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117th year/Number 108Torrance, California

©2011

The South Bay’s choice for 117 years

A NEWSPAPER

Steve McCrank Staff PhotographerDr. Laura Palmer feeds “Big Guy,” a 700-pound sea lion who has been living at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedrofor a year. Because he’s blind, he can’t be released into the wild, and the center fears it won’t be able to shelter him much longer.

HAVE YOU FILED YET?Some post offices across Los Angeles County will stay open late

today to accommodate people trying to get their tax returns in themail before the midnight deadline.

Taxpayers have had an three extra days to file this year becauseEmancipation Day, a holiday observed on April 15 in the District ofColumbia, fell on a Friday. By law, according to the IRS, District of Columbiaholidays have the same impact as federal holidays on tax filing deadlines.

Most post offices will be open for regular hours. Information is available online atwww.usps.com or by calling 800-ASK-USPS (800-275-8777). But for last minute-filers,the following local post offices will extend their collection hours until midnight tonight:

Airport Station, 9029 Airport Blvd.,Westchester, with mail collection andretail service until midnight.

Long Beach Processing and Distribu-tion Center, 2300 Redondo Ave., withcollection until midnight, and retail ser-vice until 7 p.m.

Reaching 437,912 readers every week

3-DAYFORECAST

By Sandy Mazza Staff Writer

He’s tall, dark and handsome in ablubbery, whiskered, scarred kind ofway.

This 700-pound California bull sealion is so charismatic that he’s evencharmed women outside his own spe-cies. And his ability to get along withevery mammal he meets has literallysaved his life — for now.

Staff members at the Marine Mam-

mal Care Center in San Pedro namedhim Big Guy because he’s what youcould call big-boned.

In the wild, Big Guy would claim abeach as his territory and have aharem of about a dozen females dur-ing breeding season. But he has onefatal flaw. Big Guy’s totally blind.

“His corneas are completely opaqueand there are deep scars from lacera-tions on his eyes,” said Dr. Laura

Palmer, the center’s veterinarian.“One eye is rotated downward. Themuscles around it are damaged.”

Peter Wallerstein, a local marineanimal rescuer, found Big Guy on aSanta Monica beach last winter suffer-ing from both blindness and a mas-sive gash to his mouth. Wallersteinand several lifeguards workedtogether to coax the giant pinniped

BIG GUY A9

Blind sea lion’s in a bind‘Big Guy’ is loved, but marine care center can’t keep him

SAN PEDRO. THE 700-POUND ‘PUSSYCAT’

TREND: South Bay studentsfind little room as ‘promise’to Long Beach prevails.

By Rob Kuznia Staff Writer

Kate Gray, the senior class presi-dent at South High School in Tor-rance, wasn’t surprised this month tolearn that even though she’d beenaccepted at UC Santa Cruz, her appli-cation to California State University,Long Beach was rejected.

“A lot of people at South, they justkind of apply there and know they arenot going to get in,” she said.

The Long Beach campus was once afairly common option for South Baystudents heading off to college. But

now, that practically neighborhoodcampus might as well be locatedacross the state.

In recent years, the number ofSouth Bay students attending LongBeach State has fallen precipitously,both among recent high school gradu-ates and community college transferstudents.

At El Camino College near Tor-rance, the drop has been so severe —by more than half in two years — thatthe school’s president recently wrotea letter to CSU Chancellor CharlesReed requesting better treatment.

“We’re all about student success,and this is certainly not helping stu-dents be successful,” said El Caminospokeswoman Ann Garten.

The trend is the product of two

main phenomena: exploding demandthat set in a few years ago and themore recent budget crisis plaguingthe state.

The situation is expected to getworse before it gets better. That’sbecause a wave of deep budget cuts isforcing the entire CSU system toshave enrollment by a combined10,000 students next year — even asdemand continues to surge.

“We have unprecedented demand,and the budget is forcing us to takefewer people,” said Vincent Novack,CSU Long Beach’s assistant vice presi-dent of institutional research andassessment.

Like many of the CSU system’s 23campuses, CSU Long Beachresponded to rising demand in 2002,

when it began granting preference tohigh school students in its immediatearea. The school often refers to thepolicy as the “Long Beach Promise.”

For instance, at Lakewood High inthe Long Beach school district thispast fall, 86 percent of the studentswho applied to CSU Long Beach wereaccepted. At South High, where testscores are much higher, the successrate was just 42 percent.

Meanwhile, students in the SouthBay do not benefit from such a prom-ise, because the only four-year schoolin the area — CSU Dominguez Hills inCarson — is among the handful ofCSU schools in the state not to extendpreference to local students.

This year, access to CSU LongBeach for nonlocals grew even more

difficult than in prior years, as theentry requirements for them steep-ened again.

Even before this year, the policyput a big dent in the number of SouthBay students going to CSU LongBeach.

From 2001 to 2009, the number ofgraduates from Torrance’s four highschools enrolling there as freshmenshrank from 130 to 45, according tostate figures. The corresponding fig-ure at Redondo Union and Mira Costahigh schools decreased from a com-bined 47 to 11; at the two Palos VerdesPeninsula high schools, from 28 to 13.

Even more pronounced has beenthe reduction in the number of El

CSU A9

Want to go to CSULB? Good luck

WEATHER: At least45 have been killedby twisters acrosshalf the nation.

By Brock Vergakisand Emery P. DalesioThe Associated Press

ASKEWVILLE, N.C. — Atornado-spewing storm sys-tem that killed at least 45people across half the coun-try unleashed its worst furyon North Carolina, wherehomes broke apart, treessnapped and livestock wereswept into the air.

Residents in Raleigh —the capital city — and ruralhamlets alike on Sundaymourned the dead, mar-veled at their own survivaland began to clean up dev-astated neighborhoods.

Observers reported morethan 60 tornadoes acrossNorth Carolina on Satur-day, but most of the state’s21 confirmed deathsoccurred in two rural coun-ties. A thunderstormspawned a tornado thatkilled four people in south-eastern Bladen County,then kept dropping torna-does as it hopscotchedmore than 150 miles, even-tually moving into BertieCounty and killing 11 more.

Heavy winds swept somehomes from their founda-tions, demolished othersand flipped cars on tinyrural roads betweenAskewville and Colerain,Bertie County Manager ZeeLamb said. At least three of

those who died were fromthe same family, he said.

The winds ripped toshreds the doublewidemobile home in Askewvillewhere Justin Dunlow hadsought shelter for his3-year-old daughter, 5-year-old son and himself. The23-year-old roofer, whoseown mobile home nearbyalso was destroyed, lay onboth children as the stormdid its worst.

“I just started praying,and the wall fell on top ofus and that’s what kept usthere,” he said. “I canreplace the house, but Ican’t replace my babies.And that’s what I thoughtabout. I’m alive. My babiesare alive.”

In Bladen County, Mil-ton McKoy had thought hismobile home in Ammonwas out of the storm’s pathbefore he saw a tornadoover the tops of pine trees,lifting pigs and other ani-mals into the sky.

“It looked just like ‘TheWizard of Oz,’ ” said hiswife, Audrey.

The couple took shelterin the laundry room as thetornado snapped trees andcarried off several homes inthe neighborhood. Whenthey stepped out, it tookthem a moment to figureout the twister had turnedtheir own home around,leaving them in the back-yard.

The violent weatherbegan Thursday in Okla-homa, where two people

WEATHER A9

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died, before cutting across the DeepSouth on Friday and hitting North Caro-lina and Virginia on Saturday. Authori-ties said seven people died in Arkansas;seven in Alabama; seven in Virginia; andone in Mississippi.

More than 240 tornadoes werereported from the storm system, includ-ing 62 in North Carolina, but theNational Weather Service’s final numberscould be lower because some tornadoesmay have been reported more than once.

Saturday was North Carolina’s deadliestday for tornadoes since 1984, when 22twisters killed 42 people and injured hun-dreds. The state emergency managementagency said it had reports of 23 fatalitiesfrom Saturday’s storms, but local officialsconfirmed only 21 deaths with The Associ-ated Press.

The conditions that allowed for thestorm occur on the Great Plains maybetwice a year, but they almost never hap-pen in North Carolina, according to ScottSharp, a meteorologist in Raleigh.

The atmosphere was unstable, whichallows air to rise and fall quickly, creatingwinds of hurricane strength or greater.There was also plenty of moisture, whichacts as fuel for the violent storms. Shearwinds at different heights, moving in dif-ferent directions, created the spin neededto create tornadoes, Sharp said.

In Virginia, local emergency officialsreported seven storm-related deaths, said

state emergency management spokes-man Bob Spieldenner.

Spieldenner said the state medicalexaminer’s office confirmed two peopledied in Gloucester County, where a tor-nado hit; two died in flash flooding inWaynesboro; and one person died inWythe County when a tree fell on amobile home. Officials were still investi-gating a death in Page County and onemore reported in Gloucester County.

North Carolina officials have tallied

more than 130 serious injuries, 65 homesdestroyed and another 600 significantlydamaged in North Carolina, according tostate public safety spokeswoman JuliaJarema. Officials expect those totals toclimb as damage assessments continue.

Gov. Beverly Perdue declared a state ofemergency. After spending much of Sun-day touring hard-hit areas, includingdowntown Raleigh, she said that despiteher experience with natural disasters, thedamage this time was so hard to bear itnearly brought her to tears.

WEATHERFROM PAGE A1

Camino College students whotransferred into CSU LongBeach as juniors. From fall2007 to fall 2009, the figuredropped from 434 to 180. In2009-10, El Camino studentswere almost as likely to trans-fer into UCLA as CSU LongBeach, with 162 of them head-ing off to Bruins country.

Officials from CSU LongBeach have fielded plenty ofcomplaints about the issue, butsay they are only trying to dowell by the students in theirarea.

“I think we get kind of a badrap on this,” Novack said. “Thiscampus is really bending overbackwards to accommodateour local area.”

The number of freshmenapplicants at CSU Long Beachhas more than doubled in adecade, to nearly 48,000 thispast fall. Meanwhile, the num-ber of students who enrolledthere actually shrank duringthat time, from about 4,500 tonearly 4,000.

The flood of applicants ispartly due to a mini baby boomthat swept through California’shigh schools in the latter2000s, as well as the fact thatmore and more students havedesigns on going to college.

As for the local high school

students in and around LongBeach, they still must meetminimum standards to qualifyfor a CSU school. For highschool graduates, this meansgetting a minimum of a C in allrequired course work. Studentswho get a single D are oftenout of luck.

For students living outsidethe area, the GPAs and SATscores must be higher. (Forsome fields that are in espe-cially high demand — such asnursing — even students in thearea need to achieve the higherscores.)

As for Gray, the senior classpresident at South High, get-ting rejected from CSU LongBeach might mean that shewill go to a community collegenext fall, even though she wasaccepted at UC Santa Cruz.

“As of now, my family can’tafford a UC,” she said, addingthat she is pinning her hopeson San Diego State, which stillhasn’t given her final word.

Gray, who expects to finishhigh school with a 3.8 GPA,said she wanted to go to LongBeach not only because it’sclose to home, but also becauseshe wants to be a teacher, andthe school boasts a stellar edu-cation program.

“It would just be a very goodschool for me,” she said, “but Iguess it’s not in the cards.”

rob.kuznia@dailybreeze.com

CSUFROM PAGE A1

Thomas Babb The News & ObserverAn aerial photo shows the damage to a Lowe’s Home Improvement Center inSanford, N.C., after Saturday’s tornado system ripped through the region.

BerkeleyDavisIrvineLos AngelesMercedRiversideSan DiegoSanta BarbaraSanta CruzTotal transfers

235

52131

—12202311

277

2004-2005-

258

42141

322263210

309

2005-2006-

214

60116

1142625

5272

2006-2007-

471055

1331

173913

8323

2007-2008-

365

47113

3143733

8296

2008-2009-

381059

1624

254528

6377

2009-2010-UC SYSTEM

PomonaDominguez HillsFullertonLong BeachLos AngelesNorthridgeSan DiegoTotal transfers

30337100369

9140

9976

2004-2005

44358

69342

905031

984

2005-2006

47349

83449

745530

1,087

2006-2007

29346

99434

905529

1,082

2007-2008

33385

82315

834424

966

2008-2009

22395

75180

5575

7809

2009-2010CAL STATE SYSTEM

Source: California Postsecondary Education Commission Paul Penzella Staff Artist

Transfer studentsThe number of El Camino students transferring into California State University, Long Beach, has fallen steeply in recent years. This chart reflects the number of El Camino students transferring into various CSU and UC schools over the past six years.

into a net. They then lifted him with acrane onto a boat, and into Wallerstein’struck to be delivered to the Marine Mam-mal Care Center.

Palmer can only guess how he got hisinjuries — a fight with another bull, cata-racts or possibly an attack from a fisher-man.

When Big Guy was brought to the cen-ter on Feb. 6, 2010, Palmer had to decidewhether he would live or die. He couldnot be released back to the wild blind.Luckily for him, she found his easygoingnature endearing.

“I hesitated to euthanize him,” saidPalmer. “He was so gentle, and heseemed like such a magnificent animal.”

She made a decision to try to find thebull sea lion a permanent home at a zoo.A year later, Palmer has had no luck, andBig Guy still resides at the center. Palmeris anxious that she is running out of timeto save him.

“He would love to have the PacificOcean again but it’s just not in the cards,”she said. “These nonreleasable animalshave no place to go.”

Now, he stays in a pen at the centerwith a 6-foot-deep pool and five sickly

female sea lions. One lost a flipper, one ismissing an eye, and the others are recov-ering from domoic acid poisoning — theresult of a toxic algae that essentially eatsaway at the sufferer’s brains, causing sei-zures and extreme confusion.

Volunteers and visitors at the centerhave gotten used to his large presence.

Bill Marks, an 11-year volunteer, saidhe hopes Big Guy finds a home.

“He’s been pretty much a pussycat thewhole time he’s been here,” Marks said. “Ican’t understand why someone won’ttake him. He’s magnificent.”

Palmer doesn’t know how much longerthe National Marine Fisheries Servicewill allow her to continue to house BigGuy because the center serves only as atemporary home for rehabilitating ani-mals.

Blindness is normally a death sentencefor seals and seal lions that arrive at thecenter after they are found sickly or neardeath on local beaches.

The Marine Mammal Care Center hasseveral enclosed pools, and relies on doz-ens of dedicated volunteers to nursepatients back to health until they can bereturned to the ocean.

Big Guy seems comfortable in his tem-porary home. He regularly swims lapsaround the pool in his pen, easily bump-ing other smaller sea lions near him outof his way. Male sea lions rarely come to

the center, and they can grow to be up tothree times larger than females.

Center staff members have trained himto jump in and out of the water on com-mand, and they hand feed him so that hewill be comfortable around humans if heis adopted by a zoo.

Big Guy weighed about 450 poundswhen he arrived at the center last year.He is now about 700 pounds, and is on adiet of four pounds of fish a day, Palmersaid.

She does not know how old Big Guy is,but as an adult, he is at least 5 years old.Sea lions live 20 to 30 years.

The center has recently been inun-dated with sick animals because of adomoic acid outbreak and the start ofbaby elephant seal season. Dozens of 2-and 3-month-old elephant seals can beheard shrieking like monkeys throughoutthe day, but Big Guy doesn’t seem both-ered by the noise.

His new female roommates havebrought out a different side of him,Palmer said. Though normally silent, hehas started making grunting noisesaround the ladies.

“I think he’s saying he’s the big man onthe beach,” Palmer said. “He rules wher-ever he goes. He hasn’t found anyonewho is a threat to him.”

sandy.mazza@dailybreeze.com

BIG GUYFROM PAGE A1

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DAILYBREEZE.COM MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2011 A9