Spaghetti Dinner and Show Goes Off Without a Hitch
La Mirada~The 32nd Annual Meals-on-Wheels Spaghetti Dinner was held Friday, January 27th at the La Mirada Activity Center.
The event, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of La Mirada, serves as a major fundraiser for the La Mirada Chapter of Meals-on-Wheels (MOW).
La Mirada Kiwanis reported that over 240 meals were served and over 350 were in attendance at the social/fundraiser.
As a guitarist played in the background, and a magician roamed the dining room, attendees feasted on some fabulous fare donated by Bon Appétit contracted food server at Biola University.
"The City of La Mirada has been very generous to us over the years, and we hope that remains the same. But, you never know, with this economy that could change. So, this event is very important to us," said Executive Director Lou Piltz, who is also a former La Mirada City Councilman.
The city provides an annual subsidy, currently around $8000, evaluated yearly. The city also in recent years has provided the venue for the event, hosted in previous years at La Mirada High School.
La Mirada MOW, since its inception, has served over 400,000 meals to shut-ins, and provides food and comfort along with support and encouragement for those unable to provide for themselves, in the La Mirada community.
International “Simpsons” Hit Comes to La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts
The Simpsons Do Macbeth in Rick Miller's internationally-acclaimed one-man show February 16, 2012 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts; His first Southern California Appearance in Six Years Marks the 25th Anniversary of The Simpsons Debut on The Tracey Ulman Show
La Mirada~Phantom Projects Theatre Group will present the return engagement of the international smash hit comedy, MacHomer, February 16, 2012 at 10AM and 7PM at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts.
MacHomer is a one-man performance featuring TV's favorite dysfunctional family in a hilarious multi-media performance of Shakespeare's bloodiest tragedy, complete with video projections and puppets. The script, which is 85% Shakespeare and 100% hilarious, stars Homer Simpson as MacBeth and Marge as Lady MacBeth, along with more than 50 other well-known Simpsons characters. MacHomer has played to capacity crowds across the U.S. and Canada and recently toured the world to rave reviews and awards in Scotland, England, Australia, and New Zealand.
La Mirada Presents Community Spotlight Award to Resident
Robert Esnayra Saves His Friends' Life After He Collapses While Playing Racquetball; Look For This Story in This Weekend's La Mirada Lamplighter
La Mirada~Robert Esnayra and Marco Perez were doing their usual thing this past October 31st, playing racquetball, but the day ended in a fashion they never imagined-with Robert saving Marco's life.
The two often get together at the now closed La Mirada LA Fitness to play racquetball.
On this day, while they were playing, Robert watched in fear as his partner collapsed to the ground and fell unconscious. He noticed Marco was struggling to breath and also was gasping for air.
Robert immediately started performing CPR to his friend, applying compressions to his chest, and began to call for his friend to come out of it.
He acquired the knowledge of performing CPR at a police academy and other jobs he has worked at.
Marco was not responding. A worker at the gym brought Robert an Automatic External Defibrilator (AED) unit. "After I hooked up the device it indicated he had no pulse, so I followed the instructions on the machine and administered a shock," he said.
He continued with the compressions and about a minute and a half later, before another shock was needed, Marco miraculously regained consciousness.
La Mirada Presents Community Spotlight Award to Resident
La Mirada~Robert Esnayra and Marco Perez were doing their usual thing this past October 31st, playing racquetball, but the day ended in a fashion they never imagined-with Robert saving Marco's life.
The two often get together at the now closed La Mirada LA Fitness to play racquetball.
On this day, while they were playing, Robert watched in fear as his partner collapsed to the ground and fell unconscious. He noticed Marco was struggling to breath and also was gasping for air.
Robert immediately started performing CPR to his friend, applying compressions to his chest, and began to call for his friend to come out of it.
He acquired the knowledge of performing CPR at a police academy and other jobs he has worked at.
Marco was not responding. A worker at the gym brought Robert an Automatic External Defibrilator (AED) unit. "After I hooked up the device it indicated he had no pulse, so I followed the instructions on the machine and administered a shock," he said.
He continued with the compressions and about a minute and a half later, before another shock was needed, Marco miraculously regained consciousness.
Splash! Water Slides to Open This Saturday
La Mirada~Enjoy the California sun in February at Buccaneer Bay's large slides, which will be open this Saturday, February 4 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The cost is $4.95 for unlimited use, and includes Recreational Swim from noon to 5 p.m. in the 25-yard pool. The slides are open for anyone 48 inches and over.
For more information, call (562) 902-3191 or visit www.SplashLaMirada.com.
Matadores Girls Basketball Has Its Eye on Playoffs
Recent News in La Mirada High Sports
Girls Soccer won at Mayfair, their perennial nemesis, by a score of 3-1 this past Monday for the second year in a row. The win puts the Matadores in position to win their second consecutive Suburban League crown.
Ileen Mejia scored two goals as the Mats (14-6-3, 7-1-0) begin looking towards the CIF playoffs.
In boys basketball, the Matadores (14-10, 5-3) lost to archrival Mayfair 67-50, however the playoff-bound Mats put up a fight against a Monsoon (18-5, 9-0) squad that is very tough.
In girls basketball, this past Friday night against Artesia, the Lady Mats were down by nine with 3 minutes left in the game. With: 15 left in the game they hit a three-pointer to send the game to OT, however they ended up bowing, 51-47.
This past Monday night, The Lady Matadores were down by only two at the half, 24-22, on the road against the Mayfair Monsoons, but ended up losing 55-46.
Alyssa Acuna led the Mats with 17 points.
The Mats (11-9, 4-3) are looking to make the playoffs for the first time under second year coach Nicole Hyde. There could be a showdown with Cerritos on February 10th for the final playoff spot, but a lot remains to be seen.
Museum Exhibit Honors Early Local Artist Through March
La Habra~Visit the La Habra Historical Museum, 215 E. La Habra Blvd, La Habra and learn about Betty Lou Nichols , the local artist who operated her ceramics business in La Habra from 1945-1962.
She is associated mostly with the popular head vases of the late 1940s and 1950s, yet Nichols also made a variety of figurines and paintings as well.
The exhibit, The Life and Art of Betty Lou Nichols, opens January 7 and runs through March 31, 2012.
There is no charge for admission. The museum is open on Saturday from 12-4 p.m.
Rotary Club of La Mirada Donates First iPad to Autism Class at Benton Middle School
La Mirada~In keeping with the Rotary’s more than 100 years history of community service and forward thinking leadership throughout the world, the Rotary Club of La Mirada is helping special needs children in La Mirada with a game changing device for dealing with Autism - the iPad.
The iPad has been demonstrated to be a very effective tool for dealing with all children with special needs. In particular, the iPad has proven results with Autistic children around the world. The dramatic benefits of the iPad can be seen most easily with non-verbal Autistic children due to the iPad’s intuitive nature, easy manual manipulation and overall ease of use.
Dr. Lance Williams, Medical Director of the Finding Autism Cures & Treatment Center, said. “Thanks to the incredible generosity and leadership of the Rotary Club of La Mirada the children
at Benton are getting an invaluable tool that they wouldn’t otherwise have access to at this point in time.”
The earlier an Autistic child receives intervention and therapeutic services, the better their long term outcomes become. Christine Young, the Special Education teacher at Benton who will be working with Dr. Williams to implement and take full advantage of all the iPad has to offer the severely Autistic students said “I have been wanting to use the iPad in my classroom, but couldn’t afford one yet. This life changing gift from the La Mirada Rotary will make a world of difference to my special needs kids. My heart is truly overflowing with joy."
Members of Rotary International have a long history of making great impacts in their local communities in the over 200 countries around the world, most recently having tremendous impacts globally on eliminating Polio and improving water quality in many nations.
The Rotary Club of La Mirada invites other organizations and individuals in the community to help bring this type of cutting edge technology to the neediest children in the community. Those interested in helping to provide additional i-Pads for special needs students at Benton Middle School should contact Thomas Polley at 714-994-4299.
Pictured are (l to r) Thomas Polley, Walt Jenkins, Mark Troutten, Special Education Teacher Christine Young, and Pastor Steve DeRuse.
La Mirada, and Its News, Has Always Been a Part of Her Life
Morgan Hurley, Daughter of La Mirada Lamplighter Managing Editor Dick Hurley, Remembers Early La Mirada and Welcomes the New Lamplighter. Look for this story in this weekends edition of the new Lamlighter.
When I first heard that the La Mirada Lamplighter might be stepping back into the spotlight in my beloved home town, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about that.
After all, I was born right around the time my father, Richard (Dick) Hurley really began to come into his own with the original Lamplighter newspaper.
My older brother Jet was a few years older but away each week at school in Riverside, so until my sister Palmer and brother Blaze were born five and six years later, consecutively, the Lamplighter was my only sibling.
I say sibling because even though it was my dad's profession, my household lived and breathed that newspaper and it was an intimate part of my own childhood and life from my earliest days.
As a youngster, I proudly greeted every adult I ever met with, "do you know that little green newspaper, the Lamplighter? That's my daddy's paper."
I reveled in my dad's profession, accompanying him to the office while he worked, first in the stationery store down from Thrifty's in the Mall and then in an office in Ed Spitalnick's Realty office on Adelfa.
I can still smell the ink from the typing tape on his old fashioned Remington Rand typewriter, and the loud hum of his IBM Selectric in his later years.
Dad often brought me along when he had to do a photo shoot at public events, where he always held his Yashica Mat twin lens camera arms-length high above his 5'6" frame, eyes looking up into the viewfinder, to get the best angle and shot over the crowd.
I was one of the first (if not the first) news-girls in town in 1975. I got up at 4 am every Thursday and 6 am every Saturday to stuff, fold, rubber-band and deliver up to 50 papers on my bicycle, to my neighborhood route , sandwiched between La Mirada Blvd and the Biola Creek.
Splash! to Host Major Swimming Competitions in February
La Mirada~Come out and see some outstanding talent take to the pool in the next few weeks as Splash! La Mirada Regional Aquatics Center will be the site of a number of top aquatic competitions.
First off, the 2012 Younger Junior Olympic Championships will be held February 3rd-5th. This Championship meet will feature some of the fastest 12 and under swimmers in Southern California and Nevada.
These swimmers will make a splash in La Mirada's state of the art swimming facility with dreams of the 2016 Olympics and beyond. Prelims will start at 9 a.m. each day, with finals being held in the early afternoon, admission is free.
Biola Competes in PCSD Championships
The Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Championships will take to the water and the boards February 8th-11th, featuring teams from all divisions of the NCAA and the NAIA including La Mirada's own Biola University.
The exciting collegiate competition will include both swimming and diving. Prelims will begin around 9 a.m. each day and finals will start around 3 p.m. Admission is $10 for each session or an all session pass can be purchased at the gate for $50.
On Sunday, February 12 Splash! will switch gears from swimming to water polo to host one of the largest and most prestigious age-group water polo tournaments anywhere, when Winterfest '12 takes to the pool.
For more information on these or other competitions, visit the Splash! web site at Splashlamirada.com or contact Splash! at (562) 902-3191
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