A 2-year-old legal battle between the city of Arcadia and Taboo Gentlemen's Club, a strip club, will most likely result in the club being closed or sold off by April, 2009. The federal court case started when the city revoked Taboo Gentlemen's Club's business license for breaking the city's adult business codes. The club's owners Bill Badi Gammoh and Chawkat Jajieh sued in response, claiming city and police had obstructed business and violated their civil rights. The city's adult business ordinance prohibits lap dances, sexual contact, private dance booths and direct tipping. It requires licensed dancers to perform on an elevated stage.
15-year-old Richard Ung was arrested at his parents' home in Arcadia, where sheriffs recovered nine guns, including an AK-47 assault rifle and an assault pistol. Ung is being investigated for alleged involvement in the stabbing death of Boo K. Lee.
The $16 million Arcadia Police Station building, built with bond money and city and CRA funds, is on target for completion in July. WWM Associates designed the building. Mallcraft of Altadena is the contractor and Construction Control Group is the manager of the project. The station is the first civic project constructed with bond funding.
A 19-year-old man who was killed in a house fire in Arcadia was identified as Cheng Ming Dai of San Gabriel. A 16-year-old remains in critical condition and may be arrested and charged with arson. The house was located at 130 West Longden Avenue.
A $25,000 reward has been approved for information leading to an arrest of the ecoterrorists who attacked several sports utility vehicles in the San Gabriel Valley.
25 year old Pomona man, Josh Connole, was arrested in connection with the vandalism and arson attacks on high priced SUVs and Hummers at several San Gabriel Valley dealerships.
A 51-year-old Monrovia man died on Santa Anita Avenue when his pickup truck hit a tree, just south of Colorado Boulevard. His name has not been released yet.
73-year-old Jesus Plasencia Lopez from El Monte has been arrested for a fatal hit-and-run. He allegedly drove a Saturn that hit Guey-Ying Wu and her husband Chia Wu at Santa Anita Avenue and Camino Real Avenue in Arcadia. Lopez is being held at Los Angeles County Jail on $50,000 bail.
The Administration at Arcadia High School had to institute a new policy against freak dancing or "freaking" after students got too wild at the Homecoming Dance. Freaking is a kind of dancing in which dancers grind against each other's pelvises. Students who attended the Winter Casual dance had to sign a contract "to conduct themselves appropriately both on and off the dance floor."
After 21 years with the Arcadia Unified School District, superintendent Mimi Hennessy, 63, is retiring. Her last day will be July 1, 2008, and Joel Shawn will take her place.
After a 13-hour meeting, Arcadia City Council voted unanimously to approve the outdoor mall to be built on the Santa Anita Park race track parking lot, a development known as The Shops at Santa Anita. Opponents may push a referendum and possibly file lawsuits to block the project.
After actor Mel Gibson was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol, he went into an anti-Semitic tirade. Rabbi Devora Fond of Congregation Shaarei Torah in Arcadia comments, "I believe that when you are drunk, what you truly believe comes out."
After five years of filing applications and lobbying in Washington, D C., Arcadia and Sierra Madre will share $6.5 million in federal funding to improve the earthquake safety of both cities' reservoirs.
An appeal has been made for help in locating two men, Haang Fung Chin of Arcadia, and Cheuk Lun Cheung, both missing for a month. They worked as food servers in the San Gabriel Valley.
An Arcadia family was terrorized and victimized at gunpoint in a home invasion robbery. The robbers choked the father of the family until he gave them cash and threatened to return to kill the family if they called police. The robbery occurred in the 100 block of West Forest Avenue. It is not known if this crime is related to the robbery of an elderly couple in Arcadia last week.
An elderly couple in Arcadia was robbed outside their house on the 300 block of West Duarte Road by two teenagers. The robbers took the man's wallet and his wife's wedding ring and watch.