Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, February 18, 2017

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2017

SECTION B

AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

COFFEE AND CONVERSATION WITH A COP

AND MUCH MORE!

SUPERVISOR BARGER SEEKS FULL RISK 
ASSESSMENT OF COUNTY DAMS AND SPILLWAYS 
IN LIGHT OF OROVILLE DAM EMERGENCY


By Joan Schmidt

 Recently, MAD Town Council Member Linda 
Sells and I attended the “Coffee and Conversation 
with a Cop” at the Arcadia Elks Lodge- a great 
event. After a short overview, I’ll write about their 
K-9, Zoli.

 First VERY SPECIAL THANKS to Mike Vercillo, 
CSO, Arcadia Police Department who not only 
orchestrates these great events, but attends both 
the Arcadia Chamber’s monthly forum meeting 
and the MAD Town Council Meeting, sharing 
crime news/trends, APD’s activities and important 
safety tips.

 Elks Lodge provided the great free breakfast-
attended by 200. In addition to Zoli and his 
handler, Officer Foulkes, Chief Guthrie, Captain 
Foley and a few officers attended and were 
available to answer questions/concerns. A GREAT 
display table had information flyers, such as “What 
is Suspicious”- (Activities that could be a crime), 
“Personal Safety”, “Pedestrian Safety Rules” , 
important phone numbers and various websites. 
One flyer was “What to tell the Police When I Call 
and HOW to give a good description. Please visit 
http://www.ci.arcadia.home . 

 Arcadia PD Lt. Colleen Flores shared the 
following information about Zoli, Officer Foulks 
and their training. I had no idea of how extensive 
it was.

 Two year old Zoli is half German shepherd, half 
Belgian Mallinois, born in Slovakia and trained at 
a local facility. Many commands were taught prior 
to coming to the US and many were also taught 
at a local facility before Officer Foulks attended 
training with the K-9. 

 Officer Foulkes and Zoli attended a five-week 
K9 Basic Patrol Handler’s Course in Oct-Nov, 
2016. The focus of the course is to train the handler 
and the dog how to work effectively as a team. Here 
are some but not limited to Obedience, off and on 
leash; Obstacle course; Evidence Search; Call-off; 
Building Search; Area Search; Wind Scenting; High 
Risk Traffic Stops; Out of the Patrol Unit; Handler 
Protection; Muzzle Exercises, Legal updates and 
Opinions, and Problem Solving.

 Additional training included narcotics 
detection. Not all K9’s are trained in both basic 
patrol operations and narcotics detection. Zoli is 
cross=trained for both. This includes but is not 
limited to Narcotics Alerts, Vehicles, Residences, 
Luggage, Mall Packages, Open Area, Legal Updates 
and Opinions.

 The K9 Training is on-going and sometimes 
with other agencies. It has been twelve years since 
Arcadia Police Department had a Canine Program 
and funding for Zoli and his training was made 
though the Arcadia Police Foundation.

 In addition to a great breakfast, demonstration 
and learning, we saw various friends- the Orswells, 
Shimins and Harbichts-surely we’ll see you at the 
next Coffee and Conversation with a Cop.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY – At Tuesday’s Board 
of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Kathryn Barger 
will introduce a motion directing county agencies to 
conduct a comprehensive investigation to determine 
any potential threats to public safety in the county’s 
system of dams, spillways and other water collection 
and diversion assets. 
Barger, who represents the district with highest 
number of dams and other drainage facilities, said, 
“the Oroville situation reminds us of the need to 
proactively evaluate our county’s risk with regard to 
dams and other facilities which may be prone to failure 
from storms, earthquakes or other foreseeable events.” 

 Additionally, Barger’s motion will instruct the 
Department of Public Works to work with other 
county agencies as well as State and Federal partners 
to develop a list of priority infrastructure projects by 
district.


RAISED BED GARDENING


Do you grow food in raised garden beds? So do 
we! After installing and maintaining hundreds of 
raised bed gardens, we’d like to think we’ve learned 
a thing or two by now. 

Join us for a workshop that will cover picking 
the right soil for your raised bed, manual and 
automatic irrigation techniques, garden planning, 
and seasonal growing tips to help you achieve 
abundant harvests in your vegetable garden! 

www.farmscapegardens.com 

Raised Bed Gardening

Saturday, February 25, 2017

10am-12noon

Matthew Geldin, of Farmscape

$25 members; $35 per non-member

(includes Arboretum admission)

Reservations are preferred: 

Please call 626.821.4623 or pay at the door


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