To win an environmental science and natural resource management contest, a group of Palisades Charter High School students successfully completed such tasks as examining footprints in the wild, measuring the height of a pine tree and identifying types of soil. The five seniors won the Canon Envirothon state contest held April 2-4 and sponsored by Canon U.S.A., Inc. and several conservation groups. The students will compete in the national contest from July 28 to August 3 at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. ‘I am very proud of our team,’ said science teacher Steve Engelmann, the supervisor. ‘They took the initiative and made a lot of sacrifices on their own.’ The students volunteer to participate in this after-school program and do not receive academic credit. In addition to completing their regular schoolwork, they must set aside time to prepare for the competition, Engelmann said. This is the second straight year Palisades High won the state contest, held outside Kings Canyon in the foothills of the Sierras, and the school’s fourth year to participate. The winning team members are Ana Escalante (who also competed last year), Matthew Correia, Shion An, Ethan Larson and Trevor Cline. Eleven teams from six schools competed at the state level, including another Palisades High team that placed fourth. Members of that team are Cecelia McGaughran, Natalie Farnham, Connie Clarke, Rosalva Chavez and Alina Vasilenko. To reach the state level, the two teams won the regional contest at Ernest E. Debs Regional Park on March 24. In Kings Canyon, students completed five written and field exams on soils, forestry, aquatics, wildlife and a current environmental issue. This year, the students analyzed how recreational activities affect natural resources. ‘The exams are all outdoors and practical,’ Engelmann said. Shion An likes the competition because it’s hands-on. ‘You are actually in the middle of the forest taking a test,’ she said. ‘You can learn better with a leaf in hand.’ An can now identify most of the trees in California forests. ‘I can point at a pine cone and give its scientific name; it’s kind of nerdy, but I like that I know,’ she said. The students also gave an oral presentation about how to provide recreational activities in Yosemite National Park while still preserving the park. They suggested building a natural history museum, which would raise money for the park and cause the least amount of environmental damage, Cline said. They also proposed educating the public about the importance of staying on hiking trails and disposing of waste properly. The team presented in front of a panel of judges who represented groups such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resource Conservation Service. To prepare for the state contest, the students met once a week during lunch, after school or on the weekends. They ventured into Temescal Canyon to measure trees and take water samples. Engelmann hopes the team will have a chance to meet with a forester or soil scientist before nationals. In last year’s competition, Palisades High competed against 53 teams from the United States and Canada and finished 19th. ‘We are hoping to place in the top 10 this year,’ Engelmann said. The top 10 teams receive scholarships and prizes from Canon. ‘I really like competitions that test your academic capability,’ said Cline, who found that the contest made him and his teammates more environmentally conscious. Teammate An started a program on campus that encourages teachers and students to use both sides of computer paper before recycling. ‘It just adds another step to it,’ An said. ‘Reuse and recycle.’ Escalante has decided she would like to become a civil engineer, so she can design and construct ‘green’ schools and apartment buildings. ‘The earth sustains us, and we need to take care of what gives us life,’ Correia noted.

Palisadians Plan New Bank in Town By LIBBY MOTIKA Senior Editor A new community-based bank, founded by Palisadians for Palisadians, is anticipated to open by early 2009. Pacific Palisades Bank is the brainchild of Brad McCoy, whose recent experience as executive vice president of community banking with First Federal Bank of California reinforced his belief that there was room for a bank in the Palisades that would concentrate on servicing the owners of local, midsize businesses. With a Wachovia branch opening in July, the Palisades will have nine banks in a three-block area, but this doesn’t faze McCoy and the other founders. ‘When I was at First Federal from 2002 to 2005, my goal was to launch a commercial banking group with a focus on business owners and then personal accounts,’ McCoy told the Palisadian-Post. But McCoy began to see that there was no bank that was serving the needs of mid-level business owners, ‘tweeners,’ he calls them, ‘who don’t have $10 million to invest but who are successful and appreciate service and flexibility.’ In addition, McCoy said that he envisions his future customer base to include established locals and new arrivals, in addition to what he calls ‘executives at home.’ McCoy, who recently moved to Mandeville Canyon from the Palisades, pursued his idea by engaging a consulting firm, Carpenter and Company, to help him outline the process for starting a bank, which is a highly regulated business. He invited Palisadian Jim Wadsworth, whom he met though Calvary School connections, to one of Carpenter’s presentations, which proved helpful, as Wadsworth had just retired as president of Watt Industries, Inc. and was intrigued by the opportunity. Wadsworth agreed to be the chairman of the founding group and because of his involvement in the community helped McCoy bring others into the venture. He suggested Bob Klein, a Palisades native and former Rams football star who currently serves as vice president of St. John’s Hospital Center Foundation. ‘Bob can ask people to do stuff,’ McCoy said, adding that although he had not known Klein, nevertheless he realized that ‘he was that gigantic guy I see at Starbucks.’ A year ago, the organizing committee of 23 individuals, seven of whom are Palisades residents, including Bill Mortensen, Bill Fritzsche, Brad Favre, Michael Wojciechowski and Sterling Lanier, filed their application with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Office of Thrift Supervision to be chartered as a federal saving bank ‘There is $1.3 billion in deposits in Pacific Palisades,’ Wadsworth said. On a pro rata basis [out of the 10 banks in the Palisades] he said that his group is aiming for $130 million of that total, but anticipates a better show. ‘First Federal has $220 million between two branches, about 16- to 17-percent’ of the local market. In the rigorous, protracted filing process, regulators require an initial investment of over a $1 million to start a bank, with the stipulation that the founders own 20 percent of the bank. ‘They want to see a commitment,’ McCoy said. Moving beyond this initial investment, the founders have also committed to becoming the title sponsor of the annual Will Rogers Fourth of July race, now in its 31st year. ‘Our board said ‘Let’s do this,” McCoy said, adding, ‘This is at-risk money,’ since there’s no guarantee that the bank will be approved. Anticipating a decision in six months, McCoy and his board are currently looking for bank space in the Village. While they’d like to find a location, ideally 2,700 or 2,800 sq. ft. to accommodate both retail and back-office functions, the founders said, ‘2000 sq. ft. would be just great.’ A staff of 12 to 14 would include a full time chief compliance officer, a newly created federally mandated position, along with teller and loan positions. McCoy anticipates hiring fulltime employees, convinced that employee stability is one of selling points. ‘Customers want to know their tellers,’ he said.

The Palisades-Malibu YMCA has elected to make repairs on the broken recirculation pump at its 50-year-old pool in Temescal Canyon. The date of the pool reopening will be contingent on a geologist’s hillside stability report, which is expected to take about five weeks. If all goes well, the pool could be reopened around Memorial Day, according to the Y’s executive director, Carol Pfannkuche. Last Friday, Pfannkuche told the Palisadian-Post that the Y had reached an agreement with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which owns the pool and adjacent property. She wrote in a letter to members that the Conservancy’s executive director, Joe Edmiston, had consented to the repairs, and had also ‘confirmed that the YMCA has no liability for either the current condition of the pool or the suitability of the surrounding geology. With these understandings confirmed in writing, the YMCA is proceeding with these actions immediately.’ The geological study will start today and geologists will spend about two days on the hillside above and below the pool. The YMCA is paying for that study as well as the estimated $25,000 needed for the pool repair. ‘We’re doing this with good faith and hope that all will be well with the geological [report],’ Pfannkuche said. ‘The YMCA remains committed to safety as our first concern. We must wait for the results of the study before we allow swimming to resume.’ Many swimmers were heartened to hear that the pool–closed since February 9– was finally going to be repaired. Loss of the town’s only competitive pool (six 25-yard lanes) has caused the Palisades High School school swim teams to be without a practice or meet site, and has displaced the Y-swim team, master and lap swimmers, water exercise classes and swim lessons. The swim teams have been training at inconvenient hours at Santa Monica High and Santa Monica College. Other swimmers are driving to the Santa Monica YMCA and the Westwood Recreation Center. When the recirculation pump broke, the YMCA became concerned about land movement on the hillside above the pool. A portion of this land slid over the roadway into the pool on February 23, 1998, closing the pool for two months. After this year’s pool closure, an inspection of the pool and grounds found that an area of the hillside directly above the pool was saturated. A six-inch pipe, which started in the backyard of a house located on Rimmer Avenue, was draining water to that site. Pfannkuche contacted Joyce Whitehead, the Conservancy’s manager in Temescal Canyon, who contacted the neighbor. ‘The owners are working with the Conservancy,’ Whitehead said last week before leaving on vacation. ‘There is not a problem. They have done an enormous amount of due diligence on their own property and what little issue there is will be resolved as soon as possible.’ On Monday this week, workers were trenching across the hillside above the pool in order to lay the pipe underground. It was not clear where that pipe was going to drain. A neighbor on Rimmer asked the Post, ‘Why do they get to drain down the hill? My water has to drain into the street.’ Whitehead was unavailable for comment.

When selecting paint colors from Cox Paint in Santa Monica, you might be surprised to know that co-owner Terry Burt has a master’s degree in art from Cal State Fullerton. An equally unusual connection is the bachelor’s degree in philosophy held by his wife and co-owner, Juanita (Nita). Although Terry was raised in Pacific Palisades, the couple’s odyssey to ownership of Cox Paint started with a 10-month stint in Europe in 1977. They had planned that Terry would teach, but it was difficult to get full-time work. ‘We wanted to live there,’ Nita said, ‘but it wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be.’ They returned to the United States and on their way to California stopped in Crested Butte, Colorado, to see friends. The pair decided that if Terry got a job, they’d stay. He found part-time work teaching at Western State College and supplemented the family’s income by working in freelance graphic design and substituting in local schools. After two and a half years, they moved to the Palisades in 1980. ‘Terry decided it was just too much snow,’ Nita said. Terry had never thought about going to work at his father’s paint store–the Brush and Ladder on Swarthmore (now occupied by Village Books), but after three years of uncertain income and a nine-year-old to support, he took over the management. Four years later, he joined his father in the Santa Monica store, which Bill had purchased in 1969. Nita began working at the store when Terry’s mom, Mary Ann, decided to retire. ‘It wasn’t where I came from, but it came natural,’ Nita said. ‘I could add and subtract.’ In 1993, the Burts’ accountant advised them to close the Palisades store because of rising rents and low profits. They acquired a second store in Culver City in 1996. The Burts have made a decision to carry high-end paint, which has a higher price tag. ‘We sell quality paint,’ Terry said. ‘It’s the resins: really great paint has more resin.’ ‘Quality paint washes better and holds up better for a longer lifetime,’ Nita said and pointed to the Donald Kaufman line. ‘It gives a rich look’the pigments give a depth of color.’ Most paints use just three pigments and obtain a static color; Kaufman paints use up to 12 pigments to create paint whose hues react to changing light. Another high-end line at the store is Fine Paints of Europe, which produces full-spectrum paints with as many as eight pigments per gallon and is available in 110 stock colors. They also have Cabot, Farrow & Ball, M.L. Campbell, Pratt & Lambert, Purdy, Ralph Lauren, Susan Sargent and Sydney Harbour Paints and YOLO. ‘We used Farrow & Ball’s deep red in one of our hallways,’ Nita said. In addition to color charts and books, there are now sample pots of paints, as well as paint-colored posters, which allow customers to hang or paint the color they are considering on their wall. That allows a customer to see the paint in different light at different times of the day. Another trend that the Burts have seen is away from white. ‘People want color,’ Terry said. ‘That trend started in the 1990s.’ ‘Wall coverings [wallpapers] market has become smaller and the coloring and specialty finishes have become more popular,’ Nita said. ‘There also seems to be a trend towards ‘green’ products,’ Terry said. ‘Benjamin Moore had them four years ago, but they just sat on the shelf. Now those products are taking off.’ Paints like YOLO have zero volatile organic compounds (VOC) and many consumers are now choosing paints with the lowest VOC’s. Oil-based paints are no longer allowed in California because of state EPA regulations. The Burts now have 18 employees, including their son Jason, who joined the business 10 years ago. He started an online service in 2006 that allows people to order over the Internet at www.coxpaint.com. Not bad for two people who never considered a business career when they were in college. Cox Paint is located at 1130 Santa Monica Blvd.

Merv Griffin’s old joint, the Beverly Hills Hilton, became ground zero for the nexus of California’s educational community and world-class sports last Friday, when Palisadians Bill and Cindy Simon hosted a ’50 Schools Celebration’ gala fundraiser for their physical-fitness program, Sound Body, Sound Mind. Honored at the $500-a-plate banquet was retired UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden, whose 10 NCAA championships remain unmatched. At a time of diminishing school budgets, the Simons’ program strives to keep physical education alive and well in LAUSD schools. Cindy told the Palisadian-Post that she and her husband have enjoyed ‘taking an idea and growing it to 50 high schools. We’ve raised $3 million at tonight’s gala, and we want to take it to the middle schools [including Paul Revere]. ‘We don’t just buy equipment and drop it off,’ she continued, explaining the various components of their physical education program, which also includes after-school activities, gym equipment, and guidance teachers. ‘We never thought when we launched the program nine years ago from our hometown school, Pacific Palisades High School, that it would become so successful.’ At the podium, Bill Simon told the audience, ‘Exercise is the difference between a good school and a not-so-good school,’ and he noted that ‘the possibilities are quite literally endless’ with his iniative’s ‘pipeline’ to 45,000 L.A. students. Simon, the son of former Treasury Secretary Bill Simon, Sr., ran for governor in 2002, and his opponent, Gray Davis, were in the audience. Ubiquitous as the yellow roses at every table were numerous Olympic athletes past and present, including swimmers John Naber, who won four gold medals at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, and Donna de Varona, who competed in the 1960 (Rome) and 1964 (Tokyo) Games. ‘We’re facing a nation where we have morbid obesity in our schools and sports, fitness and the arts are being cut out,’ said de Varona, explaining why she’s on Sound Body, Sound Mind’s advisory board. ‘The Greeks understood that you have to have balance. Bill is putting it back in the schools. Since the government won’t do it, we have to do it.’ Now a resident of Connecticut, de Varona knows Los Angeles well; her sisters are actresses Joanna and Sandra Kerns. During the cocktail hour, de Varona socialized with legendary diver Sammy Lee, a Korean-American who overcame much discrimination to become the first Asian to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States. Lee also became the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in platform diving, achieving this in London (1948) and Helsinki (1952). At 87, Lee is a spirited, good-humored ball of energy. He told the Post about a candid conversation he had with the early television fitness icon Jack LaLanne. ‘I said, ‘Jack, you look good!’ He said, ‘Sammy, if I didn’t, I’d be on radio!” Meanwhile, Lee’s wife, Roz, chatted up State Board of Equalization member Michelle Steel, the nation’s highest elected Korean-American official. When asked why they had come all the way from their Huntington Beach residence, Sammy Lee said, ‘How many times do you get to see John Wooden? It’s for a good person and a good cause. He’s like the Pope. There’s something about him that brings out the good in you.’ Alas, Wooden, 98, was unable to attend. He sent in a message via video in which he expressed his appreciation for the honor. In addition to the Simons, Palisades-related attendees included 2003 Citizen of the Year winner Mike Skinner and Calvary Christian Church youth pastor Shawn Gendall and his wife, Kelly. Among those seated at the Post’s table: Kristen Odermatt, the Simons’ graphic artist of 15 years, who designed the Sound Body, Sound Mind logo; and her husband, Jason Lee (who joked that he is not to be confused with the skateboarder/actor star of ‘My Name is Earl’). Host Roy Firestone kept the evening moving with his spot-on impressions of singers Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Neil Diamond.