Kathy Meza of Fillmore.

Her full name is Mary Katherine Meza but everyone knows her as Kathy.

She has been a most dedicated member of the Safeway/Vons Fillmore market since 1980. I speak from experience when I say she is the hardest working, most conscientious member of the store. Kathy has worked in many capacities and is in her 38th year with Safeway/Vons.

Above and beyond her normal duties, She has developed a 15-minute presentation that she takes to preschools, kindergartens and first grade students in Fillmore. "I talk to them about the supermarket (dressed in my uniform), I read them funny books about the supermarket and take my play shopping cart with fruits and vegetables and discuss these, and always give out cookies at the end."

Kathy enjoys spending time with her family and friends, and traveling.

Grandparents Cayetano and Natalia Munoz moved to Fillmore in 1907. "My father John was youngest of 10 children. I graduated from Fillmore High School in June of 1970, and married Ramon Meza two months later. We welcomed our son Ray in 1971 and our daughter Lydia in 1975. Ramon passed away in 2016. Both children are now married; I have 4 grandchildren."

Kathy began working at Safeway in 1980; it was bought out by Vons in 1988. Her position as Supervisor from 2008 to the present involves many tasks, from resolving customer service challenges, servicing money orders, money distribution, supervising breaks and lunches, and much more. Being bi-lingual quickly proved its value when Kathy's first 5 customers were Spanish-speaking only.

Kathy never seems to slow down and always has a cheerful greeting for the many customers who have known her, sometimes, for decades. She is the kind of person all companies seek to hire.

As Direct Pricing Auditor from 2005 to 2007 she oversaw 19 stores in her district, trained new Scan Coordinators and back-up scans, and audited each store at least once a month to prepare for regular corporate audit.

Kathy has also prepared all tags for the reset crew for every store remodeling, as well as coordinated all pricing matters (tags, signs, corrections) when a new store had a Grand Opening.

She also wrote and taught the Advanced Application Manual for file maintenance.

Kathy's duties and corporate accomplishments are too many to recount here, so I will have to summarize.

She was Back-Up Scan Coordinator, Fillmore, 1993-2005, managing a price change crew of seven, and passed corporate pricing audits consistently.

Kathy's extraordinary work history at Vons would seem to merit corporate and managerial appreciation.

This tribute to Kathy Meza is meant to acknowledge her personal efforts in managing the market's affairs and to express the appreciation of the thousands of customers who meet her every week.

Thank you Kathy, and we really do appreciate your cheerful, personal assistance.
Martin Farrell
Publisher
The Fillmore Gazette

Bob Crum

Pick any number between 1 and 20 including 1 and 20. Got it? Hold the number in mind. You picked 12! No? Hmmm. OK, has to be ‘9’. No? Obviously I lack mental telepathy powers... unless by accident I guessed right.

The number game was to demonstrate that I'm not a mind reader. I can't know what you expect or want from this column. Rather than continue guessing I need everyone - you too - to express your wishes and desires. Or complaints!
As Yogi said, when you come to a fork in the road... take it. If only it were that simple. I could easily take this photography column in many different ways. Get more technical or continue keeping it light but still impart technical notes here and there.

I need to know your thoughts and preferences. Your input will be a great help and greatly appreciated. The email address is below. Don't forget!

Onward. Aspens from June Lake up to Lee Vining are turning colors now. It's gorgeous up that way if only it weren't so distant. Five hour drive. Ugh!

Must find a grove of deciduous trees closer to home. Two hour drive is OK. Any suggestions? How about the Kernville area? Or the hills north of Castaic? Time to plan a couple of day trips and go exploring.

Are you also a leaf peeper? Think dramatic colors. Yellow, orange or blaze red! Beware a problem. Digital cameras often struggle capturing leaf colors accurately. One issue in particular is the digital camera's white balance (WB) setting. A wrong WB setting results in yellow leaves looking pink with magenta polka dots. I exaggerate but you get the idea.

Appropriate exposure is also paramount. While I normally shoot exposing on the high side, it's a lousy idea for fall foliage. Brightness reduces fabulous colors to pastels. Pastel pink Maple leaves are awful. Tip: Some situations dictate that I adjust exposure compensation-reducing it approximately one stop-in order to preserve color saturation.

Hot tip: Use a polarizing filter. Fall foliage is highly reflective. Worse when wet. Glare is a serious detriment to quality fall foliage photos. A circular polarizing filter greatly helps eliminate or at least reduce glare and give colors oomph. Caveat: Remember that a polarizing filter effects are strongest at 90° from the sunlight. No effect at 0° and 180°. Now you know why when I'm photographing wet mermaids I want the sun on my right or left. Nothing worse than glare on a mermaid's bottom.

Glare is a constant issue so time of day and location can be a factor for maximum polarizing effect. This entails planning. Being at the right place at the right time will reap big rewards. Sometimes this means going back at the optimum time after a scouting mission. Even so, wish for good light or chalk up the trip to a nice Sunday drive.

Remember that this is about photography... not phonetography. As a photographer you no longer take snapshots. Going forward, you are creating magnificent photos. Got it?

You know that I will never pass up an opportunity for a sunstar. This week’s Photo of the Week is off Perfurmo Road up by SLO. I think the trees are live canyon Oaks. Arborists? The bark structure with lichen captured my attention. Spanish moss adds mystique. BTW, Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is not a moss at all. It is a bromeliad and not parasitic. The sunstar is my “planned” bonus! BAM!

Happy photoing.

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

Our sister United Blood Services blood center in Las Vegas has provided nearly 200 units of blood and blood products so far to area hospitals treating victims of the concert shooting last night. At this time, the Las Vegas operations of United Blood Services have been able to provide the lifesaving blood needed by hospitals treating these victims.

Already the local Las Vegas community and communities across the country are coming forward in solidarity to support and honor those impacted by this senseless shooting.

United Blood Services Central Coast stands ready to send blood to Las Vegas if needed. As part of the Blood Systems Blood Services division, United Blood Services Central Coast is included in a multi-state system of blood centers. This network works in tandem, moving lifesaving donations throughout the system to help ensure blood is available when and where it’s needed most.

“In any situation where blood transfusions are needed, it’s the blood already on the shelf that saves lives,” said Steve Ferraiuolo, division president for United Blood Services Central Coast. “We understand that people want to come forward now to show their support, however, to effectively manage the blood supply for patients, we are asking donors to make appointments to give blood throughout the coming days and weeks.”

While O-positive, O-negative and platelet donations are most needed whenever tragedy strikes, United Blood Services Central Coast urges both existing and first-time donors of all blood types to visit www.blood4life.org or call 805-543-4290 x “0” to schedule an appointment at one of our four Central Coast donor centers in Ventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria or San Luis Obispo, or book at a mobile blood drive by going to www.blood4life.org.

Blood has a shelf life, so it is important that donations are given on an ongoing basis. It can take 24 to 36 hours to collect, test, process and distribute blood where it’s needed.

Individuals who are as young as 16 years of age (with parental consent), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in general good health may be eligible to donate blood.

United Blood Services Central Coast has been this area’s nonprofit community blood provider since 1949, and serves patients along the Central Coast of California. It is a Blood Systems blood center. Blood Systems is one of the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit community blood service providers, currently serving more than 1,000 hospital and healthcare partners across 28 states to provide comprehensive transfusion medicine services for patients in need.

A man and a woman were found dead Monday inside their Piru home after deputies were called to the residence by a concerned family member. Deputies arrived at the home in the 4000-block of Citrus View Drive at 2:20 pm and found the bodies of the couple who had sustained fatal injuries. Investigators spent hours at the home collecting evidence and interviewing potential witnesses in an attempt to identify potential suspects.

Anyone with information about this case should contact Detective Carlos Macias at 805-384-4761.

[Gofundme.com] “The Vergara family lost mother and father early this week and it has sent shock waves thru the Piru and Fillmore community. Mr. Vergara was a well-known member of the community who spent years working at the Fillmore-Piru Citrus packing house. His wife, Mrs. Vergara, was a loving mother and grandmother. We are asking for your help in raising funds to give them a proper farewell. We hope you are able to help this family with any donation. There will also be a car wash some of the family members will be hosting but any help is appreciated. This is so sudden and unexpected and we hope the community can come together to help this family in need. https://www.gofundme.com/memorial-fund-for-piru-family. Goal $15,000.

Ventura County Crime Stoppers will pay up to $1,000 reward for infor mation, 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).

Prepared by: Sgt. Eric Buschow News Release Date: Sept. 26, 2017 Media Follow-Up Contact: Sgt. Eric Buschow (805)947-8129 eric.buschow@ventura.org Capt. Garo Kuredjian (805)797-6322 garo.kuredjian@ventura.org Approved by: Captain Garo Kuredjian

A Public Hearing was held concerning amendments to the KB Home Citrus Grove residential development at the southern end of Central Avenue and River Street. The City Council unanimously approved the Citrus Grove project. Most of the changes to the plan demanded by Council at the last regular meeting were agreed to by KB Home.

The project consists of 104 high density condominium and town house units. Some of the structures were permitted to be 40-feet in height after the city zoning ordinance was changed from what was 35-feet. An award of construction contract for Heritage Valley Parks fountain entry feature renovation was also approved for $150,000.

District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that Kenneth Douglas Griffin, Jr. (DOB 7/04/95), of Ventura, was sentenced to serve seven months in custody and placed on formal probation for three years for his role in causing a 2014 explosion at Santa Clara Waste Water Company (“SCWWC”) in Santa Paula, California. Numerous SCWWC employees as well as first responders were injured either by the initial explosion or by inhaling a toxic cloud of chlorine gas generated by the illegal disposal of hazardous chemicals that were present on site.

Griffin was an on-site supervisor at SCWWC at the time of the explosion. Griffin was involved in moving chemicals from the SCWWC facility to an off-site storage lot to impede enforcement efforts by the Ventura County Environmental Health Division. Griffin also failed to warn employees of a serious concealed danger at the plant, specifically, the presence of a hazardous material known as sodium chlorite. In addition, he failed to provide sufficient warning regarding chemicals that were mislabeled or entirely unlabeled at the SCWWC site.

Griffin is scheduled to begin serving his jail sentence on October 13, 2017. Griffin was also ordered to pay victim restitution in an amount to be determined upon further order of the court. Under terms and conditions of his formal grant of probation, Griffin is prohibited from being employed in any Supervisory capacity over employees handling hazardous materials for a period of three years. This case was jointly prosecuted by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office and the California Attorney General’s office.

Bob Crum

To summarize part one: All photos are subject to personal interpretation.

Recall that a photographer friend took issue with my recent Photo of the Week. She was brutal calling it hideous. No problem. Opinions and belly buttons... everybody's got one. She expressed her opinion. OK. It only hurts for a little while. I hope!

If you'll recall I had a plan... a vision. I waited for the right time. When it all came together I executed. Though I considered it a success, the story was not obvious to her. Maybe many others also missed what I attempted to portray in a photo. She may have a point. Photojournalism is not without challenges!

Consider a technically correct photo, in focus and correctly exposed. As such, the viewer should have but only one logical option: Like or dislike the subject or overall composition. An opinion! Does it matter?

When I cook, I cook to suit my taste. Would I add a spice that my taste buds dislike? I treat photography the same way. My way!

Several years ago I was photographing up on the Rocky Peak trail where I heard mermaids sometime frequent as a retreat from seaweed. The trail leads to a panoramic 2,715-foot summit on the border between Los Angeles and Ventura counties in the Santa Susana Mountains. The area is peppered with huge boulders.

A couple of years later, I was asked to give a photography presentation to a group of artistic types in Thousand Oaks. As I was showing the photo of a huge boulder and it's dark shadow one in the audience blurted: “Why did you take that photo, shadow ruins it.”

Such comments in a public setting might unnerve some. I smiled. It gave me the opportunity emphasize the subjective nature of photography. I explained to the objector that my photography is intended to please my harshest critic: Me! The photo – by design and intention – wonderfully illustrates the dynamic range between light and darkness. In essence, as an integral part of the boulder, the shadow exhibited it's own mysterious character.

Any photographer who remotely thinks about creating photos to please everybody is doomed to frustration. Is it any different regarding any form of art?

Another aspect of photography often overlooked is 'style'... a certain 'look'. As I say repeatedly, the camera merely collects data... I create the photo. Through the years I have developed a personal style that I apply universally. It starts with the camera but I don't do anything special or particular in-camera. My “style” is produced during post processing (PP).

My post processing is not conventional. Warning: Tech info ahead! The left and right walls pertain to the extremes of the histogram. A histogram is a graphical representation of the pixels exposed in the image. The left side (wall) represents dark areas while the right side (wall) represents the bright areas. Conventional rules dictate that the middle area represents correct exposure. Not my rule. Unless mood dictates otherwise, I generally push the exposure toward the right wall without clipping which is why my photos tend to be on the bright side. Have you noticed?

Again... it's all subjective. Simply what I prefer. Maybe you like it. Maybe you don't. Irrelevant because it's just photography! Whenever I'm asked to critique photos I first address apparent technical issues. Lacking any, I then only address composition if, in my opinion, a different perspective might tell the story better. Constructive notes only.

Hark! Autumn is now! Charge your camera batteries! Think about hillsides full of red and gold-colored leaves. Aaaaah. I'm planning day trips in search of random displays of gorgeous fall foliage. Anyone want to go? Failing to find such trees, I'll spray paint some. Tree- friendly paint of course.

The photo of the week is from my recent trip up to Gopher Glen Apple Farm in See Canyon. A favorite side road. But no Aspens.

Happy photoing.

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