CRC General Meeting: State of the City of Cerritos
June 14, 2011

Mayor Carol Chen was the guest speaker for the June meeting. Her topic was "The State of the City of Cerritos." She opened her talk by showing the newly published video "Soarin' Over Cerritos," which can be viewed by going to the YouTube - City of Cerritos's Channel at www.youtube.com/cityofcerritos. This was a spectacular bird's eye view of many landmarks in our City. If you haven't seen it, please view it.

Ms. Chen next talked about some business developments in Cerritos over the past year. She proudly recalled that the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation had honored Cerritos with the Eddy Award as the Most Business-Friendly City for cities with a population under 60,000 people last November. New businesses included Kia Motors, Forever 21, Apple, Lazy Dog Cafe, Pacific Sales, and Anna's Linens. Towne Center was upgraded with a new entry. Recent retail and Auto Square sales were higher this year than last year. However inflation and unemployment still present a problem.

The City of Cerritos budget from 2008-2009 to 2010-2011 had a cumulative reduction of $9 million. In anticipation of this decrease, City management did not fill thirty city positions that became vacant. This saved about $2.5 million per year. The budget for 2011-2012 is about $127 million.

The City took advantage of federal funding to install photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on the top of one of the water reservoirs at the Cerritos Corporate Yard. These solar panels produce about 150 megawatt-hours annually. Recently the City of Cerritos awarded a $725,959 contract (including a $380,600 DOE grant) to install PV solar panels on the second water reservoir. The total energy production will be 350 megawatt-hours annually. This will supply all of the electricity used at the Corporate Yard with about 50 megawatt-hours surplus.

Here are some random notes:

• To keep informed about Cerritos, one can visit the City's web site to sign up for E-News which can send you email updates or text messages to your mobile device.
• Cerritos has initiated a web site for attracting the film industry to use Cerritos for their projects. It is www.filmcerritos.com
• A federal grant was obtained to purchase bicycles and equipment for the Sheriff's Station. The Sheriff's Station has 60 sworn deputies, 19 support staff, and 40 Community Safety employees.
• A Japan Relief concert was held at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. Members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic volunteered for this event which attracted about 300 people and raised $8,579 for the Japan Relief Fund.
• Cuesta Villas is still an affordable senior housing project.
• The Cerritos Library is number 1 in the state for visits per capita and number 2 in items circulated. There were 1.1 million visitors last year and 755 thousand items were circulated.
• The Senior Center serves an average of 511 Seniors per day.
• The Parks and Recreation Department served 1.1 million people last year. The adaptive programs served 854 participants in 60 classes.
• The Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts sold $4,634,318 in tickets for 85,642 seats for the 2010-2011 season. The new season begins on July 16 with the Golden Boys.
• Buffalo Wild Wings will be where the Black Angus Restaurant used to be. Stacked Restaurant will be where the Todai Restaurant used to be.
• Walmart is expanding the Cerritos store by 25 thousand square feet and is installing a new solar system which will generate about 24 percent of their electricity usage.

CRC General Meeting: A REAL HERO
May 10, 2011

John Fer, a native of San Pedro, was the guest speaker who narrated a vivid story of his being a Vietnam War POW. Prior to the War, John had attended the University of Southern California for three years before, yielding to his urge to fly airplanes, he transfered to the Air Force Academy. After graduation in 1962, he embarked on a 28-year career in the Air Force. He became a pilot flying several planes.

During the Vietnam War in 1966 he was deployed at Takhli Royal Thai AFB in Thailand as a pilot of an unarmed Douglas EB66C which was outfitted as an electronic warfare aircraft whose purpose was to locate surface to air missile (SAM) and antiaircraft sites. They also had equipment for jamming ground radar so that the SAMs could not be effective. He flew 54 combat missions during the Vietnam War. On February 4, 1967, Captain John Fer was the pilot and Major Jack Bomar was the navigator on a mission just north of Hanoi. Four electronic warfare officers (EWOs) were in the bomb bay area operating the electronic equipment. While flying eastward about fifty miles north of Hanoi and because they had to make a sharp turn to avoid entering Chinese airspace, the jamming equipment could not cover the ground adequately and four SAMs were shot at the plane. The first barely hit the plane, two others missed, but the fourth hit the bomb bay area killing three of the EWOs. Later, John learned that the fourth EWO had abandoned the plane. John described a laughable moment when the navigator had not realized the severity of the damage and questioned John's yelling to him to abandon the plane. "There's nothing wrong!" "Oh, yes, there is." Both finally ejected while the plane was flying at about 400 knots. John had forgotten to lower the visor on his helmet and the sudden force of the wind temporarilty blinded him. At about 32,000 feet, the sudden cold shocked him too. As John was dropping, he thought to himself, "Is the automatic parachute release going to work?" Not trusting the mechanism, he pulled the manual release and dropped to the ground.

The next thing he knew, he was surrounded by people from a nearby village. He was somewhat fearful of what might happen to him, but the villagers, who had not experienced much bombing, did not attack him. In fact, a female nurse cared for his wounds. He was stripped down to his shorts, shirt, and socks. He was then taken to the village where he remembers being surrounded by several men with sickles in their hands. He envisioned them hacking away at him, but they didn't. Their sickles were for harvesting rice.

On that same day John was turned over to the North Vietnamese military for questioning. He was taken into an interrogation room that was about twenty feet square. The walls seemed to have a mottled appearance as if eggs were thrown on the wall and then painted over with green paint. Later he learned that this served to soundproof the room so that the screaming of POWs being tortured could not be heard outside. John was standing in front of a table with an "ugly 1930s lamp" on the table. He was still in his shorts, shirt, and socks and shivering from the cold. In came a husky man (who was later nicknamed "Monkey" because he looked like one) who stood at John's left. Then the interrogator (later nicknamed "Eagle" because he seemed to be quite intelligent) was at the other side of the table. "Eagle" asked John for his name and John complied. Having been trained on what to do if captured as a POW, John knew that, according to Geneva convention, POWs are required to provide only name, rank, serial number, and date of birth. Eagle asked for his rank and John said he was a captain. When asked for his serial number, John recited that. Then Eagle asked, "How old are you?" Here, John thought to himself, "Is this a trick question? Is he trying to see how soft I am?" John told him his age. Then Eagle asked John what Unit he was in. John said, "I can't tell you." Whereupon "Monkey" ran over and hit John hard on the left side of his face. Eagle asked again for John's Unit. John iterated, "I can't tell you." Again Monkey ran over and hit John. Eagle asked John for his Unit a third time. John gave him the same reply. Expecting Monkey to do his thing again, John was surprised that he didn't. Instead Monkey handcuffed John's hands behind his back with wooden stockade-like cuffs. Then Monkey got a long cloth and wound it through the cuffs with crisscrosses around his body with each crisscross getting tighter and tighter until he was bent over like a pretzel with much of his blood circulation cut off. Eagle and Monkey then left the room. John was in very good physical condition since he was a long distance runner at San Pedro High School. However, being tied up like a pretzel and having his blood circulation cut off, eventually he couldn't stand it. He started screaming and cried out that he would tell Eagle his Unit. After what seemed to be thirty minutes, Eagle and Monkey came back into the room and untied John. As this was happening, thoughts flashed through John's mind. He had always been taught to never dishonor his family or his country. With his faith in God and Country, John renewed his resolve. Eagle asked John for his Unit. John said, "I can't tell you." Monkey again tied him up like a pretzel and Eagle and Monkey left the room again. To make a long story short, John didn't give up.

John told us that the camp was dubbed "Little Vegas," because many of the pilots had been trained at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas. Each building was named for one of the hotels in Las Vegas. He explained how he discovered little by little how many POWs were there. Navigator Major Bomar was there. He explained that each soldier was taught to make up simple stories about their families and friends so that, when asked, they could respond with untruths. Being consistent sometimes avoided being beaten. The members of their plane had even made up a seventh person named Lieutenant Muggs whom each of them knew well enough to be consistent when questioned about Lt. Muggs. Most POWs, especially higher ranking officers, were in solitary cells. Some were together in pairs. They developed a code using twenty-five letters of the alphabet in a 5 x 5 matrix for communicating to each other with a series of taps. John and a few other POWs memorized the names of the 350 POWs who were there because they knew that some day they would be released and they wanted to make sure that everyone was accounted for. He would recite the names alphabetically each day. John McCain was not at the same POW camp.

Near the end of the war, when U.S. bombers were constantly bombing the Hanoi area, the North Vietnamese gathered all the POWs together and took them to Hanoi Hilton. It was there that the POWs were grouped in larger rooms allowing them to meet each other face to face and match names with faces. John McCain was there too. Life was better. POWs who were educators taught classes. A choir was formed. Letters were finally received. On March 4, 1973, Captain John Fer was finally released during Operation Homecoming.

Retired Colonel John Fer was awarded several medals, including two Silver Stars, two Legion of Merit Awards, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Prisoner of War Medal, and the Purple Heart. What a HERO!

CRC General Meeting by Janice Dawson
April 12, 2011

Stephen Frank was the guest speaker at our April 12 meeting. He devoted the majority of his speaking time discussing the state of the California budget and giving examples of why we are in this predicament today. He understands how bad the situation is for the state and for California’s cities. He said that there is no way to sustain California because of three major items: 1) the unions, 2) AB 32 and SB 375 – “green” bills, and 3) illegal aliens. Stephen wants everyone to become active today, not only during the campaigns. If you would like to read more about his views, go to www.capoliticalnews.com.

CRC General Meeting: State of the City of Cerritos
February 8, 2011

At the February General Meeting Greg Berg, Cerritos Director of Community and Safety Services, was the guest speaker. Greg talked first about his career starting in 1968 with the Los Angeles Police Department where he worked for thirty years and then eleven more years in Cerritos. When discussing issues related to safety, Greg, as head of Community Safety, likes to start with numbers . As an example, he chose the traffic issue that involved Gahr High School in the morning hours. Consider that Cerritos has 51 thousand residents in 15,500 homes, 85-90 traffic signals, 21 parks, 19 schools, and 2 thousand businesses. Most traffic incidents occur at 8:30 a.m. With so many places to cover, it is extremely difficult to dedicate enough sheriffs to cover the traffic situation at any particular school within Cerritos. Also note that at 2:00 a.m. there are four sheriffs patrolling (without partners) the entire city. If a serious situation arises for one of them, then another has to rush to be a backup. Also since there are only four patrol cars, the probability that any one of them will happen to come across a crime in progress is very low. They must depend on the eyes and ears of Cerritos residents to alert them to a potential crime.

Recently in the Candidates Forums, we have heard some candidates saying that Cerritos is not as safe as it used to be. Greg reviewed some crime statistics which actually indicate that Cerritos is safer than it used to be. From 1991 to 1995, annual violent crimes totalled above 400; from 2006 to 2010, less than 200. From 1991 to 1995, annual property crimes totalled above 3500; from 2006 to 2010, less than 2000. Obviously, if you happen to be the victim of one of these crimes, it doesn't make you feel any safer. These statistics are available at the Safer Cerritos web site---www.safercerritos.com.

With regard to property theft, Greg gave the age-old advice of not leaving valuable property visible in cars. That leads to a potential crime of opportunity. Look for more crime prevention tips at the Safer Cerritos website.

Another note: Cerritos is the only city to have its own Sheriff's Station which opened in 1997. [Editor's note: Violent crimes and property crimes started dropping dramatically in 1999.]

Greg closed his talk with words of advice to anyone seeking office in the Cerritos City Council. Get and read a copy of the annual budget so that you can know more about where money comes from and where it is spent. Also talk to the Directors of each City branch so you can learn what they do and are responsible for.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration
January 17, 2011

Several members of the Cerritos Republican Club attended the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at the Cerritos Civic Center. Mayor Joseph Cho welcomed everyone to the event and introduced the rest of the member of the City Council. Then CRC member Jim Edwards introduced the Zoe Christian Fellowship "Expressions" Dance Team who performed a beatific dance in angelic costumes.

On stage dignitaries

CRC member Jim Edwards introduces the Zoe Christian Fellowship "Expressions" Dance Team

Zoe Christian Fellowship "Expressions" Dance Team performing a beatific dance.

Councilman Jim Edwards then welcomed Sherea VeJuan Riley who sang "We Shall Overcome." Mayor Cho then called CRC member Carol Chen to the podium whereupon she led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. She followed this by calling Walter Small up to the stage to lead everyone in the singing of the National Anthem.

Sherea Riley sang "We Shall Overcome."

Walter Small led the audience in singing the National Anthem

CRC member Carol Chen singing the National Anthem; Joseph Cho too!

Councilman Bruce Barrows brought on Amir Greenidge who recited from memory a poem. His stirring and evocative rendering was rewarded by an enthusiastic ovation from the audience. He was followed by the Cerritos Area Alumni Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta GEMS who sang and danced. Following the choreography, Laura Lee introduced Katelyn Robinson who sang "This Little Light of Mine" to a very receptive audience, in particular her father.

CRC member Bruce Barrows listens intently to Amir Greenidge poem.

The Cerritos Area Alumni Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta GEMS sang and danced.

Katelyn Robinson sang an emotion filled version of "This Little Light of Mine."

Linda Sanchez and Tony Mendoza made a few remarks. They were followed by Pastor Ed Smith who spoke about the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and also presented a special message for this occasion. It was to "Let Freedom Ring."

Next the winners of the Art and Writing Contests were introduced and presented certificates recognizing their achievements.

Pastor Ed Smith spoke about Martin Luther King Jr. and presented a special message for now and forever.

Art and Writing Contest winners were recognized.

All Art and Writing Contest Winners.

In the final performance Rochone Anderson sang rousingly "Lift Every Voice and Sing!" Mayor Cho then closed by asking everyone to partake of the refreshments in front of the Sheriff's Station.

CRC General Meeting
January 11, 2011

Members of the Club attended the Candidates Forum hosted by the Cerritos Chamber of Commerce (CCC) in the Cerritos City Council Chambers. All seven of the candidates were in attendance. As seated from left to right in the Chamber seats were incumbent Bruce Barrows, incumbent Joseph Cho, Chris Fuentes, Grace Hu, Harshad Mody, Mark Pulido, and Kiran Rami. CRC Member Allen Wood was one of the two CCC members who asked the questions for the forum. For those who missed the Forum, a recording will be televised on Cerritos TV3 on January 18 and 31 at 7:00 pm.

After the Forum, CRC members convened in the Skyline Room of the Cerritos City Library to select which CRC candidates to endorse.

• It was moved, seconded, discussed, and approved to endorse Bruce Barrows.
• It was moved, seconded, discussed, and approved to endorse Grace Hu.
• It was moved, seconded, discussed, and not approved to endorse Harshad Mody.
• It was moved, seconded, discussed, and approved to endorse Rick Royse for Bellflower City Council.