Mountain Views News          Saturday, August 21, 2010

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com

5

Public Safety

Mountain Views News Saturday, August 21, 2010

Arcadia Police Blotter

Sierra Madre Police Blotter

For the period of Sunday, August 8, through Saturday, August 14, the Police Department responded to 
994 calls for service of which 134 required formal investigations. The following is a summary report of 
the major incidents handled by the Department during this period.

Sunday, August 8:

1. Shortly after 3:00 p.m., officers responded to the 400 block of Fairview in reference to a 
residential burglary and vehicle theft. While the residents were asleep, an unknown suspect entered the 
home through a window and stole a laptop computer, camera, and a 2005 Toyota Camry.

2. Units were dispatched to the 700 block of West Camino Real around 10:29 p.m. in regards to 
a robbery that occurred at 9:49 p.m. in the 00 block of Alice. As the victim was entering her vehicle, 
a male Asian suspect, 5’4”, 130 pounds, with a goatee, approached with a steak knife and demanded 
money. Fearing for her safety, the victim took out $60 and the suspect grabbed the money and fled on 
foot.

Monday, August 9:

3. Around 9:45 a.m., a victim came to the station to report that a vacationing co-worker’s email 
was compromised, and an unknown suspect had contacted the victim via email asking him to wire 
money to London since the co-worker had lost his wallet and passport. The victim wired over $3,300 
and later learned that his friend was never in London.

4. Between 6:00 p.m. on August 8 and 10:00 a.m. on August 9, an auto burglary occurred in the 
200 block of West Colorado. A car window was smashed and a GPS unit was stolen.

Tuesday, August 10:

5. Around 9:47 a.m., units were called to 450 West Huntington in reference to an auto versus 
pedestrian traffic accident. Investigation revealed that an elderly man had just dropped off his wife in 
the parking lot, and he inadvertently put the car in reverse and backed into his spouse. The woman 
sustained burns to her lower torso from the exhaust pipe and abrasions to her legs and arms. She was 
transported to a hospital for medical treatment.

6. Between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., a 2008 gray Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck was stolen near 
Macy’s at Westfield Mall.

Wednesday, August 11:

7. Between noon and 1:45 pm., a white 1997 Toyota Camry was stolen from the area of 
Santa Anita and Lucille Avenue. 

8. Shortly before midnight an officer stopped a vehicle for erratic driving in the area of Duarte 
Road and El Monte Avenue. The 40-year-old female driver, from Temple City, was given a series of 
field sobriety test and was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. 

Thursday, August 12:

9. At about 9:00 a.m., two juveniles were detained and arrested after stealing items from the 99¢ 
Store located at 140 E. Duarte Road. 

10. Around midnight an officer contacted several subjects inside a vehicle at Eisenhower Park. 
Investigation led to a citation issued to the driver for possession of marijuana. 

Friday, August 13:

11. Sometime overnight suspect(s) cut a hole in the fumigation tent that was covering a 
residential complex in the 00 block of Genoa Street. Suspect(s) entered two different units and stole 
jewelry, camera equipment, and cash. 

12. Shortly before midnight officers responded to the area of Santa Anita Avenue and Camino 
Real on the report of a vehicle collision. Officers discovered a solo vehicle accident where a fire 
hydrant was sheared off. Investigation revealed the 51-year-old driver from Rosemead was driving 
under the influence of alcohol – she was arrested. 

Saturday, August 14:

13. Suspect(s) smashed out the front window at a business in the 12100 block of Clark Street 
overnight. The business was ransacked and a digital camera was taken. 

14. During night time hours suspect(s) broke into a Toyota Corolla that was parked in the 
underground parking area in the 1500 block of Baldwin Avenue. Athletic equipment was taken. 

During the week of Sunday, August 1st, to Saturday August 7th, the Sierra Madre Police Department 
responded to approximately 358 calls for service.

Monday, August 2nd:

11:24 AM – Residential Burglary, 400 block North Lima Street. Suspect(s) forced open a hallway 
window and entered the home. Suspect(s) took a pearl necklace, pearl ring, pearl earrings, gold 
jade ring, three pocket knives and two gold necklaces. The crime occurred between 1:00 pm, Friday, 
07/30/10 and 10:30 am, Monday, 08/02/10. The total loss was estimated at $1,930.00.

10:24 PM – Residential Burglary, 100 block Esperanza Avenue. Suspect(s) entered an unlocked 
apartment laundry room. Suspect(s) took a black metal drop-box containing unknown amount 
of resident(s) rent payment checks. The crime occurred between Saturday, 07/31/10 and 6:50 pm, 
Monday, 08/02/10. The total loss at this time was estimated at $100.00.

Friday, August 6th:

4:38 AM – Auto Burglary, 100 block Esperanza Avenue. Suspect(s) smashed the window of a car 
parked on the street. Suspect(s) took an I-POD Nano, Garmin Nuvi GPS and a Whistler Radar 
detector. The crime occurred between 5:30 pm, Thursday, 08/05/10 and 4:30 am, Friday, 08/06/10. 
The total loss was estimated at $560.00.

11:46 AM – Commercial Burglary, 00 block South Baldwin Avenue. A caller reported a male suspect 
entered the Post Office and tried to make a purchase with a fraudulent bank check. Police arrived 
and arrested the suspect for commercial burglary. Officers booked the suspect at the police station 
and transported the suspect to the Pasadena Police Department jail for remand, pending his court 
appearance. This case is pending further investigation.

1:02 PM – Tampering/Injuring Vehicle, 600 Block Mariposa Avenue. A resident reported her 
vehicle’s window was smashed, while parked in her driveway. No loss was reported. The crime 
occurred between 7:45 am to 1:02 pm on Friday, 08/06/10.

Thank you Sierra Madre Police Department for: 
Your service, 
Your quick response times, 
& 
Your community presence. 
You keep our town safe and give us peace of mind. 
The neighborhood watch program is working thanks to 
you. 
Citizens of Sierra Madre 
‘BAG IT!’ FILM FEST TAKES AIM AT PLASTIC POLLUTION

Event at UCLA to raise awareness for pending state bill to ban single-use bags

Sunday, August 22, 4 p.m.

WHAT: The Bag It! Film Festival, a screening of important and entertaining films about the world’s 
most common consumer product and one of its worst environmental plagues: the single use-plastic 
bag. Following the screening of several short films and PSAs, political and environmental leaders 
will lead a discussion about the ecological and financial impact of California’s 19 billion-a-year 
plastic bag addiction.

WHY: The single-use plastic bag is banned in over 40 jurisdictions around the globe, and the 
coalition seeks to add the state of California to that growing list with the passage of AB 1998, The 
Single-Use Bag Reduction Act. The bill, already approved the state Assembly, is expected to be voted 
upon this month in the California Senate. It would ban the distribution of single-use plastic bags at 
major retailers.

WHERE: The Bag It! Film Festival will take place at UCLA’s James Bridges Theater. 

 Parking information here.

WHO: Plastic Pollution Coalition, UCLA Institute of the Environment, Environment California, 
Clean Seas Coalition, Heal the Bay and Chico Bags are sponsoring the event. Assemblymember Julia 
Brownley, the author of AB 1998, will also be on hand. After the theater premiere of several PSAs 
concerning plastic bag pollution, the short film and film festival favorite “Plastic Bag” (directed by 
Ramin Bahrani, voiced by Werner Herzog, with music by Sigur Ros) will be screened. The feature 
documentary “Bag It!,” a film by Susan Berazza, will also unspool.

CONTACTS: Matthew King, Heal the Bay, (310) 850-1145, mking@healthebay.org

 Lisa Boyle, (310) 230-0033, lisa@plasticpollutioncoalition.org 


THE WORLD AROUND US


Eclipsing Pulsar Promises Clues To Crushed Matter


A city-sized sphere rotating 518 times a second…

 Astronomers using an X-ray telescope in space 
have found the first fast X-ray pulsar to be eclipsed 
by its companion star. Further studies of this unique 
double-star system will shed light on some of the most 
compressed matter in the universe.

 The pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star—the 
crushed core of a massive star that long ago exploded 
as a supernova. Neutron stars, in which matter exists 
only in the form of neutrons, pack more than the 
Sun’s mass into a ball nearly 60,000 times smaller. 
With estimated sizes between 10 and 15 miles across, 
a neutron star would just span Manhattan or the 
District of Columbia.

 The neutron star is called a pulsar because it 
produces fast X-ray pulses that can be detected by an 
X-ray telescope from space. How fast? Imagine a star 
spinning 518 times a second—that’s a city-sized sphere 
rotating as fast as the blades of a kitchen blender.

 Known as J1749, the system erupted with an X-ray 
outburst on April 10. During the event, NASA’s Rossi 
X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) orbiting telescope 
observed three “eclipses” of the neutron star by its 
companion; detected X-ray pulses that identified the 
neutron star as a pulsar; and even recorded pulse 
variations that indicated the neutron star’s orbital 
motion.

 J1749 was discovered in June 2006, when a smaller 
eruption of X-rays brought it to the attention of NASA’s 
Swift satellite. Observations by Swift, RXTE, and 
other spacecraft revealed that the source of the X-rays 
was a binary system located 22,000 light-years away in 
the constellation Sagittarius—and that the neutron star 
was actively capturing, or accreting, gas from its stellar 

partner. This gas gathers into a disk around the neutron 
star.

 “Like many accreting binary systems, J1749 undergoes 
outbursts when instabilities in the accretion disk allow 
some of the gas to crash onto the neutron star,” said Tod 
Strohmayer, RXTE’s project scientist at NASA’s Goddard 
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

 When gas falls to the pulsar’s’s surface, its powerful 
magnetic field directs the infalling gas onto the star’s 
magnetic poles. This means that the energy release 
occurs in hot spots that rotate with the neutron star, 
producing the fast X-ray pulses.

 In addition, the pulsar’s orbital motion imparts small 
but regular changes in the frequency of the X-ray pulses. 
These changes show that the two stars in this system 
revolve around each other every 8.8 hours.

 During the week-long outburst, RXTE observed 
three periods when J1749’s X-ray emission briefly 
disappeared. These eclipses, which lasts 36 minutes 
each, occur whenever the neutron star passes behind the 
normal star in the system.

 Writing about their findings in the July 10 issue of The 
Astrophysical Journal Letters, Markwardt and Strohmayer 
note that they have all but one orbital variable needed to 
nail down the mass of the pulsar, which is estimated to 
be between about 1.4 and 2.2 times the Sun’s mass.

 “We need to detect the normal star in the system 
with optical or infrared telescopes,” Strohmayer said. 
“Then we can measure its motion and extract the same 
information about the pulsar that the pulsar’s motion 
told us about the star.”

 You can contact Bob Eklund at:

 b.eklund@MtnViewsNews.com.

A composite image of the Crab Nebula showing the X-ray (blue), 
and optical (red) images superimposed. The size of the X-ray image 
is smaller because the higher energy X-ray emitting electrons radiate 
away their energy more quickly than the lower energy optically emitting 
electrons as they move.

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