Mountain Views News          Saturday, July 21, 2012

4


Mountain Views-News Saturday July 21, 2012 


Department 
of State, 
Pasadena 
Police to Sign 
Agreement

Taking a Trip Down Doo 
Dah Memory Lane

 

 Parade organizers are making 
a plea for help in locating Doo 
Dah memorabilia from the 
wacky occasional yearly event 
dating back to 1978. It’s all part 
of an upcoming exhibit “What 
a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been: 
35 Years of the Pasadena Doo 
Dah Parade,” opening August 
18 at the Pasadena Museum of 
History. 

Patricia Hurley, a spokesperson 
for the Doo Dah Parade and 
Managing Director for the 
Light Bringer Project, said 
they have already gotten some 
memorabilia during a drop off 
event Wednesday. Another is 
planned Sunday from 2 p.m. to 
6 p.m. at the American Legion 
Post 280 179 N. Vinedo Street. 
She encouraged anyone with 
Doo Dah related stuff to bring 
it by. 

 Hurley said they have several 
timelines of the parade and 
are matching items brought in 
respect to the year of the parade.

 “Most of this is about the royalty, 
the Queens, the Kings, and 
the Grand Marshals,” she said. 
“Queen Red Rosie [Rosalind 
Schoen], kind of consolidated 
all this information, she is 
basically an encyclopedia of 
Doo Dah.”

Schoen said parade participants 
and enthusiasts had, so far, 
brought in things, from formal 
gowns to video footage from 
1978 of the first Doo Dah. 

 Schoen, herself, brought 
her royal crown and Wonder 
Woman costume to display. 
Schoen was Doo Dah Queen in 
2011. Queen Naughty Mickie, 
Michelle Mills, also dropped off 
lots of memorabilia to display. 

 “I have lent the curators my 
royal gown and the Royal Pup 
Atticus’ matching cape, along 
with my crown, sceptre and 
the banner they carried in the 
parade to announce my entry,” 
she said. “I gave them a piece of 
my outgoing float, which was 
designed by Pasadena artist 
Dave Lovejoy. There is also 
my peacock dress (inspired by 
Bjork’s famous swan dress), 
complete with a splashy array 
of tail feathers and matching 
parasol.”

 Mills is the former 2008 Doo 
Dah Queen. 

 For more information about the 
exhibit visit lightbringerproject.
com or call (626) 590-1134.

 
Chief of Police Phillip 
Sanchez is set to sign a 
partnership agreement 
on Wednesday with U.S. 
Assistant Secretary of State 
for International Narcotics 
and Law Enforcement Affairs 
(INL) William R. Brownfield.

 This partnership agreement 
between INL and Pasadena 
Police enables INL to utilize 
the knowledge and expertise 
of active serving police 
officers to train, advise, 
and mentor foreign law 
enforcement personnel as 
part of the Department of 
State’s numerous foreign 
assistance programs to 
further civilian security.

 Assistant Secretary 
Brownfield will recognize the 
Pasadena Police Department 
for its recent assistance to 
the Department of State in 
sending one of Pasadena’s 
finest police officers to 
support INL’s police programs 
in Jamaica where the officer 
advised the U.S. Embassy and 
Jamaica’s Constabulary Police 
Force.

 “The collaboration between 
the Pasadena Police 
Department and the State 
Department INL program 
highlights the talented and 
skilled officers within the 
agency. This partnership 
enhances the advancement 
of international training,” 
said Chief of Police Phillip 
Sanchez. INL has established 
relationships with state 
and local law enforcement, 
corrections, prosecutorial, 
and other specialized justice 
sector institutions to leverage 
their expertise in support 
of the Department of State’s 
foreign assistance goals. 
The State Department pays 
the salaries of state and 
local officers while they are 
deployed. 

City Gives YWCA Building Tours


By Dean Lee

 Leaders of the current Young 
Women’s Christian Association 
were among the nearly 
100 people who took tours 
Thursday night of the former 
YWCA building near City Hall 
originally designed by famed 
architect Julia Morgan. 

 The walkthroughs were the 
first time the building had been 
seen by the public in over 20 
years. Information was also 
given about the city’s process 
for submissions from qualified 
developers who are interested 
in rehabilitating the 40,000 
square foot structure. 

 
Assistant City Manager, Steve 
Mermell said developers would 
also have the option to propose 
plans for the 43,700 square-
foot lot across from city hall. 
Mermell said the city’s goal, 
for years has been to rehab the 
YWCA building. Other, former 
YWCA members agreed. 

 “Given its history within the 
community, there are a couple 
of things for me,” said Valerie 
Coachman-Moore the former 
Pasadena YWCA Executive 
Director. “One, It needs to be 
accessible to the community, 
all community members, that 
was part of the YWCA mission, 
Two, care needs to be given to 
ensure its preserved properly.”

 Coachman-Moore oversaw 
the facility from 1992 to 1995. 
She said she left just before the 
YWCA moved to 1200 North 
Fair Oaks Avenue. “At the time, 
a decision was made not to buy 
the building, or renovate the 
building, it was tough to do,” 
she said. 

 Tamika Farr the current 
Executive Director, YWCA 
Pasadena-Foothill Valley asked 
that the city consider allowing 
the YWCA to again use all or 
part of the property as part of 
the proposal. “We don’t need 
much space,” Farr said. “Let us 
come home.”

 Earlier this year, the city struck 
a deal to paid the former owners 
$8.3 million for the property 
after it was seized through 
eminent domain. 


Valerie Coachman-Moore (right)

Elderly Woman Scammed 
with Fake Lottery Ticket


Surveillance photo of the suspect (right).

 

 Investigators from the 
California Lottery are asking 
for the public’s help in locating 
two suspects who succeeded in 
running a “Latin Lotto” scam 
on an unsuspecting Los Angeles 
County woman, taking her for 
nearly $40,000 in cash and 
merchandise. 

 In this recent case, a female 
suspect approached the victim 
at a restaurant parking lot and 
said she had a winning Lottery 
ticket worth approximately 
$500,000, but she could not 
cash it because she was not a 
U.S. citizen. 

 The female suspect told the 
victim that if she helped her 
cash the winning ticket, she 
would give the victim $40,000 in 
cash in return. A male suspect 
then arrived at the location 
also pretending to help the 
female suspect cash the ticket. 
All three then entered a vehicle 
and the female suspect called 
someone posing as an attorney. 
The attorney told the victim 
she needed to give the female 
suspect $48,000 worth of cash 
or valuables as collateral before 
they cashed in the winning 
lottery ticket. 

 The three visited two Wells 
Fargo banks where the victim 
withdrew a total of $38,000 and 
gave it to the female suspect. 
They also went to a local Macy’s 
where the victim purchased 
about $500 worth of clothing 
for the female suspect. The 
suspects dropped the victim off 
at a Michael’s store so she could 
purchase paper to write a letter 
to the alleged attorney. The 
suspects told her that while she 
bought the paper, they would 
go buy stamps for the letter. The 
victim purchased the paper and 
when she exited the store the 
suspects were nowhere to be 
found. 

 The California Lottery initially 
discovered details about this 
case when the elderly victim’s 
son wrote about the incident 
on the Lottery’s Facebook page. 
After stealing the $38,000 from 
the victim, the scam artists 
actually went to the victim’s 
home to continue the scam. 
That’s when the victim’s home 
surveillance cameras caught 
video of the three con artists 
and the car they were using. 

 If you have information Lottery 
investigators ask that you call 
them at 1-800-LOTTERY (1-
800-568-8379). Or if you wish 
to remain Anonymous, call “LA 
Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-
222-TIPS (8477), texting the 
letters TIPLA plus your tip to 
CRIMES (274637), or using the 
website http://lacrimestoppers.
org

Queen Red Rosie aka Rosalind Schoen


Citizen 
Journalism 
Meet-up

College 
Launches 
24-Hour 
Tutoring 
Service

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

 The Pasadena City College 
Learning Assistance Center 
recently partnered with 
Smarthinking, Inc. to 
launch free online tutoring 
services that students can 
access 24-hours a day. This 
online service is intended 
to complement the college’s 
in-person, peer-tutoring 
programs.

 Online tutors are available 
for a wide range of subjects, 
including writing (for any 
subject), mathematics (basic 
math through calculus 
II), accounting, statistics, 
economics, biology, anatomy 
and physiology, physics, 
chemistry, and Spanish.

 For more information, 
please contact John Wood 
(jcwood@pasadena.edu) or 
log on to www.pasadena.edu/
smarthinking.

 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 July 24 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.

Pet of 
the Week


Schiff, Chu, Denounce 

Closing of Postal Center

 Nellie is a pretty four-
month-old gray and white 
tabby. She’s very playful and 
loves to play with toys. 

 Nellie’s regular adoption 
fee is $70, which includes 
her spay surgery, a 
microchip, the first set of 
vaccinations, as well as 
a free follow-up health 
check at a participating vet. 
New adopters will receive 
complimentary health and 
wellness exam from VCA 
Animal Hospitals. Ask an 
adoptions counselor for 
more information during 
your visit.

 Call the Pasadena 
Humane Society & SPCA at 
626.792.7151 to ask about 
A308977, or visit at 361 S. 
Raymond Ave. in Pasadena. 
Adoption hours are 11-4 
Sunday, 9-5 Tuesday –
Friday, 9-4 Saturday. Pets 
may not be available for 
adoption and cannot be 
held for potential adopters 
from phone calls or email. 
Directions and photos of all 
pets can be found at www.
pasadenahumane.org.

 

 Representatives Adam Schiff 
and Judy Chu made a plea 
earlier this month urging U.S. 
Postmaster General Patrick 
Donahoe to reconsider his 
decision to close Pasadena’s 
Mack Robinson Processing and 
Distribution Center. 

 The Congressional leaders 
were, on July 2, joined by 
Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, 
local leaders of the National 
Association for Advancement 
of Colored People (NAACP), 
union representatives from 
American Postal Workers 
Union (APWU) and the Letter 
Carriers Union. 

 “Today, we joined together with 
postal workers and community 
leaders to express our deep 
disappointment with the USPS’s 
short-sighted decision to close 
the mail sorting facilities at 
Mack Robinson.” Schiff said. 
“The closure of mail processing 
facilities in Los Angeles and 
across the county will result 
in the losses of thousands of 
good-paying jobs and impair 
the efficient delivery of mail. 
I will continue to urge the 
Postmaster General to refrain 
from this destructive course, 
and develop a more sensible 
and comprehensive solution to 
USPS’s poor financial health. It’s 
my hope that the out crying of 
strong community support for 
Mack Robinson might halt their 
plans.” 

 Chu also added “I am deeply 
troubled by the pending 
consolidation of the Pasadena 
and City of Industry mail 
processing facilities. Not only 
are the livelihoods of postal 
workers being turned upside 
down, but our small businesses 
and economy will be hurt by 
degraded mail services. I have 
consistently and strongly fought 
these mail processing center 
closures in our area and this is 
truly a sad development.” 

 U.S. Postmaster General 
Patrick Donahoe announced 
plans in May to consolidate 
Pasadena’s Mack Robinson 
Processing and Distribution 
Center, jeopardizing the 
livelihoods of hundreds of local 
employees and threatening 
the timely delivery of mail 
throughout the entire region 
the leaders said. 

 According to the USPS plan, 
the Pasadena facility’s mail 
processing capacity will be 
dramatically reduced this 
summer through so-called 
“limited consolidation activity.” 

PCC Awarded Nearly $7 Million Grant 

 

The U.S. Department of 
Education has awarded Pasadena 
City College a Hispanic-Serving 
Institution (HSI) Title V grant 
to strengthen and expand 
educational opportunities for 
Hispanic students. PCC was 
one of 19 colleges across the 
nation to receive this highly 
competitive grant, and only one 
of six institutions to be awarded 
a cooperative grant. The grant 
will provide the college $775,000 
per year for the next five years.

 “This grant represents a 
major step forward in our goal 
of transforming our current 
engineering and technology 
programs into 21st century 
workplace education programs,” 
said PCC President Dr. Mark 
Rocha. “Our programs will 
provide students the means 
to excel in today’s global 
workforce.”

 An HSI is defined as an 
eligible institution of higher 
education that has at least 25 
percent Hispanic full-time 
equivalent (FTE) undergraduate 
enrollment at the end of 
the award year immediately 
preceding the date of the 
application. ?PCC is more than 
34 percent Hispanic FTE.

 PCC has been very proactive in 
finding alternative resources for 
educational programs as state 
funding for higher education 
continues to decline. The college 
will secure more than $6.64 
million in new grant funds for 
2011-2012.

 The HSI program provides 
grants to make college more 
attainable for Hispanic students 
and allows institutions to 
enhance their academic 
offerings, program quality and 
institutional stability. The grants 
assist schools in furthering 
educational opportunities 
for students through faculty 
development, curriculum 
development, academic tutoring 
and mentoring, and other 
services.

 “We know that Hispanics 
are the fastest growing ethnic 
group pursuing higher 
education, but we need to 
improve the graduation rate for 
Hispanic students and provide 
opportunities for them to 
achieve their higher education 
goals,” said U.S. Secretary of 
Education Arne Duncan.

 “This grant program will help 
more Latino students have access 
to quality higher education, 
which is key to building a highly 
skilled workforce to compete in 
a global marketplace.”

 For more information, call 
(626) 585-7722.