News
- I-5 Crash Aftermath: Transportation officials were relieved yesterday as traffic leaving the Santa Clarita Valley was lighter than expected, the Daily News reports. But some issues remain: truckers driving south in Los Angeles are still using Highway 138 to bypass Interstate 5 all together, and authorities are still looking for nine drivers "who apparently escaped from vehicles trapped" in the tunnel. Meanwhile, KCRW's "Which Way LA" examines the tunnel, the crash, and related commuter issues, while the Los Angeles Times reports on "natural choke-points" in Southern California and mentions Santa Clarita's growth.
- A Trifecta of Debates: The Signal's Josh Premako and KHTS' Jon Dell covered the three debates held Monday night at City Hall. Candidates running for seats on the Newhall School District Board, the Newhall County Water board, and the Hart District board. Dell's first article is on the Newhall School board race and can be found here.
- Zinnanti Backs off crusade, pedo creeps were at Town Hall meeting? Local attorney Anthony Zinnanti, who received a certificate from the City Council recently for his efforts at fighting self-proclaimed pedophile Jack McClellan in August, told CourtTV's Crime Library that he wouldn't do the same thing again. The story details threats and harassment Zinnanti has received since he took up the crusade to bar McClellan from areas in Santa Clarita, and includes some new information on the August 6 Town Hall meeting called by Assemblyman Cameron Smyth in the midst of all the McClellan hysteria. According to the article, an unidentified man showed up at City Hall, snapped pictures of residents and other speakers, and may have sent pictures of Zinnanti's bikini-clad 13 year old daughter to Smyth and the judge in the McClellan case. Zinnanti doesn't know who the man is, but suspects he's part of a group of people online who have threatened him and his daughter, called his house in the middle of the night, and harassed him. CrimeLibrary.com
- Buck need not fear constituent reaction to S-CHIP vote: That's the conclusion DC-based Daily News journalist Lisa Friedman found when she spoke to experts and SoCal congressional staffers about the expansion of the popular children's health insurance program, which our Congressman, Buck McKeon, voted against last month. Friedman says the problem for Democrats hoping to pressure Republicans is that California's voting districts are so gerrymandered that local GOP members face "little political risk over their stance." The expanded program would have added some 200,000 children in California to the federal insurance rolls, but was vetoed by President Bush earlier this month. Despite the odds, local Democrats are holding a vigil tonight in front of Henry Mayo Hospital at 6pm, hoping to pressure Buck into supporting a possible veto override. Lisa Friedman
- Ham Helps Hart: A retired Hart High Teacher and amateur radio operator named Art Edwards is helping the Hart District with their emergency communications plans. Hams, or amateur radio operators, must take a test before they are allowed to operate special radio equipment, and Edwards has a plan to have at least two hams at each school in the Hart District and some at the district office. The key benefit of ham radio is that it can be operated without any infrastructure whatsoever, and local hams practice for that type of situation each year. In the event of a district-wide emergency, hams could communicate with each other and police, fire, city, and other "first-responders." The District sent out an email to all its staff asking if anyone was interested in the ham class, and over 70 people responded. Full Disclosure: I'm a licensed amateur radio operator as well. It's a fun hobby and has lots of interesting science. From right here in Newhall, I've chatted it up with hams in New Zealand, Japan, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. I've even tuned into the international space station and tried to make contact with people in Antarctica. Santa Clarita has a local club if you're interested in learning more. Article is not online.
- Bound person found in canyon?"A man reported to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station Sunday that he had seen what he thought was a person wearing a hooded sweatshirt, with their hands tied behind their back, in a remote canyon area off the Interstate 5 Freeway north of Castaic." Don't worry, the body turned out to be a mannequin (what the heck was it doing there? Link
- Guns + Alcohol don't mix, mmkay? "Deputies arrested a Newhall man Sunday night after responding to reports of gunshots in the 21300 block of Alder Drive, Nehwall. The deputies found that the man was reportedly intoxicated and had allegedly fired at least ten gunshots into the air from a semi-automatic handgun." No word on the 35 year old white male's motive. (was there some amazing sporting contest on Sunday night that he felt compelled to celebrate, or was he just being an a-hole?) Link
- Tim Myers out at Signal: The Valencia businessman wrote an unpaid column for the Signal for 11 years and was reportedly dismissed recently after some criticism of the Signal on the "Tell It" forum. He'll now write weekly columns for Dave Bossert's site, WestRanchBeacon.com, and reportedly has a "tell-all" column coming up detailing "the events that led to his departure from the Signal" and the "print media death spiral." More details here. Myers' dismissal is the second in recent months- Virginia based columnist Darryl Manzer's column was eliminated in August. I'll also be posting a column from Myers on the Hart Board race.
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