O’Leary Once Was an Illegal Alien

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

     City Council candidate Mehaul O’Leary detonated a blockbuster announcement yesterday.
With a large dollop of irony, one day after Culver City High School students marched to protest potential tightening of immigration laws, Mr. O’Leary appeared to abruptly win their affection by revealing that he once was an illegal alien.
     Aided by a highly unusual development in the politics-driven culture of immigration, Mr. O’Leary straightened out his status in the early 1990s, a little more than four years after landing in the U.S. from his native Ireland.
     At a Candidates Forum on Tuesday at Culver High, Mr. O’Leary, far from ducking the sensitive illegal alien issue, wedged his way into answering a question that was only directed at a rival.

Student Protestors March to City Hall

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

• Protest Photos by Cary Anderson on Photo Page
 
      Rhythmically chanting “Si Si Puede!”  (Yes, We Can) and “Viva la Raza!” (Long Live the People), hundreds of mostly Latino students from four high schools — Culver City, Culver Park, Venice and Hamilton — marched on City Hall at 10:30 on Monday morning to protest pending immigration legislation as Congress began voting on it yesterday.
      Off and on, the marchers stayed for several hours, until leaders were reasonably certain their message had been imprinted on the minds of everyone important within hearing distance.
      One student organizer, Oscar Vargas of Culver City High School, told thefrontpageonline.com that the purpose of the march “is to show the people of Culver City and the people of Los Angeles that we believe the legislation in Congress is a crime against humanity. I hope they hear us all the  way to Washington.”

Can a Man Change His Mind?

Ari L. NoonanSports

     [Editor’s Note: This is a prologue that never was intended to be written. It would not have surfaced if I, clearly in the autumn of my years, had not learned a stinging lesson on Monday from high school student protestors at City Hall.
     As my family, a few former relatives, my sons who are stuck with me for life, and friends know, I begin every morning with a tankful of passion and enough emotion to write a long letter all the way across the sky.
     Arriving at my office in the Culver Hotel a crack before dawn yesterday morning, I was steaming over the sub-text of last Saturday’s record-large immigration rally in downtown Los Angeles. Having combed numerous sources for pertinent information and unmistakably clear about my convictions and responses, I sat down to compose.

Dylan Martinez: One Student’s Manifesto

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

   Among the numerous  students who articulately conveyed  their message of protest against pending immigration bills on Monday in front of City Hall was Dylan Martinez.
   A surprisingly mature sounding junior at Culver City High School, he was enterprising enough to give himself an edge over the rest of the rally marchers.
   In this day of instant technology, Mr. Martinez wrote out in long hand, on both sides of an eight-by-eleven sheet, the remarks he intended to deliver.
   He was not going to rely on passion alone.
   He wanted to be certain that he made every important point.

Davies Makes Chief Finals on Tuesday

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

     The road is long before the City Council votes for the next Police Chief on Tuesday night.
      Asst. Chief Hank Davies, the hometown favorite who sailed through Thursday night’s introductory round of interviews, faces two more grillings on Tuesday before the final score is announced.
     Mr. Davies and Capt. Jacqueline  Seabrooks of Santa Monica — both of whom have a record with the City Council — will be joined in the witness box by the remaining finalist, a gentleman who already is a police chief in the Los Angeles area.

A Bow to Founding Dad Harry Culver

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

     For several hours on Sunday afternoon, Harry Culver, the founding father of Culver City who has been gone for sixty years, will essay a permanent comeback — in sculpted form.

     At 2 o’clock, inside and outside of the historic Culver Hotel in Town Plaza — which Mr. Culver built in 1924 — there will be a dramatic buildup for history buffs just before a sculpture of the Harry Culver family is elaborately unveiled.

O’Leary Clashes in Blair Hills

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

      Finally, some emotion.
Real heat.
      Passions must have been taken prisoner at the start of the City Council campaign in January. They did not escape until Wednesday night in usually placid Blair Hills when the scrupulously followed candidate script was shredded.
      Typically, the first two months of Candidate Forums have been a little duller than watching paint dry.
      Of all things, feelings flared over Measure V, which proposes to replace the fifty-nine-year-old City Charter with a rewrite that contains controversial provisions.

How Can Catholics Live with Him?

Ari L. NoonanSports

    If Cardinal Mahony’s morals were as high as his voice, he would be a religious person who merits respect.   
     Instead, he continues to disgrace the Catholic Church. By his arrogant, seemingly criminal, behavior, he merits the same respect you would show to a hollowed out car in a junkyard.
    
     He will not resign. He repeatedly has demonstrated he is incapable of making morally correct decisions. Also, men with the control and influence he wields never voluntarily leave. They only respond to shoves.
     He not only should be unemployed, a strong case can be made for putting him behind bars for many years.

MalsinO’LearySilbiger — They Are Close

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

      Two and a half weeks before Election Day on April 11, here is one unofficial consensus:
      If the vote count is as tight as the candidate forums that have caravanned into every neighborhood, the three candidates for the two City Council seats will need to be pried apart by a crowbar.
      The single development three-quarters of the way through the three-month campaign is that Mehaul O’Leary, the greenest candidate in January, has grown stronger and more confident.
      To say it differently, he has caught up with Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger, the only incumbent, and Scott Malsin, the Planning Commission veteran.
      However, since most Culver City residents who will be voting next month have not attended any of the forums, trends and tendencies may not influence the way they mark their ballots.

Bring ‘em Back — Alive

Ari L. NoonanSports

     Thank goodness for Measure V, and shortly I shall explain why.
     The wit and witty wisdom of former City Councilman Steve Gourley jabbed me in the ribs several times on Tuesday night while we were waiting — and waiting — for the Candidates Forum to begin.
     Long gone from City Hall, I wish he were back on the Council. Or at least running for office.  His lusty style is missed.
     He was loose before and during the forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters. But then he has been loose almost every time I have been around him.