Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, May 20, 2017

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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS 

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 20, 2017 

FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett 

Jeff’s Book Pics By Jeff Brown 


The Return (Pulitzer Prize Winner): Fathers, 
Sons and the Land in Between by Hisham 
Matar 

The acclaimed memoir about fathers and sons, a 
legacy of loss, and, ultimately, healing.When Hisham 
Matar was a nineteen-year-old university student in 
England, his father went missing under mysterious 
circumstances. Hisham would never see him again, 
but he never gave up hope that his father might still 
be alive. Twenty-two years later, he returned to his 
native Libya in search of the truth behind his father’s 
disappearance. The Return is the story of what he 
found there.The Pulitzer Prize citation hailed The 
Return as “a first-person elegy for home and father.” 
Transforming his personal quest for answers into a 
brilliantly told universal tale of hope and resilience, 
Matar has given us an unforgettable work with a 
powerful human question at its core: How does one 
go on living in the face of unthinkable loss? 

Uprooted by Naomi Novik 

Winner of the Nebula Award for best novel• 
Naomi Novik, author of the New York Times 
bestselling and critically acclaimed Temeraire 
novels, introduces a bold new world rooted in folk 
stories and legends, as elemental as a Grimm fairy 
tale.“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no 
matter what stories they tell outside our valley. 
We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing 
through. They talk as though we were doing human 
sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s 
not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s 
still a man, and our fathers would band together and 
kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. 
He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, 
but not that grateful.”Agnieszka loves her valley 
home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright 
shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on 
the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow 
lies over her life.Her people rely on the cold, driven 
wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers 
at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: 
one young woman handed over to serve him for 
ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the 
Wood.The next choosing is fast approaching, and 
Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows— 
that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, 
brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her 
dearest friend in the world. And there is no way 
to save her.But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. 
For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will 
choose. 

DONATE EMPTY PILL 
BOTTLES TO HELP OTHERS 

 

When we pick up our prescriptions, we take 
the containers for granted. By contrast, in many 
countries medicine containers are very difficult to 
come by. Simply put, qualified medical care is scarce 
and expensive in impoverished communities. 

 In developing countries, medicines when actually 
obtainable are often dispensed into hands, pockets, 
leaves or any other available container. 

 Charitable organizations have started collection 
efforts to help those less fortunate than us. One 
example is the Malawi Project. The goal of the 
project was to provide clean, used pill bottles for 
reuse in Malawi, Africa. The method was simple: 
Collect your used pill bottles, remove the labels 
fully, then send them to the project’s headquarters 
in Indianapolis, Indiana. The program ceased 
operation at the end of 2015, but M25m continues 
its collection of this typically disposable resource, 
giving new purpose to something many of us take 
for granted. 

 Animal shelters and boarding kennels often also 
need prescription bottles to facilitate caring for 
animals. These organizations often lack adequate 
resources to purchase bottles for medication 
distribution. 

 While it may seem inconceivable that something 
as small as a pill bottle is worth much, its value as 
a basic medical resource can make a significant 
difference to people and animals all over the world. 

This ties into estate planning because I believe estate 
planning is about much more than simply passing 
on your money to the next generation. Instead, it’s a 
whole lifestyle shift towards looking at how you can 
do the most good in the world while you are living 
and leave the world a better place after you are gone. 

And if you are a parent of young children, getting 
your little one’s involved in efforts such as these early 
in life teaches them what you value and how even 
small contributions can have a big impact. Passing 
on your values begins with conscious choices made 
on a daily basis and estate planning is one of the best 
ways I know of to consciously plan for a life that 
truly matters. 

 Think about it. 

 

 Dedicated to your family’s health, wealth, and 
happiness, 

A local attorney and father, Marc Garlett is on a 
mission to help parents protect what they love most. 
His office is located at 49 S. Baldwin Ave., Ste. G, 
Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Schedule an appointment 
to sit down and talk about ensuring a legacy of love 
and financial security for your family by calling 
626.587.3058 or visit www.GarlettLaw.com for more 
information. 

All Things By Jeff Brown 

ARCADIA POLICE GO HIGH-TECH TO 

ROUND UP PACKAGE THIEVES 


Thieves stealing packages off front porches has 
gotten out of hand.If the Arcadia police have their 
way, the long arm of the law is going to bust you. 
Cindy Liu of Arcadia has been the unfortunate 
victim of package thieves.“It says it’s been 
delivered, but it’s not gotten here,” she said Fret no 
more. She and many of her neighbors were glad to 
learn that Arcadia police have a high-tech weapon 
up their sleeves.They have been leaving phony 
packages on porches to lure thieves. And those 
packages contain a GPS device to track every 
move.The police know where the package is at 
all times.“I’m really glad because I have packages 
coming almost every day,” said Liu.The program 
has been in existence for two years but it was really 
put to the test Thursday evening.They placed 
a dummy package in the 1600 block of Holly 
Street and said it was picked up by 27-year-old 
Christopher Cook.He led officers on a chase in a 
stolen car. The suspect ended the chase and ran into 
a movie theater in South Gate, where police were 
able to apprehend him.Police said that since they 
have implemented the bait-package program, more 
than 100 people have been nabbed.“This program 
has been quite successful for us. And it wouldn’t 
have been possible without the partnership that we 
have with the community,” says Arcadia police Lt. 
Ray Nakamura.While police don’t want to reveal 
too much about the bait program, neighbors say 
they’re glad it’s being used and that it’s working.“I’m 
glad the police are doing their job and catching 
these guys, tracking them,” says Daniel Prado. 

Student Creates First Synthetic Retina For the 
Visually Impaired 

 Until now, all artificial retinal research has used 
only rigid, hard materials. The new research, 
conducted by Vanessa Restrepo-Schild, a 24 year 
old researcher at Oxford University, is the first 
to successfully use biological, synthetic tissues, 
developed in a laboratory environment.The study 
could revolutionize the bionic implant industry and 
the development of new, less invasive technologies 
that more closely resemble human body tissues, 
helping to treat degenerative eye conditions such as 
retinitis pigmentosa. 

 “Know yourself as nothing,feel yourself as 
Everything.” Rupert Spira 

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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