Self Defense

Tim Willert DOWNTOWN -- Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D-Glendale) will host a free self-defense safety workshop from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Glendale YWCA, 735 E. Lexington Drive. The workshop will provide safety tips and self-defense techniques and is designed to prevent sexual assault. Although women typically are victims of sexual assault, one of out of four children and one out of nine men are victims, according to statistics provided by Frommer's office.

Robert Chacon These days, teenagers not only deal with peer pressure and bullying, but sometimes they have to fend off date rape and serious street crime, said Megan Brown, the activities director for the Roger Barkley Community Center. The community center's leaders want to give them an idea on how to fight back with a three-hour workshop Saturday. "It's our goal to help make kids feel safe and to build their self-confidence physically and mentally," Brown said.

Janine Marnien Strangers up to no good had better watch out for these Valley View Elementary School students -- mess with them and you might get a swift knee in the stomach, or a quick jab to the head. About 20 students learned those self-defense moves Tuesday at CLASS -- Children Learning Awareness Safety and Self-Defense -- an after-school program funded by a grant secured by the Crescenta Valley Town Council and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Glendale). Shouting "No!"

When a child is facing a bully, 10-year-old Colin Martin explained on Friday, words are the best way to try to solve the problem. But when a stranger approaches a child, self-defense techniques can help them flee, said Colin, a fifth-grader at Lincoln Elementary School. Colin had just finished doing modified martial arts moves during the self-defense program that physical education teacher Janet Goliger runs at his school. “When a stranger comes, we learn how to get away from them,” Colin said.

From financial planning to self-defense lessons and back again, local teenage girls are learning about empowerment in several of its forms — financial, physical and emotional — at a summer camp organized by the city’s Commission on the Status of Women. The girls are participants in a camp called Rosie Goes to Wall Street, which is in its second year and is named after Rosie the Riveter, an icon of women’s independence. Three distinct groups of girls will take part in the 12-day program over the course of the summer.

Bus tour to determine boulevard's future LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE -- The city of La Canada Flintridge will host a public workshop designed to help improve the western portion of Foothill Boulevard on July 19. The workshop will feature a bus tour of the area, which covers Foothill Boulevard between Alta Canyada Road and the city boundary. It is open to residents and business owners. The tour will leave from the parking lot on the southwest corner of Foothill and the Glendale (2)

Nelson Nio is a man in a woman's world ? and he feels right at home. The self-defense instructor, producer of feminist theatrical events and rape-crisis counselor from Brentwood has recently thrown himself into the fight for women's rights. "I feel like I'm aligning everything that I do," Nio, 36, said. "I don't know. It just feels right." Members of the Glendale YWCA's Board of Directors also felt Nio was right. In June, they elected him as one of two men to serve on the board.

Collectors show coming to town The All-American Collector's Show will be from noon to 6 p.m. Jan 20. at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, 1401 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale. The show will have 200 dealers who will display antique toys, teddy bears, dolls, trains, political Americana, and other collectible items. The event will continue from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 21. Admission is $6. For more information, call (310) 455-2894. YWCA holding self-defense classes A new session for women's self-defense classes will be from 4 to 6 p.m. tomorrow at the Glendale YWCA, 735 E. Lexington Drive, Glendale.

Students offered help in business skills The Commission on the Status of Women?s business and leadership skills development camp ? Camp Rosie ? is accepting applications from Glendale female students ages 13 to 19. Space is still available for the final session that runs from Aug. 3 to 21 at the Pacific Community Center, 501 S. Pacific Ave., Glendale. Girls from low-income families are encouraged to apply to this free camp no later than July 15. The three-week day camp will include instruction in financial literacy and entrepreneurship, self-awareness and interpersonal skills, effective communication techniques, healthy relationships and teen dating safety skills, fitness and nutrition and self-defense.

My morning routine typically consists of pastries and emails, so imagine my unease when at 8 a.m. Wednesday I found myself pinned to a wrestling mat in front of 80 teenage girls in the Glendale High School gym. “Use your legs as a weapon,” said my pretend attacker, women's self-defense instructor Nelson Nio. The list of attacks I was supposed to learn to deflect read like something out of the video game Mortal Kombat - frontal and rear...

Lynda Bustamante deftly avoids a punch to the face, wraps her arms around her opponent's waist, shifts her weight and tosses him to the ground. "For me, it is an adrenaline rush to know that I can go against guys without having to use so much strength," said the 20-year-old Los Angeles resident. Surrounding her at the Gracie Barra Brazilian jiu-jitsu studio on Brand Avenue are pairs of martial arts students grappling with one another, their bodies so tangled that is difficult to determine where one starts and the other ends.

Ken Karapetian's judo studio at the Glendale YMCA is not large, but he makes the most out of it. His judo students warm up by playing an impromptu game of soccer on the studio's padded floors; tiny traffic cones serve as goal posts. Later, the students run laps around the studio. Careful not to run into one another, the students hug the perimeter of the space as they run. Karapetian's judo studio is a converted handball court in the basement level of the YMCA's main physical fitness building.

GLENDALE — The early release of certain inmates imprisoned for domestic abuse has prompted members of the city’s Commission on Status of Women to urge victims to take a stand in protecting themselves. With April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month, commission Chairwoman Paula Devine said the message is critical given that the thousands of “low-risk” inmates who have been released early from prison without parole supervision. “They are coming into our area,” she said.

GLENDALE — A 55-year-old Glendale woman pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of trying to kill her friend with a kitchen knife during an argument in her apartment. Diane Vizcaino was charged with a felony count of attempted murder after police found David Eppele bleeding in the street outside her apartment. Vizcaino, who police said was covered in blood, had to be shot with a Taser gun after she allegedly acted aggressively toward officers. She is being held at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood in lieu of a $1-million bond, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Martial arts instructor Nelson Nio comes up from behind, shoving Meri Mkrtumyan against a gym wall. In the blink of an eye, the 15-year-old swings around and demonstrates how she could pelt the instructor in the face with her elbow. A few minutes later, other girls around Mkrtumyan are doing the same thing, shoving each other against the wall while their partners try to defend themselves. In other demonstrations, Nio shows the girls maneuvers to defend themselves from attackers who may grab their throat, hair or arms.

Students offered help in business skills The Commission on the Status of Women?s business and leadership skills development camp ? Camp Rosie ? is accepting applications from Glendale female students ages 13 to 19. Space is still available for the final session that runs from Aug. 3 to 21 at the Pacific Community Center, 501 S. Pacific Ave., Glendale. Girls from low-income families are encouraged to apply to this free camp no later than July 15. The three-week day camp will include instruction in financial literacy and entrepreneurship, self-awareness and interpersonal skills, effective communication techniques, healthy relationships and teen dating safety skills, fitness and nutrition and self-defense.

Self-defense Instructor Nelson Nio got ahold of Sabine Zolan’s shoulders, but she grabbed onto him, pulled herself closer to him and kneed him several times in the groin. The quick-action move was one of nearly a dozen that Nio taught a group of Glendale women during Thursday’s SHIELD self-defense class inside the Glendale Police Department’s Community Room. But for Zolan, knowing the move could save her from a dangerous encounter. She often walks alone at night and makes sure that she pays attention to her surroundings.

From financial planning to self-defense lessons and back again, local teenage girls are learning about empowerment in several of its forms — financial, physical and emotional — at a summer camp organized by the city’s Commission on the Status of Women. The girls are participants in a camp called Rosie Goes to Wall Street, which is in its second year and is named after Rosie the Riveter, an icon of women’s independence. Three distinct groups of girls will take part in the 12-day program over the course of the summer.

GLENDALE — Two men arrested on suspicion of murder Saturday in the stabbing death of a 30-year-old Glendale man in a Del Taco parking lot were released Tuesday after authorities decided one acted in self-defense and that there was not enough evidence to charge the second with a crime. Avetis Barnasyan, 24, will not face murder charges for stabbing Hayk Torosyan in the chest Saturday during a physical altercation in the parking lot at 2101 W. Glenoaks Blvd., Los Angeles County district attorney’s office spokeswoman Shiara M. Davila said.