Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, October 20, 2018

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Mountain View News Saturday, October 20, 2018 

WALKING SIERRA MADRE... The Social Side By Deanne Davis

REMEMBRANCE: CATHERINE STERLING KAY


Catherine Sterling Kay was born April 16th, 1946 in Pasadena, California, 
and resided her entire life in the Pasadena/Sierra Madre area. Cathie’s last 
career was working in the front office of St. Rita’s school before finally retiring 
in 2014. She enjoyed tennis, participating in Chapter GG of PEO 
(Philanthropic Educational Organ–ization for Women) and spending time 
with her friends and family. 

 Cathie, known for her red glasses, great smile and cheerful disposition, 
passed away after a fourteen month battle with lung cancer on August 16th, 
2018. She is survived by her son, Christopher Sterling (Carina), grandsons 
Gage and Drew Sterling, brother Joseph Petticoffer and dog Bo. Cathie was 
preceded in death by her first husband Douglas Sterling, her second husband 
Donald Kay, and her daughter Megan Corinne Sterling. A celebration of life 
will be held at the Fellowship Hall, Church of the Good Shepherd in Arcadia 
on November 3rd, 2018 from 12-3pm. Donations in Cathie’s memory can 
be made to P.E.O. Chapter GG (c/o Suzanne Burger 2065 S. Los Robles, San 
Marino. CA 91108) or to the Pasadena Humane Society.


CONTROVERSY ERUPTS OVER WATER 
LINE WARRANTY PROGRAM

Residents question validity of solicitation 
and city’s endorsement

Sierra Madre homeowners received an 
envelope in the mail earlier this week that 
looked official. It bore the Sierra Madre 
Logo and contained information on how 
homeowners could participate in a program 
for Water and Sewer Line Warranties. And 
while that seemed harmless enough, it set off a 
barrage of telephone calls to city hall and this 
newspaper, as well as numerous social media 
posts from residents concerned about the 
authenticity of the documents and whether or 
not it was a scam. There was also great concern 
regarding whether or not the city had endorsed 
this company and if so, why? The letter was 
not signed by any city official, but rather a 
representative of a company called SLWA.

As it turns out, the letters were legitimate. The 
insurance offering was not random. The Sierra 
Madre city council approved participating 
with the company on March 13, 2018. http://
www.cityofsierramadre.com/common/
pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=12544020

In the staff report presented to the council 
in March it notes that the company has been 
serving California cities since 2012 including 
the city of Duarte. The program offers 
insurance policies to residential property 
owners that “covers the buried outside water 
line which runs from the meter and/or curb 
box which includes the service line under the 
concrete floor until it daylights into the home.”

The cost for the policy ranges from a minimum 
$6 a month depending on the service you choose, 
a fee that reflects a reduction from the standard 
rate because the City of Sierra Madre chose 
not to accept any commission for residents 
who sign up. Instead, the city had those funds 
applied to the premium in order to reduce the 
amount residents would have to pay. No funds 
or other benefits will go to the city from SLWA.

The coverage is not mandatory. City Manager 
Gabe Engeland, in a telephone interview on 
Friday, confirmed the fact that participation by 
residents in the program is strictly voluntary. 

The program says that it will call on local 
businesses to service claims. However, three 
of the largest companies that serve Sierra 
Madre have no relationship with SLWA, raising 
the question of how this program will affect 
the businesses that residents currently use.

The Mountain Views News reached out to 
SLWA to confirm the information contained 
in the literature and secure a list of the local 
businesses that it uses, however was unable to 
reach anything other than a recording and there 
were no responses to the messages that were left.

SLWA is part of the National League of Cities 
Utilities Service Partner Program. City 
Councilman and Former Mayor Gene Goss, 
who recognizes the ongoing battle the entire 
city is having with aging water and sewer lines 
said, “This is a great program to those who have 
old plumbing systems. This gives residents the 
opportunity to protect themselves from the 
costs of catastrophic failure in these systems.”

For more information on the program and 
answers to frequently asked questions, go to: 
www.cityofsierramadre.com/transparency

S. Henderson/MVNews

“Dear Great Pumpkin, I am looking forward to your 
arrival on Halloween night.

I hope you will bring me lots of presents.” 

Linus van Pelt

 Even though Charles Schulz, creator of the 
immortal Peanuts has changed his residency to 
heaven, his kids: Charlie Brown, Lucy, Peppermint 
Patty, Sally and Linus still show up in our 
newspapers, which is a delight. What would Fall be 
like without Lucy holding the football for Charlie 
Brown, promising that this time she won’t yank 
it away at the last minute, leaving him flat on his 
back with all the air punched out of him. Or Linus 
sitting out in the pumpkin patch with Sally, Charlie 
Brown or Snoopy, convinced that if his pumpkin 
patch is the most sincere pumpkin patch that the 
Great Pumpkin will rise up with his bag of toys and 
bestow gifts upon him. His friends are scornful and 
skeptical. We would be, too.

 We have the sincerest pumpkin patch in Sierra 
Madre every year on Alegria, the Halloween street. 
Talented folks, the Parkers, grow astonishingly huge 
pumpkins then carve them into fantastical creations. 
These aren’t those thousand pound babies you 
see on TV that need a forklift to move, but they’re 
pretty close. In just a few days when Halloween rolls 
around we might see Cinderella’s coach, the body 
and head of a black widow spider...yes, they add 
twenty foot long legs, a lamp for a skeleton to read 
by, and just plain scary jack-o-lanterns. 

 In days of yore, when our kids, and probably your 
kids, too, were young, they’d rummage through the 
house and create costumes for themselves, one of the 
best being our son when he was about twelve, dressed 
in one of my old maternity dresses – well, the baby was 
only six by then and, who knew, I might have needed 
it again - a cascade wig of curls, all the makeup in the 
world and a pillow stuffed up inside to create the baby on 
the way. He wore heels, too, and staggered off returning 
minutes later to change into sneakers. They were hobos, 
clowns, hippies and sometimes, just, “I’m not sure, 
mom said it was the fifties!” They’d hit the streets of our 
neighborhood where everybody knew them and gave 
them cookies, pennies, apple cider, a few Hershey’s 
kisses and the occasional Snickers bar. A massively 
good time was had by all, they came home covered 
with sweat and chocolate, sat down, compared the take, 
did a lot of trading, and ate all they wanted that night. 
Every year I assured them that I’d put it all in the freezer 
and they could have a couple of pieces every day. They 
forgot about it almost immediately and after John and 
I picked out all the good stuff, we threw the rest away. 
It was fun, they were safe and it was no big deal. In 
recent years, we loved seeing the littlest kids, out with 
their mommy and a brother or sister in a stroller early 
in the evening. They are adorable, say thank you with 
just a little prompting...or a lot of prompting...and are 
happy with a Tootsie Roll. Later we turned out the porch 
light and checked to see what was left. Tootsie Rolls, by 
the way, go really well with a nice glass of Chardonnay. 
My favorite is Dots. Little boxes of Dots. I have a hard 
time letting go of them and end up hoarding a whole 
bunch of these little boxes. I have no idea what Dots are 
made of, but when one comes across a leftover box 
of them sometime in March, they are just as good. 
When the world ends, cockroaches, Twinkies and 
Dots will survive. My granddaughter, Emily, went 
to a sleepover party recently and came home with 
a goodie bag. She gave three little boxes of Dots to 
me! Now I ask you, isn’t that the perfect definition of 
love!

 Halloween is just a few days away. Scarecrows are 
all over the place and the town has never looked 
more terrifying. Those programs about The Walking 
Dead have absolutely nothing on us! I hope you’re 
taking time to cruise the streets and admire the 
artwork of our amazingly creative citizens. Have you 
got your costume yet? 

 “The worst thing about Halloween is, of course, 
candy corn. Candy corn is the only candy in the 
history of America that’s never been advertised. 
And there’s a reason. All of the candy corn that was 
ever made was made in 1911. And, since nobody 
actually eats that stuff, 

every year there’s a ton of it left over.” Lewis Black

 My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

Blog: www.authordeanne.com

Kindle readers, give yourself the gift of the Emma 
Gainsworth Adventures:

“Just Dessert: A Fall Fantasy” – “The Intergalactic 
Pumpkin Battle” – “The Lost Amulets”

 They’re on Amazon.com on my book page!

Follow me on Twitter, too! https://twitter.com/@
playwrightdd


THE SCARECROWS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!

Sierra Madre's Creative Arts Group 7th Annual Scarecrow Festival contest winners have been decided!

Each year the city is filled with delight as resident's creations come to life and this year was no exception. 
A total of 103 entries are on display throughout the city until October 31st. People's choice inners were 
voted on via the Creative Arts websites. Other winners were chosen by Creative Arts Group judges. 

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS: RESIDENTS

1st Place - #87 Angelina Ballerina Scarecrow https://www.creativeartsgroup.org/2018/s87/

2nd Place - #55 Livvie & Gerrie https://www.creativeartsgroup.org/2018/s55/

3rd Place - #84 Cherry Jam https://www.creativeartsgroup.org/2018/s84/

 

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS: BUSINESS/ORGANIZATION

1st Place - #31 Frida (Sierra Madre Elementary) https://www.creativeartsgroup.org/2018/s31/

2nd Place - #27 Bella Ballerina (Ballet With Miss Amie) https://www.creativeartsgroup.org/2018/s27/

3rd Place - #68 Spidey (Mail Box and Postal) https://www.creativeartsgroup.org/2018/s68/

 

BEST IN SHOW:

#58 Mother Madre https://www.creativeartsgroup.
org/2018/s58/

 

STORY AWARDS:

(Child) - #52 Flaky the Witch https://www.
creativeartsgroup.org/2018/s52/

(Adult) - #86 Worthington https://www.
creativeartsgroup.org/2018/s86/

(Organization) - #10 SME Girl Scouts 
https://www.creativeartsgroup.org/2018/
s10/

To see all of the scarecrows please visit 
https://www.creativeartsgroup.org/scarecrow-
festival/scarecrows/ to read their stories 
and find out their locations. Print maps 
are still available at Creative Arts Group for 
the rest of October.

Thank you to all of this year’s participants 
for contributing your time and talent to the 
Scarecrow Festival! A special thanks to our 
sponsors: Canyon Canine, City of Sierra 
Madre, Dilbeck Real Estate, Gem Plumbing, 
Kiwanis Club of Sierra Madre, Mountain 
Views News and the Sierra Madre Chamber 
of Commerce.

Award winners please stop by Creative Arts 
Group to pick up your awards! 108 N. Baldwin 
Avenue, Sierra Madre, CA 91024. We are 
open from 10 to 5 Monday-Friday and from 
10 to 2 on Saturdays.

 


Grower of Rare Camellias and Azaleas since 
19353555 Chaney Trail, AltadenaHours: 8am-4:30pm(Closed Wed & Th)
(626) 794-3383Fax (626) 794-3395
BEST IN SHOW: ”Mother Madre” is a personification of the amazing 
bounty of nature that life in Sierra Madre affords us. She represents 
the glory of the coming seasons and the celebrations that we 
look forward to in our special town. “Mother Madre” stands tall in 
protection of all Earths beauty.

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