I have been reading The Tolucan Times for many years, and have always enjoyed reading it – even dating back to the era of The Valley News and Green Sheet!

When I retired from customer service manager at AT&T 12 years ago, part of my daily routine was to pick up your paper before lunch on Thursdays and read it from cover to cover while enjoying a leisurely lunch and not having to worry about rushing back to work.

I still look forward to Thursdays and to see my local news from your paper. You have the diversity of a much larger paper and I appreciate you allowing all points of view! As we know, our community has the two extreme poles on many issues!

I remember several years ago, you wrote about your memories of your own mother in the Mother’s Day issue. It still sticks in my mind with the love with which it was written!

I had the pleasure of meeting you several weeks ago right outside the office as I was picking up my latest issue, and was able to tell you of my appreciation of your efforts and that I had always planned to write you a letter. You said, “Well, why don’t you?!” So, here it finally is!

Thank you for an excellent paper and for being an involved citizen in our great community. I still send my dad in Minneapolis many articles, which at 87 he really appreciates!

Also, as you may remember, I mentioned in our meeting I hope that when you get up to Montecito, you are able to read their local paper, The Montecito Journal. It is almost as good as your paper.

God bless you and your sincere efforts.

Gregory Ryan

Perhaps you have seen the sidewalk protests in front of St. Charles Borromeo Church, near the corner of Moorpark and Lankershim. Usually on Sunday, from early in the morning to late afternoon, protesters have appeared on the sidewalk in front of the church where they worship and pray as parishioners. The protests began in 2002, when plans to remodel the church were announced, and the majority of parishioners made clear to the pastor and the archdiocese that they did not want their church remodeled. When it became clear that remodeling plans were moving forward anyway, a number of parishioners formed the St. Charles Borromeo Preservation Guild to fight for the preservation of their church’s interior. The controversy grew and caught the attention of the Los Angeles Times, the Tolucan Times, and a local Catholic publication, the Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission.

Why might someone care about this if they are not Catholic? If the remodeling is carried out, a beautiful landmark building and architectural treasure of North Hollywood will be changed, perhaps for good. A church known nationally as the “Church of the Stars,” where many celebrities have been known to worship, a familiar part of the local landscape that was once described as “an excellent example of the Mission Revival style” and “a central element of the architectural history of Southern California” will be lost.

For a few years after the controversy began, things quieted down. The pastor, Msgr. Robert Gallagher, made no moves against the traditional interior of St. Charles, such as the altar rail, the pews, or the sanctuary. The parishioners who had been protesting dared to hope that their voices had been heard; and for a time, there were no protests on the sidewalk. Then, in March of 2010, Msgr. Gallagher announced plans to remove the altar rail and remodel the interior in the same manner as had been done in several other surrounding parish churches.

In reality, the interior will be gutted and the entire sanctuary will be removed, including the removal of side altars, altar rail, some statues, all the front pews and most importantly, the removal of the tabernacle from the center of the church. Nobody opposes improvements to the bathrooms, but as a recent flyer from the preservation guild pointed out, refurbishing the bathrooms does not require removing the altar rail. So after a hiatus of several years, the protests at St. Charles resumed once again. Many worshippers consider St. Charles the last Catholic Church in which the interior architecture looks and feels authentically Catholic. As one parishioner put it: “They can have all the other churches that have been remodeled; can’t they just leave us St. Charles? Can’t there just be one church that still looks like a traditional Catholic Church?”

A major concern to the parishioners at St. Charles Borromeo is the wasting of millions of donated dollars on an unnecessary remodel, especially in today’s economy where many are struggling to get by. Many are appalled at the enormous price tag of this proposed project, which is not required by Church teaching, or supported by the majority of their fellow parishioners. A large number of complaints were heard regarding the $500,000 price tag for a bronze statue of St. Charles Borromeo and the $100,000 price for a new crucifix, which will require the current crucifix above the altar to be discarded.

Several times the pattern has happened in other churches: a phenomenon documented in The Renovation Manipulation by Michael S. Rose. Plans are announced to remodel the church so as to change the traditional look and feel of the interior, parishioners protest, the pastor appears to listen, and then the remodeling is done anyway.

What will be the outcome of the controversy? It is still too early to tell. The recent naming of a new, traditional-minded prelate to succeed Cardinal Roger Mahony has given the preservationists some hope that the remodeling may be called off. On the other hand, it may also give the pastor a reason to try to carry out the “renovations” before the new archbishop takes over. St. Charles Borromeo Preservation Guild can be found on Facebook.

As a dedicated reader of The Tolucan for over 20 years, I was very disturbed over the nasty and unwarranted attacks on some of Greg Crosby’s recent columns.

It’s one thing to disagree with one’s point of view, but it’s way over the top to write, as H.R. Powell did a few weeks ago, “For too many years our neighborhood paper has been soiled by Greg Crosby’s column,” because Mr. Crosby wrote something that H.R. Powell didn’t like.

I also found Patricia Nolan Stein’s “hysterical rant” of Mr. Crosby’s column to be “pathetic” (words she used).

I happen to find Mr. Crosby’s columns informative, intelligent, and thought-provoking, and if I disagreed with him I would do so without name-calling or rancor.

Lee Delano
Burbank

Mardi & Sarah Rustam

We appreciate and thank you for reading The Tolucan Times and thank you for your feedback. We at The Tolucan have established a policy to let our columnists air their opinions about government policies and social issues, as long as they will not attack or insult different religions, different races, or specific social groups.

We welcome our readers to air their opinions as long as they follow these guidelines and do not write personal attacks against our columnists. There are many readers that even mail copies of The Tolucan Times to their friends and families out of state because of the diversified articles in the newspaper. We welcome you to write your opinion.

-Mardi & Sarah Rustam
Publishers

My hat is off to Sean Waldron for taking issue with Greg Crosby (March 31, 2010). For too many years our neighborhood paper has been spoiled by Greg Crosby’s column. His weekly vitriolic rants and diatribes stain this otherwise quaint paper. I hope the Rustams realize that Crosby’s kind of fear mongering and hate have no place in The Tolucan Times.

W.R. Powell
Toluca Lake

History Repeats Itself

Dear Tolucan,

I read with gratitude and relief Sean Waldron’s article “Welcome to Hope and Change” (March 31, 2010), a thoughtful and intelligent rebuttal to Greg Crosby’s angry article “Welcome to the Obamanation” (March 24, 2010).

In 1960, I was a freshman in college, and a group of us in my dormitory watched the Kennedy/Nixon presidential election results on television. The audience was probably equally divided between the Kennedy and Nixon camps, though none of us were old enough to vote at the time.

One group of the students were avid Nixon supporters and over the next three years voiced at every opportunity their disapproval of President Kennedy.

In November of 1963 many of us were again watching TV, glued to the running and re-running of Abraham Zapruder’s videotape on the screen. Regardless of political persuasion, we were shocked, horrified, and even heartbroken that something like this could happen in America.

Suddenly, into the same room marched the avid Nixon supporters. They formed a chorus line dancing, cheering, and celebrating Kennedy’s death—such joy in the face of such tragedy. We were all aghast at the hatred they contained and were able to express so freely.

Of course, the taunts, racial slurs, and property damage after the passage of health care reform reminded me of how dreadful some people can still be even after all these years. Thank you, Tolucan Times, for placing Mr. Waldron’s article in such a prominent place in the paper. I do hope Mr. Crosby reads it.

Sincerely,
Mary Grindal
A Socialist Plot?

Dear Editor,

Greg Crosby’s hysterical rant against Obama’s health care bill is disgusting. I wonder how he feels about children who have died because their health insurance companies refused to pay for life-saving surgery. And the cancer-stricken woman whose husband lost his job and health insurance—she subsequently died because she couldn’t afford to pay for chemotherapy.

Is Greg Crosby okay with that?

With his pathetic and embarrassing attempt to link Obama with Socialists, Marxists and Communists, Mr. Crosby has forgotten two important vents in history.

In 1935, when President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, Republicans called it a “Communist takeover” of the United States.

And in 1966, when President Johnson signed Medicare into law, Ronald Reagan (Greg’s hero) referred to it as socialism.

I don’t know how old Greg Crosby is, but if he receives a Social Security check each month, it should STOP immediately! After all, Greg’s beloved Republicans described Social Security as an evil Communist plot to enslave all Americans.

Mr. Crosby also doesn’t deserve Medicare—because Ronald Reagan called it “socialized medicine.”

Sincerely,
Patricia Nolan Stein
Healthcare For All

Dear Editor,

The column in the April 14, 2010 issue of The Tolucan Times by Greg Crosby, entitled “ObamaCare is Unconstitutional,” struck the wrong chord with me.

Crosby wrote that he is not a “constitutional lawyer.” This is obvious or he would not write such nonsense.

First of all, the United States Constitution has nothing to do with healthcare of the reform thereof. While our founding fathers did very well in drafting the Constitution, they lived at a time when health insurance was not a consideration.

Car insurance is mandatory; why should healthcare not be mandatory?

Obviously neither Greg Crosby nor many Americans know what “socialized medicine” is. It has nothing to do with Russia. It has everything to do with everybody paying into and everybody receiving medical care. It has worked and continues to work very nicely in Europe and in Canada. If they tell you that people from those countries come to the United States for treatment because they cannot get the treatment in their own country, it is not so. There will always be people who can afford to come here to receive and pay for treatments they want or need. This is not to say that the United States does not have the most sophisticated and modern techniques and ability for medical care. It has to do with the changes by insurance companies, doctors, and hospitals.

President Obama has shown the courage to pursue something that no other president has been able to do. Keep in mind, President Obama does not need to do this for himself. He and the senators and congressmen have the best possible coverage at our expense.

The very sad thing about the passage of the health care bill is that it has been changed from a simple procedure to form a health insurance company that will insure anybody for an affordable rate, to a monstrosity by virtue of the manipulation by our lawmakers. It was never the intent to change health care coverage for anybody who wants to choose his own insurance company.

More than 70 years ago the United States should have adopted a health care program that benefits all of its people at a fair price. We are lagging behind many countries in the world that have done better for their people. We need to move forward now.

Very truly yours,
S.R. Bullington

Marvin Kaplan.

Please forgive this improvised note; my computer is on the fritz, so I’m handwriting this.

Thank you for the words about the play and me. Pat is one of the few conscientious reviewers in this town, and for that, most local theaters are extremely grateful.
The L.A. Times won’t show until the fifth week of the run, and whether it’s a pan or a rave, it won’t do the theatre much good business-wise. Thank you again for being a pro.

Much love, thanks for the best,
Marvin Kaplan

Dear Tolucan Times Staff,

Your cover feature on August 12, “Nadia Eftedal’s Rhythm Room Brings Ballroom to Kids,” inspired us to attend an event where Nadia’s students gave a demonstration. They were superb! Nadia’s kids performed beautifully. Nadia and her teachers are to be congratulated! Thank you for your article, and for letting us know about Nadia’s Eftedal’s Rhythm Room. We really enjoyed the show.  

P. Piponniau

(In regards to Caren J. Gafni’s cover 8-05-09)

Dear Tolucan Times Staff,
 
The exhibit was quite a success! Thanks to The Tolucan Times, it was enhanced by a very enthusiastic and overwhelmingly receptive audience.
The music and dance performers added more cultural bravado to the event. And we have not begun to discuss the delectable appetizers and yummy desserts! Several people spoke to me that they came to VIVA [Art Institute in Sherman Oaks] because of the article [written by Adréana Robbins] in The Tolucan Times. 
Thank you Adréana, and to the newspaper, for a wonderful exhibit.

Sincerely,
Caren J. Gafni, Artist

Sincerely, Jon Molin
Realtor,
Ramsey Shilling & Associates

Thank you
Pegge Forrest
Forrest & Associates

Dear Tolucan Times Staff,

Thank you Alicia for working with me on my ad for the Tolucan Times. I tried to send Mary Mallory an e-mail but it bounced back. Please tell her I said “thank you” for such a wonderful review.
And thanks for the copies of your newspaper.

Til the next time… be well,
 Carlease Burke

Dear Tolucan Times Staff,

I was writing a letter to a ticket vendor we work with, and I was praising Pat Taylor for her excellent writing and for her positive slant on most everything she sees. Also, for being one of the few reviewers in town who “loves“ theater. Most reviewers I found have an agenda, and if you aren’t doing something weird or sick, they will hate it. But Pat sees each show for what it is, and finds something good to write about. Those who know her know if she really likes something or is just so-so on it but she is always kind to the work as a whole. The ticket vendor I felt didn’t give the small papers or the online reviewers enough credit, when a good portion of them are better versed in theater and writing than the reviewers for the bigger papers.

Thanks,
Gary Lamb
Crown City Theatre Co.