Dr. Berks and Sarcoma cancer
Dear ER:
I read about Dr. Berks’ passing (“Berks remembered as compassionate healer”, ER Jan. 12, 2012) and I am sorry to hear the family and the world has lost such a special person and healer.
I wanted to let the South Bay community know, and to let his family know, that sarcoma cancers are indeed rare, aggressive cancers that often metastasize before a specialist has a chance to diagnose and hopefully treat the disease. Luckily, there are resources here in the South Bay for sarcoma cancer patients and their families, which you may not have heard of. I paddle with a team called Ocean of Hope (O2H), a group of paddleboarders and canoe paddlers who dedicate their racing to fundraising for the Sarcoma Alliance. O2H is the largest fundraising arm of the Sarcoma Alliance; a non-profit 501(c)3 foundation that provides guidance, education, and support for the sarcoma cancer community.
Sarcoma does not discriminate by age, gender, or race, and the disease is often fatal. The Sarcoma Alliance works to address the needs of this special community and to get the necessary resources and attention they deserve. We are helping to host a fundraiser this Saturday, January 21, 2012 at Saint Rocke called The Power of the Ocean, which celebrates local charities that use the ocean as a means of therapy, rehabilitation, outreach and hope. The Sarcoma Alliance is participating in the event and will be using the money we raise for the Hand in Hand Assistance Fund, which provides much needed second-opinion grants to those who have been diagnosed with sarcoma. Seeing a specialist is very important [for people] with this kind of cancer. Often it is this second opinion that literally saves their life.
For those who would like more information, go online to www.poweroftheocean.eventbrite.com
Aimee Spector, co-captain
Ocean of Hope Campaign
Web comment
“Chief” Thompson
Dear ER:
Many concerned parents, including myself, gathered to discuss our mutual child-safety issues with a representative from the HBPD. It was the early 1980s. The presenter was Officer [Tom] Thompson. Parents and children alike departed the meeting glad that Thompson would be on patrol, to protect our well being.
For a period spanning over three decades I have appreciated the professional dedication and loyalty Thompson has exhibited to our community. Thompson possesses profound knowledge of our city. He can identify citizens by name. He treats citizens with respect and professional polish.
Thompson has evolved into a strong manager possessing unique skills needed to manage the safety of our officers as well as citizens’ personal safety.
The Hermosa Beach Police Department is in management transition. In a time of limited personnel resources our citizens must demand that Lt. Thompson be given strong consideration for the position of Hermosa Beach Chief of Police.
Gary Brutsch
Web comment
HB Council’s puzzling moves
Dear ER:
The Hermosa Beach City Council wants to raise money for the cash-strapped school district.
This is a commendable gesture, especially since the Hermosa Beach City School District is a diamond in the rough of sub-standard public education in Los Angeles County.
However, the desire to ban outdoor smoking throughout the city is certain to backfire. How can the city justify an outlay of $19,000 for an ad campaign educating the public about the ban? Anti-smoking campaigns have not been particularly successful at preventing people from smoking, so what gives members of the council the impression that telling people not to smoke in specific places will have any benefit for public health?
Besides, why not use that $19,000 toward shoring up deficits for the beleaguered school district? Let’s educate our kids today so that they can face a bright future with better prospects!
Arthur Christopher Schaper
Torrance
Food for thought
Dear ER:
Mr. Foss is to be congratulated for two things: his excellent reviews/discoveries (“Eleven from ‘11”, ER Jan. 5, 2012), and finding all that very close by. We no longer need to drive to Roy’s, First and Hope, Jar and all the rest (although we bend when we are nearby for some reason). We are completing our 41st year in HB, plus 5 years in MB before that; our children were born here and we love it, so color us surprised when eight of his choices were unfamiliar. We can fix that. Good job!!!
We have two comments:
Fishbar has a happy hour from 4:30 to 6:30, which makes many items, including raw oysters, even less costly. Drinks, too. Also, try the lobster mac ‘n cheese and the cole slaw, if you’re not too proud.
Zayna’s in RB is a low-cost, family run affair which we think is very good. The Middle Eastern food is very tasty; Mom is the cook, daughters and nieces are servers, and Dad seems to be the management (he sits in the restaurant and eyes papers severely). If you forgot to bring wine – no corkage for the first bottle – the liquor store is right out the north door. We like to go there with a big group and a lot of wine, carefully leaving some for Dad (and Mom, too, I suspect). That’s probably how we are remembered.
Mike and Sandy Lawton
Web comment
In praise of power plant
Dear ER:
Last week I wrote ER to complain about NRG, the owners of the El Segundo Power Plant. This week I am writing to praise them. The plant has reconsidered its decision to chop down 7 palm trees on their property that borders 45th St. in Manhattan Beach and instead is going to save the trees and rework their landscaping plans to include the existing palms and to allow at least 3 feet of border outside their new fence.
Though sometimes the power of a letter to ER has changed minds and altered actions; in this case NRG made its decision before seeing last week’s letter to the editor. I’d like to thank NRG for its responsiveness to its neighbors and for its environmental conscientiousness. And I’d like to thank ER for providing a forum where citizens can speak and be heard.
Michelle Murphy
Manhattan Beach
Questionable MB permits
Dear ER:
A major objection to allowing alcohol at the Manhattan Beach Gala Centennial Celebration is setting a precedent for other commercial and non-commercial organizations to seek the same privilege. In this instance, the Centennial Foundation is seeking permission by requesting the Manhattan Beach City Council (MBCC) obtain a permit from the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors (LACDBH). LACDBH is likely to grant the permit precisely because it will be issued to the MBCC, not the Centennial Foundation, thereby establishing the precedent for any future applicant, be it the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation or the Six-Man Volleyball Tournament.
Now, LACDBH is establishing permission to expand commercialization of Los Angeles County beaches to further revenue generation (“Beach cities look for cash in the sand,” Los Angeles Times, 1.16.2012): “For exclusive rights to put company logos on lifeguard towers, trash cans…and volleyball nets…the bidding would start at $700,000.” In effect, LACDBH is pitching the public seashore as a “blank canvas” for “cash in the sand.”
Imagine MB and our other South Bay beaches cluttered with “large displays and content that includes sex or alcohol.” While Hermosa Beach has a zero tolerance for alcohol on its beach and El Segundo prohibits alcohol at public fund-raisers, the MBCC is ensuring we are inundated by images of Jack Daniels and Lady Gaga rather than our “sun-kissed coastline” and “glassy waves,” shaming itself for the future denigration of our beach as the culmination of our Centennial Celebration.
Edward C. Caprielian, Ph.D.
Manhattan Beach
With a capital “C”, that rhymes with “P”
Dear ER:
Mr. Repohl’s wit (“South Bronx to South Bay”, ER Jan. 12, 2012) is telling and triumphant.
I loved his send-up of the GOP front-runners in Iowa and New Hampshire. Incorporating folksy ditties while denouncing the insider status of long-time P-O-Ls like Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, Repohl’s article was a refreshing turn in the incessant campaign commentary that has been deluging this country since May of last year.
I also write specifically in appreciation of Mr. Repohl’s final riposte, a gentle allusion to a powerful and influential man named Harold Hill.
The electrical-engineer-turned-Pentecostal Evangelist is one of the best gifts that God gave the world out of the Granite State. When I read his book, “How to Live Like a King’s Kid,” I was so excited. A man who believed in Jesus Christ, and he had fun doing it! This was so much better than church. I did not have to settle for dry-as-dust Christianity. Jesus Christ is alive and well, and He lives and breathes and has his being in every human being who calls upon his name for salvation, healing, and power!
Harold Hill’s testimony encouraged me through hard times in my life, helping me to tackle the giants who used to intimidate me. Here was a man who was not afraid to trust God for everything, and He always came through for him. By faith, I have enjoyed the same wonderful privilege of living like a King’s Kid. I do not have to settle for hard, tough, down-on-my-luck empty times. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and He has never let me down yet!
Arthur Christopher Schaper
Torrance
