Teacher Closes Book on Her Writing Class

When Judy Goldman announced last month that she was no longer going to teach her creative writing class, some of her students shed tears.

Goldman has taught the weekly class at Santa Monica Recreation Center for more than two decades. She said she wants to spend more time with her family.

“It really did mean a lot to those people,” said the 74-year-old Westwood resident and volunteer. “And, I felt guilty about stopping the class.”

Goldman’s class had become a Tuesday morning fixture at the Recreation Center. Every week, senior citizens gathered to share their works with fellow students. The class was free but Goldman insisted on one thing: participation.

Goldman’s teaching style involved praise and encouragement, not criticism.

“We would encourage people to write and have a wonderful time,” she said. “I felt it made them write better because they knew they weren’t going to be criticized.”

Over the years, the class wrote and published five anthologies. One member wrote her autobiography and other students had their works published.

Goldman, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English from USC, never thought the class would continue for as long as it did.

“I found that I was very attached to it. I learned an awful lot from the people,” she said. “We had people with varying talents and educations and somehow they all became friends.”

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The Santa Monica Police Department honored some of its top officers at its seventh annual awards banquet May 14. Police Chief James T. Butts presented the awards.

Medals of Courage were given to Officer Darren J. Fernandez, who was stabbed in the face and hand while apprehending a grand theft suspect fleeing from a supermarket, and to Sgt. Phil Sanchez and Officer Al Venegas, who, after hearing shots, chased down two armed robbery suspects. Though the armed suspects were running toward them, and the officers had reasonable cause to use deadly force, they refrained and took the suspects into custody without incident.

Lifesaving Medals were presented to Officer Todd Taylor, who administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to an intravenous drug user who was not breathing; Sgt. Andrew Joseph, who resuscitated a person believed to have overdosed on drugs; and Officers Paul Jones and Dwight Obenchain, who saved a man by pulling him to safety across a freeway railing.

Officers of the Year awards, given by the Santa Monica Police Officers Assn., went to Doug Stroup and Thomas Tanner. They developed and instituted the department’s homeless outreach team, which works with the homeless and social service agencies.

Stella Padilla, a department community service officer, was named Employee of the Year for her handling of radio calls, particularly as a Spanish translator, and for running the front desk.

Medals of Merit were awarded to Helen Albright, who secured a state grant to build a facility for the Police Action League youth program, and Cathy Southers for setting up the police computer-aided dispatch system.

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County Board of Supervisors Chairman Ed Edelman has appointed two Westside residents to county commissions.

Bernard Shapiro of Westwood has been appointed to the Los Angeles County Law Library Board of Trustees. He is an attorney with the Century City law firm of Murphy, Weir & Butler.

Santa Monica attorney Lisa Weil has been named to serve on the Los Angeles County Beach Advisory Committee. She is the environmental policy director for the American Oceans Campaign.

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Pacific Palisades resident Brandon Turok attended the Nickelodeon’s Kids’ World Council: Plan for the Planet meeting last month at the Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Fla.

One of 56 delegates chosen from around the world, Turok was selected after he was a winner in the cable television station’s essay contest. He is a fourth-grader at Marquez Elementary School in Pacific Palisades.

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Christie Hefner, chairwoman and chief executive officer of Playboy Enterprises Inc., was the recipient of the Will Rogers Memorial Award given by the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce and Civic Assn.

Joan Seidel, Beverly Hills city treasurer and vice president of Morton Seidel & Co Inc., was named Citizen of the Year.

They were honored at the 40th Annual Beverly Hills Ball held May 1 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills.

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The Singers’ Salute to the Songwriter gave its “Wind Beneath Our Wings” Award to Ruth and Allen Ziegler of Bel-Air.

The couple, recognized for longtime support of the Betty Clooney Foundation, were honored April 20 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.

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