Quitting skiing led Palisadian Carl Q. Christol, 91, to write his latest book. In 2001, a friend of his was in a skiing accident and Christol, a lifelong athlete who still swims a half-mile every day, decided it was time for him to give up skiing also because it was too dangerous. His book, ‘International Law and U.S. Foreign Policy,’ is the result. ”Christol, a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of international law and political science at USC, would like citizens to be well-informed and to participate in the formulation of American foreign policy. He will be sign and discuss his new book at Village Books this Sunday, October 17 from 2 to 4 p.m. ”The book was designed for both a general audience that would like to understand foreign policy better prior to November’s election and also for university students who are interested in public policy and foreign policy, international law and U.S. Constitutional law. ”Drawing on his athletic life, Christol offers an analogy between international law and the rules for sports contests. International law, he explains, ‘is the product of the collective actions and decisions of countries wishing to fix rules for their international relations. These rules are designed to serve their basic interests and to promote a maximum world order.’ ”Comparing this to a football game, he says: ‘A football game is played on a gridiron with fixed boundaries. Players must stay within the boundary if they want to make gains or to score.’ ”The book is divided into 10 chapters with sections on international criminal tribunals, environment and climate change, anti-personnel land mines, arms control and disarmament, the Middle East peace process, the war in Iraq and terrorism. In fact, Christol has been concerned about terrorism for a long time and brings the perspective of years of study to his view of the problem. ”In 1987, Christol was quoted in USC’s Daily Trojan that ‘now terrorism is getting to such a boiling point that we ought to be taking a look at it. Unfortunately, the more freedom a country has, the more open it is to terrorism.’ At that time he was the organizer of a conference on terrorism, whose principal speaker was L. Paul Bremer, the Department of State Ambassador-at-Large for terrorist activities. Bremer’s work emphasized preventing aerial hijacking, the protection of U.S. government personnel serving abroad and the effective criminal prosecution of terrorists. ”Christol says the controversial part of his new book is about the war in Iraq, which President Bush has been defending and Senator Kerry has called ‘wrong war, wrong place, wrong time.’ ”Based on his own World War II experience as an infantry officer, Christol has been a careful observer of military policy. ‘You cannot have troops in a standby position in the blazing hot heat of Saudi Arabia and Iraq at a time when periodic sandstorms begin to travel at high speeds. Why? Sand gets into tanks and guns’incapacitating or neutralizing their potential utility. It was very bad planning by the Pentagon to get troops in a precarious position before diplomacy, when desert storms started kicking up.’ ”The book addresses the approaches of unilateralism vs. multilateralism. ‘Unilateralists are also called realists, while multilateralists also claim they are approaching from a realistic basis, but they rely more on a legalistic-moralistic approach.’ Christol gives the example of Henry Kissinger as a realist and Woodrow Wilson as having a multilateral approach. ”The book acknowledges the important role of globalization and analyzes the manner in which the Clinton and Bush administrations have been committed to multilateralism and unilateralism. ”’My own biases are in favor of multilateralism and the need to give the United Nations another chance in the area of security, as well as to make evident contributions to education, social and health benefits, and the promotion of basic human rights.’ Christol is also a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court. ”Christol grew up in South Dakota, graduated from the University of South Dakota, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and his L.L.B. from Yale Law School. He moved to the Palisades in 1967 with his wife Jeannette, daughter Susan and son Richard. This is his ninth book, including several on his specialty, space law. ”Christol taught at USC for 40 years and received the school’s Raubenheimer Outstanding Senior Faculty Award in 1982. In 1962-63, he held the international law chair at the U.S. Naval War College. ” ”A Palisades Rotary Club member and a member of the peacemaking committee of the Palisades Presbyterian Church, Christol is available to speak about his book to small groups in the Palisades area. In the book’s addendum, he encourages voters to influence foreign policy choices, by writing to their leaders, their newspaper, and by keeping abreast of current events.

A truly grassroots effort in a Palisades neighborhood raised $50,225 Sunday when 301 Democrats paid $150 apiece for a Kerry/Edwards political rally and festive gourmet dinner at the home of Stefano and Debra Coaloa on Grenola. Originally the brainstorm of Palisadian attorney Scott Corwin (Palisadian-Post, October 7), a trustee of the Democratic National Committee, the party evolved into the biggest political gathering in many years in the Palisades as 14 Palisades couples joined the preparations. Said Susan Corwin, Scott’s wife: ‘We had four chefs who are neighbors (Stefano Coaloa, Rob Vogel, Steve Mindel and Antonio Cocoa), 10 servers and helpers, hundreds of hours at committee meetings planning and replanning, and neighbors who were understanding enough to let the party happen even if they have an alternative point of view.’ She continued, ‘I know that everybody loved the food. At my table, my mother-in-law commented that the dinner here was better than her meal at the $5,000-a-plate Kerry fundraiser at the Sheraton Miramar Hotel. Several guests asked me who catered the party, and when I said, ‘Our neighbors!’ they were stunned in disbelief.’ Guest speakers at the event included California State Treasurer Phil Angelides, L.A. City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, and State Assemblymember Fran Pavley.

‘I don’t think there’s a day that’s gone by that I haven’t thought about Chris and how he’s made me consistently think about how lucky I am and to appreciate everything I have.’ These are the reflective words of Palisadian Paul Maibaum, who had the privilege of working with Christopher Reeve in what would unwittingly become Reeve’s final film project. Reeve, perhaps best known for his role as Superman, went into cardiac arrest Saturday, then fell into a coma and died Sunday at the age of 52. Doctors said he died of complications from an infection. After a horse jumping accident in May 1995 left him paralyzed from the neck down, Reeve became a strong advocate for both spinal cord and stem cell research and, in turn, was an inspiration to many. Primarily a veteran of the television industry, Maibaum works for Universal as a director of photography, a position that oversees all the components that appear on camera, ranging from production design to set decoration. Some of his TV credits include ‘Run of the House,’ ‘Lucky,’ ‘Dragnet,’ ‘Grounded for Life,’ ‘The Invisible Man’ and ‘Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.’ This past summer, Maibaum worked on the A&E television movie Reeve directed called ‘The Brooke Ellison Story.’ The docudrama is based on the real-life story of a girl, who at age 11 became quadriplegic after being hit by a car. The two-hour program chronicles Brooke’s incredible and inspiring journey from the fateful car crash to her graduation day at Harvard. Filmed in New Orleans from the end of June through July, the movie stars Lacey Chabert (‘Mean Girls’) as Brooke and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (‘The Perfect Storm’) and John Slattery (‘Mona Lisa Smile’) as Brooke’s ever-supportive parents. Maibaum fondly recalls the first day he met Reeve on the set: ‘He got out of his big, black van with his driver, nurse and assistant and was adamant on negotiating everything on his own’getting himself into the building, into the elevator and up to the second floor. We exchanged hellos and he gave me a wink and said, ‘Thank you very much for coming’ with the most sincerity I’ve ever seen anybody have.’ This was the second TV movie Reeve had directed. In 1997, he directed an HBO movie called ‘In the Gloaming’ which dealt with the issue of AIDS. To accommodate Reeve’s arduous routine following his morning awakening, the production ran on a five-week, 9- to 10-hour-a-day timetable as opposed to the standard TV movie filming of four weeks, 12 to 14 hours a day. As a result of his injury, Reeve was unable to regulate his own body temperature and was regularly kept in an air-conditioned space. A room equipped with state-of-the-art cameras was also set up which allowed Reeve to view filming that took place in small spaces, such as a bathroom. In addition, a lipstick, or spy, camera was positioned (Continued on Page 6) on Reeve’s microphone so the actors could see a video image of him on the set. ”Although he was physically separated from the activity, he could always see what was going on and was always part of the production,’ says Maibaum, a director of photography for 13 years. ‘Directing really gave him all the control that he really didn’t have.’ Since the director, the assistant director and the director of photography are ‘the nexus’ of a TV movie, Maibaum collaborated very closely with Reeve. ‘Chris made me feel extremely welcome and that all my ideas were valid, even if they weren’t necessarily the ideas he was going to use. He was the kind of guy who pulled the best out of you.’ Reeve’s wife, Dana, and 12-year-old son, Will, both had small acting roles in the movie. One on-set memory that stood out for Maibaum was when Will was standing next to his father and playfully gave him ‘a big noogie.’ The real Brooke Ellison and her family also visited the set and even witnessed a few scenes. Maibaum says he believes the movie goes ‘beyond the level of your generic TV movie of a family crisis.’ ‘I’m not belittling those other movies dealing with important issues, but I think there’s something very different about this one because the guy at the helm knew intimately what it meant to be confined in a wheelchair, unable to breathe on his own or even turn his head to look at you. Because he was in the same condition [as Brooke], he was a stickler for the truth.’ Looking back, Maibaum says he saw no indication that Reeve’s health was waning in any way during filming. He says Reeve was consistently early on set, often stayed late to review the next day’s work and even met with crew members on weekends to discuss the production. On days off, Maibaum recalls seeing Reeve at a movie theater and touring the city’s French Quarter. ‘After a few hours with him, you pretty much forgot he was in a wheelchair,’ Maibaum says. ‘He was like any other creative mind and wheelchair or not, spinal cord injury or not, he could direct.’ The last correspondence Maibaum had with Reeve was through e-mail during the film’s post-production stage at the end of September. ‘He was telling me how much responsibility he thought I took for how good the show looked,’ Maibaum recounts. ‘I felt I had been overly complimented because it was his inspiration that made everyone rise to the occasion.’ Maibaum, who learned of Reeve’s sudden death in the newspaper Monday, says he was ‘shocked’ and ‘greatly saddened’ by the news. ‘I considered him a friend. He was more than someone I had worked with because he had touched me so much.’ Maibaum says he believes Reeve would want to be remembered for ‘being courageous, having a dream and keeping a sense of humor.’ ‘One of the things that kind of took the edge off the anguish off his passing for me was that he did get to see the film completed. He got to screen a DVD copy of it at his house with his family and friends.’ A self-proclaimed ‘townie,’ Maibaum grew up in Rustic Canyon and now lives with his wife Julie in the Marquez area. Their daughter Shanna is a freshman at San Diego State University. Maibaum is currently at work on a new NBC mid-season comedy ‘Crazy For You,’ which debuts in January. ‘The Brooke Ellison Story’ airs Monday, October 25 at 8 p.m. on A&E. For more information, log onto http://www.aetv.com and click on ‘The Brooke Ellison Story.’

How did Renaissance Academy convert 13,600-sq.-ft. of office space in the 881 Alma Real building into usable classroom space in less than seven weeks this summer? It was a remarkable feat ‘by any standard,’ said Ron Skarin, chief inspector of L.A.’s Department of Building and Safety for West L.A. When, exactly, did construction on improvements for the new public charter high school begin? ‘I don’t know,’ Skarin told the Palisadian-Post on Tuesday. Why was the work started without proper building permits from the city? ‘I don’t know,’ said Skarin. Why was a building permit issued by Building and Safety for the improvements to the terrace (lower) level just one week before RA received its temporary Certificate of Occupancy on September 17, even though extensive work had been going on in the space leased by the school for weeks prior to that date? ‘That should not have happened,’ he said, acknowledging the one-week discrepancy. The Palisadian-Post’s ongoing investigation of the controversy over Renaissance Academy’s use of space in the Alma Real commercial/business building intensified last week after the school applied to Building and Safety for a ‘change of use’ permit, which would give the school an E(ducation)-Occupancy, allowing for one person per every 20 sq.ft., instead of the current B(usiness)-Occupancy which is limited to one person per 100 sq.ft. The change of use would allow for over 350 students. The landlord’s reaction was swift. On October 5, in a letter to Alan Wendell, the chief inspector for Building and Safety downtown, Schem wrote: ‘I do not approve any building permits of any type, including change of use permits, to be issued with respect to RA.’ That same day, the school was told by Building and Safety that the reason it could not issue the change of use permit was because parking had become an issue. Under the Pacific Palisades Specific Plan, a high school requires ‘seven parking spaces for each classroom or teaching station.’ This plan technically requires RA, if and when it is officially permitted by Building and Safety to use all 15 classrooms, to provide a total of 105 parking spaces in the building. While the underground garage can accommodate up to 268 vehicles, and the school has only 27 designated spaces in its lease’reflecting the current permitted use of four classrooms’ RA said it only needs 20 spaces and has already applied to the city for a parking variance. ‘We’re only asking for 20 because our traffic study will show that with carpooling and the use of vanpools we don’t need seven spaces per classroom,’ said RA president Bill Bryan, who detailed for the Post on Monday the school’s plan to obtain the variance, which takes several weeks. A traffic study is required to measure the potential impact of an increase in vehicles in the area, and how the school plans to mitigate the problem. ‘First, notices will be sent to all homeowners and businesses within a 500-ft. radius of the school,’ said Bryan, president of the RA board. ‘A public hearing will be held, after which the city will make a determination regarding the number of parking spaces needed. Then the city will deal with our request for the change of use to occupy all 15 classrooms.’ But why bother with a public hearing when RA, which is its own school district under the charter school system, could invoke California government code No. 53094, which would exempt the school from the city’s zoning ordinances? Bryan said that ‘the [RA] board has passed a motion to invoke the code if necessary, but we don’t want to further inflame the community.’ From Inspector Skarin’s point of view the school’s request for a change of use to occupy all 15 classrooms ‘reflects what already exists and what was planned all along.’ He called the school’s current use of the unpermitted space ‘a calculated risk which could create a libelous situation for the owner.’ Skarin told the Post that his department would not intervene at this time because ‘there do not appear to be any life safety issues and the school is working to correct the situation by applying for the parking variance.’ While Skarin did say that there are penalties for doing construction without the proper building permits (paying double the permit fees, for example), it is rarely enforced. ‘Unfortunately, this is typical of what goes on’people come to us after the fact, as is the situation in this case. We work with them until they are in compliance.’ Skarin said that in his 30 years with the city he has rarely seen owner-tenant disputes and has ‘never had a case like this’ in which litigation is being threatened by both sides. ‘The position we take is that the tenant has the owner’s approval for the improvements. If there is a dispute it then becomes a civil matter, which we would not get involved in. When that gets resolved, we can then deal with the request for the change in use. If the owner does not agree, he can file an appeal to stop the process.’ Skarin is scheduled to review the school’s temporary Certificate of Occupancy on Friday, when it officially expires. The last time he reviewed it, after personally visiting the site on Monday, September 13, at which time he found that more rooms were being used than the four permitted, he recommended that the C of O not be renewed. However, he was overruled by his superiors downtown. ‘I don’t really know what went on there,’ Skarin said. Asked if Scott Adler, a member of the Renaissance board and former commissioner with L.A.’s Department of Building and Safety (1993-96), intervened, Skarin said he didn’t know but that ‘undoubtably his knowledge of the department presumably helped them get what they needed.’ Adler, an attorney, builder and parent of an RA student, told the Post that he did speak to Building and Safety about reissuing the C of O. While he was involved in the renovations on a daily basis from the beginning of August, and said that ‘some steps were missed’ in the rush to get the construction completed on time, Adler also said, ‘we were always working with plans to eventually allow for eight classrooms on the terrace level and seven on the ground floor. The only real problem turns out to be the parking and we don’t need nearly as many spaces as we would if we were operating a business here. We’re operating a school not a billiard hall or a bar.’ Having received clearance from the fire department last week, the school opened up the terrace level to 150 students and is allowing 65 students to use the space on the ground level. While that allows for a maximum of 215 students and teachers to utilize the leased space, there is sufficient room on both floors to accommodate the entire RA student body. The enrollment number as of yesterday was 324, 13 students less than the end of September. Landlord Greg Schem, who has recently installed video cameras in the building, reiterated to the Post on Tuesday that the reason he did not approve RA plans for his building is ‘because they were never submitted to me, even though I requested them several times.’ At the point he saw that the demolition had begun, Schem presumed the proper permits had been pulled and asked for copies of them. Asked why he allowed any work to go on in his building before approving the plans he said ‘because I wanted to be cooperative.’ He said the plans were finally submitted to him three or four weeks ago. When told by the Post that RA has this week allowed up to 215 students in the building Schem was upset. ‘In spite of what the fire marshal says, if the school continues to allow that many students it will force us into the position of terminating the lease earlier.’ As of now, RA’s lease with Schem, which does not specify how many students may occupy the building, terminates June 16, 2005. The Renaissance Academy Charter, which Schem said he had not seen until recently, allows for growth up to 400 students over three years. Palisadian-Post reporter Alyson Sena contributed to this report.