La-Terian Tasby, before he was killed, with Cara Askew, College Bound coordinator, for the Boys and Girls Club. La-Terian was in College Bound and a leader at the Cabrillo club site.

WHAT LA-TERIAN TASBY’S MOTHER WANTS TO SAY PUBLICLY FOR THE FIRST TIME ABOUT HER SON’S KILLING; AND HER THREE WISHES IN REGARDS TO HIS DEATH; SHE FEELS HONORED TO ATTEND THE PEACE VIGIL AT SAN PEDRO HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE 182 MURDER VICTIMS AND WILL BRING HER FAMILY

The Vigil will be 6 p.m. Thursday at San Pedro High School’s Pirates Stadium,
1001 W. 15th Street

By Diana L. Chapman

It’s been almost eight months since her son, a San Pedro High School athlete, was shot and killed by gang members at a party in October. She’s heard two different versions about his death – one is that he went down fighting to protect his friends. The other was that he stood by watching an argument ensue and was shot.
Knowing La-Terian Tasby’s personality, his mother, Rosemary Snead-- who has five other kids but finds that even they can’t patch the bleak hole punched out in her heart-- banks on the first being the closest to the truth.
And that’s exactly why she feels so frustrated with his friends who are too fearful to talk; Stories keep rolling in such as it was a 15-year-old boy who shot her 17-year-old son. Constantly, she finds herself dwelling on the idea that “that boy gets to eat, sleep, laugh, use the bathroom and still get mad at his mom and dad.
“My son can’t do that anymore.”
La-Terian’s death couldn’t have been anymore tragic. Having moved with his mom from Inglewood to San Pedro in 2006 – for a time living with his aunt and uncle and the rest of his family under one roof – Rose recalled the transition she witnessed in her own son.
In the beginning at San Pedro High, his grades were Fs and Ds – atrocious – and he was always “clowning around” in this 6’5” body with size 17 feet. But once the coaches told him he could have a winning shot with sports – both in football and basketball – she watched her son finally settle down.
The coaches prodded him to bring up his grades, so La-Terian embarked on an intense campaign of schooling, including summer school and attending Harbor College classes to make up for his past failures.
“He was so happy,” she explained, “and he was just determined to meet the qualifications.”
La-Terian also became a leader at the Boys and Girls Club where many youth were awestruck not only by his height, but by the fact that cared about them. He constantly listened to the younger kid’s problems.
But that October night crucified all the work La-Terian had done when allegedly gang members crashed an athlete’s party, made racial slurs and started a brawl. Several students said La-Terian moved in to protect them and went down fighting like a soldier right before he was shot in the chest. At least two other youths were stabbed, but did not have life threatening injuries.
The story that La-Terian started to fight for his friends didn’t surprise his mother, one bit, because unfortunately, even though he was as gentle as “a big pussycat,” he didn’t have much fear. He also believed in doing the right thing, his mother recalled. Once when there was a fight at school, he was subpoenaed and asked to testify. He didn’t think twice about testifying, because he wanted the truth to come out, she said.
Even though the charges were dropped in that case, Rose believes to this day that had the situations been reversed – and La-Terian watched someone else get shot – she believes he would take the stand.
“My son put his life on the line for his friends, but if they were true friends, they would come forward,” she said.
She understands the fears the students, who were at the party, face. If they testify, there’s a possibility they could get killed or even put their family members in jeopardy. To survive, it’s likely they would have to enter the eye-witness protection program, uproot their entire family and change their identification.
While she herself is somewhat torn – and doesn’t want anyone to die if they did testify – she still wonders aloud then what has been accomplished. “The fear empowers the gang members to go on killing” more and more – especially if they never face the face of justice. That makes San Pedro just that much more dangerous, she said.
She forgives the killer or killer(s), she explained, because she refuses to walk around with hate. “The gang bangers don’t scare me,” Rose explained. “The only thing I’m scared of is my heavenly father. So I am always trying to forgive and not hate.”
Rose’s three wishes:
--That no one take revenge in her son’s name because “he would not want that. He was not a gang-banger. That’s what gangs do. Get revenge. He wouldn’t want that. He would want justice.” And, she added, that she would never wish that type of pain on any mother or family.
--That someone step forward and take the stand so whoever killed her son would face justice and serve a lifetime sentence. “I don’t want revenge,” she said. “I want justice.”
--That if someone is caught, that that person will pray to God and ask for forgiveness for what was done to La-Terian.
Besides his mother and other relatives, La-Terian is survived by five siblings, Jennifer, 21,Cecil, 20, and twin brother, Darien, 18, all Tasbys; Jaevion Owens, 15, and Johnny Yates, 11.

YOSEMITE: THE BIGGEST OUTDOOR
CLASSROOM EVER; ALL CALIFORNIA STUDENTS DESERVE TO GO: PARENTS -- IT'S YOUR TURN TO HIKE UP

YOSEMITE: THE GREATEST OUTDOOR EDUCATION CENTER; ALL CALIFORNIA STUDENTS SHOULD HAVE A SHOT AT THIS MARVELOUS, MAGICAL WORLD TO LEARN

By Diana L. Chapman

A TRIP TO YOSEMITE: ONE OF CALIFORNIA’S GREATEST EDUCATIONAL TOOLS; MIDDLE SCHOOLERS INTERESTED IN GOING SHOULD START FUNDRAISING AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR FOR A SHOT AT SPOTTING SHEER WALLS, BOB CATS, COYOTES, SNOW AND SOME OF THE GREATEST GLACIER CARVINGS THAT EXIST ON EARTH

By Diana L. Chapman

A pit welled up in many of the kid’s stomachs as they started to haul themselves through a tiny V-shaped rocky entrance into pitch-black Spider Cave.

The blackness alone was enough to scare off most adults – let alone middle school students – who were learning once again during an educational trip to Yosemite the true nature of team work. They had to depend on each other to get out.

A teacher on the journey, a bit petrified herself, felt her heart stop once she entered the cave until she heard Felipe, a giant 8th grader, whisper kindly that she was fine. He was right there next to her – and he would guide her through the darkness. The students were in a chain, holding each other’s hands, responsible to guide the soul behind them – to find their way out.

Arching through Spider Cave –not called that because the creatures dwell there, but because a human almost has to take the shape of a spider to get through – was just one of the many lessons students received on their journey through Yosemite – done via the Yosemite Institute where lessons from geology to biology will be thrown at students from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. each dayan .

It’s hard to drink in that much information, but when education is disguised as adventure, which it truly was, the spark easily stays ignited.

The best part: students from Dana Middle School learned to give up their computers, their I-Pods, their cells (which didn’t work here) and learned to enjoy – some for the first time in their lives – the wilderness. They hiked through towering sequoia groves, studied the swath of stars in the night time skies, scaled the sides of sheer cliffs – and learned how the glaciers carved those cliffs with slow, but ever-changing movement.

It was a giant outdoor classroom that was endless in lessons.

Once in Spider Cave, the Yosemite Institute teacher lit a candle. The student’s faces glinted with shadows that bounced off their faces and asked them to share their feelings about being in this cave – where few of the millions of visitors would ever have a chance to crawl through.

One frightened boy gratefully turned to his friend and thanked him profusely for guiding him through the cave, one of dozens of adventures they would have in this week-long trip in one of California’s most magnificent natural landscapes.

While walking through ancient redwood groves, one student marveled at the amount of knowledge the institute’s teacher had. The teacher, he was awestruck by, could pick up leaves and tell you which type of tree they belonged to.

“How do they know all that?” the student asked one morning while walking through grooves. He might not have been a perfect student, but he was learning a lot about biology – and best of all, the jagged Yosemite geography was igniting his imagination. This experience is the type hat can change a child’s life around in a heartbeat.

That week in Yosemite, students dabbled in astronomy, had lessons in cross-country skiing, hiked alongside waterfalls and visited a myriad of areas in the region laced with hundreds of lakes and ponds. They watched as wildlife trooped casually by in their own neighborhood, from shadowy coyotes scouting for food to a quick visit from a bobcat.

“Yesterday, when I was hiking, my group and I saw a coyote stalking two squirrels,” wrote one 8th grade student. “It’s really cold here. I love the snow when it’s fresh and powdery.”

A science teacher explained just why this experience is so important to so many students.

“For students with limited experiences coming into middle school, the Yosemite experience broadens their world,” said Alyssa Widmark, a science teacher who has chaperoned the adventure for three years. “It gives them a reference point from which to imagine, to dream. They could not have imagined careers or leisure time in this environment, because they did not understand its existence.
"For more worldly students, it gives them opportunities to mature, help others, be self reliant and have others rely on them. It connects them with nature in ways that will effect who they become as an adult.”
Since Yosemite, one of the greatest gifts California has to offer perhaps to the entire world, the state’s students should all have a chance to attend this marvel.
To do so, however, school districts can’t possibly do this alone. Parents need to step up, agree to chaperone and in some cases – consider taking over the responsibility of the adventure.
For if there is a dream world to be had – and one that can be learned from – Yosemite is the place.
For more information, visit http://www.yni.org/ or call (209) 379-9511.

“

Above photos by Ash Rhominou, science teacher at Dana Middle School

l

ANOTHER COMMUNITY WRAPUP AND IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT UNDERDOGFORKIDS BLOG COMMENTS, Peace Vigils, Cancer Relays & a Musical

Above: Gardena High students Ron Chandler and Kierra Petty to play leading roles in the school's first musical in 15 years.

Dear Readers:

Many of you have reported that it’s difficult to make comments on the blog. In order to comment, it appears you need a Google account, which is free of charge. However, if you’d rather have me post the comments, please send them directly to hartchap@cox.net and I will try to post comments above the stories when possible or a block of comments may be posted at one time. Thank you for reading the Underdogforkids.blogspot.com
We need many more Underdogs out there.

Don’t Miss These Important Upcoming Events: The Cancer Relay, the Peace Vigil, and Gardena High’s First Musical Done in 15 YEARS – done with the Help of the San Pedro Ballet Co.


PEACE VIGIL FOR ALL THOSE WHO HAVE DIED TO VIOLENCE IN SAN PEDRO:

A peace vigil honoring the 181 victims that have been killed violently in San Pedro over the past two decades will be held this Thursday night (May 15) at San Pedro High Pirate’s Stadium where doves will be released, the Pirate dancers will perform, a local jazz singer will belt out Amazing Grace – and cell phones will be lit at the end of the ceremony.

The vigil will run from 6 to 8 p.m.

Being held by the San Pedro School Safety Collaborative –and sponsored by the high school – the vigil is one of the first all-out efforts to pull the entire community together against violence and to send a sign to our youth that the residents here do care about all those who have died – especially the children.

Among the 181 victims, about 24 were children under the age of 18. The vigil was sparked by the violent gang shooting last October of Laterian Tasby, a 17-year-old high school football and basketball player who went to San Pedro High. But as officials viewed the lists of homicides – and local Los Angeles Police Officer Joe Buscaino recognized many he went to school with – the collaborative agreed that all the victims should be honored.

Please attend this event -- as one of the first steps to promoting peace in our community.

Gardena High School Presents “Grease”
San Pedro Ballet Co. Partners with Gardena High School to put on a Musical; the school's first Musical in 15 years

When Gardena High School’s new assistant principal, Jacquie Augustus, wanted to reinvent performing arts at her school, she decided that “Grease” would be the perfect show to launch such a program. As it has been fifteen years since the high school has put on a musical, there were many challenges to overcome.

A team was assembled that included vocal coaches, choreographers, a musical director, costumer, technical director, crew, and director. Once the team was in place, notices went out about the auditions. As this project was a new concept for Gardena High, it wasn’t a given that students would show up and sing an audition song to be judged. The creative team was pleasantly surprised to get enough interest to form a talented cast.

Funding from the LAUSD Arts Grant and the 21st Century Beyond the Bell has made the production possible. A partnership was formed with Harbor College for set design, and upgrades have been made to the theater. The school is attempting to provide their students with a quality theater program similar to those of other top high school theater programs in Los Angeles enjoy. San Pedro City Ballet has partnered with the Gardena High School to add to their team of professionals.
What: Grease
Where: Gardena High School; 1301 West 182nd St.
When: May 23 @ 7:00, May 24 @ 7:00, May 25 @ 2:30
Tickets: $10 at the door

THE CANCER RELAY EVENT ONCE AGAIN COMES TO SAN PEDRO HIGH; Help Raise Funds to Eradicate Cancer
The Cancer Relay will be held Saturday, May 17, at San Pedro High School. More information can be found at this website: www.events.cancer.org/rflsanpedroca
A Survivor's Reception will be held at 9 a.m. with Opening Ceremonies at 10 a.m. Survivors will walk laps at 10:30 a.m. and the teams will keep walking starting at 11 a.m. continuously through the night until the following morning. Saturday evening, the luminaries will be lit to honor the hundreds of San Pedro residents who have died from the disease. On Sunday, a Closing Ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. Please support the teams attempts to raise funds to fight cancer.

WHY I DISLIKE READING COUNTS!!!! FOR SOME STUDENTS, IT DUMBS DOWN THE MIND & FAILS TO SPARK A KID’S CREATIVE THINKING; WHILE IT’S EXCELLENT FOR OTHERS, IT CAN BE A FAILURE-TRAP FOR LOW READERS; AND A BOREDOM-TRAP FOR HIGH ACHIEVING STUDENTS

By Diana L. Chapman

A student takes the Reading Counts test and fails.
The same student takes the test again and fails.
The student takes the test again, for the third and last time. Another fail. By now, this kid –despite having read the book – will receive no points for having done so and comes to dislike reading.

A student reads the book, Jane Eyre.
Another reads the book, Wuthering Heights.
Another reads the monster-sized novel, It.

All these tomes are hundreds of pages long, but some high achieving students who’ve read them refuse to take the Reading Counts test. It’s just too mundane for their senses.

The highly popularized Reading Counts system, which has been adopted at schools around the country, has worked for thousands of students, but for some kids, the disconnect between the testing, the reading and the classroom, makes me cringe. The tests are short, something like eight questions, and tend to address the smallest of details.

Some teachers like this because it helps them determine whether the student has actually read the book, or just watched the movie. This program, however, leaves me discouraged by its lack of creativity and depth –which to me is what English is all about.

What discourages me the most? The failure to address students who are never going to pass the quiz because they lack memory skills about specifics, such as what type of jam was sitting on the shelf the day so-and so began making preserves. They’ve read the book, but are punished for failing to get these types of questions that are neither analytical nor challenging, but memory-based.

Or this issue: my friend’s two daughters, whose heads are constantly buried in books, find the whole Reading Counts thing tedious, troubling and ridiculous; their father spends a good amount of time yelling at them to take the tests because, in this case, it counts for 20 percent of their English grade.

Many teachers swear by this program and absolutely love it. They see their students reading levels go up. That’s excellent. I don’t doubt for a moment that it works for scores of students. But I have two fears using this system. One makes me wonder if there’s a lot less dissecting of books going on in English class, fewer and fewer book reports – and very likely -- less essay writing – the very thing that loans itself to spark the imagination and creative soul.

While some teachers and students find book reports boring and cumbersome, the funny thing is this: it makes kids write and think – and in English class -- that’s exactly what they need to do.

Having 15 low-level reading students to work with as a volunteer, I was puzzled that when we completed the book, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, more than ¼ could still not pass the test.

The sad tale was this: the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves walking through the woods of England, drinking pots of tea and hanging out with a lion when we were reading. They challenged all the oddities they spotted, comparing their home life to England – such as, why do the English drink so much tea.

Another, they wanted to understand why the characters in the book, Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter, had to flee London during World War II and go live in the countryside with their uncle. These – low-end readers --if we want to call them that -- constantly asked questions which led us to debates – all sorts of debates, including one about Hitler.

Once we completed the book, we celebrated with an English tea so the kids could taste a bit of England with pots of jam, lemon curd and buttered scones. Then, they took the test.

The ¾ of the kids who passed were delighted. The rest hung their heads in shame. Finally, I went to look at the questions myself: one of which was where was the Sheepdog standing next to Aslan, the lion? What sheepdog? I must have read that book a dozen times and don’t remember a sheepdog. We went through the book and couldn’t find a sheepdog. In fact, no one in my family (who has read the book several times as well) could recall that character either.

To this day, I still can’t find the sheepdog!

From my end – a struggling student myself and a poor test taker -- my only saving grace was English. I loved those heated classroom debates of what an author was trying to say.
English made my dull school years come to life as we picked books apart, delved into characters, and discovered the depth of the plot. Often while science and math killed my grades, here was something I absolutely could cling to – reading and writing.

Had tests like this been a chunk of my grade, it’s likely; however, I too would have failed. In fact, it surprises me that my girlfriend, who for some curious reason I will never understand, enjoyed taking the Reading Counts tests and often didn’t pass them either!

The question: should students take tests like these? The answer is: “Yes,” for the students it does help. But for those students who will only see it as a repeated failure in their lives, why sacrifice what might stir their souls and march them in the right direction – book reports, essays and debates.

The job is to instill a love of reading. If we can do it using Reading Counts, then so be it. But as all educators know by now, no one size fits all. For those the program fails, we must seek – and it’s an absolute must – another path to take them to the road of reading.

That is, after all, one of the biggest steps a kid will ever take toward carving out a successful future.

Join San Pedro City Ballet for their Annual Spring Fundraiser
“Saturday Night Fever;" Keep Our Very Own City Ballet Alive and Leaping!!

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
6:00 pm
The Reef Restaurant
880 Harbor Scenic Dr.
Long Beach (near the Queen Mary)

One hour hosted bar, silent and live auction, dinner, disco dancing

Advance purchase: $70 per person or $650 per table of 10
At the door: $80 per person

Adults only, please
RSVP by April 28th

Proceeds to benefit the 15th Anniversary production of “The Nutcracker”.

ON A DAY GOING FROM BAD TO WORSE, DISCOVERING YOU ARE THE LUCKIEST GAL ON EARTH;

It was a bad day.
How bad? Testy is the best way to describe my disposition at the time.
And it wasn’t only me. Everyone I bumped into seemed irritable.
I watched people get into arguments. I was in a couple of them myself.
First, a little background:
Stepping out of my normal box, I see a San Pedro community pulsating with anger about over development, a proposed new high school, traffic quagmires and parking shortages. In general, I see a community frustrated about the way San Pedro is reshaping itself.
New families priced out of the South Bay housing market see this community as the last bastion where you can live near the water in a “reasonably” priced home – under a million bucks. They are the fresh faces in a town that prides itself on generations of tight, large families that emigrated from places such as Croatia and Italy. Newcomers bring new pieces to the puzzle. Sometimes they fit, and sometimes they don’t.
Downtown is being redefined as an upscale condo haven, but everybody’s holding their breath wondering if the new units will sell in a sliding economy. Downtown businesses are shuttering their doors or surviving by a thread. And looming budget cuts from every direction make people wonder whether they will have jobs tomorrow. On the street, I keep hearing people ask: “Tell me again, why can’t we break away from L.A.?”
It seems everyone is wondering what tomorrow will bring.
This brings me to my point. That was exactly the type of day I was having Tuesday. Small things were piling up, like the ATM failing to give me a receipt. When I went inside to get one, the clerk told me irritably she couldn’t help. The ATM is operated separately and there was nothing she could do.
Talk about a gigantic lie! That was the beginning, and it went downhill from there.
Then two things happened that made me wake up and smell the flowers. It took some time. The first was at a meeting when Ana Dragin, an aide to Councilwoman Janice Hahn, confirmed she was leaving to have her first baby.
At the end of the meeting, LAPD Senior Lead Officer Joe Buscaino and his wife Jay surprised Ana – and all of us – by presenting her with a cake and flowers. This might not seem like a big deal, but I could tell it made Ana’s day. It was so thoughtful because these people don’t work together routinely. This group meets once a month or so to discuss safety issues.
Still, I returned to my grumpy mode within minutes of leaving the meeting.
Late in the afternoon, I was peering out at the ocean as I walked along Paseo del Mar. Point Fermin Park was oddly quiet for 5 o’clock. It was nearly empty, in fact.
That’s when I saw it: a thick wave in the middle of the ocean going in the opposite direction of the current.
It seemed odd. I couldn’t remember a rock out there before. That’s when it began to rise up from the water. I suddenly realized it was a gray whale headed back to Alaska. Then it lurched out of the water in a giant leap!
It was like magic to see something like this. I looked around to find someone to share it with and didn’t see a soul. There it went again! The whale performed another spectacular breech into the air. I witnessed this three times and still I couldn’t find another soul.
Perhaps the gift would have to be savored alone.
But toward the end of the walkway, three young men were peering out at the ocean with big smiles on their faces. That made me suspect they had lucked out, too.
“Did you see the whale?” I asked excitedly. Happily, one of the men said not only had they seen the leviathan, they watched it leap from the water six times. Although he’d lived in San Pedro for years, he’d never seen anything like that before.
That put my grumpiness to rest, at least for the rest of the day. Within a few minutes the park had filled and the whale had moved on. That glimpse reminded me why we live in San Pedro: It’s because you can see the universe work its magic on a daily basis.
At that moment, I felt I was the luckiest gal on Earth.

PREDICTING A RELATIVELY BLEAK FUTURE FOR THE ENTIRE HARBOR AREA ONCE MONEY SHIFTS FROM THIS LOCALE TO PROVIDE GANG REDUCTION TO A DOZEN OTHER REGIONS CONSIDERED MORE CRITICAL;
IT’S TIME TO REALLY WORRY ABOUT OUR KIDS AND FOR THE COMMUNITY TO STEP UP WHETHER THAT BE VIA DONATIONS, VOLUNTEERING OR FINDING OTHER OUT-OF-THE -BOX SOLUTIONS

By Diana L. Chapman

The bit of luck that existed in the Harbor Area when it came to ugliness of gangs will soon be erased with our mayor’s latest and greatest plan – which is way too late and not that great.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa believes that if he transfers funds currently for gang prevention that exist here and other areas of the city –and filters it to twelve more distinct gangster-ridden neighborhoods with higher crime stats, he will be doing something really different that will work. He plans to hire 1,000 more officers, I guess to stomp the gangs out in those neighborhoods.
Well it’s not that different and it’s unlikely it will work.
First, I wish the mayor had to face Harbor Area victims and tell them that our area didn’t provide enough statistics to keep the money here. I’d like him to face:
a) My girlfriend who stumbled on her way home during rush hour in San Pedro into the brazen shooting in broad daylight of a 15-year-old on his front porch. My friend was desperately trying to reach his younger sister to get her out of the line of fire. While I can’t name my friend, I know one thing; she has not been the same since and makes sure she’s out of San Pedro before dark.
b) LaTerian Tasby, 17, a prominent football and basketball player, who died trying to protect his friends at an athlete’s party last October when gangsters crashed the party, carrying knives and guns and shouting racial slurs. They shot LaTerian in the chest. After all, the kid was an easy target, 6’ 7” inches, and someone who would fight to save his friends and who knows.
c) Cheryl Green, the 14-year-old gunned down in Harbor Gateway because she was black.
d) The six-year-old who was shot in the head in his parent’s van, when gang signs allegedly were flashed on both sides. Who cares who was in the gangs – all I care about is a six-year-old does not ever deserve to be shot.

What would the mayor say to these people? Sorry, the media just blew your story up so much – the neighborhood got a lot of hype it didn’t deserve. And how about it mayor? You sure were prancing around the cameras when Cheryl Green was killed during the big media blitz.

Our kids are dying in the streets – everywhere in this city – so why would you take away from one area to allegedly fix another. Historically, every time the police zero in on a region with a driving force to batter down gangs, the gangsters do one thing – they leave and move to areas left wide open..This is exactly what happened when the LAPD broke up Nickerson Gardens – and in fact – exactly what happened with the mafia in Sicily when the government cracked down in the late 1800s. Many mafia members upped and move to the U.S. Why not? It was a wide open territory.

Where an area has less police to mind the store and less programs to mind the kids, we become – like La Terian Tasby -- a giant to target.
I shake to think what will happen if the Toberman House loses so much funding they quit sending former gang members out in the streets to sooth the hostilities and prevent more gang killings.

Or what the Boys and Girls club will do when it’s budget plummets by up to $200,000. The club has discouraged kids from joining gangs with after school programs-- including encouraging kids who never thought they could go to college in a million years – do exactly that -- go to college.

In fact, more than 127 Boys and Girls club seniors have been accepted to colleges and are headed there this fall, with even more waiting in the wings for their acceptances.

But I fear all this will be swept away when the money gets sent to areas such as Watts, Hyde Park and Panorama City. Not that those areas don’t deserve the money, but what many local officials believe is that without the money here – gang crimes are only going to get worse.

Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who serves the Harbor Area, said she’s puzzled why more money isn’t used on diversions – primarily after school programs which time and time again are shown in studies to prove to be the best way to keep kids from gangs.

She's planning to put forward a multi-million intiative to the voters to establishes scores of after school programs throughout Los Angeles.

“We have to out recruit the gang members,” Janice said. “They are good at recruiting. They are there before school, during school and after school. It’s not rocket science. We’ve just given up and we have left our kids completely vulnerable to gang members.”

I too am a huge advocate of promoting after school programs – something I’ve worked on at Dana Middle School the last few years to keep the kids off the streets, out of gangs, far from drugs and to help them find their interests.

Meeting with some success, about ten of us were allowed to show the mayor’s staff
Dana’s pilot program. The model could be done anywhere, as it draws from a variety of sources, including police, parents, businesses, community members and nearby community organizations.

The mayor’s staff let us in the door and -- at the time -- offered for us to come back. But that door, no matter how many calls or emails, was not reopened. The Dana program only keeps scores of kids off the streets and helps them reprogram that – yes – they are worthwhile! They are smart! They are talented! They can bring their grades up!

Kids can change on a dime given the right set of circumstances unlike the parents that the mayor’s office told me need to be reached and changed first. Well, good luck changing the heroine addicted parents, the gangster parents, the single mom with six kids to feed who is just trying to keep everyone alive. It's not realistic. It's tough to teach an old dog new tricks.

But a young dog – that’s another story.

I’d rather pour all my efforts into the youngsters – who no matter what you say – still have a chance to make it if the right person, right program, right college bound effort, right talent is dropped into their lives.

I’ve witnessed it myself many times. A girl who wrote that she lived like “Cinderella,” raised her brother and sister, and lived a routine of social workers and police storming her house – was recently interviewed by both Pepperdine and Harvard. Shortly, she will be off to a UC school with future plans to become a judge. That happened – and only happened – because one of these programs captured her heart. In this case, it was the College Bound program.

Or how about Dana’s basketball coach, who runs a club where no kid can be turned away. Derrick Smith not only teaches the intense discipline of the sport – but watches over their grades.
“I’ve learned so much about basketball,” wrote one 13-year-old boy. “Coach has taught us we could become anything that we want to be. He also taught us to reach for the sky. It also keeps kids off the streets who might be doing bad things if they didn’t have this basketball club. I respect the coach as an idol and a father figure.”

We need parents to volunteer. We need more coaches who can look past the athlete and into the heart of a kid. We need community leaders to step up and help shore up after school activities – in particular at middle schools where kids still have a much bigger chance to change.

And we need the mayor to realize the damage he's about to do for our area.

If the rest of us don't pick up after the cuts, it makes it just that much easier for gangs to pick our kids off the tree as easily as a piece of fruit ready to fall.

In essence, the mayor hasn't done the Harbor Area kids a single favor -- but when we have another killing with a lot of hype, I suspect the mayor will be back, smiling that wide grin for the cameras.

TIDBITS OF IMPORTANCE: FUNDRAISERS, SPONSORSHIPS , DRAGON BOATS AND PEACE VIGILS – AND SOMETHING FUN – COPS WAITING ON YOU!

COASTAL NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL SUPPORTS DANA MIDDLE SCHOOL:

To keep Dana Middle School’s after school clubs flourishing, the Coastal Neighborhood Council sponsored the programs with a $5,000 check, upping it from its original $2,500.

The council agreed that if any other group matched its $2,500 sponsorship, it would offer Dana that same amount to help keep the clubs thriving and flourishing. The Central Neighborhood Council has agreed to provide $3,500 – primary for a soccer club to begin at the school.

An avid supporter, Coastal’s Treasurer John Stinson said the community can no longer afford to not provide for programs like this which keeps students off the street, in a safe haven and helps them explore their interests.

“The Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council has had the opportunity to sponsor a number of youth programs and activities over the years and the Dana Middle School After School Clubs are a fine example of providing creative and healthy alternatives to gang involvement, drugs and the like,” he explained.
“Our children are our future and sending them down the right path by providing constructive activities like these will help them enjoy a brighter and safer tomorrow. It is an investment we can not afford not to make.”

The clubs, which started three years ago with an art and Spanish Club, grew dramatically to about eight clubs, with new additions coming in constantly. So far, Dana has Spanish, Croatian, art, basketball, cooking, swimming and junior police explorers. Some of the clubs are run by parent volunteers. Calling it LA Network for Kids, the Dana Parent Teacher Organization has done fundraisers and sought sponsors to keep the programs alive.

So far, Coastal Neighborhood Council has provided the largest donation, but other neighborhood councils are stepping up.

More programs are expected to be launched shortly – including sailing and musical theater.
***

TIP A COP ---WON’T YOU PLEASE

In what might prove to be a most interesting night, Los Angeles officers will be waiting hand and foot on patrons at the Copper Room Restaurant Tuesday night (April 22) and will accept tips for a fundraiser.
Officers are donating their tips to the Relay for Life, a benefit for the American Cancer Society. The fundraiser begins Tuesday at 5 p.m. and ends at 10 p.m. The Copper Room is located at 589 West 9th Street.
Senior Lead Police Officer Joe Buscaino said he will be serving in honor of an aunt he lost to cancer.
For more information contact Sheri Hadjis at (310)-704-1299 or Debbie Heath, (310)-614-4201.

DON’T FORGET THIS IMPORTANT COMMUNITY EFFORT AGAINST VIOLENCE

A Peace and Unity Rally will be held May 15 to honor the 189 homicide victims killed in San Pedro and to unite the entire community against violent crime.
Put together by the San Pedro Safety School Collaborative, residents are asked to show their support by showing up from 6 to 8 p.m. at the San Pedro High School Pirate Stadium. The event is one of the first efforts the collaborative has done to combat gang violence – and any other violent crime.
Over the past two decades, 189 residents have been killed; 24 of them have been children under the age of 18. Many of the murders remain unsolved.
Los Angeles Police have agreed to patrol the event – and toward the end of the event, those attending will be asked to hold their lighted cell phones up in the darkness as a symbol of unity.
The rally is the first large event the collaborative is planning to combat violence.
To volunteer or for more information, call the YWCA at (310) 547-0831 and ask for Gabriela Medina or Alice Castellanos.


TRY ROWING CHINESE DRAGON BOATS AT AN UPCOMING OPEN HOUSE AT CABRILLO BEACH – COME SEE THESE BEAUTIES AT SEA AND PERHAPS DECIDE THAT YOU WANT TO BE ON A TEAM

Never seen a Chinese Dragon boat? Here’s your chance.
The newly formed LA Harbor Dragon Boat Club will hold an open house so residents can not only see, but even try their paddling hand, on these boats that are rowed by teams of paddlers.
On May 10, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., residents are asked to drop by and consider putting on a life jacket and rowing out on one of the boats.
The group wants to form both youth and adult teams. The event will be held at the Cabrillo Beach Youth Waterfront Sports Center, 3000 Shoshonean Road.
For further information, contact Marie at coachmchacon@yahoo.com or at (310)-324-5929 for the youth team. For adults, contact Bruce at Blheath@mindspring.com or (425)-503-3988.

LOS ANGELES SCHOOL OFFICIALS BRING SOME PROMISING BUY-INS FOR AN ANGEL’S GATE HIGH -- AND NEWS THAT, DESPITE SHARP PROTESTS FROM NEIGHBORS, SOME RESIDENTS WILL REALLY WANT TO HEAR

By Diana L. Chapman

In what appeared as a miraculous buy-in package to build a high school at Angel’s Gate, Los Angeles school officials this week turned criticisms into advantages for residents to continue the progress toward building an 800-seat campus at the site.

Linda Del Cueto, the superintendent for region district 8 which includes all of San Pedro and areas stretching up north to Watts, promised a list of benefits that might encourage even critics to turn their heads around and consider the site. She added the school likely would either become a 9th grade academy or a 9th-12th grade high school

The Los Angeles Unified Superintendent David L. Brewer, III, makes the final determination, however.

The proposed promises included:
--Every student attending the school must live in San Pedro
--A magnet school will not be built at the site
--The proposed school would not be a satellite to San Pedro High, but exist as its own entity and run as its own school
--No “cherry picking,” such as taking only the brightest students from San Pedro High will occur
--Residents likely will have the “preferred option to chose which school their child attends, Angel’s Gate or San Pedro High.

• There are two options in which the new high school --if built-- could work. One proposal opts for a 9th-12th grade high school with small learning communities. The second: allowing a 9th grade academy only, splitting it into two learning communities and then those students would matriculate to San Pedro High School.

School officials believe that just the volume of sports alone at San Pedro High will attract residents to the larger, currently overcrowded high school while other parents will want their children in a smaller learning environment.

“It will not be a magnet school,” Del Cueto told a small crowd of about 20 at a meeting at San Pedro High School, which included both city and school officials, teacher union representatives and residents in leadership roles. “We will not bus kids into this community. We already have two magnets (at SP High).
“What’s hard about this, let’s face it, we haven’t built high schools for years and years…There’s really so much in the air. The athletics really helps drives the question.”

In addition, the superintendent said her team was considering the Angel’s Gate High School, projected to open in 2012, would use a small learning community system– which groups students in smaller houses with the same interests.

The district is currently adopting smaller learning communities across the board to cope with the giant population of many of its current schools. San Pedro High School, for example, was built in 1936. By 1970, the campus housed 72 classrooms with 2,500 students. The student population, however, has now climbed way beyond its capacity and now has 3,561 students and an additonal 34 bungalows, said Principal Bob DiPietro.

That extensive overcrowding – where students complain about standing up through class and barely being able to make class on time due to swollen crowds in the hallways – has driven the district to look for other options, such as building at Angel’s Gate.

For nearly three decades, the school district has owned 47 acres at Angel’s Gate. The proposal would allow for the 800 seat campus to continue an expansion of up to 1,215 students at a later date.

Residents near Angel’s Gate have fought sharply against the proposed school, saying that the traffic will clog residential streets, increase accidents on an already accident-prone Alma Street, ruin the serenity of the area, drive out foxes living at the site – and destroy the wholesomeness of the neighborhood with noise pollution.

School officials said they are attempting to mitigate these issues. Parking is a repeated concern. However, Doug Epperhart, with the Coastal Neighborhood Council indicated that school officials should meet with the committee planning the Angel’s Gate master plan. The master plan, which develops the park part of the area owned by the city of Los Angeles, is considering a 600-space underground parking structure, he said.

“I was very impressed,” said Epperhart of Monday’s meeting (4/14/08), who had criticized the district earlier for not trying to meet the resident's needs.

FAMILIES OF SAN PEDRO MURDER VICTIMS WHO WANT TO HONOR THEIR LOVED ONES AT AN UPCOMING PEACE VIGIL ARE ASKED TO CALL IN AND SHARE THEIR STORIES; VOLUNTEERS ARE ALSO BEING SOUGHT FOR THE MAY 15 EVENT AT SAN PEDRO HIGH SCHOOL’S PIRATE STADIUM


Families of murder victims in San Pedro are asked to call in and share their stories if they would like their loved one honored at an upcoming peace vigil against violence this coming May.
Volunteers are also being sought for the May 15 event that will be held at 6 p.m. at San Pedro High School’s Pirate Stadium.
The vigil was sparked by the public outcry of the October shooting death of a popular San Pedro High football and basketball player, 17-year-old LaTerian Tasby, who was killed at a party filled with local athletes. Gang members allegedly crashed the event and prompted a brawl. Several other youths were stabbed, but survived. LaTerian was shot in the chest.
The San Pedro Safety Collaborative -- a group of law enforcement, school and service organization officials – have been studying a variety of ways to make San Pedro safer. After LaTerian was killed, the group agreed the entire community should step forward in a united stance against violence -- not just for LaTerian, but for all victims in the community who've been murdered.
Over the past two decades, 189 residents – including 24 children – have fallen to violence, averaging out to about nine deaths a year in the seaside community. However, few vigils have ever been held in any of these deaths.
Some of the murders were triggered by gangs; Many remain unsolved.
Joe Buscaino, a senior lead police officer for LAPD, said officers are tired of telling family members that they have just lost a loved one and watch the intense suffering and pain in the aftermath. The officer was born and raised here, and remembers several of the residents who were killed as people he grew up with or knew at school.
Besides family members who would like to honor their loved one, volunteers are also needed to help with the event, which will include guest speakers, students reading off 189 names of those who have died, and a ceremony where those attending will be asked to light up their cell phones to honor those who have been lost.
Residents who would like to honor their lost loved ones during the vigil should call, Gabriela Medina, and those interested in volunteering should call Alice Castellanos or Jennifer Gonzalez. All three work at the YWCA. The number is 310-547-0831.
If you need to reach the writer, email Diana at hartchap@cox.net

"GRAND ILLUSIONS: MAGIC IN SAN PEDRO"
The Port of Los Angeles High School proudly presents their Second Annual Spring Fundraiser - Grand Illusions: Magic in San Pedro. The show will be held at the historic Warner Grand Theater on Friday, May 2nd at 8pm. General Admission tickets are $25 - Senior and Student tickets are $15.
The POLAHS Spring Fundraiser is produced in collaboration with last year's master magician, Jeff Parmer. The show will include specialty acts by; Dana Daniels and his Psychic Parrot Luigi, Long Beach residents Les Arnold and Dazzle and Craig Davis' Circus
of Illusion.
Preceding the show, POLAHS invites friends and supporters to join them for A Magical VIP Dinner at Ports O' Call Waterfront Dining. This enchanting event will include a cocktail reception leading to a 4-course gourmet experience, plus an exclusive dinnertime magic show by Brian Gillis and Sisuephan. Diners will enjoy Warner Grand Theatre Shuttle Service to and from the Theatre on the London style double-decker Big Red Bus. The evening continues with a Sweet Partings Reception in the fINdings Art Center - the new gallery adjoining the Warner Grand foyer, for a POLAHS student art exhibit.
The fun begins at 5:30 PM on Friday May 2nd, 2008 and tickets are $150 for Adults and $75 for Children under 12. Tickets are available at
www.polahs.net, the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and
Williams Bookstore."

A LOT OF INTERESTING THINGS TO DO ABOUT TOWN -- FROM ROWING DRAGON BOATS TO PLAYING TEXAS HOLD'EM AS A FUNDRAISER FOR TWO SCHOOL'S BOOSTER CLUBS -- SAN PEDRO HIGH AND MARY STAR!

FROM OUR BOOSTER CLUB FRIENDS:

Howdy Partners !

Yep, it's our Annual TEXAS HOLD'EM fundraiser (a poker game battle!) between the SPHS Pirate Booster Club and the Mary Star Stars Booster Club.

Mark Your Calendars for Friday April 25, 2008. Check-in starts at 5pm.(check out last years event pictures at http://www.pirateboosters.org/ )

We have new information this year and it will be held again at our best location ever-the San Pedro Elks Lodge!

Check out the details in the attached brochure, it's better than everway to support our booster club.
Get your tickets early before we sell out.
Scott Carter,2nd Vice President
SPHS Pirate Booster Club
2007-2008

FROM OUR DRAGONBOAT FRIENDS:

Hi All: Good news! The two boats are painted, on the beach and ready for our first season as the LAHDB club. Special thanks to all the players that made this happen: Al Larson Boat Yard and Mariano Bracco for giving their expert painting services gratis, Lewellen Paint for their generous paint donation and many of the new LAHDBC members for their time and labor in prepping, transportation and coverings for the freshly painted boats. It was alot of hard work, but it was worth it!Great job everybody - they look great!

LAHDB Club Open House - May 10th from 8 am to 1 pm at the Cabrillo Watersports Center in San Pedro. Everyone is invited to come down and experience Dragon Boat for themselves. Invite your friends to come as well. This will also be the start of our 2008 Dragon Boat season. We will be forming adult and children teams and signing up paddlers for practice sessions. The cost for a season membership is $60. That includes membership, club t-shirt, Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival (July 26th and 27th) entrance fee, insurance and practice schedule.

The Open House is another opportunity for members to get involved. We currently are in need of 8 more volunteers to help out at the open house.Volunteer needs:
- Run the food concession (fund raiser) - Help at the LAHDBC booth signing up children and adults for membership - Help with the dragon boats on the beach and in the water. - Help direct people from the parking lot to the event on the beach front.All volunteers will receive a hot-off-the-press LAHDB Club t-shirt for helping out.Please let myself, Bruce or Marie know if you are interested in volunteering. We will also need your shirt size."Crimes of the Heart" Fund Raiser on May 10th (same day as the open house) @ 3:00 : If you are interested in attending the play tickets are available for $35. It is going to be a great afternoon of comedy/theater and I hope you are planning on attending.
Please let myself or Bruce know how many tickets you would like for the performance. We have many great prizes to give away at the intermission: movie tickets, gift baskets, gym work-out passes, gift certificates, LAHDBC t-shirts, wines, DB paddle and more. Also, we are planning on going to go over to the Whale and Ale after the show. I hope you are planning to spend the day with the LAHDB club on May 10th. Come and meet some old friends and make some new ones! Finally, we are having a planning meeting at the Cabrillo Watersports Center on April 9th at 6:30 pm in the meeting room upstairs. If you would like to get involved with the club this season, this would be a great opportunity to see how things work.3000 Shoshonean RoadSan Pedro, CA 90731 Looking forward to a great DB season! Thanks,Patrick

HAUNTED IN SAN PEDRO; ONE MORE CHILD DEAD. What does it mean to the woman who stumbled onto the shooting -- with a medical background and stops as a duty?

Dear Readers: This piece was written by a friend who was on her way home from work in the medical industry when she stumbled on another senseless shooting in our town. Miguel Osuna, 15, was killed last Wednesday around 5 p.m. while he stood outside on a porch in the 600 block of Sixth Street. This is what my friend wrote when she fell into the tragic event driving home from work. Because of her medical background, she stopped to help. Miguel is now the 189th murder in the last two decades in San Pedro -- an average of nine killings per year. Many of the homicides s are related to gangs and also remain unsolved. Whatever you can do to help the youngsters of today -- please do so. Diana

She wrote:
I am haunted by the death of yet another teenager in San Pedro.
I didn’t know Miguel but feel that I may have seen him since I work a block away from the house where he was killed.
Last week, I heard the shots and attempted to approach the scene. The police had not arrived yet. I was stopped by a few men who inquired as to where I was going? These men brought me back to reality by saying, “They are shooting down there. You shouldn’t go." At that moment, I saw a little girl standing on the sidewalk and my instincts took over. " Get to that little girl-remove her from this situation." There was no one (an adult) near her. Where was her mother? Was the mother the one that was shot? There were so many things that went through my head and I know that I needed to process things very quickly as a little girl's life was now at stake. At this point, I still did not know what happened. But I made the decision to grab the little girl and take her to a safe distance from the house.

As I approached, a man appeared and stayed next to her. I then became a bystander and watched as several women on the porch were obviously grief stricken and hysterical. I still didn’t know what had happened, but I knew whatever it was, it was really bad.

The police and paramedics arrived. I could tell by the demeanor of the paramedics that whomever was shot was in all likely hood deceased. Just a feeling. The next day I desperately needed to know if the little girl was okay. I was unable to focus at work. I had been told a boy was shot six times and was informed that the little girl was his sister. She was okay.

Miguel’s blood was still on the porch. Family and friends had erected a shrine which consisted of a basket ball jersey, several velas and a rosary. It was just very, very sad. I hugged his friends/hommies whom were obviously in shock and grieving for the loss. I hugged an older woman who came out of the house and I believe was his mother as she kept saying, “My son, my son” in Spanish. Several girls clung to me for support.

One individual that I spent some time with had on a T-Shirt of a cousin who died in a similar fashion. I couldn’t help thinking that the next time I see this individual he will have on a T-shirt with a picture of Miguel and the dates of his short life.

These people didn’t know me, and I didn’t know them. They received me as a person who was touched by the death of their loved one. It wasn’t a matter (for me) of being in a gang or not; it was about being a human being at that moment.

I’ve had some time to think about Miguel and the individual whom shot and killed him. I grieve for both families because ultimately whether it be via the police or “street justice” another family will lose a loved one. That’s just the way it is.

Haunted in San Pedro.

HONOR FOR THOSE MURDERED IN SAN PEDRO; THE SAN PEDRO SAFETY COLLABORATIVE ASKS INTERESTED FAMILIES OF MURDER VICTIMS TO HELP TELL THEIR STORY AND PROVIDE PHOTOS FOR THE MAY 15 PEACE VIGIL; VOLUNTEERS ARE ALSO NEEDED: THIS WEEK, ANOTHER CHILD FALLS VICTIM TO VIOLENCE

By Diana L. Chapman

Officials of a three-year-old collaborative working to prevent violence in San Pedro are asking families of scores of murder victims to step forward and share their stories and photos to honor the victims at a May 15 peace vigil. Another child was killed in the seaside community this week in a possible gang-related incident.

The Peace and Unity rally will be held at San Pedro High School's Pirate Stadium at 6 p.m. as a way to allow victim's families and the community at large to mourn and come together against violence on San Pedro's streets -- a move that is rare in this community. The planning was underway long before violence took a teenage boy was shot Wednesday about 5 p.m.

Miguel Osuna, 15, reportedly was shot as he stood on the porch of 600 block of Sixth Street about. Police told the Daily Breeze that the teenager was possibly killed from shots fired from a rifle at a car wash across the street. He died later at County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

His death boosts the number of killings in San Pedro to 189 over the past two decades. Not only is he the 189 victim to die from violence, he becomes one of 24 children killed during that time period. This averages out to a rate of more than nine murders each year in this coastal community.

Many of those killing remain unsolved and were victims of gang violence.

"This is a long overdue memorial for those who have been killed in San Pedro," said Senior Lead Police Officer Joe Buscaino, a Los Angeles police officer born and raised here. "This is an opportunity for us to remember those who fell victim to violent crime. This a chance for the community to show that violence is not acceptable in this town."

Families who want their loved one honored at the rally can call officials to provide information and photos and are asked to attend the rally -- which was sparked by the unsolved October shooting death of the San Pedro High football and basketball player LaTerian Tasby.

Students across San Pedro High School believed a vigil was going to be held in LaTerian's honor text messaged each other furiously to go, according to one report, but officials -- out of respect from a family request -- agreed to wait and honor all victims of homicides in the community.

The football player -- who had moved to San Pedro to get away from violence in his former Los Angeles-area neighborhood -- became a popular figure at both the high school and the Boys and Girls Club with his turn around in grades, his talents at sports and his "if-I-can-do-it-you-can-do-it-too attitude."

He also spent time tending to younger youth's issues by listening to them. LaTerian was shot and killed on an October weekend last year after alleged gang members crashed a party filled with promising high school athletes, yelled out racial slurs -- according to some youths -- and started a ruckus which wound up in several other students being stabbed. Those youths survived.

Due to the enormity of LaTerian's death -- and the fact that the murder remains unsolved as do many other homicides in San Pedro -- the San Pedro Safety Collaborative agreed to hold a rally in hopes of bringing the community together against violence.

The collaborative includes police, school officials, non-profit organizations dealing with youths such as the YWCA, Toberman and the Boys and Girls Club, and business leaders.

Families that desire their loved ones to be honored and included in the rally should call Gabriela Medina at the YWCA at (310) 547-0831. Volunteers will be needed to help set up and break down the event. Please call Alice Castellanos, also of the YWCA at the same number.

All I ask -- please come. Show the kids we care. Show families who've lost loved ones that they are not alone in their grief.

Angels Gate Cultural Center and San Pedro City Ballet
present newly commissioned work

Angels Gate Cultural Center and San Pedro City Ballet will collaborate on a program of all original modern dance works, including a new, site-specific work commissioned especially for the ballet’s male youth group, to be performed in the Center’s Gallery A. Performances occur on April 11, 12 & 13, 2008 at Angels Gate Cultural Center in Angels Gate Park.
It’s unusual to have a group of artistic young men, especially in the heavily industrial neighborhoods of the L.A. Harbor area, focused on doing exciting things with dance. All the dancers for the new work are under 21; most are currently students in San Pedro. “This commission is a great opportunity to support and encourage a talented and hard working group of young artists, and, at the same time, support the fabulous San Pedro City Ballet, which is an enormous San Pedro resource that everyone needs to be more aware of”, said Nathan Birnbaum, Executive Director of Angels Gate Cultural Center
“The project was very appealing, as it has been six years since the company has done a program like this. It is an intriguing challenge to do an entire evening of site-specific works”, said Patrick David Bradley, choreographer of the commissioned work and SPCB Co-Artistic Director.
The performers of the new work are San Pedro City Ballet’s male youth group – Wolf Bradley, Julian de Santiago, Andrew Macatrao, Gabriel Macatrao and Juan Wing – and one female dancer from the troupe, Caroline Cypres.
The commission is supported with a Cultural Center grant from the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and a SPCB grant from the L.A. County Arts Commission. “It was perfect timing to combine forces and a grant from the County Arts Commission, and just create on these wonderful young dancers,” says Co-Artistic Director Cindy Bradley.

Program: World Premiere of “Door #2; “Date”; “The Art of the Shoe” (danced to poetry by local poet Regina O'Melvany); “Covenant.”
Choreography: Patrick David Bradley and Cindy Bradley.
Dancers: Caroline Cypres, Wolf Bradley, Julian de Santiago, Andrew Macatrao, Gabriel Macatrao, and Juan Wing. PERFORMANCE DATES & TIMES: Friday, April 11th, 8 pm; Saturday April 12th, 8 pm; Sunday April 13th, 7 pm.
LOCATION: Angels Gate Cultural Center, Gallery A
3601 South Gaffey Street, San Pedro, CA
ADMISSION: $25 general, $20 Angels Gate Cultural Center members
(Limited seating)
For ticket reservations: (310) 519-0936
About San Pedro City Ballet: San Pedro City Ballet (SPCB) was established in 1994 by nationally recognized dancers and teachers, Cynthia and Patrick David Bradley, as a not-for-profit dance company serving greater Los Angeles. The company performs "The Nutcracker” annually at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, produces original modern works for a variety of venues throughout Southern California, and holds performance workshops throughout the city of Los Angeles. SPCB’s mission is to identify, train and promote a world-class pre-professional dance company from the diverse population of the Los Angeles Harbor area that is founded in classical works and traditions, and goes beyond to explore new contemporary and original modern works, and to provide training to schools throughout Los Angeles for arts education and after-school programs.

About Angels Gate Cultural Center: For 25 years Angels Gate has been recognized for its high quality, innovative arts programming in the areas of public exhibitions and performances, education programs for the school-age kids of the Harbor area, international residencies in the visual arts, and much needed services to professional artists. In 2003, Angels Gate Cultural Center began a growing into a mid-sized institution, obtaining a 30-year lease from the City of L.A. and launching plans for the development of the coastal 64-acre Angels Gate Park. Dance commissions and special site specific events are part of the continued expansion of the Center’s performing arts programs, along with the New Play Reading series and the Art on the Waterfront festival, a partnership with the Port of Los Angeles. The Cultural Center is an independent nonprofit in partnership with the City of L.A. Dept. of Recreation and Parks. More information about Angels Gate Cultural Center is available at www.angelsgateart.org

Weighing In On Angel’s Gate as A High School; The Question We Should Really Be Asking Ourselves is Not Why…We Should Be Asking Why Not? A Prominent Educational Facility Could Be Built Here; It Just Needs Wings To Fly & the Residents to Tell the School District How to Do It
By Diana L. Chapman
I watched four high school students bravely get up and talk about the torturous learning environment they are currently living in at San Pedro High School.
Despite the hoards of resident’s complaints against the proposed building of a new high school at Angel’s Gate, the students stepped forward asking desperately for the 800 to 1,200 seat high school to proceed on the 28 acre site.
“Yes, we need to save the foxes and work on the noise pollution,” one 12th grade girl told the crowd in regards to their complaints. “But we really need more room. It’s like we are playing football everyday. It’s so crowded, it’s hard to get to class on time.”
Classes are so overbooked at their current school, the students said, some kids stand during the entire class or are crammed right up to the teacher’s desk. Going into the hallways is like heading onto the freeway at 3 o’clock in the afternoon to face a gushing onslaught of traffic. And education is spiraling downward because the teachers can’t teach in classrooms that are jammed like sardine cans with students.
This explains right away to me why we have a 50 percent dropout rate in Los Angeles Unified. The kids begged for help, but some of the residents failed to use their ears. One man told the students to climb aboard and join the real world. Los Angeles, he said, is overcrowded “so get use to it.” Residents clapped at that. It seems nowhere in San Pedro will our community accept the building of a desperately needed new high school. That must speak loudly to our kids about how our community feels toward them. The students who spoke at the Los Angeles Unified School meeting held at Dana Middle School March 13 won’t stand to gain anything; the school won’t be built until 2012. They are thinking about the future.
Perhaps we should too.
I would ask you now to take the time to pause, step out of your box and imagine the tremendous educational opportunities that could be at Angel’s Gate. For just a moment, stop worrying about the traffic, the den of foxes, the concern a high school would mar the tranquility of the site -- a location which overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is constantly beaten by pulsating winds. Think instead for a moment at what a emarkable educational facility Angels’ Gate could become – which will only happen if residents force the issue.
Currently, Angel’s Gate hosts a plethora of underused possibilities – all of which should absolutely be integrated into the proposed high school’s regime. If a high school becomes the inner-hub of the area, think of the potential. Students could study marine biology at the Mammal Marine Care Center and help feed fish to the rescued sea lions. They can learn firsthand about World War II and what it meant to California at the Fort MacArthur Museum and visit the underground bunkers that still exist there today. They can learn from a slew of amazing artists at the Cultural Arts Center. Students can learn how to save birds and study the impact oil has when its washed into the sea at the International Bird Rescue Center.
Everyone of these facilities is located at the site.
In short, this could be one of the best, hands-on academic facilities in all of Los Angeles. An educator told me once that it was a shame we tried to do everything in a classroom; the real learning, he said, happens out in the field. Here is a place where all kinds of study and research could be adopted. Students also could volunteer at many of these remarkable resources and keep them alive and running for generations to come.
We can complain about the den of foxes at Angel’s Gate being in danger because of the construction and the marine mammals ears popping due to jackhammers and the traffic that could pour into the campus. These are critical issues that need to be addressed.
Yes, the district needs to protect the foxes and might have to build a preserve for them on the site, which would provide students with yet another educational opportunity.
The residents’ contend that vehicles should not be allowed to access the school using Alma Street -- an argument that should be adhered to due to the already existing number of accidents on the narrow residential street. The residents know them all. They've been counting.
Community members want more than the proposed 113 parking spaces. That too makes sense, because the neighbors don’t want – and should not have to deal with -- an overflow of cars parking on their streets.
Another man feared juvenile destruction that can sometimes accompany neighborhoods set near schools. The district needs to find away to provide the security the neighbors seek.
LAUSD School Board Member Richard Vladovic told the crowd that he would pull together a team of educators to design this school. I propose that he not just use educators, but include residents and community leaders who understand what Angel’s Gate can provide for students, but also buff down the severe impact a high school could have if its not built keeping the neighborhood in mind.
All I am asking right now is that residents think about it. Think about the potential and the much greater chance we – as a community will have – to churn out kids who will care about their environment, protect and rescue wildlife, understand the atrocities of World War II and the way it played out here in California and explore the arts with true artists working right next door.
Here, we will be molding well-rounded, future citizens. If we do not do this, as Richard Vladovic has indicated, our high school – San Pedro High – will go year round.
Then think about this; This means 1,000 kids will be streaming through our streets – without adult guidance because many parents will be working -- all day long. They will receive a lesser education, according to the school board member, because studies have shown year round schooling is not nearly as successful as traditional year round.
And then think about this: What will all that mean for the future of all of San Pedro? Rather than send the kids packing with shoes to the streets, I'd much rather give the kids wings they need to learn to soar the sky at Angel's Gate. Then perhaps, we will truly be making good citizens.

STUDENTS: GET PREPPED FOR SAN PEDRO HIGH FOOTBALL;
A FORMER COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACH WILL TEACH CONDITIONING SKILLS AT DANIEL’S FIELD; STARTS MONDAY (March 10)

By Diana L. Chapman

Each year in San Pedro, eighth grade boys stream out of their junior highs on graduation day with big plans to try out for the high school football team.
The trouble with this: many of the students have never played the game.
My son is one of these kids and that lack of experience makes me nervous.
So when Jim True, who coached locally and now serves as the Boys and Girls Club branch director at the Cabrillo site, told me he planned to launch a football conditioning practice at Daniel’s Field – I knew this would be great news for many parents and students.
Any sixth through eighth graders can join as long as they go through Dana Middle School's Homework Club or otherwise join the Boys and Girls Club for liability reasons. The cost of the program is free.
Starting at 4 p.m. today (Monday, March 10), Jim – who held coaching jobs at Banning High School for eight years and at Harbor College for four years – plans to “get them physically fit,” no matter their lack of experience.
Much attention will be paid, however, to the 8th graders – who will have a separate training schedule to prepare them for the grueling high school try outs in less than four weeks. But that doesn't mean younger kids shouldn't join now. The sooner the coach gets them – the better.
“They just have so much to get in in such a short time,” he explained of the 8th graders, “and they’re not ready. They will do a lot of drills, a lot of running and getting into shape.”
Hallelujah! Thank you Mr. True.
To me, this is one of the great moments where an organization found a gap between schools and came up with a plan to fill it.
It also embraces the concept that the community at large needs to get behind its schools; residents can no longer expect school officials to do everything. On any given day, there are just not enough of them to baby sit, teach academics, behavior, values, social skills and the rest of the tools students need to survive – especially kids who have no support at home.
Since students involved in sports must have a C average, True and his crew will make each student go first to Dana Middle School's Homework Club and report with a pass in hand showing that they have concentrated on their homework first; Dodson students can do homework at the club site first.
Of late, Dana Middle School and the Boys and Girls Club have started to tie sport's programs to education as a way to help students maintain and improve their grades.
Dana’s Basketball Coach, Derrick Smith, who trains students daily at the campus had all his students enroll in the Boys and Girls Club’s College Bound program. That program currently trains students in exactly what high school courses they need to go to college and helps with all preparation from taking SATs to writing essays. All these actions fill gaps that are painfully large between students and our educational facilities.
If you have any ideas or suggestions how many other gaps can be filled, please email me at hartchap@cox.net

REMEMBER HIM FOR WHAT HE DID FOR KIDS AND FOLLOW SUIT; DON’T MAKE HIS SON & DAUGHTER FOLLOW IN HIS FOOTSTEPS ALONE; LAPD POLICE OFFICER RANDAL SIMMONS SHOWED US THE WAY; HELP THE FAMILY TODAY BY GOING TO NIKO’s PIZZERIA AND HELP THE KIDS OF TOMORROW BY WALKING HIS PATH STARTING NOW

By Diana L. Chapman

The day the veteran SWAT officer was shot and killed, he was praised for his years of service – and was noted as the first member of the Los Angeles Police's Special Weapons and Tactics team to ever die in action since the program's inception.

Tears flowed from officers and his family over the Feb. 7 death of Randal Simmons, of Rancho Palos Verdes, who was only 51 when he was shot by a gunman who had already killed three members of his family. The community was devastated by the officer’s loss.

Cops and residents alike – even the mayor of Los Angeles – ran to console the family and hundreds mourned his death. His was the most attended police officer funeral in the history of Los Angeles. Today, (Saturday March 1) Niko’s Pizzeria will give 50 percent of what people purchase at the restaurant from 10 a.m. until midnight to help his grieving family. I am asking you now: Do this -- but do even more than this.

Because what is not being mourned – is the incredible devastation his death will mean to a giant swath of children Randal had steadfastly helped who live in some of the most blighted areas of Los Angeles. He coached them in sports. He became their mentor. He taught them about Jesus. But most of all, he gave them his heart.

More than anything else in the world – when the rest of us would turn and run – this cop was there for those piles of kids no one else wanted to help, kids that lived in the most gang-ridden parts of the city. He knew their names. He knew their troubles. These are kids that we ignore in our own backyard – every single day.

Kids who march home by drug dealers. Kids who get their bikes stolen as part of their daily routine. Kids who get thumped for their money. Kids whose parents are heroine addicts.

Kids – it seems to me – that no one else cares about but a truly heroic man like Officer Simmons and others like him. He knew it was not only his job as a human being, but his duty. Unlike many of us, he walked the talk – no matter what religion, or culture you are from. He lived for humanity and children were a big part of his faith.

The days after his death, I tried to read what the kids said about this man; their grief so evident, so overpowering, I could hardly take the stories. One little girl could barely speak; she did nothing but cry because she said, her life would never be the same.

I know exactly what it means when kids see and feel someone has given them their heart. They know it clearly and powerfully; They know it more than any adult around; then – and only then -- will these injured children trust. This officer's death means a hole has been torn in the heart of children, children whose lives were already shredded and tattered, and now gone was a person they could trust.

Then I began to worry about the officer's son.

As I watched, Matthew, 15, a near carbon copy of his dad, all I could think about was this; He’s likely to try to carry forth this load all alone – the path his father left for him. The path that so many of our youths need; someone who will show them devotedly that they care. People who:

When they say they’ll show, they show.
When they say they care, they mean they care.
When they are needed, they respond.

Wait. Stop here. This is when my girlfriend called me and complained about my article. Why is it, she asked, that everyone is ignoring his 13-year-old daughter, Gabrielle? Having lost her CHP officer husband seven years ago in March to prostate cancer, Debbie Vasquez has raised her son, Jake, without a dad.

She knows the rigors ahead for the family -- the mother, Lisa especially -- and added: "How do we know that the daughter won't go into law enforcement and follow in her Dad's footsteps too? She encouraged me to include the daughter.

I humbly apologized, because I knew she was right. The little voice in the back of my mind told me that and of course, I ignored it. Perhaps both children will follow him -- but even still, it's a giant burden.

What Officer Simmons did is unusual and even more evident at his service was the way it was loaded with seniors, kids and residents of South Los Angeles – who usually are so terrified of police they would sooner turn and run. For this officer, however, they held up signs by the dozens thanking him.

Imagine that. They thanked him – not one or two residents. But hundreds. And they cried for him.

And then I thought, why should this officer’s son, such a young man be left with such an onerous task alone? His father made the choice to not become detached from the hurt and hunger he saw on the streets; He spelled it out so carefully for all of us what we need to do. And it seems to me, he spelled it out for his son and his daughter too.

Yes, take heart. Show up at Niko’s – 399 W. Sixth Street – to help leave his family with funds to send his kids to college and to help them in every way possible.

If you want to thank officer Simmons, then help his son and daughter. Take a look at your own backyard, get out the telephone book, call the schools, call Recreation and Parks, call the Boys and Girls Club, call your local library, your local police department – and figure out what you can do for kids now. Perhaps you can read with a child, teach them music, or just listen to their troubles.

If you find the agencies not interested, keep on trying – because there are thousands upon thousands of kids who don’t need you today or tomorrow. They needed you yesterday. I know myself. I work with these kids every day. Find a way to plug in somehow and help a kid.

And don't be surprised if they live right next door, because all children need help to grow and flourish, no matter where they live. Think of the adults who took the time to help you and then find a way to reach out and give back.

That is the best way you can remember Officer Randal Simmons. Do not let his children carry such a load alone. I’m talking to police officers. Business professionals. School administrators. And anybody else who will listen.

Officer Simmons was doing with his life everyday what we should be all doing. He provided part of the village to help kids grow – especially kids maimed by the very environment that they have to live in.

Like Officer Simmons, give kids your heart. If he was here today, he would likely tell us that giving his heart to kids was something he would always cherish, because it is oddly sweet and fulfilling. And if you follow his path, in a very strange way, you not only will be honoring this hero, you will also help fill those giant shoes left behind for his two children, and his wife, Lisa.

Email Diana at: hartchap@cox.net

Above right corner, Travor Thompson, a great waiter at 25 Degrees, an upscale hamburger joint, gives us tips and advice while visiting Hollywood. Like most working here, he's an actor waiting for his big chance. Left, Jake decides to pose with Elmo rather that serial killer Jason. Above right, Ryan tries a shot at break dancing.

HOLLYWOOD, GROWING OLDER ON THE BOULEVARD

Not Cheap, But It Can Be a Peculiar Bit of Fun for Teenage Kid’s Birthday—Even When Hanging Out With Pretenders& Funky Crowds; It’s a Place Where the Good, the Weird and the Beautiful Meet Meets the Beautiful
By Diana L. Chapman

My son came home, nearing his 14th birthday, and blurted out how one of his friends went to Hollywood Boulevard for her celebration.
She was allowed, he explained, to bring many friends.
My first thought: Sounds mighty pricey.
My second: Don’t tell me Ryan wants to do that, too?
It must have been a premonition, because more than a month later, we were headed for the land of palm trees and stars with celebrities’ names embedded in the sidewalk.
With eight boys in tow, the biggest problem was keeping them together on walkways packed with milling crowds. A plethora of break dancers, rap singers and colorfully costumed villains and cartoon characters like Sponge Bob speckled the sidewalk – eagerly waiting to make a dime off the hordes of eager tourists.
That would include us.
It can be a bit intimidating when you’re surrounded by evil-doers usually seen in movies, such as “Halloween” serial murderer Jason standing on a box, bloodied machete in hand, ready to swoop onto the first person courageous enough to pose for a photo.
Needless to say, none of our guys was willing to do so.
We did find them a bit more courageous later; Jake decided to pose with Sesame Street’s Elmo, and Ryan had his photo taken with a man painted in silver from head to toe.
In a nutshell, that’s what Hollywood was about on a sweet and simple Saturday afternoon.
After we parked on a side street, we hadn’t walked far when the boys began their stardust adventure with the first and most important statement: “I’m hungry.”
Because my friend Doug had recommended the “best hamburger I’ve ever had” at 25° (25 degrees), an upscale burger joint in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, we dipped in there for lunch.
It proved to be the most expensive attraction of the day, but one even the boys gave a major mark on their scorecards.
When you’re with eight hungry boys, giant burgers are a large plus – even when they cost $9 each, because they were not only big but could be tailor-made to suit individual tastes.
Even the cheeseburgers came with choices, from traditional to about as far out as you can imagine such as Neal’s Yard Cheddar from the British Isles or Midnight Moon, a goat cheese described as light and nutty. Other additions included shitaki mushrooms, fried eggs and arugula.
Most the boys stuck with the familiar toppings—mayo, mustard and ketchup—and not much of the burgers remained on their plates. They unanimously agreed it beat going elsewhere (as it should, with fries going for $4 and milkshakes at $6).
But it was well worth it, especially with our helpful server, Travor Thompson, offering all sorts of tips where to go and what to do. He’d moved here recently from Boston after completing his college degree in acting – and along with his waiter job had scored a few commercial spots here and there.
The best tip he gave us – since we had already decided to see the movie farce “Meet the Spartans” – was to try the Arc Light Theater at the corner of Sunset and Vine, which we did later.
Before that, however, we spent the rest of the afternoon roaming Hollywood Boulevard with rappers pushing their own homemade CDs (“bad songs” was my simple review of the music after listening to loads of cussing after they tell you there is none) and break dancers showing off their gyrating moves on the sidewalk.
Finally, Ryan was brave enough to jump in with one group of dancers and strut his stuff, which turned out to be moving his eyes and face with a minimal bit of footwork—he didn’t try to pull off those brutal spinning-on-the-head moves (thank goodness).
We wound up the evening at the beautiful theater Travor suggested, where a $12 ticket gets you an assigned seat that is roomy and comfortably plush. The movie was horrid, the theater wonderful.
Hollywood. Mix in the good, the bad and, of course, the beautiful.
All of this packed into a day can be a real treat for teenagers who want to be among the stars – even if they don’t recognize most of the names along the sidewalks.
Two boxes of pancake mix, nine hamburgers, seven sodas and two malts later, we were done with our mini-adventure of growing boy meets Hollywood. Only sleep awaited.