Andrew Leeka is used to getting calls at 3 a.m. on his cell phone. Most have nothing to do with his being president of Good Samaritan Hospital in downtown Los Angeles. They usually relate to his other major position in life: honorary consul general of the tiny Pacific island of Palau.
Palau was in the news recently because it agreed to temporarily take in 17 Chinese Muslims known as Uighurs who have been held at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay.
Leeka got a number of calls about the Uighurs, all of them supportive. Usually, Leeka handles more common consular duties: He would have to deal with the death of Palauans here, or help any Palauans with other problems.
“I never get tired of them,” Leeka said of the questions. “This is my calling.”
Leeka first got interested in the 177-square-mile archipelago 500 miles east of the Philippines five years ago after learning that his hospital had treated its tribal chief.
“I flew over there to meet him,” he says, “arrived on the tarmac about 10 p.m. and could smell the incredible tropical air.”
One thing led to another and Leeka, 52, started a non-profit called Project AmNet (for Ambulance Network) which, among other things, has shipped two fully equipped ambulances and 127 bicycles to the island.
The first thing Leeka did after being appointed honorary consul general in 2007 a position vetted by the U.S. State Department was set aside a room in his La Canada-Flintridge house as the island’s official consulate.
And then the calls started.
“People calling at different times of the night are always shocked to get me on my cell phone,” he said.
Missing Out on Memorial
It was the hottest ticket in town last week, but some couldn’t use their tickets for the Michael Jackson memorial.
Mike Sitrick, the head of the eponymous public relations firm, was offered a pair of tickets to the downtown event, but a client crisis erupted and duty called.
“I would have liked to have gone,” he said, “but my clients’ needs always take precedence over my personal desires.”
Knowing how popular the passes were, Sitrick said he kept quiet about having an extra set. Instead, he called his daughters, who did not hesitate to make use of them. “They thought it was very moving.”
Sorry, You Just Can’t Do Better Than Bette
High-profile litigator John Quinn recalls the moment several years ago that he got the idea to adopt a portion of California’s highways.
“I was stuck in traffic somewhere and saw one of the little signs and thought it was cool,” said Quinn, a name partner at downtown L.A. firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges LLP.
Now, Quinn Emanuel pays $5,700 annually for the maintenance of its portion of the Hollywood (101) Freeway through Hollywood, where the adopt-a-highway sign bearing the firm’s name is located.
Quinn isn’t quite satisfied with one thing: the location.
“What I really want is the stretch of highway that Bette Midler has on the 10 between downtown and the Westside,” he said. “It sees a lot of traffic. It’s very prominent.”
Staff reporters David Haldane, Richard Clough and Alexa Hyland contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].
