Mountain Views News          Saturday, February 22, 2014

Mountain Views-News Saturday, February 22, 2014 


Paid Political Advertisement 

CHARACTER 

By Noah Green, CandidateSierra Madre City Council 

I for one find it difficult to evaluate the 
character of public figures who offer us nothing 
more than an artificial persona created by 
consultants. It leads to politicians landing on 
aircraft carriers in jump suits, and other forms of 
dishonest and obvious pandering. I think most of 
us are intelligent enough to see through that sort 
of thing. 

I want to see a person who has some steel 
in their spine when confronted with challenges 
and does not quake at the sight of their own blood. 
I want to see someone who works their tail off to 
make the world a better place and smart enough to 
truly understand complex policy issues. I want to 
see someone who can put aside petty differences 
with opponents in the name of getting thingsdone. I want to see someone who can always be 
counted on to tell the truth. I want to see someone who wants to win based on the merit of 
their ideas rather than by attacking their opponents. This is what I believe in. 

So if you would like to examine my character, here is who I am: I work long hours 
all of the time. Like most lawyers, my job requires me to spend most of my time sitting at 
my desk sifting through stacks of documents, drafting motions, and responding to calls and 
e-mails. When not at my desk, I am taking depositions or attending court hearings. 

Through this work, I have helped my clients to form corporations and dissolve 
corporations, buy houses and sell houses, declare bankruptcy and emerge from bankruptcy, 
hire employees and fire employees, defend lawsuits and file lawsuits, write their wills and 
carry out their wishes after they are gone. 

When I leave the office, my work is not done. Several times a month I volunteer 
my time at the Chamber of Commerce, the Foothill Workforce Investment Board, and the 
Creative Arts Group. I also try to make time for exercise. At home, I am a reader of history, 
news, and novels. I am a devoted husband, loyal son and brother, and take care of my house 
and two dogs. During our free time, my wife and I love to travel and spend time outdoors. 

This is who I believe I am. I respectfully leave it up to the voters of Sierra Madre to use their 
good judgment and common sense to decide if I am right. 

Paid for by The Committee to Elect Noah GreenCampaign ID #1363523 

Sierra Madre Police Blotter 

FOR THE PERIOD FEBRUARY 10-16, 2014 


Monday February 10, 2014
At 4:12 pm Sierra Madre Police was dispatched to a grand theft of a motorized gate, that occurred in 
the 700 block of Sierra Madre Blvd. Reporting party arrived home and discovered the motorized gate 
that is located in the north portion of apartment complex was missing. Management Company that 
installed the gate responded and determined that the motor for the gate was stolen. 


Wednesday February 12, 2014
At 12:48 pm Sierra Madre Police was dispatched to a residential burglary in the 100 block of S. 
Lima St. Reporting party told officers that between the hours of 8:40 am and 12:30 pm an unknown 
suspect(s) entered the residence by forcing the front door. Several items were taken from residence 
that included computers, jewelry, cash and hand gun. Case in currently being investigated. 


Friday February 14, 2014
At 12:00 pm Sierra Madre Police was dispatched to a petty theft, in the 100 block of W. Montecito. 
Reporting party stated sometime between Thursday February 6, 2014 and Friday February 14, 2014, 
victim’s truck that was parked in his driveway had his registration tab stolen. 


WALKING SIERRA MADRE……THE SOCIAL SIDE 


By Deanne Davis 

GEM PLUMBING - A SIERRA MADRE JEWEL 

Dave Pedroza (l) and Marc Van Cleave 

“The Practice of Medicine is a thinker’s art. The 
practice of surgery a plumber’s!”
Martin H. Fischer – 


“I wanted to be a plumber…” Robert Goulet 

Here’s something I bet you didn’t know: Sierra 
Madre’s own G.E.M. Plumbing has one of the 
oldest contracting licenses in the entire State 
of California! Their license number is 111308 
and contractor’s license numbers are now in the 
900,000’s! Of course, theirs was issued in 1949 
and you just don’t run into many plumbing 
contractors who have been in business for 65 
years! Had a great time chatting with the guys who 
are the heart and soul of G.E.M. Plumbing: Dave 
Pedroza, the main plumbing guy; and Marc Van 
Cleave, the A/C-Heating expert. Dave and Marc 
are celebrating their 20th G.E.M. anniversary, can 
you believe it! 

The original Sierra Madre G.E.M. guy, Gordon 
Caldwell, is turning 90 later this month. You 
still see Gordon ‘round about town, he’s active 
in Kiwanis, as are Marc and Dave. In fact, start 
planning to attend the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast 
on Saturday, February 22nd to kick off the Little 
League season. Guys, we love the pancake 
breakfast, best pancakes anywhere! 

Here’s something else I certainly didn’t know: 

G.E.M. was originally started around 194445 
by Gordon Earl Moyer, who worked out of 
the Thousand Oaks area, concentrating on new 
constructions. Hal Jordan partnered with Gordon 
Earl Moyer in 1956 and in 1958, Hal and Gordon 
Caldwell became partners and brought G.E.M. to 
Sierra Madre. G.E.M was located for ten years 
on South Baldwin by the Post Office, moving in1968 to North Baldwin, where Beantown is now, 
moving into their present location on Montecito 
in 1988. That Montecito neighborhood right 
around G.E.M. is getting to be more and more 
interesting as it transitions from small bungalows 
to mixed property use. Really like those half 
residence-half business condos. Of course, we’ve 
got The Shabby Dog, pet groomers; Red Door 
Antiques; and Ixora, the floral headquarters of 
Lisa and Craig Cardella. So much going on on 
Montecito, east of Baldwin! Great place to walk! 
Anyway! Dave had been working as Gordon 
and Hal’s #1 plumbing guy and Marc was the #1 
Heating and A/C guy for about eight years before 
Gordon decided he’d wrestled just about enough 
leaky pipes to last him a lifetime and he wanted 
to sell the business and retire. The deal was 
seconds from completion with Merry Plumbers 
when, thankfully, it fell through and Gordon 
offered G.E.M. to Dave and Marc, who really 
wanted G.E.M. to continue to be a Sierra Madre 
business. “It was very scary at first,” the guys said, 
as they had to come up with a down payment, 
which involved selling a truck, calling in favors 


March16,2014March16,2014•SierraMadreWistariaFestival•
•SierraMadreWistariaFestival• 
Photo by Deanne Davis 

and hitting up family! The first five years were 
tough and they worked pretty much 24/7 to keep 
all the plates spinning, keep up their payments, 
and reckon with replacing a Sierra Madre legend! 
Customers were leery at first, even though Marc 
and Dave had been there for years, because 
they seemed like new guys. But great work, 
trustworthiness, friendliness and treating each 
and every customer and their various plumbing/
heating problems with care eventually paid off 
and the business came back stronger than ever. 

Marc still spends most of his time in the field and 
you all need to know he’s got a special coming 
up in April for A/C maintenance. The last thing 
you want to have happen is to flip that switch on 
the first 95 degree day and have nothing happen! 
March is also water heater safety month. Just give 
‘em a call and find out what specials they’ve got 
going on. 

Marc gets much joy and satisfaction from visiting 
with customers as he works through whatever’s 
gone wrong with their A/C-heating, leavinghappy people behind, who don’t hesitate to call 

G.E.M. as they know they’ll get fast and reliable 
response. As he says, “in a small town like ours, 
it pays to take time, to take care.” 
Dave is pretty much the inside guy now, directing 
their 14 employees and keeping the mountains of 
paperwork moving. If you’ve got a business, you 
can relate to that! That’s something else the guyshad to learn pretty much right away as Margaret 
Marsh, who had been Gordon’s assistant for 25 
years did absolutely all the paper stuff and she 
retired as Dave and Marc were still trying to 
figure out what they were doing! But learn theydid and succeed they did and now G.E.M. is one 
of Sierra Madre’s most successful businesses. 
Speaking of employees, past and present, Dave 
and Marc speak so highly and so appreciatively of 
all who have been part of G.E.M. They are quick 
to admit they would never have made it without 
all these talented folks who have been part of 
their team. 

Dave and his wife are Covina residents. Their four 
kids are grown and they are proud grandparents 
of four. Marc and his wife are Glendorans with 
two kids. Both are VP’s in Kiwanis and veryinvolved in that organization. 

G.E.M. is at 140 E. Montecito and if you want to 
call for info on specials their number is 626-3553496. 
They’d be delighted to see you and give you 
a hand if you need one! 
“The society which scorns excellence in plumbingas a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in 
philosophy because it is an exalted activity will 
have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: 
neither it’s pipes nor its theories will hold water.” 
John W. Gardner 

SPECIAL SIERRA 
MADRE 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 16, 
2014 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) 355-5111The U. S Post Office, Sierra Madre, California 91024 

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