 Fillmore Unified School Board held their first meeting of 2011, on Tuesday, January 4th. All were in attendance except for Lucy Rangel, who was out of town. Enlarge Photo By Kimberly Rivers — Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
On Tuesday December 4, Fillmore Unified School Board President Virginia De La Piedra presided over a relatively short regular meeting, which was sparsely attended by the public. All members were present except for Lucy Rangel who is out of town. Upon reconvening from closed session the board voted to approve recommendations of Superintendent Jeff Sweeney, resulting in one expulsion and a reinstatement of five students who have completed their expulsion period. During Board reports Member David Wilde commented on his tour of Sierra High with Principal Cynthia Frutos that “Everything seems to be moving in the right direction [there]”, and he praised Frutos for her “specific goals” and enthusiasm. The Board then heard from Dave MacDonald from the Physical Education Department at Fillmore Middle School. MacDonald notified the Board of his being awarded a scholarship from the Monkey Bar Gym in Moorpark to attend a six day training and testing in April to become a Certified Natural Trainer. He requested from the Board financial support to attend the training in Madison, Wisconsin. He let the Board know that he is already committed to attend, and has already paid out of pocket for his travel expenses. MacDonald reported that he is one of 84 people in the world who are Level Two Certified through the International Youth Conditioning Association and that adding a CNT to his skills would benefit the students and allow him to continue to build on the changes he has made to the PE program at the middle school and if there is support to create a District wide program. He commented that the “program [he has] implemented is unlike any other I’ve seen… at a middle school.” In responding to question from De La Piedra about what exactly the changes are MacDonald explained “before… everything was group centered… and now we have benchmarks for each student.” MacDonald explained that it moves the PE class away from a focus on team sports, where some kids excel but others struggle, to a program that allows each student to find success and improve their fitness, strength and overall wellbeing. Board Member Tony Prado stated “I want to see health and wellness become dominant in our physical education program…can it be extended to [all grades], I know Piru was toying with that idea, the kids were running, walking and exercising every morning… that was fantastic, I wish we could mandate that through all our schools.” Prado continued, “I want to give you some money.” Board Member John Garnica expressed his support of the changes that are taking place and but mentioned the Board’s decision to not fund any conferences at this time. Garnica stated “I support what you are doing, I in good conscience could not support voting for dollars for a conference when I couldn’t [do the same for] another staff member.” Garnica proposed an idea that there may be another way “to help out.” De La Piedra mentioned a new recommendation from the E-Scrip program that 20% of funds be used for fitness and she stated, “This is exactly what [E-Scrip wants].” Prado explained “I’m opposite of Dave and Virginia I have no problem spending money on a case by case basis” he went on to comment that “There is money in the budget [for this] but Dr. Bush …has to balance the books, he gives us pros and cons of how money can be spent… again I understand there is money available… I see no reason why we can’t spend it for these types of activities.” Wilde stated “PE is in such dire straights across this country and at most schools sites I think it needs a boost and a change…I see that almost as important as curriculum.” De La Piedra asked Assistant Superintendent Mike Bush to comment about the available monies that Prado referred to. Bush stated that “[the Board previously heard from Assistant Superintendent Katy Hadley regarding] Title II monies available, however we’ve been living off of that carry over and it’s been dwindling every year… there is several thousand available, it’s the money we use to have speakers come in for staff development.” The Board was not slated to take action on this, and there will be further discussion at another time when they have more information on the State budget and any other possible funding sources. MacDonald did remind the Board that over the past four years the PE program has been entirely “self funded”. They have raised over $4,000.00 for needed equipment and “have received no funds to speak of from any budgetary source [within the District]” All action items were approved and the Board adjourned to it’s next meeting on Tuesday January 18th at 5:30, which is a study session, open to the public on “Program Improvement; What it is? What does it mean? What are we doing about it?” with the regular meeting starting at 6:30pm. |
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By Mark Trimble — Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
“The governments of the world should know that…Islam will be victorious in all countries of the world, and Islam and the teachings of the Quran will prevail all over the world.” - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, January 1979
“They (Iranian leadership) want a grand finale; they want one operation that cripples America once and for all...be it a dirty bomb, or a real nuke.” - Walid Shobat, Former Palestinian Terrorist On April 1st, 1979, Iran became the first Islamic republic in history. Three decades later they are the largest state sponsor of Fundamentalist Islamic terrorism in the world, and we are rapidly approaching the most dangerous moment in the history of the Iranian Revolution. Iran’s senior leaders have taught that the Revolution will soon reach its climax. They have stated publicly that the end of the world is “imminent.” They have taught that the way to hasten the arrival or appearance on earth of the Islamic messiah known as the “Twelfth Imam,” or the “Mahdi,” is to destroy the United States who they call the “Great Satan,” and to destroy Israel who they call the “Little Satan.” Iranian president Mahmouud Ahmadinejad has stated he has a “written contract” with the Islamic messiah. Iranian leadership has vowed to annihilate the United States and Israel, and have urged Muslims to envision a world without America and Zionism. The key leaders in Iran are determined to accomplish their apocalyptic, genocidal mission. They are desperately attempting to build, buy, or steal nuclear weapons. Iran is actively testing advanced ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads. Iran has built alliances with CONTINUED » |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
 The first snow of 2011 fell in the Los Padres National Forest turning the hills above Fillmore and Piru white. Hail was reported in Piru. Thanks to Steven Alverdi, and his wife Cheryl Sanchez Alverdi for the photos of Piru and thanks to Marietta Parrish Spencer for the photos of the Sespe mountains and the mountains surrounding Fillmore. Enlarge Photo |
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By Dick Diaz — Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
 Francisco “Turtle” Estrada pictured with his family (l-r) Rafael Estrada, Jose “Froggy” Estrada, and Norma Ramos, right after he won the Championship at the Westlake Hyatt. Enlarge Photo One of the benefits of writing articles for the Fillmore Gazette is that I have the opportunity to meet and learn about some very interesting people, doing sometimes incredible things, who live right here in Fillmore! I had just that opportunity the other day when I met with Francisco “Turtle” Estrada! Francisco prefers to be called Turtle and I do call him Turtle for this article. Turtle fights under the name of Francisco “Turtle” Estrada and fights with and trains in Oxnard at the West Coast Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai Center. The West Coast Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai Center, under the management of Coach Brian Espinoza, offers training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai (kick boxing), Boxing, Woman's Self Defense and Fitness. Francisco is the son of Rafael Estrada and Norma Ramos of Fillmore. Francisco has one brother, Jose “Frog” Estrada 20 yrs of Fillmore. Turtle is 21 years old and recently received the Combat Fight League's Championship Belt the result of his winning the inaugural Combat Fight League amateur Mixed Martial Arts event competition on December 2, 2010 against Jon “The Gladiator” Gorton at the “Havoc at the Hyatt” Westlake Hyatt in Thousand Oaks. Both fighters were pretty evenly matched going into the fight; Turtle's record was 3-wins and 0-losses and The Gladiator's was 3-wins and 1-loss. From the Combat Fight League's rendition of the fight on their website: “It took Frank "Turtle" Estrada 1:07 of the first round to win the first ever Combat Fight League Championship. In the main event Estrada survived a series of punches and knees from Jon Gorton before finishing "The Gladiator" with a guillotine submission! The raucous Estrada supporters exploded once referee Cecil Peoples indicated the fight was over!” If you would like to watch the title fight that Turtle earned his belt you can view it on You Tube; Francisco “Turtle” Estrada vs Jon “The Gladiator” Gorton. I did and was totally impressed to watch the Turtle take on and beat the head taller opponent into submission! Turtle brought to the CONTINUED » |
 Above, Roy Arnold sitting at the picnic table area he designed near the Sespe Creek Bike Path. Enlarge Photo By Bert Rapp — Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
Many Fillmore residents didn’t know a man named Roy Arnold who worked to serve them for the last 18 years. He was a quiet man who enjoyed bike riding, hiking, planting oak trees and serving Fillmore. Roy passed away on Wednesday December 22nd at age 85 after suffering a major stroke a year ago that left him partially paralyzed and never again able to walk or ride a bike. Fortunately Roy was able to stay at the Fillmore Convalescent Center where he was well cared for by the caring staff and his extraordinary wife, Luisella. Roy began working for Fillmore as a part time engineer in 1992 after retiring as a wind tunnel test Engineer for Lockheed. His favorite project in Fillmore was building bike paths. Roy designed the Sespe Creek bike path from E Street north to 7th Street and most of the Railroad bike path. A special feature Roy added to Sespe path was the picnic table in the nook upstream of the railroad. He planted cottonwood trees around the picnic table for shade. You may have seen Roy riding his bicycle down the sidewalks of Fillmore with a clipboard on the handle bars. He was looking for broken sidewalks to add to the repair list. Fillmore has 64 miles of sidewalks and about every four years, when the City could find the money, Roy would survey the sidewalks and prepare plans and specifications for their reconstruction. Then he would make sure the contractor would fix them correctly along with lawns and sprinklers that would get damaged by the construction. Another specialty of Roy’s was running the City’s Pavement Maintenance computer program. Roy would ride his bike down the City streets and document the condition of the pavement noting how many cracks there were or if the pavement was failing. He would then enter that information into the Pavement Maintenance program along with the amount of traffic on each street including how many buses or trucks used the street. Then Roy would run the program and it would tell him which streets should be slurry sealed or paved first. Then Roy would put together the plans and specifications for the paving project and make sure the contractor did a good job during construction. With Roy’s help Fillmore was the first city in Ventura County to install handicapped access ramps on every street corner. He also designed parking lot behind the Theater and prepared multiple contracts for replacing fire hydrants, water services, water valves and pipes throughout the City. One of my greatest pleasures was riding bikes around Fillmore at lunch time with Roy inspecting the various projects underway or just enjoying beautiful Fillmore. Roy did exceptional work for the City and his quiet presence will be greatly missed. Bert J. Rapp. P.E. Public Works Director |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
It’s not news to the police, sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers that New Year’s is prime time for drunk driving. They made 152 DUI arrests over the two-day holiday last year. “Whether we reach that total depends entirely on drivers in Ventura County,” warned Cmdr. Martin Meyer of the Oxnard police, coordinator of the Avoid the 14 campaign, which is 13 days in to a winter holiday campaign ending Sunday, Jan. 2, at midnight. Police plan intense DUI enforcement for New Year’s Eve and for New Year’s Day. There will be extra DUI patrols in Oxnard, Santa Paula, Simi Valley and Ventura. The freeways will be teeming with black-and-white California Highway Patrol cruisers. “You’ll see a patrol car or a police motorcycle everywhere you look,” Meyer said. “Everyone who pins on a badge to go to work every day knows the completely unnecessary problems that drunk drivers cause. We take great pride in getting them off the street to keep the public safe.” So far in the 17-day campaign, police agencies have arrested 161 DUI suspects. This is down from the 220 suspects in handcuffs at the same time last year. No one has died at the hands of an impaired driver so far in this crackdown. Last year’s winter holiday effort ended with one DUI death. Funding for Avoid the 14 comes from a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The crackdown is named for the 14 law enforcement agencies in the county. |
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By Anonymous — Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
Details from USGS: Magnitude 3.6 Location 34.518°N, 118.681°W Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 0.3 km (0.2 miles); depth +/- 0.7 km (0.4 miles) Event ID ci10863861 |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
 On Tuesday, December 21st, Santa visited the Sheriff’s Storefront for their Annual Christmas Toy Giveaway. Each child received a candy cane and a Polaroid picture on Santa’s lap. Some were happier than others to have their picture taken with Santa, as we can see. Each child also received a Christmas gift and jacket. Approximately 150 turkeys were also given away to local families, along with fresh vegetables. And Sespe 4-H handed out socks. Enlarge Photo |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
 Members of the Fillmore Fire Department and City Attorney Ted Schnieder helped with the turkey give-away at the storefront. Enlarge Photo |
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By Anonymous — Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
 Fillmore Public Works Director Bert Rapp After nearly 20 years of engineering Fillmore’s public works, Bert Rapp has decided to resign and transfer his talents to the Ventura River County Water District, where he was offered a higher salary as their General Manager. Starting as City Engineer in 1991, Rapp’s first major challenge was to plan and oversee the city’s water supply. The system was woefully inadequate due to a complete lack of redundancy. Reservoir No. 2 was also taken down, and new generators for each well were placed on line. Had the old system failed the city would have been without water. Reservoir No. 1 (built in 1917), was falling apart and was replaced with a new, post-tensioned concrete reservoir. Many homes under the old reservoir were endangered in the event of a structural failure. This work was accomplished with the help of grants from FEMA. The list of Rapp’s achievements, particularly following the devastation of the1994 Northridge quake, are numerous. He had to slate dozens of homes for demolition. Rapp planned the reconstruction of the Towne Theatre, our new City Hall, and participated in the design of four parks (Delores Day, Two Rivers, Meadowlark, and Shiells Parks). One of his greatest achievements was the construction of our heavily-used Class One bike paths. The innovative location of the Pole Creek debris basin adjacent to El Dorado Mobil Home Park has averted a deadly threat from Pole Creek overflow and “hydraulic jump”. Rapp also designed the extensive river levee system which made Fillmore dramatically safer from flooding. His crowning achievement, however, was the completion (against unrelenting criticism from political candidates) of Fillmore’s new, state-of-the-art water recycling plant. His plant, constructed and operated by American Water, was chosen Ventura County APWA’s Project of the Year for 2010, and has won at least 8 awards for efficiency, function, innovation, and its DBO (Design, Build, and Operate) contract. The Design Build approach (also heavily criticized by political candidates) was adopted by the County of Ventura, the City of Santa Paula, and used in Piru, as a new and efficient method of structuring major works. Numerous traffic control elements were Rapp’s ideas as well, such as the “speed table” in front of the Theatre, and the traffic circles on River Street, which eliminated speeding trucks almost immediately. But the water treatment plant was most controversial, with critics alleging it was a “Cadillac” plant, urging a different design, different method of financing, and different location. All criticisms have proven to be bogus. In order to discharge to the river Fillmore would have had to install reverse osmosis at twice the capital and operating cost. All the criticism directed toward Rapp and the implementation of his innovative, holistic approach to engineering problems has been proven wrong, and politically motivated. Fillmore’s water treatment plant has become the envy of many other cities. The residents of north Fillmore, and the shopkeepers on south Central Avenue, who no longer experience flooding during rainstorms like we are experiencing today, can thank our Director of Public Works, Bert Rapp, for his imagination and determination. Through years of often savage criticism he lost neither his focus nor his temper. |