BeaconMediaNews.com
8 | JUNE 13, 2013 - JUNE 19, 2013
Dorothy's Place
Letter to the Editor
Genealogical news
By Dorothy Denne My regular readers know how I love going through old stuff--no, not my clothes closet-I mean old letters, pictures, attic boxes, files, that kind of old stuff. My cousin Richard is as bad as I. Richard discovered some genealogical information that shows we had a relative (I'm not sure he was enough older than we are to quite call him an ancestor) with whom I have more than family blood in common. His name was Peter and he wrote a column for a paper in Johnson City, Tennessee. As my column is called Dorothy's Place, his was PETE SEZ with a lower case line below "Published for the benefit of those who read it". (I like that line. May steal it one day.) For the next couple of weeks, I'll be sharing some of his stuff with you. Let's start with a column published in August, 1916.
Postage Stamp Inefficiency Motion-study and stopwatch-methods have swept the country. Everyone has the Efficiency habit. Nothing has escaped the eagle eyes of the Efficiency experts--except the poor patient little Postage Stamp, much reverenced for its sticktoitiveness and ability to deliver the goods. But we have caught up with it at last. It has been investigated and here are the facts in the case: A two-cent stamp will carry our one ounce of firstclass mail matter without being overloaded. The average business letter weighs only one quarter of an ounce--which means that three-fourths of a postage stamp's energy is wasted. (Wonder how those Efficiency Experts happened to overlook this?) Think what this enormous waste of 75 per cent amounts to with a large concern having a big daily mail? On every letter sent out one and one-half cents is wasted. On every One Hundred Dollars spent for postage, SeventyFive Dollars are thrown away. One concern is Johnson
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City mails about three hundred letters a day. Their annual expenditure for stamps is in the neighborhood of $1,800, of which $1,300 is dead loss. Think of it. Take your own postage account, assume that 50 percent of it is for mailing letters, and figure what the inefficiency of your postage stamps cost you. No other department of your business would be permitted to operate in such a manner, then why allow the mailing department to do so? Uncle Sam says a twocent stamp is strong enough to carry 'one ounce or the fraction thereof'. It is up to the stamp user to keep it working as near its rated capacity as possible. Give it the load to carry. With every letter, invoice or statement, enclose some neat, attractive, well-printed selling talk about your goods, a new use or a new feature well illustrated or what others are doing with or saying about this line or that. A booklet or folder does not cost much and all the business it brings in is so much velvet. Make your stamps do their duty.
Pasadena City College Police unarmed - Resident asks why? Dear Editor: Considering the recent tragedy on the Santa Monica City College campus and the increasing trend of school shootings, this may be a good topic to cover. PCC is one of the largest community college's (26,833 students) of the 111 California community colleges. PCC maintains its own police department and the officer's are unarmed. I believe PCCPD is the only community college post certified police agency that remains unarmed. It was reported that a SMCC campus police officer engaged the shooter during the gun battle which ultimately led the suspect's life being taken. Police Department Facts: -Post certified sworn police officers per 830.32 of the California Penal Code. -24/7 full service police department -Often times one officer
on duty (7 active sworn, 5 officers, 1 sergeant, 1 chief -No radio contact with Pasadena Police Department -Required to respond to calls for services, effectuate arrests, respond to crimes in progress and initiate traffic stops. - Receive and write reports of "school shooting" threats The topic has been discussed many times over the years. The decision rests in the school presidents hands, Dr. Mark Rocha, and that of the seven elected board of trustee members. The board members, under the direction of former Chancellor Jack Scott, are against the arming of the police officers. Scott is against firearms, speculated because he lost his son to a firearm. Student/Faculty concern: - Are the students aware their police force is unarmed?
- What happens if there is an active shooter on campus? - What is an unarmed officer going to do to protect the members of the campus community he/she are sworn to protect? - What is the response time from the Pasadena Police Department (ten minutes)? How many lives can be taken? - Shooting up the school threats have been received from the campus psychological office and directly through the police department. The campus community is scared. Our police force is not prepared and that is very scary. Our campus is an open campus all hours of the day and night. A faculty member was recently assaulted on campus. Name withheld PCC Employee
Duarte Youth Coalition rejoices Dear Editor As members of the Coalition of Arts and Advocacy About Tobacco, we are so proud of our city, because our leaders have chosen to stop stores from selling tobacco to youth. We gathered data and testimony from other teens that showed proof of stores willing to sell cigarettes to minors. We presented
that information to the City Council, and now kids will have a hard time buying tobacco products in Duarte! Stores will be fined, if they are caught selling cigarettes illegally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the younger a person is when they start smoking, the more difficult it is to
quit. Three out of 4 smokers start before they are 18 years old, so our tobacco retail license ordinance will protect a whole generation of young people who might otherwise become addicted to nicotine. As they become parents and teachers, they will encourage kids not to smoke, and they will have the law to back them up!
Garvey School District Continued from page 1
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some board members upset that district Superintendent Sandra Johnson recently got a $52,000 raise while the teachers have been working without a contract since 2012, Johnson defended her salary. “I’m still the next-to-lowest-paid superintendent in the area,” Johnson said. “I think I’m earning every dime.” School Board Member Janet Chin, who is in the middle of a recall campaign, agreed that Johnson is worth the money. “The majority of the board – not just one board member – gets to decide that,” Chin said. “We think she’s the right person for the job at this moment.” Johnson also said while the union is trying to negotiate a pay raise for its members, the district has “been
trying to negotiate some type of reduction,” making for an angry situation. “It’s a combination of things,” Johnson said. “We’re not getting what we want on both sides. The district has a structural deficit. It’s very real. We have not been able to negotiate any financial concessions with (the union), like furloughed salary days, reductions in benefits. “Our structural deficit means we spend more than we take in, so we’ve got to cut something. Even with the passage of Proposition 30, right now we will have a qualified budget, which means you can’t meet your budget requirements in the next three years.” Chin added the district is still trying to negotiate with the union through the diffi-
cult time and is “continuing to come to the table. We’ve met with them 27 times.” She said it’s not a question of if the teachers should get more money, but a rather is the money there to give. “I think all teachers should get raises,” she said. “If we have the ability to do that is something else. If we talk about where our teachers are on the scale, in a market study we did it shows our teachers are between number five and number seven of 27 districts studied. They’re doing OK. They have a pretty good deal.” Chin also said the union needs to change its strategy in approaching these meetings. “They need to come to the table and negotiate fiPlease see page 15