Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

By NORMAN SHOAF
Valley Press Religion Editor

LANCASTER - “America - United We Stand, Divided We Fall” has been chosen as the theme for the 9-11 Memorial and Unity Service on Thursday at the Islamic Center of North Valley.

The service, observed each year since 2002, brings together civic officials and faith leaders for prayer, patriotic speeches and remembrance for the victims of the 9-11 terror strikes on the United States.

The event, which is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., is open to the public.

This year’s memorial, sponsored by the Antelope Valley Interfaith Council and the Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force and endorsed by the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale, will feature a keynote address from the Rev. Leonard Jackson, from the office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The evening’s ceremonies will include prayers, readings and presentations from representatives of diverse Valley houses of faith. A community meal will be served at no charge following the event.

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Tags: 9/11, Community, Interfaith Council, Memorial, Task Force, Unity // Add Comment »

TAKING THE OATH - From left, Timothy Wiley, Cassandra Harvey, Courtney Stallworth, Sean Donlon, Darren Parker, Diana D. Cook, and Thomas “Randy” Hall are sworn in by Lancaster Vice Mayor Ron Smith as members of the Architectural and Design Planning Commission on Friday in City Council chambers at City Hall. MOLLY HAUXWELL/Valley Press

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Tuesday, September 2, 2008.

Valley Press

LANCASTER - Seven members have taken their oaths of office for a new city commission created to develop architectural guidelines for future residential, commercial and industrial construction.

Diana D. Cook, Sean Donlon, Thomas “Randy” Hall, Cassandra Harvey, Darren Parker, Courtney Stallworth and Timothy Wiley were sworn in Friday by Vice Mayor Ron Smith during a brief ceremony in City Council chambers at City Hall.

The commissioners were nominated by Mayor R. Rex Parris and ratified by the City Council. Parris originally picked Cook’s husband, Richard, for one of the seats, but he declined appointment because of his professional obligations and asked that his wife be considered in his place.

The Architectural and Design Planning Commission’s work will include researching the guidelines for other communities, reviewing Lancaster’s current architecture and design, understanding its Specific Plans and recommending new guidelines for adoption by the City Council, officials said.

No date has been announced yet for the commission’s first meeting.

Tags: Architecture, City of Lancaster, Darren Parker // Add Comment »

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Saturday, August 23, 2008.

By BOB WILSON
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Voting unanimously, the City Council has agreed to appoint Sean Donlon, Thomas “Randy” Hall, Cassandra Harvey, Darren Parker, Courtney Stallworth and Timothy Wiley to a new commission created to develop architectural guidelines for future residential, commercial and industrial construction in the city.

Besides recommending new aesthetic standards, the commission will resolve planning conflicts between developers and city staff members.

A seventh nominee for the commission, Richard Cook, declined appointment because of his professional obligations and asked that his wife be considered in his place.

Since his wife was not scheduled for nomination, the council took no action during the Aug. 12 on filling the seventh seat on the panel.

Commission members were directed to set a date for the panel’s first meeting, where they will seat officers and establish a regular meeting schedule.

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Tags: Architecture, City of Lancaster, Community, Darren Parker, Design // Add Comment »

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Tuesday, July 29, 2008.

By DAISY RATZLAFF
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A Lancaster man’s pickup truck was vandalized twice over the weekend in an apparent hate crime that caused an estimated $9,000 worth of damage, officials said.

Obscenities and a racial slur were scratched and marked Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon on the front, back and sides of a 2007 pickup truck parked in a westside home driveway.

“The first incident was done early Saturday morning. They came and scratched my truck so bad it created $6,000 worth of damage,” said the man, a retiree, who asked not to be identified.

“And then they came back on Sunday in broad daylight and did another $3,000 worth of damage by scratching more words into the side of my truck. It is so bad that it got to the metal part of the truck.”

The Lancaster man, who has lived in the Antelope Valley since 1981, said he had never experienced such a crime that hit so close to home.

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Tags: Graffiti, Hate, Vandalism // Add Comment »

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Tuesday, July 29, 2008.

By JAMES RUFUS KOREN
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Hate crimes in the Antelope Valley and Los Angeles County spiked in 2007, with experts saying frustration over a worsening economy might be a factor.

The Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission reported 763 hate crimes in 2007, a 28% increase over the 594 reported in 2006.

“We are seeing the increases across the board and in a variety of geographical places,” said Robin Toma, executive director of the human relations commission. “We’re digging deeper to understand what (the cause of the increase) could be.”

The Antelope Valley continued to be a hotbed for hate crimes in 2007, with 39 reported crimes, up from 17 the year before. Per capita, that gives the Valley a higher rate of hate crimes than the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys and South Los Angeles. Only the area that contains downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood and East Los Angeles had a higher rate of hate crimes than the Valley, though the Valley’s per capita rate is overstated because the report used 2000 population figures.

Darren Parker, president of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force, said the Valley’s seemingly high number of reported hate crimes is evidence of zealous reporting of possible hate crimes, not of an inordinate number of such crimes.

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Tags: Hate Crimes, Statistics // Add Comment »

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Sunday, July 20, 2008.

By BOB WILSON
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER - The mayor is expected Tuesday to identify the people he wants the City Council to approve for positions on a new Architectural and Design Planning Commission.

The commission will be assigned the task of setting new aesthetic design standards for homes and buildings set for construction in the city.

Creation of the A&D commission was proposed by Mayor R. Rex Parris shortly after his election in April.

A past member of the primary Planning Commission, Parris said he considered the panel too busy with development plans and land-use matters to focus on issues related to aesthetics and design.

“I think it’s too late for us to do a ‘theme’ for the city, like Santa Barbara has a Spanish theme. But it’s not too late for us to do themes for (specific) areas of the city,” Parris said in May. “Now what we have is this hodge-podge of boxes in the city of Lancaster, and I want to see that changed.

“I want this (new) commission to come up with clear design standards so that when you cross Avenue M (from Palmdale), you know you’re in a new city,” he said.

“There is no reason for us to look the way we look, and I think if we had a separate planning commission to deal with those issues, it would be beneficial for all of us.”

At the council’s July 8 meeting, the mayor identified Darren Parker as one of the residents he intended to appoint, but said he had yet to decide on the rest of the slate.

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Tags: Architecture, City of Lancaster, Darren Parker, Design, Planning // Add Comment »

CLEANING UP - Contract worker Carmen Lopez paints over graffiti Tuesday on one of two houses on Armfield Avenue off of Rancho Vista Boulevard (Avenue P) in Palmdale. Sheriff’s officials are classifying the vandalism as a hate crime due to the racial content of the graffiti. EVELYN KRISTO/Valley Press

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Wednesday, July 9, 2008.

By DAISY RATZLAFF
Valley Press Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Two westside homes were vandalized with graffiti overnight Monday in an apparent hate crime, sheriff’s officials said Tuesday.

Words of hate and racial slurs covered the front walls of the two vacant homes on Armfield Avenue off of Rancho Vista Boulevard (Avenue P), across from the Antelope Valley Mall.

One of the homes had recently been vacated, neighbor Prista Wood said.

“We had someone live in the orange house. He was black and she was Iranian, but you never saw them. And the people that rented it after them were black. They moved out a couple months ago,” Wood said. “And the other people in the other (vacant) home just moved out last Sunday, but they were white.”

The two homes are separated by a third house, authorities aid.

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Tags: Graffiti, Hate, Vandalism // Add Comment »

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press
Friday, June 20, 2008.

By JULIE DRAKE
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley YouthBuild offers an alternate route to success for students who found achieving in a public school difficult.

The program graduated 10 students in a ceremony Wednesday at First Assembly of God’s AV Champions Center.

“I would say it was an easy journey, but it was not,” Executive Director Rossie Johnson said. “It’s been a lot of hard effort, a lot of sweat, a lot of motivation.”

Johnson said the inspiration went both ways, from the students to him and vice versa.

“Don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t succeed,” he told the students.

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Tags: AV YouthBuild Program, Community, Darren Parker, Education // Add Comment »