Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 4, 2013

6

AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

 Mountain Views News Saturday, April 20, 2013

ELEVEN YEARS LATER,

DAVE MARCH IS GONE, 
BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN

 It’s hard to believe eleven years have passed since Deputy Dave March was 
gunned down by a coward, whom he had pulled over for a traffic stop. That 
day I’ll never forget-I was at my school, Annunciation, Arcadia, teaching sixth 
grade. The sirens seemed endless and we were put on lockdown. One frantic 
call to Sgt. Mike Rodriguez confirmed my worst nightmare. Our area 57 Deputy 
Dave March-the big guy with the big grin was gone. The suspect was Jorge 
Arroyo Garcia, aka Armando Garcia fled to Mexico and was arrested there in 
2006. Finally he was extradited to the US in 2007 and is now serving a life term. 
(The Death Penalty could not be sought; otherwise Mexico would never have 
sent him back here.)

 
In the days following Dave’s death, many beautiful posters, cards, flowers and remembrances appeared 
by the site. The following Saturday I attended the funeral and rode on one of the buses from Temple 
Station provided for their personnel and City/Town Council Members. As I rode to the funeral site, I 
was overwhelmed how the residents of Saugus came out for Dave. Along the sidewalks, were people of 
all ages, holding signs and flags. It was beautiful. Behind us were six miles of law enforcement vehicles 
in support of Dave.

 The services were beautiful. Governor Davis came down from Sacramento, Supervisor 
Antonovich and public officials, Sheriff Lee Baca, CHP Commander Mike Brown, Temple Station 
Commander Captain Roberta Abner and all Temple Station deputies. (It should be noted that when 
these tragedies occur, deputies from other station and local police will cover for the station of the 
fallen deputy so all can attend services.) There was the gun salute, release of doves and a horse without 
a rider. Captain Abner was eloquent and Teri March was presented with the flag.

 Eventually Irwindale Police Department and a few local businesses put up the permanent 
Memorial to Dave as he was killed on Live Oak in Irwindale. A beautiful Memorial to Dave at 
Temple Station was the gift of his fellow personnel there. A year later, a rally was held at the Irwindale 
Speedway. Teri, Dave’s widow, his parents, and sister Erin all spoke. They were angry that the coward 
who killed Dave was still at large.

 Armando Garcia will spend the rest of his life in jail. Teri March has remarried to a wonderful 
man and they have two beautiful sons. But Dave will always have a special place in her heart, and in 
the hearts of his family, many friends, coworkers and all residents of the MAD county area. And of 
course Temple Station deputies once again stood in a 24 hour vigil at the site Dave was gunned down. 
Ten-seven in heaven, Deputy Dave March. You will never be forgotten.

“What’s Going On?” 

News and Views from Joan Schmidt


A REVIEW OF “HIGH NOON”

[Nyerges is the author of “How to Survive Anywhere,” and “Enter the 
Forest.” Information about his books and classes is available from Box 
41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041, or from www.ChristopherNyerges.com.]

 
I finally saw “High Noon” with Gary Cooper, a movie that I’d heard 
of forever, but for whatever reason, never had a chance to view. Finally, 
last Fourth of July, I had the opportunity to watch this classic.

 The lessons of this movie are worth reflection, since the movie 
captured some of the most basic, universal, timeless human traits. 
Set in the western genre, Gary Cooper (Cain) is getting married to a 
Quaker woman, and therefore resigning as marshal of this small town. 
His resignation is occurring just one day before the new marshal is set 
to arrive. This means there will be no marshal for one day.

 Coincidentally, three “bad guys” show up in town, awaiting a train that’s due to arrive at high noon. 
On board the train is Frank Miller. Apparently, it was because of Cain that Miller was sent to prison, 
and Miller is coming to seek revenge. 

 But Cain just got married, and was heading out of town. He could just walk away from it all. He 
no longer has any legal responsibilities to the small town. But his personal ethics compel him to go 
back to the town. 

 Some time earlier, Cain and company had managed to drive all the bad elements from the town, 
and turned the town into the sort of place where people would want to come to in order to work and 
to live a good life.

 There’s also another woman (isn’t there always?) and a cast of characters all caught up in the 
pettiness of their own lives.

 As we watch the clock tick down to noon, Cain attempts to round up some men and deputize them 
in order to fight back Miller and his gang of three.

 But it turned out that Miller and gang had many passive supporters in the town, those who liked 
the wild days before Cain got Miller sent to prison. You’d think that the whole town would rally 
behind Cain, but each one had their own fears, their own doubts, and their own excuses.

 The movie is a fantastic study in human character. The basic “good vs. evil” drama is depicted here, 
which reminded me of the “Lord of the Flies,” where the two sides set themselves against one another. 
Pleasure vs. discipline. Freedom vs. control. Do what you want vs. do what is right.

 In the end, Cain does his duty and gets some unanticipated assistance. Duty done, he finally tosses 
his brass badge in the dust and departs that little town that offered no help.

 This is a movie worth taking the time to watch, and having a discussion afterwards. It makes you 
realize that with all our modern trappings today, we are no better and no different than the parochial 
folks in that little isolated town, who – like us – get to look in the mirror every day, and must accept 
the consequences of our choices.


!! 
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WE DECLARE....
Friday, May 10, 2013 
Danny’s Farm Day!
To Honor This Wonderful 
Organization That SponsorsAltadena’s Fancy Food Truck Fridays15% of Friday’s purchases* 
will be donated to Danny’s Farm!
Our Food Trucks will also donate 
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*Excluding prescriptionsWebster’s 
Community 
Pharmacy & 
Webster’s Fine 
Wines & Spiritsare proud to be 
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To show our 
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shopping or 
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Friday, May 10!
2450 N. Lake AveAltadena
We’d like to hear from you! 

What’s on YOUR Mind?

Contact us at: editor@mtnviewsnews.
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AND Twitter: @mtnviewsnews


CASSINI IMAGES LARGE HURRICANE ON SATURN

 
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first close-up, visible-light 
views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn’s north pole.

 In high-resolution pictures and video, scientists could see that the hurricane’s eye 
is about 1,250 miles wide—20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth. 
Thin, bright clouds at the outer edge of the hurricane are traveling 330 miles per hour 
(150 meters per second). The hurricane swirls inside a large, mysterious, six-sided 
weather pattern known as the hexagon.

 “We did a double take when we saw this vortex because it looks so much like 
a hurricane on Earth,” said Andrew Ingersoll, a Cassini imaging team member at 
Caltech. “But there it is at Saturn, on a much larger scale, and it is somehow getting by 
on the small amounts of water vapor in Saturn’s hydrogen atmosphere.”

 Scientists will be studying the hurricane to gain insight into hurricanes on Earth, 
which feed off warm ocean water. Although there is no body of water close to these 
clouds high in Saturn’s atmosphere, learning how these Saturnian storms use water 
vapor could tell scientists more about how terrestrial hurricanes are generated and 
sustained.

 Both a terrestrial hurricane and Saturn’s north polar vortex have a central eye with 
no clouds or very low clouds. Other similar features include high clouds forming an 
eye wall, other high clouds spiraling around the eye, and a counter-clockwise spin in 
the northern hemisphere.

 A major difference between the hurricanes is that the one on Saturn is much bigger 
than its counterparts on Earth and spins surprisingly fast. At Saturn, the wind in the 
eye wall blows more than four times faster than hurricane force winds on Earth. Unlike 
terrestrial hurricanes, which tend to move, the Saturnian hurricane is locked onto the 
planet’s north pole. On Earth, hurricanes tend to drift northward because of the forces 
acting on the fast swirls of wind as the planet rotates. The one on Saturn does not drift 
and is already as far north as it can be.

 “The polar hurricane has nowhere else to go, and that’s likely why it’s stuck at the 
pole,” said Kunio Sayanagi, a Cassini imaging team associate at Hampton University in 
Hampton, Va.

 Scientists believe the massive storm has been churning for years. When the Cassini 
spacecraft arrived in the Saturn system in 2004, Saturn’s north pole was dark because 
the planet was in the middle of its north polar winter. During that time, Cassini’s 
composite infrared spectrometer and visual and infrared mapping spectrometer 
detected a great vortex at the north pole, but a visible-light view had to wait for the 
passing of the planet’s equinox in August 2009. Only then did sunlight begin flooding 
Saturn’s northern hemisphere. The view required a change in the angle of the spacecraft’s 
orbits around Saturn—a difficult and fuel-consuming maneuver—so it could see the poles.

 “Such a stunning and mesmerizing view of the hurricane-like storm at the north pole is only 
possible because Cassini is on a sportier course, with orbits tilted to loop the spacecraft above and 
below Saturn’s equatorial plane,” said Scott Edgington, Cassini deputy project scientist at JPL. “You 
cannot see the polar regions very well from an equatorial orbit. Observing the planet from different 
vantage points reveals more about the cloud layers that cover the entirety of the planet.”

To view the video, go to: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-149

This image is among the first sunlit views of Saturn’s north pole captured by Cassini’s imaging cameras. When the 
spacecraft arrived in the Saturnian system in 2004, it was northern winter and the north pole was in darkness. Saturn’s 
north pole was last imaged under sunlight by NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1981; however, the observation geometry did not 
allow for detailed views of the poles. Consequently, it is not known how long this newly discovered north-polar hurricane 
has been active.