<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/c57bdbc2-fb15-4f83-a278-d99de6823841/A84A580F-A483-46EB-92B0-3BA16ED01299/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-firefighter24-2008nov24,0,7208908.story?track=ntothtml" href="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-firefighter24-2008nov24,0,7208908.story?track=ntothtml" style="font-size: 11px;">www.latimes.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-firefighter24-2008nov24,0,7208908.story?track=ntothtml"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.latimes.com/img/F9DEF80D-286F-48E0-8216-E43BDA448A21" alt="Ramon Maestas" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-firefighter24-2008nov24,0,7208908.story?track=ntothtml"><DIV>Little Ray frightens people when he struts down Echo Park Avenue, white socks hiked to his knees, bald head marked with a tattoo of a woman's red lips, all attitude. </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-firefighter24-2008nov24,0,7208908.story?track=ntothtml"><DIV>Ramon Maestas, the firefighter, makes people feel safe. He wins strangers over in his dusty green and yellow uniform; they give him free food and say, "Thank you for saving our homes."</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-firefighter24-2008nov24,0,7208908.story?track=ntothtml"><DIV>Someday, maybe, his work, not his gang name, will earn him the respect of others. </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-firefighter24-2008nov24,0,7208908.story?track=ntothtml"><DIV>"I've never had people treat me like that before," Maestas says. "It's beautiful."</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-firefighter24-2008nov24,0,7208908.story?track=ntothtml"><DIV> Today, because he is on probation, one more mistake could cost him at least five years in prison. </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-firefighter24-2008nov24,0,7208908.story?track=ntothtml"><DIV>"If I spit the wrong way, I'm done," Maestas says. </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-firefighter24-2008nov24,0,7208908.story?track=ntothtml"><DIV>When he got out of jail, a cousin told him about Aztecs Rising, a gang-intervention program that trains youth to become forest firefighters. The thought of wiping out fires and pushing himself to compete excited him. </DIV></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/A84A580F-A483-46EB-92B0-3BA16ED01299/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

New from the makers of Clipmarks:  Amplify.com - Don't just share the news...Amplify it!