MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2005
Volume 4, Issue 273
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
Another ‘First’ for city tackling homelessness
DAILY LOTTERY SUPER LOTTO 7 13 23 28 33 2 Meganumber: 18 Jackpot: $7 Million
NEWS OF THE WEIRD BY
CHUCK
SHEPARD
The New Born Fellowship Christian Center in Rochester, N.Y., recently adopted a several-weeks-long “Spiritual Warfare” theme that featured its pastor, Warren Meeks, delivering sermons while in military fatigues (and asking congregants to wear fatigues, too), to battle the spirits opposing U.S. troops overseas and those challenging American youth with drugs and gangs. Meeks also brought in an Army missile, to help with the message, according to a report on WHAM-TV.
TODAY IN HISTORY Today is the 269th day of 2005. There are 96 days left in the year. On Sept. 26, 1960, the first televised debate between presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon took place in Chicago. In 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution. In 1952, philosopher George Santayana died in Rome at age 88. In 1955, following word that President Eisenhower had suffered a heart attack, the New York Stock Exchange saw its worst price decline since 1929. In 1980, the Cuban government abruptly closed Mariel Harbor, ending the “freedom flotilla” of Cuban refugees that had begun the previous April. In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.
“The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man; it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”
WILLIAM FAULKNER
(1897-1962)
Horoscopes 2
Surf Report 3
Opinion Lane divided
4
Commentary Not sweating over it
5
Local Know before you go
7
National Timber troubles
12
Comics Strips tease
13
Classifieds Ad space odyssey
14-15
DBAs Legal eagles
Fabian Lewkowicz/Daily Press Firefighters on Saturday battle to control a kitchen fire that erupted at Pedals, the beachfront restaurant at Shutters on the Beach. No one was injured.
Lunchtime fire sends hotel guests packing By Daily Press staff
SHUTTERS ON THE BEACH — A fire broke out in a kitchen ventilation system on Saturday, forcing some guests to evacuate the hotel for a short period of time. No one was injured. The fire broke out shortly before noon at Pedals, the beachfront restaurant at Shutters on the Beach. A total of 24 firefighters were on
the scene, successfully extinguishing the blaze from the hotel’s roof. Santa Monica Fire Department Capt. Dale Hallock said damage was estimated at about $250,000 and the cause is still being investigated. Kitchen workers called 9-1-1 after they heard a sound similar to that of a volcano erupting. Apparently, the fire traveled through See FIRE, page 11
CITY HALL — With an eye on fighting homelessness more effectively, City Hall has embraced a new strategy with an emphasis on providing housing first to the down-and-out. City staff recently unveiled plans to incorporate a “Housing First” model to help alleviate the city’s homeless problem. Under the model, homeless individuals will be offered shelter by local providers, followed up with a rigorous case management plan intended to keep them on a path to self-sufficiency. Currently, City Hall uses a “Continuum of Care” approach to dealing with homelessness. Under that model, a person must attain a series of goals in order to qualify for housing. Housing First has been used for individuals and families, but city staff said it seems to work best
COMMUNITY PROFILES IS A WEEKLY SERIES THAT APPEARS EACH MONDAY AND DELVES INTO THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE, WORK AND PLAY IN SANTA MONICA.
Ecker aids the old and infirm after hurricane BY RYAN HYATT Daily Press Staff Writer
INDEX
Water temperature: 62°
Daily Press Staff Writer
COMMUNITYPROFILES |
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Do it for yourself, Leo
BY RYAN HYATT
16-19
with the “chronically homeless” — those who have been without a roof over their head for more than three years, or in and out of homes for the last five. City Hall has been focussing its efforts on this population, especially after a recent report which indicated that of the Los Angelesarea’s 90,000 homeless, 40 percent, or approximately 40,000 meet the “chronic” condition. Both Housing First and the Continuum of Care models will be used simultaneously by City Hall, See HOUSING, page 9
LOCAL
SM man fatally shot after attending party BY CAROLYN SACKARIASON Daily Press Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — A Santa Monica man was shot dead early Saturday after attending a party in the 4900 block of 21st Street. Jesse Becerra was walking westbound on 21st toward La Brea Avenue, at about 12:45 a.m., when a man ran up to him and shot him multiple times in See MURDER, page 10
The day before she headed off to Mississippi to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, Margaret Ecker, an educational director at Saint John’s Health Center, auditioned for the Los Angeles Bach Festival Chorus and landed a part. The following morning, Monday, Sept. 12, the 56-year-old nurse flew a commercial airline into Jackson, Miss., along with three co-workers, and cramped in a small sedan, proceeded down Interstate 55 to Poplarville, a town of 2,600 residents located in southern Mississippi, a rural community popular among New Orleans retirees. Weaving between debris, the
Stanford St. shooting puts man in hospital By Daily Press staff
Saint John’s nurses used highway mile markers and a map to determine their whereabouts, since Katrina had claimed most posted signs. The nurses attribute their
success in locating the Pearl River County & Hospital Nursing Home to a healthy combination of guess-
MID-CITY — An unidentified man is listed in guarded condition after he was shot on Saturday afternoon. At 2:07 p.m., Santa Monica Police responded to the 1300 block of Stanford Street regarding calls of shots fired. While officers were checking the area, they were notified that a man had walked into a local hospital with a gunshot wound to the
See PROFILES, page 8
See STANFORD, page 10
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