Fillmore Unified School District

Dear Fillmore Unified School District Families,
The purpose of this letter is to provide district families with an update on actions in support of students and the introduction of our Distance Learning for students. Our Board of Trustees and district staff hope that you and your families are healthy and safe during this difficult time. The Fillmore Unified School District believes deeply in continuing our efforts to support our students and remains committed to providing meals and instruction even though our physical schools are closed.

General Information
- All Fillmore Unified Schools and facilities will remain closed for the remainder of the academic year.
- District owned facilities and offices are closed to the public and visitors.
- During our closure you may see staff from Child Nutrition, Maintenance, Technology Services, Management, etc. in our facilities. Each of them is performing an "essential service" and is working to ensure continued supports for our students.

Meal Distribution
- Fillmore Unified is committed to providing meals for district students during the closure including during the upcoming Spring Recess.
- Meal distribution is now occurring once a week during which students are provided with a "5 day pack" of meals (5 breakfasts and 5 lunches).
- Meal distribution occurs at the following sites: a Mountain Vista Elementary School a Fillmore Middle School a Piru Community Center
- Our next meal distribution was scheduled for Monday, April 6, 2020 from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM at the above locations.
- Communication regarding the meal distribution can be found on the district website, www,fillmoreusd.org or via Blackboard Connect Ed messages

Spring Recess
-The scheduled Spring Recess is April 6th-10th, 2020
- We encourage families, students, and staff to use this time to care for themselves and others.

Distance Learning
- Beginning April 13, 2020, Distance Learning will focus on providing district students with instruction that is directed and supported by your child's teacher(s)
- Teachers will be establishing initial contact with students between April 13-20, 2020
- Students in all grades will be supported by their teacher(s) with specific differences based on grade level
- Children enrolled in Preschool, Transitional Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and 1° grade will receive work packets created by their teachers as well as weekly contacts with the teacher
- Students in grades 2-12 will receive access to instruction through the use of technology. Devices, iPads for students in grade 2 and laptops for students in grades 3-12, and network access will be provided to any Fillmore USD student who needs them to participate in instruction.
- Information on the distribution of technology will be provided to families during the week of April 6, 2020
- All district teachers, specialists, and managers will be using the Microsoft Teams platform to work together to support student instruction.
- Students in grades 2-12 will also receive access to Microsoft Teams where they will have opportunities to meet with their teacher(s) in video conferences and access assignments to complete.
- The Fillmore USD Microsoft Teams access is limited to district employees and enrolled students only.
- Resources for students and families to learn how to navigate with Microsoft Teams will be made available to district families.
- A list of digital learning resources are already available to all students on the district website under the title Distance Learning Support Class of 2020 Graduation, Senior Events, etc.
- The Fillmore Unified School District Governing Board remains committed to honoring the Class of 2020 at a time when the risk to the health and safety of our district community is no longer present.
- We remain in close contact with our county health officials and do not yet know when we can provide an update on this topic given the current circumstances.

Our teachers, principals, and other staff have been hard at work to prepare for providing instruction beyond our traditional schools and classrooms. We look forward with optimism to the opportunities for our teachers to work with your child through Distance Learning. As questions arise, we encourage you to reach out to your child’s teacher or principal. Together we will be able to navigate through the current challenges. Keep healthy and thank you in advance for your patience throughout this difficult time.

Sincerely,
Adrian E. Palazuelos, Fillmore Unified Superintendent

Bob Crum

I confess that this dastardly COVID-19 pandemic is troublesome. Being on the highly vulnerable list, worry is unavoidable. While I can't change the events, the circumstances are forcing me to reexamine some aspects of my life. But details are not fodder for this column. Instead, while confined to home, I'll admit that I've whiled away many hours reminiscing. Ah, the joy of nostalgia. Also thinking about how all of this might affect my photography future. But I digress.

Back in PP (Pre-Pandemic) days, many of my 'phonetography' friends struggled to understand why I continue to carry around a heavy black object (camera) hung from my neck. Because it's complicated, I struggled mightily to summarize an answer in less than 3,000 words. I never get to finish my answer.

I experienced the military in the U.S. Air Force stationed at Kadina Air Base, Okinawa. On leave in Tokyo, Japan, I bought my first camera. The first photos were of snow-capped Mt. Fujiyama (Fuji-san). On that day, photography became my middle name and has since added thousands of hours of excitement and enjoyment.

Upon my honorable discharge, I entered the workforce (WTVJ-TV Miami) to earn a living to support a growing family. I didn't yet have sufficient photography experience to work in that field. Nevertheless, I had a new purpose for photography: Photographing the kids as they grew!

Photography also gives me a reason to travel and explore new places. Like most people, there's a degree of pleasure from memorable experiences when going somewhere new. More importantly, I get to exercise and enjoy unlimited creativity.

The majority of my adult life was in South Florida, where I unceasingly explored the terrain from Lake Okeechobee to Key West. The rest of the state also explored as time permitted. I would peruse outdoor magazines and look with awe at many of the fascinating places to visit. In one magazine, I saw exciting photos of the Okeefenokee Swamp.

In the 1860s, the Lee family moved to Billy's Island in the heart of the Okeefenokee and lived off the land for decades. Though fire and the Civilian Conservation Corps removed most evidence of human activity on the island, the cemetery, rusty remnants of the logging camp, along with an Indian mound remained.

I had to see (experience) this mysterious swamp. In my inflatable raft, I spent four exciting days exploring the waterscape and three scary nights camping on Billy's Island. A story for another time. Note that I survived buzzing skeeters, giant spiders, slithering water moccasins (cottonmouth snakes) and cantankerous alligators. And for all this fascinating wildlife, I had only three rolls of film and one bottle of Jack Daniels.

Relocating to California after Hurricane Andrew, a camera in hand, the drive to explore the countryside continued. Why not? California has a plethora of rich, tantalizing photo ops ripe for photoing!

There are some places I frequently visit because of the variety of photo ops in one trip—for example, Gopher Glen farms in See Canyon. Gopher Glen farms grow a variety of scrumptious heritage apples, the kind you'll never find in a supermarket. Oh, don't get me started on their apple butter and apple cider. Soooo good.

After my annual purchase of goodies, I usually visit the Woodstone Marketplace, a country-style, counter-serve restaurant offering delish deli eats at Avila. Afterward, on to the Harford pier, replete with wildlife, including mermaids. There's never something to photograph.

From the archives, the photo of the week, showing me her better side, is blushing Gertrude, Queen of the Harford Pier at the Port San Luis Harbor.

Send comments, suggestions or questions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net

Patrick Maynard

Sheriff Bill Ayub is proud to announce the appointment of Patrick Maynard as the Director of the Office of Emergency Services. Patrick is a 9-year member of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, who began his career in 2011 as the alert and warning coordinator in the Office of Emergency Services (OES).

For the past seven years, Patrick has overseen the operations, training, and finance sections of OES. He has been the acting director of OES since the summer of 2019 when a nationwide recruitment was initiated to replace Kevin McGowan, who previously held the position. That recruitment effort culminated in the selection of Patrick as the OES director this week. He has taken the helm during a critical time when one of the greatest challenges confronts Ventura County residents: the Coronavirus pandemic.

Patrick has extensive experience managing the county’s response and recovery efforts to many disasters, including fires, mudslides, oil spills, and the Borderline mass shooting.

“I am thrilled with Patrick’s appointment,” said Ventura County CEO Mike Powers. “I have had the pleasure of working closely with Patrick during our last few incredibly challenging years, and I have found him to be bright, strategic, collaborative and extremely hard-working - everything you want in an emergency manager and leader. With the partnerships he has established across our community and his ‘whatever-it takes-to-get-it done’ approach, we are fortunate to have him in this crucial role during this unprecedented health crisis.”

Prepared by: Captain Eric Buschow
Approved by: Sheriff Bill Ayub

Santa Barbara, CA - Facing weeks of isolation, disruption, and stress, Californians are looking to our magnificent outdoor spaces to maintain physical and emotional health. The State’s stay at home order allows outdoor recreation, but this must be practiced with the utmost of care not to contribute to community spread of the COVID-19 virus, or put additional stress on under-resourced communities.

Officials closed dozens of state parks and state beaches because of crowding, and the Forest Service shut down “developed recreation facilities” in all of California’s national forests, including Los Padres. This means that all forest campgrounds are closed, but remote walk-in sites in the backcountry remain open at this time. For now, roads and trails in the Los Padres that are normally open this time of year remain accessible. Several national parks and monuments have also been shuttered at the urging of local communities to preserve resources and prevent contagion.

On the Central Coast, locally-operated parks, beaches, and trails remain open. “We can still go for a hike, run, or ride out on the trail, or camp in the backcountry or in dispersed sites,” said Rebecca August, advocacy director at Los Padres ForestWatch. “But we have an added responsibility to take extreme care not to put ourselves and others at risk while we’re out there having fun.”

This region has a wealth of natural outdoor spaces. Most communities are within reach of oak-forested trails, expansive beaches, or hills covered in chaparral and wildflowers beginning to bloom. These spaces can continue to be a source of healing and strength for our community, if residents exercise the necessary discipline to maintain social distancing and sanitation.

“A little dose of nature could be really good for everyone,” says Bryant Baker, conservation director at Los Padres ForestWatch.

Below are some guidelines to help you better determine whether visiting public lands like the Los Padres National Forest is right for you, and if so, how to do it safely.

Seven Guidelines to Follow

1. Stay at home if you feel sick, are experiencing any symptoms, or are in a high-risk group.

2. If you decide to visit the trails, stick close to home. Traveling through even nearby towns to access trails can have negative impacts including the spread of COVID-19—especially in under-resourced communities.

3. If you notice a trailhead appears crowded or if the parking lot is full, turn around and head to a different trail that has fewer people. Overcrowding is the #1 reason for trail closures; this will help keep our trails open.

4. Avoid unnecessary risk. Be aware that emergency services may be delayed if you get lost or in an accident. More importantly, requiring search and rescue puts emergency personnel at greater risk and taxes an already overburdened first responder and hospital network.

5. Always maintain at least six feet from other trail users. Wider trails and dirt roads are best. Announce yourself when there is less visibility. You should also try to hike with as small a group as possible—stick with just one hiking buddy or your immediate family.

6. Do not share food, or drinks with other trail users, or handle equipment or any item someone else may have touched.

7. Be prepared. Bathrooms, trash removal, and other services are likely to be suspended.

The above guidelines are in addition to the seven Leave No Trace principles that should always be followed when visiting public lands.

VENTURA COUNTY, CA - District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that consumers should be on the lookout for scammers trying to take advantage of county residents during this public health emergency. Federal and local law enforcement agencies are reporting an increase in scams related to the COVID_19 pandemic including:

• Fake Cures/Testing – Scammers are trying to capitalize on people’s fears by selling bogus products online which claim to treat or prevent COVID-19 such as vaccinations, treatments and home testing kits.

• Fake Suppliers – Online scammers are posing as legitimate companies with available supplies of in-demand products, such as face masks, hand sanitizers and household goods, who take your money and deliver nothing.

• Fake Government Scams – Using robocalls, e-mails and text messages, scammers claim to be from legitimate government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), then attempt to obtain your personal identification number (PIN) or social security numbers and bank account information. Due to the recent passing of the federal economic relief legislation, it is anticipated that scammers will attempt to take advantage of consumers with robocalls and phishing e-mails to “verify” your PIN. The District Attorney reminds county residents to never provide your PIN over the phone, through a text message or e-mail correspondence.

• Fake Charities – Scammers try to take advantage of county residents’ generosity during the COVID 19 pandemic by using names similar to legitimate charities and obtain donations that never make it to a legitimate cause.
To protect yourself from becoming a victim of one of these scams, it is important to verify you are dealing with a legitimate organization when making purchases or donations online. Do not open attachments in e-mails or click on links from senders you do not recognize. Do not provide your PIN in response to an e-mail, robocall, or text message from a phone number you do not recognize.

For information and recent updates specifically related to COVID-19 go to https://www.vcemergency.com/

Ventura County Library continues to provide services during the COVID-19 emergency while staff and customers are sheltering at home. Many library services continue to be available. Those services include:

eBooks and eAudiobooks are available in our CloudLibrary collection at: https://ebook.yourcloudlibrary.com/library/venturacountylibrary/Featured. Ventura County Library has recently dedicated extra funds to this collection to aid our customers during the County’s Stay Well at Home order.

eLibrary online resources at https://www.vencolibrary.org/elibrary including streaming music and movies, reference resources, newspapers, language learning, and literacy resources.

Storytimes – recorded on our YouTube channel at: https://bit.ly/VCLstory and https://bit.ly/vclSTEAM

Storytimes – live streamed on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Ventura-County-Library-68759970694/

Monday-Friday at 10:30am and Friday at 3:30pm

Including a STEAM storytime on Thursdays at 10:30am

Bilingual Storytime Monday at 3:30pm

Don't have a card? Check our Get a Library card page [https://bit.ly/VCLcard] to get a temporary number.

Due to the local COVID-19 emergency all Ventura County Library branches have closed and all programs and events canceled.

During this time, due dates for borrowed materials are being automatically extended, with no late fines assessed. Once the library reopens, customers may return materials. Until then, customers are asked to enjoy the items at home. Book drops are locked during our closure.

Placing holds is suspended and we encourage customers to keep lists of items and place holds once we reopen. The holds queue for materials is also paused, and when we reopen customers will have one week to pick up held items.

Ventura County Library is in constant communication with other departments, local officials, and health authorities. Stay updated on the latest regional developments of COVID-19 at https://www.vcemergency.com.

For additional information, contact Nancy Schram, Ventura County Library Director at (805) 256-8535

Ventura County Library:
Inspiring our community to explore, discover and connect.
The Ventura County Library is available 24/7 at www.vencolibrary.org.

Bob Crum

As the shelter-in-place order is extended, it's a great time to contemplate entering the wonderful world of photography. You're done with sissy cellphone photos and itching to act on your long-held secret to create awesome long-lived photographs. Here's some mental spinach to help you cast off the phonetographer shackles and become an grrrreat photographer!

Many photos I see of social media were shot with a cellphone. I know this because they're all awful. Relax, just kidding. Some are good. Even when I closely examine a Facebook photo, it's sometimes difficult to tell whether it's a cellphone or a camera photo. But I can tell!

We all know that present-day cellphone cameras perform quite well when abundant light is present or when the subject isn't moving too quickly. And in most situations, shooting family vacation photos with a cellphone might suffice. But when that cellphone is deficient, the magic of the moment is gone forever without a memorable photo. If that's not acceptable, you're ready for a camera!

Present-day cellphones are ubiquitous, and convenient, for instant social media snapshots. But for field sports, a rodeo, an air show or shooting wildlife, zooming is an important facet where cellphones can't compete with dedicated cameras.

The Samsung new S20 cellphone provides a hybrid optic zoom of 3x and 30x "Super-Resolution Zoom" (SRZ) with the telephoto lens. Impressed? Don't be. While the 30x super-resolution zoom (SRZ) sounds great, beyond the 3x optical zoom, the cellphone camera is not doing any zooming. Instead, it's heavily cropping the image to simulate zooming. A fake zoom! To get 'optically' zoomed 30x, you'd need a 7" long 200mm telephoto lens on your slim cellphone.

If you're ready to create 'real' photos, there are many delicious options. Camera technology has greatly improved lenses and internal processing. Remember, a camera is a computer with a lens attached. There are three categories of cameras: Compact & point & shoot cameras, bridge cameras and dSLRs - mirrored and mirrorless. Let's discuss compacts. Longer zooms, faster operation, better low-light capabilities, and better ergonomics, there are lots of good reasons to buy a state of the art compact digital camera, wrote shotkit.com. Note: the S20 costs $1295.00! That amount of $$ buys a great real camera!

Compact cameras utilize a 'fixed' built-in lens and on several models, the lens retracts into the camera. These cameras offer two substantial advantages: they're small and pocketable and you get real optical zoom for a lot less money. And cameras in this category produce very good quality photos in many situations!

Here are a few of smartphone-beating compact cameras: Fujifilm X100V, Panasonic Lumix ZS200/TZ200, Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III, Panasonic Lumix LX100 II, Sony Cyber-shot RX100 VI, Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III, Sony Cyber-shot RX100 IV and Panasonic ZS100/TZ100. I'll add Canon PowerShot G5 X Mark II, & Ricoh GRIII. Check shotkit.com for reviews and camera info. https://shotkit.com/best-compact-cameras/.

First, prioritize your photographic/camera needs: size, zoom range, exposure controls. Then consider buying a brand camera: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Fujifilm or Panasonic that's within your budget. If the budget is constrained, consider buying a pre-owned camera. I have purchased a used camera and two used lenses and happy with all three. Three reliable sources are https://www.adorama.com/Used, https://tinyurl.com/qr6vkb5 and https://www.keh.com/.

Being housebound, it's back to the rose garden for a photo shoot. The photo of the week is one of the beautiful flowers. See it in glorious color at: fillmoregazette.com. For entertainment: Sandpipers at Faria beach video #3: https://youtu.be/-6d3n3Li5Gs.

Send comments, suggestions or questions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net

As an essential service, Food Share, Ventura County’s food bank, is not only staying open, it’s stepping up its operations to feed even more people in need. In addition to grocery stores, farmers markets, convenience stores, take-out and delivery restaurants, food banks across the state are being asked to stay open by Governor, Gavin Newsom, even during the statewide stay at home directive.

Monica White, President & CEO of Food Share, Ventura County’s food bank, has a straightforward and positive message, “Keep calm and we’ll feed on! We are open for business and will continue to feed those in need in Ventura County. Our mission is more important than ever. We have asked our older volunteers to put their own health first and stay home, but we need help to meet the increasing need. If you are over the age of 12, are not in a vulnerable health group and have no symptoms of illness, please go to foodshare.com/volunteer and sign up for a shift. Our community needs your help.”

Food Share has stepped up its already rigorous food safety and facility sanitation practices to minimize any risk to food recipients, volunteers or employees. Everyone who volunteers will be asked to wash their hands thoroughly on entry to the building, will wear protective gloves throughout their shift and will work 6 feet away from other volunteers.

“We are working diligently with our food pantries and other community partners to implement new methods of food distribution, such as drive-through and drop-and-go models to ensure appropriate social distancing” added White. “We have also waived all delivery fees in addition to the shared maintenance fees to help our pantry partners keep the food flowing to those in need.”

For more information:

Up-to-date information on temporary pantry closures, pop-up distribution sites and emergency volunteer opportunities will be posted at foodshare.com/covid19/ and on Food Share’s social media channels.

For information on free Senior Food Kit distributions please go to foodshare.com/seniorkits

VCAAA also has information and resources for seniors at vcaaa.org/covid-19/

You can make a donation in support of Food Share at foodshare.com/give

About Food Share of Ventura County:
Since 1978, Food Share has been feeding the hungry in Ventura County. It all began when eight friends banded together to provide food to those in need in Ventura, CA. The early philanthropic movement started in a family garage, quickly outgrew a donated fire station in Saticoy and now operates in Oxnard, CA with two warehouses with a combined 36,000 square feet. Today, staff and volunteers distribute over 13 million pounds of food, or over 11 million meals, annually through its 190 pantry and program partners. As Ventura County’s food bank, Food Share provides food for 75,000 hungry friends and neighbors monthly. Food Share is a member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, as well as the California Association of Food Banks. For more information about Food Share, visit www.foodshare.com

Ventura County - As Community Memorial Health System prepares for the challenges treating a growing number of patients with Coronavirus (COVID-19), increasing demands on the health system may eventually lead to shortages of supplies and important personal protective equipment needed to protect patients, physicians, and staff. Based on current supply, projected usage, and market demand and supply availability, Community Memorial Hospital anticipates it may face supply shortages of protective masks, protective gowns, face shields, and medical goggles.

For those who would like to donate to Community Memorial Health System, CMHS is accepting donations of the following items only: face and/or eye shields (single use or non-disposable), N95 masks, N99 masks, P95 masks, Standard Procedure masks, isolation gowns, Standard Procedure gowns, coveralls, respirator hoods or hazmat hoods, and reusable P100/N95 respirators and cartridges/filters.

CMHS is not accepting cloth masks. Supplies in original, unopened packaging are particularly useful and appreciated.

The CMHS Donation Drop-Off Center opened on Wednesday, March 25, at the park in front of the new Community Memorial Hospital. Please look for the white tent adjacent to the grass area to bring your donations. Community Memorial Hospital is located at 147 N. Brent Street, Ventura, CA 93003.

The Donation Drop-Off Center will be open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. PLEASE DO NOT attempt to enter the hospital to make a supply donation as admittance to the hospital is restricted at this time.

CMHS appreciates the support of the individuals and organizations who have reached out wanting to support CMHS with donations of medical supplies.

For more information and updates on Coronavirus at Community Memorial Health System, visit cmhshealth.org.

Community Memorial Health System is a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, the Centers for Family Health, and various outpatient centers serving communities located within Ventura County, California.

2019 Deputy of the Year Diego Estrada

The Fillmore Community Awards Committee & Fillmore Police Department are proud to announce Deputy Diego Estrada as the 2019 Deputy of the Year!

Deputy Diego Estrada is a seven year veteran of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. Diego is married, has three children and lives in Ventura County with his family. Diego began his law enforcement career by attending the Sheriff’s Academy, graduating with class #2 of 2013. After graduating from the academy, Diego worked the custody division prior to being transferred to the Fillmore Station and has been here for a little over two years. During this short time, Diego has risen to the top of his field. He is very active on patrol and has quickly become a strong “beat cop” and an asset to the department. Diego has held a collateral assignment with the Tactical Response Team and was recently selected to the Sheriff’s Special Weapons and Tactics team. Diego was recently selected as one of the station’s gang liaison deputies.

Diego is a military veteran, and prior to becoming a sheriff’s deputy, was enlisted in the Army. Diego served in the Army from 2006 to 2012, and was deployed in Iraq for 18 months during his service. Diego’s military service has in no doubt prepared him for his service on the Sheriff’s Office. He is committed to serving the citizens of Fillmore, and Ventura County with the same reverence as he did the country. While serving the citizens of Fillmore, Diego has committed himself to become familiar with the criminal element and keeping that element from victimizing the citizens of Fillmore.

Due to Covid19, we have, as this time, postponed the Community Awards Reception until mid-June. We will keep the public updated if this changes.

City of Fillmore

The City of Fillmore is asking residents to avoid flushing sanitation wipes even if the package states they are flushable. Other alternatives to toilet paper including paper towels and facial tissues also should not be flushed in local sewer lines as people practice guidelines to combat the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. While the "flushable" wipes concern is not new to wastewater facilities, there is an increased risk to our system due to the current shortage of toilet paper.

The City is working closely with Veolia North America, which operates and maintains the wastewater treatment plant, to educate people about the need to avoid flushing inappropriate items down their toilets.

We ask that our community members pay extra attention to what items they are using and flushing and remind you not to flush anything other than toilet paper, whether being used for personal hygiene purposes or for wiping and cleaning surfaces. Although many so-called "disposable" hand wipes are advertised as being safe for flushing, they can cause backups in the system and contribute to buildup of foreign materials. In some cases, they can attach to buildups of grease in the system and create large blockages called "fatbergs."

Here are some items that should not be flushed down sewer lines:
• Paper towels
• Napkins
• Wet wipes/baby wipes
• Facial tissues

As a general reminder, here are "Dos and Don'ts" for avoiding backups in the local sewer lines:
• DO NOT flush wipes, gloves, towels or other trash down the toilet, even if they're labeled flushable.
• DO NOT pour grease down kitchen sinks or toilets. wipes, tampons, sanitary pads and condoms in the trash. DO toss dirty baby, makeup and cleaning.

Thank you for helping keep our community and facilities clean and functioning.

City of Fillmore

Courtesy City of Fillmore https://www.fillmoreca.com/Home/Components/News/News/3207/18

Post Date: 03/18/2020 9:57 PM

To our Active Adult Center Seniors, due to the growing concerns about the COVID-19 Virus and the closure of the Active Adult Center, the City of Fillmore will be providing meals to those who are in need and qualify under the guidelines established by the Ventura County Agency of Aging listed below:

Congregate eligibility requirements for the Senior Nutrition Program:

A. Congregate Meals

Individuals eligible to receive a meal at a congregate nutrition site are:

1. Any older individual;

2. The spouse of an older individual;

3. A person with a disability, under age sixty (60) who resides in housing facilities occupied primarily by older individuals at which congregate nutrition services are provided; and

4. A disabled individual who resides at home with and accompanies an older individual who participates in the program.
Definitions. “Older individual” means a person sixty (60) years of age or older.

If you would like to request a meal or know someone in the community who is in need, please contact Marie Garfio at 805-524-3030 or Julie Latshaw at 805-524-1500 ext. 234 to request a meal. Please note that if you are not part f the County’s database, you will be requested to complete an intake form. If you would like to get a head start in completing the intake form, please download, print, print and return the form to marfio@fillmoreca.gov. Intake form. Deliveries are expected to take place next week.

For more information concerning the Active Adult Center please call 805-524-3030.

Bob Crum

Writer's block is a condition in which a skilled writer (me) with the desire to write finds himself (me) unable to write. Thinking only invisible thoughts produces nothing. I'm sitting here at my computer staring at the monitor. Unable to conjure appropriate words, a blank page stares back. Overwhelmed by the constant barrage of coronavirus (COVID-19) news, thoughts are ruthlessly suppressed.

Moreover, healthwise, I'm in the highly vulnerable group which keeps COVID-19 front and center in my mind. Hence, the subject of photography seems irrelevant, barren of importance. However, let's agree that doom and gloom serve no useful purpose so indulge me a diversion if but a couple of minutes.

Phonetographers: Samsung is taking a bite out of the Apple iPhone! Just as Canon and Nikon aficionados gather (illegally these days) around a campfire and argue the merits of their beloved camera, so do phonetographers debate iOS vs. Android cellphone operating systems. The debates, often reaching a fever pitch, are matchless silliness. No one wins their argument because the utterances are subjective. The only arguable difference between the two is the operating systems and cameras. Cameras!

Samsung robustly excited the cellphone market with its new Galaxy S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra. The Samsung S20 website says: "This is the phone that will change photography. A massive leap forward in resolution and zoom for mobile photography." BOOM! I'm preordering an S20+ and an Ultra model! Nah, just kidding. No psychologist could restore my sanity were I to rush to buy. On the other hand..... hmm, anyone interested in buying all my Canon photo gear?

It looks like cellphones have not escaped the megapixel race. Samsung proclaims 64 and 108MP depending on the model. Mr. Kelly of Forbes wrote: "Don’t worry, you aren’t going to get 64 and 108MP photos. Samsung has adopted ‘Pixel Binning, ’ which uses lots of smaller pixels to create one large 2.4μm pixel with a 12-megapixel final image size. The big benefits of this approach are dramatic improvements in low light photography."

Regarding the zoom ranges, he said: "Extreme Zoom - dubbed ‘Space Zoom’, delivers up to 30x digitally on the Galaxy S20 and S20+ and a mind-blowing 100x on the S20 Ultra. While an undeniably cool party trick, it’s hard to imagine a true real-world (legal) scenario where you’d need this. As such, the 10x optical zoom of the S20 Ultra is going to be more useful, which makes it a shame that the other models are stuck with 3x."

Another feature Samsung touts: "8K video recording. Wow! Wait! Impressive! Does anyone have an 8K TV or an 8K computer display? And considering the massive size of an 8K video file, it seems like I'd need 1TB of storage for a couple of minutes of video. I'll stick with ole 1080.

Narcissistic types will love the Galaxy S20 Ultra's 40MP selfie camera with phase-detection auto-focus. Repeat: 40MP selfies! Incredible! Think about capturing your gorgeous face in billboard-size resolution! Think about a gazillion Facebook 'likes'! Yep, I knew I'd get you itching to order one! Chop chop!

The photo of the week presented a dilemma. Being housebound, no new adventures. Rummage hard drive archives? Instead, I grabbed my camera (the real camera with dials) and went outside. There sat my buddy Rascal waiting for supper. Bam! Photo of the week. Rascal is one of my four rescue cats. So horn-mad cantankerous was he at the outset, it took me six months to domesticate this purrdycat.

For entertainment during these gloomy times, another video of the fascinating Faria Beach sandpipers scurrying around at supper time. https://youtu.be/qsO5bMkRS8A

Send comments, suggestions or questions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net