SanGabriel Sun
Monday Edition of the
A Beacon Media, Inc. Publication Monrovia Weekly ArcAdiA Weekly
BY TERRY MILLER & ANDREA OLIVAS Water is life: Water is the problem. Water is the solution. However, one young Los Angeles man discovered it might not cost as much to build and maintain a freshwater well as you might think. The average cost for the Thirst Project to build a freshwater well in most developing nations is between $5,000 and $12,000. That means an entire community of people’s lives can be foreverchanged with as little as $5,000. Seth Maxwell, founder, was a 19-year-old acting student in Los Angeles when a brief meeting with a friend who’d just returned from Africa changed the course of his life forever. Upon learning that almost one billion people lack access to clean water and that waterborne illnesses account for more than 80% of all global disease, he gave up acting to focus on water education. The Thirst Project is a movement of young people who are raising awareness of and bringing solutions to the global water crisis. Combining outreach and water well implementation, The Thirst Project has completed 788 freshwater development projects across the
BY SUSAN MOTANDER Late on Tuesday afternoon, Monrovia police received a phone call from a man informing them that a friend of his, David Haskins, was despondent. The friend was worried about a potential of suicide. Monrovia police went to Haskins’ home on Please see page 10
Temple Tribune
Kurt and Nancy Nightingale with Pauley Perrette who plays Abby Sciuto on NCIS. Perrette donated $15,000 for clean water well to be built in Columbia in the name of the twins. Last year Perrette had donated to build a well in Nkamanzi, Swaziland. -Courtesy Photo
globe. They reached over 250,000 American students with their eye-opening educational programs by traveling the country to middle Schools, high schools as well as college campuses. Maxwell is one of the five ‘Do Something Awards’ finalists that will air on VH1 in late August, where the finalists are up for a grand prize of $100,000 community grant.
The Thirst Project’s third annual gala last Wednesday at the Beverly Hilton was attended by over 600 guests and a score of celebrities. The evening rose over $188,000 from supporters who opened their checkbooks to help Project Thirst to build 21 wells. Celebrity attendees included Pioneering Spirit Award honorees Chyler Leigh (Grey’s Anatomy) and husband Nathan
The El Monte Police Officers Association & Auxiliary are inviting families to begin their Independence Day celebrations with a hot and patriotic 4th of July Pancake Breakfast. The breakfast will be served from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, July 4, in the parking lot behind the El Monte Police Department Station. Tickets are priced at $5 each with all proceeds to be donated to the El Monte Explorers program and the El Monte/South El Monte
Emergency Resource Association. The festivities include musical entertainment, and prizes will be raffled. A drawing will be held for one lucky child (age 14 and under) to win a bicycle. The first 200 children will receive a commemorative beach ball with the City of El Monte’s Centennial logo. Wednesday, July 4, 2012, 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., El Monte Police Department Station, Back Parking Lot - 11333 Valley Blvd. El Monte
West, hosts Pauley Perrette (NCIS) and Kirsten Vangness (Criminal Minds), as well as Josh Sussman (Glee), Taryn Southern (American Idol alum), Lance Bass (*N Sync) and Michael Welch (Twilight) to name a few. The annual Thirst Project Gala is held to honor those individuals doing their part to bring safe, clean drinking Please see page 9
FREE
8,000 Pounds of Commercial Grade Illegal Fireworks Averted from Hitting L.A. Streets At 11:25 a.m. on Tuesday, June 26, 2012, deputies from the Norwalk Sheriff’s Station were following up on information they received regarding a large quantity of illegal fireworks being stored in a public storage locker in the City of Norwalk. Deputies contacted the site manager of the storage facility on the 10900 block of Firestone Boulevard and confirmed the storage unit in question was being rented by the individual being
Barricaded El Monte Police Officers Man Association & Auxiliary to Serve 4th of July Long Standoff with Monrovia Pancake Breakfast Police Ends Peacefully
(THIS WEEK ON PAGE 4)
CITY
MONDAY, JULY 2 - JULY 8, 2012 VOLUME XVII, NO. XXVII
The Thirst Project’s Third Annual Gala Raises $188,000
VOTE ONLINE
investigated. A Sheriff’s Transit Services Bureau explosive detection K-9 conducted a search of the storage lockers. During the search, the K-9 alerted his handler to the suspected storage locker. Because it was believed this storage locker contained explosives which presented an immediate threat to the community, entry was made into the storage locker in Please see page 9
23rd Annual Police Training Exercise Draws Statewide Emergency Personnel BY KRISHNA RAJAGOPALAN The 23rd annual Police Training Exercise was held on June 27th at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena. The event has become a large-scale exercise for helicopters to come together and for air support to come and help in case
of a natural disaster such as a wildfire. The event drew a handful of helicopter crews from police and fire agencies across Southern California for a simulated large scale emergency. Please see page 10
El Monte Police Captain Ken Alva Retires After 33 Years of Service to City A beautiful relationship that started on Valentine’s Day in 1979 is coming to an end. El Monte Police Department Captain Ken Alva is retiring after 33 years of service to the City. He was honored by family, friends, City staff and fellow police officers at a retirement dinner July 21. His last day on the job is Thursday, June 28. “Little did I know that I was beginning, not only a job, but also a 33-year relationship with this wonderful community,” Alva said. Please see page 6
-Courtesy Photo