Columbia College Hollywood

When the story begins, marital problems between his Mexican mother and Anglo father had sent 12-year-old Mike Rutledge to his grandparents' small Arizona ranch, where Spanish is spoken and salsa is spooned over food, not just scooped from a bowl with tortilla chips. By the time the story ends, young Mike--Miguel Antonio to his loving grandparents--has lost his reluctance to speak Spanish and has brought home to suburban Los Angeles a desire to cultivate his Latino roots.

Today is Election Day. But enough about that. There's plenty of political news and commentary out there, so I'd like to offer a change of pace. Every so often readers will ask me, "So what's new with Bob Horn?" Or they may ask about somebody else whose story has been described here. And so every so often it seems appropriate to catch up with people and provide postscripts to their tales. There is some good news and not-so-good news to report.

Lela M. Free, 93, charitable fund-raiser and founder of the Exceptional Children's Foundation. As a Bel-Air socialite, Free was recognized at Los Angeles' largest charity and other social affairs. At her arrival, popular orchestra leader Joe Moshay typically stopped his band and broke into "Everything Good in Life Is Free."

ABC Unified School District 12354 Cuesta Drive Cerritos 90701 (213) 926-5566 ACFC Refugee and Immigration Services 4754 W. 120th St. Hawthorne 90250 (213) 675-0391 Agency of Latin Services Inc. 7220 A Owensmouth Ave., Suite 211 Canoga Park 91303 (818) 348-6979 Alhambra City Schools Adult Education Division 101 S. Second St. Alhambra 91801 (818) 308-2309 Allan Hancock College 800 S. College Dr. Santa Maria 93454 (805) 922-6966 Alvord Unified School District 6585 Crest Ave.

Murray Glass went to the movies every weekend in the Bronx, sitting through a drama, a Laurel and Hardy picture, or whatever else might be at the neighborhood theater. At 11, Glass preferred Westerns, but a new Charlie Chaplin movie called "Modern Times" seemed a good enough way to spend an afternoon in 1936. By then, the Little Tramp, in his rumpled suit, bowler hat and twitching mustache, had already been around for a generation.