Behavior

Auditions held for ‘Dog Whisperer’ A producer for National Geographic Channel show “The Dog Whisperer” will hold one of four auditions in Burbank for dogs and owners to be in its fifth season. The program features dog behavior specialist Cesar Millan, who helps owners solve behavioral problems with their dogs. Producer Kay Summer will be looking for dog owners whose pets are experiencing a range of problems, including unusual phobias, obsessions or fearful behavior.

Crescenta Valley Sheriff deputies arrested a naked La Crescenta man in his 30s walking up Briggs Avenue Monday afternoon. The man is known by station personnel due to previous calls concerning his behavior, according to Sgt. Gloria Ramierz. He suffers from a mental condition that has caused him to display unusual behavior. In the past the station has been called about him lying in the middle of the road and screaming. This is the first time he has been seen naked in public, she said.

LOS ANGELES — An emotional Cynthia Alvarez told jurors Thursday of her brother’s erratic behavior beset by swift mood swings and violent proclivities as she testified at his murder trial. Juan Manuel Alvarez is charged with 11 counts of murder with special circumstances and one count each of train wrecking and arson for causing the Jan. 26, 2005, Metrolink train wreck that killed 11 people and left nearly 200 others injured. Juan Manuel Alvarez’s unpredictable behavior, which may have been aided by an addiction to methamphetamine, resulted in violent outbursts toward his family and hallucinations that his wife, Carmen, was cheating on him, his sister said.

Teen?s death proves problem with system As I?m writing this letter, the family of 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan is making plans to bury their child (?Leukemia patient dies,? Saturday). Four leading physicians, including the surgical director of the Pediatric Liver Transplant Program at UCLA, wrote to Cigna in an attempt to convince the company to reverse its denial of coverage. In their letter they also made it clear that Nataline met the criteria to be listed as Status 1A for a liver transplant.

KIMBERLIE ZAKARIAN Today, I write to the readers who are married and, or, parents, specifically women. The Scripture that comes to mind is: Titus 2:3-5a, "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, and to be busy at home ... " In the past year, I have been counseling several women who are going through what I would term a mid-life crisis.

Don't be lured into seeing this "You, Me and Dupree" unless you are a film-lover with infinite patience for flaws. The film has been billed as a delightful romance, a date movie, something to make you laugh. It isn't. I don't know why Hollywood thinks they must make movies about couples so depressing. Even if romance is on the rocks these days, we still might like an escape from bickering and passive-aggressive behavior on the screen. This is a story about Dupree, played by Owen Wilson.

LANG ? GRIFFITH Heather Joy Lang of Lake Forest and Justin Alan Griffith , also of Lake Forest, have announced their engagement and are planning a September wedding. The bride-to-be is the daughter of Chris and Joy Lang of Glendale. She graduated from Crescenta Valley High School in 2003 and received her bachelor?s degree in psychology and social behavior from UC Irvine in 2007. She is employed as a behavioral therapist by Autism Spectrum Therapy. The groom-elect is the son of Gary Griffith of La Crescenta and Rebecca Burns of Chatsworth.

On May 1 a woman lost her life because she tried to cross the street in Montrose. At 79 years of age, all she did was cross the street at a crosswalk. For those of us who live and walk the mall each night it is very sobering. Many of the same people walk in the morning or evening here. Some with dogs, some with strollers and newborns, and some just alone. Over the past two years, I've noticed a trend. The number of close calls I have had and witnessed has increased dramatically.

Claudia Peschiutta LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE -- Going to church could be good for your marriage. La Canada Presbyterian Church is hosting this month a seminar for couples on ways they can improve their relationships. During "Extraordinary Relationships," Joseph Venema, a Pasadena psychiatrist specializing in couples therapy, will focus on the importance of personal change in a couple. "[People] explain their bad behavior in the relationship ... as a response to their partner's behavior, rather than seeing they have choices," Venema said.

It's not easy being a parent. All too often parents get caught trying to be the hip, older friend of the child rather than the one who ultimately has to teach him or her the differences between right and wrong. Take as an example this story of a fellow Glendale resident. In early August, this fellow had sent his three children a letter, carefully defining and detailing their less-than-considerate behavior. The father, who sees his children every other weekend, had been reluctant to discipline them because he only saw them every other weekend.

A 45-year-old man faces multiple misdemeanor charges after allegedly going on a rampage Monday in the Riverside Rancho area of Glendale. He entered multiple properties, eventually ending up on a resident's rollout bed, refusing to leave until police arrived and arrested him, officials said. Robert Lee Saunders is charged with aggravated trespassing, assault with force likely to produce great bodily harm, and resisting an officer, according to a Los Angeles County Superior Court criminal complaint.

Frigid overnight temperatures have led to an influx of homeless in the city, some of whom have been erecting tents and loitering at a park near the Adult Recreation Center, intimidating seniors who use the space to do tai chi, city officials said. In one case, officials found one tent that had a microwave. Last weekend, some transients began fighting. Many of those who have been causing problems at Glendale Central Library or in the park are homeless people who don't use the emergency winter shelter at the National Guard Armory on Colorado Boulevard.

By now you've probably heard of - and talked about - Karen Klein, the New York bus monitor who was bullied by a couple of students last week. With so many recent incidents around the country and in our own community involving bullying, it occupied a lot of my thoughts this week. Until this latest incident, it was mostly my opinion that bullies were cowards - nothing more, nothing less. While that may sometimes be true, after much thought, I have come to believe that bullies may also be acting out a behavior they learned elsewhere.

Good and Evil. Nurture versus Nature. Survival of the nicest or survival of the fittest. Morality: our conformity to the rules of right conduct and virtue. It's long been territory only for philosophers, theologians and newspaper columnists looking for a story. Its vagaries, its subjective and speculative nature make it a moving target; impossible to measure for those who require practical evidence. Does morality - a trait present only in humans - come from a spiritual creator?

Regarding the ongoing brouhaha regarding pedestrians versus vehicles in Glendale, may I add that bicycle riders need to decide: Are they pedestrians or vehicles? I can't count the number of times I have encountered a bicycle rider on the sidewalk who dutifully stops for the pedestrian crossing signal, then crosses the street and proceeds to continuing cycling on the road with the other cars. I'm expected to yield to this person while they're using the crosswalk, only to see them turn into a car?

Robynn Leidig on Wednesday stood in front of a classroom of seventh-graders at Toll Middle School as their raised hands began to paint an all too common picture of verbal, cyber, emotional and sexual bullying. Leidig, a health educator with Planned Parenthood, then began outlining ways to appropriately respond, including notifying a trusted adult. "I think it is good that teachers come to say, 'It is OK, we are with you, don't be afraid,'" said Toll seventh grader Dianna Sukiasyan, 12. The lesson, which was taking place in several classrooms throughout the school, also served as a training opportunity for school officials and community leaders on how to recognize and react to antagonistic behavior.

As you might expect, I am looking forward to tearing into the Advanced Development & Investment Inc. story. But before I begin to tear at that bone, I need to clear up a bit of business from 2010, not for myself, but for those who may be weighing out the idea of revealing that they are victims of sexual abuse as I did. You need to know the potential consequences. I wrote a column in November revealing that I had been sexually abused as a child by two perpetrators. I did so because of statistical data revealed on Oprah, indicating that one out of every six men has been sexually abused.

About this time last year, I wrote about the misadventures of Escott Norton, a Glendale resident who was charged $5,471 in one billing period because Glendale Water and Power claimed his family had used more than 1.5 million gallons of water per day. For those who have trouble visualizing the absurdity of that sort of usage, it is the equivalent of filling six 4,000-gallon tanker trucks of water every day for 60 days. While Glendale Water and Power eventually released Norton from this ridiculous bill after a months-long battle, they did so without ever admitting the bill, or their meter, was in error.

It's not easy being a parent. All too often parents get caught trying to be the hip, older friend of the child rather than the one who ultimately has to teach him or her the differences between right and wrong. Take as an example this story of a fellow Glendale resident. In early August, this fellow had sent his three children a letter, carefully defining and detailing their less-than-considerate behavior. The father, who sees his children every other weekend, had been reluctant to discipline them because he only saw them every other weekend.

LANG ? GRIFFITH Heather Joy Lang of Lake Forest and Justin Alan Griffith , also of Lake Forest, have announced their engagement and are planning a September wedding. The bride-to-be is the daughter of Chris and Joy Lang of Glendale. She graduated from Crescenta Valley High School in 2003 and received her bachelor?s degree in psychology and social behavior from UC Irvine in 2007. She is employed as a behavioral therapist by Autism Spectrum Therapy. The groom-elect is the son of Gary Griffith of La Crescenta and Rebecca Burns of Chatsworth.