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November 5, 2010· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

November 5, 2010 – Daily Brief

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

  • Remains of woman, missing since 2001, were found on LARC Ranch in Bouquet Canyon this week. Lynsie Ekelund, a then 20 year old college student, was allegedly murdered during the commission of a rape by a friend, Christopher McAmis, who drove Ekelund and two friends to a club one night. Ekelund was never seen again. McAmis reportedly told investigators he buried her on LARC Ranch because he was doing some construction projects in the area. KHTS spoke with LARC Ranch about the discovery, while ABC 7 spoke with the mother of the victim. SIGNAL. LA TIMES story is heartbreaking
  • A long history of bodies being dumped or discarded in the SCV SCVTALK
  • The private sector added 151,000 jobs in October, the first growth in jobs since May, and jobs numbers for September and August were revised to show improvement there too. NY TIMES
  • Library Journal takes a look at the merits and concerns expressed in the Save our Libraries lawsuit against the City of Santa Clarita and LSSI. At issue: the privacy of existing library records within the county, and the privacy of future patron library records within LSSI-run libraries in the SCV. LIBRARY JOURNAL
  • The Los Angeles County Registrar told me in a tweet that they’ll release preliminary precinct results from Tuesday’s vote this afternoon. Hopefully I’ll have time this weekend to dissect the results and see how each SCV community voted in our big election.
  • Union bus drivers have voted down a contract with the City’s transit operator, making a strike possible, according to the SIGNAL. The union has promised 72 hour advance notice if they decide to strike.
  • The Santa Clarita Marathon is this weekend and the City is already taking an apologetic tone about road closures ahead of the event in order not to upset the SCV’s precious, impatient motorists. “Great care is taken to ease the impact on the community when the city’s Marathon Race Committee plans the route,” says one city official. Most of the race is run on paseos. SIGNAL
  • Buck McKeon spoke by phone with President Obama Wednesday about don’t ask, don’t tell and the military. McKeon told the Signal he has “an opinion about the homosexual lifestyle: I don’t support it,” but says he’ll keep his own biases out of it. He also told the Signal he could bring more defense jobs to SCV and 25th District SIGNAL
  • Captain Paul Becker of the SCV Sheriff’s Station says his Juvenile anti drug team, formed after multiple reports about black tar heroin abuse in the SCV (including the tearful entreaties of a mother who lost her son to the drug), is paying off. The team made three “substantial” busts in recent days, including one bust in Castaic that netted meth, oxy, cocaine and marijuana. The station says it has made nearly 70 arrests since the summer and intercepted “nearly 200 balloons of heroin earmarked for our community and its youth.” WRB
  • City opens new 3.1 mile cross country course at Central Park CITY BRIEFS
  • 97 years ago today, William Mulholland stood at the base of the Newhall Pass, pointed up at the man-made waterfall that’s still there, and told Angelenos, “There it is, take it.” The theft of the Owens Valley water supply complete, Mulholland’s status as an engineer legend was seemingly cemented into local history, at least until the Saint Francis dam collapsed. Also, did you know the SCV voted for FDR during this week in 1940? It was probably the last time we voted for a Democrat. JOHN BOSTON’S TIME RANGER
  • The Signal says it’s already disappointed with the partisan tone taking shape in Washington but thinks the the SCV is better than that and can come together after our bitterly fought election. GROUP HUG SCV!
  • Does it make you proud or scared that Buck McKeon is being written about in high-minded foreign policy journals as he prepares to take over the House Armed Services Committee? Exhibit 1: The World Politics Review discusses how hawks like McKeon and the Tea Party may shape and/or impact President Obama’s foreign policy work WPR
  • Naturalist/writer Wendy Langhans takes a look at a curious subject: why do dogs and other animals shake themselves dry after getting wet? KHTS
  • I echo this LTE who mourns the closure of Do It Center: “The gigantic stores just aren’t the same. Here we are, less small town, more big city.”

Comments (23)

  1. Jim FarleyNovember 5, 2010 at 7:20 am
    The city has no need to apologize for the road closures due to the marathon. The marathon is a great event. Even though I have not run one in many years (I did the SC Marathon once, I believe it was the first one) I love seeing the dedicated folks out there running it. Good luck to all the runners! Just finnishing it is a great accomplishment. To anyone whinning about a road closure here or there – get over it, there are lots of other routes.
  2. CCNovember 5, 2010 at 8:38 am
    Criminy, the road is closed right outside my home and it doesn’t bother me in the least. By the time I am up and out on a Sunday morning, they are wide open again. I think that when people complain about things like this, it is because things are good and they have nothing left to complain about.
  3. SCVKickstandNovember 5, 2010 at 9:18 am
    I agree – no need to apoligize. This is a great event. The first two years I lived in my current apartment I would invite all my friends and family over the day before for huge game night and then we would walk over to the start line on Sunday to do whatever distance we signed up for. Most of us just did the 5k but few did the 1/2 as well. Its a great event (along with AMGEN TOC). Keep it up Santa Clarita! (and add a bike option to the marathon like Long Beach does!)
  4. CCNovember 5, 2010 at 12:21 pm
    Yes, a bike option might get me up earlier on Sunday.
  5. ScottENovember 5, 2010 at 2:04 pm
    Bikes?! Did someone say BIKES!? NO BIKES!!!! That is all.
  6. CastaicClayNovember 5, 2010 at 7:23 am
    Is there a way to find out the average pay of the 151,000 new jobs?
  7. SCVKickstandNovember 5, 2010 at 9:13 am
    I would guess that most of the new jobs created are retailers gearing up for the holidays.
  8. CastaicClayNovember 5, 2010 at 11:14 am
    Temporary and most likely low paying. That ought to fix it!
  9. cashNovember 5, 2010 at 7:48 am
    And another planning commissioner links too close to local buisness. Tim Burkhart, general manager at Six Flags Magic Mountain, has been named the Valley Industry Association’s chairman of the Board of Directors for 2011. Burkhart will be installed during a luncheon Dec. 21 at the Valencia Country Club, 27330 Tourney Road in Valencia. Burkhart will replace VIA’s current chairman of the board Randy Moberg of LBW Insurance and Financial Services, who was chair for the past two years.
  10. Gail B.November 5, 2010 at 7:52 am
    I agree about the Do it center, it is a real loss for the scv. I liked this lte too http://www.the-signal.com/section/35/article/36043/
  11. Jim FarleyNovember 5, 2010 at 9:04 am
    While it is indeed sad to see it go, Tim Myers summed it up pretty well in his column last Sunday. If customers stop going, suc as was the case with Newhall Hardware as well, the business can’t survive. Businesses that stop attracting customers need to fail. It is part of the system that leads companies to excell in order to exist. That being said I’m not completely happy with the ‘big box’ hardware stores. The JennAire stainless steel grill I spent $900 for at Lowe’s was made in China and has turned out to be one of the worst purchases I’ve ever made.
  12. Timothy Myers SRNovember 5, 2010 at 11:05 am
    I hate to say it, but for me personally it was more about an easier right turn off Newhall Ranch into Lowes or the thousands of acres of parking at the Home Depot on Newhall Ranch Road. I am vacuous and I admit it.
  13. CCNovember 5, 2010 at 12:24 pm
    I was told by an employee that the reason they are leaving is because the building is in such disrepair and the landlord refuses to rectify it.
  14. Local LiferNovember 5, 2010 at 7:59 am
    It is definitely a shame to see stores like Do-It Center close, but it was also a shame to try and shop in that place. Running a home improvement business with teenagers and grumpy old folks really just doesn’t cut it when it comes to customer service, knowledge and support. I can’t argue that the big box stores do it much better; the staff is often just as hard to come by and knowledge can be sketchy as well but I have often found great help during “contractors” hours. Combine the selection with the stock availability and you have to wonder what Do-It had in mind to combat those threats that have been looming for many years now.
  15. Alan FerdmanNovember 5, 2010 at 8:51 am
    LL I see the Do It Center a little differently. You are right about the store not having the selection of items to compete with many of the big box stores. What they did have was items that the big box stores do not carry. For me it was primarily about fasteners. DIC had a huge selection of USS, SAE and Metric fasteners. Many of them came in steel, stainless and chrome. Sure, I can get them on-line from McMaster Carr in one day. DIC closing, however, is just another example of not being able to shop in Santa Clarita. Unless, one of you out there knows another local store that has a similar line of fasteners.
  16. Timothy Myers SRNovember 5, 2010 at 12:20 pm
    Alan: A brick and mortar store can’t pay the bills by just selling fasteners. If you wanted them to stay in business to sell fasteners you needed to buy fertlizer, garden supplies, light bulbs and lots of other stuff to keep them going.
  17. lvogelNovember 5, 2010 at 8:50 am
    Regarding Buck McKeon’s ‘opinion’ regarding homosexuality and his conversation with the president: “The two discussed the military’s controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, McKeon said. The president wants it repealed; McKeon is waiting on a report from the Joint Chiefs of Staff before he decides what to do.” Yeah right, like he’s ‘waiting’ on a report before he decides what to do about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”…..give me a break!
  18. damageincNovember 5, 2010 at 9:29 am
    Here is the source of the article that West Ranch Beacon & KHTS tried to pass off as their own. http://local.nixle.com/alert/3968078/
  19. Timothy Myers SRNovember 5, 2010 at 11:03 am
    So they cut a pasted a press release? (“I am shocked, shocked!! There is gambling going on here!”)
  20. damageincNovember 5, 2010 at 11:11 am
    WRB calling itself a newspaper is shocking.
  21. drive66November 5, 2010 at 10:20 am
    McKeon told the Signal he has “an opinion about the homosexual lifestyle: I don’t support it. That’s heeeelarious! As if homosexuality is a lifestyle choice. “I used to be a rock n roller and a partier but now I’ve decided to be a homosexual”. It’s unbelievable that people still think this way.
  22. lvogelNovember 5, 2010 at 12:21 pm
    I like how he used the word ‘support’. Considering the amount of money he is now in charge of and what that money will be ‘supporting’…our troops! Yeah people still think that it’s a choice, drive66. That’s why many believe that our homosexual young men and women should keep their ‘life styles’ to themselves; it’s their choice afterall. No wonder why so many feel shame when they KNOW who they are, but are told to keep it to themselves because it’s not accepted (aka, supported).
  23. Coastal SageNovember 5, 2010 at 9:12 pm
    Sorry to be “off topic”, but I’ve spent a lot of time on the phone today with friends who are employees of NBC. Fairly uniformly, they are intimidated by the action NBC has taken against Keith Olbermann, in indefinitely suspending him for making political contributions without his employers’ consent. Some NBC employees think GE, a defense contractor, is behind the suspension. To all employees who are intimidated by their employers on political issues, including the several hundred NBC employees living in the Santa Clarita Valley, note the following: California’s Labor Code is very explicit that NBC’s policies and practices concerning political activities are flat out illegal and a crime: From the Labor Code: “1101. No employer shall make, adopt, or enforce any rule, regulation, or policy: (a) Forbidding or preventing employees from engaging or participating in politics or from becoming candidates for public office. (b) Controlling or directing, or tending to control or direct the political activities or affiliations of employees. 1102. No employer shall coerce or influence or attempt to coerce or influence his employees through or by means of threat of discharge or or loss of employment to adopt or follow or refrain from adopting or following any particular course or line of political action or political activity. 1103. Any employer who violates this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable..in the case of a corporation, by a fine of not to exceed $5000…” California’s Labor Code also provides what most employers consider to be a particularly brutal “Public Attorney General Law” where just one employee of a company like NBC can bring a lawsuit against the company, as a representative for all of the other employees, and obtain injunctive relief, damages, court costs and attorneys fees. Some of my lawyer friends have gotten phenomenally rich off that law.

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