Where’s my mail?

Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, on Wednesday toured a Postal Service processing center in Industry that is slated to have some of its operations shut down in the spring.

Napolitano, who was invited by union leaders opposing the shutdown, said she is concerned about jobs that will be taken out of the area. “To be able to protect jobs, that’s my job,” Napolitano said.

Under the U.S. Postal Service’s plan, 52 workers would be moved from the Industry site to other locations or shifted to different positions, according to union leaders. USPS officials said the plan will streamline processing – saving money while maintaining services and avoiding layoffs.

They hope to cut $1.1 million. Corporate and business mail will continue to be processed at the Industry location.

But every piece of mail that features a stamp and is sent from anywhere with a zip code that starts with 917 or 918 will be sent to Industry and then shipped to Santa Ana for processing, under the plan.

That amounts to about 300,000 pieces of mail every day from the San Gabriel Valley, Pomona Valley and parts of San Bernardino County, according to an average provided by USPS officials.

Mail that is sent from one of those zip codes and addressed to one of those zip codes, will go from Industry to Santa Ana and then back to Industry.

Read more in Tom Himes’ story Postal.

Kids bust a move at dance camp

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“So You Think You Can Dance” may be a popular television program, but the kids in Walnut’s dance camp really can.

Thanks to the instruction of Sheri Liebe of Diamond Bar and her camp assistants, youngsters from around the San Gabriel Valley were polishing their dance moves last week in the Walnut Gym.

Ms. Sheri, as she’s known to the kids, is well-known for her 1na dance studio in Diamond Bar. So it wasn’t a big surprise when 130 children signed up for the popular dance camp.

Read all about the young performers in Rich Irwin’s story Dance.

Youth Science Center holds essay contest

The Youth Science Center in Hacienda Heights is sponsoring an essay contest for girls 8 to 17 years old. The contest encourages young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The contest honors Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, who will be the special guest speaker at the Youth Science Center’s yearly gala on Nov. 10 at Pacific Palms.
Essay winners will attend the gala with two guests as well as a cash prize. One winner will be chosen from elementary, middle school and high schools.

The one-page typed essays should be no more than 500 words. They should address these questions:
1. Which part of science, technology, engineering, mathematics are you interested in for a future career?
2. What work or projects would you like to see yourself doing?
3. Why would this work be important to your future?

Include your name, age, address and what school you attend. The deadline is Oct. 10.
Email essay to ysc@youthsciencecenter.org or mail them to the Youth Science Center, 16949 Wedgeworth Drive, Hacienda Heights CA 91745.

Kiwanis Club helps local schools

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Jennifer Strinz, a Kiwanis member and faculty adviser for Builders Club, sorts donated items in a school bus as the Kiwanis Club of Hacienda Heights stuffs a bus with school supplies for the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District on Saturday at Wal-Mart in
Industry. Staff Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz

Berkeley culture professor set to speak at Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights

UC Berkeley East Asian Languages and Culture professor emeritus Lewis Lancaster will give a lecture at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 28 at the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple.

The talk will be titled “Buddhism and the Megatrends of Population and Economy: The New Challenge.”

The event is free. The temple is at 3456 Glenmark Drive in Hacienda Heights. For more information, call 626-961-9697.

St. John Vianney holds luau to raise funds to replace church

St. John Vianney Roman Catholic Church will hold a fundraising dinner and raffle from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 13. The luau-style dinner and raffle will be held at 8421 Labajada Ave., Whittier. The parish is trying to raise money to rebuild its sanctuary, which was destroyed in an arson fire.

Tickets are $40 a person. The event is for adults only.

For more information, call Evelyn at 626-965-3234 or call the Corpus Christi center at 626-330-2269.

Kiwanis Club to stuff a bus for Hacienda La Puente schools

The Kiwanis Club of Hacienda Heights is trying to literally stuff a bus with school supplies to help local children get a good start this school year.

The school bus parked in front of the Industry Wal-Mart on Saturday, Aug. 13, won’t be for passengers. It’s part of the Stuff the Bus school supplies drive sponsored by the Kiwanis. The club wants to make it an annual event.

Come stuff the bus from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Wal-Mart parking lot at the corner of Azusa and Gale Avenues.

The Kiwanis Club got a generous donation of $500 from the City of Industry Manufacturers Council to help kick-off this event.

The club will be working its youth clubs, Key Clubbers and KIWIN’s from local high schools as well as Builders Clubbers in the middle schools to fill the bus with your donations.
School supplies will be donated to the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District.

Suggested supplies include: backpacks, three ring binders, loose-leaf notebook paper, spiral notebooks, pocket folders, glue sticks, pencil boxes and pencils as well as crayons, markers, rulers and scissors.

Consider stopping by to purchase your school supplies and buy a few extra to donate to the school district. For more information, call Dave Wallach at 626-333-8426 or 714-328-2410.

85C Bakery Cafe coming to Hacienda Heights

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Staff photo by Watchara Phomicinda

San Gabriel Valley food lovers are hailing the opening of 85C Bakery Cafe, a Taiwanese chain known for adventurous fare like sea salt coffee and frozen marble taro that draws long lines of hungry customers.

The chain’s only current U.S. store is in Irvine. The second one will open Saturday at 10 a.m. at 17170 Colima Road.

“The one in Irvine, we have crazy lines and a lot of our customers on the weekend are all from this area — Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Arcadia,” operations manager Stephanie Peng said. “We figured since a lot of them come from up north, this would be a good location.”

There are only a handful of the bakeries outside China and Taiwan — four in Australia and now two in the United States, Peng said.

“When I received word that they were opening in Hacienda Heights I was very, very happy,” said Jay Chen, lifelong Hacienda Heights resident and president of the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District board of education. “Definitely there was a tinge of pride that they had chosen our community because they would be welcome anywhere they went.”

Read more about the fabulous new store at cafe.

Much Ado about Rowland Heights on Wednesday


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It may be “Much Ado About Nothing,” but it’s still a very special show for the residents of Rowland Heights.

Theater troupe Shakespeare by the Sea will bring the Bard’s works to life 7 p.m. Wednesday at Pathfinder Park in Rowland Heights.

“We had a city drop out of our summer season because of funding issues, so L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe asked us to come out to Rowland Heights,” explained Artistic Director Lisa Coffi. “We were surprised by how many families came out for our first performance at Schabarum Park. There were lots of kids.”

Shakespeare by the Sea will present 41 performances throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties this summer. Coffi expects to reach an audience of more than 20,000.

Read more about the theater troupe’s visit to Rowland Heights at Shakespeare.

Jay Chen talks about Malaysia trip

Last year, Hacienda-La Puente school board member Jay Chen got a lesson in what he called xenophobia when community members became enraged over a Chinese language and culture program being offered by the school district. This year, he got a lesson in international relations instead.

Chen was chosen as one of seven delegates to Indonesia and Malaysia for an annual trip sponsored by the American Council of Young Political Leaders.

The exchange program started in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on July 15 and returned home July 22. While overseas, the delegates met with political leaders, dignitaries and members of human rights groups.

Read about his trip at Chen.