Youth Clubs

A good year is winding up better for two county youth clubs. Not only will the Saticoy Boys & Girls Club celebrate its new permanent home with a grand opening Nov. 21, but the Oxnard Boys & Girls Club has been informed that Oxnard developer Martin "Bud" Smith has made a challenge gift of $500,000 to the association to build a new club in west Oxnard by 2000. "He's challenging the community to match the half-million dollars," said Abe Oliveras, executive director of the Oxnard Boys & Girls Club.

The inaugural Development Academy Under-17/18 championship game was lights out -- literally. Thirty seconds into the first of two mandatory overtimes -- no golden goals in this format -- the lights on the field of the Home Depot Center went out. The game, which was being broadcast live on ESPNU, was tied, 2-2, at the time of the power outage.

There were the usual congratulatory speeches, ribbon cutting and picture taking at the rededication of the Eastside Boys and Girls Club on Thursday. And of course, while the adults engaged in their ceremonies, the children popped balloons, played pool and grabbed at the food--paying little or no attention at all. The once-embattled club at 324 N. McDonnell Ave.

Pasadena city officials have moved to shut down the unlicensed youth club where a 16-year-old was fatally shot this month. Connie Orozco, the city's chief prosecutor, obtained a temporary restraining order Tuesday to close the Underground, in the 2000 block of Lincoln Avenue in northwest Pasadena. The club's fate will probably be decided in a Sept. 13 Superior Court hearing. "Hopefully it never opens again," Orozco said. On Aug.

Five months after her daughter was severely injured by a drunk driver in a crosswalk, Beatrice Gonzales has suspended her push for a traffic light at the intersection and instead is focusing her energy on establishing a neighborhood youth group.

In a last-ditch effort to save their neighborhood Boys & Girls Club, a handful of Oxnard parents and two local officials met Tuesday to discuss how they could persuade board members not to close the facility Jan. 3. County Supervisor John K. Flynn promised to back the parents in their pleas to the Boys & Girls Club board of directors. "We'll do everything we can to help keep this place open," Flynn told parents Tuesday at a meeting at his office in south Oxnard.

Saying they wanted to give back to the community that has given so much to them, 43 disabled people collected 1,250 toys, books and games for the San Fernando Valley Boys & Girls Club. The men and women in the community access class at the United Cerebral Palsy/Spastic Children's Foundation presented the items to Boys & Girls Club officials in a brief ceremony on Wednesday. "The kids are elated to get the items," said David Mandell, development consultant at the club.

A multimillion-dollar renovation of the Boys & Girls Club near downtown Oxnard came closer to fruition Thursday with a $300,000 gift from a local business. Haas Automation, a manufacturer of high-tech machinery that employs 700 people in Oxnard, made the donation, the single largest from one organization. Company President Gene Haas is asking Boys & Girls Club officials to begin a fundraising drive to match that amount. "I've gotta tell you, he's the type of individual who feels it's his responsibility to give this type of donation to organizations that affect his community, his workers, his business," former Oxnard City Councilman Tom Holden said.

The Boys and Girls Club of Capistrano Valley may soon have a new home. The City Council this week approved in concept a proposal to include a youth services facility at the new San Juan Capistrano Community Center. The club would build an 11,000-square-foot youth facility and would raise $1.5 million for the project. It would be part of the community center, which is to have a gymnasium, senior center, lobby and community room.

After a nearly a year's delay, construction on the city's new Boys & Girls Club building is due to resume next week. "We're going to get it done. It's something I've got to do," said George B. Scott, a 21-year City Council member who started working with the local club in the 1960s. "It's been a goal since Day One."

Given the task of closing a gaping budget shortfall for the coming school year, Los Angeles schools Supt. David Brewer has angered leaders of after-school youth groups with his proposal that the groups pay to use school district athletic fields and other facilities. Brewer included the so-called pay to play proposal among many cost-saving measures aimed at closing a $95-million shortfall in the $6.

They have Bono's heart The Cat Club on the Sunset Strip is teaming up with One, the celebrity-laden organization dedicated to fighting AIDS and poverty globally. On Jan. 25, rockers will be heading to the club's All-Star Jam night, led by owner Slim Jim Phantom, to support One's efforts. "We're not asking for money, we're only asking for e-mail addresses," Phantom says. "We're just trying to get the word out on an organization which helps millions."

Hoping to feed more of its soccer-frenzied youths into the college system, Santa Ana is allowing a local soccer club free use of the city's new, $2-million all-weather sports field to help develop better players. The move reflects civic frustration that the city's two dozen youth and adult soccer leagues have produced a dearth of college and professional players -- and signals an unusual effort by municipal government to develop sports talent.

A multimillion-dollar renovation of the Boys & Girls Club near downtown Oxnard came closer to fruition Thursday with a $300,000 gift from a local business. Haas Automation, a manufacturer of high-tech machinery that employs 700 people in Oxnard, made the donation, the single largest from one organization. Company President Gene Haas is asking Boys & Girls Club officials to begin a fundraising drive to match that amount. "I've gotta tell you, he's the type of individual who feels it's his responsibility to give this type of donation to organizations that affect his community, his workers, his business," former Oxnard City Councilman Tom Holden said.

Construction of the first Boys & Girls Club in Thousand Oaks will begin this summer on the campus of Los Cerritos Middle School, following a vote this week by the school board. The $1.25-million facility, to be built near the school's gym, will be constructed from 14 modular units that will have a stucco exterior. Officials say the building could open by September.

Hardly has one dizzying upheaval subsided than a new one begins. At least that's the way it has seemed lately at the YWCA of Central Orange County, where life has the feel of a roller coaster ride. Last November, the organization's board of directors said financial pressures were forcing them to close and probably sell their 47-year-old headquarters in Orange.

The new $1.9-million Boys and Girls Club in Pacoima, the biggest and most modern recreation and community center in the northeast San Fernando Valley, was dedicated Thursday. As laughing young people tossed a shower of blue-and-white balloons from the roof, local politicians and club officials snipped the ribbon to officially open the 26,000-square-foot center, which is expected to serve 2,500 youngsters from 7 to 17 years old.

In its run-down warehouse where sunlight can't pierce the grimy windows, an Alhambra boxing club has become a place where youths who are struggling to stay out of trouble learn not only about jabbing but also about self-esteem and hope. Now, the nonprofit club, which also sponsors a 10-week Toastmasters public speaking program for youths, is fighting to survive. "I don't know where next month's rent will come from," said Antonia Tellez, 47.

Despite pleas from parents and intervention by a county supervisor, a central Oxnard Boys & Girls Club will close its doors Friday for renovations, leaving four staff members without a job. But Carmen Ramos-Soriano, president of the youth center's board of directors, promised the community that the club -- which serves about 400 Oxnard children -- will reopen by the end of next year.

In a last-ditch effort to save their neighborhood Boys & Girls Club, a handful of Oxnard parents and two local officials met Tuesday to discuss how they could persuade board members not to close the facility Jan. 3. County Supervisor John K. Flynn promised to back the parents in their pleas to the Boys & Girls Club board of directors. "We'll do everything we can to help keep this place open," Flynn told parents Tuesday at a meeting at his office in south Oxnard.