Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/10150
6 LIVEMAGS.NET MAY>>10 C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Jodie Nelson paddle boarded 40 miles from Catalina Island to Dana Point, and was befriended mid-ocean by a curious minke whale. Nelson, from San Clemente, took the marine journey to raise money for breast cancer awareness in dedication to survivor friends and loved ones. She also became the first woman to paddle board the distance solo. Supporters followed her on a boat nearby and included members of the "Keep A Breast Foundation" (keep-a-breast.org) who filmed footage of Nelson paddling with Larry the whale surfacing, blowing bubbles and swimming around her for almost two hours. The unexpected appearance of the minke on Nelson's charity voyage helped her raise more than her $100,000 goal. Students across the Capistrano Unified School District ditched classes in a show of solidarity for their teachers' 10.1% indefinite cut in salary. A student-led rally erupted at Dana Hills High on April 1, in support of teachers. Reports from the elementary schools from April 13 indicated that over 3600 students did not attend school. The situation escalated on April 22 when the majority of the district's teachers picketed in front of schools and student attendance dropped to below 40% district-wide, with high school student attendance less than 20%, by April 26. Union representatives negotiated with the school board until an agreement was made on the morning of April 27 that includes a temporary pay decrease. Camp Pendleton opened the "Images at War's End" exhibit about the Pendleton base Vietnamese refugee camp in 1975. A reception was held on April 9 that included speakers who were Vietnam War refugees and former marines who assisted in relocating refugees to the United States during the military's "Operation New Arrivals." April marked the 35th anniversary when the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian refugees came to the U.S. via Camp Pendleton; there were over 50,000 evacuees that transitioned through the base to become United States citizens. The Camp Pendleton Historical Society is hosting the free exhibit of era photographs and paintings at Pendleton's Ranch House through September. Herpetologists from the University of Kansas alongside researchers from the National Museum of the Philippines published their discovery of a new species of giant monitor lizard in the Royal Society's Biology Letters Journal on April 7. This 6.5-foot gold and brown spotted lizard lives on the main island of the Philippines, Luzon, and was aptly named the Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor Lizard (Varanus Bitatawa) after its habitat in the Sierra Madre Mountains. Since it first came to the attention of biologists in 2004, DNA samples have been tested and compared to all known species of monitor. The researchers concluded that this lizard has been documented by science for the first time. An explosion in a Montcoal, West Virginia, coal mine killed 29 workers on April 5. Rescue crews drilled ventilation airways to let lethal methane and carbon monoxide gases escape before entering the mine to search for survivors. Four days later they could enter and found only dead bodies. The Upper Big Branch South Mine is owned by Massey Energy Co. and had been repeatedly cited by the federal government for safety violations over the past four years. The mine accrued $1.8 million in fines related to its dangerous ventilation plan, escape routes and equipment. The miners had been working about a mile and a half underground when the explosion occurred. There were no survivors. A Tennessee woman, Torry Hansen, who adopted a boy from Russia in September of 2009, sent him on an airplane back to Moscow with a backpack and a note saying "He is violent and has severe psychopathic issues [...]" In response to the treatment of 7-year-old Artyom Savelyev, the Russian Ministry of Education suspended the adoption license of the World Association for Children and Parents, the Renton, Washington, agency involved in the failed adoption. A Russian-United States adoption freeze has been set in place until the series of events and individuals involved in the case have been thoroughly investigated. LOCAL IN REVIEW THEMONTH NATIONAL Capistrano Unified Teachers and Students Strike A Benevolent Whale Encounter Camp Pendleton Vietnam War Refugee Exhibit New Giant Lizard Species Coal Miners Killed in Explosion Adopted Child Banished to Russia Writer>>Tova Morrison