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Monrovia Weekly Temple Tribune ArcAdiA Weekly Monday, february 20 - FEBRUARY 26, 2012 Volume xVIi, No. VIII
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Newt Gingrich Seeks Votes in South El Monte
Missing San Gabriel Man Found Dead in Utah Yard According to the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper, a body found last week buried in the backyard of a Roy home has been identified as Victor Flores, a San Gabriel man missing since May. Please see page 3
El Monte Man Jailed in Oregon Francisco Javier Velasquez, 25, of El Monte, and his passenger, Uziel Surizaday Torres, 30, of Mountlake Terrace, Washington, were put in the Jackson County Jail, Oregon, charged with possession and distribution of heroin. The two were driving a 2002 Nissan Altima on I-5 when they were stopped by the Oregon State Police. The officers used a drug dog that found $300,000 worth of heroin inside a box.
Gingrich hopes to get more of the Latino vote when he visited Cielito Lindo last week. -Photo by Dena Burroughs
By dena burroughs It cannot be all that easy to come to a vastly non-Republican area to fundraise and try to get some support amongst Latinos. Yet that is exactly what Republican presidential candi-
date Newt Gingrich did on February 13 at the popular Mexican restaurant Cielito Lindo, in South El Monte. The fancy tour bus sporting his face and the message: “Newt 2012 – Rebuilding the America We Love,” was parked in front
51 Post Released-Supervised Persons in El Monte On October 1, 2011, the Criminal Justice Realignment Act went into effect. What it means is that the custody, treatment, and supervision of individuals convicted of specified non-violent, non-serious, non-sex crimes has shifted from state agencies to county agencies. The State prison system has begun releasing prisoners on parole who will be monitored by a collaboration between the Los Angeles County Probation Department, the Los Angeles
County Sheriff Department, and local law enforcement. There is no financial assistance provided to the cities to add on the task of monitoring these early releases. In the city of El Monte there are 51 of these post released-supervised persons. To monitor them, the El Monte Police Department has developed a data base that officers can access from their patrol cars to keep track of the parolees’ whereabouts. Also, gang detectives are
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making regular contact with them to ensure compliance with parole requirements. “The El Monte Police Department has developed a plan to monitor the increase of post-release supervise persons into the City of El Monte,” Mayor Pro-Tem Gomez, who is quite concerned with this situation, said. “However, if the current number grows it will have a negative effect on our community draining existing police services.”
of the restaurant where it got much attention from the people driving by. According to a volunteer, there were over 200 rsvps into the event. Inside, in a group that didn’t seem quite that large but that included one of El Monte’s council
members, Bart Batel, people first listened to Gingrich speak and later took their chance to ask questions. “Will you promise us in the future to talk about Latinos also as professionals and business people? Not all Latinos are illegal,” said
a man in attendance. This was followed by another man asking what Gingrich is planning to do about immigration issues. Without making it a long response, Gingrich spoke about Please see page 5
Organizations Seek Share of Rosemead’s CDBG Funds The Rosemead City Council held a public hearing for its use of federal Community Development Block Grant funds at its Tuesday meeting, receiving public comments from social service organizers who fear cuts to their programs. Several community organizations pleaded with council members to continue their funding amidst concerns that Congress is making severe cuts to the federally-funded
by jim e. winburn program. John Lovato, Director of Educational Services for the Rosemead School District, told city council members that funding from the city helps provide ongoing services for families, such as parenting counseling programs. “Through these programs we do a lot for the city because not only are we educating the children, but we are also educating the families to really help raise the achievement
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for all students,” said Lovato. He told the city council on Tuesday night that the future of the school district’s parenting program depends on the funding it receives through the city, saying that counseling programs served 160 Rosemead residents last year. The Rosemead School District currently receives $7,000 for its programs and is requesting the same amount Please see page 7
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