Gathering

Ten members of the Hoover High School class of 1937 gathered at the La Cañada Flintridge home of classmate Tom French. The group of friends meets for lunch every three months at a Glendale restaurant. Except for two of the friends who are 93, the rest are 92. All but one continue to drive and all are active in community organizations, travel, present-day politics and hot topics and family life. They often reminisce about the “good old days.” Among their accomplishments, French designed his home around two native oak trees and plays piano by ear. Philip Rush is a retired Navy Captain and visitors come from Washington, D.C. each year.

Why am I sad the Marketplace location of Linens 'N' Things is closing? I fear I will lose a sense of community, a gathering spot similar to the parks and squares of a small town. Yes, customers are being directed to the Burbank and future Pasadena stores. But it won't be the same. As the Glendale store is facing closure this month, there is a run on its merchandise, which is 75% off. The regulars and I gather for its 11 a.m. opening. A young employee reads us the rules, which have become increasingly stern: "No pushing, no shoving, no bags.

LA CRESCENTA — More than a century after the inception of Arbor Day, elected officials and community members gathered at Two Strike Park on Saturday to celebrate the planting of trees. “With all this cosmic chaos going on around us, we’re going to plant some trees,” said the Rev. Paige Eaves of United Methodist Church, who delivered the invocation for the Crescenta Valley Annual Arbor Day Ceremony. From the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan and civil unrest in Libya, the “oddly normal act” of planting trees served as an act of faith and hope for the future, Eaves said.

Josh Kleinbaum An inaccuracy in President George W. Bush's State of the Union address brought the nation's focus to its intelligence gathering, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Glendale) wants to make sure that such a mistake does not happen again. In the House of Representatives Rules Committee on Monday, Schiff proposed an amendment to the State Department Reauthorization Act, calling for an investigation into the intelligence gathering that led up to the State of the Union address.

Paul Croxton Delzell Age 80, died at home following a courageous battle with cancer. Paul’s family and friends will deeply miss him. A gathering to celebrate his life will be held on Wednesday, March 23 rd from 1:00 to 3:00 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 12355 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 818-769-5911. Please call 800-597-1169 for additional information.

Damon’s to host holiday gathering With many companies reporting weaker-than-expected profits this year, some businesses have either drawn down or canceled their annual holiday parties. Enter Damon’s Steak House, the downtown Glendale restaurant at 317 N. Brand Blvd., which plans to host a holiday gathering this year for workers from economically affected companies. The Monday night gathering starts at 8:30 p.m. and is $20 per person, which includes appetizers and entertainment.

Jody Kussin On May 5, a nice man-child, full of hope and promise, was killed while waiting to go from school to work. He was killed by other children, two not yet of even legal driving age. These killers were so full of rage that they were able to kill up close and personal. Most kids who kill use guns. That way, there is a distance between the killer and the victim. The killers, interviewed later, often say things like, "well, I just felt numb and totally disconnected."

W hen Wendy Reategui and Jim Forrester attended Roosevelt Junior High School in Glendale more than 20 years ago, they were voted "most likely to end up on a desert island together" in the school's yearbook. When the couple got married years later in a 1999 ceremony in Pasadena, many of the hundreds in attendance were former classmates from Roosevelt Junior High, Glendale High School and other Glendale schools. On Sunday, the couple gathered with several dozen of those childhood friends and their children for a barbecue and friendly softball game in honor of Father's Day. "I've been in Glendale my whole life," said Oliver James, whose friends call him "Ollie."

When Jeff Lushbaugh ran for a Glendale City Council seat back in 1999, I was pretty tough on him. I thought he had almost as little knowledge of the city itself as he had of the top issues, and wrote back then, "He makes me grumpy." Now Lushbaugh's unique name is back in the news, albeit in news that's followed only by a handful of legal specialists and activists in 1st Amendment issues. Lushbaugh scored 209 votes in 1999, 10 votes ahead of the last-place finisher in a pack of 13. In a recent decision from the California State Court of Appeal, Second District, Lushbaugh came in last in his case against Home Depot.

There is no denying that hearts of all kinds take the lead in February, so families of Verdugo Woodlands Elementary will surely want to take part in the third annual Red Cross Blood Drive on Feb. 12 at the Dads Club, 1728 Cañada Blvd. Janet Lazier, blood drive chairwoman, asks parents to check the school's online Thursday folder to download appointment cards. “Just fill out the appointment cards and turn them in to your child's teacher,” she says. Potential donors may choose between three shifts.

Several City Council candidates railed against spending on low-income housing in Glendale at a candidate forum Thursday night, specifically pointing to the high costs of a Habitat for Humanity project completed last year. Some candidates compared the cost of the five-unit Habitat for Humanity project at 624 Geneva Street to that of a Ritz Carlton or Buckingham Palace, while longtime City Hall critic Mike Mohill said the city shouldn't even be in the business of building affordable housing.

Glendale police and fire officials received more than $850,000 in U.S. Department of Homeland Security grants this week for intelligence-gathering equipment and search-and-rescue training. Enhancements to video equipment on police helicopters, upgrades to night-vision capabilities, new police protective wear and equipment for the city's regional training center at Scholl Canyon are some of the projects that will be funded through grants, Police Capt. Ray Edey said. The funding will also pay for license plate camera recognition systems to be installed on two patrol vehicles and for new cameras along the rail systems in the San Fernando Road corridor, he said.

Glendale Sunrise Rotary gathered more than 2,000 garments for its 12th annual Coats for Kids program, organizers announced Thursday. The Rotarians gathered the garments from donation boxes at several locations and handed them over to the Southern California Cleaners Assn. for cleaning before distributing them on Saturday to needy children at the Salvation Army in Glendale. “The need for the clothes is definitely needed in this community,” Ray Rangwala, a Glendale Sunrise Rotary member who has organized the event for year, said in a statement.

A coalition of local and state officials gathered in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday to urge regional transportation officials to ditch a controversial proposal to build an underground tunnel extending the Long Beach (710) Freeway to Pasadena. Calling the tunnel option “flawed” and outdated, mayors and city council members from cities that would be impacted by the project blasted the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for continuing to study the 4.5-mile tunnel, which would connect the 710 with the Foothill (210)

Roughly 400 people protested Thursday outside the consulates of Hungary and Azerbaijan, decrying the release and pardon of an Azerbaijani soldier convicted of killing an Armenian military officer with an ax. The murder of Gurgen Markarian occurred in 2004 at a military academy in Budapest set up by NATO. The Azerbaijani soldier, Ramil Safarov, was convicted of the murder and sentenced to at least 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole. He was extradited to Azerbaijan last month after officials there pledged to uphold his sentence, but upon arriving on his native soil, he was released and pardoned.

Nearly 900 mourners, including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, attended the memorial service Tuesday for former Glendale Community College football player Garrett Reid, the son of Philadelphia Eagles Coach Andy Reid. Reid, who was an offensive tackle at Glendale college for part of the 2003 season, died Sunday in his dorm room at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., at 29. The service was held at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Broomall, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia.

Dozens of people protested outside the Armenian consulate in Glendale Friday, demanding that a former member of Parliament in the Armenian capitol of Yerevan be prosecuted for his alleged role in the beating death of an army doctor. The beating of 33-year-old army doctor Vahe Avetyan and three colleagues June 17 at a restaurant has sparked worldwide outrage among members of the Armenia diaspora, particularly after Avetyan died of his injuries weeks later. The owner of the restaurant, Ruben Hayrapetyan, resigned his parliamentary post earlier this month amid the ensuing fallout and accusations that the perpetrators of the beating were his current or former bodyguards.

The challenges facing the youth of La Crescenta fueled prayers by local leaders and clergy who spoke on their behalf at the first ever Crescenta Valley Town Council Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday. More than 250 people gathered at Holy Redeemer's Healy Hall, where Chap Clark - a professor of youth, family and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary - addressed the stress and loneliness felt by so many of today's teens. In 2001 and 2002, Clark worked as a daily substitute teacher at Crescenta Valley High School where his three children attended and he observed how teens felt about their lives.

Armineh Aslanan spent Tuesday running from Montebello to Los Angeles and back to her hometown of Glendale as she tried to attend as many Armenian Genocide Commemoration events as she could. “I feel that it's something that every Armenian should do, they should at least attend one of the events,” Aslanan said. “To remember. To give respect.” Aslanan was one of nearly 1,400 people who packed the Alex Theatre Tuesday night at a city-sponsored event commemorating the 97th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, which began in 1915 when the Ottoman Empire massacred roughly 1.5 million Armenians.

Former Los Angeles Lakers star A.C. Green spent Thursday morning in Glendale reflecting on the role of mankind and the importance of being selfless. “There's something bigger than us,” he told a room of about 300 people. “Yeah, bigger than me, at 6-foot-9.” Community members gathered at the Civic Auditorium to listen to Green and local leaders talk about religion and the role of a spiritual life at the 49th Annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast. “We are here to remember … the life that we have, the life that we lead, we lead not for ourselves, but a greater purpose and cause,” said Green, who spent 16 seasons in the NBA, gaining the nickname Iron Man after playing 1,192 consecutive games.