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INDEPENDENT THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 - SEPTEMBER 10, 2014
VOLUME 2, NO. 35
JUSTICE FOR INDY
FREE
BURBANK AND SURROUNDING AREA RESIDENTS AMONG HUNDREDS LEADING THE PACK IN YEAR-LONG FIGHT FOR JUSTICE After numerous continuances, a preliminary hearing has been set for Wednesday September 24, 2014, in the case against Carlos Duarte, the man suspected of strapping a young pit bull with fireworks, set ablaze, on July 4, 2013 and leaving the severely burned dog for dead in an alley in Van Nuys, CA the following morning. And as the year-long quest to seek “Justice For Indy” continues, so does the need for people to take action in the fight against animal cruelty, whether it be by writing letters to legislators or by joining the hundreds of people from all over the -Photo by Lauren Lewis
Please see page 4
Beheading of San Gabriel Mountains Tom Torlakson on Vergara Lawsuit: Second American proposed for Monument Status ‘No teacher is perfect. A very few are not worthy of the job' Journalist by ISIL BY LOIS M. SHADE State Superintendent of the rights of both teachers countless unpaid hours condemned by An estimated 400 people the San Gabriel Moun- Public Instruction Tom and students. It is disap- preparing to start the new supporting and opposing tains could happen with Torlakson today released pointing that the Court re- school year in hopes of lawmakers Rep. Adam Schiff (DCA), a senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement in response to reports of the killing of American journalist Steven Sotloff by ISIL: “Reports of ISIL beheading a second American journalist, Steven Sotloff, are another gruesome reminder of the evil that now controls a large swath of Iraq and Syria. All of America sends its heartfelt condolences to the Sotloff family, who have been living with this nightmare for a year and only wished for their son to be returned home unharmed. ISIL must be confronted and destroyed. And I am confident that no matter how long it takes, those who murdered Steven Sotloff and James Foley, and so many others, will be made to face justice.”
the proposal for preservation of the San Gabriel Mountains flooded the Baldwin Park Performing Arts Center including a group arriving by bus wearing t-shirts indicating a group effort to support Rep. Judy Chu and monument status for the San Gabriels. Monument status for
one quick signature by the President under the 1906 Antiquities Act if it is found federal lands in the San Gabriels contain historic landmarks, historic or prehistoric structures or objects of historic or scientific interest. Under the Act the President is to reserve “the smallest Please see page 5
WOMAN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR FATAL DUI CRASH IN POMONA A 21-year-old woman convicted of driving drunk and crashing her car, resulting in the death of a passenger, was sentenced today to six years in state prison, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced. Raelene Marie Martinez of Ontario pleaded no contest on Aug. 25 to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI
causing injury, driving with a .08 percent blood alcohol causing injury and driving with a blood alcohol of .05 percent in case KA102330. The defendant also admitted to a special allegation of personally inflicting great bodily injury in the commission of the crime. At the sentencing, Los Angeles County Superior Please see page 4
the following statement regarding theVergara, et al. vs. State of California, et al. lawsuit: “The people who dedicate their lives to the teaching profession deserve our admiration and support. Instead, this ruling lays the failings of our education system at their feet. “We do not fault doctors when the emergency room is full. We do not criticize the firefighter whose supply of water runs dry. Yet while we crowd our classrooms and fail to properly equip them with adequate resources, those who filed and support this case shamelessly seek to blame teachers who step forward every day to make a difference for our children. “No teacher is perfect. A very few are not worthy of the job. School districts have always had the power to dismiss those who do not measure up, and this year I helped pass a new law that streamlined the dismissal process, while protecting
fused to even consider this important reform. “In a cruel irony, this final ruling comes as many California teachers spend
better serving the very students this case purportedly seeks to help. Please see page 4
-Photo by Terry Miller