Stephanie Bottomley, 11,  happily studies in the new middle school center at the Boys and Girls Club.

 A $1 MILLION REVAMP OF THE SAN PEDRO BOYS & GIRLS CLUB MAKES WAY FOR AN INSIDE FACE LIFT AND ADDS A SECTION SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILDREN

Those Students Often Drift Without Their Own Space

By Diana L. Chapman

Falling ceiling tiles, motley flooring and a tired gym forced a San Pedro Boys and Girls Club to undergo a $1 million modernization, but enabled the agency to carve a space out for a much ignored student population at the 46-year-old facility.

From now on, middle school students – in a rare opportunity -- will have their own computer/homework room, a game center and an eatery to make those members more at home, said Mike Lansing, the executive director at the Boys and Girls Club.

No other Boys and Girls clubs in Los Angeles, perhaps nationwide, have specifically set aside space for this age of children.

Prior to the Cabrillo Avenue club’s rehabilitation, areas were set aside for both elementary schools and teenagers. The middle school children were shunted between those two sections and deserve their own space, Lansing said.

“Middle school students have a lot of issues and it’s an important time of their life,” said Lansing, who was a teacher and coach for Holy Trinity Middle School. “Our teen growth was great, but we weren’t getting any middle-school students. They were stuck between two worlds, the teen center and the elementary side.”

The face lift also included revitalizing the club’s gym and its recording studio due to two celebrities donations and a teen foundation.

While the modernization plan has yet to be completed, middle school students were applauding their new facilities at the club and  excitedly waited for 25 new computers to be installed – just for them.

Engrossed in her studies, Stephanie Bottomley who attends Dodson Middle School, said she and her friends will be more comfortable now at the club.

“I think it’s good because there’s a lot of difference between a sixth grader and a 12^th grader,” the 11-year-old said. “Although there’s not bullying, you just feel inhibited. You don’t really speak out. Me and my friends would just stay in a corner. It makes me feel good that there are levels for everybody.”

Deana Bivian, 16, and Eduardo, 14, who both attend San Pedro High said they were delighted for their younger brother, Issac, 11.

“It’s good for them to be separated,” Deana Bivian said while she was tutoring her brother.  “It will help the middle students move on easier to high school. They won’t be scared to ask their questions. They are in their own age group.”

Club officials -- faced with the need to modernize the heavily used facility that attracts up to 450 members a day -- kept to a tight budget for the project and determined ways to use its existing space more adequately. For example,  a modular was planted behind the club for a study area for elementary students – which opened up a larger area for the middle school students.

Middle School students talk in their own game room.

Instead of going to its major supporters – who normally pay for a plethora of programming, Lansing said, he went to his board members and small foundations that would help – which included two celebrities.

Miami Heat basketball player Lebron James’s foundation donated $121,000 to upgrade the gym with new bleachers, provide padding along the walls to protect children from injuries, restriped the floors and hard-capped its walls and ceiling.

James also visited the club – but only to see the children. He did not want any media attention, said Tony Tripp, the club’s music director.

“Lebron was really good for the kids,” Tripp said. “He didn’t want to speak to the adults. That’s why we had to keep his visit quiet.”

The Mark Wahlberg Foundation and the Taco Bell teen foundation also provided $50,000 to upgrade the club’s five-year-old recording studio.

 The studio received a new sound-isolation booth and an enhanced video room with state-of-the-art equipment. Actor Wahlberg also visited the club to tell children that he believes if there were more creative avenues for them, they would stay out of trouble.

Wahlberg was a street tough in his home state of Massachusetts and was arrested for his crimes. The actor said he’s building such programs to help children to not go down the dangerous avenues he did.

In addition to the upgrades in the gym and recording studio, the facility overhauled all its flooring, lighting, ceilings and acoustics, Lansing said. It will take another $100,000 to modernize the outside, which the club is in the process of seeking.

The executive director said he was pleased to provide each age grouping, elementary, middle school and high school students, their own places to eat, study and play.

“It was the linchpin for us,” he said of the project.

Beagle and Chihuahua dumped in a vacant ocean lot along Shepherd Street.

A  YOUNG BEAGLE AND CHIHUAHUA DUMPED AT A VACANT LOT ALONG THE OCEAN NEED A HOME; PROPOSED TACO BELL EXPANSION RECEIVES CONDITIONS; GLORIA LOCKHART STEPS DOWN FROM TOBERMAN AND SLOTS STILL OPEN IN  A FUN WRITING CLASS FOR CHILDREN AGES 6 to 14

PUPS

Two young pups dumped by a woman in a vacant lot in San Pedro near the Pacific ocean survived alone for six  weeks until a rescuer rounded them up and placed them in the kennel.

Rebecca Chambliss, who is among 10 others vying for the Los Angeles council seat vacated by Janice Hahn, said once her friend called and she spotted the wandering twosome – an inseparable beagle and Chihuahua – her heart forced her to help.

“When I saw the beagle find a banana peel and bring it back as food for the Chihuahua, my heart was broken and I knew I had to help,” said Chambliss, a realtor who also runs a non-profit mastiff rescue.

Because of the closeness of the two dogs, Chambliss wants to find a home that will take both of them in.  According to the realtor, a woman drove down to the lot near Shepherd Street and Pacific Avenue, got out of her car, took out each dog and abandoned them in the scruffy, ocean cliff property while exasperated witnesses looked on.

The two are together at a kennel which Chambliss uses to rescue mastiffs. She’s currently asking those interested in adopting the dogs to get in touch with her.

For more information, Chambliss can be reached at chamb@cox.net or 310-998-4466.

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MOST RESIDENTS HAPPY WITH REGULATIONS ON TACO BELL EXPANSION

Many residents, faced with the proposed doubling of the size of a troubling Taco Bell in San Pedro, are pleased with the restrictions the city of Los Angeles has imposed on the eatery.

While one resident is appealing the proposal, others said they were happy once a variety of restrictions were placed on the expected 1,474 square foot Taco Bell at Gaffey and 11^th Streets. In order to gain approval, Taco Bell needed a variance to reduce its current number of parking spaces.

“We really did get everything we wanted,” said Leslie Jones, who owns the nearby Omelette and Waffle Shop with Mona Sutton. “We are happy with the 24 hour surveillance, but we will support our neighbor” in the appeal.

Long a community problem for loitering teenagers and gang members along with deafening noise in the evening and early morning hours , Taco Bell officials remained uninterested for years in curbing the facility’s  security issues. Repeated complaints from the community at large went ignored.

Through a conditional use permit, however, residents were able to curtail opening and closing times, expedite graffiti removal, and enforce the eatery to have a 24 hour surveillance camera along with a 24 hour hot line to record residents complaints.

Sutton and Jones along with residential owner, Sal DiConstanzo, aided their neighbors to make sure the remodel was in the best interest of the surrounding community. Credited for help were Los Angeles mayoral aide, Ricardo Hong, and the Central Neighborhood Council.

Some of the conditions, which would go into effect if the development is approved,  include:

--Installing a 24-hour hot line to take residents complaints that must be recorded with a date and time. The phone number must be given to surrounding schools, neighbors and the Neighborhood Councils and be visibly posted inside the restaurant.

--Installing a 24-hour video surveillance camera along with retaining the recordings in one-month increments that police can request at any time.

--All graffiti must be removed within 24 hours from the time it appears and the paint used must match the colors of the restaurant.

--The restaurant can only serve food indoors  and from 10 a.m. to midnight daily; The drive-thru can only operate from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. There will be no outside seating.

 --An eight foot wall must be built along the alley to buffer residents from the drive-thru sounds along with shrubs and other plants about two feet tall. Such shrubbery must also be planted in the front and maintained year-round.

--Taco Bell is responsible for all loitering on the property.

The proposed expansion faces one more  obstacle.

One resident, whose garages face the alleyway shared by Taco Bell traffic, is seeking an appeal. She wants Taco Bell to install new garages on the side of her house and away from the alley.

-- Toberman’s Gloria Lockhart Steps Down

Gloria Lockhart announces her December departure from Toberman.

Gloria Lockhart, who has shepherded Toberman Neighborhood Center in San Pedro for the past six years, has announced she will retire in December.

Toberman’s president and chief executive officer said she plans to become a consultant in organizational development and will continue to work on her autobiography.

As the head of Toberman, a 108-year-old facility that services the poor of all ages, Lockhart said she believes she’s pointed the center in the right direction.

 “I believe I left Toberman in a really good place,” said Lockhart, 64, who added that she wants to complete “The Unmasking, A Woman’s Journey” and shop it around to agents.

The center is known for programs such as feeding needy families, gang intervention and after school activities for students.

 “It has been a privilege during the past six years to serve as Toberman’s President and Chief Executive Officer,” Toberman wrote in her resignation letter. “I know that my time and work is complete and it is the season to make this change.

“During my tenure, there has been tremendous change and challenges toward becoming a mission-driven organization…Toberman has much to be proud of.”

Lockhart will officially leave Dec. 31 after helping to train her replacement.

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Fun and Nurturing Writing Classes Available at the Corner Store

Does your child need help in writing or ways to blossom even more in the craft?

Consider this:

Diana Chapman, a longtime Los Angeles writer, teaches kids not just how to write but how to have fun while doing it.

In a nurturing environment at the Corner Store, students are taught the Seven Golden Secrets to Writing – and develop their skills consistently – each  Wednesday from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m (minus holidays).

To attend, show up at the Corner Store on Wednesday or email Chapman at hartchap@cox.net.

Costs are $60 for a six-week session or $10 per class for drop-ins. There are no refunds.

The Corner Store is located at 1118 37^th Street.

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Does Your Child Need Help With Their Personal Essay for College Applications? Do You Know Someone Who Does? Enroll in This Workshop at the Corner Store.

Faced with stacks of college applications, university admissions officials say the personal essay can make a student “come to life.”  The personal essay can help separate an individual student from a sea of competitors with similar qualifications.

Diana Chapman has taught dozens of students at San Pedro High School and the Boys and Girls Club how to write personal essays for college applications. Most of her students landed in colleges such as Notre Dame, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UCLA and others across the country.

Diana trains students to tell compelling personal stories—often difficult to come up with on their own—and teaches them how to write so their applications stand out from thousands of others.

“I don’t know what I would have done without you,” said Sarah, who recently took the workshop.

The workshops run for five Tuesdays in a row from 4:00-5:30 p.m. starting Sept. 27. The class costs  $30 for five sessions.  Drop-ins can pay $10 a class. There are no refunds. To register, just show up at the Corner Store, 1118 W. 37th St., San Pedro, on Sept. 27.  Or send an email Diana at hartchap@cox.net to request more information.

Here’s what Diana’s students say about her workshop:

Ø “I wanted to go to a good college and I needed a great personal statement. But my mind would go blank. Diana helped me brainstorm, create, edit and revise the essays. The first day we learned not only about ourselves but about other students like me.” --Aminah Kahn, UCLA

Ø “When it came time to apply to college, I was uncertain what activities and characteristics to include in my essay. Diana helped me draft an essay that included my extracurricular activities, events in my community and characteristics I excelled in. Not only did she help me plan my essay, she advised me how to create and arrange well articulated paragraphs. [Then] I received my acceptance letter to UC Riverside. My desire to attend a UC had been accomplished with my academic skills and a well-developed essay.”  --Roman Abindab

Ø “I went to Diana’s workshop to learn how to write without having to be graded. With her help I was able to express myself. Throughout the fall semester of my senior year, I came in with different (college) applications and each had a different topic. Diana told me to just answer the question first and not worry how well it was written. Later, of course, we reviewed it almost daily. I got into 11 schools and am now a junior at the University of Notre Dame.” --Ricardo Romero

Max Beyda closes down her store.

LONGTIME  SAN PEDRO STORE OWNER SHUTS DOORS AFTER 20 YEARS; MAX’S PLACE IS LIKELY TO CLOSE WITHIN TWO WEEKS

By Diana L. Chapman

hartchap@cox.net

Once a booming store, Max’s Place – a small retail store that has clothed hundreds of San Pedro women for 20 years – plans to shut its doors within the next two weeks.

Through tears and smiles, Ann-Margaret “Max” Beyda said no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to turn the store around despite the money she poured back into it.

“I stood on my head to figure out if I could turn it around,” said Beyda, 60, who said she will soon the be looking for a full-time job. “Last year was really bad, but this year was worse. You can endure a slow time…but you can’t endure it past a certain point.”

The economy “is eroding fast, ” she added.

For weeks now, the store’s stock was slashed to 50 percent off, clearing out the shop and leaving less than 10 percent of what it once carried.

Customers have been warm and respectful, hugging her to say goodbye, Beyda explained, adding that she soon would be seeking work in customer relations. The shop, at 25^th Street and Western Avenue in the Von’s plaza, was a thriving business when it first opened two decades ago and continued on that steady path for nearly two decades.

But that began to change three years ago as the economy slumped.

“Everybody who has come in here has been sweet and supportive,” the shop owner said. “It’s really touching how many people have been reaching out to me. One lady came in and said: ‘Don’t you dare close.’”

Known as a higher end outlet store, Max’s carried brand names, such as True Grit, for half the prices of other stores or online. It primarily catered to a stream of middle class women.

While there were blips along the way, most years were healthy and Beyda was able to make a good living for her and her son, Robert, now 25.  A steady decline hit the store about three years ago and continued a downward spiral despite that she took out loans and tried to make a comeback.

Her son, who attends California State University Dominguez Hills finally encouraged her to shut Max’s doors.

“When I was stressing, my son said: “It’s like a sponge – a bottomless pit. You put the money in and it sucks it down,” Beyda said with tears in her eyes. “I’m going through the grieving process.”

Like so many small shops and cafes, the weakening economy punched out many small businesses – and continues to do so – making many wonder out loud if there will be much left of a middle class. In the shopping center, three other stores remain shuttered after closing three years ago.

Those closures, including a Hallmark gift store, ate away at shopping center’s foot traffic, Beyda said.

Keeping the store running became more problematic when inventory wasn’t moving. Without incoming cash, she couldn’t freshen up the store with new stock.

“I don’t have feast days anymore,” she concluded, adding that as soon as possible, she will beat the streets in search of a job.

Bonnie Sheehan with a dog named Alley, one of the thousands shes' rescued over the years.

 

An Accidental Rescue of One Tiny Dog in LA’s Garment District Led to a New Mission in Life; Bonnie Sheehan Has Saved Some 17,000 Pipsqueaks from the Needle of Death, Cleaned Them Up and Found Them New Homes

But the Hard-hitting Recession Has Forced Her To Rethink The Path Of Her Non-Profit, Hearts for Hounds

By Diana L. Chapman

hartchap@cox.net

Fourteen years ago while lost in the Los Angeles Garment District, Bonnie Sheehan spotted a bloody-red mass flying up and down like a yo-yo from behind a fence. She blinked to register what she was witnessing.

Then it dawned on her; she watched as a group of men egged on a pit-bull to snap, tear and bite to death a pug yanked around by one of the men. A red rage surged through Sheehan, a successful fashion consultant at the time.

“Give me that dog! Give me that dog!” she shouted looming out of her car like a mad woman.“It was disgusting what they were doing, They threw her to me. She was probably only eight pounds.”

Now, she was racing to her vet, blood soaking her designer clothes, the pastel blue leather seats in her new BMW and her high heels—hoping she could save this dog’s life – not knowing it would upend her own. Her fashion consulting life was out; her life as a dog rescuer was about to begin.

 Since that horrible day, Sheehan’s non-profit Hearts for Hound has marked and repeated success and found homes for more than 17,000 plus small dogs —often taken from shelters and nearly at death’s door. It wasn’t until this year, the flagging economy struck hard at her work. She’s now seeking to make drastic changes so she can save the remainder of her 60 canines.  Perhaps, she believes, the thousands of folks who adopted her dogs will come rescue Hearts for Hounds.  A $10 donation from each person who adopted from her could save everything.

  
 "It's just so dark now," Sheehan said. "Now I'm only adopting one dog a week."

***

That tiny pug launched Sheehan into a new lifestyle that shifted from one end of leash to the other. Sheehan shucked her Armani skirts, glittering sunglasses, lucrative salary and BMW, and entered the animal rescue world. Today, she sports sneakers, simple T-shirts and a filthy SUV with a “Puppy Chow” license plate that carts around hundreds of small dogs. Her salary is meager at best.

The money she acquires immediately goes back to the dogs and to run the $7,000-a-month lease for the Hearts for Hound’s kennel.

Before the economy crashed, Sheehan and her six member team became known locally for about 15 years for purchasing and rescuing dogs from shelters the day they are scheduled to be killed.

 They clean them up, remove mange and ticks, give them all beauty parlor treatment and find them new homes.

“I always say they (the dogs) are like the homeless,” she said. “You clean them up give them a bath and they look healthy again.”

Three Hearts for Hounds puppies waiting to be adopted.

The group has a 97 percent success rate in placing dogs like Amy, a four-year-old Russell Terrier mix; Buttons, a 1  1/2-year-old terrier-mix; Porter, a 2-year-old Wheaten terrier mix; and Sylvester, a 1-year-old poodle – all of whom, due to Bonnie,  were taken off death row the day they were to expire.

Before the recession, she matched  15 to 20 dogs with new homes each weekend; Now the number has dwindled to three or four during her Saturday and Sunday adoptions.

A couple that just adopted happily shows off their new pup.

From the beginning of Sheehan's dogged odyssey she was successful when it came to adoptions. The pug, Daisy, was saved and became her invalid mother’s companion. Daisy lived for many years after.

It was Daisy’s peril that first moved Sheehan to volunteer at shelters, but she found it heartbreaking with endless examples of healthy animals being put down who had just been readied for adoption.

“I’d show up the shelter and ask: ‘What happened to this dog or that one?’” the Long Beach rescuer said. “They’d say: ‘Euthanized. Euthanized.’”

The rescuer once spent hours picking ticks and fleas from a three-year-old German Shepherd she named Sarah. Sheehan had found a potential home for the shepherd, “who only needed a couple of days to recover and relax.” She gave Sarah a soothing bath before she left.

 When Sheehan returned the next day, she was shocked and angry that Sarah was euthanized.  That’s when she started her non-profit.

Despite her disgust with some shelters, she did learn something while volunteering for them. A big dog owner all her life until the Garment District rescue, Bonnie said she learned her own fallacy was believing small dogs were adopted quicker than large dogs. She now found herself drawn to smaller dogs.

“They won me over,” said the short-haired determined blond who has been a vegetarian for 30 years and comes from a family of six. “At one point, I was getting out 12 dogs and I finally had to rent a kennel.”

Sheehan with another one of her rescues.

Her small dog adoptions is what led me to Sheehan. My mother, at 80, finally made an announcement – she wanted a small pooch after my sisters and I had begged her for years to adopt one. Excitedly, I began calling rescues, but each turned me down because I lived in LA. My mother lived in Napa and they couldn’t do a home inspection.

Frustrated, a friend referred me to Hearts for Hounds website. When I got Sheehan on the phone, she told me she would find a match. She knew by instinct, she said, who would be good owners and didn’t need to visit any households.

On a sunny day, my husband and I drove to the Alamitos Farmer’s Market in Long Beach where Sheehan does adoptions every Sunday at 10:30 am.

She greeted us and showed us some potential matches. First on the leash, came Katie, a quirky, leaping Schnauzer mix. She was much too wild for my mom.

Then came darling, whiskered Linus, an absolute bundle of goodness who was quickly adopted by a middle-age couple.

 At last came Dara, a not-so-cute silver colored dog shaved down to the nub. Sheehan had snatched Dara out of the pound –despite calls from the staff that the dog was dead. She refused to believe it, she said, until she heard it from the vet.

When the veterinarian came in,  he ruled Dara, a Havenese mix, was more than alive.

Now, holding Dara in my arms,  I could feel her love swamp all over me as she nuzzled deeply under my chin.  My mom now calls her  “sweetie,” “little girl” and “the best dog I could ever have.”

My mom and Dara

 Baxter, now 11- months-old.

Because of Dara, we later turned to Sheehan again. My family added a wild baby Baxter, a bearded collie-poodle mix.

Lilly, my sister's dog.

And we encouraged my sister Leslie that she needed another dog before her beloved dog, Spark, died from cancer. Sheehan matched my sister with Lilly, also a Havanese pup taken from some illegal breeders.  Lilly was only 8-months-old and she already had three pups by the time Sheehan rescued her; they all died. Lilly and Leslie are now like two peas in a pod and are weirdly alike.

All this got me to thinking about the rescuer, and all the work she and her volunteers do. Day after day, they save little dogs that look more than-down-and-out.  Some look like they’ll never get back up on their paws again.

These are the creatures Sheehan and her team drag out of shelters, pay the fees to obtain them, and the expenses to care, feed and treat them before finding new homes. Due to recent financial struggles, Hearts for Hounds had to stop this practice and work on adopting the group's current clutch of canines.

On occasion, Sheehan admits she finds herself stuck with dogs she realizes will never find homes due to fear of humans – even though they love other canines. Her crew calls them “duds,” but the duds have found a good home at Sheehan's kennel training others to socialize with each other. Those include a couple of Chihuahuas, some poodle mixes and a Jack Russell terrier.

“They don’t trust anybody (human),” Sheehan said. “They just love other dogs. They teach them how to trust each other.”

While she skated at first through the mucky economy,  the last several months have forced her to consider buying an inexpensive piece of property back east –where pet adoptions are still thriving – to save some 60 dogs she still has and her non-profit.

She figures if each person who has adopted from her donates $10 she can do this easily.

I support Sheehan’s move. Her insurmountable successes which are mostly by “instinct” have led her to pet adoptions where she stills hears back from people to this day. Amongst the pride-and-joy stories she could line on her trophy wall are two in particular.

One starts with a Northern California family who spotted Tara, a Tibetan-terrier mix on the Hearts for Hounds website. They had a young son with medical conditions and he became captivated with Tara’s photo.

The family flew down to see if Tara was a fit. Once the youngster met Tara, Sheehan said, it was a clear the two already loved each other.

 Tara went off with her new family.

Within a week Sheehan received a call from a grateful mother.

Her son, the mother told her, had gone into cardiac arrest.  Tara had been left outside his bedroom and went into a wild fury, charging and slamming herself repeatedly against his closed door. The family rushed in discovering his seizure.

“Tara saved my son’s life,” the mother told Sheehan, who wasn’t the least surprised knowing the power of itty-bitty animals.

A second story was of a powerful Newport Beach attorney. He showed up at the adoptions acting oddly. He never had a dog, he announced.  His social graces upset the volunteers so much, that they asked Sheehan to turn him away.

But Sheehan watched him. Suddenly, he scooped his hand in the cage, picked up a Tibetan terrier – and kissed him. That was all the answer Sheehan needed to know he would make a good owner.

 A year later, she was adopting her pooches at a spot in Newport Beach when the attorney arrived with his dog in tow offering a $500 bottle of champagne to the rescuers. The attorney took his dog to the office everyday.

“’This dog changed my life,” Sheehan said he told her. “People talk to me now when they wouldn’t even approach me before.’”

“ Now, that was just precious,”  Sheehan said.

Sheehan can be reached at (562) 597-7137. Because she is frequently swamped, call several times. To see what she has for currently up for adoptions, visit www.heartsforhounds.com.   Besides cash donations, Hearts for Hounds needs blankets, toys including old stuffed animals, food and cleaning supplies. Donations can be sent to Hearts for Hound Kennel  at 1356 Obispo Avenue, Long Beach.

ANNOUNCING The 7 Golden Secrets to Writing Workshop FOR THE FALL

What’s this:

A fun, unorthodox way to get children to embrace and love writing while they learn, create and enjoy at the same time. Long time writer Diana Chapman created the workshop to instill a passion in children about the craft  while they improve their skills

Who is tHis For:

Children ages 6 to 13. Another class will be formed if enough parents are interested for children ages 13 +. If interested, email her at hartchap@cox.net

WHAT ARE THE COSTS, WHEN AND WHERE?

Each six week session costs $60. This workshop will run each Wednesday from Sept. 14 to Oct. 19 from 4:30 p.m. to 5:45 at the Corner Store, 1118 West 37^th Street, San Pedro. There are no refunds.

TO ENROLL:

Either show up for the first day of class or reach Diana via email above.