Gold ribbon Realtors donate Downey wins winners $10,000 swimming title See Page 2 See Page 17 See Page 10 Thursday, May 14, 2015 Vol.Vol. 14 No. 5 8301 E. Florence Ave., Suite 100, Downey, CA 90240 Mentally ill man arrested after threatening family Weekend By Eric Pierce previously threatened to harm family detectives physically restrained him as at a Editor members. he was handcuffed and arrested. Glance The man refused to exit the home, Once he was arrested, detectives and also refused to allow his elderly discovered the suspect was concealing 66⁰ DOWNEY – A man with a father to leave the residence, police a small plastic bottle in his hand. Friday possible mental illness who had earlier said. Detectives found “a large machete style threatened to harm family members Downey detectives entered the knife” in the man’s bedroom “in plain was arrested last week after locking home and rescued the father, police v i e w.” 68⁰ himself inside a house with his elderly said. He was uninjured and reunited The suspect refused medical Saturday disabled father. with family members. treatment and was transported to a The incident began at about 8:42 As detectives approached the medical facility for a pre-booking a.m. last Friday, when the Downey suspect, they saw him holding pieces of clearance. Once released he will be Police Department received a 911 paper in one hand and concealing an booked for felony criminal threats and 69⁰ For the second consecutive year, Old River Elementary won the Carnival of Champions call reporting a disturbance inside a unknown item in his right hand with false imprisonment, police said. Sunday track and field exhibit. Read details on page 3 home in the 10200 block of Branscomb the paper, authorities said. No detectives were hurt in the Street, authorities said. The caller After the suspect ignoredincident. stated that a 39-year-old man living at detectives’ orders to drop the items Anyone with additional SHARED STORIES: the home was inside breaking items. and show his hands, detectives fired information is asked to call the Police officers learned that the three non-lethal rounds at the suspect, Downey Police Department at (562) Things To Do THE TIES THAT BIND man – who police did not identify – authorities said. Two of the munitions 904-2308 or Detective Mike Galindo at had a possible mental illness and had hit the suspect in the upper torso, and (562) 904-2330. The Slot Car Race Track Frank Novak grew up in an old farmhouse in a semi-rural area of New England. Cigarette suspected of igniting With limited Television, he and his brother made their own fun, built their own toys. In early adolescence, their projects grew from their dreams. Shared Visual art Stories is a weekly column featuring articles by participants in a writing class Festival of the Arts - house fire competitions and live performances by at the Norwalk Senior Center. Bonnie Mansell is the instructor for this free the Stay Connected clubs at Downey and class offered through the Cerritos College Adult Education Program. Curated Warren high schools. Chief Dan Hurlock. residence, and were the first on scene. by Carol Kearns By Alex Dominguez Friday, Stay Gallery, 3-8 p.m. Contributor Two residents were in the house Santa Fe Springs Engine 84 was the first at the time the fire began. One of Engine Company to arrive on scene, By Frank Novak the residents, a 46-year-old woman, with Downey engines 63, 64, Downey In 1963, a slot car craze overtook the youth (or boys anyway) of America. was transported to Downey PIH for paramedic squad 642, Downey truck Slot cars were models, ranging from three to eight inches long, which could DOWNEY – Downey Fire medical attention, however she was not 611, and Downey Battalion 604 be raced on fixed tracks. The track had a grove for each car, and on either Department responded to an early injured during the fire, and received responding shortly after. The fire was morning call about a house fire on the side of the grove were strips of metal that carried the electricity to power medical attention for hypoglycemia. quickly extinguished. 9600 block of Telegraph last week. the car. The other resident, a male, The fire has been determined to The call came just after 3 am. sustained no injuries and was be accidental by a currently unknown I was 15, my brother 13 at the time, and we had a growing obsession with The fire began in the front attempting to put out the fire with a cause, however smoking is suspected anything automotive. Stacks of “Hot Rod” and “Road and Track” magazines bedroom and extended into a few garden hose when officials arrived. to be involved. Official reports have were accumulating in my room, and slot cars were the thing to have. - Pony rides, juggling adjacent rooms, causing extensive CHP happened to be at the gas not yet been released. show,Reading fishing Festival hole, face painting, and more. smoke damage to the single-story, My brother and I decided that we would build our own slot car track. station across the street when they Saturday, George Nye Library in Lakewood, We wanted something bigger and more real than the cheap sets that were single family residence said Battalion noticed smoke coming from the 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. available in the local stores. Looking back, it is hard for me to imagine that we had the confidence to build such a thing from scratch, but nevertheless we laid out a plan for a track based on a real race track in the rolling hills of Lime Rock, Connecticut. DA honors Downey woman for helping We drew out the sections of our roadway on a large piece of particle board, and cut out the strips with a hand held saber saw. Then the pieces were fastened to a plywood table. The top of the hill and the high straightaway were raised above the level of the plywood on six inch wooden blocks, stop attack before the road ran down to the sharp corner at the end. By Alex Dominguez On the morning of Sept. 12, 2013, Deputy District Attorney David We cut spacers to gradually raise the roadbed back up the climb to - 1/4 mile and 1/2 mile Contributor Tejada was at an Alhambra coffee shop Ayvazian described Hernandez as “a runsKiddie for kids, Run plus a health fair and police the top of the hill, and there we had our course: an overpass for the fast when Frank Hernandez, a 66-year- sexually violent predator who had department open house. down-hill straightaway, hard right turn at the bottom of the hill requiring old registered sex offender who was spent most of his adult life in prison Satuday, Whittier City Hall, 10 a.m. frantic braking, gentle right sweeper after that, sharp right under the bridge, DOWNEY – Local Downey on parole at the time, forced himself for a series of bank robberies and rapes two lefts climbing back up the hill, then a final tight left at the top onto the resident Connie Tejada was recognized into the car of the 24-year-old female that he had committed in the 60’s, 70’s, straight again. in Pasadena last week for her actions to victim. 80’s, and even the 90’s.” Facebook Conversation Now it was time to cut the groves. Somewhere we obtained a kit with the help prevent a potential sexual assault. The victim, who knew Hernandez Hernandez had been released materials needed to make our own track, and the kit included a hand held Tejada was one of five individuals from church, was meeting Hernandez in 2012 and was placed on an ankle Teacher collecting donations scraper with a tooth-like blade less than a quarter of an inch wide. Over and to receive the Courageous Citizen under the assumption that she was monitor. However, Hernandez had cut for homeless student over we dragged this tool along the particle board until we had two deep award from the LA District Attorney’s receiving a gift. off the device at some time prior to the Hernandez took the victim’s coffee shop incident. Maria Lilley: What a wonderful groves side by side along all of the roadway, wide enough for the two model Office. teacher to ask questions..and step up cars to race side by side. The award is given four times a cellphone and pistol whipped her with “Fortunately there were two to help this family. Since it doesn’t say year to individuals who perform brave what seemed to be a handgun. good Samaritans by the name of male or female please let them know I After that, metal foil strips with adhesive backing that had come in the or selfless acts that aid in stopping of a The attack was witnessed by Tejada Connie Tejada and Jennifer Clark,” would love to donate a custom prom kit were pressed tight and smooth on both sides of each grove in the roadway. gown of her choice or complete tux crime or the prosecution of a criminal, as well as another woman, Jennifer said Ayvazian. “Essentially both these Wires were attached from these strips to the electrical transformers at the rental of his choice plus the cost of even if at the risk of their own lives, Clark of Redondo Beach. Clark began witnesses were able to stop this woman ticket to prom. side of the table and the handgrip controls, and the track was ready.