Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 21, 2011

4

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 21, 2011 

Going the Distance

Cancer Victim Gets 
Help from Jack Black 

Assembly 
Passes 
‘Open Carry’ 
Handgun Bill


By Dean Lee

 Comedian actor Jack Black 
made a guest appearance in 
Altadena Saturday night for 
what he called a good cause, 
helping Old Pasadena’s 
infamous 80s-90s Espresso 
Bar manager David Melrose 
raise $300,000 for alternative 
cancer treatment. Melrose is 
also the founder of the San 
Diego Chess Academy.

 Many others also came out 
to help including Pasadena 
locals Snotty Scotty and the 
Hankies. The Band DOS, 
whose members include 
punk legends, Mike Watt of 
the band Minutemen and 
Kira Roessler of the band 
Black Flag, also played. 

 A 12 hour fundraising 
marathon for Melrose, 
that started noon Saturday, 
also included an auction 
with memorabilia from the 
Espresso Bar, a tucked away 
coffeehouse down an ally off 
Raymond Ave in rundown 
old town Pasadena. Regulars 
to the offbeat hangout 
included, Tim Burton 
(before becoming a director) 
and Simpsons creator Matt 
Groening. 

 Longtime friend and 
Espresso Bar co-worker 
Erica Rawlings helped 
organize the fundraiser. 

“We just love him to pieces 
and we don’t want him to 
die,” Rawlings said. “The 
Chemo wasn’t working and 
so he needs to go to Thailand 
for total alternative therapy.”

She added, “We pulled out all 
the favors to get Mike Watt 
and Jack Black here.” She said 
about 500 people showed up.

 Melrose said gastrointestinal 
stromal tumors had 
come back after previous 
treatments. He said the trip 
to Thailand for gene-targeted 
therapy alone would cost 
$40,000 to $45,000. He said 
the treatments would take 35 
to 40 days “I find out all the 
details this Monday.”

 The Canadian punk band 
NoMeansNo is also set to 
play a show in Vancouver; 
all proceeds will go to benefit 
Melrose’s treatment the 
band’s members said. 

 The San Diego Chess 
Academy has helped students 
learn chess in Los Angeles, 
So. Pasadena, Pasadena, 
Arcadia, Monrovia, Laguna 
Beach, Newport Beach, 
Oceanside, Escondido, San 
Diego, Carlsbad, Del Mar 
and Solano Beach.

 Donations are being 
accepted at keepdavealive.
org Rawlings said.

Assemblymember Anthony 
Portantino’s legislation 
making it illegal to carry an 
unloaded gun in public was 
overwhelmingly approved 
today in the State Assembly 
adding to a growing chorus 
of public officials and law 
enforcement groups calling for 
a ban on guns in public.

“I am very pleased that my 
fellow legislators agree this is 
a sensible gun ban that should 
be law in California,” stated 
Assemblymember Portantino 
(D-La Cañada Flintridge). 
“I’ve worked closely with law 
enforcement personnel who 
are concerned that the open 
display of firearms in crowded 
public places creates some 
very real public safety issues. 
As I’ve said all along, our 
families deserve to feel safe in 
our parks and coffeshops; after 
all, you don’t need a gun to 
order a cup of coffee.”

AB 144 makes it a crime to 
openly carry an unloaded 
handgun in any public place 
or street. Violations are a 
misdemeanor punishable by 
up to one year in jail and/
or a fine of up to $1000. Law 
enforcement personnel are 
exempt as are hunters and 
others carrying unloaded 
weapons under specified 
licensed circumstances.

California is one of many 
states that allow so-called 
“open carry” which gives gun 
owners the right to display 
weapons, though in California 
those guns must be unloaded. 
The dispute came to a head 
recently when gun enthusiasts 
took the light rail train into 
Pasadena wearing their guns 
and rallying near Portantino’s 
office before heading to dinner.

“Open Carry wastes law 
enforcement time and 
resources when they could be 
out catching bad guys. Instead, 
they are tied up dealing with 
frantic calls from the public 
about gun-toting men and 
women on Main Street, 
California. As law enforcement 
officials tell me, it’s not safe and 
someone is going to get hurt,” 
concluded Portantino.

AB 144 is supported by the 
California Police Chiefs 
Association and PORAC 
representing rank-and-
file police officers. Law 
enforcement requested the ban 
after similar legislation was 
defeated at the end of the 2010 
session. The Los Angeles City 
Council has voted to endorse 
AB 144 and is now considering 
a similar measure in the city of 
Los Angeles.

AB 144 was approved on a vote 
of 45 to 29. It now moves to the 
Senate for approval.

 


When Justin Johnson, 27 of 
Seattle, left the starting line 6:30 
Sunday in the rain he was one 
of thousands who partook in 
this year’s Pasadena Marathon. 
Johnson later won the race in 
2:34:31. Ricardo Ramirez, 39 of 
Sun Valley came in second in 
2:43:13 and Andrew Chandler, 
37 of St. Petersburg FL, finished 
third in 2:44:09 according to the 
marathon’s official website. 

Caltech grad student Mandy 
Grantz, for the second year in 
a row was the female finisher in 
2:45:53. 

A number of Pasadena City 
College faculty also participated 
including PCC Superintendent/
President Dr. Mark Rocha 
(pictured right) and Interim 
Vice President Lisa Sugimoto. 
Natural Sciences Division Dean 
Dave Douglass also ran the 5K. 
The 26.2 mile race started at 
PCC and snaked through the 
city passing landmarks such as 
City Hall, The Rose Bowl and 
Old Pasadena. 

Torch Relay Honors Altadena Sheriff 


The Los Angeles County 
Sheriff’s 24th Annual Torch 
Relay honors the memory 
of those brave and dedicated 
individuals in Los Angeles 
County who sacrificed their 
lives in the performance of 
duty during the past year 
started Friday and runs 
through Sunday. 

This year’s run is in memory 
of Deputy Charlene Rottler, 
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s 
Department, who died Jan. 
3, 2010, from injuries she 
sustained in a 1972 on-duty 
traffic collision with a drunk 
driver in Altadena. She 
endured 55 major surgeries 
over the rest of her life trying 
to repair the injuries she had 
sustained. 

The relay will also honor 
Officer Philip Ortiz, 
California Highway Patrol, 
who died June 22, 2010, as 
he was conducting a traffic 
stop and was hit by a driver 
speeding on the shoulder of a 
freeway. 

The mainland Torch Relay 
Run started at the Los 
Angeles County Sheriff’s 
Headquarters building in 
Monterey Park, on Friday, 9 
a.m., with a commemorative 
torch ceremony. The torch 
relay consists of 60 legs, 4 to 
10 miles long, totaling nearly 
300 miles. 

During the same weekend, 
Avalon Regional Station will 
be conducting a Torch Relay 
Run from the Isthmus facility 
to Avalon Sheriff’s Station. 
This run consists of 6 legs, 
totaling 26 miles. 

Hundreds of peace officers 
of all agencies, civilian 
employees, and family and 
friends of the extended 
law enforcement family 
participate in the run.

 
Actor Jack Black (left) and David Melrose (right). 

 Photo D. Lee/MVNews

Citizen Journalism Meet-up

Caltech Release Study of Japan Quake

 

 

 

 

The Pasadena Community 
Network and this newspaper 
are holding a workshop on 
Citizen Journalism. 

 This group is the place where 
aspiring journalists can learn 
from trained professionals 
and support their local 
community by covering 
what’s really happening in 
their neighborhoods.

 We will put the news in your 
hands. Learn how to find 
the story, the tools needed 
to capture the story and the 
means to tell the story using 
the power of video, audio 
and print along with online 
social media The next 
meeting is April 26 from 
6 p.m. to 8p.m. This week 
at the Donald R. Wright 
Auditorium (see below). For 
more info call 626.794.8585 
or visit pasadenan.com.

 
Learn not just how 
to blog but how to 
report the news

A study led by researchers at 
Caltech, published online this 
week in Science Express, explains 
the first large set of observational 
data from the magnitude 9.0 
Tohoku-Oki earthquake and 
resulting tsunami that struck off 
the northeast coast of Japan in 
March. Researchers have begun 
to construct numerous models 
that describe how the earth 
moved.

“This event is the best recorded 
great earthquake ever,” said Mark 
Simons, professor of geophysics 
at Caltech’s Seismological 
Laboratory and lead author of 
the study. For scientists working 
to improve infrastructure and 
prevent loss of life through better 
application of seismological 
data, observations from the 
event will help inform future 
research priorities he explained.

Simons added that one of the 
most interesting findings of the 
data analysis was the spatial 
compactness of the event. 
The megathrust earthquake 
occurred at a subduction zone 
where the Pacific Plate dips 
below Japan. The length of fault 
that experienced significant 
slip during the Tohoku-Oki 
earthquake was about 250 
kilometers, about half of what 
would be conventionally 
expected for an event of this 
magnitude. 

Furthermore, the area where 
the fault slipped the most—30 
meters or more—happened 
within a 50- to 100-kilometer-
long segment. “This is not 
something we have documented 
before,” says Simons. “I’m sure 
it has happened in the past, 
but technology has advanced 
only in the past 10 to 15 years 
to the point where we can 
measure these slips much more 
accurately through GPS and 
other data.”

For Jean Paul Ampuero, 
assistant professor of seismology 
at Caltech’s Seismological 
Laboratory who studies 
earthquake dynamics, the 
most significant finding was 
that high- and low-frequency 
seismic waves can come from 
different areas of a fault. “The 
high-frequency seismic waves 
in the Tohoku earthquake were 
generated much closer to the 
coast, away from the area of the 
slip where we saw low-frequency 
waves,” he said.

Editor’s note, this story was 
shortened for space; the entire 
article can be found at http://
media.caltech.edu

Pet of the 
Week


Photojournalist to Speak 
as Part of Speakers Series

Antonovich 
Honored By 
Cal State L.A. 

Museum Welcomes 
New Executive Director

Photojournalist and editor 
of the Pasadena Independent 
newspaper, Terry Miller, will 
speak at the 2011 Citizen 
Journalism Speakers Series, a 
free community lecture event. 
The event features local and 
national journalists, telling their 
personal stories and adventures 
in the life of journalism and 
media. The event will be held 
on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 
6:00pm.

Terry Miller likes to focus in on 
his news stories to get close and 
personal, framing his subjects 
in a sensitive and thought 
provoking manner, developing 
an intimacy for the reader. While 
media competition is fierce 
and challenging in this digital 
world, being fair, objective and 
accurate in local news coverage 
remains his number one goal. It 
is said in journalism, “Tell the 
story, don’t become the story.” 
The proverbial “cardinal rule” 
of journalism changed in 1991. 
When a train derailment shut 
down California’s highway US 
101 for five days that is when 
Terry became the story. 

Terry known for having “Ink in 
the Blood” was born in England. 
In 1965, at the age of eleven, due 
to his father’s work as a Foreign 
News Correspondent for the 
London Daily Telegraph, he 
immigrated to the United States 
on the famous Queen Mary.

As a professional photographer 
he has had the opportunity 
to photograph some of 
Hollywood’s finest actors, 
musicians and comedians 
in their homes and at public 
engagements. Whether 
photographing a riot or a ribbon 
cutting, train derailment or just 
a simple mug shot, he puts his 
heart and soul into the story.

The event will be held at the 
Donald R. Wright Auditorium 
285 E. Walnut St., Pasadena, CA 
91101 (located in the Pasadena 
Central Library) All Events 
Door Open at 6:00pm

Each program includes a 
presentation by the speakers and 
an engaging 15-minute question 
and answer session with citizen 
journalists and community 
members in the audience.

 


 The Pacific Asia Museum 
Board of Trustees announced 
Charles Mason as the museum’s 
new Executive Director, 
effective Monday.

 Mr. Mason, previously Chief 
Curator of the Gardiner 
Museum in Toronto, Canada, 
has over 15 years of museum 
experience and has produced 
numerous exhibitions exploring 
a wide variety of Asian art forms 
from different cultures and 
historical periods. He has proven 
success in donor cultivation 
and acquisitions as well as in 
strategic planning and museum 
administration. Mason brings 
to this position a commitment 
to creating a collaborative 
working environment and a 
strong focus on engaging local 
communities with dynamic, 
participatory exhibits and 
programs. Throughout his 
career, Mr. Mason has helped 
build significant collections 
of Asian art, both historical 
and contemporary, and he has 
written on a broad range of 
topics, from Chinese painting 
and Japanese porcelain to the 
history of Asian art collecting 
in the West.

 “Asia has always been a critical 
region of the world, but it is 
especially important today. 
Pacific Asia Museum has a 
wonderful mission with its 
unique focus on the art and 
culture of Asia and the Pacific 
Islands and is well situated 
to make a significant impact 
within the greater Los Angeles 
area and beyond. Having spent 
more than twenty years studying 
Asian art and culture, coming to 
Pacific Asia Museum is a terrific 
opportunity for me and I look 
forward to further developing 
the legacy that began here 
over 40 years ago,” Mason said. 
Board Chair Margaret Leong 
Checca commented, “Charles 
Mason is a wonderful choice 
for Pacific Asia Museum. He 
is overwhelmingly qualified to 
lead the museum and position 
it for future growth.”

 Prior to his previous position 
at the Gardiner Museum, Mr. 
Mason was Chief Curator and 
Curator of Asian Art at the 
Samuel P. Harn Museum of 
Art at the University of Florida 
and Curator of Asian Art at the 
Allen Memorial Art Museum at 
Oberlin College in Ohio. Mason 
received his bachelor’s degree in 
Chinese Language and History 
form Cambridge University in 
England and his M.A. in Asian 
Studies and Art History from 
the University of California, 
Berkeley.

Milo, an adorable, 11 month 
old puppy is ready to play, play, 
play! He is very spunky but 
also likes to cuddle and needs a 
home where he will receive lots 
of attention. Milo would prefer 
a home without very small 
children but would enjoy the 
company of older kids. Come 
visit with this great pup today!

The regular dog adoption fee is 
$120, which includes medical 
care prior to adoption, spaying 
or neutering, vaccinations, 
and a follow-up visit with a 
participating vet.

Please call 626-792-7151 and 
ask for A286825 or come 
to the Pasadena Humane 
Society & SPCA, 361 S. 
Raymond Ave , Pasadena 
CA , 91105 . Our adoption 
hours are 11-4 Sunday, 
9-5 Tuesday, Wednesday, 
Thursday, and Friday, and 
9-4 Saturday. Directions and 
photos of all pets updated 
hourly may be found at www.
pasadenahumane.org

From left to right: Christine 
Devine, FOX-11 News; Michael 
Antonovich, LA County 
Mayor; and Dr. James Rosser, 
President of CSULA.

 California State University Los 
Angeles President Dr. James 
Rosser presented Los Angeles 
County Mayor Michael D. 
Antonovich with an award on 
behalf of the School of Social 
Work recognizing his many 
years of leadership in public 
service and commitment to 
children and families in Los 
Angeles County. 

Mayor Antonovich was the 
keynote speaker at the first 
School of Social Work Policy 
Summit , which discussed 
the impact of the state budget 
on county services including 
child welfare, mental health 
and services to older adults 
and their families.

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