What About Friday's Football Results?

So what about the Friday friendly Season Closer against Wilson High? Oh, THAT game? Well, it was close but we still had the second-highest score for all teams involved in that game.

And the "East L.A. Classic" was held last night at a full ELA College Stadium, with Garfield High coming away from the game with bragging rights over Roosevelt High for the next year until they meet again.

NORTHERN LEAGUE
Franklin 51, Eagle Rock 24
Los Angeles Marshall 49, Belmont 24
Los Angeles Wilson 28, Lincoln 20

EASTERN LEAGUE
Garfield 26, Los Angeles Roosevelt 7
Huntington Park 24, Bell 8
Los Angeles Jordan 63, South Gate 7

Opinion Time
All in all, it was not a bad season for Lincoln, and definitely without all the drama that played out at Eagle Rock High over the whole year, leading up to the cowardly attack on Coach Lopez and the forfeit to Belmont last week.

ERHS Principal, Mr. Velasco, is marching that school from mountain heights, straight into the ocean after he was handed a campus with generally high morale and academic performance. The football program decision was just another milestone along that trek.

I thought the idea was to have a principal try to move your school forward, not backwards, but all that is just my opinion. LAUSD honchos checked off this situation and said A-OK. The "review" included a personally conducted community meeting to air out gripes regarding "nepotism" claims regarding husband-teacher-coach, Mr. Lord and administrator-wife, Mrs. Lord, by Ray Cortines, "Senior Deputy Superintendent." I was there to hear all this. Talk about conflicting views of the same subject, this was a markedly divided audience. The purpose of the meeting turned out to be more stroking than anything else. At the time, it looked like something might actually be done to correct the problems. Ha.

The principal was never really directly involved in any public process and confidentiality limitations were usually relied upon for his absence throughout. So, LAUSD did the usual thing in a critical situation, nothing, as it reviewed the decisions and all stood unchanged, as well as keeping the catalyst, the principal, at Eagle Rock.

To be clear, Coach Lopez was just caught in the middle of a disastrous scenario not of his making, and he's been trying to make the best of the bad situation he inherited. To me, the former coach, Mr. Chou initially looked like more the good guy before the season started, but did he have any responsibility to get the players in line and act maturely, or were the players to figure that out alone or not at all?

It was a season to remember, but for the wrong reasons.

The "Who's Who" of Lincoln Alumni at 95th Anniversary Gala Reunion

Lincoln High's 95th Anniversary Gala event was held on Saturday, November 1, 2008, at the Omni Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. A very satisfied and diverse group of LHS alumni and their guests enjoyed the evening as celebrants, dining, dancing, mingling and just having a plain old good time.

The L.A.-based veteran band and Eastside original, "Tierra," provided the live entertainment, featuring Lincoln High alumni band members, Steve Salas, vocals and percussion, and two of my 1967 classmates, "Tierra" leader Rudy Salas, guitar and vocals, and Bobby Navarrete, sax, flute and vocals. (www.tierramusic.com )

Just in case you couldn't make it, OR, if you DID attend and you want to know where you can see all those photos that were taken, here's the the answer:

Just email Mike Ibarra to request the connecting link to the 95th Gala web photo album that he has produced for that event, at mikethedadibarra@sbcglobal.net - besides "the dad," he's also the de facto Official Alumni Association Photographer, and always does a commendable job, as you will see.

Lots of bands & singers "of note," for benefit concert Saturday

"The Latin Summit, a benefit concert and toy drive" will be held at the Quiet Canon in Montebello (Pomona Fwy., Garfield exit, go south to entrance), on Saturday, November 22, 2008, at 7 p.m. (doors open 6 p.m.)

If you like live music and even some dancing, and you want to see many different bands, some older ones that have made a name for themselves, and some emerging talent, this is the place to be. There is a the added benefit of helping to give toys to make the holidays happier for more kids, and the Alumni Association can be another happy group by your choice here.

A part of each ticket obtained from our alum, Virgi Candales, will go to benefit the LHS Alumni Association's fundraising.

The scheduled performers for this lively evening are:

"The Intruders,"
"Rose Royce"
"Sly, Slick & Wicked"
"AAlon"
"Mr. D and Homies"
"Rudy and Steve Salas"
"Rocky Padilla and Cory Silva"
with special guests, Lil' Gee, Gutta Dub, Lil' Chuko.

Do you like cars, especially customs and classics?
Numerous car clubs will be displaying their cars there, as well.
The cost: $25.00 AND 1 toy to see all these entertainers and help out some kids.

HERE'S THE REQUEST-
It's a good deal, but don't just buy your ticket ANYWHERE you can- make it better. Each ticket obtained through Virgi will be helping the Alumni Association, and the price will still be the same.
Be sure to get your tickets through Virgi Candales- contact her at virgicandel@aol.com
and lend a helping hand.

Support your LHS Alumni Association in it's fund raising efforts, and you will have all that entertainment, too. Do act now- it's next Saturday, after all.

"Something we heard on the radio"

[The earlier copy of this posting incorrectly referenced "today's column, Friday', November 14," for the Lloyd Thaxton story; the correct column was the "Thursday, November 13, 2008" column. The revised text below is the correct version. ed.] *
----------------------------------------------------
* [11-17-08: In re-reading items as I tend to do, I found TWO problems:
(1.) The correction above needs another correction. "Lloyd Thaxton's story was in FRIDAY'S column- 11-14-08, that flashed back through the "_ Years Ago Today" section (the boxed blue-background section). {The "American Woman in Radio and TV" topic was properly corrected as a "Nov. 13, 2008," Thursday column that is now in archives.}

But there's more:
(2.) That column item to see on Lloyd Thaxton (where the "__ Years Ago" column appeared in the blue-box part) doesn't carry over that blue-boxed item with it into the archive section for that column when it's moved there. You can't see any of those "__Years Ago Today" category archived for any day. INSTEAD, you have to go to the ORIGINAL old column where it first showed up, which means yu have to:
(a.) search for the original story, and that's not too simple from my experience, and,
(b.) if you don't remember the story name or want to see what other days had for old story flashback, it's all depends on your memory or a saved note since ALL the blue box infomation is missing (the title, the old date, all of it) from it's spot in the story when that story is moved to the "archives" section.

Final thing here on what started out as a simple correction- the LINKS to other items that I added still work for the other sources- and the LA TIMES obituary also includes a short video clip in his memory showing samples of his antics on the show.

Free access to LA Radio.com has two more weeks to go. ed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

I linked the website, “L.A. Radio People,” www.laradio.com in the sidebar for the free access being provided this month. I somehow found that website at about the time it began 11 years ago. It is now a subscription website, but still cheap at about $36 for a year (applying my Lincoln-learned math skills, that’s $3 a month- right?). It’s been a huge source of radio information for me, and I bring it up here since radio is almost always woven into our high school experience, bringing the music of the day to us then and again, now. Radio was heard in the home, in the car, and just about any of the places where you heard sounds.

Radio was an especially important thing for the older alumni types. “We” didn’t have I-pods, CD’s or even cassettes. It was radio and albums and 45’s; maybe some 4-tracks and the short-lived 8-track tapes to add music in the car. Lots of music was put on reel-to-reel tape, especially the case for the vets that bought all that stuff during their government-paid travels as they headed to Vietnam and parts related, finding cameras and audio equipment to try balancing out the less pleasant parts of their job.

But radio still is here and changing, like all of us, we lose people those radio people we came to know mostly through their radio presence. Many names from the past are gone now. You might remember some of the names: Wolfman Jack, the Real Don Steele, Robert W. Morgan (and that “Tina Delgado”- who is rumored to be still alive), Humble Harv, Bill Balance, and Huggy Boy. Most of this information was initially presented to me about all things having to do with L.A. Radio through that web site that somehow misses very little about what is happening now in radio.

I invite you to check it out, as it has that magic word, “Free”, during the month of November. Yesterday's column, Thursday, November 13, 2008, [ http://www.laradio.com/newsite/archives/nov2008c.htm Type in "free" in both username and password pop-up window- valid for Nov. only] featured a panel of female industy standouts in Amercan Woman in Radio and TV, "AWRT." These women have suceeded in radio, many of them knowing what it is to be discriminated against because of their sex. They received praise at this presentation for their excellence in the industry, coming through to overcome assorted obstacles in their careers to get there. Some of their comments may inspire others to stay with their goals and not be discouraged in the face of discouragement. It took a long time for most to advance, but that’s the other tough part for our young students to see when they become used to seeing results happen more quickly. That's something else to be learned for our students.

The LA Radio, THURSDAY edition, has the regular “flashback” feature of past column or story from 1 or more years ago. Included today is a “2-years Ago” essay from Lloyd Thaxton on his short radio career. Lloyd died on October 5, 2008 at 81 years old. (L.A. Times Obit- http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-thaxton8-2008oct08,0,108325.story , 73 comments to date) .

I remember his “Lloyd Thaxton Show” on t.v. in the 60’s where local high school students were invited to come on to dance, while he had music groups there who lip-synched their songs. He did move on to bigger things later, but the dance show was something to watch. His blog is still up with lots of his thoughts. http://lloydthaxton.blogspot.com/2006/01/why-lloyd-thaxton-disappeared.html

Lloyd Thaxton had a disease that was eventually going to kill him, but it did not control his mind. There’s something that showed me more of his creativity and thought that he posted his blog http://lloydthaxton.blogspot.com/ - scroll down to the "May 5, 2008," posting- He describes an exercise to try, that I summarize here, but see his words for the whole theme:

Go to a cemetery and look at any gravestone. He gives an example for a man, 91 years old. There’s a name and then there’s two dates; the date of birth and the date of death. In between there’s a tiny dash (-). That tiny dash is supposed to represent his life. Thaxton called that dash a “putdown” since all 91 years comes down to just a tiny dash.

Lloyd's big question was “WHAT WILL YOUR DASH STAND FOR?”

Right there his idea gets really interesting, describing something special- a project to write your own obituary. I recommend that posting of his for further reading. It may give you a different view on life and it’s something to think about from Lloyd Thaxton, a guy who did a lot in that “dash” of his.

(And the following are my personal favorite parts )

There’s a lot in the LA Radio, and one reason, but not my biggest one to recommend this to you, is that I usually get my own email letters printed there (often it's to later find the missed typos) but you can see the content yourself and consider it. There’s one printed from yesterday, Thursday, November 13, 2008, entitled, "**On -air issues" that I like, responding to response of others.

Then there's another email appearing on Friday, October 3, 2008, remarking on the “Encyclopedia of Hits” guy, Robert Estrada, who had such impressive knowledge of hit songs and their dates and chart position, all heard in the first hour on www.Talkradioone.com Oct. 30, as a podcast- compare for yourself. More on that site later.

On the Tube

Some television notes-
"Obama Fever" still lingers- Tonight- Thurs. 11-13-08, 8:30 p.m., PBS KCET-Ch. 28, will show Huell Howser's travelling California Gold program as it visits Occidental College in Eagle Rock where Barrack Obama (aka Barry) spent a few years in college before transferring out. More air times: http://www.pbs.org/modules/tvschedules/includes/programinfopopup.html?title_id=884&display_feed=700&display_format=list_airdates&feeds=700&station=KCET&zipcode=90027&transport=&provider=&channelsuppress=f&supersite=&program_title=California
-------------------------
"Chicano Rock" - PBS will again be the presenter of this rocumentary that features Eastside L.A. bands and music personalities of the past at 9 p.m., Dec. 14, 2008 on PBS, KCET-Ch. 28.
A "Thanks" goes out to LHS alumnus Max Uballez for this information- he's also involved in the production.

This documentary is based on a major reunion performance earlier this year at the historic Million Dollar Theater downtown on Broadway. Lincoln's own alumni, Rudy and Steve Salas, were in the Eastside music scene since they were able to carry a tune and stand in front of a mike. The later-formed band, Tierra, went on to entertain a solid foundation of music fans, initially in the southwest U.S. and spreading over the years. They are among the several featured performers who bring back a part of the past for us to revisit.

See the "Chicano Rock" website link in the side bar, "What to Watch For", or, here: http://www.moonflowercafe.com/chicanodoc.html

LHS Alumni Association meets Saturday

There's an Alumni Association meeting this Saturday, November 15, 2008, at 9:30 a.m. in the Student Cafeteria. The meeting is open to anyone and membership is open to alumni of LHS.

Alumni are encouraged to attend and to become dues paying members, too, should they so choose. Come by and find out more. Volunteers are encouraged to participate in the available areas of interest, both in the planning and event activities.

Reminder: There is a continiuing effort to have alumni supply their email addresses to be included in the assorted notices. Check the official Alumni page to send contact information directly, or to this writer for forwarding. (rg at lhs90031@earthlink.net )

At Lincoln High This Week

WHAT PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE?
You mean your child has not told you about this? Hard to believe.

If you have a child attending Lincoln, Thursday night, Nov. 13th is the day to show up for the Parent-Teacher conference held at the campus beginning at 5 p.m. and ending at 7 p.m.

Find out if your child is really not getting any homework assigned or if there is a classroom problem going on that a little parent-teacher discussion can get worked out.

In any event, it is always a good thing to do- See the people who are teaching your child and let them know you care about what's going on enough to make that trip out there Thursday. Teachers are important, but they can do more with parents who are involved- get involved.

Remember these important words about high school- This is the last time that your son or daughter will have a school that is free- don't let it be wasted.

Street parking on N. Broadway is always perilous- this time I mean that northbound curb parking gets you a ticket between 4 and 6 pm, so check the signs (as any good L.A. traffic survivalist would do).


Friday Night- Wilson Mules come to play the Lincoln Tigers
If you have been following the Tigers this season, there is one last game to be played and it will be at home at 7 p.m. on Friday night against our friendly -and at times, not so friendly- rival , Wilson High. (I knew them when they had their school on the flatlands, a long long time ago.)

Come on to root for our team and while you are there, be sure to bring an appetite so that you can enjoy some LHS Alumni Association food. It's part of the fundraising activites and each year and each game, the menu tries to be better than the last. The prices aren't bad, either.


SATURDAY - THE MAGNET CAMPUS CLEAN UP AT 9 AM.

O.K., you have me there. What are we talking about here? Is the "Magnet Campus" a campus?- and that phrase sounds somehow very magical (that I was not even aware existed separately), or are we just to understand that the "campus clean up" will be done by the "Magnet" school component?

Whoever is doing it needs to be at school at 9 a.m. Simple enough.

The bigger picture, in my view, is "Why do we have to have a CAMPUS CLEAN UP at all?"
If it's an accumulated mess, then the students who attend the school should be KEEPING it clean. What this really does, in my critical view (sorry for that) is to have some constructive-leaning students have to do work for those who are getting a free ride for being untidy members of the student body.

The pride we have in our school should be shown to others in many ways. Keeping it clean is one way. There has to be a bit of "campus beautification" going on at the same time here, and THAT is what everyone should be thinking of. Cleaning up somebody else's mess is not where the energy should go- but we can look at ways to make the school campus look better- and it is one of the better looking ones in the district.

I will leave that whole idea for now. I do want to give credit to those students involved in the Saturday effort that helps keep up Lincoln and it gets our students working together for some improvements that they can immediately enjoy.

Teachers- credit to you, too.
=====================================

Veterans Day

The VETERANS DAY holiday is here and for most, as at Lincoln today, there is no school. Many of our traditions and reasons behind what our various holidays are about are not taught to our students as deliberately as our subjects of math and English. Since there is no school today, as with most holidays, not much on the cultural significance of our holidays will be able to be presented in the school setting. Letting that continue tends to erode the significance of these holidays and move our young people away from important parts of our past that should not be forgotten. This short posting is here to be sure that some available knowledge in this area is presented to be passed on so that we can try to turn that trend around.

We are at another yet another legal holiday, and for many, the reason for creating it is not clear. It is a National Holiday, and was begun in November 19, 1919, when President Woodrow Wilson

It began as “Armistice Day” to commemorate the end of World War I, which was referred to then as “The Great War” since they didn’t anticipate another big war like that one to happen again. The “Treaty of Versailles,” officially ending the war, was signed on June 19, 1919, but the fighting stopped seven months earlier, on November 11, 1918. It happened on “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.”

“Armistice Day” became “Veterans Day” in 1954 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation making November 11th the date that this holiday will be observed.

That’s it in brief, but for more details, you can see on the web, the Department of Veterans Affairs page about the “History of Veterans Day” at http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp .

The holiday is a way to commemorate service to the country of persons, as veterans now, in a different way than Memorial Day, where the country remembers the memory of lives lost of service personnel by those still here to benefit from their service.

Lincoln High School has historically had many alumni become members in the many branches of military service to this country and this note is to give the recognition to those still with us and to pause a moment to reflect on those who have passed on during their active service or in later years. The veterans from Lincoln High School can be found in many different jobs and in many different parts of the country and the world.

Let this be our modest way of saying to all of them “Thanks for your service” to all of them.

Mayor Tony, CM Weiss and Garcetti Hit The Urinals

Yesterday, Mayor Villaraigosa, Council President Eric Garcetti (CD-13), Council Person Jack Weiss (CD-5) and DWP General Manager David Nahai held a press conference by a men's restroom in a Century City office building that has converted all urinals to "waterless" urinals.

All the jokes and comments were what they consider to be their priority for the moment. Tony is a camera hog and publicity whore, and you would expect that from him instead of doing real work. Garcetti is a 100% "Go Green" advocate and would go for anything green, regardless of how much the cost would be to anyone, including you and me.

The news media comes out for bizarre things that really aren't at the top of urgent matters that affect life and death in L.A. You see little of what goes on in City Hall in the newspapers, and the Times has fired large numbers of staff in the last year, but they stopped real reporting on city issues long ago. The mayor is expert in news conferences but not so in caring about working for the city, as the LA Weekly story, "All-about-me Mayor" (linked in the sidebar) vividly show.

The crime and violence is something that I suppose gets to be put on "hold" while these city officials spend the better part of the morning to show urinals. You can also bet that there is some money to be made by an industry element who manufactures and installs these things, and that this publicity stunt is for the purpose of priming the pump for such things as getting approval for awarding contracts for city business. It all comes back to money besides their own egos.

When it comes to city development and policies- that's been strangely done, and not much in public, for most cases.

Now let's see how much money is going to these guys by way of salary.

"Raises for L.A.'s top city officials look bad," L.A. Daily News, Oct. 30, 2008, http://www.dailynews.com/ci_10860599 - The story show that in these times of increasing financial hardships hitting so many in the country, you have this runaway machine that continues to create raises automatically for city officials. They like to say, "It's out of our hands," but they could change it. They don't like that topic.

The salary for each City Council member over is $180,000.00 per year. They have lot of perks: a city-paid for vehicle, free gasoline, a staff authorization of 20 persons each, and much more that boost the benefits for these ELECTED officials. Do you have any wonder as to why they would like to stay in office?

All is not as it appears and that is what I want to keep in the forefront amid all the stunts and glad-handing that the city government continue to shower us with.

More of this to come.

Eagle Rock Forfeit Compared to 1977 LHS 63-0

The L.A. TIMES "Varsity Times Insider" Blog writer, Eric Sondheimer, compared Eagle Rock High School's forfeit of Friday's away game against Belmont with the 1977 season forfeit by our own Lincoln Tigers that some may not have forgotten and others never heard of. "Football: Eagle Rock Situation is a Fiasco," Nov. 8, 2008, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/varsitytimesinsider/2008/11/football-eagl-1.html?cid=138264158#comments


Mr. Sondheimer's opinion was that City Section got a reputation for forfeits 31 years ago because of the LHS' loss. In concluding that there is a reputation for forfeits due to that reason both mistates facts that do not support any "reputation" carried from that forfeit, and he mischaracterizes the conditions surrounding the Eagle Rock and Lincoln forfeits that have as the only thing in common the fact that a forfeit was charged.

There was more to that game than casual readers of the sports pages would find in the L.A. TIMES, as usual, and I had to take issue with making the comparison of the forfeits based on entirely different facts that each circumstance presented. The comment was done more from memory than research, and I correct one thing now: the Wilson Coach was Vic Cuccia, not "Ric Cuccia." He passed away in January of this year at the age of 80.

A few more observations others made in the L.A. Times' on Coach Cuccia's career show his success in handling Wilson team of that day and the valued offensive performance that was zealously pursued.

"The coach guided the El Sereno school to a 39-game winning streak in which
the Mules won City Section 3-A championships in 1975, ‘76 and ‘77, led by
his son, Ron, a quarterback who set a national record for total offense.

* * *

The Mules were 151-42-6 during his 22-year coaching career, from 1956 through
1977. He taught for 44 years at Wilson, and the school named its football
stadium in his honor in 1999.

During the 1970s, Wilson’s football team drew standing-room-only home
crowds as its wide-open offense, featuring four wide receivers, rolled up points
and victories." L.A. Times, Jan. 12, 2008, "Innovative football coach made Wilson High School a powerhouse," http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/12/local/me-cuccia12

Others' commented on ERHS' overall unenvious situation in various responses to the Blog.

Lincoln Cheerleaders at Veterans Day Parade

The Lincoln High Cheerleaders were able to pause from their march in the parade to show some of their skills as you can see in this clip from Sunday's Northeast Veterans Day Parade.

EAGLE ROCK H.S. COACH ASSAULTED
The ERHS woes continue for their football program- The LA Times reports this morning that Coach Lopez was assaulted during practice on Thursday by a former football player for Eagle Rock High, as another part of the Principal Velasco-Coach Chou controversy continues. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-football8-2008nov08,0,4479688.column

The Friday game at Belmont was cancelled as Principal Velasco considered it too dangerous since half of the team had been sitting out the practices in the stands and not in a condition to play safely. The assault, he said, was not the reason for the forfeit of the season's last home game for Belmont.

The Daily News also covered the story, and has a few more details. http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_10927122

Opinion: Regardless of the loyalty that the students and players feel to Coach Chou and the unhappiness over the situation, there is an extreme lack of maturity shown, a lot of it on the players’ side. If they wanted to protest the decision, they should have continued the protest through their parents and administrative processes, as slow and frustrating as they are.


The idea of being a proponent of sabotage of the team for the entire 2008 season is viewed by many as a high school equivalent of a temper tantrum and pouting child who disagrees with his parents' decisions. The actions on Thursday elevated this to a more serious level.


The whole school suffered this season, and this is one of the best applications for the term, "Cutting off your nose to spite your face." The particular student, according to the story, was urged to hit the coach and he followed their instructions, spearing the coach with a helmet, as the coach was not looking. He ran away afterwards and jumped a fence, which might give you an idea of what he thought his actions represented.


For the student body to accept this level of conduct would be poor policy. The fact that the players were part of the problem, urging the act, shows them to be lacking in the moral character that Coach Chou was credited with instilling in his players. It looks like all the good that Coach Chou was said to have produced in terms of conduct and character did not spill over into all the players, with many on their roster being new players.


While the students may not be happy with the outcome for coaching, they really had an obligation to the school and to the rest of the community to play out their games in the best way that they could. Clearly, this has not been the case. If this team were a private company, you would not see many on that team keeping their jobs.


Part of the high school experience is to prepare the students ready for being full-fledged adults, taking responsibility for their own actions. You are supposed to act accordingly as you move up in grade level, not return to less mature approaches to problems.


The identity of the student who did this crime is known to the players, and probably to the administration, too, since he came into the office to complain about the coach and was told to leave. The routine security procedures would already have made identification here complete, even though the attack was not prevented. If the school did not manage to screen him at all, then the players have a moral obligation to cooperate and give up his name- it will come out sooner or later, anyway. Their are pranks and there are crimes. This was no prank.


It very well could have had more serious consequences. School security, from my observations, is either not taken seriously or applied overly intense for some matters, but weakly or inconsistently in other matters, all in the same school. Entry onto a campus could also endanger other students, which absolutely is intolerable. The attack on the coach was equally serious, with a blatant disregard for authority. Isn’t that the kind of thing that’s been shown in too many high schools where firearms and death have happened? We don’t want to see this again, and we are fortunate if the coach recovers completely. Unexpected bodily impacts can have permanent and disastrous results.


What should happen to the offender? If he is still under age 18, juvenile law will apply, but if he is 18 or over, he is subject to application of the laws as any adult is, and it looks like he should be arrested and charged with the crime and let the criminal process handle the rest. Needless to say, this did not demonstrate any good judgment, but then most criminal conduct provides you with a lot of examples of what reasonable people DON'T do.


Overall, the situation at Eagle Rock High is a shameful situation, with the principal having a history of decisions that certainly have not been crowd-pleasers. It looks like Velasco doesn't care about anything but his own ego, but that's beside the point as far as how the members of the football team (the dissident football players) have handled matters. Even if they think their principal makes lousy decisions does not justify poor performance, and in no way justifies attacking the guy they put in to keep thing running.


If these unhappy players were not going to give it their best effort, they should have quit the team and let students who will try to play give it a shot. Maybe they would have lost every game badly, but they would have had the pride in knowing that they still were not quitters or malingerers who damaged the non-quitters. Doing things like that was simply not honest and again, shows very juvenile attitudes applied to the situation.


There is a Northeast Veterans Day Parade this Sunday at 1pm on Eagle Rock Blvd. Franklin and Eagle Rock usually have their football players appear in the parade in some form as part of the each schools entry. I really don't know whether the ERHS team would have much to be proud of this season to show up, but keeping all of them out would punish the ones who were not blameworthy, and I don't know what that would be in numbers.


I don't think the complainers would want to be in the parade anyway, so that may sort itself out. The rest of the students, as well, already know just who is doing what in this. A good transition season could have come to ERHS even if they lost every game- but, sadly, this situation and tainted season will just be another part of ERHS history.

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LHS FOOTBALL Results up to 11-7-08:

09/12/08 vs Huntington Park High School ........W 34 - 17

09/19/08 vs Fairfax High School ...................................L 8 - 20

09/26/08 @ South Gate High School ...............W 27 - 0

10/03/08 @ Manual Arts High School ...............W 32 - 0

10/10/08 @ Los Angeles High School ..............W 31 - 6

10/17/08 @ Eagle Rock Jr/Sr. High School .........................L 14 - 35

10/24/08 @ Belmont Senior High School ..........W 20 - 14

10/31/08 vs John Marshall High School ............W 27 - 24

11/7/08 vs. Franklin High School ....................................L 29 - 20

========================================

WHAT'S HERE?

Today is Homecoming at Lincoln- JV game time- 3pm; Varsity game time- 7pm.
Franklin High School Panthers will be the opponent in this second-to-last home game.
Remember to stop by the Alumni Association's food stand and buy lots of food- it's really good and reasonably priced- AND remember, when you buy from the Alumni booth, it's helping with the fundraising efforts for LHS student scholarships and needed program assistance.

Next week's home game will be the last for the season and the traditional rivalry continues with Wilson High's Mules coming in to close out the home schedule for this year.

COMING IN THE NEXT WEEK:

Saturday, November 8, 2008: Beginning a weekend to honor veterans and celebrate their service- "Northeast Residents Gather to Salute Veterans"- in Cypress Park/Glassel Park , "The Friends of Cypress Park Community Improvement Association, Inc, (FCPCIA) will partner with the Greater Cypress Park Neighborhood Council to hold the fifth annual event. A traditional ceremony will be held at the Cypress Park Veterans Memorial and then conclude with a Veterans Day celebration at the nearby Cypress Park Recreation Center." See http://egpnews.com/?p=3509 for more details.

Activities planned to include the family of L.A. County Deputy Sheriff Abel Escalante, 27, also a veteran, recognizing his service as well as the service of all others who have served the country. Deputy Escalante was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Cypress Park on August 2, 2008 at 5:45 a.m. as he prepared to leave for work.

Veterans and their families are urged to attend and register according to EGP News -"Marcus Gutierrez, FCPCIA president, said the event is open to everyone not just veterans. He said he is looking for families of veterans to come to the event to help the group in its efforts to identify all veterans from Cypress Park."

More included activities: at Noon- A fly-over by a Blackhawk helicopter, piloted by National Guard pilot Rob Wilson, Garfield High, Class of 1977; a festive performance by local Aztec dance troupe Xipe-Totec; and, the “Shooting Stars,” a team of professional military veteran skydivers to land in Cypress Park Recreation Center field at 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 9, 2008: Northeast L.A. 3rd Annual Veterans Day Parade. “ 1 p.m. preceded by an 11 a.m. ceremony at Eagle Rock City Hall.

"The event, formerly the Eagle Rock Veteran’s Day Parade will begin at 11 a.m. with a solemn ceremony and wreath laying at the Veterans memorial at the Eagle Rock old City Hall located on 2035 Colorado Blvd. At 1 p.m. the parade will start at York Blvd and make its way to Eagle Rock Blvd and end at the corner of Castor Ave and Merton Ave. The Parade will conclude with an entertainment program at 2:30 p.m. Councilman Jose Huizar, the Eagle Rock and Glassell Park Neighborhood Councils as well as the Eagle Rock and Highland Park Chambers of Commerce are sponsoring the parade." From the ENG News item above cited, http://egpnews.com/?p=3509 .

Last year's parade included Eagle Rock High School band, cheerleaders, and drill team, and Franklin High's band, cheerleader and drill team members appeared, as did players from the football teams, local officials and organizations were represented with several car club entries among the marchers and other vehicles. Lincoln High School - a northeast area high school- has not been among the entries as yet.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008, VETERANS DAY- LHS will be closed.

Thursday, November 13, 2008- at LHS, Parent/Teacher conference (an Open House) from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. If you have children attending Lincoln, this is a good time to see who the teachers and administrators are, bring any questions you have on your son's or daughter's education and find out what you can do to get the most from attending LHS and see what the teachers need from you, as well, to do their best.

Friday, November 14, 2008- Last Home game for the football season, under the lights- LHS v. Wilson High, JV at 2 p.m., Varsity at 3 p.m.
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CITY SPENDING RE-CAP ON SPECIAL EVENT FEE WAIVERS BY CITY COUNCIL

COMING out of the general fund as approved today by L.A. City Council,
locally, are:
Friday's Agenda Item 33:

"b. MOTION (REYES - PERRY) relative to declaring the Cathedral High School home football games on November 1, and November 15, 2008 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $500).
* * *
e. MOTION (HUIZAR - LABONGE) relative to declaring the Third Annual Eagle Rock Veterans’ Day Parade on November 9, 2008 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $6,135).
* * *
h. MOTION (HUIZAR - LABONGE) relative to declaring the St. Dominic’s Annual Parish Fiesta on November 7-9, 2008 a Special Event (fees and costs absorbed by the City = $11,517). "

Motions on Item 33 passed as submitted. Item "e." should be corrected as the "Northeast Veteran's Day Parade."

Money in these categories comes from the City General Fund that is for having the stated expense covered by the City instead of the named event, intended to be something of a general benefit to the community and public, open for all to participate in, and usually not a for-profit event.

The Council has begun to follow these guidelines more often than before when they were very generous and casual, granting event fee waivers for lots of profit-making events.
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Honoring Our Past


Following the re-dedication to honor Dr. Andrus, a bronze plaque was installed over the center aisle doorway in the front entrance lobby. In 1916, Dr. Andrus became the first female high school principal in California. She retired in 1944 after 28 years at Lincoln High School. She then continued working to help others, accomplishing what is considered by most people to be her most significant achievement, founding the AARP- the "American Association of Retired Persons."

Ethel Percy Andrus-(1884-1967)




One familiar view over the years at Lincoln is the Auditorium that was re-dedicated to honor Dr. Andrus in February 2008.







From the CA Focus, May 2008 issue, AARP's California publication:

"AARP Honors Dr. Andrus at Lincoln High Dedication Ceremony
As part of AARP's 50th anniversary celebration, more than 1,200 people attended a February 8 dedication ceremony of the Ethel Percy Andrus Center for the Performing Arts at Lincoln High School in Los Angeles. Dr. Andrus served as the school’s principal for nearly 30 years before founding AARP. Joined by civic leaders, formers students, volunteers, and members, AARP toured the newly restored auditorium and enjoyed performances by the students of Lincoln High. Thanks to a $100,000 Ethel Percy Andrus Legacy Award, the refurbished theater will house a pre-professional training program for students interested in the performing arts."

ELECTION DAY IS OVER- finally.
There was enough going on to make people both happy AND unhappy with these election results. Obama, or I should really say, "President-elect Obama," will be sworn in as the new President of the United States on January 20th, 2009, according to my recolletion of tradition and the law.

I can remember back in January 1961 and seeing President Kennedy on tv at Albion St. when we watched him get sworn in as President and it had snowed in D.C and it was cold. There was some kind of electrical short with the podium wiring and Robert Frost, the famous poet, spoke after some singing by Marian Anderson, a famous black singer. We were in the auditorium, I believe, and watching the whole ceremony on a black and white tv, since color tv's were still not a common thing. It was all very impressive looking to us, even though we just knew it was Kennedy becoming president and that was the big thing for us.

There's the famous speech that President Kennedy made that day that gets played on tv a lot, even YouTube should have it. The funny thing about that time was that some people were for Nixon and others were for Kennedy, mostly Kennedy, but we used to see all these bumper stickers (back when cars had real bumpers) and count them to see the popularity of each one.

But we never heard of vandalizing and all this pretty serious tension that you had lately with this Obama v. McCain presidential race. Our times have changed. Lots of people were looking at this more like a sporting event - maybe from seeing too many Laker playoffs and having last year be a waste for them- but there was a lot more similarity to a competitive sports event than to an election campaign with the only real action was when they tallied up votes in each state so you could keep track of who was winning states.


The local props and measures had some surprises. It looks like people can't get enough of taxes and giving out more public money through bonds that have to be paid back by the taxpayers for so long that the interest costs alone can be as much as the bond amount. More like paying for a home mortgage for 30 years.

Really, did we NEED to start spending for a high speed train to San Francisco. Well, I guess by the time it ever gets built we might find a reason. There may be so many people in the state that it will be populated in places that are empty now. I went to college in San Diego after leaving Lincoln and I could tell how long it would take to get home or back to the campus as I drove on the freeway just by looking at the areas I was passing through- Commerce, Norwalk, La Mirada, Santa Ana, Disneyland (Anaheim), El Toro Marine Air Base (Tustin?), OCIR- "Orange County International Raceway, San Juan Capistrano, the Nuclear Plant (San Onofre), Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, Carlsbad, La Jolla (Torrey Pines Park) and San Diego, the Navy base and Point Loma. There were big spaces in between and I remember some places had horses and cows in the fields that you could see from the freeway. So much empty and open space, usually green, in between cities.

It's all changed now. You can't tell where you are because of all the buildings everywhere- it all looks the same, and there's no way to know how long it would take because of all the traffic at all hours at any location. One time I came home from San Diego on a Friday early afternoon and did not step on the brake, not even to slow down, until I got off the freeway in Lincoln Heights, the traffic was so light and steadily moving- it was like watching a no-hitter developing in baseball; you wonder how long this can go on until something interrupts it all. That was the only time that happened. The ususal travel time came out to be about 2 hours and 10 minutes with only a few segments that going past 70 mph was not going to get you a ticket. That would be too slow for most open stretches now, but like I said, things have changed. It's time to leave memory lane.


Well, if you voted good for you. My recommendations were based on lots of things and some people might agree, others not, but what happens too often is that you spend all your time evaluation some choices- maybe not all- and then somebody comes in and starts punching their ballot like they are choosing a lottery number, not really even familiar with what the ballot measure is about.

The city tax is not much but it's easy to buy the same things for me in Glendale, Pasadena, Alhambra and so on, where the sales tax would be lower than 8.75%. For some expensive items, maybe like new cars, you know people will do that, but not for everything.

WELL, What's done is done. We can consider that again later.


FOOTBALL- BUT AT EAGLE ROCK HIGH SCHOOL
2007 Season, Coach Chou has winning season; 2008 Principal bars Coach Chou from being head coach, no winning season, but maybe a "whining" season.
See the Daily News story of October 24 http://www.dailynews.com/preps/ci_10811846
gives some update on what has been happening with their football program since their principal got into a dispute with the coach last season, allowed him to continue coaching after he "resigned" in a dispute with the principal and then rescinded it afterwards. The principal said he only allowed the coach to finish the season as head coach, and that was all. The coach said it was understood to be a plain and simple return to his head coach job, and then things went downhill for Eagle Rock's football program from then on.

There is an LA TIMES Varsity Blog story on this from January that gets out more details, which make the principal look to be more interested in power than the overall good of the school. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/varsitytimesinsider/2008/01/dismissal-of-ch.html

The local monthly paper in Eagle Rock, The Boulevard Sentinel (taken in part from the old neighborhood paper, The Sentinel that was a sister publication to the Lincoln Height Bulletin News of old) has more and richer details in its report, http://www.boulevardsentinel.com/03-2008.htm "Breaking the Code of Silence."

The next month, "Community Demands ERHS Principal Be Removed" http://www.boulevardsentinel.com/04-2008.htm

In the end, the parents let the ball drop by not pushing further, but they were already becoming afraid of retaliation against their children by the principal and most became intimidated. LAUSD admin turned out to be there just to settle the people down with meetings that went nowhere as far as real remedies and truth, in my opinion.
In the end, the most forceful factor could have been parents, but they could not carry the fight any further. By the way, nearly all forms of retaliation are illegal and actionable in court, but most people don't know how they can use develop their case in terms of proof issues.

Well, let's leave all that for now. Lincoln's Homecoming is coming up Friday night and you might check the Daily News comments regarding the next opponent, Marshall, and the Marshall team player's ideas regarding the Eagle Rock High team's condition. http://www.topix.com/forum/high-school-football/TH0PQL7UMRVS3TFKO#

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ABOUT THE VOTE DECISIONS-

THE GUIDING THEME for the vote on bonds is that our economy is in poor shape right now and BOND measures are costly to the public, so it's not a good mix.

The other factor that sways the decisions is that the poor ability of government and its agencies to spend money wisely and avoid waste and corruption so that you just get little squeaks for your buck. We should hold off for that reason, too.

Most of the ideas sound good, but some also involve HUGE amounts of money that will burden people and their children for years to come and NOT worth it.

Voting down a BOND proposal does not keep it from coming up again in better times, with better language, and more controls so that the money WILL GO to WHERE they SAY it will go. Why is this? Because there's too much language is included-intentionally- that leaves loopholes and we have been deceived too often in the past to "trust" any good intentions and judgment.

OTHER DECISIONS ON VOTES
Some past experience and observations on operations in government and industry show that all is not as it is presented, and the comments include this where possible.

COUNTY Measure J. (almost forgot this one)
"NO" (the opinion below is borrowed from "Mayor Sam's" Blog- I adopt this opinion)

"Community College Classroom Repair, Public Safety, Nursing & Job Training -- Los Angeles Community College DistrictThe community colleges just got a huge bond measure a few years ago and has wasted a good chunk of it. However, there are a few good projects now under way. Lets give the colleges a few more years to prove they can spend wisely and if they really need more money we can talk about it."
Vote No.

THE GUIDING THEME for the vote is that our economy is in poor shape right now and BOND measures are costly to the public, so it's not a good mix.

The other factor that sways the decisions is that the poor ability of agencies to spend money wisely and avoid waste and corruption just give you little squeaks for your buck, and we should hold off for that reason, too.

Most of the ideas sound good, but some involve HUGE amounts of money that will burden people and their children for years to come and NOT worth it.

Voting down a BOND proposal does not keep it from coming up again in better times, with better language, and more controls so that the money WILL GO to WHERE they SAY it will go. Too much language is included that leaves loopholes and we have been deceived too often in the past to "trust" any good intentions and judgment.

FREE COFFEE at Starbucks on Voting Day- TODAY -November 4.
Yes, free. See the website (just be sure that you actually DO VOTE today)- and they are going on your word, you don't need the "I VOTED" sticker.
http://ebm.cheetahmail.com/c/tag/hBJD193AJvkyvB7W6-cBurpcXQ4/doc.html

Another place for a free coffee today is:
The Casa Princesa coffee shop in Highland Park on York Bl., between Ave. 45 and Tonawanda (A few blocks from Eagle Rock Blvd, and across the street from Sparkletts Water. It shares the location with the "Sign-a-rama" business; big parking lot in front). Show your sticker.

Another huge burden on taxpayers, and more money to waste by our LAUSD Board

VOTE "NO" on "Q", $7 Billion dollars alone is unjustified, and ALL this to be put in the hands of LAUSD, one of the most wasteful agencies ever, is not a good deal.
===========================================
Measure Q. Safe, Healthy Neighborhood Schools -- Los Angeles Unified School District (School Bond - 55% Approval Required)
To improve student health, safety and educational quality, shall the Los Angeles Unified School District: continue repair/upgrade of aging/deteriorating classrooms, restrooms; upgrade fire/earthquake safety; reduce asbestos, lead paint, air pollution, water quality hazards; build/upgrade specialized classrooms students need to meet job/college requirements; improve classroom Internet access by issuing $7 billion in bonds, at legal interest rates; with guaranteed annual audits, citizens’ oversight, no increase in maximum tax rate?

==========================================

STOP LAUSD'S WASTE and COSTLY EXPERIMENTS WITH YOUR MONEY.
This proposal came from LAUSD, with the figure set for the ballot measure here to be 7 BILLION DOLLARS- and it was decided in one afternoon to double the request from 3-1/2 BILLION DOLLARS- this hows how arrogant and greedy the LAUSD Board is.

What bad actions they done in the past? They have just added 20% to admin salaries; the enrollment in LAUSD continues to shrink but they continue to build school, at the same time displacing residents, often in poorer areas of town; they continue to throw money at problems in education and they don't work. In the past year we saw their payroll catastrophe for employees that fouled up their pay checks from bad software they used at a cost reported to be hundreds of millions of dollars. They have wasted millions of dollars in bad construction deals- An Echo Park site that cost homes to residents was shut down by a Superior Court order after they took too many shortcuts on procedures- tax payers cover the loss. See the Citywatch, May 2, 2008, story on LAUSD examples of waste, http://www.citywatchla.com/content/view/1206/75/

The Beaudry and First St. toxic waste and earthquake fault site is the most expensive high school in the U.S, actually, in the world. The final cost to be over $4o0 Million- opened in October, 10 years behind schedule. To make it nicer, they called it "The Roybal Learning Center".

The old Board of Ed site on Grand Avenue downtown has a high school still not opened it's flashy Arts high school that is running a bill of $232 Million dollars that has a "rollercoaster" design added for a monument to design, above a performing arts theater, that at an ADDED $49 Million to the cost of and adding another year to the opening. In May 2008, L.A. Times' columnist wrote about it http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez4-2008may04,0,4743795.column In 2001, the estimate to build the high school was $30 million. Grand Avenue downtown developers pushed for that change to make THEIR project look more fancy for investors- at taxpayer expense.

You can see the Sept. 3, 2008 story on this in the "L.A. Weekly" for a vivid example of expense without direction, "Art School or LAUSD Folly?" http://www.laweekly.com/2008-09-04/news/art-school-or-lausd-folly/

The school still will not open for another year- meanwhile, more students suffer from not having this when it could have met a need AND closer to $30 million that the $230 million range.
The LAUSD broke ground on a new high school in Glassel Park in the old Taylor Yard train site that they paid $50 million to a developer who bought it out from under them 2 years ago when they were too slow to pay $30 million, so they used eminent domain to get the property and the settled selling price gave the developer that $20 million profit in 2 years for his initial $30 million purchase- LAUSD costs taxpayers HUGE amounts of money over and over.

See http://outside.in/Lincoln_Heights_Los_Angeles_CA/tags/lausd for some references to news stories about these and other example of WHY LAUSD should not be in charge of money. This is shown in many of the stories, and this is their history, not just a couple of bad deals.

NO ON "Q".

L.A. County Measure R- Sales Tax increase

A "NO" vote on this.

Measure R. Traffic Relief - Rail Extensions - Reduce Foreign Oil Dependence -- Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Sales Tax Increase - Two-Thirds Majority Approval Required)
To:
Synchronize traffic signals;
Repair potholes;
Extend light rail with airport connections;
Improve freeway traffic flow (5, 10, 14, 60, 101, 110, 138, 210, 405, 605, 710);
Keep senior / student / disabled fares low;
Provide clean-fuel buses;
Expand subway / Metrolink / bus service;
Dedicate millions for community traffic relief;
Shall Los Angeles County’s sales tax increase one-half cent for 30 years with independent audits, public review of expenditures, all locally controlled?

==========================================
Vote "NO" on this measure - notice that it's called a "half-cent" tax- That it intended to disguise the true description that it's another 1/2 "PERCENT" tax added to the current tax, of 8.25% in L.A., so that out of EVERY dollar you spend, a total of 8.75% sales tax is proposed, raising the tax from the existing 8.25% sales tax rate. A $10 sale will cost 87.5 cents (rounded off to 88 cents).

This is an extra .5% added to the sales tax- AND this will continue for 30 years. The temptation that lures you here is the possibilty, they call it a "goal", that all of the things that we hate about transit, especially traffic jams will be fixed.

THIS IS ANOTHER MONEY GRAB-

THIS is what they say will improve- NOT "CURE"- our transit problems. They really have no answer. We already have the highest taxes for a state and spending is never done in the best way. Special interests who help the politicians by contributing to their campaigns are the big winners when it comes time to hand out contracts.

You will also see that there is never enough money to get done what is promised. In this case, there is little that WILL be guaranteed to be done. That's because they know it's not the solution.

EVEN THEIR OWN COSTLY (PAID FOR BY MTA THAT IS TAX-DOLLAR SUPPORTED) glossy and lavishly illustrated brochure they mailed out to convince you says "goals"- that means what they WANT to do, and NOT what IS going to be accomplished. These are important details in how they put their propaganda together that really HIDE the truth from us.

The current economy makes this even more of a bad deal which makes this even a more disasterous deal.

DON'T let that happen and DON'T let the sales tax continue to climb by adding this for another 30 YEARS!

"NO" on R

City of LA Propositions and recommendations

Proposition A. Gang & Youth Violence Prevention, After-School & Job Training Programs -- City of Los Angeles (Parcel Tax - Two-Thirds Majority Approval Required)
To address gang violence through prevention and job training programs; preventing students from dropping out of school; funding supervised after-school programs, tutoring/mentoring, vocational/apprenticeship programs, expanded graffiti removal; requiring Controller audits, citizen oversight; funding proven programs; shall the City of Los Angeles levy an annual $36 gang prevention tax, with discounts for low-income seniors, on each real property parcel?

NO, NO, NO- Doesn't this sound like a good title? Beware. Council Member Janice Hahn continues to push for more taxes to cover her proposals that do NOT have a proven track record but WILL make the city property owners pay more for another experiment that channels money into their favorite programs so that it appears to be a worthy expense. It's not.

The city proposals have continued to show that they benefit the image of the officials while the measures just suck money out of the city treasury and improve nothing for us, but enrich the organizations that get hired, usually being connected to the politicians in one or more ways. Some people call these things "scams" and I agree.

The City is over $400 million off their budget, and they don't manage money or programs well at all. This is another scheme to get more from homeowners, made out to have you think it won't hurt too much but add up all the charges the City has been putting on you, little by little, and it's getting worse.
Vote "NO" on Prop. A

Proposition B. Update of Low Rent Housing Authorization -- City of Los Angeles (Ordinance - Majority Approval Required)
Shall existing voter-approved authorization for low rent housing be revised to remove impediments to federal and state funding and requirements not compatible with current housing needs, and authorize the development, construction or acquisition of low rent housing by public entities in the City of Los Angeles, maintaining the previously authorized voter-approved level of 3,500 units per Council District, subject to availability of funding and all City development requirements?

NO- THIS IS not what it seems to be (and that's why they write them up this way) - a NO vote
on this one. The Mayor has this provision to manipulate to favor developers making more deals with him that will make the problems of high density even worse as a result, but allowing deals to be made for developers to get favored treatment. Don't go for this shell game.
Vote "NO" on Prop. B.

These are just the City of LA props;
To see a Directory of Los Angeles County, CA MEASURES , go to http://www.smartvoter.org/2008/11/04/ca/la/meas/

REMINDER FOR VOTING ON TUESDAY - summaries. Some recommendations will be posted on these summaries by Tuesday Morning.
Directory of California State Propositions
Propositions Click on ballot measure for more detail.

Proposition 1A. Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train -- State of California (Bond Act - Majority Approval Required)
To provide Californians a safe, convenient, affordable, and reliable alternative to driving and high gas prices; to provide good-paying jobs and improve California's economy while reducing air polution, global warning greenhouse gases, and our dependence on foreign oil, shall $9.95 billion in bonds be issued to establish a clean, efficient high-speed train service linking Southern California, the Sacramento/San Joaquin Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area, with at least 90 percent of bond funds spent for specific projects, with federal and private matching funds required, all bond funds subject to an independent audit?

Proposition 2. Standards for Confining Farm Animals -- State of California (Initiative Statute - Majority Approval Required)
Shall certain farm animals be allowed, for the majority of every day, to fully extend their limbs or wings, lie down, stand up and turn around?

Proposition 3. Children's Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program -- State of California (Initiative Statute - Majority Approval Required)
Shall $980,000,000 in general obligation bonds be authorized for construction, expansion, remodeling, renovation, furnishing and equipping of eligible children's hospitals?

Proposition 4. Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor's Pregnancy -- State of California (Initiative Constitutional Amendment - Majority Approval Required)
Shall the California Constitution be changed to prohibit abortion for an unemancipated minor until 48 hours after physician notifies minor's parent, legal guardian, or, in limited cases, substitute adult relative?

Proposition 5. Nonviolent Drug Offenses, Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation -- State of California (Initiative Statute - Majority Approval Required)
Shall $460,000,000 be allocated annually to improve and expand treatment programs?

Proposition 6. Police and Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal Penalties and Laws -- State of California (Initiative Statute - Majority Approval Required)
Shall of minimum of $965,000,000 of state funding be required each year for police and local law enforcement?

Proposition 7. Renewable Energy Generation -- State of California (Initiative Statute - Majority Approval Required)
Shall government-owned utilities be required to generate 20% of their electricity from renewable energy by 2010, a standard currently applicable to private electrical corporations? Shall all utilities be required to generate 40% by 2020 and 50% by 2025?

Proposition 8. Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry -- State of California (Initiative Constitutional Amendment - Majority Approval Required)
Shall the California Constitution be changed to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry providing that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California?

Proposition 9. Criminal Justice System. Victims' Rights. Parole -- State of California (Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute - Majority Approval Required)
Shall notification to victim and opportunity for input during phases of criminal justice process, including bail, pleas, sentencing and parole be required? Shall victim safety be a consideration for bail or parole?

Proposition 10. Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy. Bonds -- State of California (Initiative Statute - Majority Approval Required)
Shall $5 billion in bonds paid from state's General Fund be authorized to help consumers and others purchase certain vehicles, and to help research in renewable energy and alternative fuel vehicles?

Proposition 11. Redistricting -- State of California (Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute - Majority Approval Required)
Shall the authority for establishing state office boundaries be changed from elected representatives to a commission comprised of Democrats, Republicans, and representatives of neither party selected from the registered voter pool in a multilevel process?

Proposition 12. Veteran's Bond Act of 2008 -- State of California (Bond - Majority Approval Required)
Shall a nine hundred million dollar ($900,000,000) bond be issued to provide farm and home aid for California veterans?

Monday night- election views.


RECOMMENDATIONS ON STATE PROPOSITIONS:

Prop. 1a. -Safe, Reliable High Speed Passenger Train Bond
NO- a big waste of money. How are any of the promises going to come through? Do we NEED a high speed train other than for a hugely expensive experiment.

Prop. 2. Treatment of Farm Animals, a statute.
NO- a tough one, but thinking on economic terms, the change won't make a difference as industry will move operations out of state to, costs for the producst will increase and not much is assured to improve.

Prop. 3: Children's Hospital Bond Act
NO- Just economic conditions make me hold off on this expense.

Prop. 4: Waiting Period and Parental Notification before termination of pregnancy for minor.
YES- As a parent , it just does seems enough shown as a reason to justify procedures on a minor WITHOUT telling parents or guardians first.

Prop. 5: Non-violent Offender, sentencing, parole and rehabilitation
NO- this will make trend for not facing the consequences of one's own acts to continue. Rehabilitation is not something that you can force people to happen and there does not need to be more expense for the state taxpayers to allow people to avoid "free", non-jail outcomes for what would be a crime under any circumstances. More abuses are potentially possible as this would create such opportunities if passed.

Prop. 6: Criminal Penalties and laws.
NO-

Prop. 7: Renewable Energy
NO- It locks us into having more expense without certain benefits. Another money grab.

Prop. 8: Limit on marriage
your VERY personal choice- do you want to change the law? As it stands now, gay marriage is a legal choice.
No means allowing marriages between same sex couples (No change in the law).
Yes means to create a new law that would prevent marriage between same sex couples.

Prop. 9: Criminal Justice system
NO

Prop. 10: Alternative fuel and Energy:
NO- a HUGE expense, with a substantial part of the cost going to "rebate" incentives, education and information expenses. The real outcome is that the public's money is going to finance the industry's public relations and the payments to cover this will continue for the taxpayer's to cover the industry's expenses. It is too much public money to be applied for private benefits. We can't afford this.

Prop. 11: Redistricting , by Constitutional Amendment and Statute
YES- one change that is needed to take power away from the politicians that they have used to create permanent re-election districts by drawing boundaries to create those outcomes by the political party majority purposely planned. ANY other group could make fairer boundaries to give the districts a balance so we can have real races for office. Stop the rigged district outcomes by taking away the politicians out of this process.

Prop. 12: Veteran's Bond Act of 2008-
NO- the VA is not a reliable agency to be handling more money at this time. The monetary burden would not justify the risk for misuse and waste.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
For the old readers and the newcomers, WELCOME. The information here today is NOT about the "LHS 95th Anniversary Gala" that happened this past Saturday night at the Omni Hotel downtown. "Why not?" you may ask. Well, since I wasn't there and no one has told me anything about it, I can only say, "If you went, email me about your experience, observations, opinions or other comments on it for posting. email: lhs90031@earthlink.net "

Today is strictly about some entertainment and information that is found on the web.

LARadio.com - check daily it for a month free
in http://www.laradio.com/ - normally a low-cost subscription needed, but for NOVEMBER, it's free. There's a little bit in here for everyone, Monday through Friday, available at about 7am those days.

Let me share this with you from the LARadio.com column this morning:

“I am encouraging you to share this information with your radio address book to alert those who may not know about the site that not only will they have access to the daily current news during November, but they will have access to 11+ years of Archival material and columns. “

“If you are a fan of Los Angeles radio – current and past - LARadio.com would like to invite you to read about the daily activities of Southern California radio.
Go to http://www.laradio.com/ and click the Members Only link at the very top of the page. When the box comes up, insert the word “free” (no quotation marks) in the username and password sections. That’s it and you’re in. Please check back every weekday morning around 7 a.m. for the latest LARadio news. Enjoy!”

So there it is. Try it. I have found lots of things here just as a fan of radio from "back in the day" to now. There are even some of my own emails and comments there, published on the site over the years. Lots of our memories are connected to radio as much as any other meduum. In that way, it really is part of our recollections- good and bad- of high school through music that become revived each time we hear certain songs.

How far back can you remember? Does anyone remember Hunter Hancock? Huggy Boy? Bill Balance? OK, then how about Ryan Seacreast or Rick Dees, or even Big Boy or Kevin & Bean? Does anyone remember that you could hear all types of music on the same station compared to now, when you have to choose Urban, Smooth Jazz, Pop, Country to find certain songs. The 60's radio did not divide music like you have it now. It was truly an eclectic mix that we just took for granted then. There's lot's to be found, large and small, on this site, and just tons of inside information and details on so many things besides music.

THE WEBSITE
You are reading "the blog" now, but "the website" http://www.lincolnhigh90031.com/ is still not actively updated- a couple of times over years is pretty much the story. So I would say that's "infrequent". I was teaching for a couple of years at Lincoln- yes, THAT Lincoln. This was from late 2003 to late 2005 and I thought it would be better if I did not try to comment about the same place that employed me to avoid any conflicts. That was a real experience that provided me with a perspective that could not easily be seen otherwise. More on that at another time.

THE FUTURE
So we are here, and this is a much faster posting operation, so I will use it more frequently as I come across things to share. Some will be purely for entertainment and some will be informative and from the political angle, showing you what City Council and other officials do to make life better but only for them, not for you. I almost forgot to include LAUSD and that needs to be considered in this theme of unresponsive and wasteful bureaucracies.

If you are one of "them" of the described group, you already know many of the shady dealings that go on. You might even think they are right, but I hope to bring it to the forefront where now much is being hidden from the general view. So more on THAT later, but not TOO much later.

If you have ideas or suggestions, I will handle things a little differently than what I found to be the case with LAUSD and the L.A. City Council. UNLIKE those groups, I will READ and CONSIDER each item as I receive it and I will try to do things in order to accomplish improvement of the human condition, a little bit at a time.

Today is Sunday- If you have not changed the time on your clocks, it would be a good idea to do that for any clock that doesn't set itself like the computer clocks and cell phone clocks. Check your VCRs, home phones, microwave ovens, clock radios, car clocks, and so on This way you won't fool yourself needlessly if you're in a rush and check the time that will be an hour ahead of the right time.

Just to refresh the instructions, move the clock setting BACK one hour, which is adjusting the time to "Pacific Standard Time." "Daylight Saving Time" is done for this year and the daylight part of the day will continue to become shorter for a while along with the cold weather sneaking back, just cold enough for us to get out the coats, sweaters, jackets, and even umbrellas, if any rain shows up. Do you remember where you put yours?

LINCON'S HOMECOMING Game will be plalyed this Friday, November 7th with Franklin High Panthers visiting us at Andrus Field to try to dampen the setting. Game times: 3pm for J.V., 7pm for Varsity game.
Be sure to stop by the Alumni Association's food stand for a good selections of food and drinks, and you'll be helping out with the fundraising efforts at the same time.

What's next after that home game? Just ONE more game.
There will be one more home game left this season for the following Friday, November 14th, Game times, 4pm J.V. and 7pm Varsity.

Today is Halloween- enjoy the weekend.

Tuesday November 28, 2008- one week to go until the November election day. Do take advantage of your right to vote, especially in the city elections which happen to be needing some serious evaluation - to come later here. Most of the measures will wind up costing taxpayers lost of money for quite a few years, but with little benefit. Stay tuned here for more.


NEW SCHOOL YEAR- NEW PRINCIPAL FOR LINCOLN HIGH
Nothing new posted for a while, as you have noticed. Meanwhile LHS has said "Goodbye" to Jim Molina as principal and "Hello" to Mr. Torres, formerly at Hollenbeck Middle School, who will be in charge of things at LHS now.


GALA 95TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER AND DANCE - Saturday, Nov. 1
The ALUMNI ASSOCIATION has the Gala 95th Anniversary of Lincoln High School at the Omni Hotel this Saturday evening, November 1st. Tierra will provide the live musical entertainment and the rest to be filled in by a DJ who should keep things moving.

There is further information on the Alumni Association's contact page http://www.lincolnhs.org/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=647&Itemid=203
that is located within the Official LINCOLN HIGH WEBSITE.


FOOTBALL GAME THIS WEEK AT HOME- DATE CHANGE
The other news that may not have trickled out from LHS is that the home game that was scheduled for Friday, October 31 (Halloween) was determined to be needing a change of date for a number of reasons, one of which being appropriate security, from the information provided at the October 18th Alumni meeting.

The NEW date: Thursday, October 30th: "LHS vs Marshall 4:00-7:00PM" appears on the LHS Calendar. I take that to mean JV game at 4pm and Varsity game at 7pm. If you have questions on this, call the main office at LHS, 323-341-4600 to find out more information.

That is all for now for the select few who happen to click onto this page. The Main page is overdue for an update- but check this for news as well.

This Friday is Homecoming for Lincoln High School with the Varsity game starting at 6 p.m. The JV game will begin at 2:30 p.m. The opponent this week will be Marshall High School. Halftime activities will be focused around the presentation of the Homecoming King and Queen and the Court.

The Homecoming Dance will be held in the Girls' Gym following the game. The Lincoln High Alumni Association will have the food concession operations going during the game with lots of tasty food.

NEW TELEPHONE NUMBER for LHS- Mr. Wadsworth has passed along the news that the school has a different number. It is now 323-441-4600. The old "CApitol" prefix that became just "22" will no longer identify the school with the geographic area of the Lincoln Heights neighborhood.

Monday, March 27, 2006-
Looking to updating website since you may have noticed that nothing new has been shown for a loooong time. There has been a lot that I have thought about writing but it has been on the back burner for a long time. Lots of things are in the news that relate directly to Lincoln High and some things that I just want to bring to the attention of some of you who may not know.

ALUMNI note: (From Mike Ibarra) Tuesday evening- March 28th, Varsity Baseball Fundraiser at Alhambra Shakey's Pizza, 6:30 to 9:30 pm, 2234 W. VALLEY BLVD., ALHAMBRA, CA
626-289-7851

One item is the alma mater. Despite the good intentions and efforts of many people, the school and the system are not like the alumni might remember. Observations and suggestions to follow.

BIG NEWS: One change that some readers might have noticed is that the GUESTBOOK sign-in and CURRENT comments are not working. This is more due to system problems than my exercise of editorial control. The GUESTBOOK page apparently dropped off the file server sometime in Dec. or Jan. Continue Reading-

Some good and bad about this- Good news: I have a back-up copy but only to Nov. 2005
Bad news- December and Jan. entries missing, but there were very very few additions.


I will have to restore the missing parts to get it going again. The backed up messages will be broken into archives to be more manageable. (I know it took a long time bring up even with DSL connections.) Since this is the most accessed part, it should be kept as a smaller sized segment.

One interesting observation- I may have been the only one who couldn't find the Guestbook since I did not get a single message about the problem from anyone else. (Reminder: E-mail is free to send)

(This is still not much of a change from the status quo since I did not get much feedback from any source about the lack of changes to the website with the exception of Bill K.)

1968 Eastside Walkouts Want to be a star? Well, how about an "extra"?
Filming is scheduled to begin this weekend at LHS on an HBO film produced by Moctezuma Esparza, and directed by Edward James Olmos. July 16 and 17 will recreate some of the scenes from the walkouts that many of you might remember and participated in (yes, some of that generation still very much around).

BELOW IS COPY OF E-MAIL received from another friend about more filming on this production. You can be a part of this- crowd scenes- so all ages wanted.

"From: WALKOUT EXTRAS [mailto:walkoutextras@yahoo.com]
Attached is a registration form [Call or e-mail to them for copy of form] for being a volunteer extra. Fill it out and fax or email it back to us
ASAP.

We need MANY people in order to reenact the protest
scenes, so pass along the word to all your friends.
There is a shooting date set for July 31st that will
take place in front of City Hall in Downtown LA. This
is one of the dates where we will need people of all
ages. Please let your friends and family know, as
this will be a very important date to show up, we need
1500 people this particular day. It helps to fill ot
the registration form ahead time so we know how many
people to prepare for, in terms of meals.

Thank you for your interest in the film, WALKOUT.

Tery Lopez
WALKOUT Film Recruitment"

These are Important dates from the e-mail attachments you should request:
"I am available to volunteer as an extra at least 8 hours the following days. Please check all that apply:
Saturday, July 16, 2005 Saturday, July 23, 2005 Saturday, July 30, 2005 Saturday, August 6, 2005
Sunday, July 17, 2005 Sunday, July 24, 2005 Sunday, July 31, 2005 Sunday, August 7, 2005
Monday, August 8, 2005 Tuesday, August 9, 2005 Friday, August 12, 2005

"To REGISTER as an extra email us at walkoutextras@yahoo.com or call 213.534.3486"

Just passing along the information. There is the crowd scene at City Hall for later in the month where all ages would work; this weekend is going to be mainly student-age extras at LHS.

LHS Alumni REUNION DANCE, at American Legion Post 790,

DATE SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2005.

ADDRESS
American Legion Post 790
330 North Azusa Ave.
West Covina, CA

MUSIC Armenta Brothers

COCKTAIL HOUR 6 TO 7 PM
BUFFET 7 TO 8 PM
MUSIC 8 TO 12 AM,
.
For information call POST AT at 626-331-9063 OR John Diaz (Class of 1943) AT 626-570-8673
Cost $10, includes buffet, 7- 8 PM.
$12 at door.
CALL NOW FOR TICKETS.
EVENT SELLING OUT FAST!

E-mail me at
mikethedadibarra@sbcglobal.net

Call Mike Ibarra for information (323) 262-3653

Lincoln High School 2005 Alumni Appreciation Dinner
You are invited to the Lincoln High School 2005 Alumni Appreciation Dinner

LHS Alumni Appreciation Dinner on Sat. Jan. 29, 2005.

Great Italian Buffet. $17.50 per person.

Palermo Ristorante Italiano
1858 N. Vermont
Ave. LA, 90027.

Limited seating RSVP by Jan. 26, 2005.

Contact Tina & Oscar Ornelas 562 941-7885.

Mail checks to:
LHS Alumni Association
15274 Goodhue. St.
Whittier, CA 90604.

Contact Mike Ibarra for info.
(323) 262-3653
mikethedadibarra @ sbcglobal.net

MENU APPETIZERS- mushrooms, broiled with herbs, garlic and cheese.
Pizza Rosa, Anthony's own creation.
ENTREES- Chicken Picata, lemon and wine sauce includes side order of
spaghetti.
Lasagna Ala Bolognas. Layer upon layer of extra large noodles, meat,
Ricotta chesse, pamigiano cheese, Romaine cheese, Mozzarella cheese,
with delicious meat sauce topped with melted Mozzarella cheese.
INCLUDES- salad, garlic bread and dessert and coffee.

Parking You may park at ONE of the FOUR following locations, (1) behind Palermo's, (2) Post Office lot across the street (3) behind the 7-11 (4) Masonic Temple just north of Franklin, please note Location 3 &4 are valided parking.

Special thanks to Anthony for graciously offering his Ristorante for the special event!