Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, April 24, 2021

Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 24, 2021 5 Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 24, 2021 5 
South 
Pasadena 
City ManagerCandidate 
Virtual Forum 

After South 
Pasadena CityCouncil rescinded job 
offer Tuesday, that 
leaves one candidate 
for the position.

 South Pasadena city 
officials announced 
Thursday that the South 
Pasadena City Council will 
host a candidate forum on 
Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. 
to 8:00 p.m. to introduce 
City Manager candidate 
Armine Chaparyan. 

 The announcement came 
just two days after the South 
Pasadena City Council 
rescinded the job offer to 
former city manager of Los 
Altos, Christopher Jordan. 
The offer withdraw came 
in light of some residents 
questioning Jordan’s job 
history. He had recently 
and suddenly stepped 
down as Los Altos City 
Manger. Jordan had also 
resigned as West Linn 
Oregon’s City Manager 
amid controversy of his 
hiring of the city’s police 
chief. 

 According to news 
reports in Oregon, Jordan 
hired embattled West Linn 
Police Chief Terry Timeus 
without a background 
check. Timeus later retired 
from the city in light of 
drunk driving allegations. 
Other allegations against 
Timeus included making 
sexist, racist and anti- gay 
comments as a police 
officer, of which, Jordan 
took no action. The two 
also worked together in 
Lake Oswego Oregon 
where the allegations took 
place. 

 As for Wednesday’s 
virtual forum, Chaparyan 
is expexted to present her 
experience and interest 
in serving in the city’s top 
administrative post.

Chaparyan has 15 
years of experience in 
municipal government 
and holds a B.A. in 
Political Science from the 
University of California, 
Los Angeles, and a Public 
Administration Masters 
from the University of 
Southern California. Ms. 
Chaparyan has worked for 
the cities of Ontario, Santa 
Clarita, and most recently 
San Gabriel.

 If you are interested in 
hearing from the candidate 
on specific topic areas, 
please email cmoffice@

 southpasadenaca.gov. 
There will also be an 
opportunity for questions 
at the end of the forum, 
time permitting.

The virtual meeting will 
be conducted over ZOOM 
and broadcast live on 
the city council meeting 
webpage. Registration is 
not required to participate 
in the live forum. For more 
information on how to join 
visit: southpasadenaca.gov.

 Following the community 
forum, any employment 
agreement would be 
presented for consideration 
at their May 5 meeting. 

drops to $10 per season. 
No-contact boxing will be 
review only. 
The city council meets 
City to Cut Fees of Youth Sports and Camps 

By Dean Lee

The Pasadena city council 
is set Monday to review a 
plan that will slash the cost 
of summer youth sports 
programs and camps, for 
Pasadena residents, to the 
point of making some of 
them free. 

 The temporary reduction 
will include youth sports 
leagues, such as, basketball, 
flag football, soccer 
and volleyball; summer 
aquatics; summer camps; 
and fitness and wellness 
classes according to officials 
in the Parks, Recreation 
and Community Services 
Department (PRCS).

 According to a city staffreport, the idea is to “reengage 
the community and 
increase outdoor park use.” 

 “In recognition of the 
difficult economic situation 
many families face, the 
reduced pricing structure 
features a nominal fee to 
encourage participants to 
attend the programs and 
classes for which they enroll,” 
the report reads. “Staff did 
consider recommending all 
these programs be offered 
free of charge, but realize 
that some residents might 
enroll and not actually attend 
because there would be no 
financial consequences.”

 The regular fee of $65 per 
season for youth sports 

Ask the Athletes: Women’s 
Professional Basketball 

 
The Pasadena Senior Games has 
teamed up with the California 
Senior Games Association 
to produce a monthly Zoom 
series of sports-related panel 
discussions by seasoned current 
and former professional athletes 
followed by questions from 
viewers of the live events. 

Five former stars in women’s 
professional basketball will 
be featured at 4 p.m. Monday, 
May 10: Laurie Byrd, Kirsten 
Cummings, Ann Meyers, Sue 
Wicks and Anne Warner Cribbs.

 Sue Wicks played women’s 
basketball from 1984 to 1988 
for Rutgers University in New 
Jersey where she was a three-
time All-American and remains 
the record-holder as lead scorer 
with 2,655 points and lead 
rebounder with 1,357 rebounds. 

 A trailblazer all her life, Ann 
Meyers (pictured) was the 
first woman accepted by an 
American university on a four-
year athletic scholarship. She led 
the UCLA Bruins to a national 
championship and became the 
first four-time All-American 
women’s basketball player. 

 As a girl growing up on the 
streets of Detroit, Laurie Byrd 
developed a love of basketball. 
As a college student, she played 
on the Eastern Michigan 
University Hurons (now the 
Eagles) women’s basketball team 

free. Most Summer Day/
Neighborhood Camps will 
drop to $10 a week with 
camps at Washington Park 
and La Pintoresca Park 
being free. Normal camp 
fees range from $50 a week 
to $118 a week. Other teen 
programs, summer and fall, 
are scheduled to be free. 
Group swim classes are set 
to drop from $50 a session 
down to $10 a session. The 
drop in fees will not apply for 
non-Pasadena youth, teens 
and adults. 

 PRCS Department staffsaid they had offered, due 
to Covid-19 safety and 
heath protocols, modified 
programming that 
highlighted sports drills and 
agility training, small groups 
for summer day camp, and 
non-contact boxing. All fee 
reductions would apply to the 
summer and fall recreation 
programs through October 
31, they said.

 Program sessions are 
typically six to eight weeks. 
Youth sports league seasons 
range from eight to 16 weeks. 
Under the reduced pricing 
model, summer day camps 
are seven weeks long instead 
of a regular eight-week camp 
the staff report states.

 The city council will not 
take any action on the plan. 
The agenda item is set for 

from 1978 to 1982 and scored 
1,899 points, a record that was 
not surpassed by women or 
men players until 2011. 

 Anyone 50 or older 
may register by visiting 
pasadenaseniorcenter.org and 
clicking on Events, Clubs and 
Lectures, then Online Events or 
calling 626-795-4331. Everyone 
who registers will receive a link 
via email for joining the Zoom 
discussion. Membership in the 
Pasadena Senior Center and 
residency in Pasadena are not 
required. Anyone who does 
not have Internet access may 
call 626-795-4331 to receive a 
number to call to listen to the 
live event by phone. 

Monday by videoconference 
at 4:30 p.m. 

 For more information visit: 
cityofpasadena.net. 

Portantino’s 
Poway GunBills Pass 
Committee 

Senate Bills 715 and 387,

authored by State Senator 

Anthony Portantino were 

approved this week by 

the Senate Public Safety 

Committee. SB 715 addresses 

the validity of a hunting license 

and independent review of 

gun possession disputes. SB 

387 is aimed at improving 

community policing and 

public safety outcomes through 

an appropriate curriculum 

requirement for police officers.

“SB 715 is an important 

step towards combatting the 

gun violence epidemic in our 

country,” Portantino said. 

 SB 715 addresses concerns 

related to the tragic synagogue 

shooting in Poway. This 

measure would require the 

Department of Justice, for sales 

of firearms to persons under 21 

years of age who are eligible to 

purchase a firearm based upon 

their possession of a hunting 

license, to confirm the validity 

of the hunting license as part 

of the background check. 

This bill additionally defines 

what constitutes a valid and 

unexpired hunting license.

 SB 715 also clarifies what 

qualifies as an unarmed civilian 

to prompt investigations of 

officer involved shootings by 

the Attorney General’s Office. 

It would authorize the state 

prosecutor to investigate and 

gather facts in an incident 

involving a shooting by a 

peace officer that results in 

the death of a civilian if there 

is a reasonable dispute as 

to whether that civilian was 

armed. Existing law, AB 1506, 

authorizes the state prosecutor 

to investigate only an officer 

involved shooting of an 

unarmed civilian.

 In an incident, a Pasadena 

Police Department officer 

fatally shot Anthony McClain. 

It was unclear whether 

McClain was armed and 

therefore the incident was not 

eligible for DOJ investigation. 

Under SB 715, incidents such 

as the McClain shooting would 

be eligible for the same review 

included in AB 1506. 

 SB 387 would direct the 

Commission on Peace Officers 

Standards and Training 

to develop an expanded 

curriculum specifically 

designed to prepare officers 

to meet the expectations of a 

modern police force, including 

classes on mental health, 

social services, psychology, 

communication, and other 

related fields. 

Mars Helicopter LogsSecond Successful Flight 

 
NASA announced that 
Ingenuity helicopter 
successfully completed its 
second Mars flight on Thursday 
–the 18th sol, or Martian day,
of its experimental flight test 
window. Lasting 51.9 seconds, 
the flight added several new 
challenges to the first, which 
took place last Suday, including 
a higher maximum altitude, 
longer duration, and sideways 
movement.

 “So far, the engineering 
telemetry we have received and 
analyzed tell us that the flight 
met expectations and our prior 
computer modeling has been 
accurate,” said Bob Balaram, 
chief engineer for the Ingenuity 
Mars Helicopter at NASA’s 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 
Southern California. “We have 
two flights of Mars under our 
belts, which means that there 
is still a lot to learn during this 
month of Ingenuity.”

 For this second flight test 
at “Wright Brothers Field,” 
Ingenuity took off again at 2:33 
a.m., or 12:33 p.m. local Marstime. But where Flight Onetopped out at 10 feet (3 meters)
above the surface, Ingenuityclimbed to 16 feet (5 meters)
this time. After the helicopterhovered briefly, its flight control 
system performed a slight 
(5-degree) tilt, allowing someof the thrust from the counter-
rotating rotors to accelerate 
the craft sideways for 7 feet (2meters).

 “The helicopter came to a 
stop, hovered in place, and 

Biden to Recognize theArmenian Genocide 

 Congressman Adam 
Schiff spoke on the House 
Floor to deliver an open 
letter to President Joseph 
Biden, calling on him to 
keep his campaign promise 
to officially recognize the 
Armenian Genocide. 
An open letter to Biden 
Schiff wrote: 
"Mr. President, in just five 
days, the world will mark 
the 106th anniversary of the 
beginning of the Armenian 
Genocide, the systemic 
murder and displacement 
of 1.5 million Armenian 
women, men, and children 
by the Ottoman Empire 
from 1915 to 1923. This will 
be the first April 24th of 
your presidency, and your 

made turns to point its camera 
in different directions,” said 
Håvard Grip, Ingenuity’s 
chief pilot at JPL. “Then it 
headed back to the center of 
the airfield to land. It sounds 
simple, but there are many 
unknowns regarding how to 
fly a helicopter on Mars. That’s 
why we’re here – to make these 
unknowns known.”

 Operating an aircraft in a 
controlled manner at Mars is 
far more difficult than flying 
one on Earth. Even though 
gravity on Mars is about 
one third that of Earth’s, the 
helicopter must fly with the 
assistance of an atmosphere 
with only about one percent of 
the density at Earth’s surface. 
Each second of each flight 
provides an abundance of Mars 
in-flight data for comparison 
to the modeling, simulations, 
and tests performed back here 
on Earth. And NASA also gains 
its first practical experience 
operating a rotorcraft remotely 
at Mars. These datasets will 
prove invaluable for potential 
future Mars missions that 
could enlist next-generation 
helicopters to add an aerial 
dimension to their explorations.

As with the first test, the 
Perseverance rover obtained 
imagery of the flight attempt 
from 211 feet (64.3 meters) 
away at “Van Zyl Overlook” 
using its Navcam and 
Mastcam-Z imagers.

 For more about Perseverance 
visit: nasa.gov/perseverance 
and mars.nasa.gov/mars2020. 

first opportunity to follow 
through on your promise to 
recognize the genocide and 
your decades of leadership 
on this issue. 
On behalf of hundreds of 
thousands of Armenian 
Americans, the children 
and grandchildren and great 
grandchildren of genocide 
survivors, I ask you:
Keep that promise. 
Recognize the Armenian 
Genocide."

 Reports Friday said that 
Biden told Turkish President 
Recep Tayyip Erdogan of his 
plans to recognize the 1915 
massacre of Armenians as 
genocide.

 For the full text of the letter 
visit: schiff.house.gov/news. 

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