News
- Stephens Pleads Not Guilty, Bail reduced: Michael Stephens, the 18 year old Stevenson Ranch man who is accused of murdering Josh Pipho, plead not guilty to that charge and another attempted murder charge on Monday in court in San Fernando. During the hearing, Stephen's defense attorney requested that the judge reduce Stephen's bail amount -which was set at $2,050,000- to $1 million. After some deliberation the judge reduced his bail to $1.5 million. Cindy Pipho, the mother of the victim, reacted to that angrily saying, "It's a bunch of crap." According to the defense attorney, the Stephens family has "no plans" to post Steven's bail at this point. Karen Elowitt has the full story in Tuesday's Signal.
- Placerita Land purchase will be hiking park? Pat Aidem at the Daily News has some more details on the $2.5 million property the city is looking into purchasing with their voter-approved open space assessment monies. The 140 acre site used to be home to a defense contractor who manufactured parts for for use in ejection seats and car airbags and was considered contaminated years ago; final groundwater tests of the site are due in January. The company says the land is home to "deer, bobcats, skunks and mountain lions." The City Council will vote on the proposed purchase tonight. DN
- Freeways & Pedestrians : A Deadly Mix: Today's Los Angeles Times has a Column One story that leads off with last year's horrific Interstate 5 traffic accident that resulted in the deaths of two stranded motorists near Magic Mountain Parkway. Recall that John Tun and Thuong Pok were repairing a flat on the side of the 5 after dark in August 2006 when Chelsea Arcos, then 19 and a Saugus High grad, slammed into them and their car and dragged Tun's body some 150 feet down the freeway before she stopped. Tun's widow, who stayed in the car and was not injured, remembers hearing a scream before the car's window exploded that night, and today she refuses to drive on the freeway. It's just one story in a number of bizarre and sad accidents involving SoCal freeways and pedestrians covered in the article
- CHP Officer rear-ends van in Newhall: That about says what happened early yesterday morning on San Fernando Road. Motorcycle Officer Doug Camblin "failed to notice the van in front of him had stopped at a railroad crossing," and hit it. Officer Camblin suffered moderate injuries to his face and hands, and SFR was briefly shutdown. So that's the explanation for all those sirens I heard yesterday. KHTS has more. Ed note: That's what, the fourth law enforcement traffic collision this year? I've lost count.
- Plum Canyon resident seeks annexation: A Plum Canyon resident says s/he will go "door to door with information about being annexed by the City of Santa Clarita," according to the Plum Canyon Neighbors blog. The blogger says residents of the Plum Canyon neighborhood can't vote in City Council elections and says the neighborhood receives less police protection. The unnamed blogger also says that s/he has spoken with Mayor McLean and Councilmember Kellar about annexation and reports that the two councilmembers will help them in "any way they can." The door-to-door effort will begin after the first of the year. This blog has been around for awhile in one form or another and it's not updated very often, but it appears to be legit. Link It also appears to be the second such effort in Plum Canyon; PlumCanyonNews.com also has an annexation page up.
- Global Warming Conference at COC: COC, along with 1,000 other organizations nationwide, will hold a "symposium...to educate valley residents on the environmental crisis and steps they can take to combat it locally." The day-long conference is scheduled for January 31 and will have segments run by professors, students and "representatives of the green business community." More from Randall Mah, who wrote the story for the Signal.
- I'm so disappointed about the weather: What happened to the headline-generating rainstorm that was supposed to hit us late last week? Few things make me more upset than bad weather reports and predictions, especially since I get tired of sunshine all the time. So it is with reluctance that I paste in NOAA's forecast for today, which predicts high winds and a 30% chance of showers this morning. Looking out the window, I doubt that will happen: "Today: Scattered showers before 10am. Partly cloudy, with a high near 51. Windy, with a east northeast wind 29 to 32 mph decreasing to between 16 and 19 mph. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%." Oh, and btw, SantaClaritaWeather.com reports that it got down into the high 30s last night. Brr!
- SCV Realtors drive local economy: That seems to be the thrust of Roger Gitlin's Sunday column in which he explains that real estate drives advertising which creates jobs in Santa Clarita. He also addresses whether real estate is a respectable profession as polls indicate that the public has less respect for realtors than for used car salesmen. Link
- A Foreclosure at the Madison? *gasp* One of my favorite housing projects to poke fun at, El Prado The Madison, has seen its first "notice of default" according to one real estate blogger. One three bedroom unit at The Madison, the attractive stone-fronted but wooden condos on Town Center Drive, sold for $502k back in November 2006, but the realtor says today it's probably not worth more than $400k, and that's in a vacuum (The Madison itself is selling 9 other units with $10k incentives). Those of you reading this and getting excited about the urban life at The Madison might take pause with the HOA dues: $394/month. Link
- More trouble with cartoons: Matt Diedrich typically writes angry LTEs, and today's is no different. Following up on last week's brouhaha over a cartoon depicting a demonic Bush and Cheney, Diedrich says today that "Surprise, surprise! Another edition of the Signal with two more Bush and Cheney-bashing cartoons." The cartoons covered the debate over Iran's nuclear ambitions, and Diedrich insinuates that editor Lila Littlejohn approved the "lying" cartoons. I guess I'll never understand this- what's with people who get personally offended by opinions contrary to their own, especially on big, international issues?
- Melquiades Sanchez taken to task: Roger Gitlin, yes the same one as above, had a response to Sunday's big editorial written by illegal alien Newhall resident Melquiades Sanchez. "Mr. Sanchez, you are an eloquent and wonderful writer. Why are you standing on the corner of 15th and San Fernando Road looking to move some furniture or pick some weeds? You should be a teacher like me. Can you teach your "amigos" how to use a restroom, so I don't have to watch them urinate in public?" Gitlin asks Sanchez. Gitlin goes on to say that he is not a vigilante, as Sanchez claimed, and that legal immigration is "vital" to the United States. He explains his own heritage is Jewish and that his non English-speaking grandfather had to wait 90 days in quarantine before he could be admitted to the US. Gitlin concludes that the only difference between him and Sanchez is one word "LEGAL."