THE GARDEN GROVE
FAITH & VALUES GARDEN GROVE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH BUILDS HEALTHY COMMUNITY. PAGE 4
JOURNAL ALSO SERVING WESTMINSTER AND MIDWAY CITY
AN EDITION OF
THURSDAY, SEPT. 1 2, 20 1 3
Bedside photos show Kevin Dodier’s father, Michael, who died in August of cancer.
Kevin Dodier, 23, works on picking up toys in order to exercise his hand muscles.
OCREGISTER.COM/JOURNAL
Dodier’s letterman jacket from his high school in Ogden, Utah, sits on his bed in Westminster.
DETERMINED TO OVERCOME After accident, Kevin Dodier defies doctors’ original diagnosis by making strides in his recovery. BY DOUGLAS MORINO ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
K
evin Dodier was in his second season of coaching the junior high football squad at Bethany Christian Academy when he learned the students’ grades had been suffering, putting them in danger of being ineligible to play. Dodier, a former student at the school, assembled his team and led them from the practice field to the Westminster school’s study hall. He stood over them as they did their homework. It was September 2010, and one of the last times Dodier would be with his team. “He wanted them to get good grades. He wanted them to play football,” said Terre Marriott-Nguyen, the school’s He’s the kind of kid that walks into the activities director. “He wanted them to room and he’s this do well. He was an inspiration to that shining light. He’s football team.” one of those people Just a few days later, on Oct. 2, Do- you’re drawn to – dier fractured the back of his skull after very full of life and falling from a skateboard while hanging very positive.” TERRE out with friends. M A R R I O T T- N G U Y E N His brain swelled, and the 20-year- A C T I V I T I E S old was placed in a coma at UCI Med- DB EI RTEHCATNOYR CFHORRI S T I A N ical Center in Orange. Five days after A C A D E M Y the accident, Dodier was diagnosed with diffuse axonal injury, a severe injury to the connectors of the brain. The outlook was grim: Dodier – an avid surfer, an aspiring physical trainer and a handball player who once tried out for the U.S. Olympic team – would likely spend the rest of his life in a vegetative state. “I told him I didn’t believe that’s what would happen,” said Dodier’s mother, Kristen, a former behavioral therapist who has spent the past three years taking care of him and her husband, who had been diagnosed with duodenal cancer in Febru-
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SEE DODIER
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PHOTOS: KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Kevin Dodier, 23, who is partially paralyzed from a skateboarding accident, gets a kiss from his mother, Kristen, in their Westminster home. Despite recent hardships, including his father’s death in August, Kevin remains determined to make strides in his recovery.
Kevin Dodier Age: 23 Birthday: July 3 Favorite sports teams: Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat, New York Yankees Family: Mother, Kristen Dodier; brothers Kory, 22, and Kody, 20 To learn more about Kevin Dodier’s journey and to donate to his rehabilitation and recovery, go to youcaring.com/other/be-a-part-of-kevin-dodier-s-recovery/85956 or send an email to kddodier@yahoo.com.
Stage set for reopening 2 years after fire at theater Holiday show to start in November at Gem Theater.
Reserves to offset $57 million hole; no layoffs or furloughs planned. BY DOUGLAS MORINO ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
BY DOUGLAS MORINO ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The curtain may soon rise on the Gem Theater. Heavily damaged after a fire in May 2011 that started in a costume shop and tore through much of the building, the historic theater in downtown Garden Grove could be hosting musical performances again in November. “We’re almost ready to open,” said Damian Lorton,
School board approves deficit-burdened budget
FILE PHOTO: THE REGISTER
The Gem Theater is about to resume productions in downtown Garden Grove after a fire damaged it in 20 1 1.
artistic director of One More Productions, the nonprofit group that leases the 158-seat theater from the city of Garden Grove.
The theater, at 12852 Main St., once was a vaudeville house in the 1920s and S E E T H E AT E R ● PA G E 8
Faced with a $57 million deficit, the Garden Grove Unified school board last week unanimously signed off on a $459 million budget for the next fiscal year in part by using reserves. No layoffs or furloughs are planned, and four preschool teachers who had been laid off have been rehired. The deficit soared from $9.2 million last year. The district will use reserve funds and expects some savings when employees leave and the positions are
not immediately filled. There are 5,856 employees in the 48,000-student district, the third largest in the county. Garden Grove Unified serves students in Anaheim, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Santa Ana, Stanton and Westminster. The budget’s passage by the school board comes less than a month after county supervisors declined the district’s request for $120 million from Measure A, the $250 million bond measure aimed at improving the district’s aging school facilities.
During an Aug. 20 meeting, supervisors said they were uncomfortable with releasing those funds because of the district’s “qualified certification,” meaning that the district might not be able to meet its financial obligations through the next three years. Still, projects earmarked under the bond are set to move forward, including 20 elementary schools ready to be issued modernization contracts over the next month. Additionally, nine intermediate schools, seven high schools and one learning center are expected to be issued contracts prior to the end of the school year, district spokeswoman Amy Stevens said.