• Operation Prom Girl 2015

Saturday March 28th saw the second annual Operation Prom Girl held at Wildomar's VFW. It was an amazing transformation of their banquet area into a pink and white draped room with 8 tables full of eager teenage girls waiting to look at prom dresses.

The afternoon was filled with lunch, inspirational speakers, prizes for the young ladies, and a make up tutorial by the event's spearhead —Dawn Schultz.

Dawn Schultz (right) applying some color to Amber Nason's eyes.

Operation Prom Girl was the brain child of Dawn Shultz. The basic premise is to help out girls from underprivileged families that would like to go to their school's Prom but can't afford a proper dress.

I spoke to her last year, about her first effort, and wasn't sure how she was going to pull it off as a newcomer to town and especially with such little time to spare. With shear determination she did, though it was a modest affair in 2014 compared to 2015. I can only imagine how much more it will grow by next year.

I asked Dawn who the key volunteers were, and she mentioned Linda Harris along with her husband Bruce Harris. There were more than 25 volunteers that made the event possible. Forty-three girls were in attendance for the event.

A big thank you to Dawn, Linda, Bruce and the other volunteers that made our city just a little bit nicer.

On a personal note, I was happy to be invited to this event. I was the only male above the age of four there. I got to sit at the Mom's Table and sip coffee and have a plate of delicious food that was provided. I was keeping a low profile and was glad that my sweet wife Grace was there to take the photos. Nothing worse than some old guy sticking a camera into the faces of teenage girls... talk about the creep factor when that happens. ☺

Click Here for the Operation Prom Girl FaceBook Page

Here is a look at last year's OPG blog.

•      •      • 

The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.   —Henry Ward Beecher

We on the front lines at Wildomar Rap are going to have to have a meeting with the editors and see about getting a couple of testosterone fueled assignments soon. I think we may be all estrogened up for the year now.

• Wildomar Egg Hunt 2015

It was a brilliant day for Wildomar's annual Eggstravaganza Egg Hunt at Marna O'Brien park. People started showing up shortly after 8:00AM in anticipation of the first Egg Hunt of the day at 9:00AM for the 0-3 year old children.

In total there were four separate age groups for the kids. 0-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9+. Also, there were two times for each group. If a child missed it the first time round, or were very enterprising looking to score twice, they'd be able to hit the later time.

In total 14,000 plastic eggs were "found". Thanks to the sponsors which included Waste Management who had a truck out on display and  a table with some give-a-ways of their own as they were touting the virtues of recycling to all.

☺

There were donuts, milk, coffee and things along that line available at the snack bar, which was being run by Crew 332 (a coed group that is comprised of Boy Scouts and helpers). Crew 332 also provided a photo booth so that kids could have a picture taken with Peter Rabbit.

There was a Jolly Jumper, Face Painting and a Balloon Artist (you know, they make things like poodles or ninja swords) and the lines never abated for those once they started.

There was also a "wheel chair accessible" egg hunt for children with special needs. Today there was only one child that took advantage of it. I'd heard about this, but couldn't understand how it worked until I saw it for myself. In the video below, you'll see a snippet of this young man, and his parent's, quest for an egg.

Down below is a video that is a combo slide show and live action display of what today was about. You'll see several different age groups running around at top speed (I speed it up over 1000%) looking for eggs.... that are so plentiful that they would be harder to avoid if it were a race from one side to the other and the object was to NOT step on them. You'll see a sped up version of three year old Sunny Watkins have her face painted like a cat, plus a glimpse of all the people that came for part of the day in a couple of panoramic shots like the one directly below.

This looks much better in the video as I pan slowly from left to right. Or you can click on it to enlarge it.

I was asking the city manager Gary Nordquist his guess of the crowd and I think he underestimated it by a lot when he responded 400. Let's do some Wildomar Rap math here. There were 4 age groups times 2 egg hunts. There were easily 100 kids in each age group, and even if 80% repeated the process, that would mean about 500 kids came. I'm guessing that they didn't walk or drive themselves, so even if there were only 100 additional people, that would put it at 600. Still, I'm going to say there were closer to 700 from start to finish.

There were a ton of people that made this happen, but I'm going to single out Janet Morales as the linchpin that brought it all together. Though she'd been planning it for months, as crunch time got to the week leading up to the even, she was sick yet sallied forth and completed the task. Thanks for all the hard work!

If you missed this event, there will be another one next year. Go over to the city's website and sign up to be notified of such things with their "Stay Connected" Service. Click here.

•      •      • 

Peter Cottontail, Bugs Bunny and Roger Rabbit walk into a bar... They order three carrot juices, pay their bar tab then leave. The end. 

Did you seriously think I was going to post a blue joke about those fellas on this blog? Did ya? Come on man, cut me a break... plus, I couldn't come up with a better punchline in the time frame I had so I went the Anti-Joke route.

We at Wildomar Rap prefer pickled eggs made with eggs that were bought a month ago. Seriously, older eggs are easier to peel after they are boiled.

• Coffee With Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez March 2015

I got the assemblywoman to pose for

a picture after the event was over.

Usually Wildomar Rap concentrates on things directly in the city, and today's Coffee with Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez was held in Menifee, she still is our elected representative and I thought it worthwhile going to and reporting back on what she had to say.


It was held at Menifee's The Beer Hunter sports bar at Haun and Newport Rd off the 215 before regular business hours. I'm lousy at guessing crowd sizes, but that's never stopped me before... so I'm guesstimating there were more than 25 and less than 45. We took a handout labeled Legislative Update that had about 15 items on it.

• • •

Key items on the list that she spoke about included:

• AB 150—Gun Theft
• AB 289—Whistle Blower Protection-Legislative Employees
• AB 585—Drought-Friendly Landscaping State Income Tax Credit
• AB 46  —Date Rape Drugs
• AB 209—529 College Savings Plan Contribution
• SB 3    —Minimum Wage Increase
• SB 8    —Sales Tax on Services

Going down the line:

AB 150

This deals with a loophole that prop 47 created in regards to gun thefts. If the firearm has a value of less than $950 it's only considered a misdemeanor now. This legislation is aimed at making gun theft a felony once again.

Can you imagine it? Whoever put together prop 47 thought it no big whoop to steal a gun... because hey, it's not like they ever end up in the wrong hands or lead to horrendous crimes... right?

AB 289

This is to protect the employees of the California Legislature who report ethics violations from being subject to retaliation.

Melendez then spoke of three state senators that were off into naughty territory [my phrasing] last year. One guy lived outside of his district and another was a gun runner in the Philippines and the third was dealing with basic corruption like bribes (thank goodness for old fashioned graft compared to the modern version) errr...

I liked how she used selling rocket launchers from the trunk of your car as an example of possible wrongdoing. She then engaged me in conversation —sort of— by looking at me and saying, "I guarantee that if you were selling rocket launchers, you'd be in a lot of trouble. Right? You wouldn't still have your job and you wouldn't still have all those perks... it shouldn't be any different for legislators."

[Note to self, just like you don't sit in the front row at a comedy club, back up a row at these community coffees] ☺

AB 585

She mentioned how last year the film industry was given tax incentives to keep production here and how she'd like to see something that would be aimed at "normal Californians" not from the select Hollywood sliver of society. 

This Bill would give a tax credit to those that would uproot their water guzzling yards and put in water-wise/drought tolerant landscaping.

AB 46

This is a bill that Melendez has co-authored along with Tom Lackey (36th District).

Stunningly, the passage of Prop 47 made possession of Date Rape drugs only a misdemeanor.

To paraphrase Melendez, "These aren't just recreational drugs... well, I guess they are for the rapist... but these drugs have only one purpose; to assist in the commission of a violent crime."

There was more than one bill dealing with this issue, but her's is the last one standing at this point.

AB 209

This is a bill that Melendez has co-authored. The legislation will lower a person's taxable amount of income by the amount contributed to a ScholarShare 529 college savings account, up to $3k for an individual and $6k for a joint filer.

"The difficulty we face [on this bill] is that whenever a piece of legislation, that they decide costs money, and [whether that's new spending or causes less revenue to the state] they assign a financial cost to that and that goes to the appropriation committee. Then they prioritize where they can afford to spend money or lose money. Very, very often —unless you're in the right party (the blue team no doubt)— if they say your bill costs money, they just won't let it out [of committee]."

She's hopeful since this isn't (or shouldn't be) a partisan issue... kids going to college and parents saving for it, but it hasn't started moving through the committees yet.

SB 3

There was discussion about a push to raise the minimum wage in the state. This bill would increase it to $11 an hour in January of 2016 and $13 per hour in 2017. This bill would also require an annual adjustment. 

A word on minimum wage. Yes, most thinking people are in favor of people earning (key word here: EARNING) what is known as a livable wage. The best pathway to a livable wage is to learn a skill that is in demand, not expect the government to force businesses to pay you more than you're worth.

I suggest aiming higher than a minimum wage job from the get go. 

SB 8

This bill would create a sales tax on services. That would mean all sorts of things that currently aren't taxed. 

Melendez said, "When you take your dog to the veterinarian, when you take your car in to get the oil changed, when you go get your hair or nails done, they want to tax it."

I asked, "does that include domestic things like house cleaning?"

Melendez answered, "Oh that would be taxed."

Nothing like a back-lit photograph. 

Imagine if haircuts, labor on car repairs, handyman services, pool service, yard service, and countless other things we currently aren't taxed on, came into play for the taxman?

From her flyer it states that this bill is "still evolving" and it is not yet stated what the percentage will be. It also states that "Healthcare and educational services, and small businesses with under $100,000 would be exempt.

I'll have to ask her about that at her next coffee. Is that yearly gross? If so, sounds like a sure disincentive for business expansion and to maintain sales under that amount so your customers don't look elsewhere trying to save that additional charge.

To me it looks like a whole slew of businesses will start to work from the other side of the table... for at least some transactions. Remember, all taxes do is force people to find ways around them.

She did say that she didn't see this actually getting out of committee. "If it happened to make it to the governor's desk (long pause) I don't know that he'd sign it."

Other topics included

• Right to die/Right to try
• Mandatory Vaccinations
• Education Costs
• UC Tutition
• Bill to Limit Bills

Right to Die/Right to Try

For some reason these two issues got mixed together. At one point I had to raise my hand and ask for some clarification. 

"Are these two bills tied together?" 

The answer was no. 

They are two different bills with two different authors.

Right to Die is where a terminally ill patient can seek medical assistance in ending their own lives on their terms. I'm sure this can be one of those hot button issues for some, but many would agree that being forced to languish in a hospital bed isn't desirable, especially if you've come to terms and want to skip the last few dying days or weeks.

Thing is, I kept hearing "Right to Die" but then the discussion would jump to "experimental drugs" or "unscrupulous companies" with drugs that don't offer any real hope to dying patients.

Right to Die is an easy pick for a person like me with Libertarian leanings. Same for Right to Try, though I can see the point about unscrupulous companies, looking to play upon the hopes of those in such a situation. To me, those decisions need to be left up to the individuals, not the government.

Vaccinations

She asked for a show of hands for those that were in support of Mandatory Vaccinations. I'd say that it was at least 75-25, maybe even 80-20 in favor of mandatory vaccinations if you want to attend public school.

Melendez mentioned that this bill is coming. So if this is important to you, you may want to speak up about it. For me, I really don't care if you choose to put your kids at risk for deadly diseases by pigheadedly going against science and thinking your kids'll be just fine. Have at it... I'll just read about it if your kid loses the backward lottery someday.

UC Tuition

"I'm sure you all saw this in the news where UC wants to raise tuition 25% over five years. 5% a year for each of the next five years," the Assemblywoman said.

Honestly, I hadn't heard that. I'm glad my kids are past that stage, and I really feel for you parents that have kids that are NOT good students, you know they will NOT do well on the next level, yet you'll feel compelled to send them to college just the same.

Bill to Limit Bills

It seems that the current limit on bills introduced by individual assemblymembers is 40 per year. Imagine it —do the math. If they worked 365 days a year, which we know they DON'T, that's one bill every nine days. If they work 200 days a year, that's one every five days.

"If you can't do your job, if you can't help your district in twenty pieces of legislation, then you don't belong in office," she said. Followed up with, "They don't like my bill... surprise, surprise." Which brought some chuckles from the audience with it.

The last question of the day had one guy ask: Is there any way that there could be legislation introduced that will limit the amount of administrators so we can have more teachers in the schools?

I loved Melendez's answer:  "I don't know that we can legislate something like that. That's something we expect our school superintendents to handle; that's their job. You don't want me trying to do that from Sacramento. You don't want me trying to run your school district from Sacramento. That's your job."

Seriously, we DON'T want Sac-to trying to take charge of us at the local level anymore than we want DC dictating to us about local things.

• • •

It was an interesting morning and had to love the one guy that kept trying to take over the meeting. Not sure if he's a regular or just showed up because the event was in Menifee, but he tried to weigh in on everything, and at times would speak over our elected representative.

Also had to love the old guy that took a call while the Assemblywoman was answering someone's question. 

Hey old guy, please NEVER complain about how the younger generation has no respect for others... they learned it from people like you.

The next Community Coffee with Assemblywoman Melendez is supposed to be in Murrieta. I'll post info on it at the Wildomar Rap facebook page when it comes out.

Hey, we also got a gift from the assemblywoman... one of those cloth grocery bags. Thanks Melissa!

Here is the Assemblywoman's contact info:

assemblymember.melendez@assembly.ca.gov

Local (951) 894-1232

Sacramento (916) 319-2067

•      •      • 

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.
 —Abraham Lincoln

Wildomar Rap has just eclipsed 50,000 page views. Thanks to all of you that read it, even you stinkers out there.

• Better Know a Wildomar Business: Hope's Chest

In my series Better Know a Wildomar Business, I recently visited Hope's Chest located in the Stater Bother's shopping center.

The first thing that I noticed when approaching the store is that it's very clean. From the windows to the floors, to the displays and the front counter... very tidy. That tells me that the owner cares about the details.

Ok, to be honest, this was sort of a challenging blog, because I'm a guy, and the topic is a store that specializes in lady's under garments. Let's see how well I do here.

I had a chance to meet up with Hope Suhr (pronounced like "sir") and asked her a handful of questions.

Hope Suhr

 WR  I always like to ask, "How did you choose Wildomar?"

 HS  My husband and I had been looking for about two and a half years for a location. We knew we wanted to be seen from the freeway, with easy access. We have people that come from all over the world and the United States, and it can be difficult to find if you're not easily located. [This location] just fit the criteria, and the demographics... we've got Bear Creek and La Cresta, this area is growing. We did some research and we saw that this area [is ready to take off]. I call it The Volcanic. It's like it's shaken, and it's getting ready to just go [click for her sound effect for kapow]. We took a look at a lot of things and this seemed to be a good fit for us.

 WR  Is there a special significance to the name "Hope's Chest"?
 HS  Quick little story there. I'm a Christian, and this is a Christian based company... my girlfriend called me up and said, "I was praying for you last night, and I was told to give you a call, and I wanted to finish my prayer...  and God kept saying 'give her a call'... I'm praying for everything in Hope's Chest."  

She told me that story, and I had been just trying to figure out the name of the company that I was going to launch. I told her, "That's the name." 
She said, "What's the name?"
I said, "The name of my company is called Hope's Chest."

She asked, "When did you call it that?"
I said, "Just now."

Not only that, it is hope. We sell breast cancer forms. We want to give women hope. 

Have to love the saying on the plaque to the left, "Anything that makes you giggle, smile or laugh : Buy it or Marry it!"

j

 WR  How did you choose this type of business?
 HS  Many, many years ago I went to a bra fitter back east. I thought to myself, "Why isn't there something like this out here?" 
[At the time] I was working for the federal government, and I did some research. I spent three and a half years studying the entire industry. I knew that I needed to do this for women out here... because women are in the wrong size bra. 85% of women are in the wrong size bra. I shared my bachelors in bra fitting. Some people say "A bra is a bra is a bra is a bra" that's not true. So I started because I have my own needs. I needed to bring this out to help women. So that's why.

One of the many hand crafted decorations in the store.

 WR  What made you take Hope's Chest from idea to reality?
 HS  After studying the industry for three years and a half years, and going to libraries and book stores, and talking to industry specialists. I knew I needed to find the right manufacturers to represent what I was looking for. While keeping my federal government job during the day, at night I had a lot of free time and I just said, "You know what, let's launch this thing."  I launched it and did it out of my home. Then I got laid off from my day job so my husband said, "I guess the next thing we need to is a brick and mortar" and that's what I did. Opened up our first location in Canyon Lake. A little teeny location, and we busted out of there. [said with a smile]

 WR  So are there two locations or did you relocate here?

 HS  One location.

 WR  Tell me about the different things that Hope's Chest has to offer.

 HS  We sell breast forms for breast cancer survivors... a prosthesis; whether they have a mastectomy or a double mastectomy. Pocket bras for breast cancer survivors and the breast forms. Swimsuits for breast forms as well. 

We also sell bra sized swimsuits for the everyday woman. A cup to K cup bras. From a 28" band all the way up to a 44" band. We have two warehouses full of bras, so we have thousands of bras. We do the bra shopping for them. We also carry clothes and jewelry and gifts.

 WR  Where would you rank your prices compared to others?

 HS  Average. You're paying for good quality stuff here. The majority of our stuff is from Europe. We deal with twenty-three manufacturers, though we've narrowed it down to the ones we really like and that work well on women'd figures. Our prices are average for a boutique. 

 WR  Being a male, I've always assumed that when a woman needs a new bra, she would simply go to a store and pick one out based on the numbers and the color she wanted. Can you describe what your slogan, "A unique bra fitting experience" means?

 HS  "Unique bra fitting experience" is where we go in and we spend time measuring and getting the fit for each woman, because every woman is different. That's why 85% of women are in the wrong size bra. Men can go shopping and toss a package of underwear in their cart... small, medium, large, extra large... well that's not the case for women.

Women have a tendency of thinking that they're a different size, and they come in and they are completely transformed. For instance, we had a girl that worked at Victoria Secret. She came in and said she was a 38 Double D. She was tiny (her frame) though she was well endowed, but she was pretty lean. She left my store a 34H. Huge difference. Now she doesn't have tingling down her arms, numbing in her fingers; her neck and back are feeling great. 

 WR  If a husband would like to get a gift for his wife, what kind of info should he know about her?

 HS  Here's the best suggestion. Go through her drawer, take a look at her bras if she's shopped here —we'll have her in the database. If she hasn't, just get her size and bring it to us. 

==================

Let me interrupt here

==================

While playing back the conversation, I could see that if you're a guy that might be thinking of buying a gift for your lady, and it has to do with her top half, you'd be better off getting a gift certificate for her. We're guys, and though Hope showed me the men's area, complete with sports and car magazines, you know you'd rather just let her take care of this shopping experience without you in tow.

==================
Back to the interview
==================

 HS  That doesn't mean it's going to fit properly. Who knows what her figure is like. There are over thirty styles of bras and they don't all fit onto every woman. Some women can't wear a demi-cup, or a plunge, or a racer back... that's just to name a few. Every bra is so different, every woman is so uniquely different and that's why it's important to come and get fitted by a chestologist.

 WR  Anything I may have not thought of to ask?

 HS  We have great swimsuits. Our swimsuit line is huge for us because women have such a hard time finding swimsuits that makes them feel like they're not going to fall out when they go to dive in the water. We also have retro swimsuits that we just launched.

____________________________________________________________

Had to love the sense of humor in this decoration made by Hope's husband. 

The store has a footprint of about 1500sf with six changing rooms that were designed by Hope's husband. They take appointments, and it can be a short turn around from ten to twenty minutes.

I enjoyed my chat with Hope, even if I felt a bit like how I imagine the average woman might feel while around a bunch of guys that are watching football.

I did learn a lot, as I researched the new terms I learned. Grace, pay no attention to the images that are in the browser history. It was research... honest! ☺

Here is the contact info for Hope's Chest.

Website

FaceBook Fan Page

Phone: (951) 678-BRAS (2727)

36068 Hidden Springs Road #D

•      •      • 

A good friend is like a good bra, hard to find, very comfortable, supportive and always close to the heart. 
 —Unknown

If Wildomar Rap were a bra it would be one of those that itches all day with the underwire poking you at the most inopportune times.

• Wildomar Blessed With Another Eagle Scout Project

Jake Moore, long time scout member of Troop 332, completed his Eagle Project of installing shelving in the Marna O'Brien Park storage room. Take a look at the pics to get a glimpse of it.

This is the "before" look of the storage room. Jake Moore is in the middle of a Fibber McGee's closet style mess.

○

Here is a list of the work that needed to be done day of

• Removing all the contents of the room.
• Sweeping the dirt out.
• Choosing the location of the shelves, keeping electrical and plumbing in mind.
• Drilling holes in the cement blocks to anchor the shelves to the wall.
• Attaching the shelves.
• Bringing in the items and organizing it all.

Below is a montage of the work process.

Below is a picture of the storage room after the project was completed.

○

What would this city be without the tireless hard work of so many people?

From Left to right: Bridgette Moore, Stewart Moore, Vic Ramos, Jake Moore, Cat Lara, Brandon Benline, Riley Olson, Lori Olson, Amber Mayes, Nate Coddington. 

A big thank you goes out to those that helped make this happen, and nice job Jake... I'm betting that Wildomar Parks Manager, Daniel Torres [also the photographer for the above picture] will be loving the new look.

☺

•      •      • 

A boy is supremely confident of his own power, and
dislikes being treated as a child.
― Robert Baden-Powell

If Wildomar Rap had been in scouting, most badges earned would have been for finding artful ways to break things by accident.

• Interact Club: Senior Prom

Today I had a chance to attend a Senior Prom... for REAL Seniors. It was at Wildomar Senior Leisure Community on S. Pasadena.

Jacqueline Serrano and Elizabeth Englehart

I spoke with Jacqueline Serrano and Elizabeth Englehart, of Elsinore High School's Interact Club, and asked them a couple of questions about the event.

So tell me a bit about this event.

We got a $500 grant from The Rotary Club to put on the prom. We bought the supplies, then gave them the receipts, and they reimbursed us.


I haven't heard of "The Interact Club" what is it?
The Interact Club is a high school club that works with The Rotary Club. Our club is designated to working in the community, and the motto is Service Above Self. We're all about helping people on a voluntary basis.

What I like about the Interact Club is that we do a lot of small scale projects instead of large fund raisers... things like this [the Senior Prom event] in the community so we can actually interact and talk to everyone. A lot of the people here opened up and told us stories about themselves.

How much prep time went into today's event?
We met each week for about 30 mins, and that was over the course of six weeks. Then we had to go out and shop for the supplies, decorations and food. We had a raffle, and our club made baskets [as prizes] and we took time putting those together too.

Sorry, I don't have the names of all the members of The Interact Club... but here are their smiling faces. ☺

I asked Bonnie Osting, the office manager at WSLC, how it was working with the club.

"They're fantastic. I worked with them in the past, and I didn't have to do anything. It was easy as an Activity Person, just to sit back and let them do everything. It was wonderful. They did the decorating, they did the food and they got the residents up dancing."

A conga line as it went through the attendees.

The liaison between the Interact Club and the Rotary Club for this event was Dana DeJong. I asked her to fill in some details about the day.

"The Interact Club showed up at 9:00 in the morning and started decorating they did everything. They did the food, the decorations, the photobooth, the baskets for the raffle."

What a great opportunity it was for the coming generation to participate in something so noble with a very accomplished generation. I just wish I'd known of such things when I was growing up. A great direction to encourage your teen to go in.

A WWII vet and his "date" as they mug for the camera. A lot of patterns going on there. :)

•      •      • 

What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.   —Kurt Vonnegut

If Wildomar Rap were an octogenarian, he'd happily dance with one of these club members, but he would NOT drink Ensure under any circumstance.

• Better Know a Wildomar Business: Hollywood Dance

UPDATE

I've recently learned that Hollywood Dance has gone out of business, and in an unflattering manner too. I went to their website and it was down. 

I'll be removing the body of this blog but leaving up the parts with the dancers.

○

 WR:  Last, you mentioned something about Joffrey Ballet and your students?
 HD:  We let our dancers know when there are different auditions. When I send them on an audition I'm not expecting them to land it, my expectation is for them to go and get the experience. I send them on different auditions and different master classes for the experience. Joffrey School had an audition nationwide. They had it for seven or eight consecutive weekends; they picked twelve dancers. 

Two of our ten year old girls made it, actually one of them is nine years old [Bryna Quinn and Sarah DiGioia] and they made in to the Joffrey School of Ballet. Another of our dancers, Diamond George, also made it in. 

To get into that program you have to do more than excel, you have to know exactly what you're doing. It's not just about the dance. It's also about your work ethic, your commitment, your dedication, your confidence.

At this point, two of the three girls were in studio to tell me a bit about the audition for the Joffrey Ballet.

Interviewing Sarah DiGioia (light green top) and Bryna Quinn. You can see a glimpse of Holly Davidson (red top).

You can see where I was using a microphone to record the girls' statements. One drawback with audio only... young girls all sound the same to me... D'oh! So I've put the quotes that I'm certain of on a graphic with an action photo of each girl. I'll then add the final part of the interview at the bottom as they were both giving me details.

 WR:  How many other dancers were there?
 BQ&SDG  In our room, there were thirty-two.

We were the only little ones, the rest were like sixteen through twenty-five. I think I saw like one more dancer that looked about eleven.

 WR:  When is the next time you're supposed to meet up with Joffrey?
 BQ&SDG  It's a scholorship for the Summer. You have to be accepted in, but you have to raise enough money, about a thousand dollars a week. It's in the summer, and we take classes eight hours a day.

* * *

Hollywood Dance contact info

http://www.hollywooddance.org/

(951) 678-2100

22812 Palomar St #105, Wildomar, CA 92595

Business Hours

11:15 am – 9:00 pm

•      •      • 

If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance..
― George Bernard Shaw

Wildomar Rap is not the name of a new dance routine.

• City Council Meeting March 2015

It was a rather short meeting tonight.

Public Comments had Kenny Mayes relate to the Council that the parks are still lagging. Come on guys... how hard is it to get some basketball nets up? Even if they aren't the exact ones, ever hear of zip ties (or as the Canadians call them Tie Wraps)?

Darryl Smith, of the local chapter of the NAACP, thanked Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore for her attendance at a recent meeting and presented her with an award of appreciation.

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Miss Miller enchanted us with her dulcet tones again [more like Off Key warbling] but beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder... no matter how myopic one may be. She had also been out picketing in front of City Hall from 3:00pm on, shouting to those that would listen to her as she decried the evils of Walmart.

Though Miss Miller's act is getting VERY tired, it was a battle of will power. Could the council members keep a straight face or not?

  

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Item 1.7 Windsong Valley Slurry Job

This item was originally in the consent calendar, which is where items are bundled together and voted on without comment or debate. Kenny Mayes and Joseph Morabito (that's me) asked to speak on the topic anyway. Telling the council that the job wasn't finished, and it was a poor job to boot.

The response from City Engineer, Dan York, was that the work was complete (though the streets that didn't get slurried are scheduled to be part of the next slurry project in the city). That cracks in the new surface are normal, and aren't as bad as they had been.

True, the cracks that have developed aren't as bad as the previous cracks, but they had a seven year head start. The new ones started appearing only a few weeks after the job was "completed". 

When I spoke to the council, I mentioned a bump that is in one of the roads and how it was as if they'd paved over a dog.

This bump is on Wanki where Gierson dead ends into it. Let's hope that Fluffy didn't get buried there by mistake.

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Item 3.1 RTA Bus Passes

It was a 5-0 vote to authorize the city to start selling bus passes. If that's something you use, you will now have another place where you can purchase them — City Hall.

Item 2.1 Walmart

This was dealt with at the last City Council meeting. Everything except the vote to approve that is. They had a snag to work out due to a document dump, and that was dealt with, so the vote proceeded without much fanfare.

If you read the last WR blog, that covered Walmart in more detail (click here to read it), you heard where Mayor Ben Benoit asked Walmart to consider chipping in for the full amount for a signal at Monte Vista and Baxter (to have the balance above their share be repaid to them over time). After a month of mulling it over their response was basically "ummm No thank you".

Though it would have been nice for Walmart to front the money, there are plenty of logistics as to why that wouldn't work in conjunction with their project. 

This agenda item needed to have three separate votes.

After part one was approved 5-0, City Clerk Debbie Lee announced that "the motion carries, all ayes", that's when Miss Miller could be heard bellowing from the hallway NO! Which caused some more laughter. Check out the 10 second video of it below.

When it got to the third motion, after Council Member Marsha Swanson said, "motion to approve" and it was seconded by Council Member Tim Walker, Benoit interrupted to add an additional comment:

Before we take a vote I have one more comment. When I walked door to door in my first campaign, I probably hit 800 doors. When I walked the second time I probably hit 500. I didn't run into one citizen that —at the end of the day— [I] won their vote, without telling them that I was also voting for Walmart. And that Walmart would bring to our city advantages of being able to move forward, buy our stuff in our community, and allow us to have self determination to bring our own taxes home and make our city a better city for it.

—Mayor Ben Benoit
(click here to see the short video of it)

The vote followed 5-0.

That's it folks... we have a Walmart.

I know, according to a small but vocal contingent that haunts the various Wildomar FaceBook pages, this is one of the signs of the Zombie apocalypse. Next will be boils, locusts and lawlessness. Good news... Walmart sells guns so we'll be able to arm ourselves and try and make it through the flood of the undead that are sure to come next.

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If you want to sell a crazy hare-brained scheme, your best customers will prove to be practical, hard headed people. 
—E.G. Marshall, CBS Radio Mystery Theater

If Wildomar Rap were a coffee pot, three days a week it would be a Bialetti stove top espresso maker, another three days it would be a classic white Corelle percolator with those little blue flowers on it, and the last day would be a scoop of Folgers Crystals straight into the mouth with a hot water chaser.

• Wildomar Little League Opening Day 2015

Today was opening day for Wildomar Little League, which is comprised of 15 teams in 4 divisions. Four teams in each of the T-Ball, Single A and Double A divisions, with three in the Triple A division.

I was asking how that works, with the odd number of teams, and they play against Canyon Lake which also has three teams in that division. There is no team in the Major division this year, but they are hoping to have at least one next year.

A look at some of the teams as they were getting ready for opening day ceremonies.

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At a little after 8:30am Lyndsay Swann did a good job as she sang the national anthem, followed by the pledge of allegiance and then the Little League Pledge.  Also there to help kick off the season were Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore and City Council Member Marsha Swanson.

Lyndsay Swann singing the National Anthem.

A big Thank You goes to the sponsors of the league, which includes DeJong's Dairy, Intellinet, A Purpose Clothing, Rooster Tattoo Art, Zoom Bail Bonds, LE Storm baseball, Sun Pro Solar, Barbee's Welding and Fabrication, Old Market Grill, Rudy's Antique and Thrift, All American MRO Supply, Diamond 8 Theaters, The links at Summerly, and Gates Sound.

T-Ball Dodgers as they finish their lap in the parade.

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I had a chance to speak to a member of the Double A Mets, seven year old Oscar Chavez. 

He nodded with a smile when I asked if he was excited about Opening Day. 

I asked him what position he plays and he said pitcher and third base with a big grin.

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Thanks to all the parents and community volunteers that willingly donated their time so that the local kids would have a place to play organized baseball. It takes a lot of work and dedication to pull it off.

Hope it's a great season, Play Ball! ☺

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There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens. —Tommy Lasorda

Wildomar Rap is a scrappy utility player in the vein of Derrel Thomas of the '81 World Series champion Dodgers. Just don't put me at Shortstop and I can't hurt you too much.