CANDY PUTTING VALLEY, LIVES IN ORDER.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
When things are going downhill fast, there are two ways you can react, Candido Marez figures. You can complain and do nothing. Or you can roll up your sleeves and see if you can make a difference. Marez, 47, walks around this town with his sleeves rolled up. You've probably seen him in his blue van out on the streets of the Valley at some time during the past 15 years with his crew of graffiti removal ``volunteers'' - people the courts have ordered to do community service, instead of jail time for misdemeanor crimes they've committed. Al Lawrence Al Lawrence (born in Illinois, USA) is a chess expert and author. Lawrence was originally a school teacher in Nebraska. He came to work for the United States Chess Federation in 1981 and in 1988 he was appointed Executive Director. was one of those volunteers for more than two years, spending every Saturday morning with 15 or 20 other people who had run afoul of a·foul of prep. 1. In or into collision, entanglement, or conflict with. 2. Up against; in trouble with: ran afoul of the law. the law. He doesn't have to do it anymore, he's repaid his debt to society. But Al still shows up most Saturday mornings with half a dozen other former ``volunteers'' - all of them real volunteers now. ``Candy's not just cleaning up graffiti out there, he's changing lives, making the people working on his crew recognize their behavior for what it is - counterproductive coun·ter·pro·duc·tive adj. Tending to hinder rather than serve one's purpose: "Violation of the court order would be counterproductive" Philip H. Lee. , self-destructive and self-defeating,'' Lawrence said. ``He's taught a lot of us to feel pride in the community, and for the first time in a good many years, I now feel good about myself,'' he said. Lawrence's words are a testimonial you hear from dozens of people who have had their lives turned around by Candy during those Saturday morning graffiti cleanups. He misses only two weekends a year - two he has promised to his wife for vacation time. Other than that, it's back out on the streets cleaning up graffiti with people doing community service time. They're not bad people, Candy says. Most of them are sent to him because of drunk driving arrests or drug possession charges. They're going downhill fast, slaves to bad, dangerous habits they're having a very hard time breaking. He knows how tough that can be. In 1973, Candy was kicked out of Pueblo, Colo., his hometown, for his bad habits bad habit Unhealthy habit Clinical medicine A patterned behavior regarded as detrimental to physical or mental health, which is often linked to a lack of self-control. Cf Good habit. . He was 19 years old and going downhill fast, too. ``I was always in trouble with the law, and finally one day the judge said, What am I going to do with you? I told him to let me go to California, and he did.'' Candy landed in Van Nuys, homeless and penniless pen·ni·less adj. 1. Entirely without money. 2. Very poor. See Synonyms at poor. pen  ni·less·ly adv. .
``I got a job at an Army-Navy store, and slept out behind the store for more than three weeks until the guy who ran the place helped me get a room,'' he said. Pretty soon, he was hanging around the YMCA YMCA in full Young Men's Christian Association Nonsectarian, nonpolitical Christian lay movement that aims to develop high standards of Christian character among its members. and getting involved with programs there. Then, he started taking classes at Valley and Pierce junior colleges, and finally at California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an . By 1985, when he began volunteering at the LAPD's Van Nuys Division in the youth Jeopardy Program, and joined the Knights of Columbus Knights of Columbus, American Roman Catholic society for men, founded (1882) at New Haven, Conn. (where its headquarters are still located), by Father Michael J. McGivney. , Van Nuys Council 3148, to start the graffiti removal program, Candy was running his own industrial supplies business in Northridge. The incorrigible in·cor·ri·gi·ble adj. 1. Incapable of being corrected or reformed: an incorrigible criminal. 2. Firmly rooted; ineradicable: incorrigible faults. 3. kid who had been kicked out of Colorado was making it big as a man in the Valley. ``Candy has been very instrumental in developing so many good programs for us, including the children's Christmas party,'' said John Riordan John Riordan was an American mathematician and author of major early works in combinatorics, particularly Introduction to Combinatorial Analysis and Combinatorial Identities. He worked most of his life at Bell Labs. , past grand knight of the Van Nuys council. Right now, Candy's working on a project with Councilman Mike Feuer to make sure all misdemeanor offenders sentenced to community service also get a chance at some outside social help to turn their behavior around. To stop that same downhill slide he was once on himself. ``In many ways this is like payback for me,'' Candy says. ``I know the feeling these people get when some motorists drive by and give them a wave or a honk of the horn to say thanks for helping keeping their community clean. ``It makes them feel like they're part of something good for a change,'' Candy says. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: As the head of a community service program, Candido Marez, right, with his son, Quinn, 11, are painting over graffiti on Balboa Boulevard. John Lazar/Staff Photographer |
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