County supervisors called a halt to a plan to merge the Department of Arboreta and Botanic Gardens with the county Museum of Natural History because the county's Economy and Efficiency Commission has not made sufficient progress on it and because the board needs to replace recently retired arboreta department head Francis Ching.
The Arcadia Rotary Club awarded grants totaling $4,990 to 17 teachers at the February 13 Arcadia Board of Education meeting. Grants ranging from $175 to $300 were given to individual teachers to help with special classroom projects. The teachers represented 5 of the 6 Arcadia elementary schools, all 3 junior high schools and both Arcadia and Huntington high schools.
Burton Wallace Smith graduated Wednesday from Huntington High School with kudos from the President of the United States. The program at Huntington High School allowed Smith to complete classwork and take tests at his own pace.
Dennis Eck has been promoted from vice chairman and chief operating officer to President of Vons Co. He replaces Bill Davila, who officially retired as president of the company.
The Asian Pacific American Legal Center, which recently persuaded Temple City, Rosemead and Garden Grove to stop restricting the use of foreign languages on business signs, has requested a change in the Arcadia city ordinance that allows only 1/3 of the area of a sign to be in a foreign language. The new ordinance is more restrictive than the law that was deemed unconstitutional in Pomona in 1989 which required at least 50% of a sign to be written in the Roman alphabet.
R. James Considine, selected by the California State University Alumni Council from a field of 14 candidates from around the state, is the new alumni trustee for the governing board of the CSU system.
A policy aimed at preventing gang activity in schools was introduced at Monday's Board of Education meeting. If approved, the policy would prohibit students from dressing like gang members.
The Board of Education has approved a new after-school child care program to be conducted by the Santa Anita Family branch of the YMCA at the Holly Avenue Elementary School Youth Hut. About 20 children have been enrolled in the program, which can accommodate up to 35.
Mary Bittner, 79, is retiring from the Arcadia Welfare and Thrift Shop after 33 years on the governing board and 4 years as welfare director. Ms. Bittner will move to a retirement community in San Luis Obispo.
23 "heroes and heroines" in the Arcadia Unified School District were honored by the Board of Education in the first "Profiles in Excellence" awards. The awards were presented to "individuals who maintain a standard of excellence in their work and who represent those values and qualities which make Arcadia a special place for students." Names and positions of winners are given.
Film companies must gather approval signatures of all neighbors within 100 ft. of residential film sites under a rule approved by the City Council last week.
A group of parents plans to ask the school board to cancel the performance of the play "Secrets" at Foothill Junior High since it addresses the issues of AIDS and birth control without, as they see it, meeting state education guidelines because it does not stress abstinence from intercourse as an alternative.
Vons Market, which operates 328 grocery stores in Southern California, has moved its corporate headquarters from El Monte to Michillinda Avenue, between Sunset Boulevard and Huntington Drive. The 240,000 square foot building, a former May Co. store that closed in January 1989, will house 950 Vons employees.
A request from a group of parents that the play "Secrets", dealing with AIDS and birth control, be cancelled at Foothills Junior High has been unanimously denied by the Arcadia Board of Education. Sponsored by Kaiser Permanente and performed throughout the state, the play was requested by parents at the junior high level after it was shown last year at Arcadia High School.
William Howard "Bill" Lewis, 50, a longtime Arcadia resident and community leader, died Friday at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia following a heart attack.