Recently in Duarte Category

DUARTE -- A man was flown to the hospital by helicopter following a 4-car freeway crash Wednesday, authorities said.
The collision occurred shortly before 5:30 p.m. in the westbound lanes of the 210 Freeway, just west of Myrtle Avenue, Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Jeffrey Myers said.
A man of about 40 years old had to be freed from his Corvette by firefighters, Myers said.
He was flown to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in stable condition, the captain added.
Both lanes of the 210 Freeway were shut down as the helicopter landed, and lanes of the freeway remained affected by the crash for more than an hour, according to California Highway Patrol logs.
The crash caused one of the involved cars to catch fire, officials said.
No other injuries were reported in the crash, Myers said, however a motorcyclist crashed and suffered a broken arm as traffic slowed down in the aftermath of the collision.
The circumstances and cause of the crash were being investigated by the Baldwin Park office of the California Highway Patrol.

From KABC this afternoon, after leading with a reference to a recent Duarte incident, where a black family was targeted by Hispanic gang members, the story continued:

"We want a public campaign to ostracize those small groups of people that would try to draw a wedge between black and brown in this city," said Leon Jenkins, NAACP president.
Jenkins, along with other local African-American leaders, is reaching out to Latino leaders with an invitation for both communities to work together to end "brown on black" and "black on brown" attacks.

"We're opening up a dialogue with our Hispanic brothers and sisters," said Jenkins. "Secondly, we will file a formal complaint with the FBI, and we will put the city of L.A., the district attorney's office, and the county sheriff's office, that we want vigorous re-enforcement and enforcement of the law against all hate crimes."

Leaders in both communities don't want to focus on the tension between the groups, saying there many more blacks and Latinos who get along than those who don't, but in a recent FBI raid, 147 gang members from a notorious Latino gang were arrested in Hawaiian Gardens. Among the allegations against them, was that they specifically targeted blacks.

DUARTE -- A woman was arrested on suspicion of carjacking Sunday after allegedly punching another woman in the face and stealing her car with the help of a male accomplice, authorities said.
Her name was not immediately available, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Walker said.
The incident occurred about 7:15 p.m. at the Duarte Liquor Store, 1302 Duarte Road, the sergeant said.
A woman was approached by the female suspect and punched in the face, Walker said.
She and an accomplice, a man, then drove away in the woman's Nissan Pathfinder SUV, he said.
The SUV crashed and overturned about half a mile east of the liquor store at Duarte Road and Highland Avenue, Walker said.
As deputies were investigating the crash, the apparent victim approached officials and pointed out the female suspect driving away in another car, he said.
The car was pulled over and the woman was arrested without further incident, Walker said. Three other men inside the car with her were not believed to be involved in the carjacking.
The woman who allegedly had her car stolen was hospitalized with a possibly broken nose, the sergeant added.
The male suspect remained at large, he said.

Looks like the feds plan to dole out about $252 million in stimulus money to California cop shops. I haven't done the math but in most cases it looks like the package will return about $1 to cities per resident. Here's a round up of what some San Gabriel Valley cities can expect

PASADENA $342,008

EL MONTE $320,930

WEST COVINA $184,000

WHITTIER $152,145

BALDWIN PARK $151,669

PICO RIVERA $148,182

ALHAMBRA $143,111

MONTEBELLO $127,104

ROSEMEAD $113,633

SAN GABRIEL $98,260

COVINA $95,090

AZUSA $93,347

MONTEREY PARK $80,668

ARCADIA $71,159

SANTA FE SPRINGS $68,782

MONROVIA $64,503

SOUTH EL MONTE $64,344

INDUSTRY $59,590

DIAMOND BAR $55,152

LA MIRADA $55,152

DUARTE $45,009

SAN DIMAS $39,621

TEMPLE CITY $36,610

GLENDORA $33,599

LA VERNE $33,123

WALNUT $23,297

SOUTH PASADENA $19,018

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE $11,411

IRWINDALE $10,618

A group of about 150 community members marched from a Monrovia church to one in Duarte Saturday in a demonstration of solidarity between the Latino and black communities, church officials said.
The march went from the Immaculate Conception Church in Monrovia, 740 S. Shamrock Ave., to the New Hope Church of God In Christ in Duarte, 742 Euclid Ave., New Hope Church Pastor George Salter said.
Speakers addressed the crowd at the end of the march, he added.
"It was very uplifting," the pastor said.
The march came on the heels of the shooting death of 18-year-old Citrus College student Miguel Sanchez of Duarte, who was gunned down Monday while walking with a friend in the 2500 block of Milbrae Avenue, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.
Sanchez was not believed to have gang ties, authorities said, however his assailants are believed to be gang members.
In late 2007 and early 2008, a feud between black and Latino gangs in the area claimed the lives of four people.
On Tuesday, a forum was held for area residents to discuss their concerns about violence with city and sheriff's officials.
Monrovia police officials said there were no reports of incidents related to the march.

No longer a missing man, onetime actor, and Pasadena gad-about Basil Tellou, aka "The Bishop" has been found, according to several sources.

Tellou, who played roles in several low budget movies in the 40s and 50s, turned up in Pasadena Tuesday afternoon. He was last seen at an inauguration party at Pasadena's Jackie Robinson Center, that was attended by our own Larry Wilson.

 

Sheriff's deputies are seeking 86-year-old Basil Tellou after the elderly man disappeared from his home in Duarte on Jan. 20.

Tellou, also known as "The Bishop" is well known in Pasadena's Playhouse District and apparently frequents Vroman's.

Back in the 1940s and 1950s, Tellou worked as a bit player in Hollywood and appeared in a movie titled "Harbor of the Missing Men."

Here's a link to his IMDB page.

 

DUARTE - Aa man suspected of attempting to burglarize cars in Duarte Wednesday morning bit a sheriff's deputy, officials said.

Deputies received a call around 8 a.m. that a man was trying to open car doors near the intersection of Huntington Drive and Las Lomas Road, according to Sgt. Michael Martinez with the Temple sheriff's station.

When deputies attempted to arrest the man, a struggle ensued, and the suspect bit one of the responding deputies, Martinez said.

The Azusa Police Department was called in for assistance, Martinez said.

Authorities identified the suspect only as a male in his 30s.

He was arrested on suspicion of battery on a police officer, Martinez said.

No other suspects were detained, and the suspect did not have any loot, Martinez said.

DUARTE -- A manager at the Old Spaghetti Factory was beaten, bound and robbed at gun point by two men early Friday morning, according to sheriffs officials.
The manager was treated for his injuries, which were not considered serious.
The suspects, dressed in dark pants and dark hooded sweat shirts with their faces concealed, confronted the manager about 1:40 a.m. with a shotgun and stole about $5,500 from the restaurant in the 1400 block of Buena Vista St, sheriffs officials said.
The manager was able to reach a cell phone and call for help, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Allan Smith said.
He was still bound when officials arrived, Smith said.
A further description of the suspects or their last seen direction was not known, he said.

Here's some stories we've been following over the weekend:

1. BALDWIN PARK -- City Councilman Anthony Bejarano was arrested late Friday on suspicion of being intoxicated in public.

2. VALINDA -- A Duarte man was jailed on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence Saturday following a crash that killed a 61-year-old Valinda man.

3. PASADENA -- A 16-year-old girl was shot in the leg Saturday while congregating with a group of other young women in front of an apartment building.

4 .BALDWIN PARK -- A 17-year-old boy showed up at a local hospital Sunday after he was stabbed but refused to tell police the details.

5. IRWINDALE -- A truck driver was robbed and shot Saturday as he dropped his truck off at a business at the end of his work day.

6. PASADENA -- A woman was arrested Sunday after allegedly attacking her boyfriend with a "The Club" steering wheel lock and vandalizing his car after discovering him at a motel with another woman.

A massage parlor offering massages by "lovely Asian girls" and "professional and cute Asian girls." has run afoul of the Duarte City Council, according to a story by Nathan McIntire.

I love this paragraph from the story, which is still being edited:

Duarte Acupuncture Center is listed as an "erotic massage parlor" by an online escort listing service. Reviews from patrons posted to that site describe sexual acts that were allegedly performed there.

Well, no wonder they are in trouble ...I'll post a link to the story when it goes live.

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.