La Crescenta

Pennsylvania Avenue slopes upward through suburban La Crescenta, runs past neatly ordered ranch-style homes and ends at the lush greenery of the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains. There, at the foothills, sits the Temple of the Universal Spirit. "It was strange to see something like this here," said Scott Francis, 53, of Silver Lake. "I was just hiking around and saw it."

It was the last parade for Army Spc. Nicholas P. Steinbacher of La Crescenta, an infantryman killed earlier this month by a roadside bomb in Iraq. On Dec. 20, as his funeral procession slowly traveled from Crippen Mortuary to St. James the Less Catholic Church, thousands of people from his hometown lined the 2 1/2 -mile route. They included veterans, firefighters, police officers, local merchants, former classmates, high school athletes and friends. Many held American flags.

With members as young as 5 and as old as 80, the Christian Life Church choir had already sung "Silent Night" and "Away in the Manger" at Wednesday night's practice in the sanctuary. They were belting out "Joy to the World" when a loud snap came from above. Pastor Tim Manchester thought a beam had split in the attic. The two dozen singers rushed out. By the time Manchester's wife, Cheryl, finished calling 911, flames had engulfed the roof.

The sanctuary of a large La Crescenta church was destroyed Wednesday night in a fast-moving fire with flames that at times leaped 100 feet into the sky. The blaze, reported shortly before 8 p.m., occurred at the Christian Life Church at Montrose and Ramsdell avenues. Glendale Fire Department officials said the blaze was brought under control shortly after 9 p.m.

A student at Crescenta Valley High School in La Crescenta has tested positive for bacterial meningitis and a second is suspected of having the rare but dangerous disease, Los Angeles County health officials said Tuesday. The disclosure prompted more than half of the school's 3,000 students to flock to the school with their parents to receive oral antibiotics provided by county Department of Public Health officials.

They called him "the big fish" and blindfolded him with his own tie. Raad Ommar, a 59-year-old businessman from La Crescenta, was in his upscale Baghdad office writing e-mails when his guard came running in. Downstairs, said the agitated guard, men in military uniforms were hauling away Ommar's clients and employees. Moments later, Ommar, too, was crammed into the backseat of an unmarked sport utility vehicle, his hands cuffed and his tie tight across his eyes.

In the end, there simply wasn't enough room in the cars. Abu Mahmoud knelt on the sidewalk with his hands over his head. The gunmen had thronged the central Baghdad offices he was visiting Monday. They beat and swore at the terrified employees. Abu Mahmoud -- a nickname he asked to be used in lieu of his real name, for fear of retribution -- prayed as the kidnappers started packing the victims into the vehicles.

Re "Gang Rape of Girl Shocks Pico Rivera," July 14 I read with dismay the article about the rape of a 13-year-old girl and the half-dozen teenagers suspected of violating her while as many as 16 onlookers cheered. Will the onlookers be arrested too? It's time that rape is prosecuted as the vicious, emotionally devastating crime it is. Pico Rivera Councilman Ron Beilke said, "It's horrible. The whole community is up in arms ... the whole town is affected." I'm sorry for that "close-knit" community; however, I suspect it'll soon recover from its shock.

Re "King/Drew Doctors Earn Top Dollar," July 14 We again read that we need to pay the doctors and staff at King/Drew Medical Center fancy salaries to keep them there; otherwise, we will get inferior talent. I have an idea that the L.A. County supervisors are making their own fancy salaries. The obvious question: Are any people involved in this boondoggle getting their salaries reduced in recognition of the failure of expertise? And by anyone, I also mean the supervisors. Henry Gentry La Crescenta Salaries at King/Drew seem to suggest that the better you do your job, the less you get paid.

Thanks for the article on Teresa Strasser's love/hate relationship with boxing ("A Real Lightweight," June 9). That's a very interesting conundrum she is in. I was sad to read, however, her plans to avoid the film "Cinderella Man." I was never a fan of the sport but found myself absolutely riveted and inspired by the story of boxer James J. Braddock. Strasser states how much she admires fighters that exhibit the qualities of "tenacity, ferocity and gumption." Braddock had those qualities in spades along with dignity, grace and a deep love for his family.