Recently in Duarte Category

A few weeks ago, I had a surprise late-night encounter with three coyotes roaming the streets of Los Feliz.

It seemed like feral dogs were everywhere that week. Photographer Watchara Phomicinda snapped a picture of a skinny one rooting about an empty field in Irwindale. I can't remember where else they turned up, but they were around.

Last year at this time it was black bears. Bears in Monrovia; bears in Duarte; bears in Bradbury; bears in Azusa.

Old-timers probably know this already, but I was fascinated to find out that predators are nothing new in the San Gabriel Valley or Whittier for that matter.

Grizzlies, wolves, cougars and coyotes roamed pretty freely in these parts right up until the turn of the 20th century.
They're pretty much gone. If only we could say the same about their human counterparts.

***
Whoops.
In my haste to write a brilliant column each week, I've been making grammatical errors. To all you English teachers out there, my deepest apologies.

I had this pointed out to me via a marked-up column sent in the mail by Ms. Beryl Collins of Arcadia.

The mark-up, done nicely in red ink, actually contains just three sentences.
It begins with, "What school did you attend?"

To answer that I guess I have to tell you a little about myself. For the most part I am a product of the California public school system.

After my parents moved to California, I attended Laura M. Hansen Elementary in Saratoga and Joaquin Miller Junior High in San Jose.

The Jesuits took over from there, and although there were some summer school classes at Lynbrook High, I graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose.

Since then, I've attended UCSD, San Jose State, Pasadena City College and Mt. San Antonio College.

That seems like a lot of education. Even after all that, I still don't know how to construct a proper sentence.

The sentence below was one example pointed out by Ms. Collins. It appeared in a column that ran in this newspaper on June 3:

"I'm sure there's countless similar stories."

She suggests I should have constructed the sentence as: "I'm sure there are countless similar stories."

All I can say is that I'm really glad she hasn't been reading my text messages.

U no wot i mean?

Thanks for the tip, Ms. Collins, I'm sure there are countless similar examples.

***

Are the copper thieves getting bold or what?

Whomever hit an Edison substation in Whittier knew exactly what to take, and absconded with copper grounding wire. It could fetch a tidy sum at the recycling center.

What's probably most irritating about the theft is that Edison had to turn off the power in most of Pico Rivera and portions of Whittier on a hot afternoon.

One can only hope the thief's refrigerator was affected and his (or her) beer got warm.

To: News Room
From: Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna, Verdugo Fire Academy Glendale, Ca.

 

At approximately 9:45 a.m. on Saturday June 7th, I was traveling on the West Bound 210 freeway approximately 1/4 mile before the 605 interchange. I noticed a light bit of smoke developing.

 

I pulled to the right and noticed a semi-truck overturned becoming well involved with fire. I stopped to attempt what appeared to be an obvious trapped person in the burning truck. Never in my 28 year career did I witness the occupant stumbling around in shock with
multiple cuts, abrasions and burns with possible broken bones.

I got the victim to a safe location and started administering first aid. The truck was becoming more involved with fire. I called Los Angeles County Fire Dispatch Center who advised me units were en route.

Apparently the victim kicked out the windshield and jumped approximately 20 feet into a storm drain (the truck flew off the high interchange (approximately 30 feet) of the 210/605 freeway and landed on the Mount Olive Drive exit. Had he missed the Mount Olive Drive he
would have fallen another 30 feet into the storm drains on both sides.

This gentlemen is certainly lucky to be alive!

Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna

Firefighters are fighting a 2-alarm brush fire in a riverbed next to Encanto Park in Duarte, officials said.

The blaze was reported about at 4:05 p.m. near the park, located at 800 Encanto Parkway, and was reported to be at 1 acre just prior to 5 p.m., Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatchers said.

About 100 personnel were battling the fire, which officials said was burning in "medium brush."

No structured were immediately threatened, however firefighters were placed in between the fire and nearby homes as a precaution.

Steep terrain, high winds and the fire's proximity to buildings promted the heavy response to the fire, officials said.

A cause was not known.

This comes from our sister paper in Northern California, the San Jose Mercury. I'm posting a link here because there is a Duarte connection as you will see in the snippet below:

They were the gang that shot straight but could not do much else. The killers of Mark Achilli pumped seven slugs into his body, truly finishing the popular Los Gatos man's life. But in the police affidavit that was released on Friday, the accused killers emerged as the ultimate bumblers: Guys who badly mixed technology with an old-fashioned crime conspiracy.

Two blocks from the scene of the March 14 shooting, police found two items that were key to solving the case: an AOL-generated map showing directions from an unlisted address in Duarte, Calif., to Achilli's town house on Overlook Road, and also a crumpled photo of Achilli downloaded from Metroactive.com.

The find was almost as good as fingerprints. It allowed detectives to put pressure on the man believed to be the pivot of the conspiracy, bar bouncer Daniel Chaidez. When Chaidez lied to the cops, it got sweeter.

Did anyone in this gang ever watch "The Sopranos"? Did any of them see Tony Soprano hunched over a computer, printing out directions to the home of his next victim? Fuggedaboudit. It just wouldn't happen.

The shooting of 17-year-old Davien "Day Day" Graham got underway in Alhambra Tuesday with some chilling testimony from "Day Day," who recalled hearing someone holler a gang slogan before opening fire.

As a result of the shooting, Graham was paralyzed. The attack was part of a string of shootings that plagued Monrovia in December and January.

This from Fred Ortega, who attended the hearing for 19-year-old Jimmy Santana of Duarte, a suspected member of the Monrovia Nuevo Varrio 13 gang. Graham is black, Santana is Latino. Much of the violence has stemmed from an apparent race war, officials say.

He described how he was riding his bike back home from the dairy on Jan. 12 in unincorporated Monrovia when a burgundy compact rolled up slowly behind him.
“I heard someone say ‘Hey fool, (expletive) Dirt Rock,’ and then he started shooting,” said Graham, whose 17th birthday was on Monday. Dirt Rock in a derogatory term for the Du-Rock Crips, a Duarte-based black gang.

PASADENA - Seven suspected gang members were arrested in the city in the last week for the stabbing and beating of three people at a city gas station.

The people were fueling up their car at a gas station near the intersection of Lake Avenue and Washington Blvd. around 2:30 a.m. on February 10 when the suspects surrounded them and attacked, said Lt. Alex Uribe of the Pasadena Police.

The men arrested are Julio Hernandez, 23, Gustavo Menzo, 18, Edgar Sentero, 19, Michael Martin Solis, 19, Robert Julio Arnaud, 19, Jose Antonio Garcia, 24, and Wilbur Dominguez, 19.

Uribe said that he believed the suspects are members of the Pasadena Latin Kings gang.

Six of the suspects were arrested on February 28, when Pasadena police detectives and SWAT team members served search warrants at three Pasadena locations and one in Duarte, police said.

The victims survived the attack, said Uribe. The suspects were charged with assault with a deadly weapon, he said

It's been almost six weeks since the "crackdown" and it seems that the shootings are moving out of Monrovia and into Duarte.

On Sunday night a man was hospitalized following a shooting about 8:10 p.m. on Broach at Hurlock.

The wounded man was identified as a Latino in his 30s.

Suspects in the incident have also been described as Latino.

Not sure if this is related to the "spate" of shootings in January -- doesn't seem likely though.

Somehow sheriff's deputies were able to determine that a man who said he was shot in Duarte was actually shot in Altadena.

Last night we reported another Duarte shooting. The victim had taken himself to an area hospital and we were going to fill in the gaps.

TUrns out it didn't happen in Duarte at all or Arcadia or Monrovia. The shooting took place several miles away in Altadena.

Injured was a Latino man. Sheriff's detectives said the shooting was gang related.

Police report a man was shot in the Monrovia Arcadia Duarte area Tuesday night. Very little is currently known. The man was described as a male hispanic. He apparently drove himself to the hospital after being shot.

The wounds were described as "non-life" threatening. This story is developing it's unclear where the shooting occurred. Police are at an undisclosed location searching for evidence.

We will update this as soon as we have more information from the Temple City sheriff's station.

This occurred Friday night in Duarte. I've heard that residents of the area have seen a significant amount of police activity last night and today.

Brian Day wrote the story: