SERVING CATALINA & ITS MAINLAND
every week - since 1914
FRIENDS
Fn,DAY March 8, 2013
VOLUME 99, ISSUE 10
Www.THECATALINAISLANDER.COM
BRI[FS ............................................
Daylight savings
Daylight Savings Time begins at 2
a.m. on Sunday, March 10, when
everyone should turn their clocks
ahead one hour.
CHOICES meets March 9
Catalina CHOICES will hold a stra-
tegic planning meeting from 10
a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday, March 9,
in the Catalina Conference Room
at the Catalina Canyon Resort.
Everyone is welcome to attend the
meeting, but organizers ask that
interested participants RSVP to
Rhonda at (310) 848-4381. See
story, page 5
Kids Run set for March 9
A Kids Run will be held as part of
the Catalina Island Conservancy
Marathon on Saturday, March 9.
The Kids Run will begin at 9:30
a.m. on Sumner, will go up near
Sand Trap, then return to the fin-
ish line on Sumner. For more
information, call Mindy Malan at
(310) 592-0073.
St. Patrick's Day Dinner
The annual corned beef and cab-
bage dinner prepared and served
by Caf~ Metropole thatwill ben-
efit Catalina Kid Ventures will be
held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on
Sunday, March 17.
Thrift store succeeds
The new temporary location of
the Avalon Hospital Auxiliary
thrift store has received positive
responses from the public.
See story, page 7
Catalina Art Show and Sale
Nationally acclaimed plein air
(open air) artists will display their
interpretations of Catalina's rug-
ged wildlands as well as Avalon
and Two Harbors at the third
annual Catalina: The Wild Side Art
Show and Sale on Friday, June 21,
and Saturday, June 22.
TED conference honors for-
mer Island resident
Former Catalina Island
Conservancy employee Carlos
de la Rosa was one of the hon-
orees at the TED (Technology,
Entertainment and Design)
Conference in Long Beach last
week. See story, page 6
Catalina Kid Ventures students and teachers posed on Wednesday for the Catalina Islander. At left is teacher Suzanne Wisniewski and new CKV
director Elizabeth Madden. The preschool has been evolving as it has become under the operation of a non-profit, rather than being ove(s~en
by the city of Avalon. It is the only regular preshool available on the Island. Photo by Dennis Kaiser
CKV's new director
settles into job and
full-time Island life
BY DENNIS KAISER
Catalina Kid Ventures, the only
regular preschool in Avalon, has
been through many changes over
the past couple of years.
In 2012 it changed from being
a city-run program to one 'that
was overseen by a non-profit. It
also got a new director, some
new students and a new financial
structure.
Elizabeth Madden
Now that the dust has
the changes overall seem
settled,
to have
been for the better. However, in
the midst of the preschool finding
its legs it has faced the change of
its director, as Sarah Perez, who
started the job enthusiastically last
year, decided she needed to give
up the job to spend more time with
her own children and family.
Perez' stepping down might
have shook the preschool to its
core - she was well-qualified, an
Island resident, and has children
of her own. However, her depar-
ture made way for the preschool's
board of directors to hire Elizabeth
Madden last November. She brings
Please Re Preschool, page 11
i
Fire Chief Steve
Hoefs plans.to retire
from part time post
BY CHARLES M. KELLY
Avalon officials will be looking
for a new city manager.
Part time City Manager Steve
Hoefs announced his plans to retire
from the part time position at the
Tuesday, March 5, City Council
meeting, said City Attorney Scott
Campbell.
According to Campbell, Hoers
aims to leave the post at the end of
the month. Hoefs is also the Avalon
fire chief.
For approximately three years,
Hoefs shared the job of running
Avalon with Chief Administrative
Officer Charlie Wagner for a year.
Wagner was compelled to leave
his Avalon post earlier this year
because the California Public
Employees' Retirement System
allows retired workers, such as
Wagner, to work temporarily.
When City Manager Pete
Woolson announced his retirement
to a closed session of the City
Council in July 2009, Hoefs was
appointed interim city manager.
Eventually, city officials hired
Hoefs and Wagner, a retired city
manager himself, to share the posi-
tion. According to the International
City/County Management
Rease see Council, page 11
Catalina's facts, folklore and fibs
This Week: Hot On The =Overtown" Trail
Again, for those of you unfa-
BY JIM WATSON miliar with the term, the word
"overtown" is the local Islanders'
In the past two years or so that word for "the mainland," and can
I've been writing in this column, be heard around Avalon just about
I would have to say I have gotten any day of the week or hour of
more response from the column day.
regarding the mysterious origins About two weeks ago I got
of the word "overtown" than any •around to writing a column on
other I have written, just exactly where this word came
This input from our readers has from and who was the first to use
come through telephone calls, e- it. If you've been following the
mails and even friends buttonhol- shenanigans, you know I've been
ing me on the street and giving me
their two-cents' worth. Please see Watson, page 8
The city of Burnley in England's county of Lancashire was the birthplace of Judge Ernest
Windle and perhaps one of Catalina's most enduring mysteries. Photo by Tim Green
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