Bill Shieff Takes Over As Head of Monrovia Rotary

Bill Shieff, a long time Rotarian, resident of Monrovia, and Chairman of Move Monrovia, took over the helm of the Monrovia Rotary Club, succeeding outgoing president Bryan Earll of Apex Fasteners, in a custom of yearly leadership turnover practiced in Rotary Clubs around the world.

Shieff, in his introductory remarks, reaffirmed that a top priority of the club will be to offer services and programs to the children and teens of Monrovia including sending high school students to Rotary Youth Leadership Camp (RYLA), sending eighth graders to Teen Leadership Camp (TLC), a continuation and expansion of the clubs Santa Clothes program providing school clothes to needy students, and ongoing support of the Interact Club and Robotics program at Monrovia High School as well as many more. Shieff also commented on the clubs renewed partnership with Monrovia Adult School to provide Vocational Scholarships.

Mr. Shieff and his wife Sue are parents of two and grandparents of six. They enjoy travel, music, and fine food. Bill is an avid road cyclist, motorcyclist, licensed pilot and continuing education and technology enthusiast. He is a Vietnam Veteran with an Honorable Discharge from the United States Navy.

In his business career, he was the President/CEO of Randolph Shieff & Associates, Inc. which provided domestic and international clients with contract manufacturing services.

The Monrovia Rotary Club welcomes visitors to its meetings and actively seeks service minded individuals to join its membership. The club meets Tuesdays at noon at the Monrovian Restaurant on Myrtle Avenue, in the upstairs banquet room. More information can be found at www.monroviarotaryclub.com

Source: press release

- Brad Haugaard

Dinner at Max's Mexican Cuisine

Dinner recently at Max's Mexican Cuisine, across the street from Target, on Huntington. Yes, that's still Monrovia. Got an Enchilada Suiza and Chili Relleno combo for $9.45 and a 22-oz beer for $7. I've never been disappointed at Max's, and I wasn't this time either. It was very good. Also, cheerful quick service and I love their good-bye: "See you tomorrow."

- Brad Haugaard 

Scaffolding Finally Down on New Commercial Building

Not quite done yet, but the commercial building across from the Library on Myrtle is looking good now that the scaffolding and fencing is finally down. http://goo.gl/ZXOMjA

Monrovia School Board: Textbooks and Budget

At its July 15 meeting (agenda: http://goo.gl/upf8DX ), the Monrovia School Board will consider ...

~ Adopting a math textbook and submitting an art textbook for public review.

~ Approving a revised 2015-16 budget. http://goo.gl/OGxp7X

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Police: Stealing Electricity From a Bank; Sleeping in a Park; Car Stolen; Etc.

[Monrovia Police activities from the Police Department's Neighborhood Watch Report for July 6-8. - Brad Haugaard]

During the last seven-day period, the Police Department handled 421 service events, resulting in 64 investigations.

Residential Burglary
July 6 at 5:49 p.m., a residential burglary was reported in the 200 block of East Maple. The night before, the victim closed his automatic garage door and went into his house. He thought it had closed all the way, but at 7:00 a.m. the next morning, he walked outside and saw the garage door was partially open, with enough room for someone to crawl underneath. He closed it all the way and went to work. When he returned home from work, he opened his garage door and noticed several car batteries and a hydraulic fuel pump had been stolen. He immediately called the police. The investigation is continuing.

Drug Paraphernalia/Under the Influence – Suspect Arrested
July 7 at 1:21 a.m., an officer was on patrol in the 500 block of South Myrtle when he saw a male subject loitering around a bank’s ATM machines; however, he was not using the machines. The male had a bandanna covering his face and he was sweating, appearing suspicious.

The officer contacted the subject, who told the officer he was stealing electricity from the bank by charging his cell phone in their outside electrical outlet. The subject was showing signs of being under the influence of a controlled substance, so the officer conducted a drug evaluation. He was arrested for being under the influence, and he was found to be in possession of an almost empty baggy of methamphetamine and a used, glass smoking pipe.

Park Closed – Citations Issued
July 7 at 2:08 a.m., an officer was patrolling a park in the 500 block of South Mountain and located two male subjects camping out and sleeping after the park closed. Signs were posted notifying the subjects that the park was closed; they were both issued citations and asked to leave the park.

Grand Theft Auto
July 7 at 4:38 p.m., a vehicle was reported stolen from the 600 block of West Huntington Drive. The vehicle is a 2015, Chevy Camaro and was stolen from a business parking lot. The victim saw the vehicle being driven away by a male suspect, but did not realize the car was hers until she found that her vehicle was gone from where she had parked it. The investigation is continuing.

Warrant – Suspect Arrested
July 7 at 10:28 p.m., officers responded to a market in the 400 block of West Foothill regarding a male subject who was causing a disturbance in the parking lot with store customers. When the officers arrived, a computer check revealed the male had two outstanding warrants for his arrest. The male subject was arrested and taken into custody for the warrants.

Monrovia FD Creates Training Facilities With Grant Money

What the Monrovia Fire Department has done with its Homeland Security grants: http://goo.gl/L1PYSu

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovian Kim Rhode to be Pan American Games Flag Bearer

Monrovian Kim Rhode has been selected as Team USA's flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the XVII Pan American Games to be held July 10 in Toronto. http://goo.gl/c83k7y

- Brad Haugaard

Tour of Historic Monrovia This Saturday

Monrovia Historic Preservation Group will conduct its next walking tour of downtown Monrovia this Saturday, July 11, at 10 a.m. Reservations are not necessary. Meet at the southeast corner of Palm and Myrtle Avenues. Cost is $5 (12 and under free) and lasts approximately two hours. http://goo.gl/I9gLrc

- Brad Haugaard

Family Services Director Retires | Mt. Sierra Student Graduation

~ Executive director of Santa Anita Family Services retires: http://goo.gl/DMMq9L

~ Monrovia's Mt. Sierra College honors its graduates: http://goo.gl/AzXwdH

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovian Charged With Attempted Murder | Holden Human Rights Bill

~ Monrovia man charged with attempting to kill Arcadia police officer: http://goo.gl/LxDuLt

~ A bill by Monrovia's Assembly representative, Chris Holden, to expand the time limit for filing human rights claims in cases of torture, rape, and sex trafficking, has been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. AB 15 extends the statute of limitations on human rights abuse cases from two to ten years, bringing it into line with federal law. Source: Holden press release

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia's AeroVironment Gets New CFO

Monrovia-based AeroVironment today announced the appointment of Raymond Cook as senior vice president and chief financial officer, effective immediately. http://goo.gl/u6Cg3k

- Brad Haugaard

Holden School-Employee Travel Bill Signed By Governor

Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law Assembly member Chris Holden's bill (AB 915) to remove travel restrictions on public school employees. Existing law prohibits employees who are on leave and receiving workers' compensation from traveling outside California unless the school board approves the travel. AB 915 repeals that prohibition. According to Holden's office, "This bill received overwhelming bi-partisan support in both Assembly and Senate." Holden represents Monrovia. Source: Holden press release

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Police: 'I Have Meth In My Pocket'; Domestic Violence; Under the Influence

[Monrovia Police activities from the Police Department's Neighborhood Watch Report for July 2-5. - Brad Haugaard]

Following are the weekend’s highlighted issues and events.

Driving Under the Influence – Suspect Arrested
July 3 at 1:23 a.m., police received a call reporting a possible drunk driver. The caller observed the driver drinking behind a business near Myrtle and Evergreen. The caller saw the subject get in his vehicle and reported him to police as he was leaving the area. Officers located the vehicle and saw the driver swerve and nearly hit a parked car. The driver was stopped and, through investigation, he was determined to be driving under the influence; the driver was arrested and held for sobering.

Domestic Violence – Suspect Arrested
July 3 at 1:15 p.m., an officer was sent to the 500 block of West Olive on the report of a male and female arguing inside of a parked vehicle. Officers arrived and, through investigation, determined the male subject was the primary aggressor. The subjects are in a dating relationship and were involved in an argument. During the argument, the male suspect grabbed the victim by the back of the neck, squeezing for several seconds before releasing his grip. The suspect also slapped the victim several times. The suspect was arrested and taken into custody; he was held pending his court appearance.

Possession of a Controlled Substance/Outstanding Warrant – Suspect Arrested
July 4 at 9:57 a.m., an officer observed a bicyclist riding erratically in and out of the roadway and crosswalk in the 400 block of West Huntington Drive. He stopped and contacted the subject. The subject told the officer he had methamphetamine in his pocket. The officer searched the subject and found that he was in possession of methamphetamine; he was arrested and taken into custody. A computer check revealed the subject also had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, which was added to his charges.

Warrant – Suspect Arrested
July 5 at 7:31 p.m., officers were dispatched to the 500 block of Linwood regarding a welfare check. The caller reported her father was extremely intoxicated and she thought he was going to get in his car and drive away. The subject was found sitting on the curb in front of the home. A computer check of the subject revealed two outstanding misdemeanor warrants for his arrest. He was arrested and taken into custody for the warrants.

Comment: Thoughts on Monrovia's Fourth of July Celebration

The Monrovia Fourth of July celebration at Library Park was - as usual - wonderful, but you know, even though the fireworks were great (Thank you, city government and generous contributors!) what really touched my heart was the result of a glitch.

At the beginning of the night the music for the Star Spangled Banner abruptly stopped part way through the music, but then a great thing happened - the crowd picked up the national anthem and sang it themselves!

When I was growing up in the 60s this would not have been worthy of comment because the crowd always sang the national anthem. But I think during the ill feeling of the Vietnam War era a lot of people decided not to sing it, so various venues started bringing in singers to sing it, and it soon became something that was performed for the people rather than something sung by the people.

I would so much love to get back to the people singing the national anthem. To me, singing it as a crowd reinforces the sense that, "Whatever our political differences, we are all in this together."

Maybe we should start doing this intentionally, and it might as well be Monrovia that leads the way. But since I don't think people are used to singing the anthem anymore, maybe it would be good to have a song leader get the crowd started in singing it. But please, don't do it for us. It's not us if you do it for us.

- Brad Haugaard

Happy Fourth of July, Monrovia!

Fireworks at Monrovia's Library Park. Comment: The night started out well. There was a glitch playing the national anthem so the crowd sang it alone. A big improvement.

- Brad Haugaard

VBS At Monrovia's Calvary Road Baptist Church | Dr. Seuss Story Hour

~ Vacation Bible School July 14-18 at Calvary Road Baptist Church. Primary through high school grades. Games, crafts, Bible lessons, snacks and prizes. Church at 319 W Olive. Register here: http://goo.gl/lhaHe9

~ Dr. Seuss story hour at Friends Cafe (near Myrtle and Lemon), July 24 at 3 p.m.

- Brad Haugaard

New Monrovia Street Fair Doing Well

The Friday Night Street Fair, under new management, stretches along Myrtle from Chestnut up to Lemon. It seems to be going well, despite the spinoff street fair in Arcadia. Shops, food, pony rides, bounce houses and more. 

- Brad Haugaard 

Monrovia Council: Fire Tax Increase; Reorganization of City Hall

At its July 7 meeting (agenda: http://goo.gl/YcHmX7 ), the Monrovia City Council will, among other things, consider ...

~ Raising the city's Fire Service Impact Fee from 60 cents per square foot to 90 cents per square foot for both commercial and residential buildings. Fire Chief Chris Donovan says that between 2000 and 2014, there has been a 17.5% increase in the annual number of Fire Department calls for service and a 29.6% increase in medical aid calls. http://goo.gl/eKQOtm

~ A reorganization of various city departments. http://goo.gl/1TybSn

- Brad Haugaard

Lunch at Panera Bread

Lunch today at Panera Bread on Huntington. Got an Italian Combo sandwich ($8.29) and a strawberry banana smoothie ($4.29). Everything was very good!

- Brad Haugaard 

Biotech Incubator Opening in Monrovia

A new biotech incubator company called LabLaunch is up and running in Monrovia. Here's a picture: https://goo.gl/57xK5Z

- Brad Haugaard