Shirley Wild: Crowd packs Knabe's county assessment Long Beach Press-Telegram
About 1250 people attended the "State of the County Address," sponsored by the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce at the Long Beach Convention Center, coming from all over the county to hear Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knab e.
Chamber President and CEO Randy Gordon noted this was the third year that $5,000 was given to charities, selected by Supervisor Knabe.
This year's recipients were the Los Angeles Country Junior Golf Foundation and U.S. Vets.
A highlight of the Nov. 4 event was Knabe's announcement that 77 lives had been saved by the "Safe Surrender" program last year.
The Chairman of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Lori Lofstrom , introduced the many elected officials in the audience, including mayors of cities from all over the 4th district including Diamond Bar Mayor Ron Everett; Downey's Mario Guerra; El Segundo's Kelly McDowell; Hermosa Beach's Patrick Bobko; La Mirada's Susan Tripp; Manhattan Beach's Portia Cohen; Norwalk's Cheri Kelley; Rancho Palos' Verdes Larry Clark; Redondo Beach's Michael Gin; Rolling Hills Estates' Judy Mitchell; and Signal Hill's Ellen Ward.
In addition to the Long Beach City Council, the City Managers were introduced: Pat West of Long Beach; Diamond Bar's Jim DeStefano; Downey's Gerald Caton; Hermosa Beach's Steve Burrell; La Mirada's Thomas Robinson; Redondo Beach's William Workman; and Signal Hill's Kenneth Farfsing.
Seen at the scene: Gov. George Deukmejian, Doug Drummond, Aline and Mike Walter, Arlene Mercer, Beverly O'Neill, Brian LaPointe, Chris Walker, Julie Knabe, Connie Szibel, Rick Lorenzen (Price Transfer), Press-Telegram's Publisher Linda Lindus, Executive Editor Rich Archbold, Editorial Page Editor Larry Allison and Human Resources Director Gloria Arango.
