by Juliet Blalack
Two professional translators showed Monroe Elementary students where their bilingual skills could take them last week.
Inés Swaney and Tony Beckwith dropped by the Poetry InsideOut program and engaged the sixth graders with stories of their translation backgrounds and adventures, said teacher Anita Sagastegui.
The two also explained how bilingual skills would help students no matter what career they chose, and then Beckwith shared a poem he wrote in both English and Spanish.
Swaney translated into English while Beckwith spoke in Spanish to demonstrate simultaneous translation.
“It gave the students a real sense of pride,” said Sagastegui. Poetry Inside out is a program that uses poetry to help students from 3rd grade to high school acquire and maintain bilingual skills. The instructors emphasize that the students learn to express themselves creatively in two languages.
Gang injunction hits the Mission
Under a new injunction, alledged members of the Norteno gang are prohibited from associating with each other, showing gang signs or symbols, trying to recruit new gang members, or carrying weapons over 60 blocks in the Mission.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera successfully petitioned a gang injunction that also prohibits intimidation, trespassing, loitering, and graffiti vandalism within the safety zone between Valencia St. and Potrero Ave., north of Ceasar Chavez.
Once gang members have been properly served, they are also banned from possessing drugs, weapons, or graffiti tools within the zone.
Violations of the injunction can be pursued civilly by the City Attorney, for monetary penalties and up to five days in county jail for each violation. They can also be prosecuted criminally by the District Attorney as a misdemeanor for up to six months in county jail.
Of thirty-two alleged Norteño members originally named in the City Attorney’s proposed injunction, thirty were found by clear and convincing evidence to be active Norteño gang members. One was voluntarily released by Herrera’s office prior to the court hearing.
Governor appoints Carolina Rojas-Gore to the County Fair Board of Directors
Carolina Rojas-Gore,60, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the Sacramento County Fair Board of Directors (52nd District Agricultural Association). She has served as director of community affairs for KUVS Univision 19/Telefutura 64 since 2004.
Previously, she served as a leasing agent and events coordinator for Capitol Towers from 1997 to 2001. Rojas-Gore also served as a freelance Spanish translator from 1997 to 2004 and human resources manager for Sacramento Cable Television from 1984 to 1995. She is a member of the Mexican Cultural Center and the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no salary. Rojas-Gore is a Democrat.
San Francisco officials move toward drug injection rooms
City health officials began discussing and studying drug injection rooms as a means to reduce drug overdoses and deaths, according to the Associated Press.
Drug overdoses represented about one of every seven emergency calls handled by city paramedics from July 2006 to July 2007, said San Francisco Fire Department Capt. Niels Tangherlini. At the same time, the number of deaths linked to overdoses has declined from a peak of about 160 in 1995 to 40 in 2004, he said in an Associated Press interview.
San Francisco already operates a clean needle exchange program for intravenous drug users. Injection rooms are open in 27 cities in 8 other countries, but San Francisco’s program would be the fi rst in the United States. The rooms would be supervised by nurses to prevent overdoses and fatalities.
