Governor Schwarzenegger provides remarks at the graduation Ceremony for cogeneration

Before you take your seats we would like to take a moment to honor the memories of our most recently fallen CHP officers. In the time that CTC 1 of 2010 has been in academy training our department has suffered the loss of five of its brothers in the line of duty.• Officer Daniel Benavides, ID 15193, Border Division Air Operations,• Officer Thomas Coleman, ID 17338, San Bernardino area,• Officer Philip Ortiz, ID 10428, West Los Angeles area,• Officer Justin McGrory, ID 18606, Barstow area and• Officer Brett Oswald, ID 13146, Templeton Area.Please join me in a moment of silence as we remember these officers' dedication to the department and to those they served. Thank you. Please be seated.Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, members of the graduating class, families and friends, the Academy training staff and I are pleased and honored to be taking part in this ceremony today. The graduates have worked extremely hard to get to this point in their careers and I am sure that they appreciate the fact that each of you are here to share this moment with them.Each member of the class has demonstrated the ability to perform all tasks of a California Highway Patrol officer. Therefore we are proud to announce that all are qualified for graduation and promotion to the rank of officer.At this time I would like to introduce some of the special guests we have with us this morning. Each has taken time from a busy schedule to join us in honoring members of this graduating class. Please hold your applause until the introductions are completed.Beginning on my far right, the manager of the Academy's Instructional Services Program, Lieutenant DeWayne Lewis. Next to him, the manager of the Academy's Tactical Training Program, Lt. Mike Cardoza. Next to him is Assistant Commissioner, Field, Ramona Prieto. Next to her is Assistant Commissioner, Staff, Warren Stanley. Next to him is Deputy Commissioner Max Santiago.It now gives me great pleasure to introduce the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, Joe Farrow, who will introduce this morning's distinguished guests. Commissioner Farrow. (Applause)Thank you very much, Captain Newman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the California Highway Patrol Academy. It's certainly an honor and a privilege for all of you to be here today to join in the celebration today for these 106 men and women who have passed the ultimate test to become members of the California Highway Patrol, which we believe is one of the finest law enforcement agencies in the country.I would like to start by acknowledging a few, a few special guests that we have invited here today that are seated on the floor today. And I wanted to start with the men and women from the local law enforcement agencies, the brothers and sisters of the California Highway Patrol, all the men and women who serve proudly within state agencies, the county agencies and local police departments. Many are in uniform, some are not but a special tribute. Thank you very much for being here, you honor us. It's great to serve with you out on the front lines and we wish all of you well, all the men and women in law enforcement that are here today. (Applause)Also a special recognition and an appreciation for our men and women in uniform who protect the borders of our fine country. There is conflict in the world right now; there are many men and women who serve our armed forces proudly here on a day-to-day basis. There are several here today in the audience, some in the overflow rooms. But those fine men and women who protect our borders day in and day out so we can secure the confines of California and the United States, thank you very much for being here, thank you very much for what you do. (Applause)And a special, a special welcome to a good friend of the California Highway Patrol -- we are actually in her Assembly District right now -- she is a great friend for the Patrol, a great supporter for law enforcement in the communities in which we serve. This is actually part of her district. She has come over here today to honor the men and women of the California Academy and it's very, very nice to have here today Assemblymember Mariko Yamada. (Applause)And before I introduce my boss, the Secretary of the Business, Transportation & Housing -- I've had an opportunity to meet with the cadets, we had a long time to talk just the other day. You know how I feel about you, you know the mission you're about to go on. I want to be one of the first to congratulate you on a job well done.I want to be able to tell you that when you first came here you came to us. You selected the Highway Patrol as your career, you wanted to be a member of this department. As a good friend used to talk to the cadets when he would come up here, he'd say "That's what you did, you chose a career with the Highway Patrol, that we didn't choose you, you chose us."And when you were asked to come up here you were asked to display your talents to some very strict physical standards, a lot of emotional standards and some very high academic standards and you were able to fulfill those requirements.And now today, we select you. We bring you onboard to one of the finest law enforcement agencies in the country. You have done it all, you have distinguished yourself and you've met every challenge that we could offer you. And you have done exceedingly well, so I am one of the first to congratulate you on becoming a member of the California Highway Patrol. (Applause) And I'll have another personal message for you a little bit later on in the proceedings.But it does give me great pleasure to be able to introduce my immediate boss. For those of you that do not know the governmental structure of the state of California, the Highway Patrol is one agency, one department in the Business, Transportation & Housing. It's an agency that oversees some 44,000 state employees and some 12 different disciplines, disciplines such as Caltrans, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Office of Traffic Safety and the Highway Patrol just being one of those departments. We always like to think that we're the favorite of those departments but it's just one of the 12 that he oversees.He's been a good friend of the Patrol, a strong supporter of myself, a strong supporter of the organization. He's been to every single graduation that we've had, he's been to every line of duty memorial service that we've had. He's been with me through the very difficult times and he's been with me through all the good and he's a good friend of mine, he's a good friend of the Patrol. I'd like to introduce my boss, the Honorable Dale E. Bonner. (Applause)Good morning. Thank you. Thank you very much, Commissioner Farrow, not only for the always warm and generous introduction but in particular for the very strong and stable leadership that you've brought to the department. We appreciate your service to the state of California.Thank you also to all of the families and friends and loved ones who are with us here, not only in the room here but those who are watching from afar. Thank you for encouraging all the cadets and supporting them, helping them get to this point in their careers. We appreciate you being here with us this morning.Captain Newman, thank you and the Academy staff for the phenomenal job that you do in preparing these cadets for the service that they are about to enter. And, of course, to all the cadets, thank you all very much for stepping up and choosing to devote your career to law enforcement.As secretary, nothing brings me more pride and satisfaction and humility than to be here on a day like today to share this moment with you as you make this transition to this next stage in your career. Today you are joining -- I think the Commissioner said, "The finest law enforcement agency in the country." I like to think of it as the finest law enforcement agency on the planet. You're joining an elite team of highly trained professional women and men who devote their days to sacrifice in order to provide a high level of public safety to those who not only live in California but come here to visit and do business and so we appreciate that a great deal.So it's a great honor for me to be here this morning, not only to say congratulations but more importantly to say thank you for a job well done here at the Academy and for the job that we know you're going to be doing as you go forward.Today I have the added privilege of introducing someone who is not only a visionary leader but a strong supporter and friend of the California Highway Patrol. Throughout his term as governor he has led by example and exemplified all of the core values that have supported the department throughout its history -- character, integrity, judgment, loyalty, courtesy, honor and knowledge. And like you, he understands the importance and the meaning of hard work and sacrifice. And also like the women and men of the Highway Patrol, he doesn't believe in cowering in the face of adversity but instead he inspires me and all of us here in Sacramento to always continue to move forward even in the most difficult of times.And so we're very pleased that he's been able to take some time out of his extraordinarily busy schedule just to spend the morning to offer us a few words of appreciation and encouragement. We're truly honored to have him with us this morning. And so without further ado, please join me in welcoming my boss, your chief advocate, our Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Applause)Thank you. Thank you very much. As a matter of fact, I'm very happy to be here today. As a matter of fact, I can see also out there in the faces of everyone that you also are very happy -- very, very happy. As a matter of fact, I think that you are as happy as LeBron James is, leaving Cleveland. (Laughter) Talking about LeBron James, are we covering that on ESPN today? I hope so.But anyway, it is really wonderful to be here today and I'm very proud to be here because I'm very proud of each one of you. Today you join the state's premiere police force and you've committed yourself to the safety and protection of the people of the great state of California. Few are called to do what you are about to do and walk the path that you about to walk and on behalf of the state's 38 million residents I thank you for accepting this call to serve. You all are warriors. (Applause)You all are warriors, pledging today to champion the innocent and to safeguard the lives of our good citizens. Can we turn that down a little bit? Thank you. The CHP has been created in 1929 so that California's laws could be uniformly enforced all across the state of California. The idea was very simple; no more local police setting up speed traps to drive up their revenues.But the job that you are about to do has grown since then, has expanded. Now you are going into all kinds of different challenges; calming down riots, responding to disasters, fighting gangs and saving lives at accident scenes and the list goes on and on. Now, I have played an action hero many times in my movies, as you know but you are true action heroes. Let's give a big hand to the great, great action that you're creating. (Applause)Now, you will put your life on the line on our behalf and I admire your selflessness and your sacrifice and your strength. You have just conquered 27 grueling weeks in an intense program that has made you among the most highly-trained cadets in the world. After thousands of hours of push-ups, thousands of chin-ups, the crunches -- you have developed muscles that I can see through the uniform. (Laughter) All the deltoids and the abs and the pecs popping out, I can see it all. And you have crawled and you have jumped and you have climbed and, of course, run, run, run.And it isn't just the physical training that amazes me so much that you have accomplished but also you became expert marksmen and you have all become professional drivers capable of speeds and driving feats that would make any Hollywood stuntman jealous. (Laughter) You have learned conversational Spanish. Maybe I should come here and learn English. But anyway, that's beside -- (Laughter) that's beside the point. And SWAT duties, investigative techniques, how to testify in court and how to command a scene in chaos. I mean, I just get exhausted talking about all the training that you have done.But there's one thing that you can't train for and that is character, that is passion. That comes from within; you were born with that. It will come naturally to you to take risks in your new career and the dangers that you will face will be all too real. Those who are ready to sacrifice themselves in the service of our community are my personal heroes. You are my heroes.Now, I know a little bit about law enforcement simply because my father was a police officer. And I would watch him put on his uniform every day. I remember it very well. As a matter of fact, he made me always shine his belt buckle and polish his shoes every morning. That part I hated, I have to admit it. But I loved watching him put on his uniform. As a matter of fact, he always let me put on his jacket first before he put it on. Then, I remember, I was so little the jacket went all the way down to the floor. He always wanted me to be a police officer just like him. And I watched him put his shield on his chest and walk proudly out of the door.That gave me a deep respect for our law enforcement officers and also for their families. Also for their families, because I understand what it is like to say goodbye to your loved one each and every day and wonder if this is the day that they do not come home. Is this the day where there will be a knock on my door and our family will change forever? Is this the last pat on the head or the last hug or the last kiss? Your families will live with that question every day. This is why I want to mention the families, because you will sacrifice and they will serve too. So let's give a big hand to the families out there for their great partnership. (Applause)Now, unfortunately, several families of our CHP officers are in tremendous pain right now. As you all know, this has been a devastating time for California's law enforcement family. Since May we have lost five CHP officers in the line of duty. Their deaths leave a void that can never be filled. There simply are no words adequate enough to take away the pain that their loved ones will carry with them each day forward. Their wives, their children, their parents, their brothers, their sisters, their friends, their fellow officers and the list goes on and on.Over the last week I've traveled to these officers' funerals and I've handed their wives flags that have flown over the state's Capitol in memory of each of these officers. And I've prayed with their families, held their children and thanked their parents for raising heroes at their kitchen tables. I hope that there is some small comfort in the undying gratitude that comes from me and from my wife Maria and the people of the great state of California when those officers died serving.As a matter of fact, I would just like to tell you a little bit about each of these fallen heroes, if you don't mind, because they're true heroes:• There was Officer Justin McGrory of Victorville. Justin was 28 years old and I know he loved his job. His dad, Bob, was a CHP lieutenant, so you can imagine the conversations that they had, talking about law enforcement and about catching the bad guys and rescuing drivers in trouble. Well, on Tuesday I met Justin's three children and gave them each a teddy bear. And I also gave one to his wife Kelly, who is eight months pregnant with their fourth child, a girl named Casey.• Officer Brett Oswald of Atascadero. Brett's buddies called him the most well read guy that they've ever met, an interesting, fascinating guy. He would talk just about anything. He was so well read that he could talk about the stock market and about travel, about cigars -- which is, of course, one of my favorite conversations -- or salsa dancing and philosophy and the list goes on and on.• And he also saw beauty in everything, especially in animals. His friends were telling at the funeral stories about them coming over to the house and there they would be greeted all of a sudden in the kitchen by a pig. And then they go the living room and they would be greeted by a dog and then by a deer. All kinds of animals were roaming around inside the house, relaxing in the house with Brett and with his wife Marlene.• And then there's Officer Thomas Coleman of Fontana. Tom was a proud marine, then an embassy guard in Italy. And then he really made a big move up and became a CHP officer. (Laughter) He loved motorcycles and he became a CHP motor officer. But Tom's greatest dream was to be a father and he made that dream come true with his wife Jamie.• And then Officer Dan Benavides of Indio. Danny was a CHP pilot. He was extremely proud of taking criminals off the streets. He was serious about his job but he also loved making people laugh and was a big practical joker. If you knew him then you were his friend and a target of his jokes. People say they never saw Danny without a smile. And he was very devoted to his wife Megan, who is here with us today and his daughter Madeline. Let's give them a big hand. They're here today with us. (Applause)• Then there's Officer Phil Ortiz of Valencia. Phil joined the CHP in 1982 and he was an incredibly dedicated man, incredibly dedicated to the people of his community. As a matter of fact, he was so dedicated that one time he drove on his motorcycle and he was stung by a bee right on his face. But he didn’t stop, he didn't pull over. He just pulled the stinger out and continued on with his swollen face, kept on working the rest of his shift. That's how dedicated he was. Phil leaves behind his wife Jessica and a large, close extended family.You see, each of those heroes truly lived the words of the oath, the oath each of you are about to take. They laid down their lives rather than swerve from the path of duty. That integrity and sense of duty, of course, is in the heart of every CHP officer.And I can tell you that your commissioner, Joe Farrow, models those characteristics every day and especially in the recent weeks. I've watched him rush to comfort the families of these fallen officers, speak at their funerals with great passion and keep our CHP force strong all through these tragedies. I am so proud that we in California have such a great commissioner. He is fighting for you and he's fighting for your safety. Let's give him a big, big hand. (Applause)And I want you to know that when you leave here today to go out there on the front lines that you have every resource that I could give you, because I love the CHP. When I became governor one of the first things that I did was to begin building up the Highway Patrol. I increased the CHP Road Patrol and funded new positions to create the largest staffing increase in four decades. I know that more and more miles are being traveled on our California roads and there are more vehicles that are registered. As a matter of fact, there are 33 million vehicles registered in California and, of course, our state has more licensed drivers than any other state. So you have my support. And since your law enforcement family protects my family, that makes us all family. That makes us all family.I honor each of you, your commitment. I honor your courage; I honor your conviction. So thank you and the people of California thank you. So congratulations on your graduation day. Be safe and welcome to the California Highway Patrol.Thank you very much and God bless all of you. Thank you. (Applause)Thank you, Governor Schwarzenegger. Cadets, give him one.That's for you, sir. (Laughter)We now move on to the portion of this morning's ceremony in which we give recognition to a few cadets who distinguished themselves during their time here at the Academy. This class, like those before it, has developed a bond which will remain throughout their careers. That bond is exemplified by the selection of the class president and company commanders.At this time I'd like to call upon Lieutenant DeWayne Lewis to introduce the president of Cadet Training Class 1 of 2010. Lt. Lewis.Thank you, Captain Newman. The class president was elected by the cadets to represent the class during their time here at the Academy. In their selection the cadets looked for an individual who they believed exhibited outstanding leadership. They found such a person in Cadet Michael Caldwell.Through Michael Caldwell's strong organizational skills and effective communications, he was able to prove himself as a leader and ultimately was successful in promoting an overall sense of camaraderie within the class. Cadet Caldwell comes to the Academy from Paso Robles, California and he is 35 years old. On behalf of the Academy staff and CTC 1 of 2010, I would like to present Cadet Caldwell with an award which recognizes his leadership abilities as class president. (Applause)Thank you. Governor Schwarzenegger, Commissioner Farrow, Secretary Bonner, Captain Newman, Academy staff, distinguished guests, families and friends. On behalf of CTC 1-10 it is my honor and privilege to welcome you here today. I would also like to make a special welcome to Ms. Megan Benavides, the wife of fallen officer Daniel Benavides.On January 4th, 2010, 179 cadets embarked on a new journey that few have started and even fewer have finished. Today, 27 weeks later, 106 cadets come to the end of that journey only to begin a new adventure as an officer in the California Highway Patrol. We started as individuals from a wide cross-section of society but quickly realized that the key to success to unity, which is indicative of our class motto, "Strength Through Esprit de Corps."Together we have conquered and overcome countless training evolutions, some of which we thought would never end, like the five-second taser ride. We celebrated with each other over surviving high speed, qualifying at the range, certifying in PMA and passing Scenarios. We had to dig deep to find the mental fortitude which has brought each one of us to this momentous occasion.With that being said, we didn’t walk this path alone. The prayers, encouragement, sacrifices and support of our family and friends has been fundamental in our success. Without you we would not be here today. You made sure that things at home were running smooth, enabling us to focus our energy and our attention on our training, allowing us to make it here to graduation.CTC I-10 would also like to extend a thanks to the Staff Office, the Physical Training staff, Emergency Vehicle Operations staff, the Range staff, Enforcement Tactics staff and all the academic departments that have watched over us as instructors and mentors. We are grateful that you have chosen to dedicate yourselves, giving 100 percent of your time and energy. You ensured that we were prepared and qualified to wear the badge of the California Highway Patrol.To my classmates, it has been a great honor to serve beside you during our training. We have shared sweat, blood, tears, sore muscles and laughter as we became a family. In a few moments, when we are sworn in as officers, we will be privileged in becoming part of the CHP family. As we go forward from this stage it is my deep desire that we will each lead by example in our families, our communities and as officers.We also must not forget the 220 officers who have gone before us, five of which we personally heard the bell toll for during our time here at the Academy. Each of these officers gave the ultimate sacrifice to provide the highest level of safety, service and security to the people of California.As a class we would like to pay special tribute to one of these officers. On May 7th, 2010, Officer Daniel Benavides, ID 15193 of Border Division Air Operations, lost his life in the line of duty. His years of service and dedication will be forever an inspiration to us and to future officers. CTC 1-10 would like to dedicate this ceremony in his honor and present a plaque to Mrs. Benavides with a promise that we will continue to honor Daniel by fulfilling our new responsibilities as CHP officers, with dedication, integrity and CHP pride, just as he did. Mrs. Benavides? (Applause)Personally, I would like to give thanks and praise to Jesus Christ, my Lord and savior, for giving me the strength to finish the training here at the Academy. I want to thank my wife, Joanna and my six kids, Madison, Malory, Micah, Mason, Montana and Malachi. They all gave me their unconditional love and support. (Applause)In conclusion, I would like to give special thanks to our commander, Captain Newman, who has assembled the finest law enforcement training staff in the world. Captain Newman, on behalf of CTC I-10, the newest members of the California Highway Patrol, I'm honored to present you with our class plaque. (Applause)Thank you, Cadet Caldwell. Following a long-standing Academy tradition the class plaque will be permanently displayed in the Recreation Room where you will be able to observe it after the ceremony. I want to thank the class for paying tribute to Officer Benavides and his family. Officers Coleman, Ortiz, McGrory and Oswald will be honored by the members of CTC 2 of '10 at their graduation ceremony in October.Now I would like to call upon Lieutenant Mike Cardoza to introduce the company commanders of Cadet Training Class 1 of 2010. Lt. Cardoza. (Applause)Thanks, Captain Newman. The Academy selects individuals to serve as company commander based upon leadership ability and maturity. These positions carry with them a great deal of responsibility. Company commanders are expected to set the example for other cadets to follow and act as a liaison between the cadets and Academy staff. As demonstrated by the outstanding body of cadets before us this morning, it is apparent that the company commanders of Cadet Training Class I of 2010 performed their duties in an exemplary manner and in doing so gained the respect both of their peers and the Academy staff.Therefore it is my pleasure this morning to present the company commanders with a special award acknowledging their leadership and dedication to duty.A Company Commander Cadet Vincenzo Alvarez is 38 years old and comes from Lake Elsinore, California. (Applause)B Company Commander Cadet Justin Maier is 29 years old and comes from Atwater, California. Would you please step up and accept your award as B Company Commander. (Applause)C Company Commander Cadet Yevgeny Zubku is 26 years old and comes from Elk Grove, California. Would you please accept your award as C Company Commander? (Applause)Thank you, Lt. Cardoza. Throughout each of our lives leadership, achievement and competition play important roles. Life at the Academy is no different. Here our cadet program is divided into several categories. Individual evaluations are made and awards are given to cadets that have distinguished themselves by consistently delivering outstanding performance. The award categories are Valedictorian, Outstanding Athlete, Outstanding Marksman, Most Inspirational Cadet and Outstanding Cadet.The recipients of these awards receive a personal plaque in honor of his or her outstanding achievement. We are very proud of our awards program and are especially proud of the commitment, dedication and effort that these cadets exhibited to receive these well-deserved honors.Our first award will be presented to the Class Valedictorian. Presenting this award will be Assistant Commissioner Ramona Prieto. Commissioner Prieto?Thank you, Captain Newman and good morning. Cadets who complete Academy curriculum spend 1,280 classroom hours studying over 70 subjects. Success in each course is signified by passing a comprehensive exam. Grades from these examinations are averaged into a final score and the cadet who achieves the top overall academic score receives the award for Class Valedictorian.The Academic class average for CTC 1-2010 was 92.98 percent. The Valedictorian of the class attained a final score of 97.75 percent. Cadet Jeffrey Clements, 24 years old, comes from Simi Valley, California. Cadet Clements, would you please accept your award for your outstanding academic achievement? (Applause)Governor Schwarzenegger, Secretary Bonner, Commissioner Farrow, honored guests, family and friends, on behalf of Cadet Training Class I of 2010, we welcome you and thank you for being here today.On January 4th, 2010, 179 men and women entered the gates of the finest law enforcement training academy in the world to begin their grueling 27-week journey to become officers of the California Highway Patrol. Today that journey culminates with the 106 cadets that are sitting before you.Many of us left the comforts of home, family, friends and, in some cases, successful careers, because we heard a higher calling. We realized that our moral clarity would not allow us to sit back and let others provide this great state with the safety, service and security that so many take for granted.Over the course of our training we received approximately 1,300 hours of instruction, roughly the equivalent of two years of college, packed into 27 weeks. While this was a daunting task, CTC I-10 proved they were up to the challenge by achieving an academic class average of 92.98, a testament to the quality of the individuals seated before you today.Our success can best be described through our class motto, "Strength Through Esprit de Corps." It was our esprit de corps that gave us the strength to continue through the blood, sweat and tears that were shed on this very gym floor during the early morning PT sessions. It's what gave us the motivation to continue on during the long and cold perimeter runs in the pouring rain of the pre-dawn hours. It was our esprit de corps that gave us the strength and perseverance to push on as we mourned the loss of five California Highway Patrol Officers during our stay at the Academy. For many of us, these tragic losses only steadied our resolve to finish our training as we realized that these men and women died building upon the proud tradition that we are bound to uphold. It was our esprit de corps that got us here to graduation day today.Our class only grew stronger as we lost fellow cadets who could not meet the high requirements to continue on in this academy. While we were saddened to see our fellow cadets and friends leave, we could only momentarily pause to grieve as we had to press on in our training.It is our esprit de corps that will give us the strength to carry on if we one day find ourselves fighting for our life on the side of the highway.While this may sound like a frightening scenario to the loved ones here today, be assured that Captain Newman and his Academy staff have prepared us for what awaits. Many of the staff themselves have patrolled the meanest streets of the state and they have put into action what they have taught us. They have moved under fire and closed with the enemy. They have comforted crash victims, experiencing the worst days of their life and they know that this endeavor is deadly serious. This is why the training demanded us to be pushed to what we thought was our absolute limits, only to be pushed further.To my fellow cadets, soon to be officers, I ask that you remember that the California Highway Patrol is the number one law enforcement agency in the nation and arguably the number one in the world. Being number one in the world requires that we pay a very high price. This Academy laid the foundation of our law enforcement knowledge and skills that will be used for our entire CHP career. Mastering these skills should be our priority, as our lives, the lives of our fellow officers and the public, depend on it. Stay focused, train hard and be the professionals that we've been trained to be.Remember to thank your families and friends for supporting you along this journey. They will continue to be your strength in the days ahead as you face the challenges of break in and probation.It has been an absolute honor training beside you these last 27 weeks and I thank you for the memories and the lifelong friendships. God bless and good luck. (Applause)Thank you, Cadet Clements. The next awards are for Outstanding Athlete and Outstanding Marksmanship. Making the presentations this morning is Assistant Commissioner, Staff, Warren Stanley. Commissioner Stanley?Thank you, Captain Newman. Physical demands are placed on California Highway Patrol Officers throughout their careers. To prepare for these demands cadets participate in strenuous physical conditioning program which develops both cardiovascular and anaerobic strength. The 87 hours they spend in physical training brought these cadets to levels of achievement they thought never possible.Every cadet is required to successfully complete a battery of challenging physical tests before graduation. Cadets are also tested on push-ups, sit-ups, body fat levels and a timed mile and a half run. The top athlete for a Cadet Training Class I of 2010 is 28 years old and comes from Chowchilla, California. Cadet Jonathon Pope, please accept your award for the Top Athlete. (Applause)Cadets receive over 93 hours of firearms training. This includes intensive instruction in firearm safety and in the practical applications of all departmental weapons. Each cadet must pass what is known as "A task oriented qualification course," with a pistol, shotgun and rifle. To graduate, each cadet must maintain 100 percent shooting accuracy within stringent time limits. In addition to this qualification course cadets must successfully complete a realistic combat-oriented course using both the pistol and the shotgun. Those cadets who demonstrate the highest level of proficiency are then invited to participate in yet one more level of competition. In this intense challenge the cadet who demonstrates the highest level of shooting accuracy along with the fastest completion time earns a special honor as Top Gun.This morning we have a cadet who has earned such a distinction. He is 26 years old and comes from Elk Grove, California. Cadet Yevgeny Zubku, congratulations on your award for Outstanding Marksman. (Applause)Thank you, Commissioner Stanley. Our next award is for Most Inspirational Cadet. Presenting this award is Deputy Commissioner Max Santiago. Commissioner Santiago?Thank you, Captain Newman. Our next award recognizes an individual with the ability to motivate others to unusual levels of achievement. This ability is usually described as inspirational. An inspirational leader encourages, assists, counsels and befriends everyone. Nowhere is that description more appropriate than at the California Highway Patrol Academy, where at least one cadet in every class demonstrates a capacity to genuinely inspire others. The cadets of Training Class I of 2010 to asked to select by secret ballot the individual who they felt most personified the word "inspirational."This cadet is 31 years old and comes from Lakewood, California. Cadet Marcus Guirguis, will you please step forward to accept this tribute from your classmates as the Most Inspirational member of your class? (Applause)Thank you, Commissioner Santiago. Our final award is for Outstanding Cadet. Making the presentation this morning will be our Commissioner Joe Farrow. Commissioner Farrow?The award for Outstanding Cadet is based upon a rating by the Academy staff. The qualities considered for this award are leadership ability, professional bearing, appearance and demeanor. In addition, the grades for academics, weapons, EVOC -- that's the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course -- and physical training are added for a composite score. The net result is the selection of a cadet who is indeed exceptional.It is my pleasure and privilege to present the Outstanding Cadet Award for Cadet Training Class I of 2010. This cadet is 34 years old and comes from Red Bluff, California. Cadet Jason Wakeman, will you please step forward to accept this high honor? (Applause)Governor Schwarzenegger, would you please join me in the award? (Applause)Thank you, Commissioner Farrow. Let's give them all a well-deserved hand. (Applause)We'll now move on to the portion of the ceremony that the cadets have been most waiting for. They will now prepare to receive their badges, graduation certificates and geographical assignments.Meanwhile, please enjoy this short video the class has put together for you highlighting some of the challenges they have faced during this 27-week journey that has earned them the right to be standing before you today. For those seated in the gymnasium, we invite you to stand.

Officer Paulson, please prepare the class for the presentations.

Governor Schwarzenegger receive folder Crown Fire and Fires Statewide status

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Friday, 07/30/2010   Print Version |

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We welcome you here to the incident base for the Crown incident here in Antelope Valley in the city of Palmdale. I'm Michael Freeman, fire chief of Los Angeles County Fire Department.We have a number of elected officials here today and we certainly welcome them. I'd like to acknowledge Supervisor Michael Antonovich who is here with us, also several members of the Assembly, Assemblymember Steve Knight and local elected officials as well.This fire continues to challenge firefighters. There were very specific objectives that were provided this morning and that is to protect life and property, to limit injuries. And the firefighters have been very successful at that. We've not had any additional significant damage to homes or other structures this afternoon.The fire has grown since this morning, nearly 5,000 acres. And as we experience the wind right here, that is the real challenge for us right now, is the wind continuing to move the fire.There are many people here that are going to speak. And I'd like to certainly welcome our governor for being here with us. Always here, always supportive of the firefighters and law enforcement and everyone in public safety working together to protect life and property.We've also worked very hard today to protect the infrastructure, basically the power grid, the high-voltage power lines, and that will be covered in a moment.But it gives me great pleasure at this time to introduce to you Secretary Matt Bettenhausen of Cal EMA. Secretary?Chief, thank you. The chief and all of our local partners and state partners and volunteers, we appreciate all the great work that they're doing. As the Governor frequently says, we have the best law enforcement, fire, volunteers in the nation. We have got a world-class mutual aid system and I think that you've seen them at work here today in terms of the resources that we've been throwing at this.Las night as we looked at the number of structures that were threatened and the way the fire was growing and the expectations that the winds would pick up today, the Governor instructed me to start working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department for Homeland Security to request a federal management assistance grant, which will help us with the financial costs and the resources in order to combat that fire. And I'm pleased that the Governor's request last night -- actually, early this morning about 12:00, 12:12 this morning -- we got the call that the FMAG was granted, so that's going to also help us, assist as we continue to battle this fire.So I appreciate all of the great work and support that the Governor has had in terms of making us able to build the mutual aid system that we're PetSTEP Pet Ramp able to deploy here today, the resources from the DC-10s to the 747 that's just arrived.And so it's my honor and privilege to introduce my boss, the great partner and the birthday boy today, working -- Governor Schwarzenegger, happy birthday and thank you for all your help.Thank you very much. And I'm very happy to be here, not under these circumstances, but I mean just happy to come out here and to be assisting and making sure that the state does everything that it can in order to help with those fires.You know, we were very fortunate to not have fires for quite some time because the air temperature was cool and we didn't have the experiencing of dry weather and all those winds and so on. But all of a sudden the fire season kicked in and so here we are. But we are ready and we have, luckily, distributed resources all over the state of California so we are ready at any given time. And we also made sure that all the fire engines are manned with not just three men but with four or five men, and I think that's very important. And I think that there is great coordination going on between the local firefighters, the state and also federal firefighters throughout the state of California.So I wanted to say thank you very much to Secretary Bettenhausen from Cal EMA, who has been a great leader and has always been right there where the action is, and also with the coordination. Then L.A. County Chief Freeman -- he has also been here from early on and we want to thank him for his great, great work. And then Cal FIRE Chief McKain and then L.A. County Deputy Chief Bryant, who is the ground-fire incident commander. We want to thank also Supervisor Antonovich for being here today and also for Chief Tyler for being here with us. Sherriff Baca couldn't make it so he sent him, but he has also been really helpful with coordinating law enforcement.I first want to just also say thank you to the firefighters because I always make this clear, that we have the best and the most experienced firefighters in the world and the most courageous firefighters that risk their lives to go in there and to fight those fires. So let's give them all a big hand for the great work that they are doing. (Applause)I also want to thank law enforcement because, as you know, when you have fires like that evacuation is extremely important. And law enforcement is in charge of that, not only with the evacuations but also to make sure that those homes are safe after they are evacuated. So law enforcement has worked very closely with the fire officials, so we want to thank them also for the great work they have done.And I want to thank also everyone, from Secretary Bettenhausen to L.A. County Fire Chief Freeman and Cal FIRE Chief McKain and everyone for giving me a briefing here.And I just want to bring you up to date on this briefing right now, which is:That the ground fire, there are 13,000 acres that have burned so far,20 percent has been contained,Four structures have been destroyed but there are a lot of structures that are being threatened -- 2,000 structures are being threatened right now.300 homes have been evacuated,1,713 personnel are deployed at this fire,Then we have three shelters that are open,There are 16 hand crews that are working on this fire,250 engines are out there working on that fire, five helicopters, three water tenders and then one DC-10 and, of course, just as of the last hour the 747 has also arrived.So as you can see, we are deploying everything that we've got because the most important thing is -- and you will hear this always from the fire officials -- that the first 24 hours are the most important time to contain the fire. And so they have done an extraordinary job of having all those resources available.Now, there are other fires that are going on statewide and I just want to tell you:There are approximately 30,000 acres that have burned so far statewideThen 34 structures have been destroyed, 2,230 structures are threatened statewide,then there are 4,193 firefighters that are working on those fires, 107 hand crews, 300 engines statewide, then 21 helicopters.So I think that the thing is, I would say, under control. But I wanted to just come here personally to make sure that everyone knows that the state, even though we have a budget crunch and that we have a $20 billion budget deficit, that everyone should be assured that we have the money always available for fighting those fires or for any disaster that may happen here in California. I think that public safety is our number one priority and so the faster we jump into action the better it is.And, of course, there are a lot of other things that are threatened. The power lines that were threatened in this fire today, but luckily they worked fast enough to save those. There are windmills that are further up north that are threatened, so the fire officials do everything that they can to fight those fires.So, with that, I want to hand it back over to Secretary Bettenhausen to introduce the next speaker. Thank you very much.I once again want to thank the Governor for having the involvement in helping us to assist those who are being impacted by this fire. As we had last year with the Station Fire, he was there and gave that assistance and that assistance is still being carried out today, just as the assistance to those who have been victimized by this fire will be there to be assisted tomorrow.The county facilities, from the Department of Public Works, Animal Control, Department of Mental Health, Regional Planning, are all there working now to assist and being able to help those who have been harmed by this fire to repair and get their life back to normal. But we want to thank the Governor, we want to thank the men and women in our fire department.Mutual aid has been very, very important, that mutual aid pact with all the other local municipalities coming here to help and to assist and the air support that our fire department has up there, preventing any spreading of this fire beyond what has happened already. The winds we don’t have any control over, but we have a great aerospace unit, great men and women on the ground and in the air and great support from the Governor to the fire department and our public safety Highway Patrol and the Sheriffs, who are here to assist those who have been victimized by this fire.So once again, thank you, Governor. (Applause)Thank you, Supervisor. We are also going to have SteveHofbauer from Palmdale, who is representing the mayor here today. And then, as the Governor introduced, we have Chief Tyler from the L.A. County Sheriff's Office. But one of your very own, who lives here, Captain Denham, is going to give the briefing after that on the road closures, where we stand right now, and then we'll open it up to any questions.Thank you, Secretary. I’m Steve Hofbauer, councilmember, city of Palmdale. Either we have to have an Amgen race or a fire to get all you guys up here, but thanks for coming.The city of Palmdale has mobilized their public works units to assist with the road closures. We have the Marie Kerr Park Recreation Center which has been opened up last night, staffed by the Red Cross, and our personnel from Parks and Rec are out there to get the people and the families settled in for temporary shelter. Last night the Red Cross had 174 people over there and our staff is over there to assist them with that.We're pleased to be able to provide these facilities and resources to the Fire Department, Cal EMA and the law enforcement officials. I'd like to thank the Governor. We've got one of the best fire departments around here. The chief is really throwing a lot of resources at this. The state's got them in here; it looks like an air show out here right now.And so, anyways, thank you all very much and we'll be happy to answer any questions for you later. My Director of Communications John Milner is here; he can assist you as well. Thank you.Thank you, Steve. And Captain Denham from L.A. County Sheriff's Office?Hi, I'm Captain Denham from the Palmdale Sheriff Station. We have about 80 manpower, 80 deputies on the ground assisting with this fire. Since yesterday we've evacuated close to 2,000 homes. Currently, over at the Tiger Trail housing development which is between 20th West and 30th West on Elizabeth Lake Road, we have a cover in place going on there while the firefighters are battling the flames behind there near the aqueduct.We do have a road closure, a hard closure on Elizabeth Lake Road between 25th Street West and Bouquet Canyon, which means we're not allowing anybody into that particular area. Also over Godde Hill, which starts at 60th Street West, into the Leona Valley area. That road is also closed.Currently, if you need updated information we are asking people to log onto nixle.com and sign up for LASD Palmdale Sheriff's and text message FIRE888777, and then will give you all of the latest information regarding evacuations and road closures in the area.So I want to thank you for coming and putting this out for us. Thank you.GOVERNOR: Thank you very much. And are there any questions? We have all the experts here in law enforcement, in firefighting, we have the politicians here, the elected officials, so this is like a candy store for you.QUESTION: Governor, I guess we're in the back here, using a microphone in the back.GOVERNOR: Yes. So where is the back?GOVERNOR: OK, right back there.QUESTION: Steve Gregory, KFI, Los Angeles. A quick question -- this is either for maybe Chief Tripp or Chief Freeman. Can you talk a little bit about the reaction time for air support? That was a bone of contention with the major fire last year, Station Fire, which is still under investigation and those parts are still under investigation. Talk a little bit about when air support was notified and who made the decision and how it's been helping.CHIEF FREEMAN: OK, thank you very much. The question is about response of air support.As soon as this fire was reported, as is our standard procedure within the county of Los Angeles, immediately were dispatched three helicopters, two from Los Angeles County, one from Los Angeles city, which is our normal operating agreement. And that's day or night. This fire started about 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon, so we had immediate air attack using our own helicopters.It so happened, as you recall, yesterday at about the same time there was a second separate fire reported in the same general vicinity, so we had a double response because we sent additional local helicopters.In conjunction with our contact with Cal FIRE we very quickly ordered fixed-wing aircraft, which responded immediately. So we had immediate air attack at the point of the fire being reported. And we continued that with our helicopters until after dark last night. We did not fly extensively last night but we had helicopters here should we need to fly at night. And then, basically first light this morning, again working through our partners Cal FIRE, not only the fixed wing of the nominal size but the DC-10 arrived here before 9:00 a.m. this morning and began their work.So we've had air support over this fire, for all intents and purposes, from the initial report until this current moment.QUESTION: Ann Simmons with the L.A. Times. Governor, you're dealing at the moment with several fires across the state. What's your main concern right now? And also, for the fire chief -- sir, can you tell us what your strategy is going to be for this evening as we go into the evening hours?GOVERNOR: Well, first of all, as you know, that because in the last few years we have seen that fire season starts normally very early, in March -- we have seen fires in March already. So we were ready for this. And we also know that in California there is never just one fire. You know, when the wind kicks up and when it gets really hot we know there will be more than one fire that starts. And, as a matter of fact, there were years since I have been in office, I think it was two years ago where there were 2,000 fires at one time all over the state of California and we had to be very quick in distributing the resources all over the state of California.I think the most important thing that we always do, and that is unlike any other state, and that is the coordination between the locals, the local firefighters, the state firefighters and also U.S. Forest Service. They all work together in harmony and work together really well and also law enforcement comes in and works very well. And I think that they have done always an extraordinary job and I think that California, because we are prone to disasters, we always are much better equipped for those kind of disasters.So we will do everything we can to fight those fires. This is only, like I said, the beginning; there will be many more fires throughout the state of California. But we will be meeting them, you know, with all the power that we have in order to get rid of those fires and to not have them spread and to stop them as quickly as possible.The important thing also I want to mention is that you hear it over and over again, that the homes that are safe are the ones where there is a defensible space around it. So I think it's very important for the people to understand, don't wait for the fire. Create a defensible space around your house. Get rid of the dry needles and of the brush and all of the growth around the house, because that can protect your house.And it's also very important for the people to always listen to law enforcement. When they tell you get out of your home that means that it's getting dangerous. Get out of your home. Now, the good thing here in this area is that the people actually voluntarily left their homes very quickly. And so this is the kind of cooperation and working relationship and team effort that we need in order to have the least amount of injuries or death, so I think that the people's effort is very important in this team effort here.So thank you. And Chief? Chief Bryant, OK.CHIEF BRYANT: Hi, I'm Mike Bryant, incident commander for the Incident Management Team 3 for county of Los Angeles Fire Department. I'll address the question regarding strategy.Every incident for us -- wildland fire, flood, earthquake, whatever incident we go on -- our incident priorities drive the incident and from our incident priorities we develop a strategy. And the strategy for this incident is, obviously, civilian and firefighter life safety is number one.In addition to our strategy, obviously we want to remove occupants through evacuation, residents, out of the buildings, out of the path of the fire to safety.Second, we also go into structure protection where we get into communities and we protect the structures from the advancing fire.We look at property and environment and limiting growth of the fire, but today it's very difficult to limit growth when Mother Nature is not cooperating with the winds today. And so if we can't limit growth we're going to do our best on our perimeters to put in control lines to do that. And that's how we implement tactical actions, based on those strategies and priorities that we as an incident command team implement into the incident.QUESTION: My question is about the power lines. Is the fire threatening the power lines at this point? And do we know if there are any contingency plans as far as what you're doing after that?CHIEF BRYANT: Yeah, great question. The question was with our power lines. That was one of our primary objectives for today's operational period. We have power lines running through both flanks of the fire, the east and west flanks of this fire. So we took a lot of action today, last night, to protect that critical infrastructure of those power lines that DWP owns and Southern California Edison. That was critical for us. We were very successful in that today. Even though the fire burned around the power lines, we took action to prevent any damage for that critical infrastructure, not only here locally but also statewide.In addition, I'd like to mention tonight we're going to have a community meeting where we're going to talk about the fire -- talk about our strategy, talk about today's events and everything that has happened -- at 7:30 tonight in the city of Palmdale Council Chamber. And we're going to have the unified command partners, the assisting and cooperating agencies there, to answer your questions and answer questions from our residents about what we're doing, how we're doing and what we anticipate for the future.

Governor Schwarzenegger signs the application of step 2 Race Top

Tuesday, 06/01/2010   Print Version |

Well, good morning, and welcome to Long Beach Unified School District and Lafayette Elementary School. It brings me sincere honor this morning to welcome you here today on this significant occasion for California as public education stakeholders apply for the second phase of federal Race to the Top funds. This is an unprecedented opportunity for the state of California to be innovative and build upon the expertise of many district leaders and educational stakeholders through the process of applying for Race to the Top funds.Today many of those leaders are here with us in the room, and as we begin today's ceremony, please let me welcome some of those dignitaries who are here to celebrate this momentous occasion:  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; State Superintendent Jack O'Connell; Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss; President, State Board of Education, Ted Mitchell; Long Beach Unified School District Board Superintendent Steinhauser; Superintendent Mark Johnson; Superintendent David Cash; Superintendent Michael Hanson; "Sweet Alice" Harris; (Laughter) Long Beach Assistant Superintendent Dr. Baker; Mayor Bob Foster; LBUSD Board President Mary Stanton; LBUSD Board Vice President Felton Williams; Board Member Jon Meyer; Board Member John McGinnis; CSULB President Alexander; LVCC President Eloy Ortiz Oakley; Gregory McGinnis, Board of Education.I am truly delighted that Lafayette was selected to host this event today. Much of what we have achieved over these last several years mirrors the efforts that are written in the California's Race to the Top application. If you would just oblige me for just a couple of minutes, I would like to tell you a little bit about Lafayette Elementary School and the dynamic team of educators, support staff and parents that have transformed the vision and mission of this school into fruition for the students whom we serve or, as I endearingly call them, "My little lions." (Laughter)As I briefly share, I expect that you will hear elements of the four areas of reform that are part of Race to the Top. The vision at Lafayette is quite simple -- all students to meet and exceed grade level standards and all students to become responsible citizens through daily interaction in our society at large. However, with Lafayette's demographic stat sheet of 100 percent Title 1, 88 percent low SES, 70 percent Hispanic, 56 percent EL learners and 22 percent African-American, the above vision might cause many to ponder or question the reality of attainment for this school.However, Lafayette's team of educators set out to put this ideology of student achievement limitations typically representing these demographics by taking on a new mindset. The mindset for Lafayette was simply putting the vision of the school into reality by taking on a new mantra. Our mantra was now, we are responsible for what happens to these students, we determine how successful they will be in meeting the standards of proficiency.This mantra really changed the way we did business. We, Team Lafayette, began to look at all aspects of the school system and what role each and every one of us played in the outcomes we wanted to achieve. It was no longer "Escuela de la Victoria Miller," it was now Team Lafayette.There is no magic bullet here at Lafayette. It's just a team effort, just putting solid research, best practices, into action by simply doing the following; looking at our end result, setting the goal of what we wanted and being specific about the focused professional development that built, over several years, for the teachers and administrators. There is consistent analysis of data that is schoolwide, grade-level department intervention in each individual classroom. We truly embraced the California standards and skillfully built scaffolds for our diverse population of learners to meet the rigors of the standards. Above all, there is just truly ongoing collaboration and dialogue around results and everybody for our students to learn.This cannot all happen without the systematic approach of LBUSD. LBUSD is a system that has been at the forefront of the standards and assessment reform movement since the mid 1990s. Our schools have had the opportunity to build upon a system of district development in completely aligned curriculum and professional development. We are able to use a common set of district assessments to really know our students and make regular decisions about our practice. LBUSD is a system that has been nationally recognized for the use of data in the instructional process. This recognition has not just simply led us to sit on our laurels, however; it has allowed us to dig deeper into the practice of supporting students.California's Race to the Top application will support continued growth for our school system in the area of data analysis and we look forward to the opportunities that await us. As I mentioned before, Lafayette is only a part of LBUSD, and it's important that having great teachers is critical to the success of a school and to that of a school system. This vision follows a district vision that has seen a systemic approach to teacher development over the past 15 years. Tremendous attention has been paid to each phase of teachers' careers in LBUSD. It is with that kind of work that we are supported by our colleges of Long Beach City and CSUOB in supporting our district and it's with that that we take this opportunity, with other districts, to partake in the Race to the Top opportunity.Though Lafayette is being highlighted today as an example of what happens when you put these key ingredients together -- teacher and administrator effectiveness, standards and using data systems -- please note that Lafayette is not done with this transformation. We still have a long way to go for each and every one of these students whom we serve.So with that said, I would like to welcome our state governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to LBUSD and Lafayette Elementary School. Thank you. (Applause)Well, thank you very much for the wonderful speech and for the great comments. And we want to say congratulations also to Principal Myers-Miller for the great job that she has done. I mean, really extraordinary work. And I'm so glad that you pointed out the various different stages you went through and the kind of things that you are doing here in this school and why. We are all here at Lafayette because this is a great example of what schools ought to be all over the state of California. So let's give her again a big, big hand, and to all of the students here. (Applause)I also -- even though you pointed out all the people that are here, I just want to mention a few of them again. Superintendent O'Connell, thank you very much for being here. Senator Gloria Romero, thank you also. And Mayor Foster, thank you, even though you didn't want to shake hands because you have a cold.Then Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss is back there and then we have Ted Mitchell, president of the State Board of Education, also standing back there. And then we have Sweet Alice, of course -- we always have to mention her. She's our big backer. She loves education reform and loves children.Yes, exactly. And Assemblywoman Lowenthal, I also want to say thank you to her. And there are so many others here, and I want to say thank you to all of you. And thank you to the kids that are sitting here on this hard floor. (Laughter) Anyway, it's great to be here at Lafayette school. And today we are here because we want to sign an application.But first, let me just say that what this is all about is about a great partnership between the students -- they have to do their share, to be smart. You have to do the studying, you have to do your homework, you have to do your reading, writing, arithmetic and all those kind of things, listen to the teachers carefully and to your school principal and mentors and coaches and the parents and everyone. But we also have our responsibility. That's the partnership -- the adults have their responsibility. We have to provide great teachers for you, great educators, great schools, enough funding, and to get equal education for every child, and on and on and on. So we have to provide that.And this is what this is all about here today, of submitting to the federal government California's application for Race to the Top. Now, as you know, that we have already filled out one of those applications before. We didn’t do so well. Other states got the money; we didn't. But we never give up. We always come back. That's why I say, "I'll be back." (Laughter)So here we are back again, filling out the second application. And we have great hopes for that one because this is round two. And we have decided to focus our efforts only on districts firmly committed to reform. This is what makes this different. Our detailed plan was put together by a working group of seven of our state's finest school superintendents. In fact, Senator Romero calls them, "The Magnificent Seven." (Laughter) Now, as you know, I come from Hollywood, from show business, and I like titles, movie titles like "The Magnificent Seven." As a matter of fact, because I like Hollywood, I think each one of them should get an Oscar for their great performance in putting this together.Their names are Ramon Cortines, who couldn’t be with us here today but who was very, very actively involved in the whole thing. He is from the Los Angeles Unified School District. And then Chris Steinhauser from Long Beach (Laughter). I'm the only one that pronounces that name right, may I remind you. (Laughter) Then Mike Hanson from Fresno, then Carlos Garcia from San Francisco, Jonathan Raymond from Sacramento,  David Cash from Clovis, and Marcus Johnson from Sanger.So I'm proud that our application is supported by so many people here. This is what is really unique about this application, it's supported just about by everybody -- 100 school districts, 200 charter schools representing 1.7 million students, 68 percent of our low-income schools. It is supported also by 40 teachers unions, by business leaders, community leaders and so on. It is supported by Democrats and Republicans -- which is always a miracle, that both of them support the same thing, may I remind you. This includes California's two U.S. senators, past governors, like Governor Wilson and Governor Davis, and also all three leading candidates in the current governor's race. So imagine all of the support this has gotten so far.Our plan meets every goal set forth by President Obama's Race to the Top. It helps ensure that we have effective teachers in every classroom, it gives us more tools to turn around failing schools and it makes better use of the data system to measure students' growth. This is no different than what they have here at Lafayette. They have a great, great model right here.And, in addition to these very important reforms, there is $700 million that can be gotten for our school system, which will be very important. It lays out also a roadmap for the future of our public education. Now, my vision is that we again get to have the best education system in the United States and to be the envy of the world. That is what we have to strive towards.Now, let me just also mention a little bit about -- as you know, the state was sued about the funding of schools. And I was asked on the way in here, so I thought I'd address that. I think it is extremely important that we as a state -- I instructed our lawyers to work with the court and with the plaintiffs to really make sure that we are working and going in the right direction. It's not as simple when you just say "funding," because what's the definition of funding?We are interested in funding and the money that goes into the classroom. That is the important thing. I think that we need funding. We need to go and straighten out our funding mechanism. I think that's we've got to straighten out our budget system, our tax system. There are so many things that we've got to do. And also, we have to concentrate on that we have equal education for every child and that we have accountability. There is no such thing as increasing funding and just throwing more money at that broken system. We need to straighten out our system, we have to work on our system, and so this is what we are trying to achieve.I think that Lafayette is a perfect example of that. I mean, you have here -- 10 years ago you were in the API scores in the 500s. Today, 10 years later, you are in the 800s. Not any extra money -- (Applause) Not any extra money was thrown at this school. No, they have the same funding as every other school gets. But they reformed the system. It has become eminent reform -- I mean, a big believer in reforms here.For example, six years ago this school began analyzing student performance data -- very, very important. They use the data to help teachers craft lesson plans, which is very important, so that you can see where are the students good and where they're slipping and then make the adjustments. That has led to an increase in numbers of students proficient in reading and in math and in writing and so on.We want to see results like Lafayette has had in the last 10 years all over the state of California. This is what this is all about. So I want to say congratulations again to Myers-Miller, to the school principal here, for the outstanding job that she has done.And now it is a great pleasure for me to introduce our Superintendent Jack O'Connell who, right along with Ted Mitchell and our State Board of Education, helped develop this application. They all worked together, like I said, and did an extraordinary job, so I want to thank them again for their great work. Let's give him a big, big hand. (Applause)Thank you, Governor. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. That was so complete, Governor, you left so much for the rest of us to say. (Laughter) That was very, very thorough. But it's very nice to be here and I appreciate the Governor's very complete, comprehensive analysis of where we are.And I also want to congratulate this school. Principal Miller, you should know in Sacramento we all take credit for your good work up there as well. And also our host today, Superintendent Chris Steinhauser, a longtime friend -- I always mispronounce his name, unlike others -- and also his entire leadership team I know is here and school board.And I too want to recognize the work of so many people that worked so hard on this, including the Secretary of Education for the state of California, Bonnie Reiss. She and I stepped out of the meeting of the Regents last week to work on this. So thanks, Bonnie, for that. (Applause) And then another longtime friend that also has the responsibility of signing up here in a few minutes, Ted Mitchell, the president of the State Board.And really all of our key players the Governor very eloquently went through and named, but it's the entire team for the Los Angeles Unified School District, for Fresno Unified School District, Sac City Unified School District, San Francisco Unified School District, Clovis as well, the school district, and also Sanger, all of whom have been there really taking the leadership role for this.We have seen an unprecedented collaboration in putting this application together. This application came from the school sites, from the classrooms, from the trenches, from the practitioners, by putting together what's important to them and the types of changes that they really need to help effectuate true reform. Every step of the way they have crafted this application. This application is very thoughtful, a straightforward approach to helping us improve and reform public education. It creates systemic changes in our educational delivery system that will lead to even greater student achievement. This application has the engagement of our practitioners, our teachers, our site administrators and our parents.The goal is really very simple; to have an effective teacher in front of every classroom, to have a true school leader at every school site and to have the necessary infrastructure and that support at the school site to help deliver services to our students. I'm pleased that over 300 local LEAs, local education agencies, have signed up to support this system and are ready for true reform. These educational leaders are ready for long-lasting, real systemic change to help improve academic achievement for our students.There are four key areas of reform:Refining California's rigorous state standards by making sure that we adopt internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that will better prepare our students for success both in school and in the workplace.We need to do a better job of recruiting, developing and retaining our teachers, our most effective teachers and principals, and then we need to get these folks to the schools that need the most help.We need to expand our educational data system, just like Long Beach Unified has done under Superintendent Steinhauser, to better measure, to have a more accurate and comprehensive accountability system for our students, so that they too enjoy success in school and in their career.And finally, we do need to take a dramatic step to improve our most persistently lowest-performing schools. This is an item that's very important to the president as well as to Secretary Arne Duncan.This application also emphasizes STEM, the science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It will also launch new partnerships; new partnerships amongst higher education -- and so pleases some of the higher education leaders in the state that are here -- with the foundation community, with the philanthropic community, with the nonprofit organizations, the other K-12 educators as well.In short, Race to the Top will help us prepare for a highly skilled workforce. It will help us be able to create new innovative solutions to many of our problems that have as yet even been identified, and that will better prepare our students for success in this hyper competitive global economy.Now let me introduce a longtime friend, the person that's our host here today and who really has been a leader throughout the state, Superintendent of Long Beach Unified School District Chris Steinhauser. (Applause)Thank you, Superintendent O'Connell. I want to first of all say good morning to everyone. And I'm going to start my comments off to our young people here, our boys and girls who are ready -- they're 5th graders and they're getting ready to go onto 6th grade at the end of July -- it's because of you that we're here today.You've heard what a great school you have, but I want everyone to hear some of the great things that you've done here at Lafayette. As 5th grade students, you scored 70 percent proficiency in mathematics. You beat the state of California by 13 percent. That's phenomenal, boys and girls. (Applause)What that tells us is that you get to do whatever you want in life. No one is going to stop you from making your dream come true, whether to become a doctor, an engineer, a superintendent, a governor. You can do whatever you choose to do.And that's what superintendents do. Superintendents want to make sure that your teachers and your principals and that you have all the necessary materials that you need to do well in school.So when this opportunity came a couple of months ago for us to write this new grant -- which is an application to the U.S. Department of Ed., we were so fortunate that the Governor, Secretary Reiss, Superintendent O'Connell and the State Board of Education President Ted Mitchell said, "Go for it. We want you to be the best."And these seven superintendents, and many of them are here -- would you raise your hands, please? They and their teams got together and worked endless hours to put together what we believe is an excellent application that will bring $700 million to the state of California and will help other schools become as great as you are and will help you become even better.So keep your eyes and ears ready for September when we find out if we made the final cut, which I believe we will. And I can't thank enough the leadership of this state, to give us a second opportunity to do what's best, because we know sometimes we can't always do what we want the first time, that we have to learn. It's like writing a paper. When you get your paper back from your teacher and she said, "Did you do your best?" And you have to answer, maybe I did or maybe I didn't. And you write it the second time and you even get a better grade.This is what we did with this grant application. Boys and girls, I want you to give yourselves a round of applause for showing us what can be done in public education. (Applause)Now it's with great pleasure that I introduce a great friend of public education, Senator Romero. (Applause)Good morning, good morning. And good morning students and parents and community leaders, education leaders. Thank you so much for all that you've given to us.Let me just say that today captures, I think, the spirit, the indomitable spirit of California that yes, we can, that we never give up, never surrender. Even when they naysayers say no, you can't, we say yes, we can. And that's what this is about.You know, we're going to put forth a very thick application. And it's got fabulous stuff in there and the superintendents who worked so hard have spoken about it and they'll continue to tell us more about what's in there.But to me, as a senator and the chair of the Senate Education Committee, this began with simply -- it began with a vision. It began with the belief that in this nation, in this wonderful country -- and we all celebrate it and remembered yesterday another generation that opened doors and sacrificed to provide opportunities for us.Today's application, I believe, ranks way up there. It's called "Race to the Top" for a reason. You know, we can stay at the bottom or we can race to the top. And every generation of our parents and grandparents have always believed we can do better, and we must. And so I'm very happy today in thinking about how far we've come.And you know, Governor, I know in Sacramento oftentimes there's a lot of gridlock and it takes a long time to get something done. But Governor, with your leadership and the leadership of so many that are here today, and the imagination of so many in this room and outside of this room, and parents who believed in their children, and children who want their parents to believe in them as well, we came together not just once, but twice. And so today we recognize the race is a marathon. But this is California and we are going to do all that we can with the sense of urgency, as much as we can, because the greatness of the great state of California depends on the quality of our public education system and the opportunities that our children enjoy in that system that we run.So it's my honor to be here today. We're going to race to the top, we're going to move forward and oh, yes, we can. Thank you so much. (Applause)And now it's my honor to introduce a very strong civic and business leader, a political leader here in the city of Long Beach who understands the deep relationship between having quality schools and a great city, and that is Mayor Bob Foster. (Applause)Thank you, Senator Romero. And Governor, welcome back to Long Beach. I think you were here about a week ago. It's great to see you again, especially on a great occasion.I too want to thank all those involved in this, particularly Superintendent Steinhauser and all the other superintendents that were instrumental in putting this application together.This is about reforming education. I was struck by the principal, Myers-Miller, and her presentation about what changed at Lafayette school. And what this is about is not just about reform. We all know that we need changes in instruction and changes in curricula. We all know we need additional resources. What this is about is tapping into the human spirit. The human spirit responds to care, it responds to high standards and it responds to the expectation of success. That's what was done here and that's what we want to do throughout the state of California.This is a start, with this application. We are beginning the process to change how we educate our children in California. It is essential that we do this. You know, the mayors of the 10 largest cities in California all signed on to this, all signed on to the reform and to the application for Race to the Top, because we know personally how important it is and how essential it is to educate our children and what it means to the future of every community that we live in, in this state. This is an important first step.And we have a example here and elsewhere in the state of California on how to do this. These resources will help us. The leadership behind us has been fantastic. You heard -- fantastic, you heard that. (Laughter) You've heard how everyone has worked together, almost beyond belief.So this is a great day. I’m proud that our school district, Long Beach Unified School District, is in fact one of the Magnificent Seven. They've done a great job over the years. And I have to tell you, I'm gratified today to see these children and to hear of their success. And I can't tell you how proud I am that we found a way to tap into that human spirit, because that's what we have to do. And this is a beginning and I want to thank everyone for being here. Thank you. (Applause)I'd love to invite up now  to sign this application, first and foremost, Governor Schwarzenegger, Superintendent O'Connell, and Ted Mitchell. Please. Thank you very much, gentlemen.And I want to say to the students, we are ever so grateful for our governor. And don't you all ever forget, we can do what we need to do. We can't do it by ourselves, but God will bless us. They're going to pay us this thing this time. (Laughter, applause)(Application signed, applause)QUESTION: Yes, sir. You make it sound like there are no objections to these standards. Not to rain on your parade, but there are some that would claim you're so desperate for money that you're making a Faustian bargain to get that money from the federal government. How would you respond to that, sir?GOVERNOR: I was so excited about the fact there are all those billions of dollars available from the federal government for education and for our schools and for our children, that all we had to do is just fill out an application and make a commitment to reforming certain things in our system.So we all knew that we needed those reforms and we also knew that President Obama has great ideas when it comes to reforming the school system and the education system. And so we want to be partners with the federal government, get some of that money and at the same time create really great reforms -- as you have heard everyone here say, reforms that are very important for the children.There are great schools in California, we have some of the most outstanding schools. But we want to have every school to be outstanding and to have equal education for every child, so that's what we are trying to accomplish here.And it is, as you have heard, not easy to bring Democrats and Republicans together and to bring labor together with the school officials and administrators and to have everyone come together. In this case so many came together, so we have a good shot of getting that done. So I'm very excited, as excited as everyone is here today. So we're all very excited about that.QUESTION: Why isn't the CTA supporting this?GOVERNOR: Well, like we said, that there are 40 -- I think 40 or some unions, teachers unions, that have supported this, so we are very happy about that. And, of course, the important thing is that the more people that work together the better it is. And so we're going to march forward, because this application got such an unbelievable support. OK?

So thank you very much, thank you for being here today. Thank you. (Applause)

Member of the Governing Board of the US border Patrol is received by the folder and the California State officials at the border of the national border guard

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Wednesday, 08/18/2010   Print Version |

Good morning. Governor, Secretary Bettenhausen, Chief Barlow, it's good to be here this morning. On behalf of the more than 20,000 soldiers and airmen in the California National Guard, to include our civilian employees that support the military department, I bring you greetings.Members of the California National Guard train for the federal mission and we use that training to respond to the call for any emergency that comes from our state. A mission such as this is one that we are prepared for. Members of the California National Guard respond. We also deploy. We return from deployment and we are ready to support the efforts here at the border.So as I move to introduce our governor, my commander in chief, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, I will take this opportunity to say, even though he's standing behind me, Governor, when we received the call -- when we received the call we were ready and we are here and we responded quickly.So ladies and gentlemen, service members, I present to you our governor, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Applause)Well, thank you very much, General Kight, for your nice introduction and also for your great leadership and jumping into action right after I asked you to put the troops together so that we can bring the 260 and help the federal government with the Border Patrol. I also want to say thank you to Chief Barlow from the U.S. Border Patrol for his great team effort and teamwork; you have been doing this for many, many years. I want to thank him for his great, great work and working with us. And Secretary Bettenhausen who is from Cal EMA, who is always there whenever we have this kind of deployment or any emergencies or anything else, so we want to thank you also for your great, great leadership.Now, one of the things that I'm most proud of, one of the responsibilities as governor, is to be the commander in chief of the California National Guard. And I think that public safety and protecting and making sure that this country is secure is always very, very important to me. Our soldiers and airmen are true action heroes, whether it is responding to disasters at home or if it is fighting wars overseas or if it is putting out fires or if it is securing the borders. They are multi-talented and I'm extremely proud of them.We also remember the great work that they have done. I just got a tour at the border and one of the things that one of the Border Patrol has said to me was that, "In the beginning," he said, "a few years ago, I was suspicious about the National Guard joining us. But then when we have seen their work and what a great team effort that was, now when I heard that they're coming back we were very happy about that." And so we just wanted to say that our Guard men and women served here on the borders a few years ago and they did such great jobs that actually the illegal crossings have slowed down by 26 percent, so that was really great, great work.Today our National Guard has been called once again to come here; President Obama announced his plan to send 1,200 National Guard troops to our southwestern border. And we wanted to participate in that, because I always feel strongly about the fact that we don't have enough manpower at our borders. And so we have 260 California National Guards here, Arizona will have 560, Texas 286, New Mexico 82.And we are very happy to say and we are proud that we are the first state to have our troops trained and operational for this mission. They have been here for several days to be trained and we are very proud of them. And, like I said, many of them are here the second time.Their responsibility will simply be to support and assist the federal Border Patrol in anything and everything. Whatever they need, they're there. The last time they also even helped build infrastructure and roads and so on, so it was really terrific work.I have faith in General Kight, of course; she has been a terrific leader. And our commanders on the ground and all of the men and women in uniform, I'm very proud of them. We have the best of the best and I know that they will answer this call to duty with courage, with determination and with great success, as they always do.But our country cannot afford only temporary stopgap solutions to border security. I think that we have to really solve this problem once and for all. As you remember, in 1986 when we did comprehensive immigration reform, one of the promises that the federal government has made is to secure our border. And they have fallen short on that promise. The federal government has failed to keep its promise and to fulfill that simple responsibility. I think it's the least thing that we can ask the federal government to do, is to secure our border and to protect the American people. And that's why the American people are fed up with government. They don't believe in what they say and what they promise because they don't keep their promises.Securing the border has to be the number one priority, there are no two ways about that. We have seen more and more infrastructure being built lately, so we are very happy about that, that the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration have made improvements by building infrastructure, having more helicopters, more Border Patrol agents and so on.But this progress is not enough. We need the federal government to step up with even more manpower and more funding. It is absolutely imperative, because it doesn't make any sense that when you go through the airport you have to take off your belt, you have to take off your shoes, you get patted down and, of course, you're not allowed to bring weapons to the airport, that's against the law.But here we see crossings where people cross the border with machine guns, with automatic weapons and all kinds of weapons. They're coming in with drugs, human trafficking, drug smuggling and illegal crossings. That has to stop.So we have to do everything -- and I have heard the new challenge, of course, is maritime, that people are coming in from the ocean. Coming up, this is the new challenge. But there always will be a new challenge because there's a lot of money involved in drug smuggling and human trafficking and I think that there always will be a way that they will find a way to come across. So we have to face up to those challenges.So I still believe today that we need more manpower. But I want to congratulate the Obama Administration for having made a good move forward, to ask the National Guard to help and to improve on the infrastructure and on the technology and all of those things. So we here in California are ready to help in any way possible because, like I said, to me protecting this country and homeland security, all of those things are extremely important and also to stop the flow of drugs to the United States and also to stop the flow of guns from the United States to Mexico. All of this has to stop.So with that, I want to say thank you very much and I want to bring Chief Barlow up here to say also a few words about this. Please. (Applause)Thank you, Governor. Here in San Diego the Border Patrol has the responsibility to protect 60 miles of border along the land border and 114 miles of coastal border. Over the past few years we've been able to incrementally gain effective levels of control by using the right combination of personnel, technology and improvements in our tactical infrastructure. I also attribute a large amount of our success to the strong relationships with our partners at the local, state and federal levels, along with those partnerships with the government of Mexico.The Border Patrol has an outstanding relationship with the California National Guard. I know many of the senior leaders personally. I've worked side-by-side with these leaders on many engineering projects and through Operation Jump Start. That relationship, as good as it is, will get a lot better in the next few weeks and months to come.As we move forward our ability to gain and maintain effective levels of control on our border is contingent upon our ability to detect, identify, classify, respond to and ultimately resolve all threats within our theater of operations. The first critical piece of that process is the ability to detect. We've identified multiple strategic locations where our National Guard partners will be deployed to increase that detection capability and further strengthen our borders as we continue with our mission to protect this country.Thank you for your service, thank you for your support.At this time I'd like to introduce Secretary Matt Bettenhausen from the California Bureau -- excuse me. Cal EMA, I'll leave it at that.Thank you, Rick. Good to see you. No problem. (Applause) Thank you, Chief. General Kight, the men and women of the National Guard, thank you so much for your service here at home at the border and overseas. For our California Emergency Management Agency, we couldn't do our job in protecting, preserving and responding to disasters without your great assistance that we have known, that's always been there.And it's a spectacular force multiplier to help our first responders. We have the best first responders, firemen, policemen and National Guard in the nation, protecting and serving us all not only here in California but throughout the nation and throughout the world and I thank you for their work and what they're doing here on the border.Governor, I also want to thank you for your leadership and your support in making sure that we continue to focus on securing the border. This has been a priority of yours since you first walked in and our first conversation when I came out here to California. It requires partnerships such as we're seeing here today.As the Governor said, we understand that immigration and enforcement is a federal responsibility. But given that, the California Emergency Management Agency and as the Governor's Homeland Security advisor, we are constantly making sure that we are working with our federal, state and local partners to better secure the border and combat illegal immigration.Through the Governor's efforts we've created eight Human Trafficking Taskforces throughout the state. We have established a Firearm Trafficking Taskforce here in San Diego.Through the Governor's leadership efforts with the Border Governors Conference, working with all 10 states -- the four U.S. state governors and the six Mexican governors -- we have worked hand-in-glove with our federal partners, including ATF and Project Gunrunner to make sure that we're combating the flow of illegal weapons across the borders.Through the Governor's leadership and the Border Governors Conference we've also established a unique partnership between Baja California and California, to share criminal information on kidnappings, car thefts, gun trafficking, where 24/7 our law enforcement officers and their law enforcement officers can communicate with each other.The Governor's vision five years ago when we opened up down here in San Diego the Joint Harbor Operations Center to start specifically addressing the issues of the threats in the maritime environment, not only from terrorism, potentially but for immigration, has put us on a good footing to make sure that we're addressing both the land, air and maritime threats that we have here in California.There is much more that we need to do with the federal government. I thank Secretary Napolitano, Customs & Border Commissioner Alan Bersin -- a former cabinet secretary of ours and the Governor's -- and John Morton from ICE for the close partnership that we work in.We continue to invest our Homeland Security grant dollars in improving the capabilities of the National Guard as well as our local law enforcement. And we look forward to continuing working very closely with you, Chief and all of our ICE, Immigration, Customs Enforcement partners and Customs & Border, because it is about the partnerships and working on this together.So thank you and thank you, Governor. (Applause) We'll open it up for any questions.GOVERNOR:  Any questions? We have everyone here, from the General to the Chief, Bettenhausen and the Guv.QUESTION:  The commissioner of Customs & Border Protection, Alan Bersin, recently said that the borders are safer than they've ever been in California. He'd like to replicate the stability here along this stretch of the border in other areas like Arizona. So I'm wondering, Governor, what is the definition of a secure California border for you and how do you measure that?GOVERNOR:  I think that it is probably true, what Secretary Napolitano says, that it is as secure as it ever has been. But it has never been secure, so therefore it becomes irrelevant.What is relevant is that the Obama Administration and Secretary Napolitano are making a real effort to step it up and to improve the situation through technology, manpower, infrastructure and so on.And they are aware of the new challenges, like I said, at sea. This is all new. Like I said, if you stop the crossings on land they will find another way, if it is through air or sea or whatever, so one has to always adjust. You know, the old saying from Nietzsche, for every attack there is a defense. And that's exactly what the federal government here has to do.And so we're all working together, the National Guard, the Border Patrol is doing a great job. I just got an inspection tour here, to drive up and down. It's very challenging and very, very complicated. And those are people across on the other side that come from a country that is a friendly country; we are friends. But within these friends there are some evil people, as much as we have it on our side that are transporting guns down there. So, you know, it's very challenging but we have to do it. So we've got to get it more secure, the borders and we've got to go and have more manpower. Right now we have 17,000, approximately, Border Patrol here on the southwestern side. Altogether it's probably around 20,000 -- and correct me if I'm wrong with the numbers.And you know, I always said from the beginning, when I got into office, we need 50,000. So people say, "Whoa, whoa, this guy's crazy." But I believe that's what you need when you look at the challenge and the amount of boats and surveillance that they now need out there at sea to really capture all of those people that are doing the human trafficking and the drug smuggling and all of those kind of things.So that's what I call a secure border. Will you ever be at the point that you can totally tighten the whole thing? I doubt it. But I think any kind of improvement is good. And we see improvements all the time and so we want to continue with those improvements.QUESTION:  Governor, you're painting a picture of continued adjustments that will never end. So the answer, which we have been talking about for decades, is immigration reform.GOVERNOR:  You're absolutely correct.QUESTION:  We still do not have it and it doesn't appear that it's going to happen this year either.GOVERNOR:  You're absolutely correct. There are two ways of -- many ways but the two main ways of approaching this is to secure the border and to create a good immigration reform that really kind of deals with the challenges on both sides.And we have, sadly to say, lawmakers in Washington who are being paid to solve those kind of problems and, as you can see, they're not capable of solving those kind of problems, which is a shame. And that's why the people in America are disgusted with those people.And I think that they really ought to look at the people that they are sending to Washington, if they in fact should be re-elected, since they really cannot solve this problem, nor the environmental issue problem, or energy policy, or a great infrastructure policy or any of those things that are extremely important for the country.QUESTION:  You indicated, though, that the people are fed up because the people they send -- I mean, it's not quite as simple as the people they're sending, if I may. I mean, it's --GOVERNOR:  It's not simple. You're absolutely right, it's not simple. But that's why I said, one should look at it, are they really fighting for those things? Are they really -- or are they just saying, "Look, it's election year, we cannot touch this subject." Because last year they said, "It is the year before election year, we cannot touch it." And before that, they said, "It is the main election year where we are electing a president, let's not touch it." So when can we touch this subject if it is always a pre-election year or election year? So I mean, it's crazy.So if they are afraid of making any decisions then they shouldn't go and take on that job in the first place. Being a leader and representing the people, you have to be courageous because you have to make decisions many times that are not popular and I can tell you this firsthand. But you're not going in there to win a popularity contest, you're going in there because you promised the people that you're going to fight for them, no matter what it takes and you're going to go and solve the problems.QUESTION:  Is there anything else that California and Mexico are doing together to stop the illegal immigration and also the flow of weapons across?GOVERNOR:  Yes. I think that one of the things that I'm most proud of is, when it comes to our federal government and to the Mexican government, is that they're really making an effort to work together. So there is a great friendship there, there is a great working relationship and I'm very happy about that, on every level.We, for instance, with our Border Governors Conference, we discuss those issues all the time. And on the Mexican side there is always a great will to work with us and to also slow down or to stop this problem. So they are frustrated about it as much as we are frustrated about it. So that's why I think it's important that we work together on those things and have this kind of a good relationship.But within this good relationship there are some evil people out there, on our side and on their side and we've just got to go and deal with that.

Thank you very much. Thank you.