Sierra
Madre sierramadreweekly.com
Weekly
Thursday, december 24 - December 30, 2009 Volume 14, No. 52
Murder Victim Appears to be White Supremacist By Susan Motander
Pediatric patient Jayleen rushes to meet Santa after he gets off the chopper atop Huntington Hospital when he visited children at the Pediatric Unit last week as part of Pasadena PD’s Operation Polar Wind. -Photo by Terry Miller Full Story on Page 11
A Mother’s Christmas Wish: Her Daughter Back By Susan Motander
On the afternoon of October 29, this year, Sandra Ortega left her home in Monrovia for the short bus ride to her job in Duarte. She has not been seen since. Sandra had just turned 17 the month before and her family is worried. Sandra’s mother, Cassandra Lopez said that this year the one thing she wants for Christmas is her daughter back, or at least the knowledge that she is all right and safe. Sandra attended Monrovia High School and worked at the Dollar Tree in Duarte as part of the R.O.P. work experience program at the school. On the day she disappeared she never arrived at work. “She had said that she wanted to move out when she turned eighteen,” her mother explained, “but nothing happened that would make her suddenly leave now. “I just need to know she
Missing Monrovia Teenager, Sandra Ortega: Photo Courtesy of Cassandra Lopez
is OK,” the distraught mother said. If you have any information that would make this Christmas wish come true, please contact the Monrovia Police Department at (626) 256-8000.
The man who died last week in a shooting in Mon ro v ia has b e e n identified as Jason Samuel Gentile, 22, of Costa Mesa. The shooting occurred on Tuesday, December 15 just after 8:00 p.m. on Colorado Blvd., just west of California. The dead man appears to have been a white supremacist and Sheriff’s Department investigators believe the five men who were in the group from which the shots were fired are members of Monrovia Nuevo Varrio (MNV),
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Relocation of Bank’s Millard Sheets Mural Under Discussion By Sameea Kamal
Catherine Haskett-Hany has been going to what is now Chase Bank on Lake Avenue and Colorado Boulevard since she was a child, and has always looked forward to seeing the mural of the Pasadena Rose parade on the wall. When she walked in one day to see it covered up by a wall, she was alarmed that it was hidden. Haskett-Hany, who is the Communications Director at the Pasadena Library, said the mural is one of the reasons she enjoys going to that bank. “They’ve made it so it’s very bank-like … and before it was a very special place to go to because you had that mural,” she said. “It didn’t matter how long the line was because you could enjoy the mural and there was always something to learn about it.” Haskett-Hany then con-
-Photo by Terry Miller
tacted the Pasadena Cultural Affairs Office, who has been working with Chase Bank to find a suitable relocation. “Having grown up with it, it means a lot to me,” she said. “More people other than (those) who know of it at the bank should be able to see it.” As a part of reconstruct-
ing the branch, the bank placed a wall to create a work area for employees that is out of sight of customers for security reasons, said Gary Kischner, spokesperson for the Pasadena branch. As a result, the mural is partially obscured to the public.
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FREE
Paul and Louise Neiby Named Citizens of the Year By Bill Coburn
T he Sier ra Mad re Chamber of Commerce announced today that for the first time, it has named two people as its Citizen(s) of the Year. Dr. Paul Neiby and his wife Louise were chosen to receive the Chamber’s 2009 Citizen(s) of the Year award. Chamber president Matt Krantz presented the couple with a bouquet of flowers as the announcement was made by Susan Henderson, a member of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and president of Sierra Madre Kiwanis. The couple were nominated for the Chamber’s annual honor by Kiwanis, of which Dr. Neiby is a longtime member and former president. Louise Neiby, while not officially a member of Kiwanis, is also actively involved with the organization. “Paul will sometimes volunteer for things, and then Louise makes it happen” said one Kiwanian, noting that Louise cooks the sausage for the organization’s annual pancake breakfast, and the corn bread that is served with the chili annually when Kiwanis provides dinner for the volunteers at the Sierra Madre Rose Float barn during the Rose Float Association’s decoration week. Louise is a member of the Sierra Madre Garden Club, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society. Dr. Neiby is also active with the Historical Preservation Society and has been described as one of the driving forces behind the Society’s recently released history of Sierra Madre titled “Southern California Story: Seeking the Better Life in Sierra Madre” by Michelle Zack, a project that was eight years in the making. Dr. Neiby is also actively supporting the Kiwanis and
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