On Sunday June 24th, 2012, at approximately 5:03am officers responded to the Texaco Gas Station located at 206 E. Harvard Blvd. for the report of an armed robbery. The suspect entered the business brandishing a knife and demanded money. An unknown amount of money was taken and the suspect fled east through the parking lot. The suspect was described as a male subject, thin build, approximate 5-11, wearing unknown clothing. The area was checked by officers from the Santa Paula Police Department as well as K-9 deputies from the Ventura County Sheriffs Department. However they did not located the suspect. At this time the investigation is ongoing.
If you have any information regarding this incident, please contact Detective Paul Spencer at 805-525-4474 Ext 221.
Cody Madison
Sergeant

Meeting Highlights Video

Complete meeting video

What began as a normal city council meeting, Tuesday, quickly exploded into verbal fireworks from Steve Conaway, a seven-plus year councilman, as he condemned Mayor Washburn for her unprecedented conduct.

Last Monday Washburn called the city attorney’s office, informing a member of that firm that Fillmore’s City Attorney, Ted Schneider, was no longer to attend any city meetings. It is alleged that her justification for banning Schneider was based on accusations that he has had a relationship with a former city employee.

Conaway expressed outrage with this action, stating that neither the Mayor nor the City Manager, Yvonne Quiring, had any business taking such action, implying a lack of authority to do so. Conaway said it was nothing less than “a personal vendetta being executed” against Schneider, and that “an individual’s personal life is none of your business.”

Quiring was silent. Washburn CONTINUED »

On Thursday, June 7th, the Ventura County Emergency Medical Services Agency partnered with the American Heart Association to coordinate a county-wide CPR program. This service was free to the public and was held in various locations across Southern California, Including Fillmore, with the goal of increasing the number of lifesavers in the community. Emergency healthcare providers, such as fire departments, ambulance companies, hospitals - Ventura County Medical Center, Santa Paula Hospital, Los Robles Hospital, Community Memorial Hospital and St. John's Hospital — and education programs went out into the community to teach residents how to save a life with "Hands-Only" CPR.

CPR instructors were on hand to demonstrate the basics and proper techniques of "Hands-Only" CPR, and participants had the opportunity to practice on mannequins. The training did not result in CPR certification.
Cardiac arrests are more common than you think, and can happen to anyone at any time. Nearly 300,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur annually and only 32 percent of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a lay person. Failure to act in a cardiac emergency can lead to unnecessary deaths. In fact, less than eight percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital survive. On the other hand, effective bystander CPR provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest can double or triple a victim's chance of survival. In 2011, Ventura County responded to 440 cardiac arrests; only 30% had bystander CPR in progress. Of those, only 14% went home neurologically intact.

Sadly, 70 percent CONTINUED »

Story Courtesy goventura.org

VISTA bus riders may soon encounter some service disruption arising from recent bankruptcy proceedings associated with service contractor CUSA. “Within the past two days, representatives from CUSA which operates our popular VISTA inter-community bus service informed the Commission that it intends to halt operations on or about June 30, 2012 due to bankruptcy sale of assets. We clearly understand the negative impact which this action may have on our valued VISTA customers, and VCTC staff is working actively to identify a safe and quality solution”, noted Darren Kettle, VCTC Executive Director.

Any possible disruption in CUSA operations would not have an impact on VISTA dial-a-ride services in the Heritage Valley (Santa Paula, Fillmore, and Piru); nor on any of Ventura County’s other public transit providers: Ojai Trolley, Moorpark City Transit, Gold Coast Transit, Thousand Oaks Transit, Camarillo Area Transit, and Simi Valley Transit. About 1,500 passengers are served daily through VISTA.

VCTC will continue to honor all Go Ventura bus pass cards on the VISTA inter-community bus service through June 30, 2012. Go Ventura bus pass products will continue to be honored on other participating public transit providers throughout Ventura County, including VISTA dial-a-ride services in the Heritage Valley (Santa Paula, Fillmore and Piru).

New sale and CONTINUED »

[The Gazette’s city reporter was absent this week]
A budget crisis is arising at city hall. City Manager Yvonne Quiring was unable to answer budget questions at Tuesday’s meeting, for the second week. After eliminating “fifty percent” of the city’s work force, in and out of city hall, and replacing many with temporary and contract workers, Quiring does not know what, if any, savings resulted.

For the second week chambers was filled with concerned citizens responding to expressed intentions by the council to close Fillmore’s parks and restrooms. City Manager Quiring suggested last week that, because Fillmore is such a small town, those participating in sporting events at the parks could run home to use bathroom facilities.

Councilman Steve Conaway expressed frustration in the Manager’s inability to provide specific answers to budget questions and time is very short for the mandated budget approval.

Throughout Ventura County the number of people needing help feeding their families continues to grow. Food Share of Ventura County, which was established in 1983, helps address this need with its 150 partnered outreach agencies and over 300 volunteers. In 2010 Food Share distributed over nine million pounds of food to more than 74,500 people each month countywide. This number represents more than 6.8 million meals.

Volunteers are a huge part of all the programs along with faith based organizations that provide 67% of the distribution outreach and non-profits which provide about 25%. The primary source of food products made available are through donations from local grocery stores, supermarket chains, food manufacturers, distributors, the government, foundations, local farmers, harvesting efforts, food drives and private individuals.

One of the biggest food drives, The Postal Carriers’ Food Drive, was recently held. This drive allows the citizens of the county to donate food on a designated Saturday, which was May 12th this year, by putting the items out for their mail carrier to collect and bring back to the local post office. Those items are then distributed to outreach programs.

Bonnie Weigel, CEO and CONTINUED »