Vol. 51, No.14
Serving the San Gabriel Valley Since 1966
April 03, 2013
Special Section
Local Events
Poems
Sports
Student's Corner
Temple City, San Gabriel, & ROSEMEAD PAGE 6
page 2, 3 Visit Car Culture at http://www.midvalleynews.com/
page 4
page 7,8
page 3
Visit Us Online at www.midvalleynews.com for more Highlights of Local Schools and Events from the San Gabriel Valley Area.
Mother's Day is Coming!Send Mom a Special Message!! San Gabriel Valley Youth Summit El Monte
The El Monte Police Department in collaboration with Pacific Clinics - Asian Pacific Family Center Prevention Programs and its 40+ community partners— hosted the 4th Annual San Gabriel Valley-wide Youth Summit for all students between 6th and 12th grades on Saturday, March 23, 2013. The event was held at Columbia School (3400 California Ave) in El Monte, CA. Themed “You’re Youth. Your Time,” the 4th Annual Youth Summit collaborated with over 20 community and educational agencies to host this FREE workshop on a wide range of topics. Some of the topics
by Officer Mike Paredes
this year included arts and entertainment, financial literacy, college preparedness, creative writing, bullying, gang and substance abuse prevention, race and racism, and healthy relationships. The first 100 youth who arrived to the Youth Summit received a FREE T-Shirt. Students in attendance from around the San Gabriel Valley were very enthusiastic according to the presenters. Assemblymember Ed Chau of the 49th Assembly District was on hand to speak and recognize those involved with the event as was El Monte City School District Superintendant Dr. Maribel
Assembly Member Ed Chau, EMCSD Board Member Cathi Eredia, and Superintendent Dr. Maribel Garcia, at SGV Youth Summit 2013
Garcia, and San Gabriel Municipal Water Board member Thomas Wong. Over 200 students preregistered online and many walk-ups were welcomed into the event. The all day event finished with a talent showcase made up of presenters and students showing what they’d learned in their breakout sessions. Please visit www.facebook. com/SGVYouthSummit and follow us on Twitter at www. twitter.com/SGVYouthSummit .
El Monte Police Officer Mike Paredes (right) recieves recognition from Master of Ceremonies Roger Cobian (left)
San Gabriel City Council Elections End in Controversy
San Gabriel
Your Right to Vote Denied …. Just when you thought you’ve seen it all in city politics, along comes something right out of the twilight zone. In an extremely rare, unprecedented and even historical city council session, the City of San Gabriel voted against the seating of a newly elected city official. Chin Ho Liao, the second highest receiver of votes in last months’ municipal elections, was denied his claim to be added to the City Council. In front of an overflow and agitated crowd, the City Council passed two motions to allow a challenge to the qualifications of Liao and to only certify the election results of two of the three contested City Council positions. The two motions brought out the emotions of the crowd, a parade of San Gabriel residents marched to the podium; lawyers exchanged legal opinions and city council members tried to wrestle with their legal options. It was an example of how democracy is not supposed to work. In what
by Joe Castillo
was to be a session filled with a celebration of two new council members, both of Chinese descent, and the gracious exit of two outgoing council members, both of Hispanic descent, instead it turned into an example of city mismanagement. It was supposed to be a changing of the guard in San Gabriel, with over 60% of city residents having an Asian heritage, this was their voices finally being heard. But instead the City Council session turned into an open forum on the qualifications of Liao with lawyers citing legal references while pleading their cases, and the electorate speaking their support but none of their representatives bothered to listen. The City of San Gabriel is solely responsible for this failure in the American election process. Candidates for city positions are validated by city officials when candidacy papers are taken out. In the case of Liao, this was his second attempt at running for City Council with the first coming in 2011. Ques-
Elections End in Controversy continued to pg 9
Mountian View Easter Egg Hunt photos : Jimmie Sarabia