Local businesses pay the price for gentrification
pg. 3
Homeless services to
receive benefits of Taste
PAGE 5
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT PCCCOURIER.COM
Germania
Club brings
their history
back to life
Katja Liebing
Staff Writer
“Suddenly, I woke up in the
middle of the night from a horrible
commotion. I thought someone
had fallen down the stairs. Gretel
proved me wrong. It was actually an
air raid and it was really close by in
the forest. 9 bombs had fallen as we
learned the following day. Well, that
was a close call.”
Last summer two women from
the Germania club took up the co¬
lossal task of translating a diary kept
by a 17-year-old German girl during
World War II, along with poetry she
had written during the 1940s.
Suzy Moser, a San Marino resi¬
dent and the daughter of the diary’s
author, Marlis Haas, was never
taught German by her mother. So
when she discovered a handwritten
diary and poetry after her moth¬
er’s death, she couldn’t read the
thoughts and memories her mother
once brought to paper during a time
of war in Germany.
Moser wondered who could help
her with the task at hand and while
browsing the PCC website she came
across the Germania Club.
When Olivia Bueno and Laura
Benitez were first approached by
Moser, they were initially apprehen¬
sive and thought the task was out of
their league.
Benitez and Bueno presented
the project to other club members,
who backed out when they heard all
the material was in German cursive
handwriting, which is notably dif¬
ficult to decipher for the untrained
eye. However, Benitez and Bueno
could simply not let the opportunity
pass by.
“We met with Ms. Moser and
we’re getting excited,” Bueno said
of their initial meeting. “We are
touching the material and we are
seeing the quality of the paper and
we are realizing “This is history!’
And while taking pictures, we are
saying to ourselves, “Wait a minute,
only scholars get an opportunity like
this.’”
WW2LETTER PAGE 7
scraps VA clinic plans
Many in the Veterans Club are
upset with the administration and
their lack of transparency during the
whole process.
“We didn’t receive any updates
that whole time. They [would] just
kind of say, ‘Well, we’re still working
on it,’ and that doesn’t mean any¬
thing,” Lopez said.
Two months ago the club was
given permission by the board to
fundraise, which resulted in them
raising over 5400,000 in donations
from private donors, clubs and
individuals in the community. With
those donors invested in a clinic,
Lopez is left having to give answers
he doesn’t have.
“Everyone was waiting for an
answer and the pressure came onto
us and we had to do something
about it and that’s what we did so
we asked the questions,” Lopez said.
“These are all questions that are still
being answered and basically our
mission right now is to get some
answers. For example, where does
the money go? I’ve heard [from
Superintendent-President Dr. Rajen
Vurdien] we can just give that mon¬
ey back but it doesn’t work that way
because these people who donated
the money have lost time and inter¬
est and who’s responsible?”
Lopez is referring to the last
president’s forum when several
members of the Veterans Club
addressed their concerns about the
clinic to Vurdien and were finally
met with answers.
“The college through its legal
Monique LeBleu/Courier
Veterans Club member Mark Castanon and club adviser
Harold 'Doc' Martin at the Board of Trustees meeting on
Wednesday.
counsel was working with the VA’s
legal counsel and the final report
that came out indicated that the col¬
lege can work with the VA if certain
things are met,” Vurdien said.
Vurdien described three reasons
from the final report as to why PCC
would not be able to work with the
VA.
The first reason he stated was in
regards to a joint powers agreement,
meaning that PCC and the VA
would need to implement equally all
powers that are common to each of
them for the purpose of achieving
specific goals, and according to Vur¬
dien, “the VA’s legal counsel don’t
do joint powers with colleges and
universities.”
The second reason he stated had
to do with a joint use agreement,
which is a formal agreement be¬
tween PCC, a state agency, and the
VA, a federal agency, establishing
the terms and conditions for the
shared use of the clinic.
According to Vurdien, “the VA’s
counsel said ‘no we don’t do joint
use agreements because whatever
we do we run by ourselves.’”
The final cause he stated had to
do with the VA wanting a revocable
license agreement, and according
to Vurdien, “the state of California
and federal law do not allow for
community colleges to enter in
revocable licenses with any federal
agency.”
Not only was the community on
and off campus in full support of
the clinic, several congress mem¬
bers, including Congresswoman
Judy Chu, were in favor of PCC
VACENTER PAGE 2
School
Kristen Luna
Editor-in-Chief
At last night’s board meeting,
numerous members of the Veterans
Club confronted the board about
the failure of the administration and
board to foresee the cut of the pro¬
posed Veterans Affairs (VA) clinic
on campus that they fought so hard
for over the past two years. With
over 10 public comments from the
Veterans Club, the board chose not
to respond and the veterans left the
meeting in protest.
“As veterans we know what lead¬
ership looks like and we know what
the opposite of leadership looks
like,” said Veterans Club Adviser
Harold “Doc” Martin.
Over the past two years, mem¬
bers of the Veterans Club have been
working with Veterans of Foreign
Wars, The American Legion, and
Sons of The American Legion along
with school officials and others in
the community, relendessly trying to
build a VA clinic on campus only to
find out recently that it was actually
never going to be possible.
“It’s still unclear to this day why
it’s taken so long because I do know
the reason why they’re not doing it
anymore and it has to do with legal
issues,” said Veterans Club President
Edwin Lopez. “But if it were legal
issues then either the VA or PCC’s
lawyers, should have known at least
somewhere in the beginning but we
didn’t find out until two and a half
years later.”
