This book is must if you love La Mirada

The local writing team of Glen Cantrell and Ray Fernandez have come back strong from their first exploration back into local history in 'Reflections from Mc Nally's Mirror' with an even better second volume with, La Mirada: A Brief History, which just hit bookshelves last week.

The writers have smartly avoided taking a  chronological, textbook approach and instead take the reader on a mystical trip back through time to meet the founders of this community. 

The first stop is a visit 120 years ago to McNally Ranch and its acres and acres of olive groves.

Some of the builders of this place called La Mirada you will get to know are Anna J. Martin, the first City Clerk, our first postmaster Lela Criswell and Wayne Grisham a former two-term congressman and longtime city council member.

With each new introduction, it becomes quite apparent that La Mirada's past is more than just idyllic images from the past.  It's a full-fledged community moving forward with a plan created and put into motion by the very same people featured in this book.

La Mirada: A Brief History is available in paperback from Arcadia Publishing for $21.99 and can be purchased at the La Mirada Activity Center and at City Hall.

As of Sunday, the Fullerton Barnes and Noble was sold out of all its copies and the distribution had not yet caught up with the Arcadia rack of local pictorial books at the Rosecrans Av. CVS yet.

The book can be purchased online at Amazon (free one-day delivery with Prime) as well as at the Arcadia Publishing website.

Mr. Fernandez is donating 25% of his proceeds from the book to the LMHS Football program.

Cerritos College awarded U.S. Department of Education grant

NORWALK- Cerritos College' TeacherTrac program, in partnership with the Center for Collaborative Education, El Camino College and Rio Hondo College, has been awarded a U.S. Department of Education grant to advance equity in teacher representation by increasing the number of under-represented groups.

The $900,000 grant will extend over a three year time and will help kickstart The Community Partnerships for Teachers Pipeline, which is aimed at increasing teacher diversity in local Los Angeles communities and improving outcomes for disproportionally impacted students in local public schools.

Effective Educator Development grant program. Cerritos College was one of only 12 successful applicants of 200 that applied for the Supporting Effective Educator Development grants.

La Mirada man facing attempted murder charge after attack on mother

Prosecutors have filed two felony charges against a 34-year-old man alleging attempted murder and kidnapping in connection with an incident last Wednesday evening at a home in the 15200 block of Matisse Circle located in the Villages gated community.

David Kim is alleged to have struck his 60-year-old mother several times in the head with a five-pound candle holder causing serious injuries.

Kim, who fled the home before deputies arrived was arrested a short time later at the Chevron station at La Mirada Blvd and Beach Blvd by deputies that were doing a check of the area attempting to locate him.

At the time of the February 3rd attack, Kim was already facing charges from a May 27 trespassing incidents that prosecutors allege turned violent during a scuffle with responding deputies.

Kim who is being held at North County Correctional Facility in Castaic with bail set at $1,005,000 will be arraigned on the charges Feb, 22 in Norwalk Superior Court.

A conviction carries a maximum sentence of 17 years to life with the possibility of parole.

0DN04135  VA155208

Highway Patrol officers talk jumper off Alondra overpass

 Santa Fe Springs-  Officers from the California Highway Patrol coaxed a man who was poised to jump off a freeway overhead bridge overnight in the 13900 block of Alondra Bl. 

At about 4:40 a.m. CHP dispatchers began receiving calls from motorists reporting a man had been standing at the edge of a overpass above the freeway lanes of Interstate-5 just west of the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet.

When the first officers arrived the man was observed over the rail and at the very edge preparing to leap onto the northbound lanes.

As officers were negotiating with the man to surrender other CHP officers were dispatched to shut down tràffic in both directions between Carmenita Rd. in Norwalk and at Artesia Bl. in La Mirada sending motorists spilling onto surface streets in the area for a short time.

After a short period of crisis negotiation by CHP officers and Whittier Police, the man surrendered to officers without further incident at 4:54 a.m.  A unit from Sheriff's Mental Evaluation Team (MET) was summoned to the scene to evaluate the man and determine the type of professional intervention needed.