Recently, the Los Angeles County Fire Department unveiled its new brush crusher. This machine, featuring a 14-foot-wide, 10-ton roller made of 1-inch steel plate, can crush hillside brush at the rate of 35 acres a day, even on steep slopes. Crews then control burn the compacted brush and grasses, creating up to 600-foot-wide fire breaks much faster than crews with chain saws can do it.

The crusher, which made its debut in Charmlee a few months ago, represents one of the latest approaches to clearing fire breaks in native areas of the western Santa Monica Mountains. Within the past year, the Fire Department has flattened a wide swath of native growth and animal habitat along the northwestern section of the park with the help of a large bulldozer which has flattened and scraped vegetation close to the ground. The result is about a 100-acre fire break, a very large percentage of Charmlee’s 540 acres. The Fire Department is planning more crushing inside the park’s boundaries.

The Fire Fighters are heroes in Malibu, and nobody questions their courage and devotion to saving lives and properties. But the latest addition of the crusher may signal a time to say, hey, let’s just hold on for a minute. We may have a legitimate disagreement here.

In a Los Angeles Times article on the crusher, state park Ranger Frank Padilla, Jr. was quoted as saying that burning the compacted brush generates less heat than standing brush and that the root burls are left untouched so that plants grow back readily. Biologist Jeff Smallwood of Cal State Northridge and a trustee of the Charmlee Nature Preserve Foundation, is inclined to disagree. In fact, Dr. Smallwood believes that the crushed brush heats up the ground more. As a result the heat overwhelms the evolutionary defenses built up by flora and fauna to natural fires.

Certain species in chaparral habitat are strongly adapted to relatively frequent fires, which have been suppressed by humans now for almost a hundred years, Dr. Smallwood says. The advantage to these frequent fires is that they move very quickly and they don’t get the earth very hot as long as fuel has not accumulated over several decades. Many plant species have a root crown-sprouting phenomenon where their roots survive cool, fast fires. They just put out a new crown. Also, insects, rodents and other animals can escape these types of fires by running away, or sometimes even walking away, or going underground to survive. Because these natural fires move quickly, he says, they are relatively cool, so they don’t sterilize the earth. But a glance at the Fire Department’s fire break in Charmleee indicates that something approaching sterilization is exactly what has happened. So far, the crown roots that insure the regeneration of native plants have not reappeared, even after many months. California Sagebrush (Artemisia californica; the principle component of an endangered habitat: Coastal Sage Scrub), Laurel Sumac (Malosma laurina), Scrub Oak (Quercus berberidifolia) and many other native chaparral species have not returned to locations where they have been crushed or bulldozed. Instead the area has been invaded by Black Mustard (Brassica nigra) and several non-native grasses and other weedy species. In Charmlee, the crusher has also pulverized a rock outcropping, a unique habitat for plants and animals, and damaged some small oak trees.

Marti Witter, Malibu’s city biologist, has passed along the concerns of Charmlee docents and the California Native Plant Society to Malibu City Manager Harry Peacock. “What I would hope to see,” says Witter, “is careful pre- and post-fire monitoring to determine the effects of crushing and bulldozing practices. There is a lot we don’t know yet about the effects of it, and until we do, I think monitoring is imperative. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that it might be prudent to halt the use of the crusher inside the park to allow a period of re-examination and more intensive study in order to assure that Charmlee’s precious resources are being adequately protected.

Marshall Lumsden

As a resident of Malibu Canyon Village Condos, I cope with the realities of living in a wood-frame structure. One of these realities is termites, which have apparently infested the complex. The Home Owners Association and Real Support Property Management’s weapon of choice to do the eradication job? Vikane gas, also known as the gas used to kill the Jews in World War II Germany.

Now I don’t like termites threatening the stability of a four-story building, but I also know some things about Vikane and its effects. The most worrying being this deadly nerve-toxin’s ability to linger, even in “ventilated” structures like condos.

The company slated to do the job, Western Exterminator, is required by law to disclose the risks and symptoms of exposure (which include, but aren’t limited to: seizure, nerve damage, and lung damage), but won’t guarantee an occupant’s health against the poisonous effects of the gas! For that matter, neither will the Home Owners Association or Real Support Management. Why? Would they knowingly expose loved ones to this gas, even with “EPA Approval?” My daughter and others in the building are lung-sensitive. People are routinely told their homes need two or three days of ventilating. Extra days that cost extra money. Which means we’re forced back into the building in the shortest time. Why?

Is this right, or business gone crazy? The Home Owners Association and individual owners also refuse to compensate tenants for the actual cost of relocation, or guarantee against theft or loss. Instead, we are told by Real Support’s lawyer to leave, or be removed by the sheriff! California Civil Code 1364 (c) states clearly: “The costs of temporary relocation during the repair and maintenance of the areas within the responsibility of the association shall be borne by the owner of the separate interest affected.” For me, that’s over three hundred dollars a day to relocate, remove and board pets, remove plants, computers, important records, food (or wrap it in a special bag!), valuables, leave our doors open and unlocked for three or more days, leave our keys in the hands of hired security, stay in a motel, buy food out, and totally rearrange our lives. To expect me to pay for all this and risk my and my family’s health as well is too much.

Six months ago tenants and a small group of homeowners successfully fought and won a delay against the use of Vikane, with a promise from the Home Owners Association that there would be a meeting with representatives from a variety of extermination companies, so safer alternatives to Vikane could be discussed and chosen. This promise has not been lived up to. Why? Why is this toxic nightmare being shoved down our throats? Much safer alternatives are available, like microwave or freezing. I’m sure through research and reasonableness, the Home Owners Association and Real Support Management would discover there is no need to move, or use Vikane, except perhaps that it’s cheaper?

James Heartland

More to life than Zuma Beach

By Alexis Sherwin

Four years ago, when I learned that I was going to attend Duke University in the fall, Mom and I set out for the stores to buy hats, gloves, a heavy jacket, snow shoes and thermal underwear. After all, the front cover of the Duke brochure was a picture of students walking across a snowy quad. In my mind, I was going to the Arctic.

Having lived my life in 😯 degree weather, I had no idea how difficult the adjustment process would be, but I reveled in the thought of waking up to the snow and walking along a country road and listening to people with funny southern accents. I craved change. At my alma mater, Malibu High School, I was one of only five students in my class who had chosen to attend college outside of California, and I wondered why everyone was content staying close to home. When I asked my friends why they wanted to do their undergraduate work in California, I got pretty standard answers: “I love the beach,” or “All of my friends are going to UC Santa Barbara.” When I came home on breaks everyone seemed pretty much the same — smarter — but the same. Certainly I had written more papers, become more versed in Shakespearean sonnets, learned how to balance a checkbook, and how to stay up till 3 a.m. every night — all the normal college experiences. But I had also gained a much deeper understanding of the opportunities that exist outside of my state.

The most valuable thing that Duke offered me was a chance to live amongst people from every state and many countries, the majority of whom had left their homes in search of a strong liberal arts experience. In my freshman year dorm, I lived with people who had grown up on farms, people who had lived in the Deep South, Christian people, Buddhist people, Republicans, heavy metal listeners — a hodgepodge of people with whom I had a million things in common, and others with whom I had no visible connections. Though there is a percentage of students who come from out of state to California for college, the UC system is dominated with state residents. I’m not saying these state schools are homogenous in all senses, but there is a lack of the world experiences that can add so much to our understanding of cultural diversity. What we, college students, can symbiotically do for each other is broaden our world views by exposing and sharing ourselves with people of different backgrounds. I can’t even begin to describe the satisfaction I take when my friend, Heather, from Ohio, exclaims, “Dude,” or when one of my California friends notices that a little Southern drawl has sneaked its way into my Valley Girl accent. And beyond the small details are the experiences of staying at my friends’ homes in New York and Louisiana and taking weekend road trips to Ashville, N.C., and Washington D.C. California is beautiful and warm all over, but the East coast is a conglomeration of states that all have their own unique feel to them.

Though it came as a surprise to me, spending four years in North Carolina made me love California more than I ever had when living there, because I no longer take for granted the wonderful things that my state has to offer. By leaving and coming back, I now have the basis for comparison which allows me to take special notice of what I cherish in the state of California.

When a beautiful sunset by the beach is an every day occurrence, you never realize how lucky you are to live near such splendor. On the other hand, when all you have is the beach, you never know what it’s like to fall asleep to a sununer tbunderstorm or hear red leaves crunch beneath your feet. The world is ripe with beautiful things to explore and exceptional people to meet. When you’re young and unburdened by mortgage payments and baby sitters, why waste the opportunity to travel and explore the great country you live in? If you love California, come back to it, but take the time to see a different part of the country in order to really appreciate what you’ve got. Malibu students, take it from me, there is more to life than Zuma Beach.

Alexis Sherwin graduated from Malibu High School class of 1996 and recently graduated from Duke University.

At an age when most professional riders hang up their chaps, Susan Demers is just stepping up into the demanding sport of grand prix show jumping.

For most of her 51 years, Demers has worked with horses, beginning on ponies in her native Denmark. “When I was 10 years old, I was bitten right in the arm,” she says. “It didn’t put me off. It got me hooked, I think.” She hung in there and went on to win the Danish Junior Jumper Championship at 15.

Sort of a role model now for women of a certain age who love horses, she encourages her riders. “Don’t let your age discourage you. If your heart is in it, it’s never too late.”

For Demers, a veteran of mid-level jumping competition, her ticket to the big time came with a 15-year-old Holsteiner called “Just Manadi,” owned by actor Kelsey Grammer.

And while 15 is way over the hill for race horses, it’s considered prime age for top jumpers, who need lots of experience to negotiate the tough and technical grand prix courses. “Manadi is still very sound,” Demers says. “He didn’t have hard miles, and he’s very clean legged.”

The 16.3-hand, imported warmblood gelding was competing in World Cup classes three years ago for a young Canadian rider, and was purchased in July 1998 on the East Coast. “Kelsey looked at him and fell in love,” Demers said.

When Manadi came West, the plan was for Demers to start competing with him in smaller shows and to put a more experienced grand prix rider on him for the tougher classes.

“They forgot to consult Manadi about this,” she says. Although Demers lacked grand prix mileage, the horse had confidence in her and she in him. After a few inauspicious rounds with seasoned winners Hap Hansen and Suzie Hutchison, it was decided Demers would be the horse’s pilot.

“We absolutely bonded,” she says. “He’d been a family horse and was used to a lot of attention. The dad did the hauling, the mom did dressage and the kid started in junior hunters and then went on to trainer George Morris and wound up doing grand prix.”

Between shows, Manadi stays fit by going on trail rides. “I barely jump him at home. He knows his job.” And when they are at shows, Demers does everything with the horse herself, rather than having the grooms tack him up. “He needs his confidence. I can feel his vibes. If I feel he’s restless, I’ll calm him down,” she says. Like most really talented horses, Manadi has a distinct personality. “The first three days at a show, he’s a nut case, but then he settles down. He’s a real professional.”

A gorgeous chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail, Manadi is easy going and relaxed at home. “My 14-year-old son rides him here. And when he sees me, he’s looking for a carrot,” she says. “He doesn’t take advantage of that.”

At the end of last year, Demers worked up to a few World Cup classes. “He didn’t win, but he did respectably. He did all the hard stuff, we just had a few errors,” she says. “He’s very brave. I’ve never had him stop and look at a jump — water, walls, no problem. But he is sensitive to crowd noises and has to wear ear plugs.”

Demers came to the States in 1971 and took up training again in 1975, riding for a race horse stable in Rhode Island.

“I bought ‘Luger’ and sold him to Barney Ward. That was my first connection with the world of show jumping,” she says. “Then I ran a barn called Cedar Crest in Rhode Island.”

When she came to Malibu in 1981, she worked as night manager at Swenson’s and rode at Sycamore Farm during the daytime. “I started teaching Sheldon Gordon, who wanted to own and raise jumpers. Rodney Jenkins found several horses for us, and one was ‘The Natural.’ He stayed with Rodney in Virginia and, after winning a potfull of grand prix, was sold in December ’85 for $1 million, the first gelding jumper to sell for that much,” Demers says.

Sheldon bred and raised 25 grand prix horses, among them the successful mare “Ardennes.” They raised four with the stallion “Galoubet,” one of the top sires in the country. “The Developer” won the Jumper Futurity at 4 years in 1990. “I showed him for a few years, and he won several grand prix in ’95 with Hap Hanson. I now have a bunch of babies by him at my place in Solstice Canyon.” Sheldon later moved to England and shipped all his horses there.

“When Kelsey started riding with me, he didn’t know what kind of horses he wanted. I had to talk him out of Arabians. Then he wanted paints, so we’re breeding warmbloods with color.” Thoroughbred mares are bred to a pinto Oldenberg stallion. “They’re beautiful. Kelsey has one for himself and one for his wife and two guest horses. He’s really getting into it and is starting to ride over fences,” she says.

Demers trains and gives lessons at Sycamore Farm, an older facility on Cross Creek that has recently undergone an impressive renovation, with new paint, lush landscaping and new stalls for the school horses. She says she takes her students to a few local one-day shows, at Trancas and Griffith Park, and about six “A” shows a year. Not a tough schedule compared to the average hunter and jumper trainer. “We like to choose nice shows and have a good time,” she says. “And I’d like to have some clinics here with East Coast riders.”

Demers and Manadi did well in their last effort at San Diego Show Park, just 4 faults, and they’re tuning up for the Grand Prix at Griffith Park on Memorial Day.

A long, long week ago

I can still remember how the market used to make me smile

What I’d do when I had the chance

Is get myself a cash advance

And add another tech stock to the pile.

But Alan Greenspan made me shiver

With every speech that he delivered

Bad news on the rate front

Still I’d take one more punt

I can’t remember if I cried

When I heard about the CPI

I lost my fortune and my pride

The day the NASDAQ died

So bye-bye to my piece of the pie

Now I’m getting calls for margin

Because my cash account’s dry

It’s just two weeks from a new all-time high

And now we’re right back where we were in July

We’re right back where we were in July

Did you buy stocks you never heard of?

QCOM at 150 or above?

‘Cos George Gilder told you so

Now do you believe in Home Depot?

Can Wal-Mart save your portfolio?

And can you teach me what’s a P/E ratio?

Well, I know that you were leveraged too

So you can’t just take a long-term view

Your broker shut you down

No more margin could be found

I never worried on the whole way up

Buying dot com’s from the back of a pickup truck

But Friday I ran out of luck

It was the day the NAAAASDAQ died

I started singing

Bye-bye to my piece of the pie

Now I’m getting calls for margin

Because my cash account’s dry

It’s just two weeks from a new all-time high

And now we’re right back where we were in July

Yeah we’re right back where we were in July

Tom Fakehany