Oil

GLENDALE — Kendra Owen was shopping at the Glendale Galleria on Wednesday when Alana Gregos, the assistant manager of the LUSH cosmetics store, briefed her on North America's dependence on fossil fuel. Gregos was one of the more than half-dozen LUSH employees who wore T-shirts, posters and black plastic oil barrels to raise awareness of the Canadian tar sands, an oil operation in Alberta that opponents say wastes energy and produces toxic runoff to neighboring indigenous people and wildlife.

There is much national controversy over balancing environmental preservation with the need to increase our production of energy from domestic sources. However, letters like Frank Drewe's "Open up Alaskan wilderness" (Community Forum, June 26) do nothing to bring rational comment to this important issue. He claims that by drilling for oil in the "Alaskan Wildlife Preserve" (I presume he is referring to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), "we would never have to buy any oil from Saudi Arabia."

Fire staff is in no need of cuts Regarding “Fire Department critic is accurate,” Mailbag, Oct. 10: Wow! Here we go again. After living in the awesome city of Glendale for more than 30 years, I find the discussion of reducing fire staff, funding, etc., to be utterly ridiculous. A three-man crew instead of four? Why? Because a former police officer or other political activists feel it’s a waste of money and resources? Have any of these individuals faced the complexities of firefighting or an actual fire that needs to be knocked down to save houses and lives?

JERRY LANE Does it strike you as strange that something we see and use every day is a subject to be discussed almost every night on the news? I'm referring to announcements like "gasoline prices are going up, folks," and "gasoline prices are at an all-time high" and (once in a great while) "gasoline prices have dropped 3 cents a gallon this week." Hardly a night goes by without some comment. Some newscasters conduct interviews with drivers who are filling their tanks with that precious fluid as they talk.

It is crucial that we get this current administration out of office! I've seen this nation get divided by this administration and I can't even fathom why we would want to elect them for another four years ... yikes! Why would we want to [subject] ourselves to that type of torture? Because we are scared. We've been scared into thinking that terrorists are going to attack again if we don't have our faithful leader, George W. Bush, by our side when he really hasn't been faithful at all. Just watch "Fahrenheit 9/11" by Michael Moore and you will see what I mean.

GLENDALE — Just as motorists were getting used to paying less than $2 at the gas pump, prices have begun creeping up. The price of regular gas has increased a penny per day since last week and, in some areas of Glendale and Burbank, gas prices have hit the $2 mark, said Marie Montgomery, an Automobile Club of Southern California spokeswoman. Gas prices in Glendale and Burbank ranged from $1.84 to $2 Thursday and are likely to go up, she said. The average price of regular gas throughout the state is $1.93, which is up from $1.79 last month, she said.

Joyce Rudolph For Rowena Dohnel, painting is like going on a vacation. "Nothing else matters," she said. "You are just painting and having a great time." The Glendale artist is a two-year member of the Glendale Art Assn., and was named the group's Artist of the Year in December. "I was totally shocked," she said. "I was just really overwhelmed -- and very honored." Association members compete in a mini art show during each monthly meeting at the First German United Methodist Church in Glendale.

Claudia Peschiutta NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- On the crowded shelves of his cluttered office sits a collection of dusty, red toy Texaco tanker trucks. A large cardboard box on the floor holds several Texaco model plains. At home, he has everything from an old Texaco cap to a 14-foot-tall gas pump, which he bought for $500 at a swap meet and later restored. Tony Wade is a Texaco man. The white Texaco star has been a big part of Wade's life since the days he and his buddies used to work on their cars at a Silver Lake Texaco station while still in high school.

  I prefer to write about things happening in our town or of things that will affect our town, but sometimes I have to dabble into a more global forum. And this week was rich in material.   Let’s start with an overview of that bastion of truth and honesty, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his presentation at Columbia University. The event at Columbia got off to a roaring start when the university president, Lee C. Bollinger, was caustic in his introduction of Ahmadinejad.

The Crescenta Valley Water District May 22 decided to raise rates to its 31,000 customers as a consequence of the higher price the district is being charged for the power needed to deliver the water. That the rates are going up is just one sign California's power crisis isn't leaving our area untouched. After weighing several options, the district board of directors voted to add $2 per month to customers' monthly meter charge, for a total of $8. It also voted to raise water usage rates 15 cents for every 1,000 gallons of water used, from $2.55 per 1,000 gallons to $2.70.

The Crescenta Valley Water District has bagged two more multimillion-dollar settlements from oil companies that officials claim leaked a contaminant into the local groundwater supply. So far, the district has penned three settlement agreements totaling $12.5 million, according to U.S. District Court records. The latest is a $4-million agreement with ConocoPhillips, which is set to be reviewed by a federal judge next month. In January, U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton Tucker approved another $4-million settlement, this time with BP, court documents show.

The Glendale News-Press article on Sept. 4 titled “Smart meters in the frame” was very informative. Jim Sepe holds the title of “chief technology officer” for Ceiva. I doubt that he is a guinea pig for the new project his employer is proposing, but is just using another snake oil sell about smart meters. Does anyone with a shred of common sense need another energy consuming gadget to advise them that when they lower temperatures or activate air conditioners, power use will either decline or rise in use?

The Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce Business Mixer will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at BIS Computer Solutions, 2428 Foothill Blvd., La Crescenta. Tickets cost $7 for members and $9 for non-members. Call (818) 248-4957. The Glendale Quilt Guild meets at 6:30 p.m. at Glendale Central Library, 222 E. Harvard St. Pat Rollie speaks on “The Magic of Mistakes.” Cost is free for members and $5 for guests. The guild meets at the library the second Wednesday of every month. Visit www.glendalequiltguild.org.

GLENDALE — Kendra Owen was shopping at the Glendale Galleria on Wednesday when Alana Gregos, the assistant manager of the LUSH cosmetics store, briefed her on North America's dependence on fossil fuel. Gregos was one of the more than half-dozen LUSH employees who wore T-shirts, posters and black plastic oil barrels to raise awareness of the Canadian tar sands, an oil operation in Alberta that opponents say wastes energy and produces toxic runoff to neighboring indigenous people and wildlife.

I 've been feeling like one of those oil-covered sea gulls on a beach in Louisiana. Every morning I get up and take a look at the newspaper. I glance at the headline, usually in dismay, then automatically flip to the bottom of the page to see who died. It's morbid, I know. But it's just habit. And you probably do it too. On Monday it was former Dodgers pitcher Jose Lima's picture at the bottom of the front page. He was only 37 years old, five years younger than me. That's hard to swallow.

Regarding the May 13 article “Turf comes up again,” I hope that the City Council is aware that there is something inherently wrong, especially given recent horrific events in the Gulf of Mexico, about resorting to artificial turf manufactured using petroleum products in order to save water and to avoid brown front lawns. In addition to moves by governments worldwide toward solutions by which we can wean ourselves off oil and its related products, there is the issue of climate change and ocean-surface warming associated with weather extremes and species die-off.

GLENDALE — Just as motorists were getting used to paying less than $2 at the gas pump, prices have begun creeping up. The price of regular gas has increased a penny per day since last week and, in some areas of Glendale and Burbank, gas prices have hit the $2 mark, said Marie Montgomery, an Automobile Club of Southern California spokeswoman. Gas prices in Glendale and Burbank ranged from $1.84 to $2 Thursday and are likely to go up, she said. The average price of regular gas throughout the state is $1.93, which is up from $1.79 last month, she said.

Taemi Lopez is a picture of tranquillity these days, instilled with a new sense of hope that her burned skin will continue to replenish itself after third-degree burns scalded the right side of her face. Two years ago, however, Lopez’s situation was vastly different as the Glendale resident contemplated suicide after a disastrous cooking incident left her body badly burned. On the afternoon of Dec. 25, 2006, Lopez was preparing for a holiday party by cooking dumplings seeped in a pan of scalding hot oil. She left the kitchen to snap a photo with her new husband, Eddie Lopez, in front of the couple’s first shared Christmas tree.

The Downtown Burbank Fine Arts Festival will have essences of the past, offering works inspired by 1930s and ’40s film noir and classical music in addition to its mainstay of fine art pieces. Burbank resident James Owens will be showing his Car-Noir paintings done in brilliant colors and featuring sultry femme fatales at the show this weekend. He starts with a sketch inspired by photographs he’s taken of hot rods and custom cars. “Most of my work is oil on canvas,” he said.

Fire staff is in no need of cuts Regarding “Fire Department critic is accurate,” Mailbag, Oct. 10: Wow! Here we go again. After living in the awesome city of Glendale for more than 30 years, I find the discussion of reducing fire staff, funding, etc., to be utterly ridiculous. A three-man crew instead of four? Why? Because a former police officer or other political activists feel it’s a waste of money and resources? Have any of these individuals faced the complexities of firefighting or an actual fire that needs to be knocked down to save houses and lives?