Supervisor Kelly Long Statement on Santa Clara Wastewater Restitution
To the Editor:
“I was appalled to learn that full restitution has not yet been paid to the victims of the Santa Clara Waste Water (SCWW) facility explosion and subsequent fire that occurred at Mission Rock Road in November of 2014. This incident resulted in serious injuries to a number of employees and first responders. The SCWW agreement was released by the District Attorney and Attorney General’s offices on June 7, 2019. In reading through the agreement, I was extremely disappointed to learn the restitution amount of $2,647,621 is tied to the issuance of permits to reopen the site. Those that were injured have waited long enough and should receive their payments now without stipulation or constraints. If the site is to reopen, it should be considered on its own merits and with a full environmental review to ensure safety and transparency to our community.”
Kelly Long
Ventura County Supervisor, Third District

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To the Editor:
Imagine a world where the letters A, B and O have gone missing. For example: _meric_n Red Cr_ss. You can’t help but notice that something is off. These aren’t just random letters. A, B and O are the letters that make up the major blood groups, and when there’s a blood shortage, types A, B, O and AB blood really can go missing from hospital shelves. This summer, the Red Cross will launch our second annual Missing Types campaign to encourage blood donations.
To help raise awareness for the need for blood donors, businesses, organizations and individuals across the country are joining the Missing Types movement by removing the A’s, B’s and O’s from signage, websites and social media. The goal of Missing Types is to get people to take notice and take action by donating blood.
The need for this campaign is real. Each year, more than 21 million blood components are transfused to U.S. patients, with the Red Cross providing about 40% of that supply. Despite blood’s lifesaving role, only 3 out of 100 people in the U.S. gives blood each year.
Blood donations help people undergoing cancer treatment, those receiving organ transplants, accident victims and other patients. As the Board Chair of the Ventura County Chapter of the Red Cross, there are so many people whose lives have been impacted, if not saved, by blood transfusions.
On behalf of the Red Cross, I’m inviting you to help fill the Missing Types by giving blood this summer.
Sincerely,
Jayme Garone
Board Chair
American Red Cross of Ventura County

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To the Editor,
I am a Fillmore resident and a graduate of Fillmore High School. I have 2 children that attend Fillmore schools: a senior and a 6th grader. I am a veteran teacher of 19 years with Fillmore Unified, a former bargaining chair, and the proud president of the Fillmore Unified Teachers Association (FUTA). I am writing this letter representing many of the hats I wear: tax payer, parent, teacher and leader.
Last summer I had the distinct pleasure to go on a European tour with my son and some of his classmates from Fillmore High School. One stop we made was the Louvre in Paris. I was able to see many beautiful works of art such as the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is currently valued at $830 million. I was also fortunate enough to see Notre Dame Cathedral. A beautiful example of architecture. While the value of Notre Dame to the Roman Catholic Church and the art world is priceless, the estimated value before the fire was roughly $6.75 billion. Treasures such as these hold both financial and sentimental value to the world.
It’s easy to see the value in famous works of art and landmarks, so let’s think about the works of art our children and students create. We cherish them. We keep them on our fridge for months. How many of us have boxes or file folders full of art work that a child gave us? We keep them because they have a value to us that transcends monetary value. Bottom line, we value the greatest sculptures to the most simple macaroni covered plate. The same principle applies to people. Whether you are the President of the United States, a custodian, a CEO, instructional aide or the superintendent, you have value.
So how does one place value on dedication, work ethic and sacrifice? The school board has shown they value some employees by offering fully funded benefits and rewarding employees with salary increases. By capping insurance and not offering a raise that will offset the added expense of educator’s health benefits, they have given the message that FUTA members have less value than other employees. The school board has failed to show they value the members of FUTA. Just as all art has value, so do all who contribute to the education of our youth, our future. We dedicate countless hours to our profession. Our job is not a 9 to 5 job. We don’t just leave our classroom at the end of our contractual obligation and everything is done. We work nights; weekends and often sacrifice time with our families to prepare lessons, grade papers, fulfill district mandates, and lose sleep over students we are concerned about. How has the District leadership shown they value teachers, TOSA’s, counselors, nurses, coordinators, psychologists? Offering us a 2.5% raise and a hard cap on all our benefits does not make us feel valued. We make up approximately half of the work force for Fillmore Unified and yet we are expected to sacrifice the most. That does not show we are valued. The District reaped the benefit of the drastic decrease cost for the FUTA members health care plan for 2019. Current cost savings is a little over $900,000. Was that cost savings given back to the members who were impacted by that financial loss? No. It is an ongoing savings for the foreseeable future. Is the salary and benefits offer compensatory with what we lost? No. In actuality, what we are asking for isn’t even a raise. We are simply asking to be made whole. We are asking the District to give us the cost savings that they reaped but are now failing to honor the employees who were impacted by it. They need to show us that they value us. We need to be a priority not an afterthought.
Thank You
Tammy Ferguson
President, Fillmore Unified Teacher’s Association