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Thursday, JULY 26 - AUGUST 1 , 2012
Community News, Arts & Opinions Since 1996
Mars Orbiter Repositioned to Phone Home Mars Landing
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Volume XVII, No. XXX
Salvaged Wood from Windstorm Transformed by Art Center Students BY TERRY MILLER
On Wednesday, Scientists at JPL gave the Media a tour of their “Mars Yard” where Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers and scientists are testing engineering models of NASA’s Curiosity rover in a sandy, Mars-like environment. The real Curiosity rover, part of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, is on its way to the Red Planet. -Photo by Terry Miller
NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft has successfully adjusted its orbital location to be in a better position to provide prompt confirmation of the August landing of the Curiosity rover. NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft carrying Curiosity can send
limited information directly to Earth as it enters Mars’ atmosphere. Before the landing, Earth will set below the Martian horizon from the descending spacecraft’s perspective, ending that direct route of communication. Odyssey will help to speed up the indirect communication
Kensington Project Finally Passes Muster with City of Sierra Madre BY JIM E. WINBURN Having received the blessing of the City Council, the Kensington Assisted Living Facility now goes to the popular vote of the people of Sierra Madre. The Sierra Madre City Council on Tuesday carefully scrutinized the proposed Nov. 6 ballot language for an initiative to amend Measure V that would exempt the Kensington from the law’s density restrictions. After approving the language and other resolutions to put it on the November ballot, council members also unanimously approved the Kensington project’s
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Specific Plan, the Municipal Code Text Amendment, and the developer’s Conditional Use Permit. Avoiding any possibility of a so-called “bait and switch” on their watch, council members reviewed the ballot language carefully, being most concerned with a clear and concise ballot question that would leave no chance for misleading the voters. In particular, Councilman John Harabedian questioned the effect of the very broad phrase “consistent
VOTE Please see page 20
process. NASA reported during a July 16 news conference that Odyssey, which originally was planned to provide a near-real-time communication link with Curiosity, had entered safe mode July 11. This situation would have affected communication op-
erations, but not the rover’s landing. Without a repositioning maneuver, Odyssey would have arrived over the landing area about two minutes after Curiosity landed. A spacecraft thruster burn Tuesday, July 24, lastPlease see page 15
3 Separate Helicopter Rescues in 1 Hour, Angeles Forest - July 13 Helicopter rescue crew deputies from Los Angeles County Sheriff's Air Rescue 5, responded to and ultimately rescued two injured hikers and one person trapped on a sheer cliff in the Angeles National Forest within just over an hour starting at 1:00PM. The rescues occurred in two popular recreational areas in the Angeles National Forest approximately 15 miles apart on Friday, July 13th. The first rescue occurred at Eaton Falls Friday, July 13th, when a male adult from Pasadena fell 80 feet and landed on
the canyon floor north of Altadena. He sustained moderate trauma injuries and was treated by Sheriff's Emergency Services Detail paramedics and hoisted up into the aircraft. Video: Air rescue after 80' fall in Eaton Canyon http://youtu.be/pKZOaYtlU2U As soon as the first person was rescued, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Air Rescue 5 crew saw another male hiker precariously perched on an Eaton Canyon sheer cliff Please see page 12
Ravit Bennier, an Art Center student, tried her hand at the very first woodworking sculpture. -Photo by Terry Miller
Since April, the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden has invited artists and artisan to select wood from trees lost in last December’s wind-
storm to create sculptures, furniture, bowls, jewelry and other arts works. The first of these works, created Please see page 27
Temple City School Board Places Bond Measure on November Ballot The Temple City Unified School District Board of Education moved forward to place a local school improvement funding measure on the November 2012 ballot. An overflow crowd, including Temple City Mayor Vincent Yu and Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Peter Choi, encouraged the Board to proceed with this Bond measure.
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“The excellence of Temple City’s schools has directly contributed to the consistent increase we have enjoyed in our property values,” stated Mr. Choi. “We are fortunate to live in a vibrant, thriving community. We must protect and maintain quality education by moving forward with this Please see page 6