SCV Talk · Archive
Nine years of the Valley’s town square · 2006–2015
SCV Talk
April 9, 2010· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

April 9, 2010 – Daily Brief

  • Deputies, DCFS, and Animal Control authorities busted a Canyon Country drug house Wednesday morning, rescuing a 1 year old child from filthy conditions and arresting a 42 year old man and his 21 year old son on felony child endangerment charges and narcotics violations. Deputies say there was meth and heroin inside along with a few teenagers, who have been returned to their parents. Also a dying pit bull puppy was found in one of the rooms. It’s the first big operation under new station commander Paul Becker who didn’t mince words when asked for comment: “If any criminals think they are going to jeopardize the safety of our neighborhoods with this kind of illegal activity and endanger our youth, they have another thing coming! That other thing is called a jail cell.” OH SNAP! SIGNAL, KHTS
  • The Signal says it can find no evidence that Council Candidate Daniel Henriquez has an MBA from a University in Texas. Henriquez says it’s no wonder the Signal is having trouble verifying his educational achievements: they’re all linked to his super-secret time as a navy spy/SEAL and his MBA has been classified by the Navy. Henriquez says it’s all a misunderstanding and he knows a guy at the Navy who’s going to clear it all up. Who’s the guy? He can’t tell us because that’s private information. Ahhh. SIGNAL
  • George Runner introduces legislation that would make February 6 Ronald Reagan day. “If passed, schools and educational institutions would be encouraged to observe the day and have educational exercises recognizing his accomplishments,” says KHTS
  • YumYum bandit carried a sugary grudge against the Canyon Country donut shop. SIGNAL
  • I call BS: Portfolio.com says Santa Clarita “ranks among the top wealth centers in the United States.” We’re ranked in with Newport Beach and Pasadena. It begs the question: is there real money in the SCV or is most of our wealth based on credit and the value of our homes? We seem to be thoroughly middle class. CITY BRIEFS
  • US Postal Service might cut back to 5 day delivery. KHTS has a good report
  • Up to 250 dump trucks per hour have been traversing a quiet residential street in Sylmar. The trucks are transporting sediment from the Station Fire to an “obscure LA County sediment disposal site.” This story is posted at Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s page
  • Various Tea Parties across the country have united to form something called the Tea Party Federation. But it’s not a political party. Yet. Also, the Tea Party Patriots, which is affiliated with our tea parties here in town (I think, it’s difficult to track these things) is not allied with the Federation yet. LA TIMES
  • V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashes in Afghanistan, killing four including three Americans LA TIMES
  • China wants to build our California High Speed rail network. It’s odd how history repeats itself NY TIMES
  • Reader accuses Signal of censoring her Facebook posts WRB
  • The real reason we should pay $40,000 of our dollars to fund 8th Grade Promotion ceremonies is to benefit local businesses that sell party hats, trinkets, and balloons. At least that’s the thrust of this LTE
  • Next week is Public Safety Telecommunications week and  we should all thank the Sheriff’s Station and 911 dispatchers. Amen to that! SCV SHERIFF
  • Spring is here and it’s beautiful. Check out BIG PICTURE
 

Comments (27)

  1. Your Web GuruApril 9, 2010 at 8:18 am
    Re-Postal Service 5 day delivery: They ARE cutting back to 5 days beginning October 2010. It’s been approved, passed, and I have the official USPS bulletin in front of me.
  2. ReaderMamaApril 9, 2010 at 8:27 am
    Beautiful pictures, Jeff. Thanks for the link. For anyone with time in the next couple of weeks, a trip to Carlsbad to see the flower fields is well worthwhile.
  3. GangFangApril 9, 2010 at 9:06 am
    The man arrested in that “drug house” has a MySpace page that is all kinds of creepy. Looking at his pictures, there is one of a pitbull with the caption “RIP”.
  4. Pauline HarteApril 9, 2010 at 9:19 am
    Daniel Henriquez said his medals were buried with his mother, right? His admission that there were actually medals awarded to him from the military means there would have to be a record of these medals. Hmmmmm…….
  5. Timothy MyersApril 9, 2010 at 10:07 am
    I think he said he buried them AFTER his mother died but probably somewhere else? Not quite as weird as burying them with your Mom!
  6. lvogelApril 9, 2010 at 10:08 am
    Want to prove it Mr.Henriquez…dig up mom!
  7. Timothy MyersApril 9, 2010 at 9:29 am
    I guess it was just a matter of time on the college degrees. I have never heard of an MBA in “business tax law.” Generally one can get an MBA or an MST (“Masters of Tax”) but not both. The obvious question that was not asked. If all of this stuff is so super secret then why is DH telling everyone about his military service and degrees?
  8. Pauline HarteApril 9, 2010 at 9:55 am
    Well, yes, I wondered about that myself, in light of this from him: From The Signal: “…..Henriquez said he didn’t want to say which medals he was awarded because it was personal…..” Uh, OK……but there would still be issuance records for these medals. IMHO, once he brought medals into this, double-secret flew out the window.
  9. AnnetteApril 9, 2010 at 2:18 pm
    Wouldn’t you think this man gets a pension from the Navy after 20 years of service. My dad did!
  10. JboyyyyyyApril 9, 2010 at 9:37 am
    DH makes me LOL. Between Henriquez and Pride they make Katz-gate look like nothing (regardless of if he sent the email or not!)
  11. Timothy MyersApril 9, 2010 at 10:08 am
    The Pride matter is very dark. The Henriquez matter just brings us back to lovable goofiness!
  12. JboyyyyyyApril 9, 2010 at 10:15 am
    yes, but Henriquez makes me a little nervous… Either he actually believes all of this or he is just going to lie until his face turns blue.
  13. Spineflower2April 9, 2010 at 10:19 am
    “China wants to build our California High Speed rail network. It’s odd how history repeats itself” I both cringed and laughed at this post, Jeff! Very clever!
  14. mike cApril 9, 2010 at 10:45 am
    I have the song “Secret Agent Man” stuck in my head!
  15. Spineflower2April 9, 2010 at 11:54 am
    Replace it with he theme from Austin Powers or Get Smart.
  16. CoastalSageApril 9, 2010 at 11:37 am
    That story about the dump trucks hauling dirt through Sylmar are nothing, compared with the “fast one” the State of California Department of Health Services has pulled on the people of the City of Santa Clarita. All soils on the Whittaker Bermite site contaminated with depleted uranium, a radiological contaminant, are under the jurisdiction of the Radiologic Branch of the California Department of Health Services. That is a completely different state agency than the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (“DTSC”) which has general jurisdiction over the Whittaker Bermite property. Beginning in or around 2004, Santa Clarita’s former Community Development Director Jeff Lambert and his right hand girl Planning Manager Lisa Hardy wanted to “keep Santa Claritans in the dark” about what was going on at Bermite. (Jeff subsequent left the city’s employ to become a lobbyist for the buyer-in-escrow of Bermite, Lehman/SunCal.) As a result of Lisa and Jeff’s desire to keep the public in the dark, and keep decision making about Bermite in their own hands (control freaks), through Jeff and Lisa’s maneuverings, no well-publicized public meetings were held concerning Bermite after 2004. Instead only private, “multijurisdictional meetings” were held between Jeff, Lisa, California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) employees and Santa Clarita water agencies’ employees. No elected officials were included in the meetings. According to DTSC, during the course of at least one those meetings, between 2004 and 2009, a DTSC employee disclosed to those in attendance at that private “Multijurisdictional Meeting” that ANOTHER California agency, the Department of Health Services Radiologic Branch, had decided to remove TONS and TONS of depleted uranium contaminated soil from Bermite, and haul it through Santa Clarita in large trucks headed for a dump site in Utah. Are the trucks covered? Nobody knows. Do the sheriffs deputies know that they will have a dangerous, major mess on their hands if one of these trucks crashes? Nobody knows. What will be done to keep radioactive contaminated dirt out of Santa Clarita’s sewers and storm drains if one of these trucks crashes, spills this radioactive dirt, and the radioactive dirt gets washed off the street into the sewers and storm drains? Nobody knows. The California Department of Health Services Radiologic Branch is a very secretive agency. They don’t want the public to know what they have approved private companies doing with radioactive waste. This is the state agency which got caught authorizing the dumping of radiologically contaminated building demolition debris from Rocketdyne in the Sunshine Canyon Landfill. There was NO publicized public information process to allow Santa Claritans to discuss safety measures relating to these tons and tons of radioactive dirt being hauled on their streets, throughout Santa Clarita. There was NO public disclosure of just how much radiologically contaminated soil is on Bermite (though recently DTSC admitted 117 tractor trailer loads has been hauled away so far). There is no “grading permit” (for which fees would have been paid to the City) allowing these tons and tons of radioactive dirt to be removed from the Bermite property. There IS a general letter from Ken Pulskamp to DTSC telling DTSC that the City would not charge grading permit fees for movement of dirt under DTSC’s (not the Radiologic Branch’s) direction. Pulskamp’s letter to DTSC requires that any dirt moved under DTSC’s direction be “put back” in its original location after it is cleaned of contaminants under DTSC’s jurisdiction. Pulskamp imposed that requirement to preserve the aesthetics of Bermite Mountain, for the benefit of all of Santa Clarita, including his neighbors in Circle J Ranch. There is no similar letter from Ken Pulskamp to the Department of Health Services Radiologic Branch waiving grading permit fees or authorizing them, or any private contractors, to be removing this radioactive dirt without a grading permit, and thus there is no requirement that the shape of Bermite Mountain be restored, as Pulskamp required in his letter described above. No one even knows if Pulskamp knows about the 117 tractor trailer truckloads of radioactive depleted uranium contaminated soil being hauled through the City in the past 12 months. When there were public meeting with DTSC and Bermite’s owner during the early 2000’s, the radioactive depleted uranium contaminated soil was mentioned, but nobody said that there was a huge quantity on Bermite, let alone more than 117 tractor trailer truckloads of the stuff. As a result, the discovery of this much depleted uranium contaminated soil IS a big story, and obviously a secret which Whittaker Corp. and DHS Radiologic Branch wanted kept very quiet. In all likelihood, nobody other than Planning Director Lisa Hardy knows how much radioactive depleted uranium contaminated soil is still on the Bermite property and needs to be hauled away. That is because Planning Director Lisa Hardy is the one City employee who went to those multi-jurisdictional meetings. That is because Lisa Hardy is secretive and manipulative. So are the California Department of Health Services Radiologic Branch’s Director and employees. These interesting facts about the huge quantities of radioactive depleted uranium contaminated soil at Bermite were only disclosed by DTSC, in an accidental, offhand manner, in the most recent Bermite Community Advisory Group meeting. Apparently 117 tractor trailer loads of this radioactively contaminated dirt have been secretly hauled away so far, with more to go. Whittaker Corp., former owner of the Bermite property, is paying for the removal of radiological and chemical toxins from the property, and of course they didn’t want the public to know about the massive quantity of radiologically contaminated soil because they don’t want to be sued because it has been blowing around in the air, or carried by water down into Santa Clarita’s drinking water wells. When the new City Council sits down, regardless of who they are, it will be time to give Planning Director Lisa Hardy her walking papers for failing to do her REAL JOB, making sure that residents of Santa Clarita are informed and that their opinions are heard on critical public issues. Did the current City Council members know about the DHS Radiologic Branch’s plan to remove the radioactively contaminated soil, the 117 tractor trailer truck loads or the remainder which is yet to be removed? Not likely. The plan was carried out by the DHS Radiologic Branch in complete secrecy, and elected officials are excluded from the “Multijurisdictional Meetings” on Bermite. There is an email, from DTSC, describing the process by which DHS Radiologic Branch was able to accomplish all of this without the public knowing. It will become public very soon, thanks to the California Public Records Act.
  17. Spineflower2April 9, 2010 at 12:00 pm
    Send it to the LA Times, not the Signal, if you want the story to get out.
  18. CoastalSageApril 9, 2010 at 12:24 pm
    Waiting for the Radiological Branch to cough up their remediation and transportation plan for transport of the Bermite depleted uranium soils. By the way, the L.A. Times, Daily News and Signal are useless on serious environmental stories. They don’t want the stories because they p’off advertisers and because they do not have the reporter brain power to write them. The serious environmental contamination stories are written by a man named Michael Collins and usually printed in the L.A. Weekly. Collins is “the man” on radiological contamination issues.
  19. CoastalSageApril 9, 2010 at 12:38 pm
    “From: “Jose Diaz” Cc: “Yvette LaDuke” Subject: Re: Whittaker-Bermite Depleted Uranium Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:13:14 -0700 Regarding the approval of the depleted uranium project, DTSC approved the implementation of the DU Impacted soil removal plan, including transportation routes, in accordance with Section 5.1.3 of the November 2002 Order which requires Whittaker to undertake removal actions if, during the course of investigation DTSC determines that they are necessary. The project itself is also a combination of further investigation of the area, pilot study and required removal action as indicated above. The work plan was reviewed the County of Los Angeles Public Health Radiation Management Unit and by DTSC Toxicologist. A reciprocity permit was issued to the contractor, Energy Solutions, by the California Department of Public Health – Radiological Health Branch. The plan is available for review in Envirostor. As of last week 119 Truckloads of soil have been shipped off to the Clive facility in Utah. Shipping of soil should be completed in April. The expected number of truck loads is not expected to exceed 200. The original plan estimate was 240 truckloads. The project is expected to be completed in May. Preliminary discussions of the soil treatment areas during implementation of OU2-OU6 RAP include expanding OU1 Treatment Pad to the north towards Area 7 and 55. Additional details will be included in the draft RAP which hopefully will be ready for public review and comment in June 2010. Please contact me with any questions. Jose F. Diaz, Project Manager Cal-EPA -Department of Toxic Substances Control Brownfields and Environmental Restoration Program Southern California – Chatsworth Office 9211 Oakdale Avenue, Chatsworth, California, 91311 818.717.6561 office 818.464.8059 cell” AND NO THE “WORK PLAN” AND THE “RECIPROCITY PERMIT” WERE NOT OFFICIALLY SENT TO THE CITY OF SANTA CLARITA, AND ARE NOT ON DTSC’S ENVIROSTOR FOR BERMITE AS OF YESTERDAY (PER DTSC’s CLAIM ABOVE), WHICH IS WHY A CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REQUEST WAS SENT TO THE CALIFORNIA DEPT. OF HEALTH SERVICES RADIOLOGIC BRANCH FOR THE WORK PLAN AND THE PERMIT.
  20. CoastalSageApril 9, 2010 at 8:51 pm
    I just found out that this massive depleted uranium contaminated dirt removal project (200 to 240 truck loands) was not exempt from the public notice or review requirements under CEQA, despite what DTSC or DHS says, because the removal project is costing more than $1 Million, to ship 200+ loads of DU contaminated soil all the way to Utah, which is only 1 of 3 dumps in the U.S. licensed to receive the stuff. See the non-exemption of this project: 14 CCR § 15330. Minor Actions to Prevent, Minimize, Stabilize, Mitigate or Eliminate the Release or Threat of Release of Hazardous Waste or Hazardous Substances Class 30 consists of any minor cleanup actions taken to prevent, minimize, stabilize, mitigate, or eliminate the release or threat of release of a hazardous waste or substance which are small or medium removal actions costing $ 1 million or less.
  21. Silence DogoodApril 9, 2010 at 1:33 pm
    City Council asleep at the wheel, again. Nothin’ goin’ on here, Citizen! Go back to sleep. Hip hip hooray for Awesometown!
  22. brookApril 9, 2010 at 12:09 pm
    Oh thats why my neighbor’s puppies have extra toes and the kids glow green at night, radioactive, crashing, uncovered trucks of radioactive mess driving through town – mystery solved. Pretty soon you will be able to call us Springfield. Happy Friday!
  23. CoastalSageApril 9, 2010 at 8:52 pm
    The interesting question is whether the depleted uranium went into the drinking water wells north and west of Bermite, and whether Santa Claritans have been drinking it for years and years.
  24. mikecApril 9, 2010 at 3:51 pm
    as to DH lying remember George Costanza from Senfeld “It’s not a lie if you believe it!”
  25. Jim FarleyApril 9, 2010 at 6:55 pm
    On SCV as a “wealth center” comparable to Pasadena and Newport Beach. That is a bit of a stretch at the least and agree it is BS. Here is a basic, but telling observation. I was working in So. Pasadena today and had lunch at the Pollo Loco near Bristol Farms. The Bristol Farms seemed to be attracting many clients. While the Pasadena area is diverse with mansions to modest homes, they are sustaining a Bristol Farms. The SCV could not. This says a lot. Don’t get me wrong. The SCV is a great place to live, with a solid middle class, and I have no plans to move. But as a wealth center I don’t think we compete with Pasadena and Newport Beach.
  26. Jim FarleyApril 9, 2010 at 7:04 pm
    And Pasadena doesn’t have the bike trail system the SCV has (reference to post above). Is it pathetic when you reply to your own comments????
  27. spineflower2April 11, 2010 at 10:06 am
    I don’t know, you tell us .

Preserved as part of the SCV Talk Archive. Text is presented as originally published; presentation has been standardised for readability. The original capture is available at the Internet Archive.

Support