Friday, July 17, 2015

Funeral Mass on Saturday for Bernard “Bun” Johnson

A funeral mass will be held at St. Elizabeth Church on Saturday for World War II veteran and retired investment counselor Bernard “Bun” James Johnson who passed away on Friday, July 10th, at age 91.

Johnson, whom friends affectionately called Bun, was born May 19th, 1924 in Hawarden, Iowa, to Oscar C. Johnson and Bertice Eva Thompson Johnson.

He attended elementary and high school in Falls City, Nebraska. It was in Falls City that Johnson began his first successful business as a concessionaire for his father’s movie theaters.

He received his BA in Business Administration from UCLA and was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

During World War II, Johnson served as a frontline infantry man and artillery scout with Company H, 78th Division, U.S. Army. His unit, the “Lightning Division,” fought in the most decisive battles of the war, among them The Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Ardennes, Belgium; Battle of Kesternich at the Siegfried Line and The Battle on the Remagen Bridge where he was among the first to cross the bridge.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Contemporary Jazz Guitarist and Current Grammy Nominee Brian Hughes Performs in Farnsworth Park Saturday Night

Contemporary jazz musician and guitarist Brian Hughes, a Los Angeles resident who has been performing at jazz festivals and concerts around the world with renowned artists and bands, will be performing live at the Concert in the Park in Farnsworth Park on Saturday, July 18th, starting at 7 p.m.

The free summer concert series, which happens every Saturday night, is a project of the Sheriff’s Support Group of Altadena and the Department of Parks and Recreation of Los Angeles County.

Now on its 19th year, the free concerts are made possible with the support of several other civic groups and institutions in Altadena.

Brian Hughes grew up in Alberta, Canada and moved to Los Angeles in 1981 where he studied at the Guitar Institute with Pat Martino, Joe DiOrio and Robben Ford.

For the past 25 years, he has been recording and touring with renowned vocalist Loreen McKennit, playing the guitar, oud and bouzouki. Hughes’ skills are evident in McKennit’s Grammy-nominated recording,

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Missing Boy Rescued in Coyote Canyon Wednesday Night as High Voltage Lines Thwart Helicopter Hoist

Photo courtesy DEPUTY DAN PAIGE

A missing 16-year-old boy was safely led out of Coyote Canyon by units of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team Wednesday night about 8 p.m. after high voltage power lines prevented the Sheriff’s Air Rescue 5 helicopter from executing a hoist rescue, authorities said.

The Rescue Team was activated about 4:30 p.m. for the rescue of the young  hiker, who was stranded on a steep cliff in area of Eaton Canyon.

The Altadena Sheriff’s station was alerted to the boy’s predicament by the father of a second boy who had been hiking with him when the pair became separated.

Shortly after 6:15 p.m., Sheriff’s Air Rescue 5 located the hiker in Coyote Canyon.

The hiker was not injured, however he was underneath high voltage power lines. The Sheriff’s helicopter lowered a paramedic to hike in to the area due to the close proximity to the power lines. The helicopter was not able to perform a hoist rescue of the hiker.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Local Teens Become Crime Scene Investigators at Week-Long Altadena Sheriff’s Camp

Photography courtesy DEPUTY DAN PAIGE

Twenty three youngsters from Altadena graduated Friday, July 10 from a week-long Teen Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Camp sponsored by the Altadena Sheriff’s Station.

The CSI camp is a project initiated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in the hope that it would inspire participants to maintain an interest in a CSI career or other investigation-related jobs.

While at the camp, the kids were given the opportunity to learn about crime scene investigations in a realistic setting and actually performed hands-on training on questioning witnesses, examining fingerprints and conducting polygraph or lie-detector examinations. These were all done with the supervision of deputies and LA County CSIs.

“They had a CSI expert come in and taught the kids about how to fingerprint,” Altadena Deputy Sheriff Dan Paige said. “And we actually give them objects to lift fingerprints from and record and talk about what we look for. We also have the kids do three shoe impressions,

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

School District Considers Monitoring Students’ Social Media Accounts

By MIKE BRANOM

The Pasadena Unified School District is considering the monitoring of students’ social media accounts for threats against safety, following the lead of nearby districts embracing the technology.

“There have been very preliminary conversations,” PUSD spokesman Adam Wolfson said Tuesday.

Currently, the topic is under discussion in the district’s Child Welfare, Attendance and Safety Department. But, Wolfson added, “there is no timetable for a decision on whether to use such software.”

In 2013, the Glendale Unified School District made national news by buying software designed to sift through the posts of its hundreds of middle- and high-school students made to Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets. When the software detects content about threats to safety, such as bullying, suicidal thoughts, and substance abuse, school administrators can be notified.

According to legal experts, students posting to their accounts can have no expectations to privacy as long as the content is viewable to all.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Filing for Declaration of Candidacy for LA County Local and Municipal Elections Begins

Filing declaration of candidacy for the local and municipal consolidated elections to be held on November 3, 2015 has begun. The filing period for declaration of candidacy began yesterday, Monday, July 13, 2015 and ends Friday, August 7, 2015 at 5:00 p.m.

There are three seats on the Altadena Library Board of Trustees that will be on the ballot this November 3, 2015.

Interested candidates must be registered voters and a resident of the district to declare candidacy. Candidacy forms are available at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office, 12400 Imperial Highway, Norwalk, CA 90650 – (562) 462-2716, or online at www.lavote.net.

Per Resolution No. 201301 of the Altadena Library District adopted May 20, 2013, candidates’ pro rata share of printing, handling, and mailing costs must be paid by the candidate at the time of filing and which sets a maximum of 200 words on the candidate’s statement on the November ballot of the Trustees’ election.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Two Men Transported to Hospital After One of Them Fell and Hit His Head

Today at 2:22 p.m. a 911 call was made for a person seen lying on the sidewalk near the intersection of Figueroa Drive and Lincoln Avenue.

Los Angeles County Fire Department along with Los Angeles County Sheriff Department sent units responding to the incident.

Upon the arrival, the first units located a man in his early 60’s lying on the ground bleeding from his head and another mane also in his early 60’s who was able to tell the rescuers his companion had slipped while attempting to stand up, authorities said.

Both men had apparently been drinking prior to this incident and were sitting on the bus bench, when the one man fell.

As Paramedics from the Los Angeles County Fire Department treated the male with the head injury, they realized the second male was possibly suffering from a heat related injury, and needed transport to the hospital.

Both men were transported to Huntington Memorial Hospital in separate ambulances.

The men were treated for heat exposure and alcohol intoxication.

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Sunday, Come by and Taste a Bit of Altadena History at the MacKenzie Ranchito

After the end of World War II and with the selling off and sub-dividing of many old-time ranches, Altadena’s west side quickly became home to the ranchito, a residence sited on a parcel of land usually between 1/3 and 2 acres, which retained its residential/agricultural zoning.

Long before today’s urban farming trend, Altadenans were growing gardens and orchards and raising livestock, especially horses, on these ‘mini-ranches.’ California’s only indigenous architectural style, the ranch home, grew in popularity as the home of choice for these ranchitos.

Today, many ranchitos still exist in Altadena, where the permanent horse population hovers around 200 or so equines along with hundreds of chickens and several goats. Though once a common site, especially west of Lincoln Avenue from the mountains south to Woodbury, many ranchitos have been lost over the years to fire, neglect and the changing demographics of a population who seems to value large scale homes filling out much of the parcel’s footprint.

Despite this trend,

Friday, July 10, 2015

25 Pasadena Unified School District Trucks Broken Into

Police said 25 Pasadena Unified School District maintenance trucks were broken into and hand-held equipment and tools inside the vehicles were stolen Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

Lt. John Mercado said the breakins occurred sometime between 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 8 and 5 a.m. Thursday, July 9 at the District’s maintenance yard facility in the 700 block of West Woodbury Road.

Mercado said the initial estimate of the loss was put at $6,000.

There are no security video cameras at the facility and no description of the suspects is known.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Film Maker, Historian Will Discuss His Experiences in Event Leading Up to Film Showing at the Altadena Public Library

The Altadena Historical Society and Altadena Library District are partnering to present a July 27 talk by filmmaker and historian Walter Dominguez. His film, “Weaving the Past: Journey of Discovery,” will then be screened at the library the following week, August 4 at 6:30pm.

Dominguez will speak on the experiences of early 1900’s Mexican immigrants to the United States, with examples from his own family history, at the Monday July 27 summer quarterly meeting of the Historical Society. The 7:30 p.m. meeting, free and open to the public, will be at the Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Drive.

With his talk as background–though not necessary to attend– Dominguez’s two-hour documentary-drama about discovering the surprising biography of his Mexican-born grandfather will be shown 6:30-9 p.m. August 4 at the Main Library, 600 E. Mariposa St.

Dominguez will be at the screening to introduce the film, and to answer audience questions afterwards. Also present will be Shelley Morrison, Executive Producer of the film,