Pico Rivera: June 2008 Archives

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.

Detectives from the Pico Rivera substation sought a man who flashed three young girls Monday afternoon in Pico Rivera.

The girls, described as 11 and 12 said the flasher was a male hispanic in his 40s with dark hair, a mustache.

"He was dark skinned, heavy set and short," Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Maria Gutierrez said.

The man was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and black pants, Gutierrez said. There is no composite drawing available.

Mayor's son questioned in car theft case.

An unidentified person was detained at Mayor Ron Beilke's home Wednesday as part of an auto theft investigation, authorities said.

<snip>

Beilke said deputies questioned his 17-year-old son, who visited the same house as Sonny Costello, a 19-year-old transient, who is accused of stealing a 2002 Chevy Suburban on Tuesday night.

Monrovia plans outside investigation of claims against PD.

MONROVIA - Police Chief Roger Johnson said Wednesday that an outside agency would investigate sexual harassment allegations contained in a lawsuit filed against a Monrovia police officer.

Rudy Ramirez, 25, a former Monrovia jailer and member of the Monrovia police Explorer program, filed the lawsuit last month. He claims Sgt. Dan Verna sexually abused and harassed him beginning in 2000 while he was a minor until November 2006 when Ramirez was terminated by the department.

"Any of these allegations are going to be reviewed by a law enforcement agency independent of the Police Department to determine if there's been any wrong-doing," Johnson said.

<snip>

To bolster claims in his lawsuit, Ramirez states that Verna helped a suspected gang member, Salvador Parra, get released from Monrovia city jail on two occasions in 2006.

Sheriff's officials on Wednesday said a deputy saw Verna and Parra in 2006 inside of a parked car in Fish Canyon.

On patrol May 2, 2006, Deputy Mike Silva spotted the pair, authorities said. When he saw a gun in the car, the deputy detained Verna and called for backup, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Capt. Richard Shaw. 

Man shot and killed in Hacienda Heights.

Police responded to the 1100 block of Finegrove Avenue to reports of shots fired around 9:50 p.m., according to Deputy Aura Sierra of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

They found a Latino man, 30, with multiple gun shots wounds in his torso, Sierra said.

CHiPs OIS follow up; woman identified.

Two CHP officers patrolling the eastbound 10 Freeway just after 11 p.m. initially noticed the woman as she passed them in her car, driving at a high rate of speed, Dolson said.

The officers thought she might have been under the influence, so they pulled her over at Hellman and Garfield avenues, just off the freeway, Dolson said.

When one of the officers approached the vehicle, the woman pulled out the replica handgun, prompting the officer to fire one round, he said.

The fake handgun was later recovered at the scene, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Oscar Butao.

"It looked exactly like a righteous firing gun," Dolson said. "You would probably have to handle it and examine it for a short time to realize it wasn't real."

LAPD chased this guy into Santa Fe Springs, Pico Rivera and Whittier before he was caught. Apprently the suspect was wanted for a DUI.