Voters send message to Sacramento, City Hall

The voters in yesterday's special election rejected the tax proposals of Prop. 1A through 1E and approved the Prop. 1F pay-hold on legislators for not meeting budget deadlines (not really a major obstacle for to them to still miss the deadline and get their money). The message was a change from a history in constant approvals of lawmakers' requests for more money- enough is too much, it seems. They have not handled public spending well, and their solution shows the problems continue.

At the L.A. city level, at least Rocky Delgadillo's successor will be a definite and significant improvement with Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich winning the election over the Villaraigosa "yes-man," City Council Member Jack Weiss, who is leaving the CD-5 office at the end of June. July 1 will be the start of terms for the recently elected officeholders.

In CD-5, it appears the winner is Paul Koretz over David Vahedi to take over from Jack Weiss. Vahedi was the preferred choice, with closer experience at the neighborhood level, and Paul Koretz is a career politician, but a fairly productive one, and a definite improvement over Weiss' years as CM.

The 32nd Congressional District seat vacated by Hilda Solis' appointment to the Obama cabinet post in the Dept. of Labor did not produce an over-50% majority vote for any single candidate, but Judy Chu beat Gil Cedillo who will return to the state senate to fill out his term that ends next year at the same time as Gov. Swartzenegger. She faces Betty Tom Chu, (R) and a Libertarian party candidate for a July runoff to settle this. The L.A. Times reports on this,
"Chu defeats Cedillo in 32nd Congressional District," by Jean Merl, May 20, 2009, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-local20-2009may20,0,6009641.story - here's what's next, from that story,

There will be a runoff July 14 among the top vote-getters from each of the
parties in the race. Because the district is strongly Democratic, however, it is
widely expected that the seat ultimately will go to the Democrat. The seat, one
of the few area elected offices without term limits, opened unexpectedly with
the appointment of Hilda Solis as U.S. labor secretary.

At least Gil Cedillo will stay out of Washington and away from that scene as a temptation to continue his penchant for lavish spending. He may find that constituents are not so impressed to see their representative being so comfortable while the economy keeps them busy with keeping jobs and housing and such things without the benefit Cedillo has of "campaign donors" "showing their appreciation" with cash. Meanwhile, Ed Reyes and the rest of the hopefuls for the state senate will have to wait for the next opening to engage again in the "musical chairs" game of continuing in a public office.

May LHS Alumni Meeting is Tomorrow, Fundraisers; alternatively, Air Show in Chino; Star Trek

Just a reminder for those considering what to do on Saturday morning- If you are an LHS alumni or even teacher or ex-anything and would like to participate or just find out what's going on first hand, come down to the meeting Sat. May 17, 3009 (3rd Saturday of the Month) in the Student Cafeteria on campus at 9:30.

Nominations for a few offices will be taken so that the membership can vote next month at the June Meeting. This will be your last opportunity to pay dues for this year if you want to be eligible to vote next month, per the bylaws.

There's going to be some bylaw changes for voting that will relax some of the membership structure that currently is overly restrictive and counter-productive to maximizing alumni participation.

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DON'T FORGET the LOW-KEY FUNDRAISING GET-TOGETHER ACTIVITY COMING UP ON THURSDAY of next week:
Shakey’s Pizza Fundraiser 5/21/09 Alhambra, on Valley, just E. of Fremont.
(your order will generate a share to the Alumni Association) 6 TO 9 PM; your take-out order can count, too.

For the Longer Term Planners:
Tiger Alumni Summer PICNIC 7/25/09

And even further into the future:
Tiger Alumni Dodger Night Fundraiser 8/19/09


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AIR SHOW:
As an alternate plan, there is the annual Air Show, the "Planes of Fame," at the Chino Airport from 11 am to 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday, gates open at 8 am and you can check out the planes- (meaning, "look at them" close up, and not take them anywhere as with a library book), $20 adult admission and assorted cheap or free admission for children. The Parking is free. It will be the same program each day, with lots of aerial displays and vintage warbirds displayed and lots flying. You can check the pages starting with the performers page http://www.planesoffame.org/airshows/2009/performers.php

One performer Rob Harrison, is an attorney and engineer, and can make his plane do amazing stunts. I saw him two years ago and you could check some YouTube clips for the things to expect. His wife is often the m.c., narrating and he has an open mike to comment fromthe plane, too. He was involved in an accident about a year ago at another air show while performing. He came down during a loop that was too close to the ground to avoid contact and he crashed . Most people thought he was dead but somehow he survived. He was injured and had to be hospitalized for a while. There is also a wing walker like in the old movies and it's looks more risky in person than it sounds in print.

Some P-51 Mustangs and P-38s will be there two, along with a P-47 or two, all some of the most famous planes in air history. Of the thousands of planes built during wars, only a few still survive and even less that are in flying condition, having been painstakingly restored in most cases.

Lots of visual and aural stuff and if you have any feeling for history or aircraft, it's very enlightening to see it all. Video and Still Cameras are useful, and extra batteries and memory, as is a folding chair, sun protection and water. That's from my recollection. See the website.
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MOVIES:
If you were a fan of the original Star Trek show on television in the 60's, you have to see the new Star Trek movie- it's supposed to be great for I-Max screens, but on the regular screen it was impressive- good effects and story and you didn't have to be a fan to like it, or even see any of the other Star Trek movies to understand this one better.

There's quite a bit that reflects on past characters and that was a nice touch. Most of the actors were unknowns (to me, at least) and that made it easier to get into the story. If you were not a fan, you will still enjoy it, but there won't be any nostalgia impact in your viewing experiences as an added feature. It's just over two hours but moves quickly.

This is the best one of the movies that I have seen, but then again I have never seen a Star Trek movie all the way through until this one.

LHS Alumni Association meeting Saturday

MONTHLY MEETING
The Lincoln High School Alumni Association ("LHSAA") is having the monthy general meeting on Saturday, March 21, 2009, at 9:30 a.m. in the Student Cafeteria on the LHS campus. The meeting is open to the public and alumni are encouraged to attend and to join the activities and plan events.

An election is going to be held as part of the June general meeting and nominations will be taken at this Saturday's meeting. Current by-laws limit voting to the members who have paid dues for this academic year, with the voting eligibility beging 30 days afterwards. So June voters would include alumni becoming dues paid members, "members in good standing" according to the language of the by-laws, at least 30 days earlier. That means that to vote in June, you need to join the LHSAA by the April meeting so that you will be "a member in good standing."

The LHS website (in the sidebar) links to the "Alumni" sction (direct link: http://www.lincolnhs.org/apps/news/?id=4&rn=5657167 [corrected link]) where you can find more information, including membership details. Please contact the LHSAA with any questions you may have, or send questions here for forwarding. You should get a clarification of this voting aspect of membership before you pay your dues to be certain that you have voting eligibility.

REQUEST FOR EMAIL ADDRESSES
The LHSAA also requests that you provide an email address for future contact from the LHSAA, even if you have not decided yet to become a dues-paying member. This will enable contact by email in the future on a more timely basis, providing you with alumni information on activities and events coming up.

For older members who do not know much about email and addresses, you can talk to younger members. But more practically, public libraries in Los Angeles, specifically, and likely other cities, offer free access to computers for 2 hours a day. You can inquire there as well for instruction on using the computers.

The L.A. Public Library offer free wi-fi connections if you have a laptop computer of your own. If you do not know HOW to use the internet or email, there are usually free classes for senior citizens on this and many more topics. You can find lots of information at the local adult school programs, as well.

So you see that you don't have to have a home internet connection or even own a computer to be able to benefit from current technology and use an email account. You can get an "Email address" if you don't have one already, without charge (free), from Google and Yahoo, among other sources.

REUNIONS
The LHSAA does not arrange reunions, or even knows about reunions unless someone provides it with the information. There have been many recent inquiries about upcoming reunions but each class reunion is done independently, usually by a group of interested alumni. Where the information is available, that will be posted on this blog, as well.

The Classes of 1959 are planning a Fall reunion on September 13, 2009, the 50-year version, and a notice will be posted here soon.

See their website: http://www.lhstigers59.com/ Contact Joe Dooley, Planning Committee Chairman at either email address below:
home: syndnjtd@socal.rr.com
work: jdooley@wakunaga.com