{"id":13133,"date":"2012-05-19T16:31:14","date_gmt":"2012-05-19T23:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=13133"},"modified":"2012-07-03T11:12:06","modified_gmt":"2012-07-03T18:12:06","slug":"trumping-tragedy-with-positivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/05\/19\/trumping-tragedy-with-positivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Trumping tragedy with positivity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
(L to R) Scholarship recipients Luis Alcaraz and Louis Johnson, Carmen Cobian, scholarship recipient Richard Banks, Arzenia Ratliff. (Bottom L to R) Christian Cobian and Darrell Logan Jr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 The families of Darrell Logan Jr.<\/strong> and Christian Cobian<\/strong> have banded together to create something positive from the circumstances that claimed the lives of both men.<\/p>\n

Friday evening, the families joined the League of United Latin American Citizens for a ceremony to present scholarships to three Antelope Valley College students as part of the newly established Logan\/Cobian Memorial Scholarship Fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order for us to move on and for us to move forward, we have to do something positive in the community so that these young men are remembered in a positive way,\u201d said LULAC member Dr. Miguel Coronado, who assisted the families in creating the scholarship.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The scholarship ceremony was held at Vince's Pasta and Pizza in Lancaster.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Darrell Logan Jr.,<\/a> 32, was shot to death, on Oct, 13, 2011, by Palmdale deputies who responded to Logan\u2019s home after receiving a call about gunfire coming from the residence. Christian Cobian<\/a>, 26, was shot and killed by Lancaster deputies, on Jan. 21, 2012, after he ran from deputies during a traffic stop.<\/p>\n

Coronado said, in the months following the shootings, both families bonded over the pain of losing their loved ones. They also harbored distrust for law enforcement, Coronado said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than to continuously harp on the sheriffs\u2026 to continuously harp on the leadership of Lancaster and Palmdale\u2026 I said \u2018that\u2019s enough, we need to do something positive,\u2019\u201d Coronado said.<\/p>\n

He said the families held raffles, food sales, car washes, and other fundraising events over the last three months. One hundred percent of the proceeds went into providing three $250 scholarships for at-risk college students making significant changes in their lives through education.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe explained to the recipients that it\u2019s not a lot, but it\u2019s what it represents,\u201d said Coronado. \u201cIt\u2019s to bring healing to the families, to have the community see Logan and Cobian not as fugitives or felons, but as human beings of unfortunate tragic events. We selected these three young men to represent their humanity and to represent education.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Luis Alcaraz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scholarship recipient Luis Alcaraz<\/strong> works full time, is raising a one-year-old daughter, and is pursuing an associate\u2019s degree in business administration from Antelope Valley College.\u00a0 The 23-year-old said he plans to transfer to CSU Northridge to obtain a bachelor\u2019s degree in finance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the reasons why I was selected [for the scholarship] is because they saw how hard I was working,\u201d Alcaraz said, adding that he hopes to honor the memories of Logan and Cobian in a positive way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a lesson learned,\u201d Alcaraz said.<\/p>\n

Scholarship recipient Louis Johnson<\/strong> was forced to close his home improvement business after the decline of the housing market. The 54-year-old said he battled alcohol problems and almost lost his way, until he decided to turn his life around for the sake of his children.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Louis Johnson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI have two sons that I love very much, and I want to show them that during stressful times you can still do something positive,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat\u2019s means a lot to me, to be able to lead them with a positive attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson will complete his associate\u2019s degree at Antelope Valley College this fall. He said he is transferring to CSU Bakersfield to obtain a bachelor\u2019s degree in sociology and human behavior. From there, he plans to obtain a master\u2019s degree and then begin a new career as a counselor.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor adolescents at risk for drugs and alcohol,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd to counsel young men and women coming out of prison and re-entering the workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scholarship recipient Richard Banks<\/strong> has been attending Antelope Valley College since the summer of 2009. The 33-year-old said he has accomplished his goals every semester since he started.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Richard Banks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBefore school I was in prison,\u201d Banks said. \u201cI\u2019ve been going to school since I got out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks is studying air condition and refrigeration and hopes to begin a career repairing commercial and residential air condition units upon obtaining his degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not worried about the money,\u201d Banks said, when asked about the scholarship. \u201cI haven\u2019t been selected for nothing like this ever before, so I\u2019m just honored to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three recipients of the Logan\/Cobian Memorial Scholarships were selected by a three-member committee that included AVC professor and counselor Dr. Salvador Suarez, Ed.D.; Maria Molina, Palmdale School District Trustee; and Quartz Hill High School student Fabian Villanueva.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of them have turned their lives around in one way shape or form,\u201d said Molina. \u201cThey are becoming role models for our youth in the community, and that\u2019s what we want our youths to see. We want them to see that there are people that are real, that are like them, that have lived bad experiences, just like them. They can come out of adversity, which we know is sometimes difficult, but these gentlemen are proof that they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arzenia Ratliff, mother of Darrell Logan Jr., and Carmen Cobian, mother of Christian Cobian, also spoke at the scholarship ceremony.<\/p>\n

In Spanish, Carmen Cobian thanked the community for helping to raise the funds needed to provide the scholarships in her son\u2019s name and for supporting her family.<\/p>\n

Ratliff said she will continue to raise money in order to present more scholarships to at-risk students in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m never going to stop,\u201d Ratliff said. \u201cI really appreciate the community helping me out, looking out for me, and just helping me to proceed in keeping my son\u2019s name positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antelope Valley NAACP President Juan Blanco also spoke at the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that it\u2019s a painful situation, and that\u2019s hard to change, but tonight you are seeing the empowerment of what you can do together as a community, what you can do as the people who live in the Antelope Valley,\u201d Blanco said.<\/p>\n

If you would like to assist in fundraising or to donate funds to the Logan\/Cobian Memorial Scholarship, contact Dr. Miguel Coronado at 661-466-6810.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
(L to R) Carmen Cobian, Maria Molina, Dr. Miguel Coronado, Fabian Villanueva, Luis Alcaraz, Louis Johnson, Richard Banks, Arzenia Ratliff, Dr. Salvadore Suarez.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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LANCASTER \u2013 The families of Darrell Logan Jr. and Christian Cobian have banded together to create something positive from the circumstances that claimed the lives of both men. Friday evening, the families joined the League of United Latin American Citizens for a ceremony to present scholarships to three Antelope Valley College students as part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}