Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 23, 2016

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, January 23, 2016 


Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis

“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing,

Wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating,

There is really no such thing as bad weather,

Only different kinds of good weather.” 

John Ruskin

“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, 
always bring your own sunshine.” 

Anthony J. D’Angelo

“A great deal has been said about the weather, but 
very little has been done about it.” This quote has 
been attributed to Mark Twain, Charles Dudley 
Warner and several other people, but whoever 
said it was right on the money. Here we are, 
well into January, and the threat or promise – 
however you want to look at it – of El Nino has 
been hanging over us for weeks. Almost nightly 
on the news we see Dallas Raines forecasting 
torrential rains any minute now. But nothing 
happens. Vera in the evening and Henry in the 
morning on KTLA point toward their weather 
maps showing storms out in the ocean, heading 
right for us. Get ready! Gear up! Don’t leave 
home without your umbrella! And nothing. The 
current rumor heralding El Nino is that the end 
of January is going to be rainy, and not just in 
Northern California where they’ve gotten way 
more rain and snow than they deserve and we’re 
all down here trying to decide whether or not to 
turn the sprinklers on again, until Tuesday when 
we had that nice little rain...right after we turned 
ours back on.

 The sunsets and sunrises have been fabulous 
and the sun came out long enough for me to plant 
three of the leftover Christmas poinsettias, all 
cute little $2.99, 3” pot guys from Trader Joe’s, in 
a big pot. I don’t know what it is about Christmas 
poinsettias, but I’ve had great success with them 
the last few years. We had an enormous white 
one and an equally enormous red one out on our 
front terrace a couple of years back but then an 
invasion of white flies found them and, friends 
and fellow gardeners, when the white flies show 
up you might as well dump your plant and move 
on with your life as nothing you spray on them 
impresses them at all. 

 Just in case you hadn’t noticed, Valentine’s 
Day is three weeks away. You don’t have to panic 
yet, but you can start thinking about getting a 
nice card for your sweetie and maybe a couple 
for small family members who love getting mail. 
Tucking a few bucks in there for the small people 
is nice, too. Speaking of small people, saw the 
cutest little bike in the front window at Centric 
Bikes, on Sierra Madre Blvd. It was called First 
Bike and was about the size of a two-year old. 
Now I don’t know many two-year olds who can 
ride a two-wheeler, but I suspect Centric can 
make it work for you as they’re in the custom 
bike business and can create the perfect machine 
for just about anybody. I have vivid memories of 
Crissy, our Texas girl, when she was about four 
racing up and down the sidewalk on her purple 
tricycle, and Patti, our South Pasadena daughter 
whose first bike was bought at a yard sale for 
$2.00 when we were all very young and very poor. 
What we didn’t realize was that it had no brakes. 
Patti was about seven and conquered riding a 
two-wheeler in about five minutes and frequently 
stopped herself by running into a tree. Ah... good 
times!

 How are you doing with your New Year’s 
resolutions? We’ve been walking more. My best 
walking buddy, John, and Sierra Madre daughter, 
Leah, hiked up to First Water on the Mt. Wilson 
Trail yesterday and said the sound of water 
rushing through the stream was wonderful to 
hear after so long of hearing nothing down there. 
Trying to turn a blind eye to all the goodies, except 
a very dear friend gave us a big container of those 
very thin waffle cookies that are beyond delicious 
and we are trying to ration ourselves to one each 
after dinner. To quote Mark Twain, “Abstinence 
is so important I abstain from abstinence.” Go 
ahead, have one cookie!

 Have you got your tickets to “Deathtrap” at 
the Playhouse? We do.

 Check out my book page on Amazon.com: 
DeanneDavis@Amazon.com

 You might like my blog, too: www.
authordeanne.com


SIERRA MADRE POLICE DEPT.

During the week of Sunday, January 10th, to Sunday, 
January 17th, the Sierra Madre Police Department 
responded to approximately 284 calls for service. 

Sunday, January 10th At 12:16 am, Sierra Madre 
Police were patrolling the area of Auburn and 
Highland when they witnessed a vehicle come to 
a four-way stop and stop in the intersection. As 
Officers followed, the vehicle failed to make several 
complete stops at posted intersections. Officers 
initiated a traffic stop and upon making contact they 
immediately noticed the driver’s blood shot eyes 
and slurred speech. A strong odor of alcohol was 
present and the woman informed Officers that she 
had several drinks that night. The woman agreed to a 
Field Sobriety Test and ultimately failed. The woman 
complied with a breath test and it was determined 
that her blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. 
The woman was taken into custody and cited for 
driving under the influence and driving under the 
influence with a blood alcohol level exceeding the 
legal limit. 

Wednesday, January 13th At 6:30 pm, Sierra Madre 
Police responded to the 1000 block of Arno Drive 
regarding a burglary report. Upon arrival Officers 
were informed by the victim that earlier that day he 
left for work but failed to set his house alarm because 
his maid was scheduled to stop by during the day. 
The maid arrived and left by 4:30 and informed the 
victim that the house has okay when she left. Around 
6:20 the victim arrived home and discovered his 
rear bedroom sliding glass door was shattered. The 
victim’s bedroom and office were ransacked. This 
case was forwarded to the Detective Bureau. 

Friday, January 15th At 9:33 pm, Sierra Madre Police 
were patrolling the area of Baldwin and Grandview 
when they observed 3 males standing on the 
sidewalk in front of a local church. As Officers drove 
by they asked the men if they were doing alright 
and one man responded by yelling at Officers that 
his grandmother had passed away. The other two 
men informed Officers that their friend had been 
drinking, was upset and that they were attempting 
to help him get back home. Officers left the man 
with his friends and as they were driving away they 
witnessed the upset man aggressively pull away from 
one of his friends and jump into the street causing 
an oncoming car to slam on their brakes. Officers 
turned around and attempted to make contact 
with the man who was now walking away from the 
area. When Officers blocked the man’s path with 
the patrol car, he went around the car and jumped 
into the street. Officers attempted to grab the man 
to get him out of the street but the man spun free 
and got into a “fighting stance.” Officers repeatedly 
instructed the man to get down on his knees or he 
would get tased. The man’s friends pleaded with the 
man to listen to Officers as he continued to yell at 
Officers. After several attempts, the man complied 
but as Officers were placing him in handcuffs he 
pulled away and began resisting. After a small 
struggle between him and the Officer, the man was 
ultimately tased. Paramedics were called to the scene 
to treat the man and transport to the hospital. After 
treatment he was booked for public intoxication and 
resisting arrest. 


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com