Would That the Noonan Boys Had Benefited from the Teaching of Senor Montero

Ari L. NoonanSports

Every year for the last five, the extraordinary teacher Senor Jose Montero and I have had a ritual.

During the week before his student-staged sui generis Peace Concert, on a Saturday night in May, we meet on the campus of Culver City High School where he has been a faculty member for seven years.

Are They Causing Thunder and Lightning Over a Mere Anthill of a Problem?

Ari L. NoonanSports

Before returning to an assessment of the Police Chief and further consideration of a race factor in the School Board’s vote on Ladera Heights a year and a half ago, let us discuss what was going to happen in Council Chambers tonight.

The sturdy walls of the barely decade-old City Hall were supposed to be quivering when the City Council tackled the Most Misunderstood Story of the Season.

Rejection of Ladera Heights Children Resurrected – A Signal Moment for Cheering White Supremacists

Ari L. NoonanSports

The slowest, most syrupy dance since the minuet was beaten to death and stuffed, feet first, into a trash can was revisited at last night’s School Board meeting.

Supt. Dr. Myrna Cote presented an update on the appeal by Ladera Heights families to quit raggedy Inglewood and integrate into the desirable Culver City school system.

Decision Day

She said the state Board of Education — whose rigid eligibility requirements have been whittled to one, breathing — will consider the matter on Sept. 12-13.

You may recall the loathsome decision by the Culver City School Board that brought us to this tragically ironic juncture.

Of the Rev. Al Dull-ton and Police Chief Willie My Boy

Ari L. NoonanSports

“As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him. So don’t worry. That’s a temporary situation.” —The Rev. Al (I Can’t Be a Bigot, I’m the Wrong Color) Sharpton said it to a debate crowd last night at the New York Public Library about Republican Presidential contender Mitt Romney.

This, dear reader, is why it is your world. I am only visiting.

No matter how much this fat black fraud insults non-blacks and other religions, he remains wildly popular in the black community. This would, of course, explain why 92 percent of blacks vote Democratic…

For Two Offices, You Need Only One Qualification

Ari L. NoonanSports

Ever since the South Bay/Long Beach Congresswoman Juanita Millender McDonald died with scant warning last month, the black community has been scrambling to find a suitable replacement.

It is their cultural duty, they say, to see that the next officeholder matches the last in ethnicity.

In combing the neighborhoods, everybody knows that they are not accepting applications from anyone named Kevin O’Riley, Andy Rothstein or Billy Bob Barnyard. Kevin, Andy and Bill Bob will never make their short or long lists. Only their Never in 10 Million Years list.

Topping My Wish List: Bob Champion Becomes Junior Vera’s Lawyer

Ari L. NoonanSports

I had a curious dream last night.

Bob Champion, who develops theses and Culver City building projects for a living, woke up this morning and announced he was the new lawyer for Albert Vera Jr.

I guarantee, you and I would know more about the cases against Junior Vera than even Mr. Vera does.

The Ultimate Thrill

Such a team-up would surpass winning the lottery or barring all radical Democrats from participating in the political process for the next 15 years.

If Mr. Champion became Mr. Vera’s attorney, they would have to start three more newspapers in this town just to keep up with one man’s running narrative of the accusations against the young man.

Says Mr. Noonan, on the Right: ‘My Good Liberal Friend Has the Debate Backward’…

Ari L. NoonanSports

Allowing for the reed-thin possibility my eminently sensible, incisive colleague, Mr. Sisa, may disagree, permit me to respond to his virulently anti-gun argument by offering a scene ripped from real life.

Right here in Culver City.

Last week, tragedy visited one of those mom-and-pop stores we have talked about lately on the west side of South Sepulveda Boulevard.

A Vote for Baldwin in the Controlling Mother Case

Ari L. NoonanSports

While my son and I were waiting to be seated at his new favorite restaurant last night, he was practically giggling.

We engaged in a little game about something secretive and highly mysterious he had done the day before.

Not wanting to admit to it, he was coy, mockingly embarrassed, and then downright playful.

Is This Real?

Because we were estranged for many years, both of us are strangers to these kinds of warm, casual, entirely relaxed moments.

They feel good.

But they are so new, still, that I look in the mirror to verify that this kind of scene is reality.

How can we actually be enjoying an unguarded time without also frantically watching the clock?

A Message for the Super: Try a Novel Strategy, a Dash of Courage

Ari L. NoonanSports

A succinct memo to Dr. Myrna Cote, the School District Superintendent:

Dear Super:

The next move is yours, just as the last one was.

This is why you signed up, to defuse disputes before they escape from your clutches and light up — or emotionally burn down — the whole community.

All the best,
ari noonan


3 Against 1 — It May Be Fair, but It Sure Isn’t Fun

Ari L. NoonanSports

I felt badly last night for City Councilman Gary Silbiger.

Workplace treatment of the poor guy did not improve on the evening that he transitioned from his one-year term as mayor back into ordinary Councilman.

No matter the makeup of the Council, Mr. Silbiger always is the odd-man-out.

Musketeer Anyone?

New Mayor Alan Corlin and Councilman Steve Rose do not always agree, but they are comrades under the skin. They are sympatico. Along with second-year Councilman Scott Malsin, they are the Three Musketeers.

Politics and personality, the factors that normally determine how well Council teammates get along, do not matter in this case. Yardsticks are useless.