09/28/04

LC040928

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

The war in Iraq means Uncle Sam needs more than a few good men
and women, but should he be looking for them in high school?

Luis Cuevas>> Even though I knew that the Marines was a combat
fighting force and that one day I might have to go to war, I
don't think I was mature enough to understand what war actually
was.

Val>> And then, the quest for fame. Can two young women from
East Los Angeles make it in the music world without sacrificing
their roots?

It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times.

Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val>> It's a tough job trying to convince our young men and
women to sign up for the National Guard. In fact, for the first
time in a decade, the National Guard has fallen short of its
recruiting goal by about three thousand recruits. So it's upped
the number of people recruiting and it's increased its
advertising budget by about ten million dollars. But as Kevin
Smith tells us, at our local high school, it's still a tough
sell.

Kevin Smith>> The escalating battle over the military presence
at Los Angeles County high schools has many fronts. JROTC drill
classes.

>> "So are all you guys eleventh graders?"

Kevin Smith>> A Marine Corps recruiter working students at
lunchtime.

Sgt. Timberlake Pierce>> "The biggest difference between us and
a trade school is that you get paid while you're going to
school."

Kevin Smith>> Army recruiters addressing high school classes.

Irene Inouye>> "This law is just one of the insidious ways that
the military is invading our schools."

Kevin Smith>> Protesters who want to reduce the military
presence in high schools.

Luis Cuevas>> I would see, you know, the recruiters come in
their uniforms at school. They looked sharp, they looked cool.

Kevin Smith>> And those like twenty-two year old, Luis Cuevas,
who joined the armed forces and fought in Iraq. Since the Iraq
War, the attention to the military's presence in Los Angeles
high schools is hardly academic. Bud Jacobs, who oversees
special programs, says the military has a place there.

Bud Jacobs>> I don't think it is evil in and of itself. I
think that it has to be tempered. It has to be balanced.

Kevin Smith>> But he also welcomes the scrutiny.

Bud Jacobs>> I think it will bring to light the other side of
what the risks are.

Kevin Smith>> The school district says it tries to walk a fine
line between allowing interested students access to military
recruiters and programs on the one hand while making sure no
student gets coerced into participating on the other hand.

Thane Opfell>> We represent an economically challenged
community and, if a career in the military is a solution for
them financially, let them exercise that choice.

Kevin Smith>> Each school decides for itself whether to have
JROTC, which stands for Junior Reserve Officer's Training Corps.
Thirty schools, like James Monroe High School in a low-income
part of the San Fernando Valley, embraced the program, but not a
single public school on the affluent west side of Los Angeles
offers JROTC. While some students choose to participate in
after-school drill classes, the basic program consists of
classroom and physical education.

>> "Okay, let's say you put aside twenty bucks a week."

Kevin Smith>> Instructors insist JROTC is not designed to
recruit students and very few participants wind up in the
military.

Col. Ted McDonald>> The recruiters recruit, we teach
citizenship, and that's the truth there. We teach them how to
give speeches, how to do job interviews, how to take tests, how
to study for tests.

Kevin Smith>> The school district likes JROTC because the
government pays half the cost of each instructor, but opponents
argue that two million dollars a year spent on the school's
share of JROTC could be put to better use like hiring music or
art teachers and they claim that students aren't always given
free choice.

Irene Inouye>> Many schools throughout the district, they're
getting involuntarily placed into JROTC and these students say
they didn't ask for it.

Bud Jacobs>> If the PE classes are overcrowded, they are given
the option of going in. The policy is that the kid is to be
asked if he wants to go into JROTC.

Student>> "Does it pay for your college tuition?"

Sgt. Daniel Rincon>> "I mean, there are a lot of different
benefits, you know. Going to college and getting an education,
technical skills."

Kevin Smith>> In contrast to JROTC, actual recruiting on high
school campuses is far more direct. Marine Corps Sergeant
Daniel Rincon makes his rounds at Monroe High several times a
week. What does he emphasize?

Sgt. Daniel Rincon>> What their plans are. Seeing maybe the
Marine Corps can help them in any way we can help them. It will
be through school, technical jobs. Some of these kids look at
the military as their last resort or, you know, something that
they could fall back on.

Kevin Smith>> The No Child Left Behind Act signed by President
Bush in 2001 states that schools must give the same access to
military recruiters as they give to college or business
recruiters. In response to student-faculty protests, some
schools like heavily Hispanic Roosevelt High in East Los Angeles
have limited military recruiting.

Irene Inouye>> You used to have military recruiters inside the
campus talking to students any time they wanted, but now there
is restriction so that it's equal access for military recruiters
and college recruiters.

Kevin Smith>> Anti-military protesters complain that the
military is now targeting poor Hispanic students.

Sgt. Daniel Rincon>> We don't target groups. Basically we go
out and we talk to different individuals, no matter their race,
their background, their ethnicity, whatever. We give them that
opportunity.

Kevin Smith>> The law also requires schools to provide
recruiters with names, addresses and phone numbers of high
school students, but students also have the right to ask schools
not to release their data.

Marco Valencia>> They're just getting our information. They're
basically stealing it. They're not asking us for permission.
It should be the other way around. If we want to go to the
military, we should give our consent to them.

Kevin Smith>> Protesters credit the school district with a
decision this year to extend the Opt Out window from two weeks
to two months.

Bud Jacobs>> There was concern that the parents were not
getting enough information in making an informed decision and
not given enough time.

Sgt. Eric Corn>> "When I decided to join, I made the decision I
wanted to be a mechanic. In the Army, that was something they
could do for me."

Kevin Smith>> Back at Monroe High, Sergeants Eric Corn and
Timberlake Pierce are making their pitch to a tenth grade class.

Sgt. Timberlake Pierce>> "We have to protect our country, so we
have to have soldiers who fight, go to combat, but those
soldiers pick those jobs."

Student>> "Do girls fight like the same way as guys do?"

Sgt. Timberlake Pierce>> "No female has a combat job. I have a
weapon. Me and Sgt. Corn both have weapons. I know how to fire
my M16."

Kevin Smith>> Several students seemed intrigued, though some
had concerns about Iraq.

Student>> It's an interesting program and everything, but I'm
not a very violent person (laughter) and I don't think that it
should be used in the way we're using right now.

Student>> I kind of think I want to go to the military, but
before, I'm just thinking about college.

Student>> Going to the army to get money for college, that's
the only reason I'd go in.

Kevin Smith>> Sergeant Pierce says she tailors her message to
each school.

Sgt Timberlake Pierce>> Here education plays a big part and a
lot of students don't have the funds to finance their education.
Where you go to other areas, education and money is not a
problem. Their parents are well off and they can afford that,
but it's that adventure they're looking for.

Kevin Smith>> But adventure has its risks. Student concerns
about combat duty in the Middle East are perceptive.

Sgt. Timberlake Pierce>> We're not going to say, oh, no, you're
not going, because they most likely will be sent over there to
do a tour.

Luis Cuevas>> That's right before we're going to on to a raid,
one of our daily patrols.

Kevin Smith>> The risks weren't so clear to Luis Cuevas when he
joined the Marines in 2000 after graduating from Eagle Rock High
School. Luis liked war movies and the chance to travel appealed
to him.

Luis Cuevas>> Even though I knew that the Marines was a combat
fighting force and that one day I might have to go to war, I
don't think I was mature enough to understand what war actually
was. I mean, actually having to shoot somebody, actually
getting shot at.

Kevin Smith>> But then the call came in early 2003 that Luis
was heading to Iraq with one of the first companies deployed
there. During the initial U.S. invasion, his company engaged in
severe fighting.

Luis Cuevas>> The First Sergeant who was in charge of our
company, when that blast hit, you just saw his helmet come off
his head. His helmet was off and his head was leaning like this
and really thick blood was coming down from his head. I had to
kill people. I mean, the enemy. I killed the people who were
shooting at me.

Kevin Smith>> After spending seven months in Iraq and serving
out his four-year hitch this past June, Luis has mixed feelings
about his decision to join the Marines. He's now attending
Pasadena City College with funds provided for his Marine
service.

Luis Cuevas>> If you want to be physically challenged or even
mentally challenged, yes, it's great. If you're looking forward
to the benefits, it's great. If you want to travel, it's great.
I really don't know if I would do it again if I knew the things
that I know now. That's what I would tell those kids. Think
long and hard.

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Val>> There are more than four million Americans with
Alzheimer's and the question has arisen, should people with
advanced dementia be allowed to vote? In Florida, an elderly
man walked into the polling place thinking it was 1942 wanting
to cast his ballot for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. So should
people with dementia be prohibited from voting or perhaps
assisted?

I talked with Professor Carl Cotman of the Institute for Brain
Aging and Dementia at UC Irvine. He says the issue has gone all
the way to the Supreme Court. So from a medical point of view,
is somebody with dementia capable of making an informed decision
on something like the presidential election?

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> Well, some are and some probably aren't.
Then the question is, how do you make a decision as to which are
permitted? Just because a person has a diagnosis of Alzheimer's
disease doesn't mean they still don't preserve judgment. They
will have some memory problems, but they could, you know, still
make reasonably informed decisions and make notes on how they
prefer to vote so they won't even have to remember everything.
Then some of them will have the capacity to physically perform
the task, others could be taught, etc.

But the real issue has become how do you determine who has the
capacity? That's very important because it's not a privilege
like driving. It's a right that is defended by the
Constitution. There's a recent article that came out in the
Journal of the American Medical Association really addressing
this.

Val>> What do they say?

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> Well, what they said is that, you know,
it's obviously a problem. Some people will have the capacity to
make judgments and vote and other people will not. Some people
won't want to. You know, other people are going to want to
preserve that and their caretakers and spouses are going to want
to. They were very concerned about care facilities, nursing
homes, assisted living facilities and how that's being handled.
In fact, that's where some of the abuses come in, you know,
where somebody will say, okay, now everybody vote for so and so.
You know, it's possible they would be persuaded.

Val>> That's actually happened.

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> That's actually happened in a couple of
cases.

Val>> In nursing homes where they get the whole group to vote
their way. They're very impressionable.

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> Yes, and they just have a little help.
Oh, you don't know how to push the lever or stamp that one, and
we'll help you, so that's obviously inappropriate and illegal.

Val>> So the JAMA article acknowledged the problem and
suggested, what, that guidelines be drawn up? What's the next
step?

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> Well, the Supreme Court judgment actually
was really quite helpful on this because it suggested that, if a
person understands the process and the effect of voting and can
make a decision, then they have the right to vote. So then the
question is, how do you implement that guideline? So recently
the University of Pennsylvania, in their Alzheimer's Research
Center, have started to form and develop an instrument that, you
know, will help determine whether a person can meet those
criteria.

Val>> Instrument meaning what? A set of questions?

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> Yes, a set of questions. A little form,
you know, that somebody can deliver. The example they give in
the JAMA article is how would you pick the governor, you know,
in your state? Well, the answer is that you vote. And how is
the voting decided? They count the number of ballots. Okay,
then here's an example. Can you make a decision and, you know,
elect one or the other? If the person can also do that and say
I would pick this or this independent of whether it's right or
wrong, then they have the capacity to vote. It's independent of
how well informed they are or anything like that because how
would you ever judge whether a voter is informed enough?

Val>> Now those are guidelines that are proposed. Nothing
exists right now. So let's say I have an elderly parent who I
know is suffering from dementia. They want to vote, but I
really don't know if they're capable. How might I approach
that?

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> Well, that comes right down to the heart
of the matter. You know, if the caregiver or the guardian
doesn't feel they're capable, they can try and persuade them,
but it would be awfully hard to really take right away from them
because there's no legal way to do it. So you could probably
persuade them. You could alternatively, you know, help them
make decisions. You could possibly get them to understand how
the process is actually handled manually because some of them
may be confused. I know actually of one example of somebody
that was in our own clinical program that helped her husband
vote and actually went in the voting booth and helped him
perform the process.

Val>> Is that allowed?

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> I think that would be probably disallowed
if it were really understood. In this case, I'm sure it was
fine, you know, but it's basically how do you determine whether
it's biased or not?

Val>> Right, or who actually punched the holes.

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> And who's making the decisions, exactly.
So do you have two votes or do you have one or two separate
votes? It's very complicated actually. You know, the state of
California has really not addressed this that we're aware of so
far and there needs to be some state guidelines put forward and,
you know, additional research and determinations done on how
this should be handled. I think it's a very appropriate and
really demanding area because those people that have some
cognitive disability do not necessarily have poor judgment.

Val>> That's important for people to realize.

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> And they should have some voice in their
own destiny, which is basically the Democratic voting process.
You know, even though we're in 2004, my gosh, here's a problem
that we actually haven't addressed yet of a fundamental right
(laughter). The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution
actually says that the state shall not take away the inalienable
rights of an individual, which would include voting. They
cannot provide laws to take that away. They can determine
competency, however, because people -- ultimately, they will put
in the law.

Val>> So we have some work to do, in other words, on this
issue, don't we?

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> That's right, and I think it's a key topic
and it's something that, you know, I suspect that a lot of
people will say, gee whiz, we never thought about that too much.

Val>> And you might be recruited for a taskforce (laughter).

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> (Laughter) There you go.

Val>> Professor Cotman, thank you so much for your thoughts.

Carl Cotman, Ph.D.>> You're welcome. Thank you, Val.

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Val>> East Los Angeles has a history of producing interesting
Latin music, but very few groups are headed up by two female
singers. Well, for Hispanic Heritage Month, we thought it would
be appropriate to open up the Life and Times Vault and bring you
the story of two aspiring Latinas who started a group called
"Goddess 13". Did they achieve the success they were aiming
for? We'll bring you up to date, but first Esther Reyes
introduces us to the two Chicanas of "Goddess 13".

[Film Clip]

Esther Reyes>> Teresa Covarrubias and Alicia Armendiaz front
the band. They are veteran musicians who have evolved from punk
to folk. Their lyrics tackle issues such as feminism and
domestic violence and they're trying to do what no other East
Los Angeles women have done: gain recognition as musicians
without sacrificing their ethnic identities.

Teresa Covarrubias>> The reason that we have gotten the
attention that we have gotten is because we are Chicana. If
were like another west side band, who cares? There's a million
bands coming out of the west side, you know.

Alicia Armendiaz>> Nobody has ever done what we've done before,
so there's no one that they can tie us in with and say, oh, this
worked, so that means "Goddess 13" is going to work too.

Esther Reyes>> This is Troy Café, a coffee house in downtown
Los Angeles. It doubles as an art gallery and performance space
for Latino artists. Tonight "Goddess 13" is at Troy rehearsing
for their premier.

[Film Clip]

Esther Reyes>> Sean and Bibbe own the café. They have known
Teresa and Alicia since the 1970's when they were all part of
the Los Angeles punk scene.

Bibbe Hansen>> You got to see Alice in those days to really
understand the image of woman as avenging goddess.

[Film Clip]

Esther Reyes>> This is Alicia in 1981 when she and her band,
"The Bags", were featured in a documentary film about Hollywood
punk.

Alicia Armendiaz>> All the energy and all the madness that had
been built up and pent up inside of me for years just blew up on
the stage. I mean, I think I just went nuts.

[Film Clip]

Alicia Armendiaz>> I was aggressive and very verbal and very
argumentative and yet I was a loner. You know, I wanted to
speak my mind, but then I wanted to be left alone. So when punk
came along, and as soon as I saw one punk show, I thought I'm
going to do that. I've got to do that.

[Film Clip]

Esther Reyes>> Alicia wasn't the only Latina drawn to the punk
movement. In 1978, when punk reached East Los Angeles, Teresa
and some friends formed "The Brat".

[Film Clip]

Esther Reyes>> "The Brat" put out a record, but as they were
gaining popularity, they were losing creative control.

Teresa Covarrubias>> This management company had this idea of
what they wanted to do with the group and where they wanted to
take it and how they wanted to market us, and it just turned
everything sour.

Esther Reyes>> Professor of Ethnomusicology, Steve Loza, has
written a book called "Barrio Rhythm" that follows the history
of Mexican-American music in Los Angeles.

Steve Loza>> I don't think they have any predecessors. The
idea of two women incorporating all these themes in a very
smooth and, to me, attractive musical context and style, I
haven't seen anybody doing that particular kind of thing. To
me, that's something that could be very interesting in the
market.

Esther Reyes>> But in the music industry, a bicultural
background has historically been hard to market.

Steve Loza>> You're neither black nor white nor brown nor --
you know, what are you? It's not just a Latin marketing
Spanish. It's not just an English marketing English. So there
were a lot of major people that came out. People don't even
realize they were Mexican.

[Film Clip]

Steve Loza>> Andy Russell was a product of East Los Angeles, of
Boyle Heights. His real name was Andres Guerallago and, you
know, he was from a Mexican family. He sang Big Band music back
in the late 1940's. He was competing with Sinatra, with Perry
Como, and they changed his name to Andy Russell. It was more
marketable. They changed a lot of peoples' names back then.

[Film Clip]

Esther Reyes>> But, Loza says, times are changing.

Steve Loza>> As time goes on, we see that the identity factor
is becoming maybe somewhat less of a problem, but you can almost
have a bicultural musical product today like "Los Lobos" and
market it. That's why I think that a group like "Goddess 13" is
a very important symbol in today's musical market.

Esther Reyes>> Their concert at Troy is about a week away.
Today they are doing an informal show for a crowd in Silver
Lake.

[Film Clip]

Esther Reyes>> The song, "Happy Accident", is about Alicia's
personal experience with domestic violence.

[Film Clip]

Alicia Armendiaz>> My father was just incredibly important and
I loved him like I had never loved anyone else. He would beat
up my mother on a regular basis. When it would get really bad
and when I would see my mother bleeding and when I'd be so
afraid to go up to my dad that I felt like I didn't know him, I
would create little scenarios in my mind and one of them -- and
this is a recurring one -- was that I would kill him.

Esther Reyes>> The song is about a woman who accidentally
shoots her husband when he is about to beat her.

[Film Clip]

Announcer>> "A very special evening of entertainment for you.
We have the newly regrouped and reformed "Goddess 13" and we're
very happy to have them here tonight."

Esther Reyes>> This is the night Alicia and Teresa have been
working toward.

Alicia Armendiaz>> "We need everybody in the audience to keep
their fingers crossed."

Esther Reyes>> Now it's time to try out their new Spanish song,
"Soledad".

[Film Clip]

Alicia Armendiaz>> I'm interesting in reaching as many people
as I can, but I'm not willing to do whatever it takes to reach
them because, if I reach them by compromising, then I won't do
anything for them.

Teresa Covarrubias>> I think what drives us is just this need
to express ourselves and to create and to sing and to write.
You know, regardless of being recognized for it or being paid
for it, I think we're going to keep on doing it.

[Film Clip]

Val>> That story first aired ten years ago, so what has
happened to Alicia and Teresa since? Well, "Goddess 13" no
longer exists, but Alicia and Teresa have reunited with a former
musical colleague and revived the band "Los Tres" and Alicia has
become a mother and she performs in an all-female punk band
called "Stay At Home Bombs". And that's our program. I'm Val
Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching.
We'll see you next time.

Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val>> Next time on Life and Times --

California leads the nation in sending drug offenders to rehab
instead of prison, but are they able to kick the habit for good?

>> I'm speaking now as a recovering addict, not as the director
of a treatment program. For an addict, if you tell them going
in that, you know, this is chance number one and you get to fail
two more times before you're going to get in trouble, I'm going
to take the two more times.

Val>> That's next time on Life and Times.