Candidate for
Councilmember; City of La Habra Heights

From September,1995 until August, 2012 I successfully ran the La Habra Journal 90631, covering La Habra and La Habra Heights, Lowell Joint and La Habra City Elementary School Districts as well as Fullerton Joint High School District.

During that time L.A County Fire District and La Habra struck an historic agreement to cross county lines in providing fire protection, Westridge Golf Course was built and Hacienda Golf Club tore down its club house and built an entirely new one while totally refurbishing the golf course.

All were reported in the Journal, as were stories of births, weddings, reunions and deaths. Stories of immigrant families escaping the revolution in Mexico, picking crops in California, building the railroad, and mining silver were recounted as were their children's graduations from colleges and tales of the original oil camps in Brea and Coyote Hills and their schools

At the same time as the editor I could also report on the editor and publisher's never-ending, unsuccessful battles with the invading gophers, our dog Queen's refusal to cooperate and her growing ability to pick avocados off the tree, as well as comments on various political issues affecting the cities and school districts.

As the main sports photographer, I had an up close view of how big a 250 lbs. running back actually is and some indication of my declining ability to evade him. In 2011 I began looking for someone to continue the paper and allow me to retire. Jay Seidel, a journalism teacher at Fullerton Community College, bought the paper. I am proud to say the paper made a profit every year while paying all salaries and bonuses and investing in continuing upgrades in equipment all the time I owned it.

Within months of my retirement a vacancy occurred on the Heights City Council and, discovering no woman had applied, I did. A majority of the council, after interviewing the large number of applicants, chose me mainly because they felt I was very familiar with the issues the city was facing. I had been reporting on those issues for years, not only as they applied to La Habra Heights, but also as they were affecting other cities in the area.

One of the first things I learned after I was sworn in was how minimal the city staff was compared to those in other cities. I know many don't believe that, but in truth other staffs have much more of a safety net protecting them than the Heights' staff does. Our staff must meet the same standards, file the same reports with the same requirements for accuracy and compliance with the requirements as other cities without having the number of qualified reviewers to go over it before it becomes public.