Patch's Q & A with Mover and Shaker Charly Shelton

Charly Shelton is a 21-year-old student at Pasadena City College and a writer for CV Weekly, but you probably know him as youngest member in the history of the Crescenta Valley Town Council. Patch got some one-on-one time with Charly to talk about his further plans for college, the Town Council and other things going on in his life.

Which universities have you applied to?

Shelton: CSU Fullerton, and San Diego State University and University of Miami.

So, how will that affect your time on the town council if you get accepted into a university?

Shelton: It won't, because I am still going to be up in the community. I work for the newspaper, so I am going to be actively doing things. If I get into Fullerton I am going to be commuting. I am still going to live up here. If I get into San Diego, I will probably be moving somewhere closer but not all the way down there, because my girlfriend goes to Fullerton. We would probably get somewhere that is still close enough to come home.

What about Miami?

Shelton:  Miami would be a little bit different. That one would put me out of the area. It would not allow me to run for another term. I really don't think I will get in, because it is a private school, and then there is the cost on top of that. My dream school is Oxy, but I know I won't be able to make it there right now. They are one of the few places with my major still active.

What is your major?

Shelton: Vertebrate paleontology of the Mesozoic. So, dinosaur science. Not many places have it. They used to up at CSUN [...] but that was just shut down a few years ago, I believe, and they just never hired the new professor.

On the town council, what would you like to do?

Shelton:  [Continue helping with] Prom Plus, an after-party to prom to keep kids safe. That is essentially a $20,000 party. It is huge. I mean, they have got a rock climbing wall. They have video games, they have got a bucking bull. They have all kinds of stuff. It is awesome. [...] We see that kids, and I think the community overall, just like to go somewhere to do fun stuff. This town goes to sleep at 6 p.m., and we are only 20 minutes from Hollywood, but you don't want to go down to Hollywood, because you meet creepy people and you don't want to walk the streets at 11 o'clock at night. It is just not something for us. So we all stay up here, [but we need] to get out and see and be seen. I suggested a laser tag and arcade, because we have to have something that is better than getting high and fooling around. A lot of kids would choose that.

How did you find yourself on the CV Town Council?

Shelton: Someone mentioned it to me at a party that I should do this. I kind of went into it thinking it would look good on a college application. I am already [going all over] the community [for] the newspaper and everything, [...] I may as well have a hand in the community making suggestions of where it should go.

I went into it as kind of a novel idea and a cute little thing to do, but the more I got into it, the more I realized that it is not just a cute little thing. This is the real deal, and that just got me into it more. The campaign, if you can even call it that, was just [me] telling people what I saw, but it was a very different approach from what everyone else had done. Everyone else is like, "youth first" and we have to put our community standards first.

I said I wanted a laser tag place in town, because I just graduated in 2007, so still have friends in high school. I work with Prom Plus and the Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition and all this stuff because my sister is still in high school and my other sister is in elementary school.

When I was there it was like, "Yeah, my friends do drugs, whatever, it is their life." Now it is like looking out for my sister, so I really want to do what I can. I have seen these anti-drug campaigns come and go. I've seen some of it work[but] well, most of it doesn't. I still have friends there who can tell me what works and what doesn’t work, so it gives me more of a handle on the kids’ community. It’s more than just saying we have to put youth first. I am still a youth, so I can say what we want to do.

So, going back to what you were saying about drug campaigns, can you give me some examples of things that you saw that didn't work?

Shelton:  "Dare" to stay off drugs, and you wear the red ribbons. It works for some, but it just doesn't challenge you enough. It just says that it's bad to do drugs, and it gives you a bunch of generic examples of ways that you are going to waste your life. It seemed like something that was really laughed about, [rather] than taken seriously.

Do you have any plans for drug outreach and awareness?

Shelton: I would like to get Prom Plus and the Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition more in tune with the Town Council, because the people who serve on this council [reach out] to everything in the community. Steve Goldsworthy [Council vice president] came up and talked about CERT, and even though he is not the head of it, he still has got his hand in there. I really every want to push everybody involved to unify.

Have you seen the "Above The Influence" campaigns?

Shelton: Yeah, we got some of that. You know, it does make you think, but I don't know anyone who would cite that as really moving them. I never did drugs, I never drank, I never did any of that so I can't really speak. But I know a lot of friends that did, personally, and I have had a couple of friends point this out.

The one that affected me the most was "Every 15 Minutes." They do that every two years. They have a wrecked car on the street, and they have a lineup of kids. Throughout the day, the Grim Reaper comes and takes kids out of class to show how many kids are killed every 15 minutes by a drunk driving accident. The paramedics show up, you have the one person who is still alive and injured and freaking out, and you see their friends strewn across the streets and that one. ... I'm getting goosebumps thinking about this. That one is really powerful.

One more thing: what is your job at CV Weekly?

Shelton:  Techno-wizard is my title when you call in. I got it approved with the editor. [...] I handle all of the technology that needs to be done. I edit podcasts that we do for the site, which download directly to your phone. So I am the tech guy, and I am also the entertainment reporter. I have been doing entertainment reporting in local papers for eight years.