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Monterey Park & West ValleyJune 15, 2013

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Voters to Cast Ballots July 2 To Hand Off Fire Department to County

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ElectionCountdown

RosemeadOkays NewBudget

The Rosemead City Council approved a nearly $36 million budget for fiscal year 2013-14 at its Tuesday night meeting (June 12).

The budget was balanced for the fifth year in a row, said City Manager Jeff Allred. Balancing the budget also im-pressed Mayor Polly Low.

“At this time I think it is pretty amazing we can have a balanced budget,” she said. The ongoing operations of the general fund budget of nearly $19 million are balanced with no sur-plus for the upcoming fiscal year. Consequently, a full scope of ser-vices to residents will be contin-ued without service reductions.

OTHER NEWS Rosemead Queen Taymar Queza-da was introduced to the council. Quezada is a junior at Rosemead High School, where she plays ten-nis, track and soccer and sings in the choir. She also has a 4.0 grade point average

The council voted to place liens on properties where the owner is delinquent in not paying the trash bill. The liens will go into effect on June 28.

The council approved contin-ued funding of a school resource officer at Rosemead High School in conjunction with the El Monte Union High School District.

The council also approved he Traffic Commission’s rec-ommendation to install traffic calming measures and striping plans in the vicinity of Rose-mead Place and Earlswood Drive. The council gave approval to ne-

With less than two weeks to go before the July 2 Special Elec-tion for Measure FF that would transfer the Monterey Park City Fire Department to the County of Los Angeles, political action is expected to heat up with “Yes”and “ No” forces taking to the streets.

Hundreds of lawn signs for and against the measure are ex-pected to pop-up and scores of precinct walkers are expected to be knocking on doors of voters.

The proposed measure would amend a current city ordinance and direct the city to negotiate for transferring all city fire depart-ment services to the Consolidated Fire Protect District of Los Ange-les County.

Measure FF was placed on the ballot by an initiative peti-tion circulated by David Diaz, a resident who is also City of Los Angeles firefighter, with the sup-port of the Monterey Park City firefighters union.

Opponents of Measure FF have criticized the $100,000 cost of the special election for the single ballot measure. No other questions will appear on the bal-lot.

Voters have a choice of vot-ing by mail or going to one of eight polling places that will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day.

In their argument in favor of Measure FF, proponents stated that “Your Yes vote on Measure FF will improve fire and para-medic service in Monterey Park and save taxpayers more than $30 million over 10 years.”

David Diaz, former council-woman Betty Tom Chu, Christine Chandler, a member of the Fire

Citizen Committee, Tom Guz-man, a Monterey Park Resident and Mario Lenni, president of the Monterey Park Fire Fighters As-sociation, signed the statement.

This is the second time in the last 20 years that firefighters have sought to transfer their jobs to the county.

The ballot argument from opponents of Proposition FF states, “This Proposition requires Monterey Park to transfer its en-tire Fire Department/emergency medical services to County of LA for 10 years. With Proposi-tion FF citizens lose both of MP’s ambulances and they will not be replaced by the County Fire Dis-trict. They also argue that with Proposition FF, the city will lose 15 firefighters and emergency personal personnel.”

Signing the argument against FF were council members Peter Chan, Hans Liang and Anthony Wong.

Current Mayor Teresa Real Sebastian and Council Member Mitchell Ing have taken a neutral position on the measure.

At the urging of the City Firefighters Association, the city

has been examining the financial and service impacts from trans-ferring the city fire department to the county for the last two years. The study and subsequent propos-als from the county was required under a salary agreement with the

ALHAMBRA POLICE keep an eye on an “armed student” during an emergency exercise at Alhambra High School. Police and school district went through emergency drills on June 14. See story on page 7.

firefighters’ union. The union ac-tually paid for the study.

In the meantime, a citizens committee was appointed by the council to also review the results of the study.

June 15, 2013 Monterey Park - West Valley JournalPage 2 June 15, 2013 Monterey Park - West Valley Journal Page 3

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If I only Had SomeDisneyland Stocks!

BeachcomBer

By Dave Barron,Journal Editor

EDITORIAL

A once a year trip to Disneyland was magical. Then as prices went up, we changed our routine to once every two years.

Now that the Disney Corporation has raised one-day ticket prices to $92, it may be a once every five years – if ever again. I haven’t been there for three years because of the huge crowds and lack of entertainment for this ma-ture person.

Going to Disneyland used to be a family event. I spent one day at Dis-neyland on my honeymoon nearly 50 years ago. Later, as we had children we went regularly.

I was lucky to have generous in-laws. They would host an annual trip to Disneyland for all their seven grand children and their parents. Sometimes the kids would even bring a long a friend. Parents handled some of the expenses for meals and souvenirs. I re-member a couple of time that we had a picnic lunch.

My in-laws would spend between $200 to $300 getting the family inside the happiest place on earth. Eventually, that stopped and died a natural death.

For a long time, high school grad-uating classes would go to Mickey’s park for an All-night Grad Party. I don’t think many schools do that anymore.

Disney said in a statement that starting Sunday, a one-day adult ticket to one park will cost $92, a $5 increase. Kids’ tickets also jumped $5, to $87. Parking will go up to $16.

The prices apply to either Disney-land Park or Disney California Adven-ture Park. Buyers of annual passes will see similar increases.

The Disneyland statement says the price hikes were brought on by a va-riety of factors, but the tickets “repre-sent a great value given the breadth and quality of attractions and entertainment at the parks.”

I think part of the reason is that they (Disneyland) doesn’t expect to get any resistance from tourists or the younger generation. Many people think nothing of spending a hundred dollars at Chili’s or Olive Garden for regular 4 course dinner, especially if you have a couple of $10 glasses of wine or a tall $5 glasses of beer. And, if you can put it on a credit card, it’s so much easier.

I have friends and relatives that

have annual passes. I guess they prob-ably will renew them. What’s a few more dollars more on a credit card. However, these folks make sure they get their full value by going to Disney-land at least once a month.

Maybe that’s the way to beat out the increase in prices. Buy an annual pass and go regularly. This will bring down the per-visit cost substantially.

I don’t suggest we boycott Disney-land. I understand from friends who work there, that it is a great place to work. Salaries and benefits are very competitive. The only disadvantage is that they work during the holidays and weekends and long hours (on your feet). I wouldn’t want to impact their employment.

What do you think? What are you going to do?

Whether we have lived in Monterey Park forty years or just a few years, we take great pride in our city. We have beautiful vistas, great schools, a tremendous library, a great police department, our own water department, a system of 13 parks, a great senior citizen center and a super fire department.

Each one is an underpinning for life as we know it here and an important sup-port for one of the greatest cities in San Gabriel Valley.

If we got rid of our police department, we would have to rent cops from the County Sheriffs department. Deputies have a reputation of shooting first and ask-ing questions later.

If we sold off our valuable water department we would have to satisfy our thirst by buying from private suppliers at higher prices. These water agencies are regulated by the Public Utilities Commissioners making more than $100,000 a year and meeting only in San Francisco.

What if we transferred our library to the County? Service would be depen-dent on an outside bureaucratic agency that has trouble meeting its budget every year.

What if we transferred our recreation department to the county? Would the county close some of our parks because we have too many? And, then tell us to get our recreational opportunities in East L.A. and El Monte? What about Lan-gley Senior Center, would that still be open or would seniors have to go to the Montebello Senior Center?

But let’s get to the point of this Editorial. If we sold off our fire department to the county, that would cripple our city

by making us dependent on the county. It would be the beginning of the end for Monterey Park. Our city would not be the same. One of the main reasons for liv-ing in this city would be gone.

Whether you came here in the 1950s or in the 2010s, the city you bought into would not be the same It would be a ghost town of rented cops and rented fire-fighters, contracted public services and vacant parks, gyms and libraries

This is why we recommend that you VOTE NO on Measure FF, the pro-posal to transfer the Fire Department and our life-saving ambulance service to the County.

Keeping Monterey Park A Complete City

No to Measure FF

Dear Editor & Residents of Monterey Park:

If Measure FF passes at the July 2nd special initiative election, Monterey Park’s image, as a first class independent City, with its own police, fire department, ambu-lances and other city services, will suffer as a consequence and property values would suffer.

Monterey Park has had a fine reputa-tion as a good city to live in and to raise children. Our elementary schools are all academic achievers and Mark Keppel High School is among the highest rated in the State. We have an excellent recreation and parks system, with parks distributed throughout the city, including gymnasiums, swimming pools, and tennis courts. Lang-ley Center is one of the finest senior centers and we have an excellent library and civic center complex. We are one of the safest cities in the San Gabriel Valley, with a su-perior police department, fire department and paramedic ambulance service.

Monterey Park voters MUST turnout in numbers to vote NO on FF to protect our city from an LA County take over. Our friends throughout the region will assume that the City of Monterey Park is weak and in trouble, or why would the residents meekly vote to transfer the city fire depart-

OPINIONMonterey Park’s Reputation at Stake

ment and ambulances to LA County con-trol? That would be accepting reduced safety for our residents and surrendering about one-third of our city staff. We also give the county all of our multi-million dol-lar equipment – SO ONCE IT’S GONE, IT’S GONE. We can never regain our own Fire Department.

LISTEN to your present and past elected city officials that you voted for, as they do NOT support Measure FF. The Monterey Park Police Officers Associa-tion, SEIU 721 - Monterey Park General Employees, and Concerned Citizens of Monterey Park are also strongly opposed to FF.

Monterey Park firefighters are outsid-ers (only one of the fifty lives in the city) who placed this measure on the ballot for their own financial gain. It does not benefit us residents.

Be sure to vote NO on FF to keep your superior fire department, life saving ambu-lance services, and your city’s irreplace-able image and reputation.

Sincerely,Yukio Kawaratani, Lucia Su and Terry

De WolfeMembers of the Concerned Citizens of

Monterey Park

Eight young women are competing for the title of Miss Monterey Park in the annual pageant sponsored by the Monterey Park Chamber of Commerce.

The contestants will compete at a pageant scheduled on Friday, June 28, 6 p.m. at the Ocean Star Restaurant in Monterey Park.

This year’s candidates are Cecily Ramirez, Christina Gallegos, Michelle Ruan, Jessica Ramos, Hilda Guerra, Krystal De Leon, Desiree Michelle Tiet and Sherene Chou.

To qualify candidates must be between 18 and 28 years old and live, work or go to school in Monterey Park.

They will be judged on their talent, public speaking ability, beauty and poise by judges who have not yet been announced.

Sponsorships and tickets for the pageant dinner are available by contacting the chamber at (626) 570-9429.

MISS MONTEREY PARK contestants gather for a photo at a recent reception at the Chamber offices at the El Encanto building. Miss Monterey Park will be crowned at a dinner on June 28. - Photo by Dave Barron

Eight Contestants Seek Miss Monterey Park Pageant Title

Veronica Summers, last miss Monterey Park, was present at a recent reception to advise the candidates.

ROSEMEAD: A recall effort targeting a Garvey School District Trustee has failed, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar Recorder’s Office. The target of the recall was Trustee Janet Chin, who is currently serving on her second term.

The Registrar’s office said proponents of the recall did not get enough qualified signatures to force a recall election. A total of 3,856 signatures or 20% of the school districts registered voters was needed .

The recall effort was led by the Garvey Educational Association, the teacher’s union for the district. The union has been in disagreement with District Superintendent Sandra Johnson since her appointment to head the school district more than 2 years ago.

Chin and a majority of trustsees approved a controversial contract extension and pay raise for Johnson and the union launched the recall effort.

Chin was elected to the board of education in 2007 and re-elected in 2011. She has three children attending district schools.

Garvey District schools covers portions of Rosemead and Monterey Park.

Recall Against Garvey School Trustee Fails

San Gabriel Valley -- Just seven months after the launch of its system-wide upgrade of natural gas meters, Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) has successfully installed more than a quarter million advanced meters for customers in five counties and is at work in the San Gabriel Valley.

Installations are currently going on in Rosemead and Alhambra. Monterey Park is scheduled for installations in the fall.

In all, SoCalGas plans to upgrade six million natural gas meters through 2017, add-ing a small communication device to customer meters on a carefully planned schedule throughout its service territory.

Since initiating advanced meter installations in southeast Los Angeles County in Oc-tober 2012, SoCalGas has moved steadily forward and expects to be installing in several service regions by the end of 2013, including metro Los Angeles, and Kern, Riverside, San Bernardino, Tulare and Ventura counties. Throughout the process, SoCalGas cus-tomers and communities have been informed by frequent mailings, notices and emails, notifying them several weeks before installations begin.

The new advanced meter device is markedly different from electric smart meters and only turns on for a fraction of a second a day—a total of less than two minutes a year—to securely and safely send natural gas usage data from a customer’s home or business to SoCalGas customer centers. SoCalGas will make the usage information available for the customer to view online the next business day.

The 15-minute upgrade process involves adding a small battery-powered communi-cation device on existing residential and business customers’ meters.

Dear Editor,I have two concerns regarding the Al-

hambra School District and wanted to see if you are aware or interested in these sub-ject. If you are not can you let me know who I should contact regarding these mat-ters?

The first is, Alhambra School District is changing their volunteer rules. Parents are now required to obtain LiveScan and fingerprints and TB tests in order to go to field trips. There is a petition https://www.change.org/petitions/alhambra-unified-school-district-ausd-alhambra-ca-district-wide-policy-should-only-require-megan-s-law that has 120 signers so far. Their excuse so far is that this is something they enacted a while back ago but did not en-force it till beginning of 2012-2013 school year. And the reason they have to do this is due to No Child Left Behind. I had called around other school districts in our area and LiveScan and TB tests are NOT requirements. This is very discriminatory as LiveScan is expensive and not everyone has health insurance and feels no need to jump through hoops to get the TB test. A lot of parents had stopped volunteering be-cause of this. There are kids at school that desperately needs help. What the kids are required to know in fourth grade is not the same as what we were required to know when we were their age. If these kids are not helped early on, they will fall further and further behind. I can just see that they will SUFFER for their rest of their school years. This will really leave the child be-hind.

The second is regarding the lockdown on May 16, 2013 http://www.sgvjournal.com/monterey-park/1927-phone-threat-closes-monterey-park-schools. It was re-ported that the schools had done it correct-ly but that is not the case. Our school did not notify parents that day. And I know as a fact that they were letting kids in and out of the cafeteria. The school wants to put a fence up yet they fail at what is most im-portant, what to do during a lockdown. I cringe at the thought when a real crisis hap-pens.Amy Wu, School Parent

LETTER TO EDITORConcerned Parent atHighlands School

Gas Company Installs New Meters in Homes

June 15, 2013 Monterey Park - West Valley Journal Page 5June 15, 2013Page 4 Monterey Park - West Valley Journal

Rosemead Budget Tops$36 Million(Continued from Page 1)

Police Drill ConductedAt Alhambra High

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DON’T BE CONFUSED… VOTE NO ON FF

• A NO on FF vote KEEPS OUR MONTEREY PARK AMBULANCE - and its fast response time –

SAVING LIVES. In a medical emergency every minute counts! A YES vote on FF gets rid of our Ambulances,

switching to the County system of calling a private ambulance. Now, it’s common sense – there’s no way that the

private ambulance, coming from “somewhere” outside of Monterey Park, can arrive nearly as fast as ours– minutes

are precious. You may be saving your or your loved one’s life – VOTE NO on FF.

• A NO on FF vote KEEPS OUR MONTEREY PARK FIRE DEPARTMENT – and keeps it fully

staffed. A YES on FF vote switches Monterey Park to the County, and the County plan immediately reduces staffing by 30%! Vote to keep

your family and your property protected – VOTE NO on FF.

• A NO on FF vote KEEPS OUR MONTEREY PARK POLICE DEPARTMENT at

full staffing. A YES on FF vote results in a County contract, with fees that go UP every year – negatively impacting Police

funding, resulting in fewer police. The minute the County contract goes into effect, our Police budget takes a $300,000 hit.

(Pomona switched to County Fire – and, as the result of rising County Fire fees, the Pomona Police Force has been cut 15%,

and now faces another 7% cut). Vote to keep Monterey Park a safe city – VOTE NO on FF.

• A NO on FF vote PROTECTS MONTEREY PARK’S – AND YOUR –POCKETBOOK – we get

to KEEP the fire equipment that we’ve already paid for. A YES on FF vote results Monterey Park’s giving our equipment to the County

along with $2 million to update it. Then we will have annual County fees that go up every year, starting at 5.5%, and at 10 years, the sky is

the limit (try going down to the Board of Supervisors to complain – lots of luck). At that point, we are prisoners – we can’t start over. Vote

to control your own money - VOTE NO on FF.

MEASURE FF IS A MONEY GRAB! Who is doing the grabbing?

• THE FIREMEN. The average MP fireman made over $140,000 last year – they want more. And, all but one of our Firemen live

OUTSIDE OF MONTEREY PARK , so the negative consequences for our City are of no concern to them. They are OUTSIDERS who

want to run your City. Who else is in on the GRAB?

• Think …you got it: The LA COUNTY FIRE DEPT. They’re more than “in on” the GRAB , they are

calling the shots. If there weren’t a lot of money in it for them, they just would have said “No – not

interested”. They are interested! AND HOW!! The reality of the situation is that County

Fire is in trouble – a $43 million deficit! – and so they are roping-in as many independent cities

as they can. Here’s what LACFD Chief Osby said: (LA Times) “I’M TRYING TO GET

ALL THE MONEY I CAN.”

Last year the voters of El Segundo voted NO to the exact same plan (they called it Measure P – you can look it up).

They chose to not be taken as suckers – they voted 90% NO! For the same reason you should vote NO. Within

the last year Montebello, West Covina & Downey turned back County Fire attempted takeovers. Let’s be as smart as those cities.

Let’s not be embarrassed!

WHO IS IT THAT URGES YOU TO VOTE NO ON FF?

• MONTEREY PARK POLICE OFFICERS ASSN

• SIEU 721 Monterey Park General Employees Service Assn.

• Concerned Citizens of Monterey Park (ID 1294816) -founded 2006 as a residents-interest organization - a voice for the

residents. Phone: 626 573 3241 or nocountyfire@hotmail.com

MISS ROSEMEAD CROWNEDTaymar Quezada was crowned as Miss Rosemead at last weeks City Council meeing. Following her coronation she posed for a picture with members of the Rosemead City Counci. As city queen she will reign over several city events.. Quezada is a junior at Rosemead High School, where she plays tennis, track and soccer and sings in the choir. She also has a 4.0 grade point average.

gotiate to extend street sweeping services with Athens Services for two more years. That company’s current agreement with the city is set to expire June 30.

Funding is for the purchase of two new utility dump trucks for use in public works opera-tional activities was approved by the council.

The purchase of these new trucks will replace two trucks, which are more than 20 years old. In addition, members of the pub-lic are now encouraged to report abandoned shopping carts directly to the retrieval contractor at (800) 252-4613, or to the city’s Public Works Department at (626) 569-2262.

This information will be disseminated to the public in the city’s Rosemead Resources newsletter, on the City’s website www.cityofrosemead.org and through informational flyers. (Shel Segal can be reached sse-gal@sgvjournal.com

DON’T BE CONFUSED--

VOTE NO ON FF

Paid Political Advertising

ALHAMBRA -- Police and the School District con-ducted a joint training exercise with several senarios ranging from a school lockdown caused a distraught student armed with a gun and another one involving an “active shooter” on the cam-pus of Alhambra High School on June 14.

The training exercise in-volved police officers as well as school employees and teachers learning how to respond to a va-riety of situations.

During a mid-morning briefing, staff was advised to become more familiar with the campus and its surroundings so that they can efficiently follow instructions in an emergency.

“You have to know which is the north side of the campus, so that if you are directed to go there there is no problem,” said an exercise director.

The first scenario involved a “student” armed with a gun who threatened suicide. After the stu-dent was isolated and a school locked down was launched, the police took over. She was talk-ed into laying down her weapon and surrendering to police.

The training involved Al-hambra Police Department School, Resource officers, Al-hambra patrol officers and de-tectives, training alongside Al-hambra Unified School District support staff, campus supervi-sors and school administrators in simulated emergency crisis situations or scenarios. Also observing were administrators from other AUSD schools.

Sgt J. Johnson of the Al-hambra police said volunteers acted as role players as the of-ficers. During the drill school staff work through unexpected simulations involving school in-cidents. The school campus was empty except for participants because the school semester ended the day before.

During one of the drill in-volving a scenario with an ac-tive shooter, numerous gun-shots were heard at neighboring streets and Alhambra city all.

Teachers, staff and police were scheduled to gather after the drills for a debriefing.

Johnson said a similar train-ing exercise was held in June 2011 and was well received by school staff and officers.

June 15, 2013Monterey Park - West Valley JournalPage 6 Monterey Park - West Valley Journal Page 7June 15, 2013

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ATTENTION

CHEW – Merwin William Chew born in Burbank, Calif. Nov. 4, 1925 and passed into final rest on April 29, 2013 due to a massive stroke at the age of 87½.

He is survived by his children, Cheryl, Gary, Bri-an and Eric Chew, 11 grand-children, 2 great-grandchil-dren, and 3 siblings, Nolan and Roger Chew and Janie Boucher.

Merwin was raised in So. Pasadena and Burbank, graduated from Burbank High, served in the Navy during WWII. He retired from California County Ti-tle Insurance Company in Santa Ana at the age of 80.

Merwin was a dedi-cated member of Burbank First Presbyterian Church, where and he and his wife of 60 years, Dorothy were married. They bought a home in Monterey Park in 1948 when there were green rolling hills and pol-lywog ponds along Garfield Ave.

He was extremely de-voted to Dorothy’s care during her battle with Al-zheimer’s until her death in 2008.

Merwin was buried beside his wife at Oakdale Cemetery in Glendora on May 11, 2013. Merwin lived a very full and happy life, but will be missed by his family members and many friends.

Donations in his memory are welcomed by Burbank First Presbyterian Church 521 E. Olive Ave, Burbank CA 91501 or Al-zheimer’s Assoc. National Capital Area Chapter, 3701 Pender Dr. #400. Fairfax, VA 22030

ObituaryMerwin ChewTwo long term vol-

unteers were honored at Monterey Park’s Annual Three Memorial Ceremony held at Garvey Ranch Park on Tuesday, June 4.

Honored were Herb Motonaga and Catherine Wills.

Motonaga, who passed away earlier this year, was a prolific volunteer who assisted the city as leader of the Eastside Optimist Club, the city’s 4th of July Celebration, Play Days and holiday celebrations.

He was a Recreation and Parks Commissioner for more than 10 years. He was also recognized as one

of the “People Who Differ-ence” in the community.

Catherine Wills has been an active Monterey Park resident for many years and involved with the Soroptimist Service Club, a nursing home board and vice president of the United Democratic Club for many years.

She also served on the city’s Personnel Board and a leader of the Annual Peo-ple Who Make a Difference Award Program.

During the ceremo-nies, plaques was placed at a tree at Garvey Ranch Park. Dan Costly, direc-tor of parks who served as

master of ceremonies, ex-plained that the city annu-ally accepts nominations for tree plaques.

The nominations are reviewed and approved by the city’s historical heritage commission and the city council.

Friends, relatives and elected officials attend-ed the ceremonies sand praised the contributions of the two volunteers. Elected officials present included Mayor Pro Tem Anthony Wong and Councilman Hans Liang, along with City Clerk Vincent Chang and Treasurer Joseph Leon. Former Councilman Mike Ing also spoke on the com-munity service of the two honorees.

Volunteers Honored With Tree Plaques

HONORED--Friends and associates gathered to place a plaque in front of a tree to honor Catherine Wills (center) at Garvey Ranch Park.

Before the study was complete and presented to the council, Diaz proposed an initiative measure and obtained nearly 5,000 sig-natures to qualify the mea-sure for a special election.

The group supporting the measure is identified itself as a “Citizens Com-mittee” and is funded by $20,000 donation from the firefighters union. They have volunteers and paid staff walking the streets to convince voters to vote yes on the measure.

In addition to yard signs and banners, the group has paid for televi-sion commercials on cable television.

Opponents of the measure are members of the Concerned Citizens of Monterey Park. They have raised more than $15,000 through fundraisers. They are placing yard signs and banners, mailing brochures and also knocking on doors of voters.

Continued from Page 1)

Future of FireDept. on City Ballot

HOUSTON, TX (06/06/2013)-- Benjamin Kwan of San Gabriel, Calif., graduated from Rice University on May 11. Kwan received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Kinesiology.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson delivered the commencement address. Rice University President David Leebron congratulated the graduates with a handshake as they walked across the stage.

Chau Honors Local BusinessAssemblymember Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park) presents Sher C. Li with an award for her contributions to the 49th Assembly District as both a business and community leader during the California Small Business Day celebra-tion held at the Sacramento Convention Center. Thom-as Li and Sher C. Li founded Lee’s Collection, Inc. in early 1998. Throughout the company’s history, Sher and Thomas have been very active in the community.

Benjamin Kwan Graduates

Summertime HereRosemead Lists

Community EventsRosemead, CA – The City of Rosemead is welcom-

ing summer by offering a variety of fun-in-the-sun ac-tivities to residents of all ages.

The Rosemead Aquatic Center and the Splash Zone at Garvey Park open for summer on June 22nd. Rosemead pools offer swim lessons for all ages and ability levels, day and evening recreation swim, swim team, water polo basics, and a number of classes. Swim class registration begans at Rosemead Aquatic Center on Saturday, June 8th.

Parks will be open for free afternoon recreation and lunch for school aged youth. Shelters available for rent for family picnics and barbecues and walking and jog-ging trails and fitness zones for those wanting to keep in shape. “If you just want to relax or quietly read a book, there is an abundance of open space and plenty of shade at all Rosemead parks,” city press release states.

Summer events include the July 4th for a 5K, car-nival, live entertainment, and fireworks at Rosemead Park.

On August 2nd, families with gather at Rosemead Park for a Summer Survival Camp-out. Zapopan Park will feature this year’s National Night Out and Emer-gency Preparedness Fair on August 6, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Lastly, Garvey and Rosemead Parks will also host our annual Rockin’ Rosemead Summer Concerts on Friday nights from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.:

July 12, Sally Hansen Latin Band (Garvey Park)July 19, Chico (Rosemead Park)July 26, Eight Ball (Garvey Park)August 2, Suave (Rosemead Park)The city also offers youth and adult sports, pre-

school, senior programs and activities, and many special interest classes. For more information, call Rosemead’s Parks and Recreation Department at (626) 569-2160 or visit the city website at www.cityofrosemead.org.

Monterey Park Fire Department responded to 450 Monterey Pass Road in the city for a reported struc-ture fire on May 23.

Monterey Park fire units were assisted by units from Alhambra and Los Angeles County fire departments. First arriving units found heavy fire involvement in a front storage, gated yard of the location and an attached dwelling.

No injuries to civilian or fire personnel were re-ported. Damage to the loca-tion and structure was esti-mated to be approximately $25,000.

MPk FirefightersRespond to BlazeOn Monterey Pass

The way I see it, life consists of moments, similar to a moving picture made up of still pictures strung together. The qual-ity of films improves with the number of still pictures that are put together, which means smaller movements of change are recorded making the “motion” more fluid. This is similar to how photographs are made and how the number of pixels make a difference in the clarity of the picture. The more pixels, the less grainy it looks, and the more de-fined it looks, especially when you enlarge the pic-ture.

If we apply this same principle to our lives, we may be able to see frame by frame how we look to others. If a moment in time is scanned and frozen for you, what would you

want to see? Perhaps that is what we do when some-one dies. At the funeral, the eulogy tries to capture the essence of the person by certain moments in his or her life. Certainly, it is only a very brief summary of a person’s life, but we try to give a positive report to gain closure.

I am sure that most people do not live life trying to make a nice story for their funeral, but, per-haps we can look at living life, knowing there will be an end to it. How can we make the most of what we have left? If we choose to think that life is made of up moments, then all we have is what presents to us now, in the moment. How do we choose to make the most of that moment?

Do you consider the person in front of you or beside you and make the encounter meaningful and pleasant? Do you eat your food with thought as to how it nourishes your body or makes it more effective?

Do you do your daily tasks with enthusiasm, thinking of how it is going to help you realize your dreams? Are you living your life with the purpose of accom-plishing great things?

Sometimes, the entire weight of the world seems to be hanging on our heads, and setting off on life’s journey seems daunt-ing. But, if you consider that all we have is the mo-ment right before our eyes, then maybe we can make that moment the best mo-ment there is.

Sheila Yonemoto, P.T., has been a physical therapist for over 30 years, specializing in Integrative Manual Therapy utilizing a holistic approach. She can be reached at Yonemoto Physical Therapy, 55 S. Raymond Ave, Suite 100, Alhambra, CA 91801. Call 626 576 0591 for a FREE consultation and FREE in-surance evaluation, or visit www.yonemoto.com for-more information.

Sheila Yonemoto, P.t.Making Each Moment Count

Sheila Yonemoto P.T.

Monterey Park & West Valley JournalPage 8 June 15, 2013

It’s Your Choice

55 South Raymond Ave, Suite 100 Alhambra, CA 91801

CALL FOR A FREE CONSULTATION

626.576.0591www.YONEMOTO.com

“When my daughter needed

treatment for an injury, I

chose to take her to

Yonemoto Physical Therapy.

In my experience, they are

quite simply the best at what

they do.”

Carol Tanita SGV Council - Mission Amigos

District Finance Chair

Serving Our Community Since 1982

SGVC Boy Scouts of AmericaDistinguished Citizens 2009

2011 RotaryInternational Award

2011 Small Businessof the Year Award

2011 Heart of theCommunity Award

News 24-7www.sgvjournal.com

Monterey Park Chamber of Commerce monthly B2B Luncheon on Wednesday, June 19, at 11:30 a.m. will fea-ture Dr. Kerrie Pratt, an ex-pert on the digestive process. For reservations contact the Chamber Office to at 626-570-9429.

Reading RocketsReading RocketsReading Rockets

Children entering 2nd through 6th grade are eligible for FREE TUTORING at the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library to help students strengthen their reading skills during the summer.

Tutoring sessions will take place July 1 through August 8, 2013 from 1:00- 3:00 PM on either Tuesdays & Thursdays OR Mondays & Wednesdays.

Participants must be able to commit to attending ALL sessions.

Parents can register at the Children’s Desk. For more information about this program, call Diana Garcia at

(626) 307-1358.

318 South Ramona Avenue, Monterey Park, CA 91754 http://ci.monterey-park.ca.us/Library ◊ 626.307.1358

Free Tutoring for Children Free Tutoring for Children Free Tutoring for Children in 2nd through 6th Gradein 2nd through 6th Gradein 2nd through 6th Grade

READING ROCKETS TEAM Diana Garcia, Librarian; Mary Wong head of Project Neo, and Monterey Park City Librarian Norma Arvizu celebrated a national award received by the Reading Rockets Project. - Photo by Margie Ramirez

Monterey Park Brugge-meyer Library has been awarded the Public Library As-sociation’s (PLA) Innovations in Literacy Award for its “Reading Rockets” youth literacy program.

The library is one of only eight public libraries in the na-tion to receive this honor, which recognizes unique and inventive literacy programs that have a sig-nificant and measurable impact on the community the library serves.

Reading Rockets was formed by combining the library’s LAMP Literacy and Project NEO (a non-profit organization) resources to provide free one-on-one tutoring to children in 2nd through 6th grades to strengthen vital literacy skills and build confident readers.

“This national award exem-plifies the positive and lasting im-pact our library makes in the City of Monterey Park,” said Norma Arvizu, Monterey Park City Li-brarian.

As part of the Innovations in Literacy Award, Reading Rockets coordinator and Senior Library Clerk, Diana Garcia, will be awarded $1,000 for registration and travel to the Public Library

Reading Rockets Team Wins National Award

Association’s 2014 Conference in Indianapolis, March 11–15, 2014.

She will represent the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Li-brary. Garcia was instrumental in the planning and execution of the Reading Rockets program and was the author of the article sub-mitted to the Public Library As-sociation contest on behalf of the library.

MP Chamber SetsLuncheon June 19