Mountain Views News          Saturday, August 25, 2012

5

AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

Mountain Views News Saturday, August 25, 2012

“What’s Going On?” 

News and Views from Joan Schmidt

MONROVIA’S SOLID GOLD 
- Kim Rhode Honored

SCOUTING BUILDS CHARACTER

By Christoper Nyerges

[Nyerges has led survival skills and wild food classes since 1974, was the editor of 
Wilderness Way magazine, and has written 10 books. He can be heard weekly on 
Preparedness Radio Network. For more information, go to www.ChristopherNyerges.
com]

 
Sixteen years ago, as a Town Council Member I attended Duarte’s VIP Breakfast 
prior to the annual Route 66 parade. I was thrilled to meet two former Olympians, 
Dr. Tommy Lee and Rafer Johnson. Then a seventeen-year old teenager, full of 
smiles, arrived. Her name was Kim Rhode and she had won the gold in “double 
trap”, a sport I didn’t even know about!

 During the next three Olympics, Kim’s name again appeared in the paper or on 
the news, and each time I marveled at how she continued to succeed!

 Last December, I learned Kim would be guest speaker at the El Monte Historic 
Museum. I was dying to see her again after all the years, and the El Monte 
Museum is one of the 
best in the valley. 

 Once again, I was 
impressed with this 
local woman, now 
a proud resident of 
Monrovia, but not 
forgetting her routes. 
She was gracious to 
EVERYONE who 
attended - even her 
eighth grade teacher. 
(Kim attended 
Cherry Lee and 
Durfee Schools, 
and graduated from 
Arroyo, as did her 
father. Her parents 
still live in their home 
in El Monte.) During 
her presentation, Kim 
had a slide show with 
clips from each of the 
Olympics in which 
she had participated. 
This was followed by 
a question and answer 
period during which 
we learned about 
Kim’s background, 
when she began 
shooting, and all 
the practice that’s 
involved.

 Last night, when I arrived early at Library Park, 
there was a great banner, congratulating Kim, and a 
few people began to arrive. Kim herself walked up 
the sidewalk-no limo or fanfare-she is probably the 
most humble person I have ever met. We chatted 
for a few moments, and then I met two ladies who 
came all the way from El Monte- Ramona Grimm 
and Jan Tolman. (Ramona has known Kim since 
she was a toddler, and is like a “second mom” to 
her.) Kim’s mom Sharon came, but Dad, her coach, 
was on a fishing trip, planned and paid for prior to 
the Olympics. And of course Kim’s proud husband, 
Michael Harryman.

 Many came to honor Kim. Both Assemblymen 
Anthony Portantino and Tim Donnelly attended. 
Also Field Deputy Brian Mejia, with lovely wife, 
and son Chris, for Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

 From the City of Monrovia, Mayor Mary Ann 
Lutz, Mayor Pro Tem Joe Garcia, Council Members 
Becky Shevlin and Larry Spicer, City Manager 
Laurie Lyle, City Treasurer(Also great City 
Historian), Steve Baker and former Mayor, current 
School Board Member Rob Hammond.

 Prior to the ceremony, Kim posed for photos 
and allowed the children to put on her medals. The 
Mayor had to get everyone’s attention to begin the 
ceremony, noting that Kim would be available after.

 Mayor Lutz proudly spoke of Monrovia’s great resident and all of her achievements, noting that 
Kim set a record-99 out of 100 when she won the gold this year. The Mayor presented a Certificate and 
beautiful bouquet of flowers. (Red, white and blue-special thanks to Town Council Member Gloria 
Huss of Monrovia Floral for a perfect arrangement!)

 Assemblyman Donnelly congratulated Kim on her great achievements, attaining them with 
“class and dignity”. Assemblyman Portantino said there was a lot of history in the last Olympics. He 
mentioned that women received the most gold medals, and as a father of two daughters, “You are a 
great role model of what can be achieved.”

 Kim was so overwhelmed by the accolades that it brought tears to her eyes! She reiterated, “It wasn’t 
about the medals, but the dream…journey to achieve it, and how she felt back in Atlanta, 1996.

 Well done, Kim. What you have achieved is immeasurable. You are gracious, kind, and modest!


Meet Francisco 
Loaiza, Local 
Scout leader

Francisco Loaiza is 
kneeling over the 
campfire circle holding 
a piece of steel in one hand and a chunk of flint 
in the other. He begins to whack the flint with the 
C-shaped piece of steel while a group of teenaged 
Boy Scouts watches with full attention. A shower 
of sparks shoots out from Loaiza’s hands and the 
Scouts say, “Wow,” and move in closer to watch. 

 Loaiza puts a piece a steel wool in his left hand, 
strikes the flint again, and the steel wool begins to 
burn. Loaiza smiles as the scouts shout their approval. 
The steel wool goes into the fire pit, a few Scouts add 
pine needles and begin to blow, and soon the pine needles 
start to burn. 

 Loaiza sits back and smiles as the Scouts coax the 
small fire into a fire big and hot enough to cook their 
evening meal. One by one, the boys try to make fire 
with the ancient method of flint and steel as Loaiza 
watches and offers advice.

 Loaiza proves that Scouting is about far more than 
making knots. 

 Loaiza is one of the thousands of Scout leaders nationwide 
who volunteers his time in America’s oldest 
scouting movement, now 102 years old. 

 Loaiza explains that the founder, Baden Powel, wanted 
to preserve the Indian scout skills for future generation, 
and find a way to keep young boys on the right 
track. Loaiza, who works in the Pasadena area, is a 
leader of Montebello’s Troop 476, taking them on backpacking 
trips, educational day hikes, and works with 
other teachers and parents to keep the Scouts focused 
on learning new skills and achieving merit badges.

 “It requires persistence, planning, and cooperation 
to earn each merit badge,” says Loaiza, “and those are 
skills that stay with you all life long. 

 “The entire merit badge process teaches Scouts how 
to think, and how to plan, and how to work with others,” 
says Loaiza, pointing out that these are all valuable 
life-long skills. Additionally, boys are often required to 
make presentations to other Scouts, which is similar to 
the training in public speaking that an adult might get 
from the Toastmasters organization.

 Loaiza was not a Boy Scout as a youth, though he does 
remember attending several Cub Scout meetings as a 
young boy. He smiles and adds that his parents simply 
could not afford the costs of the uniform and supplies. 

 In 2004, his own son Benjamin joined Cub Pack 476 
and Loaiza became fully involved.

 “Yes, there is a dollar fee to be a Scout and participate 
in Scouting, but it’s really the volunteer effort of 
the parents and volunteers that makes it all work,” he 
explains. 

 For example, Loaiza’s troop meets 1 1/2 hours per 
week every Tuesday night, and they also do at least 
three outings per month. A typical weekend hike will 
last about 5 hours, and they’d go to a destination such 
as Henniger Flats where’d they’d also be able to practice 
their campcraft. The troop might do a backpacking 
trip once a month, typically beginning early Saturday 
morning through Sunday late morning. Locally, there 
are dozens of good hiking and backpacking spots within 
a half-hour drive. “It’s really about putting in the 
time with boys, more than about money,” he explains.

But does it cost much to be a Scout? 

 “Yes, and no,” says Loaiza. “Initially, I needed to buy 
all of my camping equipment like sleeping bag, jacket, 
cooking supplies, good boots, heavy duty clothing, and 
other camping supplies. Each boy, or their parents, 
must do the same. But now when we go on outings, 
I just buy some food. Since I already invested in my 
camping gear, I just pack it all up. I always try to get 
the parents to also chip in with costs, and we are always 
trying to get donations from local organizations. 
Plus, we have some fund-raising throughout the year 
as well” explains Loaiza, since there are usually more 
expenses than just camping expenses.

 To Loaiza, one of the rewards of being a Scout leader 
is to see a young boy begin to develop into a young 
man and a leader. “We provide the opportunities and 
the experiences for the older boys to lead the younger 
boys and we teach them the ideals of Scouting. 

 When we start to see the development of the boys, I 
realize that all of my volunteer hours are worth it. Last 
year, we had two of our Scouts earn their Eagle Rank. 
They were my first Eagle Scouts in the Troop under 
my leadership!” Eagle is the highest rank that a Scout 
can achieved, and it requires performing a community 
project which involves many other individuals.

 Loaiza wants people to realize that Scouting works! “It 
is a great character- building organization. Scouts are 
taught to be prepared and do a good deed daily. These 
are some of the laws and ideals of scouting. Can you 
imagine how different our country would be if more of 
us followed these ideals?”


Kim lets a few future Olumpians try on her medals for size. Below 
overcome with tears with husband Michael Photos by J. Schmidt


THE WORLD AROUND US


“CECI N’EST PAS UNE PIPE:” Curious Dark Nebula Seen As Never Before

 
Just as René Magritte wrote “This is 
not a pipe” on his famous painting, this is 
also not a pipe. It is, however, a picture 
of part of a vast dark cloud of interstellar 
dust called the Pipe Nebula. This new and 
very detailed image of what is also known 
as Barnard 59 was captured by the Wide 
Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter 
telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory 
in Chile. By coincidence this image was 
released on the 45th anniversary of the 
painter’s death, on August 15th.

 The Pipe Nebula is a prime example 
of a dark nebula. Originally, astronomers 
believed these were areas in space where 
there were no stars. But it was later 
discovered that dark nebulae actually 
consist of clouds of interstellar dust so 
thick it can block out the light from the 
stars beyond. The Pipe Nebula appears 
silhouetted against the rich star clouds 
close to the center of the Milky Way in the 
constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent 
Bearer).

 Barnard 59 forms the mouthpiece of 
the Pipe Nebula and is the subject of this 
new image from the Wide Field Imager 
on the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope. 
This strange and complex dark nebula lies 
about 600 to 700 light-years away from 
Earth.

 At first glance, your attention is most 
likely drawn to the center of the image 
where dark twisting clouds look a little 
like the legs of a vast spider stretched 
across a web of stars. However, after a few 
moments you will begin to notice several 
finer details. Foggy, smoky shapes in the 
middle of the darkness are lit up by new 
stars that are forming. Star formation 
is common within regions that contain 
dense, molecular clouds, such as in dark 
nebulae. The dust and gas will clump 
together under the influence of gravity 
and more and more material will be 
attracted until the star is formed. However, compared to similar regions, the Barnard 59 region is 
undergoing relatively little star formation and still has a great deal of dust.

 If you look carefully you may also be able 
to spot more than a dozen tiny blue, green and 
red strips scattered across the picture. These 
are asteroids, chunks of rock and metal a few 
kilometers across that are orbiting the Sun. 
The majority lie in the asteroid belt between 
the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Barnard 59 is 
about ten million times further away from the 
Earth than these tiny objects.

 Barnard 59 is named after the American 
astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard, who 
was the first to systematically record dark 
nebulae using long-exposure photography 
and one of those who recognized their dusty 
nature. Barnard catalogued a total of 370 dark 
nebulae all over the sky. 

 A self-made man with little formal education, 
he bought his first house with the prize money 
from discovering several comets. Barnard was 
an extraordinary observer with exceptional 
eyesight who made contributions in many 
fields of astronomy in the late 19th and early 
20th century. He spent his most productive 
years on the staff of Yerkes Observatory in 
Williams Bay, Wisconsin, assisted by his niece, 
Mary Calvert. (Note: As a child, I lived for a 
time on the Yerkes Observatory campus, at the 
home of my grandfather, the staff photographer 
and chief public lecturer for the Observatory. 
Mary Calvert lived just across the street from 
us, and was a long-time friend of our family.)

Magritte’s pipe painting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:MagrittePipe.jpg

Photo showing Rene Magritte’s 
personal pipe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:Magritte675.jpg 

You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@

 MtnViewsNews.com.

The mouthpiece of the Pipe Nebula