Young Girl

Real loss to our community and our world. I have asked myself over and over again why, and I know I will never get an answer. I keep thinking that when I show up to the park I will be greeted by a hug and a smile like always by one of the most genuine girls that I have ever met, but that will no longer happen. Annemarie was one of the best people that I know. I had never ever heard her say a bad word about anyone, and you know how young girls can be. She was as real as it gets.

I have asked myself over and over again why, and I know I will never get an answer. I keep thinking that when I show up to the park I will be greeted by a hug and a smile like always by one of the most genuine girls that I have ever met, but that will no longer happen. Annemarie Polizzotto was one of the best people that I know. I had never ever heard her say a bad word about anyone, and you know how young girls can be. She was as real as it gets. She had a million-dollar smile and she was beautiful all the way to the bone.

Robert Chacon For the sixth consecutive year, the Crescenta Valley High School girls' varsity soccer team is not just getting lessons in sportsmanship, but in community service as well. Each year, Falcons have collected pajamas to donate to cancer patients at the City of Hope in Duarte. The deadline for the collection this year is Tuesday. The girls deliver the pajamas to the patients and then have a huge pajama party at the hospital for the patients.

Jobyna Cynthia Casey, born Oct. 22, 1935, in Painsville, Ohio, passed away in Palm Springs on Saturday, Sept. 4, at the age of 68. Jobyna was married to Joseph Casey in Painsville in 1957; the couple moved to La Crescenta to raise their family. The Caseys recently celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary and split time living in La Crescenta and Palm Springs. For 40 years, Jobyna was well known in her profession as a bridal consultant and was considered an icon in the bridal business.

Jerry Lane Have you ever been to Mesa, Ariz.? It's the third-largest city in the Grand Canyon State and its public relations organizations call it one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the nation. We've been visiting my sisters there several times each year since 1983 and the expanding traffic situation there in that period of time makes me believe they might be telling the truth. When we arrived there on Wednesday, the main roads around the city looked like Los Angeles at rush hour.

I am trying again to say what I mean about Glendale's homeless shelter. The Catholic nun, Mother Teresa, who worked among the homeless and poor, said when we see a homeless person, we are looking at Jesus Christ in a distressing disguise. We may also be looking at the son or daughter, brother or sister, of our own Glendale neighbors and friends, without knowing it. I learned this many years ago when I saw a beautiful young girl barefoot and filthy lying on the pavement in front of our church every Sunday morning.

Paul M. Anderson GLENDALE -- An 8-year-old girl testified Friday in Glendale Municipal Court how she feared for her life when a 34-year-old Los Angeles man allegedly tried to abduct her. After identifying Kenneth Hosea Colbert in court Friday as the man who tried to abduct her, the girl was asked what she was thinking when he allegedly grabbed her. "I thought he was going to kill me," the girl said. L.A. Municipal Court Judge Barbara Lee Burke found there was enough evidence presented at Colbert's preliminary hearing Friday to pass the case along to L.A. County Superior Court.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE ADVENTIST MEDICAL CENTER - Santa Claus doesn't always make it to Yonorelda Pineda's house so she was happy to bring her two children to St. Nick this year. The Pinedas were among the estimated 1,000 low-income families from throughout the Los Angeles area invited to a Christmas party Monday sponsored by the hospital and the Glendale Health Center of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. When her children, Alejandro, 7, and Ana, 9, ask why they don't get presents like other kids in their Glendale neighborhood, Pineda makes excuses for Santa Claus.