Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, March 23, 2019

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WALKING SIERRA MADRE by Deanne Davis

“Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems.” 

Rainer Maria Rilke

“Spring is nature’s way of saying “Let’s Party!” Robin Williams

It’s definitely Spring! 
Everywhere we look buds 
are ready to burst into leaves 
on all the deciduous trees. 
Stuff I thought was dead as 
a doornail – where on earth 
did that phrase come from? 
We all say it so I thought I’d 
check with Wikipedia. Here’s 
what they have to say: “One 
plausible explanation is that 
doors were built using only 
wood boards and hand-
forged nails: the nails were 
long enough to dead nail the 
(vertical) wooden panels and 
(horizontal) stretcher boards 
securely together, so they 
would not easily pull apart. 
This was done by pounding 
the protruding point of the 
nail over and down into the 
wood. A nail that was bent in 
this fashion (and thus not easily pulled out) was said to be “dead”, thus dead as a doornail.” There now, 
next time somebody wants to play Trivia, you’ve got a fact. 

Anyway, plants that were brown and crispy looking are sprouting green leaves. Astonishing! Sierra 
Madre has never looked more beautiful. Enjoy these spring days when the mountains are so clear and 
green thanks to all the rain we’ve had. There are pictures all over the place of the fields of wildflowers 
and poppies up by Lancaster and, as we never know if we’re going to see these or not, this year’s 
turnout is a real treat.

Speaking of treats, I read an article recently that stated that a survey of 1,500 people taken by the 
candy company that makes Laffy Taffy showed that the bottom of their list of happy places was 
California with 35 percent of residents laughing only ten times a day. (I’d say the traffic and commute 
times have something to do with that). They also said that the people who make us laugh the most are 
our significant others, followed by our friends. Our kids make us laugh, then our siblings. The lowest 
humor providers were mom and dad. Hey, we’re funny! Almost everyone in the survey said they 
enjoy making others laugh. The laughing ladies in the picture are granddaughter, Emily, and some of 
her buddies at Chuck E. Cheese, celebrating!

“A day without laughter is a day wasted.” Charlie Chaplin

“Always find a reason to laugh. It may not add years to your life,

but will surely add life to your years.”

“You don’t stop laughing because you grow older. 

You grow older because you stop laughing.” Maurice Chevalier

I’m sure you’ve heard that the National Cancer Institute has laughter therapy: “A type of therapy that 
uses humor to help relieve pain and stress and improve a person’s sense of well-being. It may be used 
to help people cope with a serious disease, such as cancer. Laughter therapy may include laughter 
exercises, comedy movies, books, games and puzzles. Humor therapy.” 

Laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts your mood, diminishes pain, and protects you 
from the effects of stress. When we were kids we laughed hundreds of times a day, but as adults...
not so much. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others and keeps you 
grounded, focused, and alert. Also helps you release anger and forgive sooner. I guess that means 
that when somebody cuts you off on the freeway, if you can laugh instead of shaking your fist at them 
you’ll feel better.

Remember that great song from Mary Poppins? “I Love To Laugh?” With Ed Wynn floating up by the 
ceiling and Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews describing all sorts of laughter.

“I love to laugh
Loud and long and clear
I love to laugh
It’s getting worse every year

The more I laugh, the more I fill with glee
And the more the glee
The more I’m a merrier me, it’s embarrassing
The more I’m a merrier me.”

And just to end with a laugh: Knock knock. Who’s there? A little old lady.

A little old lady who? All this time, I had no idea you could yodel.

Laugh a lot this week. You’ll feel better. And people will wonder what you’re up to!

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis – check out

The Crown, now that Easter is on its way.

 It will change your perspective on what happened on the Hill called Golgotha.

Star of Wonder the CD is now on TuneCore! Take a look!

Blog: www.authordeanne.com

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


KATIE Tse..........This and That


JUROR SURVIVAL 
PACK

 Jury summons. It’s 
enough to strike fear in 
our hearts. For those of us 
who are employed, married, 
dating, or have any kind of obligations, the idea 
of being shackled to the court system for an 
unspecified period of time is frightening.

 Recently my dad got called in. He’s retired, so 
he wasn’t as opposed to the idea as when he was 
working. Also, he likes interesting things. To me, 
novels are interesting. Nature is interesting. UFC 
fights are interesting. The judicial system, not so 
much. But he has a better attitude than I do.

 Therefore, when he got summoned, he dutifully 
went downtown and sat in the assembly room for 
a few hours before being placed in a jury pool. My 
mom and I both coached him on everything to say 
to get excused. One time my mom got called in 
for some case having to do with illicit drugs. Per 
protocol, the judge asked all the prospective jurors 
if they’d be able to be impartial on the topic. 

 My mom’s a retired school teacher, so she played 
the “We just finished ‘Say No to Drugs’ week!’ I 
simply couldn’t ignore everything I just taught my 
third graders!” card.

 The judge asked her again if she was sure she 
couldn’t put that perspective aside, just for this 
case?

 “Nope, sorry.”

 And that was that. My dad, on the other hand, 
is more accommodating. He used to work in tech 
support. He has the most gentle, soothing voice 
and demeanor. Perfect for tech support and jury 
duty.

 So, he spent the last couple weeks on a case. 
Actually, he was one of two alternates. If any juror 
died, he’d get called in. Which brings us to the 
“juror survival pack.”

 My dad hasn’t driven to work in a while. I think 
his car’s actually old enough to run for office. It’s 
fine for weekly market runs, but downtown L.A. is 
another story. While checking out his car’s vitals, 
Dad discovered that the transition wasn’t even 
trustworthy enough for a trip from Sierra Madre 
to the Gold Line Station. So my mom had to drive 
him.

 Once in downtown, Dad found that it’s not as he 
recalled. There are quite a lot of homeless people 
camped out on the streets. This wouldn’t be a big 
deal, except that they have a habit of defecating 
on the sidewalks. This also might not be a big 
deal if there weren’t ample, free, open, accessible, 
public bathrooms within easy walking distance of 
their campsite. Makes you wonder. Also makes 
you want to wrap your shoes in disposable plastic 
bags, just to avoid contracting Hepatitis. Survival 
kit item number one.

 Survival kit item number two is plenty of 
reading material. I’ve gotten called in before, but 
have always been dismissed without being placed 
on a trial --thank goodness! But even I know to 
bring plenty 
of things to 
keep myself 
occupied.

 Survival 
kit item 
number 
three: a 
roll-up bed. 
Especially 
if you’re an 
alternate, 
jury duty is 
just plain 
BORING! 
While the 
real jurors 
deliberated 
behind 
closed doors, 
my dad and the other alternate waited around, 
literally doing nothing. He said she eventually 
took to sleeping on a concrete bench in the 
hallway. I told him if he ever has to go again to 
bring a yoga mat.

 Survival kit item number four: extra shoes. My 
poor dad! He’s a great proponent of daily exercise. 
Bless his heart! He also dresses for the occasion. 
Me --I’m an unapologetic slob. But I didn’t get that 
from him. He’s great. Anyway, Dad was wearing 
actual dress shoes to this thing for the first few 
days. Gave him terrific foot and leg cramps. After 
that he resigned to less formal footwear. The only 
problem was that one pair came apart at the sole 
midway between the Gold Line Station and the 
courthouse! And as I said, downtown L.A. isn’t 
the sort of place you’d want to go barefoot.

 Luckily for him, he’d borrowed a backpack of 
mine that had some lanyard on the zippers. He 
took it apart and used it to tie his shoe together. 
I told him that, in itself, should’ve convinced the 
court to let him go, on account of looking pathetic 
and all. But no such luck.

 Now, I don’t want you to think nothing good 
came of his time as an alternate juror. On the 
contrary. Between testimonies, the judge engaged 
the jurors (and alternates) in an interesting 
discussion on the background of the Great Seal of 
California. He asked them who they thought the 
person with the shield and spear was. 

 Guesses included everything from Tommy 
Trojan to Xena, Warrior Princess. Turns out it’s 
Minerva, Roman goddess of wisdom. We’d like 
to think she’s there because us Californians are 
so wise. But it’s actually because Minerva was 
born adult-size, and California went straight to 
statehood without playing around in the territory 
phase. But we can still wish about the wisdom 
part...

 A couple weeks later Dad got sprung from the 
trial --thank God! Hopefully he won’t get called 
back anytime soon. But if he does, at least he’ll 
know what belongs in his juror survival pack. 


SIERRA MADRE POLICE BLOTTER

March 10 to March 17, 2019 = During this period, the Sierra Madre Police Department responded 
to approximately 254 day and night time calls for service. 

Tuesday, March 11 
Officers contacted a subject parked in the 700 block of W. Grandview Ave. at about 12:15PM. 
Upon contacting the subject, officers detected a strong smell of marijuana. A large amount of marijuana 
and other items were discovered during the search of the vehicle indicating that the subject 
was selling marijuana. Officers arrested and transported the subject for medical clearance before 
booking the subject at Pasadena Jail. 
Case to DA’s office 

Wednesday, March 13 
An unknown suspect(s) smashed a vehicle’s window, between 3/12/19 at 7:00PM and 3/13/19 at 
9:20AM and stole personal items from the vehicle parked in the 600 block of W. Grandview Ave. 
9:25PM 
A subject riding a bicycle was stopped for vehicle code violations in the area of Baldwin Ave and 
Orange Grove Ave. The subject was arrested for operating the bicycle while under the influence of 
alcohol and then transported to the Pasadena Police jail. 

Saturday, March 16 
At about 1:11PM an officer responded to the Sierra Madre Police Department lobby regarding 
a fraud investigation. The victim contracted a male suspect (process server) to work for him. 
The victim later discovered that the male suspect, without the victim's authorization, changed 
the amounts and payee information then deposited his business checks (5 checks total). Case to 
Detectives 

 
212 West Foothill Blvd. Monrovia, CA 91016 (626) 303-7917 
License # 322620 
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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

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