Featured Articles from the La Canada Valley Sun

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE - One team wanted a win, the other simply needed it. So, neither left entirely satisfied following Friday afternoon's outcome. A 1-1 stalemate left the La Cañada High girls' soccer team in second place in the Rio Hondo League, with visiting San Marino trailing in the third slot. With a win Tuesday over South Pasadena, the Spartans can overtake the Tigers atop the league standings. Though still in the playoff hunt, the Titans' odds of winning league shrunk after Friday's draw.

Six junior varsity players on the La Cañada High girls' lacrosse team received a trial by fire in the Spartans' first round CIF Southern Section playoff game against Palisades. A shorthanded La Cañada squad, with three players out with the flu, struggled in the first half and ultimately lost, 11-7, at home. The defeat ended the season for the Spartans, who were playing in their first season as a CIF-sanctioned squad. Hannah Peitzman scored the first goal of the game less than two minutes into the contest.

SAN MARINO — Senior night can add pressure to a team, as was the case Friday night when the San Marino High boys' basketball team hosted La Cañada in its final home game of the regular season. The Spartans felt more pressure than the Titans early and struggled through the first half before rebounding in the fourth quarter to blow a close game through three quarters open in a 52-37 win. "In the first half we played good defense, but missed a lot of layups," La Cañada Coach Tom Hofman said.

For more than 20 years Michael Huber had been an example of high Christian morals and devotion to community and children. He was sentenced last week in a Pasadena courtroom to four years and eight months in prison for child pornography. Before being arrested, the La Crescenta resident spoke to church groups and PTA audiences, impressing them with his compassion and his understanding of today's youth. He spoke and everyone listened. That was not the case Monday, when he sat and listened to former friends ask him why he had taken their trust and victimized their children.

Mountain lion tracks are still visible down the side of the hill near the Brown?s La Cañada Flintridge home. ?The ice plant is back now, but it was smashed down and you could see the [cougar tracks] all the way down the hill,? said Bob Brown. He and his wife are still dealing with the loss of their dog Buddy after a horrific night last week that began with a lot of barking. Brown had just arrived home from work July 30 when he heard barks from his 5-year-old dog Buddy, a 65-pound shepherd-terrier mix, echo from the backyard.

A dozen years after La Cañada residents Harold “Skip” Tillman and his wife, Joni, were found buried in remote graves, investigators say they have new developments regarding the murders, but are staying tight-lipped about any details. “There are some things that we're working on, but it's not anything I can divulge right now,” said Det. Ryan Ford of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department Cold Case Homicide Division. “It's definitely a case that we have open and we're actively seeking out additional leads and information.” Skip Tillman, an accountant, and Joni, a homemaker, were last seen dining at J.J. Steakhouse in Pasadena on Feb. 6, 2000.

In January, Superintendent Wendy Sinnette and the LCUSD Governing Board moved to request that the state of California give the LCUSD the revenue it lost due to the two "wind days" that closed the LCUSD schools in December 2011.  Given the shortfalls facing the LCUSD, no one can argue against this decision.  However, despite the fact that the teachers of the LCUSD have been paid for the two "wind days," no mention has been made of actually restoring these  two lost instructional days to the ultimate losers in this situation: the parents and students of the LCUSD.

A male suspect on Monday entered a Bank of America branch in La Cañada Flintridge, slipped a teller a threatening note and walked away with $14,000 in cash, authorities said. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies continue to search for the suspect, described as Hispanic, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall and in his late 20s or early 30s. He was of medium build with dark hair and dark eyes. At the time of the robbery he was wearing black pants and a black shirt, authorities said.

Q. As I get older, I worry about falling. What can I do to protect myself from falls? First, examine your home for safety hazards. Bathrooms are a prime source of accidents. Put non-slip tape in your bathtub or shower. Install grab bars and use a non-slip bath mat. Keep all the things you use regularly in cupboards that are easily reachable. If you must use a step stool, use the kind that has a handle. Never stand on a chair. Have a family member or neighbor come over to change that burned-out light bulb.

When La Cañada Flintridge resident Oliver Kolevski's 11-year-old son, Max, was diagnosed with gluten and lactose intolerances a year ago, he had a hard time finding healthy foods for him to eat. “I had to find a way to send my son to school, without bread, without macaroni, without all these things,” said Kolevski. “And I had to figure out how to keep him healthy and happy - and at the same time to enjoy his food - and that become pretty serious business.” Kolevski said that he found some success with products like goat milk and corn pasta he found at markets like Sprouts and Trader Joe's, but he wanted to give his son more nutrition and variety.

The owners of four lavishly decorated homes opened their doors to the community, all for the cause to help raise money in support of La Cañada High's middle school programs. The 20th annual Spring Home Tour held last Friday was attended by more than 900 people. Organized by La Cañada 7/8 PTA, parents and student volunteers helped coordinate the event. "We had more same-day ticket sales than last year," the event's publicist, Karen Villalpando, said. According to Villalpando, the Spring Home Tour is 7th and 8th grade school's main fund-raising event of the year.

Friends said their goodbyes when Sue Savona left her Glendale home just before Christmas to drive across the country for the holidays. They were shocked last week to learn that the La Cañada High School graduate and former Jet Propulsion Laboratory worker will not return. Savona, a mother of nine, experienced severe stomach pains while traveling with her husband Gary and nine children to visit family in Green Bay, Wisc. Gary Savona took her to a hospital in Tulsa, Okla., and continued on to Green Bay to drop off the children.

Eight women from the Glendale Chapter of National Charity League Inc. recently attended the mother-daughter organization's Fall District IV Meeting and leadership conference in Yorba Linda. According to Debbie Cox, president of NCL Glendale Inc., the meeting underscored the importance of social responsibility and volunteerism as practiced by the dozen NCL Chapters in District IV. In the 2010-11 fiscal year alone, NCL Inc. District IV members, including those from the Glendale Chapter, volunteered a cumulative total of 123,000 hands-on hours with local charities, valued at almost $2.5 million in manpower hours.

A La Cañada couple has been ordered to pay $768,000, including $500,000 in punitive damages, to an Indonesian woman who was subjected to harsh treatment while working as a domestic servant in a home on Hillcrest Avenue in early 2006. It is believed to be the first case ever tried under the California Trafficking Victims Protection Act. In a civil case that concluded on Nov. 2, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury found Andrew Tjia and Sycamore Choi guilty of bringing Suminarti Sayuti Yusuf from Jakarta, Indonesia to Southern California, confiscating her passport and forcing her to work 16-hour days without rest or pay. The criminal case was settled in September 2008, with Choi pleading guilty to felony human trafficking and Tjia pleading guilty to misdemeanor false imprisonment.