Recently in mailbag Category

We're working to verify these stories now. Just thought I'd share some of the mail. First a car crash Sunday in Rowland Heights:

There was a car crash on May 17th, 2009, Sunday. My fiance was behind the car when it got hit by an suv, the car flipped over and landed in Joe's Crab Shack. My fiance saw the car flipped upside down and he saw the passenger with their eyes open and blood everywhere. He was sure they had passed away, and has been pretty tramatized about it. I've been looking everywhere on the internet to see if it was reported and I havent found anything. I was wondering if you will be reporting it? or is there anywhere that they might where I can find it. I just would like to give him some peace of mind and me as well. Thank you so much :) It happened in Rowland heights by the Puente Hills Mall. 

Next, a stabbing in Highland Park (also Sunday):

There was a stabbing in Garvanza Park near the corner of Avenue 64 and Meridian last night (Sunday, the 17th) at approximately 6 pm.  The small park was full of families at that time and I believe the stabbing victim has since succumbed (based on the memorial that now stands in the park). There was a heavy LAPD presence in the park just after the slaying.
As I have seen no mention of this incident in the media anywhere, I thought I'd bring it to your attention.

Questions about the Mongols motorcycle gang:

I've recently become aware that they're making a film about William Queen's book, "Under and Alone."
After reading the book, I began to wonder how The Mongols got to be what they are today. I knew one of them, very briefly, 30 years ago, and he and his friends were not like the book described at all.
I read the article in the SGV Tribune and, although they weren't boy scouts, Tony Vodnik's description was more what I remember. 
He may be able to answer some questions for me.
If you have a way I can contact him via email, and can share that info with me - or forward this to him, I'd appreciate it.

Finally, a drive-by in Rowland Heights:

I was told by a friend that there was a drive by shooting in Rowland Heights last week.
I wanted to make sure of those facts. I saw a deputy sheriff so I asked him if there was
in fact a drive by shooting in Rowland Heights. He said yes there was one.
Why isn't there any mention of it on your site or in the Newspaper?

Care to chime in on any of these incidents? 

This anonymous writer has his own take on urban terrorism and the failure of the presidential campaign to address serious crime issues affecting our neighborhoods. I don't know what to make of it. Clearly the writer wanted to remain anonymous because some of the remarks are controversial.  Letter on the jump:

This is a reader comment from earlier today. I posting it here for those who don't read comments:

I have worked for the city of Pasadena for many years  helping the cities youth get clean from drugs, alcohol and gang life. With so much poverty, death, drugs and gangs in the North side of Pasadena (Above the 210 Fwy) why are you covering a bill for foil balloons? Who cares?

Why aren't you investigating the constant gang and drug deaths and crime in Pasadena? Why aren't you writing about the amazing discrepancy between the wealth of southern half of Pasadena (below the 210 Fwy) and the Northern half of Pasadena.

A drive down Orange Grove or Washington Blvds at night feels like your driving through skid row. I thought You were "The Crime Scene" not the foil balloon patrol.. Or have you given up the dream and drive you may have once had to provide information and assistance on crime in Pasadena?

'casue the way I see it , it seems as though you've been phoning it in for quite some time. Sorry if that's harsh but ist seems that you only report crime that "makes" the news and has already been announced.

Instead of going out there and getting the story and "making" the news. Email me if you want to know about the Mexican Mafia activity in Pasadena or why mothers are selling their children to grown men, or a story on why at least six children from our program ended up dead last year, why black and hispanic gangs were at war in Monrovia, how our youth programs in Pasadena are helping and failing the kids in Pasdena etc. etc. etc.

From the notebook ...

One of the unique features of the vast Los Angeles County bureaucracy can be found in the Department of Coroner.

Unlike most other California counties, the coroner is not elected and the head medical examiner doesn’t report to the Sheriff’s Department.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s when Dr. Thomas Noguchi headed the department, that separation sometimes caused local politicians and law enforcement tons of headaches. Noguchi, known as “coroner to the stars,” did press conferences, held public inquests, and sometimes made rulings that flew in the face of conventional wisdom.

Two, even three decades later, the memory of Noguchi looms large in many ways. Even if nothing (except the retro concrete buildings on North Mission) else is remotely the same.

“There’s way more technology,” said Ed Winter, a former Arcadia police officer who is now the Department of Coroner’s assistant chief of operations. “You can’t just make guesses anymore. I’m not saying Noguchi guessed, but we have much more data and much more information now.”

Even with all that technology, and all those new forms of information, medical examiners and investigators apparently have been unable to determine how Liya “Jessie” Lu died, according to prosecutors in the case.

Lu, 31, disappeared in August after being dropped off at her boyfriend’s home in San Gabriel. Police pleaded for help locating the woman. A couple of weeks later her body was found stuffed into a plastic trash can and covered with kitty litter.

Her boyfriend, Isaac Campbell, 32, became the object of a nationwide manhunt. He turned up hiding out in a low-budget motel on the outskirts of Minneapolis in mid-September. Campbell fought extradition to California and lost.

But, he’s been able to stave off arraignment in the case because of the lack of a coroner’s report, officials said.

Last week, Superior Court Judge Carlos Uranga postponed arraignment in the case until May 6, primarily because of the lack of information.

On Monday, Winter said the coroner’s report and autopsy results for Lu remain on a security hold. He was unable to discuss the specifics of either. Case watchers will have to hold their collective breath another month to see where this one goes.

X X X

Hey readers, I want you to know that I analyze all the e-mails you send — as well as cards and letters. Thanks to all of you for some timely tips; you guys are the eyes and ears of the Crime Scene Blog and column on the streets of the SGV and I really appreciate the input.

That said, I must apologize to several of you for my tardiness responding to e-mails. Guess that makes it about time for a New Year’s resolution.

Former Tribune reporter Nisha Gutierrez, who is now a TV reporter in tiny Pocatello, Idaho at KPVI- NBC News Channel 6, sends along an update on a case from this past summer:

Just a quick heads ups -Jason Meyer will be sentenced here in Pocatello this afternoon. If you recall he is the guy who rear ended and killed the LA County Deputy and his wife last summer. I'll be following the proceedings so let me know if you'd like to know what he gets.

Here's a story on the case.

Dear Ms. Chatila and Mr. Giardot,
 
As a longtime Monrovia resident with children in the public elementary schools here, I read with interest your recent article "Rival Gangs Blamed In Spree."  Your piece correctly states that these heinous violent crimes are the result of gang rivalry, not some general tension between African-Americans and Latinos.  There is an ongoing need for greater understanding between blacks and Latinos across the greater Los Angeles area, but the deadly shootings that occurred over the last week in Monrovia are not the result of racial tension.  They are the result of tension between groups of our young men who have, tragically, separated themselves from mainstream society and given their loyalty to criminal organizations bent on dominating, terrorizing and dividing our communities. 
 
But one doesn’t have to be a gang-banger to become a victim.  Unfortunately, your article’s lack of detail about the victims could easily lead readers to conclude that they were all gang-affiliated.
 
I first learned of this week’s shootings Tuesday night (Jan. 15) at meeting of the Monroe Elementary School PTA (where I serve as first vice-president).  One of our parents told us that Day-Day, the 16-year-old Monrovia High School student who was shot, is a good kid who's active in his church youth group and even organized a Bible school for neighborhood children during the summer.  
 
Your article would have been so much better if it had included at least one quote from a friend, relative or neighbor of pointing out some of these facts about the young man. Your article also failed to mention that the Day-Day is hospitalized in critical condition and that the family's church is collecting funds and goods to support the family.
 
A follow-up story exploring these angles could be beneficial to the community and to the Star News.  I’d be more than happy to help get you in touch with people to interview for such a story.
 
Sincerely yours,
 
Cameron Turner