While most 60-year-olds look forward to a life of leisure, maybe a vacation to the South of France or a trip to an exotic island with days voided of responsibilities, Walter Rosenthal chose a different path.

After raising children who are now parents themselves, he became a father all over again.

Andy Brand also chose a different route when he became a father. Despite initial concerns for a healthy and happy future for the children he might have, his outlook was restored when daughters, Sarah and Abigail, were born.

“Being a father is one of the most profound experiences in life,” said 59-year-old Rosenthal. “Nothing tops the love that you get from your children. But this love has to be earned, it should never be assumed.”

Rosenthal is the father of six and grandfather of three, with one more grandchild on the way. His children range in age from 6 to 38 years old. Joe, 10, and Will, 6, enjoy the unusual benefit of having a full-time dad who is fully immersed in their lives.

When Rosenthal was a child, fathers were looked upon mainly as an authority figure. But as a father today, Rosenthal says he likes to play with his children.

“You give me a brave, happy, well-adjusted kid and you get a successful well-adjusted adult,” explains Rosenthal. “They may not end up CEOs of Microsoft or dancing in the New York Ballet, but they will find a more satisfying adult life, a more completed adult life.”

And fatherhood has been quite a voyage for this father whose youngest children are the same age as his grandchildren.

Rosenthal first became a father at 21, when he was a junior at UC Berkeley. “It was before the pill,” he joked.

Altogether, his first marriage brought three daughters, Jenny, Anne and Phebe, and a son, Rob, who all live in Northern California. After remarrying to Laura Zahn Rosenthal, a clinical psychologist, the retired CEO became a full-time father with the birth of his two young sons.

“I have become a great ‘mom,’ ” he said. “I have allowed my feminine side to surface.”

Even while he was battling lymphoma, Rosenthal never stopped being an involved parent.

In 1999, when he was undergoing chemotherapy, he continued to coach Little League.

“I didn’t want my children to be frightened and to worry about whether I was going to live,” he said. “I wanted them to remember me playing baseball.”

Rosenthal’s positive outlook worked. “Now I feel very healthy. I was told that my cancer is completely in remission and two years is a major bench mark.”

When he was a young father, Rosenthal managed to pass on his values to his three daughters and his son, though differently, especially for Rob since he was handicapped.

“He strived to raise three self-sufficient strong women,” said his oldest daughter, Jenny Hitchings, who now lives in Sacramento. “It was important to him to know we would be successful.”

Rosenthal was at the beginning of a successful career himself when his first children were young and was not as available to them as he is now with Joe and Will.

However, when Rosenthal moved to the Los Angeles area, he and Hitchings’ mother continued to share parenting responsibilities. “He was a hands-on dad,” said Hitchings.

“They always made it work. We never had to choose between fathers,” said Hitchings, whose mother and father both remarried. “As the years have gone on, we’ve become better friends.”

“What he is doing with Joe and Will is wonderful, he is making up for lost time. He gets to be the dad he never could be,” she said.

As she spoke about her father’s new life and his ability to connect with his grandchildren, Hitchings said, “It actually makes him a better grandfather.

“He understands them [his grandchildren] better. Not only do we get to be father and daughter, but also we get to share parenting. We share the same life.”

Joy of children overcomes concerns

For Andy Brand, who is 41, being a father brought a refreshing outlook for the future, surpassing concerns he had before his daughters were born.

Andy and Heather Brand were married for eight years before they had their first daughter, Sarah, who is now 9 years old, and later Abigail, who is 6.

Initially, the couple had decided not to have children because they were worried about the kind of world they were bringing children into. “After watching a few news programs, the world looked pretty heinous and it didn’t look like it was going to be a nice place to bring people into,” said Andy.

But the couple changed their mind when they saw their niece, Heather, who is three years older than Sarah.

After Sarah and Abigail were born, Brand’s reservations dissipated. “You pay attention more to what is going on locally and in your children’s lives,” he said. “The opportunities for enjoying a full, happy, healthy life are much more than a young person may believe when they watch the world news.”

And the love that followed was unlike any other.

“In the basic form, when I go to kiss them goodnight and they are already asleep, it’s a tingling and choked-up feeling,” said Brand. “Then there is the prideful feeling when you see your children do something on their own initiative.”

Brand’s parenting style is a lot like his father’s. “I had a terrific relationship with my father because he was well-liked and respected by people. He was light-hearted and easy going.”

Building character and teaching social skills are among Brand’s priorities for his daughters. “I was afforded the opportunity to know how to act, how to dress and when not to do things, how to do for other people and how to be generous to the ones you love.”

Brand’s primary hopes for his daughters’ future are that they will be healthy and able to provide for themselves.

Heather said she believes her husband is a good role model because he is always even tempered with Sarah and Abigail. “He stays calm even when disciplining,” she said.

Nevertheless, children can teach a thing or two to their parents as well. The quiet little girls who politely sat on the couch while their father tried to think about what he has learned from them, looked at him quick-witted as if to nudge him, and Brand remembered, “Manner, they remind me about my manner.”

Brand, like Rosenthal, is able to stay home quite a bit with his daughters. He inherited commercial property, allowing him to work at his leisure.

“The fact that he can be home is wonderful and my daughters adjusted to it right away,” said Heather. “He is now part of their daily lives and it’s so important.”

As a child Brand especially enjoyed boat riding with his father, a hobby he now enjoys with his daughters.

Heather observed “When we go on the boat and the girls sit in the captain seat with him, he teaches them indirectly how to steer the boat. It’s neat because they have their little routine between them, that’s a place where they bond.”

Heather sees her husband in her daughters in many ways. “They are also starting to get more of his sense of humor.”

Four 16-year-old girls were arrested for stealing more than $2,600 in clothing from two Malibu boutiques in the Cross Creek area on June 6.

A sales person at one of the two upscale women’s clothing stores was alone in the store when the four girls entered. “They looked familiar, like typical teenage girls who frequent the store–wearing shirts and mini-skirts and acting a bit hyper,” she said, describing the incident.

“They took a lot of things into the dressing room, more than they are supposed to,” said the sales person. So she kept removing items from the dressing room but “they kept picking up more clothing. They turned the store upside-down, making everything a mess,” she said.

She confronted the girls when another shopper who entered the store said she had seen the teenagers putting clothing into their car, a new silver BMW, which was parked directly outside.

The sales person then went outside to the car to write down the license plate number, telling the girls that she was doing so and warning them that if they did not return the items they had taken, she would report them to the police.

“They all claimed they hadn’t taken anything and accused each other of being at fault,” she said. The sales person said the girls used their real names when they spoke to each other and their demeanor was not menacing. She said she repeatedly gave them the opportunity to return any items they had taken without suffering any consequences. She believed one of the girls had “planted” a blouse back in the dressing room before she exited from the store.

After the girls left, the sale person immediately realized a $600 dress was missing, so she called the sheriff’s department to report the burglary.

Two sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene to gather information and then proceeded to the home of the girl who had driven the BMW, where they found many stolen items. Deputies then searched the homes of the other girls where they found more clothing, which had allegedly been taken from both shops over the course of several weeks.

Confiscated items included dresses, bathing suits, belts and T-shirts.

Items were returned to the first boutique, although some merchandise, such as bathing suits, are not re-saleable. Confiscated articles were also returned to the other store, both owners identifying their own merchandise.

The sales person at the second shop said she had “suspected” that the teenagers were stealing from the store, but she had “given them the benefit of the doubt” because they were familiar faces.

“I’m not sure we got everything back,” she admitted, “but I’m sure their parents will check their closets.” She also added that she had met with the girls and their parents and “everyone was extremely regretful. I spoke to all of them personally. They definitely learned their lesson.”

The girls were brought to the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station and charged with burglary because they allegedly entered the stores with the intent to commit theft. One of the girls was not charged. Since they are minors, their case will be heard in juvenile court.

The girls and their parents have contacted the store owners to apologize and may be required to pay restitution for the items.

Another major burglary occurred recently in a men’s clothing store in the same area, but no action was taken. This incident was not related to the others.

The sales person said that stores are not insured for items stolen while the store is open.

New credit cards have been issued in the Malibu area by a local bank because of possible fraudulent activity.

A Wells Fargo customer said his card was “eaten” by an ATM machine at a local branch in the Cross Creek shopping center. A bank manager told him there was concern of fraudulent use of Malibu account holders’ credit cards.

A bank official said he was not at liberty to speak about the issue because of a possible pending case, but did say that cards “were terminated as [a means of] prevention from other use occurring, affecting accounts in Malibu.”

Secret Service, which handles credit card fraud, said it could not confirm whether there is a case under investigation, as it would jeopardize the case if there were.

Since November 1990, the Secret Service has had concurrent jurisdiction with the Department of Justice to investigate fraud, both civil and criminal, against any federally insured financial institution.

Two major types of fraud in the banking industry today are fraudulent production of negotiable instruments (checks, bonds etc.) using computers, and “access device” fraud, which involves the counterfeiting and fraudulent use of ATM debit cards, credit cards, computer passwords, personal identification numbers (PINs), which are used to access ATMs, credit or debt card account numbers, long distance access codes and computer chips in cellular phones that assign billing.

An agent with the FBI, which also investigates certain types of fraud, said a common way criminals obtain credit information is to place a camera above an area where a card would be used, such as a gas station pump. Not only is the card number recorded, but also the pin number entered by the victim.

The simplest way that account information or actual bank cards is obtained is through postal theft. According to a report on the FBI Web site, sophisticated theft organizations will create portfolios of fictitious identification, including drivers licenses, social security cards, and other materials, in order to use the cards. “Runners” from the groups use the cards until they are reported stolen or are confiscated. These organized groups also take advantage of contacts within credit bureaus to obtain bankcard account information for counterfeiting or telephone order purchasing.

See accompanying box for information on how to protect yourself against fraud.

The City Council got a surprise visit from Joyce Parker Monday night, and her testimony moved the debate over Malibu’s new Local Coastal Plan (LCP) to a higher level.

Parker is a former planning director for Malibu and is now helping the California Coastal Commission write the state’s version of an LCP for the city. Until now there has been no input from the Coastal Commission as to what its plan will say. Meanwhile, the city has been racing to revise and rewrite its previous LCP draft in hopes of having its own voice included in any LCP certified by the Coastal Commission.

Asked if the city’s new LCP draft could be the basis for the commission’s plan, Parker said, “No … it would be too hard to back up and use your draft as a starting point.”

The Coastal Commission was mandated to write Malibu’s LCP according to state legislation passed last year (AB 988).

“Coastal staff,” Parker said, “is essentially following AB 988. They didn’t write AB 988, they’re not particularly fond of AB 988. This is the first time they’ve ever been in this situation where they’ve had to write a city’s LCP and they would much rather have it the other way around.”

The normal process is for an LCP to be generated at the local level and passed upward for review and revisions. But Malibu’s first attempted LCP, the so-called administrative draft of last year, was stillborn at the Coastal Commission. It was never acted upon. No reason was given, but accusations within the Malibu community have flown back and forth.

Some have charged that city staff called the Coastal Commission and killed the draft. And Parker, in her presentation to the city, said her belief is that someone from Coastal called and asked that the city’s first draft LCP be shelved.

However, after the council meeting city staff pulled out the minutes of the Architects and Engineers Committee meeting of March 16, 2000, in which senior coastal staff came to speak. According to the minutes from that meeting, “Gary Tim (a senior coastal staff member) stated the draft as submitted was unacceptable. He indicated the draft would require a significant number of changes that Coastal did not have the resources available to review it on a word by word basis.”

“They simply said it was a mess and they weren’t going to waste their time on it,” charged Councilmember Sharon Barovsky.

Ozzie Silna, who was on the committee that wrote the original LCP, said he was told the city–with a new city council taking office–never pursued the LCP despite efforts by the Coastal Commission to start discussions.

After a week that included input from many citizens at an ad hoc session, nearly all agreed at Monday night’s council meeting that the city needed to move forward with its own LCP. But there was still debate over how to reconcile the two city versions.

The original LCP emphasized low-impact, “passive” usage of the coastline. It calls for “maintaining the natural rather than adding to the built recreational environment,” and states that “recreational uses shall be low-intensity and in keeping with the character of existing uses in the coastal zone.”

The new LCP draft deletes those passages and others like it. Councilmembers say they agree with the intent, but that such language is a red flag to the Coastal Commission. Legislation passed by the state last month specifically calls for more “low-cost visitor and recreational facilities…”

Others, like Tom Bates, former land use chair of the Malibu Association of Realtors, argued that the language was justified by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservation Act and should be retained.

Parker urged the city to get an official draft of its LCP into the hands of Coastal’s staff as soon as possible. “You need to do an official submittal because they [Coastal staff] want to see what’s being written while we’re in the middle of writing our own,” she said.

But Parker could not say what Coastal staff would do with the city’s LCP. “It could be that our comments [on the city draft] are our draft,” she said. In other words, Coastal could use their version to recommend changes to the city’s draft.

In particular, she anticipated differences in policies on visitor-serving facilities and coastal access. Councilmembers agreed.

And that, perhaps, accounts for why the city’s new LCP seems to be trying to walk the line between no-growth stridency and uncontained growth.

Meanwhile, Parker offered some encouragement to the council. “You may be surprised at how little disagreement we’ll have in the end,” she told the council. The Coastal Commission, she said, “is not interested in turning Malibu into a coastal resort.”

The first Coastal LCP draft, Parker said, is to be ready for delivery to the city by mid-August. The city then has about three months to react to the draft. The Coastal Commission will hold public hearings on the draft in November and December.

AB 988 requires the Coastal Commission to “submit to the City of Malibu an initial draft of the land-use portion of the local coastal program” by Jan. 15, 2002. Then the plan must be adopted, after public hearings, by Sept. 15, 2002.

“And at that time,” Parker said, “I expect they will give us instructions to move ahead on implementation of the plan.”

In other business, the council:

• Approved a Cultural Resources amendment that simplifies the process for review of potential impacts of development projects on cultural resources and clarifies who can be a cultural resources monitor.

• Approved a Home Occupations amendment to the city code that says no permit is required for home occupations involving less than six employees or students and which meets certain requirements.

• Postponed adoption of 2001-2002 city budget until next council meeting.

• Approved increases in assessments for the Calle del Barco Landslide Abatement District, following a 26-10 vote in favor of new assessments by property owners in the area. The annual assessment for a single-family home increases to $1,539.10 in Zone A, and $769.55 in Zones B and C. Money is to be used to finance the construction of additional capital improvements and to operate, maintain and repair the entire landslide dewatering system in the Calle del Barco area.

Several Malibu High School construction projects will be stalled unless the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District finds alternatives to compensate for budget shortfalls predicted by officials.

Of four projects, a new gym and auditorium for the school will have to wait until additional funds are raised or reappropriated.

Mike Matthews, MHS principal, said preliminary estimates have shown that current funds are going to be insufficient to complete the projects. “But a number of things go along with that,” he explained.

The primary reason for the funding shortage is that projects have gone up in cost because a high number of school districts in the state received funds to build and renovate schools. Original project estimates from 1998 are lower than current bids are.

“The massive demand, within a short period of time, for contractors to come and do the work has created a limited number of suppliers,” explained Matthews. “So when demand goes up and supplies are limited, prices go up and districts throughout the state have experienced that.”

But Matthews is determined to see that all construction projects are completed, no matter what.

“We promised voters four things: a new classroom building, a new track and field facility, a renovated auditorium and a new gym,” he said. “No matter what, we will make the projects happen now.

“We have many options and the board has options they can use to help us out as well,” he said.

Recently, at an Open House at the school, Matthews spoke to parents and the community about possibly raising extra funds privately.

In 1998, Proposition X, the $42 million funding proposal to improve and maintain learning facilities within the SMMUSD, was easily approved by more than two-thirds of voters.

Furthermore, Prop. X got an extra boost when a state school facility bond (Prop 1A) also passed, which complimented Prop. X.

The district decided to divide the funds in a percentage formula based on a pro-rating of the number of students throughout the district. Malibu schools received 27 percent of the funds.

Two estimates were ordered as a comparison on what the projects would cost. Both estimates came up the same, and “they showed that we are $1 million to $1.5 million short,” said Mike Jordan, school board member.

However, this shortage does not necessarily spell doom for the construction projects that were planned, said Jordan.

“Here is why I am saying strongly, ‘Don’t panic yet,’ ” emphasized Jordan. “There are leaders in this district, including me, who are committed to completing the projects.”

Art Cohen, assistant superintendent in the areas of fiscal and business, echoed Jordan’s comments. “It’s not that definitive,” he said.

Currently, a 12-classroom building and a track and field are already under construction. New bids are out for construction of an auditorium and gym.

Some of the projects at Malibu High are already under way, said Cohen. As for the auditorium and the gym, “We are in the process of getting bids,” which are expected in early July.

“State funds will be predominantly used to convert the auditorium, so that is not a problem,” said Cohen. The state will fund 80 percent and Prop. X 20 percent.

Ralph Erickson, a Malibu representative on the Prop. X oversight committee, said, “Most of the projects are being completed within the timeline that was established early on. However, there have been some shortcomings.

“At Webster Elementary things were inadequately done,” said Erickson, but these were supervisory and workmanship problems.

Jeff Kramer, a former Malibu mayor who was on the committee that promoted the proposition in the community, said he is disappointed with priorities that have been established by the district board so far.

“Things like gyms and auditoriums also have community uses,” said Kramer. “I was upset by the fact that they left things that, in my view, were the biggest enticement to taxpayers to the very end.

“They managed to give the voters the lima beans, but not the cake and the ice cream,” said Kramer, as he spoke about the completion of the new MHS classroom building, while the auditorium and gym have not been done.

Other possible solutions to the financial shortfall have been suggested, including using some of the Prop. X money that was dedicated to building a new transportation facility for the district’s buses.

“We could perhaps takes some of that money,” said Jordan, who at the same time indicated that the transportation facility was in desperate need of repair. “We could re-prioritize.”

Another possible option is the use of a Certificate of Participation (COP), explained the board member. The city could decide that they wanted to enter into a COP agreement to fund a $1 million bond–over 20 years–or the district itself could participate in a COP, acting like a loan that would be paid back.