Benjamin Fernandez Herbert

Over the years, as a school counselor, I have been blessed to be in a position to work with many, many young students from kindergarten through beyond high school. Their beautiful faces and unique expressions come to my mind as I recall good, sad and life-changing experiences that will be forever in my heart. Not one young man or young woman has ever been alike in their life story, personality or challenges.

Ben Fernández Herbert was a Fillmore High School Graduate of 2011. He lived in his beautiful Fillmore all his life. Ben tragically passed away in a car accident on Sunday, January 18, 2015.
Ben was born to Sara Abigail Herbert and Saul Fernandez. He is survived by his mother Sara A. Herbert, siblings Jorge Garcia Herbert, Claudina Luna Herbert, Carmen Aragón Herbert and Brenda Medina Herbert as well as nephew Derek Luna, and many aunts and uncles on both sides of family. Sadly, Ben’s father, Saul Fernandez, died in a bike-riding accident when Ben was three years old.

Ben was a handsome young man, physically, and from within; he had that special gift of being friendly, charismatic, having a happy demeanor with a megawatt smile that reminded you of what a decent young man and all that is good in the world was all about. Ben knew how to be a good, sincere friend and exuded a healthy outlook on life. He had such a positive influence on everyone he met. Those of us who knew Ben; his loving mother, Sara, lovely girlfriend Amanda, siblings, uncles and aunts, friends, co-workers and adults, whether for a moment or years, have felt the great loss and impact of his tragic passing. We also acknowledge how very blessed we all were to be touched by Ben.

He had set many goals in his life, and was able to reach some pretty serious ones by his young age of 21. That was how he was; he set his goals and met them head-on, one by one. He valued higher education and knew that by acquiring knowledge, he would be able to have a solid foundation for his future life.

He was a loving son. Ben’s nickname for his precious mom was “Pancha”, as he hugged and kissed her with great love. Ben would tease his sweet Grandmom “Cuca” María Fernández, who raised him alongside his mom, and make her laugh when he sang to her as he returned home from seeing his beautiful girlfriend Amanda. Mom Sara lovingly recalls how, as children, he and his nephew Derek loved to play with their Power Rangers and they used to switch and wear mismatched Power Rangers socks all the time. Ben would dress up in his Power Rangers suit and have a blast. Ben and Derek were 6 months apart, Ben being the eldest. Laughing, mom said that Ben loved his beloved pet gecko “Lilo” so much that once he desperately tore the house inside out until Lilo was found hidden behind the bathroom door. Mom said that Lilo would immediately come up to Ben’s shoulder when he laid his hand out, but Lilo would hide and not come out for anyone else.

Mom laughed as she said how much Ben loved BBQ pork ribs, piling up the BBQ sauce high on his plate! Mom recalls how much he ate and ate, but always remained slender. She remembered how he and his Derek signed up to play football when he was 8 years old. She loved watching him have fun and trying out new things.

Mom added, he and Derek had made a pact to team up to start working on a professional dream to be rescue firefighters in the mountainous areas. This past January 12th Ben and Derek started the Spring Semester at Ventura College. Mom Sara and Grandmom Cuca would see them both go off with their backpacks, as they did when they were little boys.

In remembering him, his older brother Jorge said, “Ben was an excellent person who never gave up on his goals. Despite tough obstacles in his young life, he remained strong and remained optimistic because he believed that through his own hard work and effort he would, and always did, figure a way to meet the latest challenge. Ben’s great love for his beautiful mother Sara, and his love, respect and fear for his loving God helped him in his struggles in life.”

Mrs. Isela Larin, FHS Career Center Counselor, stated that Ben was a very dedicated, highly motivated, polite young man who came into her office asking about the process to serve as a FHS Fire Department Cadet. He was approved and served as a Fillmore Fire Cadet in his FHS Junior year, 2010. He successfully completed the program and was a great asset to the Fillmore Fire Department.

Former Fillmore Starbucks Supervisor, Alberto Caceres, told me that Ben had recently been promoted as supervisor and had just opened the Santa Paula Starbucks store. His loving girlfriend Amanda Armstrong, hundreds of school and college friends, as well as Starbucks coworkers from the Fillmore and Santa Paula Starbucks, greatly miss him.

Jorge said, “Ben never accepted ‘I can’t’ as part of his vocabulary. Ben found God to be very present in his daily life, but also was very much aware of what God expected of him – no excuses! He had a lot of thoughts that he shared with many of his friends, words that gave life and encouragement to others dealing with hard moments in their lives. He was the kind of person that would share his time talking with friends and guide his friends and gave so much of his energy to serve others.”

Pastor Ernie Rangel, of Promesa de Jesús Church, spoke of Ernie with great love, “Ben, (and his mother, Sara) was a very active member of their church. Ben was in the youth group, church choir and band, playing his guitar for many years.”

As I remember Ben Fernández Herbert, the young man who left us too early in life, I pray that his young friends who have been touched by this tragedy remember him as he was. Ben was an excellent role model for all and I have learned a lot from him to be a better person. I wish we could have duplicated him a million times, because the world would have been a much better place, less violence, less bullying, good hearts around.

Mom Sara and Grandmom Cuca said they would always leave the outside light on for him, listening for his steps as he returned late at night. Mom said they still leave the light on, waiting for him to come home.

Norma Pérez-Sandford is a FUSD District K-12 Counselor

Fillmore City Councilmember Dianne McCall

Earlier this month, Deputy Oren Ryerson, a patrol deputy for the city of Fillmore, arrested a young man and brought him back to the station. As they spoke, the young man became emotional and explained his mother recently lost her job and was unable to buy food for the family, which includes four younger siblings. Deputy Ryerson explained the situation to Senior Deputy Cesar Salas and the two worked it out to buy food for the family, which Senior Deputy Salas delivered that morning. Later, Deputy Ryerson spoke to Fillmore City Councilwoman Dianne McCall about the family’s plight. Councilwoman McCall wanted to help by purchasing food for the family and finding work for the young man. Deputy Ryerson and Councilwoman McCall met at the family home the following day with food they had purchased. Councilwoman McCall told the mother that other members of the Fillmore community wanted to help as well.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office is proud to work in communities with dedicated and caring people such as Councilwoman Dianne McCall, Deputy Ryerson, and Senior Deputy Salas.

A Proclamation was presented by Mayor Douglas Tucker to Officer Michael Zabarsky for going the extra mile to help a Fillmore family living in substandard conditions.
Enlarge Photo

A Proclamation was presented to the Morris family for the Fillmore Area Transit Company’s (FATCO) 40 years of service to the community along with the many non-profits and sports events the family has sponsored over the years. Pictured (l-r) are Council Member Rick Neal, Mayor Douglas Tucker, Chappy Morris, Wm ‘Bill’ Morris, and Council Member Diane McCall.
Enlarge Photo

The Fillmore Bears Pee Wee Division Pacific Football League received a Proclamation from Mayor Douglas Tucker. The team was noted for superior sportsmanship.
Enlarge Photo

The Fillmore Bears Pee Wee Division Pacific Football League.
Enlarge Photo

There were four items on Tuesday's Fillmore City Council Meeting along with three proclamations. The first agenda item was a contract for a City App, second was parking enforcement on Central, next was approval of a "In God We Trust" display, and last was giving Commissioners a stipend.

The first proclamation went to Officer Michael Zabarsky for going the extra mile to help a family living in substandard conditions.

Another proclamation went to the Fillmore Bears Pee Wee Division Pacific Football League for their superior sportsmanship.

Also, honor's went to the Morris family for the Fillmore Area Transit Company's (FATCO) 40 years of service to the community along with the many non-profits and sports events the family has sponsored over the years. Chappy Morris responded, "It’s been an honor to serve you."

The Ventura County IT Services Mike Pettit and Kevin Coe, Deputy Chief Application Services, gave a presentation regarding the development of a City of Fillmore Mobile Application. With this new app residents with iPhones and Android Smartphones will have quick access to City services. Requests will automatically be routed to the correct department for proper handling regarding various things such as potholes, abandoned shopping carts, graffiti, code enforcement, VCAlert and more. The app will also provide a list of frequently called numbers, an events calendar and other important information and links. The bilingual app uses GPS coordinates to locate shopping carts (CartSnap), potholes, car accidents to can quickly respond. The cost is $8,000 ($4,000 iPhone App and $4,000 Android App) with annual maintenance cost anticipated to be $1,121. Other cities using such apps are Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley. The app is expected to be available in four weeks.

The Council once again addressed the problem of parking on downtown Central Avenue. Parking is restricted on Central to two hour between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday with unrestricted parking lots at the rear of the businesses on both the east and west sides of the street.

Police Chief Dave Wareham addressed the Council stating, "Without a doubt, there's a parking problem....some are cooperating, but some are not." Downtown Central has 50 businesses and only 53 parking spaces. Wareham told the Council the problem is basically two specific people who are not complying. He said when addressing one of the two people, they responded, "It's my right to park here and I don't care about my neighbors." Wareham reported that some tenants and business owners move their cars every two hours, sometimes returning to the same space they were they had previously parked.

The cost to the City to regulate the situation is not a simple or inexpensive fix, approximately $40,000 to $400,000 for added enforcement. The Council suggested patrolling Central Avenue more often and looking into changing the zoning which would require new business have restricted parking. The Council will continue monitoring the problem.

In April 2014 the Council discussed displaying the national motto "In God We Trust" prominently in the council chamber. At the time it was not decided where or what type of plaque would be displayed. After discussing both the cost and location it was decided and agreed upon having the motto painted above the dais.

The last agenda item was deciding whether to start compensating commission members with a stipend. This would be for the three commissions: Parks and Recreation Commission, Film Commission, and Planning Commission. A questionnaire was sent to Cities throughout California asking if they compensated their commissioners.

Thirty-eight of the 55 that responded said they do compensate their commissioners. Some that did were here in Ventura County: Camarillo, Moorpark and Simi Valley. Compensations ranged from $10 to $543. Some were a monthly stipend and others per meeting attended.

Council Member Diane McCall who was on the Planning Commission for seven years, stated that being on that commission taught me more about Fillmore than she could have achieved on her own and what prompted her to be on the Council adding, "How do you put a dollar amount on that?"

There were also discussions about some being compensated more than others. They all agreed the Planning Commission goes through a great deal of documents but struggled with the problem of implying one person’s time is more valuable than another's. Mayor Douglas Tucker stated, "I was on the Planning Commission and it takes a great deal of your time. I feel time is valuable....I would like an educational allowance...with well educated commissioners to serve the community." He suggested talking to the people on the commissions for their opinion.

Everyone agreed on the educational allowance, $50 per month for the Planning Commission and $25 per meeting for the Parks and Recreation, and Film Commissions' with a limit of two meetings per month.

An item that was approved by a simple voice vote was a FY 2015-16 Budget Development Guidelines that Finance Director Gaylynn Brien presented the Council. The guidelines encompassed four main policies to be used going forward. (1) The City will adopt and maintain a balanced General Fund budget by ensuring that annual operating expenses are held to levels within annual operating revenues; (2) The City will maintain a prudent reserve in the General Fund balance to be used to respond to catastrophic events. This reserve amount as, a percentage of budgeted expenditures, will be established by the City Council as part of its action in adopting the budget; (3) The City's water and sewer enterprise funds shall be self-supporting such that fees for operating services will be maintained at a level adequate to cover all operating expenses and infrastructures needs; (4) One time revenues shall not be used to fund ongoing operating program expenses. Any such revenues shall be used to pay for one-time expenditures, if authorized by the City Council, or placed in the appropriate fund balance; (5) One-time expenditures that result in long-term cost savings, efficiencies, or both will be considered money well invested.

The Council also passed and approved by a simple voice vote, a resolution showing their commitment to sustainable energy and declared their goal to conserve energy consumption and achieve Platinum Tier Level Status. The primary objective of this Energy Policy is to implement best energy management practices across all departments of the city and "lead-by-example" setting short, medium and long-term goals for reducing energy consumption, increase use of clean, renewable energy, and reduce annual electricity consumption by 20% (compared to 2006 use) by 2020.

The Sheriff’s Office is requesting the public’s help in identifying this suspect. Anyone who can help identify the suspect from the attached photographs is asked to call Det. Mulrooney at (805) 646-1414.
Enlarge Photo

The Sheriff’s Office is requesting the public’s help in identifying this suspect. Anyone who can help identify the suspect from the attached photographs is asked to call Det. Mulrooney at (805) 646-1414.
Enlarge Photo

During the early morning hours of 12/01/2014, an unknown suspect entered two different self-serve laundry locations in the Ojai Valley. The suspect pried open numerous washing machine coin boxes and then stole the coins stored inside. Security video shows the suspect is a mid-twenties Hispanic male.

During the investigation, Ojai detectives learned that a similar crime was committed in the City of Camarillo on November 5, 2014. A review of the Camarillo security tape revealed that the suspect in the Camarillo theft appears to be the same suspect as the Ojai thefts.

The Sheriff’s Office is requesting the public’s help in identifying this suspect. Anyone who can help identify the suspect from the attached photographs is asked to call Det. Mulrooney at (805) 646-1414.

Nature of Incident: Attempt to Locate Burglary Suspect
Report Numbers: 14-27113 /14-28175
Location(s): Mira Monte Quick Clean / Coin House Laundry
Dates & Times: 12/01/2014 0000-0800
Unit(s) Responsible: Ojai and Camarillo Investigations
(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (Party), (D)ecedent City of Residence Age
Unknown Unknown unk
Prepared by: Sgt. R. Harwood
News Release Date: 01/27/2015
Media Follow-Up Contact: Detective Joe Mulrooney 805-947-8075
Approved by:
Ventura County Crime Stoppers will pay up to $1,000 reward for information, which leads to the arrest and criminal complaint against the person(s) responsible for this crime. The caller may remain anonymous. The call is not recorded. Call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is warning the public of a recent series of phone scams in which the caller claims to be a member of the CHP and asks for payment for missed jury duty, outstanding fines, or an outstanding arrest warrant.

The CHP said the callers typically instruct residents to purchase re-loadable cards and call them back with the numbers to the cards. Similar scams have been reported to other law enforcement agencies as well.

“We appreciate the public for bringing this issue to our attention, and we want to warn others to be vigilant and never give out personal information to someone you don’t know,” said CHP Coastal Division Chief Reginald Chappelle.

The CHP does not call community members seeking payment under any circumstances. In addition to never giving personal or financial information to an unsolicited caller, the following tips are recommended:
• Be suspicious of callers who demand immediate payment for any reason.
• Utility companies and government agencies will never contact you for payment by GreenDot, MoneyPak or Vanilla Reload.
• Remember that anyone who has the number on a prepaid card has access to the funds on your card.
• Never wire money or provide debit or credit card numbers to a stranger.
If you believe you are being scammed regarding an alleged unpaid traffic citation or other court-imposed financial obligation you can:
• Ask the caller for the court case number, date of ticket, or other specific information. Then verify the debt or confirm other details by contacting the local court where the offence was reported to have occurred. IN ANY CASE IF THERE IS SUCH AN OBLIGATION, ADDRESS AND RESOVE IT DIRECTLY WITH THE COURT, NOT WITH A STRANGER.

VENTURA COUNTY, CA - Since mid-December, the State of California has seen 59 cases of measles. Ventura County has now reported 5 of those cases. One of our measles cases had reason to be in City Bank in Camarillo, at 430 Arneill Road for much of the day from Monday, January 12 through Wednesday, January 14, 2015. Any person who entered the main lobby of the bank on any of those days who is not immune to the measles virus has some potential risk of acquiring measles. Most people have immunity to measles. "Probably 95% of the population is immune to measles because they had 2 MMRs, their childhood measles shots," said Dr. Robert Levin, Health Officer for Ventura County.

A 2-shot series starting on or after the first birthday is protective. At this time, 91.6% of all children entering kindergarten in Ventura County have had 2 MMR shots and are thus immune to catching the disease. There are schools in the county with a particularly low rate of MMR immunization. One private school on the east end of the county has a measles immunization rate of 67%. Most public schools in Oxnard, on the other hand, have a measles immunization rate of 100% The Communicable Diseases division of the Ventura County Public Health, a department of the Ventura County Health Care Agency, says that anyone who was in the bank on one of those three days who develops symptoms of measles should call their physician, tell them they may have been exposed to measles, and ask to come in to the office for a measles titer. Tell the receptionist before your arrival that you should be put directly into a patient room to have your blood drawn so that you won't expose other patients waiting to be seen in the waiting room.

The symptoms of measles include cough, runny nose, reddened eyes, fever, a rash and often, tiny sores in the mouth. A person with measles may only have a few of these symptoms. "Most people with measles feel quite sick, as sick as someone feels with the flu," said Dr. Levin. Measles is a very contagious disease and entirely preventable. While not as deadly as Ebola, for instance, it is 5 to 15 times more contagious. People who contract measles are contagious for 4 days before they develop the rash and for 4 more days after they develop the rash.

For those who were in City Bank in Camarillo on the days referenced, they are at risk of developing measles for up to 21 days following exposure. For example, someone who was in the bank on Wednesday the 14th of January is at risk of developing measles until February 4th.

For information on a Public Health clinic near you if you are in need of immunizations, please call: 805-981-5221; for a Ventura County Health Care Agency Ambulatory Care clinic near you, please call: 805-677-5110.

The first Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) meeting of 2015 was attended by two new Board Members, Sean Morris and Scott Beylik, and contained Governor Brown's Budget Proposal, FUSD's Audit Report for FY 2014, the new School Site Plan requirements and the Class of 2014 Analysis.

The meeting began with recognition of the students who participated in the Content Filter Testing at the Ventura County Office of Education. Fillmore High School (FHS) students Gray MacMahon, Billy Tran-Wyche, Luke Myers and Fillmore Middle School students Sam Guzman, Liam Howard, Brandon Antonson and Victor Jimenez received certificates for their part. The goal of the testing is to gain a safer digital environment for students.

Assistant Superintendent Martha Hernandez gave a presentation on the Class of 2014. She reported that 192 students graduated FHS along with 50 from Sierra High School; which was that school's largest class ever. The demographics given on race were 224 Hispanic, 26 White, 1 Asian, 2 Black, 1 Multiple. FHS also lost 28 students that transferred out of the district, leaving before or during their senior or junior year. Sierra High School lost 12 that transferred to another school with 6 more transferring to FHS. There were 34 students that met UC/CSU requirements, but unfortunately 141 students did not.

More bad news CONTINUED »