Category Archives: Front Page

WVUSD Joins Great Kindness Challenge

By Kelli Gile

Walnut- Kindness is contagious. It can begin as a warm smile or simple “thank you” and grow to include good deeds that create a culture of kindness.

For the second consecutive year, all 15 Walnut Valley USD schools joined the Great Kindness Challenge, earning the official Kindness Certified School District badge.

Over 24,000 schools across the nation participated in the event, held January 28-February 1, to promote kindness by encouraging students to brighten the days of classmates, family, and community.

Many schools distributed a checklist of 50 challenges that students could complete during the kindness revolution.

Chaparral Middle School seventh grader Troy Pisigan fulfilled over 30 tasks including his favorite, saying “thank you” to the school’s noon aides.

“I could tell by their reaction that the words meant a lot!” he said.

Pisigan said he hoped his actions would motivate others to show kindness too.


“And maybe, it will carry on and they will do something nice for someone else!”

“Troy is a genuinely kind young man and shows kindness every day,” praised teacher Sherry Robertson.

“We should all strive to be more like Troy!”

Walnut Elementary students joined a Mix-It-Up at Lunch to have a chance to demonstrate kindness to someone new and sold friendship grams with proceeds benefitting the Los Angeles Mission.

Diamond Bar High’s Wellness Team presented three days of Where’s Kindness? lunchtime activities.

Be Kind to Yourself day, held January 29, focused on self-care and self-compassion, E-cigarette education, stress management, dance clinic, and bungee run.

Wellness consultants staged activities wearing “Where’s Waldo?” inspired striped hats, t-shirts, and round glasses.

When students roll a three on the giant inflatable self-love dice, they complete the sentence, “Three kind words to best describe me,” explained senior Janice Kwon.

Ron Hockwalt Academiesstudents inspired smiles while delivering bountiful bouquets of pink roses and fresh greenery of kale, fennel, and celery produced in the school’s HOPE garden.

Castle Rock Elementary set out friendship chairs were students could relax, mingle, and complete a variety of kindness activities.

C.J. Morris Elementary students designed and decorated cheer-up messages on index cards to brighten up a schoolmate’s day.

Collegewood Elementary hosted We Life Each Other “Up” week (from the animated Pixar movie) with acts of kindness and compliments of gratitude, including writing messages to students at neighboring Westhoff Elementary.

Maple Hill and Vejar Elementary students cheered up schoolmates with chalked playground messages including “It’s going to be a great day” and “Take deep breaths – it’s going to be OK.”

Westhoff Elementary students completed their first kind acts in unison by smiling and offering compliments to each other during a kick-off rally.

“On the count of three, let’s all say, ‘You are smart and you are kind!’” said counselor Ericka Robledo.

Quail Summit Elementary students crafted Valentines cards for local senior citizens and dressed up as hippies during Peace, Love, and Kindness day.

South Pointe Middle School leadership students greeted families during the morning drop-off with “Have a Great Day” signs and collected gently used shoes for area needy.

Walnut Valley USD Begins Enrollment for the 2019-20 School Year

By Kelli Gile

Walnut— The Walnut Valley Unified School District will soon begin registration for the 2019-2020 school year for children transitional kindergarten and kindergarten through fifth grade.  Registration dates are:

January 14-18, 2019—for those children with siblings already attending school in our district;

January 22, 2019 & on—for those elementary children new to the district, at any grade level.

You may register for transitional kindergarten if your child turns 5 years old September 2nd – December 2nd.  Students must be 5 years of age on or before September 1, to enroll in kindergarten for the 2019-2020 school year. 

At the time of registration, parents will be asked to present a certified copy of the child’s birth certificate or passport, proof of the child’s immunizations, and for kindergarten and 1st grade proof of an oral health examination.  For residency verification, parents will also need to provide either final escrow papers, mortgage statement or lease/rental agreement, along with a current utility bill (gas, water or electric bill) and a driver’s license (or California I.D.) with current home address.  Enrollment is on-going, and your residence address determines the elementary school where you should enroll your child.

The Walnut Valley Unified School District offers a quality day care program at all elementary site, for both before and after school hours.  You may contact the Child Care office at 909-444-3460 for additional information and fees.

Voortman’s Egg Ranch: Farm Fresh: Farm Fresh Eggs for 60 Years.

The Voortman Family circa 1956. Voortman’s Egg Ranch is located at 13960 Grove Avenue in Ontario. You can reach them at (909) 465-1319. They are open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Staff Reports

Ontario – Voortman’s Egg Ranch has been in the business of providing farm fresh eggs to friends and visitors to the local area for over 60 years. Originally from Bellflower, the Voortman family – who has always been in the egg ranching business – moved their operation to Ontario in 1951.

Voortman’s has a small-town farm ambiance, with the latest in technology.  Their happy chickens are enjoying their newly remodeled home; and their egg-processing machine can handle about 36,000 eggs per hour at its peak. If the average bird lays one egg about every 26 hours, that equals a lot of chickens at the Voortman ranch!

Did you know that you can tell how fresh an egg is by how high the yolk stands up in the frying pan after you crack it?  Voortman’s will have your over-easies standing tall.  Their fresh eggs are the highest in quality, with dark, nutrient-dense yolks.  You will immediately notice a difference in your cooking and baking.

Have you ever wondered how long the eggs in the grocery stores have actually been sitting around?  Despite the use-by date, there is really no way to know how long ago they were produced.  With Voortman’s, the eggs are selected daily, on site, and readied for you in their store.

Third-generation egg rancher, Eddie Voortman, says, “We are a local, family-owned business that provides fresh, quality products to the public.”

Customers of Voortman’s rave about their all natural, cage free eggs, touting the freshness, and great pricing.  One customer said, “They make the fluffiest scrambled eggs!”

The eggs come in all sizes and colors, depending on your needs.  Whatever you choose, you will not be disappointed.

Voortman’s is centrally located just minutes from Chino at 13960 Grove Avenue in Ontario (just north of Edison).  You can reach Voortman’s at (909) 465-1319; and Like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Voortmans-Egg-Ranch.

Stop by any time Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

1983 Murder Case is Back in News

Governor Brown Orders Retesting of Evidence

By Izabella Salinas

Chino Hills- In his last days in office, Governor Jerry Brown ordered retesting of four pieces of evidence from a 1983 Chino Hills murder case.

35 years ago, a man named Kevin Cooper was convicted for the murders of Doug and Peggy Ryen, their daughter Jessica, their neighbor Christopher Hughes, and the attempted murder of their son Josh. Cooper was given the death penalty and was scheduled for execution in 2004. However, the execution was blocked due to a federal appellate court in San Francisco ordering a review of the scientific evidence.

San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos argues that two existing tests have proven that Cooper is the killer. The tests show that Cooper was in the Ryen home, he smoked a cigarette in the Ryen’s stolen vehicle, and Cooper’s blood, along with the blood of one of the victims, was found on an abandoned T-Shirt along the road. The new testing would reevaluate this evidence.

“The purpose of this new testing is to determine whether another suspected person’s DNA, or the DNA of any other identifiable suspect based on a match in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database, is present on the items tested,” said Governor Jerry Brown in his executive order.

Cooper and his attorney argue that additional testing with new available technology will show he is in fact innocent.

This quadruple murder changed the perception of the community and instilled fear amongst people near and far.

“I never let my children sleepover at their friends’ houses solely because of this case,” said Eastvale resident Veronica Sahagun, “I heard the story and was mortified.”

Doug and Peggy Ryen’s son was the only survivor of the attack. Josh Ryen’s best friend Christopher Hughes was sleeping over the night of the murders.

“I invited my best friend Chris Hughes to spend the night at my house. If I had not, Chris would still be alive today,” said Josh in a letter to Governor Jerry Brown.

At the time, Josh was only eight years old and was initially unable to identify Kevin Cooper as the killer, but he can now positively say that Kevin Cooper is the murderer of his family and best friend.

“Kevin Cooper is a liar. He lies about everything. When he is caught in his lies, he lies more and more,” said Josh in his letter as he begs for the state of California to stop subsidizing Kevin Cooper.

“I take no position as to Mr. Cooper’s guilt or innocence at this time,” said Governor Jerry Brown.

A date for the retesting has not yet been set.

Left: Kevin Cooper was convicted for the Ryen/Hughes murders and was sentenced to death in 1985. Right: Cooper smiles from his cell on San Quentin’s Death Row in 2017.

Chino Taking Action to Show They Care

By Izabella Salinas

Chino- Different members of the city of Chino have joined together to create a movement called “Chino Cares.”

Chino Cares is a movement with the ultimate goal to unite each group in the diverse Chino community. They plan to do this by asking members to pledge to five things: Be informed, be prepared, be connected, be committed, and be supportive. These pledges mean members must remain informed about the city, sign up for Chino’s mass communication system, commit to the safety of their neighbor, be prepared for disaster, and show support for the city by attending city events.

More than 200 city employees have pledged their allegiance to the campaign. The movement began with only city employees but has now expanded to allow residents, business owners, and organizations to join. Chino Cares believes that it is important for everyone to participate in the making of a more resilient community.

Since the expansion of membership to other parts of the community, there have been 180 households and eight businesses/organizations who have pledged to Chino Cares.

“We want to make our community even stronger so that we will be more resilient and recover more quickly when disaster strikes,” said Christin Wolff, the founder of Chino Cares.

Chino Cares hopes the concept of their movement will eventually reach every city across the nation.

“In a nation where communities are dividing over their differences, the City of Chino is looking to unify under the one sentiment that is common across the spectrum – ‘We Care’,” said the City of Chino website.

The campaign has provided special events for people in the community to meet members serving in the movement.

“We intend to do more of this in the future, bringing City Hall into our neighborhoods as another example of the ways in which ‘Chino Cares’,” said Christin Wolff.

The Chino Cares motto is, “Resilience through Unity.”

Visit http://www.cityofchino.org/chinocares to take the pledge and join the movement to unify.