Cheerleaders

Even with menacing rain clouds settling on the Verdugo Mountains, eager crowds lined Olive Avenue en masse on Saturday for the return of Burbank on Parade. As parade participants fine-tuned their floats, saddled their horses and adjusted their costumes in the event's staging area, the mood was festive and lively. The Woodland Hills Shrine Club's "Hillbilly Band," struck up the fiddles for a bluegrass warm-up and two feather-capped Shakespearean actors with Italian-grip foils in their belts locked arms for a spontaneous dos-a-dos.

The John Burroughs High School spirit squad needs a little cheer from the community to help pep up the team's fundraising efforts. The squad is asking local residents and businesses to donate their electronic waste on Saturday so 19 cheerleaders can go to Hawaii next year to compete in the Aloha International Spirit Competition, a contest that showcases squads from around the country. The group will be participating in the competition for the first time, said Jennifer Fajardo, spirit squad advisor.

School celebration slights academics Regarding “All the decades represented,” Sept. 17: My wife is a proud Burbank High alumna, so we participated in almost all the events at Burbank High School’s 100-year celebration. I was struck by the concentration on actors, cheerleaders and athletes in the pre-celebration advertising, celebration events and post-celebration reporting, and the almost total absence of any indication that scholarship has been a factor in the long history of the school.

Worth matinee ticket Summer Grindle of La Crescenta is a sophomore at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. Don't giggle when you hear that Keanu Reeves stars in a new football movie. Laugh right out loud with the rest of the audience, at every shot of his hair blowing in the breeze. Fortunately, Gene Hackman, along with all the members of "The Replacements" team (excluding Reeves) keep the movie afloat. Only to sink after any one of the incredulous love scenes, when a typical sports-movie-song like "Takin' Care of Business" will hurl itself at you, forcing open your drooping eyelids.

Burbank Vikings holding sign-up The Burbank Vikings Youth Tackle Football program will be holding a sign-up for the upcoming fall season from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at the Burbank Media City Center Sport Chalet parking lot. The fee is $275 for players and individuals interesting in being Vikings cheerleaders. Both is open to girls and boys 7-14. Athletes will play on age- and weight-specific teams. Teams will play a conference schedule against other programs. The football divisions are (age as of Dec. 2)

Molly Shore When the Hempfield Area High School Spartan Marching Band of Greensburg, Pa. -- one of the premier high school marching bands in the country -- decided to be part of this year's Burbank on Parade, parade president Sally Hooper had just one word to say about the honor: "Wow!" She said the band chartered its own plane to fly here at a cost of $500,000. Band members raised the money throughout the year by selling submarine sandwiches in their community, she said.

Tim Willert There were enough superheroes to save a city the size of Burbank, enough firefighters to help finish off those persistent wildfires. Of course, Friday morning's Halloween parade at Jefferson Elementary School also featured plenty of witches, princesses, football players and pirates. The annual costume parade drew hundreds of parents, most of whom were toting cameras and jockeying for position as their little ones paraded around the playground to the sounds of "Monster Mash."

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Erin Park HILLSIDE DISTRICT -- Furthering her involvement in the field of special education, Burbank resident Wendy Weichel was appointed by Supervisor Mike Antonovich to the Los Angeles County Developmental Disabilities Board. An assistant professor at Cal State Northridge and Miss Burbank 1996-1997, Weichel will serve on the board for a three-year term. The 17-member board works to eliminate discrimination against people with developmental disabilities and increase public awareness of their rights.