INSIDE SCOOP
COMMENTARY
FOOD
CITY HALL WELCOMES NEW BLOOD PAGE 3 FREE SPEECH IN JEOPARDY? PAGE 4 SO-SO MEXICAN PAGE 7
THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2009
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Volume 7 Issue 371
Santa Monica Daily Press CLINTON GETS NOD SEE PAGE 14
Since 2001: A news odyssey
THE FREE SPEECH ISSUE
Fighting to save public access BY KEVIN HERRERA Editor in Chief
DOWNTOWN John Kerwin likes to refer to
Daniel Archuleta daniela@smdp.com
TEACHING MOMENT: Samohi girls water polo coach Matt Flanders (bottom center) goes over plays with his players on Wednesday.
Samohi girls water polo keeps it in perspective BY DANIEL ARCHULETA Managing Editor
SAMOHI The girls water polo team has finals on their minds, but they would never admit it. As the entire campus is knee-deep in exams, Vikings players are busy preparing for a different kind of finals. But, these finals don’t require no. 2 pencils or Scantrons. It may be taboo to talk playoffs at this point of the season, yet there are certainly those on the team who would like to make it past the semi-finals of the California Interscholastic Federation playoffs and perhaps to the championship game. But, if they are going to make it to the rarefied air of a CIF title game, they have much to do.
“This is just like school work,” assistant coach Al Trundle said to the team during a break in practice on Wednesday afternoon. “You have to study, ask questions. “It’s just like your finals in class.” Some of those lessons are fundamental. Players need to defend, players need to score on offense. Those are givens. Other lessons are a little harder to define. As head coach Matt Flanders paced alongside Samohi’s pool during practice, he barked instructions to his players. He isn’t the type to shy away from a teaching moment and he isn’t afraid to get his players out of the water, onto the sidelines and into a huddle. He pleads with them to stay focused. Warns them against regressing. He is a quintessential coach. Both understanding and tough as nails.
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The understanding part is the easier of the two to stomach. It’s the tough as nails part that gets his players’ attention. “He’s a very verbal coach,” senior Suzi Ortega said sheepishly after practice. “He’s always yelling out to us ... giving us encouragement.” While the yelling is a part of the game, it’s what is yelled that often makes the difference between winning and losing. “Whenever an [opposing] player tries to get past our defense, coach is always reminding us to get back and defend,” senior Melody Conrad said. “He always seems to know the right thing to say during games.” When it comes to talking playoffs, Flanders toes the company line and is sure SEE WATER POLO PAGE 11
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himself as the Robin Hood of public access. The host of the late night comedy gab fest “ The John Kerwin Show” would often attend tapings of a certain network talk show, take gifts given to the audience (some worth as much as $150) and then give them away to members of his small, but loyal following during tapings at the Time Warner Cable production studio on Nebraska Avenue. “I take from the rich network show and give to the poor public access show,” Kerwin said. But ever since Jan. 1, when a state law allowed cable companies to drop their longstanding obligation of providing free studios, equipment and training to the public, Kerwin and many other public access regulars feel like SEE ACCESS PAGE 13
Arrest in burglaries targeting L.A.’s wealthy BY GREG RISLING Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES Police said Wednesday they cracked a burglary ring that spread fear in wealthy neighborhoods as it made off with more than $10 million worth of property and cash in some 150 break-ins over three years. Troy Corsby Thomas, 45, one of two suspected leaders, was arrested Saturday and pleaded not guilty to two charges of residential burglary in a brief court appearance Tuesday. SEE ARRESTS PAGE 12