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Claremont police handle wide variety of unusual crimes
Story on page 4
Saturday 08-11-12
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75 cents
Hot nights at Padua Hills
Story on page 4
COURIER photo/Steven FelschundneffClaremont High School varsity football coach Mike Collins works with his team Thursday during the firstweek of practice for the 2012 football season. Mr. Collins has been leading the Wolfpack for 18 yearsand this season begins with a home game on August 24. Check out our special photo coverage inside.
Football heats up
Photos on page 12
Good times
Bubbly Roslyn Farkasthinks life’s a big journey.But she has alwaysfound beauty in the littlethings along the way
Story on page 10
COURIER website
Our entire edition is not onlyonline, but includes photogalleries of our great images
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Claremont COURIER/Saturday, August 11, 2012
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The Claremont Courier (United States Postal Service 115-180) is published twice weekly by the Courier Graphics Corporation at 1420 N. ClaremontBlvd., Suite 205B, Claremont, California 91711-5003. The Courier is a newspaper of general circulation as defined by the political code of the state of California, entered as periodicals matter September 17, 1908 at the post office at Claremont, California under the act of March 3, 1879. Periodicals postageis paid at Claremont, California 91711-5003. Single copy: 75 cents. Annual subscription: $52.00. Send all remittances and correspondence about sub-scriptions, undelivered copies and changes of address to the Courier, 1420 N. Claremont Blvd., Suite 205B, Claremont, California 91711-5003. Tele-phone: 909-621-4761. Copyright © 2012 Claremont Courier
one hundred and fourth year, number 65
READERS’ COMMENTS
Please send readers’ comments via email to editor@claremont-courier.com; fax to 621-4072; or by mail or hand delivery to 1420 N.Claremont Blvd. Ste. 205B, Claremont, CA 91711.The deadline for submission for the Wednesday issue isMonday at 3 p.m.; the deadline for the Saturday issue is Thurs-day at 3 p.m.The COURIER cannot guarantee publication of every letter.Letters are the opinion of the writer, not a reflection of theCOURIER. We reserve the right to edit letters.
 Letters should not exceed 250 words
.
Island of civility
Dear Editor:I could be wrong.But the first time I heard the descrip-tion, referring to Claremont, "Island of civility in a sea of slobs," was more than40 years ago in the old COURIERofficeon Harvard Avenue in the Village.Martin Weinberger, the late, great edi-tor of the COURIER,recounted to methen that certain anonymous wags hadcoined the saying in an earlier genera-tion. I did not get the impression thatthe pithy aphorism was Martin's, as hewas always quick to attribute whatneeded attribution and was orneryenough to have taken pride in the state-ment were it his of which to be proud.Yes, Mr. Valentine has dredged up achestnut, if you will, from over 40years ago.With just a tad more effort, perhaps hemight be able to recite what juicy stuff Richard Nixon (not a crook) had to sayabout our good Congressman JerryVoorhis in 1946. Inquiring minds here inthe Athens of the Inland Empire wouldlike to know.A memory is a terrible thing to waste.I could be wrong.
Michael Bever
Claremont
Curves for Women
Dear Editor,It is a great loss to Claremont thatCurves for Women has been squeezedout of business by practices of the cen-tral corporation. As a regular attendeefor 13 years, I witnessed managementthat produced a community center forwomen in Claremont. Hours wereadapted to accommodate everyone, frommothers who came in after their childrenwere off to school to women whosework schedules only allowed exercisetime in the early morning or late after-noon and early evening.Encouragement and direction inhealthy dieting were offered. New ap-proaches such as Zumba were included.Music and conversation were constantcompanions. Women from Curves rec-ognized each other all about town be-cause of our half-hours of exercisetogether. All this came about because of superlative management and staff.It is sad that the controlling corporatebody of Curves has been losing its senseof mission in the United States. Thanks,Dana and Dianne and all who improvedthe lives of women via Curves.
Aimee Elsbree
Claremont
Political culture
Dear Editor,Thank you for the Almanac. It is atimely and refreshing antidote to thenegative letters that have appeared in theCOURIER lately.It is clear that Michael Valentine andJoe Farrell dislike the political culture of Claremont, and they take it very person-ally. Of course, it is unpleasant to be inthe political minority, but no one has amonopoly on that experience of frustra-tion. We've all been there.Mr. Farrell's opponents on measureCL certainly suffered the agony of de-feat in 2010. And many of us in Clare-mont have endured several decadeswithout any acceptable congressmen orstate legislators. Presidents, governorsand city council members have been amixed lot. That's politics: win some,lose some.Sometimes it gets personal. Mr. Far-rell is offended by Peter Weinberger'ssuggestion that Mr. Valentine couldmove to another city if life in Claremontis so intolerable to him. In response, Mr.Farrell launches a grossly insensitivecounterattack, which indicates a stun-ning lack of cognizance that Peter Wein-berger’s comment is perfectlyreasonable, and understandable, in lightof Mr. Valentine's criticism of Mr. Wein-berger's father, who died last July. Thatis not an insignificant detail.Ironically, Mr. Farrell considers him-self a significant victim of unfair treat-ment, possibly because so many people
READERS’ COMMENTS
READERSʼ COMMENTScontinue on page 3
1
420 N. Claremont Blvd., Ste. 205BClaremont, CA 91711
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in Claremont tend to disagree with his politics, anddon't want to vote for him.Mr. Farrell's approach to public discourse might bepart of the problem. In his tirade against what he per-ceives as a locally prevalent “love it or leave it” atti-tude, Mr. Farrell equates disgruntled Claremonterswith women suffragettes, blacks in the South duringthe 1960s, anti-war protesters and gays. This stretchfor common cause is absurdly over the top, as well ashypocritical. Conservative politicians, such as Mr.Farrell, have historically rejected the political aspira-tions of each of those groups. Most Claremont votersknow that, and are not so easily fooled.Are people who disagree with Mr. Farrell automat-ically “snobs” for expressing opinions, as he implies?There are snobs, and slobs, everywhere, but is thatreally so important? The substance of political debatematters more than superficial labels. In any case, sin-cere thanks to the COURIERfor continuing to pro-vide a public forum for all views.
Dave Nemer
Claremont
Raising city speed limits
Dear Editor,Having recently relocated to Claremont, and toRadcliffe between Indian Hill and Mills in particular,I am very concerned about the city's plan to raise thespeed limit on this stretch of road, and not just for myfamily's safety. Speeds traveled along this roadwayare excessive. So far, we have not seen one ticket is-sued. Many people and especially children and fami-lies use this street to walk and bike to and fromCahuilla and Chaparral parks and Chaparral Schooland the high school. Changing the limit on this streetwould not help slow traffic and would likely encour-age faster driving for some.The reason speeds are so high is likely due to sev-eral things including street width, lack of speed limitsignage and lack of enforcement. Where cars do slowdown is midblock where the 25 mph speed limit signis posted. Another is the severe bend in the road.Both the bend and the proxim-ity to the schools and parks in thearea are enough to allow a vari-ance to the state guideline. Inci-dentally, many state guidelinesare ignored by local municipali-ties. I have to wonder why thisone, created decades ago andmostly for highways, is all of asudden being taken so seriously.Furthermore, since the 210 con-struction, Radcliffe and Scrippsare an alternative to the better-pa-trolled Baseline, for commutersexiting the freeway. The bottomline is that raising the speed limit does not help andmore likely will put our families at further risk.There are other solutions that will protect both mo-torists and pedestrians. For instance, there are similarstretches of street near parks and schools in SouthPasadena where we lived before this, and rather thanraise the speed limit where cars were driving too fast,the city installed traffic-slowing measures, evenshared bike lanes, to help ensure the safety of cityresidents. Claremont is a similarly family-orientedsmall town, whose residents pride themselves on thecity's walkability and public safety. Why aren't wedoing the same? Increasing speed limits to “conformto state guidelines”—despite any real state pressureto conform, and despite any proof that tickets arebeing fought and dismissed by the courts, seems neg-ligent at best, and is a waste of tax payer dollars andstaff time. Do the right thing, don't conform to out-dated and dangerous guidelines.
Drew Ready
Claremont
Trip down memory lane
Dear Editor:I have really enjoyed your coverage of the city. Ilove the COURIER. I probably saved this becausemy neighbors were in the pictures. My last highschool graduate was in 2011. I’ve enjoyed your pic-tures from the past this summer. I thought you’denjoy this very timely group of kindergartners pic-tured in the paper in 1999. I found a few recent gradsin the bunch last seen on the CHS theater stages.
Beverly Kottkomp
Claremont
Claremont COURIER/Saturday, August 11, 2012
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continued from page 2
CUSD board has record-quick meeting, discusses new management position
READERS’ COMMENTS
T
he Thursday, August 9 meeting of the Claremont Unified School Dis-trict Board of Education adjournedin record time.
Only a handful of community members filed into theair conditioned board room at the gathering’s 6:30 p.m.start time. And with no public comments or presenta-tions from student council members, they headed backout into the evening heat at 7:30 p.m.Much on the agenda was routine.Waivers were requested for a number of ClaremontHigh School students over the age of 16 who have takenthe required 2 years of physical education, but haven’tpassed the state-designated physical fitness test (PFT)administered to all 9th graders. Achievement of the fit-ness standard is based upon a score falling in theHealthy Fitness Zone in 5 out of 6 fitness areas.Senate Bills 78 and 601 require that students con-tinue to take PE until they pass the test. The boardokayed a waiver from further PE requirements for 55CHS students who may have physical issues that makepassing the test a challenge, allowing room in theirschedules for courses like English, math, science, so-cial science, foreign language or arts.The board granted another waiver, also routine, ex-empting Danbury Elementary School and CommunityDay School from an education code requiring eachschool site to have a council with a specificprincipal/teacher/parent/student ratio.Pursuant to Education Code 52852, an elementaryschool council must feature at least 10 members, in-cluding the principal, 3 teachers and one other schoolemployee, and 5 parents or community members. Atthe secondary level, the school must have 12 councilmembers, including the principal, 3 teachers and 2 otherschool employees, 3 students and 3 parents or commu-nity members. Because it can be difficult for a smallerschool to maintain a council of this size, the legislationallows waivers for sites with less than 120 students whoshare a common school site or curriculum.With the waiver approved, Danbury and CommunityDay will continue with their practice of sharing a com-bined council with the schools to which they are ad- joined, Sumner Elementary and San Antonio HighSchool, respectively. By state mandate, they must re-turn to the board every 2 years to request the waiver.The school board also voted to approve new job de-scriptions created by the district’s Human Resourcesdepartment after a recent review to ensure language de-scribing management positions aligns with current du-ties and job functions.For the position of “Principal, San Antonio HighSchool and Community Day School,” the rewrite in-volved a slight tweak of the title, which used to read“Principal, Alternative Education, San Antonio HighSchool and Community Day.” Another new description,however, involved an entirely new position, that of Co-ordinator of “Service Center and Custodial Services.”The person in this position would be directly re-sponsible to Rick Cota, who is executive director of theService Center as well as of Nutrition Services. It wasnoted the Service Center, which Mr. Cota used to runwith the help of 4 employees, is down to one employee.Money for a new custodial employee was allotted forthe last school year, but the position remained unfilledwhile Mr. Cota determined what kind of employeewould best fill district needs, noted Lisa Shoemaker, as-sistant superintendent of business services.With the start of the new school year approaching onWednesday, August 29, Human Resources plans to putthe word out about the position immediately, a plan thathad board member Sam Mowbray expressing someconcern. He said he would prefer to move forward onhiring for this new position after the November elec-tion, since so much with regards to state funding forschools hinges on the passage of Governor JerryBrown’s tax initiative. After making sure no one wouldbe hired without board approval, Mr. Mowbray addedhis consent to the approval of the job description.The next meeting of the CUSD Board of Educationwill be held on Wednesday, August 22 at 6:30 p.m.
—Sarah Torribio
storribio@claremont-courier.com
EDUCATION
San Antonia Community Hospital (SACH) wasranked in the top 50 of all California hospitals lastmonth for superior patient safety. The Upland-basedhospital was given the prestigious honor by Con-sumer Reports, the largest independent consumer rat-ings organization.For the first time, Consumer Reports rated hospi-tals on a 100-point scale based on 6 patient safetymeasures. The information was based on the latestavailable data from various government and inde-pendent sources.Examples of measures SACH has put into place in-clude a recently implemented hospital-wide electronicmedical record system, which improves patient safetyby increasing efficiency and streamlining communi-cation between members of the healthcare team.“The safety of our patients is paramount, and wecontinually work to improve our safety measures andthe quality of care our patients receive,” said Harris F.Koenig, president and chief executive officer of SACH. “Our physicians and clinicians work togetherto develop safety initiatives, set specific goals and uti-lize best practices. We have worked for years to de-velop this culture of safety.”
SACH ranks high in ComsumerReports hospital ratings
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