Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Vote March 8th- City Council -Elections for Even-Numbered Districts.

Tuesday, March 8th is the next election for the even-numbered districts. 7 council seat are involved.

Lincoln Heights is in Council District 1, and not involved until 2013. Expect Ed Reyes to run for whatever other office comes open first in either state or federal levels since he will be termed out in 2013.

In CD-14, you have two choices, the incumbent, Jose Huizar and the challenger, Rudy Martinez. Antonio Villaraigosa was once the CM in CD-14, promised to serve out his term of office and then ran for Mayor and won. Jose Huizar may also cut his term short if he is re-elected, and run for City Attorney.
(more on this later).


There also is the Board of Ed. election for some offices- Yolie Flores is not running again so District 5 will have a new member of the Board.

The L.A. City Council put several ballot measures up for the voters to decide. In some cases, it was put to the voters since the council could not decide the matters themselves.

More on these items to come.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Abraham Lincoln's Birthday Comes and Goes- Unnoticed at LHS?

An Unnoticed Day at Lincoln High School- Again?

I think that it's become a tradition at the alma mater to let opportunities for any gains in knowledge to slip through the fingers of those who try to assure us that our students are learning all that they can.

Lincoln High School, as the namesake of one of the greatest presidents in the history of this country, seems not to be able to make any progress in informing the students attending the school of any of the history of Lincoln.

I have come not to expect very much at these times that the students could become engaged in learning even a minimal amount of history from an abundance of sources.

A bit of celebration of the life of Lincoln might go a long way to instill a little knowledge and pride in the school. For many, I think the test scores have become the singular interest in their being and what really could do a bit to advance education and character simply falls by the wayside.

As usual, I have to add that, "I could be wrong." Maybe there is some focus on the life, times and accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln individually by some teachers, but the entire school is not involved in any common recognition as I determine from searching the LHS web site. There might be some large benefit with not much outlay of effort if each February there was a focus on this president. They have a year to try to do better in 2012.

I think that we have an easy job to find out so many things about this person in comparison to less prominent presidents and smaller figures in history that have high schools named after them.

I think that this blame falls to the leadership of a school. At Lincoln, it seems that the ills that plague the entire LAUSD operation are similarly present at the school where test scores, achievement measures and a number of theories have all the attention, along with so many efforts at recognizing "diversity."

It's all disappointing that these times come and go with little notice. Instead, there should be much, much more attention given to use this as an opportunity to involve students in some common theme especially directed to LHS as the district's high school uniquely bearing the name of Abraham Lincoln.

SOME LINCOLN FACTS -

Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809.

President Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States.

He was assassinated on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play entitled Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre.

This was the first Presidential assassination in American history.

The first formal observance of his birthday took place in 1866, the year after his assassination, when both houses of Congress gathered for a memorial address. While Lincoln's Birthday did not become a federal holiday like George Washington's, it did become a legal holiday in several states.

-From http://www.calendar-updates.com/info/holidays/us/lincoln.aspx with links to other Lincoln sites.

Also on this site is the Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Delivered at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg
November 19, 1863
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MORE ABOUT LINCOLN FROM his place among the U.S. Presidents at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ below:


ABRAHAM LINCOLN
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/abrahamlincoln

Saturday, February 12, 2011

LHS alumnus Carlos Moreno, resigns as California Supreme Court Justice for life in private sector.

Carlos Moreno, California Supreme Court Justice

Many of the older alumni are more familiar with Justice Moreno, an LHS 1966 Summer Class graduate (and that Summer-Winter label is truly a sign of the old times) than the more recent LHS alumni. Justice Moreno will soon be Mr. Moreno as he's resigned from the California Supreme Court to pursue private practice after a substantial period of service.

There's a story from the February 1st edition of the "California Bar e-Journal" that will familiarize the younger people about him, as well as add some insight for many of us who actually knew him from way back. Here's the link,
http://www.calbarjournal.com/February2011/TopHeadlines/TH1.aspx

Congratulations is in order for his service on the court and we hope to see him around as he resumes practice locally.