I was just 19, and still at Golden West College, when I was hired by the Los Angeles Times Orange County edition for the lowliest job in the newsroom: clerk. Apart from being asked to get a fake ID so I could buy the night copy desk beer and pizza, and to keep wives and girlfriends on different phone lines, I was ecstatic: A college sophomore, actually working at one of the three great newspapers in the country as a teenager. I did my homework in the newsroom on weekends in the event big news broke and they'd need a reporter so bad that they'd send the college newspaper student to pinch hit. And I did.
I cut my teeth on the police beat and still love breaking news, but also grew into a better writer by learning from some of the best in the country. After two decades at a newspaper, and having to commute three hours daily to L.A., I opted to reinvent myself as a more focused mom and wife and learn more about online writing. I also had more time to volunteer, and enjoy the outdoors around me.
I am a native Southern Californian, born in Whittier, where I grew up swimming in pools, building go-karts and playing kick-the-can. One thing I love about Belmont Shore is that I can be outdoors and have so many places to be. I love to swim and do laps at the Belmont Plaza Pool, float on Alamitos Bay or cycle down the bike path to the Long Beach Museum of Art. Movies are something my son and I love to do together, followed by an hour or more reading at a bookstore. I also try to meet a minimum weekly quota of one double-double, no cheese.
Your Beliefs
At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.
Politics
Knowledge is power, and people need to understand how decisions are made in their community and how they can participate.
I believe in government for the people and by the people, and that public officials should do what they promise. I also believe that citizens have to work harder to ensure that they do. This is where Patch journalism will be key.
Religion
I believe in God. When I hear Gospel music in church or in concert, I feel God.
Local Hot-Button Issues
Balancing the rights of residents, visitors and businesses. Public safety. Traffic, particularly along Second Street into the intersection with Pacific Coast Highway. The future of the Los Cerritos Wetlands.
The CSU union for 2,000 at LB and 23,000 statewide to hold picket this morning, citing 71% pay raise for brass vs. 27% for faculty since Chancellor's 1998 hire. Mgmt.: Nobody's had a raise in 4 years.
Tall, dark and handsome, check these 9 new solar trash compactors the Shore Parking Commission bought. Plus weighing interest in signs urging quiet as 2nd St. patrons head into residential.
Verdict: Conrad Murray guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Tell us what you think.
Longtime deputy executive director and COO is chosen by Harbor Commissioners after a nationwide search to replace Richard Steinke, the Port says in this press release.
Debby Winsberg of Belmont Heights taught tai chi for Parks-Rec, wrote songs and swam daily in McGaugh Elementary's pool. Friends are grappling with what drove her to take her own life.
L.A. Coroner identified her as Debby Winsberg and is investigating the death as a possible suicide.
They will meet the press today outside Long Beach PD to counter numerous findings they say were skipped by the D.A. or miscast to suggest officers were in imminent danger when they fired.
The police department released a lengthy summation of its internal investigation and those of D.A. and Coroner into the death of Doug Zerby in Belmont Shore. Here it is.
Attached is the D.A. report released Thursday finding LBPD officers committed no crime in killing Doug Zerby, believing he raised a gun. It was a hand-grip hose nozzle.
Huntington Beach gang detectives killed 2 men after pulling over a car, from which a gun went off; and an off-duty officer in Lakewood shot a man who allegedly tried to steal his car--twice.
Belmont Shore-Naples Patch editors chillax mid-air, prompting the question: Would it work here?
It's still 1978 for Jim Alt, who survived a San Diego beach attack that left his teen girlfriend murdered.
From My House to Yours, Happy Halloween Patchers
The Belmont Shore costume store fixture on Second Street stays afloat despite the economy and incursion of mega-Halloween stores by offering fetching outfits and a dose of warm service.
Drop a few of these over mid-morning coffee today and interest your friends--or at least take their mind off all the candy they still need to buy for trick-or-treaters.
Local event planner and Shore activist-ring leader Justin Rudd attempts to set a pet-parade world record. Dancing with the Stars costumer serves as a judge.
With one foot in the grave, Long Beach steps it up in pursuit of a weird world record.
Volunteers who raised $1,000, such as Belmont Shore's La Strada owner and Clippers President Andy Roeser, won the right to rappel down the high-rise, raising $150,000, says LBReport.com.
Vendors said moving the convention to two days and playing up Halloween filled the hall with visitors. D.C. Comics' re-releases last month also helped attract a good crowd.
He's been charged with the 2010 kidnap-murder of Moreno Valley student Norma Lopez, 17.
