An international businessman was abducted from his Arcadia home and later released the same evening after his abductors demanded he pay them $1 million. He was told that he would be contacted the next day with instructions about where to put the money, but no money has been paid. This is the first kidnapping of this type in Arcadia, although there have been four other kidnappings in the San Gabriel Valley since last October.
One robbery was foiled at Arcadia's Southland Bank, but earlier the same day another man got away with just over $1,000 from the First Interstate Bank on South Baldwin Ave.
Sam and Louise LaCorte have collected 24,671 signatures from people opposed to the parole of Richard Lanill Johnson, the man who killed their daughter. Johnson was convicted of shooting and killing Catherine LaCorte and Robert Morton in the foothills above Arcadia on February 11, 1976.
Both the Board of Education and the City Council have denied $1.5 million in claims against them filed by Mr. & Mrs. Paul J. O'Brien, parents of Timothy Sean O'Brien who was struck and killed by an automobile as he was crossing Campus Drive last November 6th.
Rev. Dr. James R. McCormick is leaving his post as minister at the Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist. He is going into private enterprise at the management level. Biographical notes included.
Howard Jarvis, the father of Proposition 13, spent an hour in Arcadia, knocking down the "straw man" arguments he said were being put up against the property tax initiative. Prop. 13 would reduce property taxes in California to 1 percent of what market value was in 1975-1976, plus whatever is necessary to pay off current bonded indebtedness. A 2 percent annual inflation rate is written into the constitutional amendment.
Extensive biographical article on Don Hage, who is running for the 61st Assembly district seat. Also included are his positions on what he thinks will be the key issues.
Risto Milosevich, an Arcadia resident for many years, now living in El Toro, is due to receive the Medal of Honor. Milosevich and the other men in his platoon held off a force of German soldiers for 18 hours in December, 1944.
Arcadia resident Ed Honeywell has plans to build a backyard solar still to produce alcohol from lawn clippings. He intends to mix the alcohol with gasoline to produce fuel for his car. All of these plans depend on Honeywell obtaining proper licensing for the still.
An Arcadia man with a rare neurological condition, David Ireland has authored a book entitled "Letter to an Unborn Child." These reflect compassion and understanding and were written to his child in the event he did not live.
Lowery McCaslin, owner of Anoakia, has asked that his application for a general plan change for the property be withdrawn. He has been working with a local builder who has a good feel for the area and would like to develop the property at a density of 2.4 homes per acre. Late in this same meeting, the council voted to change the zoning on the estate to match the existing general plan. What this might do to future McCaslin plans is not clear.
The 14-year-old son of Arcadia real estate developer Charles Bluth shot and killed one of 2 intruders who had broken into the Bluth home in the exclusive Whispering Pines neighborhood.
The Juvenile Diversion Program, a Federally funded group of which Arcadia is a part, seeks to divert students who have been in minor problems from the courts and sent them to counseling and treatment. The program has come in for heavy criticism recently due to high administrative costs.
A witness in the preliminary hearing of Brian Lawrence Snoke states that he was "going out to shoot these people" the morning that Scott Hutson, Christina Young and Robert Green were killed.