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2020 Ventura River lawsuit information

by Council Member Christy Weir

Approximately 20% of Ventura’s municipal water comes from the Ventura River. Over the past 20 years, Ventura has decreased the amount of water taken from the river.

In 2014, Santa Barbara Channelkeepers, an environmental non-profit, alleged that the city’s use of the river water was unreasonable and harmful to the steelhead fish. The city agreed that the fishery was suffering, but proposed that the city alone could not solve the problem. Many other water users upstream impact the river, as well as the Matilija Dam, invasive plant species such as arundo that use lots of water and prevent fish passage, invasive fish species, and continuing drought.

The city is committed to working with other stakeholders in the watershed to address these impacts affecting steelhead, while aggressively implementing water conservation measures in Ventura. We are currently working with large water users to implement physical solutions such as arundo removal, new river gauges, and seasonal passage monitoring. Our partners are the Casitas Municipal Water District, Meiners Oaks Water District, Ventura River Water District and Rancho Matilija Mutual Water Company, as well as Taylor Ranch, Friends Ranches and Thacher School.

As part of the Channelkeepers lawsuit, the city was required by a judge to notify all of the users of river water, including residents of the Ojai valley, about the ongoing litigation, to provide them the opportunity to participate. Over 14,000 notices were sent to property owners who reside in the affected groundwater basins. Property owners who do not have a well are not required to participate in the lawsuit—they may ignore their notice. People who do have a well may choose to enter the case and collaborate to protect their rights by filing an answer to the notice, sometime in the next 6 months.

The goal of the City of Ventura is to work with other affected parties to protect all of our water rights, while taking steps to preserve the health and sustainability of the river and the fish.

Sculpture memorializes Miriam Schwab’s love of music

Photo by Bernie Goldstein

In our last issue we had an article (and photos) regarding the bronze sculpture by Ventura artist Michael O’Kelly located in the courtyard of the Ventura College’s Performing Arts Center.

The 12-foot high sculpture memorializes Miriam Schwab’s love of music and her strong belief in the import role music plays in the community college system.

The photos did not show the sculpture in its beauty as this does.

Firefighters walk to raise awareness for PTSD and suicide prevention

John Preston, Mayor Matt LaVere and Shawn Hughes raising awareness of PTSD.

by Richard Lieberman

On a recent Friday, John Preston, a Palo Alto firefighter was in Ventura walking to raise awareness about PTSD and suicide among first responders and veterans. Preston was supported by Ventura firefighters that joined him for the Ventura part of his twenty-two miles a day trek.

Shawn Hughes, president of Ventura City Firefighters helped lead Ventura firefighters on the walk through the city from Main Street to Johnson Drive where Oxnard firefighters took over and continued the walk to Point Magu. The march will cover over five hundred miles of California coasts.

“My intention is to stop suicide; I lost my brother to suicide in 2016” Said Preston. “He was a both a marine veteran and a police officer for 20 years” added Preston. “I saw the toll it took on my family, and I wanted to prevent this from happening to anyone else.” He said. The march will last for thirty days but has taken a physical toll on Preston. “My feet are shredded to pieces right now.” He said. “Post Traumatic Stress is a very real thing in our community it happens in our veteran community, it happens in the police, and it happens in the first responder community” Added Preston. “We want to be able to recognize that it is a problem and getting people to start asking for help.” He said. “My journey on this, I have carried a pack weighing 22 kilos for nineteen days and I physically broke. I was unable to stubbornly put down my pack and ask for help.” Said Preston. “This was a giant symbolism why my brother took his own life.” He added.

Mayor LaVere commented “I think it is amazing, and when I heard it was coming to town, I cancelled all my meetings to be here to support this guy.” Said LaVere. “I know the pressure our men and women in public safety face what they have to see, and I can only imagine that internal burden and a lot of time people just don’t see it. None of us know what they experience on a day to day basis.” He added. “When you hear about all these suicides of first responders and our veterans it is a crisis and really glad he is bringing light to these issues.”

PTSD- Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.

2019 Fair Poster receives accolades from Fair Industry Leaders

Local teen’s poster art lauded for excellence.

The Ventura County Fair has announced that the 2019 Fair poster, illustrated by 18 year old Daríana Vásquez of Santa Paula, has won first place in the Western Fairs Association (WFA) annual communications awards competition.

The award was among a number of honors presented to the Ventura County Fair at the WFA annual general assembly at which roughly 125 fairs from throughout the Western United States gather new ideas, attend seminars and participate in the annual Achievement Awards.

“I am proud of our staff’s representation of our Fair and of our community at the WFA Achievement Awards.” said Barbara Quaid, CEO, Ventura County Fair. “Our awards speak to the quality of our overall marketing efforts and programs.”

The Achievement Awards recognize the very best efforts that a fair puts forth for its community. This year, Ventura County Fair received 8 Achievement Awards recognizing everything from the Fair’s advertising to its contributions from the community.

The 2020 Ventura County Fair will open on Wednesday, August 5 and run through Sunday, August 16. For Fair information visit www.venturacountyfair.org or call (805) 648-3376.​

The Ventura County Fairgrounds is owned by the State of California and administered by the 31st District Agricultural Association under the direction of the Division of Fairs and Expositions, Department of Food and Agriculture. A nine-member Board of Directors, appointed by the Governor, oversees the Association. The 31st DAA is a self-supporting entity, receiving no tax dollars.

Founded in 1922, Western Fairs Association (WFA) is a nonprofit trade association serving the fair industry throughout the western United States and Canada. The association’s primary purpose is to assist in maintaining the highest professional standards within the fair industry through a voluntary network of individuals and organizations. The primary objective of Western Fairs Association is to promote the prosperity of fairs through educational activities, training programs and legislative advocacy.

CAPS Media open house, Oscar party & KPPQ celebration

Lance Korthals, Toni Jannotta, Patrick Davidson and Susanne Lammot celebrate at CAPS.

Thanks to everyone who joined us at the CAPS Media Center on Sunday evening for the 2020 Open House, Oscar Party and 3-year Birthday Bash for KPPQ 104.1 FM. Dozens of folks were on hand to meet new friends, re-connect with existing friends, take tours of the center, and share in the recognition of CAPS Media’s continued service to the Ventura community. At a time when civic engagement, public communication and public voices are vital to our community, CAPS provides an extremely valuable resource to everyone in Ventura.

Part of the celebration was the recognition of a new contract for CAPS Media awarded by the City of Ventura. The CAPS Staff, Board of Directors and especially the CAPS Member/Producers thank everyone who sent letters, videos, and emails, and made calls to City staff and City Council Members, and to those who showed up at the City Council meeting expressing support for CAPS Media. The personal appeals and overwhelming expressions of appreciation were instrumental in demonstrating CAPS’ value to the community at large and to the City, and encouraged the City Council to approve the contract for CAPS Media. Everyone at CAPS thanks the City staff and City Council Members for recognizing CAPS value and awarding the long-range agreement which provides stability needed for CAPS Media to continue serving the community.

In addition to recording, broadcasting and streaming meetings at City Hall and other City events, another example of CAPS Media’s facilitating community communication is the ongoing coverage of community council meetings throughout the city. CAPS works with the community council coordinators to record key meetings of the College Area, East Ventura, MidTown and Westside Community Councils. CAPS records the meetings and broadcasts and streams them the following week, allowing community members, who are unable to attend the meetings, the opportunity to view the monthly meetings on CAPS channel 6 and online on the Thursday following the meeting at 8pm. Many of the community council groups post the meetings on social media as well. Local Community Council meetings are a great way for Ventura citizens to interact with and receive first-hand reports on City services and plans from City Councilmembers and Ventura Police Department officers as well as other officials and leaders in the community. In addition to getting the overall city perspective on important issues and events, the community meetings focus on neighborhood issues and information of interest and importance to the specific districts in Ventura.

This is a great time to join CAPS Media. CAPS is Ventura’s only public access television and radio center that fulfills a fundamental right guaranteed by the First Amendment. As a free society, the public has the right to have personal opinions published in the newspaper and on the airwaves. CAPS Media provides Member/Producers the opportunity to express themselves on local television, radio and online. Some people refer to CAPS Media as Ventura’s electronic soapbox.

The highly professional and extremely friendly CAPS Media staff train members how to master the use of cameras, editing equipment and radio studio to produce their own story. Video production services are provided for an annual membership fee of only $40. CAPS Radio requires an additional annual fee of $50 for DJs. Go to capsmedia.org/events to learn how to register for upcoming classes and become a Member/Producer.

Free overflow parking next door at the Wright Event Center, 57 Day Road and next door at Day Road Center, 71 Day Road.

2020 Student Jazz Competition results are in!

The competition’s finalists are selected from dozens of high school musicians.

Serving as competition judges, renowned musicians Bevan Manson, Eddie Arkin, Tom Buckner and Tom Scott selected the winners of the Ventura Music Festival 2020 Student Jazz Competition. Each year the winners receive $500, $250 and $100 cash prizes for first, second and third place, respectively. The students also receive multiple opportunities from VMF to perform for the public throughout the year, including the annual Rising Stars concert in May and other events to be announced.

First place went to Andre Burton, a junior at Adolpho Camarillo High School, on the drums. Second place went to Benny Conn, a senior at Agoura Hills High School, on trombone. Third place was a tie between Mak Yorihiro, a senior at Century Academy High School, on tenor sax, and Finn Dunham, a junior at Thousand Oaks High School, on alto sax.  And, honorable mention was given to Cole Petridis, a junior at Agoura Hills High School, on trombone.

The annual competition’s finalists are selected from dozens of high school musician entries. For the live competition, each musician plays a piece they’ve chosen, spotlighting their improvised solos of original or classic jazz or blues tunes. They’re backed up by professionals: this year, Bevan Manson on piano, Tom Etchart on bass and Sinclair Lott on drums.

The 2020 Competition performance took place on January 26 at the Pierpont Inn, in Ventura.  Mistress of Ceremonies was Ventura Music Festival Executive Director, Susan Scott and Master of Ceremonies was drummer, Charles Levin.

Vol. 13, No. 10 – Feb 12 – Feb 25, 2020 – Ventura Music Scene

by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com

Let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room, and then move on. Yes, another venue has closed its doors. What’s worse, it’s a Main Street venue, this time Oak and Main. Was it due to mismanagement? Bad service? Poor advertising? It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, but instead, let’s all just vow to support your favorite venues making up Ventura’s music scene. Rent is incredibly high, and the bands deserve to be paid well, so understand that us music lovers are the ones who truly give it the blood to keep it going.

Here now, your Valentine’s musical choices for February 14: there will be a Punk Rock Prom party (all ages) at Bike Ventura on the Avenue with Rafa Rose, Martini Drive and Without Words; Colette Lovejoy plays Café Fiore; serious dancing will be going on at Copa Cubana with House Arrest; there’s a 20’s theme party at Four Brix Winery with Ginger & the Hoosier Daddies; Benjamin Buttner plays jazz & blues at La Cosecha Modern Concina in the Crown Plaza Hotel; Limon y Sal offers up Mariachi Aguilas de Oxnard dinner shows; there’s a “Rock into my Heart” party at the Sewer with Spacedragon and the Mystos; in Ojai, a special evening of live music with Jade Hendrix at Topa Mountain Winery; in Oxnard, jazz with Toni Jannotta at 1901 Speakeasy in Oxnard; and finally, not only can you celebrate Valentine’s Day with Shawn Jones at Grapes and Hops, but it’s a Marti Gras birthday celebration for owner Tammy White as well.

Get your cowboy boots out because Saturday, February 15 will be the 4th annual Country Music Crawl in downtown Ventura featuring six bands and six venues where at the start you pick the color cup to represent whether your single (blue) or in a committed relationship (red). I’m thinking we should always have that option in all bars don’t you think? In any case, here’s the line up starting at Blue Agave at 4 pm with Lacie Mae; Ted Z & the Wranglers at Star Lounge at 5; then over to Grapes and Hops for Blind Innocense at 6; up to Limon y Sal for Paige Peel at 7; Mike Scully plays Winchesters at 8 pm; then wrapping up the crawl at the Sewer for Rob Leines at 9 pm by which time I’m sure it will be an actual crawl. Get your tickets at CountryBarCrawl.com.

Pulse Drumming will hold a special drum clinic at the Winery Ventura Sunday afternoon, February 23, with Fausto Cuevas (toured with Stevie Wonder, Queen Latifah, Santana, and now with Jennifer Lopez). Following the clinic will be a live performance starting at 2:30.

Quick Notes: now that football season is over, the Boatyard Pub is back to live music every night of the week; there’s a free Chamber Music Concert at the Ventura College Performing Arts Center on Saturday, February 15; Namba has Licity’s Love Fest at Namba Saturday, February 15 and then Dan Rosenboom’s Jazz Fusion on Sunday, February 16; Dark Star Orchestra plays the Ventura Theater Thursday, February 20; and the 6th annual Johnny Cash birthday bash at Bombay’s will be Saturday, February 22 with the Mighty Cash Cats and Silver Threads.

And finally, there will be a fundraiser on Saturday, February 22, for an all-inclusive playground in Arroyo Verde Park at the Garage with over ten bands supporting this effort including the Robot Uprising, Fuse, Day Drunk, One Minute Run, Malice Thoughts and Plot.

Do you have any music-related news or upcoming shows you want help publicizing? Please send all information short or long to [email protected]. For updated music listings daily, go to www.VenturaRocks.com.

House passes bill helping older workers facing discrimination

“I should have a fair chance to get work.”

On January 15, by a bipartisan vote of 251-155, the House passed H.R. 1230, the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. NCOA supports the bill, which restores fairness and well-established pre-2009 legal standards of proof on workplace discrimination undermined by certain court decisions. According to a 2018 AARP survey, 61% of older workers said they had either faced or seen age bias in the workplace. Advocates are urging the Senate to pass a companion bill, S. 485, sponsored by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), who is the Ranking Member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

Vol. 13, No. 10 – Feb 12 – Feb 25, 2020 – Police Reports

by Cindy Summers

Police reports are provided to us by the Ventura  Police Department and are not the opinions of  the Ventura Breeze. All suspects mentioned  are assumed to be innocent until proven guilty  in a court of law.

Hit and Run, Wanted Person Arrest

On January 28. at approximately 7:30am, a Ventura Police Patrol Officer saw the suspect commit a traffic violation in the area of Montgomery and Newtown. When the officer attempted to stop the vehicle, the suspect failed to yield and fled. Due to the heavy traffic conditions, the officer did not pursue after the suspect and the suspect was last seen entering a nearby neighborhood.

Additional officers arrived in the area to assist. As they searched the area, the found the suspect’s vehicle had collided with a parked car, and the suspect fled on foot into the neighborhood. A police K9 and the VCSO Air Unit were used to assist with the search. After approximately an hour, the suspect, 35 year old Ventura resident Brandon Bartek, was found and arrested for misdemeanor hit and run and misdemeanor failure to yield to officers.

A records check revealed he also had an outstanding felony warrant from Los Angeles County. No one was injured during this incident.

Commercial Burglary Arrest

On February 4, at 2:00am, officers responded to an alarm activation at the business. Officers arrived on scene within four minutes of receiving the call and discovered the suspect, 32 year old Carlos Flores, was still inside actively burglarizing the business.

After several minutes, the suspect tried to escape but officers caught him. At the conclusion of the investigation, the suspect was arrested for the felony charge of Commercial Burglary. No one was injured during this incident.

Narcotics Arrests

On February 6, at 5:00am, members of the Ventura Police Department SCU Narcotics unit conducted a search warrant at the above address as a result of a month-long investigation into narcotics sales. Detectives using investigative tools were able to identify a primary suspect as Natasha Suarez.

During the execution of the search warrant, SCU detectives found and detained 40 year old Ventura resident Natasha Suarez, 55 year old Ventura resident William Kemp, and 38 year old Ventura resident Stephen Williams inside the apartment. During the subsequent investigation, it was discovered that Kemp and Williams had active felony warrants for which they were arrested. A large quantity of narcotics and narcotics paraphernalia was also found inside the apartment.

As a result of the investigation, Natasha Suarez was arrested for possession of narcotics for sales. William Kemp was arrested for an outstanding warrant for possession of narcotics.

Stephen Williams was arrested for a PROs warrant.

A search of the Ventura County Superior Court shows that Natasha Suarez and William Kemp have prior arrests for narcotics-related crimes including sales of narcotics. Stephen Williams has numerous prior arrests and convictions for drug-related crimes. All subjects have prior arrests for property crimes.

Assault with a Deadly Weapon Arrest

On February 7, at approximately 10:30pm, officers were patrolling the area of the 100 block of N. Olive St., when they heard a female calling for help. The officers located the 50 year old female who reported that her boyfriend, later identified as the suspect 56 year old vagrant James Willet, was disturbing and armed with a knife. Officers located Willet nearby and detained him. The officers also contacted two other individuals, including a 42 year old male victim.

During the investigation, officers learned that Willet and the female were staying in a parked motorhome and got into verbal argument. The female left the motorhome and contacted the male victim who was just a passerby, and asked him for help. Willet exited the motorhome and threatened to harm the male. He then went back into the motorhome and armed himself with a knife. Willet exited from the motorhome and began swinging the knife at the male. The female began yelling, and got the attention of the officers. Willet discarded the knife when he saw the officers approaching.

At the conclusion of the investigation, Willet was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. No was injured as a result of this incident.