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Pasadena Press
MONDAY, JULY 7, 2014 - JULY 13, 2014
pasadenapress.com
Arcadia Firefighter died from fall, coroner says By Terry Miller Ventura County Sheriff’s Department announced last Friday that Arcadia Fire Department Firefighter/Paramedic Mike Herdman’s body was found and recovered last Friday morning in rugged terrain approximately 1200 feet above the Sespe River outside of Fillmore. Herdman died instantly after falling from a cliff in the Sespe Wilderness of the Los Padres National Forest, the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office disclosed Tuesday morning. Hermman had been dead for at least a few days and his injuries were “consistent with a significant fall,” according to Chief Deputy Medical Examiner Armando Chavez. Herdman’s body was spotted by a helicopter search crew who noticed “something that didn’t belong” in the very rugged terrain near Sespe Creek, according to a Ventura County Sheriff‘s dept. spokesperson. The body was airlifted to Ventura County M.E.’s office, where the identity was confirmed with
VOLUME 1, NO. 10
Football clinic draws hundreds of area kids to Robinson Park By SHEL SEGAL
to a new inspection database on the City’s website. The database is online at http:// decadeonline.com/main. phtml?agency=PAS. Permanent food facilities that will receive the new placards include restaurants, markets, bakeries, bars, school cafeterias, commissaries and retail food processing facilities. The businesses are required to publicly display the placards.
More than 100 kids from Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley attended a free half-day football clinic last Saturday on Robinson Park that was sponsored by the Tournament of Roses and Northwestern Mutual. Led by college football coaches from several area universities–such as Pasadena City College–the kids, aged 5 to 14, took part in agility drills, offensive and defensive training, and character development. With around 150 kids at the clinic, Richard Chinen, president of the Tournament of Roses, said it was great his organization was able to help partner with others and put on this event. “It’s great to be able to have them engage with us,” said Chinen, who added this is the fifth year for the event. “We’re doing this for the community. We’re a community organization. We started with a parade, then we had chariot races. Now, we’ve got a football game and football’s huge. It’s great for the kids to be able to participate in something Pasadena is known for. What better way to give back to the community and these kids than to host something like this.” He added he thinks the kids will have a great time at the clinic. “I think they get a lot out of this,” he said. “You’ve got a lot of top-notch clinicians.
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Schoolchildren walk past Arcadia Fire Headquarters’ makeshift memorial for firefighter Mike Herdman. Herdman, who was found dead in the wilderness on Friday, was a 7 year veteran of the Arcadia fire dept. -Photo by Terry Miller
dental records. Herdman, 36, may have tried to climb the cliff in the dark and fell, according to the sheriff. The death was ruled accidental. The examiner’s office will release a full report in the next 30 days. Search and rescue teams found Herdman’s body June 27 a short distance from where he and fellow Arcadia firefighter Taylor Byars were camping on a four-day hiking trip. Herdman went missing after chasing after his dog, Duke, roughly two days into the four-
day trip. Byars hiked out of the wilderness two days later after spending the first day trying to find his friend, according to the sheriff’s department. Mr. Byars made his way out of the wilderness area and notified authorities on the evening of Sunday, June 15, 2014. Beginning on Monday June 16, 2014, the Ventura County Sheriff and Fire Department, along with hundreds of volunteer Search and Rescue personnel searched for Mike Herdman concluding with the recovery of Please see page 2
New health inspection pass / fail placards debut in Pasadena New inspection placards for public display in Pasadena’s restaurants and other permanent food facilities will be issued by the City’s Public Health Department beginning July 1, 2014. The placards will indicate a facility’s status of Pass, Conditional Pass or Closed at the time of the inspection. The new placards showing Pass or Conditional Pass will have numeric scores displayed that were received as part of
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the inspections. Placards showing a Closed status means an inspection revealed there was an imminent health hazard that required closure or that the permit was suspended due to non-compliance. Closed placards will indicate the reason for closure instead of a numerical score. All placards will include a special “QR” code that can be scanned with a smart phone app for additional information about the food facility linked
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Supreme Court - out of touch with women’s lives? Ruling leaves birth control benefit in place for millions of women, but gives some employers the new right to deny coverage Last Monday, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States sided with Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties. These private corporations sought religious exemptions in the Affordable Care Act requirement that they cover birth control for employees. However, the Supreme Court indicated that the government may provide its own alternatives for those who need to access coverage. Planned Parenthood condemns today’s ruling that some for-profit private corporations can deny birth control coverage to their employees, for no reason other than the personal religious beliefs of the corporation’s owners. “Make no mistake, today’s ruling does not strike down the birth control mandate overall,” stated Sheri Bonner, CEO of Planned Parenthood Pasa-
dena and San Gabriel Valley. “Thanks to the birth control benefit, women have already saved $483 million in the last year alone.” While this is a federal decision, California’s Women’s Contraceptive Equity Act, signed into law by Gray Davis in 1999, ensures access to birth control through employer health plans. However, in accordance with today’s ruling, some Californians may be subject to a plan-specific co-pay. Women in states without contraceptive equity laws are forced to pay as much as $800 a year out of pocket for birth control. That’s why the mandate is vital to women’s health and economic justice. Studies also show that women who receive birth control with no co-pay or at a reduced cost are able to avoid more than two million
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unplanned pregnancies each year. It’s not surprising that the public overwhelmingly supports the birth control benefit by a nearly two-to-one margin. “It’s unbelievable that in 2014 we are still fighting for access to birth control,” observed Bonner. “Today’s decision, coupled with last week’s Massachusetts buffer
zone decision, shows an alarming trend, a lack of education, and a lack of understanding of the experiences of women today. Regardless of today’s decision, Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley and affiliates across the nation are dedicated to serving all women — no matter where they work.”
Health inspection placards Continued from page 1
Initial inspections by the Health Department resulting in scores of 85 to 100 will receive a Pass placard. Conditional Pass placards with scores of 75 to 84 means minimal code compliance was achieved and a follow-up inspection must be done. Conditional Pass scores of 74 and below mean minimal compliance also was achieved, but violations that were found require a mandatory Permit Suspension Hearing plus a follow-up inspection. The new placards and the
public database are the most recent steps taken by the Health Department’s Environmental Health Division to improve its service to the public and increase awareness of its mission to ensure that food sold and served in the City of Pasadena is safe, wholesome, properly labeled, and produced under sanitary conditions. The Health Department’s mandatory inspections are required per the California Health and Safety Code.
Firefighter died from fall Continued from page 1
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his body last Friday morning. Beth Stogner, Arcadia Fire spokesperson, said: “Our hearts are broken, individually and collectively, by the news of Mike’s death. We are forever indebted to the Ventura County Sheriff’s and Fire Departments for their galant and exhaustive efforts to find our brother and friend and bring him home. We extend our deepest and most heartfelt sympathy to Mike’s family and stand ready to assist them in the difficult days, weeks, and months ahead. We also want to express our sincere thanks to our community and the many others
who shared an outpouring of love and support.” Mike Herdman, 36 years old, was a 7 year veteran of the Arcadia Fire Department. He is survived by his wife Bridget and young daughter. Fire Family Association Monday announced it had set up a fund to help Herdman’s wife and daughter . To make a donation, go to the Fire Family Foundation www.firefamilyfoundation.org and enter Herdman’s name or make a check payable to Fire Family Foundation, 815 Colorado Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90041 with a notation: Herdman Tribute Fund.
JULY 7, 2014 - JULY 13, 2014 | 3
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California Art League’s “Summers Past” exhibit The California Art League is excited to announce its latest exhibit, the Second Annual Open Juried Show entitled Summers Past, featuring original works of art in oil, acrylic, mixed media and sculpture. The show is sponsored by the Women’s City Club of Pasadena and can be viewed at the Historic Blinn House, 160 North Oakland, Pasadena, CA, from June 27 through September 26, 2014. All works are available for purchase. Two examples are attached. The Opening Reception and Awards Presentation is scheduled for Saturday, July 12 from 2:005:00 pm with refreshments and a no-host bar. The reception is free and all members of the public are encouraged to attend. Michael Zakian acted as juror for this wonderful exhibition. Zakian is an art historian and curator who has been director of the Frederick R.Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University since 1995. A native of New York City, he studied art history at Columbia University and at Rutgers University. After moving to California in 1984, he worked as a curator at the Palm Springs Art Museum from 1986 to 1995. The California Art League (CAL) serves a membership of highly accomplished artists from the greater Los Angeles area as well as throughout the United States. Members are juried into the organization and work in a wide variety of media, producing works of all forms, from the abstract to more traditional fine art. The Summers Past exhibit can be viewed Monday-Friday from 9:00 am-5:00 pm with extended hours on Thurs til 9 pm, and on the third Saturday of every month from 10:00-3:00 pm. Call 626.796.0560 for other times and special events.
Football clinic draws hundreds of area kids to Robinson Park Continued from page 1
They’ll run all types of drills, a lot that the colleges run with spring and summer workouts. It’s great stuff.” Chinen also said he just hope the kids enjoy themselves on the field. “The main thing is to have fun and that you can have fun playing a sport and learning how play right, knowing that if you are going to do this you have to be healthy and be in shape,” he said. “You have to work as part of a team.” In addition, he said he is glad the Pasadena area is able to put on the clinic for the kids. “It’s great when a community comes together like this for the kids because oftentimes parents will sign the kids up and drag them along,” he
said. “But these kids are here to have fun and learn from the very best.” Fred Fimbres, head football coach at PCC who was helping coordinate the clinic, agreed with Chinen. “I think the importance is to engage the community,” Fimbres said. “The Rose Bowl and the city of Pasadena are synonymous with one another. I think that to engage the community and the activity the people think of with the Rose Bowl and Pasadena and that is football, anytime we can get young people out and get them moving and getting them some valuable lessons will help us.” (Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews. com. He can be followed via Twitter @segallanded.)
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Levi Ponce: A talented muralist envisioning community improvement through painting By JENNIFER schlueter A close friend recommended I check out Levi Ponce’s art (www.leviponce.com). Thrilled about what I saw, we set up an interview at the location of his next mural on a Sunday. In the afternoon, I arrive at Plaza de la Raza in Lincoln Heights, where Levi and his crew had already been working for two hours on a memorial painting for Mexican –American starlet Jenni Rivera who died in a plane crash 2012. Approximately a dozen people stand around the shaded spot where Levi is painting alongside his father and a few
da Vinci. When I ask him if he prefers realistic styles, he says no; he loves everything that looks good: sculpture, graffiti, pop art, etc. In 2011, the artist, who works in visual effects for his day time job in the film industry, started to use his art to bring the community of his hometown Pacoima together. When he paints, he invites everyone to join. Together with his father and many other volunteers, he transformed graffiti marked walls of his neighborhood into what is now called the “Mural Mile.” The strip on Van Nuys
“I've always been the kid with the paint brush in his hand” - Levi Ponce other artists he had invited to join, including Rivera’s son Mike. While Levi’s father is coloring the yellow flowers at the bottom of a painting, Levi stands on a ladder shading Rivera’s face. The bilingual artist tells me that he has been painting since he was 4 and that he has “always been the kid with a paint brush in his hand.” Levi idolizes his father with whom he regularly paints, and legendary Classics such as Salvador Dali, Michelangelo, and Leonardo
Boulevard between Arleta and Herrick Avenue now hosts more than 20 murals depicting Levi’s interpretation of Mona Lisa, a tribute to Michelangelo, several portraits, etc. According to a Huffington post article, Kevin Taylor, chairman of the Reseda Neighborhood Council, praises Levi’s and his work: “Levi is without a doubt one of the most important artists in Los Angeles right now, “ he said. “With the work he’s doing, his skill level, talent, the speed with which he works
Levi Ponce painting with his father -Photo by Jennifer Schlueter
and the positive messages he brings to his murals, what he’s bringing to communities that need his work ... To have the opportunity to have him painting here in Reseda is a huge honor, and the murals that he’s leaving here are treasures.” However, the Cal State Northridge graduate does not limit his murals to the San Fernando Valley. With his art, he wants to “paint cities, not walls,” as he says. His murals and paintings are all over Los Angeles, but also on the east coast. His eyes light up when Levi tells me about his ultimate goal to tour the world while painting, but especially in Brazil, where they have “a mean street art game,” as he describes it.
When I ask the artist for a message that he wants to get out, he says: “You don’t need your city’s permission if you want to do something positive.” He is not interested in starting his own organization to help communities, but would rather have existing organizations work closer together instead of competing with them by starting his own. After all, “I just want to paint,” he states. Levi does not get paid for his murals; he finances them out of his own pocket. By painting them, he not only beautifies communities, but also engages them to work together. More information about Levi Ponce and his art can be found on www.leviponce.com.