ISSA INTRODUCES BILL TO LIMIT LAWSUITS OVER PATENT INFRINGEMENT
March 29, 2010 (Washington D.C.) – San Diego representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) has joined with Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-TX) to introduce legislation aimed at stopping frivolous patent litigation related to the marking of products. “Our bill discourages deceptive patent marking while simultaneously moving to eliminate frivolous lawsuits,” said Rep. Issa. “This is a common sense effort that protects consumers from higher costs created by abusive lawsuits.” According to a press release issued by Issa, current law allows any individual to sue a manufacturer for falsely marking a product for $500 (the government gets $250, the plaintiff gets $250). Suits filed under this law have been steadily rising over the past few years, including individuals with no reasonable standing filing dozens of suits hoping for a quick settlement. This had been a rarely used law, but recently the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that damages flowed from not one infringing product, but from every instance of that product. “This meant that if you manufactured 10,000,000 Styrofoam cups, each with the wrong patent number on it, you could be liable for $5,000,000,000. This was not the intent of Congress,” Issa concluded. HR 4954 amends the Patent Act by limiting standing to sue to only competitors who have actually been damaged and only for “damages adequate to compensate for the injury.” View a copy of HR 4954: http://issa.house.gov/images/stories/District_Files/H.R._4954_Issa_Patent_Reform.pdf
EDITORIAL: SENATOR KEHOE SEEKS SUPPORT FOR BILL TO INCLUDE SELF-DEFENSE FOR GIRLS IN P.E. CLASSES
By Senator Christine Kehoe March 24, 2010 (San Diego) –Violence against women has plagued the world for centuries, and recent events in San Diego County remind us just how much more needs to be done in California. With the recent cases of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois, a torrent of sadness, frustration, and anger has overtaken us. Their deaths fueled calls for tougher laws against registered sex offenders and self-defense classes for middle and high school students in an attempt to better prepare girls and women to protect themselves. Despite the progress women have made – particularly over the last 30 years – in athletics, the arts, academia, and politics, we remain targets of sexual assault and other acts of brutality. Nothing could have illustrated that reality more than the abduction and deaths of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois. Each girl was outside in daylight and yet was still subject to horrendous violence. This violation of personal and public space is deeply disturbing for the community because it makes us all feel vulnerable. How many women have quit running alone in San Diego because they are frightened? None of us should be required to “be on alert” at all times just to avoid a physical attack. None of us should fear that being alone in the daytime increases the odds of being assaulted. Sadly, these fears remain part of a woman’s world – whether in San Diego or any other community in the United States. The reality is that women and girls must always be vigilant to protect themselves against violence. Part of the solution may involve training them on how to ward off potential attackers. Last December, a young woman trained in self-defense fought off an assailant in the same area where Chelsea King was murdered. Her ability to protect herself is a testament to the value of, and need for, such programs. I plan to introduce legislation that would include self-defense training as part of the physical education curriculum for middle and high school students in California. Although self-defense training is no guarantee of safety, such training will empower girls and young women and help reduce assaults, abductions, and even deaths. Given the world we live in today, I urge girls and women to enroll in a self-defense class today. This may only be a small part of the long-term solution, but we must do what we can to increase our awareness of the dangers that still exist. If you support my legislation, please add your name to a petition on my website. Visit www.senate.ca.gov/kehoe and click on “Self-Defense Training.” Senator Kehoe represents the 39th Senate District, which includes San Diego, Del Mar, Lemon Grove, Spring Valley, La Presa, and Casa de Oro-Mount Helix. This editorial reflects the views of its author and does not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. If you wish to submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
EL CAJON UNVEILS PLAN FOR PERFORMING ARTS CENTER: PUBLIC COMMENT TUESDAY AT 1:30 PM
By Miriam Raftery March 29, 2010 (El Cajon) – The City of El Cajon has issued a proposed business plan for the East County Performing Arts Center (ECPAC). The proposed plan calls for the City to take back management of the facility, dramatically remodel the theater, then bring back headliner stars as entertainment. A City Council Advisory Meeting will be held tomorrow at City Council Chambers, 200 Civic Center Way, at 1:30 p.m. Public comment will be heard and a recommendation made to the Council on the future of the performing arts facility. View the proposed plan. An executive summary reviews options ranging from demolishing the theater to temporary closure to the recommendation action, a $4.3 million renovation and city management of the facility to provide economic, entertainment and cultural benefits to the community. The report concludes that “presentation of the arts is an integral part of any community and should be supported with the same fervor as recreation services, the library, parks, and our urban forest.” The plan calls for at least 48 performances each year for the first two years of the theater’s operation. A hypothetical list of performers includes varied talents such as Kenny Loggins, Cirque Shanghai, Riders in the Sky, Smothers Brothers, the Oak Ridge Boys, Capitol Steps, Credence Clearwater Revisited, Forever Plaid, Fab Four, Smooth Jazz Christmas, and more. Apart from ticket sales, the plan predicts that the city would benefit by bringing people into the downtown area to boost restaurant and retail activity, ultimately increasing tax revenues and attracting new businesses to a downtown that has seen an exodus of tenants during the recession. The proposal also calls for a substantial increase on rental rates from $240 to $300 per hour for theater usage, with no exempt users. The remodel would include a new roof, creating a second primary entrance to open onto Main Street, adding a second women’s restroom, providing disabled access to dressing rooms, stage and control room, upgrading interior finishes and décor including the lobby and snack bar, improvements to lighting, sound system and electrical, replacing the orchestra lift, and more. Two other major items, expanding a loading dock and adding a full fly space, were rejected due to prohibitive cost and limitations of the physical building space. Under the plan, renovations would be completed in time for the performing arts center to reopen on September 1, 2011.
EDITORIAL: A REVITALIZED MANUFACTURING BASE WILL STABILIZE OUR ECONOMY
By Tracy Emblem March 29, 2010 (San Diego) — For far too long our government has allowed our manufacturing jobs to be outsourced to foreign countries. Recently the Blue-Green Alliance, a partnership between labor and environmental groups, called for a comprehensive industrial policy and commitment to rebuild America with green technology and products. The public should ask both government and corporate America this question: Should corporate America focus only on making profit any possible way using the cheapest possible avenues to produce products and services they sell in America or should corporate America ask itself how do we create good paying jobs for Americans? Some claim government should not be in the business of creating jobs. They are wrong. According to a January 2009 report from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute, “Public investment makes substantial contributions in terms of employment, economic growth, trade competitiveness, and essential services to the U.S. population.” By implementing policies and through tax incentives or taxes the government helps generate or prevents jobs from being created in the United States. Consider what a manufacturing job in the U.S. means to our economy. A manufacturing job requires an engineer to design the product and someone to build it. The manufacturing plant needs a maintenance worker. The manufacturer also relies on manufactured parts which creates another job, and a delivery job for the parts. In other words, manufacturing produces jobs of various skill levels for our workforce. Tax incentives? Some argue against providing companies with any tax breaks, but in reality, taxpayers subsidize in social services when we experience higher unemployment rates and job scarcity. We also subsidize older technology in industry through hidden health care costs. The National Academies of Science recently reported the costs – $120 billion annually in environmentally induced illnesses and diseases. Consequently, we should evaluate the cost-benefits in helping manufacturers to retool and industry to modernize their businesses by providing capital investment incentives for new equipment. We should also consider research and development incentives for American companies to produce new energy efficient products and bullet trains instead of military weapons and hardware. If America is to have a future, now is the time to revitalize our manufacturing base with green jobs that benefit Americans. It starts immediately with a multi-industry strategy approach through partnership with private, public and labor segments and with policies that return our jobs to America. The bottom line is we can not have economic recovery without a manufacturing base that creates jobs for our people. Tracy Emblem is an attorney and a Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress, California’s 50th District. The opinions in this editorial reflect the views of its author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. If you wish to submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
REFUGEES FROM BURMA AND BHUTAN FIND NEW HOMES IN EAST SAN DIEGO REGION
By Miriam Raftery March 28, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – Hilda Moreo, 31, spent 24 years living in refugee camps on the border between Burma and Thailand. Today, she lives in a two-bedroom apartment in City Heights with her husband, her 10-year-old son, 4-year-old daughter, and her mother. Born in Thailand to parents from Burma, Moreo recalls hardships and fear growing up. “The government in Burma, they want to control all the people who live there,” she said softly. “They kill the little kids and the pregnant women. Sometimes they ask the old men, pregnant women to carry heavy things.” Women were often raped, she revealed. Marilyn Nahas works with Asian refugees at the Episcopal Refugee Network (formerly known as St. Luke’s Refugee Network). She says there are about 400 refugees from Burma now living in our county—half in City Heights, the other half in East County communities such as El Cajon. In addition, there are about 100 Bhutanese refugees who have relocated here from Nepal, where refugee camps are closing down. People who have spent decades living in refugee camps are now being relocated to places around the world, including San Diego County. Moreo’s experience is common among the new wave of refugees. When new military regimes took over Burma and Bhutan, the leadership engaged in genocide against certain ethnic groups. “They just burned their huts and villages,” Nahas told East County Magazine. “People would move and they would come and burn them again.” Some joined rebel armies or lived in the jungle for long periods of time until they could make their way to camps in Thailand. In the camps, refugees received free medical care, mosquito nets, blankets and food. “They gave us rice and yellow beans,” Moreo recalled, “but we did not have enough nutrition…It’s really hard to survive there. It’s not easy to find a job there, to be a teacher or working in health fields…At that time we didn’t have a preschool or a nursery.” While working as a nanny and housekeeper for a family through the American embassy, she met her future husband. Although marriages arranged by parents are common among families from Burma, Moreo made her own choice. In 2007, Moreo finally qualified to come to America. “I have no idea about America,” she recalled. “Sometimes we watch a video, we see a big field or a city. Sometimes we dream America will be tall buildings,” she said, recalling a 26-hour plane flight to freedom. “Before I am here, I fear maybe I have no more chance to go to school.” Three months after arriving in San Diego, she was elated to find out that she could enroll in “adult school” at City College, where she is taking an English as a Second Language (ESL) class. “Here they give opportunity for everyone to go back to school,” she said. Moreo speaks English and can read and write, thanks to her parents, who paid to send her to a missionary school in another city. But most refugees from Burma and Bhutan are far less fortunate. Most are illiterate, even in their own languages, and have been living in primitive conditions, Nahas told East County Magazine. “They lived in bamboo thatched huts. They cooked outside; they didn’t have refrigeration or ovens.” After arriving in San Diego, Moreo took a job first with the African Alliance Healthcare Clinic but now works with the Episcopal Refugee Network, helping other newcomers to America. She says the language barrier is the most difficult challenge for most refugees from the region, though education, transportation, jobs and lifestyle differences are also common problems. “It is hard to find a job for people who don’t speak the language,” she said, adding that some refugees take a bus two hours to go to work. In the camps, although life was hard, people were given free food and healthcare at a good hospital. Here, by contrast, refugees have bills to pay for rent, food, utilities and other expenses even if they can’t find work. School is difficult for refugees who lack English language skills or worse, can’t read and write even in their native language—signing their name with a cross. Some are educated only at an elementary school level, but are required to attend high school because of their ages. There are not enough translators, so such students are doomed to failure, Moreo reflected. “They go to school and just sit. They don’t get a good grade,” she said. “Also if they have homework, the parents couldn’t help them.” Nahas now tutors about 60 kids in City Heights, mostly from Burma, and is starting to tutor students in El Cajon. “They are wonderful people,” she said. Moreo’s husband works for an electronics firm and their children, fortunately, are doing well in school, she said. “I want them to be educated people,” she said. “I want them to have goals, be good helpers for our people.” Her family remains separated, though most were able to emigrate to America in 2008. One brother still lives in a refugee camp, since he was unable to pass an interview. But two brothers and two sisters are now living in Texas, and two other brothers reside in Omaha, Nebraska. Her father passed away after an illness, but her mother now lives with Moreo and her husband, helping care for the children. Last year, Moreo traveled to Texas to visit her extended family. Coping with cultural differences in the U.S. can be daunting as a parent. In her homeland, Moreo noted that people live with their parents until marriage. “Here, when you turn 18, you go where you want,” she said. “The kids have more opportunities. They have more freedom here.” But she admits to concerns over potential problems that too much freedom can lead to for some teens. Asked if she now considers America home, Moreo grows reflective. “Sometimes we do miss our homeland,” she said, adding that she also misses other family members still in Asia.
SHERIFF SEARCH ON FOR MISSING RAMONA MAN AT LAKE SUTHERLAND
March 28, 2010 (Ramona) – Sheriff’s Search and Rescue personnel have been activated for a large-scale search of the Lake Sutherland area in Ramona after discovery yesterday of a vehicle belonging to Wiilliam Kelly Buntain, 48. The Ramona man, an insulin-dependent diabetic, left home March 22 without his medications and has not been seen or heard from since then. His wife, Khadija Buntain, reported him missing on the morning of March 23rd. Buntain reportedly told left around 1 p.m. Monday the 22nd and said he was going to get some bottled water. A Sheriff’s spokesman told East County Magazine that Buntain was depressed over the recent death of a family member. After searchers began questioning people at the lake, one individual indicated he had seen Buntain in the vicinity. He takes several medications but left home without any of his medicines and with no personal belongings. Yesterday afternoon, his car was found by turkey hunters near the southeastern portion of Lake Sutherland near Ramona. Buntain is described as a white male, about 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighing about 300 pounds. He has thinning gray hair, a full beard and wears eyeglasses. It is believed that he was wearing a blue T-shirt and green camouflage pants when last seen. If you have information on this missing person, please call the Ramona Sheriff’s substation at 760-789-9157.