The Ringing of the Bells

"Built in 1787, the Congregational Church on
Thetford Hill is the oldest meetinghouse in
continuous use in the State of Vermont."
Peter Blodgett, Librarian, Thetford VT.

The Ringing of the Bells

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

From my pew in the choir loft of the First Congregational Church on Thetford Hill I looked at the comfortable, timeworn church, mismatched chandeliers hanging over the sanctuary, on the pulpit a solitary candlestick holding a lighted candle.  I was there to give witness to the annual “Ringing of the Bells”.

“The oldest tradition established in the United States is the ringing of bells on July 4.  Minutes after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the historic Liberty Bell rang out the good news: the United States was a free country.  That happy moment had been awaited under high tension by most of the inhabitants.  When the Liberty Bell rang forth, thousands knew that the deliberations had been completed, and they now lived in a free land.  Other bells soon picked up the good news, and as the sound was heard, a chain of bells carried the news (across the new country).  Thus began the tradition of bell ringing, which has been kept in many places, including Thetford Hill, ever since.”  William E. Worcester, Thetford Vermont 1980

At about 11:30 pm on the evening of July 4, 2012, 47 people, dressed in ‘Vermont casual’, gathered in the choir loft to celebrate the 236^th anniversary of the United States.  Some had come by car; some had walked up the hill carrying candlelit lanterns to light up the night.  The lanterns had been placed on the rails of the choir loft and gave soft illumination to the sanctuary below.  Pilgrim Hymnals and copies of the Declaration of Independence were in front of the pews. 

Each person, by turn, read aloud from the Declaration of Independence until it had been read in its entirety.  Each voice giving strength and meaning to words written 236 years ago.  It was a serious moment of passing the values of one generation to the next as the children of the community of Thetford learned the values of the nation from their families and their neighbors.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

When the reading was complete the community turned to the Pilgrim Hymnal to sing three verses of America the Beautiful, accompanied by the organist, Mrs. Alice Pierson, at 93 the oldest of the bell ringers present.  Couples and families stood together to sing, blending high and low voices.   The meaning of the words made new again by the strength and caring in the singing.

At midnight the church bell, created long ago by a foundry in Troy NY, tolled 12 times.  Each person then took a turn pulling the bell rope and when done went outside to the Town Green in order to better hear the clear sound of the pealing of the bell, 236 times, once for each year of our nation.

With the last sound of the bell, the group returned to the choir loft to sing “My Country, tis of Thee”, also in the Pilgrim Hymnal, and the Woody Guthrie song, “This Land is Your Land”, with the words printed on a handout.  After appreciation and applause for Mrs. Pierson, cookies were shared and everyone headed out into the pleasant night air of the Vermont summer.

“The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America, July 4, 1776”, The Declaration of Independence, is the founding document of the United States.  56 men, representatives chosen from each of the thirteen colonies, signed the Declaration.  I looked at the names of the men who signed, among them two men who were to become U.S. Presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson; the inventor and Statesman Benjamin Franklin; and, of course, John Hancock.  

Without the public reading of the Declaration I wouldn’t have remembered the final and solemn words, “…we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

I thought about those men, wondered at what it might have been like to sit among them, marveled at their bravery and was reminded that it is my responsibility, our responsibility, to pass on to the next generation a belief in the rightness and value of liberty and the obligations of a government to its people.

The Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion   Photo Courtesy Fish and Game

The Mountain Lion

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror
June 22, 2012

 A young mountain lion was shot and killed in Santa Monica on May 22, 2012.  It was hard to believe he was on 2nd Street.  What happened to bring him here?  Did the authorities do what they had to do to protect public safety or could the mountain lion have been saved and safely relocated?

The Santa Monica Police Department, Fish and Game, and the National Park Service, among others, will be meeting on Monday, June 25 as part of an official investigation into the tragedy and to develop a protocol on the chance that this could happen again.

I am a regular hiker in the Santa Monica Mountains, but I don’t know very much about the mountain lions that call those mountains home.  So I turned to the scientists studying the mountain lions and want to share what I learned from them in the hope that it will help both us as a city and the mountain lions.

Seth Riley, Wildlife Ecologist, and Jeff Sikich, Biologist, are with the National Park Service and track and monitor mountain lion populations in the Santa Monica Mountains.  Riley said,  “We don’t know exactly how many mountain lions live adjacent to our urban area.  Currently five are radio collared and we are following them.  Two are in the Santa Monica Mountains; two are in the Santa Susana Mountains.  And one, known as P-22, is in Griffith Park.  We expect he will stay there, without causing any problems, and will not leave until he goes looking for a female mountain lion.”  

The original range of the mountain lions, also called pumas, cougars and in Florida, panthers, was from South America to Canada and from coast to coast in the United States.

Except for the Florida panthers, who were declining due to a lack of genetic diversity but are coming back due to conservation actions, these animals no longer exist east of the Rockies.  They were eliminated in years past by hunters, ranchers, and farmers.  A law banning hunting of mountain lions was not passed in California until 1990. 

“Because mountain lions need so much space they are among the first animals to be affected by urbanization and habitat fragmentation,” said Riley.

The range of an adult male mountain lion is about 300 square kilometers.  They are solitary animals.  The adult female mountain lion keeps her kittens with her until they are 1 or 1½ and needs a range of about 100 square kilometers. This allows enough room to have sufficient prey to hunt.  They eat mostly deer.

The area of the Santa Monica Mountains totals approximately 650 square kilometers and could support a population of up to 6 to 8 mountain lions.  Not enough to be genetically or demographically viable.

The Mountain Lion Project of the National Park Service began in the Santa Monica Mountains in 2002 as an outgrowth of The Carnivore Study in the Santa Monica Mountains, done by Ray Sauvagot.  Riley and Sauvagot were both graduate students at UC Davis and Riley sees “Davis as having one of the best programs in ecology anywhere and especially in the United States where urban ecology is a relatively young field.”

Since 2002 Riley and Sikich have radio tagged 22 mountain lions.  The goals of the Project are to study the mountain lions, their behavior, their habitat, threats to mountain lions, and to propose solutions to protect the future of the mountain lions.

Of the 22 mountain lions identified over the last decade they are still tracking five. Some died of natural causes.  One of the mountain lions was on the 405 freeway and was hit by a car and one, known as P-9, was hit by a car in Malibu Canyon.  But the most common source of mortality comes from fights between male lions over scarce territory. 

The original mountain lion in the study, P-1, was tagged in 2002.  They lost contact with him in 2009 when his collar came off in a fight.  The scientists went to the site where the collar came off and typed the blood they found, which enabled them to establish P-1's identity.  They know he survived as they found his scat later in 2009.

 Urbanization creates problems for the mountain lions as development cuts off their access to natural pathways.  When built, the 101 freeway, the 118 freeway and the 126 freeway blocked the natural movement of the mountain lions.  At the time, it seemed, no one was thinking about the effects on wildlife of building freeways.  As development tends to follow freeways the habitat area for mountain lions was reduced on both sides of the freeway.  And the freeways were themselves barriers.

The natural pathways that connected the animals to the Simi Valley, to the Santa Susana Mountains and even to Los Padres National Forest, which goes all the way to Big Sur, were no longer available for the mountain lions. 

With young males, who start to become independent at about 1½ trying to find their own territory and with more adult males competing for the same range, existence became more difficult for the mountain lions.

As part of the study the mountain lions are tranquilized and given radio collars. Riley and Sikich bait a cage with deer meat, the preferred diet of the mountain lion.  When the mountain lion is inside the cage they can get right up next to the animal and use a blowgun to shoot a tranquilizing dart.  The dart can also be administered from a distance using a special rifle.

The mountain lions are anesthetized with ketamine, which causes disassociation, and medetomidine, which is an analgesic.  They use a blowpipe – a long tube with a dart containing the medications.  Dosage is administered in direct proportion to weight.  Generally four or five minutes elapse from when the dart is administered to the mountain lion being tranquilized.  It could take longer in a different environment.  Once tranquilized, the mountain lions are out for 45 – 60 minutes and then the effects wear off completely.

Riley said, “None of the animals we have radio tracked has ever behaved aggressively toward people.  The Griffith park mountain lion is in a natural area doing his natural thing and being monitored.  If we saw a change in his behavior our response would change.

"Attacks against people are rare."  Riley says, “Clearly the mountain lions don’t consider people to be prey.  They are right next to us and yet they are elusive and run away.”

However there have been serious and deadly attacks, one in 2004 in Orange County where a mountain biker was killed. 

Riley’s advice is:  “Be aware that mountain lions are around, although it is incredibly unusual to encounter one.  They know we’re here and they are elusive and keep away from us.  If you do encounter one, stand tall, make yourself look as big as possible, make a lot of loud noise, don’t turn and run, back away slowly and deliberately. Don’t act like a deer!  Don’t run as if you were the prey.  Remember, they want to get away from you.”

The National Park Service was created on August 25, 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson “to promote and regulate the use of Federal areas known as national parks, monuments and reservations . . . by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purpose of the said parks, monuments and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

In 2012 don’t we have the same mission?

links

http://www.urbancarnivores.com/

Http://www.nps.gov/samo/index.htm

http://www.scwildlands.org/index.aspx

Doug Liman: Reckoning With Torture

Director Doug Liman
Photo Courtesy Hypnotic Productions

Doug Liman:  Reckoning With Torture       
SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

June 8, 2012

Doug Liman, the Director of the Bourne Identity, Swingers, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, is directing a film about torture, specifically government-sanctioned torture.

He and I talked about making the film, Reckoning With Torture.  Here is what he said about the film, how he decided to make a film about torture, and his thoughts on American values.

SC.         When you think about making this film what do you hope for?

DL.         I am a perpetual optimist.  You can’t be in the film business unless you are and I have great hopes for the change film can provoke.

         I’m not naïve and I know the odds are against us.  But they’ve been against every film I’ve ever made.

SC.           When did you first start to become aware of American use of torture?

DL.         It wasn’t that long after 9/11 that I started seeing the horrible events of that day being exploited by our government and I became aware that our government was crossing lines that, in my memory, it had not.

I’m a commercial filmmaker and I spend most of my time putting together Hollywood style films.  When 9/11 happened, I was making the Bourne Identity.  During the Iraq war I was making the OC.

SC.         Do you remember a specific incident or moment in time when the issue of torture became something you felt you couldn’t ignore?

DL.         Even though I mostly worry about wondering if I can get a particular actor to cut his back end and even though I wasn’t looking for trouble, the photos and the information from Abu Ghraib were hard to ignore.

For me, like most Americans, once Abu Ghraib, the mistreatment and even torture of prisoners by American soldiers got your attention it was hard to ignore.  And when you realized that this was not just a couple of bad apples going against the rule of law, this was institutional policy, I couldn’t escape knowing that this was not consistent with the values I associate with being an American.

SC.         There is a big divide in American thinking on the use of torture.  Many will argue that we have no choice.  We have to protect ourselves.  It is a question of public safety.  Many will argue that it is against the principles of America, its values and its laws. 

DL.         I don’t come from national security work, so I don’t know if torture works.  What I do know is that people who work in National Security say it doesn’t.  It would be a more complicated issue if it did.  If we had to argue the morality of hurting someone in the hope that you might get information that would help save someone else we might be having a different discussion.  But since it doesn’t and the people, whose job is security, consistently confirm that it doesn’t, then the people who are pro torture are coming from a place of ignorance.

SC.         Was learning about Abu Ghraib the genesis of the idea to make the film?

DL.         What happened was that, like most Americans, I might be outraged, but had my own life to think about.   When I was making Fair Game, I ended up in a meeting at the ACLU and they showed me some of the documents they had obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, documents written by the American government.

Those documents described, very specifically, torture practices – a “How To Manual” – and they were distributed to detention facilities under U.S. control.  They condoned and institutionalized the practice of torture.

If you believe in the rule of law you should not do this.  The United States is signatory to the Geneva Conventions and the actions at Abu Ghraib and all acts of torture are against International Law.

It would be very hard to read documents created during the second Bush Administration and to learn what it was the country was doing and be okay with it.

SC.         Why are the documents so compelling?

DL.         These are not biased reports.  Consisting of 1000’s of pages, for the most part the documents consist of internal memos and reports of internal investigations.  Reports and investigations that were initiated because people within the Justice Department, the CIA, the Department of Defense, and the NSA saw actions that they believed to be wrong and outside the law and they wanted these actions investigated and stopped.

Thankfully, we have these documents.  It’s hard to imagine any other place where these damning documents would be released. 

SC.         What is the idea behind the film, Reckoning With Torture?

DL.         The Freedom of Information Act works. It allows us to heal ourselves.  Justice hasn’t been done yet.  There has been no punishment, no restitution, we haven’t reckoned yet with the atrocities committed.  But there is a mechanism that creates healing and we need to acknowledge it.

Any parent knows that when a kid does something wrong it has to be acknowledged to be truly over. 

The same is true on a large, public scale.  This was shown in South Africa with the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions.

SC.         How do we heal the division in American thought on the use of torture?

DL.         The first step is to show it is not a political issue, not an issue to take sides on, it is an issue of what it means to be an American.

We live in such a polarized world that we can’t separate the storyteller from the story.  If  Robert Redford is reading a torture memo verbatim people who don’t want to believe it will dismiss it as the ramblings of a left wing Hollywood movie star.

The only way to get past this is for people to read the documents for themselves.  To hear many, many Americans reading the documents is so moving.

SC.         I understand that is exactly what you plan to do.  You have made the documents available for people to read aloud, to make videos of the readings, and to send them to you to be used in the film.  What are you doing to get readings from people?

DL.         We have a website. http://reckoningwithtorture.org/   Any one can go on the website, pick a declassified document from among the documents we have posted on the website, make a video of themselves reading, and send it to us.  It’s all on the website – what to do and how to do it.  Any one with a cell phone can do this, and that’s just about everyone in the U.S.

We have gotten tons of responses so far and we will continue to gather more material during the summer and then begin editing in the fall.

SC.         How will you choose which videos to use?

DL.         I am so moved by the idea that people will take the time to be part of this film.  My goal is, through good editing, to use everybody who sends in a video.

SC.         Is it your hope this will change how Americans are seen in other parts of the world?

DL.         I travel a lot for work and even when the U.S. was at an all time moral low in world wide public perception, people would still come up to me and say that while they didn’t agree with the American government’s actions they loved the American people. 

Having said that, there is something amazing about a project that allows Americans to apologize, to say, “I don’t condone this.”  I think it will be amazing for the people who make the videos and amazing for the people, all over the world, who will watch this.

I make Hollywood movies and so I’m always looking for good endings.

SC.         Does this work make you feel close to your parents, and especially to your father, Arthur Liman, who was well known for his work at the Senate Iran-Contra Hearings.

DL.          I feel like my dad and my mother were both great role models for civic responsibility.  I’m not limited by the examples of my parents but they factor in.  My father believed so strongly in public service but he also loved my movies.

SC.         I think the idea for this film of many, many Americans reading from the documents and the concept of healing through acknowledging the truth is brilliant.  Kudos to you for your work.

 LINKS

Reckoning with Torture website
http://reckoningwithtorture.org/

Reckoning with Torture: Sundance Film Festival
January 29, 2011 | Sundance Film Festival | Park City, Utah
http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5542/prmID/172

Abu Ghraib article in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse

ACLU documents released under the FOIA
http://www.aclu.org/accountability/released.html

US. Department of Justice Freedom of Information Act http://www.justice.gov/oip/foia_updates/Vol_XVII_4/page2.htm

Truth and Reconciliation Commission
http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/

Arthur Liman
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/18/nyregion/arthur-l-liman-a-masterly-lawyer-dies-at-64.html?scp=1&sq=Arthur+LIman+Obituary&st=nyt

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/18/nyregion/arthur-l-liman-a-masterly-lawyer-dies-at-64.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

The State Assembly Candidates: Santa Monica Votes June 5, 2012

VOTE     VOTE     VOTE

 STATE ASSEMBLY CANDIDATES
  
 RICHARD BLOOM

 BETSY BUTLER

 TORIE OSBORN

 BRAD TORGAN



SUSAN CLOKE
Mirror Columnist
May 25, 2012

Education, environmental sustainability, development and traffic, and social justice are main concerns of Santa Monicans.

The person we elect to be our Assembly Member can help or hurt us as we try to tackle these issues.  Our Assembly Member’s actions in Sacramento make a difference in financing for education, the enhancement and protection of clean air and water, easing traffic congestion, regulations for fair and safe working conditions, the availability of health care and more. 

In alphabetical order, the candidates are: RichardBloom, Betsy Butler, Torie Osborn and Brad Torgan.  On June 5, 2012 Santa Monicans will decide who gets their vote.  To help in this decision, each candidate has been asked to respond to the same four questions.  In their own words the candidates tell us where they stand and what they will do about education, sustainability, development and traffic, and issues of social justice.  

Each question is written below, followed by the answer of each of the candidates. 

Question 1.   EDUCATION:  Santa Monica schools, from nursery schools through college are struggling with tremendous budget cuts.  As a City we have worked to offset those cuts, but more needs to be done.  Please tell us what you have done to protect education funding and what you will do as an Assembly Member. 

Richard Bloom.  “I am a champion for public education and have helped raise City funding to the SMMUSD from $2.25 million (1999) to a projected $14.4 million.   My wife, my children and I received excellent public educations.  I’ve been a PTA Vice-President, coach and volunteer while my children grew.  I believe every child deserves an opportunity for an excellent education.  We must find predictable funding for all levels of education that cannot be touched by the State.  We must assure the public that their money is being spent wisely and for the benefit of our children.

Betsy Butler.  “I would not vote for a budget that did not address the needs of public education.  Last year, my first year in the Assembly, we structured a budget that came as close as possible to protecting public education.  As a result, the budget before us now will require many serious cuts but it increases funding for public schools by $6 billion.  That funding will be contingent on the voters' approval of the Governor's proposed modest increase in temporary sales tax and an equally modest income tax increase on the wealthiest Californians.  I am confident that every candidate will join with me in urging voters to approve that measure and secure this $6 billion in additional funding for our schools.

Torie Osborn.  “California’s future depends on reinvesting in our education system. I have endorsed the work of organizations like the Education Foundation, the PTA and CEPS, because, through their advocacy and work, SMMUSD has been able to absorb some of Sacramento’s draconian cuts, but we must do more to provide schools with reliable state funding. I would work tirelessly to craft a fair tax code (including closing the corporate property tax loophole, instituting an oil severance tax) so that early childhood education, K-12 education, and higher education can begin to recover.  And I would look to bring Santa Monica’s extraordinary education leadership to broader scale.”

Brad Torgan.  “California’s business tax climate is the 3^rd worst in the country, and that’s even with the property tax protections of Proposition 13.  Our overall tax burden is the 6^th highest in the country.  Yet, our spending per K-12 student is 47^th in the country. When our taxes are amongst the highest in the country, but our education spending is near the bottom, our spending priorities are seriously out of whack.  The Assembly needs to put education near the top of its priorities, not the bottom.

Question 2.  SUSTAINABILITY.  Santa Monica is growing its reputation for sustainability, from our solar powered Ferris wheel, to our green streets, to our no plastic bag policy.  Please tell us what you have done to protect the environment and what you will do as an Assembly Member.

Richard Bloom.  “In the Assembly, I’ll continue the legacy I’ve begun on the City Council.  As Mayor, Coastal Commissioner and in other positions, I have been a constant and passionate advocate for environmental initiatives, including protecting our coast and creating Marine Life Protection Areas.  We’ve achieved extraordinary results in Santa Monica because the community is committed and because we deliberately engage the business community.  I helped shepherd the plastic bag, polystyrene and various smoking bans that improve our environment.  I have worked diligently to enact our green building ordinance and implement our green streets, stormwater runoff, water/energy self-sufficiency programs and more.

Betsy Butler.  “I intend to address water issues across the state and implement policies similar to Santa Monica and its reuse of water. My record as a current Assembly member affirms my commitment to the environment.  Both my bill to ban toxics in products used by babies and my electric vehicle bill passed and were signed into law by Governor Brown in 2011.  I have established my record as an early and effective opponent of the unregulated practice of "fracking" by oil companies.  This process threatens our aquifers and must be regulated.  My work has earned me the California League of Conservation Voters and Sierra Club endorsements.

Torie Osborn.  “Under my leadership, Liberty Hill Foundation brought together mainstream environmental leaders and environmental justice groups in a new coalition – Green LA -- to craft a unified progressive environmental agenda for LA. That agenda included LA’s Clean Air Action Plan for the Port of Los Angeles, Green Building Ordinances for the City and County of Los Angeles; it encouraged city departments to give preferred purchasing to green businesses.  If elected I would continue my commitment to practical environmental solutions so that California, whose wind, solar, geothermal energy should make it the global center of the new green economy, can continue to lead on environmental policy.

Brad Torgan.  “When I served as Chief Counsel for California State Parks, I organized opposition to a toll road that would have destroyed a state beach and Trestles, one of the best known surfing spots in California. I also litigated to keep high voltage transmission lines out of State wilderness.  As a member of the Assembly I would fight against special interest exemptions to the California Environmental Quality Act.

Question 3.         DEVELOPMENT AND TRAFFIC.  Santa Monica is experiencing an unprecedented demand for growth and development, with 15 Development Agreement applications currently before the City.  It is also experiencing an unprecedented degree of traffic congestion.  Please tell us your thoughts and ideas about development and traffic in Santa Monica and how those ideas might be expressed in the job of an Assembly Member.

Richard Bloom.  “We are not alone in having traffic congestion but it is definitely a problem.  In consensus processes our community agreed on a cutting edge land use plan, an ambitious bike plan and, through dogged determination, we are realizing the dream of light rail.  All new development must contribute to reducing traffic.  Nearly all new development is “mixed use”, clustered near transit stops.  Many of the solutions to traffic lay outside our borders.  If neighboring cities, especially L.A., were to adopt Santa Monica-style land use rules, regional traffic would ease while economic development/jobs would accelerate.  Legislation should encourage/incentivize this outcome.

Betsy Butler.  “Like many people here I am disappointed in how some local and state officials allow themselves to be bullied or bought by development interests who cynically use the recession as justification for damaging our communities and the quality of our lives.  Every candidate promises to "stand up to the special interests." I am the only candidate who has done so consistently. 

Torie Osborn.  “Bringing more good paying jobs into Santa Monica and the 50^th District is critical, but it will mean also allowing mixed development that requires the creation of affordable housing.  If we locate affordable housing near job centers, it also cuts down on traffic.  Along with the Expo line (which will cut back on the car traffic) we need to increase funding for bike routes, incentivize environmental friendly shuttles that allows Santa Monicans to get around the city without their cars, and expand regional mass transit systems such as the Subway to the Sea.

Brad Torgan.  “As a Planning and Transportation Commissioner in West Hollywood, I’ve seen firsthand the impacts of overdevelopment.  I also see those impacts fighting on behalf of a community organization in Hollywood, trying to prevent massive increases in commercial density in their neighborhoods.  How Santa Monica wants to develop is ultimately up to the citizens of Santa Monica, but there must be recognition that some development issues and impacts are regional in scope and require regional or state solutions.

Question 4.  SOCIAL JUSTICE.  Santa Monica examples of its commitment to social justice include Program to End Homelessness and the enactment of a living wage ordinance.  Please tell us what you have done to advance social justice in your work and what you would do as an Assembly Member.

Richard Bloom.  “I've led the struggle to end homelessness, provided unmatched services for seniors, the disabled and children (our first accessible playground is on the way).  The Assembly should budget a reasonable safety net.  But the State is broke, from years of fiscal irresponsibility.  High unemployment makes things worse.  Revenue measures like those on the November ballot will help.  But true salvation for these programs and for the State of California requires a resurgent economy.  Under my leadership, Santa Monica has proven how we can have both progress and prosperity.  That’s the Santa Monica-style success I ask voters to send to Sacramento.

Betsy Butler.  “I am honored to have the support and endorsement of numerous social justice organizations, including the Consumer Federation of California, Equality California, the National Women’s Political Caucus, the California League of Conservation Voters and the United Farm Workers. Today, I am carrying the strongest legislation in America to protect farm workers from heat illness and death.  I am proud that Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers, Lily Ledbetter, the California Democratic Party and Planned Parenthood have endorsed as well.

Torie Osborn.  “My entire life has been spent working for social justice, from the early women’s health movement, to national leadership on HIV/AIDS, and the LGBT movement.  Then, leading the Liberty Hill Foundation, I worked with local groups on successful living wage ordinances and environmental justice campaigns.  In Mayor Villaraigosa’s cabinet and at the United Way, I worked to diminish homelessness and poverty. As a Member of the State Assembly, I would champion legislation on equality, poverty and juvenile justice, as well as fight to restore and protect the budgets for education and the safety net.

Brad Torgan.  “Social justice can’t be achieved when one out of every nine Californians of working age – 11% – is unemployed.  Reducing that unemployment rate will require reforming our State’s tax structure and creating a more friendly business climate. “

The candidates, in their own words, have told us who they are.  What they believe. What they will do, if elected.  On June 5, it will be our turn.  It is our right and our responsibility to vote.

We have all heard or even said, “He’s a politician.”  Usually, it’s meant as a put down.  But doesn’t it depend on context?  Can’t being a politician mean being a person committed to public service?  Santa Monica has had the good fortune to be well represented by people of commitment to community and commitment to public service.  Let us use our vote to continue that tradition.

To our candidates, thank you.  It is hard work and worthwhile to run for office.  It is hard work and also deeply satisfying to be able to do good work.  Thank you for being willing to do this work.  Thank you for your commitment to community and for your public service.

What Say You? A Murder of Crows

Native American Crow Carving
Courtesy Judy Wunsch

SUSAN CLOKE                                                         

Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror             

Crow complaints are on the rise in Santa Monica.  Neighbors are complaining about early morning loud noise, crows carrying away fledglings from other bird’s nests, crows frightening off other birds, crows eating garbage and crows making messes. 

Complaints about crows are not new.  Throughout history crows have been labeled schemers, pests, scavengers, tricksters and, even omens of death.  Remember the ominous crows in the classic movie, Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds?

Crows live in large flocks, called “a murder.”  This poetic name was recorded in a 1486 essay on hunting, attributed to Dame Juliana Berners, published in the Book of Saint Albans.  In it, she lists the names of groups of animals.  Ravens and crows get the harshest names. A flock of crows is a ‘murder of crows’ and a flock of ravens is an ‘unkindness of ravens.’ 

Very harsh compared with flock names such as, an ‘exaltation of larks’, a ‘charm of goldfinch’, a ‘parliament of owls’, an ‘ostentation of peacocks’, a ‘congregation of plovers’, and a ‘pandemonium of parrots’.

Crows are highly intelligent animals.  They make and use tools, recognize individual people by their facial features, and crow vocalizations are being studied as a possible language.

Crow intelligence has been recognized in myth and folklore.  Crows were tricksters and ancient ancestors in Aboriginal Australian lore, they were associated with the Irish goddess Morrigan, a crow speaks to Apollo in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, crows are considered ancestors in Hinduism, crows are mentioned in the Buddhist Tibetan disciplines, a crow is said to have protected the first Dalai Lama when he was a baby.

A Native American story tells of the beautiful to hear and see Rainbow Crow who received fire from the Creator and brought it back to earth on a burning stick.  The stick charred his feathers and turned the crow black and the smoke and heat of the fire turned his voice hoarse.  The crow is honored because he brought fire to keep people warm.

Garry George, Conservation Chair for Los Angeles Audubon, said, “We’ve enabled the crow.  Their natural habitat is on open plains with trees for nesting.  We’ve replicated that, to a degree, when we changed the coastal desert ecology of Southern California and planted large, open expanses of grass along with large and well-pruned trees and installed sprinklers.

“But crows are predators.  They eat fledging birds at the seashore, including least terns, sandpipers, herons and egrets.  Audubon would like to see people taking appropriate actions to reduce the incentive for crows to be in our urban areas.”

From the PBS video “A Murder of Crows” we learn about the work of John Mazluff, Wildlife Biologist at the University of Washington, who experimented with crow identification of individual people.  He was able to show that crows could not only recognize individual people but could pass that information on to their fledglings.  We also see the New Caledonian crows solving spatial problems in order to make tools and to use those tools to get food.

Crows are omnivores who will eat anything from insects, worms, grasshoppers, fruits and nuts, grains, seeds, crops and fish to fledglings, eggs from other bird’s nests, garbage we leave out, dog or cat food left outdoors and all carrion.

If they survive the first few years, and the estimate is that fewer than 50% do, crows can live as long as 20 years. They reach sexual maturity between 3 and 5 years of age, usually mate for life, the mother and father crow and siblings from previous seasons, called ‘helpers at the nest’ take care of the crow fledglings.  Crows spend up to 5 years with their parents and family.

“There were always American Crows in this area,” said Kimball Garrett, Ornithologist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.  “When the area was largely agricultural the crows that where here were persecuted and shot because they ate the crops.  The crows developed fears and learned to avoid humans. 

“When LA become populated, people changed the ecology of the LA basin by planting large expanses of lawns and installing irrigation systems and fountains and pools, by planting many trees. People left dog and cat food outside for their pets.  People didn’t properly dispose of garbage. 

“As people made the urban areas more habitable for themselves they also made them more attractive to crows.  We created an environment that was good for the crows.   These changes to the natural habitat allowed an artificial growth in the crow population.”

The crows are now happy here and if reducing their urban presence is our goal, it won’t be easy.  There are some obvious things to do. We can be very careful about our garbage, throwing nothing out the window of a car, throwing nothing on the ground, making sure that all garbage is in secure containers.  We can feed our dogs and cats indoors.

Or we could do what the City of Chatham, Canada did and bring in a falconer.  He used his trained hawks to capture, but not hurt, the crows.  Then he released them and the crows did what came naturally to them - they spread the news that there were predators in town.  The crows decided it was too dangerous to stick around.

Or we could take the advice of those who say crows are amazing and intelligent and interesting and we could decide to like them.

I’m going to do a little of both.  My dog food is coming off the porch and into the house.  I’ll let my dog out to bark at the crows if they become a nuisance at my house.   And, as a long time environmentalist, I’ll continue to be careful and dispose of all trash correctly.

And I’m going to look at them in a new way.  I learned so much about crows just through doing the research for this article that I already have a new appreciation for them.  And, I wonder, is it really true that they take care of their elderly parents?

What Say You?

Hometown Hero: Lester Breslow (1915- 2012) An Appreciation

SUSAN CLOKE
Columnist, Santa Monica Mirror

You may have seen Dr. Breslow, a man in his 90’s, taking his regular walk on the Boardwalk in Santa Monica.  Lester Breslow, a physician who pioneered the field of public health, was following his own advice for a long life.  

“Do not smoke.  Drink in moderation.  Sleep seven to eight hours.  Exercise at least moderately.  Eat regular meals.  Maintain a moderate weight.  Eat breakfast.”

These rules, Dr. Breslow’s “7 Healthy Habits” became the foundation for many government programs designed to promote good health and longevity.  What may seem common knowledge to us now is, in large part, common knowledge because of Dr. Breslow’s work.

 The “7 Healthy Habits” for longevity were based on data from the Alameda County Study.  The demographics of Alameda County were reflective of national demographics and that made it a good site for the study.

 In 1965 almost 7000 residents of Alameda County CA were randomly selected and asked to participate in a survey regarding their health habits.  Did they smoke?  How much did they drink?  How much exercise did they get?  What did they eat?  When did they eat?  How much did they sleep?

The first survey was used to create a baseline.  Follow up surveys, coded for anonymity, collected data over a 20 year period and were used to correlate health habits with disease incidence and longevity.

The methodology used in the study provided a mathematical proof that life style, good health and longevity are linked.  His work expanded the definition of public health and explored the inter-relationship of the community, the environment and the individual.

Dr. Breslow had intended to practice psychiatry but he was having doubts about his choice and his mentor at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Alex Blumstein, who became a life long friend, encouraged him to go into the field of public health.

Born in Bismarck, North Dakota in 1915, he was the oldest of four children, his father a pharmacist, his mother a schoolteacher. 

The family moved to the Twin Cities in Minnesota in 1927.  The first in his family to go to college, Lester Breslow received four degrees from the University of Minnesota.  His undergraduate degree in science, his medical degree, his master’s degree in public health and then, much later in life, an honorary degree for his contributions to the field of medicine.

World War II interrupted his career, as it did to everyone who lived through those times.  From 1943 to 1945 he served as a Captain under General MacArthur.  With his training in epidemiology he worked as a physician and also developed preventative medicine programs to protect troops in the tropics from getting malaria and Dengue fever.   He was also responsible for the clearing of returning troops for communicable diseases when they returned to port in San Francisco.

Dr. Breslow was discharged in 1945 and reunited with his first wife and three children.  He wanted to continue his work in the field of public health and talked to the CA State Health Department about his ideas for the prevention of chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

At first, the CA State Health Department sent him to the San Joaquin Valley to study equine encephalitis and to keep it contained.  Dr. Breslow continued to work for the CA State Health Department for 22 years, rose through the ranks and soon became the Head of the Bureau of Chronic Diseases.

In the post war period the CA State Health Department created the CA Tumor Registry was established to track disease incidence, treatment and survival and that was how the rising trend in the incidence of lung cancer in American women was seen.

In 1965 Governor Pat Brown appointed Dr. Breslow to the position of Director of the CA State Health Department.  But the Director is an appointed position and when Governor Brown was no longer governor, Dr. Breslow became a professor at the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA.  It was 1968. By 1972 he became Dean of the School, a position he held until his retirement at age 65.

His idea of retirement was an active one.  He kept on working because it made him happy to do so, doing research, mentoring students and giving lectures and talks.

He loved to be on the go and loved the theater and to discover new restaurants.  He also tended his garden and walked every day.  He followed his own rules – no smoking, ate breakfast, sleep 7-8 hours per night, no snacking, weight to height balance, alcohol in moderation and exercise.

Dr. Breslow received great recognition in his lifetime, he was the advisor to Presidents, the recipient of prestigious medical awards including the Lienhard Award from the Institute of Medicine, the Sedgwick Medal from the American Public Health Association and the University Service Medal.  He died in April of 2012, at the age of 97.  His long life is a testament to his work and we are his beneficiaries.

My thanks to Devra Breslow.  She is a talented, professional woman in her own right and Lester’s wife of 44 years.  Without her help this column could not have been written.