The new Malibu disgusts me. As a local resident of 37 years, I read the local papers to get information on what’s happening in our town. Last week, front-page headlines reported how almost 100 residents were at the high school to support or not support lights at the football field. In the weeks prior, the local papers discussed the high school drug problem. In the latest paper, in a letter to the editor, some joker suggests that the parents aren’t to blame nor is the school to blame. Here is my take on what is happening to Malibu as a city.
Old Malibu is dying. The small town feeling is gone; the small town caring is gone. People that have lived here for 20 years or more are being sued because their animals make too much noise or their trees obscure the view. When I was in sixth grade, a kid named Peter Williams went to Zuma Beach on Qualudes, went swimming and never was seen again. The very next week all the students from all the Malibu schools went to anti-drug seminars put on by the sheriff and other speakers. They then started an after-school project called Peter’s Project. It lasted a little while, and then faded away. They made a little park across from the Malibu cinema dedicated to Peter Williams. A few years later they leveled it to make a building.
I understand that you make more money off a retail store than off a park dedicated to one of Malibu’s fallen children. The main reason I wrote this letter is simple. Two years ago high school student Laurel Singer took her own life. I went to the school the next day to offer help to the students and friends of Laurel Singer. I was politely dismissed by all who work at the school. I was told that they would have a community meeting on teen suicide in four or five weeks. So when this meeting happened, I was surprised, astonished and downright angry at the turnout of the meeting. A girl commits suicide and there was a turnout of 20 people to discuss teenage suicide. That’s right, 13 people that were employees of the school and six people from the community of Malibu, two of whom weren’t even parents. So when I see almost 100 people show up to bitch about lights that might change their evening sky, I finally had to say something. Malibu needs to take a look at itself. Moving forward in this world does not mean erase history as you go.
Alain Tuggle
Author of “Avoiding the Path to Teenage Suicide”