A Change in Plans

I consider it an honor each week to share with you in this column my opinions, observations and stories and typically give a lot of thought to what I’ll be writing about. I thought I had it all figured out last week – we at CV Weekly just celebrated our eighth anniversary, which coincides with the release of The Finest magazine. As you recall, The Finest magazine recognizes those voted as the best, whether businesses, services or people. It is a darn-near Herculean effort every year to tally the ballots, notify the winners, produce the magazine and plan the big celebration – The Finest party, held for the last six years at Deukmejian Park. This year we were preparing for the biggest celebration yet, having received over 150 RSVPs to the party.

Over the years, we have it figured to a science – the Finest caterer, Frank’s Famous, prepares an excellent menu, the Finest jazz band (in my opinion at least), the CVHS Jazz Band, performs live music, the Finest photos are taken by Dick Clubb and Leonard Coutin, the Finest party rental company – Bonner’s Party Rentals – turns the park into party central, the Finest florist, CV Flower Mart, decorated the tables with lovely arrangements. And, of course, the guests were truly the Finest – as voted by readers of CV Weekly.

Even though I thought I had everything figured out for this week’s column, on Monday I, like so many others, awoke to learn of the massacre in Las Vegas. Understandably the news dampened my enthusiasm in sharing the excitement that was this year’s Finest party.

As we, as a community, try to understand the insane actions of this madman, stories are surfacing of those who heroically stepped in to help those injured. These actions remind me that not all is senseless, that good people are around who answer the call for help. In fact, you can read about one such person – Mike Leum – who recently returned from Houston with Team Rubicon. After the hurricane, Team Rubicon was deployed to help where needed. His story is on the bottom cover of this week’s issue. In the next couple of weeks, you’ll hear about another young woman – Jennifer Dutton – who answered the call for help and also about a family desperate to get their daughter home from Florida.

Heroes are among us.

And if you’re interested, I’ve included photos of the Finest party on page 14 with more online.

  robin goldsworthy