2001-Second half year in review
by OVN staff

The second half of 2001 began and ended with celebration, but the autumn months were anything but festive, as Ojai was reminded that tragedies and terror affect all of us.
Here's a brief, month-by-month rundown of noteworthy events.

JULY
· The Ojai Unified School District held an emergency meeting Monday to reject all bids for districtwide computer network expansion and upgrades for electrical circuitry at various school sites.
Director of Maintenance and Operations Lowell Orcutt said the bids came in about $400,000 higher than the budget had allowed.
· It will be mid-September before John Taft goes back to war with two of his neighbors and appeals decisions made by the County of Ventura.
At the heart of the battle, issues of money, environmental education, property rights, and a laundry list of code violations are, in the meantime, keeping attorneys and bureaucrats busy.
· Sunday afternoon, the Ojai Film Festival officials invited community members to join them and honor a great filmmaker, by showing "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures" at the Ojai Playhouse.
The Jan Harlan documentary, narrated by Tom Cruise, was released by Warner Brothers this year and follows Kubrick's personal and work life from his New York boyhood through his early films in the 1950s up through his career end in the late 1990s just before his death.
· Ventura police detectives Tuesday arrested an 18-year-old Oak View man for the July 1 murder of a homeless man at the Ventura River Estuary, commonly referred to as "Hobo Jungle," near the junction of the Ojai and Ventura freeways.
The victim, James Richard Clark, 58, was found beaten to death. The motive, according to Lt. Quinn Fenwick of the Ventura Police Department, remains uncertain.
· A shield of clouds shaded the Fourth of July parade Wednesday morning that led some to speculate a larger-than-usual crowd showed up for the parade.
Duncan Nelles of the Ojai Independence Day Committee said that he was amazed and overwhelmed as he drove Parade Grand Marshal Sally Iwata down Ojai Avenue to lead the parade.
"It was by far the largest crowd we have ever had," Nelles said. No official crowd size was tallied, but estimates of 9,000 to 10,000 were conservative, Nelles said. The fireworks at Nordhoff High School were a hit too.
· First-time writer-director Jane Cusumano, 46, of Ojai, lost her battle with breast cancer four weeks after the completion of her film, "What Matters Most," on June 1.
· The Community Development Department presented their Arcade Plaza Design Plan at the Tuesday City Council meeting.
In the presentation by Kathleen McCann, concerns emerged about the proposed clock tower, building two fountains and the trash problem. The Planning Commission will review the plan and provide a further report to the council.
· It was standing room only for most of the Ojai Unified School District board meeting Tuesday as teachers and community members crowded in to question and commend the preliminary proposal for a charter school.
Superintendent Van Riley and teacher Craig Walker, who've worked closely together to create the proposal, shared a one-and-a-half-hour presentation for the charter school proposal.
· Ojai Valley libraries are open, for now.
For six days local public libraries were closed because striking workers from the Ventura County Service Employees International Union, Local 998, were calling for a new contract that would guarantee them cost-of-living adjustments in their pensions.

AUGUST
· The 11th annual Intertribal Pow Wow at Lake Casitas brought hundreds of Native Americans from more than 50 tribes across the United States to compete, celebrate, dance, and share their traditions on the lake's sunny shores.
· The local Audubon Society contingent thinks that Casitas Municipal Water District's latest project - a proposed "alternative swimming facility" - is for the birds. Over the course of the two-day event, more than 2,000 visitors watched dance contests for all ages.
· When Sheriff's deputies responding to an alleged domestic incident reported taking fire from a high-powered rifle Sunday morning in the 1500 block of Baldwin Road, S.W.A.T. , other deputies and two helicopters were immediately deployed.
Fortunately, the shots being fired were by a neighbor target shooting, and not by the suspect in the incident, who was later identified as 41-year-old Jeffery Giroux.
Giroux was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Ventura County main jail for domestic violence, according to the police report.
· Its lip is cracked and chipped, showing a fossil of exposed, rusted Rebar. And it's mostly hidden by a hedge of chest-high bushes. But the fountain still gurgles a pleasing trickle under the pink-blossomed, richly scented crepe myrtles in the Arcade Plaza.
But if planners and consultants for the city of Ojai approve and begin construction on the redevelopment-funded redesign of the plaza, the fountain will be torn out
· Neva Williams, an experienced designer and construction executive, has become a member of the city of Ojai Arts Commission.
Williams recently completed an assignment as project administrator for the expansion of the Ojai Police Department complex, and earlier she supervised the restoration of the historic Pergola along Ojai Avenue in the front of Libbey Park
· Shakespeare in the park debuted this past weekend in Libbey Bowl with two productions for Elizabethan theater fans: "Falstaff, the Apprenticeship of Good Prince Hal," and a young-players presentation of "Much Ado About Nothing."
· Although the heroic efforts of Matthew Scesney to save a dying man in the middle of the southbound 405 Freeway Friday afternoon failed, the Los Angeles City Fire Department described him as a true hero nonetheless.
Scesney, 43, had been heading to Legoland in San Diego with his wife and 8-year-old son at 2:36 p.m., according to Brian Humphrey, LAFD public information officer, when he discovered a man slumped over the wheel of his white pickup truck on the freeway near Santa Monica Boulevard in the No. 4 lane of the five-lane roadway.
· Ninety-six boys and girls from more than three dozen Ojai Valley families represented five 4-H groups at this year's Ventura County Fair.
· An Ojai woman was attacked by two Great Danes while she was jogging on Valley Meadow Road Sunday morning, prompting the dog's owner to have them put to sleep.
Kathy Jenks, who heads the county's Animal Control Department, said that neither of the animals had a history of violence, but according to the police report, the dogs broke loose from their owner and began chasing Mary Kemp, 43, as she passed them and their owner at 9:15 a.m.
· At Wednesday night's meeting, the city of Ojai Planning Commission approved assembly use of an historic building, banners for non-profit events, and construction of a modular home
Michael McFerrin, owner of the historic Nazarene Church building in downtown Ojai, had petitioned the commission to change the permitted use of the church building from office to assembly use. The building is located on the southwest corner of North Montgomery and Aliso streets, at 213 N. Montgomery Street
· The City Council approved the Traffic Calming Draft Plan, new kindergarten funding, and tennis court lights at Wednesday night's meeting. Additional discussions concerned establishing a Youth Commission as well as traffic mitigation fees on new residences.
· Three men were arrested at a residence in the 500 block of Larmier Avenue Friday morning and charged with possession of cocaine for sale.
Following an extensive investigation that began when neighbors complained of excessive in-and-out traffic at the residence, sheriff's narcotics officers served a search warrant that resulted in the discovery of approximately a quarter-pound of cocaine, weighing scales, packaging materials and other items associated with the sale of narcotics, according to Sgt. Bob Garcia.
· Ojai Valley Community Hospital has achieved accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations as a result of its demonstrated compliance with the Joint Commission's nationally recognized health care standards.
· The experience of a former undercover narcotics officer apparently played a big part in Thursday's arrest of Joel Alexander King, 27, and Olivia Nann Ogier, 22, suspected of operating a methamphetamine lab out of their North Hollywood home.
· The season's first Ojai area brush fire Thursday morning scorched 20 acres of wildland, briefly threatened homes in the Rancho La Vista area, and caused Villanova Prep students to be removed from their classes.
· There's good news for Oak View grocery shoppers. Dahl's Market, vacant for nearly a year, has been leased by an Oxnard man who owns three other regional markets.
· Several people riding the Ojai Trolley Saturday morning were rattled from their seats as the city-owned vehicle sank into softened asphalt undermined by a nearby water line break.
One elderly woman was taken to the Ojai Valley Community Hospital by LifeLine paramedics for evaluation after witnesses said she landed face-down in an aisle as the vehicle came to an abrupt halt.
· At least one suspect learned you can run, but you can't hide from Ojai Police.
Responding to an unrelated call in the 400 block of North La Luna Avenue Monday afternoon, Deputy Joe Preciado spotted Lonnie Stanford Jr., whom he knew as having drug-related and other warrants. Preciado also knew that Stanford, 18, had unsuccessfully run from the police as recently as last month, according to Ojai Police Chief Gary Pentis.

SEPTEMBER
· Reports on declining enrollment and possible speed bumps on the smooth road to a charter school dominated the Ojai Unified School District board of education meeting Tuesday.
Assistant Superintendent Jim Berube presented the board with district enrollment figures from the years 1983 to present. Districtwide enrollment is currently 3,940 as of Tuesday, that's down 242 students since enrollment peaked from a steady increase between 1983 and 1998.
· An Agoura Hills couple sustained multiple injuries and fractures Monday afternoon when their Harley Davidson motorcycle collided with a Daewoo Lanos driven by Charlyn Summerfield of Ojai.
· The Ventura County Sheriff's Department this week has released its semi-annual list of reported crimes within the Ojai city limits, indicating a substantial decrease in both violent and property crimes.
While the actual number of reported violent crimes dropped from 10 to six between Jan. 1 and June 30 - and Ojai's population only grew by 50 people - the decrease was 40 percent, or .75 crimes per 1,000 population. The figure compares favorably with 1.26 crimes per 1,000 population for the same period in 2000.
· Declining enrollment is forcing the collapse of classrooms at the Mira Monte, Topa Topa and Meiners Oaks Elementary Schools.
Ojai Unified School District Superintendent Van Riley said about 30 students at each school will either be shifted around within the schools or could be moved to another school within the district that has classroom openings.
· County Fire investigators have determined that arson was the cause of a brushfire that burned more than 20 acres of land and drove Villanova Preparatory School students out of their classrooms last Thursday.
· After a steep rise, crime in the unincorporated areas of the Ojai Valley has taken a modest drop.
According to statistics released by the Ventura County Sheriff's Department last week, violent and property crimes reported in the unincorporated areas of the Ojai Valley for the first half of this year showed a moderate 6.5-percent decrease, compared with a 23-percent increase for the same period last year.
· A grim look of determination was evident on the faces of law enforcement officials Friday afternoon as marked and unmarked cars paraded up narrow Pine Mountain Road in search of suspected triple murderer Reynaldo Herrera Rodriguez.
They knew that Rodriguez was probably armed and had nothing to lose after he realized that he had been spotted by Len Cleveland, U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer, and Sheriff's Deputy Dave Gasaway from the nearby Lockwood Valley substation.
Two days earlier, the 35-year-old Caltrans civil engineer with a reported vendetta - against a woman whom he may have mistakenly believed had given him a sexually-transmitted disease - allegedly set his Thousand Oaks home ablaze and drove a rented 2002 Ford Explorer to eastern Simi Valley, where he was suspected of bursting into an upscale home and shooting five people, killing three of them.
· With six Ojai-trained search dogs now in New York City searching with their handlers for living victims of Tuesday's terrorist tragedy, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation is calling for support, seeking additional dogs to be trained and funding for their donation-supported program.
· In contrast to the violent chaos Americans have watched unfold in New York City this past week, hundreds of Ojai Valley residents and families gathered in unity and peace Friday evening in Libbey Park.
· While no American or, indeed, global, community is perfect, the Ojai Valley comes as close to being an example of perfection as many a person could hope to find.
And now, in the midst of a crisis that has shown the ugly side of many other cities and towns across the nation, Ojai proves it is not just a physically beautiful community, but a spiritually beautiful one, as well.
· Monday afternoon the Ojai Unified School District Board of Education held a brief special meeting to receive a financial report that needed to be filed by Sept. 17.
Dannielle Pusatere, presented the board with the 2000-01 unaudited actual financial report that shows how the district will receive funding based on average daily attendance numbers, what money is coming into and out of a handful of different funds.
· The Planning Commission attracted a packed house at last night's meeting. Hot topics were the Ojai Valley School's request to use a shed located on residential property and the Emerald Iguana Inn's potential change in status. Half the audience walked out when they learned that there would be no final vote on either issue last night because the applicants couldn't be at the meeting. However, this didn't prevent many of those remaining from participating in a heated discussion about the Emerald Iguana Inn when their turn came.
· Watch national news and before long you'll think that American businesses are virtually shutting down. But local businesses, while feeling changes in attitude and behavior, keep chugging along.
In the week now following the tragic events in New York City and Washington, D.C., local businesses have been affected, but most say that it hasn't been that bad.
· Betti Ridenour, the founding, creative, and driving force behind Illusions Theatre, died in her home Thursday of ovarian cancer.
In July, the Ojai Valley News ran a story about Ridenour who was premiering, "Cinderella," Illusions Theatre's swan song production.
"Ojai," Ridenour told Kelly Feser Eells," is such an artistic community, there's never any shortage of talent or enthusiasm."
Ridenour started Illusions in 1980 to bring youth into the theater and pass along her own approach to learning that she had fostered as a teacher at Oak Grove School.
· He left for New York knowing he would never see his mother alive again.
For more than a week, with assigned 12-hour shifts that often became around-the-clock disappointments, Seth Peacock and 5-year-old Pupdog were part of a team of the Ojai-based National Disaster Search Dog Foundation's rescue teams that were dispatched to "Ground Zero," as the remnants of the World Trade Center have since come to be known.
· The Camp Chaffee Road neighbors were at it again at the Casitas Municipal Water District meeting Wednesday afternoon in Oak View. But this time the crowd had grown from two neighbors to four and included the fence builder, John Rockhold, and his attorney.
· Using their turnout boots as collection plates, Ojai-area firefighters collected nearly $36,000 Saturday at the "Y" intersection to benefit the families of their New York City comrades who lost their lives in the World Trade Center attack.
Meiners Oaks Station 22 Capt. Bob Myers said rookies from the academy, who could have taken the day off, stood alongside about 20 firefighters, captains, engineers and battalion chiefs, working for seven hours in the hot midday sun.
· They'd barely gotten into the pleasantries and introductions when Craig Walker dropped a bomb Monday evening.
There will be no charter school.
"The Doniphan Oaks steering committee met this afternoon," Walker said. "The idea was to offer parents a choice and children something different."
· Impassioned library patrons crowded the city's chambers at Tuesday night's Ojai City Council meeting, making fiery speeches opposing moving the Ojai Library from its current location or selling the library to help fund a new site.
The Library Expansion Committee, formed from groups across the community, brought recommendations after hundreds of hours of analysis and work.

OCTOBER
· Kino Crooke could be enjoying a load of new games and puzzles right now. He celebrated his 10th birthday this past Saturday at his Ojai home and 26 of his friends and neighbors came to the party. But Kino didn't want their gifts for himself, he wanted them given to the dogs.
Dad's interest in the newspapers and media reports have brought Ojai's National Disaster Search Dog Foundation to Crooke's attention in recent weeks. He wanted to do something to help.
· Hallmark does not carry a line of greeting cards for the sort of anniversary Lourdes Carranza celebrates this month, which is just as well.
The Signal Street resident radiates more good cheer than a thousand "special anniversary" cards could ever convey.
On Sept. 9, 2000, Carranza, who had learned some months earlier that without transplant surgery she'd likely lose her decades-long battle with kidney disease, underwent the life-saving operation in Guadalajara, Mexico. Her sister, or, as Carranza said, "hero," Mira Monte resident Concha Jiminez, supplied the critical organ.
· After a four-month appeal window, the Center for Earth Concerns is officially closed.
Tuesday the Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 1 to uphold their first-ever revocation of a conditional use permit; a decision they made in mid-June. Supervisor Steve Bennett, who represents the Ojai Valley, cast the lone vote to keep the center open and operating.
· In 1989, the Farmont Corporation of Pasadena proposed building a 203-acre golf course on the 2,000-plus acre parcel adjacent to Rancho Matilija, a proposal that teed off several local environmental groups.
The golf course, according to attorney Lindsey Nielsen, "was the dream of the late Mr. Toyama - the original applicant - who wasn't interested in profit, and who had the funds (not to be.) It's unfortunate that he died without seeing his dream realized."
· An Ojai man known for his knowledge and practice of tree care and his love for sailing drowned this weekend.
John Keith, 64, was sailing Saturday when he went overboard about 200 yards from the Lake Casitas event area dock.
· A scenic hillside has apparently been stripped to bare earth and is now marked by the tracks of heavy equipment.
The land, about a half mile west of the Ventura River bridge, sits south of Baldwin Road behind an orange grove just past the westerly entrance to Rancho Matilija.
It appears that there was no authorization for this act.
· With electricity rates jumping 58 percent and then 80 percent in recent months, Casitas Municipal Water District general manager John Johnson is looking to the state legislature for relief.
· A Ventura couple has been arrested and charged with attempting to steal the identities of more than 30 people in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
Sheriff's Detective Joe Evans said the pair, Roscoe Case, 39, and Tanya Wheatley, 31, both of whom gave Ventura addresses, were arrested Oct. 2 outside the Ventura home of a man whom deputies were serving a parole violation warrant.
· The main route into Ojai brought an apology at Tuesday evening's City Council meeting.
Mumbie Fredson-Cole of Caltrans said, "I apologize on behalf of Caltrans for all the frustrations and the slow process the median project has caused. I too am frustrated because of the constraints." Fredson-Cole has just found a new contractor to complete the work already begun on Highway 33 between 101 and Ojai.
· Thanks to the work of Ojai City staff, the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation and the example of other communities, an Ojai Valley Youth Commission will soon be providing advisory opinions to the Ventura County Sheriffs, Ojai City Council and the Ojai Unified School District.
· Caltrans has fired the contractor hired to construct a three-mile-long concrete barrier on the Ojai Freeway, delaying the already-behind-schedule project possibly well into 2002.
Reseda-based Tupaz Enterprises was fired for repeatedly missing deadlines and failing to finish the $2.6 million project on time, said Caltrans spokeswoman Ivy Estrada, and the bidding process will soon begin to secure a contractor to finish the job.
· While there has been no specific threat to public safety in the Ojai Valley, speculation grows that rural areas can be the targets of terrorists who want to prove that no place in America is beyond their reach.
Although the chances of a local chemical or biological attack may seem to be remote, the county's farms do require crop dusting, which experts say can be an efficient means of delivering anthrax and other fatal biochemicals in mass quantities.
· The ground breaking for Ojai's Newest Park will be held at 4 p.m. Friday in what is currently several large stones, some cyclone fence and dusty weeds tucked into the triangle made by Rincon Street, El Paseo Road and Ojai Avenue.
After a few speeches by Ojai Valley Land Conservancy and city officials and the ceremonial shovel scoops, the suits will move back and within the week, construction will begin
· Anyone looking forward to the day when shouts of "fore" are heard from the proposed Farmont Golf is likely in for a long wait.
The 2,000-plus-acre property, adjacent to Rancho Matilija, was a source of controversy when the Farmont Corporation owned it. The current owners, Intell Management, recent request to modify the original (1995) Conditional Use Permit has triggered a new round of local concerns.
· After fielding 17 calls Monday from an alarmed public, Ventura County Fire Department Chief Bob Roper called a press conference Tuesday to assure the public of the county's readiness for dealing with the anthrax threats
· Ojai Day 2001 dawned foggy and quiet. But before noon live music and rollicking crowds drove back the low-lying clouds and sunshine shone as thousands of people poured into town.
From command central in Libbey Park, organizers and crew dispatched throughout downtown Ojai to spread entertainment and activity for Ojai's biggest day of the year.
· As the public hearing conducted by the Department of Water Resources drew to a close Oct. 17, Flood Protection Programs Manager Earl Nelson underscored the state's interest in the Ojai Meadows Wetlands Restoration and Flood Corridor Improvement project
"We wanted to pick the cream for the pilots," said Nelson, "and this project definitely rose to the top."
· With anthrax scares gripping the nation, the U.S. Postal Service has implemented safety measures to help ensure the safety of employees who sort and handle the mail.
Local postal officials confirmed that masks and gloves were available for employees to wear, but referred all questions to USPS Consumer Affairs in Los Angeles.
· An impassioned audience packed the City Council chambers at Tuesday night's meeting to oppose public use of an assembly hall.
Twenty neighbors of the Offices at the Pew on Aliso and Montgomery streets spoke out against expanding use at the former Nazarene Church. The church is part of the Offices at the Pew that have been remodeled by Michael McFerrin, his architect Marc Whitman and building contractor Michael Baldridge
· At last the shouting is over and construction on Ojai's Newest Park has begun.
Friday afternoon more than 170 officials and community members gathered inside the temporary cyclone fencing that surrounds the former gas-station lot and dug in with tiny yellow-handled "from-blight-to-beauty" trowels while motorists drove by on Ojai Avenue waving and tooting their horns.
· If you're looking for an uplifting Disney-esque movie to watch at the upcoming Ojai Film Festival, don't see this film.
However, if you're looking for what's been called a "bright, beautifully written script, that's wonderfully directed," then get your tickets for the festival and be at the Ojai Playhouse Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. for the U.S. premiere of Malcolm McDowell's film "Gangster No. 1."

NOVEMBER
· A few bumps, bruises, scrapes and broken bones didn't deter Deputy Tom Triplett from completing the training required to become Ojai's new motorcycle officer.
· American Red Cross volunteers from the Ojai area arrived within an hour after a Friday afternoon fire destroyed a modest home at 1130 N. Ventura Ave. in Oak View, and offered the victims immediate local housing, clothing and meals
· Suspicious circumstances surround the origin of an approximately two-acre blaze that blackened a portion of the Ojai Meadows Preserve Friday afternoon.
· After the Tuesday evening Ojai Unified School District board meeting, Superintendent Van Riley announced that Pat Peake was no longer the principal at Meiners Oaks.
· For the second year in a row, the Ojai Film Festival screened 84 narrative features, shorts, documentaries, and animated films at four venues from Thursday through Monday. And officials agree, with the exception of some minor technical glitches, there was definite improvement over the 2000 festival.
· A 35-year-old man who earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of elderly abuse following a February attack on an elderly Oak View couple has been sentenced to nine years in state prison.
· Amid much public outcry and after two years' work, the City Council rejected the 2000-2005 Housing Element proposal and its 209 additional housing units at Tuesday night's meeting.
· Michelle Oishi, Pacific Bell spokesperson, confirmed Tuesday that Pac Bell's DSL service will start as soon as April 2002.
· Construction for Ojai's Newest Park at the corners of Ojai Avenue, Rincon Street and El Paseo Road is well under way with grading being the main effort so far.
· While the Arcade Plaza is getting a facelift from Ojai's Redevelopment Agency, the Rains Department Store is also planning to expand.
·Donna Popular, 51, a nurse at the Ojai Valley Community Hospital, was pronounced dead at the Ventura County Medical Center Saturday afternoon of injuries sustained in a single-vehicle accident on Ojai-Santa Paula Road..

DECEMBER
· Sheriff's deputies and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are searching for a man in his mid-50s who robbed the Ojai Valley Bank of an undisclosed amount of cash.
· Adding fuel to an already volatile situation, Ventura County Sheriff's deputies assigned to the county's jails and court system staged a work slowdown Monday, and the Deputy Sheriff's Association, through its Santa Monica-based attorney, Stephen H. Silver, has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Ventura County and its Board of Retirement.
· True to his word, Pratt House owner Bill Moses withdrew his application to operate an Interpretive Center from his historic Foothill Road home.
· After cake and punch, along with pleasant chatter with the mayor, two city council members, and a host of other visitors, Bob Unruhe was ready to raise his right hand and take the oath of office as the newest board member of the Ojai Unified School District.
· The Ojai Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau has announced the recipients of its Citizen, Educator and Youth of the Year. Gloria and Oscar Melendez will share Citizen of the Year; coach Ken Reeves, Educator of the Year; and Trevor Weedon has been voted Youth of the Year.
· Two homeless men were taken into custody Tuesday night following the alleged robbery and attack of another homeless man in Libbey Park.
· Three Ojai residents were taken to area hospitals Monday night following a spectacular, head-on collision on Santa Ana Road.
· Amid the festivities of their annual Christmas party at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa on Dec. 13, the city honored many of those who have contributed their time and services to the community.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

Back to the news