It’s been a heck of a week
Working at the newspaper and coming off La Cañada’s auto transporter disaster story last week, I was pretty darned pooped. The staff here at the Valley Suns worked tirelessly to bring the story to our readers quickly, adding information to the websites as it became available. La Cañada Valley Sun in particular kept our reporters’ noses to the grindstone as each was assigned a component to follow and report. I have to say “kudos” to our staff. They did a stellar job.
In this week’s edition of the Crescenta Valley Sun, on Page 3, you’ll find an overview of the newly-installed signs along the ’Crest to warn drivers of the dangers of traveling the twisty, steep highway. I can only pray that preventive measures will continue to be implemented and that we’ll never have to report on a similar tragedy again.
With the high level of emotion spent on that story, it was not surprising that I was looking forward to the relaxing Verdugo Mountain Driving Tour on Sunday. What better way to spend a Sunday (except perhaps at the spa) than to don a floppy hat, splash on some sunscreen and head into the Verdugo Mountains.
The tour is an annual event and limited to only so many cars. I felt pretty special as I, along with my husband and other ‘tourists,’ made our way along very bumpy paths that led us from the Oakmont section of the Verdugos, across the hillside, ending five hours later at La Tuna Canyon.
Part of the fun was not only seeing our valley from a bird’s eye view, but meeting some folks that I hadn’t met before. Case in point were our traveling companions, Mike and Cindy Brines.
We all carpooled to minimize the amount of auto traffic through the mountains. Steve and I were fortunate to have Mike and Cindy ride along in our car.
You know how you sometimes get nervous meeting new people, especially if you’re going to be in a confined space for any length of time? Thankfully, it took all of five minutes for me to realize that the Brines were our kind of companions. There was no griping about the bumpy roads or whining about getting a late start (due to me). And you’ve heard about the six degrees of separation? After talking to the Brines, we realized that our level of separation — basically how many people does it take until you each know someone in common — was closer to one level; so we had lots to talk about.
If you remember, Sunday was rather warm, without a cloud in the sky. Learning the rich history of our mountains and the possible plans for future development in nearby areas made for a great day. You can read about the tour and see photos on page 30.
A great day was needed as we sped through this week and smack dab into a big rig accident at 4 a.m. on Thursday morning, followed by a pot bust in the afternoon.
Of course, you can read about both in this week’s Crescenta Valley Sun along with coverage of the local elections and how the results will impact the foothills community.
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We take pride in being the community newspaper and love to hear from our readers, even if they don’t agree with something they’ve read.
I am sometimes asked why it seems that we only present one side of an issue, particularly in our letters/opinion section. People are surprised to learn that, generally speaking, we print every single intelligible correspondence that is submitted to the paper. I can only answer that we can’t print what isn’t submitted.
So I encourage you to pick up your pen (or mouse) and offer your perspective on what you read on these pages, regardless of whether you agree or don’t with what’s been written.
We want to hear from you.
ROBIN GOLDSWORTHY is the city editor of the Crescenta Valley Sun. She can be reached at (818) 790-8774 ext 14 or at robin.goldsworthy@latimes.com.