Ms. Sindell writes about her laments for the loss of Malibu’s eclectic character, and how we now have dictators of taste telling us how our houses should look. Has she noticed how much the current look-alike “in crowd” is affecting the look of Malibu? Expansive seas of Mediterranean houses with red tile roofs greet your eyes as you approach Malibu from Kanan Dume Road, and everywhere else. Profitable, but hardly “eclectic.”

What will we have when the trendy Malibu groupie decides that this is no longer in vogue but as is passe as lip liner and yesterdays’ hemlines and the proper status symbol is back to Craftsman, Tudor or possibly even “cozy?” Maybe energy-squandering, two-story ceilings will be too hard to keep warm. Could the price of water or electricity bother those who have more money than substance or commonsense? Is style that important? To paraphrase Rick Wallace’s newspaper article — For some of us, living in Malibu is a trophy, a symbol of the achievement of success.

How sad that the elusive quality of life that Malibu offers is so challenged by a progressive “new moneyed” style of life where biggest is best, while the naive or self-interested driven are whining about “property rights.” How refreshing that a like-minded spirit in the same edition of the paper can be moved to poetry to proclaim appreciation for the simple joys of life Malibu can offer, but which will become subordinate to fame, grandeur and glory if all this continues.

Sadly, too, maybe the fiercely independent Malibu spirit needs to find room for some controls, before nothing is left but a memory for those privileged enough by opportunity and time to remember.

Tara Schwartz

All of this hollering for witnesses and a real criminal trial in the Senate stirred up the old trial lawyer embers in me and got me thinking how I’d handle the case for the defense.

Understand, for the attorneys trial is warfare. For the Senate, it may be a search for the truth, but for the attorneys, it’s presenting the facts, both good and bad, in the best possible light for their client with only one objective — to get an acquittal.

In order to present the facts, an attorney has to know the facts. So let’s start with what we know — and what we can surmise.

You can be absolutely certain that everyone in the close quarters of the Oval Office knew what was going on. That means aides, assistants, secretaries, White House political staff, fund raisers, visiting political players, etc., etc.

Political power in Washington is measured in face time with the big guy. There are cabinet secretaries who have never had face time with the president, so it’s virtually impossible for some little cookie to slip in and out of the Oval Office for 15-minute segments with the man without everybody knowing.

It probably drove the Secret Service bonkers. Their job is to protect the president and not see or hear anything that doesn’t relate to their job. Monica, who is 20-something and is in love or lust or whatever you call it, was to put it mildly a security risk, so what do they do?

To begin with, they need to know what’s going on, so they tap her telephone. Since she could also be a plant, they probably have her on a 24-hour surveillance. Then they do a background check on her, check out her rsum, and probably want her medical records just to assure themselves that she’s not carrying something contagious. They want to make sure she’s not a looney who might be violent or dangerous, so they do a psychological profile on her, which means they need her psychiatric records. To protect him, it would help if they knew something about her background, or her family background.

They probably would also do an electronic surveillance to find out who else is tapping her phone or watching her. Initially, they may have been the only ones interested, but the word quickly gets out. Other agencies have contacts in the White House, or moles or some junior level player who wants to be a senior level player someday and is keeping all his or her options open on both sides of the aisle and spilling it all out to somebody. Chances are, before long, there is an FBI phone tap, perhaps a CIA tap, perhaps the special prosecutor has a tap, maybe a congressional investigator or two. There are so many people on Monica’s telephone the phone company practically has to set up a switchboard in her basement.

Now, somewhere along the line, the special prosecutor wants to build in deniability, so he uses an intermediary like the attorneys for Paula Jones or some other anti-Clinton crowd, and that’s another group to keep an eye on.

The more you know, the more ammunition you have, and you want it all because initially you never know what’s going to be useful.

Now you take what you know, or what you surmise, or what you suspect, and you go to your contacts in all of those agencies. As I said, every agency has ambitious people in it, people who are looking to move up and who are planning their next move. They are also always people who are disgusted at what’s going on and who will talk. They’ll get you the documents, and there are always documents. There are phone tap logs. There are summaries. There are confidential departmental memos. There are e-mails. There are requests for budget or payment. There are expense sheets. There are credit card bills. There are phone bills. There are requests for overtime. There are always paper trails.

Then you start discovery. You serve subpoenas. You take depositions. You ask them to admit facts but it only works if you already have the info because then you know when they’re lying.

Your best defense is always to put the prosecution on trial. It helps if they’re dirty, and in this case, guaranteed they’re all dirty. Illegal phone taps. Illegal bugging. Almost guaranteed they did a black bag job on her apartment, went through her papers looking for that little love note saying, “I’ll always remember our night in . . . .”

Next, you turn to your own case. You start out with the assumption that your client has forgotten something significant, or is lying to you, or feels like such a fool that he’s in total denial or probably all three.

For example, there is no question that at some point Monica became a problem. She was very emotionally involved and getting reckless, and it was only a matter of time before she did something very foolish and public. They had to move her out of there, but the last thing they wanted was a woman scorned. Office affairs are tough to break up and can get very messy, particularly when she’s young and he’s president of the United States.

You can ask him, but you can just bet he’s not going to tell you everything, particularly when he’s a lawyer himself. So if you’re going to do your job and defend him, and since your client is as much of the problem as the prosecution, you need your own sources inside the White House, or somewhere you’re going to get blindsided on something big.

You begin to see how quickly the case grows. It’s not neat, and it’s not clean. Every witness raises another potential cross-examination and a rebuttal witness or two and takes forever.

To complicate it, there are few set rules, so right now the prosecutors and the defense are trying to manipulate the rules to give themselves an edge.

There is one thing I forgot, and that’s the press. As counsel, you of course have an ongoing campaign of leaks because public opinion is an essential part of this defense, and you want to keep the prosecution’s deeds on the front page.

I’d say that so far, the defense has the edge, because I can’t think of anything more unwieldy than a prosecution team of 13 large egos, some of whom are quite bright and some quite stupid. But trials are iffy propositions, and things can change very quickly.

Alas, it shall never be, but it sure would be fun to try it.

It is with such pleasure and gratitude that I write to you once again this year to tell you of the wonderful ways the Malibu Community came together to make the holiday very special for the homeless children and families we serve throughout the year.

The children and teens of Malibu were so incredible once again this year. Juan Cabrillo, Point Dume Elementary, Webster, The Children’s Creative Workshop and Wonder Years Daycare and Malibu High students participated in a huge toy drive, and many students came to help us wrap hundreds upon hundreds of gifts! Falcon Cable and Jon Douglas Realty held a wonderful toy drive as well. Many came with their own families on the days of our holiday parties, and we all had such a wonderful time with the children, teens and parents who were our guests on those days.

Over 6,500 gifts of brand new toys, shoes and new clothing were collected and distributed by Santa, first to over 600 homeless and at-risk youth and their families at our parties, then to hundreds of children on Christmas Day.

Malibu’s John and Ellen Poyer of Topson-Downs, Bob and Nancy Salka, Action Agape, Marla and Jeffrey Michaels of Kayo, Disney, Warner Bros., Cha-Cha and Mark Weinstein of California Supply and Ritchie Koral of Jessica’s donated all the new clothing and supplies. Toys, shoes and clothing also came from Aardman Films, Agape, Disney, DreamWorks SKG, Blackbird Films, Funrise, Hasbro, Galoob Toys, Our Lady of Malibu Church, Malibu and Pacific Palisades Presbyterian churches, Reebok International, Warner Bros. and local Malibu families. California Supply, Lisa and Bill Curtis, Denise Dukoff, Robyn Gibson, Kayo of California, Mark Kramer, Stephanie Mass, Jennifer Palmer, Janna Pekkanen, Ellen Poyer, David Silverstein, Cindy Simmons, Marcy Smith, Kelly Sullivan, Topson-Downs and Melanie Trivette all spearheaded local toy drives in their schools, churches, businesses and among their friends. Aware Products, Cathy and John Cygan, Allison Dean, Norm and Shirlee Klein, Janine McEuen and Stephanie and Jack McGee greatly participated as well. Bank of America’s Manager Lois Globnik was our official photographer and personally donated albums of beautiful pictures of the parties and of Christmas Day.

Our holiday parties were a huge success and were sponsored by California Supply, Kayo of California, The Kiwanis Club of Malibu, Ellen and John Poyer, Bob and Nancy Salka and Topson-Downs. We were very thrilled to have the Kiwanis as new sponsors, and to meet so many members at our Dec. 12 Kiwanis sponsored party at Juan Cabrillo Elementary. Our special thanks to Marissa Coughlan, and all our new Kiwanis friends. Our very special thanks to all our wonderful sponsors and friends who continue to sponsor holiday parties each year.

We completed our holiday program at the Venice Pavilion on Christmas Day, where we brought a U-Haul truck filled with thousands of items of new clothing, shoes, toiletries and toys to all the homeless children and families who gather there each Christmas Day. We were joined by friends Joe, Aviva and Dahlia Cuchirella, 14 members of the D’Angelo family, Gerry Engel, Sandra Black and Rosalie Fagelson from Supercare Drugs, Jorge Javasas, Mabel Katz, Janine McEuen, Diane Perez, Marcy and Jamie Smith, Walter and Ellen Young, Don Zinman and Hollace Henning and many more wonderful friends. It was so miraculous to have so many wonderful friends and family volunteering once again on Christmas Day, all so happy to be there.

Three wonderful families were also moved from a shelter into a home environment, and many others also received financial aid, thanks to the generosity of the Gibson family, The Lawrence Daley Children’s Foundation and other Angels this Christmas.

This was truly a special and magical holiday season for us all, and it was only possible because of your great generosity and your love. Thank you so much. I hope the New Year will bring you the joy and happiness you all deserve.

Our sincerest gratitude, thanks and love.

Maria D’Angelo and The Children’s Lifesaving Foundation.

Marlene Adler Marks/Guest Columnist

The problem is as simple as it is awful: Malibu has no bookstore. Crown is gone, as is our wonderful independent Books & Company. The nearest bookstores are Village Books, 10 miles away in the Palisades, and the new Calabasas Barnes & Noble, 15 miles over the hill. For a writer like me, with a new book to peddle, the lack is particularly devastating. It’s easier to find my book (which focuses on my life in Malibu, raising my daughter after my husband died) on New York’s Park Avenue than to find it at home. I’ve been lucky: Fran of Malibu Newsstand has stocked my book, and soon you’ll find it at SuperCare Drug. But let’s face it, that’s not a solution. For Malibu, a community inhabited by artists, writers, students (this is a college town!) and people who thrive on ideas, to have no book store is of course outrageous. This town could support a whole section of movie scripts and adaptations, let alone spirituality, cooking and nature trails. We all feel the lack, but week after week, it continues.

So here’s a solution, and you can join in on it: A book store “cooperative,” not exactly a nonprofit, but one in which profit is not the point. A group of us are looking for investors now. A “co-op” makes sense because it accepts as unassailable the two competing market pressures that are now threatening independent booksellers everywhere: the rise of mega-stores like Barnes & Noble, and the prevalence of Amazon.com and other on-line bookstores. As a co-op, we would be committed to fiscal responsibility, but our first objective would be to keep alive a bookstore with sufficient volume (about 10,000 books) that captures that spirit of Malibu that neither Amazon.com nor Barnes & Noble can provide: a place close to home where books and ideas are shared.

This week I spoke with Jeff Ridgeway, manager of the year-and-one-half old Village Books, who was previously manager of the dearly departed Crown Books of the Palisades. Village Books is only 1,000 square feet, one-quarter of the footage of the former Crown, and it’s doing fine, thank you, by creating exactly what we need here: a community-based bookstore catering to local needs for fiction, nonfiction and a general “place to be.” It has a well-stocked children’s section, hosts visiting and local authors, and holds events that even include performances by a local acting troupe.

Village Books top fiction is the best-selling “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood”; its nonfiction hits include local histories and street guides of the Santa Monica Canyon. Ridgeway does a lot of “hand-selling,” the personalized “you must read this” of his favorites, including the Library of America series (300 volumes sold).

“The psychic rewards of a bookstore are great,” Ridgeway told me. “And if you work at it, you can make a living.” On this point, Doug Dutton of Dutton’s Books in Brentwood (guiding spirit of Los Angeles’ independent booksellers) was not so sure. “I never tell would-be booksellers when or if they will even break even,” Dutton told me. “The fact is, it’s not a lucrative business.” (Profit margin can be as low as 2 percent to 3 percent.) Dutton says the key to a successful bookstore is to establish “a personality,” “a vision” or “a uniformity of mission,” staffed by people who enjoy reading and regard books as crucial in their lives.

Where shall we put this bookstore? High-volume traffic areas hold the key. With sufficient high-power backing, we might prevail upon Starbucks or Diedrich to let us build out to include space for our co-op bookstore. If we begin with a corner of an existing coffee house, eventually we could grow to a full-fledged store of our own. In today’s book market, coffee and books are already intrinsically linked (but a corner of the Wherehouse might do as well). Understanding that books are low profit margin, we can still provide a steady clientele of foot traffic and build community at the same time.

If you are interested in helping, in investing or even in just reading, call The Malibu Times at 456-5507, extension 50, and leave a message with your name, address, telephone number and e-mail/fax. We’ll set up a meeting and let everyone know.

Marlene Adler Marks is a syndicated newspaper columnist and author of three books, including the newly published “A Woman’s Voice: Reflections on Love, Death, Faith, Food & Family Life” (On The Way Press), available at Malibu Newsstand and SuperCare Drugs. Her email address is wmnsvoice@aol.com.

The recent tragic death of the driver of another runaway truck on Kanan Road crashing at PCH has everyone wondering why the driver didn’t use the gravel arrester bed. Traversing Kanan Dume every day I counted 14 major yellow-and-black signs announcing “Runaway Vehicle Escape Median X Miles.” The one closest to the median also says, “Merge Left.” At Newton Canyon before entering the tunnel westbound, there is the standard black-and-white sign depicting a truck with a red, diagonal slash through it stating no vehicle with more than two axles allowed past this point. Depending on the sun’s position and the relative small size of the letters on all the signs, it can be difficult to read them from any distance.

Now I wonder, when one finds that he has no brakes and gaining speed down a long grade, he would be in a panic made unable to think. Would he comprehend “Escape Median?” How many of us know what a median is and react accordingly? And what if you haven’t had much schooling or don’t know English well? Why “merge left” if you are out of control would be my thinking. And who would be reading signs if he is deathly scared?

Additional large lettered signs reading “No Brakes — Drive Into Gravel Before Signal At PCH” or “Brakes Gone? — Gravel Pit Ahead Will Stop Vehicle.” A larger sign with a lighted arrow pointing to the gravel would also help. There are probably better warnings than these. Other possibilities: “No Brakes — Don’t Panic — Deep Gravel Ahead.” “Follow Signs To Gravel Braking Pit.” Even though it is illegal for trucks to use the downhill section of Kanan, it does happen and we should try to prevent an even greater tragedy if a truck hits several cars on PCH.

T.M. Lubisich