Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, August 8, 2020

5


Mountain Views-News Saturday, August 8, 2020 

Local Area 
News Briefs


Pasadena Humane Society 
Announces Name Change

 South Pas Police 

De-escalate Volatile 
Situation

 
South Pasadena Officers 
responded last week 
to Diamond Ave and 
Monterey Rd. in response 
to numerous 911 calls 
reporting a man was 
acting erratic and violent, 
screaming and jumping in 
and out of traffic. At one 
point, a caller reported 
the subject chased a child 
down the street with 
something in his hand. 
Officers quickly arrived, 
contacted a 46-year old, 
unhoused resident armed 
with a screwdriver in his 
back pocket and contained 
the scene.

 The man was swinging 
a license plate at officers, 
possessed numerous 
hypodermic needles, all 
while taunting officers to 
engage him in a fight. A 
mental health clinician 
was requested to assist at 
the location, while officers 
spent approximately 30 
minutes utilizing de-
escalation and crisis 
communication with 
the subject. Prior to the 
clinician arriving at the 
scene, circumstances 
developed, and officers 
were forced to take action 
and were able to safely 
detain the subject. No one 
was hurt and the subject 
was eventually transported 
to Huntington Memorial 
Hospital for a mental 
health evaluation. 



 The Pasadena Humane Society 
& SPCA, which has been a 
leader in its advocacy for the 
compassionate and humane 
treatment all animals for 
nearly 120 years, announced 
Wednesday they have changed 
the name to ‘Pasadena Humane’ 
moving forward. 

 “Pasadena Humane wants to 
celebrate what it means to be 
a humane organization,” said 
Dia DuVernet, president and 
CEO of Pasadena Humane. 
“’Humane’ is at the core of what 
we do each day for the animals 
and people in our community.” 

 Not only does the shortened 
name highlight what is 
most important to Pasadena 
Humane, it helps clear 
up confusion about the 
organization’s identity and 
associations, officials say. 
Though Pasadena Humane 
works collaboratively 
alongside other animal welfare 
organizations to create a better 
world for animals and their 
caregivers, Pasadena Humane 
is an independent organization 
that has no formal affiliation 
with the ASPCA and Humane 
Society of the United States. 
Pasadena Humane is a local, 
nonprofit organization serving 
the people and animals of the 
Greater Los Angeles Area. 

 The updated name also comes 
with a new look, new logo and 
a brand-new website which 
boasts some exciting new 
features, including: 

 Adoptable Pet Viewer: A 
regularly updated photo feed 
of adorable, adoptable animals 
at the shelter. Users can easily 
browse animals by species, sex, 
age, and size. Visitors can click 
on the animal’s photo for more 
info about that pet. 

Expanded Menu: Pasadena 
Humane is much more than 
a shelter, and new navigation 
and updated menus allow users 
to easily find the information 
they are looking for. Visitors 
can click around and more 
readily learn all about Pasadena 
Humane programs and 
services. 

Home-to-Home Adoptions: 
A new way to rehome pets 
without bringing them to the 
shelter. Pet parents who need 
to find a new home for their 
furry loved ones can post 
their pet on the website, while 
prospective pet adopters can 
view adoptable pets living in 
private homes. 

 The new website also features 
original photography of 
animals adopted from Pasadena 
Humane. Nearly every animal 
featured on the site is a pet that 
found their “happily ever after” 
after a short stay at Pasadena 
Humane. 

 Pasadena Humane is a 
donor-supported, non-profit 
organization that provides 
animal care and services for 
homeless and owned animals in 
the Greater Los Angeles Area. 
The organization is dedicated to 
promoting humane treatment 
and compassionate care for all 
animals. The animals in its care 
come from 11 animal control 
contract areas, as well as partner 
shelters across the Los Angeles-
area and beyond. Pasadena 
Humane also offers lifesaving 
programs and services to the 
community that support the 
human-animal bond and keep 
pets in homes. To learn more, 
visit: pasadenahumane.org. 

Brookside Tree Falls Onto Parkgoers

 By Dean Lee

 Two people were injured 
Wednesday after a large 
tree at Brookside Park in 
Pasadena fell unexpected. 

 Investigators were looking 
into why the 100 foot tall 
eucalyptus gave way onto 
four people who were 
playing volleyball under the 
tree at the time. 

 According to fire personnel 
they, along with Urban 
Search and Rescue teams, 
responded to the park at 
around 6:45 p.m. with 
reports of people possibly 
trapped.

 “ Firefighters utilized 
chainsaws to cut the branches 
from the tree to conduct 
a primary and secondary 
search of potential victims,” 
they said. “No additional 
victims were discovered and 
an ‘all clear’ was reported at 
6:56 p.m.”

 Two of the four people, a 
man and woman in their 
20s had cuts and scratches. 
One of theme might have 
sprained an ankle and had 
back pain officials said.

 Pasadena Information 
Officer Lisa Derderian told 
reports that the group heard 
a noise, saw the tree start to 
fall and moved quickly aside. 

 Derderian said that 
Pasadena’s Urban Forestry 
division examines all trees on 
city property at least once a 
year. There were no reported 
issues with the tree that fell.

 According to Derderian, 
the city is expected to have 
an independent arborist look 
into why the eucalyptus tree 
fell. 

 Wednesday’s incident was 
near the site of another tree 
that fell on a group of children 
in 2015 outside Kidspace 
Children’s Museum. The 
75-year-old pine tree injured 
eight children, two critically. 

 In that case, it was 
determined that the collapse 
was caused by prolonged 
drought, followed by heavy 
rains and a weak root system.

No School 
Re-Opening 
Waivers Per 
State Guidance

 The City of Pasadena 
Department of Public 
Health announced that they 
will adhere to new guidance 
from the California 
Department of Public 
Health, which recommends 
that counties with case rates 
of COVID-19 at or above 200 
cases per 100,000 residents 
do not extend waivers for 
the re-opening of classroom 
instruction for students in 
grades TK- 6.

 California health officials 
have barred school 
campuses from reopening 
this fall in counties that are 
on the state’s coronavirus 
monitoring list due to high 
case counts or other metrics 
reflecting the transmission 
the virus in the county.

 “The science and data is 
guiding the decision-making 
and although discouraging, 
it’s in the best interest to help 
protect the health and safety 
of our children, teachers and 
staff and their families they 
go home to every night,” 
states Dr. Ying-Ying Goh.

 This decision will be 
reconsidered once the 
case rate falls to the levels 
recommended by the State.

 The Pasadena Health 
Department will continue 
to work with all of our 
partners across the County 
to implement the infection 
control strategies we 
know effectively reduce 
community transmission 
and case rates so that schools 
can re-open for in-person 
instruction as soon as the 
data and science tell us it’s 
safer to do so.

 While all schools, public 
and private, across the 
County are closed for 
in-person instruction of 
students, teachers, staff and 
administrators are allowed 
to return to school buildings 
provided adults adhere 
to existing protocols that 
require physical distancing 
and infection control 
measures, including wearing 
face coverings.

Pasadena Man Indicted by 
Grand Jury for Cyberstalking

 South Pas Fire 
Sends Personnel to 
the ‘Apple’ Fire

 A federal grand jury 
returned a 26-count 
indictment Tuesday that 
charges a Pasadena man with 
making a series of detailed 
threats to harm, rape and kill 
10 victims he met in various 
social and business settings.

 Samuel Trelawney Hughes, 
31, who is a citizen of the 
United Kingdom, was 
charged with seven counts 
of stalking, nine counts of 
making online threats, three 
counts of mailing threatening 
communications, and seven 
counts of witness tampering.

 The indictment alleges 
that Hughes – sometimes 
using his real name, and 
other times using aliases 
or social media accounts 
designed to conceal his true 
identity – sent his victims 
communications in which 
he expressed hope they 
would die or in which he 
made specific threats to 
harm them.

 The FBI began investigating 
Hughes in May 2019 
after one victim filed a 
complaint with the Internet 
Crimes Complaint Center. 
“After being contacted 
by both the FBI and state 
law enforcement officers 
on multiple occasions 
regarding the threatening 
communications, Hughes 
continued to send electronic 
communications and letters 
threatening to injure, rape, 
or kill at least three of the 
victims who had reported 
his threats to the police,” 
according to a criminal 
complaint previously 
filed in this case. “In his 
communications to some 
victims, Hughes threatened 
that contacting the police 
would lead to the injury or 
death of the victim or the 
victims’ loved ones.”

 As a result of separate 
investigations, Hughes was 
arrested by the Los Angeles 
Police Department and the 
Pasadena Police Department 
on two occasions in June, 
which resulted in charges 
being filed by the Los Angeles 
County District Attorney’s 
Office and the Pasadena 
City Attorney’s Office. 
Federal prosecutors filed a 
criminal complaint against 
Hughes on July 10, and he 
was taken into custody from 
state authorities on July 24. 
Hughes has been in federal 
custody since that time.

 The stalking counts and 
the charges stemming 
from the alleged threats all 
carry a statutory maximum 
penalty of five years in 
federal prison. The witness 
tampering counts each carry 
a maximum possible penalty 
of 20 years in prison.

 Hughes is scheduled to be 
arraigned on the indictment 
in United States District 
Court on August 13.

 Anyone who thinks they 
may have received threats 
from Hughes is encouraged 
to call the FBI’s Los Angeles 
Field Office at (310) 477-
6565.

 The case alleged 
online and mailed 
threats to injure, rape 
and kill 10 victims

 Two South Pasadena 
firefighters are on the 
front-lines of a pair of 
major wildfires in the state 
this week the department 
said Friday. Captain Dan 
Dunn has been assigned 
as a fire line paramedic 
at the Apple Fire which 
has burned nearly 30,000 
acres in Riverside County. 
Engineer Anthony Corrao 
is at the July Complex Fire 
in Redding, also assigned 
as a fire line paramedic. 
Captain Dunn will be 
assigned for approximately 
10 days they said.

 Monday, Aug. 17 • 11 a.m.-
noon • Zoom

 While others have 
perfected sourdough starter 
or whipped up chocolate 
chip cookies during the 
pandemic, NASA scientist 
Max Coleman has been 
toiling in his kitchen over 
containers of baby radishes 
- all in the name of science.

 Why radishes? “They have 
been used before in space, 
and they germinate very, 
very fast,” Coleman says. 
Previously, other researchers 
had sent radishes to the 
International Space Station, 
and now, Coleman and his 
colleagues hope to help 
the quest for astronauts to 
eventually grow their own 
food on the lunar surface. Q 
& A. will follow. 

 Sign up at: cityofpasadena.
net/library. 

NASA Scientist 
Over the 
Moon With 
Homegrown 
Radish 
Research

 The event will discus 
how NASA scientist 
grows radishes to 
practice for future 
moon farming.

Donate Blood at 
the South Pasadena 
Library

 
The South Pasadena 
Library will partner with 
the American Red Cross 
on a blood drive Tuesday, 
August 25. Appointments 
will be available between 
1:00 and 7:00 p.m. Visit 
redcrossblood.org and 
search for SOPASLIB to 
book an appointment 
today. This will be the 
Library’s third blood drive 
during the COVID-19 
crisis. Thanks to the 
generosity of donors we 
have already collected 196 
units of blood to help our 
neighbors.


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