Project1_Layout 1 4/13/15 12:51 PM Page 1
“Robot Head Man,” “Bird Man on a Stick,” and “One-Eyed, One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater” by Byron Rhodes See page 15
Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and the City of Signal Hill
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
VOL. 37 NO. 27
December 4, 2015
Deukmejian Courthouse evacuated after man tries to enter with ‘suspicious device’ Cory Bilicko Managing Editor
Staff and members of the public were evacuated from the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse in downtown Long Beach early in the afternoon on Thursday, Dec. 3 after an individual was detained with a suspicious package, according to police. At around noon, Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) officers were dispatched to the courthouse, located at 275 Magnolia Ave., to assist deputies that were detaining a male suspect who had tried to enter the building with several items, including a “suspicious device,” according to LBPD spokeswoman Cynthia Arrona. As a precaution, the first floor and the north side of the building were evacuated, Arrona said. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad and hazardous-materials team were called in to survey the building but found no explosive items. Courthouse employees and members of the public were readmitted around 2:10pm. The suspect, Deshawn Jerry Williams, a 32-year-old Long Beach resident, was booked for a probation violation. He is currently being held in the Long Beach City Jail with no bail. During the evacuation, through traffic on Magnolia Avenue between Third Street and Cory Bilicko/Signal Tribune Broadway was closed off. Police block off a portion of Magnolia Avenue in downtown Long Beach Thursday afternoon after an individual with a suspicious package was deThe investigation remains ongoing. tained while trying to enter the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, from which people were evacuated around 1:15pm.
Closer encounter
LB trauma recovery program to get more contact with crime victims CJ Dablo Staff Writer
The Long Beach Police Department will be partnering with a new program to offer support services to crime victims and closer contact for the individuals who experience that sudden loss of safety and security. The city council approved a proposal by Police Chief Robert Luna to locate a staff member from Long Beach Trauma Recovery Center at the station. The center is operated through collaboration between the California State University Long Beach (CSULB) Research Foundation Program and Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center. According to the director, Dr. Bita Ghafoori, the center has been in operation since 2014 and is funded through a grant from the California Victim Compensation Program. Lt. Steve Lauricella, who heads
up the special-victims section at the Long Beach Police Department, said in a phone interview Tuesday that the department already has strong partners of victim advocacy throughout the community. He added that what’s different about this particular collaboration is the proposal to co-locate a staff member from the center to meet with victims at the police department. Lauricella said that there used to be a victim advocate at the department readily available to speak to survivors of a crime when they talked to investigators about the case. He said that the department lost that co-located advocate group a couple of years ago and the department had been working without one during that time. Lauricella was introduced to the new Trauma Recovery Center in 2014 and began working with them. “I’m excited that we have the opportunity to work with Dr. Ghafoori
and her organization, if the council approves this,” Lauricella said Tuesday, just before the council favored the plan later that night. “I look forward to that evolution in the relationship.” According to a staff report, the police department will still handle the criminal investigation itself. Ghafoori said the Trauma Recovery Center is one of only two centers in the state that offer a similar comprehensive program for victims. “It’s different,” Ghafoori said of the center in a phone interview Tuesday, “because it provides nocost comprehensive mental health services to victims of crime and violence, using the…latest knowledge with respect to how to treat individuals [who] experience these types of events.” The grant to fund the center is for three years. see TRAUMA page 14
Weekly Weather Forecast
CJ Dablo/Signal Tribune
The Long Beach City Council has approved a proposal from the police department to offer support services to victims of crime. The Long Beach Police Department will partner with the Trauma Recovery Center and place a center staff member at theBundts_JB_Layout department. 1 12/1/14 1:42 PM Page 1 December 4 through December 8, 2015
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Mostly sunny
Plenty of sunshine
Mostly sunny
Plenty of sunshine
Mostly sunny
62°
Lo 43°
65° Lo 46°
67° Lo 43°
70° Lo 45°
72° Lo 45°
This week’s weather forecast sponsored by:
Patricia’s Mexican Restaurant
$$16.00 5 OFF
when you purchase
2 dinner plates per dozen & 2 drinks (with this ad)
“A Gourmet Gifting & Baking Company” Three new holiday flavors! Pumpkin Spice • Eggnog Peppermint Crunch Lots more flavors available, too!
Dine In
TAKE OUT
out our ad on page 7! OrderCheck your holiday tamales now! Choose Choosefrom frombeef, beef,chicken, chicken,pork, pork,pinapple, pineapple, sweetsweet corn, strawberry or cheese w/ jalepenos corn, or cheese w/jalapeños
Now serving cappuccinos, espresso and lattes! Hours: Long Beach Blvd. 41474147 Long Beach Blvd. Hours: Carson St. Knolls Monday 11AM - 6PM atatCarson St.ininBixby Bixby Knolls Mon-Sat: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday 11AM - 7PM 9BUNDTS (888) (888) 9Bundts Sun: 911AM a.m.-5 p.m. www.bundtsonmelrose.com Sunday - 5PM www.bundtsonmelrose.com