Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 8, 2011

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Mountain Views News Saturday, October 8, 2011


Arrests 
Made as 
Protesters 
March on 
Bank 

Woman Killed in Fire Named 

 

 Police on Monday released 
the name of an adult female 
who died in an apartment 
fire contained to a single unit 
in the 00 block of Meredith 
Avenue Friday. Police also 
said they arrested a 28 year-
old Los Angeles man in 
connection with the death 
although the suspect was 
later released.

 Maria Donnely, a 28 year 
old Pasadena resident, 
was discovered inside an 
apartment police said.

 Pasadena arson investigators 
and police detectives 
conducted a preliminary 
investigation to determine 
the cause of the fire as well as 
the victim’s death. After the 
completion of an autopsy the 
Los Angeles Coroner’s Office 
has classified Donnely’s 
death as a homicide.

 On Saturday Pasadena 
police detectives developed a 
person of interest. Detectives 
determined the location 
of the individual and as a 
result, Corey Green, 28, was 
arrested for the homicide at 
his residence in Los Angeles. 

Police said green was 
released from jail Monday 
afternoon although still 
remains a person of interest. 

 “This investigation remains 
ongoing as detectives 
continue to analyze and 
collect evidence related 
Donnely tragic death,” police 
said. 

 Pasadena police on 
Wednesday arrested nine 
protesters including Rose 
Gudiel, who led a march from 
city hall to Fannie Mae regional 
headquarters, in an attempt to 
stop the mortgage company 
from evicting her from her 
Bassett home. Police said over 
50 people participated in the 
march. 

 In the city of Bassett over 20 
protesters remained at Gudiel’s 
home to block the possible 
eviction by L.A. County 
Sheriffs, now in its seventh 
day, protesters defied a court 
order to leave the property.

 According to police, shortly 
after 2 p.m. protestors from 
Alliance of California for 
Community Employment 
and Service Employees 
International Union, 
assembled to protest at 
Pasadena City Hall. 

 “The groups were protesting 
the downturn in the economy 
and home foreclosures,” a 
statement read.

 According to police, at 
approximately 2:30 p.m. the 
protestors walked to 135 N. 
Los Robles Avenue were they 
continued their protest at the 
Fannie Mae office. Several 
protesters entered the lobby of 
the business.

 The Pasadena Police 
Department, (PPD) was called 
by Fannie Mae security who 
indicated the protestors were 
disruptive to the business. 
Fannie Mae security requested 
assistance asking that the 
protestors leave the building. 
PPD gave a dispersal order 
and the vast majority of the 
protestors left without further 
direction. Nine protesters 
refused to leave the lobby and 
continued to disrupt business. 
Police officers arrested these 
individuals for disturbing the 
peace and removed them from 
the location without incident. 
The nine protesters were 
issued citations with a court 
date of December 7, 2011.

 “The Pasadena Police 
Department’s objective is to 
maintain public safety and the 
First Amendment Rights of all 
concerned,” explained Chief 
Phillip Sanchez. “Protesters 
have a right to assembly 
peacefully and businesses have 
a right to conduct business. 
There is always a balance.”

 Gudiel told reporters that she 
was trying to get the bank to 
modify her home loan after a 
family member died causing 
the household income to drop. 
She said the bank refused to 
give her the modification. She 
also said the bank refused to 
take house payments because 
of the modification process 
causing the house to go into 
default.

Pollster Jumps 
from Colorado 
Street Bridge


Group Looks to Revive Iconic Theater 

By Dean Lee 

 A group of over 100 concerned 
residents came out Sunday 
afternoon to hear experts give 
advice on what to do with 
the iconic 86 year old South 
Pasadena Rialto Theater now 
red tagged due to fire danger.

 The “Encore! Rialto” symposium 
hosted by the South Pasadena 
Chamber of Commerce was a 
pep rally, of sorts, for the theater 
said South Pasadena Chamber 
of Commerce CEO Scott 
Feldmann.

 “We’re just bringing it to 
people’s attention,” Feldmann 
said, “Hey, if you want your 
theater brought back, then we 
need to do something. Now 
what is that something?”

 The “something” Feldmann 
said were three experts invited 
to speak, Ed Kelsey from The 
Orpheum on Broadway in L.A., 
John Clifford from Friends of 
the Pomona Fox and Barry 
McComb from The Alex in 
Glendale.

“I’m hoping someone from our 
community will, maybe, bring 
one of these ideas forward,” he 
said.

 The three men gave examples 
of how both private and public 
ownership of a historic theater 
can work. What came up most 
was renovation cost which 
fluctuated from $4 to $5 million 
up to $40 million. 

 Kelsey said the “for profit” 
model works for them suggesting 
it may also work for the Rialto 
being privately owned. “During 
renovation keep the costs under 
control, make sure you have a 
real justification, don’t skimp 
on comfort, convenience and 
cleanliness,” he said suggesting 
they also keep it local with 
community productions. 

 McComb explained problems 
the Alex had in being a 
nonprofit and controlled by 
the city, he said it made the 
renovation process move slowly, 
he suggested the Rialto be 
renovated in phases, “the Alex 
is always a work in progress.” 
Clifford said the Pomona Fox 
was newly renovated in 2009, 
but said a well-kept theater 
can revitalize a downtown area 
something they all agreed with. 

 Feldmann later pointed out 
that the Rialto owners were not 
at the meeting, “They may have 
someone else they are taking to, 
all I know is until they publicly 
announce that they have got 
some plans for the theater, 
we’re just fishing trying to find 
someone who will come up with 
an idea.

 Assistant City Manager Sergio 
Gonzalez said the pressing issue 
is fire code violations something 
he said could be easily fixed. 
Until then no one is allowed in 
the building he said. 

 Andre Pineda, a Pasadena 
pollster and communications 
strategist died late last month 
after jumping off the Colorado 
Street Bridge, he was 46.

 According to police, Pineda 
leaped from the bridge Sept. 
27 shortly before 7 a.m. 
Investigators said his motive 
was personal problems. 

 Pineda had worked on 
a number of presidential 
campaigns including Barack 
Obama working on boosting 
Latino support. He was also 
a pollster for New Mexico 
Governor Bill Richardson’s 
presidential campaign.

 Pineda also taught a class on 
polling at USC and had his own 
consulting firm in Pasadena.

Activist, Journalist, Author 
Rodriguez to Speak at PCC

 
As part of Pasadena 
City College’s First Year 
Experience Pathways 
Program speaker series, Luis 
J. Rodriguez, an activist, 
journalist, and author of 
“Always Running,” will be 
speaking on campus on Oct. 
14 at 11:30 a.m. in Harbeson 
Hall.

 The author will read from 
and discuss his new memoir 
in a talk titled, “It Calls 
You Back: An Odyssey 
Through Love, Addiction, 
Revolutions, and Healing.”

 Rodriguez is one of the 
leading Chicano writers 
in the country, with 14 
published books in memoir, 
fiction, nonfiction, children’s 
literature, and poetry. He is 
best known as the author of 
“Always Running: La Vida 
Loca, Gang Days in L.A.,” a 
memoir that he wrote as a 
cautionary tale for his son.

 The First Year Experience 
Pathways Program is 
designed to increase student 
success and retention for 
incoming students from 
high school. For more 
information, please call 
(626) 585-3046.

Caltech Named 
World’s Top University

Scientist Mark 
Helmlinger to 
Speak at PCC

 
Scientist Mark Helmlinger 
will be speaking at Pasadena 
City College on Oct. 10, 
from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 
p.m. in Creveling Lounge 
as part of the California 
Industry Speaker Series.

 Helmlinger is a remote 
sensing scientist and end-to-
end Electro-Optical/Infra-
Red calibration specialist at 
Northrop Grumman Space 
Technology. He is especially 
interested in alternative 
energy and propulsion. The 
focus of his talk will be on 
engineering and science.

 For more information, 
please call at (626) 585-
7530.

Citizen Journalism Meet-up

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

 

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 Oct. 11. from 6 
p.m. to 8p.m. at the Pasadena 
Community Network - Studio 
G, 2057 N. Los Robles Ave.

 For more info call 626.794.8585 
or visit pasadenan.com.

 
The California Institute of 
Technology (Caltech) has been 
rated the world’s number one 
university in the 2011–2012 
Times Higher Education 
global ranking of the top 200 
universities, knocking Harvard 
University out of the top spot 
for the first time in the survey’s 
eight-year history.

“It’s gratifying to be recognized 
for the work we do here and 
the impact it has—both on 
our students and on the global 
community,” says Caltech 
president Jean-Lou Chameau. 
“Today’s announcement 
reinforces Caltech’s legacy 
of innovation, and our 
unwavering dedication to 
giving our extraordinary people 
the environment and resources 
with which to pursue their best 
ideas. It’s also truly gratifying to 
see three California schools—
including my alma mater, 
Stanford—in the top ten.”

Thirteen performance 
indicators representing research 
(worth 30% of a school’s overall 
ranking score), teaching (30%), 
citations (30%), international 
outlook (which includes the 
total numbers of international 
students and faculty and the 
ratio of scholarly papers with 
international collaborators; 
7.5%), and industry income 
(a measure of innovation; 
2.5%) are included in the data. 
Among the measures included 
are a reputation survey of 
17,500 academics; institutional, 
industry, and faculty research 
income; and an analysis of 50 
million scholarly papers to 
determine the average number 
of citations per scholarly paper, 
a measure of research impact.

Kent Kresa, chairman of the 
Caltech Board of Trustees said, 
“I am pleased that Caltech 
is being recognized for its 
leadership and impact; this just 
confirms what many of us have 
known for a long time about 
this extraordinary place.”

Times Higher Education, which 
compiled the listing using 
data supplied by Thomson 
Reuters, reports that this year’s 
methodology was refined to 
ensure that universities with 
particular strength in the 
arts, humanities, and social 
sciences are placed on a more 
equal footing with those with 
a specialty in science subjects. 
Caltech—described in a Times 
Higher Education press release 
as “much younger, smaller, and 
specialized” than Harvard—
was nevertheless ranked the 
highest based on their metrics.

Annual Golf 
Tourney to 
Help Youth 
Program

Pet of the 
Week

 The Pasadena Police Activities 
League will host the 12th 
Annual Golf Tournament Oct. 
21 benefiting the Pasadena 
“PAL” Program. If you like to 
golf and want to support local 
youth programs that provide 
safe, positive activities, then 
make plans now to take part in 
this golf tournament.

 Youth outreach programs offer 
positive academic and athletic 
environments to middle and 
high school students in the 
Pasadena area. PAL has served 
more than 3,000 youths over 
the years.

 Co-sponsoring the golf 
tournament with PAL is the 
Pasadena Police Athletic 
Association (PPAA).

 The tourney will take place 
at Brookside Golf Course, 
1133 Rosemont Boulevard, in 
Pasadena. Registration starts 
at 11:00 a.m., with golfers 
teeing off at 12:30 p.m.

 The registration fee includes 
18 holes of golf with Mulligans, 
a cart, spectacular Goodie 
Bags, an awards dinner 
following the tournament, and 
several fun prizes and raffle 
opportunities, including the 
chance in a 10-person hole-
in-one shoot out to win a 2011 
Porsche Carrera, valued at 
$120,000, courtesy of Rusnak 
Porsche Pasadena.

 For more information 
about this event go to http://
cityofpasadena.net/ police 
and click on Charity Golf 
Tournament.


City Vending Goes Healthy

 

The healthy choice is now the 
easier choice for residents and 
employees now that city officials 
unanimously passed a healthy 
vending and procurement 
policy Monday night that 
eliminated sodas, diet sodas, 
sports drinks and energy drinks 
from all vending machines on 
city property. 

 The new policy requires 100 
percent of snacks and beverages 
sold in vending machines 
located on city property, served 
at all city meetings, programs 
and events that use city funds 
to meet specified nutrition 
standards set forth by the USDA 
2010 Dietary Guidelines. 

 “The City of Pasadena wants 
to be a model for children 
and families who use our 
facilities and are enrolled in our 
programs,” said Dr. Eric Walsh, 
Director of the Pasadena Public 
Health Department. “Sugar-
sweetened beverages, and high-
calorie, fat-laden snacks are 
hindering our efforts to reduce 
childhood obesity in our city.”

 He added that health care 
and lost productivity resulting 
from overweight or obesity 
cost public and private sectors 
in the county nearly $6 billion 
annually.. 

 The Los Angeles County 
Department of Public Health’s 
RENEW LA County initiative 
is working with the Pasadena 
Public Health Department 
to establish policies that will 
promote health for all residents. 
Additionally, RENEW LA 
County is working with other 
cities throughout the county 
to increase access to healthy 
options.

 Earlier this year, Pasadena 
joined the Healthy Eating 
Active Living Cities Campaign 
(HEAL), a statewide campaign 
led by the California Center 
for Public Health Advocacy 
(CCPHA) that supports city 
policies and environments 
to reduce local obesity and 
physical inactivity rates. 

 Program Coordinator Mary 
Urtecho-Garcia said, “We 
strongly believe that we need 
to take a stand against diabetes 
and the high obesity rates in our 
community. Obesity is easier to 
prevent than to treat and this 
epidemic is threatening the 
future health of our children.”

 Meet Pumpkin. She is one 
purrfect – oops perfect– 
black cat. She loves to 
meow, is very affectionate 
and enjoys a nice belly rub. 

 Pumpkin’s adoption fee is 
$70. Her fee includes spay/
neuter surgery, a microchip, 
the first set of vaccinations, 
and a free follow-up health 
check at a participating vet.

 Call the Pasadena 
Humane Society & SPCA at 
626.792.7151 to ask about 
A219726, or visit at 361 S. 
Raymond Ave. in Pasadena. 
Adoption hours are 11-4 
Sunday, 9-5 Tuesday –
Friday, 9-4 Saturday. 
Directions and photos of all 
pets can be found at www.
pasadenahumane.org.

Trustees to 
Hold Meeting 
on Education

Master Plan

 
The Pasadena Area 
Community College District 
Board of Trustees invites 
the community to an 
outreach meeting on Oct. 
19 at 6 p.m. at the Sierra 
Madre Elementary School 
Auditorium. The meeting 
will be led by Dr. Mark 
Rocha, superintendent-
president of PCC, and Dr. 
Jeanette Mann, member 
of the PACCD board of 
trustees.

 The topics up for discussion 
include PCC’s Educational 
Master Plan, early college 
assistance, program tracks, 
and opportunities to 
increase outreach through 
Community Advisory 
Councils.

 For more information, 
please call (626) 585-7202.