Photo by Richard Sweet
The Santa Clara River (SCR) flowing at the 101 freeway on 1/4/23 at 10:26 a.m. It is looking upstream towards the NE. Upstream of this location on the SCR, our groundwater aquifers are getting recharged, as they are exposed to percolation from surface waters. From what I gather, downstream, there is less permeable land and lower quality shallow aquifers.
by Mary Olson
Historian and writer Vincent Burns and professor of journalism Stephen Bates will visit the Ojai Library (111 East Ojai Avenue ) at 1pm on Saturday, January 14, 2023, to speak about their book Rincon Point in a presentation titled “A History of Rincon Point in Photographs.”
Rincon Point is one of the premier surfing spots in the world, but that is only a fragment of its rich history. Before the arrival of Europeans, it was a Chumash village called Shuku. Banditos, nudists, movie stars, long-boarders—they have all shaped Rincon Point, a place immortalized by novelists, poets, painters, photographers, and the Beach Boys.
Vincent Burns has deep roots in the area. He helped build his grandmother’s house on Rincon Point and writes regularly on surf history. An historian, he had a 30-year career in publishing.
Stephen Bates is a professor of journalism at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the author of five books, most recently Rincon Point. His family owned the Rincon del Mar Ranch in Carpinteria for more than a century.
The book features unique photographs from the Bateses and other early settlers, pioneer surfers of the 1950s and 1960s, the Carpinteria Valley Museum of History, and elsewhere. This presentation will include a slide show of historical photos, particular information on the surfing history of Rincon Point, and tips on how (and how not) to write a local history book!
At 5:30pm on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, program staff from Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV) will join the Ventura County Library to lead a Financial Education Webinar titled “How to Navigate your Budget with Confidence and Purpose.” This program will take place virtually via Zoom. To register, visit bit.ly/VCLWEV17 or the online calendar at www.vencolibrary.org/library-events.
This 75-minute workshop will help you to identify your financial priorities so you can manage your numbers and budget with confidence and purpose. This interactive session will be facilitated by Irene Kelly, WEV’s Financial Education and Community Engagement Manager.
A Spanish-language version of this program will take place on Wednesday, January 18, from 5:30pm to 6:45pm.
These events are free and open to the public. For additional information, contact Ron Solórzano, Regional Librarian, at (805) 218-9146 or [email protected].
Ventura Friends of the Library wish you all a Happy New Year.
The Friends Bookstore in E.P. Foster Library will be open Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. AND, the store will be open Sundays, 1:30 to 4:00 pm in January.
We also invite you to visit our online bookstore for local sales https://venturafol-107753.square.site/s/shop. When you make a purchase there, you will receive an email letting you know when your order will be ready for pickup at the bookstore in E.P. Foster. You can also join or renew your membership to Ventura Friends of the Library for 2023 or make a donation through the online store. Memberships, donations and proceeds from our book sales support the City of Ventura’s libraries.
Rubicon Theatre Company announces the sixth show of its 2022-2023 “Welcome Home” season, presented in association with Gare St. Lazare, Ireland and the Laguna Playhouse, Joe Spano, Faline England, Conor Lovett and Sorcha Fox starring in the Southern California premiere of The Realistic Joneses, written by Will Eno and directed by Judy Hegarty-Lovett. The Realistic Joneses begins preview performances on Wednesday, January 25 at 7:00 pm, with a press opening on Saturday, January 28 at 7:00 pm and runs through Sunday, February 12 at 2 pm at the Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main Street in Ventura.
Meet Bob and Jennifer and their new neighbors John and Pony, two suburban couples who discover they have more in common than their identical homes and their surnames. Spare, suggestive, slyly hilarious, and strangely maddening, this profound play explores what is said what is unsaid and the role that denial plays in helping us navigate life’s chaos.
Nominated for the Outer Critics and Drama League Awards and listed by The New York Times as one of the “Best Plays of the Year,” The Realistic Joneses will haunt you long after the play ends, leaving you wondering whether we can ever truly know anyone, including ourselves.
Performances are Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (followed by a talkback), Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.; Fridays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m.
Ticket prices range from $30.00- $79.50.
To purchase tickets call the Rubicon at (805) 667-2900 or visit rubicontheatre.org. Rubicon Guest Services is located at 1006 E. Main Street (Laurel entrance), and is open from noon to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sundays. Single tickets for each of the shows are also on sale and available via the box office or the company’s website: www.rubicontheatre.org.
Actress Cynthia Killion hosted the Ojai Art Center Theater’s 2023 Season Preview on Sunday, January 8. Always one of the highlights of the Art Center Theater, this “annual” taste of the season event returned for the first time since 2020.
Killion, Managing Director of Flying H Group Theater Company, and a longtime actress and Improv performer, stars as Becky in the OACT season opener, Becky’s New Car.
After an 18-month investigation into more than 100 cases of sexual abuse at the Thacher School Ventura County law enforcement officials announced that none would proceed to court.
Thacher School trustees started the investigation in June, 2021, when they released an independent, 91-page report on the boarding school’s handling of sexual abuse.
Ventura County Sheriff’s deputies and prosecutors from the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office studied the report and other records submitted by the school.
Local Ojai author Cynthia Louise Grier will visit the Ojai Library at 1pm on Saturday, January 28, 2023, to deliver a talk titled “Magic or Medicine? Grimoires and Healing Amulets in The Muse of Freedom: a Cevenoles Sagas Novel.” Grier, who writes under the nom de plume Jules Larimore, will share a bit of history and examples of these healing devices often thought to be magic.
Set in late Renaissance France, 1695-97, The Muse of Freedom: a Cevenoles Sagas Novel tells a story of a young nobleman training as an apothecary as he unravels his Huguenot family’s legacy of secrets and embarks on an odyssey in search of his spiritual identity and the meaning of love. In the Gorges du Tarn, he meets a mystic holy-woman who reveals ancient healing mysteries and inspires his quest for freedom. But persecutions by Louis XIV’s dragoons force him to make a fateful decision—recreant, rebel, or refugee.
Jules lives primarily in Ojai, with time spent around the U.S. and in various countries in Europe gathering more treasures in a continued search for authenticity. For more information, visit www.juleslarimore.com.
This event is free and open to the public. For additional information, contact Ron Solórzano, Regional Librarian, at (805) 218-9146 or [email protected].
The Ojai Library is located at 111 East Ojai Avenue in Ojai, CA. Hours of service are 10am to 8pm Monday through Thursday and 12pm to 5pm Friday through Sunday.
The Ojai Art Center is planning an exciting art exhibit for the month of February and looking for artists to participate. The theme of the show is “Anything Goes” and means just that.
“Anything Goes” is an open show with no central theme. “The gallery committee wanted to offer artists an opportunity to work without the restrictions of a theme, to paint or sculpt whatever they like,” said gallery chair, Bonnie Riege.
Artists should bring two and three-dimensional pieces to the Art Center on Friday, February 2, 10 a.m., to 1 p.m. Work must be framed or have finished gallery edges and be carefully wired for hanging. No wet paint. All work must be available for purchase. There will be a size limit of 48” wide. Three-dimensional work is welcome. There is an entry fee of $15 each or $40 for 3 pieces. A prospectus is available at ojaiartcenter.org (under art branch) or at the Art Center which is located at 113 N. Montgomery Street in downtown Ojai.
For more information, please contact: Teri Mettala
[email protected] 805 646-0117
After a rain drying the Breeze in the breeze.
Community Memorial Health System welcomed a new Chief of Staff, Dr. Chris Johnson, on January 1, 2023. Dr. Johnson has been a longtime leader at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, and has served as Medical Director of the Emergency Department since 2009. Outgoing Chief of Staff, Dr. Deborah Carlson, served from January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2022.
“Dr. Carlson was our Chief of Staff during an extremely challenging time in healthcare,” said Dr. Johnson. “She was able to make a significant positive impact on patient care and physician well-being, and our entire community will benefit from her contributions to Community Memorial.”
One of Dr. Johnson’s first priorities is to help ensure that the relationship between the medical staff and health system administration remains strong as Community Memorial welcomes a new CEO, Mick Zdeblick. Effective January 9, Zdeblick assumes the role from Gary K. Wilde, who is retiring after 18 years as President and CEO.
“This is a very exciting time for our health system because Mick Zdeblick comes highly regarded,” said Dr. Johnson. “He brings a unique skill set which we feel will complement our already strong administration.”
Dr. Johnson will also help implement a new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) across Community Memorial’s network of hospitals and health centers over the next few years. The process has begun and once the new EMR is put into operation, physicians and patients will have greater access to health records. “A comprehensive EMR will help physicians provide care more seamlessly,” Dr. Johnson said. “Health records will be accessible to physicians across the state, and patients will be able to view their information on a secure portal.”
Dr. Johnson has enjoyed a long and successful career at Community Memorial Hospital. He joined the medical staff in 2001 after working as an emergency room physician at several other hospitals, including Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara and Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He has served as secretary of the Medical Staff since 2019, was the director of the Patient Safety Committee from 2003 – 2009, chaired the Department of Medicine from 2010 – 2012, and has been a member of the Medical Executive Committee since 2010. Dr. Johnson is also a former longtime director of the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District, and was its president in 2014 and 2015.
Dr. Johnson earned his medical degree from the University of Nevada School of Medicine, where he also served his internship. He completed his residency at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, one of the busiest trauma centers in the world.
Outgoing Chief of Staff, Dr. Carlson, has served Community Memorial Hospital in many capacities, including as a Palliative Care Team physician, a Hospitalist, and as the original Program Director for Community Memorial Health System’s Internal Medicine Residency Program. She has served as the Chief of Staff, Vice Chief of Staff, and as Secretary/Treasurer of the Medical Staff Executive Committee. Dr. Carlson also headed several other hospital committees, including serving as the first chair of the EMPOWER Committee (Employment of Metrics for the Promotion of Wellness and the Enhancement of Resilience), launched in 2020 to help the medical staff handle the stress and burnout brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Carlson has also chaired Community Memorial Hospital’s Quality Assessment and Improvement Committee and the Department of Medicine, and she started the Inpatient Medicine Division.
“I am humbled by Dr. Carlson’s achievements,” Dr. Johnson said. “Those are big shoes to fill, and I look forward to tapping into her knowledge and skills in the future.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the main leaders of the American civil rights movement. A Baptist minister by training, King became a civil rights activist early in his career, leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, raising public consciousness of the civil rights movement and establishing King as one of the greatest orators in American history.
In 1964, he became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King’s birthday, January 15.
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Martin Luther King Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.
$1.25 for a steak? Outrageous!
Photographed at the Museum Research Library by Patricia Schallert.
For 2023, Our Ventura TV is initiating a new interview series to shed light on the issue of the unhoused. The series will feature a diverse range of guests, including those who are currently experiencing homelessness, those who have experienced homelessness in the past, as well as nonprofits, church, community and government representatives and anyone who would like to add their voice to potential solutions.
The series aims to provide a deeper understanding of homelessness and its causes, as well as highlight the challenges and barriers faced by those who are unhoused. It will also explore the various resources and support systems available to individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and examine the efforts of local organizations and government agencies to address the issue.
“We’re excited to share these powerful and important stories with our viewers,” said Sandra Siepak, Our Ventura TV host.
The series will include personal stories from individuals who have experienced homelessness, as well as insights from experts in the field.
Our Ventura TV host, MB Hanrahan said, “By highlighting a range of perspectives, including those impacted by homelessness and those who have worked to address homelessness in our community, we hope to create a more informed and compassionate conversation about this pressing issue.”
The series will also feature interviews with a variety of local individuals and organizations, including homeless service providers, government agencies, and community groups.”Homelessness is a complex and multifaceted issue, and it’s important that we take the time to listen to and understand the experiences of those involved,” said George Alger the creator and producer of Our Ventura TV.
Additional Our Ventura TV crew, such as Hosts Monique Nowlin and Bonnie Rose; Director, Michelle Hoover; and Manager, Mary Christine Ballestero, will be integral to developing this series, as well.
Our Ventura TV airs on Ventura cable 6 TV and the segments are also available online at OurVentura.com and on social media platforms.
This special series is in addition to the routine Our Ventura TV programs, which are established on the theme of “People doing good things in Ventura County.”
For more information, or to request an interview, visit ourventura.com and click “Contact.”
Ventura’s paper from November 11, 1919. Not nearly as informative as the Ventura Breeze.
