Safe Kids Ventura County in collaboration with Fillmore Rotary, Fillmore Fire Department and First 5 SCV NfL are offering every 4th Thursday of every month appointments to come in and have your car seats checked and education on how to properly install your car seat. To get more information please email Irma Magana: Notaryirma@hotmail.com or you may call Safe Kids Appointment Line directly at (805) 973-7501.

The Fillmore Police Department and the Fillmore Unified School District are proud to announce the creation of the “Public Service Club” on the Fillmore Middle School Campus. Students in 7th and 8th grade may join the club that meets every Wednesday during their lunch hour.

The club was created through a cooperative effort with the Fillmore Police Department, the Sheriff’s Explorer program, and the Fillmore Unified School District to mentor younger students and develop leadership, personal and community accountability, discipline, organization, time management, and written and verbal communication skills.

Guess speakers and mentors will attend the lunch time meetings and provide topics of interest that the club members would then put into practice. This program was developed to mentor and support students and their education in the same manner as the Fillmore Explorer Post. The Post has an age range of 14 to 21. This program will allow younger students to begin to experience the pride and responsibility that is developed through these community outreach programs.

7th and 8th grade students who have a 2.5 GPA or higher and are students in good academic standing on the Fillmore Middle school campus may participate by filling out a form that is available in the school office and submitting it to Counselor Nadia Lucero or Office Clerk, Ms. Isela Larin.

Prepared by: Captain Dave Wareham

Presley McLain, 9 years old, holds a check in the amount of $3,038 which she raised for the ACS.

Presley McLain was invited to speak at the Ventura County Community Leadership Council on Wednesday, February 10 at Community Memorial Hospital. The council consists of individuals who help initiate programs and provide services for cancer patients.

For Presley's 9th birthday she decided that instead of birthday presents she would like people to donate to the American Cancer Society. Her Grandpa Hank died from cancer and her Grandma Lou and Aunt Jana are cancer survivors, so the cause has a special place in her heart.

She spoke on why she chose to forgo birthday presents and collect donations instead. She said she has learned how much the American Cancer Society helps people and she just really wanted to help people.

Presley collected and presented a check to the American Cancer Society for $3038.

She is the daughter of Bobby and Lori McLain and is a 3rd grader at San Cayetano Elementary School.

Calvery Chapel of Oxnard
On Tuesday, February 16, 2016, Explorer Sergeant Nicholas Bartels was awarded the 2015 Explorer of the Year for the City of Fillmore. Nicholas has been an Explorer for four years and due to his hard work and dedication, he has risen to the rank of Sergeant with Explorer Post #2958. In 2014, he attended a three-week long Explorer Academy, where Nicholas was an active group leader and ultimately earned the Academy Leadership Award. Over the years, Nicholas has contributed over 500 hours of his time to the post and to the citizens of Fillmore through many community service events. He has also been a big contributor to the post’s tactical teams, often serving as team leader for tactical scenarios at the Chandler, LASO, and Arcadia Explorer competitions. Nicholas has also been a liaison between the Fillmore and Western Railroad and the Explorers, setting up training events on the train and coordinating details for the train. While not working with the Explorers, he is an active member of the community by participating in Mock Trial, swim team, Fillmore High School drum major, Interact Club member, Piru School science fair judge, Youth Rotary member, to name a few. Due to his hard work, dedication, and leadership skills, Explorer Sergeant Nicholas Bartels is a well-deserving recipient of the 2015 Explorer of the Year.
Prepared by:
Isela Larin
Citizen Patrol/Associate Advisor

Paul Benavidez, representing the Lions Club, presented samples of proposed fruit label murals to be painted on building walls around town.
Enlarge Photo

Caltrans District 7 Deputy District Director Ali F. Zaghari gave a presentation on the proposed changes to Highway 126 at Tuesday's Fillmore City Council meeting. The SR-126 Safety Improvement Project also brought many Fillmore residents to the council chamber to speak during Public Comments.

The proposed project will begins at Hallock Drive in Santa Paula east to E Street in Fillmore. Zaghari informed the Council that Caltrans initiated an in-depth safety investigation and study in 2009 after a series of cross-median collisions between 2007-2009. In 2010 an interim project was proposed and completed in 2012 that included the installation of rumble strips and speed feedback signs. Data collected and completed in 2015 showed a reduction in general accident rate but Zaghari explained "rumble strips are the answer." the main problem is the speed of traffic. In 2009 the speed limit was reduced to 55 mph, but the majority of traffic is between 65-70 mph.

What Caltrans is proposing are a number of changes that include a concrete median barrier or a raised median island with visual markers. The change proposal that received the greatest push back was a set of four roundabouts spaced 1.5 miles apart. Their proposed placement going west starting at Fillmore would be Old Telegraph Road, then west of Spalding Drive, the third would be Toland Road and the last location would be east of Hobson Road.

Another change option to the highway includes two undercrossings which would be located near Old Village Road and near Hall/Sycamore Road, and a third change proposed would be left turn lanes at Orcuit Road, Willard Road, Hall/Sycamore Road and Atmore Road.

Zaghari showed the Council a video of a turnabout on State Highway 138 in Palmdale and said the goal is to slow the traffic down saying the "intention is traffic calming." Council Member Douglas Tucker asked if it would slow traffic through town to a standstill and how many accidents had taken place during a 12 month period at the video location.

Mayor Diane McCall asked CONTINUED »

At Tuesday's Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) Meeting the Board of Trustees approved the application for a County-District-School Code, which is the first formal step in creating a Fillmore Adult Education Program (FAEP). The funding for the program comes from a $504,409 Adult Education Block Grant the district recently received and not out of FUSD's General Funds. In the past FUSD had offered Adult Education classes, but they were through Ventura College who ran the program. The FAEP is now going to be offered through the District's own program.

FUSD started offering a limited class schedule of Adult English as a Second Language (ESL) and Computer/Tech Literacy at Sespe Elementary since 2015. To meet the growing needs of the community new classes will be offered that include a General Education Diploma (GED), on-line classes to obtain a High School Diploma and carrier technology.

FUSD will be working with other Adult Education Schools in the county including Ventura College. Classes will be taught in the local schools and will have zero impact on FUSD's K-12 Budget.

Anthony Ibarra, Director of Technology, along with two new FUSD Computer Specialist employees Gill San Jose and Robert Ash, gave an update on the District's Technology Services. Ibarra informed the Board that in two years the present network will be far outdated. Presently the system broadband is just barely sufficient with 500 Mbps, (mega bits per second), but will need 4,000 Mbps in 2018 and the Wide Area Network (W.A.N.) which is the district wide connection speed to schools is presently 1 Gbps (gigabyte per second) and will also not be adequate in 2018.

The Local Area Network (L.A.N.) within a school will also be obsolete in 2018 and must have an upgraded network path of travel with the installation of fiber optic solutions that is scalable and support from 1 to 10G speed.

Ibarra informed the Board his department is in the process of setting up a campus network that will replace outdated cables, outdated equipment, install wireless and update the phone system and is expected to be completed next month.

At present only faculty and staff have access to Office 365, but the District will soon be adding students which will allow the students to install the full Office application on up to 5PC's or Macs at home for free.

Ibarra suggested the District start looking for the $2,560,000 needed to upgrade next year to 10G speeds along with a new location for the datacenter that has backup power and the other upgrades needed. Ibarra presented a breakdown of cost for each upgrade: Horizontal Cable $450,000, Network Equipment $900,000, Telephone System $350,000, Wireless $250,000, Servers $150,000, Power Backup $120,000, PA/Bell/Clock Intercom $200,000, Workstations $140,000.

Assistant Superintendent Martha Hernandez briefly presented to the Board regarding the State requirement for a Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) and what it entails. FUSD is in the third year of Program Improvement (PI) and the State of California requires documentation of student improvement and the documented plan the District will use to achieve it.

SPSA forms the basis for all Title 1 funds which is the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed in 1965 (currently know as No Child Left Behind) that provides funding to local school districts to improve the academic achievement of disadvantaged students. Districts must submit to their state education agency a plan stating how the funds will improve academic achievement.

In developing the plan the California Education Code requires school districts work together with a School Site Council (SSC) which consists of parents, teachers, administrators and others in developing the SPSA and addressing how the funds are to be used to improve student performance. The SPSA must be reviewed by the SSC annually and updated, and has the decision-making authority, including proposed expenditures of funds.

The implementation of Common Core State Standards has given California school districts additional time to bring their academic achievement out of Program Improvement due to the first pilot year of testing which was not used to evaluate student progress. Where FUSD stands regarding PI will be answered after the spring 2016 testing.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

A message from Detective Chip Cadman:
Farm Watch readers, on Sunday (February 14th), Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the 1900 block of Wooley Road in the unincorporated area of Oxnard, in reference to suspects entering fenced storage yards and out buildings. The Deputies were able to detain and later arrest two suspects for burglary (459 California Penal Code), Juan Carlos Arceo (45 years) and Magdiel Ramirez (26 years). Deputies identified two properties the suspects entered. Stolen property was recovered and returned to the rightful owners. These suspects were associated with a yellow 1997 Ford F250 pickup truck (California license plate #04110E1).

The suspects were interested in welding equipment and batteries from farm equipment. Several farms in this area have previously been the victims of battery thefts. If you own property in this area, please take additional steps to protect your property. If you have been the recent victim of a theft, please contact Sheriff’s Dispatch and request a deputy respond to your location to take a crime report, so we can try and tie these suspects to more crimes. Please look at the below posted photographs of the suspects and see if you recognize them as being on your property. A collaborative effort will help us prevail over criminals.

The following advice is always wise if you suspect illegal activity on your property:
• Call the Sheriff’s Office immediately at 911.
• Be a good witness, note suspect descriptions such as age, height, weight, facial hair, clothing, and shoe type.
• If a vehicle is involved, obtain a license plate number and note vehicle color, body damage, bumper stickers, camper shell, after market tires and wheels, etc.
• Provide the dispatcher with information about the time and last known direction of travel.

Agricultural Crimes Detective Chip Cadman
E-mail: greg.cadman@ventura.org
Office: 805-384-4726
Work Cell: 805-797-6424
Sheriff’s Office Dispatch 805-654-9511
Be alert and stay safe!
Chip