Culver City Observer -

By Neil Rubenstein

Observer Columnist

Douglas Lydic, 29, escaped from a police car in December 2013 in Commodore, Pennsylvania while handcuffed. Prosecutors declined to charge him with fleeing since he was merely being “detained” at the time. However, they did charge Lydic with the theft of the handcuffs.

This fall for the first time the freshman class at the University of California’s nine undergraduate campuses will have more Latino (17,589) than white (16,378) students admitted.

Thanks to a federal judge ruling, those who do not use the amenities such as campgrounds and restrooms while hiking in the back country do not have to pay the $5 per day or $30 per year fee.

Congress recently passed a law to authorize the Department of Agriculture to purchase kosher food for the food banks. Demand is particularly high in the New York City - Detroit metropolitan area.

21-year-old Antonio Martinez, who has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old (Down Syndrome) is suing the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department for allegedly being pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton, knocked to the ground and handcuffed. He was walking to his parents’ bakery when he flipped a sweatshirt hood overhead and also ignored a deputy’s order to stop. I guess he was lucky they didn’t shoot him multiple times.

I cannot believe my luck in obtaining a copy of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s memoir, “Hard Choices.” It’s about her time as Secretary of State. I was amazed at all the behind-the-scenes events that went on. The book moves fast, holds your interest and is an easy read.

For those of us who love dogs, be sure to have the vet check Rover’s mouth. Four out of five dogs over the age of three have gum disease.

From “Sunset Magazine” – buying a bottle of water for $3 every day of the year would cost you $1,095 a year. The same amount of public water would cost $1.94. In Los Angeles the average per capita water use is 123 gallons per day.

Did you hear Sarah Palin when she spoke to the National Rifle Association on April 26, 2014? “If I was in charge,” she said, “they would know waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.”

What is one thing (there could be more) that “Sunset Magazine” and “Los Angeles Magazine” both agree on? It’s their recommendation of Bucato (bucato.la, (310) 876-0286) – you know, the great Italian restaurant near Helms and Washington Blvd.

Turn out the lights and pull down the window curtains. I don’t want anybody to know we are home. It’s the water company now that wants the money Edison, Time Warner Cable and the telephone company didn’t take out of our pockets.

Sacramento is planning to put on the November ballot a water bond issue for so much money that it will clear up your sinus problem as it clears out your savings and checking accounts. To get us to conserve water, the strategy will be to raise the price of water as people use more of it. A lower price will be charged for drinking, bathing, and washing clothes and dishes. Now, if you want to water the plants or the lawn or wash your car – ho, ho, ho – you just better be a city hall retiree getting over $150,000 a year in pension. Seniors will not be able to afford the luxury of those nice long hot showers. It’s coming, and coming sooner than Sacramento, our county seat and city hall want you to believe.

Did you forget the $1.5 billion Los Angeles County says it needs for a new men’s jail?

86 years ago in 1928 British women could vote – that is, when they became 30. After a long campaign, Parliament lowered that age to 21 – just like men. You just have to wonder why doing the right thing took so long.

After hearing more and more about the mess in Sacramento, I purchased the “super duper” three gallon size of Bromo at Costco. Now it seems the legislature is trying to reduce the $11 billion water bond issue to perhaps as “low” as $8 billion so the voters will vote for it this November.

Then Senator Mimi Walters (SB984) would transfer $2 billion from the state general fund to the California State Teachers Retirement System. Boy oh boy, $2 billion seems like a lot of money but not when you’re $78 billion in the red. In my opinion, the people who ran this program should be taken out back and horsewhipped, then taken to Cell Block “C”. As it stands, every school district (you and me) will contribute a lot more money. Sacramento (that’s you and me again) will pay a lot more and the teachers will pay a lot more. Let us fess up, only the Wall Street bankers made big, big money and the middle class declined.

And more from Sacramento . . . SB1183 by Mark DeSaulnier would allow Culver City and cities and counties to impose a special sales tax on new bicycles with wheels 20 inches or larger.

For those who missed an article, all my commentaries can be found at http://www.culvercityobserver.com by placing Rubenstein in that website’s search box.