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Volume 8 Issue 112
Santa Monica Daily Press LAKERS WIN TIGHT ONE SEE PAGE 13
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THE EXPANDING OUR NET ISSUE
Budget woes slash health care for illegal immigrants
COMMUNITYPROFILES SONYA SONES & BENNETT TRAMER
BY JULIANA BARBASSA Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO Graciela Barrios, an undocu-
Melody Hanatani melodyh@smdp.com SONES & TRAMER
Pulling from life experiences BY MELODY HANATANI Daily Press Staff Writer
26TH STREET They sat side by side for three hours every morning, meeting in the same kitchen nook where the two writers from different genres would search their brains and combine their creative powers, tackling a project that neither had ever successfully ventured before. In the end those at times challenging five-days-a-week meetings in which writers Sonya Sones and Bennett Tramer collaborated for the first time in their 25-yearmarriage paid off, completing a now published children’s book based on the couple’s real-life experiences. “Violet and Winston,” which hit the
shelves earlier this month, follows a pair of best friends — a “bumbling and sweet” duck named Winston and a “brash and big-hearted” swan named Violet — as they face several comical situations, including a search for lost glasses and a garage sale gone bad. The process of developing the story was a unique first-time experience for the authors, who have both been successful in their very different fields — Tramer a head writer for hit TV show “Saved by the Bell” and Sones, the creator of a series of awardwinning young adult novels in verse. The idea for the book came at a time when Tramer was between projects and Sones was burnt out from finishing her most recent novel, hoping to take on something that wouldn’t consume 12 hours a
Gary Limjap
More police out on St. Patty’s Day BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Special to the Daily Press
DOWNTOWN Even the luck of the Irish won’t save drunk drivers on March 17. The Santa Monica Police Department will deploy eight additional officers to patrol major streets and around bars on St. Patrick’s Day to discourage the impulse to grab the keys after one too many. “It’s just going to be extra eyes and ears
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day as her previous works had. The book was illustrated by Caldecott Medal winner Chris Raschka, a close friend who lives in New York. Inspired by the “George and Martha” children’s books by James Marshall, a series the couple previously read to their now college-aged kids, the writers spent hours every morning for two months, taking ideas from their own relationship, which is how they came up with the idea for one of the stories when Winston and Violet have to retrace their steps after the duck loses his glasses. “(Tramer) always thinks he’s losing things,” Sones said.
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mented immigrant, has long relied on her Sacramento County health clinic for the advice, medication and tests that keep her diabetes under control. But next month, Barrios and thousands like her will be on their own as communities cut non-emergency health services to illegal immigrants and more local governments are forced to make similar decisions. Nearby Contra Costa County will vote Tuesday on whether to cut services to the 5,000 illegal immigrants they serve each year. “The general situation there is being faced by nearly every health department across the country, and if not right now, shortly,” said Robert M. Pestronk, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. Data on health care for unauthorized immigrants is hard to come by, because
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