News Roundup

A few bits of news from Claremont and elsewhere:

• If you've got any cans of old paint, used motor oil, used batteries and such taking up garage space, now's your chance to get rid of the stuff. The City of Claremont is holding a Hazardous Household Waste Roundup this Saturday, February 6, from 9am to 3pm at the Claremont Corporate Yard located at 1616 Monte Vista Ave.
  
  
  
• We didn't see it on the City of Claremont's community events calendar, but this Sunday is the first Sunday of the month, which has in the past been the day the City Council sets up its booth at the Farmers Market in the Claremont Village from 8am to 1pm.
  
  We don't know if the council booth is another casualty of City Hall's budget cutting.
  
  
  
• Meg at M-M-M-My Pomona says the annual Laura Ingalls Wilder Gingerbread Sociable is tomorrow from 1pm to 3pm in - where else? - the Laura Ingalls Wilder room of the Pomona Library at 625 S. Garey Ave. in downtown Pomona. There'll be storytelling, gingerbread, cider, and more. Kids of all ages, from one to 100 and older, are welcome.
  
  
  
• The Fresno Bee has an article about Claremont High School track star Kori Carter signing a letter of intent with Stanford University. Carter will be competing in the high school division of the Run For the Dream Indoor Track & Field Invitation at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
  
  While she's there, Kori can give Claremont's regards to former CUSD superintendent David Cash, who left us for Clovis Unified last year.
  
  
  
• The Sacramento Bee's Kevin Yamamura reports that California not only has the worst Standard & Poors credit rating of any of the 50 states, it is also worse than several countries:
  

  At A-, California still has the worst credit rating of all 50 states. Illinois comes closest to California with an A+ rating.
  
  Countries in the Times' chart with the same A- rating as California include Estonia, Libya and Poland. That's better than Thailand and Greece (BBB+) but not as strong as Botswana, the Czech Republic and Israel (A).

  
  Another sign that Claremont's and CUSD's budget woes won't be going away anytime soon.
  
  
  
• Following up our friend Glenn Southard and his sidekick Michael Busch, we read in the Desert Sun that Glenn's retirement includes almost $162,000 for unused vacation days and sick time he's banked in his time at the city of Indio.
  
  Here's what the Sun said about the details of the deal:
  

  Indio's Glenn Southard is the one of the highest-paid city managers in the state, which is part of the reason for his large final payment. He makes more than $300,000 a year.
  
  According to estimates provided by the city Tuesday, Southard has banked 582.35 hours of vacation, 1,118.55 hours of sick leave and 2.5 hours of administrative leave.
  
  Under the terms of his contract, Southard is entitled to all of the vacation time and half of the sick leave when he leaves City Hall.
  
  Administrative leave — a perk relatively common for city managers — cannot be cashed out, so he would have to use it before leaving, according to assistant to the city manager Mark Wasserman.
  
  That means Southard, who makes $148.74 an hour, would be entitled to 1,087.625 accrued hours of leave — worth $161,773.34.

  
  The Desert Sun tells us that Indio's golden handshake did get approved, by the way, and some people in there are not too happy about that, not that they are people who count for anything.
  
  Coincidentally, the Desert Sun also had an article about how to avoid being a scam victim.

CHS Hurdler Repeats

Congratulations to Claremont High School junior Kori Carter, who repeated as state champion in the 300-meter hurdles yesterday at Clovis Buchanan High. Carter doubled up this year by winning 100-meter hurdles as well. Pete Marshall covered the action for the Daily Bulletin:

On her biggest stage Saturday at the CIF State Track and Field Championships at Clovis Buchanan High, she was the best.

Carter won the 100-meter hurdles in 13.59 seconds, then took the 300 hurdles in 41.26 seconds to become only the fourth girls hurdler in state history to win both hurdle events in the same meet since they added the second race in 1993. Last year, Carter won the 300 but was fourth in the 100.

"I'm so happy I got the wins," Carter said. "I'm so excited, I'm trying to think of all the people I want to call."

In the 300 hurdle race, Carter has been consistently coming from behind in recent weeks and pulled it out Saturday to pass Long Beach Wilson's Nyjah Cousar.

"I guess when I'm behind, `The Beast' kicks in," Carter said.

The (Claremont) Sporting News

Congrats are in order for the Claremont High School boys tennis team, which won the CIF Southern Section Division III championship yesterday at the Claremont Club. The Daily Bulletin reported on the Wolfpack's playoff performance:

Claremont co-coach Tom Spinosa's calculated gamble in Wednesday's CIF-SS Division III final included shifting a singles player to doubles and pairing two doubles teams which had not played together before.

After the second-seeded Wolfpack's 13-5 win over No. 1 seed Placentia Valencia, Spinosa was doing some different calculations.

"The last time we were in the finals was 1967," Spinosa said. "And this is our first title since CIF started in 1929.

_________________________________


CHS junior Kori Carter won the 110- and 300-meter hurdles at the CIF Masters Championships two weekends ago. Carter is looking to repeat her victories at the CIF State Track and Field Championship at Buchanan High in Clovis.

Carter is the defending state champion in 300-meter hurdles and took fourth in 100-meter event. She also holds this year's fastest high school times in the nation for both. The Daily Bulletin also had an article about Carter and her personal coach, former Fresno State hurdler Richard Holmes:

Holmes, a former Fresno State hurdler, has a regular job and is not a full-time coach. So something special had to catch his eye to be willing to devote the time to coach Carter.

About six months ago, Holmes finally got his chance to be her personal coach.

"You don't get Kori Carters all the time. I realize how blessed I am to have a kid like that," he said. "You don't get a kid like that every year."

The world of high school track and field is realizing the same thing.

Holmes has his own interesting story, BTW, and the Claremont Courier had a profile of Holmes last August.

Good luck, Kori, and say "Hi" to former Claremont School District Superintendent David Cash when you get to Clovis!

Council Report

Several items of interest from last night's city council meeting:

WILDERNESS PARK DAMAGE

Speaking of broken promises, the council last night heard a report from Claremont City Manager Jeff Parker during public comment that the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park had been damaged accidentally during the city's brush clearance last month. Parker had Claremont Community Services Director Scott Carroll step up to explain what had happened.

Apparently, according to Carroll, Claremont, which owns the Wilderness Park, was ordered by the Los Angeles County Fire Department to clear brush in the Wilderness park. (The city failed to do this before the 2003 fires, and that cost the city's insurer over $17 million to settle a lawsuit by homeowners whose houses burned down.)

Carroll said that the costs of clearing the amount of Wilderness Park land LACFD was requiring was going to be much more than the city had budgeted for. So someone (Carroll?) decided to use a bulldozer to save money. The city has a Vegetation Management Plan that specifies that only manual clearance, biological clearance (by grazing animals), and controlled burns can be used. Carroll admitted the bulldozer use was wrong, and he apologized to Parker and the City Council for the error. Parker indicated the city was taking steps to repair the damage, which sounded considerable.

The bulldozer apparently ran along Thompson Creek parallel to the homes on Via Padova in Padua Hills. The Padua Hills homeowners association took notice and City Manager Parker said that he and the council received a complaint from the HOA. Padua Hills resident Ludd Trozpek spoke after Carroll finished and stated that he had tried to speak to Carroll and to Claremont Maintenance Superintendent Larry Wheaton in July when they were standing on Via Padova apparently planning the brush clearance. Trozpek said Carroll and Wheaton would not talk to him and "blew me off."

Trozpek stated that he had been around when the VMP was being created and that if Carroll and Wheaton had talked to him, everyone could have been saved the embarrassment and the cost of fixing the problem, which apparently can run into the hundreds of thousand of dollars. Besides the problems of dirt pushed into the streambed and acres of habitat being uprooted, the ground was apparently scraped clean and oaks were knocked over or damaged. Also, there is now a severe threat of erosion because there is nothing to hold the soil together at the base of the hill that Via Padova runs along.

Claremont resident and botonist Susan Schenk, who is active in the Friends of the Bernard Field Station, also spoke and said that some of the damage to the structure of the disturbed soil cannot be repaired, even with reseeding and putting in new plants. Schenk called for the city to put processes into place to ensure that such a thing does not happen again.

Mayor Ellen Taylor, doing her best Marie Antoinette impression, told Trozpek after he spoke that Director Carroll said he was sorry and implied, "What MORE do you want?" As is her wont and arrogant as ever, Taylor ignored the key point: In saying he was sorry, Community Services Director Carroll apologized only to City Manager Parker and to the City Council. He did not apologize to the residents who live above the damaged area nor did he apologize to the citizens of Claremont whose resources have been irreparably damaged and whose tax dollars will have to pay for fixing a thing that could have easily been avoided.

So, score one point for the city for taking the high road and acknowledging its error, and deduct two points for not extending the apology to the real damaged parties and for not being open to input that would have avoided the problem in the first place.


HONOREES

The City Council acknowledged its three new commissioners: Angela Bekzadian-Avila (Human Services), Rosemary Fisher-Anaya (Police Commission), and Sayeed Shaikh (Police Commission).

After they greeted the incoming commission members, the Council bade farewell to Jenetta Harris, Southern California Edison's Local Public Affairs Manager, who has worked with the city and city staff as Edison's public face. Harris later mentioned an upgrade to Edison's infrastructure that would require tearing up the south side of Base Line Rd. between Towne Ave. and Mountain Ave., and the north side between the Indian Hill Blvd. and Grand Ave.

From what City Manager Parker said, the latter sounded as if it required ripping up the bike lane in the newly resurfaced section of Base Line Rd. So there may have been a mixup in coordinating the projects. Parker said that Edison would match the rubberized asphalt that has been installed on Base Line Rd.

The Council also recognized CHS junior Kori Carter for her achievements as a hurdler this past year and the Claremont Kiwanis Club for its support of the city's Summer Concert Series and the Children's Concert Series.


RESOLUTIONS

The City Council also approved resolutions against the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Administration's Measure R this November. The measure would increase the county sales tax by a half cent and use the money to fund transportation projects. The resolution said the city was supporting the Gold Line Foothill Extension.

The Council also expressed its frustration with the state budget process (or non-process) by issuing a "Resolution Opposing Fiscally Irresponsible State Budget Decisions that Would 'Borrow' Local Government, Redevelopment and Transportation Funds." (That's a mouthful!)

And, the Council came out with a resolution opposing Proposition 7 on the November ballot. The proposition, which would require utilities in California to get 50% of their energy from renewable sources by 2025, is opposed by an odd coalition:

• PG&E
• Edison
• Sempra Energy
  
• The California Democratic Party
• The California Republican Party
• The California Labor Federation
• The California Taxpayers' Association
• The League of California Cities
• The California Solar Energy Industries Association
• A coalition of environmental organizations that includes the California League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies

PARKING PERMITS

The Council also approved the parking permit process recommended by staff allowing neighborhoods to set up the permits. The council made the following modifications to the proposed ordinance:

• Permitting must be approved by 50% of the responding property owners in a neighborhood seeking permits.
• The City Council will have some additional purview over the permits.
• There will be a six-month trial period for permits once they are approved for a neighborhood.
• The permits will sunset after two years.
  

MANSIONIZATION

The council also approved the staff recommendations for guidelines for a proposed mansionization ordinance.

The Local Sporting Scene

SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVING IS EASY

Our apologies for our recent sabbatical. It being August and all, we ended up taking a brief hiatus to recharge our blogging batteries and to enjoy the end of summer. So, we gave the Insider staff some time off to live it up. The weather's been so great, we just needed to pack up and get away to enjoy the ocean breezes and sip fruity drinks from frosty glasses with little umbrellas.

As we try to ease back into the swing of things, in the spirit of the Summer Olympics we thought we'd start off with a couple notes about local sports.


CHS NAMES NEW BASEBALL COACH

Claremont High School has named as Steve Jackson as the replacement for former head baseball coach Mike Lee, whose coaching contract was not renewed after a contentious last season when Coach Lee clashed with a number of parent of CHS baseball players.

The CHS baseball team's website has the announcement:

The Claremont Unified School District Board of Education, at its meeting on Monday, Aug. 18, voted to approve the recommendation to hire Steve Jackson as new varsity baseball coach at Claremont High School.

Jackson played baseball at Chaffey College and the University of Northern Alabama. He also served as a student-assistant coach at UNA and brings 13 years of experience coaching American Legion and travel ball. Comments received by the school district describe Jackson as someone who has a thorough knowledge of the game and the ability to impart that knowledge and skills to his players. A local varsity high school baseball coach wrote, “In being associated with Steve on and off the baseball diamond, I have found him to be a true professional who possesses a genuine concern and ability to motivate athletes.”

Jackson’s full-time job is working for the City of Montclair Fire Department as a division chief, responsible for the supervision of emergency medical systems and training.

CHS Principal Brett O’Connor commented, “Whenever people talk about Mr. Jackson they talk not only about his baseball knowledge, but also his integrity, leadership and passion. I know Steve has the depth of knowledge to not only mentor young men in the game of baseball but, more importantly, as individuals.”

We've received some emails from CHS baseball parents who indicate that some of them don't approve of Jackson's hiring. Among the issues cited were the fact that Jackson has a son on the team, the fact that Jackson's job with Montclair FD might make it hard to devote enough time to his coaching duties, and that Jackson, who lives in Upland, has ties to other Upland youth baseball players and might encourage them to transfer to CHS.

On the other hand, Sid over at Sid's Side thinks Jackson is a good hire and that CHS baseball parents just need to give him a chance. Sid writes:

I’m simply not going to host another debate that knocks and bashes someone who deserves a fair chance. As I said before, this is a guy who is incredibly talented, bright and fair. That may not be what some people want. I don’t think their complaints are even about him, but, unfortunately, he will be the target. That’s too bad, because those people don’t yet understand how lucky they are. He absolutely will make a positive difference. I know he still needs to prove himself. So let him.

CLAREMONT CRUSHERS

Congratulations are in order for the Claremont Crush under-12 team, which won the Cooperstown All-Star Village tournament in Cooperstown, NY, last week. The Claremont Courier had an article about the team's big win:

With the 24 teams consisting of squads from all across the country, Claremont was given the opportunity to play against unfamiliar competition. But it was just part of the fun for the Crush, who batted .545 for the tournament and mercied 5 of its 10 opponents.

The accomplishment of the 12U team led to the team receiving a 6-foot trophy and each player receiving a championship ring. The 6-foot trophy was an enigma to the players, who found the object to either be almost just as tall or even taller than they were.

The Crush are a travel ball team and practice at Claremont's College Park.


IS IT THE WATER?

What is it with Claremont and hurdlers? The August 16th edition of the Claremont Courier had a story about Claremonter Richard Holmes, who at 41 won the 110-meter hurdles USA Masters Track & Field Championships.

Holmes, who is originally from Sacramento, competed for Fresno State University's track team as a collegian. The Courier article gave Holmes' backstory:

Relocating to southern California in 1991, Mr. Holmes tried his hand at writing and acting, even interning at Walt Disney Studios. He was featured in commercials and also played a track & field athlete in the movie Higher Learning. Meanwhile, Mr. Holmes still continued to train in hopes of qualifying for the 1992 Olympics.

The hurdler qualified for the B standard in the 110-meter high hurdles of the 1992 Olympics and was training to give the 1996 Olympics a shot when he fractured his hip at the Mt. SAC Relays that same year. Struggling to get his trail leg over the hurdle due to the pain, Mr. Holmes decided to move on from the sport, embracing married life with his wife Sabrina and taking on a sales career.

“I did not lift a weight for 4 years,” Mr. Holmes recalled.

But once his wife was pregnant with Arianna—the couple’s now 9-year-old daughter—the Claremonter decided to start training again in order for his daughter to have the chance to see him compete. He also went to see a sports orthopedist that showed him how to work through the pain and eventually found himself in better shape than he was in before he suffered his injury.

Holmes is Claremont's second hurdler to win honors this year. CHS sophomore Kori Carter won a state championship in the 300-meter hurdles and was fourth in the 110-meter race. Carter also placed second in 400-meter hurdles at the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships in June.

Courier Covers CHS Sports News

The Claremont Courier had two articles this past Saturday on Claremont High School sports. The first was an article by Tony Krickl about baseball coach Mike Lee. Krickl's articles gave some details on the decision to not renew Lee's coaching contract (Lee will continue on as a PE teacher).

The other article, by Landus Rigsby, was about CHS hurdler Kori Carter, who as a sophomore won a state championship in the 300-meter hurdles. The article reported that Carter will be off to Poland to represent the US in the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) World Junior Championships, which will be held from July 8 to July 13:

Last Saturday’s USA Track & Field Junior Nationals was held at Ohio State University. At the event held in Columbus, Kori took 2nd overall in the 400-meter hurdles and placed 7th in the 100-meter hurdles (14.24).

The efforts of the CHS track and field standout earned her a place in the IAAF championships as a hurdler and also as part of a pool of US athletes that are eligible to run in the 4x400-meter relay. Now, instead of representing Claremont and representing the state of California, Kori now will represent the nation against competitors from other countries.

“I’m really excited,” Kori said. “I didn’t think I would make it there and didn’t think that I would even make the finals. It’s crazy because I was competing against girls who are in college. But after the prelims, I saw I could run with them.”

We should also note that the IAAF Junior category is for runners ages 18 and 19 but is open to athletes as young as 16 years old, so Carter, who will be a high school junior is really competing against hurdlers older and more experienced than herself.

Here is an interview with Carter after her 2nd place finish in Ohio: