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arcadiaweekly.com
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8 - OCTOBER 14, 2009 VOLUME 14, NO.81
Sad Day at Santa Anita Raises Questions about Synthetic Track One Horse Euthanized, Another Won’t Race Again BY TERRY MILLER
Jockey Garret Gomez, pulls back the three year old colt Grazen (second from left) in the final stretch of race number 6 on Saturday. Gomez is credited for being very aware of his horse who suffered a a career-ending injury during the race. Bold Chieftan (second from left) went on to win the Cal Cup Classic. -Photo by Terry Miller
The three year old colt named Grazen sustained a career-ending injury Saturday while initially leading in the stretch of the $200,000 California Cup Classic, a race in which the long shot, Blackbriar, broke a bone and was subsequently euthanized as a result of the injury. Questions arose Sunday in racing circles about the track itself and what, if any part, the synthetic surface may have played in the injuries. According to Damon Stathatos, Blackbriar’s nowformer owner, there was no question about the surface’s role in the injury of his horse. “After watching the tapes of the race, over and over again [I saw that] Grazen broke down first and Blackbriar, following in Grazen’s path, broke down second in the exact same spot of the track,” said Stathatos in a comment on the Arcadia Weekly web site soon after loss of his horse. “[That] was the exact spot of the starting gate for the beginning of the race. There are just too many coincidences surrounding these two breakdowns and I must believe that there is some underlying
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FREE
Recall Adams Campaign Gets Boost from Radio Personalities Anthony Adams Recall Petition Hits 60,000 Signatures with Urging from “John & Ken”
-Photo By Terry MIller
Popular radio personalities John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, organizers of the recall Adams campaign, kicked off the final stretch of the race to get more signatures to recall the freshman Assemblyman. One protestor, Brian Knapp of Glendora said “It sucks man, Adams lied.” Referring to his vote on tax hikes. As drivers honked their
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Our Next Young Computer Wiz: Mutual Aid in Arboretum’s Shocking Revelation: It isn’t the Hugo Reid Adobe! Dadrian Tran Fire Fighting -How does it Work? BY SUSAN MOTANDER
-Photo By Terry Miller BY JOHN STEPHENS
Temple City’s Dadrian Tran loves “The Simpsons,” and if this shared love (obsession) of ours’ were reason enough to give him a new computer, it surely would have been good enough for me. But of course, there are better
reasons why this bright eighth grader from Oak Ave. Elementary chose to send us an essay in hopes that we might help him out by providing him a tool that so many of us take for granted. Dad r ia n’s pa rent s both work for the Cali-
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It is fire season in Southern California. That is something akin to saying it is Southern California. As Monrovia former Fire Chief Sam DiGiovanna has said, “Fire season in Southern California begins on July 1 and continues to the following June 30.” With that in mind, think of mutual aid. Everyone has seen the photographs of engines from throughout the state at the recent fires in this area. According to Monrovia’s current Fire Chief, Chris Donovan, in the recent Station Fire in the foothills and canyons just north of the San Gabriel Valley, there were hand crews from several Indian reservations and a team from
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BY BILL PETERS
One of the most important structures in all of Arcadia, the first on the Rancho Santa Anita, is the Hugo Reid Adobe. But research has uncovered an ugly truth. The structure, called the Hugo Reid Adobe since the Historical Committee met in 1949 under the direction of Dr. Samuel Ayres, not only is not the Reid adobe, it isn’t even in the right location. The Reid place was located nearby, but not on the footprint of the adobe building currently located in the historic section of the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Gardens. It turns out the Hugo Reid Adobe was west and next to the lagoon, or lake. What arises out of this shadowy story is something more fascinating—and ultimately more important.
-Photo By Terry Miller
It is now believed that the original Hugo Reid Adobe structure, constructed in a simple manner in 1840, likely collapsed or was demolished by Joseph Rowe in 1854 according to research by Foundation Trustee William Ellinger III, who is also an historical restoration architect, and Sandy Snider, retired Curator of the Historic Col-
lections at the Arboretum. Hugo Reid had acquired the property in 1839 as the result of land given to his Indian wife’s family. Reid began the business of ranching, built the adobe, a rural place for his family while visiting the operation, but continued to live with the family at a comfortable San Gabriel house
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