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Pierpont Elementary Instructor Recognized as March’s Teacher of the Month

The Ventura Commerce and Education Foundation (VCEF) named Mary Louise Newburn, first grade instructor at Pierpont Elementary School in Ventura, California, as March’s Teacher of the Month. VCEF board member, Pattie Braga, joined elected representatives and members of the business community on March 2, 2016, to present Newburn with a plaque commemorating the award.

Newburn, who brings more than 15 years of experience to her first-grade classroom, was recognized for her dedication to providing students with a strong academic foundation through a variety of teaching methods – including incorporating new technologies into her instruction – and for working to help them build positive social skills. Beyond the classroom, her efforts include providing additional support for students facing homelessness or poverty as well as expanding her own knowledge through ongoing research and attendance at numerous classes and workshops.

“Mary Louise is committed to providing each of her students with the resources they need to reach their full potential,” said Pierpont principal, Katie Tedford. “She is a highly effective teacher, and students always seem to leave her class with a true love of learning.”

Teacher of the Month nominees must be credentialed teachers and display certain qualities, such as outstanding commitment to students, service to school or district committees, involvement in projects on their own time and/or participation in youth-focused activities in the community. All principals and parent-teacher organizations from schools within the Ventura Unified School District are eligible to submit nominations. For more information about the Teacher of the Month program, please contact Braga, chair of the Teacher Appreciation Committee with the VCEF, at [email protected] or 805-477-4052.

The Ventura Commerce and Education Foundation (VCEF), under the auspices of the Ventura Chamber of Commerce, works to provide a business link to the economic, educational, cultural and environmental interests of the Ventura regional community. More information about the VCEF can be found at venturachamber.com/ventura-commerce-education-foundation.

City of Ventura completes new sewer interconnect project, marking continued progress toward commercial development project

The City of Ventura recently finished a significant step in completing the needed infrastructure for a high priority project known as Focus Area One which includes the Ventura Auto Center and Olivas Park, a future development project. The Olivas Park Drive Sewer Interconnect project includes installation of a new sewer pipeline that will bypass the decommissioned Montalvo wastewater plant and redirect sewage into the city’s system. Focus Area One is slated to become a regional retail destination and is one of the Ventura City Council’s top priorities of economic development.

The more than 100-acre Focus Area One project will significantly improve the area’s transportation network with the extension of Olivas Park Drive to connect to Johnson Drive.  Additionally, construction of an earthen levee will protect the project site from the adjacent Santa Clara River and allow for new construction. Connecting Olivas Park Drive to Auto Center Drive and Johnson Drive greatly improves access from the 101 freeway to the Ventura Auto Center which generates approximately $3.76M annually to the General Fund. The road and levee are in design now and the project is anticipated to begin construction by early 2017.

“The physical improvements will provide access to currently vacant land for economic growth in this area,” said City Manager Mark Watkins. “We are making important progress.”

The Montalvo Community Services District’s (MCSD) wastewater plant is being decommissioned and will eventually be demolished.  Originally built in 1954, it provided sewage treatment for Montalvo properties north of Hwy 101 that will now become Ventura Water customers. Approximately 200,000 gallons a day from the former MCSD will be treated at the city’s reclamation facility generating significant environmental benefits to the estuary and ocean.

Four Ferguson Case Orr Paterson LLP attorneys on Rising Stars list of 2016 Super Lawyers

Four attorneys with Ferguson Case Orr Paterson LLP have been named to the Rising Stars list of Super Lawyers for 2016. This is a repeat honor for partners Bret Anderson, Jesse Cahill and Douglas Goldwater, and the first recognition for Kymberley Peck, an associate with Ventura County’s largest law firm.

The Rising Stars list includes fewer than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the Southern California Region who are 40 years old or younger, or who have been in practice for 10 years or less.

“Each of the attorneys named to the 2016 Rising Star list continually seeks opportunities for growth in their profession so that they can continue making significant contributions to our clients and our firm,” said FCOP managing partner Michael Velthoen.

 

Betsy Blanchard Chess selected as Director of Fund Development

Betsy has worked with numerous arts organizations including the Rubicon Theatre.

The Museum of Ventura County is pleased to announce the hiring of Betsy Blanchard Chess as its new Director of Development. Ms. Chess will help lead the organization in its efforts to sustain its two locations-the second site being the Museum of Ventura Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula-and to build an endowment.

Betsy attended high school in La Jolla and did both graduate and postgraduate work at the University of Southern California, earning a Masters of Arts degree in Modern European History.

In 1988 she became editor and publisher of The Broadcaster Magazine for the Farm Bureau of Ventura County. She retired from the magazine in 2013.

In 1994, she briefly served in a professional capacity as Executive Director for the Ventura County Symphony . She returned to the board as a volunteer and helped to oversee the birth of the New West Symphony in 1995. In 1998 she was hired as Executive Director of New West, a position she held until 2002.

In 2002, Betsy was named president of the San Buenaventura Foundation for the Arts where she worked to realize the Foundation’s dream of building the Cultural Arts Center in Ventura.She was chairman of the Arts Showcase for the Ventura Unified School District in 2005. She also serves on the board of advisors for Women’s Economic Ventures and the Board of Advisors for New West Symphony.  She is a member of Ventura Rotary of which she will be president July 1, 2016- June 30, 2017.

Ventura Interface Ministerial Association as a 2005 Woman of Vision, three times by the Ventura Rotary Club with Paul Harris Fellowships and by the Ventura County Arts Council with their first ever Arts Stars Award for her work in arts education. In 2011 She was named to the Cultural Affairs Commission of the City of Ventura. In 2012, Women’s Economic Ventures of Ventura, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties named Betsy one of five business trailblazers. The Association of Fundraising Professionals named her Volunteer of the Year for Ventura County in 2014.

 

Ventura Police Department’s newest K9 Teams, Officer Keith Therrien and K9 Falco, will be introduced at Ventura Baptist Church Mar. 13

One of Ventura Police Department’s newest K9 Teams, Officer Keith Therrien and K9 Falco, will be introduced at Ventura Baptist Church on March 13 at 9:30 a.m. Falco was purchased from a donation by Ventura Baptist Church. Falco is a two and half year old all black German Shepard from Germany. His full name is Falco Von Pentavita. Falco came to the United States on January 11th and started his training to become a police service dog that same day. Falco graduated the Inglis Police Dog Academy on February 18 and began protecting the citizens of Ventura February 19th.

 

The Ventura Police Department has four K9 teams. All are assigned to the Patrol Unit so that a team is on-duty seven days a week, providing around the clock service to the community. All of our canines are German Shepherds and they live at home with their handler/officer and their families. We use our K9 teams for a variety of public safety assignments. The two most frequent uses are to locate fleeing suspects and to find illegal drugs. Canines can search an entire warehouse, for example, in much less time than a team of officers could perform the same job. Canines can sniff out hidden suspects thereby making them more effective in this situation than their human counterparts. Using K9 teams allows the department to perform a variety of dangerous tasks in a quick and more effective manner.

 

Our department, along with other law enforcement agencies from Santa Barbara and Ventura County, train weekly with Dave Inglis, one of the foremost K9 trainers in the United States. Weekly training sessions focus on tasks such as searching, apprehension, drug detection, obedience, agility and confined searches.

 

The National Police Dog Foundation, founded by Dave and Debbie Inglis, has assisted in the purchase of all of our canines (past and present). Donations made by Ventura Baptist Church were provided to the Foundation for the purchase of Falco. If you are looking to give to your local church may want to consider mobile giving as one way of doing so. The Foundation seeks donations from the community and uses the money to purchase and train police dogs for law enforcement agencies throughout Ventura County. The donation of a trained police dog and handler is a tremendous benefit to our Department and to the community. On average the cost for a canine is $12,000, with an additional $8,000-$10,000 for training and certification, no tax payer dollars are used for the effort. All of the training is provided through the generosity of donations to the Foundation.

Cal Poly students from Ventura honored

Rachel SantaOlalla and Tanner Shelton make Ventura proud.

Twenty-one Cal Poly students were recognized for their awards and other accomplishments by state lawmakers on the floors of the Assembly and Senate in Sacramento on Monday, Feb. 1.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Monning, D-Carmel, whose district also includes the university, introduced the students to his colleagues. “I am proud to welcome to the state Senate some of Cal Poly’s most talented students,” Sen. Monning said.

Each has distinguished him or herself as an individual or on a team that has received a national industry award or on such high-profile events as the Tournament of Roses Parade, with its TV audience of 100 million, and the team that raised $600,000 for a net zero solar home that was judged third best in the nation.

Venturan Rachel SantaOlalla is a landscape architecture major in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. She is a 2007 graduate of Ventura High School.

Being on this tour is a rare and special opportunity that I’m enthusiastic about,” SantaOlalla said. “I think it’s a progressive move to have New Age thinking start a conversation with lawmakers. Being selected as a representative of Cal Poly landscape architecture means I have a role in advocating for the landscape architecture industry. I see this as a platform for exchanging ideas, including the types of project that I and my peers from this generation would like to accomplish.”

Tanner Shelton is a city and regional planning major in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. He is also a graduate of Ventura High School in 2012.

“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to represent the university and the many accomplishments of our students and faculty,” Shelton said. “I think the success of the people in this delegation and all across our student body is directly attributable to Cal Poly’s focus on Learn by Doing and the university’s student-oriented approach to higher education.”