Father and Son Create ‘Story of Your Life’ Book
Many times after a parent has passed away, questions surface about that person’s life that no one knows or can remember. Too often, important and interesting details about the family’s history dies with the person. ”Hoping to fill those gaps, Palisades Highlands resident Hugh (Mike) Huntington Jr. and his son Thomas have created ‘The Story of Your Life,’ a step-by-step ‘fill in the blanks’ guide to writing an autobiography that records a family member’s history. ”’It’s the equivalent of a baby book for the other end of one’s life,’ says Tom, a 1968 graduate of Palisades High, who now lives in San Francisco with his wife Shelly and their two children. ”The 120-page, large format book is broken down into two sections, ‘My Life: A Short Version’ and ‘My Life: The Long Version.’ The shorter version is for people who don’t like to write and includes 30 questions from the simple ‘Name on Birth Certificate’ and ‘Height, weight, eyes and hair color’ to more complicated ones like ‘Most challenging moments in my life’ and ‘Best thing I ever did for someone else.’ Wisely, the Huntingtons leave a small space, so the writer doesn’t feel as if he or she has to go into great detail. ”The longer section takes each of the 30 questions and turns them into a complete chapter, so that a person can go into more depth. ”For example, the short-version query ‘Ancestry on mother’s side’ has room for a two-line response. In the longer version, there is space to record a grandmother’s name, ancestry, education, work, where she lived, religion and significant moments in her life as well as siblings and relatives and their descendants. ”The book includes a CD for those people who would like to answer the questions directly on the computer, rather than writing longhand. ”The Huntingtons came up with the idea several years ago, when they were having dinner and discussing the family. ‘We should put together something so that we have a record of the highlights of your life,’ Tom told his dad, who had worked in aerospace and communications. ”The two visited bookstores to see if there were books on writing autobiographies. There was nothing similar to what they envisioned, so they decided to write it themselves. ‘I started a new career as an author at 81,’ Mike says. ”They framed it in a question-and-answer format because they felt that most readers would not have the skill or motivation to write a full-length autobiography. Both agree it is easier if you partner with someone when you write’and more rewarding. ‘Working on this project the past two years has given us a lot of time together that we wouldn’t have otherwise had,’ Tom says. ”The two also self-published their book, after reading a book on self-publishing, and are now busy doing the necessary promotion. ”’It just shows that an 84-year-old can still be useful and creative,’ Mike says. ‘It keeps my mind active.’ ”Mike, who flew P-40 and P-51 fighter planes in the Army Air Corps during World War II, met his wife Mary at Purdue University, where he graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering. They will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in August. ”Thomas, one of four children, was an Eagle Scout with Troop 223, senior class president at PaliHi and a graduate of the University of Oregon. He worked as a naturalist and a wilderness river guide on the Colorado River, other western U.S. rivers and rivers in Africa, including the Blue Nile. He has worked for the Environmental Defense organization for nearly 20 years. ”The Huntingtons will discuss ‘My Life’ ($19.95) at Village Books on Swarthmore next Friday, May 5, at 7:30 p.m. View the book online at www.TheStoryOfYourLife.net.
Potrero Parking Plans Draw Fire
A dozen residents who live on the west rim of the canyon showed up at last week’s Potrero Canyon Citizens Advisory Committee meeting to protest a proposed plan to provide four additional access routes to the new park. Originally, only two entrances were envisioned’one from the top of the canyon at the end of the Frontera parking lot and the other from Pacific Coast Highway. Both are fraught with difficulties. To provide up to 30 new spaces in the Frontera parking lot (below the playing fields), the committee indicated that at least one and maybe two of the eight existing tennis courts would have to be relocated. And to access the park from PCH, the committee is proposing a pedestrian bridge over the highway so that park users can utilize the existing parking lot at Will Rogers State Beach, where parking is generally $7. Committee member David Card, head of the recreation subcommittee which has been working for a year to come up with the revised plan for Potrero Canyon Park, explained that the idea to provide four four additional access routes’two from De Pauw, one from Earlham, another other Friends’was to mitigate parking woes at the Recreation Center and provide easier access for residents. Several residents attending the meeting made it clear that they were not interested. ‘Why would people pay to park [at the beach] when they can park for free on our streets?’ asked Chris Spitz, who lives on Friends along the Potrero rim. ‘That’s not fair to our neighborhood, which is already dealing with traffic problems.’ ‘It is not our intention to encourage street parking on the rim,’ replied Card, who added that the plan is for all the new access gates to the park to be closed at sunset and the area patrolled at night. Friends’ residents were adamant that access to the proposed park be limited to PCH and Frontera. ‘If you dump people into that cul-de-sac you are inviting people we don’t know into our backyards,’ said resident Jerry Bloore, referring to the loop involving Friends, Lombard, Earlham and De Pauw. ‘By adding these walkways you’re just opening a can of worms.’ ‘Access is not the issue,’ resident Michael Salton added. ‘Parking is the issue. On a street where two cars can’t even pass at the same time, we’re going to have to go to permitted parking if you have an access to Potrero from Friends.’ ‘We already have cars doing U-turns on Friends day and night’ [when they reach the blocked-off end of Via de las Olas], said Dr. Duncan Thomas. ‘Imagine what it would be like with with more people parking on this ‘one-way’ street. The sheer practicality of what you’re proposing needs to be addressed.’ After more discussion, the advisory committee reached consensus on every point in their proposed draft (see box), except for 11-D, which would provide the four additional access points from the neighborhoods, and number 16 (which would include a potential dog park at the mouth of the canyon). Committee member Roger Woods noted that a separate committee is looking at the dog park issue. Meanwhile, a Potrero public workshop has been announced for Wednesday, May 17. The workshop will begin at 5 p.m. with a tour of the canyon, followed by a briefing starting at 7:15 p.m. in the old gym at the Recreation Center, 851 Alma Real. To help focus discussion at the workshop, advisory committee chairman George Wolfberg said that a questionnaire and background material, including the consensus plan and detailed maps, will be posted on the group’s Web site: www.potrero.info/bb/. The Potrero project, which has been ongoing since the mid-1980s, has been on hold the past year because of funding difficulties. The advisory committee, working with Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s office, is hoping to obtain Coastal Commission approval to sell two city-owned lots on Alma Real to provide funding to complete Phase II grading and begin Phase III plans for the proposed park. (Editor’s note: Patricia Robideau, maintenance supervisor for the Department of Recreation and Parks, indicated that ‘No Trespassing’ signs were recently posted in Potrero canyon ‘to catch people coming in and out.’ ‘I think it’s very na’ve to think signs are going to stop people from going in there,’ one resident responded at last week’s meeting. Robideau, who said her department had received a number of complaints about illegal activity in the park (e.g., residents walking their dogs off-leash and kids using firecrackers), added that park rangers would soon be assigned to patrol the area. She also indicated that because Potrero is ‘still technically a construction site,’ it poses a potential liability to the city should there be an incident in the park. ‘I’m sorry the park is not officially open because the wildflowers are beautiful right now,’ said Potrero committee chairman George Wolfberg, who recently took city officials on a walking tour of the park.) DRAFT PROPOSAL FOR POTRERO PARK USES AND FACILITIES (Submitted by the Potrero Recreation Subcommittee) 1. Build a bridge across PCH for safe and unimpeded pedestrian and bicycle access to the beach, canyon and village. This also eliminates the need for a parking lot at the mouth of the canyon. This is our top priority, for recreational access and a safe crossing. 2. The two terraces immediately below the baseball mesa (the horseshoe from the Patterson development to the tennis courts) should be meadow areas for family picnics, reading, sunbathing and very informal play (playing catch, kicking a ball, frisbee, touch football, etc.). No organized sports, no amplified or electronic sound, no motorized equipment or toys in this area. 3. Build a cistern under the meadow areas, upstream from the riparian area which would collect storm water runoff, treat it and use the reclaimed water for irrigation in the canyon (e.g., as a water source for the riparian area). 4. Move the riparian area, which will have a natural seasonal stream (no exposed concrete dams), with wood bridge crossings to connect trails, down the canyon below the meadow areas. 5. Build trails throughout the canyon for hikers, walkers, disabled pedestrians and mountain bikers. 6. We recommend there be no fence to separate the road and trails from the riparian and other canyon areas. We propose instead that a fence be built between the canyon and the neighboring residences. 7. There should be the presence of either a park ranger and/or LAPD substation at the Rec Center or at one of the four proposed access routes to the canyon. There also needs to be a park maintenance facility. 8. Establish a Citizens Advisory Committee for the Potrero Canyon Park. Explore how the city will supervise and maintain the Park. 9. Maintain the existing foliage. Plant new native trees, shrubs, ground covers and vines throughout the canyon. Install picnic tables, benches, logs, real boulders. Protect views of the ocean from every angle’up, down, as well as across and within the canyon’for the park users. 10. Interpretive elements: signage and kiosks with photos and text on history, landslides, flora and fauna. 11. Access and Parking: a) East rim/ Frontera: Create an entrance to the park at the existing Frontera St. access, widening the Frontera driveway for emergency vehicles. Expand the existing parking lot and widen the entry to the canyon by relocating either both lower tennis courts to the east property line, or relocate one tennis court farther south into the canyon but on the same terrace. Provide entry landscaping, signage and an information kiosk. b) PCH: Create an entrance at the Pacific Coast Highway pedestrian bridge, along with restrooms, a drinking fountain, an information kiosk, and landscaping. Utilize existing beach parking lot, across the highway via the new pedestrian overcross. c) Baseball field stairways: Build stairway access to the canyon park from the baseball diamonds’one from the existing gate in the west fence down to the west fork of the canyon, with plantings to screen the view into the Patterson Place residences; another from the existing opening in the east fence down to the Frontera parking lot. Also, fence off the slope and drainage area between the Patterson Place homes and the baseball diamonds. These two stairways from the baseball plateau down to the canyon will increase circulation and safety, and provide a stair-step exercise opportunity. d) West rim easements: Create four access walkways/stairways for residents living west of the canyon’at DePauw (two), Earlham and Friends streets. Easements straddling city-owned parcels will provide the pedestrian pathways. Multiple narrow pedestrian pathways will spread out the entry points, encouraging walkers and discouraging drivers. As an alternative, one access point and off-street parking could be provided on one or two city parcels on one of the west rim streets. Such a lot could be the location for a park ranger or LAPD substation overlooking the canyon park. 12. Create a walking trail to Temescal Canyon at PCH. Separate and screen the maintenance yards used by Caltrans and the Department of Public Works. 13. Create an overlook trail at the base of the great baseball wall on the canyon side, accessed at either end of the wall by gates in the chain link fence (one gate exists now), which would allow for panoramic views of the canyon. 14. Create art programs in the canyon (painting, drawing, storytelling, talks, readings). 15. Frog Pond: Create a publicly accessible native amphibian habitat in the riparian area, for species such as the native California tree frog. 16. Propose two off-leash dog parks on the flats along PCH (the old Occidental Petroleum and Sun Spot sites)’one for large dogs, the other for small’with access from the canyon’s fire road, from the trail starting at Temescal Canyon (parking there), and from the beach parking lot via the new bridge.
Relay for Life Raises $72,000 at Marquez
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
By JONATHAN MERWITZER Special to the Palisadian-Post Participants in the third annual American Cancer Society Pacific Palisades Relay For Life braved the weather at Marquez Charter Elementary School this past Saturday and Sunday to raise $72,000’with more checks still coming in. ”The top fundraising teams were Anderson’s Amigos, the Palisades Optimist Club, Ellen’s Playmates and Paint the Palisades Purple Again. ”During the opening ceremonies, 37 cancer survivors wearing purple T-shirts walked around the track carrying a banner and a purple chain of 324 circles to represent their total years of surviving cancer. Alon Sugarman, a freshman at Palisades High, led this lap. Over the next 24 hours, many more survivors arrived and donned their purple shirts. ”Cathie Wishnick, one of the survivors who spoke during the opening ceremony, said, ‘Last year I did not attend Relay For Life. My family was here, my friends were here from Kehillat Israel and the Optimist Club. They were marching with a banner that said ‘We are walking to support Cathie.’ I didn’t know about it because I was in intensive care and on life support. Wow, I’m here today thanks to wonderful medicine, doctors and research, thanks to friends and family, and a lot of prayer from churches and synagogues in Pacific Palisades. I’m feeling fine.’ ”Julie Dresner, a three-time cancer survivor, said: ‘ I have learned to live with a much different attitude. I have learned to live with wellness’focusing on the good health I do have, as opposed to the worrying about what if. Hope is the greatest healer.’ ”The lights were turned off at 9 p.m. on Saturday and the luminaria bags were illuminated in honor, memory and support of those who have been touched by cancer. ”Bernie Romano, chairperson of the luminaria committee, reported over 400 luminarias had been sold, raising $4,000. ”’We saw people who came and walked for loved ones who are no longer with us or supporting people who are going through treatment,’ Romano said. ‘We walked to honor survivors who are still around for their loved ones.’ ”Stevie Cantor and Heidi Jenkins from Sunset West cut hair for Locks of Love, which takes donated hair and makes wigs for children who experience medical hair loss. The participants’ Ann Powell, Wendy Milo, Heather Medina and Julianna DeFelippis’each donated more than 10 inches of their own hair. Powell was the team and sponsorship chair. Mike and Jeff Hansberger, who own Del Taco restaurants, sold food for lunch and donated the proceeds to Relay for Life. Heather Medina, manager of the Barrington/Sunset Starbucks, coordinated volunteers from several stores to provide beverage service for 24 hours. Mike Mahoney of the Palisades Starbucks brewed the coffee and hot chocolate that was delivered throughout the event. ”’This event gives us a chance to get out of the store and connect to the community,’ said Medina. Meanwhile, Palisades resident Patti Sinaiko made sure there was food throughout the entire event, Lainie Sugarman coordinated youth involvement, Dana Fein (a teacher at Marquez) coordinated the set-up at the school, Mary Jane and Matt Leonetti arranged to provide lighting and power for the entire venue, and Carolyn Haselkorn was praised for coordinating the auction and entertainment . ”Morgan Genser, a Palisades High graduate, photographed the event for the Santa Monica College Corsair. He stayed all 24 hours, camping out with the teams.
Junior League Honors Jan Kern
The Junior League of Los Angeles (JLLA) has selected 31-year Palisades resident Janice Pahl Kern as the recipient of the 2006 Spirit of Volunteerism Award for her dedication to Los Angeles charities and community organizations. She will be recognized at the annual ‘Legacy Ball’ this Saturday, April 29 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel downtown. Kern will be honored with former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and his wife, Nancy Daly Riordan, who are the recipients of the 2006 Lifetime Community Achievement Award. Serving as President of the Los Angeles Junior League from 1990 to 1991, Kern was an exceptional leader during her active years in the League, embracing JLLA’s mission to promote volunteerism and improve the community through trained volunteers. Notably, Kern founded several projects during her tenure, including Adolescent Pregnancy Childwatch. She has also held a national position with the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI), which focused on the issue of teen pregnancy and involved the replication of an AJLI youth development program, Teen Outreach. She was the California State Coordinator for this effort from 1991 through 1994. More recently, Kern serves the League as a Sustaining Advisor to Projects Council and the Fundraising Evaluation Committee (FEC). Kern continues to make a difference through her professional contributions She was the vice president of Incubator Services for Community Partners for seven years, breathing life into fledgling nonprofits. While in that role, she was responsible for program development and planning, business development and overall agency management. She has used her Junior League skills to initiate several start-up programs aimed at enhancing leadership development in the community; these efforts include active involvement in the Eli Broad Colleagues Program, as well as the Family Foundation Information Exchange, a peer-learning group for which she is the founder. Kern is an active volunteer in the Los Angeles community as well. Her established trend of creating organizations to answer community needs continues. She was a founding board member of the Los Angeles Roundtable for Children and has also been a board member and president of the following organizations: Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health, St. Paul the Apostle School and the Performing Tree. Finally, she has also served as an alumni board member of her alma mater, DePauw University. Jan and her husband Bob have two grown children, Andrew and Hilary. Commemorating the Junior League’s 80 years of service in Los Angeles, ‘The Legacy Ball’ will include a cocktail reception, dinner, dancing, silent auction and a special live auction presented by Christie’s Los Angeles. Individual tickets begin at $250. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (323) 957-4280. Celebrating its 80th anniversary, the Junior League of Los Angeles (JLLA) comprises more than 1,200 professional women dedicated to promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of women and improving the community through effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.
Dancing All the Time
By KAREN LEIGH Palisadian-Post Contributor ‘Dance is the hidden language of the soul,’ said performance legend Martha Graham’but Hannah Schneider’s secret is out. This past December, the 13-year-old was the prodigal wizard behind Paul Revere Middle School’s winter musical, ‘One Fine Day,’ acting as its chief choreographer. ”’I never thought I’d have this opportunity at such a young age,’ says the eighth-grader. After all, most people don’t. ”’One Fine Day,’ set in the swingin’ 1960s, is the story of The Lollipops, a singing girl group intent on making it all the way to an appearance on ‘American Bandstand.’ Revere English teacher Joshua Roig, who moonlights as a composer, penned the tunes. When he needed someone to make those Lollipops groove, he turned to his star pupil. ‘Mr. Roig knew I danced and had seen me perform,’ says Schneider, who lives in Topanga Canyon. ‘He called during summer break and asked if I’d like to choreograph the show. I was kinda scared. I mean, it takes place in the ’60s and I’m more up on modern dance.’ To prepare, the enterprising Schneider watched musical films of the time, and when Roig gave her a recording of the musical’s score, she bounced around her room, creating dances in her head. ‘I would think of a beat and move around,’ she says. ‘I was having fun with the music and that’s how I got the choreography.’ Though she cites Alvin Ailey and his professional partner Judith Jamison as influences, Schneider is most admiring of a dancer closer to home, one Debbie Allen. ‘When I was little,’ she recalls, ‘I would start moving every time a song would play.’ This led actor parents Mark and Jennifer to enroll their 2-year-old in dance classes; by age 9, she had joined a corps of other young students at Allen’s Culver City academy. Today, she logs 32 hours per week at the studio, and her card includes African, jazz, hip-hop, flamenco, and modern dance. Ballet classes are required, and one of Schneider’s specialties is Dunham, an obscure type of rhythm that incorporates elements of ballet, African, jazz, and flamenco. ‘My favorite is lyrical jazz,’ Schneider says of her repertoire. ‘It’s a slower jazz, hallmarked by fluid body movements. It’s definitely not stiff.’ Allen, whose credits include a Tony Award nomination for the Broadway revival of ‘West Side Story’ and a producer title on the Steven Spielberg film ‘Amistad,’ has consistently singled out Schneider as a dancer on the rise. Over the past four years, Schneider has been one of a group of students invited to perform with her teacher at events in Italy, New York City, and Washington, D.C. When Allen staged the play ‘Pearl’ at Westwood’s Geffen Playhouse, Schneider was selected for the ensemble. ‘It was a modern-day version of ‘Snow White,” she says of the fairy-tale update, ‘and I played a swamp character and a circus contortionist.’ Four times a year, Schneider takes part in Allen’s academy recitals; earlier this month, she strutted new jazz, tap, modern, ballet, and hip-hop skills for its winter showcase. ”With ‘One Fine Day,’ Schneider was finally able to impart her love of dance to fellow Revere classmates. The young choreographer found the rehearsal period frustrating at times, since she was working with many first-time performers. ”’When you memorize a dance, your brain tells you to do it involuntarily,’ Schneider explains. ‘I’d play them the beats, just like I had done at home. Then they’d learn a new move and immediately forget whatever they’d learned right before. But seeing kids who hadn’t danced before do so for the first time’and to my choreography’was really rewarding.’ ”There were other hurdles to overcome in mounting a new musical. ‘The opening song was big. It took about two hours to choreograph, and three weeks to teach it to the dancers.’ Other numbers were even more difficult, ‘especially a duet, because it involved pairing. I was trying to figure out what steps the girl and guy were supposed to do so they didn’t bump into each other.’ Schneider’s biggest challenge came with the actual creation of new rhythm and movement. ‘I combined different kinds of steps. When you’re choreographing, you have to come up with new steps or it’s not your own.’ Schneider’s other interests include acting (she played a Lollipop singer in ‘One Fine Day’), community service (as a member of Revere’s outreach group, the Town Criers), and studying (she is a straight-A student). Supportive in all performance pursuits is one seriously theatrical family’father Mark and mother Jennifer are actors, as is proud grandmother Julie Andrews, a Broadway legend with whom Schneider briefly appeared (a raucous sleepover party scene) in the 2004 film ‘Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.’ ”’If I do anything in the future, it has to incorporate dance,’ says Schneider. ‘Dance is me.’
‘Water for Life’: It Takes a Village
Spring, the season of growth and renewal, brings with it two major global, environmental events: World Water Day, which was March 22, and Earth Day, last Saturday. Both celebrations promote the conservation and development of our most precious natural resources. Yet the events also draw attention to serious health issues affecting the international community, such as unsafe and inadequate water supplies’a problem most common among poor populations in developing countries. More than a billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion lack access to basic sanitation, according to the second United Nations World Water Development Report (March 2006). ‘Water is now on the front burner,’ says Deborah Parducci, a Pacific Palisades resident. She serves on the board of Agua Para La Vida, a nongovernmental organization that has been helping small rural communities in Nicaragua construct their own drinking water systems since 1987. Nicaragua is the second-poorest nation in the Americas, after Haiti, because of natural disasters (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and frequent hurricanes) and man-made troubles, such as the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s, during which most of the country’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed. The Nicaraguan government, now a young democracy led by President Enrique Bola’os Geyer, lacks the resources to provide an effective drinking water program for rural communities. Yet access to potable water is a top priority, especially following the damage caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. The majority of infant disease and death is due to water-related diseases such as diarrhea and cholera. Agua Para La Vida, which means ‘Water for Life’ in Spanish, not only helps communities build their drinking water systems but also educates local people about health and hygiene and trains a team of community members on how to maintain their system. ‘One of the things you learn is that poverty is not the issue; it’s quality of life,’ says Parducci, a retired nurse and mother of five. ‘People in the villages did not understand that it was the clear running water that was making them sick.’ Parducci got involved with APLV in the mid-1990s because she believed the organization was effective and she knew one of the founding members, Gilles Corcos, a professor emeritus in the mechanical engineering department at UC Berkeley. He started APLV with one of his student advisees, Charlie Huizenga, now a researcher and lecturer in the architecture department at Berkeley. Their first project in Nicaragua was for a farming cooperative with a population of 280 people. Corcos says they learned ‘quite a bit about how these people lived”dispersed even within the village and in isolated rural areas with no electricity and poor quality dirt roads. Because Corcos and Huizenga started the organization during the country’s civil war, they also experienced 17-year-old village boys being sent off to fight against the Contras, the right-wing guerilla group that attacked mostly civilian targets such as coffee plantations and farming cooperatives. ‘We both felt good about doing something positive for a country that was under the onslaught of the American government through its support of the Contras,’ Huizenga says. Originally a California-based group, APLV is now recognized as a Nicaraguan NGO and also has a French branch that was created in 2002. Thus far, the organization has spearheaded the construction of 41 village water systems, serving more than 13,000 people. APLV operates out of the Rio Blanco region, near the geometric center of Nicaragua, and helps rural communities in a surrounding area of about 1,550 square miles. The systems that APLV builds are supplied by springs located higher than the villages and are entirely gravity-driven. Water flows in an underground pipe from the spring to a concrete tank built close to the community. The tank water then flows through a distribution system to faucets in the village. With gravity systems, ‘people use more water since it is usually brought closer to each house,’ Huizenga says. ‘More water means better health.’ The Nicaraguan people use about 40 liters (less than 10 gallons) of water daily per person, which is about one-tenth of what we use in the United States. The water is tested for fecal coliform bacteria at the beginning of an APLV project as well as on a regular basis once the project is complete. ‘The first step is for each family to build latrines with materials and instruction that we provide,’ Huizenga says. ‘The water system itself can take six weeks for a small project and up to six months for a big project. During that process, we are doing community health education and water system maintenance training.’ Mothers are given a simple, ‘ingenious’ scale with which they can weigh their children every month and record the weight without knowing how to read and write. They are also taught about the proper growth rate of healthy infants. In addition to providing clean water technology and education, APLV has social consequences as well. The village women are usually the first to grasp the connection between diseases and polluted water because they and their children are traditionally the water gatherers. As in many developing countries, Nicaraguan women and girls walk long distances to collect water, often from polluted sources. APLV believes that women should be involved in the process of building and maintaining the drinking water systems because the impact is usually greatest on them. In fact, women are often project managers while men perform the more labor-intensive work. This is a new but generally positive experience for Nicaraguans who are accustomed to a male-dominated culture, according to Corcos and Huizenga. In many cases, constructing a water system with APLV is the people’s first experience in communal working, Corcos says. Each family in the village must commit to about 30 days of work and ongoing requirements of project maintenance. ‘It’s backbreaking work and it’s a big commitment,’ Huizenga says. The spring might be five miles from a village, which means the villagers would have to dig a trench across that distance. ‘One thing you learn is that in a developing country like Nicaragua, setbacks are the norm’the truck breaks down all the time, materials are delayed, you get a bad batch of pipe,’ Huizenga continues. ‘The thing that’s amazing is that the people there are so resilient to this stuff.’ The organization also works with communities to acquire, restore and protect forests around the spring from deforestation, a result of logging and clearing land for agriculture, which is common in Nicaragua. The villagers sow native species seeds in community nurseries and transplant those seedlings to the watershed, to help retain soil during the rainy season. The community also builds a fence around the spring to keep the cattle out. Part of the significance of APLV’s effect on the villages is to keep those communities self-sufficient. In 1996, the organization started a technical school, Escuela Tecnica de Agua Potable (ETAP) which trains farmers, or ‘campesinos,’ to be water technicians. Most of the students have not had a full secondary education, and the two- to three-year curriculum teaches them engineering, project management, accounting and surveying, as well as computer skills. To date, three classes of six students have graduated from the school. Two full-time social workers from APLV remain in the village long after the completion of a project, to give the community support. But Parducci says that by teaching the villagers how to construct, manage and maintain their own drinking water systems, the organization has already given them the lasting skills they need. ‘It’s doable by local people,’ she says. ‘For every village that gets water, several villages hear about it.’ APLV’s drinking water systems are designed to last more than 25 years and require minimal maintenance. A typical project, involving 25 to 30 families, costs about $12,000. Funding goes to water system materials, latrines, community health education, watershed conservation and the technical training school. Donors can also choose to fund an individual project. For more information, visit www.aplv.org or contact Agua Para La Vida at (510) 643-8003 or aplv@aplv.org.
Local Cyclist Tom Hill up to Mulholland Challenge
Palisadian Tom Hill finished 21st overall and ninth in the over-45 age division in last Saturday’s annual Mulholland Challenge, a grueling 112-mile bike race organized by Planet Ultra. and climbed 12,205 feet. Top notch riders from all over California arrived to pedal the challenging course, which required participants to climb 12,205 feet by race’s end. Of the 345 registered riders, only 247 completed The Challenge. The winner set a new course record of 6 hours and 58 minutes. The course began in Calabasas, stretched over Malibu Canyon to Pacific Coast Highway, wound south on PCH up Topanga Canyon, Old Topanga and then north on Mulholland Drive. Other climbs included Little Sycamore, Decker Canyon, Stunt Road and Cold Canyon, before reaching the finish line back in Calabasas. Hill rode the course in seven hours and 44 minutes. “I was pleased with my time considering that I had a mechanical problem which cost me 15 minutes,” said Hill, who had to backtrack a few miles to Topanga Hardware store to purchase a tool he needed to repair loose cranks on his Scott CR-1 carbon fiber road bike, which weighs only 14 1/2 pounds. “My goal is to ride 3,000 miles in preparation for the L’Etape de Tour.” The L’Etape, an event run each July by organizers of the Tour de France, takes place on one of the rest days for the professionals during the 23-day event. Hill was one of 7,785 cyclists to ride the 16th stage of last year’s Tour de France, a 112-mile stretch through the Pyrenees from the town of Mourenx to the city of Pau in Southeastern France. This year’s L’Etape will be in the French Alps, a 117-mile stretch over three major mountain passes with a climb of 11,000 feet. “I’m aiming to do it in seven and a half hours,” said Hill, who was one of the top cyclists in the United States in the 1970s. “I’m just glad this was on a Saturday and the store was open because had it not been I might not have finished.” The Mulholland Challenge was the first of three Century events called ‘The King of the Mountains.’ The next race, called Breathless Agony, will be May 6 in Redlands. It is 114 miles long and includes over 12,000 feet of climbing. Riders will climb to Onyx summit (8,443 foot in elevation). The final event, on May 27, is Heart Break 100, which will begin in Lebec (a town north of Castaic) and include over 8,000 feet of climbing in 102 miles. Finishers of all three events get the honor of wearing the King of the Mountains (KOM) jersey. Hill has entered all three events as a way of preparing for L’Etape, the most difficult stage of the Tour de France, which is reserved for the top 8,500 amateur cyclists in the World. Hill said the Mulholland Challenge was one of the hardest races he has ever competed in. “There were some tough stretches,” he recalled. “I hit Decker Canyon at the 70-mile mark and was pedaling into really strong headwinds blowing in off of Mulholland. That’s where it’s mind over matter and you just have to push through it.”
Brown Wins Bruin Triathlon
Jared Brown took first place in the Under-19 age group at the second annual UCLA Iron Bruin Triathlon April 9. Brown’s combined time of one hour, 19 minutes and 12 seconds was two seconds faster than his closest age-group rival and placed the 14-year-old Palisadian 49th overall in a field of 210 competitors. By comparison, the 24-year-old male winner finished in one hour and 42 seconds. ‘ The competition, presented by the UCLA Triathlon Team and Cadence Performance Cycling Centers, was a reverse triathlon starting with a four-mile run at Drake Stadium, followed by 10-mile bike ride through campus, and ending with a 400-meter swim at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center.’ ‘ According to his mother, Renee, herself a triathlete, Brown’s interest in triathlons began a little over a year ago. Now a ninth-grader at Wildwood Academy, Brown played in the Palisades Recreation Center’s youth roller hockey league five years ago and swam for the Palisades-Malibu YMCA team for four years, becoming an accomplished breaststroker even though it was his least favorite stroke. “He was going to quit the swim team because he was bored with the repetition,” said Renee, who around that same time was trying to figure out how to spice up her own workout regime and decided to try a triathlon. “So I asked him ‘Why don’t you start training with me?'” Mother and son trained together and entered their first race last April–the first UCLA Iron Bruin Triathlon. Jared won his age group in one hour, 34 minutes and 23 seconds. “What I enjoy about triathlons is that you get to do more than just run,” he said. “I actually liked the biking part best.” Brown competed in four more triathlons in 2005 and ended the season by winning his age group at a competition on Catalina Island. He joined the Southern California Junior Elite Team and Acme Coaching and works with coach Ian Murray. The team is sponsored by Cliff bars and Zoot Suit. “Jared thinks it’s so great because he gets Cliff bars whenever he wants,” Renee said. The competition season started in March and Brown will compete in about eight races this summer, including the USAT Nationals in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in August. “Being part of the team has been a great experience for me because I’m able to work out and be coached by one of the most accomplished triathletes,” Brown said. “I’ve also met a great group of kids who all have similar interests.” Mom is still trains too and also ran in the UCLA triathlon, placing fifth in her age group. “My real happiness comes from seeing what the sport has done for Jared,” she said. ‘It is so exciting to see your son become passionate and focused about something–especially something that you both can share.”
Greenberg Vaults to Victory
Junior Bryan Greenberg outperformed 28 other athletes to win the pole vault at the Birmingham Invitational track and field meet last Saturday in Lake Balboa. Greenberg cleared a personal-best 13 feet on the first of his three attempts, six inches higher than the silver medalist. “I didn’t know much about the competition so I didn’t really expect to win,” Greenberg admitted. “I don’t feel any fear when I’m in the air. It feels great. It feels weird when I’m on the ground.” Greenberg’s best height last year was 10-6 and he started this season by improving on four straight vaults at the Cerritos Meet in April. Saturday’s victory makes Greenberg the clear-cut favorite to repeat as Western League champion and a legitimate contender at the City Section finals May 25. Fellow 11th-grader Kristabel Doebel-Hickok ran to an easy victory in the 1,600 meters in last Friday’s dual meet against Fairfax and continued her winning ways on Saturday at Birmingham by running a personal-best 11:19.78 to place first in the 3,200 meters. Jan Stavro ran 2:06 in his heat of the 800 meters–a personal best by three seconds, while Jason Kil finished third in his heat in a personal-best 2:07.4. Pali had a makeup meet at Venice Monday and travels to Westchester on Friday for its final dual meet. Baseball Cole Cook pitched his second no-hitter of the season on Monday, striking out eight batters as the Dolphins (13-9, 7-1) beat host University 8-0 to remain atop the Western League standings. The Uni win followed a pair of victories over Westchester last week. Andy Megee had three hits and three RBIs in Pali’s 14-3 six-inning victory over the Comets last Tuesday, with Cook allowing six hits and striking out seven. Pali then won 10-1 at Westchester to take over sole possession of first place before losing to Narbonne, 4-2, in a round robin game of the Chatsworth Tournament on Saturday. Lacrosse Palisades’ girls team lost its first game ever, 7-1, at the hands of host Pasadena Westridge last Wednesday. Goalie Liz Lima-Reyes had 14 saves and Kristina Villamil scored the Dolphins’ only goal. On Friday, Pali lost to Santa Ana Foothill, 11-1, with Sierra Centowski scoring an unassisted goal. The Dolphins’ boys varsity team improved to 6-3 overall with impressive wins last week over Gardena Serra (12-10) and Huntington beach (13-9). Swimming All four Dolphin teams dominated Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies in Monday’s final Western League dual meet at Temescal pool. The varsity girls swam to a 134-22 victory while the varsity boys outscored LACES 138-19. Pali’s frosh/soph girls won 102-27 and the frosh/soph boys won 94-40. Newcomers Alyssa Machida, Nicole Washington and Cheyenne Kampe and divers Ashley Baele and Cayley Cline paced the girls squad. Pali participated in the League Finals Meet at Venice on Wednesday (result unavailable at press time). Boys Tennis The Dolphins clinched their 19th consecutive league title with wins over Venice, Hamilton and Fairfax last week and a 7-0 shutout of University on Monday. Against the Wildcats, senior Ben Tom won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles, Chase Pekar won 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 singles, Ariel Oleynik won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 and Mason Hays won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4. In doubles, Seth Mandelkern and Stephen Surjue won 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1, Michael Light and Sepehr Safii won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 and Daniel Burge and Jeremy Shore won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 3. Palisades travels north for the Ojai Tournament this weekend. Boys Volleyball Coming off victories over Hamilton and Westchester last week, the Dolphins needed a win at first-place Venice on Wednesday (result unavailable at press time) to gain a share of the Western League title. The Dolphins played in the Sylmar tournament last Saturday, losing to eventual-champion Saugus, 25-20, 25-16, in pool play.
