Mountain Views News          Saturday, March 10, 2012

3


Mountain Views-News Saturday, March 10, 2012 

SIERRA MADRE, CALIFORNIA 
POSTMARKS AVAILABLE AT 
WISTARIA FESTIVAL

The United States Postal Service and the Sierra Madre Chamber 
of Commerce announce a special postal cancellation to celebrate 
The Sierra Madre Wistaria Festival.

This special postmark will be available at the Sierra Madre 
Wistaria Festival, Sunday March 25, 2012 at the Wistaria Festival 
Postal Station located at Kersting Court in Sierra Madre at Sierra 
Madre Boulevard and Baldwin Avenue. 

This special temporary postal station will be open 11 A.M. to 3 
P.M. 

Bring post cards or letters. You can send mail and post from 
this special event post office and surprise your friends when they 
receive mail with this extraordinary postmark.

The announcement of this postal cancellation has been printed 
in the U. S. Postal Bulletin which is distributed world wide. To 
accommodate collectors from out of the area the Sierra Madre 
Post Office will cancel postcards and letters upon request with the 
Wistaria cancellation for 30 days after the event. 

To postmark a letter after the event go to Sierra Madre Post office 
and request The Wistaria Postmark on your mail.

For more information contact:

The Sierra Madre Chamber of Commerce (626) 355-5111

The U. S Post Office, Sierra Madre, California 91024 

(Note: The Sierra Madre Wistaria Festival spells Wistaria with an 
“a” not with an “e”) .

LOCAL GROUPS SPONSOR 
CANDIDATE FORUMS

The following organizations are sponsoring Candidate 
Forums for those seeking office in the Sierra Madre April 
10, 2012 Election: (All are free and open to the public)

Las Vegas 
vs. Casino 
Night

Can’t decide between 
going to Las Vegas and 
going to Civic Club’s 
Casino Night on Saturday 
March 17th from 7:00 
P.M. to 11 P.M.? 

By Christine Bachwansky

This un-objective analysis 
may help resolve your 
dilemma:

Las Vegas has blackjack, 
roulette, craps and poker. 
Casino Night has blackjack, 
roulette, craps and poker.

Las Vegas has professional 
dealers. Casino Night has 
professional dealers, and 
ours are friendlier.

Las Vegas has buffets. Casino 
Night has a buffet. Our St. 
Patrick’s Day theme offers 
tasty fare such as corned 
beef sliders. There’s also a 
no-host bar featuring beer, 
wine, soft drinks and Irish 
coffee for a modest price.

Las Vegas is 252 miles, 4 
hours and 8 minutes away. 
That means two tanks of gas 
and hotels rooms and that 
comes to $$$. Casino Night 
is right down the street at 
the Sierra Madre Recreation 
Center leaving you all that 
extra green to play with at 
our tables. 

Las Vegas has chips. Casino 
Night has “fun money”. By 
trading your greenbacks for 
Casino Night fun money you 
are not only giving yourself 
more play time at the tables, 
but are doing good for the 
community. 

Las Vegas takes your money. 
At Casino Night we give you 
“money”. For your $25.00 
ticket donation we stake you 
to $50.00 of “fun money” 
to play at the tables! The 
payout is in “opportunity 
tickets” that you can win 
stuff with. 

Las Vegas has prizes. Casino 
Night has prizes. You might 
win restaurant or theater 
vouchers, or an awesome 
iPad. Maybe you want to go 
for a Kindle complete with 
its own Amazon gift card, a 
flat screen T.V or gift cards 
for Nordstrom’s or Bed, Bath 
& Beyond. You could even 
win a trip to Las Vegas! 

Las Vegas has fixed odds. 
At Casino Night you can 
change the odds. Try 
doing that in Vegas. Here 
you can purchase more 
“opportunity” tickets for a 
mere $1.00 donation each. 
Drop them in the box for the 
prize you want to win and 
watch your odds increase 
with each ticket you put in. 

Las Vegas has jackpots, but 
only a few people win them. 
At Casino Night everybody 
wins because your donations 
go right back into the 
community. Last year 
Sierra Madre Civic Club 
donated more than $20,000 
in educational scholarships 
to students in town and 
in grants to organizations 
such as the Sierra Madre 
Rose Float Association, the 
library’s One Book One 
City Program, Sierra Madre 
Elementary School, Creative 
Arts, the Sierra Madre 
Playhouse, and Sierra Madre 
Little League. 

Tickets are limited, so don’t 
wait. Don’t miss out! Call 
355-2166 and get yours 
today. 


CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES FORUM

Sponsored by Harry L. Embree VFW Post 3208

 Sunday, March 11, 2012 

 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM

 Memorial Park Hart House

 Sierra Madre

For additional information, please contact Duncan 
MacGillivray, Sr. Vice Commander, VFW Post 3208 at 
Duncan@smmainsurance.com or (626) 355-0762. 

CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES 
FORUM

Sponsored by The Sierra Madre Kiwanis Club 
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 

 12:00 Noon

 The Lodge in Sierra Madre 

(Formerly the Masonic Temple)

 33 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Sierra Madre

Lunch Optional - Cost $10

For additional information, please contact Clem Bartolai at 
355-0757 or email: cbartolai@gmail.com

USER UTILITY TAX FORUM

Sponsored by 

 The Sierra Madre Kiwanis Club 

Tuesday, March 27, 2012 

 12:00 Noon

 The Lodge in Sierra Madre 

 (Formerly the Masonic Temple)

 33 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Sierra Madre

Lunch Optional - Cost $10

For additional information, please contact Clem Bartolai at 
355-0757 or email: cbartolai@gmail.com

VFW 2.jpg
SIERRA MADRE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

CANDIDATE FORUM

Wednesday, March 14th 

6:30 to 8:30pm, moderated by the League of Women Voters, 
Pasadena Area. 

The forum will be held in City Council chambers in City 
Hall, 232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. 

CANDIDATE MEET AND GREET

Thursday, March 15th

Hosted by the Sierra Madre Woman’s Club at their historic 
clubhouse, “Essick House,” located at 550 W. Sierra 
Madre Blvd. 5 to 7pm.

Attendees will have the opportunity to meet and greet 
the Council candidates. Each candidate will be introduced 
an have an opportunity to speak for 2 – 3 minutes, 
but the rest of the time they will be mingling with the 
attendees The admission will be charged, at the reduced 
rate of $5/person.

WISTARIA FESTIVAL TO OFFER 
TOURS OF HISTORIC 1887 
PINNEY HOUSE; 

Local Artists Featured in 
House Exhibit

Sunday, March 25, 2012 9:30 AM - 4:30 PM

The historic landmark Pinney House, built in 1887, will be open 
for self-guided tours for the first time ever, during the March 25 
Wistaria Festival in Sierra Madre, California.

The Pinney House, designed by Victorian architects Samuel & 
Joseph Cather Newsom, is celebrating 125 years, and has recently 
undergone a major renovation to a lovely estate house. It has 
six spacious elegant bedroom and bath suites, as well as several 
common rooms reminiscent of the late nineteenth century. 

Tours will be offered to visitors on the Wistaria Festival shuttle, 
as the bus stops in front of the Pinney House at 225 No. Lima St. 
Visitors must have a shuttle ticket to enter.

Noted California artists, William Wray and Lynne Fearman, 
local to Sierra Madre, will be exhibiting their work in the House. 
Wray’s gritty urban landscapes, often referred to as “dirty urban” 
uses a combination of realism and abstract expressionism. His 
evocative work exhibits internationally. Plein Air artist Lynne 
Fearman’s paintings portray beautiful serene landscapes of San 
Gabriel Valley and Southern California.

Wray has designed a commemorative poster for the 2012 Wistaria 
Festival, which will be offered for sale during the Festival. 

The Pinney House was built by civil war surgeon and farmer 
Dr. Elbert Pinney during the land boom in Los Angeles. It was 
one of a string of railroad hotels that served as lodging for train 
passengers who disembarked at the Baldwin depot on their travels 
from the midwest and east coast. It is one of the last remaining 
railroad hotels of the Foothills that are still standing.

The Sierra Madre Wistaria Festival celebrates the Guinness Book 
certified “World’s Largest Blossoming Plant.” It is estimated 
that at the height of bloom it has 1.5 million blossoms with 40 
blossoms per square foot, a weight of 250 tons and has branches 
that extend 500 feet. The vine is 118 years old. The first public 
Wistaria Festival occurred in 1918. Several blocks south of the 
vine, the village of Sierra Madre celebrates with arts and craft fair, 
live musical entertainment, a kids’ zone, dining al fresco at local 
restaurants as well as food vendors in the Memorial Park. The 
Sierra Madre Post Office is offering a special postal cancellation 
to celebrate the Festival, with a temporary postal station open 
March 25 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. in Kersting Court of Sierra Madre’s 
downtown.

More information on The Pinney House can be found at www.
pinneyhouse.com. 

More information on Wistaria Festival and to order Shuttle 
Tickets, visit www.wistariafestival.com and www.wistariatickets.
com. 

Sierra Madre Police Blotter

During the week of Sunday, February 26th, to Saturday 
March 3rd, the Sierra Madre Police Department responded to 
approximately 207 calls for service. See crimereports.com for 
updated information. 

Sunday, February 26th:

2:00 AM- DUI Alcohol/Drugs, Orlando Ave and Orange 
Grove Ave. An officer stopped a 35-year old Pasadena 
motorist for a Vehicle Code violation. Further investigation 
revealed that the driver was under the influence of alcohol. 
The driver was arrested and transported to Pasadena Police 
Department for booking. 

3:49 PM- Use Another’s Personal Identification to Obtain 
Credit/Etc. This incident involves the unauthorized use of 
the victim’s credit/debit card number which was obtained 
from the Valero gas station. 

Tuesday, February 28th:

8:18 PM- Use Another’s Personal Identification to Obtain 
Credit/Etc. This incident involves the unauthorized use of 
the victim’s credit/debit card number which was obtained 
from the Valero gas station. 

Wednesday, February 29th: 

12:32 PM- Tampering/Injuring Vehicle or Contents, 100 W. 
Esperanza Ave. Unknown suspect(s) entered an unlocked 
car and left personal property, vomited while inside the car 
and exited the vehicle. The suspect(s) fled in an unknown 
direction. 

Thursday, March 1st:

3:24 PM- Warrant/Outside/Criminal, 100 W. Carter Ave. 
This incident involves two solicitors with no business 
license. Further investigation revealed that one of the 
solicitors had an outstanding warrant out of Pasadena P.D. 
The 42-year old solicitor out of Green Bay, Wisconsin was 
arrested and transported to Pasadena Police Department 
Jail for booking and the other solicitor was release on scene.

1:11 PM- Unlicensed Driver, Highland Oaks Dr and 
Doshier Ave. An officer stopped a 19-year old Monrovia 
motorist for a Vehicle code violation. Further investigation 
revealed that the driver did not have a driver’s license 
and the passenger was in possession of narcotics without 
a prescription. The 19-year old Monrovia passenger was 
arrested and transported to Pasadena Police Department 
Jail for booking. 

Friday, March 2nd:

11:03 AM- Commercial Burglary, 611 E. Sierra Madre Blvd 
(Aquatic Center). An unknown suspect(s) entered the 
unlocked location and stole property from the locker rooms 
that were left unlocked and unattended. The suspect(s) fled 
in an unknown direction. 

 

IMPORTANT DATES

MARCH 26 

LAST DAY TO REGISTER

FOR APRIL 10TH ELECTION

MARCH 12TH FIRST DAY TO REQUEST 
VOTE BY MAIL BALLOT

APRIL 3 LAST DAY TO REQUEST 
VOTE BY MAIL BALLOT

Below is a direct link to answer questions about the City’s 
Utility Users Tax (UUT) Measures on the April 10, 2012 
Municipal ballot:

http://cityofsierramadre.com/i-want-to/find/agendas/
category/13-news?download=338:uut-fact-sheet-february-
2012-for-the-upcoming-election-april-10-2012

ELECTION DAY -APRIL 10, 2012


YOUR AD 
COULD BE 
HERE!

CALL PATRICIA

626-818-2698

TODAY!

Southern California Edison Offers

WINDSTORM REBATES AND GRANTS

Need to contact Southern California Edison? Interested in potential rebates or grants? Region 
Manager Ronald V. Garcia is at your disposal. Ronald can be contacted at ronald.
garcia@sce.com. Be sure to check out the Southern California Edison website at http://
www.sce.com/CommunityandRecreation/CommunityGrantsandVolunteerSupport/community-
grants-and-volunteer-support.htm for community grant information.

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