El Monte

A photographic exhibit illustrating the history of El Monte's eight old Latino neighborhoods is on display at the city's historic society this month. "El Monte Memories De Mi Barrio" depicts family and community life of Mexican Americans in the cities of El Monte and South El Monte, said Ernest G. Gutierrez, president of La Historia Society. The exhibit, which runs through Nov.

Adali Gutierrez rarely mentioned his scarred and disfigured chin. He kept quiet about the mangled lower lip that twisted when he talked. A 21-year-old raising four orphaned siblings had bigger worries. Today, however, he speaks without hesitation. A plastic surgeon has fashioned him a new lip and smoothed over the divots in his skin. Faded are the lesions that reminded him constantly of the night his parents were gunned down in Mexico. It was January 2010. Maria and Guillermo Sr. had arrived at a police station to bail out Adali, who had been stopped for drunk driving.

Bob Brickman spent months fighting a ticket he got last fall from a red-light traffic camera at Wilshire and Sepulveda boulevards in West Los Angeles. The 61-year-old from Playa Vista eventually decided to give up the fight and fork over the $476 fine. Now he's regretting paying every penny. City officials this week spotlighted a surprising revelation involving red-light camera tickets: Authorities cannot force violators who simply don't respond to pay them. For a variety of reasons, including the way the law was written, Los Angeles officials say the fines for ticketed motorists are essentially "voluntary" and there are virtually no tangible consequences for those who refuse to pay. The disclosure comes as the city is considering whether to drop the controversial photo enforcement program, with the City Council scheduled to vote on the matter Wednesday.

The mean streets of South El Monte aren't so mean any more as they are tired and sometimes desperate. The tiny bedroom community, which sprouts from the junction of the Pomona and San Gabriel River freeways, was once plagued by crime and gang activity. Now many of its residents are more troubled by poverty and unemployment. "The last three years have been hard, you know what I mean?" sighs Joseph Diaz, an out-of-work truck driver married to a secretary who also lost her full-time job. "Things can't get any worse.

With chilling swiftness and precision, an unknown gunman murdered five people in an El Monte home--an execution-style attack that ended only when the killer ran out of ammunition and fled with two cohorts, authorities said Sunday. The gunman's lack of bullets apparently spared two young children huddled in their cramped, one-room apartment as their mother and sleeping siblings were shot at close range Saturday night.

The boy found it hard not to think about getting bonked with a baseball as he played a game of catch with his father in a park in El Monte. It was early in the evening, but in the fast-fading light, Jose Rocha, 9, said the baseball looked like a wad of paper. "It's kind of hard to see it," the boy said in Lambert Park. Anxious to find savings as city coffers take a hit, El Monte turns off half the lights in all its parks. "We used to play till 8," the boy's father, also named Jose, said.

Adali Gutierrez rarely mentioned his scarred and disfigured chin. He kept quiet about the mangled lower lip that twisted when he talked. A 21-year-old raising four orphaned siblings had bigger worries. Today, however, he speaks without hesitation. A plastic surgeon has fashioned him a new lip and smoothed over the divots in his skin. Faded are the lesions that reminded him constantly of the night his parents were gunned down in Mexico. It was January 2010. Maria and Guillermo Sr. had arrived at a police station to bail out Adali, who had been stopped for drunk driving.

The El Monte City School District has approved an agreement with the El Monte Elementary Teachers Assn. for an 8.36% salary increase for the 1985-86 school year. Salaries will range from $17,121 to $38,793, up from a range of $15,800 to $35,800 last year. Of the overall increase, 1.36% will go to compensate the district's 480 instructors for an extended teaching day.

Mark Walter lives in Chicago. Stan Kasten spent most of his adult life in Atlanta. Peter Guber is an L.A. guy. So, when Guber pitched a nostalgic idea on behalf of L.A. fans, his partners in the new Dodgers ownership group listened. "Curly Coo," Guber told Kasten. "There is nothing like a Curly Coo. " Google that, and you get a bar in Scotland. Kasten had no idea what the heck Guber was talking about. Millions of Dodgers fans could have explained, the ones who cheered on Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey, the ones who rooted for Valenzuela, Hershiser and Piazza, all with ice cream dripping down the sides of their faces.

In the black before dawn, Adali Gutierrez has no trouble waking. He's used to rising before the alarm has a chance to buzz. It's Friday, which means he'll be supervising a crew sentenced to community cleanup. He doesn't mind the three-day weekend shift if it means $10 an hour - - better pay than at his other job emptying recycling bins. Photos:  Taking on a leading role Yasmin is up too, taking advantage of a rare empty bathroom. She's 17 and doesn't like to be hurried when straightening her hair before school.

It started when an El Monte woman called to report an unusual pest: tiny mosquitoes that she said were biting her in the middle of the day. The complaint last week raised red flags for technicians at the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito & Vector Control District, who know that common mosquitoes typically attack during morning and evening hours. When a worker arrived at Dodson Street, one of the insects landed on his partner, so he trapped it in a plastic jar. "He took a close look at it, and he realized we might have a problem," said Kelly Middleton, a district spokeswoman.

A 35-year-old parolee has filed a claim against the city of El Monte and its Police Department alleging that he lost much of his eyesight after he was beaten by officers. Cornelio David Chavez, 35, was involved in a violent altercation June 24 with several El Monte police officers who were trying to arrest him on an outstanding warrant, police said. Brad Gage, Chavez's attorney, alleged in a claim against the city that Chavez was handcuffed and beaten by officers. A claim is typically a precursor to a lawsuit.

Robbers broke through the roof of a South El Monte company, slipped down a rope, blindfolded and tied up employees and stole perhaps more than $1 million that had been destined for ATMs throughout the Los Angeles region, investigators said Friday. "This is one of the biggest robberies we've seen this year, even compared to the jewelry heists," said Lt. Kent Wegener of the County Sheriff's Major Crimes Bureau. "It appears it has all the hallmarks of a well-planned robbery at this point," he said.

An El Monte man was sentenced to three years in state prison Wednesday in connection with a scheme to recruit hundreds of Chinese nationals and charge them for joining a phony Army Special Forces unit that he led as "supreme commander," Los Angeles County prosecutors said. Under the deal with prosecutors, Chinese national Yupeng "David" Deng pleaded guilty to three felony charges, including manufacturing deceptive government documents and counterfeiting a government seal, said Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

A 31-year-old El Monte man who molested a 5-year-old girl and took pictures of his attacks was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for producing child pornography. Christian Hernandez was arrested in 2009 after he disclosed on his application to become a California Highway Patrol officer that he viewed child pornography on the Internet. CHP officials launched an investigation, searching Hernandez's home, where they found "an extensive collection of child pornography depicting minors being raped by adult men" on his computer, according to briefs filed by prosecutors.

California State Parks authorities have rejected a request for a $7-million grant needed to begin construction on a controversial $22-million, 14,000-square-foot Discovery Center at the Whittier Narrows wildlife sanctuary in South El Monte. "We did not fund that project," said Sedrick Mitchell, deputy director of California State Park's Office of Grants and Local Services. "You had to be a strong program to get funded, and we believe we did fund the best that the state has to offer.