July 31 - August 1 Experience hot air balloons illuminate at sunset, or ascend in the morning air against a spectacular backdrop of citrus orchards and field crops. Relax and enjoy the Wine and Beer Garden, live music, unique children’s activities, art, vendors, and activities for all ages. Details at: www.citrusclassicballoons.com. Save money and support the educational and preservation efforts of the Rancho Camulos Museum by purchasing advance tickets for the Citrus Classic Balloon Festival at the Rancho Camulos Museum or fruit stand or by ordering from 805-521-1501 or ranchocamulos@earthlink.net. Daily tickets are Adults: $7; Children 5-14: $3; and special parking $7. This is a discount from the gate price of $10/$5.

Lap Swim - Tuesday & Thursday 6:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. (Classes in progress) Tuesday & Thursday 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. $4.00 per person or 10 visit splash pass for $35.00 Water Exercise - Tuesday & Thursday 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 Swimming Pool Schedule a.m. (Classes in progress) Tuesday & Thursday 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. $6.00 per person or 10 visit splash pass for $45.00 Recreation Swim - Monday – Friday 1:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. $2.00 per person (Starting – Monday, June 22 2009 through August 14, 2009) Family Swim – Friday, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. $1.00 per person (Starting – Friday, July 3, 2009 Sign up for swim lessons starting Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at the pool site located at 575 First Street. For more information please call 524-4902.

The Ventura County Library community libraries will be closed Friday, July 3, and Saturday, July 4, for the Independence Day Holiday.
The Ventura County Library community libraries include Avenue Library, Camarillo Library, Fillmore Library, E. P. Foster Library, Meiners Oaks Library, Oak Park Library, Oak View Library, Ojai Library, Piru Library, Ray D. Prueter Library, Saticoy Library, Simi Valley Library, Albert H. Soliz-El Rio Library, and H.P. Wright Library.
Books may be returned to the bookdrops at any of the community libraries. The Ventura County Library is available via the internet, 24 hours a day, at www.vencolibrary.org.

Ventura, CA. - Community Memorial Health System has promoted Kimberly Bridges, R.N. and B.S.N., as director of its nine Center for Family Health offices in Ventura County.

Bridges has been with CMHS for 10 years, and served as manager of the Oxnard-Saviers Road Center for Family Health office for the past four years. Previously, Bridges was a clinical nurse in the Intensive Care Unit, Cardiac Care Unit and Emergency Room at Community Memorial Hospital, and later served as the hospital’s house supervisor.

In her new capacity, Bridges will maintain direct oversight of all Centers for Family Health offices, supervise their relationships with independent physicians and serve as the nursing liaison to the CMHS Nurse Directors Council.

Before joining CMH, Bridges worked in both clinical and educator capacities for LAC-USC Medical Center, UCLA Medical Center, and the Los Angeles City Fire Department.
CMHS’s nine Center for Family Health offices provide high-quality and convenient outpatient medical care to over 20,000 patients throughout Ventura County. Located in Oxnard, Ventura, Oak View, Camarillo, Santa Paula and Fillmore, the centers are staffed by board-certified physicians and medical professionals, who provide a large array of services including family practice, pediatrics and obstetrics. Several of the centers also provide urgent medical care and educational and counseling services.

Conway Spitler

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.
A billion second ago it was 1959. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive. A billion hours ago our ancestor were living in the Stone Age. A billion days ago no-0one walked on the earth on two feet. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain. let’s take a look at New Orleans. It’s amazing what you can learn with some simple division...
Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu is presently asking Congress for $250 billion to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean?
1. Well, if you are one of 484,6784 resident of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528.
2. Of, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329.786.
3. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012. Washington, D C - HELLO!!! — are all your calculators broken??

Farmers Insurance representatives have been inducted into the Farmers' "Topper Club" and invited to attend the 2009 annual meeting of Farmers' top sales producers. These representatives are being recognized by Farmers for outstanding sales achievements during 2008.
Paul Maher, Farmers Insurance Agent in Fillmore is among the honored. "Farmers congratulates and is proud to welcome these representatives to this year's Topper Club. They are committed to providing quality insurance coverage and industry-leading service to Farmers' customers," noted Executive Vice President of Field Operations, Jerry Carnahan.The Topper Club convention will give these representatives an opportunity to meet with other top Farmers agents and district managers to discuss local, state and national trends and activities affecting the insurance business in their communities.

The Ventura Senior Reader’s Theatre will be animating selections from three children’s books on June 24, 2009 at 2 PM. The fun presentation will be held in the children’s section of the Fillmore Library, and will feature readings from “Little Beaver and the Echo”, “Caps for Sale” and “Miss Nelson is Missing”. Surprises and laughs will sprinkle the tales. The group will be sponsored by the non-profit Fillmore Friends of the Library as part of their ongoing support of the Library. Phone 524-3355 for further information. The Library is located at 502 Second Street.

The Gazette received a phone call from a concerned citizen this week. She said her cat was missing, as were several of her neighbor’s cats. She said one of her neighbors saw a man in the neighborhood (800 block Edison Lane) taking a cat. When confronted, the man said he was setting traps all over Fillmore to trap cats, get them “fixed” then bring them back. He may be a good citizen, trapping feral cats, getting them neutered or spayed, then returning them to their area. Or he could be grabbing anyone’s cat and they disappear forever. Two “missing cat” posters were seen at the corner of River and A Streets. And we received a missing cat classified this week.That makes four pets missing. Anyone with any information on this can contact The Gazette and we will pass it on to the cat owners or proper authorities. Or we’ll thank the gentleman who is helping the feral cat population by reducing it responsibly.

The Ventura County Behavioral Health Department is pleased announce the 30 day posting for public comment of our Mental Health Services Act 2009-10 Annual Update. This Update is posted for 30-day review and comment period beginning Tuesday, June 16, 2009 through Thursday, July 16, 2009 on our website:

http://portal.countyofventura.org/portal/page?_pageid=953,1299773&_dad=p...

The Women of Distinction Luncheon committee met and through much discussion and decision making, have chosen the 2009 Women of Distinction. The women honorees are Joanie Young, Val Rains and Kathy Hartley. These women will be interviewed by Girl Scouts Gold Award girls Kathryn Irwin, Zoe Marie Sophos and Lauren Young and introduced to the luncheon attendees. There will also be two speakers during the lunch of Gold Award Girl Scout Katie Foster speaking about her award of collecting mixed (caucasian/latino) bone marrow, submitting it to the National Bone Marrow Center, and her story behind why she chose to do that project along with Girl Scout Dr. Cheryl Lambing from Ventura County Medical Center.

Channel Islands Harbor celebrates the 4th of July with a full-day of activities. Fireworks display begins at 9 p.m., but there is plenty to do before then. Marine Emporium Landing will have activities between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m., including an artist’s market, live music, face painting, petting zoo, inflatable fun zone, a rock climbing wall, food booths and Water Taxi rides. The 4th of July Parade begins at 11 a.m. in front of Harbor Landing and follows Harbor Blvd. south to the parking lot area in front of the Whale’s Tail and Port Royal restaurants. A 10K and 5K fun run/walk begins at 8 a.m. along Sunset Lane, Hollywood Beach, with registration at 7 a.m.

For more information on Fireworks by the Sea or the Channel Islands Harbor, visit www.channelislandsharbor.org.

VENTURA, CA – The Ventura Family YMCA will be hosting their 9th Annual Fun and Fitness 5K Run and Walk on July 25th at the Ventura Family YMCA starting at 7:00 a.m. Event proceeds will benefit the Ventura Family YMCA youth and teen programs.

The event includes a 5K run or walk around the city of Ventura, a live performance by New Waters, a local Ventura Christian rock band, family entertainment and a pancake breakfast, after the run, will be catered by Cypress Place for all who participate. Awards will be handed out to the top three places in each division along with amazing raffle prizes throughout the day! Most importantly this is a wonderful opportunity to have fun with family and friends while supporting the Ventura Family YMCA.

All pre-registered participants will receive a 5K T-shirt and the first 100 people will receive a goodie bag filled with items ranging from Dove products, Chipotle gift cards, Malibu Key-rings and more. Also, participants will be able to use the Ventura Family YMCA facility before and after the race. CONTINUED »

Ventura, CA - Ventura County Public Health received news that a swine flu pandemic was declared yesterday, June 11, 2009, by the World Health Organization (WHO). The worldwide pandemic alert level is raised to Phase 6 in response to the ongoing global spread of the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus. A Phase 6 designation indicates that a global pandemic is underway. The long-awaited pandemic announcement is scientific confirmation that this new flu virus is circling the globe and will prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus. WHO’s decision to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 6 is a reflection of the spread of the virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus.

“We are seeing small numbers of cases here in Ventura County and no local deaths have been attributed to this virus”, said Public Health Officer, Dr. Robert Levin. “Since the disease caused by the swine flu virus right now is so mild, it seems like pandemic is a strong word. Perhaps the WHO will rethink the definition we use for ‘pandemic’ in the future to incorporate the severity of disease caused by an infectious agent. But even though the severity of the virus appears to be tolerable now, we still need to be concerned about how virulent the virus will be when it returns in the fall.” CONTINUED »

Fillmore High Alumni Association

More than three hundred alumni members and guests filled the Memorial Building on Saturday for the 96th annual alumni dinner. Classes were represented for the years 1932 through 1939, with the last class celebrating its 70th reunion. Classes in each decade were represented for the '40's, 50's, 60's and 70's, and representatives from five classes from the 1980's were present, as were representatives from 1997, 2002 and 2004 and 17 scholarship winners from this year's graduating class. Alumni came from as far away as Alaska, with many coming from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

The evening began with the posting of the colors by Boy Scout Troop 406, followed by the Invocation by Jacob Zellmer, one of the scholarships recipients. An excellent dinner was served by Gary Laird's Butcher Shop and B-B-Q.

Margaret Haskell, class of '42 was recognized for her years of service to the alumni association as Secretary, and also for her many years of assisting with the dinner. Ralph Rees, a retired teacher from Fillmore High was recognized for his 28 plus years of teaching.

Prior to the awarding of the scholarships, Sydia Lopez-Reese, class of '79 and Chad Fore, class of '02 told about their college experiences and how much the local scholarships had helped them during their years in college. Alumni Scholarships were presented to Juliane Sandoval, Brina Suttle, Natalie Garnica, Karli Chessani, Jillian Wilber, Rebeca Herrera, Aimee Orozco, Michael Watson, Jacob Zellmer, Bailey Pina, Kyla Hernandez, Miguel Alonso, Gabriel Manzano, Jonathan Escamilla, Stephanie Bolanos, Nathan Liu and Erica Rodriguez.

The Honored Classes from 1944, '49, '54, '59, and '69 were recognized and welcomed for their attendance at the dinner.

Door prizes that were contributed by Carmen Zermeno, Lupe Vasquez, Conway Spitler, Nancy Wallace, Gertrude Lovelace and the alumni association were awarded to twenty lucky attendees.

The present board of directors of the alumni association were returned to office for the 2009-2010 year, and they are already planning next year's alumni dinner for Saturday, June 12 at the Memorial Building, so put that date on your calendar, alumni members.

The evening was closed with the singing of the alma mater, lead by Mark Ortega, being assisted by Rebeca Herrera, Natalie Garnica, Aimee Orozco, and Jillian Wilber.

Next year's honored classes will be all those classes whose graduating years ended in 0 or 5.

Conway Spitler

ALUMNI BANQUET
Probably there will be another article about the alumni dinner in the news; however, is great to be able to write
about the alumni dinner in my column. In my opinion is was one of the greatest since these dinners have been given. It is a shame; however, that more local people do not come to visit, find out where classmates are at this time, etc. The out-of-towners are always asking where is this graduate, or that graduate, who live in Fillmore. What can the locals say to these graduates who have come distances—in fact there was one present from the State of Ohio? The food was great, the tables with the class signs were attractive and helpful signs guided you to the correct year of graduation for the settings. It was delightful to have the dinner inside the memorial
building too! There were a great number of scholarships given to the seniors. It is always interesting to see the seniors who join the alumni memberships as they are acknowledged for their deeds at Fillmore High. This year there were a great number of graduates receiving scholarships. The graduates, the activities, the dinner, and the awarding of scholarships was done with lots of class. Richard Mosbarger and the officers did a great job and we graduates do thank them for all the work and preparation for the alumni dinner.

NORMANDY LANDINGS
The Normandy Landings were the first operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, also known as Operation Neptune and Operation Overlord, during World War II. The landings commenced on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), beginning at 6:30 British Double Summer Time (H-Hour). In planning, DDay was the term used for the day of actual landing, which was dependent on final approval. The assault was conducted in two phases: an air assault landing of American, British and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France commencing at 6:30. The invasion required the transport of soldiers and materiel from the United Kingdom by troop carrying aircraft and ships, the assault landings, air support, naval interdiction of the English Channel and naval fire-support. There were also subsidiary ‘attacks’ mounted under the codenames Operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable to distract the Kriegsmarine and the German
army from the real landing areas.[3] The operation was the largest single-day amphibious invasion of all time, with 160,000[4] troops landing on June 6, 1944. 195,700[5] Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000[4] ships were involved. The landings took place along a 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. The Allies had previously invaded mainland Europe September 3, 1943 with the landings in Italy.