BEVERLY HILLS COURIER | FEBRUARY 12, 2016 Page 4
HERE!
B E V E R LY H I L L S M A I N N E W S
Convicted Pedophile Reportedly Returns To Beverly Hills By Victoria Talbot Menachem Tewel, also known as Mendel Tevel, a local resident rabbi and youth coordinator, who was arrested in October 2013 in Beverly Hills, and extradited to Brooklyn, New York to face 37 charges of criminal sexual act in the first degree, criminal sexual act in the third degree and sexual abuse in the first degree, has returned to Beverly Hills, according to reTewel was photographed last week in ports from residents. In April 2015, in a Beverly Hills plea bargain, Tevel pled anal or oral sex with a minor or guilty to only two counts for someone who is otherwise incriminal sexual act in the third capable of providing legal degree which, as described in (see ‘TEWEL’ page 14) New York penal law constitutes
On-Campus Graduations Return To Hawthorne, El Rodeo Despite Auditoriums Remaining Closed By Laura Coleman When the Board of Education voted to close the auditoriums at Hawthorne and El Rodeo due to seismic vulnerability last year, 8th grade students at those schools had to look elsewhere than campus to hold their graduations. But this year, all students will be afforded the opportunity to graduate on their campus following direction from the board to allow each K-8 school a maximum of $3,700 to rent staging and seating arrangements for graduation on campus.
“I think we have an obligation here,” Board VP Mel Spitz said. Last year El Rodeo held its graduation at The Beverly Hilton and Hawthorne held its graduation at Beverly Hills High School. Superintendent Steve Kessler said that it was not possible to reopen the auditoriums as per legal counsel, the board would be liable. “I feel the district should step-up and allow all of our campuses the opportunity to have graduation on campus,” he said.
BEVERLY HILLS VOLUNTEERS JOIN HOMELESS COUNT– Over 35 community volunteers participated in the City’s annual Homeless Count as part of the Greater L.A. Homeless Service Authority effort to understand and address the complexities of the state of homelessness in the area. Volunteers counted 14 homeless individuals and one make-shift shelter, more than a 50-percent decrease from last year, when the City began the successful Ambassador Program. From left: Mark Saleh, Human Relations Commissioner Annette Saleh, Dr. Sharona Nazarian, Human Services Administrator James Latta and Ambassador Program Block by Block Operations Manager Kris Zagyua.
Beverly Hills Bike Share Pedals Out Next Week By Matt Lopez Beverly Hills’ citywide bike share plan is pedaling ahead quickly, with a soft rollout planned for next week. The Traffic & Parking Commission reviewed plans for the soft rollout at its meeting last Thursday, looking over the eight proposed bikeshare stations set to be installed. Bike sharing is a transportation program allowing users the ability to obtain a bicycle from a self-serve station and return it to any other station in the system’s service area. Modeled after Santa Monica’s “Breeze” program, the stations will include bicycle docking equipment, such as bike racks and baseplates for smart bicycles. The plan is to eventually
have stations at the following: the northeast corner of City Hall (Crescent Drive and South Santa Monica Boulevard), the southwest corner of Camden and South Santa Monica, the northeast corner of Beverly Drive and Gregory, the northwest corner of 3rd Street and Maple, the southeast corner of Doheny Drive and Burton Way, the southeast corner of Civic Center Drive and Burton Way, the northwest corner of Wilshire and Beverly, the southeast corner of Wilshire and Robertson, the northwest corner of Santa Monica and Doheny and near North Santa Monica and Crescent, just west of City Hall. The soft rollout will only feature two stations at the North Crescent/South Santa Monica and North
Camden/South Santa Monica locations. Public meetings are scheduled for March – and April if necessary – at the Traffic & Parking Commission, with public notices being e-mailed to all properties and businesses near the bike share stations. After the hearings, the commission is expected to move forward with a recommendation for City Council consideration. It was made clear by the Commission and staff that the hope is to eventually increase the density of the plan. “We need to reassess the master plan for bike riding in the City,” Vice Chair David Seidel said. “If we’re going to be making this investment, we want a density of bike rental locations that’s comparable to Santa Monica.” SCIENCE FOR STUDENTS– Beverly Hills High School students showed off their smarts at the Science Olympiad Polytechnic School Invitational, winning 1st place Experimental Design, 2nd place for Game On, 2nd place for Green Generation and 3rd place for Chemistry Lab. Overall, the BHHS team came in 10th. Pictured (back row, from left): Sophia Goldberg, Noella Kim, and Bella Cura; (middle row): Rebecca Regwan, Katie Niknam, Katie Wu, James Dohm, Jordan Lee, Jordan Grode, and Quentin Sandhaus; (front row): Jamie Kim, Lital Peykar, and Noah Danesh.
TIMBER–Timber is a 2-year old, 30-pound, Corgie mix that was found tied to a tree at a park in Oxnard. A “Good Samaritan” family gave him food and water for several days and posted signs for a missing dog eventualy, brought the abandoned pup to ShelterHopePetShop.org for care. Those interested in adopting Timber may call Shelter Hope at 805-379-3538.
Board OK’s School Report Card Despite Mistakes Spike is a year-old Dane is a year-old hound/pitbull mix that poodle mix; a little loves other dogs! quiet and shy.
Jimmy is a 4-yr-old Amelia is a little pitbull, kind and lov- boxer/pit mix, playful ing at 55 pounds. and athletic. Wags and Walks is a West Los Angeles Rescue organization. Contact info@wagsandwalks.org To donate or foster a dog www.watsandwalks.org; to adopt www.wagsandwalks.org/adoption-application
By Laura Coleman The Board of Education voted 4-1 to approve a revised version of the state-mandated 2014/15 School Accountability Report Card despite known flaws at its Tuesday meeting. Board member Isabel Hacker was the lone “no” vote. Hacker said she took issue with inconsistencies, such as the fact that El Rodeo received an exemplary rating even though its auditorium has been closed due to seismic safety
and its tower encased in scaffolding. “Clearly there were misstatements of fact that were contained in the 2014/15 report,” Board President Howard Goldstein said. “Future reports will accurately reflect the situation.” Since passage of the Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act in November 1988, public schools in California are required to annually prepare the
SARC reports and disseminate them to the public. The 2014/15 SARC report came out last January, before reports were released that 14 BHUSD buildings had serious seismic structural problems. The newly approved SARC report makes no mention of these structural deficiencies “I disagree with the closure of the auditoriums and the inclusion of the auditoriums in this report,” Boardmember Noah Margo said.