining orders against my employees. Think about it. Anyway, I want to congratulate the newly elected NC members. You fought a hard battle against really difficult odds, and you won. More than 1,275 people showed up to vote, and 1,223 ac-tually voted. THAT’S INCREDI-BLE. Who knows, maybe they ran out of water? LOL

VIEW

ROCK

VIEW

ROCK

An Open Let-ter to RotaryDear Rotary President, I resigned from the Sun-land-Tujunga / Shadow Hills (STSH) Rotary Club in No-vember, 2015. And included a request that my name be removed from everything Rotary. You have not re-moved my name. My resignation was nota-rized because I want to be held harmless should the

STSH Rotary Club contin-ue to have financial troubles, including the money that seems to be owed regarding the Hometown Heroes ban-ners in town here. I believe it is owed to a lo-cal retired Marine nurse, who has done tours in Iraq. Amelia Anderson resigned in September of 2015. Past presidents Richard and Susan Stewart both resigned last month. Word is that the STSH Ro-tary Club is down to five

members. Never have I seen worse leadership. Never have I worked with people so ethi-cally bankrupt. I’m writing a story about it, and expect it to published soon after it’s finished. (My late husband’s family owned the New Yorker and I have good friends there who work on the literary side.) The tentative title is “Death by Rotary.” Again: please remove my name from anything having

to do with Rotary.

Thank you.Candace Laughlin,

STSH Rotary Club, six years, four as Secretary.

Club Rotarian of the Year, 9/2015;

Crescenta- Canada Rotary Club ‘95-’97;

Club Rotarian of the Year, 1996;

reference: Joe Kroening, owner, Andy’s Transfer,

long-time leader of Crescenta-Cañada Club.

The FooThills leTTers & PersPecTives

by DaviD Demullé

Last week, Los Angeles County put up a new sign depicting the German heritage and what the German community did to make the Crescenta Valley a great place to live. The name Hindenburg Park has been engraved on a boulder near the cooking area for as long as I can remember. The sign is a simple sign stating “Welcome to Hindenburg Park.” So what? you might say. Well, a group of dissidents decided that this was an affront to them because back in the 1930s, it had a Nazi youth camp and later, a few Nazi rallies were held there. The park was not set up to honor the Nazis but to honor a World War One hero and Ger-

many’s president from 1925 to 1934, Paul von Hindenburg. There is a plaque in the middle of the grounds that outlines the history of the German settlers in the Crescenta Valley. It has always been that way. Now a few people have created a

band-wagon to claim that it has a sinister hidden agenda to praise the pre-World War II Nazis. That’s like saying that we have to shut down Sunland Park and Foothill Blvd. because the KKK had rallies there. The new sign was erected

by the Tricentennial Founda-tion, a German heritage organization based in the North Hills with the approval of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Don’t we have enough problems to worry about without making new ones?

The Wack-Os Are At It AgainHindenburg Park threatened by bored “community” activists


Attention All Veterans,Sons, Daughters and Wives of Veterans

Come and Enjoy your local American Legion PostHelp support Veterans and Veterans’ Causes

American Legion Post 37710039 Pinewood Avenue, Tujunga

(818) 353-9856Events open to the Public

Canteen Hours - 7 days a week, 2- 10 p.m.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~For Hall Rental, call Commander Dan at

(818) 521-1137

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

KaraokeSaturday, April 9 from 8-11 p.m.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Movie Review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceby bob Garver

The new superhero flick, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” is the most an-ticipated superhero cross-over movie since “The Aveng-ers.” Actually, it might be even more anticipated than

“The Avengers.” Superman and Batman have starred in big-budget blockbusters since the 1970s and ‘80s, respec-tively (and smaller-scale mov-ie serials and TV shows long before that), but who cared much about Iron Man or Thor before the last decade? Ex-pectations for this movie are extremely high, as is the po-tential for disappointment. Af-ter all, this movie is direct-ed by Zack Snyder, helmer of notorious Superman mark-misser “Man of Steel.” The casting of bomb-prone Ben Affleck as Batman also sent fans into an uproar. It turns

out that all of that worry and pessimism was pretty much justified. The movie starts out dur-ing the climactic battle from

“Man of Steel” when a Me-tropolis-based Wayne Enter-prises building gets destroyed. Bruce Wayne (Affleck), sepa-rated from his Bat-gear, saves a few people in the rubble, but losses are heavy. He’s obviously angry at Zod, but he’s mad at Superman (Hen-ry Cavill) too. He’s the rea-son they’re having this battle, he’s being too reckless, and is it really good for the plan-et to have someone as unstop-pable as him, even as a good guy? Superman spends a lot of time struggling with these questions himself, though he doesn’t spend much time thinking about Batman. May-be Batman’s ego is hurt by how little Superman thinks of him and that’s why he hates

Superman so much. Batman vows to build a weap-on to destroy Superman that he may or may not have to use. He settles on stealing the one being built by fellow bil-lionaire industrialist Lex Lu-thor (Jesse Eisenberg), who has discovered that Superman is vulnerable to Kryptonite. Batman wants the weapon for himself because it should on-

see Batman, page 9

The Crescenta Valley Sierra Club presents, Bob Ihsen’s Sudan Egypt, on Tuesday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m., at the Los Angeles County Public Library in La Crescenta. With Bob Ihsen’s program we will travel north from Khartoum along the Nile to visit remarkable archaeo-logical sites relating to the Kingdom of Kush, an ancient rival to the better-known pharaohs to the north. On to the pyramids of Meroe, a world heritage site, the Coptic Christian tombs at Dongola, then to explore Jebel Barkal

and the Royal Necropolis of Napata. A visit to nomadic tribes in the isolated Bayuda Desert and the ruins of An-cient desert cities miles from the Nile. Returning to Khar-toun we will see the Whirling Dervishes of the Sufis, the Tomb of the Mahdi and cruise to the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile. He is a lifelong residence of Covina and a 40-year Sierra Club member. When taking time out from his many years of teaching history, he has traveled the United States and the world. Of the 193 mem-

bers of the United Nations he has been to them all except one: Libya. He is active in the Covina Lions’ Breakast Club, the San Dimas Westerners and is president of the Covina Valley Historical Society as well as a co-advisor of the Scholarship Federation at Covina High. The program begins follow-ing news of Conservation and Outings. This is a free com-munity event and everyone is welcome. Refreshments will be served. Please contact Wayne Fisher for further in-formation at (818) 353-4181.

CV Sierra Club Presents “Sudan Egypt” at Library

Blazing Star

Bazaar

Little Landers Historical Society

invites you to our

www. Little Landers Historical Society .org (818) 352-3420 [email protected]

Saturday, April 16th, 2016

Doors Open at 9:00 AM

Bolton Hall Museum and Little Landers Park

10110 Commerce Avenue, Tujunga

This is not your average rummage sale!

We are offering new, used, antique, retro, vintage and collectable items at great prices.

We also have a variety of potted plants for a fraction of the cost you’d pay anywhere else..

Donation items are being accepted at Bolton Hall during public hours: 1 to 4 PM, Tuesdays and Sundays.

We are also accepting donations on Friday, April 15th from 10 AM to 3 PM.

For plant donations, please contact us to make arrangements.

The Pasadena Society of Artists is proud to present the Spring Juried Exhibition at White’s Fine Art located at 2414 Honolulu Avenue in Montrose. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The gallery

can be contacted at (818) 957-4071 or via the Web site at www.whitesfineart.com. Come and see 41 artworks presented by 37 members of the Pasadena Society of Art-ists as selected by juror Clovis Blackwell.

The exhibition opens Tues-day, April 5 and continues until Saturday, April 30. Meet the artists at the Opening Reception Saturday, April 9 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Refresh-ments and hors d’oeuvres will

Pasadena Society of Artists Hosts Exhibition on April 9

see Exhibition, page 9

White’s Fine Arts hosts juried exhibition.


For additional recipes, see Chef Randy’s website at

valley-vegetarian.com

Date-Nut-Fig Tartby Chef Randy

If you’ve got a sweet tooth, this recipe is a way to fulfill your craving for something sweet. It features dates, which are naturally sweet, low in so-dium, rich in potassium and contain a fair amount of se-lenium. (Selenium can help lower the risk heart disease as well as help keep our immune system healthy.) Now, even though dates are very nutritional by them-selves, I’m not saying this is a super-nutritional reci-pe. Far from it. In addition to the dates, it includes a lot of other sweet tasting carbohy-drates such as figs, cranber-ries, brown sugar and honey. So if you need to watch your sugar intake, this may not be the best recipe for you. I will say that it is a good recipe and that your friends and family, who need that once-in-a-while sugar infu-sion, will enjoy eating it.

Ingredients1 large egg2 ½ tablespoons golden brown sugar (firmly packed)2 ½ tablespoons butter (melt-ed)2 tablespoons orange blossom honey1 ¾ teaspoons orange peel (finely grated)½ cup unsalted pistachios (shelled)3 ¼ cups pitted medjool dates (halved lengthwise)

½ cup dried cranberries½ cup dried black Mission figs (stemmed and halved)Tart crust (see below*)1 cup Greek yogurt

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk egg, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter, honey, and 1 teaspoon orange peel in medium bowl. Set aside 1 tablespoon of the nuts for garnish. Add re-maining nuts and all dried fruit to bowl with egg mix-ture; toss filling to coat. Unroll crust onto prepared sheet. Spoon filling into cen-ter of crust; spread out in even layer, leaving 1 1/2- to 2-inch border. Fold crust edges over filling (about an inch of the outside crust) pleating oc-casionally. Brush crust with remaining 1/2 tablespoon melted butter. Finely chop reserved tablespoon of nuts. Mix chopped nuts and re-maining 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar in small bowl. Sprinkle over crust.

Bake tart until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling in center, about 40 minutes. Stir yogurt and remaining 3/4 teaspoon orange peel in small bowl. Serve tart warm or at room temperature with orange-flavored yogurt on the side.

* Crust Ingredients:3 cups flour1 cup wheat germ1 ½ teaspoon sea salt1 cup plus 4 tablespoons but-ter10 – 12 tablespoons cold wa-ter

Crust Directions:Stir together flour, wheat germ and salt. Cut butter into these dry ingredients (a pas-try cutter makes this easy). When the dough is the con-sistency of rolled oats, sprin-kle with enough of the water to hold the dough together. Form into a ball, cover and refrigerate for about an hour before rolling out into a cir-cle approximately ¼ inch thick.

It would be arrogant and nar-cissistic to assert that any artist today is so because he / she figured it out all on their own. Even an art form / style that may not be in vogue or viewed as worthwhile is derived from what has come before. The added fact the tools we use are the same is further evidence, to me, that we learn from those who have come before. I can state with certainty I have picked up my share of meth-ods and techniques from many other artists both living and dead. If you live on this planet, you will be influenced by what has come before. Even if you are secluded away without mass media or newspapers, I believe your art would reflect the world you live in then re-semble some form or configu-ration seen before. Conse-quently it would not be justly deemed original. One underlying fact is that we all take information, sift it, absorb what works then use what ability we were endowed to try and use the information to say something worthwhile. Even art that is not intended to be informative or instructive but just playful says something. Art is a way to communi-cate. Its one fundamental way humans have tried to outlive their existence and become im-mortal as far back as the cave-men/women who left behind impressions of their world. We are doing nothing more than they. Communication is at the very heart of all art. When you factor into the equation commerce then things change. Selling is im-

portant on many levels today but the underlying issue for many artists is profoundly to transmit an idea of what they see and/or believe. This is what we try and do every day of our life when creating “orig-inal” art. Even the child with his/her first paint set will put down what they believe to be an idea of the world. It may not be co-herent or well-constructed due to the fact they haven’t devel-oped the ability to fully ex-press it. Yet it will be an im-pression or facsimile of what is already known. Which brings me to the word “original.” In a creative sense, what does original mean? Can we even identify any-thing as not being derivative, a variation or permutation of something that has come pre-viously? Figuratively speak-ing, we are all cut ostensibly from the same genetic cloth. Regardless of origin, area of birth, physical makeup, we all have the same brain with rela-tively the sameness makeup and connections to our world. We are humans. A person or persons from an as yet unknown or discovered civilization will still be “hu-man” to get to the root of it. Hence, they will possess the same characteristics as you or me and thus see the world al-beit with some differences, but they will record what they see and think. I may seem to be going too far from my central point, but I don’t think so. Who among us can say they possess THE original idea?

b y R i c k R o t a n t e

ArtfullyS P E A K I N GTruly Original


Small

2.99 4.59

2.99 4.59

Large

Small Large

Soup

Supas Yogurt Soup

Lentil Soup

Shawarma PlatesServed with Hummus, Salad, a choice of Rice or French Fries and Pita Bread or Lavash Bread

Served with Hummus, Grilled Green Pepper and Tomato, choice of Rice or French Fries and Pita Bread or Lavash Bread

Shawarma Wraps Sandwiches

Salads

S P E C I A L S

Your choice of bread: Pita Wrap, Lavash Wrap or French Roll

3.99 5.99Tabbouleh

2.99 4.99House Salad

2.99 4.99Greek Salad

2.99 4.99Yogurt Tsatsik

8.99Beef Shawarma Plate

8.99Pork Shawarma Plate

7.99Chicken Shawarma Plate

8.99Falafel Plate

7.99Beef Lule Kabob

12.99Lamb Chops

9.99Pork Kabob

9.99Pork Ribs

14.99Combo Plate

7.99Whole Chicken

7.99Chicken Lule

8.99Beef Kabob

8.99Chicken Kabob

8.99Brduj

7.99Kotlet

7.99Mediterranean

10.99Ikibir

8.99BEEF SHAWARMA

7.99PORK SHAWARMA

BBQ Plates

Roasted Chickenwith hummus, pita and rice

5.99Half Chicken

choice of chicken or beef

6.99Shawarma Pizza

8515 Foothill Blvd. Sunland, CA 91040www.TheShawarmaHouse.comFREE DELIVERY with minimum

order of $15

CATERING AVAILABLE

818-352-7777 • 818-352-1111 Mon-Thurs., 10am-10pm Fri & Sat, 10am-12am | Sun 10am-10pm

SHAWARMA ON WHEELSFOR CATERING & EVENTS! CALL TO LEARN MORE

choice of chicken or beef

3.99Kabob Wrap

CHICKEN SHAWARMA

6.99

Shawarma House is now serving Burgers, Fries & Pizza!

Meet Sam, your family

care specialist

WE ARE HERE WHEN YOU

NEED US MOST(818) 352-83337204 Foothill Blvd.

Tujunga

X-RAYS

LABs

PEDIATRICS

EKG

B-12

DOTClinica MedicaAbierto 7 Dais De La

Semana De 8AM A 8PM


Salem Lutheran School announced today that final plans for adding 8th grade to the current Jk-7th grade program has been completed. Salem introduced 7th grade this past September, 2015. The rigorous 7th grade program was designed to not only prepare the students for high school, but as well as college. With this in mind, Salem wants to continue offering a challenging aca-demic standard that promotes 21st century instruction. In general, 8th grade will be considered the foundation for their spiritual and academic professional careers here at

Salem Lutheran School. At Salem, education is considered complete only if it includes both top level aca-demics together with classes stressing good citizenship, strong moral values and examples of ethical behavior in the context of Christian teachings. “Our teachers’ goals and our parents’ goals are one and the same,” said Principal of 18 years Ghada Huleis. “We are here to support parents who want their children to grow into well-balanced adults who value achievement, service to others in need and compas-sion towards all.”

Glendale’s Salem Lutheran School is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and won the Glendale News Press Best of Glendale School Award 2014, won Principal of the Year award by Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, National Distinguished Principal award presented by National Association of Elementary School Principals. For more information, please visit www.salemlu-theranglendaleschool.org or contact the school at (818) 243-8264 or email the school at [email protected].

Salem Lutheran School Opens 8th GradeMultiple-award winning and WASC-Accredited K-7 school expands to meet growing demand

by DaviD Demullé

The great white heron foraged in waist-high oats and foxtails in a weedy haven among expensive hillside homes. But to Los Angeles Fire Inspectors, one heron’s buffet becomes a growing time bomb of tinder during the driest season on record in Los Angeles. “What I always want to look for is where the fire is headed, where is it going to go, straight up into that pine tree, into that house; when the wind blows, off it goes.” Brush has become so dry due to lack of rain that conditions now approximate the height of summer, fire prevention officials say. Not even the cloudy skies and possible rain expected to move over Southern Califor-nia are expected to hydrate the grass and brush that become easy kindling for neighborhood fires. Los Angeles, with 4.27 inches of rain this season, is just over a quarter-inch drier than the record driest year of 1960-61: a mere 4.56 inches. Normal rainfall for downtown

L.A. between July 1 and June 30 is 13.94 inches.Firefighters got a bit of a brush fire scare Thursday but were able to take care of the problem quickly. Crews doused a one-acre brush fire near the Hansen Dam Monday around 6 p.m. There were no reports of injuries and no homes were threatened, but there were a lot of people enjoying the basin when the fire started. The cause of the blaze is under investigation. To avoid the firestorms like those that once engulfed our mountains a couple of years ago, the fire department is asking residents this spring to be especially diligent about brush clearance. Every time we have a rain, no matter how limited, the weeds spring to life, and then die. All residents are asked to maintain a 200 foot “Brown Zone” around their houses. If the job is too big, there are many local brush clearance companies that do the work for you. One such local busi-ness is Aper’s Tree and Brush Service of Tujunga.

The Hillsides Are A Ticking Timebomb!

SQUARE DANCINGSaturday, April 30 1:30-4:30 p.m.

No rounds • 4-5 tips each levelMAINSTREAM thru ADVANCED

Don’t need a Partner! • Casual Attire OK

Sunland Senior Citizens Center, Sunland Park8640 Fenwick Street, Sunland, 91040

Over Flow Parking off Sherman Grove

BloominSquares.ORG FaceBook.com/BloominSquares

RSVP: (818) 945-1189

On March 22, there was another traffic fatality in Sunland-Tujunga, this time at the intersection of Newhome and Sherman Grove in Sunland. Jae Hee Song was walking across the intersection when she was struck by a neighbor going east-bound. The driver reported that as he came to the intersection, the sun blinded him and he did not see Ms. Song crossing. Song was transported to a local hospital by neighbors where she passed away. It was just two weeks ago that Kathleen Yukl was killed in a traffic accident on Foothill Boulevard. The driver claimed to have been blinded by the early morning sun and apparently didn’t see her crossing the intersection on her motorcycle. If you look back at all the “Wrecks of the Week” that the Foothills Paper has

posted through the years, you will see that the majority of them were caused by driver distraction. The facts are not yet revealed as to how fast the driver involved in this recent traffic fatality was going, but

it obviously was too fast for the conditions that morning. Please drive slowly and carefully, and as a pedestrian, just because you have the right of way, shouldn’t make you “dead-right.”

Another Traffic FatalityDriver claims sun blinded him as he hit pedestrian

Jae Hee Song’s possessions at the scene of the accident.


by Jim LaRis

Do you know what the word “irony” means? Oh, sure, you think you know what it means. Hey, I thought I knew what it meant. But try saying just exactly what irony means in one short sen-tence so that even someone like me who has a two-digit I.Q. can understand. OK, I’m waiting. I’m not hearing any short sentences. I don’t have all day here, folks, I’m writ-ing a damn column. You can’t do it, can you? You know what it means, but you can’t actually say what it means. I feel your frustrated, pissy little pain. Well, I am going to quell that pain (and your thirst, if quell shouldn’t be used with pain) and tell you what the dictionary says. As per the Encarta World Dictionary found on my word processor, irony is

“something that happens that is incongruous with what might be expected to happen, especially when this seems absurd or laughable.” Hey, that is exactly right. Those dictionary guys are pretty happening, huh? That

is exactly what I wanted to say, but I couldn’t. And because I know you couldn’t either (you’re probably still stuck on incongruous), I have decided to do yet another public service and help you semi-lowlife ingrates out with an example of irony, which hopefully will stick in your minds. So in the future, if someone asks you what irony is, you can say that you knew this jerk-off columnist guy and you can tell them a little story filled with irony and little else. As you may recall, I informed you in my last col-umn that I had accidentally backed up into another car. Well, in this week’s column, I am going to inform you that I have backed up into a boat. No, I wasn’t in a car when I hit the boat. I was in a boat when I backed up into the other boat. And why did I back up into another boat? Well, I did it just so I could help you remember what irony is. That’s the kind of guy I am. Selfless. Altruistic. And a vocabulary-enchancing giant. Here’s the deal. I bought an

old boat to go with my hovel up in Oregon, and the boat needed, shall we say, a boat-load of repairs. The motor wouldn’t run, the batteries were dead and there was no reverse gear. And I needed to have a kicker motor mounted, too, for safety reasons. As in, if you are out on the open seas and your first psycho motor goes out you can use your kicker to get your sorry ass back in to land to be able to watch future episodes of

“Mad Men.” So I had the work done. (That noise you hear is my wallet weeping.) Everything is supposedly cool, so a friend of mine and I decide to take her out for a little test cruise. And because I was interested in you learning the meaning of irony, we thought it would be safer if we just used the kicker motor and stayed in the harbor before we headed out to sea and probable death. The kicker motor started up on the second pull. Mike was at the tiller and I shoved the boat out from the slip, hopped on board like Errol Flynn and we were off. Mike

puts the outboard in first gear and off we go. Until he tried to turn the outboard, and he discovered the boat guys had not mounted the outboard motor correctly. And he couldn’t turn. So he yelled, “Start the main motor and get us out of here!” I jumped into the captain’s seat, turned the motor on and immediately threw it into gear. I floored that sucker. It really took off. Kind of too bad it was in reverse. So, in two days, I had backed into a car and a boat. (Don’t take me to an airport.) Mike inquired as to just what my reasoning was to have put it into reverse. I told him that my readers were the most important things to me, and that I needed to show them what irony meant with some concrete example that they could use in the future, and that my personal safety, credibility, pride and being referred to as a dangerous, dumber-than-a-donut-hole driver were just not that important to me. If I wouldn’t have tried to be safe and prudently

decided to just take the boat out into the harbor instead of risk going out to sea, and if I hadn’t spent $479 to fix that frigging reverse gear, I would not have been able to use that frigging reverse gear to slam it into frigging reverse and back into that boat with expensively paid-for full reverseness. Ironic, isn’t it?

Jim can be contacted at [email protected]

Jim Laris is Jim Laris.

It’s Ironic, Isn’t it?

In business since 1999, family-owned and operated, all kinds of mattress-

es: adjustable, memory foam, orthopedic.

If you have back pain, please visit our store. We can help you by recommending

the right mattress for you.

We deliver everywhere for free, and we will dis-pose of your old mattresses.

All our mattresses are proudly made in USA

We will give the best service. We have very competitive prices, a very clean

showroom, and many mattresses to show you.

Choose from extra-firm, firm, plush, pillow top or soft. You just name it!

2818 Honolulu Ave. La Crescenta, CA 91214

818-541-1666WE DO SMOG CHECK, BRAKE & LIGHT INSPECTION, ENGINE DIAGNOSIS AND ELECTRICAL.

NOTICE TO CONSUMERS: The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 ensures that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use cannabis for medical purposes where medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recom-mended by a physician who has determined that the person’s health would benefit from the use of medical cannabis. Recommendations must come from an attending physician as defined in Section 11362.7 of the Health and Safety Code. Cannabis is a Schedule I drug according to the federal Controlled Substances Act. Activity related to cannabis use is subject to federal prosecution, regardless of the protections provided by state law.


ly be in the hands of some-one good like him instead of someone who probably wants to commit some sort of un-specified evil like Luthor. Al-so trying to steal from Luthor is a mysterious woman (Gal Gadot) with different moti-vations. It’s a poorly-kept se-cret who she is, but I’ll avoid spoilers except to say that she got the biggest non-trailer re-action at my screening. A superhero movie is often only as good as its villain, and I have mixed feelings about Eisenberg as Luthor. I don’t hate his twitchy delivery as much as some other critics, nor do I think he “ruins” a tense scene by interrupting an important conversation be-tween Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent. The argument is that there’s no reason he should be commenting on a conver-

sation between a billionaire playboy and a mild-mannered nobody reporter, but I say that he’s already figured out that Henry Cavill with glasses is Superman and Ben Affleck’s chin without the mask is Bat-man. On the other hand, he’s a villain with long hair, wild rambling, a disruptive nature, and a scheme that doesn’t seem to extend beyond mess-ing with our heroes. If the movie wanted to do this char-acter so badly, why make him the megalomaniacal Lex Lu-thor and not The Joker? I’m not going to say that I feel “cheated” by “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” We get Batman, we get Su-perman, and they tussle. It’s hard to get invested in their fight because of how likely it is that they’ll eventually put aside their differences to go after the real villain and his boring CGI monster, but the

requirement for a fight scene is fulfilled. The second part of the title is also present, most-ly through hints and one de-but. I would have preferred a few more debuts, but I was minimally satisfied. Overall, however, this movie is a mess. The narrative is disjointed and character motivations are barely more developed than

“They’re so-and-so, they have to be like that.” We get the expected superhero shenani-gans, but otherwise this mov-ie spends over two and a half hours not making sense. One and a half stars out of five. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action through-out, and some sensuality. Its running time is 151 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at: [email protected].

Batman, from pg. 4

be served. Media includes oils, acrylics, watercolors, bronze sculptures, onyx sculptures, encaustic, digital and traditional photog-raphy, metal sculptures, fused

glass, mixed media, pastel, charcoal, graphite, etchings and ceramics. Founded in 1925, the Pasa-dena Society of Artists (PSA) is one of the area’s original professional artist groups. The Society is noted for its

vigorous, active membership, wide diversity of artistic state-ment, and high professional standards. Membership is by juried submission. PSA is a non-profit orga-nization whose mission is to present the works of its many

talented and creative artists to the community of Pasa-dena and surrounding areas. Combining an active tradition of community participation and partnering with local community arts organizations, as well as philanthropic,

humanitarian and educational institutions, PSA endeavors to enhance public awareness of art and the enriching qualities it brings to our lives. For more information about PSA, please visit www.PasadenaSocietyofArtists.org.

Exhibition, from pg. 4

With the dawning of a new CD, the sun set one last time for local Foothills folk songwriter and Vietnam Vet, Craig Chereek. Friends from around the globe adored Craig, not only for his extraordinary musical talent, but for his cheerful demeaner, intellectual astuteness, and commitment to environmental protection and basic human rights. He had a way

of facilitating those on all sides of issues to find a common ground. Craig played acoustic guitar for 53 years, having traveled around America playing local clubs. Mentored by “Nature Boy” writer Eden Ahbez in his early days, Craig adopted a tender picking style, writing songs about love and justice. Craig’s bucket list was short: finish the second Craig & Debbie CD, have a

listening party, and marry his musical partner, Debbie Ethridge. Although Craig and Debbie did not have a chance to tie the knot, she says they were married in spirit and that’s all that really matters. The second CD is finished and set for release in the very near future. The first CD was given a very positive review by our paper about a year ago. A beautiful, emotional listening party took place at

his home in La Crescenta last Friday, as he rested under hospice care. Friends and family entered his room one by one, praying and sharing their sentiments. He then passed away moments after the party ended. Though the community deeply mourns Craig’s departure from this life, we know he’s up there in Heaven teaching the angels how to pick n’ grin.

OBITUARY: Craig Chereek

Aug. 2, 1918--Feb. 15, 2016 Born in Ludlow, MA, he was the oldest of six children. His parents, John and Josephine Lata moved the family to Erie, PA where he grew up. He worked at many jobs while a youth. At one of those jobs, he met his future wife, Rose Rawa. They married on September 4, 1939. In 1945, during World War II, Louis was inducted into the U.S. Army, serving in Italy and Austria. He returned from the war

with a foot and leg ailment that eventually forced the family in 1952 to move to the warmer climate in southern California. Louis worked at various jobs including prototype machinist, motel manager, sole proprietor of an appliance business and plant general manager. They joined Our Lady Of Lourdes Parish, Tujunga. Louis became active in The Knights of Columbus, Council #4438, serving as Bingo Manager for many years, as well as holding several

offices including Grand Knight. Louis was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in January, 2014. He passed away quietly and peacefully in his Sunland home and hopefully, he is teaching all those angels for whom he was waiting how to polka. He leaves behind, Rose, his wife of 76 years, his son Jerome (Grace), daughter Darlene (Myron Ferdig), son Terrance (Celia), Grandson Jonathan Lata, Granddaughter Elizabeth Buell and two

great-granddaughters Alyssa and Kamryn Buell, his brother Ted (Cheryl). Louis was buried with military honors at Arlington National Veteran’s Cemetery in Riverside, California on March 4. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to: Alzheimer’s Assn, 225 N. Michigan Ave. Floor 17, Chicago, IL 60601 or Lourdes Columbian Society, 10275 Tujunga Canyon Blvd., Tujunga, CA 91042.

OBITUARY: Louis Lata

LAFD Fire Captain II Kris Larson had her first Tujunga structure fire last Thursday morning at 10451 Tinker Avenue. As Captain of the “A” shift, Larson has the honor of being the highest ranking female African American captain in the Los Angeles Fire Depart-ment (LAFD) and brings with her 25 years of experience.

Her previous assignment was as a member of the Panorama City Drill Tower 81 Instruction Cadre. As the only female officer on the drill tower staff, she was well respected by her fel-low instructors and the recruits that were going through the 20 week fire academy. In last week’s fire, Engine & Truck 74 arrived on the scene

within five minutes of being notified and quickly put out the fire without any damage to surrounding vehicles and structures.

LAFD Captain II Kris Larson

Captain Larson commands her LAFD firefighters.LAFD Captain II Kris Larson.


Burglary 03/18/16 08:00 PM 7400 BLOCK

OF FOOTHILL BL

Burglary 03/19/16 12:00 PM 8000 BLOCK

OF ELLENBOGEN ST

Theft 03/19/16 02:00 PM 10300 BLOCK OF QUILL AV

Theft 03/19/16 10:00 PM 10100 BLOCK OF PINE-

WOOD AV Details

Theft 03/20/16 09:30 PM 10400 BLOCK

OF SCOVILLE AV

Theft 03/20/16 07:10 PM 7300 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL BL

Theft 03/20/16 07:00 PM 10200 BLOCK OF TUJUN-

GA CANYON BL

Theft 03/20/16 10:00 PM 10000 BLOCK OF TUJUN-

GA CANYON BL

Theft 03/20/16 10:00 AM 11100 BLOCK OF ORO

VISTA AV

Burglary 03/21/16 04:00 PM 10900 BLOCK OF MOUNT

GLEASON AV

Assault 03/22/16 06:30 PM 10400 BLOCK OF LAS

LUNITAS AV

Theft 03/22/16 06:30 PM 6800 BLOCK OF EAGAN ST

Theft 03/22/16 02:05 PM 10000 BLOCK OF COM-

MERCE AV

Robbery 03/22/16 08:00 PM 10000 BLOCK OF COM-

MERCE AV

Theft 03/22/16 09:00 PM 7200 BLOCK OF VALMONT ST

Theft 03/22/16 07:00 AM 7000 BLOCK

OF FOOTHILL BL

Assault 03/23/16 12:00 PM 8600 BLOCK

OF FOOTHILL BL

Theft 03/24/16 08:00 PM 00 BLOCK OF SABLE ST

AND FENWICK ST

Theft 03/25/16 12:30 AM 00 BLOCK OF 3RD ST AND

GRANDVIEW

Burglary 03/25/16 06:15 AM 9600 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL

BL

Assault 03/26/16 09:30 PM 00 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL

AND WENTWORTH

Theft 03/27/16 12:00 PM 00 BLOCK OF MOUNTAIR

AND HILLROSE


Theft 03/27/16 10:00 PM 9900 BLOCK OF HAINES

CANYON AV Details

Assault 03/28/16 09:05 PM 00 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL BL AND PLAINVIEW ST

Assault 03/28/16 09:35 PM FOOTHILL BLVD AND

PLAINVIEW AVE

Assault 03/28/16 09:38 PM FOOTHILL BLVD AND

PLAINVIEW AVE

Assault 03/28/16 05:00 PM 00 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL

AND WYNGATE ST

Robbery 03/28/16 08:50 AM 8600 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL

BL

Theft 03/30/16 12:00 PM 10800 BLOCK OF MOUNT

GLEASON AV

Assault 03/30/16 11:40 PM 8200 BLOCK

OF FOOTHILL BL



Theft 03/30/16 01:00 PM 6500 BLOCK OF QUINTON LN

Theft 03/31/16 09:30 PM 10200 BLOCK OF SAMOA AV

Burglary 03/31/16 07:30 AM 8600 BLOCK

OF FOOTHILL BL

Theft 04/01/16 06:00 AM 10100 BLOCK

OF PINEWOOD AV

Burglary 04/01/16 05:00 AM 8100 BLOCK

OF FOOTHILL BL

Theft 04/01/16 12:00 PM 10200 BLOCK OF SAMOA AV

Crime Stats

Bill to Give Consumers Power to Cancel Services With a Click

You’ve seen the ads from companies that advertise the ease of signing up for their cable or Internet service over the web. However, if individ-uals decide to cancel those same services, they’re often forced to suffer through in-furiating, time-consuming phone calls, often spending hours on hold. Today, Assem-blyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) introduced a major consumer-protection measure that would require compa-nies that allow Californians to sign up for cable or Inter-net services online to also al-low them to cancel those ser-vices online. “AB 2867 allows Califor-nians to conveniently unsub-scribe from a service with a simple click of the mouse,” said Assemblyman Gatto. “It just makes sense that if you are able to sign up for a ser-vice online, you should also be able to cancel it the same way.”

Rapid advancements in technology grant consumers a wide variety of cable, Inter-net and phone service prod-ucts from which they may choose, and while compa-nies make it simple to buy or upgrade services, a can-cellation request is usually a prolonged ordeal where cus-tomers are sometimes pres-sured into extending their contracts. AB 2867 provides a convenient and consum-er-friendly option for Cali-fornians to remove unwant-ed services without a long phone call. In July 2014, Ryan Block, co-host of the MVP with Ry-an & Peter Podcast, released an eight minute-clip of his phone call in which he at-tempted to disconnect his ca-ble services over the phone. His cancellation attempts were repeatedly blocked by the telephone representative, culminating in a very frustrat-ing 18-minute call — an ex-

perience that many consum-ers have encountered. These hassles have even generated a new industry, with startups offering to handle customer service issues on behalf of the consumer, for a fee. “Two years ago my wife and I called to cancel our ser-vice, and as is usually the case, that call was pretty un-pleasant,” said Ryan Block.

“This is why we’re so excit-ed by Assemblyman Gatto’s bill, which would finally al-low most customers to be able to cancel their service online, without having to talk to someone whose job is spe-cifically to prevent you from canceling.” “There are times when we, as the legislature, need to step in to protect consumers and make people’s lives a little easier,” said Gatto. “This is one of those times.” Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Utilities & Commerce Committee and the longest-serving current member of the State Assembly. He represents California’s 43rd Assembly District, which includes Los Angeles, Glendale and Bur-bank. www.asm.ca.gov/gatto.

BREAKFAST SERVED ALL DAYDine-in / Take-out / Catering for any occasion

THE BEST OMELETS IN TOWN!Waffles, Charbroiled burgers

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK: M-F: 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. Sat 7 a.m. -5 p.m. • Sun 7 a.m. - 3 p.m.

(818) 353-04658236 Foothill Blvd., Sunland

SWEETCHERRIE’S

DINER

Only the finest, freshest ingredients are used to

create the ultimate OMELET.

Our CLUB SANDWICH is sliced turkey, crisp bacon, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo on three slices of lightly toasted bread.

Our CHARBROILED BURGER is rich, high-quality beef, lettuce, cheese, pickles, anyway you want it for

every mouth-watering bite.

must trust our situations with people who care and listen and can provide us with the knowledge of our rights.

I am a paralegal who has experienced the court system and can understand. I can help by preparing documents necessary to initiate or respond to your legal matter.

I am here to give many the opportunity to find the legal help they need and to help them know there are options — just as I was given a choice many years ago.

Bella’s, from pg. 2


SEE OUR NEW ADDRESS BELOW!

8459 Foothill Blvd.Sunland CA

(818) 577-5548


In the hours just after sunrise, a band of urban activists gath-ered up their brushes and paint and they set about colorfully

decorating the Department of Transportation (DOT) signal boxes throughout Sunland-Tu-junga. What the neighborhood

city council beautification committee could not pull to-gether over the last three years was in a single night solved by

these anonymous artists who artfully spoke for the people:

“We can do it without you!” Why is it that our youth can

have visions and make them happen while their elders just vegetate and play Facebook games?

Local Artists Made It Happen!

THE FOOTHILLS PAPER - APRIL 8, 2016

Documents

Transcript of THE FOOTHILLS PAPER - APRIL 8, 2016