Chamber of Commerce is Killing Local Business! See Letters, page 3
FREE
FRIDAY • MARCH 11, 2016
TELLING THE TRUTH FOR OVER 11 YEARS!
VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 6
Lucy Pet Foundation Comes to Sunland by
Dana Stangel
The Lucy Pet Foundation specializes in free spay/ neuter, microchip, and shots for low income and senior citizens. The grant allowed the group to hold a Spay & Neuter clinic along with low cost vaccinations for the community last Monday at the Century 21 Crest parking lot. If you have proof of low income it’s free, otherwise it’s $100 for dogs and $60 for cats. Homeless people should call Pattee Colvin of “Make It Happen” or Dana Stangel, and they will certify the voucher for you. Joey Herrick, founder of
INSIDE:
Oscar Night at the Legion Post
4
Sunland went to the dogs last Monday! the Lucy Pet Foundation, has devoted many years to promoting the adoption of rescue pets. As the creator and former president of Natural Balance Pet Foods,
Herrick has redirected much of success to creating the Lucy Pet Foundation whose centerpiece has been the Mobile Spay & Neuter vans.
see Lucy Foundation, page 11
LAPD Foothill Div. VHWC Heading Holds Open House South for Rehearsal
................ Gods of Egypt movie review ................
4
Wrecks of The Week are back! ............
Women’s Chorus members ready for road trip.
10
DEPARTMENTS News from Your Clinic........... 2 View from the Rock.............. 3 Chef Randy........................... 5 Pets Page............................. 7 Jim Laris............................... 8 S-T Crime Stats................... 10 Take My Card..................... 11
Young Folklorico dancers strut their stuff! by
David DeMullé
Last Saturday, the Foothill Division had its Open House and everybody was invited. With more than 1,000 people coming through the gate for free food, drinks and music,
they found that there was something for everyone. Static displays, Mariachi music and dancers filled the yard with music and the sounds of people having fun. Captain Eskridge and see LAPD, page 10
by
Arlene Massimino
The Verdugo Hills Women’s Chorus (VHWC) is heading to Santa Ana on Saturday, March 12 to rehearse for the California Women’s Chorus, Inc. (CWC) 47th annual scholarship concert. VHWC is a member chorus
of CWC which is dedicated to promoting choral singing among women and raising funds for scholarships for vocal music students. Along with members of the SerraNaders and Sweet Harmony of San Diego, Long Beach Choral Belles, New Century see LVHWC, page 7
All these stories and more can be seen at:
http://facebook.com/thefoothillspaper
OVER 200 DISTRIBUTION SITES IN THE FOOTHILLS AREA
2 — FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 • THE FOOTHILLS PAPER
www.thefoothillspaper.com • VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 6
News From Your Urgent Care Clinic Diabetes Help is Available at Your Urgent Care Clinic by
Sam Samalin, PA-C
Diabetes is caused by eating too much sugar. Too many patients in our medical system can’t control their diabetes and have serious problems due to it. This is in almost all cases avoidable with good care. Come by the clinic to be checked; a simple test will tell if you have or aren’t controlling diabetes. Diabetes is controlled by avoiding sugary food and taking enough medicine. Here at the clinic we safely increase your medicine dose until you get control, a process which should take not more than months. We teach you
Red Cross Donation at New Hope Sunland-Tujunga residents and those of the surrounding communities will have an opportunity to donate blood to the Red Cross this Lenten Season. The American Red Cross will be at New Hope Community Church, 10448 Oro Vista Ave,
Dr. Sam. how to avoid sugar in your diet and to take charge of your own care and safely increase your medicine doses yourself to get your A1C, your diabetes level, below 7 which is the goal. So come by and join a medical see Diabetes, page 9
Dr. Sam is a Physicians Assistant and is certified at the Urgent Care Clinic, 7204 Foothill Blvd.
from 12:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. on Friday March 25. The Blood Donor Center will be located in the church’s gymnasium. Donors can make an appointment by calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visiting redcrossblood.org. All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients. A blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of
identification are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age (16 with parental consent in some states), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. High school students and other donors 18 years of age and younger also have to meet certain height and weight requirements.
Albertsons Grand Opening The new-old Albertsons returned to Tujunga last Wednesday. The parking lot at 6240 Foothill Blvd. was filled with happy shoppers. Company spokesman Carlos Illingworth called it “a unique process with a lot of moving pieces. It’s taken a lot of time and effort on behalf of our entire team, but we can’t think of a better way to start the year.” We’re happy they’re back.
Lots of free goodies at the opening!
Womans Club Prepare For Luau Fundraiser
Womans Club members making luau decorations. The lovely and lively women of The La Crescenta Womans Club are busy organizing, arranging and promoting their largest fundraiser of the year. They will be hosting a wonderful tropical luau on Saturday, April 9. The luau doors open at 4 p.m. for no-host cocktails and hors d’ oeuvres. The 5 p.m. hour will be filled with a delectable assortment of tropical cuisine for everyone’s dining pleasure. The crowd will be mesmerized by the ukulele music of The Honolulu Avenue Strummers. Tahitian dancers and drummers will entertain and a luminary “fire” show will light up the evening’s festivities. There will be an opportunity drawing and silent auctions items for all to bid on. The cost is only $50.00 per person for all this great fun. If
you would like reservations, please call Maryann at (818) 219-1702. The deadline for reservations is March 31. After that date, the tickets are $55.00 per person. The location of the woman’s club is 4004 La Crescenta Ave. The La Crescenta Womans Club works all year in supporting local charities and giving scholarship money to deserving students at the local high schools. They raise money through several fundraising events throughout the year and through the rental of their beautiful clubhouse. If you are interested in supporting or joining this fabulous group, please contact Dawna at (818) 389-4719 for more information. They are a 501(c)3 organization that was founded in 1911 and has been very active in supporting the community.
10
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THE FOOTHILLS PAPER • FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 — 3
VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 6 • www.thefoothillspaper.com
“There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” in the Kingdom of Sunland-Tujunga as those who were wronged by the Cleghorn Machine retaliate. Doc:1. And the story goes as how Ms. Cleghorn called the city agencies and filed complaints against anyone who she thought wronged her. Local business people have been calling in their tales of woe and how much Ms. Cindy cost them. It was bad enough that her company, C&M Printing, received no-bid contracts from the neighborhood council, but her flatout lies about how the 300-plus “Best of Sunland-Tujunga” ballots were misplaced put her at the top of the S-T liars’ circle. Finally, the worm has turned and it’s her turn to be taken to task. For those of you who haven’t been following the corruption of the neighborhood council officers and their incestuous membership in the bankrupt chamber of commerce, the sordid tale goes on. Using her influence as a council
president/secretary/treasurer, Ms. Cleghorn assembled a machine of other corrupt council/chamber members and proceeded to throw city money into any personal project they wanted. A $3,000 video camera system was given to her personal hitman, Joe Barrett; insider information to Realtor to the Scientologists Tomilyn Bowling; $2,000 to the bankrupt chamber of commerce; and $600 per month rent for an 80-sq. foot office space in the chamber offices. Yes, boys and girls, this is corruption at its finest, because she either convinced or allowed others to do questionable things. Would Mark Seigel have broken into the logistics manager’s office if he didn’t think he could get away with it? Would Ms. Royal have kept her job as STNC treasurer if other NC members didn’t do her job for her — for six years? Would employees of C&M Printing have been able to keep their city-paid jobs as secretary and not post of any of the meeting minutes if Ms. Cleghorn didn’t
VI EW
ROCK give her approval? Yup. And it helped destroy our little tight-knit community. Ms. Cleghorn is an officer of the chamber of commerce — the one that is broke and can’t get their members to pay their dues. The same chamber that she used to be president of and helped lose more than $20,000. Yes, boys and girls, this is one lady that can’t keep her hands out of the till. And all she has to show for it is dozens of Certificates of Appreciation. Hell, at least in corrupt communities like Maywood-Bell, they stole money. I guess she was too low-class to do that. But worse than that is the
fact that she drove away wonderful people that really wanted to make Sunland-Tujunga into a wonderful, diverse community. People who really cared. It’s pathetic. And now there is another STNC election and people are running because they want to do something wonderful for the community and the local businesses. But it’s up to you, the voter, to make the final decision. Do you want to vote for the “good ol’ gals” of the Cleghorn machine, or do you want to vote for hard-working, ethical people? It’s up to you, and if you fail and don’t vote, you can still say, It’s The Water!
The Foothills Letters & P erspectives
Paint It Black THE FOOTHILLS PAPER
is published bi-weekly. All contents are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without written consent of the publisher. All submissions to this newspaper become property of THE FOOTHILLS PAPER and may not be republished in whole or in part. The opinions expressed by contributing writers do not necessarily express the views of the publisher nor staff of this newspaper. TFP is available free of charge. No person may, without prior written permission from TFP, take more than one copy of each edition (stated value: $1). Only authorized TFP distributors may distribute THE FOOTHILLS PAPER. THE FOOTHILLS PAPER is a non-profit newspaper produced by the OSS-Spectrum group.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR/PUBLISHER Dr. David DeMullé
editor@thefoothillspaper.com TECHNICAL EDITOR Randall Fleming ftp@thepaper.ws STAFF ASSISTANT Dyan McManus WITH THANKS TO The ILS Foundation for Their Support
THE FOOTHILLS PAPER TheFoothillsPaper.COM P.O. Box 444, Tujunga CA 91043 818-951-0943
L.A. Press Club Press Photographers Association of Greater Los Angeles International Combat Camera Association
Dear Editor, Has anyone noticed the signs painted-over in black at the Slater Realty building (next to the old Denny’s)? After 40 years in business, I was also turned in by Cindy Cleghorn for my signs. I can think of more than 15-25 or more businesses that were turned in over the years that were not mentioned (in your last issue’s “View From the Rock”). Is she our very own sign-Nazi of Sunland-Tujunga? Los Angeles does not just drive by and select businesses to site and fine. Someone has to make the effort to call them and turn the property in. Then, the department comes out and fines the property owner — in my case $430.00 — then gives you ten (10) days to correct whatever problem your sign may have. If it’s not done within 10 days, you will then have more fines and fees to pay. The property owner can go down to the city and pull all the records and complaints on the subject property, and if you pull the file, you can see who turned you in. On my property, over the years, I made two major additions to the property and no one from the Department of Building and Safety ever mentioned my signs. I had lots of inspections also. In this historic, long recession, it is amazing that someone would try to hurt the small businesses in town.
We have so many that have closed and the new ones that have tried to start and fold in a year or two. Cindy Cleghorn has been a member of the Board on the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council for at least eight years or more. She has also served as the president. She has also been on the Board of the Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce, and served as president. The type of actions that she has demonstrated are not in conjunction with helping the business community of Sunland-Tujunga. She could have called the business owners and given them a heads-up to what
may be offending her about their signs prior to making the phone call to the city. I have also noticed that most (if not all) of the businesses turned in were not members of the Chamber of Commerce. Does this have any relation to her actions? I personally served for 34 years on the Chamber of Commerce Board and I am also a past president. In the years I was
involved, we made many major improvements that are still benefiting our community. I chose black paint for my sign because I truly am in mourning for our community and hope more people see what’s going on and become involved to really try to make a positive difference. Kindest regards, Joan Ordelheide Slater
Please note our NEW dance LOCATION and TIME.
MARCH DANCE March 26 ~ 4th Saturday SQUARES With Paul Waters ~ 1:30- 4:30 pm ~
NEW LOCATION Sunland SENIOR CENTER 8640 Fenwick Street, Sunland, CA 91040
Dinner After The Dance Seasoning Alley, 2332 Honolulu Ave Montrose, CA 91020
PLEASE R.S.V.P. to (818) 945-1189
4 — FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 • THE FOOTHILLS PAPER
Attention All Veterans,
Sons, Daughters and Wives of Veterans
Come and Enjoy your local American Legion Post Help support Veterans and Veterans’ Causes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KARAOKE NIGHT
Saturday, March 12, 8 p.m. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heidi’s Dinner Surprise Saturday, March 19, 7 p.m.
(Goulash ala Hedi over butter noodles, vegetables, Caesar Salad, Rolls, Butter & Desert — AND BROWN BAG AUCTION!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.thefoothillspaper.com • VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 6
Oscar Night at the Legion Post by
David DeMullé
The American Legion Post 377 on Pinewood held their gala Oscars Night last week and it was another fun turnout for our neighborhood. Representatives from other legion posts showed up and mingled with about 75 local members and neighbors. The main floor tables were beautifully decorated in valentine themes and dinner of fried chicken, Sam Marsteller’s special meatballs, Bonnie Corwin’s brownies and Sandra Poppink’s creampuffs were served. Upstairs the audience had a great time watching the Oscars presentation, and participating in a raffle. Many thanks to Tom Smoker and Dan Meizoso’s Boy Scout troop for sanding and painting the hardwood floors with verathane.
Ladies of the Red Hat Society put on the glam!
It was “Ladies Night Out” for the Oscars.
Are you man enough for this “Fru-Fru” drink?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
American Legion Post 377
10039 Pinewood Avenue, Tujunga
(818) 353-9856
Everyone partied down for the Oscars show.
Events open to the Public
Canteen Hours - 7 days a week, 2- 10 p.m.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For Hall Rental, call Commander Dan at
(818) 521-1137
Movie review: Gods of Egypt by
Bob Garver
“Gods of Egypt” cost $140 million. That money was wellspent so long as the studio’s only goal was to make an incredibly shiny movie. It is indeed very shiny. But if the goal was to make an interesting, coherent, or competent movie, then it is a failure. Actually, the goal was undoubtedly to make money, and on that level it’s even more of a failure. The film opened to $14 million this past weekend and is going to fall fast. It will be lucky if it “only” loses $100 million. This is certainly a movie that deserves to lose $100 million, except that it’s so cheap-looking that it doesn’t look like it cost $140 million. Unless of course, they paid $1 million per glint. According to this movie, the gods of Egypt lived among the mortals, but they were three feet taller and at any moment could turn into metallic fighters with superpowers. Good-
but-arrogant Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau) is supposed to take over the Head God position from his father, but his coronation is interrupted by his evil uncle Set (Gerard Butler), God of Darkness, who fights him for control of Egypt. Set uses a shiny distraction to win the fight and rips out Horus’s eyes, stripping him of his god powers. He’d kill his nephew, but Horus’s girlfriend Hathor (Elodie Young) offers herself to him and he commutes the sentence to banishment. A year later, a mortal thief named Bek (Brendon Thwaites) sees that his enslaved girlfriend Zaya (Courtney Eaton) is unhappy that her hero Horus is gone, so he does what he can to save him. This despite the fact that doesn’t “believe” in the gods himself. He’s awfully atheistic for someone who lives in a world populated by gods who show off at every opportunity. He steals one of the eyes that Set
was keeping in a vault, grabs Zaya, and goes off to see the exiled Horus. Little snag, Zaya gets killed as she and Bek are fleeing. Bek returns the eye to Horus, giving him some of his power back, and strikes a deal: he’ll do what he can to help Horus reclaim the throne from Set if Horus brings Zaya back from the dead once he’s regained full power. Horus takes a break from self-pity and condescension long enough to agree to the deal, and the unlikely duo set off on an advensee Gods of Egypt, page 9
THE FOOTHILLS PAPER • FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 — 5
VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 6 • www.thefoothillspaper.com
Healthy Roasted Potato Salad by
Chef Randy
I remember mom making potato salad at the first hint of summer. The kitchen was steamy and hot with boiling potatoes. How she peeled them while still hot I’ll never understand. She was amazing. I can still taste her salad to this day. This recipe uses roasted potatoes which add an interesting flavor and texture. My spicy, no-mayonnaise dressing gives this recipe a healthier profile than the salad I enjoyed as a kid. Make this one and let me know what you think! Ingredients: Dressing: ¼ cup white wine vinegar 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard ¼ teaspoon sugar ½ cup extra virgin olive oil Salad: 8 small Yukon gold potatoes 8 small blue or purple potatoes 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Artfully
SPEAKING
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The Gallery System
½ teaspoon coarsely ground sea salt Fresh ground pepper to taste 3 tablespoons shallots (chopped) 2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley (chopped) Directions: Dressing: Whisk vinegar, lemon juice, mustard and sugar. Slowly drizzle in olive oil and continue whisking until dressing is smooth and creamy. Set aside until potatoes are cooked. Salad: Preheat oven to 350 de-
grees. Wash potatoes and pat dry. Cut all potatoes into bitesized pieces. Place potatoes in a large bowl and toss with olive oil and salt. Place potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet with shallow sides. Roast in the center of the oven until tender, about 30 minutes. Combine all potatoes into one large bowl after roasting. Cool for about 20 minutes, then add dressing and toss gently. Sprinkle with additional salt and pepper, if desired. Top with shallots and parsley before serving. Hint: This is best served at room temperature.
For additional recipes, see Chef Randy’s website at
valley-vegetarian.com
I’ve always felt that you suspect in others what you yourself are guilty of. If you are a liar and a cheat, you suspect everyone to be a liar and a cheat. If you are deceitful, you expect everyone you deal with will be deceitful. It makes perfect common sense to me. All any artist wants from a gallery is to be genuinely treated with fairness. I don’t know of one artist who has said to me that their only reason for seeking a gallery was to cheat them. Once, artist’s needed galleries to show their work. This is changing and the suspicion from galleries is that artists are out to cheat them of their “deserved rewards.” Where is it written that any galley should take a higher percentage of the sale? I understand a gallery has overhead. But so do artist. Actually the artist’s investment is greater than the galleries investment. Both have rent/mortgage, phone, utilities. I won’t list the costs artists pay in fees, shipping, and transportation. Paint and supply costs alone have skyrocketed with more people making art. Material costs balance out in the end. But, emotional cost is greater for the artist. It’s the artist that is on the line, not the gallery. The nature of the gallery system is that galleries believe they are entitled to more because they have availability to “money people”, which entitles them to a greater share of the profits. But without artwork to sell, there would be no need for patrons. Galleries are an in-
vention of those who believed they could sell artwork which would give artists freedom to paint. But gallery owners use this as an opportunity to tip the scales. Traditionally, artists are notoriously bad with business or were just not adept at business or busy making art to conduct business. So galleries started setting the rules, in their favor, and sowed the seeds for their eventual diminished importance. Artists also were too willing to agree to “the gallery system”. Today, artists have website, galleries have become suspicious and mistrustful that artists will make their own sales. AND, in all fairness, some artists are probably thinking of ways around the gallery. When I was a child, my mother taught me to be true and honest and treat everyone fairly. When I became an adult, she told me a different story. I am reminded of her teaching and she, with a clear voice said, “the advice I gave was for when you were a child”. Today artists have alternatives and they are exercising them more. In the end what galleries have to realize is there are more potential buyers surfing the net than are visiting physical galleries. Buyers also know they can get a better price without paying for gallery overhead. As a post script, galleries still exist today and will in the future. Some are run honestly. Do your research when choosing your gallery. It’s your artwork. Take pride in it and don’t sell it short.
6 — FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 • THE FOOTHILLS PAPER
WE ARE HERE WHEN YOU NEED US MOST
(818) 352-8333 7204 Foothill Blvd. Tujunga
www.thefoothillspaper.com • VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 6
X-RAYS LABs PEDIATRICS EKG B-12 DOT Clinica Medica Abierto 7 Dais De La Semana De 8AM A 8PM
Meet Sam, your family care specialist Shawarma House is now serving Burgers, Fries & Pizza!
THE FOOTHILLS PAPER • FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 — 7
VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 6 • www.thefoothillspaper.com
SWEET CHERRIE’S DINER Only the finest, freshest ingredients are used to create the ultimate OMELET.
Our CLUB SANDWICH is sliced turkey, crisp bacon, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo on three slices of lightly toasted bread.
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VHWC, from pg. 1 Singers of Whittier, Burbank Singers, Riverside Mission Belles, Santa Barbara Treble Clef and the Harbor Singers, members of the local VHWC
will rehearse music that will be included in the public concert on Sunday May 1 at 2 p.m. The concert will take place at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel 8110 Aero Drive, San Diego, CA 92123.
The Southern Area Rehearsal will be hosted by the San Diego choruses, Sweet Harmony and Serra Naders, at the Church of the Foothills 19211 Dodge Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705 at 9 a.m.
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK: M-F:
7 a.m. - 8 p.m. Sat 7 a.m. -5 p.m. • Sun 7 a.m. - 3 p.m.
(818) 353-0465 8236 Foothill Blvd., Sunland
The Verdugo Hills Women’s Chorus looks forward to this area rehearsal as a chance to fine-tune the music they have been studying recently and will sing at the 2016 concert. This is also
a wonderful opportunity to renew friendships with nearly 175 women from the various state choruses who meet each year in a different California city and present the CWC concert.
8 — FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 • THE FOOTHILLS PAPER
Driving Me Crazy by Jim
Laris
I know I am a blessed person. I have a great family. I have both my health and my nine medications. I have a hovel up in Oregon I can escape to. And I have enough money to still be able to subscribe to newspapers. And I’m lanky. I’m living on house money, baby. But I have to complain about one thing. For the past 38 years, yes 38 damn years, I have had really bad driveways. I bought my first house up in Altadena in 1972. It was such a great house and such a great deal that I just decided to hell with having a bad driveway. But indeed, it was a bad driveway. The house was on funky little street called Northhaven Lane on a culdesac. (That’s French for “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”) And you came down this very steep hill to get to the front of our house. And then the driveway was on another even steeper hill to get to the garage. Yes, the god of driveways had doubled down on me and had given me an essentially useless, probably criminal, driveway. You could
not go down the driveway and have much hope of coming back up the driveway. Occasionally somebody could do it if they had a Hemi kind of V8 engine and floored it in reverse and screechassed up the thing and scared the hell out of me and my insurance agent. But generally, you could go into the driveway, but you could not get out of the driveway. It was like the Roach Motel for Buicks. I can’t tell you how many plumbers and pizza delivery guys would not even slow their macho butts down when they got to the driveway and ended up on the bottom and had to be towed back out. I should have bought a tow truck but, like now, I wasn’t that bright. Anyway, it was an ugly driveway and I endured that carswallowing sucker for 17 years. And then Marge and I moved into another house in Altadena over on Crest Drive. It was another great house, built back into the semiwoods, maybe 100 yards off the street. Well, Virginia, that 100 yards of blacktop was my new driveway nightmare. No, it wasn’t steep, but it had a few other fun naviga-
tional challenges. First of all, the driveway was very narrow and it went over a flood control channel on a stone bridge built by Chinese slave labor in 1896. Then about 50 yards in, there was a huge tree stuck right in the middle of the driveway. And this tree further divided the driveway into our driveway and the driveway of our neighbor who hated our Airedale. He would call us up and say, “Would you please keep that beast of yours quiet?!” And I would tell him, “Marge isn’t that noisy, dammit!” Speaking of Marge, she would always have her car parked in the garage and she would want to get out at night, and she would say Jimsie Whimsie could you pleasie wheezie get my car out of the bad old driveway that scares me because I’m a woman and you’re a man and you like backing out backwards and driving in the darkness of death when you can’t see over Chinese slavelabor bridges into sevenfoot tree trunks? Please? I’ll make you chocolatechip cookies and hide them in my bra. (OK, she never said that part about the
www.thefoothillspaper.com • VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 6
cookies, but everything else is damn close to being true.) So I put up with 12 years of the second horrible driveway. And then we moved to our current drivewaychallenged house on Braeburn. When we were thinking about buying it, I mentioned to Marge that the driveway wasn’t really that good, and she said that she knew that, but it was better than the last driveway. And I said yes, it was better — in kind of the same way Mussolini might have been better than Hitler. Well, she looked at me, closed her eyes, opened them up again, and I was still there, and then she turned to the Realtor and said, “We’ll take it.” So we’ve been in this driveway hellhole for the last nine years. And, OK, I admit that it isn’t quite as bad as the other two nightmare driveways of my past, but it still is not good. You see, it is another long driveway that goes right from the street straight back into the backyard. But now we have a gate to the backyard, which I have to open and close all the time and it’s a hardto mufflemyscreams kind of gate. And then once you get inside
Jim Laris is Jim Laris. the gate you have to kind of split off a little to get both cars in there. And, of course, Marge has her car in the garage and I have to keep mine out in the coldness and dampness where squirrels can take their little dumps on it. So now when Marge needs to go out and my squirrel turdedup car is there, Marge will coyly say, “My car needs to get out.” She flicks her eyelashes a couple of times, and adds, “You’re so manly when you’re backing my car up.” And I say, “I’m in my robe! It’s midnight!” And she says, “The neighbors probably won’t call the sheriff again.” God, what I would give for a circular driveway. Or a couple of chocolatechip cookies with bra marks. Jim can be contacted at jimlaris@mac.com
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VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 6 • www.thefoothillspaper.com
Gods of Egypt, from pg. 4 ture. Among the problems with this movie is that it’s a ripoff of better movies. Horus is a god stripped of his power who has to learn humility and complete a mission without the advantages he’s used to, just like Thor. Bek is a smart-aleck thief who wants to do nothing more than impress his girlfriend, just like the Disney version of Aladdin. Gerard Butler screams things in an ancient setting like in “300.” The scenery is about as ugly as that desolate planet in the Razzie Award-winning “Fantastic Four.” And the CGI special effects are garbage, like in… lots of movies. “Gods of Egypt” brings nothing new to the mythicaladventure genre, nor is it fun as a routine outing. Horus and Bek don’t have chemistry and the scenes that are supposed
Snakebite, from pg. 2 team, your doctor and you: the empowered patient who will confidently carry out the team plan with the help of regular checkups. Here is some of how we’ll do it: we teach you how to make less sugary food choices and may start you on diabetes medicine. When taking medicine, never skip meals as your sugar may get
to be funny fall flat. The script can’t keep its rules for the god characters straight; it can create conflict at will by saying “gods can’t do that” and get itself out of any corner by saying they can do whatever they want. But the worst thing about the movie is that it just looks like a cheap mess. The only special effects that are crafted with care are the shiny metallic super-suits, and they’re barely even featured. $140 million was wasted making this movie, and you’ll be wasting your nine bucks if you go to see it. One Star out of Five “Gods of Egypt” is playing at Hershey Cocoaplex and Flagship Cinemas in Palmyra. The film is rated PG-13 for fantasy violence and action, and some sexuality. Its running time is an overlong 127 minutes. Contact Bob Garver at: rrg251@nyu.edu. too low — if so, you will feel shaky, sweaty, nauseous, light-headed or confused and you’ll need to eat immediately. Take your morning blood sugar and keep it in a log. Gradually increase your medicine and make regular checkups at clinic. That’s the beginning of the knowledge you need to safely fix your diabetes problem. Check future columns for more.
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10 — FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 • THE FOOTHILLS PAPER
Crime Stats Theft 02/22/16 10:00 AM 10500 BLOCK OF WOODWARD AV Assault 02/23/16 06:00 PM 2200 BLOCK OF WALTONIA DR Theft 02/23/16 08:40 AM 8200 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL BL Theft 02/23/16 06:00 PM 9700 BLOCK OF SHADOW ISLAND DR Assault 02/23/16 02:40 AM 10400 BLOCK OF PLAINVIEW AV Assault 02/23/16 02:00 PM 00 BLOCK OF PLAINVIEW AV AND HILLROSE ST Theft 02/24/16 10:30 PM 10500 BLOCK OF IRMA AV Theft 02/24/16 03:45 AM 10900 BLOCK OF ORO VISTA AV Burglary 02/24/16 03:30 PM 8000 BLOCK OF ELLENBOGEN ST Theft 02/26/16 02:15 AM 5400 BLOCK OF LA FOREST DR Theft 02/26/16 05:15 PM 1900 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL BLVD Assault 02/27/16 10:00 PM 00 BLOCK OF PINEWOOD AND FOOTHILL Theft 02/27/16 05:30 PM 10500 BLOCK OF SHERMAN GROVE AV Theft 02/28/16 06:00 PM 7100 BLOCK OF VALMONT ST
www.thefoothillspaper.com • VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 6
W r e c k S Oo f Tt Hh eE W E E K Slow down and live...
Theft 02/28/16 08:00 PM 00 BLOCK OF APPERSON AND MOUNTAIR Theft 02/29/16 02:00 PM 8200 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL BL Theft 03/01/16 03:00 PM 6500 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL BL Theft 03/02/16 06:00 AM 10500 BLOCK OF SHERMAN GROVE AV Theft 03/02/16 04:30 PM 2900 BLOCK OF COMMUNITY AVE Theft 03/03/16 06:40 AM 10300 BLOCK OF ELDORA AV Burglary 03/03/16 10:00 PM 6600 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL BL
In the two above pictures, this is the result of an accident on Commerce allegedly caused by one vehicle’s brakes going out.
Theft 03/03/16 11:59 AM 9400 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL BL
Theft 03/03/16 09:30 PM 10500 BLOCK OF SUNLAND BL Theft 03/04/16 09:45 PM 00 BLOCK OF BURBANK AND YOLANDA Assault 03/04/16 04:00 PM 7000 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL BL Burglary 03/04/16 09:00 PM 8600 BLOCK OF FOOTHILL BL Theft 03/05/16 12:00 PM 9600 BLOCK OF WENTWORTH ST
This is what happens when you hit a homeless person on a bike. The biker walked away.
There were way too many accidents to cover here; visit Facebook.com/StopTheCarnage
LAPD, from pg. 1 Officer Trasia Barnes created a community event that was both fun and informative. I couldn’t tell if the kids were having more fun that the adults, but I did see the kids getting in and out of the police cars, sitting on the motorcycles and riding the ponies, and the adults seemed more interested in the free food and the music.
Everyone enjoyed the free food.
Our SLOs party down too.
Kids loved sitting on a police motorcycle .
THE FOOTHILLS PAPER • FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 — 11
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Lucy Pet Foundation, from pg. 1 Dr. Karen Halligan, a graduate of U.C Davis Veterinary School, is the Chief Veterinary Officer for The Lucy Pet Foundation. Speaking about the grant, he said. “We are grateful and excited about our partnership with Los Angeles Animal Services and look forward to performing our goal of 10,000 spay and neuter procedures throughout the city in the next two years. We are committed to stopping the excessive influx of animals going into shelters.” If enough people call in to take advantage of the service, more clinics will be held here in Sunland-Tujunga. The next scheduled event is on Monday, March 21 in the Century 21 parking lot. For further information on upcoming scheduled dates and locations for the L.A. Animal Services/ Lucy Pet Foundation’s mobile spay and neuter clinics, please visit the Web site, www.LucyPetFoundation.org.
8459 Foothill Blvd.
Sunland CA
(818) 577-5548
12 — FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2016 • THE FOOTHILLS PAPER
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