Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, October 1, 2022

Mountain View News Saturday, September 10, 2022 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com 


PROGRAM ENCOURAGES SAN 
GABRIEL VALLEY SCHOOLS, NONPROFITS 
TO INVEST IN WATER 
CONSERVATION PROJECTS 

By Marc Cota-Robles 

SIERRA MADRE, Calif. (KABC) -- 

The San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District has a program designed to 
encourage water-saving projects. At the Sierra Madre Community Nursery 
School, the kids are learning from a young age about being water wise.
Sarah Healy Pyrzak, coordinator of the school garden, says when she arrived 
at the school about five years ago things were outdated.
"We took out all the sprinklers, we put in the drip system, we put in an all 
new manifold that wasn't leaking everywhere. We made everything very water 
tight, water efficient," said Pyrzak.
All that work was thanks to an OWL grant: Opportunities for Water Leadership. 
Started in 2017, the program allows schools and nonprofits in Alhambra, 
Azusa, Monterey Park and Sierra Madre to apply for funding to create 
new water-wise projects.
"These are long-term savings. They're are not savings that are just going to 
be for the next couple of days or next couple of weeks. These kinds of savings 
will last for years and years," said Thomas Wong of the San Gabriel Valley 
Municipal Water District.
Bob Spears of the Sierra Madre Community Foundation said they are making 
progress in re-landscaping the post office.
"I looked at that and said here's an opportunity for us to re-landscape and 
have a demonstration project for the community that will show people how 
to plant drought tolerant native plants using low flow irrigation," said Spears.
Like the school, part of the work is funded by OWL grant money, with the 
hope that others in the community will want to begin to learn how to save 
water. 
That improved irrigation at the nursery school has allowed them to use the 
garden daily.
"It's immeasurable because we do so much planting here now, we do so much 
eating here now, which is the part the kids like!" said Pyrzak. 

RETIRED TEACHERS TO MEET IN-PERSON 

We’re back! After months of remote communications, the California Retired Teachers’ 
Association-Division 71 (CalRTA #71) is pleased to be holding an in-person meeting 
on Friday, October 14, 2022. The meeting will take place at our new location: 
Clearman’s North Woods Inn (just south of Huntington Dr.)
7247 N. Rosemead Blvd. 
San Gabriel, CA 91775 

The restaurant opens at 11:30 am, and lunch is served at 12:15 pm, with the program 
to follow at 1:00 pm. 

The cost of the lunch is $25 (including tax and tip). Lunch consists of choice of 3 
sandwiches, small salad, rice, and a beverage: coffee, iced tea, or soda. These are 
the only drinks included with the meal. The sandwich choices are Sirloin Burger, 
Chicken Breast, or Mahi Mahi. (The Chicken Breast and Mahi Mahi are both served 
open face.)
Parking is available on the north and south sides of the restaurant as well as in back. 

Please mail your check payable to CalRTA Division 71 by Wednesday, October 5 to 
John Gera, 

P.O. Box 1133, Temple City, CA 91780. His telephone number is (626) 286-0714. 
For the program, the CalRTA Board will explain the reason for the change of location 
and other matters. The place we usually meet, “The Los Angeles County Senior 
Center,” is now charging to use that facility. In trying to find a new location for our 
CalRTA meetings, the board members have faced challenges that they will explain 
to the membership at our October 14 meeting. President Rosemarie Hernandez says 
that activities will resume. Some activities are presenting Teacher Grants to classroom 
teachers and collecting Books for Court and Pop Tops for donation to Ronald 
McDonald House. 

CalRTA #71 has always been a vital, active group. Now it is time to continue in that 
way. 
Membership in the California Retired Teachers’ Association is open to retired teachers, 
current teachers, and any others that are interested in joining. We meet five times 
a year, and we welcome your membership! 

DO YOU KNOW JAZZ GUITARIST ERIC BYAC -
TALENTED MUSICIAN AND TEACHER? YOU SHOULD! 

Before this year ends, well known jazz guitarist Eric Byac will release a new album, “Tales From Hacienda de la 
Paz” which has deep Sierra Madre roots. You see, this album was the result of a chance encounter of Byac with 
local resident and business owner Tom Brady and his wife Julie who one evening decided to stop at Beantown. 
Playing that night were Eric Byak and his Brazilian flavored band members and the rest is history. Tom, impressed 
with Eric’s music asked him to create music for destinations around the world for Brady’s client American 
Express. At that time Eric was a USC School of Music major in studio guitar. And his life and music have 
been growing every since. 

After many years in association with Tom, he asked Eric to perform at his brother (John Brady’s estate) Hacienda 
de La Paz . The estate, a 55 million dollar extravaganza with architecture dating back to 10th century Andalusia 
to the present day. After Eric’s performance , he realized he had a epic composition already partially composed 
on paper that must be titled “Hacienda de la Paz. “ 
And since 2018 Byak has been hard at work completing this album. 

The album won’t be Eric’s first recorded work. In fact, he has quite the background. As a youngster, Eric caught 
the attention of actress and singer Debbie Reynolds, who invited him to perform by her side at the Burbank Starlight 
Bowl as solo guitarist. Debbie then referred Eric to an agent, who placed him on several major television 
shows: The Steve Allen Show, Rosie Grier, and Good Day LA. 

After high school, Eric received a scholarship into the USC School of Music, Studio Guitar Department. It was 
there he met legendary studio guitarist Lee Ritenour, who was recording with everyone from Barbra Streisand 
to Pink Floyd. In his masterclass and workshops, Lee introduced a new phenomenon called guitar synthesis; the 
ability to play orchestral and keyboard sounds from a guitar and Eric jumped at this innovation. “It’s pretty amazing 
to be able to instantly create any instrument on the spot, without hiring other musicians, and producers love 
the cost savings” Byak said. With this newfound ability to score music from guitar, he was contracted by executive 
producer Jon Barbour at RCA/ Columbia pictures, to score his first movie trailer “The karate kid 3”. 

Similar projects followed, including "Back to the Future", "Bird on a Wire", "Ghost Busters", "La Bamba" and the 
list goes on and on. He then began working on Disney projects including Duck Tails, Tailspin, Disney Adventures 
and an animation feature "Little Angelita", narrated by singer Gloria Estefan.
Eric Byak and his group Quantum Energy, created their latest single, "Laguna Breeze" live in front of the art 
crowd at the world famous “Pageant of the Masters Festival of the Arts". Featuring Grammy Award winner MB 
Gordy, Nathan East and Ricky Lawson are all part of the album project as well. Eric’s guitar work has been described 
as seductive, sensuous, exotic, intertwining classic jazz, breezy funk and Brazilian rhythms. 

In the LA music scene, Eric’s music has made its way to the hit TV show “This is Us”, "The Young and the Restless", 
"General Hospital" and countless other TV underscores and promos. He has been hailed as “inspiringly 
beautiful” (Paul Andersen, Glendale News Press) and “gorgeous...with grace [and] a bit of grittiness” (LA Jazz 
Scene, Myna Daniels). 

And in his spare time, he offers private lessons for young and old. He is resuming his private teaching practice 
where he teaches guitar at Bethany Christian Church, in your home or even by Zoom.
Although the pandemic caused by COVID 19 put a stumbling block in his schedule and performances for a 
while, Eric is back! Click on his website and let your ears partake of what one could say is ,”the sweetest guitar”. 


NATIONAL 988 SUICIDE 
& 
CRISIS LIFELINE 

Nationwide, people who are experiencing a mental health crisis and in 
need of immediate help are now able to dial or text 988 and receive assistance 
through the new Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number. 

A new 988 Call Center, operated by Didi Hirsch, is now taking calls coming 
into the 988 hotline in Los Angeles County. Trained operators are 
available to triage callers to receive the appropriate services, including 
suicide crisis counseling over the phone and mental health de-escalation 
counseling over the phone. In addition, they will also triage callers to determine 
when dispatching a mobile crisis team is appropriate and, in rare 
cases, connection to law enforcement when safety is of concern.