This person is enjoying a beautiful morning in Downtown Pomona.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
July 4th Celebration Canceled This Year in Diamond Bar
The city announced that they are suspending festivities in 2013 since they don't have a place that will work for setting off the fireworks.
"Fourth of July Blast was first held in 2001, and moved to Diamond Bar High School in 2006 when outgrew its original location at Sycamore Canyon Park," a press release from the city states. "Due to construction work at the high school, last year’s event was held at Lorbeer Middle School."
"Both Diamond Bar High School and Lorbeer Middle schools are currently undergoing construction and therefore unavailable for this year’s event," the release said.
According to city officials, staff looked into another seven possible sites for the event, but none of them would pan out.
“Because pyrotechnics are involved, special care needs to be taken to ensure that the event site accommodates safe spectator areas, as well as adequate firework lighting and fallout zones,” the city’s Director of Community Services Bob Rose said. “The seven sites we evaluated did not meet these requirements."
"We look forward to bringing back Fourth of July next year in time for our year-long series of events planned to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Diamond Bar’s incorporation as a City," Rose added.
Patch is told that approximately 9,000 people normally attend the event.
This cancelation will save the city more than $50,000, according to a city council agenda, which indicates $46,800 (plus Sheriff’s Department costs of about $9,175) were spent on the fireworks show in 2012.
City council approved the cancellation after the Community Services Department- along with pyrotechnic specialists- "scouted" Diamond Bar for potential event sites, and turned up empty handed, according to city spokeswoman Cecilia Arellano.
Here are the seven alternatives that were discussed, and what the city discovered upon their scouting:
- AQMD West Parking Lot (Viewing Area)
Shooting Area and Fallout Zone: Roof of City Hall / City Hall Parking Lot and Copley Drive
Comments: Tall trees in viewing area and adjacent to shooting area could make viewing difficult. Viewing area on asphalt during hot weather could add to viewer discomfort. Also, there are no homes within easy walking distance of City Hall. An alternative provided by Pyro Spectaculars representatives is to shoot smaller shells from the roof of City Hall. For a variety of reasons, including concern for the new solar panels on the roof, staff does not recommend shooting fireworks from the roof of City Hall. - Diamond Bar Center
Shooting Area and Fallout Zone: Parking lot east of Diamond Bar Center. Viewing area from the grass fields at Summit Ridge Park.
Comments: Lack of adequate parking for spectators and long distances to shuttle lots will create a logistical challenge accommodating a large crowd. Also, dry brush on slopes adjacent to shooting area makes this site hazardous. There is a private rental scheduled for the DBC on July 4, so if this site is selected, the rental will have to be cancelled. Agenda # Study Session Meeting Date: 2/5/2013 - Sycamore Canyon Park (Viewing Area)
Shooting Area and Fallout Zone: Diamond Bar Golf Course
Comments: Sycamore Canyon Park is much too small to host the Fireworks Show now. Attendance has about doubled since last held at this park in 2005. - YMCA / Pony Baseball Fields
Shooting Area and Fallout Zone: Vacant lot across flood control channel in City of Industry (west of YMCA building) Viewing area from grass fields at YMCA / Pony Baseball Fields.
Comments: The vacant lot proposed by Pyro Spectaculars representatives as the shooting area is usually covered with 3-feet tall dry weeds in July, making the site unusable for fireworks. - Mt. Calvary / Lorbeer Middle School
Shooting Area and Fallout Zone: Mt. Calvary Parking lot and grass field
Comments: Viewing area from grass football field at Lorbeer. Pyro Spectaculars representatives determined the shooting area and fallout zone available at Mt. Calvary is too small. - Pantera Park / Pantera Elementary School
Shooting Area and Fallout Zone: Pantera Elementary School Viewing area from grass fields at Pantera Park.
Comments: Too much dry brush on slopes adjacent to shooting area makes this site too hazardous. - Heritage Park / Castle Rock Elementary School
Shooting Area and Fallout Zone: Heritage Park Viewing area from grass fields at Castle Rock Elementary.
Comments: Pyro Spectaculars representatives determined the shooting area and fallout zone available at Heritage Park is too small.
Cal Poly Pomona Business Students Offering Free Tax Prep
The service is available to those who 2012 gross yearly income was $51,000 or less and appointments are not needed. Also, many of the student volunteers speak other languages such as Spanish to better assist non-English speakers.
Student volunteers must pass the rigorous Internal Revenue Service examinations to participate. Accounting Professor Bill Foley who has more than 30 years of experience working as a certified public accountant will oversee the students with the assistance of enrolled agents, professional tax preparers who have credentials with the IRS.
In order to get the most out of the free service, clients should arrive at least an hour before closing and bring all necessary documents including identification cards, W-2 forms and social security cards for all household members. For more information on the type of documents to bring, visit https://cba.csupomona.edu/acc/vita_req.aspx.
San Dimas Man Shoots, Kills Pitbull Attacking Horse
Authorities were notified of the attack in the area of Foothill Boulevard and Walnut Avenue at 8:58 a.m., said Lt. David Vega of the sheriff's San Dimas station."
"They knocked her off the horse and took the horse down,'' Vega said.
"One of them latched onto the horse's upper leg and locked on. She (the rider) suffered a few scrapes."
Vega said the man fired some shots from the .22- caliber rifle into the pit bull, breaking the dog's lock on the horse's leg and killing it.
The extent of the horses' injuries were not immediately known. Animal control workers arrived and took the other dog into custody. The dogs may have come from a local residence or pit bull rescue, the sheriff's lieutenant said. The shotgun-wielding man was not cited or arrested for the shooting.
Memorial Service Planned Sunday for Monica Quan and Her Fiance
Quan, a Walnut High School alum, and Lawrence met when they were students and basketball players at Concordia University.
Sunday's service is " going to be extremely tough," said Tim Preuss, Concordia's dean of arts and science, who met Quan and Lawrence when he was the university's athletic director.
"Monica and Keith were both great students, great leaders and both were really talented athletes as well," Preuss said.
"They were widely known, dearly loved. We're still trying to wrap our heads around this senseless tragedy that took them so quickly and unexpectedly."
Quan started her coaching career at Concordia as she worked on her master's degree in coaching and athletic administration.
Most first-year coaches stay in the background, but that wasn't Quan's style, Preuss told City News Service.
"Usually a new kid on the block young coach stays in the background," Preuss said. 'But that wasn't Monica. She wasn't a pushy person, but she was really intense."
Assistant coaches usually stay seated through a game, but Quan was often on her feet, Preuss said.
"The ref will give a head coach a little latitude, but here's Monica, a first-year graduate assistant, she's on her feet, stomping on the floor because some kid's not doing what they were supposed to or she didn't like the ref's call," Preuss said.
Preuss also recalled the time Lawrence "made an incredible 3-point shot to extend a game into a fourth overtime, which we ended up winning." A clip of that shot on YouTube was often played on television newscasts following the couple's slaying Feb. 3.
"He was just one of those people who was a fierce competitor on the court, but off court he was so friendly, so genial," Preuss said.
Although they were star athletes they didn't act like it, Preuss said.
"A lot of time you get star basketball players --and it doesn't matter the size of the university -- they're so full of themselves," Preuss said. "But that was never Keith. He was always approachable, humble and kind."
Preuss also fondly remembered how Quan's parents would come to all of the team's games. Her mother would cook a big meal for the team once a year, he said.
"That's rare these days," Preuss said. "It's rare that they embraced the whole team as part of an extended family."
Lawrence graduated from the Ventura County Sheriff's Academy and joined USC's Department of Public Safety in August.
Quan was in her second season at Cal State Fullerton after two seasons as an assistant coach at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
Quan, a star athlete at Walnut High, played basketball at Cal State Long Beach from 2003-05 before transferring to Concordia University, where she graduated in 2007 with a degree in exercise and sports science. In 2009, she earned a master's degree.
Quan, 28, and Lawrence, 27, were found shot to death at 9:10 p.m. Feb. 3 in his parked car at 2100 Scholarship. Police suspect it was a revenge- killing. Quan's father, a retired LAPD captain, represented Dorner at a Board of Rights hearing that led to his firing.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Mar 02, 2013
Muay Thai World Stand Off
Location :Fairplex Expo Hall 9Chike Lindsay has a career fight record of 21-2 with accomplishments such as the USMTA Super Welterweight World Title, WKA Super Welterweight North American Title, and WBC Muay Thai Super Welterweight International Title just to name a few.
Somluck Kamsing has a career fight record of 68-8 with accomplishments such as an Olympic Gold Medal, Rajadamnern Stadium Champion, and Hiroki Ishii Titans 1st Kitakyushu Japan Champion.
Now with the contracts officially signed the countdown to World Stand Off begins! The goal for PKP has been and will always be to take Muay Thai to new heights and we continue to make progress in doing so. The upcoming full fight card is stacked with several of the biggest names in the industry but is yet to be revealed. PKP is changing the game and the game is about to get interesting.
For more information and to buy tickets, please click here.
Express Lanes on I-10 to Open Saturday
The ExpressLanes stretch along the 10 Freeway between the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway and Union Station/Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles. The toll system will go into effect at midnight.
"We've got the worst traffic in the United States of America," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. "We've got to have a lot of tools in the toolbox to address congestion in this region. We've got to be smarter with respect to the way we use our freeways."
All motorists who use the ExpressLanes must have a transponder in their vehicle and have an active account. Carpooling motorists will not be charged for using the lanes, but still must have a transponder. A switch on the transponder lets the system know if drivers are carpooling or driving alone.
A carpool is considered two or more people most of the day, but carpools must have three or more during rush hours to avoid the toll.
Motorists who open ExpressLanes FasTrak accounts and obtain transponders for their cars will be charged between 25 cents and $1.40 per mile, depending on traffic. If traffic slows to below 45 mph in the lanes, solo drivers will be alerted via digital signs and barred from entering.
The ExpressLanes are the area's second foray into toll roads. In November, an 11-mile stretch of toll lanes opened on the Harbor (110) Freeway between the Harbor Gateway Transit Center in the Gardena area and Adams Boulevard near downtown Los Angeles.
According to Metro, more than 100,000 transponders have been issued since last summer.
Backers of the program say the toll lanes are beneficial to all motorists because they redistribute traffic across all lanes of the freeway.
To get a transponder, drivers need to open an account with a minimum of $40 for customers who use a credit or debit card. Drivers opening an account with cash or a check will have to pay a $25 deposit for the transponder and start with a minimum balance of $50.
Subsidies are available for Los Angeles County families of three with an annual income at or below $37,060.
The $290 million ExpressLanes project was funded in part by a $210 million federal grant.
Friday, February 22, 2013
FUNERAL: Torres fundraiser coincides with MacKay services
MacKay’s funeral at the San Manuel Amphitheater, attended by several thousand people, also was in the 32nd.
A leading candidate in next month’s special election for the 32nd was elsewhere: at a Capitol-area restaurant raising money for her Senate campaign.
Assemblyman Norma Torres, D-Pomona, held a $1,250-a-ticket lunchtime fundraiser that took place as, some 400 miles away, law enforcement colleagues and others eulogized MacKay as a hero who gave his life during a shootout with fugitive Christopher Dorner in the San Bernardino Mountains.
[UPDATE 6:30 P.M.: The Torres campaign released a statement saying the lawmaker should have been at MacKay's funeral. Here's the statement:
"Norma Torres should have been at the funeral for Detective Jeremiah MacKay. Clearly a scheduling error was made, for which Assembly member Torres is profoundly regretful. As a former 9-1-1 Emergency Dispatcher, Norma Torres feels a deep kinship with the law enforcement community and she extends her deepest sympathies to Officer MacKay’s family and to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department for their tragic loss."]
Attorney General Kamala Harris, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and CHP Commissioner Joseph Farrow were among those who attended Thursday’s services.
Torres, a Los Angeles police dispatcher elected to the Assembly in 2008, is one of four Democrats running to succeed former state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, in the 32nd following Negrete McLeod’s November election to Congress.
The others are Ontario Councilman Paul Vincent Avila, retired teacher Joanne Gilbert, and San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller Larry Walker. Two Republicans also are on the ballot: Ontario Mayor Paul Leon and Pomona planning commissioner Kenny Coble.
The Dorner manhunt and the four deaths linked to him have received nationwide coverage. Torres, though, was the second Inland lawmaker to hold a Sacramento fundraiser at the same time as ceremonies honoring Dorner’s law enforcement victims.
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