OCA Celebrates 17th with Judge, Studio Producer
EVENT: OCA’s Achieve with Inspiration and Courage
BACKGROUND: The Organization of Chinese Americans of San Mateo will celebrate its 17th annual dinner and achievement awards gala. Proceeds benefit scholarships, OCA national internships and OCA-San Mateo’s “Speak & Lead” Program.
INTERESTING: California State Supreme Court Judge Joyce Kennard, one of two APA justices on the high state court, and Ixtlan Films President Janet Yang, who has guided the makings of The Joy Luck Club, Dragon: Bruce Lee Story and Empire of the Sun.
DETAILS: $75 and up, Sat., Oct. 1, 6 p.m., South San Francisco Conference Center, 255 South Airport Blvd. Black tie optional. Contact Wade at (650) 341-6036.
The Big Legal Lu’au
EVENT: “Lu’au by the Bay” –– 30th Anniversary API Legal Outreach
BACKGROUND: API Legal Outreach (formerly Nihonmachi Legal Outreach) is a social justice agency serving in the areas of domestic violence, immigrant rights, trafficking, elder abuse and youth.
INTERESTING: Master Chef Sam Choy of Hawai‘i will cook at Google headquarters in Mountain View.
DETAILS: Adults: $125, Children: $25, Sat., Oct. 8, 5-10 p.m. Contact Theresa Chiong at (415) 567-6255 or tchiong@apilegaloutreach.org. www.apilegaloutreach.org.
Compromise on Renaming of Korematsu School
DAVIS, Calif. –– The Davis Board of Education settled on a 3-2 compromise vote to name a new school –– The Fred Korematsu Elementary School at Mace Ranch.
The name came after a two-hour debate over three proposals that called for the school to be named after the plaintiff and Japanese American concentration camp internee who challenged internment in a U.S. Supreme Court case during World War II.
The other proposals called for naming the building after a 1,700-acre ranch owned by the Mace family in the 1950s and after a Davis High School graduate John Barovetto, who was killed during the Vietnam War.
The school is the first significant public building or street named after an Asian American, even though Davis has a large number of APA residents and the UC Davis freshman class is predominantly APA.
5 Indicted for Medicare Fraud
SAN JOSE, Calif. –– Five Southern California health care providers were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges billing Medicare for more than $1.1 million for fraudulent exams.
Many of the patients/victims were elderly Vietnamese Americans who were promised free rides, food and medical treatment to visit a clinic in Milpitas as well as facilities in San Jose and Southern California.
Two of those indicted have been arrested: Alexander Dzhuga, 27, of Encino, and Vladimir Semenov, 47, of Sherman Oaks. They owned a diagnostic testing center with two other indictees: Leonid Dzhuga, 27, and Natalia Stadnik, 26, both of Reseda.
The group recruited a fifth person, Dr. Armond Tennyson Tollette II, 54, of Culver City, to allegedly authorize tests for patients he had not examined.
Seniors Charged with Illegal Gambling
WESTMINSTER, Calif. –– Vietnamese American seniors have been charged with gambling and been evicted amidst squabbling with the city over property owned by the Little Saigon group.
The Asian American Senior Citizens Association was forced out of its Bolsa Avenue facility after 11 members and volunteers had been cited by police for gambling.
The association was allegedly running a gambling hall where seniors played an ancient Vietnamese card game and took a cut of the profits –– some $500 to $1,000 a day, prosecutors said.
The association is fighting the eviction and gambling charges.
“It’s sickening. These are octogenarians. They are not running a gambling casino,” the center’s lawyer Vu V. Trinh said.
The association is still operating a Hospital Circle senior center nearby. Trinh alleged in court documents that the city is using the gambling charges to pressure the association to sell the building and enrich city coffers.