Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Board of Supervisors Adopts Recommendations Supported by Antonovich

The Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted the recommendations of the Interim Chief Executive Officer on a motion by Mayor Michael D. Antonovich and Supervisor Sheila Kuehl to enhance the efficiency of the governance structure and end the failed 2007 interim structure.  The Board also directed the CEO to report back to the Board in 90 days with additional changes to governance to further enhance operations.

“Today’s action will improve the Board’s ability to address emerging priorities and ensure effective service delivery with increased collaboration on vital county issues.” said Mayor Antonovich.  “The previous costly and bureaucratic interim governance structure was bloated and hindered the ability to provide coordinated services to emancipated youth, veterans, the mentally ill and other vial services.”

In February, the Board unanimously approved a motion by Mayor Antonovich and Supervisor Kuehl that directed the CEO to provide flexibility, transparency and accountability to the County governance structure.  The new structure provides Board interaction with departments and improves decision-making by creating ad hoc units in the Chief Executive Office dedicated to accomplishing Board priorities.

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Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Child Bitten by Rattlesnake at Day Camp in Hahamongna Park

A young girl of less than 10 years of age was bitten by a rattlesnake at a day camp in Hahamongna Park Mondays afternoon shortly about 3:15 p.m. and is expected to “recover fully.”

Pasadena Fire Department spokesperson Lisa Derderian said the day camp’s counselors called 911 immediately and handled the situation well. Paramedics arrived on scene within minutes.

“She was transported to a local hospital and is in a stable condition and expected to make a full recovery,” Derderian said. “The camp personnel handled it just as they should. They’re a reputable organization that had been there for years.”

Derderian said she believes the snake itself was captured.

Recent hot, dry weather has resulted in an increase rattlesnake sightings.

Derderian urged residents to be careful when outdoors.

“It’s a misconception that people assume that they’re going to hear the rattle and in majority of cases, you might not hear a rattle,” she said.

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Monday, July 6, 2015

One Alarm Garage Fire Damages Two Cars

A one alarm fire today brought 23 firefighters to a blazing garage containing two cars.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department was dispatched to a house fire at 12:06 this afternoon in the 3000 block of North Lincoln Avenue, Fire Inspector Randall Wright said.

Arriving firefighters found a one story, three car detached garage with smoke and fire showing.

Knockdown came quickly, Wright said, by 12:22 p.m.

A search by fire crews found no victims. The crews remained on scene for some time “trying to make sure there are no hotspots and trying to make sure to salvage items for the homeowner,” Wright said.

Two vehicles  and some storage sheds were damaged, Wright said, in addition to the garage structure itself.

 

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Monday, July 6, 2015

The California Highway Patrol Opens 4-Day Online Application Process

The California Highway Patrol has opened its application period for prospective cadets who will train at the CHP Academy and in two years could count themselves among “California’s finest.”

Applicants are warned beforehand that the current application period lasts just four days only, starting today and lasting until 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 9.

The very first step in applying to be a CHP officer is to go online and create an account on the CHP application site – www.chp.ca.gov/chp-careers. There is no other way.

The entire application process used to take up to two years up cadet appointment, but CHP says changes have been made to lessen the time and make it six to 12 months.

To qualify for paid training as a CHP Academy cadet, an applicant has to go through atesting and evaluation process mandated by state law and the California State Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). The process is composed of seven steps – application acceptance,

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Monday, July 6, 2015

Altadena Town Council Land Use Committee’s July Meeting Has Been Cancelled

Diane Marcussen, Chair of the Altadena Town Council, said today in an email that the July Land Use Committee meeting has been cancelled. After polling the entire committee for action items, Marcussen reports, “it has been determined that we have no items that are ready for presentation or for voting this month.” “I expect that there may be several items for action at the August meeting,” Marcussen said.

 

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Sunday, July 5, 2015

Altadena Sheriff’s Deputies, Responding to Call for Help from Fellow Deputies, Hit and Overturn Civilian Car

Two Altadena Sheriffs deputies driving in an unmarked car with red lights and siren engaged responding to a call for help from other deputies collided with a civilian car, overturning it and trapping two people, authorities said.

The incident started at 9:39 p.m. Saturday after deputies faced off against a large uncooperative crowd, reported Los Angeles Sheriffs Deputy Dan Paige.

The deputies issued a call for backup and mutual aid. Pasadena police units responded, as did other Altadena Sheriffs units.

One of the responding Sheriffs units collided with a white Ford Escape at the intersection of Woodbury Road and Fair Oaks Avenue. The Ford was carrying two male adult and one female adult passengers, Paige said.

The force of the collision caused the Ford to overturn onto its side.

Paige said that one of the rear passengers was able to crawl out the rear hatchback, but the front driver and passenger were held in place with their seatbelts.

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Saturday, July 4, 2015

Altadena Sheriff’s Recover Stolen Car, Arrest 7 Suspects

Photograph courtesy Deputy Dan Paige

On Friday night at about 6:30 p.m. Altadena Deputies Abdulfattah and Villareal were on patrol when they spotted a stolen car in the southwest area of Altadena.

The deputies followed the car a short distance, into nearby city of Pasadena.

The deputies saw six or seven persons in the car, backup was requested, and the car was pulled over at Washington Boulevard and Forest Ave.

After several other deputies and Pasadena Police arrived, a total of seven persons were taken into custody without incident.

The car was reported stolen four days ago in San Marino.

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Friday, July 3, 2015

Saint Mark’s School Board Chair Announces New Head of School

The Board of Trustees of Saint Mark’s School is delighted to welcome Jennifer Foley Tolbert to her first day of employment as the new Head of School.

Tolbert is the sixth Head of School, and takes over from Doreen Oleson after her 25-year tenure. Jenn’s professional credentials and experience can be found at http://www.saint-marks.org/page/786135_Head_of_School_Transition.asp.

The Board said in an announcement that “Many of you have already had the pleasure of meeting Jenn at the various events she has attended at the School and Church since the announcement of her appointment last June. Jenn will also be holding a number of gatherings this summer to meet members of our community in smaller groups, and we hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to introduce yourselves and to get to know Jenn better.”

In addition to Jenn Tolbert, the Board announced the appointment of three new Trustees to the Board. Doug Jolly is the Dean of Student Life and Varsity Boys’ Soccer Coach at Polytechnic School,

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Friday, July 3, 2015

Fourth of July Parade in Pepper Drive Neighborhood Thrives Year After Year

Pepper Drive is going to be lively and colorful again this Fourth of July, when residents put on what they say is Altadena’s longest “and possibly oldest” neighborhood Independence Day parade in town.

“We think the parade began a year or two before 1958, the earliest that any of our neighbors can recall,” says Monica Hubbard, a Pepper Drive resident and regular parade goer.

Since then, it has become a yearly informal activity where people just show up before 10 a.m. on July 4 in varying degrees of festive holiday attire, bringing their children, dogs, horses, bikes and strollers — whatever that can be decorated with the red-white-and-blue.

It’s the kind of neighborhood parade where more people are in the parade instead of watching on the side of the street and cheering participants on.

When the parade starts, it’s mostly kids on bikes at the head, followed in some years by a really small parade band “a tuba player,

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Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Wednesday Afternoon is “Save Power Day!” in Altadena

It’s Save Power Day Wednesday in Altadena, which means that if you use less energy than you normally do between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., you can earn credits of up to $100 a year on your power bill.

Under Southern California Edison’s “Save Power Day” program, residential customers in Altadena can earn 75 cents per kilowatt hour of conserved energy between 2 and 6 p.m. on designated days, like this Wednesday is.

The prevailing heat usually drives overall power use to high levels in the afternoon, but if you can use some common-sense power saving tools – like keeping doors and windows closed when the air-conditioning is on, turning up your thermostat about four to six degrees, or not running the dryer – you could get the rebate.

SCE calls Save Power days about 12 times a year only on non-holiday weekdays. Residential customers need to enroll in the program so that utility could send them alerts before a Save Power Day is called.

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