By Tom Risen, Daily Press, Victorville, Calif. May 31--ADELANTO-- Every weekend hundreds of people commute to Adelanto from places as far as San Francisco to see the tallest Buddhist statue in the country, which local monk Thich Dang "Tom" Phap, 67, hopes to expand into a meditation center.

By Adrian Mourby Yalong may be part of the glorious People's Republic of China but ever since we got here I've been humming South Pacific. We've got sunlight on the sand. We've got moonlight on the sea. We've got mangos and bananas we can pick right off the tree.