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August 13, 2010· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

August 13, 2010, Friday the 13th Edition

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

  • The Natural Resources Defense Council has named the City of Santa Clarita one of 22 “Smarter Cities” that “spearhead the clean energy movement.” The environmental organization praises Santa Clarita’s involvement in a community energy program, its construction of LEED-certified buildings like the TMF, and its efforts at implementing solar power generation for bus stops. City chest thumping to commence shortly; expect more on this later here at SCVTalk NRDC.ORG
  • The Bridgeport Home owners association says it installed the no trespassing/no photography signs because wedding and prom parties trample all over their green spaces with no regard for the community. The HOA president says pro photogs come from as far as the SFV to snap shots in the heart of the nautical-themed community. But at least one resident says she doesn’t mind: “I enjoy watching them get their pictures taken in their dresses.” SIGNAL
  • The real reason Bridgeport is prohibiting photography is much more sinister, according to I HEART. Inside Bridgeport lake lives Noyaca, the SCV’s own version of the Loch Ness monster, and Bridgeportians want to hide her. I HEART SCV has proof pics and details
  • Bridgeport’s long history of entertaining/outraging the rest of the SCV HERE
  • The Cameron Smyth staffer who received free BP tickets to a Carrie Underwood concert after the Deepwater Horizon tragedy started has paid the cost ($191) of the tickets back. Smyth’s Legislative Director Sean Hoffman says he got the tickets by calling a mystery telephone number, leaving his details, and the tickets kind of sort of just showed up. Hoffman insists that free gifts from the planet’s most hated oil company don’t influence him at all, natch SIGNAL
  • Congressman McKeon tells Barstowites that 25th District residents are “hardy” and don’t need spending programs that assist local government. Then, in the same breath, he defends his criticism of Robert Gates’ plans to cut $100 billion from the DoD. Also in the article: Jackie Conaway, the absentee Democrat running against McKeon, insists that she’s actually running a campaign BARSTOW DESERT DISPATCH
  • School is officially back in session for the SCV. The Signal takes a look at the new West Creek Academy school in West Hills where there is a 200 student waiting list and parents have moved from as far away as Burbank to enroll their kids there SIGNAL
  • SCV Mom complains about filling out duplicative school forms year after year, asks, if Pizza Hut can allow online ordering, why can’t local schools do that as well? Sounds like some SCV school is stuck in the dark ages; there are multiple, advanced, user-friendly school information database systems out there SCV-FAMILY.COM
  • DNA evidence helps Sheriff’s Detectives identify suspect in violent August 2009 Castaic rape & assault case. Detectives say Eugene Upshaw may be living in the Phoenix Arizona area. SCV SHERIFF.COM
  • I will never complain about hot days in the SCV again: Be sure to listen to NPR interview the author of a book about the 1896 east coast Heat wave that killed thousands of people in New York in the days before A/C and refrigeration NPR
  • The funeral for Eric Gilhooley, the 15 year old boy who was killed after being hit by a car while walking on the sidewalk on Soledad Canyon Road, will be held on Sunday. Still no word on the investigation into what happened that day; the last report we heard mentioned that the driver wasn’t going very fast and had not applied the brakes before he slammed into the sidewalk and Gilhooley SIGNAL
  • City says the Cross Valley Connector has reduced traffic congestion at Bouquet Junction by 40% WRB
  • City of Santa Clarita adds distance markers to South Fork trail. The markers, placed at half mile intervals, should help people train and exercise, the City says CITY BRIEFS
  • Now that they’ve been defeated in court, Proposition 8 backers are using the familiar “judicial tyranny” line, saying that Judge Vaughn Walker invalidated the voters’ will. But scholars point out the Constitution is designed to protect the interests and rights of minority parties, and not all laws are Constitutional LA TIMES
  • LA Times debuts new photography blog. First up, a striking photo of a wounded Bobby Kennedy lying on the floor of the Ambassador hotel after being shot by Sirhan Sirhan. The LA Times photog who took the picture comments LA TIMES
  • Naturalist/writer Wendy Langhans discovers the terrifyingly-named “Tarantula Hawk” insect while on a hike in Pico Canyon. KHTS
  • NotaFerryFan steps up to defend Roger Gitlin and attacks me and the rest of the SCVTalk staff for calling for The Signal to stop publishing Gitlin’s columns in the wake of the racist video he endorsed and passed on WRB
  • Chamber Chairman says Enterprise Zones are vital to the economic interests of the SCV. But he still doesn’t tell us how many jobs have actually been created in the SCV through the program SIGNAL LTE
  • Bachelor and Bachelorette stars will appear tomorrow at Bridgeport park for a slip ‘n slide water type event SIGNAL
  • Paging all SCV BBQ connoisseurs: The Signal says a new place on the east side of town named Smok’n Joe’s BBQ Pit is really good SIGNAL

Comments

38 · as published
  1. Wendy LanghansAugust 13, 2010 at 7:51 am
    Just a small point of correction: the hike was in Pico Canyon, not Placerita Canyon.
  2. scvtruthsquadAugust 13, 2010 at 8:04 am
    Well, NFF (Bill) is at it again. how can you defend a Racist like Roger Gitlin.
  3. Your Web GuruAugust 13, 2010 at 8:34 am
    Wow, NFF! Top news reports from 2008? You should win a Pulitzer! Unfortunately Gitlin’s means don’t justify the end. The cost of such narrow minded ideology and aligning onseself with a crazy cracker (Grady Warren, who apparently just wants to sell tee shirts) very much outweighs the potential benefit of speaking out to resolve the illegal immigrant issue. And I know, Illegal is illegal. So is stealing copyrighted footage to make your little movie, which by the way….SNOOZER! Zzzzzzzzzzz…..
  4. Jeff (But not the one that runs this blogAugust 13, 2010 at 11:03 am
    No doubt Guru, for the love of sanity will someone please teach Bill Reynolds how to actually USE his editing software??? On the plus side thanks for the nap, my daytime insomnia was really getting annoying.
  5. scvtruthsquadAugust 13, 2010 at 12:01 pm
    No that Bill has stopped harrasing the little kids on the swim team he has plenty of time forr his innane videos. WOW Bill that was riveting.YAWNNNN
  6. DamageincAugust 13, 2010 at 9:46 am
    “how can you defend a Racist like Roger Gitlin.” take your pick. 1. Takes one to know one. 2. Birds of a feather. 3. All of the Above
  7. scvtruthsquadAugust 13, 2010 at 9:59 am
    You are right,
  8. spineflower2August 13, 2010 at 8:30 am
    The will of the people once supported slavery and no voting by women. So what? We are supposed to be a nation of laws, not mob rule. This isn’t American Idol; you don’t get to vote out someones rights under the Constitution. Pity the poor heteros whose marriages are so weak that a piece of paper filed by people they never met in a County archive using the “m-word” means the destruction of their own marriage. Pray for them.
  9. Need for Involved CitizenryAugust 13, 2010 at 9:15 am
    RE: Cameron Smyth on excise taxes on oil companies. All the big oil producing states but CA have an excise or royalty tax on oil production. This includes Texas and Alaska. Alaska took that money and established a Permanent Fund for their residents which is now valued at $33 billion. Each resident (including kids) receives an annual dividend which is $1400 for 2010. California is missing a tremendous tax opportunity and anyone that doesn’t recognize that is either owned by the oil companies, conflicted by partisian politics or too stupid to figure it out. The statement that our gas prices will rise if we impose this tax is pure bullshit. The unleaded gas prices in Houston right now is $2.42 a gallon and Anchorage is $3.25 where a gallon of milk is $5. Gas prices are driven by the world crude price. Most refineries in CA process crude from all over the world but use alot of Alaskan and South American crude. Another argument used to beat back this tax is “they won’t drill here anymore”. Believe me they will because they are faced with the same tax or higher costs by countries with nationalized oil monopolies that would make a tax here look cheap. Important to know also that during his City Council days, Cameron Smyth worked as a lobbiest for Shell\Texaco! With his position on this, I’d say he is either owned by the oil companies or too conflicted by partisian politics because I don’t think he’s stupid.
  10. LocalParentAugust 13, 2010 at 9:27 am
    Where did you get the information regarding a 200-student waiting list for Westcreek?
  11. NickelDimeAugust 13, 2010 at 9:31 am
    It’s in the Signal article.
  12. Tim MyersAugust 13, 2010 at 9:28 am
    IHeart: “The truth is out there.”
  13. Tim MyersAugust 13, 2010 at 9:31 am
    On Bridgeport: The HOA president is named “Terwilliger?” It sounds like a Gale Gordon character that would be straight man to Lucille Ball. I recommend that ALL HOA presidents in the SCV take on the title of “Terwilliger!”
  14. Your Web GuruAugust 13, 2010 at 9:35 am
    Hey, Terwilliger is also Sideshow Bob’s (Bart Simpson’s arch nemesis) last name! Did we just coin a new nickname?
  15. cashAugust 13, 2010 at 10:14 am
    So now we have a gay judge ruling against the will of the majority. What happened to the objective constitutional view of the matter!
  16. scvtruthsquadAugust 13, 2010 at 10:30 am
    He is also a Judge that was appointed by a Republican President (Reagan)and then elevated to his present position by another Republican President (Bush), so you are saying if you are a woman judge you can’t make decision about woman’s issue or a black judge you can’t make a decision on a racial issue..how interesting
  17. scvtruthsquadAugust 13, 2010 at 12:03 pm
    Cat got your tongue Cash???
  18. cashAugust 13, 2010 at 12:57 pm
    No the cat does not have my tongue, I know his history. I knew is was gay as soon as I heard he would stay the decision until the 18Th. If he had any balls or a strong belief in his position, (as a judge that is) he would have said hell no to any stay! And yes I believe decision are often influenced by things other than the law of the land. No matter what color or sex the judge may be. Only a fool would believe otherwise. If you don’t believe this, tell me what chance gay marrige would have had 20 years ago. Timing is everything. Good luck at the next level. The mix will be different. You had better hope one of the Justices is still in the closet.
  19. scvtruthsquadAugust 13, 2010 at 1:17 pm
    So you believe that a woman judge will vote differently on a womens issue than a man judge? so only men judgse should preside over a case where men are involved and women for women’s cases bacause they are surely to be biased and black judges for cases involving black defendants ? Wow your logic amazes me. And yes 20 years ago it would not have been an issue and 60 years ago segregation was ok in this country and until 1967 it was illegal for a white person and black person to marry in some southern states.. what is your point?
  20. GangFangAugust 13, 2010 at 3:21 pm
    Cash mentioning the judge’s balls is yet another clue as to why he hates them gays so much.
  21. Mike MAugust 14, 2010 at 2:27 am
    Excuse me? Only gay people think this ruling is appropriate? I hate to brake it to your narrow mind, but there are quite a few married heterosexuals who also think Prop 8 was a travesty, using the will of a simple majority to take away the rights of a group of people who were doing NOTHING to you in the first place. I only hope there are a few more rational, fair minded judges, whether appointed by Reagan, Bush, Clinton or otherwise, who can see through this attempt to force your moral code on people who you don’t want to associate with anyway.
  22. Your Web GuruAugust 13, 2010 at 12:39 pm
    Well, the actual court transcripts demonstrate that the plaintiffs in the case made a compelling argument that Prop 8 violates the 14th Amendment regarding the deprivation of life, liberty and equal protection under the law; while the defendants argued that the State of California has an interest in promoting marriage between a man and a woman as a means of procreation. Let’s also not forget that the 2 main defendants (IE: Governor Schwarzenegger and State Attorney General Jerry Brown) refused to defend themselves in the suit.
  23. Whiskey Tango FoxtrotAugust 13, 2010 at 8:00 pm
    Equal protection clause weighed heavily in this decision. So why can’t one man now marry 3 women? A brother marry his sister? This could open the door to a lot of these issues and based on equal protection, how can the justice rule against those groups? This ruling may have some unintended consequences.
  24. Your Web GuruAugust 14, 2010 at 6:57 am
    That’s the most ridiculous straw argument from Prop 8 proponents. Perhaps you might want to gander at the court transcripts and read the actual case files and ruling, rather than continue to go off on these stupid tangents about poligamy and incest.
  25. Your Web GuruAugust 14, 2010 at 7:07 am
    To add to that, based on the defendents argument as laid out in the court documents, it looks as if Prop 8 proponents would have a vested interest in poligamy and/or incest, seeing as how their argument is that it is in the interest of the state to promote marriage as a method of procreation.
  26. Whiskey Tango FoxtrotAugust 14, 2010 at 10:16 pm
    Easy Guru. No one is “going off” here. I quite frankly did not know that prop 8 proponents we’re using that as an arguement (not that it matters anyway)as I have not been following this issue as closely as apparently you have. I thought I raised a legit point but you seem to want to diminish my point by calling it a “stupid tangent”. I don’t have the time to read the transcripts which according to you, the answers to my Q is in there somewhere. Just posing a question – sorry if I “offended” you.
  27. Your Web GuruAugust 15, 2010 at 7:07 am
    No one’s offended, WTF. It’s all in good, clean, adversarial fun. I read the transcripts because I heard various different contradictory reactions on the news, one of which was the idea that the ruling opens the door to poligamy, etc. I’m sure this isn’t over, and the compelling argument as to whether homosexuality is a constitutionally protected fundamental right, or a lifestyle choice, will hit the Supreme Court eventually.
  28. mikecAugust 13, 2010 at 10:17 am
    On a more serious note! Has anyone tried Smokin’ Joe’s…Im thinkin’ about trying it…I would value your opinion…
  29. ToddAugust 13, 2010 at 1:14 pm
    I was thinking about trying it tonight…. I’ll letcha know if we go!
  30. mikeAugust 13, 2010 at 11:09 am
    That Smokin’ Joe’s review was ridiculous. It shall forever be the impeachable example of why restaurant reviews/advertorials are completely useless. That places is utter garbage.
  31. JeffAugust 13, 2010 at 11:14 am
    Ahhhhhh. My day is complete. Thanks Mike D.
  32. ToddAugust 13, 2010 at 1:17 pm
    Well, you know its a great piece when the photog doesnt’ bother asking the co-owner to remove his bluetooth earpiece before snapping the pic! (At least, I think its a bluetooth earpiece… )
  33. ScottEAugust 13, 2010 at 3:46 pm
    The Kona Crisp in the Target “mall” is pretty good but yeah, SJ’s is just another in the long list of SCV “BBQ Style” restaurants that continue to cater to lovers of crappy BBQ … of which, sadly, there seem to be many.
  34. Jim FarleyAugust 13, 2010 at 4:33 pm
    In the review they tout the ribs as being good because they fall off the bone and are covered with sauce. Obviously someone who doesn’t know what makes a good rib. There is no restaurant that can produce BBQ at the level of a serious backyard BBQ’r. Mike: did you go to that KCBS judging class last weekend?
  35. mikecAugust 13, 2010 at 7:37 pm
    Maybe the secret to getting a Devlin 4 Diamond rating, is to get you seriously drunk, then take you over to the restaurant….Everyone knows that when your drunk, whatever you’re eating is that much better…
  36. mikecAugust 13, 2010 at 3:06 pm
    I will be dining at the Daily Grill in Studio City,with three generations of family…
  37. mikeAugust 13, 2010 at 4:37 pm
    Jim, I failed. Actually had to work, twice. You’re absolutely right about the ribs. Certified judge or not, I do not approve of Smokin Joe’s.
  38. Samuel AdamsAugust 14, 2010 at 8:37 pm
    If BP was the most hated oil company, how come there always is a line at ARCO?
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