Ventura, CA - The California Central Coast Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council has honored Community Memorial Health System with its 2011 Green Healthcare Award.

CMHS was cited for its state-of-the-art and environmentally-friendly Vineyard Center for Family Health office in Oxnard which opened in November 2010. Located at 2361 East Vineyard Ave., the office has previously earned LEED Gold in the Healthcare category – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – certification from the United States Green Building Council.

To earn LEED certification, CMHS designed and built the Vineyard CFH using diverse green strategies in key areas of human and environmental health, including sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

In honoring CMHS, the California Central Coast Chapter of the USGBC commended its Vineyard CFH office specifically for:

 Saving energy by 21 percent;
 Saving 12,500 gallons of water per year;
 Using local building materials that support the local economy and reduce the amount of embodied energy for transportation;
 Selecting a location for the office to minimize transportation impacts on patients.

At over 10,000 square feet, the Vineyard site also is nearly twice the size of the CFH Citrus Grove office it replaced, with more work stations and larger waiting rooms. And unlike its previous location, the Vineyard office offers primary care and special care services in separate areas of the building. Specialty areas include: internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatric and women’s health, cardiology, psychiatry and rheumatology.

Community Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, and ten family-practice health centers entitled Centers for Family Health. The health system is located in Ventura County, California.

See beneficial insects and learn about the destructive Asian citrus psyllid, when the Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula offers a tour of the oldest insectary in the United States on Saturday, January 21 at 10 a.m. Participants should meet at the Agricultural Museum, then walk or carpool to the nearby Associates Insectary. After the tour, they can return to the museum to enjoy the exhibits. The tour is included in the museum’s admission price, free to museum members.

Up to two million beneficial insects and mites are produced at the insectary every day, and liberated over 10,000 acres of orchards owned by the facility’s grower members in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The Associates Insectary, located at its current site in Santa Paula since 1928, is a grower-owned cooperative raising beneficial insects and other organisms to help fight destructive pests, especially those which threaten citrus and avocado crops.

The Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum is located at 926 Railroad Avenue, Santa Paula, California, in their historic downtown, near the Depot and next to the railroad tracks. Hours are 10 a.m.– 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is $4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children 6-17, free for Museum of Ventura County members, and for children ages 5 and younger. For more information, go to www.venturamuseum.org or call (805) 525-3100.

Fillmore Chamber of Commerce is now accepting nominations for Citizen of the Year. Nominations forms are available on the Chamber’s website www.fillmorechamber.com or at the Chamber office 557 Ventura St.

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Internal Revenue Service announced today that it is looking to return $153.3 million in undelivered tax refund checks as quickly as possible. In all, 99,123 taxpayers are due refund checks this year that could not be delivered because of mailing address errors.

The agency wants to return $18.1 million in refunds to 13,235 taxpayers in California. Locally, more than 265 Ventura County taxpayers are due $371,000 in undelivered refunds. The average undelivered refund check is $1,381.

Taxpayers who believe their refund check may have been returned to the IRS as undeliverable should use the "Where's My Refund?" tool on IRS.gov. The tool will provide the status of their refund and, in some cases, instructions on how to resolve delivery problems.

Refund status can also be checked by using the telephone version of “Where’s My Refund?” by calling 1-800-829-1954. Taxpayers checking on a refund by phone will receive instructions on how to update their addresses.

While only a small percentage of checks mailed out by the IRS are returned as undelivered, taxpayers can put an end to lost, stolen or undelivered checks by choosing direct deposit when they file either paper or electronic returns. Last year, more than 78.4 million taxpayers chose to receive their refund through direct deposit. Taxpayers can receive refunds directly into their bank account, split a tax refund into two or three financial accounts or even buy a savings bond.

The IRS also recommends that taxpayers file their tax returns electronically, because e-file eliminates the risk of lost paper returns. E-file also reduces errors on tax returns and speeds up refunds. Nearly 8 out of 10 taxpayers chose e-file last year. E-file combined with direct deposit is the best option for taxpayers to avoid refund problems; it’s easy, fast and safe.

The public should be aware that the IRS does not contact taxpayers by e-mail to alert them of pending refunds and does not ask for personal or financial information through email. Such messages are common phishing scams. The agency urges taxpayers receiving such messages not to release any personal information, reply, open any attachments or click on any links to avoid malicious code that can infect their computers. The best way for an individual to verify if she or he has a pending refund is going directly to IRS.gov and using the “Where’s My Refund?” tool.

Vision 2020 Civic Pride Committee has selected Mr.& Mrs. Aureo Melgoza at 360 “C” St to receive their December “Holiday” Yard of the Month award which includes a $25 gift certificate from Otto & Sons’ Nursery.

The Melgoza family has lived at this corner in Fillmore for 36 years and take great pride in their display of decorations which includes a nativity scene. Racquel has the creative talent to design the display and her husband handles all the outside installation. Some of the decorations, such as the candy canes, were gathered from relatives. We were invited inside to see that her talents worked “magic” inside also, with beautiful angels on the wall and side tables, and another nativity display surrounded by an entire miniature village, complete with lights and carousel in motion.

This year it was even more difficult to select a winner because there were so many more decorated yards than last year. Some were simple, but very “classy”, matching the architecture of the home.

Civic Pride Committee tries to spread the winners around to different areas of the community, so that the same excellent yards don’t win again and again.

We would like to encourage people to take a tour of the community and see all the decorating efforts, so we are including a group of addresses that are very worthy, as well as previous year’s winners, that are still inspiring.

Honorable mentions: 441 Hume, 1120 Shady Lane, 408 Robin, 310 Foothill Dr., 739 Central, 957 Meadowlark Dr., 1026 Meadowlark Dr., 983 Sante Fe, 62 Orient, 56 Rio Grande, 555 Finch, 556 Finch, 558 Finch, 562 Finch, 401 Sierra Vista.

Previous year’s winners: 910 Taylor Lane.818 Hinckley

The Civic Pride Committee greatly appreciates Otto & Sons’ Nursery supporting our “Yard of the Month” award program and we do see that it has been effective in encouraging yard beautification and holiday participation with all the lovely seasonal displays.

Ojai, CA - Atrial Fibrillation – the most common heart rhythm abnormality in the United States – will be the focus of a free seminar the Community Memorial Health System is holding on Saturday, Jan. 14.

Ishu Rao, M.D., a board-certified Cardiac Electrophysiologist, will lead the seminar that will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in the Soule Park banquet room at 1033 East Ojai Ave in Ojai.

In addition to discussing Atrial Fibrillation, its potential treatment options and whether it is curable, Dr. Rao will provide tips on how to reduce the risk of stroke. He also will cover the AF ablation procedure and who most likely would benefit from the procedure.

Dr. Rao received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and completed an Internal Medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is an active member of the Community Memorial Hospital staff.

Space is limited, so call 805/640-2355 for reservations, or go to www.cmhshealth.org/rsvp.

Community Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, and ten family-practice health centers entitled Centers for Family Health. The health system is located in Ventura County, California.

On Wednesday December 7th, four Fillmore FFA members attended the Best Informed Greenhand (BIG) Contest. The BIG contest is for freshman members working towards the Greenhand award which is the first degree in the FFA. The BIG contest is a test that quizzes the student’s knowledge of FFA history, rules or regulations as well as the meaning of the emblem. Questions like “Where is the National FFA Center located?” and “What year were women allowed in the National FFA Organization?” are just examples of what the students are asked on the test. While there the students were also able to participate in a Parliamentary Procedure (Parli Pro) Workshop lead by Mr. Avila from Carpentaria FFA and Mr. Ricards from Fillmore FFA. Parli Pro is a very confusing yet organized form of debating during a meeting. It teaches students how to make a motion, debate their opinions and make amendments to a main motion. Parli pro can be difficult to understand which is why our FFA advisors from the Ventura Section conducted a wonderful workshop to introduce the activity to the Greenhand members. Samantha Barker, Timmy Klittich, Donald Trinadad and Tina Wheeler were the four courageous freshman to attempt this contest. Fillmore FFA was awarded 2nd Place Team overall, and Timmy Klittich was 1st High Individual for the BIG Contest! Congratulations to Timmy as well as the other students for working so hard at the BIG Contest!

Brooke Aguirre is the Fillmore FFA Chapter Reporter

(l-r) Floyd Griffin and DG Nomura exchange Rotary Flags.
Enlarge Photo

Rotary District Governor, Wade Nomura and his wife Roxanne recently visited the Rotary Club of Fillmore-noontime. DG Nomura reminded the Club that Rotary has served Central and Coastal California since January 1, 1918. Throughout the decades Rotary's presence and involvement in our region has made a positive impact on the quality of life in our local communities as well as improving the lives of people around the world.

The Fillmore Volunteer Firefighters Foundation, represented by Scott Beylik and Rigo Landeros, were presented a check on honor of our District Governor. One of his goals this year was for each Club to recognize a person or organization who is doing great things in their community.

The Rotary Club of Fillmore meets every Thursday, at noon, in the dining car of the Fillmore & Western Railroad. For more information call 524-5099.

Enlarge Photo

It's Curtains for the Sespe School Auditorium!

Sespe Players, Fillmore's Community Theater Group, has purchased the new hunter green stage curtains for the auditorium after many successful live plays performed on this wonderful old stage. Sespe Players have been selling tickets to plays, selling advertising in the playbills and collection donations for about 5 years hoping to replace the dusty and torn curtains. The old curtains were so old that no one could come up with the age of the dilapidated fabric.

Sespe players next production on the stage at Sespe Auditorium will be "Guides", a play written by Fillmore High's Josh Overton. Auditions will be in February and performed in April of 2012.

Anyone interested in becoming a member of the Sespe Players Community Theater Group as an actor, music director, set construction, or just part of the support team can contact Janet Foy at 805-217-2402.

SBDC event has attendees climb aboard Fillmore & Western Railway Co. trains

Businesses in Moorpark, Santa Paula and Fillmore can climb aboard the SBDC Express Dec. 15 and go full steam ahead to destination SUCCESS 2012 with two free information sessions aboard a Fillmore & Western Railway train. Presented by the Fillmore & Western Railway Company and the Economic Development Collaborative-Ventura County’s Small Business Development Center, the SBDC Express train leaves the Fillmore & Western Railway station, located at 364 Main Street, in Fillmore, at 8:30 a.m. and returns at 11:30 a.m.

This fun, interactive train ride provides helpful information to small business owners and entrepreneurs through two information sessions. Work Smarter Not Harder teaches about improving efficiencies to make a huge difference in your bottom line for 2012; Making Money Work for YOU discusses accessing capital to help your business. Light refreshments will be served.

RSVP by Dec. 9. Space is limited and reservations are required. To RSVP, contact Kelly Noble at 805-384-1800 x21, or Kelly.noble@edcsbdc.org.

Since both Christmas and New Year’s Day fall on Sunday this holiday season, Santa Clara Valley Disposal will maintain its regular Friday trash collection schedule in Fillmore during the weeks of Dec. 25-Dec. 31 and Jan. 1-7, 2012.

As a special holiday feature, residents may put out twice the amount of trash at no extra charge during the two weeks following Christmas. Please make sure the trash is in bags. We will also collect extra recyclables, but please make sure to flatten all boxes.

Also, Santa Clara Valley Disposal is making it easy for their customers to recycle their Christmas trees. All customers need to do is remove the ornaments, hooks, lights, tinsel, bows, nails and tree stand, then cut the tree into sections no more than 4 feet long and place in the yard waste barrel on their scheduled pickup day.

Please note, however: Flocked trees cannot be recycled.

For more information, call 647-1414.

The Boys and Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley is pleased to announce that their new CEO is Jan Marholin. Jan is currently an elementary Principal in Fillmore. She will be retiring from education in December and taking over the CEO position in early January 2012. Jan brings with her the educational, management and organizational skills needed for this position. She has had experience being on other non-profit boards and understands the need for both community and business relationships. She has written many grants and has relationships with many foundations. Jan is very excited and looks forward to being part of the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley. When Jan isn’t working she loves traveling and finding restaurants that have been showcased on the Food Network. Jan loves sports and loves to be outside with her cocker spaniels.