Odds & Ends Around the Valley

Electing to Serve

Theresa Wessig of Canoga Park has been serving as a precinct election clerk since 1950. She became an election inspector, supervising voting in her precinct, in 1952. For more than two decades, she has opened her home as an election polling place. And, come Tuesday, she’ll be at it again.

Lorraine Patterson, a county Registrar of Voters supervisor, wishes that there were a lot more like Wessig. With 276 precincts in the San Fernando Valley, Patterson is always on the lookout for a few good living rooms, or garages, or businesses that will allow her to set up her voting booths for the Election Day siege.

Patterson also needs 1,205 people to man the polling places, and it’s still not too late to serve for Tuesday’s election, she said. “We are fairly well-staffed in most precincts, but there still some vacancies. And we always have people who say they will work and can’t make it, so we need others to fill in.”

Anyone interested in serving as an election official should be prepared to be at the assigned polling place by 6:30 a.m. and stay until 8:30 p.m. It’s also a good idea to bring a sack lunch and wear comfortable clothing, she said.

People who serve as clerks earn $45 for the day and are instructed in their duties when they report to the polling place, which is usually as near to their residences as possible. Inspectors receive 1 1/2 hours of instruction, usually in a classroom situation, and earn $60 for the day.

The number to call to volunteer either services for this election or voting space in the future is (213) 725-5919.

And if you do decide to serve, be thankful for voting machines. “When I started on the boards,” Wessig said, “we used to have to stay up all night and count the ballots.”

Hit the Road

Terry Hottman, who is in the marriage repair business in Encino, says the marital state is sometimes a tough place to be in today’s complex world.

“Marriage has never been uncomplicated, but roles used to be more clear-cut,” said Hottman, who holds a master’s degree in marriage and family counseling and is often asked by divorce lawyers to help clients whose marriages are on the brink of collapse.

Some matters of marital contention are as old as time, Hottman said, like the loss of communication between partners. But other issues are relatively new, like what’s expected of you if your partner goes into Alcoholics Anonymous or some other 12-step program.

“About a third of my practice involves people who are starting to work a program and are trying to cope with the changes this makes in the way the entire family relates to one another. Sometimes the partner not in the program needs to begin working on his or her co-dependency. Sometimes the children need to be in a program designed for them,” Hottman said.

Another third of his practice has to do with cross-cultural marriages or blended families, as in his, hers and ours. “There are many areas of confusion when couples marry someone from a different background and the same is true of people who are marrying for the second time. It takes a lot of patience and understanding to sort out all the nuances of these kinds of unfamiliar or new relationships.”

Another part of Hottman’s practice, he said, deals with people who have had or are having affairs. “Affairs put stress on a marriage and can cause one or both partners to consider divorce,” Hottman said, but he added that often the affair is symptomatic of something else.

Hottman said that being a counselor doesn’t mean that relationships are any easier for him. “Therapists are at greater risk, in a way, because they are used to taking other people’s inventories, and they can be manipulative,” he said. “You really have to be aware and listen to yourself.”

His advice for helping couples get over rocky times, when they are rubbing each other every way but right, is take a hike.

Together.

“A brisk walk will do wonders for your outlook on life, as well as your health.”

Artistry in Marketing

If you are moving in the near future, expect to receive a ton of mail offering goods and services, including a note from the Wing Gallery in Sherman Oaks promising a free gift.

Robin Wing, the entrepreneurial force behind the gallery, is not giving away Rembrandts, but she is making a present of a small print by American primitive artist Charles Wysocki in an effort to make new friends for her establishment.

Even when the economy doesn’t seem to be in a snit, selling art is a challenge because there are so many other things to do with discretionary income, so Wing has made an art form of soft-sell inducements to bring in new customers.

One of the ways she does this is to offer children’s programs occasionally because “we think that exposing people to art and an artistic environment at an early age will bring them back when they are adults,” she said.

The gallery also invites artists to come and share an afternoon with patrons, as Wysocki, who lives in the Lake Arrowhead area, will do between 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday.

Mall Karma

Before we all start picking out a burial shroud for the economy, take a look at the local shopping centers.

It’s not the Christmas rush yet, but some of the malls look as if they’re about to reach critical mass. If everyone is so worried about federal, state and personal finances, who are all these people shoving cash and plastic at salespeople?

Patrick McGowan, who works in ladies shoes in the Glendale Galleria’s Nordstrom, said he couldn’t explain what’s going on, nor could Yolanda Denike in women’s wear. Topanga Plaza and Northridge Fashion Center are jammed, as is the Sherman Oaks Galleria. Is there some kind of shopping center karma that draws those presumably in financially distress and makes them surrender the contents of their wallets at the cash registers?

The most amazing manifestation of the phenomena is the newly opened Antelope Valley Mall.

Brenda Marshall, who sometimes sits at a desk at the entrance to Harris’ taking credit card applications, said: “It really is strange. The day before the mall opened, no one was here. The next day, it looked like people had been shopping here all their lives.”

Overheard

“My son is so taken with his new role as an acolyte that we call him the altar ego.”--One mother to another at Balboa Park soccer practice