Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 30, 2016

AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

5

Mountain Views-News Saturday, January 30, 2016 

ANTONOVICH APPLAUDS LEGISLATION TO HALT 
NATURAL GAS INJECTION AT ALISO CANYON

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LOS ANGELES COUNTY – Today, the California 
State Senate voted unanimously to pass Senate Bill 
380, authored by Sen. Fran Pavley, on to the State 
Assembly. 

 SB 380 is urgency legislation that seeks a 
moratorium on natural gas injection into the 
Aliso Canyon reservoir until strict guidelines and 
procedures are met. The legislation was introduced 
in response to the gas leak at the Gas Company’s 
Aliso Canyon storage facility, where a well has been 
leaking since late October.

 “Today’s vote was an important step forward in our 
effort to ensure the long term safety of the residents of 
the San Fernando Valley,” said Antonovich. “I applaud 
Senator Pavley for initiating this bipartisan legislation 
and urge the State Assembly to take immediate action 
on it.” 

 The legislation restricts the use of 1950’s-era wells 
at the Aliso Canyon facility until their integrity can 
be verified by the state Division of Oil, Gas and 
Geothermal Resources. It also calls on the state Public 
Utilities Commission to evaluate whether the entire 
storage facility can be shut down or severely minimized 
without affecting gas supplies for the region.

ALTADENA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE NAMES 
2015 CITIZEN AND BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

(ALTADENA, California) -- The Altadena Chamber of 
Commerce and Civic Association (www.altadenachamber.
org) has named its 2015 Citizen and Business of the Year.

 The Citizen of the Year is Dr. Jane Brackman, President 
of the Altadena Historical Society and nationally-known 
scholar on the interaction of dogs and culture. 

The Business of the Year is Two Dragons Martial Arts, 
Shelene Hearring, CEO.

 
The honorees will be recognized at the Chamber’s 
annual installation event at the Altadena Town & Country 
Club on Feb. 5, 2016.

 Citizen of the Year: Jane Brackman, Ph.D, President, 
Altadena Historical Society

 As the one who guides the team that maintains 
Altadena’s attic, Citizen of the Year Jane Brackman 
came into preserving history in a roundabout way. 
She’d always been interested in historic architecture. As 
an art education teacher, she created a high school course 
on the history of architecture. Later, she worked for the city 
of Chicago issuing film shooting permits when she met 
her husband, film and television director Rod Holcombe. 
She says that Holcombe convinced her to move to Los 
Angeles by driving her around the neighborhoods with 
historic buildings. They purchased a vintage Craftsman 
house in Altadena, and have been restoring it, one room 
at a time, for 35 years. 

 Brackman has also pursued a lifelong interest in dogs. 
She worked with guide dogs for the blind for over 20 years, 
and was Executive Director of Guide Dogs of America 
in Sylmar. She was also appointed by the governor to 
manage the California State Board of Guide Dogs for the 
Blind and serves on Caltech’s committee that oversees the 
care of lab animals. She has also participated in several 
research programs on wild carnivores, including wolves. 
Professionally, Brackman is one of the top experts 
in the nation on the nexus between dogs and culture. 
At the Claremont Graduate School, she earned her 
Ph.D. by studying dog breeds as a human cultural 
phenomenon -- how the written descriptions of 
ideal dog breeds influenced the appearance and 
health of purebreds over the course of a century. Her 
paper was published in a leading academic journal. 
Shortly after moving to Altadena, she started 
volunteering with the Altadena Historical Society. Because 
of her experience running a nonprofit, in 2002 she was asked 
to join the book committee. The charge of that committee 
was to create what became Altadena: Between Wilderness 
and City, the definitive history of the community, 
written by 2012 Citizen of the Year Michele Zack. 
“We had $830 in our bank account, and we needed 
to raise $70,000,” Brackman said. “The committee 
met every week for three years ... and because we 
printed that book, it turned the organization around.” 
Brackman became president of the Society in 2010. 
Since then, the collection has continued to grow, and the 
all-volunteer organization brings in $16,000-$20,000 a 
year in memberships and donations, as well as receiving 
50-100 items or collections into its archive annually. 
In December 2015, the society also opened its first museum 
exhibition at its home in the Altadena Community Center 
-- a look back at Altadena’s contributions to the Rose Parade. 
Currently, Brackman says, AHS is working to 
digitize its collection and make it available online. 
A professional writer on canine genetics, health, and 
domestication for popular publications, Brackman 
also writes a blog, “Doctor Barkman Speaks,” (http://
doctorbarkman.blogspot.com/) on dog-related topics. 
As for being Citizen of the Year, Brackman says she’s 
just part of the AHS team. “I’m not a person who likes to 
be the center of attention. I’m one of those people who likes 
to manage as a team,” she says. “But one of the advantages 
[of being Citizen of the Year] is the opportunity to tout the 
progress we’ve made at the Altadena Historical Society.” 
Link: http://altadenahistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/


 Business of the Year: Two Dragons Martial Arts, Shelene 
Hearring, CEO and head instructor

 
Two Dragons Martial Arts has been a fixture in the 
community for over two decades. Started in 1995 in 
Pasadena, the studio moved to Altadena in 2010.

 Along with teaching Chinese-style martial arts to 
students of all ages, the studio is committed to serving the 
community, especially helping families raise up the next 
generation.

 “People think about martial arts as fighting,” says 
Shelene Hearring, CEO and head instructor, “but it’s 
really about character-building. It’s about leadership, 
it’s about how to have that confidence, how to work as a 
team or individuals, how to present themselves, how to 
understand that respect and responsibility is the number 
one thing they have to have to build themselves for the rest 
of their life.”

 A martial artist for over 40 years, Hearring started taking 
classes in shodokan aikido during the summers while in 
high school. Later, looking for training in self-defense, 
she met Steve Hearring, who was the manager of a kenpo 
karate studio in Pasadena, and invited her to attend.

 Steve Hearring became her instructor, and later, her 
husband. They opened their first studio in Seattle, but 
as Los Angeles-area natives, they eventually moved 
back home and opened the studio in Pasadena. 
The Hearrings were married for 30 years. Steve Hearring 
died of cancer in 2007. Three years later, Shelene moved 
the studio to its Altadena location, 2490 N. Lake Avenue.

 The move was a good one, Hearring says: 
Altadena is “more community-oriented, the 
people are more friendly, the environment is 
people raising families and coming together. 
“I think of my studio as part of the village -- I 
am part of the village that helps you raise that 
child. Those things that you want, I want, too.” 
Many of her students are families -- frequently moms 
and dads take classes, as well as the kids. She also started a 
“Mommy and Me” class for children from age 18 months 
to three years (working on balance and movement, rather 
than self-defense). Two Dragons also has an after-school 
program where children get a snack and do homework 
before working out on the mat. Hearring said she 
started it because because she couldn’t find a good after-
school program for her own two now-grown daughters. 
Two Dragons students also organize performance 
demonstrations at community events, especially for cancer 
causes. “Because my husband died of cancer, I do the cancer 
events regularly,” Hearring said. “We provide martial arts 
performances for those kind of events and it helps our 
kids learn that they are responsible to the community. It’s 
a connection -- you get to find out what’s going on in a 
community and you participate and become part of the 
community. That for me is important for family life.” 
Two Dragons also holds fundraisers throughout 
the year for the Steve Hearring Legacy Foundation, 
which provides scholarships to give economically 
disadvantaged kids access to martial arts. 
As Altadena’s Business of the Year, Hearring 
says “I believe it’s an honor for me as a business 
owner and a parent. It’s an honor for me to know 
that people entrust me with their most precious 
commodities -- their children. It’s an honor for me to 
help and assist them and work together in that way.”
Link: http://www.twodragonsma.com/


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