The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 107, No. 16 - April 19, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Ask Your Banker...............12
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................14
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................6
Legals............................12-13
Obituaries.............................2
Pets......................................15
Real Estate.....................7-12
Sports.............................. 5,14
Weekend
Forecast
ES High Winter Guard Takes 1st
The El Segundo High School Winter Guard took first place earlier this month with an 80.81 in WGASC competition!! The Guard recently moved up (again) a division to Scholastic AA in its last regular season
competition. Winter Guard will compete in Scholastic AA Championships Saturday, April 21. Photo: ESUSD. •
Local Resident Gets Behind the
Wheel to Help Cancer Patients
By Brian Simon
At 71 and happily retired since 2012,
Kathryn Boyle remains busy and active. She
continues to check off items from an extensive
“bucket list” that is still far from complete. A
few recent forays fulfilled: Seeing Billy Joel
and Jeff Goldblum (he plays piano too) live in
concert. Feasting on a table-made Caesar salad
at the Tijuana hotel restaurant where it was
originally invented in the 1920s. Comparing
the LA region’s finest pastrami sandwiches.
Traveling through Spain and Portugal for her
birthday, which by the way she did solo last
summer. Despite various nagging aches and
pains that come with the territory called life,
she is one tough cookie and plans to enjoy
each day to the best of her ability.
Kathryn now splits her time between her
long-time residence in El Segundo and a
Council Weighs Police Recruiting
second home she purchased in Palm Springs.
Music, friends, family, fine wine and gourmet
Strategy; Gets Good Budget News
cuisine are staples of her lifestyle – but it
isn’t all about leisure for the feisty woman
By Brian Simon
of Irish origin who grew up in Philly with a
With the just-announced retirement of
bunch of salty brothers and eventually raised
Captain Brian Evanski in a couple of weeks,
two kids mostly on her own. For nearly a
the number of sworn personnel in the El
decade now, she has volunteered her services
Segundo Police Department (ESPD) will
as a driver for cancer patients.
drop to 54 – eight below the budgeted 62.
“While I was still working, my boyfriend
The fact that half of the remaining sworn
was diagnosed with cancer and I’d go with
officers will be eligible to retire in six
him for treatments,” Kathryn said. “There
years has Police Chief Bill Whalen worried
was a male patient we enjoyed chatting
about the future, which prompted him to
with who was in a wheelchair…and a van
ask the El Segundo City Council for help
would bring him to and from the hospital.
on Tuesday night.
One time he received his radiation treatment
Citing a region-wide recruitment problem
late because the machine broke down. But
with all the other agencies vying for
the van could not wait for him because the
driver had to pick up other patients. So I got
to thinking there should be a more reliable
candidates from the same limited pool,
Whalen proposed creative ways to attract
officers to El Segundo. One key strategy:
Make them an offer they can’t refuse, or
at least one that blows away the competition.
As an example, the chief suggested a
huge hiring bonus to lure a lateral police
officer (someone who has already worked
at another law enforcement agency and
completed their probationary period).
ESPD’s current bonus for lateral applicants
is $3,000, with Torrance offering the highest
in the area at $6,500. Whalen briefly
mentioned a $25,000 hiring bonus figure
for laterals, but staff will come back to the
Council with a concrete number that will
also include a reasonable service time commitment
to ensure that the officer doesn’t
leave the department early. A lesser bonus
way to transport patients.”
After some research, Kathryn learned of
a program through the American Cancer
Society in which volunteers deliver patients
to and from appointments. Looking for a
way to make a difference, she decided to
give it a shot. She filled out the necessary
applications, went through a background
check and was on the road soon after. But
while the logistics of picking up, dropping
off, waiting and then picking up and dropping
off again did not prove to be very taxing
(Kathryn would go to lunch or shop while
the patients underwent their treatments), the
emotional aspect took a toll early on. “I made
the mistake of becoming too close to one
of the women I was driving – we became
friends and planned social activities,” Kathryn
said. “Then suddenly she died one day and I
was really distraught. I had to take a break.”
Kathryn didn’t drive again for close to a year,
but eventually pushed herself to give it another
try. She started again, vowing this time to keep
her emotional distance while still remaining
friendly and cheerful. A few patient stories
stood out. One man asked her to stop at a drug
store on the way back from the hospital on
a particular afternoon. “I’m only supposed to
pick them up from the appointment and then
take them straight home, but this guy insisted,”
she said. “So he goes into the drug store and
See Kathryn Boyle, page 2
See City Council, page 13
Friday
Sunny
67˚/54˚
Saturday
Mostly
Sunny
67˚/58˚
Sunday
Sunny
73˚/57˚