Help out in those in need this season — and maybe get some good karma thrown your way, too!

The Altadena Library is offering a chance to clear out your fines by participating in the Altadena Sheriff Station’s annual holiday food and toy drive.

Starting Monday, Nov. 26, through Friday, Dec. 8, bring non-perishable food or new toys to the Library to help wipe away your library fines (the schedule is on the graphic).  

from Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers

With the holiday shopping season here, Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers is warning consumers about the dangers of buying counterfeit goods such as DVDs, CDs, computers, designer purses, clothing, jewelry and other items. 

Crime Stoppers,

A sheriff’s rescue helicopter helps the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team save a mountain biker in this undated photo from AMRT.

by Timothy Rutt

If you live in Altadena, you know that rescuing errant hikers is a too-frequent occurance.  But have you ever wanted to be one of the rescuers?

The Altadena Mountain Rescue Team is holding a membership drive on Sun.,

• Walmart driven out, the poor hardest hit: We’re using this parody NY Times headline (which probably originated with Mort Sahl) because we believe the pot needs more stirring:  We found this interesting discussion re: Walmart’s effects on a community, especially in lower incomes.  We’re less impressed with the idea that a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods should move in to the Altadena location  instead (they weren’t interested, and they appeal to a higher-income demographic),and this offers some counter-arguments to frequent talking points used by the anti-Walmart groups.

by Timothy Rutt

Thank you, Altadena!

Sometime during the day, we crossed the threshhold of two million page views.

When we started this site five years ago, we were never quite sure what would happen to it.  This kind of business was relatively new, and our town had lived in benign news neglect for too-many years.

by gloriana casey
(sung to the tune of “As Time Goes By.”)

You must remember this,
a hit  and not a miss,
with  camera’s magic eye.
The fundamental things apply.
News makes us high!

And when those  readers, WOW,
you’ve got the news and how!
Of that we realize!
No matter what the day brings you.

Alta-historian Michele Zack will be one of the speakers tonight at a look at “Pasadena’s Water Centennial” at the Pasadena Library, 285 E. Walnut St., Pasadena, starting at 7 PM.

“Pasadena’s Century of Influence in Water” will be the topic as “water leaders” and historians discuss  Pasadena’s water utility, celebrating its century mark in 2012.

Zack will speak on “The Importance of Municipal Water.” 

The Altadena Town Council has extended the deadline for residents to apply for a seat in the Community Standards District Revisioning subcommittee.

The subcommittee will look at the residential and community standards in the light of the 2012 Altadena Visioning document compiled earlier this year.

The application should be returned no later than 5 PM Wed., Dec. 11, for consideration.  It can be mailed no later than Dec.

The Altadena Town Council Public Education Committee will meet Wednesday, November 28, at 6 p.m. in the Altadena Community Center board room. 

Eric Sahakian, PUSD Director of Child Welfare, Attendance, and Safety, will be present to answer questions about support services for students in foster care or group homes who attend Altadena schools.

The Chorale and Orchestra Camerata will perform Monteverdi’s “Magnificat” and Handel’s “Messiah, Part I.”

Soloists include Hayden Eberhart,  soprano; Tania Mandzy, mezzo-soprano;  Arthur Rishi,  tenor; and Scott Graff, baritone.

The concert will be held at the First Congregational Church, 

by Timothy Rutt

The deadline is fast approaching for nominations for Altadena's Citizen of the Year and Business of the Year.

All nominations must be in to the Chamber by close of business this Friday, Nov. 30.

The Altadena Chamber Board of Directors has selected a citizen of the year since 1945.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department and the Pasadena Fire Department seem to be at odds following Monday’s rescue of two Alhambra women at the Eaton Canyon waterfall.

The press release issued by the sheriff — which Altadenablog received — said:

The first hiker, who fell approximately 30 feet, sustained what appeared to be two broken femurs, as well as significant head injuries.

Rev.

Next Saturday, Dec. 8, Altadena becomes a small town as we welcome in the season with “light’s on” for Christmas Tree Lane.

Christmas Tree Lane — Santa Rosa Avenue between Woodbury Road and Altadena Drive — will be lit up through the Christmas season after the community pomp and ceremony. now more than 90 years old.

The day begins with the Winter Arts and Crafts Festival,

A final two-day appeal by the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy manged to put them over the top to purchase lower MIllard Canyon,  preserving the popular hiking area “forever.”

In an email by conservancy director John Howell,  the push for a finall $3.200 in donations by Nov. 30 met with success.  The conservancy has spent the past several months attempting to raise  $675,000 in order to purchase the canyon for preservation.

Altadena Heritage will have its annual meeting and holiday celebration Sun., Dec. 16, at the Swann Estate, 2162 Holliston Avenue, from 2-5 PM.

Join them for an afternoon of music, food, wine, and conviviality.

It’s also a good time to join or renew your membership to the organization, “dedicated to protecting, preserving, and raising awareness of the rich architectural, environmental,

Add this stop to your busy Saturday: The Famous Holiday Open House at  Webster’s Fine Stationers (Altadenablog sponsor).

Starting at 10 AM, indulge yourself in great nibbles for the holidays while you also enjoy:

• Book signing with Margaret Finnegan, author of The Goddess Lounge (starts at 6:30);
• Spoken word live with poet Aldonia Bailey and friends (5-6:30 PM,

• Eaton Canyon rescues: excellent report by Rachel Kim of KCBS on the problem of hiker rescues and injuries at second waterfall at Eaton Canyon.  Rich DeLeon of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team and Capt. John S. Benedict of the Altadena Sheriff Station are featured.
• Eaton Canyon rescuers:  Edward Barrerra, in this op-ed in PSN, tells about saving ten hikers single-handedly before breakfast.  And why not?  He can get a job writing press releases for the sheriff! 

by Timothy Rutt

There was literally more going on Saturday than we could cover (for example,  parking for the Village Playgarden Winter Market was so spread out we figured it’d involve about an extra half hour just to walk from our car and back, so we bailed!)  We did manage to catch the St. Mark’s School WInterfest, where people enjoyed a sledding run with actual snow.  More after the jump.