Cal Fire

Sacramento, CA - CAL FIRE inspectors have begun conducting Defensible Space inspections throughout the 31 million acres of State Responsibility Area (SRA) in California.

"Creating and maintaining Defensible Space is critical for the protection of homes," said Chief Ken Pimlott, CAL FIRE director. "It has never been more critical to strengthen our fire prevention efforts in light of the elevated fire conditions we have been experiencing in California. We have increased our inspection staffing and now we need the public to make sure they, too, are prepared for the increased fire risk due to drought."

Defensible space inspections are supported by the SRA Fire Prevention Fee, which is an annual fee assessed to rural residents for fire prevention activities in the SRA. The Fire Prevention Fee resulted from a law signed by Governor Brown in 2011 which imposed a fee to residents owning habitable structures in the SRA.

California Public Resources Code 4291 requires homeowners living in State Responsibility Area to maintain 100 feet of Defensible Space around structures. CAL FIRE inspectors will be educating residents and evaluating properties to make sure they are in compliance with state law.

Here are some tips that can help homes survive wildfires:

•Maintain 100 feet of Defensible Space around all structures.
•Clear all needles and leaves from roofs, eaves and rain gutters.
•Trim branches six feet from the ground.
•Use trimming, mowing and power equipment before 10 a.m.
•Landscape with fire resistant and drought tolerant plants that require little water.
•Remove branches away from roofs and 10 feet from the chimney.
•Keep wood piles and flammable materials at least 30 feet from the home.
•Use fire ignition resistant building material

For more information on preparing for wildfires and defensible space visit: www.ReadyForWildfire.org. Watch this short video on Defensible Space: Click Here and on this year's dry conditions: Click Here.

Remember Defensible Space is YOUR responsibility.

Kings Corner Pony Club sent four members to the Camino Real Regional Quiz Rally coming home with high honors and qualifying for the United States Pony Club Championships.

The Quiz Rally is a designed to test the knowledge of the Pony Clubber. There are several stations including Classroom, Mega Room, and Barns. They are also required to do a written test. Competitors may be asked to identify feed, equipment, or safety issues. Topics can include colors, breeds, conformation, first aid, horse management, competition rules and much more. They work as an individual in most cases and as a team during Mega Room.

The Kings Corner competitors were on mix teams with competitors from other clubs throughout the region.

Isabela Ibarra, 10, from Fillmore, competed as a “Jr D” and placed 2nd place with her team. Jillian Morris, 11, from Fillmore, Placed 1st with her “Jr D” team and she qualified for the Championships in Kentucky, by placing 2nd Individual.

In the “C” Division, Jasmin Parson, 24, of Thousand Oaks, place 1st place with her team and she was 2nd for individual. Bailey Brantley, 16, of Fillmore, placed 6th and both Jasmin and Bailey Qualified for the Championships.

The Championships will be held this July at the Kentucky Horse Park. Pony Club members from all over the United States and Internationally come to compete and learn. Along with the Quiz competition there are several riding competitions, including Dressage, Eventing, Show jumping and Tetrathalon. Tetrathalon is where competitors run, ride, shoot targets, and swim.

Bailey Brantley would love to take her horse, “Boy's Knight Out”, to Kentucky and is going to try to qualify for the Eventing team and Show Jumping team, and will be trying to qualify for Tetrathalon at the Rally in April. She will only be able to compete on one team and still has three more qualifying competitions ahead of her. If she qualifies for more than one discipline, and is short listed for the teams, she will have to pick the discipline she would like to do in Kentucky.

Jasmin Parson is going to double qualify in the Show Jumping with her horse “JuJu Bee Alexander” and will also be trying to qualify as a Horse Manager. Each riding team is made up of four riders and one Horse Manager. The Horse Manager is critical at Pony Club competitions because the riders are judged on their skills and safety when working around the horses and the stables.

“We may be small, but we are mighty!” says Taurie Banks, Center Administrator and Instructor of this This fledgling club. “The girls have studied hard and been practicing. I am so proud of them and I am very excited that they can be a part of such an amazing experience as the Nationals and the Pony Club Festival.”

The girls are excited and honor to represent California and Kings Corner Training Stables. They will continue to compete in the riding qualifying competitions and will be short listed on teams by the end of May. The competition is July 15 through the 18th, with the horses being shipped a few days prior.

If anyone is interested in more information about kings Corner Pony Club Riding Center may call (805) 727-3444 or go to www.kingscornerstables.com. For more information about the United States Pony Club go to www.ponycub.org.

The Kings Corner Pony Club riding Center and qualifying for the United States Pony Club Championships in Kentucky.

The girls will be competing in the Tetrathalon Rally this weekend, I will send an update after the weekend when the results and team qualifying status is released.

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Los Olivos, CA - California High School Rodeo Association (CHSRA) District 7announced that its 2014Challenge team took first place in overall team points at the Challenge of Champions held March 21-23 in Plymouth, California.

Each of the nine CHSRA districts sends three contestants to compete in each event. All contestants compete in the long go, and the top ten performers compete in the short go. Points earned by district members in the two rounds are aggregated to determine the top team.

“District 7 is known for producing outstanding athletes who compete well at the state level, so it’s not surprising that we were the top team again this year,” said Ed Hamer, District 7 adult board president. “We’re so proud of the members who represented us so well this year at Challenge.”

Thirteen District 7 members qualified for the short go, placing them in the top 10 in the state of California:
Wacey Barrington, King City, steer wrestling
CerstenBranquinho, Los Alamos, breakaway roping
Wyatt Fisher, Arroyo Grande, cutting
Tatem Forsberg, Fillmore, tie-down roping, team roping (header)
Hayley Hamer, Los Olivos, cutting
Lane Luis, Los Alamos, team roping (heeler)
Emily Mangione, Nipomo, pole bending
Sage Massey, Parkfield, cutting, team roping (header)
Meghann McNulty, Orcutt, cutting
Chance Ruffoni, Arroyo Grande, team roping (heeler)
Tristan Ruffoni, Arroyo Grande, team roping (header)
Zachary Varian, Parkfield, tie-down roping
Johanna Work, San Miguel, breakaway roping, team roping (heeler)

Tatem Forsberg and Lane Luiswon buckles for first place in team roping, with an aggregate time of 17.07.
District 7’s final rodeos for the 2013-2014 rodeo season are scheduled for April 5at the Santa Ynez Equestrian Center in Santa Ynez and April 27at the Parkfield Rodeo Arena in Parkfield. Both rodeos start at 8:00 am. These events are open to the public and admission is free. District 7 encourages the public to come out and experience firsthand the excitement of rodeo and the athletic abilities of these high school students and their horses.

About CHSRA District 7
CHSRA is a nonprofit organization that maintains the order and standards set up by the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA) and promotes high school rodeo on a state level. District 7 encompasses San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. The districtis committed to promoting the highest type of conduct and sportsmanship at the various rodeos to encouraging boys and girls to continue in school and participate in rodeos and then continue on to college.For additional information, visit www.chsradist7.com or contact the membership secretary at staceynance@mac.com.

Ventura, CA - Healthcare decisions at the end of life – democracy or death panels? – will be the focus of a free seminar Community Memorial Health System is holding as part of its 2014 Ethics in Healthcare Series on Wednesday, April 16.

Jim Hornstein, M.D., chairman of the Bioethics Committee at Community Memorial Hospital, will moderate the seminar that will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Museum of Ventura County, located at 100 E. Main St. in Ventura. The seminar will be held in recognition of National Healthcare Decision Day.

Other featured speakers will be Charles Pankratz, M.D., medical director of CMHS’s Palliative Care Services; Diana Jaquez, R.N., CMHS’s Palliative Care Services clinical manager; and Leslie-Lynn Pawson, M.D., chief of staff and palliative care physician of the Ventura County Medical Center.

Registration is free but reservations are required. Call 1-800/906-6093, or visit 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 11 family-practice health centers entitled Centers for Family Health. The health system is located in Ventura County, California.

SUBJECT: Ojai Library Fiber Festival

CONTACT: Tanya Villasenor
Tanya.Villasenor@Ventura.org
805-646-1639

EVENT DATE: April 27, 2014 from 11:00AM-3:00PM

PLACE: Ojai Library; 111 E. Ojai Ave, Ojai

The Ojai Library is excited to announce the first Ojai Library Fiber Festival, Sunday, April 27 from 11:00am to 3:00pm. The public is invited to explore the joys of fiber and fiber related crafts.

There will be demonstrations, classes and a fiber market featuring local artisans.
This event is free.

Demonstrations will include dyeing and hand-spinning. Drop-in classes in knitting, crochet and spindle spinning will be offered. Materials for classes will be provided while supplies last.

Vendors of fiber and fiber related objects will be on site. For a list of vendors and more information on this one of a kind event contact the Ojai Library or check out the Ojai Library page at http://www.vencolibrary.org/locations/ojai

The Ventura County Library is open 24/7 at www.vencolibrary.org

The first California condor chick of the season hatched at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park on March 14, 2014. This chick is the 183rd to be hatched at the Safari Park through San Diego Zoo Global's California condor breeding program. The first hatched chick, and a second that hatched just a few days later on the 18th, will both be considered for future release into the wild.

When the organization first began its breeding program, there were only 22 California condors left in the world. Today, there are more than 400 - 232 of which fly free in California, Arizona and Baja California, Mexico. Many of the now wild condors were hatched in breeding facilities and then reintroduced into their native range habitats, but some have actually been hatched to those reintroduced condors and have lived their entire lives in the wild, which is good news for their ecosystem.

"The California condor CONTINUED »

Martha Gentry of the Fillmore Historical Museum will be presenting a historical look back of Fillmore and how and why it became a city. This is also the centennial of the Fire Department and of course the Ebell Club. A very important time in the shaping of the city.

Lunch will be served at 12:30 and the presentation will happen about 1:30 pm. Anyone wishing to attend please call Glenda at 524-4949.

The Friends of the Santa Paula Blanchard Community Library invite all book lovers to their First-Saturday-of–the-Month book sale on April 5, 2014 from 10AM to 2PM.

Again there will be selections in fiction, non-fiction, children’s, and collectible books. New arrivals have been coming in daily so there will be lots of new choices. Most books are priced from $.50-$2.00. Rare and collectible books start at $4.00.Everyone can join the fun searching for literary treasures.

The event will be at the library, 119 N. 8th Street, Santa Paula. Patrons should enter through the roll-up door behind the library to access the sale.

For more information email jhawkc@gmail.com

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Seventeen children from the community came to learn how they had the power to make the city of Fillmore more beautiful on Wed. March 12th! They pledged to pick up trash, not stomp on flowers and try to make their yard beautiful. Local artist, Fillmore Artist’s Guild and Fillmore Civic Pride 2020 member Joanne King read the book The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. The children then made a sunflower seed ball to take home and plant. Two books were given away courtesy of the Fillmore Friends of the Library. Students were encouraged to enter the Fillmore Flower Show on April 12th and 13th at the Fillmore Senior Center (533 Santa Clara St. Fillmore). The Success through Reading program this month was presented by Soroptimist International of Fillmore, the Fillmore Friends of the Library along with Fillmore Civic Pride/Vision 2020. Groups, adults and children are welcome to enter the flower show. Questions: Ari Larson 805.794.7590 or petenari55@hotmail.com

CAMARILLO, CA - On Saturday, April 19, from 10 a.m.—3 p.m., Ventura County Animal Services (VCAS) will host the fourth annual Easter Eggstravaganza at the VCAS Camarillo Animal Adoption Center, 600 Aviation Dr., Camarillo.

This free, family-friendly event, sponsored by Foto-Snap and Phil Birdsell Entertainment, will feature half-off adoptions on dogs and cats, an egg hunt, photo booth pictures, crafts, music, prizes, a jolly jumper, a visit from the Easter Bunny, face painting, a scavenger hunt, raffles, food trucks and so much more!

Hosted by VCAS staff and volunteers, the Easter Eggstravaganza is designed to: 1) raise funds for spaying, neutering and caring for VCAS rabbits, 2) raise awareness that live rabbits, chicks and other animals are not Easter toys or gifts, 3) move VCAS closer toward its goal of becoming a “no-kill” organization.

“We hope to end the cycle of impulse rabbit purchases and subsequent abandonments that happen during the springtime every year,” said Tara Diller, VCAS Director. “Instead we invite the public to visit our adoption center in Camarillo, meet our other animals that are waiting for forever families and support us in our efforts to make 2014 a record-breaking year when it comes to the numbers of homeless animals adopted”

To discourage the gifting of live rabbits, VCAS rabbit adoptions will be put on hold from Friday, April 11 – Sunday, April 20 and will resume on Monday, April 21. VCAS encourages people to purchase chocolate and plush rabbits as gifts instead of live animals or adopt dogs and cats at half off the regular adoption fee instead.

For more information, go to www.vcas.us or call 805-388-4341.

Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County, Oxnard CA (March 17, 2014) – Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County has been awarded $100,000 from Thrivent Financial to build a home in Santa Paula. This will be the fourth home built in partnership with Thrivent in Ventura County.

This award will enable the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate to fund fifty percent of the construction costs for a single-family home. In addition to the Thrivent award, California Lutheran University has committed $25,000 as part of the 2014 Thrivent Builds partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County. Additional faith-based organizations will join together to fully fund the home.

“Working in partnership with Habitat families to help them build or repair their homes is an inspiring experience,” said Dave Harrington, a local financial representative with Thrivent Financial. “I enjoy working alongside members – who generously donate their time and talents – to strengthen our community.”

The Thrivent funding is part of an ongoing partnership between Thrivent Financial and Habitat for Humanity International. Through the partnership called Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity, Thrivent members, Habitat affiliates and others partner with families across the U.S. and around the world to provide affordable housing and stronger, generous communities. Thrivent Builds inspires members to live generously.

Thrivent Financial is CONTINUED »

IRVINE, CA - The Hass Avocado Board (HAB), which promotes the consumption of Hass Avocados in in the United States, is scheduling its annual board elections for vacant domestic Hass avocado grower and Hass avocado importer members as well as alternate seats.

In mid-March, announcement of open seats will be mailed to all eligible producers and importers of Hass avocados, with a deadline for receipt of nomination forms on April 16, 2014. HAB expects to mail ballots to producers and importers by May 5 with a May 30 deadline. New members and alternates appointed by the USDA Secretary will be seated at the board meeting in November 2014. Visit www.hassavocadoboard.com/elections for details.

HAB also has reaffirmed its proactive policy of seeking board members who reflect the demographics of the avocado industry while supporting the Board’s membership diversity goals. " HAB has a history of making considerable efforts to emphasize the participation of qualified persons for Board and positions without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital or family status, or other basis protected by law," said Emiliano Escobedo, Executive Director. "Like many institutions, HAB benefits by having a broad and diverse membership so we encourage women, minorities and persons with disabilities to seek nomination to the Board and actively participate," he added.

In addition to regular monitoring of board composition, HAB will encourage diversity by publishing information about the policy prior to board elections, ensuring notification in internal and trade publications.

Ventura County Behavioral Health is pleased to offer Mental Health First Aid: an 8‐hour certification course to help participants better understand mental illness and respond to psychiatric emergencies.

Dates: March 24-25, 2014
Time: 9am-1:30pm (Both Days)
Presenter: Frank Barba & Ana Del Rio Barba
Location: 1911 Williams Drive, Oxnard, CA 93036
(VCBH TRAINING ROOM)

Course Information
Mental Health First Aid is a ground breaking public education program that helps the public identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders.

Mental Health First Aid is offered in the form of an interactive two-day course that presents an overview of mental illness and substance use disorders in the U.S. and introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems, builds understanding of their impact, and overviews common treatments.
Attendees will learn:

• The potential risk factors and warning signs for a range of mental health problems, including: depression, anxiety/trauma, psychosis and psychotic disorders, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and self-injury.

• How to use a 5-step action plan to assess a crisis situation and select and implement appropriate interventions.

• The realities and prevalence of various mental health disorders in the U.S. and the need for reduced stigma in our communities.

• How to access appropriate professional, peer, social, and self-help resources to help someone with a mental health problem.

To register for this valuable training, send an email to:
Arieta Faiivae, Community Outreach, arieta.faiivae2@ventura.org or call 805-981-2220. For more detailed information, contact: KerryAnn Schuette, VCBH Manager KerryAnn.Schuette@ventura.org

This project is funded by VCBH Mental Health Services Act.

Coffee and water will be available, please bring your own snacks.

Livingston Hospice conducts several adult bereavement support groups to help those who have experienced a loss. Explore and express feeling, understand the grief process and receive emotional support. Open to the public, no cost, all are welcome; the groups are held at:

• The First Presbyterian Church, 850 Ivywood Drive, Oxnard; Every Wednesday, (March 19 & 28, April 2 & 9 ); from 3:00 – 4:30 pm

• Livingston Memorial VNA, 1996 Eastman Ave (#112), Ventura; Every Wednesday, (March 19 & 28, April 2 & 9)); from 6:30 – 8:00

• Help of Ojai, 370 Baldwin Road, Ojai; On 2nd & 4th Tuesday, (March 25, April 8); from 10:30 am – 12 noon

• For the newly bereaved: at Livingston Memorial VNA, 1996 Eastman Ave, (#112), Ventura; second Thursday, (April 10 ); from 6:00 – 7:30 pm

Call 642-1608 for more information.