Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, September 16, 2023

BEARS (continued from page 1)

City Manager Jose Reynoso says, "Our resident's 
safety remains our top priority. The City has taken 
many steps to ensure the safety of our citizens. We 
have implemented a Wildlife Management Plan, adopted 
a local ordinance prohibiting the feeding of 
wild-life, publicized hazing and preventative techniques, 
and met multiple times with Fish and Wildlife, 
have hosted workshops and have gone door to 
door with staff to educate our residents on removing 
bear attractants. We understand more work 
must be done, and we remain committed to finding 
a solution to our bear problem.” 

In addition, recent negotiations between Sierra 
Madre officials and the City’s waste hauler, Athens 
Services, have resulted in amendments to the current 
waste manage-ment agreement. Sierra Madre 
residents will receive bear-resistant waste bins or 
bar-rels as part of the negotiations. Residents will 
deposit organic and green waste in the new bear-
resistant can. Cans are expected to be delivered by 
Athens Services to every Sierra Madre customer at 
the end of October. 

 

City officials have asked citizens to report interactions 
with bears to the Sierra Madre Police Department 
at 355-1414 and also encourage residents to 
submit a Wildlife Inci-dent Report with Fish and 
Wildlife at https://apps.wildlife.ca.gov/wir/incident/
create . The City also has a dedicated email for reporting 
wildlife interactions. However, the email 
should not be used as a substitute for an emergency. 
Residents can upload im-ages and report non-emergency 
wildlife interactions at wildlife@cityofsierramadre.
com

3


Mountain View News Saturday, September 16, 2023 

WALKING SIERRA MADRE - The Social Side

by Deanne Davis


“You had me at pumpkin spice latte.”

“If loving pumpkin spice is wrong, I don’t want to be right.”

“I’m not stressed, but blessed, because I’m pumpkin obsessed.”

“I’m just a girl, standing in front of a latte, asking for it to be 
pumpkin spiced.”

“If pumpkin spice lattes make me basic, then call me basic 
and take me to Starbucks.”

“If you see me with a mug, it’s most likely filled with a pumpkin 
spice latte.”

Starbucks released the Pumpkin Spice Latte on August 23rd, 
to a horde of anxious folks who have been waiting one full 
year for this frothy delight to reappear. We, for a number 
of reasons which I cannot currently remember did not get 
down to our local Starbucks for the first PSL (Pumpkin 
Spice Latte) until yesterday. Anticipation had our mouths 
watering, our tastebuds quivering and, as we parked the car, 
we hoped the line wouldn’t be too long.

 There was no line. There was also no PSL. The Starbucks person stood slightly back from 
the counter as our mouths turned down and our frowns deepened. He looked a little anxious 
as though we might possibly become physical about his failure to satisfy our PSL craving. 
As we are gentle and kind people, we managed to smile at him and say, “OK, maybe 
next time.” He raised an apologetic hand as we turned on our collective heel and swept off.

 Back in the car, daughter, Crissy, and I quickly reached the conclusion that we were not 
giving up. It was PSL or bust! We tried another of our favorite Starbucks outlets, housed in 
an enormous grocery store and it was the same thing. “We might have some later today.” Seriously? 
This store also contains all sorts of stuff like dishes, clothes and lots of Halloween 
goodies, we wandered about, bought some apples, shorts and new placemats and decided we 
were not giving up. No, indeed! 

 Dunkin’ Donuts has been running a huge advertising campaign on television, so we decided 
to give their PSL a try. Wonder of wonders, they had them! We ordered, waited anxiously, 
mouths again watering, and looking away from the pumpkin donuts, picked up our 
PSL’s and went back to the car to devour our long-awaited treats unobserved. Delicious. But 
tepid. Sigh. We shall give our local Starbucks time to get all the ingredients for PSL’s in stock 
and try again next week.

Starbucks, Oh Starbucks,

Oh how you’ve let us down.

Disappointed us,

Frustrated us,

Annoyed us,

Brought us to the brink of unpleasantness.

We shall forgive, but not forget!

Your Pumpkin Spiceyness has now become

Obsessive!

We shall not, will not rest,

Until we have satisfied our craving, 

Quelled our longing,

Satisfied our burning desire.

And consumed a hot, frothy Pumpkin Spice Latte!

Those of you out there who don’t particularly care one way or the other about PSL’s might 
think this is a bit over-the-top, but we did want to share this adventure with you in hopes 
that it might make you smile. You probably haven’t had any trouble at all acquiring several 
PSL’s. Enjoy them, dear friends.

 I am so happy that Pumpkin Season and all the joys that accompany it is well and truly 
starting. Last week’s Mountain Views News was filled with all the fun that is about to burst 
upon us! Scarecrow kits are already available at Creative Arts Group and if you plan to 
wow the town with your incredible creation, you must register it by October 1st so that 
your scarecrow will be included on the map which will be available October 6th. You can 
check out all the amazing scarecrows between October 6th and 24th and the winners will 
be announced October 28th. Put your thinking cap on and come up with something more 
fabulous than you’ve ever done before. Sierra Madre is loaded with creative folks so this will 
be the most fun year ever.

 The Halloween Art Show exhibits will be on display downtown from October 20th to November 
4th so check that out and register online at sierramadrecivicclub.org before September 
29th. Another outlet for your creativity and an opportunity to be your most ghoulish, 
Halloweenish scary best.

 The picture this week is, of course, another pumpkin! Have a great week, friends and 
neighbors. Halloween is coming! Linus is probably already checking his pumpkins to be 
sure he has the most sincere pumpkin patch so the Great Pumpkin will visit him and bring 
him presents (Thank you, Charles Schulz and the Peanuts gang!)

Remembering 9/11: “If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is 
short and there is no time for hate.” Sandy Dahl, wife of Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl.

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

There are treasures there! Trust me! 

Including “Just Desserts” A Fall Fantasy of Pumpkins Gone Wrong!

FROM THE DESK OF FORMER MAYOR GLENN LAMBDIN

TRIFECTA: BEARS AND SOUND SCIENCE?

Last April, the Sierra Madre City Council unanimously 
adopted Resolution 23-12, Declaring the 
Mismanagement of Local Bear Populations a Threat 
To Public Safety. The Resolution even demanded 
that “the California Department of Fish and Wildlife 
(CDFW) act immediately to take any and all 
necessary actions to eliminate this threat to public 
safety.” For a few weeks, it received the attention of 
all of the local L.A. news networks and even made it 
into news sources abroad in South Korea and Great 
Britain. 

While the Resolution and demand was a bold and 
necessary move, the Resolution, unfortunately 
landed on deaf ears, resulting in a situation where 
Sierra Madre is now experiencing an unprecedented 
number of home intrusions by bears. The best we 
got from the CDFW was a written statement that 
read, “…our policies are based on sound science.” 
……but ask yourself, are they? 

What sound science justifies allowing an “exponential” 
and unmanaged increase in urbanized 
bear populations resulting in garbage scavenging 
bears, incapable of surviving in their natural wilderness 
habitat, and then telling the families living 
in well established residential neighborhoods that 
they now need to change typical human behavior 
and learn how to “coexist” with wild bears? Where 
is that science?

According to the CDFW’s literature and the three 
CDFW biologists that have made presentations to 
Sierra Madre residents, there is an identifiable evolutionary 
process that wild bears go through that 
takes them from living in the wild to a “Public Safety 
Bear” that will be captured and euthanized. The 
CDFW has identified and categorized these bears 
as they go through this evolutionary process where 
they are reduced to garbage scavengers incapable of 
surviving in the wilderness landscape and rely sole-
ly on human food sources. “No Harm No Foul Bear, 
Conflict Bear, Depredation Bear, and Public Safety 
Bear” are categories the CDFW has established and 
it should be noted that it may take several generations 
of bears to evolve from a wilderness bear to a 
Public Safety Bear. 

Being concerned and wanting to know specifically 
what “sound science” has driven the CDFW’s policies, 
I have personally asked two of the three local 
CDFW biologists what “sound science” and what 
research has the CDFW done that studies this evolutionary 
process. Additionally I have asked these 
biologists, “Considering CDFW claims that urbanized 
bears are incapable of surviving in their 
natural landscapes, where will they find food as 
residents lock their trash containers and lock their 
homes? Will the bears become more aggressive and 
start breaking into our homes or will they expand 
their urban territory and migrate downhill into the 
surrounding communities? Neither biologist could 
site any “sound science” or was aware of any such re-
search. …..and in the meantime and in the absence 
of citable re-search , CDFW is negligently telling 
residents they need to learn to “coexist.” 

Looking for that “sound science” I decided to find 
scientific research studies that examines the evolutionary 
process and what causes black bear/human 
conflicts to increase. 

The good news is that Canada has done extensive 
research to suggest events and conditions that correlate 
to increased human/bear conflicts. After 
reading through all of the academic research stylings, 
methods, models, and data sets, the researchers 
listed three major conditions that increases 
black bear aggression; Reduced spring hunting seasons, 
increased bear populations, and re-duced food 
sources. 

So what does this mean for Sierra Madre and how 
does this relate to the increasing home invasions? 
Sierra Madre, has no hunting season at all, bite #1 of 
the toxic apple. According to CDFW, the urban bear 
population is increasing “exponentially”, bite #2. In 
October, the City of Sierra Madre will implement 
a citywide locking trash-container program which 
will drastically reduce the available food sources for 
urbanized bears. Bite #3. The trifecta of doing everything 
wrong.

Of the three, the research showed that reduced food 
sources are the largest contributor to increased bear 
aggression. Its a perfect storm for a tragic event and 
one facilitated by the CDFW’s willful and reckless 
mismanagement of the bear populations in both the 
wilderness and residential neighborhoods. 

About the same time the City rolls out the new locking 
trash-container program, the bears will be entering 
their hyperfagia season where they start increasing 
their calorie intake. Last year Sierra Madre 
realized this was also the start of the increase in 
home invasions. Hyperfagia coupled with the new 
reduced food source will predictably increase the 
aggressiveness of bears and the number of home invasions. 
As mentioned earlier, we are al-ready seeing 
a substantial increase in home invasions. It will 
get worse!

Presently, Sierra Madre City Council are the only 
elected officials in L.A. County that have tried to resolve 
the failures of the CDFW’s policies. Councilmembers 
have reached out to neigh-boring Foothill 
Communities to try and form a coalition of cities 
to put pressure on Sacramento bureaucrats, but our 
neighboring cities have ignored our requests. Assemblymen 
Chris Holden has ignored requests to 
discuss solutions. Katherine Barger was unwilling 
to help with even a letter to our State Assembly to 
reconsider updating wildlife policies and addressing 
failed wildlife policies. The California Fish 
and Game Commission has ignored requests to 
even discuss and agendize the public safety threat. 
CDFW continues operate outside of sound science, 
ignores their own mission statement and policies, 
and dishonestly claims that their policy is based on 
sound science. If and when we have an-other bear 
attack, that blood is on their hands!

For those that heard the hovering helicopter and 
witnessed the home invasion and street shutdowns 
this week that started at 2AM, I would like to share 
that a source at City Hall has informed me that, at 
first, when our police department called the CDFW 
to respond to a bear in a resident’s home, CDFW 
refused to respond. It took the insistence of our police 
department with a promise to take it to a higher 
authority for CDFW to respond. This is just another 
example of CDFW’s failed wildlife mismanagement 
and unwillingness to properly address or even admit 
the extent of their failures and negligent policies. 

Sponsored by the Sierra Madre Civic ClubAll Sierra Madre 
households are invited 
to create and 
participate in a 
Halloween Art Show that 
will be displayed on 
downtown merchants’ 
windows from October 20 
through November 4, 2023.
All ages from a single 
address are welcome to 
draw or paint any 
Halloween theme on paper 
‘canvas’ delivered free to 
your front door. 
Any medium you choose 
is acceptable—crayons, 
markers, pencils, paint, 
ink are just a few ideas.
Halloween ART ShowDowntown SIERRA MADRE 
Sign up on-line at 
sierramadrecivicclub.org 
before september 29.
Deadline to return completed artwork is October 13.
YourARTWORKHERElet’s decorate 
those windows!
Your 
ARTWORKHEREYour 
ARTWORKHEREAttention 
Sierra Madre!
Be creative! 
FRIENDS OF THE SIERRA MADRE LIBRARY BEST USED BOOK SALE 
SILENT AUCTION OF COLLECTIBLE BOOKS

 The Friends of the Sierra Madre Library announce they are sponsoring 
a Silent Auction of unusual books and magazines held from Friday, 
September 1-20, 2023 inside the Sierra Madre Library. The books may 
be viewed in the display case in the main room and will be available for 
closer inspection on Wednesday, September 6 from 7:00-7:45p.m., Saturday, 
September 16 from 2:00-2:45 p.m., and Wednesday, September 
20 from 6:30-7:15 p.m. 

 Featured in the Silent Auction will be Julius Shulman’s iconic photographs; 
R. C. Gorman’s stunning paintings; John Steinbeck’s THE 
MOON IS DOWN; the cookbook CELEBRATING WITH JULIENNE; 
Bernhardt Wall’s FOLLOWING ABRAHAM LINCOLN; INK & 
PAINT: The Women of Walt Disney’s Animation; James Christensen’s 
imaginative artwork; Hokusai’s beautiful prints of Japan; Annie Leibovitz’s 
life in photographs; Bill Watterson’s THE COMPLETE CALVIN 
AND HOBBES; sold together two books featuring the animation artwork 
for HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (1&2); Leo Politi’s JUANITA; 
and Robert McClosky’s MAKE WAY FOR DRAGONS.

 Bidding sheets and auction rules will be available in a Friends of the 
Library notebook, accessible on the checkout counter. Each book or set 
will be numbered and has a corresponding numbered bid sheet in the 
notebook. Bidders are asked to write their bids on the bid sheets with a contact phone number. Thirty minutes 
before the end of the auction on the last day, Wednesday, September 20, 2023, the bid sheets will be 
removed from the notebook and placed on a table in the library for last minute bids. The bidding will close 
promptly at 7:15 p.m. Winning bidders will be notified the next day and will then be able to pick up their 
purchases at the library within the next 10 days.

FFrriieennddss ooff tthhee SSiieerrrraa MMaaddrree 
LLiibbrraarryy 
Best Used Book Sale Silent Auction of 
Collectible Books 
This sale is sponsored by the Friends of the Sierra Madre Public Library. All proceeds will be used to 
support programs, services and acquisitions for the library. 
Silent Auction to take place September 1-20 inside the Library. The books may be viewed in the display 
case in the main room and will be available for closer inspection on Wednesday, September 6 from 
7:00-7:45p.m., Saturday, September 16 from 2:00-2:45 p.m., and Wednesday, September 20 from 6:30-
7:15 p.m. 
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