Cook Hill Enters the Publishing Business

Howdy friends and neighbors of the hills!

Hey, I reckoned if Cook Hill could make their own "magazine", how hard could it be?

Tsk, tsk! Cook Hill Properties LLC sure has sunk to a new low.  I suppose it just wasn't enough for them fellers to create their own fake "news" stories, now they're creating their own fake "publications" to put em in!

Last week's "Happy Hispanic family in the park" postcard ad campaign was just a sample taste for their latest "puff"-filled pastry, a glossy print, 10 page "magazine" called Montebello Life. 

If y'all want a peek at Cook Hill's magazine cover but don't want to bother visiting their website go to Google Images and type in "Montebello Life."  If y'all live in Montebello and didn't receive a copy in the mail, a stack o' strays were spotted sitting in a news rack located in the main lobby of the Montebello Unified School District (MUSD) office!

You see folks, the cover art for this phony magazine is a photo of the centennial mural painted on the exterior of Montebello High School!!!!!

If that don't rile you up enough, one of the feature articles in this Cook Hill, self-published, brag-rag is an interview with Mr. Jeff Schwartz, the Principal of Montebello High School!!

Now I don't know if Mr.Schwartz or the MUSD were fully aware of what they were gettin' themselves into, I figure it's possible they didn't know they were participating in an advertisement for a controversial real estate development project atop an active oil field.  I also figure it's possible they didn't know the owner/operator of the oil field, Plains Exploration & Production (PXP), is currently being investigated for possibly violating clean water laws after two recent crude oil spills polluted a pond connected to the Rio Hondo River.

Uh huh.

Then again, this magazine sure does "look real" and the publisher disclaimer information  is written in itty bitty print at the bottom of the first page, but come on folks, wouldn't you have felt just a little bit,  . . . suspicious?

It sure would have been nice if the public had been given the opportunity to ask the school board about this directly but "Surprise, surprise!", Thursday night's scheduled MUSD board meeting was canceled at the last minute due to a "lack of a quorum."  According to the notice posted at the district office, the public's next opportunity to address the board will be on June 16 at the scheduled meeting of the MUSD Board of Education.  Check for more details at the MUSD website here.

I sure hope this whole business was some type of terrible mistake on the part of the MUSD.  Just last week, students from both of Montebello's high schools, Montebello H.S. and Schurr H.S., were honored with environmental scholarships from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.  See:  Whittier Daily News, May 28, 2011,  "Pico Rivera, Whittier and Montebello students receive environmental scholarships."

The D.A.'s  Environmental Scholarship Program was started as a result of a fine issued against a chemical company for a 1988 release of "a toxic cloud 1,000 feet high and a mile long." 

According to Chief Deputy District Attorney Jackie Lacey:

"We must join with our schools and communities to encourage and empower our children to protect and preserve our environment."

A year ago this June, fourteen students from Montebello High School spoke before the Montebello City Council to express their desire to "protect and preserve" the Montebello hills as open space.  For their efforts, these students were invited to attend a voluntary, before school hours meeting held on their campus to "hear the other side" of the issue.

I tip my hat to those students and I sincerely hope they are being "encouraged and empowered" to stick to their beliefs.

I'll have more to say on Cook Hill's "wolf in sheep's clothing" publication in future posts.

Daisy Mae,


R.I.P James Arness.