The Medic Alert Foundation Extraor-dinary Meritorious Service Award honors first responders who have recognized the MedicAlert medical ID and contacted Med-ic Alert’s 24/7 Live Emergency Response Service Center to access vital medical and identification information to provide the best care and services for members of MedicAlert Foundation.

Detective Christiansen has described his actions after receiving a call about a man wandering the campus of Norwalk High School:

"School security advised me that the in-dividual was cooperative, however unable to speak. I initially tried to get him to write down his name or any information regard-ing who he was. He was unable to perform this task either," explains Detective Chris-tiansen.

"While attempting to communicate with the individual, I noticed his Medic Alert Bracelet. I called the number and provided the information to the operator. The operator provided me with an address for a nursing facility. The nursing staff stated he had never walked away from the

UNION DEMANDS CENSORSHIP OF H.G. COUNCILMAN BRUCEBy Jerry Bernsteineditor@cerritosnews.net

Hawaiian Gar-dens AFSC-ME Vice Pres-

ident Joseph Colombo accused Councilman Barry Bruce of violat-ing council standards covering councilmem-bers conduct of deco-rum and standards of procedure that were adopted by the council. He said the council should set an example for the community and follow its own rules. He accused Bruce of being out of control.

Councilman Reynaldo Rodriguez an-grily responded that if the majority was going to move ahead and censor Bruce it might as well censor him too. “We have a union member who controls the staff and government. They, the union, got you elected and walked the streets to get you

Artesia City Council Questions Orange LineBy Jerry Bernsteineditor@cerritosnews.net

The Artesia City Council, at its Apr. 9 meeting questioned the proosed Orange Line, a rapid transit system

that will connect Artesia and Cerritos with downtown Los Angeles.

The councilmember specifically want-ed to know if the line is constructed, will a station be built in Artesia?

Mayor Pro Tem Sally Flowers asked if there was any consideration where the line would start and end.

Michael Kodama with the Orange Line Development Authority answered the cur-rent analysis has it startng at downtown Los Angeles south to Santa Ana-Anaheim in Orange County. He added there was a

By Randy Economyrandy@cerritosnews.net

Heroes are alive and well at the Norwalk Sheriff’s Station, and on Tuesday leaders from the Medic

Alert Foundation recognized Detective Mark Christiansen for coming to the aid of a local Norwalk resident who recently found himself in a dire situation.

Flanked by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, Norwalk Mayor Cherie Kelley, and several of his colleagues, Detective Christiansen was presented with a Extraor-dinary Meritorious Service Award from Tom Levin, a member of the Board of Di-rectors of MedicAlert.

Christiansen was all smiles standing on the steps of the Norwalk Sheriff’s Station Headquarters and was lauded for caring for an adult MedicAlert member with autism who had wandered away from his home, located not too far from where the ceremo-ny took place.

“Detective Christiansen's recognition and response to the member's MedicAlert ID enabled him to instantly access the member's medical history and to identify

the patient's needs. Medic Alert’s emer-gency response team worked with Detec-tive Christiansen to ensure that the member was safely returned home,” Sheriff Baca said during the presentation.

( 5 6 2 ) 5 3 1 - 2 5 5 0 • w w w. L a k e w o o d R e g i o n a l . c o m

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Serving Cerritos, Artesia, Hawaiian Gardens, Norwalk, Lakewood, Pico Rivera, La Mirada, and La Palma • 45,000 HOMES EVERY FRIDAY • APRIL 13, 2012 • Volume 26, No. 13 • LosCerritosNews.net

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COMMUNITYNEWSCOMMUNITYNEWS

By Randy Economyrandy@cerritosnews.net

Los Angeles County Assessor John R. Noguez was taken to task on Tuesday over the way he has been handling his

office by angry members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

During a tense and vocal exchange with Noguez, Supervisor Zev Yaroslasky questioned him about recent fluctuations in property tax estimates and even questioned Noguez about how he conducts his “math.”

Noguez has estimated in December that the county’s property tax base would grow by $18.7 billion but last week changed the number to $5.1 billion. It could have result in $50 million less in revenue for the county in these dire economic times.

During his motion on Tuesday, Yaro-slavsky said “it is imperative that the Board of Supervisors, the governing bodies of other local public agencies, and the public have confidence in the Assessor to accurately, effi-ciently, and impartially administer the prop-erty assessment process. The public must be ensured that adequate controls are in place to safeguard the reliability and integrity of

the system.”“However, in recent days, questions have

arisen about this very process,” Supervisor Yaroslavsky quipped.

“Property tax is the largest source of lo-cal revenue for Los Angeles County and for most, if not all, other local jurisdictions (in-

cluding cities, schools and special districts). For this reason, trends in the growth of as-sessed valuation of properties in Los Ange-les County are followed closely by budget-writers at all agencies,” he stated.

In December of 2011, the Assessor is-

Assessor John Noguez appearance at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Meeting this past week sparked outrage.

County Supervisors Demand Audit of Assessor Office

NORWALK DETECTIVE LAUDED FOR HELPING LOCAL RESIDENT WITH AUTISM

[See ARTESIA CITY COUNCIL page 10]

[See ASSESSOR AUDIT page 9]

[See H.G. COUNCILMAN BRUCE page 10]

[See MARK CHRISTIANSEN page 10]

Randy Economy Photo Norwalk Sheriff's Detective George Christians-en is congratulated for his heroic efforts by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.

H.G. Councilman BARRY BRUCE