Mails

Why didn't somebody tell me I was voting for someone from another planet in the last City Council election? It's obvious that Councilman Dave Weaver certainly doesn't come from planet Earth when he is quoted in reference to the recent Planning Commission appointment, "This councilman does not like to be lobbied" and "Those of you who sent me those letters and e-mails, don't ever do it again," ("Weaver sends out a warning to...

Tim Willert CITY HALL -- The City Council reappointed Bob Lemke to the planning commission, but not before Councilman Dave Weaver publicly scolded several unidentified residents he said "lobbied" him with a replacement. Weaver disclosed during Tuesday's council meeting that a number of people sent him e-mails and letters recommending the same person for appointment to the commission. "A number of people pushing one candidate distresses me," Weaver said.

Darleene Barrientos Battling spam e-mail has reached a new level for city and corporate computer networks in Glendale as technicians worked feverishly to fend off a new virus, the Sobig.f worm. The worm, reportedly the fastest and most widely distributed computer virus to date, is written to affect computers using Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP operating systems through e-mail. Out of billions of e-mails sent every day across the globe, one out of every 17 e-mails sent this week was reportedly infected with Sobig.

Josh Kleinbaum Internal e-mails from General Growth Properties about its mall in Manchester, Conn., and a proposed center in neighboring South Windsor suggest a pattern of anti-competitive behavior by the Chicago-based firm. The Connecticut case, in which General Growth is fighting the development of Evergreen Walk, is remarkably similar to the company's opposition to the Americana at Brand, a proposed center in downtown Glendale adjacent to the General Growth-owned Glendale Galleria.

I used to get a lot of "gotcha" e-mails from readers ? notes from people tickled incontinent to have busted a language columnist using the language "wrong." Then something happened. I added a tag at the bottom of this column saying that I'm author of a book called "Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies." Suddenly, they weren't. The e-mails I used to receive chastising me for crimes against the language ? some dead right, others dead wrong ? dried up almost completely. It was as if that little title at the end served as a game-ending, pre-emptive strike.

Report your youth sports results To get in youth sports results, whether it’s soccer, football, baseball, basketball, etc., please drop off or e-mail results by 2 p.m. Mondays. The Glendale News-Press encourages any and all teams to turn in their results weekly. E-mails can be sent to grant.gordon@latimes.com and hard copies can be sent to: 221 N. Brand Blvd., second floor, Glendale, 91203-2605. For more information, call (818) 637-3225. Looking for athletes beyond high school In order to provide the most comprehensive coverage possible, the News-Press sports department is constantly trying to keep tabs on area athletes beyond high school.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is often criticized for being too liberal. This U.S. Supreme Court often overturns its decisions, and there is often talk about dividing or in some fashion rearranging the court to make it a little less liberal. But the court proved it is not always liberal this summer, with what I deem to be a poor decision in July. The question here is if your roommate happens to be suspected of committing a crime and his computer then becomes the target of a search warrant, can the police who come in to execute the search warrant take your computer and read your e-mails?

The Bible doesn't say don't believe everything you hear or read. It does, though, quote Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew as saying, "Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." Jesus was speaking to his 12 disciples, but from the context, I have a hard time reasoning that he meant his advice to stop there. R. T. France, in the Tyndale New Testament Commentaries series, wrote that "the principle is relevant to Christians in all ages who must live and witness in a hostile world."

CITY HALL — Campaign offices could be barred from handling absentee ballot applications in future elections if the City Council on Tuesday votes to change the system. Three members on the council have expressed strong support for changing the current system to mirror that of Los Angeles, where voters do not send applications for absentee ballots back to the candidates who provided them, but instead directly to the City Clerk’s Office, which mails the ballot out. Candidates vying for office in Glendale have historically used the process of mailing absentee ballots applications — which are attached to all sample ballots anyway — to potential voters to gauge their standing in the race.

Often, people send me e-mails to ask whether I'll use this column to write about their personal grammar peeves. These readers all have one thing in common: They all assume that I know what they're talking about. But just between you, me and the several thousand others reading this, reader e-mails are actually how I've learned a lot of what I know. Someone writes to ask me to explain something, I dive headfirst into a pile of books, then eventually I know enough to explain it. A recent e-mail from a Burbank reader is a case in point.

More Glendale voters used the postal service to cast their votes than a polling center ballot box for the election on Tuesday, a trend that's been on the rise in the city - and across the state - now for years. The shift, candidates and elections experts say, has meant harder and longer campaigns that must capture voters over a much longer period of time. “You have to make sure you get your message out there in time for the earlier voters,” said Lori Cox Han, professor of political science at Chapman University.

Before the local water district draws the mistaken conclusion that residents support the soon to be enacted 16.6% sewer rate hike because only 15 letters of protest were submitted, let's look at some of the reasons for the seemingly scant opposition. About a month ago the agency sent its customers a Public Notice of Proposed Increase in Wastewater Rates advising us that opponents “...may file a written protest of the proposed rate changes by sending a letter to CVWD.” We were also told that “A valid protest letter must include your name, your CVWD service address, a statement of protest and an original signature.” Sounds pretty straightforward right, so what's the problem?

Two men were charged with identity theft Tuesday after police discovered other people's mail and personal information inside a car belonging to one of them, officials said. One of the men - Jonathan Togiai, 36, of Los Angeles - was charged with one felony count of identity theft, according to a Los Angeles County Superior Court criminal complaint. He was convicted of the same charge in 2008. The second man - Paul Lim, 31, of Glendale - was charged with four misdemeanor counts of identity theft and one felony count of possessing methamphetamine.

Those who want to get their classic hot rod in for Glendale’s 18th annual Cruise Night on July 16 will have to hand deliver their registration after the mail-in period ended this week, city officials said. Entries must be hand-delivered to the Glendale Civic Auditorium, 1401 N. Verdugo Road in Glendale, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Cruise Night 2011 will feature live entertainment, vendors and a throng of classic cars. City officials expect more than 50,000 people to attend the event, which runs along Brand Boulevard between Doran Street and Broadway.

As a reporter and, later, editor, I have covered about a dozen elections on the local, county and state levels. Despite the differences in the issues, the candidates and the offices sought, one thing has remained steadfastly the same: Elections are hard on everyone. They are hard on the candidates, who spend day after day knocking on doors, passing out flyers and endlessly repeating stump speeches. They are hard on us in the media, with partisans of one candidate or another shouting allegations of bias — allegations often made without proof, or even a basic understanding of the term.

CITY HALL — The reelection of City Councilmen John Drayman and Dave Weaver was thrown into doubt on Tuesday, with challenger Rafi Manoukian taking the top spot after the unofficial tally from all 57 precincts was announced. The results could take weeks to be finalized. The gap between Manoukian and Drayman was 162 votes, but there were roughly 3,000 ballots still be uncounted, including provisional and mail-ins that were turned in at the polls, according to the city clerk’s office.

CITY HALL — Candidates will likely be spending less time glued to the television watching for election night returns in April after the city clerk’s office institutes several measures to speed up the ballot-counting process. With the help of a new automated signature-verification machine, Glendale election officials will be able to speed the processing of mailed-in ballots, which typically make up roughly a quarter of ballots cast. “We will be able to do the verification in-house at a very expedited rate,” said City Clerk Ardy Kassakhian.

GLENDALE — U.S. Postal investigators on Tuesday issued a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a man who burglarized the La Crescenta branch Sunday night on Foothill Boulevard. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service released video surveillance photographs of the man, whom they described as black, 6 feet tall, and wearing jeans, boots, a plaid shirt, purple cap and possibly a mask. Postal investigators and Glendale police officers arrived at the post office at 3300 Foothill Blvd.

Los Angeles County election officials on Tuesday acknowledged sending vote-by-mail guides to as many as 1,100 Democrats that erroneously listed candidates for the 43rd Assembly District in the same space as votes for or against a controversial parcel tax. The misprinted guides, sent to voters in the San Fernando Valley, indicate that choices for candidates in the June 8 runoff election for the vacant Assembly seat should be marked in positions already...

Los Angeles County election officials on Tuesday acknowledged sending vote-by-mail guides to as many as 1,100 Democrats that erroneously listed candidates for the 43rd Assembly District in the same space as votes for or against a controversial parcel tax. The misprinted guides, sent to voters in the San Fernando Valley, indicate that choices for candidates in the June 8 runoff election for the vacant Assembly seat should be marked in positions already...