What comes to mind when you think of a Country Fair with Ocean Air? Is it the home grown vegetables? Is it purebred Friesian horses on parade? Is it piping hot cinnamon rolls and high thrill rides? The Ventura County Fair will have all this and more for twelve fun-filled days August 5th-16th.

The fair brings everyone together from all corners of county life—it’s this solidarity that makes the fair so special. Boys, girls, moms, dads, teachers and cowboys unite to enjoy the fun they’ve anticipated all year long.
Gems and Genealogy, Collections and Photos, Paintings and Collages, Quilts and Cupcakes, Tortoises and Lambs—everything is on display at the Ventura County Fair. All the hard work of your friends and neighbors will be on hand for twelve exciting days. Don’t miss a single exhibit hall!

You will never find more food in one place! Whether you’re looking for fresh from the farm strawberries or colossal gelato, craving a savory tater dog or a sweet slab of gingerbread, the fair has something for all appetites. CONTINUED »

The Heritage Valley Red Hatters August Event will be a birthday luncheon at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 22, at the Bella Maggiore Inn Nona’s Courtyard Restaurant, 67 South California Street in Ventura. We will dine in a
lovely flower-filled courtyard with balloons, birthday cake, and prizes. We will celebrate five years together in our sisterhood chapter. New members are welcome to join us. RSVP: Queen Mum Marlene Wait at 805-386-4224.

Come experience the thrill of acting in a live community theater production. Sespe Players Inc. of Fillmore is looking for adult actors and actresses (no prior acting experience necessary) to audition for their Halloween Production to be held Fri., Oct. 23, Sat., Oct. 24, Sun., Oct. 25, Fri., Oct. 30 and Sat. afternoon, Oct. 31, 2009.

Auditions and the production will take place at the Historic Sespe Auditorium located at 627 Sespe Ave. Fillmore. Auditions will be held on the following evenings: Tuesday, August 4, Wednesday August 5, and Tuesday August 11, 2009 starting at 7:00 P.M. Callbacks will be scheduled as necessary. Please contact Chris Villegas at 805-524-3275 or Janet Foy at 805-217-2402 or 805-524-2757.

We look forward to see you there. Please bring a friend. We also have positions open for a stage manager, make up
artist, lighting and sound technician, and a prop manager. Anyone who is willing to learn about live theater is
welcome.

This month we will be covering some healthy dishes that pack on the flavor. The most important thing about eating well is enjoying what you eat. That way you will not mind making the effort on trying to cut down the calories on some new dishes.

As it is every month, the dinner and supplies will be provided. Hopefully these tips and handouts will stay with you along the way so you can make something healthy in a pinch. Nutrition is a true passion of mine so this will be a fun time.

The fee is $25.00
location: The Memorial Building Kitchen
Date: Aug. 12th Wednesday
Time: 5:30pm, Menu: Chopped Salad with a Fiery Orange Vinaigrette, Jerked Chicken with Peaches and Fruit Parfaits.

Call to reserve a spot, 805-315-1025. See ad in Gazette business directory, page 7.

Soil products and mulches made from materials collected each week from the green waste bins of Santa Paula and Fillmore residents are now available at five area outlets. Planting mix, potting soil, vegetable garden mix and other soil products are produced by green waste recycler Agromin. They are available at AG Rx (186 Telegraph Rd., Fillmore), Apco Ag & Irrigation (17905 E. Telegraph Rd., Santa Paula, Fillmore Rentals (215 Santa Paula and Palm St., Fillmore), Fruit Growers Supply Company (980 W. Telegraph Rd., Santa Paula) and Heritage Do It Best Hardware (568 W. Main St., Santa Paula).

Agromin was recently named “Composter of the Year” by the U.S. Composting Council (USCC). Agromin compost is also
USCC certified, meaning it meets the USCC standards for compost content and its soil products are clean and safe. Agromin compost complies with the requirements of the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), meaning it can be used in certified organic farm production and food processing according to the USDA National Organic Program. CONTINUED »

VENTURA, CA. (August 5, 2009) Distinguished American statesman Judge William P. Clark will serve as Grand Marshal of the 2009 Ventura County Fair Parade on Saturday, August 8 at 10 AM.

Born in Oxnard, Judge Clark studied at Stanford University and Loyola Law School. He was an active member of the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps.

His celebrated career has included time served as judge of the Superior Court of California and as Associate Justice on the California State Supreme Court.

At the epitome of his career, Judge Clark served in the Reagan Administration as National Security Advisor from 1982 to 1983 and as Secretary of the Interior from 1983 until 1985. CONTINUED »

On Saturday, September 12th, The Life Centers will hold their Annual Luncheon & Fashion Show Fundraiser.

The Life Centers of Ventura County is a non-profit organization that has been assisting young women facing unplanned pregnancies in our local community for over 30 years.

Enjoy an elegant outdoor luncheon while admiring a sophisticated fashion show with clothing from the Camarillo Outlets. Bid on live auction, silent auction, and raffle prize items. Indulge in a fun filled afternoon and give back to the community at the same time!

The Luncheon & Fashion Show will be held 12:30pm – 3:30pm at a beautiful home in Camarillo. Tickets are $30 per person. Ticket reservation deadline is Sept. 7th. CONTINUED »

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The Ventura Family YMCA is pleased to announce the launch of its Kindergarten Care Program. Kindergarten Care will be provided at Loma Vista and Rio Del Norte Elementary Schools for the 2009-2010 school year. With quality childcare and safety being a parent’s number one priority the YMCA prides itself on providing a safe learning environment for children to grow and develop with licensing from the state of California and by following the strict standards set by the American Camping Association (ACA).

“We heard from parents that childcare for kindergarteners was needed, and that’s what the YMCA is all about; we create programs to fill community voids,” said Jake Munyon, Ventura Family YMCA Childcare Director.

Kindergarten Care at Loma Vista Elementary will provide care for children during the school week, all school year long, from 11:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. This allows the YMCA to provide 2 ½ more hours of childcare specifically for kindergarteners. Hours have also been added to the Rio Del Norte Elementary School site as well. KinderCare will open at 7 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. and be held in a brand new room at the school allowing Kindergartners a safe environment with age appropriate activities tailored specifically to their grade.

The curriculum for Kindergarten Care will tie in Healthy Kids and Character Counts! lessons which will introduce them to the YMCA six pillars of character development including caring, respect, responsible, honestly, trustworthiness, and citizenship. Along with character building, children will have plenty of time for outdoor games, arts and crafts, story time, and healthy snacks will be provided. Kindergarten Care is a wonderful opportunity for children to socialize with their peers in an age appropriate and friendly environment at a state licensed site with dependable, caring and trained staff.

Registration for Kindergarten Care will start on August 10th. Registration Packets, parent handbooks, & schedules will be available at the Ventura Family YMCA and online at www.venturaymca.org . The Ventura Family YMCA offers several payment options to fit the need of your family and scholarships are available. For more information please contact Jake Munyon at 805-642-2131ext 16.

About the Ventura Family YMCA
The Ventura Family YMCA serves over 20,000 individuals annually through facility memberships, before & after school childcare, day & resident camps, youth sports, swim lessons, teen programs, and many more healthy lifestyles and community enriching programs throughout Ventura, Oxnard, Ojai, Santa Paula, and Saticoy. Membership without contracts or join fees makes the Ventura Family YMCA accessible to everyone. The Ventura Family YMCA is located at 3760 Telegraph Rd., Ventura, CA 93003.

After one year in development, the County of Ventura Parks Department has just fielded a new online reservation system. The system, developed by Art Street Interactive, Inc., allows the public to look up details about camping and group use areas, view maps and campsite photos, check availability of sites open to reservation, make camping reservations, and pay for their stay, all via the internet.

Previously, all reservations had to be booked through the reservation desk. Camping customers will now be able to completely bypass that desk. Being web based, reservations can be booked on any device that has internet access. All County parks that have camping and group use areas are listed with flash maps showing the park layout. Although reservations are not accepted at beachfront parks, they are featured online, so that campers may check the availability of campsites, and review available services.

Holders of California State Parks Distinguished Veterans cards will be able to register on this system, which will then allow them to book reservations online and receive their discount automatically (field verification may still be required). As an added incentive to use the system, online only camping discounts of 5% to 10% are available Tuesday through Thursday in selected parks. CONTINUED »

The Rubio Family of Santa Paula

One-day event seeks volunteers and donations for two duplexes in Oxnard and Santa Paula from 8:30am to 3:30pm on August 15.

Two Ventura County nonprofits are partnering to provide basic needs of food and shelter for fellow neighbors in our community – FOOD Share and Habitat for Humanity.

“Partnering with Habitat for Humanity makes perfect sense,” says Bonnie Weigel, CEO of FOOD Share. “Two of our most basic human needs are food and shelter. Together, and with the help of many volunteers, we can build communities that can thrive into the future.”

Volunteers can work morning, afternoon or all-day building shifts and all skill levels are invited. Breakfast and lunch will be donated by Chick-Fil-A and Bobbi’s Mexican Food in Camarillo.

“We are thrilled to join hands with FOOD Share to serve Ventura County families,” said Stacy Swanson, Executive Director with Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County. “This collaborative effort is intended to invite the community to work together to help our low and very low income neighbors.” CONTINUED »

VENTURA, CA – Professional portrait artists from Decadent Images of Ventura are donating their time to create portraits of the general public that can be utilized for social networking pages like Facebook and Myspace or other uses.

A $10 donation per portrait will be requested. All proceeds will benefit Straight Up Ventura County, a youth development organization funded by the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department Prevention Services. Straight Up representatives will also be on hand to answer questions or concerns about the use and safety of social networking sites.

Portraits will be taken on Sunday, August 9th from Noon to 4pm at Ventura Improv Company at 34 North Palm Street in downtown Ventura. No appointment is necessary.

"With increased use of Facebook and other social network sites, a person’s image may be viewed by hundreds of people a day. It is important to put your best self forward and stand out in the sea of sameness. This can be best done by having a creative portrait made by a professional photographer,“ says Sue Bell, owner of Decadent Images. CONTINUED »

VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network, which is the single largest producer of original Internet talk radio programming in the world, has asked former Fillmore resident and national real estate consultant John Schleimer to develop and host a weekly program on housing trends and topics in America for its business channel.

Schleimer, who is the son of Jeri and Jack Schleimer of Fillmore, is the founder and president of Market Perspectives, is one of the leading residential housing authorities in the country and has been conducting market and consumer research, product positioning and feasibility studies for over 25 years for land developer, home builder and investor/lender clients in over 42 states and Canada.

Since 1999, VoiceAmerica has been streaming live Internet talk radio programs, featuring more than 300 hosts broadcasting on seven genre-based channels: its flagship VoiceAmerica Variety Channel, VoiceAmerica Health & Wellness Channel, VoiceAmerica Business Channel, VoiceAmerica Sports, 7th Wave Network, The Green Talk Network and Power Up Motorsports Channel. CONTINUED »

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Four new Cub Scouts were recently welcomed into Boy Scout Troop 406. The evening began with family members and friends packed inside the Boy Scout House for a potluck dinner followed by the traditional outdoor crossover ceremony.

Keeping with tradition, the day before the ceremony, members of Troop 406 build what is called a “monkey bridge” for new scouts to cross over. Cubmaster Sean Morris read his speech and wished his cub scouts nothing the best on their journey into Boy Scouts before they crossed over the bridge.

First up to cross over was Pablo Almazan who was presented his new neckerchief and loops by Brett Chandler and Robbie Munoz, followed by Chris Medrano who received his new neckerchief by his older brother Jonathan and loops by Scott Klittich.

Next was Matthew Hammond receiving his neckerchief and loops by Ron Smith, Robbie Munoz and Scott Klittich and James Wassel getting his new neckerchief and loops by Ron Smith, Scott Klittich and Esteban Almazan.

Another tradition that started several years ago is to have a parent of each scout crossover the bridge as well, which is not as easy as it looks. Everyone then was asked to sit around the fire pit for a flag retirement ceremony.

Senior Patrol Leader Esteban Almazan then read the twelve steps as the old and tattered flag was being folded. Older scouts then placed several torn flags that were donated into the fire pit as well. The evening then came to a close.

We would like to thank everyone who participated in making this a memorable evening for our new Boy Scouts and we wish you nothing but success on your trail to become Eagle Scouts.

The Rotary Club of Fillmore said goodbye to its Rotary Exchange Student, Franziska Scheifler, last week. Franzi was sponsored by both Fillmore Rotary Clubs. She arrived last August, attended and graduated from Fillmore High School with honors, this June. During her stay she lived with three different families, which is a requirement, thus learning how other people live. She also attended many Rotary sponsored activities such as the Community Workday at Rancho Camulos, Rotary Leadership Camp, the District Conference and several weekend trips with other Rotary exchange students in the county. Probably the highlight of her stay was a month long Rotary trip around the USA by train. She saw all the famous sights from San Francisco to Niagara Falls and Washington DC. Both clubs enjoyed getting to know Franzi and hearing her speak about Germany and her many new experiences in the United States.

Santa Paula, CA – The 5th Annual Labor Day Parade is held Monday, September 7, 2009 at 10 AM on Main Street in Santa Paula. Entries of all kinds are welcome. Entries representing occupations and workers are especially welcome. Entry deadline is August 22, 2009. Parade entry forms are available online at http://www.ci.santa-paula.ca.us, under What’s New, at Santa Paula City Hall and the Santa Paula Times, 944 E. Main Street. For further information call 933-0701. The Parade is sponsored by the Santa Paula Labor Day Parade Committee, the Rotary Club of Santa Paula and the City of Santa Paula.

Walking groups with banners, musical groups, floats, workers riding in work-related vehicles, equestrians, and all groups representing a Labor Day theme are invited to participate. The parade starts at 7th and Main Street and ends at the Gazebo at Santa Barbara and Mill.

Trophies for “Most Original,” “Most Participants,” “Best Overall Use of Theme” and “Most Animated” will be awarded in ceremonies at the conclusion of the parade at the Gazebo. This year’s Grand Marshall is Tomas Gonzalez Sr. The 2009 theme is “Celebration of Working People.”

For more information, please contact Al Guilin (805) 525-8839

The Fillmore Volunteer Fire Department put on its much anticipated emergency response practice at the El Dorado Mobile Home club house, Saturday. Fireman Patrick Maynard was largely responsible for organizing the event, with many others assisting. The story will be posted next week where full credit will be given to the many who participated in the important event. The exercise focused on a triage system for quickly determining the extent of injuries. All "victims" in this exercise received colored cards which indicated "minor" injury, injuries which could wait - "delayed",severe injuries requiring "immediate" care, and any person "deceased." A "smoke" machine provided a realistic setting for a catastrophic event and students played rolls of victims with various injuries. The whole exercise was a great success.
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On Saturday July 18, the City of Fillmore Fire Department hosted a simulated mass causality incident at the El Dorado Mobile Park. The goal of this event was to provide members of the El Dorado Block Captain Program the opportunity to practice basic first aid and triage skills they learned about during a previous weeks training.

The training scenario included a magnitude 7.0 earthquake triggering the collapse of the community clubhouse located within the mobile home park. Approximately 25 victims were placed inside the clubhouse tangled amongst various obstacles and debris. To add to the realism the windows of the building were blacked out, the lights in the building shut off and theatrical smoke added to the area – all to simulate post-earthquake conditions.

Upon being dispatched to the scene, approximately 24 CERT trained block captains triaged and tagged all 24 victims within the collapsed structure. Triaged victims were transported to a staging location setup outside the clubhouse where they received basic first aid. Block Captains were able to put their recently obtained skills to work by applying various types of dressings and bandages to injured victims. At the end of the drill, 24 victims were triaged, transported and treated - all within a one-hour time period.

One of the invaluable assets brought by training of this nature is the ability for participants to experience “sensory overload” - commonly associated with events of this nature. “Overwhelming your brain with screaming voices, flashing lights and poor visibility is only a small taste of the distractions that may be present during a disaster. Experiencing these things ahead of time is paramount to building a mindset capable of dealing with stressful times both safely and efficiently” said Patrick Maynard, Disaster Coordinator for the City of Fillmore Fire Department.

Chief Rigo Landeros was “Pleased to see El Dorado resident’s interest in disaster preparedness in particular mass casualty incidents. Their knowledgeable contribution to post-disaster situations is both vital to the community as a whole and the City of Fillmore Fire Department. “

Special thanks to Captain Al Huerta of the Fillmore Fire Department, Paramedic Steven Karnazes of Mercy Air Helicopter Service, Sespe 4-H & all of the volunteers who participated as victims. Without you this drill would not have been as successful as it was!

Shown with Mrs. Gerlack are Tiger Cubs Tiger Cubs: Niles Gerlack, Kelly Bires, Tommy Vargas and Junior Escoto.
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Shown with Mr. Helgamo are Wolves: Marshall Martinez, Matt Van De Mheen, AJ Munoz, Will Helgemo and James Chandler. See additional photos online at www.fillmoregazette.com.
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Recently, Cub Scout Pack 3400 held their promotion ceremony for the 2008-2009 year. This past year was an eventful one with very devoted parents working alongside the Cub Scout leaders to ensure their sons advancement in rank.

At the ceremony, each scout was presented with recent achievements they had earned along with their new books they will be using in September.

Tiger Cubs Niles Gerlack, Kelly Bires, Tommy Vargas & Junior Escoto were presented past awill advance to the Wolf group while Wolves Marshalll Martinez, Matt Vad De Mheen, AJ Munoz, Will Helgemo & James Chandler will advance up to the Bear group.

The Bear group consisting of Timothy Wassell, Garrett Colbern, Burke Stewart, Ian Morris & Timothy Vargas will advance to first year Webelos while second year Webelos Pablo Almazan, Matthew Hammond, Chris Medrano & James Wassell will move on to Boy Scout Troop 406.

After each group received their awards & books, a special "Arrow of Light" presentation was held. The Arrow of Light is the highest rank a boy can earn while in Cub Scouts before moving on to Boy Scouts. Pablo Almazan, Matthew Hammond & Chris Medrano were given their new Boy Scout books along with their Arrow of Light patch.

A separate & very special "crossover" ceremony will be held for these boys which will include a humbling flag retirement reading. We want to say thank you to every parent, scout leader, Cubmaster Sean Morris & every committee member for their participation.