How to resolve AdBlock issue? 'Upper Ojai’s success is Ojai Valley’s success:' Summit School in Upper Ojai needs to remain a free, public school
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- Published: Friday, 12 April 2019 09:35
By Thea Wilcox
I have been an active participant in the Summit School discussion since May. Since that time, I have made arguments for keeping Summit School open. I have spoken to the school board at public meetings, I have spoken to them individually and I have met with the superintendent many times. I have repeatedly asked for assistance to come with some ideas and grants we can access to move our school district forward and help revitalize our Upper Ojai area by reopening a public school at Summit. I and others have received no tangible resources from the district or the Board.
Ojai Valley has plenty of water and can remain self-sufficient
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- Published: Friday, 05 April 2019 10:08
By Dr. Andrea Neal and Michelaina Johnson
Contrary to widespread belief, Ojai actually has plenty of water!
However, the legal and bureaucratic nature of water management locally and statewide, in addition to a lack of scientific data, has impeded our community’s ability to determine the appropriate path that will lead to a water secure and sustainable future for Ojai. Three key steps, if taken, could ensure that Ojai meets its water needs from within the basin.
Reserve day and place in Ojai to honor veterans on Memorial Day
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- Published: Friday, 29 March 2019 11:26
This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.
--Elmer Davis
By Nancy Hill
Once again, Memorial Day is approaching — on Monday, May 27. It’s a time to honor those who gave their lives in defense of our freedoms, and those who are still with us and should be recognized for their service. We will put on a program at Libbey Bowl that day in observance of Memorial Day, from 11:30 a.m. until 2 or 2:30 p.m. We must not forget the great sacrifices our veterans made and still are making today, in harm’s way in so many places around the world.
Questions and facts inform my patriotism
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- Published: Friday, 22 March 2019 09:48
By Nicolas Oatway
In his March 15 Op-Ed, Ojai resident David Pressey gave us a wonderfully clear, gritty, unmistakable first person picture of a 17-year-old American boy and his teenage buddies tossed into the muddy, murderous conflict called the Korean War. He spoke of his war experiences so many decades ago that haunt him still.
I was 10 years old, just seven years behind him in the early ’50s, when he found himself so far from home in such a horrible situation. In the LA Times during the Korean battles, a good map of the entire Korean Peninsula would often appear, usually in the front-page upper-righthand corner illustrating the war’s progress with a thick jagged line and arrows bending one way or the other. I can draw a decent outline even now of North and South Korea, even locate Pusan, Inchon, Seoul and Pyongyang, and the famous “demilitarized zone” so branded into my mind is the picture of that particular piece of Asia’s geography.
Patriot reminds countrymen of lessons from the ‘Forgotten War’
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- Published: Friday, 15 March 2019 09:25
By David Pressey
I am depressed and bitter today as memories of 70 years ago flood my conscious existence and I still experience nightmares and terrors from long ago. I am depressed because of politicians who make wars that the young men and women fight.
I never completed the 12th grade, along with many of my comrades. We were 17-year-old kids called to fight in the Korean War, a war mismanaged by arrogant politicians. The carnage was great with millions killed, wounded, frozen to death and dead of starvation, including civilians, and enemy combatants who, if they lived in this country, would have been good neighbors.
Elders rule, literally
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- Published: Friday, 15 March 2019 09:24
By Clive Leeman
Bernie Sanders, 77,, a Democratic candidate for U.S. president in the 2020 election, is almost two years younger than Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who is second in line to succeed to the U.S. presidency. Pelosi will be 79 this month.
And Sanders is younger than three other American politicians who are qualified to be president, two of whom are mulling over a run for the office.
Wildlife corridor plan deserves our support
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- Published: Friday, 08 March 2019 11:17
By Kimberly Rivers
On Tuesday, March 12, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors will vote on rules to minimize impacts of human activity where wild animals roam and native plants grow.
The proposed wildlife corridor plan creates rules for new development, and if a landowner feels anything is too onerous, he or she can ask for a variance. Landowners, many of whom already do much to sustain the wild places surrounding and within their land, may find it easier than expected to incorporate the new rules into any future plans and will enjoy firsthand the benefits of conserving wild habitat.
Growing leaders together in Ojai: Public-private school partnership will ultimately strengthen nation and world
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- Published: Friday, 08 March 2019 11:15
By Michael K. Mulligan
Two years before my retirement from The Thacher School, I met with two former Thacher parents who were willing to help us establish a leadership training program at the school. I’d long wanted to make leadership training an explicit endeavor there. These visionary and generous parents, however, wanted to see the impact of their gift extend to a public school beyond Thacher.
After discussions with Andy Cantwell, the Ojai superintendent of schools, assistant superintendent Sherrill Knox, Nordhoff High School principal Dave Monson, and the Ojai School Board, Thacher was invited to work in concert with Nordhoff and its staff to help design and offer a course in leadership for the Rangers. Pretty exciting stuff.
Vacation to Nicaragua turns into a mission: Ojai woman raising funds to help disabled children in Nicaragua
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- Published: Friday, 01 March 2019 10:51
By Andra Belknap
I planned to spend my time in Nicaragua — a nation of volcanos, beaches and self-proclaimed poets — as a tourist shortly after Thanksgiving. And I’ve certainly done my share of lounging in hammocks. The reason I stayed, though, is that I fell in love with a nonprofit organization in San Juan de La Concepción known as La Mariposa.
The story of La Mariposa began in 1987.
Paulette Goudge, an Essex native, made her first trip to the Central American nation that year.
Why CMWD board has failed
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- Published: Friday, 22 February 2019 11:37
By Eric Vang
The sole requirement of the license issued by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to Casitas Municipal Water District is to “store water.”
— Not to have a money-losing recreation area.
— Not to open a water park that requires a subsidy each year.
— Not to have a huge payroll and a significant number of retirees with pensions and medical-benefit payments.
The mandate was, and is, only, to store water. This is a failure on the part of the Casitas Municipal Water District Board of Directors.
Nordhoff High, Ojai deserve a better pool
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- Published: Friday, 22 February 2019 11:35
By Marc Whitman
Winston Churchill said, “We shape our buildings, and thus: they shape us.” This can also be said for our public facilities. Ojai is one of the most affluent communities in the county. Yet, its public pool is one of the worst, if not the worst, public pools in Ventura County.
The Nordhoff High School pool was built in the '60s using volunteer labor and a backyard pool design. It was not built using any standards for a competitive aquatic pool. It is extremely shallow, does not have a gutter system, the coping is out of date and is not deep enough for a diving board.