Dec
3
What do YOU think of the President’s troop build-up?
Filed Under National Issues, The Base | Leave a Comment
(12/3/09) Living in a town where half of the total real estate is owned by the military, the President’s Tuesday announcement of his plans to deploy 30,000 additional troops to Afganistan should be especially important to Los Alamitos residents.
I’ve heard quite a few different opinions, but thought it would be good to see what others who live here think. Personally, I was glad that Read more
Sep
11
One more reason why "Cape Canaveral" should have been in California
(9/13/09 evening correction:) One thing I do like about this blog is that we have some informed people who aren’t afraid to correct yours truly when necessary! Thanks to comments below by J.M. & kv, I stand corrected. Turns out, according to them, at least, our major space port’s location in Florida had nothing to do with pork or politics.
But I still think the shuttle, at least, should be based in California.
(9/11/09, Los Alamitos) If you were outside a little before 6:00 this evening, you heard two distinct sonic booms separated by just a second or two.
That was the sound of the Space Shuttle flying over Southern California before landing at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Lompoc.
Once again, Florida’s challenging weather is costing taxpayers money. At least this time it didn’t cost astronauts’ Read more
Apr
9
Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart killed by drunk driver at 22
Filed Under Decency, Inspiration, National Issues, News you can use, Southern California, Teamwork | 3 Comments
(4/9/2009, Los Alamitos, by Dave Emerson) In a shocking reminder of the fragility of life, 22 year old Angels starter Nick Adenhart and two of his friends were killed by a 22 year old drunk driving with a suspended license early this morning, just after pitching six shut-out innings in his first start of what was looking like a break-out season.
Adenhart graduated from Williamsport High School in Silver Spring Md. in 2004 and was expected to be a first-round pick in the baseball draft that year, which would have made him an instant millionaire. Unfortunately, Read more
Feb
27
Complete Text of Mayor Grose’s “Resignation” Statement
Filed Under Dean Grose, Decency, National Issues | 7 Comments
As handed to me by Los Alamitos City Staff today and e-mailed to several media outlets late yesterday (Thursday) afternoon: (Please note: To avoid disruption, grammatical and spelling errors in the original text are not identified with the traditional Latin “sic.”)
A Statement From
Los Alamitos Council Member and Mayor
Dean Grose
February 26, 2009
First, I would like to offer a public apology to Ms. Keyanus Price, a business woman in Los Alamitos.
This past Sunday, Feb. 22nd, I received a shared email which I opened and forwarded on to small group of friends. Since the internet became a mainstay of every household, jokes fly about without thinking of those who might be offended. I didn’t create or originate this e-mail which was sent to me for what I thought to be humor, and regrettably I passed it along.
Feb
26
Dean Grose resigns as Mayor but not from the City Council, effective Monday
Filed Under Decency, National Issues | 47 Comments
(by Dave Emerson) The Orange County Register reported tonight that Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose said that he “will resign from his post” on Monday because the controversy surrounding his White House watermelon garden e-mail “has impeded his ability to lead the city.”
Here at least part of the text of Grose’s e-mail , which was released tonight, 2/26: Read more
Feb
26
Should Mayor Grose and his majority resign?
Filed Under Decency, Election Issues, National Issues | 20 Comments
Mayor Grose and City Council welcome visitors to city website
Thursday night update: The 24 hours which ended at 4 this afternoon (midnight GMT) were the busiest in this blog’s short history, with about 1,200 page views, most apparently from local residents. Sometime tomorrow, Friday, I hope to get up a post to get the community discussing specific options for moving forward. ( I briefly mention a few in the comment I added below at 10:35 p.m. 2/26.) I’m bringing this up for the purpose of discussion. Your thoughts and ideas, as always, are far more important than just mine alone. For now, however, I’m going to get some sleep. Hope to see you by tomorrow afternoon.
(by Dave Emerson) Well, at least we’re no longer best known for Cypress’ race track.
In the last 24 hours thousands of comments have been posted on websites across our country decrying the racism of our Mayor and even our city.
“What is Los Alamitos, a white trash town of 400 people?” wrote one commenter on a nationwide blog.
Maybe it’s time for our Mayor and Council to take decisive action that will put this whole ugly inccident behind us all so the city and Dean Grose can move forward.
On most blogs that I’ve scanned, the comments tend to fall into 4 categories:
- What a racist and insensitive thing for a Mayor to do! (about 35% of comments)
- What an incredibly stupid thing for a Mayor to do! (about 30% of comments)
- What an overly sensitive evil thing Keyanus Price did in making the e-mail public. (about 10% of comments)
- What’s the big deal? It was a dumb, tasteless joke, the Mayor apologized, get over it. (about 25% of comments)
Sadly, there’s more involved here than just Mayor Dean Grose. Read more
Jan
20
Proud to be an American
Filed Under National Issues, Uncategorized | 7 Comments
A peaceful and amicable transfer of power
As someone who has met the ugly face of prejudice all too often, whether as a Realtor or back when I was teaching in the inner city schools of Los Angeles, or as a youth worker at Rev. E. V. Hill’s Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in South Central Los Angeles in the 1970s, I’m still amazed that this day has come.
I’m also proud of the way we transfer power in this country.
These are some of my thoughts on this historic day. Perhaps you’d like to share some of yours in the comments box below. Read more
Jan
20
Inaugural Bookends: Invocation & Benediction
Filed Under Inspiration, National Issues | Leave a Comment
Obama and Warren last year at Saddleback's Candidate Forum
(by Dave Emerson) Today’s Inauguration of the man from Illinois and Hawaii was kicked off with a few words from a man from Orange County. Actually, quite a few words.
The Inaugural Ceremony concluded with a benediction from Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Combined, the two prayers carried plenty of inspiration and wise requests.
Although controversial in some respects, and not as brief as it could have been, Pastor Warren’s prayer “touched all the bases,” with an appropriate emphasis on humility, a reference to the historic nature of this day, and appropriate requests for God’s blessing and protection on our new President and his family.
I’ll post the text of the invocation and benediction here once I can find them online. Hopefully also some of my thoughts about the historical events of today. I voted for McCain, but today’s peaceful transfer of power combined with the election of our nation’s first minority President make me proud to be fortunate enough to be an American.
You can share your thoughts in the comment box below. Read more
