The launch date of the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley’s new virtual clubhouse will be Tuesday September 8, 2020. This site is a robust gathering of enrichment activities and programs. Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley has partnered with many different organizations and museums to provide us with video content for our youth. This web portal is free to all youth everywhere. No membership needed. There will be new content weekly from our established partners and we are also doing independent programming. There will be new virtual art lessons weekly from the Santa Paula Art Museum , storytime from Katherine at the Fillmore Library , various content from Growing Great, Children’s Workshop, SEEAg, KidSTream, Channel Islands National Park, California Oil Museum, Ventura County Agricultural Museum , Gene Haas Automation and much more. Our independent programs will feature STEM Science activities, STEM cooking with Anne, STEM Nutrition and on the spot videos about workforce development. Check us out on Sept. 8th at www.bgclubscv.org Look for us on various social media platforms!

National Preparedness Month (NPM) is recognized each September to promote family and community disaster planning now and throughout the year. As our nation continues to respond to COVID-19, there is no better time to be involved this September. The 2020 NPM theme is: “Disasters Don’t Wait. Make Your Plan Today.” For more info visit http://ow.ly/L8kh50BdO0V. Courtesy County of Ventura Facebook.

Salons, Barbershops and Malls can Reopen for Indoor Service beginning Monday, August 31st.

The State of California announced a new blueprint for reducing COVID-19 in the state with revised criteria for loosening and tightening restrictions and activities.

Learn more at: Blueprint for a Safer Economy

Learn more about County Monitoring

Salons, Barbershops and Malls are able to reopen for INDOOR services beginning Monday, August 31. These sectors must follow the state issued industry guidance. Malls are allowed to open at 25% capacity.

Cesar Pedro Villanueva, Fillmore, 21

Patrol Deputies assigned to the Fillmore Police Station arrested (S) Cesar Pedro Villanueva, after he stabbed two people inside the Dollar General store located at 1154 Ventura Street in the City of Fillmore.

On August 20th, 2020, at 2:47 PM, patrol deputies responded to the Dollar General Store to a call of a stabbing that had just occurred. When deputies arrived at the scene, they observed a male subject, later identified as Cesar Villanueva, running away from the Dollar General Store, holding a folding knife in his hand. Villanueva also matched the description of the suspect. Deputies attempted to stop Villanueva, but he was uncooperative and non-compliant with their verbal commands. Deputies were able to prevent Villanueva from fleeing and detained him.

Ventura County Sheriff Major Crimes and Fillmore Police Station Detectives responded to the scene to assist in the investigation. Detectives determined that Villanueva was inside the Dollar General Store when he confronted a delivery driver who was stocking product inside the store. Villanueva stabbed this victim in the arm with a knife. Villanueva then stabbed a second male victim in the chest and the back with the same knife. The second victim was merely shopping at the store when confronted by Villanueva.

Both victims had moderate injuries and were transported to the Ventura County Medical Center via ambulance. Both were treated for their injuries and later released.

Villanueva was arrested and charged for two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of resisting arrest. Evidence was recovered that directly linked Villanueva to the crime and he was positively identified as the suspect. Villanueva was booked into the Pre-Trial Detention Facility and his bail was set at $50,000.

Detectives are seeking any additional witnesses or potential video evidence of the suspect or the incident.

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).

Nature of Incident: Stabbing Suspect Arrested
Report Number: 20-114668
Location: Dollar General Store, Fillmore
Date & Time: 08/20/2020 @ 2:47 PM
Unit(s) Responsible: Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau, Fillmore Police Patrol and Investigations
(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (P)arty, (D)ecedent, City of Residence, Age
(S) Cesar Pedro Villanueva, Fillmore, 21
Prepared by: Sergeant Albert Ramirez
Approved by: Captain Brian Slominski

Elbert B. Turner, who was Fillmore’s first postmaster. The Fillmore Post Office opened in 1887.

The intersection of Central and Main circa 1905. The second Post Office was on the NE corner in a store owned by C. C. Elkins, the third was in the building on the NW corner, owned by Richard Stephens.
Enlarge Photo

Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum

By Ellen Finley, 1988

The Fillmore Post Office was established on October 24, 1887, with the appointment of Elbert Bailey Turner as first postmaster. Since Fillmore was not recorded as an official city until August 1, 1888, there was a post office before there was a city.

Prior to Mr. Turner’s appointment, the people of Fillmore had to go to Bardsdale for their mail. In those days there was no bridge across the Santa Clara. Fording the river was often dangerous and sometimes impossible. Bardsdale’s first postmaster, Royce G. Surdam, appointed May 18, 1887, was a good-natured, accommodating man. Having carried the mail sack from the Fillmore Railroad Station to Bardsdale, he would often go back across the river with the mail for Fillmore in his vest pocket.

In late 1887, Fillmore consisted of the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot (at that time in an old boxcar) and four other buildings. One was a rooming house run by E. B. Turner and his wife, located on the west corner of what is now Main and Central. According to Mrs. Turner, the first post office in Fillmore was a goods box in a front bedroom of their rooming house. After about a year, the post office moved to the railroad depot and Mr. Turner appointed George Tighe assistant postmaster. Mrs. Turner quotes her husband as saying there was not any money in the position of postmaster and it was no honor to work for nothing.

On Christmas Day, 1887, Caswell Carl Elkins and his family arrived in Fillmore. As soon as possible, Mr. Elkins erected a two-story building on the east corner of Main and Central where the Bank of A. Levy now stands. The first floor was a badly needed general merchandise store; the Elkins family, for a time, used the second floor as their residence. On March 26, 1889, C. C. Elkins was appointed Fillmore’s second postmaster and kept the post office in his store.

The big store building at the east corner of Main and Central remained the location of the post office for about ten years. During this period, Mr. Elkins was devoting most of his time to the citrus industry, apparently leasing his stock and store. In 1891, the store was run by L. H. Amsbury and his partner, George S. Barnes. Amsbury was appointed postmaster on September 14, 1891. Next to lease the store was C. G. Willman who was appointed postmaster on February 18, 1892. By March 8, 1895, however, Willman, who was in failing health, sold out to James Duncan. The Ventura Free Press related that, while Mr. Willman was to go to Honolulu for his health, his wife, Miss Edna, was to continue to serve the patron of the post office. Public sentiment apparently favored letting Willman run out his term, but since there was a “large crop of aspirant for the position of postmaster”, this did not happen. On April 8, 1895, S. A. Guiberson, Jr. was appointed postmaster and, shortly thereafter, both Mr. and Mrs. Willman departed for Honolulu.

During Guiberson’s tenure as postmaster, the post office probably remained at the same location, the store now run by James Duncan. Duncan was a Scotsman, “just over from the land of oatmeal and shorter catechism.” Coming to Fillmore to visit friends, he found the whole valley area extremely attractive so decided to stay. Soon after he took over the store from Willman, Duncan hired as a clerk a young countryman, Richard Stephens. The two soon became partners. Ads for Duncan and Stephens pointed out that the store was the location of the post office as well as a telephone. By January 28, 1898, the partners had moved their business across the street to an old tin building on the west corner of Main and Central; the Elkins’ store had been sold to C. A. Harmonson. On November 17 of that same year, James Duncan died. A week later, on November 25, Richard Stephens was appointed Fillmore’s sixth postmaster a position he was to hold until 1915, making him the first Fillmore postmaster whose tenure lasted more than a few years. Stephens’ appointment was vigorously opposed by the Elkins family, probably because the post office would then be moved from their store. But the one thing that could have kept him from being appointed was not known to the opposition – he had not yet become an American citizen.

District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today the filing of two misdemeanor charges against Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Leonard Herrera Lopez (DOB 8/6/71). Lopez is charged with engaging in sexual activity with a female inmate at the Ventura County jail, a violation of Penal Code section 289.6(a)(2). He is also charged with entering the cell of the same female inmate without another employee present, in violation of Penal Code section 4021(b). Both state law and Ventura County Sheriff’s Policy prohibit custodial staff from entering the cells of opposite sex inmates unless accompanied by a same-sex staff member.

The inmate was assigned to a unit under the control and supervision of Lopez. Lopez is alleged to have entered the inmate’s cell unaccompanied by other jail staff in the early morning hours of September 6, 2019. Once Lopez was inside the inmate’s cell, he is further alleged to have engaged in sexual conduct with her. The inmate later reported the conduct to other jail staff.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau immediately launched a comprehensive investigation. Under state law, inmates cannot provide legal consent to engage in sexual activity with custodial staff. Lopez is scheduled to be arraigned on September 3, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. in courtroom 11 of the Ventura County Superior Court. Lopez faces a maximum possible sentence of 365 days in jail.

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office is the public prosecutor for the county’s 850,000 residents. The office employs approximately 280 employees including attorneys, investigators, victim advocates, and other professional support staff who strive to seek justice, ensure public safety, and protect the rights of crime victims. Follow the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office on Twitter @VenturaDAOffice