A 13-year-old girl named Susan Wiley was reportedly a prisoner in her home for all of her life until a social worker discovered the child abuse. Susan's parents Clark Wiley and Irene Wiley were arrested. The family home is at 6722 Golden West Avenue, in a county area of Arcadia. Susan Wiley was living in an environment of total isolation and deprivation and was malnourished. She cannot talk, is deformed, barely able to walk and is not toilet trained. She has been placed in the care of Children's Hospital. The child has come to be known by the alias "Genie." See hard copy in VF Wiley, Susan aka "Genie"
After 2 months of classes, enrollment for Arcadia schools is down 400 from last year at this time. The only enrollment increase has been in grades 4-6.
After months of work, 25 Arcadia Rotarians, Rotaryanns and friends formed a Christmas caravan, carrying more than 350 gifts and better than 800 pounds of food, clothing and shoes to 227 orphans in Tijuana, Mexico.
Almost $3,000,000 was tentatively awarded three foothill cities from the Federal government under the Public Works and Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976, but Arcadia was not included. Arcadia's request for $2,018.400 was denied.
An addition to the High School Little Theater has been approved for a bid of $67,350. The addition will be used for set design, etc. The $20,000 cost increase over what had been tentatively set did not please the School Board.
An association of various discontented areas seeking to secede from Los Angeles County has been formed, but the San Gabriel Valley has not yet joined. The six proposed counties are: San Fernando Valley, Canyon, Chumash, Santa Monica, South Bay and Peninsula.
An extensive biography of George Watts, who has been named acting City Manager, succeeding Lyman Cozad who left to become manager of the League of California Cities.
Anoakia annexation by Arcadia effort underway. Because of a law change, the major landholder can no longer determine an area's status. On January 21, 1975, a petition was presented signed by 33 registered voters in the area around Anoakia.
Approximately 110 slides depicting Arcadia's history have been made into a slide show and are now available to check out along with a written narration.
Approximately 147 students who have attended Hugo Reid will be transferred to Holly Avenue next year if the proposal is passed by the school board. The transfer and boundary change are designed to alleviate over-crowding at Hugo Reid.
The Arboretum has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the Institute of Museum Services. The money will be used for a computerized system to inventory and store information on the Arboretum's plant collection.
Arcadia, along with other Foothill communities, received allotments from the Southern California Association of Governments for the purpose of building bicycle paths. Arcadia's share amounted to $8884.
Arcadia, along with several other communities in the San Gabriel Valley, face termination of animal control services now rendered by the San Gabriel Valley Humane Society. This agency will discontinue services as of June 30, 1978.
The Arcadia City Council ignored a request from the Arcadia Tax Reform Committee to vote again on taxes approved in June, 1978, following passage of Proposition 13.
Arcadia Finance Director, Charles Reiman, announced a 10.2% increase in the operating budget of the city of Arcadia for 1979-80. This was the first of 2 public hearings on the budget.