Submitted By Ari Larson Next year will be the 90th Anniversary of the St. Francis Dam collapse. The Fillmore Historical Museum in conjunction with the Heritage Valley Tourism Bureau is planning a multi-city (Santa Clarita, Piru, Fillmore and Santa Paula) event to commemorate the occasion in 2018. There will be a planning committee meeting on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at the Fillmore Historical Museum (340 Main St.) at 4pm. Please RSVP to Ari Larson (805.794.7590 or email: Petenari55@hotmail.com) if you will be in attendance or if you are interested in
being a part of the committee.

The children from the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley, under the direction of local artist Virginia Neuman received honors from the Ventura County Fair for their artwork. There will be an art show showcasing the budding artist's creations, during business hours on Friday, April 28, 2017 from 9am-5pm at Union Bank (566 Sespe Ave. Fillmore.) The public is invited to stop by. There will be light refreshments served. For information on the Boys & Girls Club of SCV please call Buddy Escoto at 805.524.0456

Community Memorial Health System is holding its “Great Advance Directive Awareness Event” on Wednesday, April 19, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Museum of Ventura County, 100 E. Main St. in Ventura.

An advance directive, also known as living will, personal directive, medical directive or advance decision, is a legal document in which a person specifies what actions should be taken for their health if they are no longer able to make decisions for themselves because of illness or incapacity.

Jim Hornstein, M.D., CMHS’ Chair of the Bioethics Committee, will moderate the latest seminar in its 2017 “Ethics in Healthcare” series. The event is for people 18 and over. Experts, including palliative care, social services, quality care and CMHS residents, will be available to answer questions and help participants fill out their advance directives for free. A notary public also will be on site.

There will be refreshments, raffle prizes, music and giveaways, and the first 200 people who complete their advance directive will receive a free gift.

Future Speaker Series events are: Diagnosis and Management of Pituitary Tumors on May 10 at CMH; and What is a Hospitalist? on June 7 at CMH.

Registration is free but reservations are required. To secure reservations visit cmhshealth.org/rsvp or call Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006.

Community Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, along with the Centers for Family Health serving various communities within and located in Ventura County, California.

A Patient’s Right to Die to Be Focus of CMHS Seminar on April 16

The California State Board of Equalization (BOE) reminds Californians that new sales and use tax rates will take effect on April 1, 2017, as a result of voter-approved initiatives in several cities and counties. The tax rate changes for the cities listed below apply only within the indicated city limits. The countywide tax rate increases apply to all cities and unincorporated areas within the county.

To find the tax rate in your area or business location, visit the BOE website at boe.ca.gov and click on the Find a Tax Rate by Address link to find the tax rate for a specific address. The new tax rates will be available on this website on April 1. You may also call our Customer Service Center at 1-800-400-7115 (TTY:711) to find your local tax rates. Representatives are available to assist you weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Pacific Time), except state holidays.

For more information about sales and use tax rates, including help for consumers who may have been overcharged, visit boe.ca.gov/knowyourrate

The effects of stress on the immune system and asthma will be the focus of a free seminar that Community Memorial Health System is holding on Wednesday, April 12.

Lewis Kanter, M.D., a board-certified clinical immunologist who also specializes in pediatrics, will lead the discussion during the seminar to be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the eighth-floor Nichols Auditorium at Community Memorial Hospital, 147 N. Brent St.

How does stress affect developing children? How does the human body react to stress? Can chronic stress cause asthma? Are patients sick because they’re stressed, or are they stressed because they’re sick? Dr. Kanter will address these questions, and more.

Dr. Kanter received his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. He continued his training in allergy/immunology there, as well as at the National Naval Medical Center in Maryland. He served 10 years in the U.S. Navy and was Chief of the Allergy Division of the Dept. of Medicine, National Naval Medical Center. Dr. Kanter is an active member of the CMH medical staff.

Future Speaker Series events are: Diagnosis and Management of Pituitary Tumors on May 10 at CMH; and What is a Hospitalist? on June 7 at CMH.

Registration is free but reservations are required. Visit cmhshealth.org/rsvp or call Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800/838-3006.

Community Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, along with the Centers for Family Health serving various communities within and located in Ventura County, California.

Dr. Richard R. Rush

Dr. Richard R. Rush, former president of California State University Channel Islands, has been named the new chair of the Board for Community Memorial Health System. He succeeds Jeffrey Paul, who has served as board chairman since 2015.

Dr. Rush became the first president of CSU Channel Islands in June 2001. As head of the 23rd and newest campus in the California State University system, he hired the faculty and senior administrative staff and oversaw the creation and development of the university’s strategic, academic and physical master plans as well as its budget and financial structure. He retired in 2016.

Before arriving at CSUCI, Dr. Rush spent nine years as president of Minnesota State University, Mankato where he established public-private partnerships that led to the first buildings in the State University system to be constructed using private financing.

Dr. Rush also played a key role in the founding of CSU San Marcos while serving as Vice President in Charge during site selection and program establishment. Subsequently, he served as Executive Vice President with responsibilities for accreditation, academic programs, student affairs, finance and administration, and fundraising.

Community Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, along with the Centers for Family Health serving various communities within and located in Ventura County, California.

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Theresa Robledo with Civic Pride Vision 20/20 had the pleasure to present Yard of the Month to Dave & Jeana Miller. “I have always been interested in gardening, probably from the days of watering the vegetable garden at my grandparents on La Campana Rd. (Hardison Ranch). It is in my genes, my other grandparents lived in Rancho Sespe and my grandfather ran the nursery. I love a nice lawn, but with water issues and the need of low maintenance and my back yard being 4 times this size, I planted mostly succulents and cactus. Plants include, Lavender Scallop, Silver Dollar, multiple varieties of Jade and Aloe, Sublanum, Euphorbia, Jacob Ladder, Russian Sage, Bougainvillea, Silver Pig Ears and some plants I don’t know the name of”. Please drive by 339 Second St and view this beautiful corner lot home.

We would like to thank Otto & Sons Nursery for the generous gift certificate and Diamond Realty for the gift of wine to the Millers!

Enlarge Photo

Vision 2020, Civic Pride Committee, held a workshop at the King Ranch to create succulent terrariums and bee condos for the solitary, native bees in the area to lay their eggs. There are an estimated 90 species of native bees in California. In fact, the main pollinator for avocado trees is a native bee!

These bees are also in decline, like the honey producing European “hive” bees, so the “condos” are a great addition to the garden.

These terrariums and native bee condos will be part of the plants and gardening elements available in the Fillmore Flower Show boutique for a donation.

The Flower Show provides an opportunity for different generations to interact and show off their creativity. “Birds, Bugs and Beautiful Blooms”, might well be seen.

The show is on April 8,9 and brochures are in City Hall, the Library, Patterson’s Hardware and the Treasure Station, with all the information needed to enter. The show will be open to the public each day from1-4pm and it is FREE.

Leslie Klinchuch

Written By Leslie Klinchuch, Chevron Project Manager

The PCPL site is now eligible for partial removal from the Superfund list for surface soils because all cleanup actions for soil are completed and validated by the EPA and the State of California, and there is no risk to human health and the environment. Partial removal from Superfund will align the site status with its cleanup progress and further the goal for eventual removal from the Superfund list, formally known as the National Priorities List, after groundwater cleanup is completed. Nearly 400 sites have been cleaned up and removed from the National Priorities List since the program’s inception in 1980. There is strong precedent for partial deletion of surface soils for Superfund sites that also have ongoing groundwater cleanup, because groundwater cleanup typically takes many years. EPA established the Partial Deletion Rule in 1995, to allow portions of Superfund sites that have met cleanup goals to be “delisted”, because they recognize that waiting until the entire site is eligible for delisting can be a barrier to productive uses that benefit communities because of the “stigma” associated with Superfund sites.

To put the PCPL site in proper perspective, it’s important to note that the soil conditions at the site never qualified for the National Priorities List. The initial listing of the site in 1989 was based on groundwater only. Also, the initial criteria for Superfund sites set forth by EPA at that time was not as science-based as it became a few years later. If the site had been evaluated under the current criteria, it would not have become a Superfund site because drinking water supplies were never threatened.

What would partial Superfund deletion of surface soils mean for the City of Fillmore? Let me start with what it would not mean:
1. This step would NOT change the ongoing groundwater cleanup effort nor Chevron’s monitoring obligations for the property. Groundwater beneath the site will remain on the Superfund list until the 1 part per billion cleanup goal for benzene is met. And EPA will continue to oversee and inspect the PCPL site in perpetuity to assure long-term protectiveness of the engineered caps.

2. Land use restrictions will NOT change, neither by partial deletion now nor with complete deletion from Superfund in the future. Deed restrictions will run with the land.

3. There is no financial gain for Chevron by partial deletion from Superfund. Chevron will pay the required resource cost for the partial deletion process, as well as its ongoing obligations for the PCPL site. Chevron withdrew its own commercial/industrial development plan for the site after the solar energy conditional use permit was approved. Chevron will not receive revenue from the planned solar facility, with the exception of a nominal rent payment from the solar firm that leases the land. And the solar facility will operate for a minimum of 30 years and likely longer.

What partial deletion might mean for Fillmore:
• It may reduce unwanted stigma for your community that may continue to cause undue concern for neighboring property owners.
• It may help to facilitate a future opportunity for hillside passive recreation, if the County or City would like to pursue that option.
• It may make it easier to gain community support should the city decide to pursue annexation of the property in the future.

In closing, the former refinery / PCPL site shares Fillmore’s 100-year history and the community’s rich heritage. The community should be especially proud of the Texaco refinery’s patriotic history during World War II and the contributions that Texaco employees and their families made to Fillmore over the years. But we know that being on the Superfund list is not a source of pride for you. The goal of cleanup is removal from Superfund and the partial deletion for surface soils is an appropriate step at this point in the process. I hope that the Council will agree to support this effort by writing a letter to EPA that we may include with the partial deletion petition.

Scholarship In memory of Diana Rojo, is now available. This scholarship is offered to Fillmore High School Seniors who aspire to make a difference in the world. Diana was a member of the Fillmore Women's Service Club for over 10 years, a resident of Fillmore for 24 years and all four of her children graduated from Fillmore High School. With this scholarship we hope to continue her legacy of providing higher education to every person deserving of the opportunity. This scholarship application is now available at Fillmore High School Career Center with the submission deadline of April 6th. For more information you can call 524-2020.

Ventura and LA County, CA - Southern steelhead are an ocean going form of rainbow trout that need freshwater for survival, and cold, clean water within their environment is vital to the species success. Water quality in the Santa Clara River, its estuary and tributaries, essential steelhead freshwater environments in Southern California, have deteriorated as a result of pollutants draining off surrounding urbanized and farmed land. Strategies for protecting the water quality in the estuary, as well as other stream and river habitats, will be presented in a public program ‘Attaining Clean Water for Fish, Farms and Families’ on March 27 at 6:30pm at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center (Hueneme Room), 800 Hobson Way, Oxnard.

“California’s rivers and landscapes have been highly altered and, as a result, water quality for fish habitat has suffered,” explains Candice Meneghin, CalTrout Southern California Conservation Manager, “however, there is a suite of solutions for achieving improvement, ranging from state regulations to funding and incentives.” The program will feature water quality experts and professionals including staff from the California State Regional Water Quality Control Board, Ventura County Farm Bureau, and stream monitoring task forces.

Program attendees can expect to come away with a better understanding of why freshwater habitat quality is impacted, what contaminants are present, and how to improve the current water quality conditions to allow steelhead populations to thrive jointly with agricultural and urban development.

Water Talks are an ongoing series of informational and educational presentations which include local and regional speakers sharing their knowledge on a range of water related topics. The programs is intended to increase informed participation in water policy through interaction between community members and experts. All Water Talks are free, open to the public and hosted by the Santa Clara River Steelhead Coalition whose mission is to protect and restore wild Southern steelhead and its habitat in the Santa Clara River watershed. The Coalition is chaired and coordinated by California Trout, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring resilient wild fish in healthy waters for a better California.

For more information contact Nina Danza, California Trout Project Coordinator at 805-605-6211 or ndanza@caltrout.org.

Angel Ortega

The Angel R. Ortega Family wants to thank everyone in Fillmore, Piru, and Bardsdale for your generous donations, thoughts, and prayers to our family after our house fire on January 5th.

We are currently living in Thousand Oaks and are planning to move back to Fillmore once our home is rebuilt, hopefully in less than a year.

Thank you all again from the bottom of our hearts.

Sincerely,
The Angel R. Ortega Family