Sixteen graduates graced the stage of John Adams Middle School auditorium in Santa Monica on a recent Friday afternoon. Eight were students at the school and the other eight, homeless shelter dogs the students spent three weeks training to become adoptable. All graduated from a character education program called K9 Connection, co-founded by Palisadians Katherine Beattie and Patricia Sinclair. A project of OPCC (formerly the Ocean Park Community Center), K9 Connection empowers at-risk youth to apply the lessons they teach the dogs’an awareness of the risks of uncontrolled and impulsive behavior, and the power of positive reinforcement’to their own lives. “There’s something about putting a dog and a kid together’you can access the kid,” said Sinclair, who has a background in law, social work, state government and community service. Beattie is a former small business owner with a five-year background in humane education, which encompasses animal, environmental and human rights issues. At the culminating ceremony, the young trainers proudly demonstrated their dogs’ skills in a show on the auditorium stage. The canines were guided through a slalom course of orange pylons and then instructed to sit down before continuing through a nylon tunnel. Each student communicated with his or her dog a little differently, having learned the animal’s strengths and weaknesses in the previous three weeks of training. When 11-year-old Madison ran to the end of the nylon tunnel, “Riley” dashed through it to meet her at the other end. Ada, 12, tossed a few treats in the tunnel to guide “Ziggy” in. For Dominique, teaching “Chip” to “come” was the most challenging part. A 3-1/2-month-old German shepherd mix, “Chip” was a special rescue dog whose family had been displaced after Hurricane Katrina. Following his K9 Connection graduation, “Chip” was to be reunited with his Louisiana family. “This dog has special needs; he almost died,” said Dominique, 12. Asked what “Chip” taught her, she said, “that instead of being in detention, I could be with my dog.” Other students learned patience, empathy, and persistence. Matt, 11, said he joined K9 Connection because he was looking to have some fun but ended up learning a lot from his dog, “Robby.” “Sometimes he doesn’t listen, so I learned to never give up,” Matt said. Sinclair and Beattie interviewed 50 students for eight spaces in the program at John Adams. They chose four boys and four girls who “seemed to need the program and were really enthusiastic about it,” Sinclair says. “These kids are at a fork in the road. This program is the tipping point for them.” The dogs selected for the program are “animals who need to be rescued but are also really sweet,” Sinclair said. All but one had been adopted by graduation day. The K9 Connection group meets for two hours a day, five days a week’first setting goals for themselves and their work with their dogs, and then putting their ideas into practice as they train the dogs in basic obedience, using positive reinforcement (as an alternative to force and violence). Initially, the goal is “just hanging in there for three weeks,” Sinclair said. The students work towards graduating from the program and helping the dogs secure an adoptive family. “I feel successful to complete a demanding program like K9 Connection,” Madison said with “Riley” by her side. “We struggled on some things but we got through it.” Another student, Andrew, had chosen to participate in the program despite the fact that he had been bitten in the eye by a Siberian husky when he was 2. “I learned that people can learn stuff from animals,” said Andrew, 12. “I used to be violent to people. I’m not like that anymore. I’m much nicer.” A former K9 Connection graduate, Mike, 13, returned to the program to help the students train their dogs. “I just liked it the first time,” he said. “It was my first time ever having a dog to care about.” At the end of the graduation ceremony, the young trainers presented the dogs to their new owners’a proud and poignant moment reflected in tender exchanges between the students, dogs and the new families. The K9 Connection staff continues to meet monthly with each graduated class to continue goal-setting and update them on the status of their dogs. K9 Connection is seeking foster homes for dogs during its programs, the next of which begins Monday, November 28, at Olympic High Continuation School. Foster families are provided with the cost of care during this four-week commitment. Those interested can call 264-5424 or e-mail Glen Zipper, project operations manager, at gzipper@k9connection.org. For more information, visit www.k9connection.org.
Deceiving the Eye In Beautiful Ways
On the walls of Marquez Elementary School, murals of all sorts soften the harsh, institutional walls: delicate, flowery, playful and intriguing, one long building is disguised as two with an ocean view and a flower bed in front. The magic is by Palisadian Martha Meade. “I got into painting by accident,” she said. Meade intended to be an actress. She grew up in Waltham, Massachusetts, northwest of Boston, and attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where she majored in English and theater. She studied in Ireland and took a course in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Meade had met her husband, Steve Miller, in college, but says, “It was a real ‘When Harry Met Sally’ relationship. Nothing really clicked.” Over the years they kept running into each other. When she was working as an actress in New York, she bumped into him again on Bleeker Street. Finally, when she was working on an independent film project with his best friend in New York, they got together. They married in 1988 and moved to a small house in Venice California. “We had this cabinet in the bathroom that was a real eyesore,” she says. “I saw a book on faux marbling and thought it might work on the cabinet, so I bought a kit.” Meade was amazed at how easy it was to transform something so ugly into something beautiful. The next thing she attempted was the mantle. It was once again a success. She thought, “Wow, this came out of my hand,” and decided she wanted to learn more. She started studying the craft of faux finishing. She took classes at Otis College of Art and Design, specializing in trompe l’oeil’which technically means “fool the eye”‘under noted artist Richard Shelton. Meade also studied with Carol Free. Thirteen years ago, when her son Richie’s kindergarten teacher at Marquez Elementary asked if someone could paint the children’s wooden playhouse, Meade volunteered. “The teacher wanted the structure just to get a coat of paint,” Meade says. “I don’t think she was expecting me to do what I did.” Meade transformed it into a work of art, complete with painted flowers growing up the outside and “painted” wall paper inside. The curtains next to the window appear to be blowing in the breeze. She also painted the children’s furniture that went into the house. Impressed with her work, people in charge of STAR at Marquez commissioned her to do a 75-foot trompe l’oeil mural. The mural gives one the impression that you could walk through an archway towards the Pacific Ocean’there is no archway; it’s a solid wall. “I wanted to give back the ocean view they would’ve had if the building wasn’t there,” Meade says. “I painted a garden on the front of the building to soften it.” Parents and students were so pleased with her work that when the school received grant money, they commissioned her to paint a flower border behind the raised flower beds by the kindergarten rooms. The idea was that even if real plants weren’t flowering, it would always look as if something was in bloom. Surrounding the cafeteria tables are flowers and vines reminiscent of a garden spot in Italy. “What I wanted to create was an environment that will make a place where you’d always want to have lunch,” Meade says. When opened, the beautiful wooden doors on the patio leading into the cafeteria line reveal LAUSD’s standard ugly blue steel doors on the reverse side. Around an ordinary ugly water fountain, she’s painted a marble molding. “I like to watch the kids touch it,” she says. “They’re surprised to find out it’s a flat wall.” Meade has done seven murals for Marquez Elementary School, where her younger son Leland is still a student. In addition to the school, Meade has completed numerous projects for private residences. In a windowless powder room in a Marina del Rey townhouse, she painted a trompe l’oeil window and added a vase on the window sill. The owner didn’t like the vase and asked if Meade could paint baseball to replace it since her son was a minor league baseball player. Meade pointed out that it would look like the ball would roll out of the window. The woman suggested putting the ball in the mitt. The woman gave her a mitt to photograph, and from that Meade painted it on the window, aging the mitt to the woman’s specifications. For another project, the client wanted “Tiepolo” on the ceiling. His idea for his 12-by-18-ft entryway was a view of Florence in the evening’with clouds that had pink and gold edges. It took time for Meade to get the colors that he had envisioned. “It’s important to nail down what clients mean,” Meade says. “It takes a while. One of the things I really enjoy is helping them define what they want and then creating that environment.” Meade was asked to paint the outside of a private home that was entirely shaded. The owners had tried and tried to get flowers to grow, but nothing would take hold. When Meade met with the family to find out exactly what kind of painting they wanted, she discovered that the wife as a child had lived next to a garden of hollyhocks that also contained hedgehogs. She recreated the childhood memory, flowers complete with a whole family of hedgehogs hiding in it. “It makes it special for me, and more special for them to have personal references.” In one teen’s room, she did two panels based on designs from the Taj Mahal. One panel was on the wall, the second she painted on a window shade, so that the light around it gives it an alabaster glow. “Doing texture on a wall makes a dramatic difference,” she says. “It gives the walls a presence that helps create a world.” When Meade first moved to the Palisades, the cabinets in her kitchen were a dirty Hershey bar color. She painted them, putting grain into the wood. Graining or faux bois is an ancient art which requires special tools. She can paint plywood to make it look like oak, walnut, or bird’s-eye maple. She points out that many of the castles in Europe that seem to have marble actually have faux marble or faux wood. Shortly after she learned the art of faux finishing, she was in the Tate Gallery in England. She looked to the door at one side of the room she was in and it was marble, the door on the other side was not. The floor board was marble, but the crown molding was faux. Meade also custom-paints furniture. An 8-year-old girl was adamant that she wanted her dresser painted with skateboarders. The mom was pushing for something more feminine. There was an impasse until Meade talked to the child. “You’re going to have this your whole life,” Meade told her. “It’ll help you remember growing up in the Palisades.” Those words registered with the girl and she decided she wanted the dresser to look like the Palisades. It does, complete with the gentle curve of the Pacific ocean, the Santa Monica Mountains, and the houses of the Palisades nestled on the hill.
Local Gymnasts Win State Championships
Palisadians Rachel Weston, Savannah Schy and Shelby Slutzker won state championships in Gymnastics for Level 4 and Level 5 last weekend in Whittier. Weston, 9, finished first in the balance beam, floor exercise and uneven bars and was the overall Level 4 points champion. Schy, 10, was first overall in Level 4 and Slutzker won championships on the vault and uneven bars and finished fourth overall among 10-year-olds in Level 5. The Palisades trio was instrumental in leading Broadway Gymnastics to the Level 4 team championship–its first team championship. Weston attends Calvary Christian School while Schy and Slutzker go to Village School.
Palisades Black Belt Wins Lightweight Championship
Palisadian Rick Phillips, a second-degree black belt in Yoshukai Karate, won the United States Knockout Karate Lightweight championship in Anniston, Alabama, two weeks ago. An instructor at Gerry Blanck’s Martial Arts Center, Phillips has fought in the tournament four years in a row. “I’m proud that Rick won it this year,” Blanck said. “The first year he was eliminated in the semifinals, the next year he got third and last year he lost a close fight in the final. So he’d gotten closer each time. His training and determination really paid off and this year he dominated the last match to take first place.” Another local instructor, Thomaz Lezny, also competed in the event and placed second in the middleweight division. Both Phillips and Lezny were invited to fight in the World Karate Knockout Championships held in Osaka, Japan next September.
Marymount Wins Another CIF Title
Under the guidance of head coach and Palisadian Cari Klein, the Marymount High varsity volleyball team won its fifth consecutive CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA title Saturday night at Cypress College. The Sailors beat Sunshine League rival La Salle in the final, 25-15, 25-23, 25-16, and advanced to the state tournament, which opened Tuesday night against Chowchilla Union. Led by Palisadian junior outside hitter Kelly Irvin’s 22 kills and 22 digs, the Sailors (28-7) swept La Salle for the third time this season. The Sailors’ fifth consecutive Section title tied the record set by Lake Arrowhead Rim of the World from 1981-85. Other area players contributed to the victory, including Megan Tryon (17 kills and 18 digs), Alex Ayers, Ali Hoffman and Madison Wojciechowski. Starter Jamie Sabol suffered a concussion in the first game, but junior Claire Kinnan stepped in with five blocks and freshman Mattison Quayle had 18 digs. Marymount won four consecutive Division IV state titles from 2000-2003 before failing in its bid for five straight last season. Girls Tennis For the second straight year, Palisadian Madison Akerblom teamed with Rosemary Miller to advance to the third round of the CIF Southern Section Individual doubles tournament. In 2003, Akerblom and Jackie Dubbins advanced to the second round. Seeded No. 1 in the Sunshine League, Akerblom and Miller beat Oxnard’s Fatima Sanchez and Lauren Wiggins in the first round, 6-2, 6-0. Then, the Sailors’ top duo defeated Corey Burnett and Beth Thorne of Brentwood, 6-4, 7-5. In the third round, Akerblom and Miller fell to Santa Barbara’s Brook Robertson and Kristen Teufel, 6-3, 6-1. Cross Country Marymount’s varsity cross country team finished 12th out of 75 schools at last Saturday’s CIF Finals meet. The Sailors’ roster included Palisadians Katie Aspell, Ani Mardirossian, Erin Windler and Daryn Towle.
Pali’s Hickok Qualifies for State Cross Country Finals
Palisades High junior Kristabel Doebel-Hickok finished sixth in the girls’ varsity division at the City Section finals meet last Saturday morning at Pierce College in Woodland Hills. And just as head coach Ron Brumel had predicted, his top runner qualified for this weekend’s state finals meet at Woodward Park in Fresno. Doebel-Hickok ran the three-mile switchback course in 19:09, a full 20 seconds faster than her qualifying time five days earlier. The top two teams and the top seven individual runners qualify for the state meet, so Doebel-Hickok earned a spot by finishing nine seconds ahead of the seventh and last qualifier. Senior Emmaline Hartel of Birmingham became the first girl to win three City Section cross country titles, running the course in 18:16. Sarah Roth of El Camino Real was the runner-up in 18:30 and third-place finisher Jennifer Hernandez (18:32) helped secure the team title for Birmingham. Birmingham totaled 42 points, El Camino Real took second with 47 points and San Pedro, which was vying for its fifth consecutive girls’ crown, finished third with 55 points after one of its runners was disqualified. Doebel-Hickok ran Pierce in 19:29 to finish second in her heat at the prelims, 35 seconds behind Hartel. The Dolphins’ junior had beaten Hartell by 30 seconds in a nonleague tri-meet at Griffith Park in October. Doebel-Hickock’s personal-best of 18:37 was earlier this season at the Woodbridge Invitational in Irvine, where she placed seventh out of 238 runners in her division. She posted the fifth fastest prelims time. Neither of Palisades’ varsity teams qualified for the City finals.
Palisades Tennis Is Back on Top
Dolphins Down Carson 6-1 to Win City Section Title for First Time Since 1998
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Having lost in the finals the previous two years, Palisades High’s girls varsity tennis team began its season with one clear objective: win the City Section championship. The Dolphins did just that Friday, reclaiming the title that once belonged exclusively to them by soundly defeating Carson, 6-1, at Balboa Sports Center in Encino. It was Palisades’ 18th team crown and first since 1998. After falling short against Granada Hills by 6-1 and 5-2 scores in 2003 and 2004, Friday’s win was most satisfying for the six seniors who made the best of their last chance at a title. “One one hand, I would have liked to have beaten Granada [Hills] in the finals to pay them back for the last two years,” said Pali’s senior co-captain Brittany O’Neil, who celebrated her 17th birthday by teaming with Lauren Pugatch to win at No. 2 doubles. “On the other hand, Carson deserved to be here and gave us a great match. Everything just came together this season. Like a jigsaw puzzle, we finally got all of the pieces to fit.” Palisades (15-0) needed less than an hour and a half to clinch the victory. Katy Nikolova, a sophomore transfer from Burbank, was first off the court. Two days after her 16th birthday she won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles and finished the season undefeated, not losing a set since joining the team just before the second round of league play. Though the Dolphins might have won even without her, Nikolova was the missing ingredient to the championship mixture. “My goal coming here was just to have fun and to give it my best,” said Nikolova, who was among the top 20 juniors in Southern California in the 14s last year. “The rest of the team has really embraced me and we’ve worked hard for this. I think the secret of our success has been that we all get along so well.” O’Neil offered high praise for her younger teammate. “Katy is such a nice, wonderful girl,” O’Neil said. “She became part of our family right away and having her has really boosted our confidence even more. It gave Krista a better player to practice with and it made our lineup that much stronger. She’s definitely made a difference.” After Carson’s Teresa Macias won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3 singles to level the match, Palisades’ senior co-captain Krista Slocum won 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles, then teammate Kathryn Cullen won 7-5, 6-0, at No. 4 singles, meaning the Dolphins needed only one of three available doubles points to end the longest stretch between City titles in the program’s storied history. “This is one of the best, hardest working groups I’ve had,” said Palisades coach Bud Kling, who could not contain his elation upon winning his 12th City title with the girls since he took over the program in 1985. “These girls had no egos They were very unselfish and they stayed motivated all the way through the season.” Kling, who led the boys’ team to its 25th City title in May, deemed the Dolphins’ fast start as critical to the outcome of the match. “We have a lot of respect for Carson and after the first few games it looked like it would be closer. Once we got over the nerves and got in a groove we just kept rolling,” he said. “I’m happy for our seniors and for our whole program. Now we have both titles back where they belong.” The second-seeded Colts (15-1), who lost to Palisades in the semifinals last year, were hoping to pull off an upset in doubles. Instead, the Dolphins’ top duo of Yasmir Navas (the Dolphins’ third senior captain) and fellow senior Mary Logan won, 6-4, 6-2, O’Neil and Pugatch won, 6-4, 6-2, and Pali’s No. 3 team of senior Sarah Jurick and sophomore Sarah Yankelevitz won 5-7, 6-1, 6-0. “Our strategy was to try to win two in singles and two in doubles,” Macias said. “We knew their top two players are really strong, so we concentrated on three and four [singles] and also two and three doubles. They were just too good for us today.” In a way it was fitting that Cullen, the only player to post a win in each of the Dolphins’ 15 victories this season, earned the decisive fourth point. After the final ball was struck and Cullen had completed her post-match handshake, she was mobbed on the court by her teammates. Nikolova and Slocum arrived first to give her a hug. “That made me feel real good,” Cullen admitted. “I’m just happy I was able to contribute.” Another celebration ensued after Jurick and Yankelevitz wrapped up their come-from-behind victory to provide the final margin. In a classy display of sportsmanship, Carson players recited a “Who do we appreciate?” cheer for Palisades. The Dolphins huddled and responded by shouting “Carson rocks!” Palisades won a record eight consecutive City titles from 1984-91 and had never gone more than two years without winning a section title before its recent drought. Slocum is happy just to have won once. “It would’ve been really disappointing to lose in the finals again,” she said. “We seniors are proud to be able to say we won our last high school match.” Knowing full well that success at any level is cyclical, Kling would not entertain thoughts of a dynasty, though he predicted the Dolphins will have a strong chance to repeat with two juniors and five underclassmen returning next season. “One of the real challenges is finding good competition,” Kling said. “Our league has been down the last few years so I really have to be tough on the girls in practice to get them to stop their bad habits. When you’re winning all the time it’s easy to slack on fundamentals but I keep telling them that’s not going to work when it really counts.” Slocum said overconfidence was not a problem heading into the finals because Kling addressed the issue in a team meeting before the playoffs started. “He definitely was concerned about that when he found out we got the No. 1 seed. He warned us not to get complacent. So we were prepared for that.” In its three playoff matches, Palisades notched 19 of a possible 21 points. The semifinals last Wednesday were as one-sided as the finals, with Nikolova and Slocum each winning 6-0, 6-0 in a 6-1 rout of fourth-seeded Bell.
Matthew Boyle, 92; Elevator Expert
Matthew Boyle, a 48-year resident of Pacific Palisades, businessman, golfer and Rotarian, passed away on November 6. He was 92. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Elmhurst, Long Island, Boyle graduated from Newtown High School in 1930 and Pratt Institute in 1933. In the late 1930s, he went to work for Watson Elevator as an engineer while also attending City College of New York in the evenings, eventually earning his engineering degree. At the start of World War II, Watson became a major manufacturer of war materials, which exempted Boyle, then vice president, from the draft. While at Watson, Boyle met Audrey Rice, who was working there as an expediter. The couple had their first date in February 1943 and married on July 10 that same year. They lived in Englewood, New Jersey, where their daughter Audrey Ann was born. A job change resulted in their move to Los Angeles in 1957. The family closed escrow on a home in Paseo Miramar, where they lived thereafter. In 1960, Boyle’s company, Elevator Maintenance Company, was bought out by Haughton Elevator and he became Western States regional manager. This territory included Hawaii and Las Vegas, so good times came along with business. Boyle retired in 1977 and became a consultant to the president of Haughton for several years. With his knowledge of the industry and command of English, he was very much in demand. He served from 1950 to 2001 on the American Elevator Safety Code committee and contributed greatly to elevator safety. He was also a member of the Los Angeles 5 Rotary chapter for over 20 years. Boyle was an enthusiastic golfer and member of the Riviera Country Club, although he was never pleased with his swing. “I can see him now, out in the backyard, practicing his swing,” recalled his daughter Audrey Ann. “He would stand there for hours working on his backswing while he watched his reflection in the windows. He was trying out what he had just read in the Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan or some other golf book. He had two holes-in-one in his life (one at Riviera) and he was so proud of them.” Boyle loved music and listening to Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney and others, his daughter said. “I remember when I was at Marymount and we had the father-daughter dinner dance, my friends would dance with their fathers. My father would lead me to the dance floor, shuffle over to the bandstand’he was never much of a dancer’and start chatting with the bandleader about old friends and acquaintances they shared from the earlier days in New York. He and the bandleader would laugh and my dad would kind of keep swaying so it looked as though we were dancing.” The Boyles loved to travel, but were always grateful to come back to Paseo Miramar. “He often asked why we felt a need to travel when we lived where so many people traveled hundreds of miles to experience,” Audrey Ann said. “He cared deeply about the hill and was always ready to volunteer his time and effort to protect it.” Boyle is survived by his wife of 62 years and his daughter. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to Corpus Christi Church, c/o Msgr. Liam Kidney, 15100 Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades, CA 90272.
Bill Hootkins, 57; Multifaceted Actor
William (“Bill”) Hootkins, an actor who appeared in more than 40 films and recorded such books as “Moby Dick,” died of pancreatic cancer October 23 in Pacific Palisades. He was 57. A native of Dallas, Hootkins was an actor in high school and at Princeton University. He then studied in at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and enjoyed a multifaceted career. His movies included “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Colour Me Kubrick,” which is in post-production. His TV credits ranged from “Cagney & Lacey” to “The West Wing.” In the 1990s, Hootkins recorded books that included “White Fang,” “The Old Patagonian Express” and “The Pillars of Hercules.”
