BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SCR 5
Author: Runner (R)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM : 11-0, 3/31/09
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Harman,
Hollingsworth, Kehoe, Oropeza, Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Marine Corporal Christopher D. Leon Memorial
Highway
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution designates a segment of State
Highway Route 14 in the City of Lancaster as the Marine
Corporal Christopher D. Leon Memorial Highway.
ANALYSIS : Marine Corporal Christopher D. Leon was born
on November 5, 1985 in Thousand Oaks, California. Shortly
upon graduating from Lancaster High School in 2004, he left
for boot camp in the Marine Corps in San Diego.
Marine Corporal Leon had always wanted to be a Marine and
loved the camaraderie and high sense of purpose that is
part of being in the Marine Corps. He was described by
fellow members of the Marine Corps as having a heart of a
lion. This characteristic was displayed on many occasions,
CONTINUED
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including when he broke his foot during a boot camp
exercise called "the crucible" but nonetheless still
managed to courageously finish 10 miles of hiking and even
more miles of running on that broken foot.
Marine Corporal Christopher D. Leon obtained his corporal's
stripes within two years of service and was assigned to the
5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO), III Marine
Expeditionary Force, in Okinawa, Japan. He excelled in
ANGLICO training and in the Marine Corps Martial Arts
Program. As a liaison company member, Marine Corporal Leon
was trained to quickly pinpoint the source of enemy fire
from ground troops, helicopters, or attack plans and then
to direct counter-fire.
On June 20, 2006, at 20 years of age, Marine Corporal
Christopher D. Leon died from injuries suffered in combat
in the western province of Al Anbar, Iraq. Surviving
Marine Corporal Leon are his parents, James and Kathi Leon,
grandparents, Lucien and Rita Hemond, aunts and uncles,
LoriAnn and Robert Lumley and Paul and Margo Hemond,
cousins, Anna Lumley and Andrew Hemond, birth mom, Nikki
Ruhl, Nikki's mother, Sue Ruhl, and Nikki's sister, Tracy
Rossi and family.
He was fiercely proud of the hazardous duty he performed in
combat in defense of the United States of America. At a
memorial service for Marine Corporal Leon in Ramadi, Iraq,
Marine Captain Adam Blanton praised him as "everything I
could have asked for in a Marine." By designating a
segment of State Highway Route 14 in his name, this
resolution honors the sacrifices this young man made for
his country.
This resolution:
1.Designates the segment of State Highway Route 14 between
Avenue M and Avenue L in the City of Lancaster as the
"Marine Corporal Christopher D. Leon Memorial Highway."
2.Requests the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) to determine the cost of erecting appropriate
signs, consistent with the signing requirements for the
state highway system, and, upon receiving donations from
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nonstate sources sufficient to cover that cost, to erect
those signs.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/21/09)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
JA:nl 4/21/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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