New leader in town, old tradition in place

OUR LAGUNA

Newly elected Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson was applauded Monday

when she choked up talking about her love for Laguna Beach.

“Some people take the place they live for granted; I don’t,” said

a teary-eyed Pearson, the guest speaker at the Laguna Canyon

Conservancy December dinner meeting at Tivoli Terrace.

Raised in a military family, Pearson attended 16 schools in 12 years. Before moving to Laguna almost 20 years ago, the longest she

had lived in any one place was four years in Cleveland. Those four

years gave her a glimpse of what community meant, but it took Laguna

to make it a reality.

Councilwoman Toni Iseman -- on the eve of being elected mayor --

introduced Pearson.

“Over the past few months, I have had the pleasure of stumping

[for election] with Elizabeth,” Iseman said. “We shared a level of

fatigue I can only describe as right up there with childbirth.”

Conservancy President Carolyn Wood invited Pearson to speak to the

group and to talk about her background.

Hers was a childhood of peregrination. She went where her family

was stationed.

“Two years in one place was a really long time,” Pearson said.

So when she went to work after graduation from high school, her

company’s penchant for moving her around was no big deal. She landed

in Cleveland 10 years later. The city was a mess -- near bankruptcy,

with crime-ridden streets, a depressed downtown without stores or

restaurants, high unemployment and low municipal maintenance of

infrastructure.

Amazingly, she decided she just didn’t want to move again, and

serendipitously, her company made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“They loaned me to the city, paid my salary and paid me to

complete college,” Pearson said.

Pearson was just one of a diverse group of employees from numerous

companies loaned to the city in a program devised by a new mayor to

bring Cleveland back from the brink of ruin without spending

municipal money.

“I was donated as part of the marketing team,” Pearson said.

She raised funds for public relations, worked on programs that

would keep businesses from fleeing the town and on strategic planning

that obtained grants and developed the downtown, river front and the

Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

“When I go back, and I try to once a year, it gives me such great

pride to look around a downtown teeming with people and a city that

is clean, safe and solvent,” she said. “You can see why I am a

proponent of long-term planning.”

Pearson’s plans as a council member include beefing up parking for

residents and visitors, establishing better communications between

residents and promoting better relations with surrounding communities

and the county officials.

But it’s not all up to the council, Pearson said.

“Individuals can make a difference -- people like Alice Graves and

groups like the Laguna Canyon Conservancy,” she said. “They didn’t

have to go to the government. By God, they did it.”

Conservancy founder Lida Lenney was among those who did it and is

still doing it. Before the meeting, Lenney collected signatures of

persons who were willing to contribute to the book she is collating

of personal memories of how Laguna Canyon was saved from development.

For more information about the book, call Lenney. Her number is in

the telephone book.

POTLUCK

Potluck Thanksgiving at Bluebird Park is one just another reason

to give thanks that the late Alice Grave’s passed our way. She

founded it.

“Last year was hard because it was the first one Alice missed,”

said Cross Cultural Council Chair David Peck, dubbed the potluck’s

Big Kahuna by volunteer Anne Wood.

Peck and Graves shared many common goals, such as feeding,

clothing and sheltering the homeless, helping those who wished to

find jobs and giving us all something to be thankful for at

Thanksgiving.

“I have been coming here since the first potluck,” John Just John

said. “And I have seen ‘Doc’ here every time.”

“Doc” is Dr. Gene Atherton, who has offered his services for years

to the underserved.

“We are expecting more than 100 volunteers this year.” Peck said.

“I hope they all stay.”

Among those who stayed were Peck’s grandsons, Ethan, 4, and

Brenden, 6; their mom, Sarah, a 1988 Laguna Beach High School

graduate, and her husband, Kevin Tague.

Fifteen turkeys were pledged, more expected. By 11 a.m., carvers Jon Sinclair, Les Horton, Dave Fister and his son Charles, Bill

Landrigan and Brad Susman, were on the job.

After four a cappella choruses of “American the Beautiful” and a

short grace by the Rev. Colin Henderson, dinner was served.

“One year, we ran out of gravy. Another year, we ran out of

turkey. This year it was plastic knives,” Peck said.

Anne Wood, who has volunteered at the potluck for 10 years, was

among the helpers who arranged the donated foods and served it. Peter

Steinberg, who teaches English as the dayworkers’ job site, was in

charge of potatoes.

Steinberg also brought two homemade key lime pies for the dessert

table, which was laden with 10 pumpkin pies, a couple of pecan pies,

fruit pies and carrot cake. Ann Fister helped serve.

Mark Christy and his son Jackson brought a pie and 15 pounds of

“Mark’s Famous Mashed Potatoes with Attitude.”

“Tabasco is the secret,” Christy said, while watching Jackson

shoot some hoops.

Jill Edwards brought a turkey. Rose Gueflen contributed sweet

potatoes in her Aunt Juillen’s name.

“You hear that Laguna has changed,” Gueflen said. “You have to

come to something like this to realize the spirit is still here.”

Even the music was donated.

“I was walking on the beach when some old guy told me about this,”

said Mike Turner, a nondenominational missionary from Minnesota.

Turner teamed with his wife, Charlotte, to make music on banjo and

other stringed instruments.

Reasons for volunteering vary.

“This is fun,” said Lakshmi Devi Dasi, a potluck volunteer for six

years. “It is a holiday for the soul.”

U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Donna Stihley came from Camp Pendleton to

volunteer.

“I was recalled on orders last October from West Virginia,”

Stihley said. “On orders means recalled involuntarily. Instead of

wallowing in missing my family, I thought I would come here.”

This is the 16th Thanksgiving Day potluck.

“In the beginning, it was really small, but after the fire in

1993, it got bigger,” Peck said.

Last year, more than 350 persons showed up to share and to eat.

“A disaster does it,” Ellin Henderson said.

But Laguna doesn’t wait for disasters to extend a helping hand.

Leftovers from the potluck were donated to Friendship Shelter, which

offers hope to the homeless and jobless and a roof over their heads

for 60 days.

Volunteers are welcomed. For more information, call 494-6928.

Donations also are needed for the Woman’s Club Family Party, which

helps make the holidays brighter for needy families. For more

information, call 497-1200.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652, hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite 22;

call 494-4321 or fax 494-8979.