Doug Basolo, Hall of Fame Inductee, Class of 1968.
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Epigmenio I. “Epi” Torres, Hall of Fame Inductee, Class of 1969.
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Matt Mozley, Hall of Fame Inductee, Class of 1970.
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David Pillado, Hall of Fame Inductee, Class of 1979.
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Loni Larson, Hall of Fame Inductee, Class of 1988.
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Lynn Hasty-Cole, Hall of Fame Inductee, Class of 1985.
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Chris Goodenough, Hall of Fame Inductee, Class of 1996.
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Tory Cabral, Hall of Fame Inductee, Class of 1991.
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Tina Alverdi, Hall of Fame Inductee, Class of 1993.
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Now that the Fillmore High School Booster Club Coaches and Players Banquet and 100th football game between Fillmore and Santa Paula is over it is time to turn to the Fillmore High School Sports Hall of Fame. The ceremony for the inductees was held on Saturday, November 13th and to say the least it was very well attended with approximately 650 in attendance to witness eighty-nine coaches and athletes and eighteen championship teams inducted into the FHS Sports Hall of Fame! The inductees included; seven coaches, eighty-two athletes and 18 championship teams inducted in this first year of what is planned to be a yearly event.

The idea of a Sports Hall of Fame came to Fillmore High School Coach Joe Woods three years ago. It was not until the passing of a former Fillmore High School Graduate and student athlete football player Dean Kenfield, (Class of 1940) that Coach Woods decided it was time to act on his idea. Dean was a classmate of Joe's father and the father of Inductee Vernon Kenfield (Class of 1971). Joe said it was time to get his project started since he had become painfully aware that many of the players from years ago were gone. Joe said he formed a committee and began the project in January of 2010.

In order to be considered for induction into the FHS Sports Hall of Fame there were a number of criteria to be considered by a committee of five; Dick Mosbarger (Class of 1947), John Scoles (Class of 1959), Debbie Basolo-Curnett (Class of 1969), Coach Joe Woods (Class of 1979) and Lynn Hasty-Cole (Class of 1985). For this first round of inductees the years of 1914 thru 2000 would be the years for the nominees to have attended FHS and been involved in any of the sports programs. The criteria to be considered was; Someone other than the nominee had to nominate the person. The nominee had to have graduated from FHS. The nominee had to have graduated from FHS at least ten years ago. The nominee had to have participated in a sports program at a lower level such as Junior Varsity, or at the Varsity level, or played multiple sports at either levels. The nominee's scoring would be enhanced if the nominee had won any sports awards. If the nominee went on to college weight would be given to the nominee's scoring. A scoring enhancement would be given if the nominee played any amateur athletics after graduation. A scoring enhancement would be given if the nominee went on to play professional sports. And, finally a scoring enhancement would be given if the nominee went on to coach any sport.

There were two hundred fifty applications submitted and considered for the years of 1914 thru 2000. Each application was reviewed, one at a time, and it took about ten hours until the final list was complete! Of the final list five were automatic inductees based on their previous induction into the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame; Professional Football Player Don “The Blade” Burroughs (inducted 1985), Coach Eugene “Red” Kennedy (inducted 1986), Coach and Athletic Director Richard “Toolie” Palmer (inducted 1989), Baseball Coach Tom Ecklund (inducted 1994) and Professional Baseball Player Kevin Gross (inducted 2002).

The seven coaches inducted into the FHS Sports Hall of Fame were; Mr. J. Wm. Gastrich. Coach Gastrich was the principal at Fillmore High School and started the sports program in 1914. Others were Coach Eugene “Red” Kennedy who coached championship teams in all sports, Coach Richard “Toolie” Palmer coached all sports, Coach Bruce Dempsey football, Coach Tom Ecklund baseball, Coach Jim Fauver basketball and Coach Epigmenio “Epi” Torres, cross country and track coach.

The eighteen teams recognized were: the 1914 Baseball, 1926 Basketball, 1936 Football, 1940 Basketball, 1945 Football, 1946 Basketball,1952 Basketball, 1953 Basketball, 1954 Football, 1970 Basketball, 1975 Baseball, 1976 Baseball, 1977 Football, 1977 Baseball, 1988 Baseball, 1990 Boy's Cross Country, 1991 Girl's Cross Country, and 2005 Boy's Soccer.

The eighty-two honored athletes are: 1915-Harold Mayhew, 1918-Harleigh Baker, 1920-Leroy Goodenough, 1928-Harry Imhoff, 1933-Richard “Toolie” Palmer, 1935-Burtis “Burt” Davis, 1936-Roy Hays and Jack Russell, 1938-Vernon (Slim) Johnson, 1939-Sammy Johnson, 1940-Bob Taylor and R. Wesley Nichols, 1941-Bob Huestis, 1942-William “Bill” Pearson, 1944-Eugene “Gene” Wren, 1946-George Potter, Kenny “K. B.” Rogers, Jim Schleimer, 1947-Bill Cox, 1948-Harold McFadden, 1949-Don “The Blade” Burroughs, 1950-Gerald Hamm, Ron Balden, 1953-Pat Platt, 1954-Chuck Greer, David Goodenough, 1955-Roger Palmer, 1956-Milton Suttle, 1958-Larry Edwards, 1959-Jim Arundell, John Scoles, 1960-Elton Collins, 1961-Bruce Gibby, 1962-Norbert Riesgo, Donovan Main, 1964-Robert “Bob” Ortega, Mike LaRoche, 1965-Mike Marostica, 1967-Jim Ruiz Jr., 1968-Doug Basolo, 1969-Epigmenio “Epi” Torres, 1970-Matt Mozley, Tony Tafoya, David Yanez, 1971-Ralph Zermeno, Vernon Kenfield, Gary Southwick, 1972-Joel Mozley, 1973-Tim Aguirre, 1974-Eric Grove, David “Keith” Gurrola, 1975-Javier “Javy” Aguilar and Steve Dann, 1976-Phyllis Lidamore-Sparks, 1977-Rosa Aparicio, Greg Laird, Kirk Richter, Dan (Yogi) Saldino, Rick Stewart, 1978-Janice Wilkey-Stevenson, Mike Legan, 1979-Kevin Gross, David Pillado, Chip Bowlin, Julie Padelford-Jansen, 1982-Karen Fauver-MacDonald, Matt Suttle, 1983-Steve Hope, 1984-Dan Grove, 1985-Greg Baldwin, John Grove, Lynn Hasty-Cole, 1988-Willie Leighton, Loni Larsen, 1990-Chad VanWinkle, 1991-Tory Cabral, 1992-Niki Shaw-Bell, 1993-Maribella Aparicio-Hernandez, Jaime Arundell-Latshaw, Tina Alverdi, 1996-Chris Goodenough, and 1996-Julie Arundell-Grimstad.
The oldest inductee to attend the Induction Ceremony was Burtis “Burt” Davis (Class of 1935) Of all the inductees selected only three; Principal and Coach J. Wm. Gastrich, Coach Eugene “Red” Kennedy and Player Harleigh Baker family members could not be located to represent the inductee and receive their award. According to Coach Joe Woods the awards can be picked up if he is contacted to make those arrangements by anyone knowing the whereabouts of any members of their families. Each inductee was honored with plaques, with the inductees picture, on the wall of the Sports Hall of Fame located in the Science Building, the inductees name on a perpetual board located in the Sports Hall of Fame and to take home a jacket and plaque recognizing his/her achievement.

There were many generational links of those persons inducted: Some are of the generational links of inductees are; Inductee Richard “Toolie” Palmer (Class of 1933) is related to Inductees Milton Suttle (Class 1956) and Matt Suttle (1982), Inductee Leroy Goodenough (Class of 1920) is the father of Inductee David Goodenough (Class of 1954) and grandfather of Inductee Chris Goodenough (Class of 1996), Inductee R. Wesley Nichols (Class of 1940) is the father-in-law of Inductee Donovan Main (Class of 1962), Brothers Inductees Matt Mozley (Class of 1970) and Joel Mozley (Class of 1972), and Inductee Jim Arundell (Class of 1959) is the father of Inductees Jamie Arundell-Latshaw (Class of 1993) and Julie Arundell-Grimstad (Class of 1996).
Coach Joe Woods would like to thank the following people for their help in the first FHS Sports Hall of Fame event; Committee Members, FHS Sports Hall of Fame Club for building the Sports Hall of Fame and hosting the event, the inductees and families of inductees who submitted the pictures for the slide show of each inductee, Drew and Sherri Ferguson for the many hours they spent preparing the slide show and for the placing of the pictures on the trophies, the FHS Associated Student Body and FHS Alumni Association for their financial assistance that made this all possible, El Pescador Mexican Restaurant for the catering, all the volunteers who assisted along the way and during the event and last but not least FHS Principal John Wilber for his leadership and “go ahead” for this to occur.

As you can imagine CONTINUED »

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Calista Godfrey, a student at Fillmore Middle School has taken the first step to becoming an internationally recognized artist by winning the local competition sponsored by the Fillmore Lions Club.

Calista's poster was among more than 170 entries in Fillmore. There are over 375,000 entries submitted world wide in the 23rd annual Lions International Peace Poster Contest. Lions Clubs International is sponsoring the contest to emphasize the importance of world peace to young people everywhere.

"Peace begins at the roots", Calista said. The poster was selected for its originality, artistic merit and portrayal of the contest theme, "Vision of Peace." The judging was held on November 8 at the Fillmore Middle School.

Mr. Bill Dewey, Lions Club President indicated that he was impressed by the expression and creativity of the student's art. "It is obvious that these young people have strong ideas about what peace means to them. I'm proud that we were able to provide them with the opportunity to share their visions."

Miss Godfrey's poster will advance to face stiff competition through the district, multiple district and international rounds of competition if she is to be declared the international grand prize winner," Mr. Dewey said.

One grand prize winner and 23 merit award winners will be selected. The grand prize includes a cash award of US$5,000, plus a trip for the winner and two family members to the awards ceremony at Lions Day with the United Nations. The 23 merit award winners will each receive a certificate and a cash award of US$500.

Runner-up students were Nick Stehly and Suzanne Arana. All participants are students in Mrs. Doris Nichols' art class at Fillmore Middle School. Mrs. Nichols is commended for her assistance in this annual event.

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Once again the local offices of Troop Real Estate, Inc. serving the entire valley raised funds for their annual TROOP TURKEY-A-THON!

The families selected with the assistance of the Santa Clara Valley Boys & Girls Club received the basics to make a traditional Thanksgiving meal, including a 10- to 12-pound frozen turkey, potatoes, cans of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, a box of stuffing, cranberry sauce and fresh rolls.

With the assistance of the REALTORS from both the Santa Paula and Fillmore offices all of the food was packed, loaded and delivered to both the Santa Paula and Fillmore clubs on Monday morning in plenty of time for the families to receive them.

In its eleventh year the 2010 company wide event will feed more than 13,500 people, and since its start has distributed more than 70,000 Thanksgiving dinners throughout the county.

Troop Real Estate is located at 559 Sespe Avenue, Fillmore, CA. and 586 W. Main St. Santa Paula, CA.

Tuesday, November 23rd is PICK-UP DAY for Grad Nite Live's Thanksgiving Pies at the Memorial Building between 12 noon and 4PM. If we are delivering your pies be sure to be home to receive them between 11 and 4. Thank you so much for your participation in the years Marie Callender's Pie fund raiser.

City of Fillmore

Included in the 2009-2010 budget the currently underway Class and Compensation study for the City of Fillmore began in spring of this year and is being conducted by Bryce Consulting of Sacramento. There appears to be no clear answer to where the idea of conducting the study came from. Mayor Pro-Tempore Gayle Washburn recalls that the Interim City Manager at the time, Larry Pennell suggested the study but Councilmember Steve Conaway commented “it seems illogical to me that a temporary city manager would put a line item in the budget without being guided to do so.” Mayor Patti Walker indicated this is the first time such a study has been done in Fillmore. Generally the idea behind such studies is to provide a clear picture of staffing needs so that employees have clearly defined roles, are paid equitably for the work they do, and that the City is able to hire and retain skilled employees.

Walker recalled that in the past the Council has “heard that Fillmore [employees] are paid less”. This seems to concur with a statement made by Conaway that in the past the Council understood that “Fillmore employees consistently are shown to be underpaid when reviewed properly.” Walker stated that one of the reasons for the study is “to make sure that [City] employees are compensated in a comparable way [to similar cities]”. She continued that the study will help ensure that Fillmore is able to hire and retain skilled employees as needed. Washburn explained that she feels the study “[will be] a useful tool to demonstrate [whether there is] a shortage of staff.” She went on to state that “historically [the city] has had a lot of department heads and workers but there seemed to be a gap in mid-level analyst and technical positions.” Washburn suggested that the study might reveal places where new positions can be created for “current and future employees” with the intention to use more “in house” staff instead of hiring consultants.

The Process: Early this year a five CONTINUED »

Fillmore Unified School District

All School Board members were present for the regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, November 16th. No action was taken from the closed section, which was reported to include discussion on two expulsion cases. No one was nominated from the Board to the CSBA (California School Board Association) Delegate Assembly.

During standing reports, Board Clerk Liz Wilde reported on the recent meeting with the City of Fillmore regarding the status and process of opening the track up for community use. Wilde commented, “We’re getting closer to getting a solution regarding use of the track… now the issue goes to the City Parks and Rec.” During his report, Board President Tony Prado commented on his attendance at the meeting with the City regarding the Track as well,“[The meeting] was well attended… it was well represented by the community.” Prado commented on the report given by Assistant Superintendent Mike Bush regarding the current situation with the track and football field “he emphasized that it’s important for people to realize that it’s not the old situation we used to have… it’s different now… but we’re doing everything we can to… make sure they (the community) have access, of course that’s been my number one concern that the community have access.” Issues being looked at now are how to monitor and control people going in and out to use the track. Prado commented that it is the intention that not only the “competitive” runners have access but also the “recreational” users. “It’s important that [the City] Parks and Rec take the lead in this area”.

Regarding watching the 100th game between Fillmore and Santa Paula, Board Member Mike Saviers showed a small smile when he said, “I sat in the middle… I was sad but not real sad.” Saviers has ties to Santa Paula but lives in Fillmore as Board Member Virginia De La Piedra good-naturedly reminded him of where his loyalties should lie, “Remember where you live” She instructed. All Board members shared the sentiment of expressing thanks to all involved in the 100th game planning, set up and presentation. Board Member John Garnica shared that sentiment and added the Fillmore Boosters to those deserving recognition for their contribution to the event. Jane Munoz a parent and staff member at Piru Elementary School who is also a member of Band Boosters was in attendance, and reminded the Board about the great performance of the Band at the 100th game. Prado agreed that the Band should be commended. Band Leader Greg Godfrey and show choreographer Colleen Anderson were recognized for their efforts with the band performance. Newly elected and soon to be sworn in Board Member Elect Lucy Rangel was in attendance, and commented on the induction of 82 players into the Football Hall of Fame. “It took four hours to get through all 82 players… it was really wonderful to hear about all of their accomplishments.” Rangel went on to thank Fillmore High School Principal John Wilbur, and staff members Lynn Cole and Debora Curnett for organizing the event.

District Superintendent Jeff Sweeney asked CONTINUED »