The Ventura Art & Street Painting Festival took place Sept.8th and 9th at the Ventura Harbor Village this year. The skies were gray, but the sidewalks became a quilt of color as forty street painters got busy applying layers of chalk pastel to the ground. Many of the street painters traveled from various cities in Southern California to participate and many know one another from other festivals. These talented individuals donate their time to help support local festivals. Some of them are professional artists, but others have jobs and indulge their passion for their art on the weekends.

As the chalk artists began creating vibrant chalk murals Saturday morning on the harbor sidewalks, thirty-five artists were setting up their booths in preparation for the visitors’ arrival. Original artwork was available for purchase in the artists’ area, including paintings, sculptures, woodwork and pottery.

Ventura County’s original street painting event celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. Started in 2009, with twenty artists and some music in a downtown park, the festival added street painting in 2011 with just a few artists. Founder Barbara Hinton had the idea to add chalk art, but didn’t know anyone who practiced the art form. It was a chance conversation with another friend who ran a local festival that led to her meeting some chalk artists. An artist had contacted Hinton’s friend about doing a commissioned chalk mural. The friend then referred the individual to Hinton. The rest as they say is history. Hinton says that they had about 11 chalk artists the first year.

The festival also hosts a children’s chalk area so that kids visiting the festival were also able to create art on the sidewalk in the Children’s Chalk Area, run by local non-profit group Kids’ Arts, Inc.

For the second year in a row, the festival welcomed two world-renowned chalk artists. Ventura resident Tracy Lee Stum, an internationally recognized American street painter and author of “The Art of Chalk”, and Rod Tryon, a Santa Barbara resident who has been street painting for 30 years and has been featured in numerous events in the U.S. and abroad.

Stum, who was the official artist for the US House at the 2010 Winter Olympics, is also known for her chalk artwork at the Super Bowl XLIX game. She recently created an original street painting for Katy Perry’s Witness World Wide 2017 livestream.

“For me, street painting is absolutely the most joyful form of creative expression I have engaged in,” says Stum. “An event like the Ventura Art and Street Painting Festival is so important because it keeps art alive in our community.”

This festival is hosted by Ventura County Art Events, Inc. and is a fundraiser for FOOD Share of Ventura County and Kids Arts Inc.

Being from homes fueled by drugs, alcohol and abuse makes it easy to believe that’s how people live normally. Juan and Harley both come from broken families filled with many types of abuse. They both fell down those dark roads that their families made them think were normal.

They always knew they wanted better but had a hard time being the better people in such a crazy lifestyle. They were constantly reminded that all this lifestyle brought them was chaos, destruction, abuse, and even death. Through it all they stuck by each other and tried their best to face life together. But life always had a funny way of testing them. They kept trying to make it so they could always live together but it didn’t always work out that way.

In October 2017, Harley found out she was pregnant. After telling the landlord that she was pregnant, they were given a 30- day notice to leave. That’s when Harley learned about Tender Life Maternity Home – managed by the River Community Church but there was not an opening there.

They were able to stay with Juan’s aunt and uncle in the meantime. A few weeks go by and then they got the news! His aunt and uncle had been given an eviction notice.

Needless to say their high hopes quickly plummeted. At that moment Harley gets a call from Tender life! It couldn’t have been better timing. She called back and was able to set an interview for the following day. Her interview went well and they were able to move in.

Finally Harley had a safe place to stay at. Since being at Tender Life, Juan has started to come to church, which was never something he would have done. They recently got married and all they needed was to work on being reunited as a family.

A unit at The City Center Transitional Living opened and they moved there. They are so thankful to be given such a blessing. They welcomed their daughter Gemma into the family.

“None of this would be possible without Tender Life, The River Community Church, The City Center and of course for God who led us to such an amazing support team, “said Harley.

Please support The City Center Transitional Living Center by attending their c e l e b r a t i o n event, featuring the surf theme “Catch the Wave” on Saturday, September 29, 6:00 – 10:00 pm.

The evening features a silent auction, followed by a gourmet buffet dinner and dancing to the live band, Soul Infusion. This will take place at a lovely private venue in Ventura and is sure to be a night to remember!

There are presently 73 people living at The City Center and 42 of them are children – all of them were homeless. TCC gave them temporary housing, where they can feel safe, find stability, obtain employment and develop the life skills necessary to successfully move out into their own living situations.

Thank you for helping to change lives for children and families in our community! For more information www.TheCityCentetr.org.

Mr. Richard Senate Ventura Counties premiere ghost hunter for forty years has released a new book about ghosts in the Ojai Valley. Titled; “Char-Man and other ghosts of the Ojai Valley” it give a clear description of the many legends of the Char-Man phantom.

“Char-Man is the best known ghost in the Ojai Valley,”recalls Mr. Senate in a recent interview. “People have reported seeing the apparition of the burned man since the great forest fire of 1948. Originally it was thought it was the restless ghost of a firefighter who lost his life in that terrible fire. The only problem with the theory is that no lives were lost in the 1948 blaze. The first real report of the ghost appeared in the Star-Free Press in 1951 when the newspaper had a story of the reported ghost attracting dozens of hot rodders on Creek Road seeking the specter.” It seems that Char-Man isn’t the only persistent phantom in the Valley. He is joined by a headless horseman, a ghostly bride, and a mysterious vanishing car. Even one of the bridges that cross San Antonio Creek is reputed to be haunted by spectral children who lost their lives when the bridge failed in a terrible rain storm.

Mr. Senates new work list these and other tales of haunted treasures and a few bizarre monsters like the huge fish in Lake Casitas and the accounts of the mysterious water horses that race on the bottom of the lake!

The book will be available at the gift shop of the Ojai Valley museum and at some of the Fall events hosted by Mr. Senate, such as the Dudley House tours on October 7 (Sunday) from 1 to 4.

For more information contact Richard Senate at 805-200-8658 or at [email protected] or at his Facebook page “Richard Senate Ghost Hunter” or Richard Senate.com

Not all bacteria are bad. In fact, the human body is home to a variety of microbes that help keep people healthy. The types, quantity and balance of microbes in an individual’s unique microbiome can affect a person’s susceptibility or resistance to a variety of health issues, including acne, allergies, autoimmune diseases, intestinal conditions and cancer. Some people may take probiotics and prebiotics like prebiothrive to help their systems when they get mild to severe upsets.

How these microbes influence disease and what a person can do to maintain a healthy microbiome will be the focus of a free seminar at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10. Titled “The Microbiome and Disease: The Power of Bacteria in the Gut,” the seminar is hosted by Community Memorial Health System as part of its 2018 Speaker Series.

The guest speaker will be Dr. Sabine Hazan-Steinberg. She received her medical degree from Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and completed residency training at the University of Florida College of Medicine. Dr. Hazan-Steinberg is an active member of the Community Memorial Hospital medical staff.

The Oct. 10 seminar will begin at 6 p.m. in the eighth-floor Nichols Auditorium at Community Memorial Hospital, 147 N. Brent St. Registration is free but reservations are required. For reservations, visit www.cmhshealth.org/rsvp or call Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006.

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.

On Saturday, Sept. 15 over 270 volunteers picked up over 60 pounds of recyclables and over 230 pounds of trash across 1 mile of beach in the Ventura Harbor during Coastal Cleanup Day. These volunteers included organized groups from Amgen, WorkCompCentral, Derma-E, REI, Girl Scout Troop #61105, Ojai Valley School, Coca Cola, CSUCI and Pacifica High School.  Coastal Cleanup Day is an organized day of service for the community to collect trash from local beaches, dunes and shorelines.

OFI Management has just signed a lease with Finney’s Crafthouse and Kitchen opening in the summer of 2019. The restaurant will be taking over the first floor of the Stanley Gardner Building located at the corner of California and Main Street.  Jim DeArkland, a local developer and owner of the Stanley Gardner building, purchased the building in 2015 and conducted extensive research on both the interior and exterior character defining elements and employed a preservation company who meticulously restored the original terra cotta exterior. He wanted to revitalize the rich history of the building on such an iconic corner of Ventura. Locally called “The Gardner Building” after the late Erle Stanley Gardner, a local lawyer who in his spare time became one of Ventura’s most well-known authors; his office was located on the 3rd floor of the building where he wrote his first Perry Mason Series, bits of Ventura found their way into his books and stories.

Finney’s Crafthouse & Kitchen is a locally owned and operated restaurant and bar that is committed to supporting local businesses by offering 30 local craft beers on tap, a local wine list, and hand-crafted cocktails using local spirits.  Finney’s is thrilled to be opening in the iconic Earl Stanley Gardner building in Downtown Ventura.

“We couldn’t be happier to have Finney’s coming to downtown Ventura. We think they are going to be a great addition to the downtown Ventura beach vibe and local business economy.” said Mr. DeArkland

by Oscar Peña, General Manager

On September 26, 2018 at 7pm the Ventura Port District Board of Port Commissioners will convene in Open Session at the Four Point Sheraton Ballroom, 1050 Schooner Drive, for its Regular Meeting.

The Board of Port Commissioners will authorize the General Manager to:

Prepare and submit a permit application to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for use of 2,000 acres of sea water bottom in federal waters near Ventura Harbor in Block 664 and 665, the area generally depicted and described as CASS Report Alternative 1 for the Ventura Shellfish Enterprise (VSE) project:

Prepare and submit all other applications to local, state and federal agencies as required for the VSE project including the California Coastal Commission;

Prepare all necessary surveys, studies, reports and federal environmental review documents as directed by local, state and federal agencies as required for the VSE project;

Return to the Board if there are any material changes to the proposed locations for federal permits for the VSE project resulting from the permitting and/or environmental review processes.

The proposed site for the Ventura Shellfish Enterprise project is in federal waters approximately 3.53 miles from shore, northwest of the Ventura Harbor in the Santa Barbara Channel.

This agenda item will be on the District’s website for your review at www.venturaharbor.com.

Objectives of the proposed project are:

To increase the supply of safe, sustainably produced, and locally grown shellfish;

To enhance and sustain Ventura Harbor as a major west coast fishing port and support the local economy;

To provide economies of scale, pre-approved growing areas, and technical support to include small local producers who would not otherwise be able to participate in shellfish aquaculture;

To provide an entitlement and permitting template for aquaculture projects state-wide;

To enhance public knowledge and understanding of sustainable shellfish farming practices and promote community collaboration;

To advance scientific knowledge and state of the art aquaculture practices through research and innovation. VSE Organization and Governance

Ventura Port District proposes to make mussel growing areas available to a variety of grower/producers, anticipated to include existing commercial fishermen, existing commercial shellfish businesses, and startups that otherwise would be disinclined to embark on the lengthy and expensive mandatory regulatory pathway.

Ventura resident Linda Freeny, who has two very well reviewed crime mysteries, changes course in this story of a third unnamed arm of the political system, too blind or biased, to recognize a plot to take over the USA from within by Russians planted here a long time ago. She researched the material to make the story believable for two years before putting a word on paper. She still likes her crime/mystery stories with another coming out later this year, but this one just begged to be written.

The Dogs Of Lenin   involves the story of the doomed love affair of Lisa Danton and Grant Chandler. From the moment they met they knew that each would follow a different path but tried to keep it together because their love was real and obsessive. They spoiled themselves to ever love anyone again. Lisa wanted to be a journalist, net work TV her goal. Grant, an activist, hated the media and its biases and the fact that they were unwittingly helping the Russians take America without a shot or a missile.

It takes place in the sixties and ends in the nineties, for this is where media bias truly began, not recently as so many believe. While Lisa climbs in her chosen field, Grant joins an underground group whose ideals and beliefs are the same as his own. Through them he meets a secret government organization of patriots, left over from the last administrations that were never disbanded.

He helps a Russian escape from East Berlin, the key to all the Russians planted here ever after WW2 ended.  He has the names of all the Russian plants, most of them in very important positions including Lisa’s own network. With all the information in hand now, and ready to reveal it to the American public, the organization needs a conduit to expose it. This is where Lisa comes in because of her past association with Grant. But will she help them and can she be trusted, because she is now one of them.

The Dogs Of Lenin can be bought online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Linda will sign books upon request.

Linda Freeny [email protected]

Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Resource Management Dan Reineman will visit the Ojai Library at1 p.m. on Saturday, October 6, and the E.P. Foster Library at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, October 10, to deliver a presentation “Managing (the Waves on) Our Coasts.” Reineman comes from CSU Channel Islands (CI) and is presenting as part of the Ventura County Library’s One County, One Book program.

California’s coast is full of important resources, from fisheries and oil to tourism destinations like the Channel Islands. To manage any resource well, we need information—data—about it. Waves for surfing are among the most important resources in coastal California. They support the recreation of millions and shape the economies and cultures of many coastal communities; surfing is now our official state sport.

But where will we get the data we need to ensure that waves and surfing can continue on our coasts? In this talk, Reineman will expand on some of the key themes William Finnegan develops in Barbarian Days and connect them directly to contemporary coastal management challenges in California and right here in Ventura. Surfers might be at the heart of the issue, but they share that space with anyone else who enjoys visiting the coast in California.

This event is free and open to the public. For additional information, contact Ron Solórzano, Regional Librarian, at (805) 218-9146, or Irma Morales, Senior City Librarian, at (805) 648-2716.

The Ojai Library is located at 111 East Ojai Avenue in Ojai. Hours of service are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

The E.P. Foster Library is located at 651 East Main St. Hours of service are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

The Ventura County Library is available 24/7 at www.vencolibrary.org.

Can’t remember which trash cans to put out? A good way to remember which trash cans go out on trash day is to simply always move the next two that go out either on the left or right.