Control

MEMORIAL FIELD--The Bellarmine-Jefferson High football team has learned to control the ball and the clock. Now it just needs to find a way to control the score. Despite holding visiting Vasquez High to less than 100 second-half yards, giving up three first-quarter touchdowns was too much to overcome, as Bell-Jeff fell to the Mustangs, 35-14, Saturday night in a nonleague game at Memorial Field. Vasquez scored on its first three possessions, on touchdown runs of 49 and 68 yards by Sergio Blattenberger and Travis McKelvey, respectively, and an eight-yard pass from quarterback Joe Perez to Shea Sanna.

The day you get laid off usually starts like any other. But it sure ends differently. When I’m not waxing rhapsodic in this column each week, I work in the entertainment industry full time. Or at least I did. Until two weeks ago. After overseeing the layoff of several colleagues, hearing things like “economic downturn,” “declining revenues” and “difficult cutbacks” repeated to each, I moved from one side of the table to the other. Terminator to terminatee.

Technology at the new Roy and Patricia Disney Cancer Center in Burbank is offering patients a more comfortable environment with new radio frequency technology, executives said. From the moment they walk into the center’s front doors, cancer patients are monitored, and their medical history is immediately made available to hospital staff, said Raymond Lowe, director of Disney Cancer Center ministry support. When arriving at the center, a patient will have an ID badge scanned by a plate-sized ThingMagic Inc. reader.

One of two Burbank siblings charged with felony animal cruelty in the fatal stabbing of a family member's dog is scheduled to face a jury trial this summer. The trial for Charissa Bodtcher, 23, is slated to be scheduled sometime in July after she appeared in Los Angeles County Superior Court this week for a pretrial hearing, a court clerk said. She faces one felony count of animal cruelty or neglect. Her brother, Timo Bodtcher, pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges last month and is on probation, the clerk added.

A welfare fraud bust in Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank this week netted three arrests, nine guns and almost $300,000 in cash, according to Pasadena police. George Kerio, 38, of Glendale, the owner of Sunshine Liquor on East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena , and two of his employees were arrested Tuesday for conspiracy to commit welfare fraud, said Lt. Phlunte Riddle. The liquor store clerks are Nassib Shankou, 43, and Daniel Bonilla, 29, both of Pasadena.

Burbank Police Officer Cindy Guillen didn't want to file a lawsuit, her lawyer told jurors Monday, but was forced to do so after complaints of gender and ethnic harassment within the department were ignored. In his opening statements in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Solomon Gresen promised to tell Guillen's full story, from her humble beginnings to fulfilling her dream of becoming a police officer in Burbank. Gresen described Guillen as an “outstanding police officer.” “There is no question about the caliber of her work,” Gresen said, adding that Guillen serves as the public information officer to the Spanish-speaking community.

MCCAMBRIDGE PARK - Michelle Santiago knew when she felt the impact on her bat and watched the ball loft toward right field that she had done her job. Just a freshman, Santiago stepped into a pressure situation Thursday with one out in the rival softball game against Burbank. With an Indians runner on third base in the eighth inning, the third baseman was just trying to get her bat on the ball. On a 1-2 count, Santiago lifted a fly ball to right that scored Brice Edrington to give Burroughs a 2-1 victory in the Pacific League game at McCambridge Park.

Laura Sturza CIVIC CENTER -- City Council members are voicing objections to rent control as a way to rein in Burbank's housing prices. "I've heard horror stories about rent control," Councilwoman Stacey Murphy said at Tuesday's council meeting. "There's always ways for landlords to go in a back door, to say they're doing capital improvements and get it back that way. And there's just too much of a tendency for slumlords." Burbank's biggest housing challenge is a lack of affordable, large units for low-income renters, Redevelopment and Housing Manager Susan Evans said.

LA CAÑADA ? Fire officials upgraded the status of the Station fire above La Cañada Flintridge to the most serious response level as it continued to burn out of control toward Altadena, with more than 5,100 acres charred as of 7:30 p.m. Friday, officials said. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday afternoon declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles County. Four wildfires are currently ablaze in the foothills and other parts of the Southland, including the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

CITY HALL?The council opted against pursuing an interim ordinance that would temporarily control development in the Rancho District, choosing to confront the issue in three weeks when an item specifically concerning the Rancho Master Plan goes before the council. The decision came after a council consensus that wrangling over the specifics of an Interim Development Control Ordinance, or IDCO, would be unnecessary in light of a forthcoming staff report that will outline zoning in the Rancho District and how some amendments have changed permitted land uses.

MCCAMBRIDGE PARK - Michelle Santiago knew when she felt the impact on her bat and watched the ball loft toward right field that she had done her job. Just a freshman, Santiago stepped into a pressure situation Thursday with one out in the rival softball game against Burbank. With an Indians runner on third base in the eighth inning, the third baseman was just trying to get her bat on the ball. On a 1-2 count, Santiago lifted a fly ball to right that scored Brice Edrington to give Burroughs a 2-1 victory in the Pacific League game at McCambridge Park.

BELLARMINE-JEFFERSON HIGH - Having beaten rival Providence High in four straight cross-town matches, the Bellarmine-Jefferson girls' volleyball team has definitely had the upper hand in the clash the past few years. However, as inconsistent as the Guards have played this season, no one on the Bell-Jeff team¿ was ready to look past the Pioneers. Although Providence played well at times - holding leads in two of three games - the Guards were able to hold off the threats to earn a 25-23, 25-14, 25-20 nonleague victory Thursday at Bell-Jeff.

BURROGHS HIGH — After seeing how close the Burroughs High boys' water polo team played Glendale's archrival Hoover in the first half on Tuesday, the Nitros made sure not to fall into the same predicament when they met the Indians in a Pacific League match at Burroughs on Thursday. The match was never close, as Glendale scored the first 10 goals and had little trouble holding off Burroughs for a 15-4 win. Glendale (15-6, 4-1 in league) led, 5-0, by the end of the first quarter after getting goals from Mamikonyan, David Grigorian, Martin Narinyan, Manuk Hakobyan and Martik Chatalyan.

Should Rep. Adam Schiff be defended? For that matter, should President Obama be held liable for the national deficit, the stimulus plan, the bloated budget and the health-care-cost trends? In his March 10 letter, “Representative trying to kill the economy,” Brian Stauffer expressed his fear of more deficits and demanded fiscal prudence for the sake of the future of our nation. I fully agree with his sentiments. Washington seems to have forsaken our financial future.

Technology at the new Roy and Patricia Disney Cancer Center in Burbank is offering patients a more comfortable environment with new radio frequency technology, executives said. From the moment they walk into the center’s front doors, cancer patients are monitored, and their medical history is immediately made available to hospital staff, said Raymond Lowe, director of Disney Cancer Center ministry support. When arriving at the center, a patient will have an ID badge scanned by a plate-sized ThingMagic Inc. reader.

BURBANK HIGH — The Burbank High and Burroughs basketball teams were coming off impressive performances when the two met Friday for their first rivalry meeting of the season. While the Bulldogs were able to defeat ranked Crescenta Valley by two points Wednesday, the Indians took six-time defending league champion Pasadena to the brink Wednesday, losing by a point in what was perhaps their best effort of the season. The squads were hoping to carry that momentum into Friday’s contest.

DOWNTOWN ? For the second year in row, the American Lung Assn. gave Burbank a B grade for its tobacco control efforts, disappointing city officials who said they?ve been working to update their once excellent secondhand smoking restrictions. Glendale also reclaimed its A grade for a second consecutive year, but this time was joined in the top position by three other California cities ? Albany, Calabasas and Richmond ? that also have restrictive tobacco ordinances, according to the association?

The day you get laid off usually starts like any other. But it sure ends differently. When I’m not waxing rhapsodic in this column each week, I work in the entertainment industry full time. Or at least I did. Until two weeks ago. After overseeing the layoff of several colleagues, hearing things like “economic downturn,” “declining revenues” and “difficult cutbacks” repeated to each, I moved from one side of the table to the other. Terminator to terminatee.

Roughly speaking I’ve been a union man most of my life, and generally I support their aims, but the recent spate of public pension allowances have lost the unions’ sense of perspective. The city of Los Angeles currently has 600 retirees collecting more than $100,000 a year public pensions, and that doesn’t even include the Department of Water and Power, which consistently has higher-paid employees than City Hall. Have we lost it? Now let’s hear it for Gov. Schwarzenegger.