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Community News, Arts, Opinions and Events Since 1996
Habitat Houses Four Families in Monrovia
The San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity turned keys over to four families on Saturday at the dedication of their new homes on Sherman Avenue in Monrovia. In giving the Invocation, Reverend Gregory Douglass of the
Monroe School PTA Celebrates 100 Years To commemorate the PTA centennial, Monroe School held two hour-long student performances on Thursday, February 18 during the school day for parents and guests. Founders Day is traditionally a nighttime presentation in honor of the founding of the National Parent Teachers Association. This Founders Day of Monroe also celebrated the 100 -year anniversary of the founding of Monroe School’s
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Monrovia United Methodist Church, called the homes “A place to be a family.” Douglass had himself put in hundreds of hours on the project joking that the dedication was only the second time he had worn a tie to the location. Sonja Yates, the executive director of the SGV
Habitat for Humanity explained that these houses had been approximately 18 months in process and that part of that process was selecting the families who would live in them. Every family put in at least 500 hours of “sweat equity”: hours that they had worked on others homes and their
Wistaria Festival Offers Good Food, Music and One Spectacular Vine
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Sierra Madre City Council Candidates Square Off
own. In addition to the presentation of the keys, the introduction of the families and the official ribbon cuttings on each residence, the dedication also acknowledged the contributions of the hundreds of volun-
The League of Women Voters in conjunction w it h t he Sier ra Madre Chamber of Commerce hosted a well-attended, almost overflow candidate forum on Monday at City Hall. The room seemed evenly divided, much like the council itself. Each of the Candidates: Pat Alcorn, John Crawford, Joe Mosca, Bill Tice, Nancy Walsh and Don Wat t s made br ief opening statements before delving in to the usual round of questions from the audience. The forum, t hough well attended, was scarcely a st i mu lat i ng expe rience for many of the voters in attendance as ma ny of t he quest ions lead directly into canned responses from the wellprepared candidates. One such candidate was local blogger John C r aw for d (a . k . a . E r ic M au nd r y) who, i n re sponse to each question read quotations from arch ived post s f rom h i s
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Four excited families including the Nava family and the Nava family received the keys to their new homes Saturday morning from Habitat for Humanity officials. The Nava family was the first of the four to open their new front door - Photo by Terry Miller
By Susan Motander
Thursday, March 11 - March 17, 2010 Volume XV, No. XIV
“It's Bad” MUSD to Lose Sixteen Teachers Due to Severe Cuts By Susan Motander L a st T hu r sday t he California Teachers Association called for a Day of Action to protest cuts to educational funding. In response the Monrovia Teachers Association held a meeting at Clifton Middle School. But the tone was neither strident nor confrontational. Ann Battle, president of the MTA set the tone for the meeting by opening it saying, “In Monrovia, it s day of education.” To that end there were not just teachers in attendance, but also a large number of administrators (including the superintendent of schools), classified employees, parents and member of the Monrovia Schools Foundation (MSF). Superintendent Dr. Linda Wagner first thanked everyone for “this day of unification.” More than anything else it was an information exchange for all those in-
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AHS Students Team with Arcadia Weekly to Host Candidate Debate on March 31 On Tuesday members of the Arcadia Weekly editorial staff including Editor John Stephens, Photographer Terry Miller and Principal Writer Susan Motander met with Arcadia High School teacher Kevin Fox and his championship Constitution Team to plan a debate for the city council candidates slated for Wednesday, Ma rch 31at 7:00 p.m. at the Santa Anita Inn. “Last night I attended the Candidate Forum in Si-
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(Paid for by the Campaign to Re-Elect Peter Amundson) FPPC# 1324421