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August 12, 2010· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

August 12, 2010 – Daily Brief *

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

  • A Val Verde woman was arrested on attempted murder charges after deliberately crashing her car into the median on Highway 14. KHTS says the 20 year old woman got in a fight with the passenger in her car then “intentionally turned the steering wheel toward the center divider.” KHTS, SIGNAL
  • Bridgeport is at it again: the homeowners association of the lakeside community has posted a sign telling the public to stay away from its grounds and to not take pictures. But the City says that Bridgeport’s development agreement allowed the public to use trails around the lake, and prohibiting photography of public places is, well, just silly. The sign has caused quite a commotion on FACEBOOK where SCVers are promising to make special photography trips to Bridgeport KHTS has a report
  • Congrssman Buck McKeon predicts Republicans will take the House this fall. If they do, he’s in line to be Chairman of the House’s Armed Services Committee. He says Republicans will release a plan similar to their Contract With America plan that helped the GOP in 1994 SIGNAL
  • Speaking of Buck McKeon, former Commerce Secretary and Berkeley economist Robert Reich calls McKeon out in a column about how the US Military is “America’s biggest jobs program” and remarks that deficit hawks like McKeon are hypocritical for refusing to cut from defense WALL STREET PIT
  • Mother Jones magazine says that a staff member for Assemblyman Cameron Smyth (along with a number of other Capitol staffers) accepted free concert tickets from BP after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April. Sean Hoffman, Legislative Director for Smyth, got free tickets to a Carrie Underwood concert, courtesy of BP MOTHER JONES
  • RE: the above: If it was Lady Gaga I would understand, but Carrie Underwood? Seriously?
  • *The City of Santa Clarita has had a Request for Proposal for library management services out for awhile. In fact, the RFP closes early next week, just 8 days before the next City Council meeting where Council members will decide what to do with our three County libraries.  RFP
  • New Hart Superintendent Robert Challinor says the next two years will be challenging fiscally for the Hart District. He also says he’s met with Captain Paul Becker of the SCV Sheriff’s Station to address drug use among SCV teens SIGNAL
  • Cops busted three Santa Clarita men after they robbed a motorist while he was stopped at a red light in Canyon Country. A female witness saw the attack and took down the perp’s license plate numbers. SIGNAL, KHTS
  • The National Weather Service tells us why August has been so mild. But it’s all set to end next week, with forecast temps above 100 once again.
  • Same sex marriages could resume as early as today if Judge Vaughn Walker lifts stay in Proposition 8 case LA TIMES
  • The picture of the boy about to be injected with a syringe on the cover of the Signal today is a little disturbing, funny and interesting at the same time. Some 40 kids received immunization shots at a health fair yesterday SIGNAL
  • Good news: I hear from a reliable source that SCVTV.com is undergoing a substantial re-design, which may include blog-like features similar to CougarNews.com, COC’s interesting news portal. The SCVTV staff is working on the redesign now, ETA for the refreshed site unknown at this point but we’ll keep our eye on it!
  • Speaking of Cougar News, the group interviewed a street preacher just like I did, but this one was in Canyon Country.
  • City Briefs explains the City’s FirstHOME homebuyer program CITY BRIEFS
  • Cam Noltemeyer pens an informative column about the status of the Whittaker Bermite site SIGNAL
  • LTE Writer says that if State Senator Tony Strickland wants to save the state money, he should work for minimum wage just as he is suggesting government workers do LTE
  • John Boston’s Time Ranger for this week covers Gaspar de Portola, the first European to lay eyes on the fair Santa Clarita Valley, way back in August 1769. Also there’s a bit about Henry Clay Needham, my favorite (as if there’s more than one!) Newhall prohibitionist, a Major General Clarence Edwards who thought youths of the 1920s were irresponsible and undisciplined and a story about Newhall International Airport, the landing strip located where today’s Granary Square is. Happy trails saddle pals WRB

Comments

15 · as published
  1. derrickAugust 12, 2010 at 8:26 am
    I guess the City doesnt want residents input on library services. They’ve already released an RFP for management services and a recommendation will already be made by August 24th. What’s the point of even preparing a website if the City already has its mind made up and doesnt want input. There was never even a debate whether it would be in-house or contracted. You can view the RFP on the City’s purchasing page. This is a big fail in my book!!! City doesnt care about communicating with its residents! I say the City can save some money by eliminating its Communications Officer and related staff.
  2. derrickAugust 12, 2010 at 8:28 am
    Im also not going to buy the notion that the City is getting a head start on the process by doing this RFP work ahead of council direction. The contract is not going to start until July 1, 2011. The City could have waited until September to start process after Council direction.
  3. Santa ClaritanAugust 12, 2010 at 10:28 am
    The RFP specifies a response in under two weeks (6 to 9 business days depending on whether it went out August 4th or 8th). Seems like a very short timeframe for a well considered response. As far as I can tell, a staffing plan is requested, but no information on actual workload is included (e.g. circulation numbers, reference desk query rates, etc.). Very much feels like window dressing to cover a done deal.
  4. BrianAugust 12, 2010 at 8:53 am
    McKeon wants to take us back to 1996. This is not the forward thinking we need for a drastically changed world dynamic. He simply is stuck in the cold war era and refuses to let go of the huge military contractors perks and donations he receives. What have ya done for US, Bucko? I see the mine is still a possibility. Time for Buck to retire. He’s special interest all the way! It’s D for drive and R for reverse. McKeon (R) understands that concept very well!
  5. john adamsAugust 12, 2010 at 9:57 am
    It’s over fellas! GOP will easily take control of the house and senate. A simple look at the colorado primary (obama state) shows the clear numbers. The GOP loser in the Senate primary had more votes than the DEM Governor primary winner. Conservatives are fired up! The numbers dont lie. With absolutely no light at the end of the economic tunnel this is going to be an asss whooping of biblical proportions. Hell the libs are already trying to figure out a way to save 2012. bammy/Clinton wont do it.
  6. Whiskey Tango FoxtrotAugust 12, 2010 at 11:01 am
    We are on a unsustainable track with regard to the national debt, medicare, social security, public employee pensions, health care costs etc etc. The “R’s” and the “D’s” both own this problem. They are both screwing us into the ground. Brian, most if not all politicians on the national level are into big time special interests which costs us tax payers and we voters are allowing them to stay in office – time and time and time again. The drastically needed change ain’t coming from either party right now and Your “Drive” has taken us right over a cliff. It’s telling how you only criticize the “R’s” for what they’ve done you have a pattern of giving the “D’s” a pass. Oh well. Meanwhile Brian, feel free to use the cute democratic (Obama) analogy about the gear shift thing if it makes you feel any better.
  7. BrianAugust 12, 2010 at 12:04 pm
    Please regale us with the Republican economic recovery plan. Let me help you start: 1) Extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich and balloon the deficit. 2) Eliminate any and all compassionate care programs for the economically disadvantaged. 3) Transfer those funds into additional no-bid contracts for Halliburton. 4) Raise the SS retirement age in the hopes that more will die first. 5) Continue to allow corporations tax exempt status regardless they make their money in America. Got anything besides trickle down for the masses? Even David Stockman says the Republican plan is full of crap and caused this disaster. Of course you know more than Stockman so tell me the Republicans will save America! BTW, if the tax cuts for the rich are doing so well in creating jobs, WHERE ARE THEY? Back in 1996?
  8. Whiskey Tango FoxtrotAugust 12, 2010 at 9:11 pm
    Brian, To your points; 1)Ben Bernanke and Sen Kent Conrad (D)-SD (chairman on the sen budget comm and member of the finance comm) are among 2 powerful democrats that are guiding the country’s economic policy that believe the Bush tax cuts should remain in place. 2)”Eliminate all compassionate care programs for the economically disadvantaged”. I guess you forgot that Bush 43 ran up the decifit in part due to his social programs caring for the economically disadvantaged. If you care to be more specific about what program(s) you are referring to. 3) What “no-bid” Halliburton contracts are you referring to? Are they the no-bid contracts procedures that the Clinton administration set up and extensively used throughout his terms. Perhaps you are referring to the no-bid contract that Obama approved with Halliburton recently for over a half a billion dollars? 4) In 1935 when social security started, the average life expectancy was 58 for men and 62 for woman. FDR had the system gamed where you could collect when you are 65. Do the math, sir. The life expectancy today is 78. It would reasonable to conclude today that FDR would want us to collect SS when we are in our eighties. 5) What off-shore, tax-exempt, for-profit corporation are you referring to??? You have put me in the unenviable position of having the appearance of carrying water for the republican party. I am not. I am an Independent. I just wanted to point out that perhaps the democratic party is full of the same crap that you claim the republicans are full of.
  9. Need for Involved CitizenryAugust 12, 2010 at 12:52 pm
    Both parties are slime. Our budget was a shambles during the George W admin when Republicans controlled congress. The economy was also in the tank when he left office. Trying to hang all the problems on the Dems is ignorant. They both share the blame. Show me an unbalanced budget proposed by the Republicans Buck didn’t like and vote for! We spend too much and don’t tax enough given our spending. We need to get them both in line. If folks including the businesses didn’t want the services, subsidies and bailouts, we wouldn’t need the taxes or have the need to increase them.
  10. NickelDimeAugust 12, 2010 at 8:54 am
    I want to hang out in Bridgeport with a camera for a few hours, wait for the HOA flashlight cop, just to see the look on their faces when a Sheriff tells them they have no business cordoning off a public area.
  11. GangFangAugust 12, 2010 at 9:53 am
    I’ve been plotting for years to take a small inflatable onto that green mess they call a “lake”, and float around for a few hours. Anyone have one I can use? And plenty of photos will need to be taken, of course.
  12. Tim MyersAugust 12, 2010 at 12:42 pm
    If streaking is a misdemeanor and not a felony… well, you know.
  13. Need for Involved CitizenryAugust 12, 2010 at 9:51 am
    Buck is so out of touch and has not done a good job representing his constituants for years. His comments on defense spending are just a joke as well as his hope the Republicans will stage a takeover in November. I think the Republican votes are going to get split with the Tea Partiers helping the Dems. Notice that one of the guys arrested for the attack at the Via Princessa offramp also had heroin! Who said we don’t have a heroin problem in this valley. We often just don’t hear about it. I find it interesting that Cameron Smyth’s newsletter indicated that he was opposed to imposing a royalty or severance tax on oil companies even though most states have them. He was using the Republican mantra NO NEW TAXES. Did you know he used to work for Shell\Texaco? He tried to indicate in his newsletter that if there were severance taxes in CA then gas prices would go up. Texas for example is a state with royalties on their oil and they have some of the lowest priced gas in the country. Not a big surprise that one of his employees received freebies from bp. http://arc.asm.ca.gov/member/38/?p=newsLetters
  14. Tim MyersAugust 12, 2010 at 2:12 pm
    On Bridgeport: Ooooh, I see what is going on. The corner has become a favorite for wedding pictures and I have seen LOTS of people tromping around the grass of a Saturday afternoon. Many will recall the other professional camera spot in the area as the southwest corner of McBean and Fairview in Northbridge, just one block north. Many senior and cheer pictures were taken there because there is a beautiful weeping willow tree behind the stone and whiteboard fence. Of course, the corner is small so one could never accomodate a large group picture there. I have also seen people using the bridge at the Bridgeport market place as a venue for wedding pictures with the birds and the sail sculpture in the background.
  15. Mike MAugust 12, 2010 at 8:53 pm
    Hi Bridgeport HOA. Don’t want people on your pretty lawn? Put it behind a damn fence – otherwise, shut up and quit whining. “Oh look at us. We made something pretty but you can’t touch it.” Ugh. I’ve about had it with the snottiness of some of these HOAs…
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