The hills around Two Trees (and elsewhere) are coming back to life – green and beautiful. It will be a while before we actually have two fully mature trees again.

Photo by Michael Gordon

Westpark Director Anita Diaz proudly showing off the day’s activities at Community Day at Westpark Community Center, 450 W. Harrison. Booths by Aera Energy and Careers in Energy were among the displays. Aera Energy booth featured a hunt for oil and many giveaways. Many activities and demonstrations were held, including face painting, free health screening, STEM activities, resource information, martial arts and boxing demonstrations, fitness demonstration and Zumba.

Photos by Richard Lieberman

East Ventura resident Mike Marostica has announced his candidacy for Ventura City Council in the November 6^th, 2018 election. The election will be the first in the newly drawn 4^th district. Marostica, 47, has significant roots in East Ventura and wants to make sure that his community’s needs are addressed while maintaining the sense of neighborhood.

I have been working on my Council candidacy for almost a year and fortunately my District was chosen for this year’s election. I have received some very positive feedback and support from the people I have met with over the past few months. I look forward to addressing some of our shared concerns for the East End, like requiring that future plans include the amenities and service our community deserves. It is, also, very important to me that we work regionally on issues, like disaster preparedness and criminal vagrancy. I deal with vagrancy issues every day and I am the only candidate with “boots on the ground” experience in this area, which affects all of us. I am not going to settle for anything less than a complete solution to the vagrancy problem in this city.

I am a 25 year veteran of the Oxnard Police Department and Certified Gang Expert. I currently serve on the Ventura Parks and Recreation Commission. I was a board member, and served two terms as President of the Peace Officers Association of Ventura County (POAVC). In 2003, I started the local chapter of RAD – Rape Aggression Defense to train women in our community to protect themselves and I am the current President of the Gold Coast RAD Foundation. I am the current Chairman of the Oxnard Peace Officers Association Retiree Medical Trust. I am also a volunteer with the California YMCA Youth and Government program.

Family and community are very important to me. My wife Deborah is a lifelong East Ventura resident and both sets of our parents reside in East Ventura.​ For the first two years of my life, I went with my parents around the country as my Dad played minor league baseball for the Oakland A’s. After that, we came back to Ventura where I have lived on the East End ever since. I graduated from St. Bonaventure High School and attended Ventura College where I received an AA Degree in Criminal Justice. During that time, I worked at the Ventura Family YMCA, where I met my lovely wife. We have two children, Andrew is 22 and Emily is 19.

I know it may sound cliché; but I really do want our district and our City to be a clean, safe and economically viable place to live and work for all of us, our kids and generations to come. And, I am ready to work hard to make this happen!

Linda Freeny, a long time successful Realtor with California Oaks Realtors has another life and passion, writing . She has two new novels out Déjà Vu and Nobody’s Angel , both mysteries that have terrific reviews that can be seen on Amazon. One of them, Déjà Vu , was awarded Book of Excellent Merit by the review company. A third novel will be out later this year. The review of these books really say it all and give good reason to want to read them, especially if you like mysteries.

The books can be ordered from Amazon or Barnes and Noble online. Linda will sign copies on request and can be reached at 290-3982.

Partial review of Nobody’s Angel:

“Linda Freeny has written an engrossing, multi-layered mystery and packed it with just enough police procedures to keep it as credible as it is compelling. Certainly the success or failure of most crime and mystery stories relies on intricate plotting to engage, confound, and ultimately explain just how a solution is achieved. This novel does that in spades. Fortunately it doesn’t stop there. It also introduces the reader to a big cast of characters who are far less stereotypical than those often found populating the pages of many books in the crime/mystery genre. Nobody’s Angel is a good story well told.”

These are links to various sites for the books

Website: http://lfreenywriter.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/L.J.Freeny.Author/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorfreeny

Tumblr: https://ljfreenyauthor.tumblr.com/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/authorlindafreeny/

by Jennifer Tipton

Recognized as one of the Faces of Ventura in 2013 (as featured in the Ventura Breeze), there is little this remarkable woman can’t do. Susanne is a pediatrician, licensed pilot, sailor, scuba diver and has served on the Board of Directors with the Boys and Girls Club in Ventura for over twenty years!

Two years ago, Susanne celebrated her 50th reunion from medical school in Montreal, Canada, where she grew up. From a class of 120, only 6 were women, “those were the days we had to be better to be equal”, she said.

Much of her success she attributes to her loving family who supported her dreams, “when I was little girl, there was a board game that I loved called Pirates and Travelers and I became really good at geography”. Fascinated by Africa, she swore then that one day she would go there…

Susanne’s first trip to Africa was in 1970 when she worked in the Congo with her late husband, also a physician, “we were supposed to go for 2 years but stayed for 2 months because it was more politically unstable than we realized, and we had our one-year old son with us, but I knew I’d find my way back!” With passion and determination, that’s exactly what she did – more than once!

After looking into nutritional supplements for her young patients here at home, Susanne discovered “Nu Skin”, a company that not only offers vitamin supplements for her kids here, but also funds a program called “Nourish the Children”. They have provided over 500 million meals to the world’s most malnourished children.

She recently returned from her 3rd trip to Malawi, after receiving yet another leadership award from the company. She and three others were selected as part of a mission trip with Nourish the Children and because she’s been active with this program for years, Susanne stayed behind to visit families with young ones she has sponsored and mentored. Sharing photos of the kids then and now, her face radiated with love for her work there, “it’s all about the kids”, she smiled.

My favorite of her African adventures was the tale she told from January 2015 when her nephew Yuri married a member of the Kikuyu tribe in Kenya (the same tribe as in the movie “Out of Africa”). Susanne was with her family in Kenya for the traditional 3-day wedding ceremony and said that for Yuri to marry into the tribe, he had to be adopted into the tribe, “so, we were all adopted into the tribe!” This consisted of goat intestines wrapped around their wrists to symbolize umbilical cords and then ceremonially cut as they were “born” into the tribe.

Writers note: (what some people won’t do for love)

Susanne stated, “I think one of the most exciting things in my life is making personal connections and seeing where they will lead you, one of my favorite places to eat with my late husband was “Jonathan’s” and that’s where I met Executive Chef Jason Collis.

Susanne’s nephew, Yuri travels to many destinations with his environmental tourism work and met Chef Jose from World Central Kitchen along with one of his staff, Nate Mook in Haiti. Yuri and Nate became friends and all three live in Washington D.C.

On Thursday evening, December 7th, 2017 just three days after the Thomas Fire struck, Chef Jose and Nate spoke with Yuri, knowing he had family here. Susanne received a call from her nephew informing her that World Central Kitchen wanted to help Ventura and asked if she knew a local chef that could help put this together, immediately she called Chef Jason. “If I hadn’t met him years ago, I wouldn’t have known who to call!” Nate was on a plane the next day and by Sunday they were serving meals to those affected by the fires. A big thanks to Tim Kilcoyne, Jim Rice and Linda Jordan for their participation as well, keep shining Susanne!

With a vision of healthy people on a healthy planet, the Holistic Chamber of Commerce (HCC) is weaving together an international movement promoting holistic, natural and sustainable products, services and solutions. To that end, the HCC has announced that holistic leaders in Ventura have a local chapter.

“Ventura is the perfect place for the Holistic Chamber of Commerce. We have a community that really values those products and services. It’s time for us to come together and show the standard of integrity and professionalism we bring to the work we do “ stated Kristie Pedersen, President of the HCC in Ventura. She’s the owner of Kristie Pedersen Coaching.

As a group associated with the international organization, the HCC – Ventura will promote and support local holistic and sustainable professionals and business owners. Meetings are currently in the planning stages so keep a look out for those. Online presence is already at http://www.HolisticChamberOfCommerce.com/ventura.

The HCC is an international organization which serves as a bridge bringing consumers together with holistic and eco-friendly options. Now with 1,500 Professional Members throughout North America, consumers have easier access to high quality health, lifestyle and business products, services and solutions.

For more information on how the Holistic Chamber of Commerce can help consumers as well as holistic practitioners, professionals and businesses, visit www.HolisticChamberOfCommerce.com.

The Community Memorial Hospital Palliative Care Department is proud to announce it is celebrating 10 years of service to the community this year, offering a much-needed service to patients in the hospital and local outpatients as well.

CMH began Palliative Care services in 2008 with the goal of improving patient and family participation in decisions regarding treatment options and goals of care.

Palliative Care is a special healthcare service that aims to relieve suffering and improve a person’s quality of life while maintaining their dignity. It’s not the same as Hospice, which focuses on end-of-life care for those no longer seeking treatment for a terminal illness. Palliative Care can be provided at the same time as other curative treatments and may begin early in the course of a serious or chronic illness.

A key achievement is providing Palliative Care services not only at CMH but on an outpatient basis, too. This medical service includes symptom management, goals of care discussions, completion of advance care documents, education about long-term care options, and supportive needs assessment.

The team members are involved in local, regional and national projects and organizations, and they are committed to teaching others like nurses, medical residents and social workers who will carry on this important work.

Most of the 11 team members are nationally board-certified in their respective fields to maintain quality outcomes. The CMH Palliative Care Department can be reached at 667-7975. Visit cmhshealth.org.

Coming from a long history of providing Ventura County with the best country music for more than 40 years, KHAY is excited to announce their nomination from the Academy of Country Music for Best Country Radio Station in a small market and winning Best On-Air Personality in a small market for morning host Dave Daniels.

“We couldn’t be more proud of what KHAY is to Ventura County, how KHAY Program Director Chris Cox has raised the bar in local radio and of Dave Daniels who has made the Morning Wake-Up Call show a great way for listeners to begin their day,” said Sommer Frisk, Regional Vice President and Oxnard/Ventura Market Manager for Cumulus Media.

“These are exciting times for KHAY,” said Frisk who also added, “Chris and his team have dedicated themselves to providing listeners with the very best country music and through community involvement and engagement, to being a part of the lives of Ventura County residents.”

The fifth annual Owl Festival, a free family event, was held on Sunday, April 23, at the historic Olivas Adobe . Baby owls were seen in their nest.The Ojai Raptor Society brought live owls and hawks for visitors to see and learn about. Olivas Adobe Historic Interpreters, who present the Owl Festival, presented costumed docent-led tours during the event, as they do every weekend, between 11 am and 3 pm.