Custodians

Thanks to your reporter Leslie Earnest for her recent story alerting Times readers to an ill-conceived proposal to "moove" cattle from Laguna Canyon ("Biologist Says Laguna Cattle Should Vamoose," Dec. 16). Hopefully the article will inspire more opposition to the plan. Cattle grazing is good for the environment. The controlled management of livestock benefits the range environment by promoting plant vigor and diversity, aerating the soil and scattering seeds. It's the wilderness equivalent of mowing the lawn and pruning shrubs.

Early in this uneven yet moving documentary, a university janitor greets a woman exiting the restroom he's about to clean. She doesn't respond. Neither does she look at him nor acknowledge his presence in any way. In "The Philosopher Kings," director Patrick Shen insists that we look at individuals usually relegated to the margins. That straightforward insistence is the lifeblood of the film, which profiles eight people who work as custodians at institutions of higher learning. The sole woman notes that when she tells people what she does, they usually clam up, certain that nothing interesting could possibly ensue.

A Villa Park High School custodian was arrested early Sunday morning on suspicion of molesting a 9-year-old girl on campus during a swim meet the day before, according to school and sheriff's officials. Marco Antonio Reyes, 46, was arrested at 12:30 a.m. Sunday at his home in Orange, Lt. Larry Richey said. He was being held at the Orange County Jail. Orange Unified School District Interim Supt. Richard L.

A court-appointed receiver has filed a lawsuit accusing HSBC Bank USA of helping Newport Beach financier Danny Pang defraud Taiwanese investors of hundreds of millions of dollars. The lawsuit, filed Friday at the federal courthouse in Los Angeles, seeks to recover more than $1.8 million in fees that HSBC received for acting as a cash custodian for Pang's company, PEMGroup, before the Securities and Exchange Commission shut it down last year. Pang, 42, committed suicide in September while awaiting prosecution on federal criminal charges.

Roberto Martinez, a custodian at Bay Laurel School in Calabasas, says he has learned that if you work hard enough, you can make your dreams come true. The immigrant from El Salvador, who arrived here in 1979, said he was determined to become a U.S. citizen. But, he said, there was a lot of study involved--no easy task when you are working and trying to raise a family. He said he was determined to succeed, however, and eventually did.

It's nice work if you can get it. For almost half a century, custodians, responsible for supervising the maintenance of schools, have occupied an autonomous empire within the New York City educational system. Some custodians earn more than school principals, seldom report to work and are just about impossible to fire. Almost 250 of the custodians who are required to employ handymen instead hired their wives as secretaries--increasing family income in one case to over $100,000.

About 50 county custodial workers who were laid off July 29 crowded to the front of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' chambers Tuesday, demanding that they be reinstated or trained for other county jobs. Because they were temporary employees who had worked fewer than five years, the workers were not covered under a board reprieve that delayed until the end of August the laying off at least 30 custodians and other blue-collar workers.

Workers for Custodian Crew The Inglewood Unified School District has hired five custodians, the first since custodian supervisor Andrew Truesdale was arrested 10 months ago for allegedly embezzling $440,000 from the district. The Inglewood school board voted at its Wednesday night meeting to hire five people for a roving night crew. The shift is the same one that Truesdale supervised and has been worked by substitute employees for the last two years.

The body of a 72-year-old custodian who worked at Mount St. Mary's College for four decades was found in a flooded basement boiler room at the school's Doheny campus near downtown Los Angeles. Authorities said the man, whose name was withheld pending notification of relatives, may have been attempting to relight a boiler when an explosion occurred. The explosion burst water pipes, flooding the basement with about six feet of water, Officer Thomas Wong of the Los Angeles Police Department said.

The lead custodian for the Inglewood Unified School District was arrested Friday on suspicion of stealing more than $430,000 from his employer, authorities said. Andrew Lee Truesdale, who was being held on $431,000 bail, is charged with conspiracy, grand theft, embezzlement of public funds, forgery and possession of checks with intent to defraud. Officials suspect that Truesdale falsified documents under 77 different names of substitute employees on the district payroll.

U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) has decided not to deliver a graduation address at UC Riverside in response to a labor union's campaign for a speaker boycott at UC's nine undergraduate campuses. Sanchez so far is the first speaker to withdraw but others are expected to follow, according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which represents about 20,000 UC workers, including hospital technicians and campus custodians. UC leaders criticized the union's move as disrupting a special day for graduates and their families.

When the last Jungle Cruise boat docks for the night and lights fade to black on Sleeping Beauty's Castle, the real work begins. At lush Pixie Hollow, gardeners don miner's headlamps as they begin uprooting stubborn weeds. On Main Street, custodians scrape chewing gum off the sidewalk. And over at Mickey's Toontown, painters sand and recoat chipped handrails. Few see it happen, except perhaps for the dozens of feral cats that emerge from their hiding places to prowl the park after hours, stalking rodents.

A custodian at Moffett Elementary School in Lennox has been arrested on suspicion of molesting two girls, ages 7 and 8, at the school, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said. Police said Bernard Lobjois, 57, stopped an 8-year-old in a bathroom Feb. 10 and fondled her over her clothes. Lobjois allegedly told her that he would harm her family if she told anyone and hit her in the face when she tried to get away, sheriff's officials said. The girl's mother noticed a mark on her face, and she told her about the incident.

Los Angeles County janitors would receive raises averaging more than $1,000 a year for four years and expanded benefits under a tentative labor agreement reached Monday with cleaning contractors and building owners. The average annual salary for a janitor working in an office building in downtown Los Angeles would be $29,328 in 2012, an almost 18% increase from the current $24,960. "As a result of this deal, thousands of hardworking janitors and their families will enjoy improved wages and maintain quality healthcare, while building owners and contractors will enjoy lower turnover and higher quality services," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who joined janitors, union leaders and building owners at City Hall to announce the deal, reached after a weekend of round-the-clock negotiations.

San Diego police are keeping a close watch on a middle school after someone scrawled a message in a bathroom threatening to kill people. Black Mountain Middle School notified parents, and some families kept their children at home Monday. Sgt. David Jennings said custodians discovered graffiti Friday that read, "Going to kill you all, 3/31." The school day ended peacefully Monday. Police say there are no suspects.

A caretaker at the Brentwood home of actor Ving Rhames was found dead early Friday after being mauled by at least two of the actor's dogs, identified by authorities as bullmastiffs, Los Angeles police said. The body of the man, whose name was not immediately released, was found about 7 a.m. in the frontyard of the home in the 12900 block of San Vicente Boulevard by one of Rhames' relatives, police said. The victim, in his 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The word spread slowly Saturday morning, quietly passing from neighbor to neighbor on the streets around Edmondson Elementary School in Norwalk. "Oh! Poor Nick," said a young woman who had struck up an acquaintance with the pleasant older man who worked as a janitor at the school. With a gush of tears, she turned and ran into her house across the street from the school. Sometime the previous day, Nicholas Karaponas, 59, had been stabbed to death in a second-grade classroom.

For 12 years, Wayne Jennings regularly visited Room 22 of Fremont Elementary School toting a broom and trash can. Today, the former custodian will walk into the same classroom, but this time he'll be armed with pens and pencils to begin his first day as a teacher for the Santa Ana Unified School District. The kids "are going to be in for a little shock when they see me," acknowledged Jennings, 40. "But once the initial shock wears off, we're going to have a lot of fun in this classroom."

Two miles past the lean-to and privy atop Fifth Peak and the stellar views of Lake George, the trail winds through woods, around crags and up to a grassy bluff with an even more stunning vista. Atop French Point Mountain, you can see the long, crooked expanse of blue-black water 1,500 feet below for almost 10 miles north and south. With lush forests in the steep foreground and dappled green mountains along the horizon, the 180-degree panorama stretches beyond the lens of any ordinary camera.

Forty seconds into an interview, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's official spokesman decides it is too risky to speak -- at least for publication. The topic seems safe enough: Adam Mendelsohn's boyhood interest in politics. But some hyper-cautious instinct asserts itself, warning that an answer might prove embarrassing to him, his boss or the administration.