Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 4, 2015

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 4, 2015 

Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side by Deanne Davis

CITY OF SIERRA MADRE HIRES 
NEW FINANCE DIRECTOR

Sierra Madre, CA. – Marcie Medina, C.P.A. will be assuming her 
responsibilities as Finance Director with the City of Sierra Madre on 
Monday, April 13, 2015. 

 Ms. Medina has 26 years of finance experience in both the 
public and private sectors. Her municipal experience includes 
responsibilities as Director of Finance, Deputy City Manager 
for Administrative Services, Assistant City Controller, Assistant 
Finance Director, Finance Administrator and Senior Accountant. 
She has served for the cities of Azusa, Pasadena, Pico Rivera, Oxnard, 
El Monte and most recently, the City of Long Beach.

 Marcie is a graduate from the University of Southern California 
with a B.S. in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant. 
She practiced Public Accounting and was Controller with a private 
company prior to joining the ranks of city government. She has a 
wide range of experience ranging from preparing journal entries to 
preparing Budgets and Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports. 
She has been responsible for small and large accounting systems, 
and has experience working with all fund types. 

 Marcie was drawn to the position in Sierra Madre due to the focus 
on customer service. She stated in her application that “[Customer 
Service] was the first sentence on the job description. Customer 
service is one of the top priorities of any Finance Department 
that many tend to forget about.” She is also looking forward to the 
opportunity to participate in community problem solving and the 
opportunity to provide Finance Department staff mentoring. 

 City Manager Elaine Aguilar stated, “I welcome Marcie to the City 
of Sierra Madre. I think she brings the perfect balance of experience, 
technical expertise, and approachability that’s important for Sierra 
Madre’s Finance Director.” 

 Ms. Medina and her family live in Covina Hills. In her spare time 
she enjoys travel, camping, hiking, foreign movies and reading.

“We catched fish, and talked, and we took a swim now and then to 
keep off sleepiness. It was kind of solemn, drifting down the big still 
river, laying on our backs looking up at the stars…”

MARK TWAIN, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN

Walked over to the Huck Finn Fishing Derby Friday night and 
were delighted to see scores of families set up in tents to camp 
overnight and be ready to catch tons of fish on Saturday and, yes, 
I suspect that there were folks “laying on their backs looking up 
at the stars..”

 Can you imagine 600 pounds of rainbow trout available for our 
young fisherfolk to catch! We ran into one gentleman Saturday 
afternoon picking up his delighted son, who had two really 
splendid trout in his net. They were planning their barbeque for 
that evening and they might even do it like this:

2 trout, cleaned and head removed

. cup dry white wine (and now that you’ve opened that bottle, 
you might as well have a glass, too.)

2 Tb butter, melted

1 TB lemon juice

2 Tb chopped fresh parsley

Salt & pepper to taste

1. Preheat your grill for medium-high heat.

2. On a flat surface, lay out two sheets of aluminum foil about 
18” long so they overlap to make one long wide sheet. Rinse 
your trout and pat dry. Lay them in the center of the foil about 
2 inches apart. Sprinkle with the white wine, melted butter and 
lemon juice. Season with parsley, salt and pepper. Fold the foil 
up loosely around the fish and crimp the seams to seal.

3. Place the packet on the grill and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or 
until fish is cooked through.

4. Delicious with a little garlic bread, some salad and maybe a 
little more of that white wine. 

 Walked over to the Kensington this week, too, to attend the 
Gallery Reception there for Robert Sherrill, put on in cooperation 
with the Creative Arts Group here in Sierra Madre. What a nice 
event! Robert Sherrill’s paintings were arranged in the lobby 
outside the Kensington’s Multi-Purpose room and we saw some 
lovely work. Mr. Sherrill is referred to as “a true California plein 
air artist” which, in case you didn’t know, is a “manner or style 
of painting developed chiefly in France in the mid-19th century, 
characterized by the luminous effects of natural light and 
atmosphere, paintings executed out of doors.” We see our own 
plein air artists all over town from time to time painting our own 
personal mountains and our classic buildings. Mr. Sherrill had 
some beauties of Mt. Wilson at different times of day, the San 
Rafael bridge, and many more. 

 Being inside the Kensington was a real treat, too. Fresh flowers 
everywhere, very nice reception people, white or red wine, 
fantastic cheeses for hors d’oeuvres, and happy residents enjoying 
all of the above.

 Spent a few minutes last Sunday afternoon at Beantown 
celebrating Jack Tierney’s life. Jack attended several performances 
of my musical, “Hands!” The Musical, and never failed to ask 
me when my next musical was going to happen. Jack loved 
everybody’s children and would talk to the littlest people and 
was totally interested in what they had to say. He had prepared 
his life testimony for those who might not know it, quite a story 
of how he overcame alcohol and cigarettes, came to a personal 
knowledge of Jesus as his Lord and Savior and firmly believed he 
had met an angel at one point in his life. It was a wonderful time. 

 Have you noticed the new sign in front of Ascension Church? 
It’s gorgeous! Happy Easter, dear Walking Sierra Madre friends! 
He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

 

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

Blog: www.authordeanne.com “Tablespoon of Love, Tablespoon of 
Laughter” is available there…


SIERRA MADRE POLICE BLOTTER

During the week of Sunday, March 
22nd, to Sunday, March 29th, the 
Sierra Madre Police Department 
responded to approximately 397 
calls for service.

Monday, March 23rd

 At 11:46 am, Sierra Madre Police 
responded to the station lobby 
regarding a theft. Upon arrival 
the victim informed Officers 
that he was expecting a package 
containing bicycle parts that were 
being sent from a friend, so that 
he could fix them. While away 
from home, the victim received a 
notification that the package had 
been delivered to his residence 
on the 30 Block of West Alegria 
Avenue. Upon arriving home, 
the victim realized the package 
was missing from the property. 
The victim called his friend to 
confirm the status of the package 
and he also confirmed it had 
been delivered earlier that day. 
The victim contacted the mailing 
service and was informed the 
package was left on the front 
porch. It appears the package 
was stolen from the victim’s 
porch shortly after delivery. This 
case has been forwarded to the 
Detectives Bureau. 

At 12:00 pm, Sierra Madre Police 
responded to the station lobby 
regarding a scam investigation. 
The victim informed Officers 
that he had recently posted his 
residence on two home rental 
sites. A few days later he was 
contacted by a potential renter 
regarding the property and was 
informed they found the listing 
on an online community site. 
The victim went on the online 
community site, and discovered 
his residence being advertised on 
the site, which he did not post on. 
The information on the listing 
instructed interested parties to 
wire a deposit to the individual 
who made the post. The victim 
contacted the online community 
site and had the listing removed. 
The victim informed Officers that 
he never gave anyone permission 
to list his home on the site and 
was worried someone may have 
fell victim to the scam. This 
case has been forwarded to the 
Detectives Bureau. 

Wednesday, March 25th

 At 5:03 pm, Sierra Madre Police 
responded to the 500 Block of 
West Orange Grove regarding 
a residential burglary. Upon 
arrival, Officers were met with 
one of the residents who stated 
she lived in the back house on the 
property. At around 4:35 pm, she 
left to walk her dog and walked 
passed the front door of the main 
house to see if any packages had 
been delivered. Upon returning 
at 5:00 pm, she noticed the front 
door of the main house was 
slightly open. She approached 
the front door and called out 
for the home owner, when she 
then realized that a panel had 
been kicked out from the door 
and there were wood pieces all 
over the inside. While on scene, 
Officers were approached by the 
homeowner who informed them 
that although her home had an 
alarm system, she did not activate 
it because she was expecting 
the house cleaner that day. The 
only room that was ransacked 
was the master bedroom. The 
victim identified a wallet with 
several hundred dollars, jewelry, 
and a safe containing important 
documents and expensive jewelry 
were stolen. Officers checked 
the home and confirmed all 
windows and doors were locked. 
This case has been forwarded to 
the Detectives Bureau. 

Friday, March 27th 

 At 4:22 pm, Sierra Madre Police 
responded to the station lobby 
regarding a theft report. The 
victim informed Officers that 
he began his day at around 7:30 
am and placed his backpack 
in his back seat while driving 
around Los Angeles County 
doing errands and due to it being 
a warm day, he drove with his 
windows down. When the victim 
returned to Sierra Madre, he 
stopped at the library to do some 
work and upon going to his back 
seat to retrieve his backpack, 
he realized it was missing. The 
victim believes his backpack 
was stolen through a rolled-
down window at one of the 
numerous locations he stopped 
at while in Los Angeles County. 
Estimated property loss was set 
at over $1,000 due to electronics 
being within the backpack. This 
case has been forwarded to the 
Detectives Bureau. 

The Volunteer Sierra Madre 4th 
of July Committee is seeking 
nominations for the 2015 4th of 
July Parade Grand Marshal. The 
Parade will be held as always the 
morning of July 4th.

Parade Grand Marshal Nominees 
should embody the spirit of Sierra 
Madre, be an active volunteer 
in any of the local nonprofit 
organizations or in some way 
contributed to the betterment of 
Sierra Madre. Nominees may be 
an individual or volunteers or an 
organization.

Nominations must be submitted 
in writing by Thursday, April 
30th and should be sent to the 4th 
of July Committee, PO Box 1073 
Sierra Madre CA 91025 or emailed 
to 4thofjulysierramadre@gmail.
com. Nominations should be no 
more than 1 page but at least a 
paragraph explaining why the 
honor should be given including 
contributions to the Sierra Madre 
community.

Previous Grand Marshals have 
included 2014 Pat & De Alcorn 
& Hometown Heroes Sierra 
Madre Search and Rescue, 2013 
VFW Post 3208 & Hometown 
Hero Mama Pete; 2012 Nel 
and Bob Soltz (Wistaria Vine 
owners); 2011 Gayle Bluemel & 
Hometown Hero John Shear; 
2010 Lew Wantanabe; 2009 
Midge Morash; 2008 Sierra 
Madre Fire Department; 2007 
Ward Family (E. Waldo Ward & 
Sons); 2006 Judy Webb Martin & 
Toni Buckner & Hometown Hero 
Barbara Wamboldt; 2005 Police 
Chief Wayne Bailey; 2004 Doug 
Berkshire; 2003 John Grijalva; 
2002 Bob Quamstrom; 2001 Ty 
Gaffney; 2000 Dr. Bill White; and 
1999 Jim & Barbara Heasley.

This All-American friends 
and family event is made 
possible through the wonderful 
contribution of donors 
and sponsors. If you’d like 
to help please visit http://
sierramadre4thofjuly.com/ or 
follow us on Facebook http://www.
facebook.com/4thofJulyInfo.


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