SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 2013

VOLUME 7 NO. 33

Inside this week: 

A REAL DREAM COME TRUE

SIERRA MADRE

Never give up on your dreams for they do come true. Just ask 90 year old WWII Veterab Ken Anhalt, who recently 
had one of his greatest wishes become a reality. Story By Susan Henderson/Photo by A.J. Johnson

Calendar Page 2

Sierra Madre News Page 3


Ken Anhalt is a very well known resident 
of Sierra Madre. Involved in a long 
list of civic activities, he is probably best 
known as one of our treasured veterans 
of World War II. 

When I first met Ken, I was overwhelmed 
by his vitality. He’s opinionated, compassionate, 
hard working and charming. 
He’s a member of the VFW 3208, the Sierra 
Madre Kiwanis Club and the recipient 
of the Older American Of The Year 
Award in 2010. (Partial listing).

I will never forget that event. When Ken 
received the honor, one of the things that 
he shared with the audience was that he 
would not have been there had it not 
been for the Tuskegee Airmen who flew 
the Red Tail planes that escorted his aircraft 
during the War. 

Anhalt, was a Staff Sargent gunner in 
the Air Force during World War II. He 
served in the 15th Air Force in Italy 
between the years of 1942-1945 in approximately 
28 -- 30 missions. At one 
point during the war he experienced 
the life changing event of being saved by 
the very well-known Tuskegee Airmen. 
During his time serving he was given a 
mission to fly a four engine bomber over 
the Swiss Alps into Germany, attack, and 
then return back to Italy. After hitting 
their target successfully they were struck 
by a German attacker causing them to 
lose half of their engines. With a crippled plane and 
death seemingly eminent, the men felt like it was their 
last moments alive. Suddenly, off the tip of each wing, 
two “Red Tails” appeared on the horizon. The tails of 
all Tuskegee Airmen planes were painted in red so 
they were easy to identify. The bomber pilots were 
told via radio traffic that there were German fighters 
in the area, but they did not attack because the Red 
Tails escorted them back to the landing site. When 
bombers reached the target area, they were met with 
heavy fire from the Germans. The fighters escorts 
would leave the bombers and re-join them after they 
finished their bombing run. Mr. Anhalt said he was 
always impressed that the Red Tails did not leave the 
bombers when they reached their target area, like the 
other squadrons did. The Red Tails stayed with them 
the whole way. 

In 2011, a friend, A. J. Johnson, was doing a documentary 
on the Airmen and I told him about Ken. 
We arranged for Ken to participate in the documentary 
which was also used to promote the film, “Red 
Tails”. You can hear him speak of his experiences 
in his interview by going to www.youtube.com/
watch?v=W-GxSmjd_kI.

One of the things that Ken has often repeated is that 
he always wanted the opportunity to meet one of the 
Tuskegee Airmen in person an thank them for saving 
his life. A.J. remembered this too, and two weeks ago 
Ken received a call from A.J. Says AJ, “Susan henderson 
introduced me to Ken Anhult in 2011 because I 
was producing a documentary that involved Tuskegee 
Airmen. Mr Anhult was a tail gunner on a bomber, 
that was saved by two Tuskegee Airmen over the Swiss 
Alps. When I interviewed him, he told me his Captain 
would not allow him to go and thank the Red Tails. 
So for 70 years he wanted meet one. I was arranging 
a meet and greet with Amnon Band of Band Pro, to 
thank him for providing the equipment to shoot my 
documentary, so I invited Mr Anhalt to meet Tuskegee 
Airman Ted Lumpkin, one of 8 still living that saw 
combat in the war. This was there moment, I just let 
them sit down and talk about an hour, and stayed out 
of their way. 

Mr Lumpkin brought his grandson, and Mr Anhalt 
brought his son. Special thanks to Amnon Band of 
http://www.bandpro.com/ and Robin Petgrave of 
http://www.tamuseum.org.” 

You have to hear Ken in person speak of his experience. 
There are no words to completely describe it, 
you just have to hear it for yourself. So, if you notice 
that the sun seems to be shining a little brighter lately, 
that’s just Ken who has been simply overjoyed since 
meeting Lumpkin.

We’re happy to share this experience of Ken’s and we 
want to thank him, Mr. Lumpkin and all of our veterans 
and current military members for their service.

Without them, we would be here.

PASADENA/ALTADENA

Pg. 4

Avery Dennison Leaving 
Pasadena

AROUND SGV Pg. 5

Foothill Unity BTS Event

ARCADIA NEWS Pg. 6

School Recall

MONROVIA/DUARTE

 Pg. 7 

Wishing Well Destroyed

EDUCATION & YOUTH

 Pg. 8

Back To School

FOOD & DRINK Pg.9

Peter Dills - Table For 
Two

SPORTS Pg. 10

Arcadia Basketball Champs

BEST FRIENDS Pg. 11

Dog and Cat Food Recall

Left to right: Mr. Lumpkins grandson, Ted Lumpkin, Edward Anhalt (Ken’s son) and Ken Anhalt.

THE GOOD LIFE Pg. 12

Savvy Senior

Senior Happenings

Katy Tse - This and That

BUSINESS Pg. 13

HEALTHY LIVING 

 NEW! Dr. Tina Pg. 14

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

 Pg. 15

OPINION Pg. 16

Snyder -The Amish......

Tolchin - Newspapers

Rich Johnson....Who?

Gandleman.....Sex, Lies and.....

SIERRA MADRE CITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES

PRESSING WATER AND SEWER ISSUES

By Marina Coco La Salle

SMPD HOST TOWN MEETING ON 
THE IMPACT OF AB109 AND RECENT 
CRIME SPREE

LEGAL NOTICES Pg. 17

PUBLIC NOTICES Pg. 21

Left Turn/Right Turn

 Hayes on the Left

 Welborn on the Right

 Due to the increasing concern over 
the City’s lack of water and the rising 
costs associated with the delivery 
of water to residents, a series of 
bimonthly meetings spanning from 
August to October, have just begun. 
The meetings will take place at City 
Hall and will inform the residents as 
to what is happening to the City’s water, 
how it affects the community, and 
what people can do to aid in conservation 
attempts for the future. In this 
week’s meeting, City Manager Elaine 
Aguilar, accompanied by Finance Director 
Karen Schnaider, and Public 
Works Director Bruce Inman , went 
over a general overview on the water 
and sewer budgets and their effect 
on finances. Since each of the future 
meetings will be on specific topics, the 
intention was to prepare people with 
important background first. 

 It was explained that the City’s water 
system contains 4 vertical and 2 horizontal 
wells. Some wells need repair 
and currently one well has been turned 
off because water levels in the aquifer 
are too low. Until most recently, Sierra 
Madre has been able to stay self-
contained in providing all the water for 
the community. Annually, the City’s 
water utility provides 880 million gallons 
of drinkable water. The City has 
40 miles of transmission mains and 8 
reservoirs, two which were recently 
replaced, causing talk about debt and 
bonds. Schnaider reassured the attendees 
that, “These reservoirs have 
a useful lifespan of 75 years ... with 
the bond financing they are being financed 
for 30 years, so they are being 
financed for only half their useful life.” 

 Regarding the running of Sierra 
Madre’s Water Company, the presenters 
reminded everyone that it is “run 
like a business.” In proper business 
fashion, revenue is collected for the 
services provided. The residents of 
Sierra Madre need to be billed for the 
water and sewer utility services and 
this system needs to be self-sustaining. 
“For many years, the fund has been using 
its own savings accounts to pay the 
bills, because the revenues it’s collecting 
(the bills that you are paying) are 
not enough to pay for all the expenses 
that are incurred” said Schnaider. 

 The City is now in year three of the 
4-year water rate increase that had 
been predicted in a previously conducted 
rate study. In 2003, a rate increase 
took place to pay for new bonds. 
In order to pay the bonds, the City had 
to pay certain rate increases, but was 
stopped when state laws changed the 
way that cities are allowed to increase 
water rates. Because of this hold on 
the rate increases, the revenue the City 
collected was more than 15% below 
what was estimated to be collected. 

 When the recession hit, many started 
to conserve their utilities in order 
to save money. Schnaider commented 
that the residents are the ones who 
have control over their consumption. 
For a two year period, beginning in 
2008, consumption decreased by 20% 
due to the recession. Hence, revenue 
has decreased as well. Now that the 
weight of the recession has lifted off 
the shoulders of many, consumption 
has increased. Between April 2012 
and 2013 consumption increased by 
50%.

 Expenditures for operations have 
only changed an average of 2% a year, 
for seven years. Schnaider explains, referring 
to the (continued on page 3) 

 For just about two hours Friday evening, 
Sierra Madre Police Chief Larry Giannone, 
Lt. Len Hundshammer and Sgt. Ruben 
Enriquez captured the attentionn of an 
overflow crowd of Sierra Madre residents 
with information on the current wave of 
residential burglaries that the city has been 
hit with. 

 After the meeting, residents felt the meeting 
was informative and yet the information 
that was provided was unsettling. Key 
points of the meeting which was held as 
the paper went to presss were:

 AB109 HAS BROUGHT THOUSANDS 
OF CRIMINALS BACK ON THE 
STREETS

 THe primary cause of the increased activity 
is the thousands of prisoners that have 
been set free under the state’s early release 
program. The state is under mandate to 
reduce jail overcrowding and as confirmed 
by the U.S. Supreme Court, must release 
another 10,000 by December 31, 2013. 
The releases began in 2011.

 The end result has been a county wide 
crime spree. Residential burglaries have 
been the crime of choice primarily because 
the fall under the threshold that will return 
the burglars to prison. 

 SIERRA MADRE IS NOT THE ONLY 
CITY TO BE HIT.

 Astonishing statistices were shared. 
Between January 1, 2013 and August 16, 
2013 there have been(residential burglaries 
only):

 79 Break Ins in Arcadia

 70 in Monrovia

 429 in Pasadena and

 34 in Sierra Madre - 9 of which

 have occurred in the last 10

 days.

THE CRIMES ARE COMMITTED DAY 
AND NIGHT.

 The breakdown of when burglaries occur 
is evenly divided between daylight events 
and nighttime events. 100% of the crimes 
are committed by non-Sierra Madre residents. 
Of the last six arrests, five have been 
men, 1 woman, two African Americans, 
two Hispanics and one caucasion.

WHAT RESIDENTS CAN DO:

 The primary message that was stressed 
throughout the evening was, ‘IF YOU SEE 
SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING!”

 Alert residents have been responsible for 
for assisting police in the capture of 5 of the 
last six arrests. Call the police when you 
notice strange cars or strangers, especially 
those who are acting peculiar.

LOCK YOUR DOORS AND WINDOWS! 
Many of the burglars have gained 
entry into the homes through unlocked 
doors and windows. 

DON’T CALL IF YOU HEAR HELICOPTERS! 
Chief Giannone asked residents to 
refrain from calling when they hear helicopters 
noting that we have only one dispatcher 
and that person is also responsible 
for communications between other agencies 
and the officers in the field.

PARTICIPATE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD 
WATCH PROGRAM. Contact 
Sgt. Enriquez at 355-1414 for information 
on how to start one.

 A very productive Q&A followed the 
presentations. In response to one of the 
questions, Gianonne announced the development 
of a volunteer citizens patrol in 
September to help protect our city. He also 
confirmed that citizens do have the right to 
protect themselves in their homes if they 
fear that their lives or their family lives are 
in danger. He did, however, warn residents 
of the danger of the burglar getting the 
weapon from you, or discovering it before 
you discover them. The best thing, he said, 
is to get to a safe place in the home and call 
911 on a landline.

 When the presentation was done, the audience 
gave the police department a hearty 
round of applause for their efforts.

 The entire presentation is available for 
viewing at www.mtnviewsnews.com and 
click of SMPD Presentation. MVNews

FYI Pg. 22


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