Jahwi Angeles-Ortega, 33, Oxnard

An 18-month old toddler was found unharmed and reunited with her parents after her mother’s vehicle was stolen from outside their Home Acres (Moorpark) residence.

On March 26, 2021, at around 8:23PM, Moorpark deputies responded to numerous service calls of a possible prowler in the area of the 3800 block of Timberridge Road, in the city of Moorpark. Each caller provided the same general description of a male jumping over fences into the rear yards of multiple residences in the area of Mountain Trail Street, near Country Trail Park.

As deputies were looking for the suspect, they learned a vehicle was reported stolen to California Highway Patrol (CHP), from the 4200 block of Santa Rosa Drive. The victim told CHP dispatch her young child was still inside the vehicle at the time it was stolen. Deputies quickly determined the stolen vehicle was likely related to the suspect responsible for the prowling incidents. This particular area of Santa Rosa Drive is located in the unincorporated area of Moorpark, known as Home Acres. Santa Rosa Drive is just west of where the prowler occurrences had been reported to dispatch.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Office deputies assigned to the Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Camarillo and Fillmore patrol stations, along with a Sheriff’s helicopter, responded and began a search for the stolen vehicle. A short time later, a Camarillo patrol deputy spotted the vehicle driving in the 7300 block of Santa Rosa Road and made a traffic stop. The driver, who was identified as 33-year-old Oxnard resident Jahwi Angeles-Ortega was taken into custody without incident. The toddler was found uninjured in her rear car seat and immediately returned to the care and custody of her parents. Angeles-Ortega was found to have multiple outstanding warrants for his arrest and was additionally arrested for felony violations of California Penal Code section 207(a)-Kidnapping and California Vehicle Code section 10851(a)-Vehicle Theft.

Angeles-Ortega was booked into the Pre-Trial Detention Facility where he is currently being held in lieu of a $122,500.00 bail. He has a scheduled arraignment in Ventura County Superior Court on 03/30/2021, at 1:30PM, in Courtroom #13.

Nature of Incident: Suspect Arrested For Kidnapping After Stealing Vehicle With Toddler Inside
Report Number: 21-40205
Location: 4200 Block of Santa Rosa Dr, Home Acres (Moorpark), CA
Date & Time: 03/26/2021 @ 9:19PM
Prepared by: Sergeant William Hutton
Approved by: Captain Victor Fazio

Bathtub trough for the horses.
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Cyrus and Elvira Kenney out for a ride.
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Interior of Moore’s Stables owned by Billy Moore along with all his rigs available for rental.
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Rush Ealy with his fine rig.
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Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum

Last week’s story mentioned the Star Stables, but it was not only the only stable in Fillmore. The following is an extract from Edith Moore Jarrett’s book, Old-Timers’ Tales of Fillmore.

Old-Timers’ Tales of Fillmore
Three of our constables, J. P. “Jack” Trotter, Jack Casner, and Owen Miller, held both jobs (constable, or police chief, and stable owner). Maybe they wanted to be able to round up a quick posse, or maybe they just knew a fringe benefit when they saw one. We’d call it a “conflict of interest” these days, but nobody protested then.

In 1899, Jack Trotter advertised his livery stable as “the only one in town.” Jack Casner started his Fillmore Stables in 1904 and it was going strong in 1911 in spite of Model Ts.

By then Billy Moore was advertising his stable as “opposite the Southern Pacific Depot,” and Bill Elkins, oldest son of Judge Elkins, had his horse rental on Santa Clara Street with a watering trough made of an old bathtub with legs. The mystery there is why anyone would discard a real bathtub when most of us were still using galvanized washtubs on Saturday nights. That bathtub could have only come from the saloon or pool hall on Main Street that had burned down, for those establishments advertised hot and cold baths available at any hour.

There was always a blacksmith, too, under a spreading peppertree on Main Street and Hugh Robbins at his saddlery was announcing in 1911 that he’d oil your double harness for $1.

Then in 1915 L. L. Warren, with his livery stable, saw the graffiti on the wall and, as a footnote to his ad, offered a Dodge and driver for rent as well as horses. The next year he advertised Dodges first, and the horses ran second. Our first Hertz.

A later constable, Owen Miller, had long done a business renting packtrains to the city folks who wanted to go up to the Sespe Hot Springs to soak a bit; and that went on for many years with no competition from cars, nor from a monorail, either.
But back to Jack Casner, still constable in 1934, when Charles Jarrett of the Fillmore Herald staff was “profiling” Fillmore’s notables. He interviewed Jack about his livery stable of 1904 and discovered that 7 men had been working there with his 25 horses.

You’d think those dusty, bumpy roads would have discouraged folks from any travel but on train. Not so. Judging from Jack’s hay bill for 100 tons at a time, people rented his rigs for most any event that took them out of town even after 1911.

Casner had 17 one-horse buggies, 4 surreys, 4 buckboards, 2 big four-seater tallyhos ("tally-ho" can describe a large coach or a light passenger vehicle without roof or sides used for sight-seeing), as well as 4- and 6-horse teams that hauled oilfield supplies or gypsum from Grimes Canyon to the plaster mill. His buggies were Fireflys, Babcocks, or Studebakers, and he always sent along a lap robe and a new buggy whip.

Once he sent 20 rigs to Oxnard for some sort of celebration and the young bucks often rented one on Saturday night for some fun in Oxnard after local option had closed all the other saloons in the county. You could drink and drive then. The horses never touched the stuff.

Casner had 10 rigs at Sulphur Mountain Springs near Santa Paula on summer Sunday afternoons. The charge was $2 for Sundays, or $1.50 for Saturday night, and you had to make your reservation before Saturday or get left behind. The traffic went both ways, too, for when Fillmore had a big July Fourth celebration or a hot baseball game, Jack said, there could 100 extra rigs here from all around the county.

“Maybe they get there a little faster these days,“ said Jack n 1934, after Model Ts had put his livery stable out of business “but anybody who never wrapped the lines around the whip on a moonlight night and let the horses find the way home simply doesn’t know what he missed.”

Ray Ealy would have agreed with Jack. In 1910, even though cars were beginning to come in Ray had a surprise for Fillmore. He had raised a team of matched bays and had just gotten latest thing in buggies. It was a convertible model, black with lots of delicate red striping and red wheels.

All the girls simply swooned when they saw that rig, for a light buggy like that really needed only one horse and they knew it. Ray had topped all the other fellows with his horsepower rating. Who cared if the moonlit road was dusty and rocky?
His father, Rush Ealy, had a good thing going too. He commuted daily from his ranch in Cienega, east of Fillmore, to his tinshop in town driving Queenie, with the buggy. Since they weren’t a two-buggy family, if Mrs. Ealy wanted to go the ladies’ aid meeting later, when Rush reached the shop, he just wrapped the reins around the buggy whip, headed Queenie toward homeand slapped her on the rump. She understood. Try that with your Buick.

Perhaps some of today’s driverless cars will eventually rival Queenie, but the romance and pace of a horse and buggy can’t be matched.

FUSD Superintendent, Dr. Adrian Palazuelos, PhD.

The Fillmore Unified School District Board of Trustees and Fillmore Superintendent Dr. Adrian E. Palazuelos entered into a mutual separation agreement. Dr. Palazuelos left the District at the end of business on March 5, 2021.

The District appreciates Dr. Palazuelos’ seven years of service leading our collective efforts on behalf of all District students.

During that time, Fillmore Unified has: increased student access to Advanced Placement courses at the high school level; broadened the K-12 music program; worked with the local community colleges to introduce college classes within the school day on the high school campus; implemented a high quality preschool program; introduced the Fillmore Adult School funded by an annual Adult Education Block grant of $500,000.00; received community support for and approval of Measure V, a $35 Million general obligation bond to improve District schools and facilities and received $6 million in matching state dollars for the construction of a new Career Technical Education facility slated for completion in summer 2021. Dr. Palazuelos provided vigilant leadership during the Thomas Fire, the Maria Fire, multiple public safety power shutoffs, and the current pandemic. His dedication is deeply appreciated.

The Board of Education wishes Dr. Palazuelos the best as he moves forward with his career.

***

After a mutual separation agreement Former FUSD Superintendent Adrian E. Palazuelos, PhD left Fillmore Unified on March 5th. After a special Board meeting on March 11th Fillmore Unified approved contracts for Ms. Andrea McNeill and W. Charles "Chuck" Weis III as Co-Interim-Superintendent for the period of April 6, 2021-June 30, 2021.