PEOPLE / GENTE

Despite appeals from abortion foes, Angela Weimer, vice president of the L.A. County Commission for Women, recently persuaded the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to support the commission’s position in favor of a woman’s right to choose abortion. The supervisors approved the panel’s recommendation to urge Congress to adopt the proposed Freedom of Choice Act. “It was not advocacy for a medical procedure, but for the right of women to determine their own lives and make choices for themselves,” said Weimer, 34. “Women still retain the right not to have an abortion.” An East Los Angeles native who lives in Alhambra, Weimer is a community organizer who works as MALDEF special events director.

French horn player Paul Loredo was one of eight musicians who recently won a fellowship from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn. The grants, partially funded by the Herb Alpert Foundation, seek to increase ethnic diversity within professional symphony orchestras. Loredo, 31, was introduced to the French horn in his junior high school band in Echo Park when all the trumpets had been chosen. “There were plenty of French horns left over,” he recalled. “There was no turning back.” Loredo, who

lives in Echo Park with his wife and newborn son, occasionally plays with the Orange County Pacific Symphony. Loredo wants a “regular gig” with a major symphony orchestra and will use his $2,000 award for traveling to auditions.