On the steps of the Capitol

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Bassett Unified School District Superintendent Robert Watanabe was at the state Capitol last week as part of the “Save Our Schools” event.

About 20 county superintendents went and stood on the steps of the Capitol to protest budget cuts to education.

“it is time for you to stop concentrating on being right — it is time for you to get it right,” Watanabe said.

The district will actually be holding a town hall meeting on Saturday at 9 a.m. at Torch Middle School in Industry to discuss the budget and how it will affect Bassett.

Talk about a waste of taxpayer money

23554-siphon.jpgWhittier reporter Ruby Gonzales has a story running in tomorrow’s paper about a former Los Angeles County public works employee who pleaded no contest in January to stealing gas from county maintenance yards.

Between July 2 and Sept. 3, 2008, officials say Ralph Soto used a co-worker’s account number to siphon off an estimated 1,000 gallons of gas at yards in Alhambra and East Los Angeles.

He also filled cans with gasoline, which he then sold.

Apparently, he was doing this at night and on weekends. He hasn’t been an employee with the county since early December.

Soto will $5,087 in restitution to the county and serve 120 days in county jail.

Look for the full story tomorrow.

Getting out of jury duty

I apologize for the lag in posts. I’ve been at jury duty the past two days. The highlight of the experience so far has been listening to the different excuses people give to try to get out of serving — even before they step foot in the courtroom.

No, no one has pulled a Larry David. Yet.

 

So far, my favorites the past couple of days was when one man told the clerk, “My English is not that good,” to which the clerk responded, “Sir, you’ve been living here since you were 21 and worked at a restaurant that serves mostly English speakers.” And, “I have a medical condition: I am old,” to which the clerk replied, “Ma’am, being old is not a medical condition.” Neither were excused.

Another point of interest is what people do to kill time when not in court. At the Alhambra Courthouse, the jurors have a sweet set up. There are a few TVs, lots of puzzles, games like Yahtzee (I’m still working up the nerve to ask people if they want to play a game with me), five computers with Internet access, lots of books, plenty of couches and a couple of vending machines.

One observation: I have never seen so many adults eat bags of Cheetos before noon.