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Gun violence protests

Venturan’s at Government Center saying enough is enough.

by Jennifer Tipton

March 14th marked the one-month anniversary since seventeen lives were senselessly taken by a shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14th.

Declared “National Walkout Day”, students from 2,800 schools across the U.S. showed solidarity for the victims in Florida by leaving their classrooms at 10am on the morning of March 14th. Many of these demonstrations lasted seventeen minutes to represent each one of the lives lost in the recent tragedy.

In Parkland, at the very scene of the shooting, students gathered on the football field and chanted, “we want change!”, rejecting requests from administrators to return to their classrooms. They then joined students from a nearby middle school to solemnly walk two miles to the memorials that had been set up to commemorate the victims.

Here in Ventura, students at Ventura High School took part as well, marching and carrying signs that read, “Students Take Action!”, “Enough! Keep Us Safe!” and my favorite, “Fear Has No Place in Our Schools!”. As they marched, the students chanted, “end the violence! no more silence!” and in one of the videos taken, you can hear a student say, “this is way more organized than I thought it would be!”.

With the video being captured by a drone, the students at Cabrillo Middle School sent out a message of love by standing together on their field and forming a heart.

Later in the day on March 14th, many other Venturans (men, women and children alike) stood on the corner of Telephone Rd. and Victoria Ave. at the Government Center making their statement about gun violence … “enough” seemed to be the word of the day.

Tears of pride flowed in the audience

Tammy Marquez, Mary Loya and Jose Mendez are very proud to have received their high school diplomas.

On Tuesday, March 20, family and friends gathered to celebrate the first class to graduate from Ventura County Library’s Career Online High School. Tears of pride flowed in the audience as four of the six graduates shared their stories and their plans for the future. Cheers arose from the group as each graduate, in cap and gown, rose to receive their diploma.

One highlight of the program came when Carolyn Vang-Walker, principal at Ventura Adult and Continuing Education, addressed the crowd and informed the graduates that as COHS graduates they were eligible to receive scholarships for one of the school’s many vocational career programs.

Nancy Schram, Director of the Ventura County Library, gave an inspiring Commencement Address before delivering diplomas to the graduates. She stated
“All of us at the Ventura County Library are so proud of our recent graduates of the Career Online High School program. Each of these adult learners has earned a high school diploma through this innovative program, often while also juggling numerous home and work responsibilities. It is an amazing accomplishment with real results that will enable them to continue to achieve success in their future educational and career goals. It is a perfect example of how public libraries really do improve lives and strengthen communities.”

Career Online High School (COHS) is offered by the Ventura County Library’s READ Adult Literacy Program in partnership with Gale, a Cengage company. COHS provides adults the opportunity to earn an accredited high school diploma and career certificate by utilizing the flexibility of the Internet to accommodate busy adult schedules.

Career Online High School is one of several programs offered through the Ventura County Library READ Adult Literacy Program, and is an ongoing program accepting signups throughout the year. To learn more about the READ Adult Literacy programs and ways you can participate, call 677-7160.

What does home mean to you?

Supervisor Steve Bennett and Angelina McCormick-Soll, Foster VC urge you to help a foster child.

There are urgent needs for homes for children and teens, especially in the cities of Oxnard and Ventura. In Ventura County there are nearly 800 children and teens in foster care, many of whom are in immediate need of a stable and loving home environment.

Foster VC Kids, a program of Ventura County’s Children and Family Services, has launched a new initiative – What does home mean to you? – to raise awareness and educate the public about the increased and immediate need for homes to support youth in care.

“We’re all better off when children in our community thrive,” said Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett. Bennett and other community leaders are participating in the outreach efforts to encourage families to make either a short-term or long-term commitment to provide guidance, hope and a home for local youth in care.

Those interested in fostering, adopting or mentoring can learn more: view the 26-minute online information session at www.fostervckids.org, call 654-3220 or attend the Town Hall informational meeting on Saturday, April 21, 10am – 11:30am, 855 Partridge Drive in Ventura.

“Nationwide, there is a growing number of children entering foster care and here in Ventura County we are experiencing an increase as well”, said Angelina McCormick-Soll, Program Coordinator for Foster VC Kids. “Locally, we’ve had a rise in the number of children over 16 years of age who are in care, from 17% last January to 21% this year. These teens are in jeopardy of aging out without ever having had a permanent home life. Children who age out of foster care are at much higher risk for homelessness, teen pregnancy, and incarceration. And, a heartbreaking 47% of our youth have been separated from some or all their siblings.”

A family crisis can occur any time; children come into the system through neglect, domestic violence, parental illness such as mental health or drug and alcohol abuse that impacts a child’s safety, and domestic violence. Through no fault of their own, children and youth are then separated from their birth families, including siblings, and brought into foster care.

Foster VC Kids works to protect these children by ensuring they are placed with fostering and kinship families who have the support and resources to provide safety, permanency and quality care. Extensive training and support services (including medical and dental care) are available to ensure caregivers have the resources to nurture, protect and care for local youth in need.

Recognized as a best practices leader statewide in the family recruitment and support component of child welfare, Foster VC Kids provides resource families with ongoing support services, trauma-informed training, and mentorship to enhance the safety, permanency and well-being of Ventura County’s youth and families. Learn how Foster VC Kids is making a difference throughout Ventura County, www.fostervckids.org.

King Lear at the Rubicon until April 1

Photo by Loren Haar

Michael Matthys (Duke of Albany), Tom Mueller (Oswald), George McDaniel (Earl of Gloucester),George Ball and Beverly Ward (Goneril) in King Lear at the Rubicon until April 1.

Considered by many to be Shakespeare’s greatest masterpiece, King Lear is a haunting and epic saga of love, greed, family strife, and civil war. Rubicon Theatre Company 1006 E. Main St. For tickets 667.2900 or go online at www.rubicontheatre.org

 

The Ventura Townehouse holds Monthly Community Appreciation Breakfast

On Thursday, March 22 they “appreciated” the Ventura Breeze. Representing the Breeze were Publisher Sheldon Brown and Senior Account Executive Breezy Gledhill. “Come enjoy and honor our local contributing hometown newspaper. This paper gives so much to all of Ventura’s seniors and citizens” stated their invitation to residents and family members.

The MC for the breakfast was Director of Marketing Samantha Crisp who chose, along with residents to honor the Breeze.

Ventura City Fire announces community emergency response team training

The Ventura City Fire Department invites community members to participate in the next Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training. Ventura Fire, in coordination with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), assists residents with disaster preparedness education and training through the CERT program.

The training covers the following topics:

  • Disaster Preparedness
  • Fire Safety
  • Disaster Medical Operations I and II
  • Light Search and Rescue
  • CERT Organization
  • Disaster Psychology
  • Terrorism

The training will be held at Police/Fire Headquarters located at 1425 Dowell Dr. The training will kick off on April 10 and will be held on six consecutive Tuesdays from 6:00-9:00 pm and the series will wrap up with a Simulation Skill Review exercise and graduation on Saturday, May 19.

Learn more about the program at https://www.cityofventura.ca.gov/188/Community-Emergency-Response-Training-CE. Enrollment is limited and classes will be filled on a first-received basis; applicants are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible. Priority registration is given to residents of Ventura and first-time students. Participants must be at least 18 years old to participate.

Residents can apply online at: https://www.cityofventura.ca.gov/FormCenter/Fire-Department-10/Community-Emergency-Response-Team-CERT-T-69. For more information please call 658-4717 or email [email protected].

Applications for assistance still available

The application deadline for $1.5 million in assistance from the United Way Thomas Fire and Flood Fund for those impacted by the recent disasters has been extended to April 30.

The application for individual hardship assistance is available now at vcunitedway.org in English and Spanish. The United Way Thomas Fire and Flood Fund will support residents in expenses related to housing, livelihood/income and habitability of their homes.

Applicants can submit a completed form to one of the partnering agencies listed at vcunitedway.org to speak with a case manager. Victims should gather any documentation to substantiate needs, such as rental agreements, campground rental fees, costs replace trade tools (could be prices from online or physical stores) or insurance invoices.

Eligible applicants are Ventura County residents, and household income limits are determined by family size of 120% AMI or less.

The United Way Thomas Fire and Flood Fund has grown to more than $4 million. The next phase in disbursements will center on long-term recovery. To contribute, visit unitedwaythomasfirefund.org.

Since 1945, United Way of Ventura County has advanced the common good by creating opportunities for a better life for all. Our focus is on education, income and health, because these are the building blocks for a good quality of life. We support local services and programs that are more than just ‘stop gap’ measures, but rather solutions that help create lasting change. We invite everyone to be part of the change by giving, advocating and volunteering. When we work together in common purpose, we LIVE UNITED. For more information about United Way of Ventura County, visit www.vcunitedway.org.

ECTV crew wins WAVE awards in Sacramento

Phil Taggart, Ethan Messecar and Annabelle Augustine, representing the ECTV student producers proudly show off their 3 WAVE awards.

Congratulations to the El Camino High School ECTV Crew for winning a series of WAVE Awards at the Alliance for Community Media Western States Regional Conference in Sacramento. Annabelle Augustine and Ethan Messecar represented the ECTV crew at the event along with Phil Taggart, director and mentor of the CAPS Media/El Camino High School media program. ECTV won first place awards in three categories: Informational Talk Show, Youth Division, for ECTV: Spocabulary, Halloween and Digital Citizenship; Informational Lifestyle, Youth Division, for ECTV: California Islands; and Informational Culture, Youth Division, for ECTV: Travel & Photography.

The ECTV program is a collaboration with Ventura Unified School District, El Camino High School, VC Innovates and CAPS Media. As a career pathways education program, students receive hands-on instruction to master video cameras, audio, lighting, studio production and postproduction editing. In addition, the ECTV members develop Digital Storytelling skills including conceptualizing, storyboarding, writing, producing, on-camera reporting, interviewing, directing, and production management.

Mentored by Taggart and unitizing the extensive production facilities at the CAPS Media Center, the El Camino students create magazine-style programs on topics of interest and concern to themselves including drug abuse, discrimination, gun control and more. The ECTV programs air on CAPS Media television and are archived and stream at capsmedia.org.

The Thomas Fire Stories Project has begun and is a major success. The extensive undertaking is a collaboration with Ventura City Fire and Police, Ventura County Fire, Sheriff, and Office of Emergency Response and the Museum of Ventura County. The year-long, comprehensive project includes an ongoing series of television and radio archival recordings with those whose lives were dramatically changed the night of December 4th.

Members of the public, fire fighters and first responders and others are sharing remarkable first-person stories at recording sessions throughout the county. Selected stories will air and stream on CAPS radio (KPPQ 104.1 FM) and on CAPS Media television, stream on capsmedia.org, and may be included in the comprehensive Thomas Fire documentary. All of the recordings will be included in the historic archival project at the Museum of Ventura County.  

During the past few weeks Thomas Fire audio recording sessions took place at the Ojai Valley Museum and Ojai Library and they continue on Saturday, March 31 from 11am-4pm at the CAPS Media Center; on Monday, April 2nd at the EP Foster Library from 5-7pm, and on Saturday April 14th at the Avenue Library from 10am-2pm. More audio recording sessions will continue at the Ventura County Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula on Sunday April 22nd from 11am-3pm and at the Museum of Ventura County on May 20th from 11am-3pm.

Everyone with a story to tell is invited to participate. The audio recording process is simple and enjoyable and typically lasts 10-15 minutes.  CAPS Media staff and volunteers help the storytellers share their experience in their own words. The result is unscripted, unrehearsed, engaging and compelling first person stories. If you have a Thomas Fire Story to share or know someone who has a great story to tell, drop by and record the experience. Visit capsmedia.org to find a convenient day and time to record your story and add it to the museum’s historic archive.

If you have photos or video to contribute to the archive, go to capsmedia.org for instructions on how to contribute photos, video and other media. If you have a story to share, email [email protected] or call the CAPS Media Center at 658.0500.

Lawsuit challenges Trump administration

The Center for Biological Diversity, Turtle Island Restoration Network and Wishtoyo Foundation are suing the Trump administration for failing to protect humpback whale habitat in the Pacific Ocean, where the animals face threats from fisheries, ship strikes and oil spills.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in San Francisco, aims to force the National Marine Fisheries Service to follow the Endangered Species Act’s requirement to designate critical habitat within one year of listing a species as threatened or endangered and not authorize actions that would damage that habitat. Two Pacific Ocean humpback populations were listed as endangered and a third as threatened in September 2016.

“As cargo ships and crabbing gear slaughter West Coast humpbacks, the Trump administration won’t lift a finger to save these magnificent whales,” said Catherine Kilduff, a Center attorney.

At least 54 humpback whales were found tangled up in fishing gear off the West Coast in 2016. Entanglements cause injuries and death as the ropes cut into animals’ flesh, sap their strength and lead to drowning. Many incidents in 2016 were clustered around the biologically rich Monterey Bay, where migrating whales come to feed.

Ship strikes and oil spills are the other major threats to West Coast humpback whales. A study found that an estimated 22 humpback whales off California, Oregon and Washington die each year after being hit by ships.

On Jan. 4 the Trump administration released its plan to invite offshore oil and gas drilling into every ocean in the country — despite the fact that such drilling can be lethal for whales. In 2015 endangered humpback whales were observed swimming in the Refugio oil spill, which dumped at least 21,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean. The spill killed hundreds of marine mammals and birds, including dolphins and sea lions.

“Since time immemorial, Chumash people have shared our home waters of the Santa Barbara Channel with humpback whales. They have a deeply respected role in our culture, guiding and protecting our maritime people as we navigate through the channel. In reciprocity, the Chumash people play a strong role in protecting our magnificent relatives as they face increasing threats from ship strikes, entanglement, and gas and oil development,” said Alicia Cordero, First Nations program officer for the Wishtoyo Foundation.

Critical habitat protection would help safeguard ocean areas essential for migrating and feeding. The designation would ensure that federally permitted activities do not continue to drive humpback whales to the brink of extinction by destroying important areas.

Humpback whale populations that need critical habitat were identified in 2016 by the National Marine Fisheries Service, including the threatened Mexico population that feeds off the U.S. West Coast and Alaska and the endangered Central America population that feeds almost exclusively off California and Oregon.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.6 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Turtle Island Restoration Network is a global nonprofit whose mission is to inspire and mobilize people around the world to protect marine biodiversity and the oceans that sustain all life on Earth.

Founded in 1997, Wishtoyo Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit grassroots organization that enhances the well-being of communities by preserving and protecting Chumash Native American culture, and the natural resources all people depend upon throughout California and the traditional Chumash. To learn more about Wishtoyo visit www.wishtoyo.org.