5,133 attended the first day of inter-track wagering at Santa Anita Park where wagering was offered on racing at Del Mar. $1,069,980 was wagered on the simulcast races. Santa Anita Park is one of 10 off-track wagering satellites.
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.
22-year-old Miguel Fernandez of Arcadia was thrown from the back of a pickup truck and killed when the truck careened out of control and flipped upside down at the intersection of Del Mar Boulevard and Hill Avenue.
A 75-year-old building at 330 East Duarte Road, which was purchased as a chapel for the Wesleyan Holiness Community Chapel Church, is considered to be unsafe and "in complete disrepair" by the Arcadia Planning Commission.
According to the Arcadia Police Department's monthly activity report for the month of December, which reports statistics for the entire year, daytime burglaries increased while night burglaries decreased. Also, there were no murders, 3 rapes, 2 attempted rapes, 36 assaults with a gun and 13 arrests for indecent exposure in 1987.
According to year-end figures released by the Arcadia Police Department, the number of felonies for 1986 as compared to 1985 declined by 72, from 2857 to 2785.
Aerial photo of Charles Bluth's new home, named Peacock Manor. Under construction, the house is being built on 7 1/2 acres and will contain 24 rooms and 8 baths.
After a personal appearance before the Arcadia City Council, State Assemblyman Richard Mountjoy won his appeal to have an office in an industrially zoned office. His office will be at 214 North First Avenue.
After presentations by 3 architectural firms Tuesday night, the Arcadia City Council voted 4-1 to ask one of the companies back for further discussion on doing a master plan for the city's proposed civic center project. The proposed center would probably be located on the Huntington Drive median where the city hall and police station are now located. Mayor David Hannah indicated that this could be a long-term project, perhaps lasting as long as 20 years.
After serving 17 years as a crossing guard, 83-year-old Harry Christianson is retiring. The children at Highland Oaks honored him with a special Mr. Chris Day.
An apartment fire caused the death of a 7-year-old boy despite the efforts of bystanders. The boy's mother and sister escaped injuries. The fire apparently started with a Christmas tree.
An Arcadia man who didn't like a group of church Christmas carolers singing on his front lawn, brandished a gun at the group and threatened to kill them unless they got off his property. Police surrounded his house for an hour before he surrendered.
An evaluation team from a consortium of Southland schools has generally commended Arcadia's Highland Oaks School. The team came up with 58 commendations, 23 suggestions and 15 recommendations.
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.