altadenablog

Hearing held on hit & run

A pre-trial hearing was scheduled for Altadenan Hal Moore, 53, on Tuesday.  Moore was arrested at his home after allegedly leaving the scene of an accident at Hill St. and Washington Blvd. in Nov. 2006 that killed Bertha Vasqez Arias, 30, and injured two others.  According to witnesses, Moore's SUV ran a red light that caused a three-vehicle accident.  Pasadena Now has it all.

Alleged Blair gunman is Altadena teen

... or so says PSN reporter Molly R. Okeon in a story posted on their website this afternoon.  In a hearing earlier today, a Pasadena police detective said that the teen was looking for another Blair student who had slapped his face two days before.  (The whole incident created a day-long lockdown of Blair on Feb. 29.) The teenager, whose name is being withheld, is being charged with one felony count of making criminal threats with special allegations of a minor possessing a handgun and the crime being committed in furtherance of a street gang.  Check the link for details.

Community forum on gangs March 25

The Altadena Sheriff's community advisory committee will hold a community forum spotlighting local gang activity on March 25, from 7-9 p.m. in the Altadena Community Center, 750 E. Altadena Drive. A presentation by Capt. Roosevelt Blow and Sgt. Al Pelaez will be followed by a question and answer session.  For more information, contact the station community relations office, (626)296-2103 or (626)296-2104.

Charter school may be on chopping block tonight

PSN's Carolyn An has a story today about tonight's PUSD board meeting.  The board will review the facilities requests of four Altadena-based charter schools:  Aveson (1919 E. Pinecrest, former Noyes), Odyssey (725 W. Altadena Dr., former Audobon Elementary and LInda Vista relocation site), Nia Educational and Rhythms of the Village (both at 119 W. Palm, former Edison School).

Rhythms in particular is facing a hard time because of its finances and lack of enrollment.  The PUSD board's staff report is recommending that the board reject Rhythm's request for space. 

Sierra Club hike to Owen Brown gravesite March 15

Noted local historian Elizabeth Pomeroy will lead a hike on March 15 up El Prieto Canyon to the site of the Brown cabin and Owen Brown gravesite at Little Round Top.  The new trail to the gravesite was recently completed, and description of the hike (auspices of the Sierra Club) is as follows:

Hike to Little Round Top-Moderately easy 5 mile, 800' gain hike along
Arroyo Seco tributary to home site of Owen and Jason Brown (sons of John
Brown of Harper's Ferry fame) and gravesite of Owen. Learn about history
of early mountain settlers and their impact on forest habitat. Newcomers
welcome. Meet 9:00 am W end of Altadena Dr in NW Altadena (exit 210 Fwy
at Lincoln Ave, go N 1.5 miles to Altadena Dr, W to end). Bring water,
lunch, and hiking boots for stream crossings. Rain cancels. Contact
Elizabeth  Pomeroy ewpomeroy@aol.com

Altadena Trails meeting ...

at the Community Center, 7 p.m. Tuesday March 11.

Food co-op discussion, Coffee Gallery 3/12 @ 11:30 a.m.

After the fire at the old Washington Mutual bank, several of the local newsgroups have been discussing possible new uses (including an expansion of the Ralphs next door, which may or may not happen).  Some of the discussion has involved establishing a local food co-op. 

Finally, someone has taken the bull by the horns, and sent this message. (Nut graf: meeting at Coffee Gallery, 11:30 a.m. Wednesday March 12):

Time to worry about next school year already!

If you have a new student in Pasadena Unified, it's time to prepare!  This from PUSD:

From March 17 through March 28, the Pasadena Unified School District will hold new student registration and the annual Kindergarten Roundup for students wishing to enroll in PUSD for Fall 2008. Parents with children who will be five years of age by December 2, 2008, and are residents of Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre should register their children directly at their neighborhood school.

Kindergarteners who register by March 28 will receive a special “Kinder Readiness Prep Package” that will help them prepare for kindergarten. Because many PUSD schools are seeing increased test scores, families are encouraged to register early to be guaranteed a space in their neighborhood school. Proof of residency, age and a current immunization record are required. Families participating in the Open Enrollment process will also register during the same time period. After March 28, if spaces are available at schools, families will be accepted from the Open Enrollment wait lists. After May 9, wait lists will not be maintained and students will have the opportunity to register only at their neighborhood school.

Families are encouraged to use the School Locator found on the PUSD website at www.pusd.us to locate their neighborhood school.

Porn king indicted in Florida

Another "interesting neighbor" story -- we knew this guy plyed his, uh, trade here in town and have been resolutely ignoring him in favor of real news.  But not now -- Max Hardcore's under indictment on federal obscenity charges.

(His real name is Paul Little.  Feel free to make up your own joke here.)

"Who are the people in your neighborhood? ..."

A tipster just told Altadenablog that tonight someone is moving into what was until Monday the Pederast Hilton hotspot for high-risk sexual criminals on Risinghill Road. It could be entirely above board, legitimate, and innocent, of course -- the new neighbors could be absolutely delightful -- but our tipster is concerned that the last perv moved out on Monday and tonight -- some five days later -- a moving truck pulled up at 8 p.m. and is unloading in the darkness.  Meadows residents will no doubt be very interested in their new neighbors.

Star-News lays off Altadena reporter

Dean Singleton's Los Angeles News Group (which publishes the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Whittier Daily News, San Bernardino Sun, among others) has followed the lead of the Los Angeles Times by cutting staff and thus reducing the chance of actual news getting in the way of the ads.  Gary Scott (of reporter-g blog) carries a list of the dead, including Elise Kleeman.  A Caltech grad, Kleeman's beat included science, her alma mater, JPL, and Altadena. Most recently, she filed great stories on the rise and fall of the Pederast Hilton. No word on who will cover Altadena now, or if it will even by covered by our Denver-owned hometown paper.

Foothill Cities blog waxes eloquently:

Perhaps the greatest loss will be this area’s ever-weakening grasp of history. A couple of weeks ago, one of the founders of the Valley, Bill Temple, passed away just short of his 104th birthday. He had run packing companies in Covina and La Verne, and sat on the valley water board for a half-century. Yes, 50 years.

The Singleton media jalopy made barely a mention of what should have been front-page news. And that was before these most recent cuts.

So, what will be left? High school football and basketball stories, wrapped by the occasional shooting spree, all of which will be hard to find in the jumble of ads.

Of course, the ads will soon thin, as nobody will have any motivation to buy the remaining excuse for content.

Picture shows Singleton (in black) explaining the watchdog role of a free press to a threatening government official.

Stationary, scrapbooking, video -- and now a blog

Webster's -- one of Altadena's oldest businesses, an institution in this town, you've been there -- has joined blogland!

Altadenans return from haj

LA TImes follows up with locals Raef and Ellen Hajjali about their trek to Mecca, with great pictures and something new we hadn't heard of: "haj flu."

Perv palace: now that they're out, where DO they go?

SGVT/PSN's Elise Kleeman follows up on the evacuation of the six sex offenders from Risinghill Road in the Meadows.  The lingering question is:  now that they're out of MY neighborhood, where exactly do we put them?  Here's the best quote, from a man with a thankless job:

The men were moved in part because of threats made against them, said Gordon Hinkle, deputy press secretary for the Department of Corrections ...

Poor babies!  We all KNOW they have a hard time dealing with somebody their own size ...

Hat tip ....

... to Publius and Centinel of the essential Foothill Cities Blog for recognizing our meager efforts even as they are complimenting another blog!   (Please note: there is absolutely no catblogging at Altadenablog!)

4000!

That's our number of page hits to date.  Thank you!

PUSD fails Rhythms' methods

Rhythms of the Village charter school got a five page letter from Pasadena Unified School District, scolding them for underenrollment, lack of textbooks, and holding naptime during classtime.  The school must also provide financial records and a financial recover plan.  Rhythms exec director Onochie Chukwurah says he can refute the letter point-by-point and will provide all the documents by next week. Rhythms of the Vilage shares a campus at the old Edison school with another troubled charter school, Nia Educational Charter School.  PSN has everthing.