Sunday, August 14, 2011

Pity the child with a parent on allergy alert


Many children are wrongly labelled as having a food allergy (Photo: Alamy)

Many children are wrongly labelled as having a food allergy (Photo: Alamy)


Lily’s mother dropped off her four year-old and a syringe. If her daughter accidentally encountered a peanut during her play-date, I was to inject her with adrenalin immediately.


This was a sobering lesson that not all allergies are in the mind. But sometimes I think that most of them are. Only about four per cent of children in this country suffer from a food allergy — but parents of the rest act as if their little treasures are in fatal danger from lacto-intolerance, food additives and allergies to nuts, chocolate and gluten. They press on their children strict diets and Germanic hygiene which, according to a Great Ormond Street consultant, mean ever more children need hospital treatment for reactions to common foodstuffs.


Neurotic (and usually middle-class) parents fasten on allergies to explain children’s low grades, bad moods and general disaffection. They are in and out of their GP’s surgery, seeking to identify one or more ingredients to ban. No wonder a doctor friend admitted to me that medical notes include acronyms such as FTP (first-time parent) and WW (worried well). GPs nod and listen but note down that these grown-ups come with a warning. They’re control freaks who can’t deal with life’s mess and dirt. How doctors must itch to prescribe a muddy country holiday and lots of stodgy nursery food for their offspring!


For parents on allergy alert, any activity outside their own home raises horrific possibilities. A few days after we moved, my daughter Izzy’s schoolmate and her mother came over for tea. Dust balls rolled over the floor, cardboard boxes filled the corridor, a stack of dishes rose from the sink. My visitor looked alarmed. When her daughter coughed twice, though, mummy got up and, smiling apologetically, cut short their visit. “She’s allergic to dust,” she said. Then, sneezing: “And so am I.” In her eagerness to flee the feckless mother in her squalid home, she didn’t even wait to sample my (wheat-filled, sugar-loaded) Victoria sponge.


Allergies, of course, allow neurotic parents to displace guilt. They can worry about iced cupcakes rather than workaholic schedules and fuss about the freshest source of soya milk rather than the latest marital row. Happily, children know how to sneak a treat past hyper-anxious parents. So, here’s another handy acronym for GPs: CSTP (child saner than parent)…


Men, the saying goes, age better than women. Not in the Jagger household they don’t. Mick Jagger at 68 still tours the world with the Rolling Stones, but in the rosy-hued suit he wears on stage he looks like the Pink Panther in his Zimmer-frame years. Sir Mick may still belt out Jumping Jack Flash but he now needs a retinue of 200, including a masseuse and personal trainer, to keep him from limping.


Now look at his ex-wife, Bianca. Since her (very bitter) divorce from the rocker, the Nicaraguan beauty has thrown herself into do-gooding. She has won international human-rights awards and agitates against dictatorships in Syria and China. Her speaking engagements and protest marches leave no time for a daily massage or caviar facial. Bianca looks a lot better – and is taken more seriously. Now who’s got Satisfaction?



I doubt that the Jaggers had a wedding list with John Lewis. But most newlyweds do — thank goodness: they are the easiest way to discharge one’s duty as guest and friend. John Lewis wants to make it even easier. The department store has conducted a survey of gift lists among couples with the same surname and found they like the same things. The Smiths want placemats and steak knives; keeping up with the Joneses involves drinking: they choose flutes and wine glasses. The Davies’s list hints at fine cuisine, with cookware from Le Creuset. But the most telling gift was the cooling rack on the Browns’ list. What a delicious image: did Gordon’s friends, Ed Balls and Charlie Whelan, present Sarah and her groom with a means to deal with his furious rants? I suppose John Lewis couldn’t provide a chewable carpet.



FBI tip led to bodies of father, kidnapped 2-year-old girl

Mad The bodies of kidnapped 2-year-old Madeline Samaan-Fay and her father were found by local authorities at a remote property the father owned, officials said.

Authorities plan to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death of the two, who were found in the father's SUV in the Grizzly Flats section of El Dorado County.

The kidnapping of Madeline prompted a statewide Amber Alert. Authorities believed she was snatched by her father, Mourad Samaan, after he learned his ex-wife had gained full custody of the girl.

Officials said they went to the area after a tip from the FBI.

The FBI "requested we do a search of a large piece of property in our area,"  Lt. Bryan Golmitz of the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department told the Sacramento Bee.

"When we did that, we located the vehicle," he said.

Hackers breach BART website and obtain personal data

Officials at the Bay Area Rapid Transit system were attempting to contact more than 2,400 customers Sunday afternoon to inform them that their personal information had been obtained and published by a group of hackers.

The security breach was perpetrated by the hacker-activist group Anonymous, which launched cyber attacks Sunday against BART and the Fullerton Police Department in retaliation for deadly confrontations between police and homeless men.

The attack did not appear to be successful in Fullerton, but officials at the San Francisco-area mass transit authority were forced to shut down MyBART.org, a marketing website designed to encourage riders to use the system for travel to leisure events.

The group posted the names, addresses, e-mail addresses and phone numbers of thousands of Bay Area residents, but a BART spokesman said the website held no sensitive financial information.

"We are in the process of contacting our customers to offer advice and extend regrets that this has happened," said BART spokesman Jim Allison.

Allison said the FBI was investigating the breach, and experts from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were advising the agency during the crisis.

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Stolen Rembrandt: Detectives say suspect had accomplices

Rembrandt's "The Judgment" as seen on the Linearis Institute website.

Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators believe that a man working with accomplices is responsible for the theft of a Rembrandt drawing from an exhibit at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey.

After reviewing hotel surveillance footage related to the theft of a Rembrandt late Saturday from a private art exhibit, detectives have determined that at least one man was involved, and he was probably working with other suspects in the well-orchestrated heist, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

The theft occurred when a curator was distracted by another person, officials said. The pen-and-ink drawing, valued at $250,000 or more, disappeared from the hotel between 10:20 and 10:35 p.m. "Our detectives are reviewing the hotel security video for information identifying those involved," Whitmore said.

Whitmore said the small piece, approximately 11-by-6 inches, is by Rembrandt van Rijn, the 17th-century Dutch master, and is titled "The Judgment." It was being exhibited in the hotel lobby and belongs to the Linearis Institute in Northern California.

"The hotel has top-quality security. We believe this was a well-thought-out and well-planned theft," Whitmore said. Sheriff's investigators plan to release an artist's sketch of a suspect in the theft. 

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Image: Rembrandt's "The Judgment" as seen on the Linearis Institute website. Credit: The Linearis Institute

Vernon lost millions in energy deals, Times investigation finds

Seal for the City of Vernon. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

The embattled city of Vernon has lost significant sums of money through investments in the energy business, according to a Times investigation.

The Times hired an accounting firm to review Vernon's annual financial reports dating to 2001.

Raman Sain, a principal at Holthouse, Carlin & Van Trigt, the largest accounting firm in Southern California, said the reports outline a steady decline in the city's finances since 2005 due to swelling debt, dwindling revenues and increased spending on salaries, benefits and legal fees.

The firm found that Vernon lost more than $130 million in "net assets" in the last six years. Sain said net assets are an important measure of a city's financial health because they compare the city's cash, property and other assets against its debts. Vernon's own auditor also described net assets as a "useful indicator" of the city's finances.

"It's not good," Sain said. "The net assets of the city are declining significantly, and the trend is so steep."

John Naimo, Los Angeles County's assistant auditor-controller who also examined Vernon's audited records on behalf of The Times, said: "Overall, it's a deteriorating picture."

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Photo: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Reader photos: Southern California Moments, Day 226

Click through for more photos of Southern California Moments.

Surf buddies: A boy helps carry a surfboard in this Aug. 2 photo taken at Redondo Beach by Karina Allrich. A variety of apps gives the cellphone photo a dreamy, nostalgic look.

Every day of 2011, we're featuring reader-submitted photos of Southern California Moments. Follow us on Twitter and visit the Southern California Moments homepage for more on this series.

Navy corpsman killed in Afghanistan while on patrol with Marines

Riley 
The remains of a 19-year-old Navy corpsman killed while on a foot patrol with Marines in Afghanistan were returned Saturday night to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Riley Gallinger-Long of Cornelius, Ore., was killed Thursday while on patrol in Marjah. He was the 45th Navy corpsman killed in Iraq and Afghanistan; corpsmen accompany Marines into combat to be ready to provide emergency medical aid.

Gallinger-Long is survived by his wife, Hope, his mother, Susan Blanchard, and his twin brother, Wyatt, who is also in the Navy.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: The casket of Corpsman Riley Gallinger-Long arrives at Dover Air Force Base. Credit: U.S. Air Force

When Cancer Steals the Joy of Food

Cancer steals much from the people it afflicts. For gastronome Anna Stoessinger, stomach cancer meant giving up a lifelong celebration of food.

With nothing but a small intestine left to digest food, my gastronomic future would hold only small, frequent meals, consumed slowly and deliberately, without my characteristic gusto. Without abandon. Without — there would be a lot of without.

“You can live without a stomach,” my doctor told me. I have often thought about what I could live without, if I had to: a savings account, an extra bedroom, the new Prada suede platform pump in burgundy. But a stomach never entered my mind. And food? It was so much more. As a little girl, sharing food with my mother was a solace, a joy, and a way of communicating. Sharing it with my husband has been as intimate as anything I’ve experienced. We fell in love one taste at a time: roadside cheeseburgers, bonito with ginger sauce, hazelnut gelato. After the first bite had lingered on our tongues, we’d say to each other: Wait for it. And then: Did you get that? The smoke? The spice? The texture? We always did.

And so, with just 10 days left with my trusted stomach, we set out to capture all that food meant — all the memories it conjured, all the happiness it brought. We were determined to eat as much and as well as possible.

Read the full column, “I Won’t Have the Stomach for This,” and then please join the discussion below.

Woman injured in San Fernando Valley shooting

Map shows approximate location of incident in black and recent crime reports in brown and red. Click for more details on The Times' interactive Crime L.A. project.

A young woman was injured early Sunday morning in the San Fernando Valley in what police say they are regarding as a gang-related shooting.

The victim, an 18- or 19-year-old woman, was shot twice by a suspect in a vehicle on the 16900 block of Devonshire Street at about 1 a.m., said Lt. Silva Atwater at the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire station. She did not have a description of the supect's vehicle.

The victim was transported to Northridge Hospital Medical Center and is in stable condition, Atwater said.

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Map: The shooting's approximate location is shown in black. Other recent reported crimes are in brown and red. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Stolen Rembrandt: Investigators reviewing hotel security video

Rembrandt's "The Judgment" as seen on the Linearis Institute website.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators are reviewing hotel surveillance footage after a work by Rembrandt was stolen Saturday evening from a private art exhibit at the Ritz Carlton Marina del Rey, officials said.

The theft occurred when a curator was distracted by another person, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. The pen-and-ink artwork, valued at $250,000 or more, vanished from the exclusive hotel between 10:20 and 10:35 p.m. "Our detectives are reviewing the hotel security video for information identifying those involved," he said.

Whitmore said the small piece, approximately 11-by-6 inches, is by Rembrandt van Rijn, the renowned 17th century Dutch painter and etcher, and is titled "The Judgment." It was being exhibited in the hotel lobby and belongs to the Linearis Institute, which sometimes shows its collections in upscale hotels.

"The hotel has top quality security. We believe this was a well-thought out and well-planned theft," Whitmore said.

Located at 4375 Admiralty Way in Marina del Rey, the Ritz-Carlton is known for its art exhibits.

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Image: Rembrandt's "The Judgment" as seen on the Linearis Institute website. Credit: The Linearis Institute

Actor Orlando Brown arrested on suspicion of DUI

Orlando Bloom Orlando Brown, a former star of the television series "That's So Raven," has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.

The 23-year-old actor and rapper, who played Eddie Thomas on "That's So Raven," was arrested about 11:30 p.m. Friday night by the Los Angeles Police Department West Traffic Division and booked at the Hollywood station, officials said.

He was released on his own recognizance at 7:42 a.m. the next morning. LAPD Officer Rosario Herrera had no further details about the circumstances of Brown's arrest.

He is scheduled for a court appearance Sept. 8.

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Photo: Actor Orlando Brown attends the first annual Cynthia Stafford "Gifted Day At The Geffen Playhouse" on June 15 in Los Angeles.  Credit:  John M. Heller/Getty Images)

Woman dead after car crash in Angeles National Forest

A woman died after her car went over the side of a road in the Angeles National Forest early Sunday, authorities said.

A witness at the Coldwater Campground reported seeing a blue Honda go off the road near mile marker 32 on San Gabriel Canyon Road at about 2:27 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.

The name of the victim, a woman between 40 and 50 years old, has not been released. CHP Officer Jennifer Connolly said she could not say whether the car had any other occupants.

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Rembrandt painting stolen from Marina del Rey art exhibit, officials say

A Rembrandt work valued at more than $250,000 was stolen Saturday evening from a private art exhibit at the Ritz Carlton Marina del Rey when a curator was distracted by an apparent diversion, Los Angeles County Sheriff's officials said.

The painting vanished from the exclusive hotel between 10:20 and 10:35 p.m., said Steve Whitmore, a sheriff's spokesman.

"The hotel has top quality security. We believe this was a well-thought out and well-planned theft," Whitmore said.

Located at 4375 Admiralty Way in Marina del Rey, the Ritz-Carlton is known for its art exhibits.

The work by Rembrandt van Rijn, the renowned Dutch 17th Century painter and etcher, is said to be titled "The Judgment."

-- Richard Winton

After threat by Anonymous hackers, Fullerton cops take precautions

Protest600_lpw6lznc 

Fullerton police say they are taking security measures after the hacker-activist group Anonymous threatened cyber attacks in response to the death of homeless man Kelly Thomas during a confrontation with officers.

The city said Saturday night it had deployed its information technology staff to secure computers and electronic communications and monitor the systems for any intrusions.

"Like most municipalities we are very electronically integrated and have a significant number of computers and computer systems," Fullerton Police Department Sgt. Andrew Goodrich said. "It's definitely something we are taking seriously and doing everything we can to make sure our facilities are secure."

No sabotage or disruptions have been detected, Goodrich said.

In a letter sent to the police department and distributed on the Internet, Anonymous said "Operation Fullerton" would avenge the death of Thomas by treating the department's technology systems "with as much mercy as was shown Kelly Thomas."

"This is not just a brutal attack against another human being, but an attack against human rights," the rambling letter says, demanding the prosecution of the five Fullerton officers reportedly involved in the beating of Thomas during a routine check on a car break-in report.

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-- Carol J. Williams

Photo: Protesters gather at the Fullerton police station Saturday. Credit: Ken Steinhardt / Orange County Register via Associated Press

FBI probing death of abducted 2-year-old girl, father

Mad Authorities are trying determine the cause and time of death of 2-year-old Madeline Samaan-Fay and her father, whose bodies were found in a remote area of El Dorado County on Saturday.

The FBI told reporters in Somerset, Calif., north of Sacramento, that they could be at the scene through the weekend trying to piece together what happened and trace the pair's last days.

The kidnapping of Madeline prompted a statewide Amber Alert. Authorities believed she was snatched by her father, Mourad Samaan, after he learned his ex-wife had gained full custody of the girl.

They were apparently found inside Samaan's SUV.

According to Fox 40 San Diego, Madeline was abducted last Sunday but because of rules involving abductions by parents, an Amber Alert was not issued until Friday.

At that point, officials said they came to fear for the girl's life.

They were last seen Aug. 7 on a store videotape.

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-- Shelby Grad

Photo: Madeline in family photo.  Credit: Fox 40 Sacramento.

4th fatal crash on Angeles Crest Highway prompts safety concerns

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/02/25/cresthighway.jpeg

A fatal car accident Saturday on Angeles Crest Highway, the fourth such incident since the road was recently reopened, comes amid concerns about the road's safety.

A stretch of the steep, winding route through the San Gabriel Mountains was closed from January 2010 to June of this year for repairs of road damage caused by heavy rain that washed debris from slopes denuded by the Station fire.

Three fatal accidents — one involving a motorcycle and the other two solo car crashes — occurred on the highway during the first three weeks after it reopened, and CHP officers blamed all three deaths on excessive speed.

State transportation officials have launched an investigation into those deaths, which the California Highway Patrol had attributed to excessive speed and, in one case, drunk driving.

During its investigation of the lower portion of Angeles Crest, Caltrans will evaluate signage, traffic volume and enforcement.The CHP has intensified traffic enforcement efforts along the roadway since its reopening, especially on weekends. Officers patrolling Angeles Crest on July 30 and 31 cited 60 drivers for excessive speed and other offenses.

Kidnapped 2-year-old girl, father found dead inside SUV

The kidnapping of Madeline Samaan-Fay prompted a statewide Amber Alert. Authorities believed she was snatched by her father, Mourad Samaan. Few details were immediately released about how the bodies were discovered. They were apparently found inside Samaan's SUV.

According to Fox 40 San Diego, Madeline was abducted Sunday but because of rules involving abductions by parents, an Amber Alert was not issued until Friday. At that point, officials said they came to fear for the girl's life.

ALSO:

Iraq vet gets kidney transplant from fellow Marine

Prehistoric flying creature lands on Cardiff surfer statue

Distraught man sets bathrobe ablaze at JW Marriott, police say

--Shelby Grad

Photo: Madeline and her father from store video tape. Credit: Fox 40 Sacramento.

 

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