Tomato plant overtaking Cypress

 

 

I received a call last week about a breaking news story that comes along maybe once in a generation. It was a reported tomato plant in Cypress that had grown to more than 21 feet wide and 11 feet deep. I jumped to action to go and see for myself and found what was a wide-ranging tomato plant with several green tomatoes throughout the vines.

The plant belongs to Connie Wesling, who has lived in Cypress with her husband Don for nearly 40 years.

Connie plants tomatoes and other vegetable plants every year, with sporadic success. In fact the giant tomato plant was one of a four-pack she bought at a local home improvement store. She only bought the four pack because it cost only slightly more than a single plant.

She planted two in the area she intended to try and grow tomatoes, and was about to just throw out the other two. She decided to plant one in a planter box area next to the patio. The other two plants did not survive, but the one she called “an afterthought” continued to grow.

It overtook a neighboring zucchini plant and killed it. It has yielded dozens of tomatoes since April, and is set to offer more in the next few days.

St. Isidore talk

A proposal by Los Alamitos Mayor Warren Kusumoto regarding a possible tax to help fund the acquisition of St. Isidore Plaza is likely to be discussed at Monday’s Los Alamitos City Council Meeting.

Kusumoto is requesting direct staff to do a very low cost preliminary analysis to determine the feasibility of a ballot measure for the November 2014 General Election about if the city should impose a tax (expiring after 15 years) to provide specific funds for the acquisition, renovation, maintenance and staffing of the St. Isidore Plaza.

There has been some debate over this issue, so expect some public feedback.

Health coverage info

Congressman Alan Lowenthal and California State Senator Lou Correa hosted a free community health and health care enrollment fair on Thursday, Nov. 7 in Garden Grove.

Free flu shots, mammograms, preventive health screenings, and health insurance and health care services were provided by professionals and experts from Covered California, Catholic Charities of Orange County, Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance, Orange County Health Care Agency, CalOptima, U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission, U.S Department of Labor, Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, Planned Parenthood, Davita, Alzheimer’s Association, Nhan Hoa Health Care Clinic, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, YMCA,  American Diabetes Association, Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches and American Red Cross.

The event also provided constituents the opportunity to get more information about signing up coverage under the Affordable Health Care Act and Covered California. Lowenthal said he had received a lot of questions about what was available under the law and that the event was designed to help people understand how it works.

“Our commitment is to make it work, to listen to you and to make it work,” Lowenthal told attendees.

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