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Westchester • Playa del Rey • Marina del Rey • Playa Vista
July
your community newspaper • your community • WESTCHESTER • PLAYA DEL REY • MARINA DEL REY • PLAYA VISTA • your community newspaper • your community
Family continues to ask for prayers for car accident survivor Monday, June 11 is a day that Westchester resident Brittany Gunnell’s family and friends will never forget. That’s the day that while riding her bicycle home after rehearsing her role as “Grace” in the play “Annie,” she collided with a car on 77th Street and Emerson. As fate would have it, her mother, Denise O’Brien, was driving down the street and happened on the scene right after the accident. There she found her daughter, 20, unconscious in the street, with an ambulance on the way. Since then, Gunnell has remained hospitalized at the Ronald Reagan
UCLA Medical Center, with her family and friends holding vigil at the hospital, praying for her recovery. Gunnell spent 18 days in a coma and has undergone numerous surgeries to deal with a fractured skull and brain swelling. She currently has a tracheotomy tube and has been hooked up to breathing machines. Said O’Brien, “We have total faith in the excellent care and doctors at UCLA. I have numerous clients and friends who work here who continue to ensure us that we are in the right place at the right time. It is a very difficult process to watch, but to see her move her head
and say ‘no’ or watch her wiggle her toes are all steps in the right direction for her recovery.” A website created to keep people up-to-date with her condition at www. caringbridge.org/visit/brittanygunnell, now has almost 20,000 visits from those interested in tracking her progress. The road to recovery will be a long process, with many challenges, an, hopefully, victories ahead. Due to her injuries, she has also had to deal with pneumonia, fevers and fluctuating intracranial pressure. Her left eye was (continued on page 6)
Gunnell was involved in a car accident on June 11.
Parade, fireworks ensure festive Independence Day This year, community members have numerous events to help celebrate the Fourth of July. Starting at 11 a.m., the LAX Coastal Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its 13th annual Fourth of July Parade beginning at Loyola Boulevard at Manchester Avenue. This year’s theme is a “Tribute to America’s Pastimes,” and will feature 66 entries, making this year’s event the largest in parade history. The parade’s Grand Marshal is Los Angeles Kings’ Hall of Fame Announcer Bob Miller. Limited bleacher seating will be available at 83rd Street at Loyola Blvd. Guests are encouraged to bring their own low-back beach chairs or blankets to sit on the curb. The parade is expected to last around two hours. For more information, please call (310) 645-5151 or check out the Parade Program starting on page 9. After the parade, the Elks Lodge, located at 8025 W. Manchester Avenue in Playa del Rey, will be holding a barbecue. Tickets are $10 and will feature a performance by “The New Directions Veterans Choir.” After a hiatus due to budget cuts, the Marina del Rey Fireworks are back this year, thanks to the generous support of
community sponsors. Said Supervisor Don Knabe, “I would like to extend a special thank you to the generous sponsors who stepped up to help bring this holiday tradition back to Marina del Rey. Families from all over Los Angeles County will be able to spend their Fourth of July holiday watching a spectacular fireworks show light up our beautiful coastline.” The display this year is presented by the famed Zambelli Fireworks Internationale. The fireworks are choreographed to patriotic music, which will be broadcast in sync with the display over FM radio KXLU, 88.9 on the dial. Those watching may tune their radios to listen to the simulcast. The music will be relayed over loudspeakers in Burton Chace Park for onlookers. Burton Chace Park, located at 13650 Mindanao Way and Fisherman’s Village, located at 13755 Fiji Way, as well as the beaches in Marina del Rey and Playa del Rey, are premiere viewing locations for the fireworks. For additional information about the 2012 Marina del Rey Fourth of July Fireworks Show, please visit marinadelrey.lacounty.gov.
At left: MOMS Club members march in last year’s parade. PHOTO BY GLENN MARZANO.
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