Glendale

Eight motorists were arrested Saturday on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol during a saturation patrol operation, police said. Officers from Glendale police's DUI Enforcement Team stopped 30 vehicles and oversaw 12 field sobriety tests during the patrol, which was from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Of the 30 vehicles stopped, officers arrested seven motorists for alleged drunk driving and one driver for being under the influence of drugs, police said. They also made a felony drug arrest.

GLENDALE — A 28-year-old Glendale man pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he struck and killed a 61-year-old prominent Glendale doctor who was walking to a patient's home on a house call, officials said. Prosecutors charged Edmond Grigoryan, who also goes by Vardan Hakobyan, with one felony count of gross vehicular manslaughter while he was allegedly driving under the influence of a controlled substance and hit Jacob Orphali on Oct. 12 in Glendale, according to a criminal complaint.

A 22-year-old man on Monday jumped to his death from the top level of the Hilton Glendale, police said. Witnesses reported seeing the man, who wasn't immediately identified, about 7:30 p.m. on the exterior of the hotel's top level patio near West Glenoaks Boulevard and Arden Avenue, police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. Authorities identitifed the man as Tigran Stepanyan. The man, who was from Glendale and not staying at the hotel, then suddenly jumped off the patio, landing on Arden, Lorenz said.

Two Florida men were arrested this week on suspicion of possessing a half-kilogram of cocaine after they were stopped for talking on a handheld cellphone while driving, officials said. The men - Herwood Barrington Walters, 25, and Courtney Lalor, 28 - were taken into custody about 9:18 p.m. Tuesday on North Central Avenue and Glenoaks Boulevard on suspicion of possessing cocaine for sale, according to Glendale police reports. The pair provided officers with few clues about why they were in Glendale, but police believe “they were probably trying to sell the cocaine,” Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

The Glendale Police Department jail has collected more than $1.5 million in fees associated with inmates who opt to pay to stay at the facility. The $1.58 million in inmate fees generated by the pay-to-stay program since it began in 2008 has helped offset operational costs, according to a recent report presented to a police advisory committee. “The savings gets rolled back, initially, to the taxpayer,” Jail Administrator Juan Lopez said. “The local taxpayers can find confidence in the fact that their money is being utilized.” In the past two years, more than 17,000 inmates have opted to pay a fee of $85 per day to serve court-approved sentences in the department's jail, which can be a major step up from crowded Los Angeles County facilities.

Peter Murphy, lead singer of British Goth rock band Bauhaus, was arrested Saturday after he allegedly rear-ended a vehicle in Glendale, injured the driver and then fled to Los Angeles, where he was blocked by an eyewitness until police arrived, officials said. The eyewitness followed Murphy, 55, from the crash at Central and Goode avenues in Glendale to the 3400 block of Barham Boulevard in Los Angeles because “he was afraid [Murphy] would kill someone with his driving,” according to Glendale police.

Two Burbank men pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder charges in the death of a 25-year-old missing Glendale man whose body was discovered in a shallow grave in the Angeles National Forest. Donald Thurman, 26, and Erik Pearson, 21, each face one felony count of murder in the death of Nicholas Carter, according to a Los Angeles County criminal complaint. Prosecutors allege Thurman and Pearson beat Carter to death and then dumped his body in the forest. They then stole his credit cards, according to a statement from Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

When Doug Motley was born in 1946, his family was living on Highland Avenue in northwest Glendale. His father, Watson, was an engineer with Pacific Telephone Company. Watson Motley had studied engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and trained as a military cadet, but left school in his junior year to serve in the U.S. Army in France during World War One. There he attained the rank of Staff Sergeant. “He was a courier of sorts, delivering messages all over France by way of motorcycle,” Doug Motley said.

A woman in nothing but a pair of black high heels was detained this week after an officer spotted her in the center grass median of Glenoaks Boulevard. [ This post has been amended, see note below for details. ] An officer driving on Glenoaks near Alameda Avenue spotted the naked woman, Khadisha Baseer, about 6:41 p.m. Tuesday standing in the median where children and parents pushing strollers were walking in the neighborhood, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. As the officer tried approaching Baseer, she reportedly started yelling “Tiger sharks are chasing me” and ran into the westbound traffic lane, where she was almost hit by a passing vehicle, according to Glendale police reports.

Tobias Lewsaddler grabbed this photo overlooking Glendale Thursday evening, capturing, as he put it, "another amazing Southern California day. "

People driving or walking around Brand Boulevard and Broadway in downtown Glendale are seeing something unusual - a giant green cube on the southwest corner of the intersection. The exterior of the building where a Bloomingdale's store is being built is covered with a green mesh fabric to prevent dust and debris from leaving the construction area and falling onto pedestrians and passing vehicles, according to Shoshana Puccia, senior marketing manager for the Galleria. The department store, which is slated for an autumn opening, is moving into the Galleria in the former Mervyn's site.

Memorial Day weekend can mean lots of things: remembrance ceremonies, swimming pools, and beers and barbecues. But for those who drink and drive, it could also mean a DUI. That's because Glendale police will be cracking down this weekend on motorists who drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol in the city. “There is nothing wrong with drinking alcohol, just stay home if you are going to be drinking, or have a designated driver,” Glendale Police Sgt. Harout Bouzikian said.

Glendale officials have proposed budgeting $57 million next fiscal year for capital improvement projects, including park, street and utility improvements, adding to what City Manager Scott Ochoa this week said was "a lot of good stuff" coming in the next year. The council is scheduled to consider the capital improvement budget when they take a final vote in June on the overall budget for next fiscal year, which begins July 1. So far, the council has had three budget study sessions, but there are more to come.

Police plan to step up enforcement activities Friday against motorists using their cell phones while driving. The plan follows last month's distracted-driving crackdown in which more than 400 citations were issued. Officers assigned to the enforcement operation, which is being funded through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, will be focused that day on looking only for distracted drivers, Glendale Police Sgt. Harout Bouzikian said. In April, officers cited 425 motorists for holding their cell phones while behind the wheel, he said.

Talk of what has been accomplished will transform into discussion about what needs to be achieved for the locals who punched their ticket to the CIF Southern Section Track and Field Masters Meet at Cerritos College in Norwalk on Friday. Seven local schools, which participated in dozens of league meets and invitationals, produced three Masters qualifiers in St. Francis High's Caleb Simmeth, Glendale's Michael Davis and Crescenta Valley's Megan Melnyk. The goals for each may differ in importance, but include producing a new personal-best time, while earning either a top-six finish or an at-large mark to be able to move on to the following week's CIF State Meet in Clovis.

A 22-year-old Hollywood woman convicted earlier this month of selling bogus Disneyland tickets was arrested again this weekend after she allegedly punched a loss prevention worker who caught her stealing beauty cream from the Sephora at the Americana at Brand. The lost prevention worker was watching security cameras about 5:25 p.m. Sunday when she spotted Alisa Yenokyan allegedly put five beauty cream products inside her purse, according to Glendale police. Yenokyan exited the store, but was quickly confronted by the worker, who requested the merchandise be returned, police said.

The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene. TRIO OF GLENDALE BOXERS RETURN TO RING Undefeated former Olympian Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan is scheduled to make his awaited return to the boxing ring, while up-and-coming Glendale Fighting Club boxers Art “Lionheart” Hovhanissyan and Gabriel “The Ghost” Tolmajyan are set for separate bouts on ESPN2. Though an opponent has yet to be announced, Glendale's Martirosyan, as verified by comments from his own camp and Boxrec.com, is slated to fight on June 15 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Glendale will host a series of community meetings to discuss a schedule of electricity rate increases that city officials say are needed to pay for badly needed infrastructure upgrades and to improve the utility's financial footing. The meetings come nearly a year after city officials first proposed a 14.7% rate hike to be spread over four years, starting with a 3% bump in 2013. But that plan was put on hold as the election season heated up and public sentiment at a series of outreach meetings was less than supportive.

After more than a year of hand-wringing and headaches on the part of the city, the California Department of Finance has given Glendale the go-ahead to use about $17 million in bond money and take back nearly $66 million in loans from its former redevelopment agency. Since becoming entangled the state's wind-down of local redevelopment agencies, Glendale has been unable able to use the bond money it issued to revamp the Central Library, improve Central Avenue and develop other projects.

Virginia was born in Poseyville, Indiana and was the 8th of 10 children born to Arthur and Mary Moore. After serving three tours in the Marine Corps and having attained the rank of Master Sargent, she left the military in 1952 and moved to Glendale in 1953. She retired from American Medical International and was a past president of the Altrusa Club, a member of the Women's Purchasers Assn., Woman's Civic League of Glendale, Green Garter Girls, Woman Marines Association, Eastern Star and the American Legion.