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A fire was reported inside a small vacant house located at the 200 block of Orange Grove at around 9:15 p.m., Tuesday evening. The small fire was extinguished fairly quickly and the fire department left. Later in the evening at 11:45 p.m. another call came in for the same address, but this time the fire was in a small shed at the rear of the property. The fire quickly spread to the front house with flames that at times reached 15-feet above the roof. The crackling sound of live electrical wires could be heard as the fire burned the lines above the structure. Fillmore Fire Chief Rigo Landeros reported that protecting the perimeter and stopping the embers from igniting the surrounding structures was their greatest concern. He stated that the south/west winds were working in their favor and were blowing the flames away from the house just north of the fire. With an occasional dousing to keep ambers down, it was decided to let the structure burn as much as it could to remove any unstable structural debris that could be a danger to the public. By 1:30 a.m. the structure was completely burned.

Ventura, Santa Paula and Fillmore Fire Departments responded with six fire trucks, 20 firefighters and four police units. Arson was called to investigate due to the unusual circumstances of both fires. The structure has sat vacant for about three year and about two years ago it was boarded up due to vagrants residing inside. Recently some of the boards had been removed, possibly indicating unlawful occupancy.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

On Thursday, January 20, 2011, the Sheriff’s West County Street Narcotics Team concluded a month long narcotic sales investigation on Alfred Johnson who resides in the 400 block of Santa Clara Street, Fillmore.

Investigators received information that Johnson was selling Oxycodone from his apartment unit, which is part of a senior citizen living community complex. Investigators obtained enough evidence to get a search warrant for Johnson’s apartment unit. The search revealed approximately 1,000 medication pills the vast majority of them being Oxycodone and other opiate derivative medications. In addition, packaging material for sales, pay ledgers and surveillance cameras were found in the apartment unit. Johnson was taken into custody without incident for possessing opiate medication for the purpose of sales. Johnson’s bail was set at $55,000.00 and his arraignment is scheduled for January 24, 2011.

Location: 400 block of Santa Clara Street, Fillmore
Date & Time: January 20, 2011 1:00 P.M.
Unit Responsible: Sheriff’s West County Street Narcotics Team
(S)uspects, (V)ictims, (W)itnesses City of residence Age
Alfred Johnson Fillmore 67
Officer Preparing Release: Sgt Robert Thomas
Follow-up Contact: Sgt Robert Thomas 805-383-8710
Approved by: Mike De Los Santos, Captain #0730

City Manager Yvonne Quiring

Following a three hour special meeting Monday, council members discussed and agreed to essentially ignore employee grievances with a statement amounting to “Can’t we all just get along?”

Recently, 32 city employees signed two letters of no confidence in City Manager Yvonne Quiring. These letters were read publically to the council on September 27, 2010. Employee grievances were clearly specified as follows:

“The Management and Represented employees of the City of Fillmore are writing this letter to inform the Council of its displeasure with City Manager, Yvonne Quiring, that the employees have no confidence in Ms. Quiring's leadership, and our concern for the general welfare of the City under her direction.

Thirty-Two of the City's thirty-seven fulltime employees agree that they are being micromanaged, belittled, intimidated, given unclear direction, harassed, and fear retaliation for informing Council of the current status of their working environment. Management staff feels that Ms. Quiring has created a hostile work environment within which staffs ability to focus on and complete work has been stifled. Her contradictory management style consists of speaking kindly before a group of employees then holding closed door meetings wherein staff is unfairly berated bringing the morale of the entire City Hall to a now intolerable low.”

This statement of no confidence, also signed by top level employees such as City Engineer Bert Rapp, is unprecedented in Fillmore’s history. The official statement following Monday’s Special Meeting apparently ignored employee complaints:

“January 18, 2011
City Council Statement re: No Confidence Letter
The Council has taken this issue seriously and we have gone to great expense and effort to work through this process in a fair manner. We have to acknowledge that there are two sides to this story.

We have had an opportunity CONTINUED »

(l-r) Board Member Virginia De La Piedra and Janice Schieferle who received a “Students First” award in recognition of her 35 years of service to the District.
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(l-r) Virginia De La Piedra presents former Board Member Michael Saviers a ‘Students First’ award in recognition of his brief but important time served on the Board.
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During public comment last night’s School Board heard a report from Future Farmers of America Fillmore Chapter Reporter and Ventura Section Treasurer Brooke Aguirre regarding all the events and activities FFA is currently involved in, including the upcoming due dates of expectant heifers and sows.
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On Tuesday January 18th prior to the regularly scheduled meeting the Fillmore Board of Education met for the “first of several study sessions” according to Superintendent Jeff Sweeney. That nights topic was “Program Improvement; what does it mean? What are we doing about it?” The study session lasted one hour, and began with a presentation from Assistant Superintendent Katy Hadley followed by presentations from the principals of each school. Sierra High Principal Cynthia Frutos was unable to attend. To begin Hadley stated “It is our hope to begin a conversation with our principals” with the “objectives… that our Board and audience understand how program improvement schools are identified” and “[what is] being asked of our site principals and teachers once they are identified”. Hadley explained that only those schools which qualify and choose to receive Title I monies (Title I is a federally funded program aimed at benefiting “socioeconomically disadvantaged” students) and do not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two consecutive years are designated as “PI” schools. She went on to explain that for a school to meet it’s AYP it needs to do four things; 1. Have at least 95% of students participate in assessment testing. 2. Have enough students score proficient. 3. Meet the “target” for Academic Performance Index (API, this program sets scoring benchmarks for student subgroups each year, with an ultimate goal of all “groups” reaching a score of 800 out of 1000). Board member John Garnica caught on and clarified “so wait did I just hear that correctly… a [non Title 1] school… actually doing worse than a Title I school…could be not identified [as PI]”. The discussion went on, and Hadley reported that the District receives $680,000 in Title I funds out of the nearly $30 million budget. Sweeney stated “it is a choice to accept the money and with the money comes restrictions as well as if we are not scoring at a certain level comes the label… what is the stigma that is associated with it…The system is skewed…to where if we run the system to 2014 everyone will be in program improvement.” Hadley also presented to the Board information on what the District leadership and teachers must do each year that a school is in “PI status.” Actions required and suggested include notifying parents of school choice option, setting goals, provide after school tutoring (to qualifying students), state takeover, reopen as a charter, remove and rehire staff and so on.

The Board then heard from principals. San Cayetano Elementary Principal Jan Marholin began by showing that while “making growth targets, and improving in math and science, but looking at reality we are dropping in our English-language arts”. “We tore our whole curriculum apart… we started things differently today” Marholin stated. The staff is also learning from the success at Mountain Vista Elementary “They have proved a certain model to work for language arts… [we are looking at] how can we restructure at San Cayetano with the resources we have without any additional funds?” The other principals joined Marholin in acknowledging where their students need to make improvements, and reported to the Board on changes occurring on their campuses to make that happen. Mountain Vista Elementary Principal Chrissy Shieferle reported that while continuing to focus on what’s working she and her staff are also “reviewing what interventions have been done in the past that did not work… you see many kids on that intervention list from kindergarten to ninth grade…we’re making sure we are not repeating the cycle of what has not been successful.” She also reported that for students who are at grade level or above “core literature” has been added back in. Sespe Elementary Principal Rosemarie Hibler emphasized in addition to onsite collaboration “we are collaborating among the sites… teachers across the District are talking about what’s working and what is not.” Piru Elementary Principal Tricia Godfrey emphasized “adult learning… [Staff learning] from outside resources… observing other classes”. Fillmore Middle School John Schweller, who is new this year, spoke regarding the targeted “rotations” taking place for “direct instruction” with particular students on particular topics as needed. He explained that this allowed some enrichment activities back into the student’s day, which can help “[students] make some of those connections... [Who maybe] weren’t finding the connection to the academics… now we see that level of learning come back.” Fillmore High School John Wilbur continued the District wide emphasis on collaboration. He updated the Board on the ongoing development of the “collaborative culture” at the high school. Answering a question from Board President Virginia De La Piedra regarding where each school is most focused on improving Wilbur indicated “our biggest concern right now is our math performance on CAHSEE (California High School Exit Examination) last year … in math we dropped 7% in passage rate”. Hadley responded that across the state math scores tend to be lower than language arts, and “we are following that trend, we’re lower than we should be, math scores are really much lower than they should be.” The discussion continued with questions from the Board and responses. To see the entire study session watch the video online at www.fillmoregazette.com/blogs look for the School Matters Blog (Video will be posted on Friday Januray 21, 2011).

At 6:30 the Board convened their CONTINUED »

Senator George Runner
Serving the 17th District which incorporates portions of the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura and Kern counties.

Clerk Recorder/Registrar of Voters Mark A. Lunn Announces Tuesday, February 15, 2011, Special Primary Election Details.

Clerk Recorder/Registrar of Voters Mark A. Lunn announced details today regarding the upcoming Tuesday, February 15, 2011, Special Primary Election, which is being held to fill the 17th State Senatorial District seat recently vacated by State Senator George Runner.

Lunn explained, "This special election will be conducted in only four counties: Ventura, Kern, San Bernardino and Los Angeles." Lunn added, "In Ventura County, it will affect approximately 22,000 registered voters in Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru, and the unincorporated area of Ojai."

Voter registration forms are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the Ventura County Elections Division, Government Center, Hall of Administration, 800 South Victoria Avenue, Ventura. Registration forms are also available at all city hall offices, post offices, libraries, chambers of commerce, and fire stations, as well as at http://recorder.countyofventura.org/elections.htm

Lunn provided the following key dates as a guide for voters in this special primary election:

Friday, January 21: First day Vote By Mail ballots will be issued by the Ventura County Elections Division. This is also the first day that voters can vote their Vote By Mail ballot in person at the Elections Division.

Monday, January 31: Last day for voter registration forms for this election to be postmarked.

Tuesday, February 8: Last day for Vote By Mail ballot applications to be received by the Elections Division. To vote by mail, voters only need to send a completed application on the back of their Sample Ballot booklet or a letter requesting to vote by mail to the Elections Division by Tuesday, February 8.

Tuesday, February 15, at 8:00 p.m.: Last day for completed Vote By Mail ballots to be received by the Elections Division. Voters may also drop off their completed Vote By Mail ballots on Election Day at the Elections Division or at any of the 14 polling places that will be set up for this special primary election.

Lunn concluded, "Although this is a relatively small election, all elections are equally important and I encourage all eligible voters to register and vote in this special primary election."

The Fillmore - Piru Police Explorer Post competed in the Chandler, Arizona Explorer Competition from January 14 thru January 16, 2011. They received 1st place in a difficult competition. Yes, that is first place! Needless to say, there are jealous teen explorers across 5 states that now know of FILLMORE-PIRU. They arrived in Arizona as an underdog, unknown and green. This is the Fillmore teen’s first time attending this National Western competition. The Fillmore-Piru,Teen Explorer post has only been active since April, 2010. There were 9 local teen explorers who attended, along with 3 Sheriff advisors.

They competed in several events and competed against 50 other posts from various states. They competed in the many group events that challenged their team skills. The following explorers attended the competition: Sergio Cornejo, Khristian Felix, Josefina Fernandez, Jessica Givan, Eddie Gutierrez, Tyler Hackworth, Brandon Pina, Michael Topete and Briana Vazquez. The following advisors attended: Deputy Gabriel Gonzales, Cadet Leanne Thompson and Deputy Leonardo Vazquez. Our kids could have not done it without these dedicated Fillmore Officers. The competition was a learning experience and the local explorers enjoyed it. They learned how to work together as a team. The community is very proud of the teen explorers, their achievement winning a “First Place” and we all look forward to their future work in organizing the 2011 Fillmore Fourth of July Car Show and Chili Cook Off. Courtesy of Fillmore Police Department.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

On Friday, January 7, 2011, at approximately 7:00 am, gang related search warrants were conducted at residences in the 600 block of Lemon Way and the 800 block of ‘B’ Street in the City of Fillmore by the Fillmore Gang Unit. The search warrants were in reference to an ongoing gang-related robbery investigation, which occurred in Fillmore. The two juveniles were arrested during the service of the search warrants for the following violations, 186.22(a) PC - Gang Allegation, 182(a)(1) PC - Conspiracy, 211 PC – Strong Arm Robbery, and 415(1) PC - Public Disturbance. Both juveniles were lodged at the Juvenile Justice Center.

Ariana Medina, Jesse Vasquez and Yvan Hernandez were at the residences during the search warrants and were found to be under the influence of a controlled substance and were arrested for a violation of 11550(a) H&S. The robbery investigation is continuing and additional arrests are expected.

Location: 600 Block of Lemon Way and 800 Block of ‘B’ St., Fillmore
Date & Time: Friday, January 7, 2011 at approximately 7:00 am
Unit Responsible: The City of Fillmore Gang Unit
Report: #10-31463

Arrestees, City, Age:
Juvenile, Fillmore, 16
Juvenile, Fillmore, 17
Medina, Ariana, Fillmore, 20
Vasquez, Jesse, Fillmore, 41
Hernandez, Yvan, Fillmore, 19

Officer Preparing Release: Deputy G. Cadman (#3960)
Follow-up Contact: Sgt. David Wareham (805) 524-2235
Approved by: Captain Mike De Los Santos #0730

Bert Rapp Receives Prestigious ACEC Award. Rapp lead the city in engineering excellence for 20 years. The American Council of Engineering Consultants 2010 Engineering Excellence Honor Award for the City of Fillmore Water Recycling Program was presented to exiting Public Works Director Bert Rapp after 20 years of excellent service to the city. Presenting the award was Mayor Gayle Washburn and Doug Haack, Construction Observer with AECOM.
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Bert Rapp being recognized after 20 years of service to the city of Fillmore.
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This Tuesday’s City Council Meeting was the first full meeting for Council Member Brian Sipes, Mayor Gayle Washburn, Mayor Pro Tem Jamey Brooks and the last meeting for Public Works Director Bert Rapp.

The meeting began with Proclamations for the Vision 2020 Civic Pride Committee and a posthumous proclamation recognizing the contributions of Roy Arnold. But the accolades going to Rapp for his almost 20 years of service to the City were so numerous it was hard to keep count.

One of the many beautiful plaques Rapp received at the meeting was from Jeff Gorell 37th District Assemblyman and presented by District Director Ernie Villegas. Rapp was thanked for his numerous contributions to the City that included hours of work helping obtain grants to improve the town, along with helping design our City Hall, bike path, flood protection levees, storm drains, water recycling plant, the downtown street design, raised bridges over gutters on Central to cross the street safely, and speed table in front of the Town Theatre to keep the traffic flow at a safe speed to name just a few. Many spoke of how easy Rapp was to work with and Laurie Hernandez, stated Rapp’s leaving was “a tremendous loss to our city”. Hernandez spoke of how much he will be missed and what a pleasure it was to work with him. Council Member Patti Walker stated Rapp always had “environmentally sound designs” and when the town was concerned with flood control problems Rapp was always out there keeping watch. He was so appreciated that every address brought a standing ovation from everyone in attendance.

During the Public Comments section a CONTINUED »

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Taurie Banks, of Fillmore, has earned the Instructor Certification for the United States Eventing Association (USEA). She is one of 225 instructors in the nation, and the first horseback riding instructor in Ventura County to earn this recognition.

Taurie is the owner and operator of Kings Corner Training Stables in Fillmore and has been riding since the age of 7. She started with 4H and Pony Club and went on to compete nationally in Eventing, Dressage, and Show Jumping. She continues to actively train horses and compete.

She began teaching as a Pony Club member at the age of 10, and and continued after graduating as a Chief Instructor for River View Pony Club. She also became a National Chief Horse Management Judge at the age of 22, and was the Camino Real Regional Coach for Championships five times. She has been a Judge, Technical Delegate and Course Designer for Local Competitions. She established Kings Corner Training Stables in 1989, where she developed horses and riders from absolute beginners to competing nationally. She has produced Graduate 'A' Pony Club members, upper level Dressage riders, Event riders and successful English and Western horses and riders.

Although she has had many CONTINUED »