Earl Hume in the movies with Tom Mix.
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Earl Hume.
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Jack Casner (c)1922
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San Quentin prison register entry Mason Bradfield 1910-1918.
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Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum

The “law” in Ventura County began in 1872 when Governor Newton Booth signed assembly bill Number 218 separating Ventura County from Santa Barbara County. At the time it is estimated that there were about 5000 people living in the new county. Within 60 days elections were held for county officers with Frank Peterson being elected sheriff. He had a variety of responsibilities which included protecting the citizenry, resolving disputes, catching criminals, collecting taxes and serving subpoenas over approximately 1,800 square miles. He was assisted by two deputies. The sheriff’s office was supported by fees paid when he performed one of his required jobs. He was paid only for his services, he received no salary.

When T. Wallace More of Rancho Sespe was murdered in March, 1877, the Ventura County Sheriff refused to travel to Rancho Sespe to investigate. It wasn’t lack of jurisdiction but lack of money. He said that his budget did not have funds for investigations and besides if the public asked him to investigate he would never get anything else done. The surviving More brothers had to hire their own investigators to find out who had done the dastardly deed.

Fillmore did not exist until the arrival of the railroad in 1887. The population was scattered across the valley on small farms. But with the railroad’s arrival, the population began to grow.

For the next dozen years, the county sheriff was still the law in Fillmore. But as population and crime increased, it became apparent that a local lawman was needed. By 1897, Owen Miller had been hired as Fillmore’s first Constable. One of his earliest investigations had to do with the murder of fellow officer, Deputy Constable McCoy Pyle, in April 1897. The perpetrator turned out to be a fellow lawman and Pyle’s supposed best friend, Deputy Constable Edward McCamish, over a property theft. Miller also owned a hotel and was reputedly one of several local bootleggers. It was reported that he arrested two of his competitors, sent them to jail in Ventura and thus had several weeks without competition.

One of the longest serving Fillmore Constables was John, “Jack”, Casner, who served 31 years. Jack came to Fillmore in 1904 buying a stable on Main St. In 1910 he became Deputy Constable under then Constable Jack Trotter. In 1914 he was elected Constable and served in the position for the next 31 years. He told Charles Jarrett that the only time he faced personal danger was transporting a murderer from Sespe Hot Springs to Ventura. He could see the man weighing the possibility of escape, so nearing Tar Creek he told his deputy to “keep a sharp lookout for some men who were planning on coming out to meet the party so that they could lynch him.” From then on the murderer was very eager to remain under the protection of his guards.

It was almost 4 decades after the More murder that the next major crime happened. In 1915, Mason Bradfield shot George Henley of Sespe Brownstone fame in broad daylight in front of the Orange Leaf Café on Central Ave. Like many crimes it was a dispute over property rights that triggered the shooting. Bradfield was so angry that he followed a bleeding Henley down the street, shooting as he went. Constable Owen Miller finally stepped in to stop the action after Bradfield ran out of bullets. According to Edith Jarrett’s book “Old Timers’ Tales of Fillmore,” Bradfield went to jail and upon release ran in to Owen Miller who gave him back his gun and said, “Next time, do a better job.”

Probably the most memorable lawman was Earl Hume. He came to Fillmore in 1922 as a traffic officer and in 1925 was made Chief. He served until June 1967, (a one-man force) the longest term of any in history. When dealing with youthful offenders he often made the sentence fit the crime. One group of boys having stolen the school superintendent’s hubcaps were sentenced to 6 months washing the police cars.

For more information about Fillmore visit the museum website or Facebook page.

Bob Crum

Back in the film days, I received a phone call from an excited Florida marina manager friend. "You have to see this new boat," he yelled! I jumped in my '86 Chevy pickup and boogied. Oh my, a 36-foot fiberglass sport fisherman complete with transom door, outriggers and flybridge. Wow! Twin diesel engines pushed the revolutionary hull through the ocean. The owner came by and filled us in on the details as we drooled.
Of course, I made photos.

Later, the processed film revealed bad news: All 36 exposures were out of focus. Repair shop found the lens focusing mechanism misaligned. Fortunately, it wasn't an assignment, and I got a better do-over. The boat owner invited me back to go out on the ocean for on-the-water photos. Action photos shot and I sold the photos to a boating magazine. Karma?

From that day on, focusing remained uppermost in my mind. In these days of autofocus, inaccurate focus is not acceptable. Publications will not accept out-of-focus photos. Furthermore, if I spend $hundreds on a lens, I expect it to perform correctly. But what if it doesn't?

At a photography conference, I learned that even new lenses could exhibit focusing errors for various reasons. I also discovered a tool called LensAlign. But using LensAlign is like washing my truck's windshield with an ice cube: Tedious. But I can assess whether a camera-lens combination is autofocusing accurately and, if not, the amount of deviation.

Three lenses I tested autofocused accurately, two didn't. A slight focus issue might not be noticeable in a photo from a 10MP camera. However, it is noticeable in a photo from a 20+ MP camera like mine. Stopping (closing) down the aperture tends to minimize the appearance of autofocus errors. But open the lens aperture for bokeh, as I do for my mermaid boudoir photoshoots, and unacceptable blur occurs.

One lens back-focused slightly, and one front-focused slightly. Back or front focus is the autofocus error of the lens when the focus point falls behind or ahead of the subject. Being somewhat out of focus creates the appearance of a slight blur. After adjusting my Canon 7D MKII camera's AF microadjustment for each lens, the now sharp photos made my toes wiggle. Gearheads need to keep in mind that it's not a lens issue alone. It involves both the camera and lens combo. For the timid types, there are affordable camera & lens calibration services such as 'Perfect Image.'

The photo of the week was quite a challenge to create. Last fall, PCD (Pre COVID Days) I was shooting on the Harford on the San Luis Bay until after sundown. As I was returning to the parking lot, a photo opp suddenly appeared. Standing in the middle of the pier, the composition was so-so. I retreated a few feet to an alcove. From there, I framed a lovely composition. However, exposure issues prevented making the photo.

If only I could shoot out the overhead light messing with my camera's light meter. I moved to the other side of the pier. Voila! Uh, another problem: A two-second shutter speed was necessary for the required exposure! Good grief! A 2-second handheld photo is not practical. Without a tripod, it was cry or improvise. I improvised. I programmed the camera's timer for 10 seconds, put the camera on the pier railing, re-composed the photo and pressed the shutter release button....5-4-3-2-1-Click! I love the boats on the far left and the stars in the distant sky. Ah, sweet success.

Send comments, suggestions or questions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net

Jose Luis Orozco, 35 of Fillmore.

A Piru resident stole a vehicle from an apartment complex. The victim later spotted the vehicle in Fillmore. The victim alerted the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies located the stolen car and the suspect, Jose Luis Orozco. Orozco was arrested for the theft of the vehicle and drug related charges.

On the morning of 05/14/2020, deputies responded to a stolen vehicle call in the 2900 block of Telegraph Road, in the unincorporated area of Piru. The victim had parked his vehicle in the parking lot of his apartment complex, where it had remained parked for about a week. When the victim came out of his residence this morning, he discovered his vehicle was missing. The victim called the Sheriff’s Office and reported the vehicle stolen.

Several hours later, as the victim was traveling eastbound on SR 126 near Santa Paula, he saw his vehicle in front of him. The victim began following the car and called the Sheriff’s Office to report he was following the suspect. The victim continued following his vehicle until the suspect parked it and walked into a residence in the area of Palm Street and Santa Clara Street, in the City of Fillmore. Deputies and Detectives from the Fillmore Police Department along with members of the Sheriff’s Gang Unit began a surveillance on the unoccupied stolen vehicle. When the suspect retuned to the vehicle a short time later, he was quickly arrested. The suspect was identified Jose Orozco. During a search of Orozco, Investigators recovered drugs and related paraphernalia.

Orozco was booked at the Pre Trial Detention Facility for:
VC 10851(a)- Unlawful taking of a vehicle H&S 11377(a)- Possession of A Controlled Substance H&S 11364(a)-Possession of Drug Paraphernalia PC 3056-Parole Hold

Orozco is currently being held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court on 07/14/2020.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind the public that crime prevention begins at a personal level. When possible, keep your valuables out of sight or at home. Keep your vehicle locked when unattended and avoid leaving your car keys in your car.

Nature of Incident: Vehicle Theft Suspect Arrested
Report Number: 20-65810
Location: 2900 Block E. Telegraph Road, Piru
Date & Time: 05/14/2020 8:20 am
Unit(s) Responsible: Fillmore Patrol, Fillmore Investigations, Sheriff’s Gang Unit
(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (P)arty, (D)ecedent, City of Residence, Age
(A-1) Jose Luis Orozco, 35 of Fillmore
Prepared by: Detective Cesar Salas
Approved by: Captain Garo Kuredjian

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).

Wildfire season is quickly approaching, and we must all do our part to be prepared. On May 27th at 6:00 p.m., Southern California Edison will be hosting a virtual community meeting for the Santa Paula and Fillmore areas to discuss their COVID-19 response, 2019 lessons learned, 2020 Wildfire Mitigation Plan, Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) and Customer Care Programs. To register, please visit https://conta.cc/2zN3i5h.

Fillmore Unified School District

Information/Discussion:
2020-2021 Governor's May Revise Presentation (Presenter: Andrea McNeil, Assistant Superintendent, Business Services)

Adopt Resolution #19-20-17 for Temporary Loans Between District Funds Fiscal Year 2020-21
The Governing Board adopted Resolution 19-20-17.

Adopt Resolution #19-20-18 for Appropriation Transfers Fiscal Year 2020-21
The Governing Board adopted Resolution 19-20-18.

Adopt Resolution #19-20-19 for Unrepresented Employee Compensation to be Declared Indefinite for Fiscal Year 2020-21
The Governing Board adopted Resolution 19-20-19.

Adopt Resolution #19-20-20 Authorizing the Borrowing of Funds for Fiscal Year 2020-2021 and the Issuance and Sale of One or More Series of 2020-2021 Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes Therefor and Participation in the California School Cash Reserve Program and Requesting the Board of Supervisors of the County to Issue and Sell Said Series of Notes
The Governing Board approved Resolution 19-20-16.

Personnel Recommendations
The Board approved all personnel recommendations including new hires, promotions, resignations, and leaves.

Approve Change Order #3 for Fillmore High School Existing CTE Building Demolition & CTE New Building Construction Project, 555 Central Avenue, Fillmore, CA 93015, Project 2020-003
The Board approved Change Order #3

Approve Change Order #1 for Fillmore Middle School Baseball/Soccer Field Improvements Project, 543 A Street, Fillmore, CA 93015, Project 2020-004
The Board approved Change Order #1

Los Angeles Herald 22 September 1887 Advertisement for lots and acreage.
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Map of Fillmore. A Plan for Fillmore City approved by the county in August 1888.
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McNab Building 1968 on Sespe. This was the location of the headquarters of Sespe Land and Water Company.
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McNab house on First Street and Saratoga. It was originally built on Catalina Island and moved to its current location.
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Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum

We know where the name Fillmore came from but why was the city located as it is between Pole Creek and the Sespe? Why was it not on Adams Hill east of Fillmore where the railroad wanted to place a depot?

After the murder of Thomas Wallace More in 1877, Rancho Sespe was divided among his heirs. The youngest son, Alexander’s, portion eventually became the property of Morton Hull of Chicago and was the Rancho Sespe that people in the area knew until the 1980s. The portions inherited by two other sons, Thomas and Wallace, were purchased by Royce Surdam and Thomas Bard and became Bardsdale. The final part was inherited by More’s eldest child, Martha (Mattie) More Storke, who sold her portion, about 3,300 acres, to the Sespe Land and Water Company. This final portion became Fillmore.

The Sespe Land and Water Company was incorporated in April of 1886 as a subsidiary of the Ventura Water and Improvement Company. The stockholders of both companies were W. H. Perry, F. C. Howes, S. H. Mott, W. H. Goucher, M. Dodsworth, L. W. Dennis, Dr. C. E. Glacius, H. J. Crow, Francis Bates and J. D. McNab. According to the Los Angeles Herald, this was a “syndicate, comprising some of Los Angeles’ heaviest capitalists.” Only one name will be familiar to local folks, Joseph McNab. Some of the readers may live on or near McNab Court in the Los Serenos Tract. ( Los Angeles Herald, Volume 27, Number 143, 26 August, 1887)

Joseph McNab was born in Nova Scotia to a seafaring family. He immigrated to Chicago, eventually moving to Riverside, California where he became involved in farming and land speculation – quite successfully.

Soon after purchasing the property, the Sespe Land and Water Company gave the Southern Pacific right of way through it and sold them property for their depot. Southern Pacific had wanted to put the depot just east of the current location, but the landowner, Rush Ealy, refused to sell the property.

Sespe Land and Water also, according to Judge C. C. Elkin’s history, bought water rights from one Joe Dye. Judge Elkins is quoted as saying, “Joe Dye had killed Herman Haines a short time before I came to Fillmore in 1877, and was in jail in Ventura waiting his second or third trial.” (Dye was eventually acquitted, but that’s another story).

A few businesses had been built along the Southern Pacific right of way on what became Main Street, but in August of 1888, the Sespe Land and Water Company filed a town plan with the County of Ventura covering 66 acres. On the plan familiar names appear like Central, Sespe, Santa Clara, Fillmore, Saratoga and Mountain View.

Sespe Land and Water Company soon was advertising property for sale. As early as September, 1887, “The Sespe Land and Water Company will offer, at private sale, Town Lots in Fillmore City, and 3000 acres of the finest Fruit Land in Southern California” ran in the Los Angeles Herald. The advertisement touted that it was on the Southern Pacific Railroad line and that the depot was already built. Potential purchasers could arrange free railroad transportation, arriving from Los Angeles at 11:30 am and returning at 1:00 pm.

The next month the Herald’s readers were told that in Fillmore they could “Raise Fruit and be Happy, The most independent people in the state are the fruit growers. Their incomes are steady and reliable.”

A later advertisement indicated land was being offered in 5, 10, and 20 acre lots “with water rights. Pipes already laid.” Some of the pipes brought water from the Sespe River where William Mulholland built a dam for the company. In return he received 20 acres of land.

Not all lots sold. Sespe Land and Water Company would continue to be a major land owner in Fillmore, building and renting both commercial and residential buildings. The Company’s headquarters was on Sespe, where the MacNab Building currently sits.

Joseph McNab eventually bought out the other stockholders’ interests and moved to Fillmore, building two homes, one at 616 Sespe and the other at 411 First Street. The house on First Street was built on Catalina Island and brought by barge to the mainland. The second home became the home to Joseph’s son John Boak McNab and his wife, Blanche Guiberson McNab. When not running the Sespe Land and Water Company, Joseph McNab was considered a pioneer in Ventura County in drying apricots. By 1890 he had a large drying facility and bought almost all the apricots grown in the County, thus controlling the market.

John B. McNab attended University of California at Berkeley. After graduation he returned to Fillmore and became secretary of the company. After Joseph’s death in 1903, John B. McNab took over the company. A member of the Fillmore Club, he was also one of the organizers and a director in the Ventura County Cooperative Association which had stores in Sespe, Fillmore and Piru and a director of Farmers and Merchants Bank in Fillmore (it was located on the southeast corner of Sespe and Central and still stands).

John B. McNab ran the Sespe Land and Water Company until his death in November of 1939. The company continued on until it was eventually dissolved in 1974.

Bob Crum

The English language is daunting, as we know! Too many rules, too many exceptions to the rules. I follow most rules but will make exceptions when justified. However, some readers, the linguistiphiles, take exception to my exceptions. So, being column #180, It's time to diverge from photographic geekism and explain my grammatical antics.

I've enjoyed wordsmithing since October 10, 1837. I also enjoy butterfly watching, particularly the gorgeous cotundra blue (Plebejus cotundra). The slow, seductive movements of her white-ringed electric-blue wings are mesmerizing. One day, I watched a Plebejus cotundra meticulously apply eye shadow and deep purple lipstick with gold sparkles. So beautiful were her delicate purple lips enveloped in her sumptuous, blue costume of fluttering electric-blue wings that euphoria best describes my rapture.

You visualized the butterfly, didn't you? See, a few select words enabled you to imagine a beautiful blue butterfly wearing purple lipstick. The blue wings are real, the lipstick only to help your imagination create the image in your mind. If you visualized the butterfly, my wordsmithing worked. If not, I need more practice.

Some argue that some words, like, ahem, 'photoing' are not legitimate and should be banned. Whoa! Skype, selfie, streaming, YouTube, WiFi, podcast, photobomb, smartphone, app, blog and emoji are a few words that didn't exist a few short years ago! All were words created to fill a need.

But 'photoing'? Why not? Look at words like knitting, gardening, painting, cooking, drawing, swimming, cycling, jogging and juggling; all 'ing' words. I have skis, so I go skiing. I have a bicycle, so I go cycling. I have a camera, so I go -- wait for it -- photoing! Phanopoeia!

I'm told that I have a phanopoeia addiction which is a form of onomatopoeia that describes the sense of things rather than their natural sounds. Onoma, meaning "name," and poiein, meaning "to make,"= to make words. I'm particularly proud of another word I created: Phonetography! All selfie junkies know about phonetography! Phanopoeia works for me and it's all legal!

And then there's grammar and punctuation with its myriad rules. The 'missing comma' rule is punctuation that irks many readers because they claim I consistently break it. It's true, I do. For example, I went shopping and bought a camera, a lens() and filters. No comma after the word 'lens. The pious grammatists among us, as taught by High School English teachers, state that a comma must be placed after the word "lens" so it reads -- camera, a lens(,) and filters. No, not always!

My writing the last 183 years has been for papyrus books, newsprint and magazines. I cut my word-tooth on the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, my wordsmithing bible since I was 18-months old - about when I learned that wine and girls pair nicely. Grammarians note on page 429 of the AP Stylebook: "Use commas to separate elements in a series, but do NOT (emphasis mine) put a comma before the conjunction in most simple series: "The flag is red, white and blue." No comma after 'white'. So no more comments about a comma missing in a simple series!

Lastly, there's also an occasional gripe about my illegitimate use of the ellipsis (... ). Again, AP Stylebook page 432: "An ellipsis may be used to indicate a thought that the writer does not complete." HA! That's often true! Hence, I employ ellipses (plural of ellipsis) often, especially when... you know... never mind... I forgot. So dear grammarians and linguistic aficionados, take a d__e__e__p breath and chill! Besides, I enjoy being incorrigibly roguish. Happy photoing!

Photo of the week: Swans - on command - eyes left! Thank you!

Send comments, questions or suggestions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net