Pictured is a stock photo of a roundabout.
Enlarge Photo

The Caltrans proposed Highway 126 four roundabout project between Fillmore and Santa Paula has been discontinued, according to the VCTC May 12 meeting minutes, “The SR 126 safety project is no longer on the list of programmed projects.”

Fillmore and Santa Paula along with the County of Ventura opposed the $62 million project. One of the big concerns was the roundabouts would slow emergency services response times.

A roundabout is an intersection where traffic travels around a central island in a counterclockwise direction. Vehicles entering or exiting the roundabout must yield to vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians. Caltrans believes roundabouts slow traffic and significantly reduce collisions and injuries.

In a letter sent out by Carrie Bowen, Caltrans’ Director for Ventura and Los Angeles counties, it read, "Caltrans has decided to discontinue work on the proposed project," which also called for building a concrete median barrier on the highway, the agency wrote in a letter last month to the county and the two cities.

The letter also stated that the agency agreed with the county and the cities that safety improvements that were installed on the highway in 2012 "have been successful at significantly reducing accidents."

Those measures included rumble strips — corrugated pavement strips across the highway that cause noise and shaking when driven over to warn motorists to slow down — speed reduction signs and radar speed feedback signs, the letter notes.

The county's and the cities' "primary concern regarding the roundabouts is that they would reduce emergency response times by delaying emergency services, including police, fire and ambulance," John Zaragoza, chairman of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, wrote in a Feb. 14 letter to Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty.

The Santa Paula and Fillmore city councils also formally opposed the roundabouts and wrote their own letters of protest to Caltrans, which held public workshops on the project in both cities in early 2016.

The Ventura County Transportation Commission took no position on the project.

And thus, the thoroughfare can no longer be called "Blood Alley," Gherardi wrote in a letter to The Star in March 2016.

Fillmore City Manager Dave Rowlands said he too welcomed Caltrans' decision.

“We were pleased to hear Caltrans is not pursuing roundabouts at this time along the 126 corridor," he said.

Caltrans will continue to monitor the Highway 126 corridor, Bowen's letter states.

"If further work is warranted, we would initiate a new project and explore additional alternatives that minimize the impacts to the community as much as possible," the letter states. "As always, Caltrans would seek input from local stakeholders throughout the process."

Sunday afternoon, around 2:50 p.m., a brush fire broke out near Camino Del Rio and Highway 126 east of Piru. The fire was located neat the bottom of the Santa Clara River and reported to burn about an acre. Crews were able to put it out by 3:25p.m. No structures were damaged and the cause of the fire is unknown.

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Enlarge Photo

Charge the batteries! Format and load the flash memory card! The Ventura County Fair opens August 2, 2017. Oh what fun! This year's theme: “Rooted in Tradition”.

In between my obligatory editorial photos, get out of my way! Day and night, so many photo ops all over the Fair!!! A photographic fun house! But sad to say... no mermaids.

Enter the Fairgrounds and you're on Main Street. Look at all the food vendors, from turkey legs to funnel cakes. I fast a month before just so I can feast at the Fair. BTW, capturing candid shots of folks getting their oh-so-scrumptious treats is often interesting. Food vendor's booths alone offer multiple photo ops.

Wait! How are you going to shoot those candid photos? Remember: “P” mode is not allowed! Do I want shallow or deep depth-of-field? I'll switch to aperture mode to control the depth-of-field by opening or closing the aperture. Got it?

As you prowl Main Street, you'll encounter strolling entertainers. Now I'll switch to Tv mode, shutter priority, and shoot at least 1/250th of a second because there's likely to be a lot of movement and I don't want blur for these shots. Also, a higher faster shutter speed will help compensate for my hand-held camera shaking.

Further down Main Street is Uncle Leo's barn with various farm animals. This venue never fails to delight. However, low light can be problematic so switch to manual mode ... open the aperture and slow the shutter speed to 1/60th to compensate. You can do this!

The Judge William P. Clark Livestock Center is just a little further down Main Street. Later on the livestock barn will swell with animals raised by the youth of 4-H, Grange and Future Farmers of America (FFA). More interesting photo ops. Are you getting the picture... so to speak?

The midway offers many opportunities for creative photos. The roller coaster for one example, shoot in Tv (shutter priority) mode. Increase the shutter speed to 1/250th of a second or faster for stop-action photos. Decrease the shutter speed to 1/20th of a second to create blur to represent a speedy ride. Pan - follow the ride - and shoot at the desired time. Note that we are choosing how we wish to “create” a photograph. We're not just taking snapshots!!! Right?

In every instance it's important to F.A.R.T first! (refer to last week’s column for details) Survey the ride... decide how to shoot it as you see it in your mind... and program the camera accordingly. Think composition, and frame your shot accordingly! The creative aspect is what makes photography such a captivating endeavor that snap-shot phonetographers are not likely to experience. Just sayin'.

Night time photography can be frustrating. The bright lights play havoc with the camera's exposure meter. Get intimate with exposure compensation. Take a test shot... chimp... and adjust for proper exposure. Hint, a tripod makes night shooting less frustrating. But don't be afraid to shoot many photos adjusting your camera settings as you shoot. Back at home, it costs nothing to delete all the crap. Getting crap simply means that I took a test shot and made needed adjustments to get the... ahem... perfectly exposed photo. (Another secret revealed... at no extra charge!)

Main Street, exhibitions, the midway rides and games, entertainment, farm animals, food... there's something for everybody! Oh, and the last weekend... the Rodeo! Always “exciting” photo ops!!!

See fillmoregazette.com for inspiration and ideas for photographing the Fair. Go! Be creative! Most of all, ENJOY! See you there!

Happy photoing!

Send comments, questions or suggestions to bob@fillmoregazette.com

Cal Fire

More than 6100 firefighters are battling 11 significant wildfires in California. As firefighters continue to work to contain the current fires more fires continue to start throughout California.

Northern California will be 3-5 degrees above normal today, but relative humidity will be higher than yesterday. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms with limited rainfall, with chance of dry lightning, is expected from the Cascade-Sierra Crest east starting this afternoon, including Eastern Siskiyou County prompting red flag warnings. Moisture will continue to increase late Monday, leading to scattered storms that produce a mixture of wet and dry strikes across our northern and eastern areas starting midday Monday and continuing into the overnight hours. As the moisture increases over the area Monday night through early Wednesday the storms will produce more rainfall, reducing the threat of dry strikes and new fire ignitions. Strong gusty outflow winds are possible with any thunderstorm. Dry southwest flow will return by late Wednesday and continue through the end of the week causing temperatures to rise and relative humidity’s to drop.

Southern California will have scattered showers and thunderstorms over the mountains and deserts this afternoon through Tuesday afternoon. Some shower and thunderstorm activity may also affect the coastal and valley locations of Southern California through Monday night. There will be cooler temperatures into the upper 70s and 80s across the mountains and upper 80s and 90s in the valleys Monday and Tuesday. Minimum humidity will be mainly between 12% and 25% across Central California and above 30% across Southern California today. High pressure will strengthen and expand westward bringing a gradual warming and drying trend to the area Wednesday through the end of this week.

Give your family the best chance of surviving a wildfire by being ready to go and evacuating early. This includes going through pre-evacuation preparation steps (only if time allows) to increase your home’s defenses, as well as creating a Wildfire Action Plan for your family. Being ready to go also means knowing when to evacuate and what to do if you become trapped. For more information visit readyforwildfire.org.

Staff Sgt. Robert Cox

Staff Sgt. Robert Cox from Ventura County was one of 16 people killed last week when a Marine Corps military refueling plane crashed in a soybean field near Itta Bena, Mississippi. The plane was out of Marine Air Refueler Transport Squadron 452 based at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York. They were headed to a Navy facility in El Centro, California.

Cox, 28, was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina with the 2nd Marine Rider Battalion. He joined the Marines in 2007 as a reservist at age 18 and deployed overseas four times. He was about to celebrate his tenth anniversary with the Marine Corps this month.

Cox was born in Santa Paula on May 1, 1989, and attended schools in Fillmore, Ventura, and Thousand Oaks. He also attended combat training and communication electronics school and later worked as a radio operator with his unit in December 2008 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He attended Moorpark College, studying Anthropology, and Ventura College in December 2011. He also studied Arabic.

His awards include two Navy and Marine Corps achievement medals, a combat action ribbon, a Marine Corps good conduct medal, an inherent resolve campaign medal; three sea service deployment ribbons, two Afghanistan campaign medals, two Armed Forces reserve medals, an Iraq campaign medal; a global war on terrorism service medal, national defense service medal, Navy meritorious unit commendation, a Navy unit commendation medal, a NATO medal-ISAF Afghanistan and letter of appreciation.

On board at the time of the crash were nine Marines stationed in Newburgh, as well as six Marines and one Navy corpsman stationed in Camp Lejeune.

Those based at Newburgh were: Cpl. Daniel Baldassare, 20; Capt. Sean E. Elliott, 30; Maj. Caine Michael Goyette; Gunnery Sgt. Mark A. Hopkins, 34; Gunnery Sgt. Brendan C. Johnson, 45; Sgt. Julian M. Kevianne, 31; Sgt. Owen Lennon, 26; Cpl. Collin J. Schaaff, 22; and Sgt. Joshua M. Snowden, 31.

Cox, a critical skills operator, Sgt. Chad Jenson, 25; Staff Sgt. William Kundrat, 33; Sgt. Talon Leach, 27; Hospital Corpsman Ryan Lohrey, 30; Sgt. Joseph Murray, 26; and Sgt. Dietrich Schmieman, 26, were based at Camp Lejeune.