Botanist to Present Armchair Tour of Southwest Australia Botanist Bob Gustavson, retired assistant curator at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, will present a botanical ‘tour’ of Southwestern Australia on Monday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m. at the Woman’s Club, 901 Haverford. The second richest Mediterranean plant community in the world, Southwestern Australia has almost 4,000 species of plants, with nearly 80 percent endemic. Gustavson recently returned from a botanical tour of the region, traveling between 1,500 and 2,000 miles through various vegetative zones with an emphasis on natural history and botany. In his slide show tour to Palisades Garden Club members, Gustavson will highlight some of the discoveries and unusual plants he observed along the way. “I would have to say that the most interesting plant that I saw was the Wreath leschenaultia, which grows on sand plains along the roads around the town of Mullewa,” Gustavson says. “The plant grows outward from the center, like a circle with orange and red flowers, and in fact, the town is known for this unusual plant. One of the species of this plant produces one of the few true blue flowers in the world.” Another plant that intrigued Gustavson was the grass-trees or blackboys (Zanthorrhoea Johnsonii), which look like a big, fine-leaf yucca with slender, cylindrical spear-like flowering spikes, dotted with little white flowers, which are attractive to nectar-eating birds and insects. The other fascinating plant family is the protea, which includes the more well-known genera such as banksias, grevilleas and hakea, all endemic to Southwest Australia. While at the Natural History Museum, Gustavson was in charge of the herbarium, a collection of dried, pressed or preserved plant specimens with associated relevant data Over the course of his career, Gustavson has visited nearly every continent in his pursuit of rare and unusual plants, with particular concentration on the plants and flowers of Hawaii, which is his specialty. Gustavson has a B.S. degree from Loyola and a master’s degree from UCLA in botany. Members and guests are invited to the lecture.
Conley and Gregory to Wed
Drs. Bryan Conley and Mary Libbey Conley, of Pacific Palisades, announce the engagement of their daughter, Laura, to Joshua Gregory of Westport, Connecticut. Josh and Laura met in San Diego while Laura was completing her M.D. degree at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Laura is currently in her chief residency year at UCLA in the Department of Family Medicine, and plans on a sub-specialty in dermatology. Josh received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, where he played hockey. He will soon earn his Ph.D. in Molecular Pathology at UC San Diego. The couple plans on settling in San Diego after their August 2008 wedding in Malibu.
Malibu Fires Put Palisades On Alert
Sunset Mesa Prepared to Evacuate; PCH Reopened Wednesday
Photo by Max Taves
As fires erupted in Malibu beginning early Sunday morning churning large black and gray plumes of smoke up and then out over Santa Monica Bay, city emergency response crews readied Pacific Palisades against the impact of the conflagration. But by Tuesday morning, the L.A. Fire Department and LAPD scaled back their operations in the Palisades when the risk from Malibu’s Canyon Fire waned with weakened Santa Ana winds. ‘Normal operations’ have resumed at the Palisades’ two fire stations, 23 and 69, but they remain on ‘high alert,’ according to fire officials there. “We’re still in a ready state of preparedness,” said Captain Armando Hogan, LAFD’s spokesman, on Wednesday. “But the winds have died down, and today is the first day since Sunday that we haven’t had a Red Flag warning.” The Red Cross, which had set up an evacuation center at Palisades Charter High School on Sunday, shut down their operations Monday night. School officials do not believe that anyone stayed at the school overnight. As of Wednesday morning’s press deadline, Pacific Coast Highway north of Topanga Canyon had been reopened; and the Canyon Fire was more than 75 percent contained and posed no serious threat to the Palisades, which was spared the devastation wrought on neighboring Malibu and more than a dozen other Southern California communities. No homes were burned; and no property was reported damaged. But the Palisades did not go completely unscathed. A fire was reported on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. halfway down the bluffs below Via de las Olas. Four engines from local fire stations quickly extinguished the 20- by 50-foot fire fed by the area’s thick, dry brush. The cause is not yet known, say LAFD officials who responded to the fire. Station 23 on Los Liones Drive became the center of emergency planning for the Palisades. By Monday, it bustled with activity and anticipation. LAPD officers established a mini-command post there from which they organized evacuation plans in case a fire had moved east from Malibu toward the Palisades. City firefighters strategized defense plans–and played therapist over the telephone. “We got several panic-attack calls from locals watching TV,” said Captain James Varney of Station 23 on Tuesday afternoon. “I hoped we’d get a lot of rest last night, but we got calls all hours of the night. We even got a call from someone in New York at 3 a.m. their time, wondering if the Palisades was OK. I told people to listen to reason.” Varney said that based on historical patterns, the greatest fire risk would come from the 405 Freeway blowing flames southwest across Mandeville Canyon, not from Malibu. He said fire crews had planned for multiple scenarios. Because the local risk was considered high, Station 69 sent only one engine from Palisades to assist with firefighting efforts in Malibu. Other engines from stations 69 and 23 remained on alert here. Beginning early Monday morning, a four-man crew from 69 guarded a house in fire-ravaged Carbon Canyon. By mid-afternoon, dive-bombing planes and water-dropping helicopters encircled a distant hilltop shrouded by flames and smoke. Shovel-in-hand, local firefighter Mike Koenig buried hot ash and embers that spewed from a tree stump still burning from the night before. “I’m here to protect houses,” Koenig said, balancing himself on a steep hillside against powerful gusts of wind. No mandatory evacuations were ordered in the Palisades, but Sunset Mesa–technically a part of unincorporated L.A. County, sandwiched in between Malibu and Los Angeles–was a “voluntary evacuation” zone. On Monday afternoon, many residents of the area’s highest streets, which border Topanga Canyon, stood anxiously in their driveways next to open garages and packed cars. Fires in Malibu burned through Charter Communication’s fiber optic cables, cutting off Sunset Mesa’s sole source of cable Internet and television. Sunset Mesa resident Francesca Cohn fumed at the irony of the information age, while packing her car with personal photographs and her children’s artwork. “I don’t have Internet right now,” Cohn said. “It’s funny when you really need information you can’t get it. Both of my neighbors are prepared to evacuate. They’ve all packed up.” Across the street, next-door neighbors Robin Perkins and Sybille Gorn mulled over the decision to leave. Both had prepared evacuation plans. “The old timers around here are not as worried [as we are],” Gorn said. “We’re relatively new. I’ve packed up my silver, china and some clothes.” Elsewhere in the Palisades, anxiety among local residents was mixed–a function of proximity to the fires, personal experience of surviving them and exposure to television news. After watching the fires on TV, Castellammare resident Lisa Cochren walked down Tramonto Drive to assess the risk for herself midday Monday. Her opinion? “I’m not that worried,” she said. “Besides we’re right next to the Getty [Villa]. I figure they’ll protect that at all costs.” Larry Niles looked calm on Monday afternoon standing outside of the Bienveneda home (and VW Bug) that he defended during the devastating 1978 fire, and he pointed to acres of steep brush-free hillsides above his home. “I’m not very anxious,” he said. “I lived through the ’78 fire. I stayed here to squirt the house down. And I’d stay if it came through again.” — To contact Staff Writer Max Taves, e-mail reporter@palipost.com or call (310) 454-1321 ext. 28.
Will Rogers Staff Poised for Emergency Evacuation
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
With brush fires sweeping through Malibu this week, fueled by low humidity and strong Santa Ana winds, officials at Will Rogers State Historic Park set emergency evacuation plans into motion. Three big U-Haul trucks are stationed in front of the ranch house poised to take care of the cultural materials inside the Rogers’ historic ranch house, and fire trucks equipped with fire retardant gel positioned to save the structure itself. Museum curator Rochelle Nicholas-Booth, who developed the emergency plan and supervised an emergency drill three years ago, is anticipating the very real possibility that fire could once again threaten the 200-acre park and structures. Nicholas-Booth explained that State Park headquarters in Sacramento were sending fire specialists and museums curators to Pacific Palisades. In addition, Angeles District Chief Fire and Security Supervisor Frank Padilla is coordinating a fire team of all the state and local agencies that deal with fire. A team of five to eight rangers has been pulled from other state parks to help with suppressing fire and removing the cultural objects from the house. A maintenance crew has been busy removing brush, although with the implementation of the new landscape plan last year, brush is no longer threatening primary structures. ‘With our action plans, we have four hours to get primary objects out of the house,’ Nicholas-Booth said. ‘Volunteers from Camp Josepho, under the guidance of Topanga Sector Ranger Carlos Matamoros, have signed on to help with packing and moving objects.’ State Park District Superintendent Ron Schafer is in constant communication with Craig Sap, the Incident Commander in charge of tracking the status of the fire from reports from city and county agencies. ‘We are still evaluating our trigger points to determine when we start working on evacuation,’ Padilla said. ‘If embers get into La Tuna, that’s when we begin to start taking action.’ After a two-year renovation, the ranch house reopened to the public in March 2006. Years of structural neglect were remedied, and the artifacts, including furniture, rugs, books, paintings, cowboy mementos and gifts from all over the world to the Rogers family were carefully catalogued and photographed. In addition photographs of each room provide a detailed blueprint for reassembling the objects in case they have to be removed to safety. With memories of unpacking all the artifacts not too long ago, Nicholas-Booth told the Palisadian-Post that she has already retrieved the packing materials from the Topanga storage area ready for use. ‘I feel that we are prepared even if this turns out to be just another emergency drill.’
Homemade Bomb Explodes at Village Books
A loud explosion erupted from the bathroom in Village Books on Swarthmore Avenue shortly before 8 p.m. on Friday. After the bomb, made with chlorine tablets and alcohol, detonated, employees Mia Wigmore and Barbara Edelman began tearing from the fumes and discovered a device had been thrown through an open window, landed in the sink and blew up. The police were notified, but did not initially investigate. Later that evening Wigmore started throwing up and Edelman went to the emergency room. Village Books owner Katie O’Laughlin called the police on Saturday and the bomb squad responded, closing off portions of Swarthmore and Monument. The damage to the building was minimal, but the store was closed for several hours on Saturday during the investigation. ‘The worst part was the nightmare of imagining what could’ve happened,’ O’Laughlin said. ‘It could have blinded someone or severely burned them.’ A mailbox explosion on Embury on Saturday led to the arrest of two juveniles, who confessed to the Village Books incident. The two 13-year-old Palisades residents were arrested, handcuffed, fingerprinted, processed and booked on a felony charge. The boys have met with O’Laughlin and employees of Village Books to apologize and to seek other ways to make amends. Directions and videos about bomb-making are readily available on the Internet and You Tube. Many of the sites make the homemade bombs look harmless and do not warn about possible consequences to bystanders, which could include blindness, severe burns or even death. The Web sites do not inform readers that it is a felony to possess an explosive device.
Middle- and Elementary-School Music Festival Cut
Program was Popular among Parents and Students
LAUSD’s Arts Education Branch has been forced to slash $964,000 from its budget because of a district-wide shortfall, which has shelved a popular middle- and elementary-school Honors Music Festival. Last year, the festival involved 300 district students, including many students from Paul Revere Charter Middle School and local elementary schools. The festival started four years ago in LAUSD middle schools as a way of allowing students, who excel at music, the opportunity to work with similar students throughout the district. ‘It’s a wonderful program for a wider range of musicians and certainly gives a showcase for students from schools whose music program is not as great as Revere’s,’ said parent Eileen Savage, whose son performed in the orchestra three years ago as an eighth grader at Revere. Musicians and singers are required to audition and those selected to represent their schools spend extra time working on concert music as well as their own repertoire. Students gather for two rehearsals and work with guest conductors and music educators before presenting a concert at the Kodak Theater. ‘It is a chance to unite teachers and students from the entire district in an educational experience that culminates in a final concert which represents the very heart and soul of music students in the Los Angeles area,’ said Revere school’s choral director Vanessa Ling. The program was so successful that it was expanded to the elementary schools two years ago. Parents and teachers were hopeful that the program would extend to include high schools this year. Instead the entire program was cut because of a six percent pay raise for teachers, which was retroactive, according to Richard Burrows, LAUSD Director of Arts Education. ‘I had to make a choice,’ Burrows said. ‘I chose to protect all the teachers in all the schools, and rather than cutting them, I suspended the festival for a year.’ In addition, Burrows cut professional development days, Web development, two staff positions in his office and conference attendance (which pays registration fees, travel, sub-release time, and money for teachers to attend arts conferences and professional development). Burrows had hoped that new arts funding from the state of California might be a source of replacing the money needed for the Honors Music Festival. AB181l provides $11.3 million annually towards art education, but the money can be used only for new programs’not the festival. Burrows said there are plans to use this new money to bring dance visual arts and choral teachers into schools that currently don’t have these programs. An additional bill, SB 1131, gives a one-time allocation of $51 million for arts and physical education to be divided among every school in the state, including local charter schools. Every school will receive a one-time allocation of $43 per pupil, and the money can be used for materials, equipment, supplies and professional development’but not for a program like the festival. Paul Revere, for example, will receive about $81,700. ‘The cuts are painful,’ Burrows said,, ‘but I am looking for ways to bring the festival back next year.’
Calendar for the Week of October 25
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25 Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting, 7 p.m., Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. Public invited. Opera-Kadabra with magician Patrick Bell, 4 p.m. in the Palisades Branch Library community room, 861 Alma Real. Free to the public. Come hear stories sung while watching magic tricks. ‘Thanking Father Ted: Thirty-Five Years of Notre Dame Co-Education,’ 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore. Four women who attended Notre Dame after it went co-educational in 1972 (including Village Books owner Katie O’Laughlin) will discuss Father Ted Hesburgh’s impact on their lives. He was president of Notre Dame for 35 years. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27 Chiropractor J.R. Strecker, D.C., and local are healthcare professionals host a health and wellness seminar from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Palisades Integrative Medical Clinic located in Pharmaca, 15150 Sunset. R.S.V.P. by calling (310) 920-7005. ➢ Special Halloween screening of ‘Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,’ 2 p.m. Community Room, Palisades Branch Library, 861 Alma Real. ➢ Halloween Reading’The Coop Theatre Company presents an evening of reader’s theater from the works of Poe and his contemporaries. 7 p.m., Community Room, Palisades Branch Library, 861 Alma Real. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28 Marquez Elementary Halloween Festival, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 16821 Marquez Ave. Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church will host a Service of Support for the Malibu Presbyterian Church, 2 p.m. in the church’s sanctuary, corner of El Medio and Sunset. Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church hosts a Blessing of the Animals Service, 5 p.m. in the church’s courtyard, corner of El Medio and Sunset. ‘Bad Faith,’ a documentary about the disability insurance industry, hosted by Friends of Film, 7 p.m at Pierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Canyon Rd. Reception at 6 p.m. Tickets at the door: $5. MONDAY, OCTOBER 29 Winners will be announced in the Scarecrow Contest, 5 p.m. at the YMCA Pumpkin Patch, corner of Sunset and Temescal Canyon Road. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31 Free flu shots for those over 60, 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Palisades Woman’s Club, 901 Haverford. Weekly writing meeting for members of all 12-Step programs or anyone with a habitual problem or illness, 7 to 8 p.m. at 16730 Bollinger Dr. Telephone (310) 454-5138 or e-mail info@12stepsforeverybody.org. A three-hour writing workshop is held at the same location every third Saturday at 9 a.m. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1 Palisadian Darrell Ruocco signs ‘Foolosophy ‘ Humor is the Key to a Healthy Mind’ at 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore.
Mary Anita Rameson; 55-Year Rustic Resident
Mary Anita (Burford) Rameson passed away October 14 at home in Rustic Canyon. She was 92. Born June 15, 1915 on a canal in Venice, California, Anita was the epitome of life itself. A lifelong resident of Los Angeles, she attended St. Brendan’s Catholic School, Ramona Convent Boarding School and UCLA. While attending Ramona Convent, she met her future husband, William Watson Yager Rameson, through his sister, a classmate. They were married at Cathedral Chapel in Los Angeles in 1937, and thus began what would become the best times of her life with her four children, 16 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. In 1952, the family built a home in Rustic Canyon, where she and Bill raised their children and where Mary Anita resided until the time of her death. Some of her greatest joys were traveling the world with family and friends and spending summers on Catalina Island and Hawaii. Preceded in death by her husband, survivors include her daughter, Patricia A. Honey (partner Kenneth J. Krueger) of Malibu; son William L. Rameson (wife Karen) of Gaviota; son Ronald A. Rameson (wife Colleen) of Lompoc; daughter Mary Rameson (life partner Robyn King) of Carlsbad. Funeral services were held October 17 at the Little Chapel of the Dawn in Santa Monica. Interment was private at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mary’s name to the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation, P.O. Box 951780, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1780.
Michele Scheiperpeter, 52; Cancer Walk Organizer
Michele Scheiperpeter, who lived in Ventura for the last eight years, passed away peacefully October 21 at age 52, surrounded by her family in her home in Ventura. Michele grew up in Pacific Palisades, where she attended Corpus Christi School, St. Monica’s High School and Palisades High. She met Carl Scheiperpeter of Pacific Palisades in high school. They were married for 34 years and lived in Mar Vista before moving to Ventura. After raising two children, Michele went back to school at Cal State Northridge, where she earned a degree in physical therapy. She was working in Ventura and Ojai prior to her death. She fought Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors cancer for three years before finally succumbing to it. In 2006, Michele organized the first West Coast cancer walk to raise money for GIST cancer research. The 2007 walk was held October 21 in San Diego. She was a caring, loving person and was always there for her family and friends. Michele was a runner and a hiker and loved camping with her family and friends. Her favorite place to camp was along the Kern River in Kern County. The last few years they camped along the coast in Ventura in their five-wheel camper. Michele was the daughter of Bonnie and Wally Miller of Pacific Palisades. She is also survived by her husband, who works for the City of Ventura; her daughter Naomi, 33, a teacher in Boise, Idaho; her son Jason, 31, who works in Las Vegas; her grandson Jacob; her sister Lisa Miller, who lives in Cambria with daughter Rose and son Brian; and her brother Jeff Miller, who lives in Seattle with his wife Colleen and their sons Brendan and Devon. A Rosary and Vigil will be held at 7 p.m. today at the Joseph Reardon Funeral Home, 757 East Main St., in Ventura. In lieu of flowers, donations are welcomed at the Life Raft Group for GIST cancer research, 40 Galesi Dr., Suite 19, Wayne, New Jersey 07470.
PaliHi Football Falls at Fairfax
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
If the Palisades High varsity football team thought it had taken a step forward in its league-opening victory at Hamilton two weeks ago, it took two steps back last Friday night against Fairfax. The host Lions trounced the Dolphins, 51-7, scoring on three of their first five possessions and forcing Palisades kicker Joe Berman to punt eight times. Palisades (2-5 overall, 1-1 in league) entered the game tied for first place in the Western League but now finds itself mired in the pack with only three games left. Fairfax (5-2, 2-0) moved into a first-place tie with Venice (6-1, 2-0), which had a surprisingly difficult time with Hamilton, winning only 17-13. “I don’t know if they are 44 points better than us but they were Friday night,” PaliHi Head Coach Kelly Loftus said. “They moved the ball on us at will and we gave them a lot of help.” The Dolphins’ lone highlight was a 63-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Michael Latt to wide receiver Gerald Ingram that pulled Palisades to within 14-7 late in the first quarter. But Fairfax responded with two scores of its own in the second quarter and led, 28-7, at halftime. Due to the ongoing renovation project at Stadium by the Sea, Palisades will hit the road again this week. The frosh/soph game kicks off today at Westchester at 3 p.m. and the varsity game is Friday at 3 p.m. The Comets (2-5, 0-2) are coming off a 32-6 loss to University. “We haven’t been able to practice on the new field yet,” Loftus said. “I’ve been told the plan our first home game will be [November 2] against Venice.” Palisades High kicker Joe Berman punts the ball during the Dolphins’ 51-7 loss last Friday night at Fairfax. Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
