To the person or persons who removed the green runner carpet at the JV High Baseball field, please return it, no questions asked. The high school budget has no more money.
High School Baseball Staff

Peter Martinez

Shortly after 8 p.m. Friday night, deputies from the Fillmore Police Department responded to Rite-Aid on a call of a combative shoplifter fighting with store employees. Arriving in less than two minutes, deputies found (S) Peter Martinez 38, Fillmore, being held on the ground by two store employees and a customer.

The investigation determined Martinez had secreted seven “Secret” brand deodorant products (valued at less than $40 total) in a plastic bag he’d brought with him into the store. Martinez purchased some other items, but failed to pay for the deodorant and walked out of the store with the stolen merchandise.

A loss prevention employee who had watched Martinez commit the theft, identified himself as a loss prevention officer with the store and attempted to stop him outside the store. Martinez fought with the loss prevention officer in an effort to escape, turning the misdemeanor shoplift into a felony robbery. A second store employee and a customer assisted the loss prevention officer in detaining Martinez until deputies arrived. The store employees suffered minor injuries in the struggle; the customer was uninjured. Martinez was booked into the Pre-Trial Detention Facility for 211 P.C. Robbery, with bail set at $120,000. Courtesy of Fillmore Police Department.

Fillmore citizen Allan Hair was presented with a proclamation for his service on the Fillmore Senior Center Board, at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
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El Pescador Restaurant owner Jesus ‘Chuy’ Ortiz accepted a proclamation from the Fillmore City Council on Tuesday night recognizing the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service: Fillmore Two Rivers Park Clean-Up sponsors and volunteers.
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Fillmore Fire Chief Rigo Landeros accepts a proclamation from Mayor Gayle Washburn on behalf of the City’s Public Works Department at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
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There were a number of proclamations given out at Tuesday’s Fillmore City Council Meeting along with a long awaited Council approval to pay for the gate to the Fillmore High School running track. Also, there was a presentation on the new meters being installed by Southern California Edison (SCE) and a status report on the Tobacco Awareness Program.

After years of going back and forth between the City Council and the School Board funding for the gate was given a vote of approval by the Council. Councilmember A. Eduardo Gonzalez brought it to a vote acknowledging there was no guarantee that the City would be reimbursed by the various clubs that promised to do future fundraising to pay for it. The vote was 4-1 with Mayor Gayle Washburn the only No vote.

Anna M. Frutos-Sanchez from SCE gave a presentation on an item that will have an impact on anyone who pays a residential electric bill. Edison’s Smart-Meter is replacing the mechanical meters that have been around for decades. The new digital meters use wireless technology to transmit encrypted information on electricity use and are being installed as part of the “smart” grid initiative, spearheaded by technology firms and backed by the Obama administration and the Department of Energy.

In addition to the Smart-Meter there is the Edison SmartConnect program designed to give customers more information, and in the future allows customers with communicating, energy-smart thermostats and appliances to automatically respond during critical peak pricing and grid reliability events. But this comes with a price; customers will see a 1.6% increase in rates during the program’s four-year installation period.

Edison has installed 3.9 million meters in other areas around the State since September 2009 and will start in Ventura County in March. When the meter is replaced there is a brief five minute power outage and any household with medical equipment or life support equipment needs to contact Edison beforehand.

Not everyone is happy about this latest form of progress. Several people voiced concerned about reports citing people with sensitivity to electromagnetic and radio frequency having experienced headaches, nausea, trouble sleeping and other medical problems that the smart meters may cause.

Others have concerns about privacy issues. The technology is so sophisticated the meters can individually identify electrical devices inside homes and record when they are being operated, then record and store databases of private and personal activities and behaviors without the consent or knowledge of those people who are monitored. This reveals activities such as when residents are home, sleeping, on vacation, etc.

Residents in some areas served by Pacific Gas and Electric are opposing the installation and other counties have banned their installation altogether. In some cases PG&E has reversed course, replacing the ‘smart’ meters of those customers reporting health impacts with the old analog version.

On February 1, 2012 the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) modified PG&E’s Smart meter program to include an analog meter option for residential customers who do not wish to have a smart meter installed at their location. There is an initial fee of $75 to opt-out and a monthly charge of $10. CARE customers (a reduced rate program for low income households) have an initial fee of $10 along with a monthly charge of $5 to opt-out.

Edison is actively participating in the CPUC’s ongoing opt-out process for residential customers and those who do not have a smart meter installed can delay installation by contacting SCE at (800) 810-2369.

There were four proclamations given out, starting with Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Hackworth who is transferring from Fillmore’s Sheriffs to the Sheriff’s Civil Division. Hackworth, a Fillmore resident, was the 2011 Officer of the Year and trained 80% of Fillmore’s Sheriffs’ workforce.

Next to be recognized was resigning Senior Center Board Member and volunteer Allan Hair for five years of service that helped revive the center. Donna Boelker, President of the Board, also presented Hair with a proclamation. Boelker stated, “Allan has been a blessing in so many ways…someone you can rely on.” Hair spoke from the heart and invited all the seniors to visit the center and added, “Through Scott Lee I learned what it’s like to be involved.”

The volunteers for Martin Luther King Day of Service received the next proclamation. Many of Fillmore’s best young people come out and lent a helping hand doing clean-up. Some of those young people were Daniel Gonzalez, Luis Cruz, Marysol Rojo, Adriana Zamora and Iris Villalobos from One Step a La Vez. There was also a great group of volunteers from the Boys and Girls Club and sponsors like Cabrillo Economic Development, El Pescador, Starbucks, Francisco’s Fruit, Fillmore Water Store and others.

The Council also wanted to thank the Public Works Department with a proclamation for all they do; like coming out at 4:00am to fix a water leak. Fire Captain Rigo Landeros accepted on the Public Works’ behalf.

Christina Villasenor from the Fillmore Family Coalition and Alejandro Elias with the Ventura County Department of Public Health gave a status report on the Tobacco Awareness Program for retailers. According to their research 20% of Fillmore retailers selling tobacco items are selling to children under 18, which is a violation of Penal Code 308. There was originally a proposal to create an ordinance to help curb sales to minors but it was rejected and instead an education program by the Public Health staff was agreed upon. Villasenor told the Council, “We don’t want to punish (retailers), we just want compliance.”

Robert Smith was appointed to a four year term on the Planning Commission on October 2011 for a term that would expire three months later on January 26, 2012. Applications for the position were advertised in the January 26, 2012 edition of the Fillmore Gazette; only one application was received and it was from Robert Smith for re-appointment.

Community Development Director Kevin McSweeney presented the Council with answers to questions on a zoning ordinance amendment allowing larger signs on businesses and permit streamlining that were brought forth during the January 25th Town Hall Meeting. McSweeney told the Council his department is working on streamlining the permits process and changes have been made. For example, simple projects like patio covers that used to take 1-2 weeks for approval can now be issued in one day. Changes to the one-third retail requirement on Central are also being discussed and considered.

McSweeney said a change in signage would require a great deal more and could cost as much as $30,000. Of concern was the first block just north of Highway 126 on Central. It was described by a Council Member as blighted and they repeated comments made by visitors stating they thought it was a street of abandoned buildings. There was concern by the Council for the businesses and the impact on having to replace a sign that could still be usable; but there are also rules of abandonment when a business has not used a sign for over six months which falls under code enforcement. But, code enforcement is one of the departments that may be cut back severely due to the City’s financial problems. The Koffee Kiosk on Highway 126 is an example of an abandoned business sign. Councilmember Steve Conaway stated, “I’m concerned with the cost of this…I’d like to hear from the businesses.”

Family and friends attended a memorial vigil across from Starbucks Friday, to commemorate the death of Sergio Mendez who was killed in a bizarre accident. Pictured (l-r) Belen Burgos, Nathalie Bagasso Miliken, Cinthya Mendez, and Clara Quimbayo.
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A memorial vigil attended by family and friends of Sergio Mendez took place Friday evening across from Starbucks. Mendez, a former Marine, was sitting in the Fillmore Starbucks on December 13, 2011 when a vehicle traveling at high speed smashed through the building pinning him against an interior wall. Mendez died shortly thereafter during surgery at Ventura County Medical Center.

Mendez aunts, Clara Quimbayo and Belen Burgos, told interviewers that they were seeking an “impartial investigation of what happened.” They are concerned that the investigation may be biased due to the fact that the
driver, Michael Cedarland, is a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy, off duty at the time of the accident.

Two months have passed since the incident and very few facts have been released, except for reports that “neither drugs nor alcohol appeared to be a factor in the crash.” The possibility of loss of consciousness is being investigated.

The vehicle, westbound on Highway 126, crossed two lanes of traffic, jumped a curb, tore through a short hedge and traveled 130 yards through a parking lot before crashing through the east wall of Starbucks.

Reports stated that family members were waiting for word from Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten’s office as to whether or not criminal charges would be filed.

Roberto Munoz, a senior at Fillmore High School, took first place for a third year in a row at the Fillmore Lions Club Speaker Contest.

On Monday, February 6 the 75™ Annual Lions student speaker contest was held at the scout house with over 50 Lions, speakers, friends and family present.

The topic on which they spoke about was “What could the America of yesterday teach the America of tomorrow?"
Roberto Munoz wins his third Lions Club speech contest in a row. Robby, a senior at Fillmore High School, he will move on to speak against other winners of Lion's Club contest at the zone 8 contest probably in Camarillo. The date and exact place were not available at this time. Robby won $75 and will move on in his quest to win over $21,000 in college scholarships. Robby has applied to Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, U.C. Berkeley among other schools. Bill Edmonds, Lions Club speaker contest chairman, credits F.H.S. drama teacher Josh Overton and English teacher Jennifer Fitzpatrick for the success of the contest this year. Five of the speakers were from Ms. Fitzpatrick’s sophmore English class. The other speakers were Nick Johnson, Marissa Dorantes, Darian Binkley, and Wesley brecheen and Jovanny Bravo. All are tenth graders except for Wesley who is a ninth grader.
The judges for the contest were the Rev. Dr. Harvey Guthrie, Dr. Cynthia king and Pat Alto. Rev. Guthrie and Ms. Alto were former speaker contestants and winners themselves. Dr. King is an instructor at Cal State Channel Islands.

Cecelia Cuevas

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments. M. Cecelia Cuevas, 48, of Fillmore, has been appointed to the 31st District Agricultural Association, Ventura County Fair Board. Cuevas has been a senior financial advisor for Merrill Lynch since 2004. She was director of development and communications for the American Red Cross of Ventura County from 2002 to 2004 and development director for the Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence from 1997 to 2002. She has served as mayor pro-tem for the City of Fillmore from 2006 to 2008 and city councilmember from 2000 to 2006. Cuevas is the immediate past president of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Cuevas is a Democrat.

Boardmember John Garnica presents Jan Marholin with a Certificate of Appreciation at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Tuesday’s Fillmore Unified School Districts (FUSD) Board Meeting went into great detail about the needed changes to start next year. The District has been failing and needing improvement for 10 years. Along with discussing the Common Core Standards also on agenda were recognizing Jan Marholin for her years of work with the District, the hard facts of the school budget, a report on the Math Task Force, and during public comment someone spoke on the morale the teachers at FUSD.

The required level of performance for all California schools will be changing and that couldn’t come too soon for FUSD, which has seen a decline in its academic achievement for the past 10 year. The changes called the Common Core Standards (CCS), which California adopted in August of last year, are expected to improve academic achievement and help students learn the knowledge and skills needed to succeed after graduation. The CCS is a national education standard that will provide appropriate benchmarks for all students throughout the country regardless of where they live. This new approach replaces No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which left most decisions up to the individual states in determining what needed to be taught, how they should test, and what levels of achievement determines proficiency. State’s standards varied significantly and NCLB was not effective in many states. The new CCS is consistent and much more rigorous than what students were expected to achieve with NCLB. CCS stresses language and math skills with changes in focus and concepts of how to achieve success. The new standards require classes such as history, science, social studies, technical subjects also take part in teaching the students language skills in addition to what they learn in English class. California has added an additional 15% to its standards which include such subjects as penmanship for grades 2-4, phonics, word analysis skills in grades k-3, operations and algebraic thinking in grade 2. Assistant Superintendent Michael Johnson described the standards as “…teaching fewer concepts but in greater depth.” Another change is that students are not to just sit and listen to the teacher; they are encouraged to talk more with the expectation of improving their communication skills. For every two minutes a teacher speaks the students are expected to speak one minute.

FUSD is taking a step forward by implementing the CCS into the next school year’s teaching curriculum and not waiting until 2014 when it will be required. In addition FUSD’s Task Force, which is being designed this year, will be ready to assist in applying the teaching standards. The Task Force goals are to create standard pacing guides that each grade uses throughout the District, no matter which school a student attends. All students will be required to learn exactly what others in their grade are studying. Both staff and faculty are working hard to have both the CCS and the Task Force pacing guides ready to be used next semester. Johnson commented that he was told, “No one in the County [Ventura] is doing a whole school district to address the Common Core Standards.”

Dr. Ellen Green, principal of Fillmore Middle School (FMS) along with Jeremy MacMahan and George Fisher, gave a report on the Math Task Force and the new classes to be available. FMS will offer geometry next year for student wanting to move forward with math. Students taking the class and receiving a passing grade will have their work counted toward the three years of math requirement for college acceptance. Green said grading policy, tests and quizzes will be the same across the campuses with an emphasis on checking to make sure the student understands,… “because math is like building blocks and all aspects must be understood. The Middle School has a tremendous opportunity to do something; our students will start to appreciate math…. I’m so proud to be part of the changes.” Study guides will be published on the school website along with online testing. There are 40-50 students now taking Algebra at FMS who will be ready to move forward with geometry when it’s offered.

Johnson said the rigor of what’s expected of the students has increased greatly. To address those students who, during the transition, are not up to speed, a bridge program will be set up that will work with them for three hours a day, for 20 days.

There will also be some changes for those students who do not pass the exit exam. The exam is given in the 10th grade and those that do not pass are allowed to retake it until they pass. But some who have continued to fail and never pass are still allowed to walk during graduation. FUSD Superintendent Dr. Alan Nishino announced that this practice will not be permitted starting 2016 (which are now 8th graders); all students who have not passed the exit exam will not be allowed to walk in the graduation’s ceremony.

Michael Bush discussed the financial problems the District is facing. Governor Brown’s proposed 2012-13 budget reductions could add up to $2,771,410 which will have a very negative impact of FUSD. There will be no cost of living raises this year. FUSD teachers have already received 10 furlough days from 185 days to 175 days. Nishino stated, “It’s even worse than I’d anticipated. One and a half million this year and if the tax initiative doesn’t go through it will be even worse…. I think we’re at a crossroads of what education will be.” Bush went on to explain the expected tax increase is to pay off the State’s debt and if passed it will not benefit the kids or schools.

Lisa Fluke, a teacher at FUSD for ten years, addressed the School Board with what she said is a lowering of morale among teachers at FUSD. Fluke stated that the new Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent have helped put some exceptional tools in place for the teachers, and the teachers “…seem to be excited to help improve our schools and teaching methods. This would all be very wonderful, if not for the way their message is delivered to the faculty.” She went on to say, “There is a lack of respect and appreciation from these administrators at a level that I have never experienced. I cannot tell you how many teachers I have heard say they have never felt so devalued or disrespected. These are teachers that have taught for 20 or 30 years. My concerns started with the first committee meeting of the year I attended. Mr. Johnson led an inspirational meeting, showed an inspiring 60 minute piece and discussed some very motivational changes he intended to put into place. I was excited and ready to give 100%. At the end of his presentation, he told us there would be those that would not be onboard. He told us there was a plan for those teachers too. He then used the term ‘insubordinate.’ I have heard that term used as a method to get compliance more in the last eight to nine months than I have in my entire life. There are many teachers that would love to speak up, but fear the repercussion…It is disheartening to see so many teachers feeling beaten down…I am hoping that the school board members will find the time to go into the schools and talk with some of the teachers.”

Jan Marholin, who resigned at the end of last year to take a job as CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Clarita, was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation and clock in recognition of her eight years as the principal of San Cayetano Elementary School. Jan Lee, who replaced Marholin, was also welcomed by the Board and staff as the new principal.

Due to safety concerns the Board approved San Cayetano School request for an eight foot high ornamental iron security fence costing $24,468 that will extend where presently there isn’t any fencing. Ten thousand of the cost will be paid out of monies that were leftover from the modernization fund and the remaining to be paid by an insurance reimbursement.