By BILL FADO Special to the Palisadian-Post Monday, May 19, started out as a very ordinary day. However, that changed quickly when, early in the afternoon, I saw two uniformed men standing across the street from my house on Luna Vista Drive in Marquez Knolls. They had parked their truck in front of my neighbors’ driveway, so I decided to find out what was going on. The men were Jeff Sikich and Emmanuel Larra, biological science technicians with the U.S. National Park Service. I was stunned when Jeff informed me that he was there to keep an eye on an 18-month-old male mountain lion, designated as ‘P10′, that had decided to hunker down in the bushes adjacent to my neighbors’ driveway. Almost certainly P10 had been there when my neighbor got in his car earlier in the morning, not more than 15 feet away! Jeff was able to pinpoint the lion’s location because a GPS collar had previously been placed on him as part of the Mountain Lion Project of the National Park Service. In the past year, USNP technicians have captured and collared three mountain lions, P9, P10 and P11. Tragically, P9 was struck by a vehicle and died on Las Virgenes/Malibu Canyon Road last July. P10 and P11 were captured in February. The two young males are suspected to be brothers, which will be confirmed once the blood samples are compared. Both are now independent from their mother and looking to find their own home range. According to Jeff, while it is unusual for lions to travel within a residential area, it is not at all unusual for lions to travel in the hills adjacent to the Marquez Knolls residential area. After observing P10 for three to four hours, Jeff concluded that the cat felt secure in his current location and was not likely to move if struck with a tranquilizer needle. After making sure the surrounding streets were clear, Jeff injected the tranquilizer into P10 using a blowpipe. Approximately five minutes later, P10 was ‘out.’ Jeff and Emmanuel pulled P10 out of the bushes, allowing my neighbor, Jeanette Kowell and me to one of these animals up close. There is no way to adequately describe just how beautiful this cat was and unbelievably clean as well. P10 weighed approximately 100 pounds and had huge paws, about 50 percent larger than my outstretched hand. He will ultimately reach 150 to 160 pounds. We could see traces of blood on his claws from a recent kill. Observing his sleek, muscular body, teeth and paws, I could see why catching and killing deer and coyotes (the primary diet of mountain lions) would be no problem. What a thrill to be able to pet this big guy while he was out. Jeff and Emmanuel examined P10, drew some blood and placed a more advanced GPS collar on him that would greatly facilitate tracking him. Then he was placed in a large cage and transported to a meadow in the hills above Lachman Lane. The level meadow would minimize the risk of a groggy P10 falling down a steep slope and injuring himself. We waited until P10 regained consciousness and then Jeff turned him loose. He was still groggy, so not much of a threat. As I watched P10 slowly walk away from us, occasionally looking back, it brought to mind images of the plains of Africa. Then he was gone, or so we thought. Suddenly, there he was, 50 feet away looking right at us. He stared at us for 10 seconds as if to say, ‘Thanks for getting me out of that jam,’ then turned away and went off into the night. It was a mystical experience that I will never forget. Thanks to their professionalism and expertise, Jeff and Emmanuel were able to resolve a potentially dangerous situation without harming P10. They are truly passionate about their work and dedicated to the wellbeing of wildlife. For more information about their research, visit the Web site samofund.org. If you want to make a donation to support their activities, please specify ‘Wildlife Conservation.’ Mountain lions are vital to our ecosystems. Without them, the deer and coyote populations would increase exponentially. The increased deer population would mean many more ticks, and this would substantially increase the risk of contracting Lyme disease. Attacks by mountain lions on human beings are rare. On average, one attack in California occurs every two years and one fatal attack occurs every five years. If you encounter a mountain lion by yourself, you should make yourself look as big as possible by waving your hands and aggressively defending your position, making as much noise as you can. You should not run away, because this will normally trigger the ‘prey’ instinct in the lion. For more information, a Google search on ‘mountain lion’ will give you a number of excellent Web sites.

The Brentwood Community Council has asked the Pacific Palisades Community Council to help in an effort to prevent the installation of bus shelters, newsstands and kiosks displaying advertising in their communities. The Los Angeles City Council entered into an agreement in 2001 with CBS/Decaux to install 3,350 street furniture items citywide in the next 20 years. The city receives a guaranteed share of the total profit (about $150 million) from the advertising revenue and uses the money for beautification projects. The Brentwood council has sought legal advice regarding the issue and is requesting a financial contribution from the Palisades council, said member Gil Dembo at last Thursday’s Palisades meeting. Dembo will invite a representative to speak at the June 12 meeting about how the money will be used, so the Council can vote on the matter. On February 28, the Community Council voted unanimously to oppose the street furniture proposed for five locations in the Pacific Palisades, and the Los Angeles City Council honored the request. The city was planning to install those items by March 15. Brentwood Community Council’s attorney Beverly Grossman Palmer of Strumwasser & Woocher found that the contract the City of Los Angeles has entered into with CBS/Decaux (formerly Viacom) violates the city’s General Plan, which protects scenic highways, scenic corridors and specific plans for communities that outline how land will be used. Palmer has written a letter to the City Council. The Pacific Palisades Commercial Village and Neighborhoods Specific Plan, which went into effect in 1985, says that the following signs are prohibited: off-site commercial, roof, bench, pole, monument and window signs (except store names, store hours, logos and holiday paintings, which must be removed five business days after the holiday). Palmer’s findings also indicate that there should not be street furniture on Sunset Boulevard because it is a scenic highway. Pacific Palisades has bus shelters with advertising on the boulevard. ‘What we may have here in the city is an illegal situation. We would like to have them removed,’ Dembo told Mark Antonio Grant, special assistant to Councilman Bill Rosendahl, at Thursday’s meeting. Grant said Rosendahl does not want to ‘shove anything down someone’s throat,’ and he will strive to honor his constituents’ wishes. Two-thirds of the pillars, newsstand vending kiosks and public-amenity kiosks must be placed in areas that have the potential to generate revenue. That means some districts, including Rosendahl’s District 11, are required to install more, Grant said. Rosendahl is proposing the street furniture items be distributed more fairly. Council vice chair Richard G. Cohen said he thinks it may be a good idea to help the Brentwood council. ‘I read the letter, and they mentioned our Specific Plan,’ Cohen said. ‘They did not narrowly address the needs of Brentwood. They have already supported us.’

‘They’re the only tools judges have. You have to treat them with care and respect.’ So says Justice Arthur Gilbert, not about gavels or gowns, but about words. Dubbed the ‘Court of Appeals Poet Laureate,’ Gilbert wins praise for his clear, well-crafted opinions. ‘They should be understood by anyone,’ he says. ‘I think the craft of writing is really important. It’s a reflection of thinking.’ Gilbert’s gifted prose style shines in places other than legal documents. For 20 years, he’s written a monthly column for the Los Angeles Daily Journal. The pieces entertain with musings about everyday life while illuminating little-known facets of the judicial system. Now the popular columns are compiled in one volume titled ‘Under Submission’ (The Rutter Group, $20), with all the proceeds from sales going to Legal Aid. Gilbert, the presiding Justice of Division 6 of the California Court of Appeal, Second District, is a longtime resident of Pacific Palisades. He will discuss and sign copies of the book when he appears at Village Books on Swarthmore Avenue on Friday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m. Along with being a respected jurist and accomplished columnist, Gilbert is also a talented jazz pianist. His next gig at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City happens on Sunday, June 8, at 8 and 9:30 p.m. ‘Part of me wanted to be a full-time musician, but I knew it wasn’t for me,’ says Gilbert, who studied both music and literature before deciding to attend law school at UC Berkeley. ‘I don’t like to stay up late, I can’t stand cigarette smoke, and one drink is usually enough for me.’ Gilbert and his wife, Barbara, share their El Medio Bluffs home with two cats, Tatum and Powell, named after jazz greats Art and Bud. The couple, married 26 years, both share a passion for music. Barbara, a singer, often accompanies her husband on stage, and performs as a soloist at Kehillat Israel and Beth Am synagogues. ‘I started out wanting to be a jazz singer and became a classical soprano,’ says Barbara, who, like Arthur, comes from a musical family. The Gilberts also confess to being Disney Hall junkies who need regular doses of Brahms and Beethoven. ‘It’s an important part of our lives,’ says Gilbert, who is 70. ‘The music reaches me in a far different way these days. I’m truly transported.’ Always ruminating about cases, Gilbert jots down notes while at the symphony. He also listens to music while working in his office and even takes breaks at the piano. ‘One seems to feed the other,’ he says. It’s no surprise to find a grand piano at the center of Gilbert’s living room. During a recent interview at his home, a relaxed, personable Gilbert, by turns witty and serious, weighed in on a range of subjects, from Shakespeare and Robert Frost, to the landmark decision on same-sex marriage by California’s Supreme Court, to life in the Palisades. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Gilbert began his legal career as a deputy city attorney in the criminal division, where he met and became friends with the late Johnnie Cochran. Later he headed a private law practice. In 1975, Governor Jerry Brown, a classmate at Berkeley, appointed Gilbert to the Municipal Court. From there, he elevated to the L.A. Superior Court and to the Court of Appeal. Governor Gray Davis appointed him Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal (Second District, Division 6) in 1982, the position he still holds. His court hears appeals from courts in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. Gilbert’s first judicial assignment was as supervising judge of L.A.’s traffic court, the largest in the world, where he made his mark by creating traffic citations in Spanish. The innovation led to reaching a much larger number of offenders and enabling them to appear in court. Decades later, Gilbert’s former status as ‘king of traffic court’ took an ironic twist when he got speeding tickets on PCH and had to attend traffic school– twice. He transformed these episodes into humorous columns: Traffic School Part I and Traffic School Part II. In Part I, he writes: ‘I signed up for one of the many Comedy Traffic Schools. The only joke turned out to be on me. I called to make an appointment, and picked what turned out to be the nicest Saturday of the year. Over the phone I was told what they tell buyers in drug deals’bring cash and be on time. On the way there, I panicked over the thought of getting a traffic ticket. This, I later learned, was a common phenomenon.’ In his columns, Gilbert brings his judges-are-human-too theme to any number of subjects, including getting a colonoscopy and running the L.A. Marathon. Other essays focus directly on legal issues: ‘The Activism of Supreme Restraint’ and ‘Freedom to Express All Points of View.’ When teaching judicial philosophy to new superior court justices, Gilbert makes Shakespeare’s ‘Measure for Measure’ required reading. ‘It’s so relevant today,’ he says. ‘The play highlights how if you’re too liberal in your interpretation of statutes, you have chaos, and if you’re too strict, too literal, you have injustice. Actually, you have injustice either way. The courts are walking a fine line. People may criticize some opinions, but there’s always a delicate balance. The play is all about the impossibility of achieving justice. We do the best we can.’ Gilbert says he’s proud of the California court’s decision ruling it unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. ‘There’s an irony about this case that knocks my socks off,’ he says. ‘In many respects, it’s a conservative case, because it talks about the sanctity and social importance of the marriage institution. The dissent talks about tradition by saying ‘Marriage is always between a man and a woman. Where does the court get off changing the definition?’ The court says marriage is such an important institution that we can’t deny it to a certain class of people. So both are using tradition to support their positions. I think in 30 or 40 years, people are going to say ‘What was the big deal?” Gilbert continues to relish sitting down with colleagues and wrestling with issues, so much so that retirement seems a long way off. ‘I feel young, take care of myself and love what I’m doing,’ says the judge, who intends to once again tackle the 10K in the local Will Rogers Run on July 4. He’s fervent, too, about life in Pacific Palisades. ‘It’s like being on vacation every day. They’re going to have to carry me out of here.’ (Selected columns by Arthur Gilbert appear on his blog, Gilbert Submits, at www.gilbertsubmits.blogspot.com.)

Two Palisades Charter High School principal candidates fielded questions about their educational philosophy and background inside a crowded Mercer Hall last Thursday and Friday. Faculty, staff, parents and students gathered during the lunch hour to meet candidates Mara Simmons, an instructional leader at California Academy of Liberal Studies Early College High School, and Martin Griffin, who is overseeing the creation of alternative schools in the Escondido Union High School District. The hiring committee interviewed Simmons and Griffin twice in April and will make a recommendation to the governing board at its June 3 meeting. Simmons or Griffin will replace interim principal Marcia Haskin, who came out of retirement to fill the position last fall. On Thursday, Simmons, who has held one principal post (at Animo Leadership Charter High School in Inglewood from 2001-04), described herself as an out-of-the-box thinker and a hard worker who often stays at school until 6 or 7 in the evening. If hired, Simmons said she would like to increase the number of students taking Advanced Placement classes and introduce the International Baccalaureate program, which teaches students how to live and work in a globalizing world. ‘I am a strong proponent of preparing students for college and for life,’ Simmons said. When asked what she had observed during her visits to PaliHi, she answered, ‘I believe cohesion may be your biggest problem.’ To develop more camaraderie, she would create more opportunities for teachers to interact. At the beginning of the school year at Lennox Middle School, where Simmons was assistant principal from 1997-2001, the administrators hosted a Hawaiian party to kick off the school year. Palisades High officials offered Simmons the principal job last year, but she declined. Last Thursday, she told faculty, staff and parents that she had needed extra time to finish her doctorate in urban leadership from Claremont Graduate University, and ‘I didn’t feel as if I could fully give you me. I can now successfully say that is behind me.’ Her school, with about 300 students, also had a high turnover, losing two-thirds of its staffing, so she wanted to stay to provide stability. She moved from a teacher position into the role of instructional leader to oversee curriculum. She now thinks that CALS Early College High School, located in downtown Los Angeles, is stable enough for her to move on. ‘I love my school, but I will love any school I am at,’ Simmons said. ‘I am hoping it is Pali.’ On Friday, Griffin told parents, faculty and staff that he believes it’s important to work together to help children succeed. ‘We have to give them the ability to think ‘ to continuously be learners,’ he said. ‘One of the most important things is to provide them with the foundations.’ Griffin has been principal of Mount Miguel High School in Spring Valley (2000-03) and San Pasqual High School in Escondido (2003-07). He is currently developing Learning Centers in the Escondido district that emphasize computer-aided educational programs and independent study. ‘I always like to be a part of educational reform,’ he said. His goal for PaliHi would be to raise expectations. ‘It’s not a school that’s broken. It’s how to we continue to raise the bar to be more and more competitive so our students can compete in the world market.’ Griffin said he would like to enroll more students into Advanced Placement classes. He did so successfully at San Pasqual, which had a student population of about 2,500, by encouraging students to enroll and providing them with extra support. As a result, Newsweek magazine named the school as one of the top 1,000 schools in the United States. ‘Many students don’t feel welcome in [AP] classes, and all they need is encouragement,’ he said. He describes his role as a principal as one that ensures everyone on campus is working toward the same vision as a team. ‘I don’t work alone; I work with people,’ Griffin said, adding that he is always available, but asks people to schedule an appointment so he can give them his proper attention. ‘Developing communication is key.’ Griffin is currently working on his doctorate in administration in an urban setting from UC San Diego/University of San Diego/Cal State San Marcos. If hired, he would take time off from his studies in order to fully focus on PaliHi and then transfer doctorate programs. He looks forward to the possibility of working at the high school. ‘I love kids,’ Griffin said.

Scott Knight and his partners, Tim and Judy Perr, already had a successful business in Pacific Palisades when they decided to launch a new venture: Pali Wine. The three, who freely admit they were amateurs when it came to wine production, have an actuarial consulting firm (Perr & Knight) in the 881 Alma Real building. The company was founded in 1994 and has 100 full-time employees across the country, with offices in Irvine, Jersey City and Boca Raton. Their business is solid and growing, so what would possess them to enter a field as speculative as producing and selling wine? ‘It evolved out of drinking wine,’ Tim Perr said. ‘Judy and I enjoyed visiting wineries and collecting wines and the business became intriguing to us.’ The Perrs (who live in the Palisades) and Knight gathered equally enthusiastic wine-drinking friends and co-workers to start a company, and were ‘cheeky’ enough to vow they wouldn’t be satisfied unless it featured a quality pinot noir. ‘We didn’t want to make an average wine,’ Tim said. ‘We want the best fruit and best winemaker and yet keep the prices as low as possible.’ They started by convincing Brian Loring, a legendary pinot noir winemaker in Lompoc, to craft the wine. Their enthusiasm and a plan to produce single-vineyard wines finally convinced Loring and, in January 2005, Pali Wine came into existence. Next, the group had to find the right grapes, because most had already been promised to other wineries. Oregon’s Shea Vineyards had offered fruit to Loring and he gave some to Pali Wine, along with grapes from Durell (Sonoma) that he didn’t need for his own production. ‘He was completely instrumental,’ Judy Perr said. ‘He could have had sold the grapes to anyone, but he sold to us.’ The Palisades group also secured small amounts of grapes from Inman Olivet (Russian River), Carasacchi Jalamas (Lompoc), and Turner Vineyards (Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara). When the grapes were harvested, the 20 partners and additional friends worked the ‘crush’ at Lompoc, which meant they de-stemmed, pulled off leaves and separated other undesirable material from the grapes. ‘The first few years, we had no paid labor whatsoever,’ said Knight, a Santa Monica resident who admitted that the agricultural community surprised them because, ‘people at other wineries are willing to help you out and you do the same for them.’ ‘The people in the wine business are down-to-earth,’ Tim noted. ‘Everyone does business on a handshake and everyone keeps their word.’ The Pali Wine group’s next decision was whether to use corks, because corks cause between five and 10 percent of wines to become tainted with trichloroanisole (TCA), which is harmless but gives the wine a bad taste. ‘About one bottle out of every six has TCA,’ Judy said, ‘but the problem is people don’t think it’s a good wine unless it has a cork.’ Instead of a cork, Pali wines have a saranex liner that allows a small amount of air to leak into the bottle, which is how wines age with a cork. In 2005, the Pali Wine Company produced 1,300 cases of pinot noir and received high grades from various wine tasters. One-third of their product was sold through mailing lists and the rest wholesale in 13 states. In 2006, the group retained the same vineyards and added Fiddlestix (Santa Rita Hills), Morntazi (Willamette Valley, Oregon) and Keefer Ranch (Russian River). They produced 3,000 cases and were licensed in 26 states. From the 2007 harvest, they project that they will have 4,000 cases from 11 vineyards and will reach 40 states. ‘We’re also looking toward the international market,’ Knight said. Last year, the group purchased their own winery in Lompoc, which they share with their friend Brian Loring. ‘We built a winery that we could all fit into,’ Knight said. Pali wines continue to grow in popularity and continue to score in the 90’s. Anthony Dias Blue with the Blue Lifestyle Minute said, ‘Pali Wine Company’s 2006 Pinot Noir, Fiddlestix, Santa Rita Hills for $48 is the best I have tasted yet this year. At 94 points, this pinot is bright and juicy with black cherry and serious fruit.’ Pali Wine Company is also creating a special reserve with a Palisades theme. Although the Perrs live in the Huntington Palisades, the first two bottles will be called Albright and then Bestor, followed by other street names. Maybe Charm Acres? The company currently makes eight different pinot noirs that can be purchased at Gelson’s or by visiting www.paliwineco.com