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Picasa’s collage feature is pretty neat and I probably wasted 20 minutes this morning toying with it. All pictures in and around SCV.
- Man arrested for attempted murder in Stevenson Ranch: 21 year old John Willet alleged “choked his mother, battered her with a cell phone, held a knife to her throat” and even punched a Sheriff’s Deputy in an argument that went last weekend, according to the Signal. After the attack, Willet’s mother and grandfather barricaded themselves in a room upstairs, but Willet allegedly broke the door, attacked the grandfather and “covered the grandfather’s mouth to restrict his breathing.” Finally, Willet’s father arrived and was able to subdue the rampaging 21 year old. Deputies arrived later and as they were separating the two, one got slugged.
- More details in Golden Valley High sexual abuse case: The Daily News follows up on the Signal’s report last week with a few more details on the alleged abuse of a 14 year old Golden Valley High male student by his 33 year old female school counselor, Roselyn Hubbell. To say that they enjoyed a close relationship would be to display a gift for understatement; according to the article, the “inappropriate contact” lasted from January to September of 2007 and took place inside Hubbell’s car, the boy’s house and at the high school. A lawyer for the family also showed reporter Jerry Berrios a note allegedly written by Hubbell to the boy in which the counselor tells the boy, “We can still enjoy the rub downs, the kisses, and our bodies caressing each other, while imagining the art of making love as we enjoy these moments together.” And lest we forget, this isn’t the only sex abuse case at the Hart District recently; Berrios mentions two others, one at West Ranch High and the other at LaMesa Junior High (the latter was dropped due to a lack of evidence.) Special cops are being quite mum on the Berrios case, telling Berrios that they are simply “following up on” the allegations. The boy’s lawyer seems to hint that charges may not be filed at all in this case (Hubbell still faces charges in relation to another boy). Link
- Kid offers half-hearted apology for tagging Nazi graffiti on Jewish man’s car: A 13 year old boy owned up to scrawling a Swastika and other graffiti on a Jewish man’s SUV in Saugus last weekend, said the Jewish victim of the ‘prank’. That victim, Nathan Sklar, has refused to press charges and instead circulated a letter and pictures of the graffiti to his neighbors, calling on them to “stand up to hate and help the perpetrators learn why intolerance won’t be tolerated.” Sklar says his parents were survivors of the Nazi concentration camps of World War II. Brian Charles has more.
- Los Angeles Business Council sees “unprecedented housing crisis” in LA County: Citing the huge gap between wages and housing prices in Southern California, the LABC says home prices have “caused many middle-income workers to move farther away from job centers, enduring longer and more arduous commutes or forcing them to leave the region altogether.” The report notes that between 1990 and 2007, some 1.4 million more residents moved into Los Angeles County, but in that same time period, only 195,000 homes were built. That’s a pretty convenient statistic for us here in Santa Clarita; we were founded as a city in only 1987, and if you ask the old-timers, this place has boomed big time since then. Kerry Cavanaugh at the Daily News notes that, saying Santa Clarita “boosted home construction to keep pace with jobs,” but doesn’t mention the fact that most of our resident’s jobs are over the hill. LA Land says the LABC report is open to criticism however since it doesn’t blame the housing/wage disparity on the real estate bubble but on a lack of new construction, which is what one might expect from a pro-business lobby group.
- Santa Clarita ex-pat fed bears near her home: Funny (and sad) story in the LA Times today on Angelenos who move up in the mountains and are so enthused about the wildlife there that they’ve actually taken to feeding the bears. One woman moved from the SCV eight years ago and used to toss table scraps and leave food out for black bear cubs. Of course, an entire bear family appreciated that and started showing up regularly at her house. After a cub she fed showed up at another house and was shot as it tried to enter, the woman said she felt terrible and is now trying to teach others not to feed the wildlife. Link
- More opposition from parents on $300 million Measure SA: Measure V Parents for Reform, the group that’s opposing Hart’s ballot measure this fall that would pump some $300 million into Hart’s coffers for modernization and perhaps a new high school in Castaic, has released a new statement outlining more reasons they are opposed to the measure even appearing on the ballot. “Measure SA basically says the Hart District wants another $300 million to finish the job they didn’t do with the first round of funds,” the group says, then lists several points about how the Hart District was defecient in its accounting for Measure V funds, the 2001 measure. The opposition to this measure has been quite vocal, but what’s perhaps even more telling is that few are stepping forward to back the measure. True, the election is only 60 days away, but we’re not seeing support yet from COC, Buck McKeon, or others in the SCV GOP establishment. The Measure V Parents for Reform group is lead by Joe Messina, the chap who ran for and lost a seat on the Hart Board last year. Link
- Dan Walters questions George Runner: The influential and widely syndicated SacBee columnist (who is usually pretty conservative I think) basically calls hard-right CA Legislators “chicken hawks” for proposing get-tough crime laws without a way to pay for them. He mentions our Senator George Runner, who’s played a big part in getting two initiatives on the ballot this fall; Proposition 6 which would restrict early release programs and Proposition 9, a nearly $1 billion anti-crime bill supported by California cops and Runner but that would cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Walters says the state already has enough problems with prisons and “the backers of these measures want more locked up.Where’s the logic?” Link
- Stubborn guy/Metrolink trial starts today: That fellow who refused to sign the back of his Metrolink boarding pass will go on trial today. Recall that he objected to showing his signature because he was worried about identity theft. He lves in the SCV and was described as a “serial litigator” in an earlier press report. He’s being accused of disturbing the peace. Link
- Signal publishes political ad on A-1: That’s my take on a “story” published on the lower right of page A-1. You’d think it was a story by the way it’s laid out, its headline, and the fact that the byline says “Signal Staff.” But what is it really? It’s an announcement about a summit of Christian conservatives at Grace Baptist Church this week wherein people who are concerned about Proposition 8, the bill that would outlaw same-sex marriage, will meet to “address the theological, cultural and legal implications” of same sex marriage. The writer continues: “The forum…will give speakers the opportunity to call the Christians of the SCV to a renewed commitment to the biblical definition of marriage as a faithful and lifelong union between one man and one woman.” Come on Creekside! This is A-1, the place for NEWS, not for political speech or editorials. I get it that this is supposed to be an announcement, but it’s also a political ad in favor of Proposition 8! Read it yourself
- I want the skinny on local GOP members and the Convention: Republicans are having their big brouhaha up in St. Paul, but you wouldn’t know it if you followed local politicians who are Republicans. So I’m going to write and see if Assemblyman Smyth is up there (he is/was an official CA state delegate) and maybe see if he’ll give us a report on what it’s like.