The 4th Annual Veteran's Day Celebration took place November 11 at Arcadia County Park. Sponsored by Mike Antonovich of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. In photo, veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor James R. Wire.
5th grade students graduated from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program. Essay winners Alanna Mori and Kelsey Tallon read their essays during the program.
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"
17 students at Arcadia Alternative High School signed up as owner/operators of Medi-Kit Company, part of a 13-week Junior Achievement program sponsored by the Arcadia Rotary Club. The Medi-Kit auto safety first-aid kits sell for $8.
The 25-year-old City Council chambers will undergo its first major renovation, a project that will relocate meetings for the next few months to the Arcadia Public Library. Renovations will be completed in February.
31-year old Kwan Chow of Monterey Park was arrested for fondling a 10-year-old boy in the restroom at Dave and Buster's at Westfield Santa Anita mall on November 10, 2014.
A 47-page pamphlet on teen-age topics such as substance abuse, adolescent suicide and gangs was mailed last month to every Arcadia parent. "The Small Book of Big Issues for Arcadia Parents" was spearheaded by Foothills Middle School parent Carol Eifert.
The 65 year old statue of Hugo Reid created by Preston Prescott may be moved from Arcadia County Park to a spot between the Ruth and Charles Gilb Arcadia Historical Museum and the Arcadia Community Center. The City Council will have to approve $57,362 contract for its removal.
81 percent of area schools met their growth targets on the California state Academic Performance Index (API). However, 35 percent of West San Gabriel Valley schools failed to meet the federal accountability targets determined by Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. See chart on page A6 for Arcadia Unified School District progress.
111 City Hall employees may earn an extra $50-110 a month by walking, bicycling, carpooling, or using public transportation to work. The City Council approved the plan to satisfy South Coast Air Quality Management District regulations requiring worksites to provide incentives to employees who reduce vehicle trips to work.
About 95% of the more than 2,700 security alarms the Arcadia Police Department responded to last year turned out to be false alarms. Arcadia police Chief Bob Sanderson is asking the City Council to implement a $100 fine for a third false alarm issued in a 365-day period. A $200 fine for the fourth false alarm and $300 for the fifth and all subsequent false alarms would be part of the new ordinance that City Council will consider next month.
About 100 people, mostly members of the Arcadia Business Association, came to support the City Council's downtown design plan by displaying balloons and banners at a City Council meeting.
Actor Doris Roberts from TV's "Everybody Loves Raymond" was the keynote speaker at a conference on aging at the Arcadia Community Center. It was sponsored by the Los Angeles Commission for Woman and the County Commission on Aging.
Advocates of an ordinance advocating English as the official language for Arcadia squared off in heated debate with opponents before the Arcadia City Council.