Monrovia Assemblymember Appointed to Committees

Assemblymember Chris Holden, who represents Monrovia and serves as Majority Whip, was today appointed by Assembly Speaker Perez to serve on the Appropriations Committee, Business and Professions, Labor and Transportation Committees.

Holden said: "Many of these committees are areas in which I have some experience from my years working in the Pasadena City Council, the Burbank Airport Authority, and with Metro Gold Line."

Source: Holden press release

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Police: Hot Prowl, Drugs, Breaking and Helping, Fights, Etc.

[Monrovia Police activities from the Police Department's Neighborhood Watch Report for Dec. 20-Jan. 2 – Brad Haugaard]

During the last seven-day period, the Police Department handled 389 service events, resulting in 55 investigations.

Residential Hot Prowl

December 21 at 6:24 a.m., a female resident in the 400 block of Hill Street reported a prowler attempting to break into her home. Her sister had left the location at 6:10 a.m., and within approximately 10 minutes, she heard the door bell. She was getting up to see who was at the door and saw a flashlight from the outside. She then heard the sliding glass door breaking. She ran to the area were the sliding glass door is and saw a male suspect wearing dark clothing and a dark hat. The suspect saw the resident and fled through the backyard, out of sight. The resident called police. Officers arrived and searched the area, but were unable to locate the suspect. Investigation continuing.

Wanted Person / Resisting and Delaying a Peace Officer – Suspect Arrested

December 21 at 6:26 p.m., Special Enforcement Team officers conducted a traffic stop at Los Angeles and Ivy. During a vehicle search, they found items in the vehicle belonging to a subject wanted by the Monrovia Police Department. The vehicle was seen leaving an address in the 100 block of Los Angeles and there was a large group of people at the residence. An officer responded to see if the suspect was at the location. While the officer was speaking with some of the subjects outside the residence, he saw the wanted suspect. The suspect then turned and walked into the house, disregarding the officer's order to stop. Containment of the area was set up by Monrovia officers, along with assisting officers from Arcadia Police Department. A search was then conducted of the residence and adjacent homes with the help of the Foothill Air Support Team helicopter, but the suspect was not located.
The next day, December 22, security officers from the Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia responded to a disturbance and subsequently escorted a male subject out of the mall. He was told not to return. The subject initially left the location, but then returned. When mall security went to detain him for trespassing the subject ran and jumped off a second story parking structure to get away. The mall security officers chased down and detained the subject. The subject was determined to be the suspect wanted by Monrovia Police Department. He was booked at Arcadia Police Department for the new charges and then taken to Monrovia Police Department, where he was booked and housed.

Possession of a Controlled Substance / Warrant / Parole Hold – Suspect Arrested

December 21 at 9:24 p.m., an officer on patrol saw a bicyclist roll through a stop sign. The officer conducted a traffic stop and found the subject had marijuana and methamphetamine in his possession. He also had an outstanding warrant. He was arrested and taken into custody.

Fight in Progress / Drunk in Public / Possession of a Controlled Substance – Suspect Arrested

December 21 at 11:31 p.m., officers responded to a business location in the 300 block of West Huntington on the report of two subjects fighting. Both suspects signed a refusal to prosecute; however, one of suspects was determined to be drunk in public and was taken into custody. During a search, he was found to be in possession of marijuana and methamphetamine. He was arrested for the charges.

Vandalism / Grand Theft Auto Recovered

December 27 at 5:42 a.m., a delivery man reported a broken window at a business in the 100 block of West Huntington. While officers were investigating the vandalism, they ran the license plate of a vehicle parked in the lot and found it had been stolen from the City of La Crescenta. The vehicle was recovered and the Investigation is continuing.

Welfare Check

December 27 at 3:02 p.m., police received a call regarding a 76-year-old male subject who had not been seen by neighbors for several days. The neighbors reported that the subject had not been feeling well. Officer checked the residence and it was locked up and they could not see anyone inside. As the officers questioned neighbors further, they believed the subject would have taken his vehicle, which was parked in the driveway, had he left to visit relatives. The officers decided to force a rear door open. The subject was found inside the home in need of medical attention. Paramedics were dispatched and the subject was taken to a hospital for treatment. The residence was secured.

Petty Theft / Weapons Offense – Suspect Arrested

December 28 at 7:29 p.m., an officer on patrol in the 300 block of West Huntington Drive observed a juvenile being detained at the front of a store by the store manager. The manager flagged the officer down and advised that the juvenile had stolen merchandise. During a search of the juvenile, a modified knife blade with the flat side sharpened to an edge was found in his back pocket. The juvenile was arrested and booked. He was cited for the above listed offenses and then released to his older brother, who is his current guardian.

Vandalism – Two Suspects Arrested

December 28 at 10:49 p.m., two witnesses observed four male juveniles tagging several city signs, signal boxes, light poles and private property windows on Huntington Drive and called police. Officers responded and detained the four juveniles who matched the description of the suspects. Two of the juveniles were positively identified by witnesses as the suspects who committed the vandalism. They were arrested and taken into custody. The other two subjects were identified and released. Several other locations on Myrtle Avenue and Huntington Drive were vandalized with similar type graffiti. The two witnesses were advised of Monrovia Police Department's Stop Graffiti Bounty Program and each will be rewarded with a $100 bill for reporting the incident of graffiti which led to the arrest of the suspects.

Drunk in Public – Suspect Arrested

December 31 at 10:41 p.m., a female resident in the 700 block of West Colorado reported a male subject knocking on her door and trying to get into her house. The resident's father chased the subject away from the home. An officer responded and detained the subject at Violet and Colorado. He told officers that he was knocking on the resident's door because he thought it was his house. He was determined to be intoxicated and was arrested for being drunk in public.

Battery

January 1 at 2:03 a.m., officers responded to the area of Myrtle and Chestnut regarding a report of battery. The male victim and his girlfriend were walking south on Myrtle when they noticed three male Hispanic subjects behind them. As they walked, one of the male subjects suddenly came up from behind and started punching the victim, knocking him to the ground. The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment. The victim was not cooperative with officers. Investigation continuing.

Violation of Restraining Order – Suspect Arrested

January 1 at 2:45 a.m., officers were dispatched to the 200 block of West Central on the report of a male subject in violation of a restraining order. Officers arrived and arrested the suspect who was found outside the front door of the residence in violation of the court order.

Windy Thursday, Fake $100 Bills for a Car, Job Fair at Monrovia Library

~ Gusty winds up to 17 miles per hour expected tomorrow, Thursday. http://goo.gl/b2Lpt

~ Monrovia man charged with buying car in Rancho Cucamonga with fake $100 bills. http://goo.gl/RcZJD

~ All-Day Job Seekers Event at Monrovia Library. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Jan. 5. Resumes, cover letters, and interviewing skills. Motivational career coach and an introduction to the Library’s new Job and Career Center. Also, meet representatives from job organizations, including LA Works and Foothill Workforce Investment Board.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Police Get Grant for Traffic Safety Program

The Monrovia Police Department has been awarded a $54,760 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety for a year-long program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries on our roadways through special enforcement and public awareness efforts. The grants received by the Monrovia Police will aid in the city's ongoing efforts to improve traffic safety and the quality of life. The Monrovia Police Department will use the funding as part of an ongoing commitment to keep our roadways safe through both enforcement and education.

The grant will assist in efforts to deal with traffic safety problems and to reduce the number of persons killed and injured in traffic collisions. While traffic deaths from all causes declined by nearly 39 percent between 2006 and 2010 in California, state and federal officials anticipate that figures will show a slight rise in 2011. DUI Deaths remain the largest sector, at nearly 30 percent of traffic fatalities. Recent trends show increases into new categories – distracted driving and drug impaired driving.

Activities that the grant will fund include: 

- Specialized DUI and drugged driving training such as Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement, and Drug Recognition Evaluator

- DUI saturation patrols

- Distracted driving enforcement

- Seat belts and child safety seat enforcement

- Speed, red light and stop sign enforcement

- Warrant service operations targeting multiple DUI offenders

- Compilation of DUI "hotsheets," Identifying worst-of-the-worst DUI offenders

"Despite the recent increases, California's roadways are still very much safer than they were before 2006," said OTS Director Christopher J. Murphy. "The Monrovia Police Department will be keeping the pressure on through enforcement and public awareness so that we can continue saving lives and reach the vision we all share – Toward zero death, every one counts."

Funding for this program is from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

 

Source: Monrovia Police Department press release

 

- Brad Haugaard

How to Get Rid of Your Christmas Tree

Place your Christmas tree curbside on your regular trash collection day beginning December 26, 2012 through January 11, 2013. Please remove all ornaments, tinsel, plastic bags, nails, lights, and plastic or metal stands. Click here for more info or call Public Works at (626) 932-5553. After January 11, trim branches and place in the green materials barrel.

Source: City of Monrovia

- Brad Haugaard

Free Home Improvement Seminar at Monrovia Library

Penny Spark, president of the Southern California Home Improvement Referral Service, shows how to get the best trades people for home improvement projects. Free seminar, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Jan. 8, in Library Community Room. http://goo.gl/HX2W4

Stealth Bomber Flies Over Monrovia

A B2 bomber heading home passes over Monrovia after its appearance at the Rose Parade.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia New Year Party

The Lance and Gary Show play some Eagles music at Monrovia's New Year's Eve party on Myrtle.

Update: Heat lamps! Wonderful.

- Brad Haugaard

Happy New Year's Eve, Monrovia!

Don't forget, party in Old Town from 7 p.m. to midnight. Details here: http://goo.gl/59O0I . If you go, I'd bundle up well as it may get down to 38 degrees tonight: http://goo.gl/WO2BV

- Brad Haugaard

Cold Day in Monrovia | Gussied Up Library

~ A frost advisory is in effect for the Monrovia area until 9 a.m.: http://goo.gl/Y7tUC (I can testify to that as I was out before 6 a.m. Brrr!) Low of 39 today in Monrovia, high of 63: http://goo.gl/2hccc .

~ Monrovia Public Library reports on Facebook that "We've gussied up the new book area - it's now on your right as you enter - and added new teen books to the mix. On the right side of the lobby, where new books used to be, are displays for our Discover Your World Cultural Program Series. Feel free to oooh and ahhh."

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Preservationist Picks Maybe-Ugly But Green Future Over Pure Historic

In the January newsletter of the Monrovia Historic Preservation Group, group president Jim Wigton describes his decision to add solar panels to his historic home. He writes: They may be ugly but they are the future." He says that "their appearance on the roofs of residential homes may be unsightly to many (and especially, perhaps, to preservationists), but because they are renewable and somewhat green (the panels themselves are not) they will most likely become the norm unless a cheaper alternative can be found."

Comment: A difficult situation for Wigton to be in, but I suppose if you hold two ideals that occasionally come into conflict, you gotta choose one.

- Brad Haugaard

Rainy Day in Monrovia?

60 percent chance of rain today here in Monrovia. http://goo.gl/Pp5aw

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia's New Year's Eve Party

The second New Year's Eve Party on Myrtle, from 7 p.m. to midnight. Featuring a beer and wine garden ($5 for a drink), family friendly seating (I believe that means seating for those without alcohol), a live band, midnight ball drop. And, of course, Myrtle restaurants will be open. For more info, call Dan Bell at City Hall - 303-6602

Comment: Having seating for families, as well as those having a drink, is an excellent idea. Last year my brother and I took our families with kids and the kids had to sit on the curb since they couldn't go into the alcohol area.

- Brad Haugaard

Gold Line Work Moves to Monrovia | Sick Dog Fundraiser

~ Pouring the foundations for a retaining wall at the Gold Line "Operations Campus" (I think that is the maintenance yard) just below the freeway in Monrovia. http://goo.gl/pDzxK

~ Fundraiser for sick Monrovia dog. http://goo.gl/UqeYZ

- Brad Haugaard

Lunch at Chang Thai Bistro

Lunch at Chang Thai Bistro on Myrtle just south of Colorado. Got the Green Curry with chicken instead of my standard chicken curry, Kang Ka Ree (yummy), for $6.95 plus tax and tip. Came with a cup of veggie soup. Very nice, but I think my favorite is still the Kang Ka Ree.

Hmm. It appears the restaurant is undergoing a change of ownership. There is a notice next to the front door saying the restaurant is applying for an alcoholic beverage licence for the new owner.

- Brad Haugaard

Find a Job Seminar at Monrovia Library

Job Seekers All Day event at Monrovia Library, Jan. 5, 9-5. http://goo.gl/IiNvN

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Store and Tough Retail Economy

Monrovia store used in this story as illustration of struggling retail economy. http://goo.gl/IgKyU

- Brad Haugaard

Electric Car Trends - Interview with AeroVironment

A question and answer session with a senior VP at Monrovia's AeroVironment about trends in electric cars. http://goo.gl/OI7w9

- Brad Haugaard

Merry Christmas, Monrovia: A Christmas Painting and Story

I hope you enjoy this. I admired a Madonna painting by Duccio di Buonisegna

and thought I would try one myself.  I call it, "Child and Madonna." 

In the following story I imagine what the nighttime flight of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus into Egypt might have been like, inspired by Matthew 2:13-14. I think the magi actually arrived after Jesus' birth, but since they are traditionally portrayed in Christmas scenes, and since I mention them here, and since I don't have a more Christmasy story, I thought I'd go with this. So ...

Escape to Egypt

He woke suddenly and alert.

The lamp was still burning and Mary was sitting in the corner sewing by its flickering light and humming quietly, the child beside her.

It hadn't been a bad dream. He'd had those before - waking with a gasp and sweat on his forehead - but still, though he felt he should be frightened, he wasn't. Perhaps he was getting used to angels.

No, you don't get used to angels appearing in your dreams.

It was certainly frightening the first time, though, when the angel told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. Strange that he just knew it was not some bizarre nighttime halucination, but an angel, a real angel. Maybe it was the reality of the experience, the clarity of the dream, that convinced him. It was astonishing, but not weird and disjointed, like so many dreams.

And this dream was the same way. It was as clear as a friend talking to him across his carpenter's bench. No, not a friend, more like the governor! It was frightening, like standing in front of a high official.

And this time the angel didn't give him comforting words, to do as his heart desired - to wed Mary. This time it was an order. Not exactly threatening, but in a tone that could not be mistaken, with an insistence that would not let him wait until morning.

"Get up," the angel said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt."

It wasn't fear he felt, just urgency.

Joseph got up.

"What is it? Mary asked.

"We need to leave. Now."

"Now? But why?"

"I'll explain later. We need to pack and leave right away."

There was clothing, water skins, a bit of food, and, of course, the gifts the Magi had left for Jesus - gold, incense and myrrh. They would be useful for a trip to Egypt.

Mary wrapped Jesus in a blanket, and they slipped quietly out of the house. Joseph left a coin on the table for the landlord. It would more than pay for their rent.

He held the rope and led the donkey, with Mary and Jesus, through the town, the donkey's little feet clicking against the occasional stone.

The angel had warned that Herod meant to kill the child, so Joseph watched for soldiers, his heart beating wildly when he saw two guards talking. But they barely glanced as Joseph led the donkey past them.

At the edge of town he heard what he wanted before he saw it, the braying and chuffing of camels - a caravan, and, as he had hoped, a caravan to Egypt.

The magi's gold was useful. For a few gold coins, a packet of myrrh, and the donkey, Joseph purchased a trip.

He helped Mary and Jesus onto a kneeling camel.

"Joseph, where are we going?" Mary was insistent.

"Egypt," he said, climbing atop his own camel.

"Egypt? But why?"

He did not want to speak aloud. If he was overheard perhaps the caravan leader would turn them in to Herod for a reward, or perhaps he would be afraid of Herod and not want them in his caravan. So he held up his hand to Mary and looked at her, as if to say, "Be patient."

Roped head to tail, Joseph's camel to the back of Mary's, and hers to the camel in front of her, the train headed into the desert as the eastern sky turned pink, and then golden.

The sun rose and the shadows shortened and the camels plodded farther into the desert and Joseph's heart ceased its hammering, and Mary leaned back when she could, to talk, and when he thought nobody was watching he would lean forward and whisper bits of what the angel had said, and sometimes she heard but mostly she couldn't.

But that was all right. When they stopped for the night, then, near a flickering fire in the wilds of Sinai, he would whisper the story to her, and they would plan what to do in Egypt, and wait for the day when the angel would come again and tell them it was safe to return to Israel.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Christmas Eve Services

~ Calvary Chapel Monrovia (123 W. Pomona Ave., near Myrtle next to the freeway). 6 p.m. for a "time of worship and remembrance of the birth of our Lord." Childcare for grades 3 and below.

~ First Baptist Church (Encinitas and Palm). Christmas Eve Service at 6:39 p.m. A "simple yet touching time of Scripture, carols, candle lighting and communion."

~ First Presbyterian Church (Myrtle and Foothill). Family Candlelight Service, 5:30 p.m.

~ Immaculate Conception (726 Shamrock Ave.). A 4 p.m. English family Mass, 6 p.m. English, 8 p.m. Spanish, and midnight Mass.

~ St. Luke's Episcopal Church (Foothill and California). Carol singing at 7:30 p.m., first mass of Christmas at 8 p.m.

If I've missed any Christmas Eve services, let me know quickly and I'll add them.