The Downey Symphony's concert "Shakespearean Excursion" is at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 6 at the Downey Theater (call 403-2944 for information and reservations.) The Theater Box Office will be open Wednesday, April 3 from noon to 4 p.m., as well as the evening of the concert (April 6), after 6:30 p.m. If you have not heard the Downey Symphony and its fine string section under the baton of Thomas Osborn, it is time to do so!
Also, the same evening, Saturday, April 6, the Rancho Los Amigos Foundation's annual Amistad Awards celebration is set at the Westin Long Beach Hotel. For tickets and information on this gala black-tie event, call Glenn Maddalon at 401-7053.
Award winning author Gary Soto will appear for a free talk at the Downey Theater Monday, April 15 from 7 to 8:30 p.m., sponsored by the Downey City Library. Call 904-7360, Ext. 32 for information.
Don't forget the annual Arc Walk for Independence which begins at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 20 at Stonewood Center next to the Acapulco Restaurant. One and three mile walks both step out at 8:30 a.m. This is a great event with a marching band, clowns, mimes and all sorts of fun. The Acapulco Cafe will again sponsor a fine breakfast buffet for all participants. The event benefits the Arc (formerly the Association for Retarded Citizens). Call 803-4606 for information, or just show up. You'll find friends there.
Also scheduled for April 20 is the Downey Historical Society's bus trip and tour of the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum and former territorial Army Headquarters "Banning Country," in Wilmington. Cost is $15 before April 15. For information, call 862-2777 or 927-5255. The History Center in Apollo Park is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The Downey Emergency Preparedness Fair is also Saturday, April 20 in the parking lots of the Home Depot and All American Home Center, 7121 and 7201 Firestone Blvd., from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Co-sponsors are the City's Emergency Preparedness Committee and the Red Cross. It's free and there's something for almost everyone.
And don't miss the annual Carnival of Champions Saturday, April 27 at Warren High School, in which the 4th and 5th graders from Downey's public elementary schools compete in track and field events. The field competitions start at 8:30 a.m., with the running events set to start at 10:15 a.m. and final heats at 11:30. Come out, pick a team, and cheer! Its free and one of the community's most colorful and fun happenings.
In closing, we want to tell you what a pleasure it has been to serve you through this column for the last nine years. To those who complain that Downey is a dull old town, we differ. To us it has been a vibrant, active community full of active personalities, many of which are colorful to the extreme. We have enjoyed working here and reporting to you the ups and the downs of the community's economy, arts and political mix. Hopefully, we'll be back with the new newspaper soon.
Interestingly, this all started with a casual conversation over an ironing board. While gathering signatures at the Post Office for the referendum on the first plans for the theater/parking structure, Dean Wright, owner of the House of Wright, called me aside and asked if I had ever thought about starting a newspaper to better get the voice of the people into the political process, that a newspaper can be more democratic than the vagaries of the referendum process. I rejected the idea out of hand only to have it rekindled from a meeting with a certain John Adams, suggested by Joyce Lawrence. Several conversations later a new adventure was taking shape. Donn Irving, a friend of John's, gave some early guidance and cohesiveness, Guy Sterner suggested the name and we were off and running, never to miss a deadline.
I would like to think the paper has been a plus for the community, has added to the dialogue of politics and facilitated the exchange of ideas. I have never heard of any overt corruption in our city government so there was none to report. About the most questionable practice is keeping the three day weekends every other week long past the gasoline shortage rational. That seems a little over the top in today's call for increased accountability.
With the reliance on large metro dailies for print news it is hard for a community weekly to survive: the money comes from advertising and the national stores do not advertise in small local weeklies. Support must come from the local businesses, which in our case it has. I wish to thank all of our advertisers for their support over the years. It is only through them that this paper has been successful. In any town that wants a hometown newspaper, the businesses have to make the commitment to advertise regularly, without expectation of influencing content or even currying favor. Independence is vital to the presenting of truth.
To look at our neighboring towns is to wonder if a local newspaper might have exposed the developing corruption early enough to head off the implosion of city government in Compton, Bell Gardens and South Gate. While the root of the trouble is dishonest politicians, it was the unaccountability of Redevelopment law that provided the opportunity for corruption. Hopefully an independent newspaper would have at least gotten the information out to the townspeople. An informed electorate will usually make better choices.
I would like to use this opportunity to thank our readers, our advertisers and our supporters. The future for a new local newspaper in Downey looks great. John has been putting one together since he learned of our retirement plan and I feel confident you can look forward to the same high standards of balanced news reporting. His years of experience on a large metro daily give him the breadth of understanding of what great reporting is all about. We all wish The Downey Patriot many years of excellence.
"The Downey Eagle has provided its readers with all of the elements that make community newspapers so essential: news from the city council, civic groups, community organizations, cultural, educational, and arts events, wedding announcements and obituaries, opinion columns based on local insights and a lively letters page for the community to discuss local opinions and events. All of this with wonderful photos which accompanied many stories. A publication such as this not only provides information, but also helps to promote progress. The Downey Eagle has helped build cohesion and a sense of community among its readers.
"Because my wife's father, uncle, and grandfather were all in the community newspaper business, I appreciate the difficulties involved with getting out a local paper week after week. In addition to the sheer physical challenge of producing a first class publication every seven days, a publisher must balance the competing interests of various and very passionate groups. Making these decisions takes sensitivity and both Barbara and Jerry Andrews have been available and responsive throughout the publication of The Downey Eagle. They presented balanced civic news, people news, and editorial commentary.
"Essential to the success of The Downey Eagle has been its energetic and talented editor, John Adams. A veteran newspaperman, who previously worked for the San Francisco Chronicle, among other major publications, John has been the chief writer, editor, and photographer for the paper. He has tirelessly covered thousands of community events, conducted similar numbers of follow-up interviews, and produced article after article that was fair, accurate, and insightful.
"As The Downey Eagle ceases to publish, Barbara, Jerry, and John can take great pride in all that they have accomplished over the past decade. They have set a high standard for what a community newspaper can and should be, and they take the grateful thanks of all of us as they pursue new challenges."
With steady perseverance, especially by Representatives Chris Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA) in the House and Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) in the Senate, those of us who have long believed it was possible to clean up the system were successful in getting campaign reform through the House in each of the past two Congresses - only to be stonewalled by the Senate. However, on February 14, the House passed the bill by a solid bipartisan margin of 240 to 189, followed by the Senate's passage on March 20 by a 60 to 40 vote. On March 27, President Bush signed the bill into law.
For the first time in nearly 30 years, this genuine reform will close loopholes in federal campaign laws by banning unlimited contributions - or soft money - by unions, corporations, and wealthy individuals to political parties. It will end the current practice of allowing nameless groups to fund vicious attack ads against candidates without having to disclose the sources of their funding. Now, any group spending $10,000 or more on broadcast ads that mention a federal candidate in the final 60 days before an election must be held accountable by disclosing the name of anyone contributing more than $1,000 to their effort.
If a person or a group wants to participate in federal elections, they have every right to do so, but they have a responsibility to do it in an open, honest fashion. Legitimate political action does not have to lurk in the shadows with a hidden agenda. The voters deserve to know who is trying to influence their decisions in the polling place and why.
Other important provisions of this legislation include doubling the per-person contribution limit to $2,000 with an index for inflation, and allowing increased individual contributions for candidates who face wealthy, self-funded opponents. These common sense reforms will work wonders in changing the tone of our federal elections. But we're not out of the woods just yet.
The bill must clear one more hurdle before it goes into effect following this November's elections. Opponents of the bill plan to challenge the soft money ban and issue ad disclosure requirements in court, claiming they are unconstitutional by limiting free speech. The Supreme Court has ruled in the past that limits on campaign contributions are constitutional because of the inherent corruption of big money in politics. But the court also has ruled that campaign contributions are a form of expression.
Regardless of the court's decision, the bill's authors expected such a challenge and drafted the legislation to allow any provision that is not ruled unconstitutional to go into effect. After such a long and hard-fought battle to clean up our campaign laws, I am hopeful that these important reforms will prevail and finally curb the endless money chase that undermines public confidence in our political campaigns.