The Family Tree

As I walk through my living room I can pause and listen and still hear the delicious echoes of laughter, good hearted derision and sighs from the heart:

What's with those OP corduroy  shorts?  Look how short they are!

Oh my gosh, look at our hair!!

Why are there 12 pictures of the same Easter Basket?

You actually wore that dress?  Out?

Oh look. Granddad...

Then I come back to the present and head on in to the kitchen to make some coffee, but the lingering memory is just too wonderful to abandon, so I indulge myself about New Year's Day all over again.

There it was on the floor late New Year's day 2012,  a virtual collage of photos spread all over the rug as my family sat poring over each and every photograph we pulled out of a huge bin I keep downstairs in the closet.   I have chastised myself over the years that I don't have photos organized into albums but instead rely on a box here, and a bin there to house the photos I have.  But on this day, the colorful chaos of disorganization played in my favor.  It was amazing, grabbing handfuls of pictures and examining them one at a time and then passing them on around the room.

At the urging of my daughter-in-law, I had fetched the bin and brought it out, and we all sat in a circle laughing and oohing and aahing  and remembering, heading together down a memory lane, a path we share as leaves on the family tree begun by my mother and father. The photo spread looked like a quilt, a comforter that time sewed. Or maybe better said, like the shady and comforting canopy of a living, growing tree.  Bliss…

Youth Arrested For Robbery

LA MESA -- San Diego police stopped a stolen car on Fairmont Avenue and may have helped solve a recent robbery in La Mesa.

On Monday, Jan. 16 a La Mesa man had his car and wallet stolen at gunpoint from an apartment house parking lot on Parks Avenue. The victim's 2005 Hyundai Elantra was taken.

On Wednesday at 3:27 p.m., San Diego police spotted the car on Fairmont and its three occupants were taken into custody. San Diego police contacted La Mesa PD and Detective Dale Perry interviewed the suspects.

After the investigation, Torrence Young, 18, from San Diego was arrested for robbery. Kevin Ball, 19, of El Cajon was arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle.

The Time Spent Saving Armando

Second of Two Parts

By Chris Lavin

Editor/LaMesaToday.com

LA MESA – It is just after 6 p.m. when the night shift and its supervisor sit down for the nightly briefing.

On this night, this is what will stand watch for La Mesa. With a couple of exceptions, it is a very young crowd. Four patrol members, led by older officers, review the work of the day crew and hear the description of a car stolen at gunpoint just hours before. There is talk about a possible rape and increased suspicious activity in a city park.

And then the officers are off.

Gary Moss, an ex-Navy avionics mechanic and one of the more mature men of this shift, climbs into his patrol car, clicks on his on-board computer and signals to the dispatcher as he leaves the new police station’s underground garage that he is on the road.

Moss is assigned on this night to the northwest quadrant of the city, one of four patrol cars that, theoretically, will keep a presence across the city and be able to respond to calls while watching for criminal activity.

Almost immediately, Moss gets a call.

He is summoned deep into a clean, well-kept apartment complex off Lake Murray Boulevard by a young, single mom who was having trouble with her 17-year-old son – call him Armando.

Armando had been fighting with his younger brother and announced he was leaving and not coming back. His mother is distraught and defeated. “He has run away,’’ she says. “I don’t know what I can do.”

The easy thing for Moss here would be to size this whole episode up as…

City Program Will Subsidize Composters

LA MESA -- After a meeting of much ceremony and contemplating future projects -- bike paths will be everywhere! -- the City Council settled on one thing they could do right now: compost.

The council approved a staff recommendation to begin a program that will encourage La Mesa residents to maintain compost operations in their yard.

Compost piles traditionally collect the green waste -- yard clippings, old vegetables, etc. -- that would normally go to landfills. Instead, they are stored and turned over from time to time as they degrade. The final result is excellent source of fertilizer and planting material.

The city program will use grant money to offer residents a $50 subsidy on the purchase of a $79 composter, essentially a large bin that holds the waste as it is transformed by biological processes into the desired material. (Photo shows one style of composter, not necessarily what the Dixieline product looks like.)

The program will be publicized on the city's website.

Additionally, the city heard two reports -- one from professionals and another from middle school students (see photo below) -- that came to the same conclusion. The city has a lot of work to do to make its streets safe for pedestrian and bicyclists.…

  Honoring Leaders In A Special Year

LA MESA -- Each year, Mayor Art Madrid delivers an "audit'' report that is essentially his State of The City Address. It is printed here below in full:

By MAYOR ART MADRID

Good evening Ladies and Gentleman, on behalf of the City of La Mesa, we wish you

and your families a happy and healthy new year.

With each New Year I submit my annual "Audit Report" to my council colleagues and residents of La Mesa Highlighting noteworthy accomplishments of the previous twelve months; pending projects, and conjecture on what to expect from Washington, D.C., and Sacramento in the near future.

2012 promises to be a very busy, festive and memorable year as we prepare to inaugurate our yearlong Centennial Celebration. 2012 is also the year in which long overdue, major revitalization improvements will take place at our Downtown Village.

The results will transform it into a destination point for countywide patrons of every type and will serve as a magnet and economic engine for new businesses. It will become a thriving, walkable community with a charm that will make the "Village" the

brightest gem on our "Jewel of the Hills" crown.

Since its incorporation in 1912, La Mesa has benefited from significant, orderly and positive change. It embodies what Winston Churchill once said: "There is nothing wrong with change if it is in the right direction." I am sure that if Mr. Churchill were alive today, he wouldn't hesitate to use La Mesa's change from an agricultural community to an enhanced urban village as a prime example.

Today we are fortunate to live in a…

Can The Robbery Wave Be Stopped?

The First of Two Parts.

By Chris Lavin

Editor/LaMesaToday.com

LA MESA – City police officer Gary Moss was driving by a 7-11 on Baltimore Drive in La Mesa in the early morning hours of Dec. 12 when he saw a man carrying a backpack walking quickly from the store.

Something about it looked suspicious so Moss did what cops do. He followed his instincts and followed the man. The man stopped, then tossed his backpack and ran.

Moments later Moss’ dispatcher sent out a call that the 7-11 had been robbed. In the backpack, Moss found money and a gun and enough information to trace the man to an apartment on nearby Cowles Mountain Boulevard.

Just like on the TV cop shows, the bad guy was arrested and the community was safer.

The truth about that incident, however, is that this kind of arrest is a rare event in the police world.

“I’ve been in the business 26 years and I can tell you I’ve only had a handful of incidents in which you catch the person red-handed,’’ La Mesa Police chief Ed Aceves said. “It is really rare.’’

In fact, in November and December of 2011, La Mesa was undergoing what appeared to the public to be an epidemic of armed robberies. Gas stations, ice cream stores, convenience stores, banks. One after another, night after night, or so it seemed, knocked off by brazen young men who flashed a gun, took the cash…

Celebrating Diversity In La Mesa

LA MESA -- The City of La Mesa's Human Relations Commission presented the 16th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Multicultural Festival Sunday.

Scheduled at the same time of two major professional football championships, the gathering was lightly attended, but included performances by dance troups, including the Ballet Folklorico en Aztlan, martial arts groups and was keynoted with a speech by Dr. Shirley Weber, pictured right. Weber is the chairman of the Africana Studies Department at San Diego State University.

Weber congratulated La Mesa on maintaining a diverse community but said diversity requires constant vigilence and effort in a dynamic community.

La Mesa Talents  Headed To Symphony Concert

LA JOLLA -- Much of La Mesa's young syphony music talent traveled west Saturday morning to practice for the upcoming concert of the San Diego Young Artists Symphony.

Conductor Jane Frey, a Mt. Helix resident and a suzuki method violin teacher, led the morning practice held at La Jolla Country Day School.

During the day, Kitty Dukakis, wife of former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, was leaving the Country Day campus after a public appearance Saturday morning when she heard the sound of orchestra music flowing out of the Four Flowers Theater.

Though late for a lunch appointment, Mrs. Dukakis raced into the theater, asked the conductor for a moment and she addressed the students about the value of orchestra music.

Mrs. Dukakis' father had been the conductor of the famed Boston Pops for decades and she had grown up surrounded by great music.

"You sound great,'' she told the musicians, which included students from eight San Diego County schools, including Country Day. "I want to come back for your concert!''

Throughout the day Saturday the YAS musicians -- beginner, intermediate and advanced groups -- had held almost continuous practices in preparation for the big annual concert at Copley Symphony Hall on Feb. 12 at 3 p.m. The orchestra includes dozens of East County and La Mesa talents.

The orchestra will feature music in a " Salute to the Music of the Movies'' concert with pieces from Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Titanic and others. The concert will include Guest Conductor Maestro Jung-Ho Pak, artistic director and conductor of Orchestra Nova.

It is a wonderful afternoon listening to great young musicians and then enjoy dinner in the Gaslamp.

You can…

 Honoring The Heart & Soul Of Lemon Avenue

LEMON AVENUE – The truth about good schools is that there is no consistent corporate model. No Starbucks Elementary duplicated from town to town.

Every school has a unique character determined by the unpredictable mix of the teachers, administrators and staffs that create its soul, determine its outcomes.

This is also true: for almost 40 years, Joanne Smith was in many ways the heart and soul of Lemon Avenue Elementary School.

She was never principal. In fact, she wasn’t a full-fledged credentialed teacher.

Mrs. Smith started as a teacher’s aide, eventually took over the computer lab and for decades lived across the street from the school that educated her own daughter and was the focal point of her life.

Next Thursday, January 26th at 2:45 p.m., the teachers, administrators, students and parents of this beloved neighborhood school will gather to remember their mentor and guide. Mrs. Smith died in July.

On the books, she had been retired for more than a decade, but in truth, she never left her post.

“She just kept working, volunteering,’’ said Elaine Arapostathis, a retired Lemon Avenue teacher and a long-time friend of Mrs. Smith. “She was just so special with everyone. She was not judgmental in any way. Even with the naughtiest kids, she would never judge them harshly. She would just sit them down and assure everyone that they would get better. And they usually did.’’

Known for her infectious and ubiquitous laugh, as teachers came…

"Fair Trade" Thursdays Begin At Cosmos

LA MESA -- Last fall, a group of people interested in encouraging local consumers to think about "fair trade'' practices went to the City Council and asked it to declare La Mesa a "fair trade'' city.

The issue seemed to come out of nowhere and was quickly voted down amid much angst and comment throughout the politically active parts of the city.

That experience clearly had an effect on Anne Pacheco, Nancy Ryan, Denise Thompson and other members of Fair Trade La Mesa.

Thursday evening the organization was back in action at Cosmos Coffee Cafe, presenting a DVD explanation of "fair trade'' practices and building local support one constituent at a time.

"All the coffee here at Cosmos is fair trade,'' Ryan explained to a gathering of 30 or so local residents who were eating "fair trade'' chocolate and learning about the movement Ryan and her partners hoped to demystify.

"It is simply about knowing that the things you purchase are made by people who are being paid a living wage, allowed to work in safe conditions and in a way that is respectful of the environment,'' Thompson explained.

Ryan and Pacheco, both educators in their work lives, admitted they were a bit bruised by their first attempt to convince the City Council to express the city's support for the movement and they don't plan on racing back to that forum. Critics convinced a majority of the council that…