Culver City Observer -

By Neil Rubenstein

Observer Columnist

It is hard for me to believe Sherman Hemsley passed away just about three years ago on July 24, 2012. The actor who played George Jefferson in “All in the Family” and the spin off, “The Jeffersons,” was terrific and had a great sense of timing. There was the theme. “Movin’ on Up,” – what a classic! Personally, I thought his role as Deacon Frye in “Amen” was his bes

Every once in a while a person with a cognitive disorder goes missing. Perhaps with the family’s permission the police department could put a tracking devise on the individual that could help find him or her before any harm results.

Would you believe researchers recruited 77,659 adults from the Seventh Day Adventist Church nationwide who ate a vegetarian diet, and who were followed for seven years? Researchers found vegetarians had a 21 percent reduced risk of colon cancer compared with non-vegetarians – meat intake was very low and fish was added.

In England researchers studied 231 patients admitted to hospitals for displaced fractures of the humerus, the bone that connects shoulder to elbow. The medical team randomly assigned 114 to surgery and 117 to immobilizing the arm in a sling. Patients were followed for two years with examinations at regular intervals. The surgical and nonsurgical patients had similar outcomes with no difference on measures of pain and comfort. Tests proved many breaks can be allowed to heal on their own.

The Santa Paula Firefighters Association is suing their city for filling vacant shifts with temporary workers, thus breaching its contract with the union by backfilling vacant positions with reserve firefighters instead of union members. This deprives the union members of opportunities for overtime.

The New York Police Department recently started using a detection system that pinpoints the location of gunfire and sends the information to law enforcement. The system, called SHOTSPOTTER, uses sensitive microphones and will be tested in a 15-square-mile area in the Bronx and Brooklyn.

Huntington Beach repealed the ban on plastic bags, as well as the 10-cent fee for paper bags. Also, 800,000 registered voters had signed a referendum to put the ban on the November 2016 ballot.

A judge recently ruled in a paternity case that the man from whom the twin’s mother sought child support has to pay for only one of the children. The DNA showed he was the father of only one as the woman said she had sex with both men within a week.

Are you sitting down? Cousin Neil wants to talk to you about buying and selling houses. The onetime Bel Air estate of Georgia Frontiere, which sold for $38 million in an off market deal in March 2015, has been listed for $45 million. That is about a 20 percent price increase in roughly two months and nearly $26 million more than what it went for in 2011. She was the owner of the St. Louis Rams pro football team and the LA Rams when the team played in Anaheim..

State Senator Tony Mendoza of Artesia is advocating a California constitutional amendment to increase the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors from five to seven. Currently Latinos have almost 50 percent of the county’s population with one supervisor and Asians just might pick up the other seat. It might not happen in 2016, but before long that and city council elections by districts will be a done deal throughout California.

In checking with the City of Los Angeles Finance Department’s City Amnesty Hotline at (213) 978-7900, I see their program to save you 40 percent on select seriously aged outstanding city bills. Simply pay the Amnesty balance owing on your collection letter which is 60 percent of your bill and 40 percent will be waived (not to exceed $50,000). Some of the qualifying delinquent debts include false alarm fees, ambulance billing fees, brush clearance fees and code enforcement fees.

The California State Board of Equalization recently updated its online list of the top 500 sales and use tax delinquencies, which total $491.2 million in taxes. Culver City has two businesses on the list: SARBCO Inc. dba Michaels Jewelers, 241 Fox Hills Mall, Culver City, CA 90230-6403, first lien date March 20, 2002, owes $535,401.79; and Le Faubourg LLC., dba Saint Amour, 9725 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230-2739, first lien date February 29, 2012, owes $465,310.89. From all appearances these two businesses owe a total of $1,000,712.68, and these two companies were not found at the addresses shown.

Is it possible? It’s true, my friends – a while back the Japanese bought Jim Beam for $13.6 billion.

China and Russia conducted joint naval drills in the Mediterranean Sea for the very first time in May.

The reunion for the U.S.S. Yorktown, the crew, the Air Groups, the Squadrons and Marine detachment from 1943 to 1970 will be held at Mount Pleasant, South Carolina on October 1-3. Contact Larry Eckard, (828) 256-6008.

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.