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Monday, august 23 - august 29 , 2010 Volume III, No. XXXII
Temple City Resident, Temple City Woman Turns Herself In Being Former Managing Editor On Run For 2 years of Pasadena Star News, Accused- Li Ching Liu - Charged with Elder Financial Abuse John Veenstra, Dies
By Susan Motander
On August 10. John Veenstra, 71, of Temple City, died while visiting family in Iowa. Veenstra was the former Executive Director of the Monrovia Chamber of Commerce. The former executive was fully retired after working as a free lance marketing consultant after retiring from the chamber; however, he was considering returning to work at the time of his death. Veenstra had been in Jefferson, Iowa visiting his mother Ruth Veenstra and her new husband, Horace Hedges when he fell while getting the morning paper on August 3. In falling he hit his head and was taken to the hospital shortly thereafter, but slipped into a coma the next day, according to family friends. Barbara Veenstra said that she and her husband had discussed end of life issues and were in agreement that it was the quality of life which mattered most to both of them. “There was severe brain damage and John would not have wanted to live if he wouldn’t be ‘John,’” she said. “We decided to let
John Veenstra
him die and to donate whichever of his organs could be used.” On August 10 he died, surrounded by his family, without regaining consciousness. According to Barbara they were able to donate several of his organs including skin grafts and “his beautiful eyes.” She said that she was sharing this information in the hope that other people would be inspired to become organ donors. John Dean Veenstra was born on June 7, 1939 in Jefferson, Iowa, the son of Ralph and Ruth (nee Neidigh) Veenstra. In 1957 he graduated from Jefferson High School, then attended Northeast Missouri State. He then enlisted in the United States Army. After being honorably discharged from the Army, he enrolled and graduated from Drake University. For many years Veenstra was employed by the Knight Ridder Newspaper chain working for several papers in the chain in many parts of the country. Even
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A fugitive caregiver from Temple City charged with stealing $4 million from an ailing elderly woman to fund a lavish lifestyle has surrendered after two years on the lam. A $2.5 million arrest warrant was issued in 2008 for Li Ching Liu, who was charged with abuse and robbery of a 74-year-old stroke victim. Liu, who also uses the name Susan Liu, was hired in 2002 to care for the woman, who amassed a fortune through real estate investments. Liu, 54, surrendered Tuesday in Long Beach Superior Court with her attorney, Joseph Camarata. She pleaded not guilty and was jailed. Bail was set at $2.5 million pending an Aug. 24 hearing. Liu, who disappeared after her adult son and her boyfriend were arrested two
years ago, withheld food from the victim to make her comply while Liu drained the woman’s bank accounts, police Detective Stacey Holdredge said. Liu set up more than 60 accounts at half a dozen banks and laundered more than $4 million with the help of 58-year-old boyfriend Abolfath Okhovat of Thousand Oaks and her 29-yearold son, Yun Shih of Temple City, the detective said. Besides lavish Las Vegas gambling trips and jewelry purchases, Holdredge says the money was used to buy a Porsche sport utility vehicle and a Temple City house for Liu and her boyfriend. The money was also used to pay for Yun Shih’s tuition at the University of Southern California and a BMW. Both men are in prison after being convicted last year of financial elder
Li Ching Liu surrendered to authorities in Long Beach after being on the run for 2 years
Temple City's Hot, Star Week 3 Down Under Studded Summer Fun Hello everyone, as our will go by fast, they aren’t By Kasey Sickles
Temple City put on its collective dancing shoes and ye old feedbag Thursday night for what was originally dubbed the Taste of Temple City. This year, the City of Temple City’s 6th Annual culinary extravaganza was entitles Dining Under The Stars - Jukebox nights T he locat ion, Temple
City Park. Seventeen restaurants participated in the sold out event which attracted more than 250 people to the exceedingly popular and tasty affair. One of the restaurants, Alex DiPeppe’s Italian served some of the most unique pasta and lasagna
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time here comes to the last week of our experience, we have done so many fun things, and still have many more experiences to have. So far in the second week, on Thursday, we went to the nations capital, Canberra, and stayed for the night. On that Friday we had gone to the Questacon Museum and the National Museum. Saturday was the day of the switch, and I myself had changed from the awesome house of the Robbs to the hopefully wonderful Crowther house. I can’t wait to experience many more fun things here in this wonderful country. Thank you all. -Kasey Sickles It’s a shame to say that our third week in Australia is quickly coming to an end. None of us can believe that we’re coming home in one week. I never believed it at first but now it’s clear to see that when people say the trip
kidding. This past week has been an excitement for all of us, especially beginning our first week with our new host families! So it was a sad bye bye to the wonderful and warm Reid family and hello to the exciting and makeyourself-at-home Barretts. Everyone had the opportunity to spend the previous weekend bonding with family they will call their own for the next two weeks. I was lucky enough to have brunch with the Reids for the last time and we ate dim sum! I’ve been having major cravings for authentic Asian cuisine since I’ve been here. It’s always good to try something new, and what I enjoyed the most was the fried squid. Alex, Rachael’s sister, refers to them as “similar to salty chewy fries.” After lunch, I said my last goodbyes and gave tight
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