Saying it could sprout a community feel in the Las Flores Canyon neighborhood, Malibu’s City Council approved design elements for a park off Las Flores Canyon, about a quarter mile up from Pacific Coast Highway.

Las Flores Park would be nestled in the undeveloped area between Rambla Pacifico and Las Flores Canyon Road.

In the 5-0 vote, council members approved constructing a low-impact park with a “tot-lot,” restrooms and picnic tables, after first restoring the stream.

Two amendments were tacked onto the resolution — to explore creating a butterfly habitat and to establish a self-selected advisory group. City staff were directed to examine properties immediately across from the creek for potential acquisition, perhaps a place to house a much-needed community center.

Twenty-one residents spoke about community needs ranging from a dog park to a place for parents to bring their children. A general sentiment among speakers was that a park could help bridge Malibu’s wide geographic spread and cultivate a community feel for Las Flores Canyon residents.

Councilmember Sharon Barovsky recalled a recent day when she informally interviewed mothers playing with their children in front of John’s Garden, a small sand lot with swings at the Cross Creek Shopping Center.

“They unanimously said they hate being cooped up in a commercial area with their children,” said Barovsky.

Beth Lucas, who lives on Sierks Way and is the former president of the Lower Las Flores Mesa Homeowners Association, collected 291 signatures in just one week in support of creating Las Flores Park. Of those signatures, 82 live near the park, said Lucas.

Approximately 14 Malibu residents, sporting identical red ribbons pinned to their shirts, were in favor of a dog park at Las Flores Park.

“Even the most anti-dog person should support a dog park,” said Guadalupe Lerner, representing the group. Dog owners should be able to take their dogs to Las Flores Park “and hopefully not be chased by a producer with a video camera,” she said.

Parks Commissioner Dermot Stoker said, “I like this design. I think the aspect of creating a separate space at the very north end of the park for dogs is a good idea. We could fence off an area so the dogs could run free.”

A handful of residents said that creating a dog park within the park could be a “disaster” and goes against the desire to create a natural environment.

“I think this property can be a landmark for Malibu, a symbol for how Malibu preserves and protects,” said Malibu resident Margaret Schultz. While she did not express her opinions about establishing a dog park there, she suggested the park be the trailhead for a citywide trail system.

Mayor Pro Tem Joan House introduced an amendment to explore using the small building, formerly a residence, at Las Flores Canyon Road as a community room. It was, however, defeated 2-3 with only House and Mayor Tom Hasse supporting the amendment.

Also on Monday, the council overturned three appeals based on Planning Commission decisions. Councilmembers approved, 3-2, a site review and a variance for a request to build two, two-story single-family homes at 6164 and 6176 Galahad Drive. The projects were denied to the applicant, Gary Shuman, in February because the residences exceeded the allowed 18 feet in height. The commission, in a 4 to 1 vote, said a two-story home would have a negative impact on the ridgeline’s natural topography and visual impact.

In another vote, the council voted 5-0 to direct city staff to review the design for a variance for a two-story home at 27439 Latigo Bay View Drive. The Planning Commission previously denied the variance and the applicant, John Kilbane, had since altered the design to appease neighbor complaints that the house blocked views of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Also, a unanimous vote was taken in favor of withdrawing the city’s applications for MTA grant funds for the Point Dume shuttle and the Mini-Transit Center at Zumirez Drive and PCH.

Illinois Gov. George Ryan, keynote speaker at the Malibu Bar Association’s annual dinner meeting, explained to a packed house of lawyers and judges last Thursday why he declared a moratorium on executions in Illinois. It began, he said, with the case of a man who spent 17 years on death row for a murder he didn’t commit.

Anthony Porter, who has an IQ of 60, always insisted he was innocent but no one believed him. He came within two days of being executed. A group of journalism and law students from Northwestern University investigated the case as a class project and uncovered evidence that exonerated him. He was freed, and ultimately someone else confessed to the crime. Later investigations by the students and the Chicago Tribune uncovered a variety of questionable convictions.

Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1975 by the U.S. Supreme Court, 12 men have been executed in Illinois. Another 13 on death row were exonerated as the result of investigations by the students and the press. Ryan said he began to have serious doubts about the extent to which he could rely on the convictions of some of those on death row. There appeared to be “no justice in the justice system,” he said.

Ryan, who was a pharmacist before going to the Illinois State Legislature, had supported the death penalty and voted for it when he was a representative. He said he believed assurances from police and prosecutors that there were many checks and balances in place, that the system worked, that all the cases on death row had been thoroughly reviewed and that all the people awaiting execution were guilty. However, the student and newspaper investigations gave him serious doubts.

He told the group that it’s different when you’re governor, because it’s your signature on the death warrants that allow executions to go forward. He ultimately balked because he was no longer certain that the system was either fair or just. After declaring the moratorium, he impaneled a special group to examine the issue and report back to him. Ryan decided that during the investigation, which has no closing date, no one would be executed in Illinois as long as he was governor.

Recently, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg indicated she thought a moratorium might be called for in other states, as well, because of the questionable quality of the legal representation provided to those accused of capital crimes in those states.

After Ryan spoke, Malibu Mayor Tom Hasse made a honorary presentation to the governor. Hasse is an Illinois native and was raised in a town close to Ryan’s hometown.

Martin Sheen reads tribute to honoree Judge Mira

The Armand Arabian Judge of the Year award, which is the Malibu Bar Association’s highest honor, was given to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira, presiding judge of the Malibu Judicial District. The award is named after retired state Supreme Court Justice Armand Arabian, who was in attendance and made the presentation to Mira.

Actor Martin Sheen, who plays President Josiah Bartlett on the popular TV show “West Wing,” read a touching tribute letter to Mira from his son actor Charlie Sheen. Charlie Sheen said Mira helped him overcome his drug problems.

Richard Coleman was named Lawyer of the Year and Judge Alan Haber, presiding judge of the West District of L.A. Superior Court, received the Friend of the Malibu Bar award. Haber swore in the new officers and board for 2001. The new officers are David Ogden, president; Dick Coleman, vice president; and Steve Ameche, secretary-treasurer. The new board members are Kathy Greco, Patrick McNicholas, Matthew McNicholas, Dale Schaeffer, Todd Sloan, Ronald Stackler, Carolyn Wallace and Executive Director Doreen Consol.

It happened at Columbine, Santana High and most recently at Bishop Neumann in Williamsport, Penn. — ordinary teens snapped violently after years of teasing and bullying by their classmates.

“These schools are not from other nations. They’re not poor people’s schools,” said Kathy McTaggart, coordinator of school and community partnership at the Santa Monica-Malibu School District, to parents, teachers and students gathered at Malibu High School for a conference addressing bullying at school. “These are schools just like ours. The important thing is that we can all walk away from the experience smarter.”

The March 27 meeting included presentations from Irene Ramos, vice principal of MHS; Phyllis Steinberg, an expert in conflict resolution; child psychologist Roy Ettenger; and Scott Robinson, director of the Boys and Girls Club at Malibu. Also included in the evening’s lineup were two victims of bullying from Malibu High.

“A lot of people respond to bullying with fear, and the fear is constant,” said ninth-grader Dylan Ross, about his own experiences. “But what I feel [when bullied] is not fear but anger. I’m angry with the person and I’m angry with myself. I feel as if I did something wrong.”

Two years ago Ross was harassed by some older classmates at the high school.

“I didn’t know what I had done to provoke them. They were pushing me around, calling me names. What could I do? They were stronger than me and I was afraid I would get in trouble if I started fighting with them.” When the bullies stole his shoe, Ross tried to retaliate by mocking the students in a drama class improvisation, but their threatening glances after the class finally led him to report the incident. An hour before the teens were due to meet school authorities, Ross was beaten.

After three hours of mediation, Ross was sentenced to a “Saturday School” for yelling profanities. The bullies got detention.

“The traditional disciplinary structure just calls for Band-Aids,” complained Steinberg. “Saturday School or detention just solves the problem for a moment. What is needed is an overall movement towards peace.”

Ettenger was struck by Ross’ self-reproach.

“It’s very common for people in victim positions to blame themselves. That’s why it’s important for parents to have good lines of communication with their kids and find out what’s going on. Children don’t want to admit that they are being bullied, because they don’t want to appear weak in front of their parents.”

When MHS seventh-grader Chelsea Sherwood was bullied by a group of girls, she began cutting herself.

“What really happens is that people get bullied to the point that they can’t take it anymore. It hurts so badly after a while that it’s like a burning. All you feel is hurt. People don’t always resort to guns. They also resort to hurting themselves instead of other people.”

The bullying left Sherwood depressed and physically ill.

“She didn’t want to get up in the morning and her academic grades were going down,” said Diana, Chelsea’s mother.

Some of the signs Ettenger says parents should watch for are shyness, anxiety, poor academic achievement, threatened or attempted suicide, unwillingness to go to school or taking different routes to school. Victims might also come home without having eaten, with no money or with ruined clothes or books.

“There is nothing more important in their education than feeling safe at school,” said Ettenger, “because if they don’t feel safe, they’re not going to learn.”

Through programs like the Boys and Girls Club, Smart Moves and student mentor programs, children in Malibu are offered the safe havens necessary to a productive environment.

In the Mentor Program, for example, high school students like 10th-grader Sophie Stern are trained to be mediators for middle school kids.

“The mediators are there to act as guides to help through the process of solving in a calm, peaceful and secure place,” said Stern. “Not only does the experience help solve problems right there but it teaches students how to communicate effectively so that they can solve future problems on their own. It makes the students feel empowered with a sense of self.”

The Boys and Girls Club of Malibu also empowers children by offering leadership programs in nontraditional ways.

“There are good students who make it into the student council and things like that, but there are also kids who might never get to be a leader or get that sense of success,” said Boys and Girls Club director Robinson. “At the center we create clubs by asking the students what hobbies they have. When some kids came and said they were getting into trouble because they were playing this Magic card game, for example, we decided to start a Magic card game club with officers and meetings.

“Often kids who are not doing well academically lose their self-esteem and they become bullies,” he continued. “The programs we offer give students the opportunity to be successful in other areas beyond academics. We’re trying to build the ‘whole child’ here.”