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September 15, 2011 – Daily Brief (Bright lights edition)

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

  • Eli Canty, a gem of a man and a resident of Val Verde since 1948, has died. He was instrumental in the founding of the Samuel Dixon Health center and was a Val Verde community leader since the time it was a retreat for African Americans in the 1940s and 50s. He was 100. SCVNEWS
  • Melissa Brown, the 23 year old woman accused of vehicular manslaughter in the July 4 2010 fireworks crash, has plead not guilty. SIGNAL
  • Did you see it? A meteor apparently streaked across the western skies last night around 7pm. Witnesses were concerned enough they called the police in many states. CBS 2, LA TIMES
  • Skywatcher Petz saw it: “Petz was quite amazed to view the meteor over Southern California last night.  Sitting at the corner of Pamplico and Grove Park in the trusty  Aztek, I looked to the east and sighted it immediately.  From my vantage point it looked like a single  firework “spray” , a white point followed by a long greenish tail.  I quickly dismissed it as a plane crashing because of the speed and long trail.  This firework seemed to fall from  heaven directly to the “ground” as it passed behind the hill at Central Park.  I looked at my daughter and “made the call” because I knew it would become  a news story.  The trail is ionized gas and disappeared very quickly, in a dark sky they  sometimes linger.  It was an exciting experience to be lucky enough to view this natural wonder, viewed as far away as Las Vegas and Phoenix.”
  • Deputies arrested a 30 year old man accused of exposing himself to people (and children) on a bus. Wilber Saldana was arrested after detectives staked out the bus they thought he’d be on SIGNAL
  • College of the Canyons has adopted a $174 million budget, but the budget picture for next year is far from certain. Tammy Marashlian, ace .edu reporter, has all the details you can shake a textbook at SIGNAL
  • 19 year old Canyon Country kid gets starring role in new, high budget Nike commercial KHTS
  • The saga of historic property designation continues: the City is thinking about removing the designation from the old Newhall Hardware building on Main Street. The owner has found that the designation makes it hard for him to sell the property SCVNEWS
  • Excellent: Leon Worden finds out why goats keep escaping from ranch land in the Newhall Pass and ending up on or near I-5. Turns out the goats are owned by a family who keeps them so that the family’s land can maintain its agricultural zoning. The family also leases the land to wireless providers who regularly visit to work on cell phone towers. SCVNEWS
  • Old Town Newhall building improvement project explained CITY BRIEFS
  • McKeon won’t let it go: Our Congressman writes a letter to SecDef Panetta, asking him to delay the implementation of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, scheduled to sunset next week. THE HILL
  • Also on the McKeon front: A blog says he’s been forced “out of the closet” on tax increases EXAMINER
  • Kevin Korenthal, a local Tea Party heavy hitter and gentleman cyclist, endorses Scott Wilk for AD 38. Why Wilk over someone like Pat McKeon? Well, Pat McKeon has not “established any credentials,” while Wilk “is a hero of the redistricting movement for having successfully rallied residents to get involved in the process which led to some pretty decent results,” Korenthal says. In addition to that, Wilk is also a pretty handsome guy and knows how to wear a suit if I say so myself RIGHT ON SCV
  • Speaking of Pat McKeon, she’s not just our future Assembly representative, and not just the husband of our Congressman, she also has worked for Congressman McKeon’s campaign, netting $260k between 2001 and 2006 according to this old USA TODAY story
  • A story on public pensions appears in the Signal and the commenters actually offer reasoned analysis? It’s true, check it out SIGNAL
  • LTE writer complains about over-regulation of business by bitching that he got a $750 ticket for driving past a school bus with flashing caution lights. “Traffic fines are way overpriced for the penalty. Going past a school bus with flashing yellow lights — a $750 fine; I couldn’t believe it. Outrageous, out of line.” I’m sorry, but you sir, are an ass. LTE
  • Family upset that Castaic Animal shelter employees were insensitive as they disposed of their beloved Golden Retriever, Buddy. I totally sympathize but they could have called a vet who would have handled their pet with care and sensitivity. SIGNAL LTE
  • Whoa: Did you know our forefather SCVers hunted possums to near-extinction status in the SCV in the 1930s? That’s right. So how come I regularly see them scouring the brush around my home in 2011? TIME RANGER tells you the fascinating yarn
  • Want to read a really good essay on what’s happened to the GOP over the last 20 years? Written by a loyal Republican? Then head on over to TRUTHOUT

Comments

19 · as published
  1. AlpinerSeptember 15, 2011 at 7:28 am
    Is the letter writer just an idiot or what? The reason school bus traffic violation fines are so high is because there are “kids at risk!” Anyone who has kids and has waited for them at a school bus stop knows how many cars simply ignore the flashing lights and how scary that is. These drivers are as clueless as they come and deserve to be heavily fined. Maybe then they may start to understand that passing a bus that is stopped to let off or on children is horribly dangerous. Personally I think the fines should be triple that.
  2. Timothy Myers SRSeptember 15, 2011 at 7:43 am
    In the comments section “Old Reliable” (Bill Reynolds) suggest Mr. Lapple join the local Tea Party because they are like-minded individuals. The Tea Party wants to run over children getting off the school bus?
  3. Your Web GuruSeptember 15, 2011 at 2:13 pm
    Dear-Crybaby-Lawbreaker-Trying-to Pin-Your-Stupid-Mistake on-Big-Government: Try to remember where you misplaced your testicles and man the hell up! I wonder how certain local Tea Party affiliates would react had this been a story of a jackass who ran over a child who exited from a bus rather than an LTE from a jackass who was caught BEFORE he could run over a child who exited from a bus? I wonder what their reaction would be had this been a person with brown skin? I’m just hypothecatin’…You know, like Glenn Beck does.
  4. SFC PerezSeptember 15, 2011 at 10:18 pm
    Depends on if said child’s last name ended with a Z and what his family’s immigration status was.
  5. PackfanSeptember 15, 2011 at 7:40 am
    From the California drivers handbook: •Stopped school buses and children crossing the street. Some school buses flash yellow lights when preparing to stop to let children off the bus. The yellow flashing lights warn you to slow down and prepare to stop. When the bus flashes red lights (located at the top front and back of the bus), you must stop from either direction until the children are safely across the street and the lights stop flashing. The law requires you remain stopped as long as the red lights are flashing (CVC §22454). If you fail to stop, you may be fined up to $1,000, and your driving privilege could be suspended for one year. If the school bus is on the other side of a divided or multilane highway (two or more lanes in each direction), you do not need to stop. It seems slowing but not stopping for flashing yellows is not an offense. What do you think?
  6. momofateendriverSeptember 15, 2011 at 7:47 am
    Hi, I had the same circumstance happen, except that I stopped for the bus. I had my 16 year old permitted driver in the car and I am trying to set good examples for him. A bus was pulled along the side of Newhall Ave, just west of Sierra Hwy. I was in the fast lane and I saw the stop signs out and the light flashing. I stopped of course. I waited and waited and waited. The car behind me decided it would be a good idea to go around me in the center lane and speed off. I sure wish there was a cop there then. If someone could explain to me though, why on a street like that, where there is clearly no crosswalk where the bus stopped, would the kids be crossing the street in front of traffic and the bus? If the bus is at an intersection, or crosswalk I could wrap my brain around the law a little better. What if the bus is stopped along side Sierra Hwy?, there are no crosswalks or legal places for a pedestrian to cross except for the marked crosswalks at the intersections.
  7. ToddSeptember 15, 2011 at 11:31 am
    The law, as written, is to account for buses dropping off kids in rural area where there is no “intersection” for miles and miles… only driveways to farm houses or mountain chalets. If a bus is headed eastbound, and the driveway of the kid is on the north side of the street… should that bus proceed to the nearest intersection so the kid can cross then walk miles back, or u-turn to get the kid on the right side of the street. Nope. So the law says when a bus pulls over and the red lights flash, then a defacto crosswalk is created at that spot for the duration of the bus’ stop. Its one of those areas where the law and practicality could be practiced better (aka requiring school bus stops to be only at controlled intersections in densely populated intersections with marked crosswalks in urban areas)… but it isn’t necessarily so.
  8. JaneSeptember 15, 2011 at 2:53 pm
    You were in “the fast lane”??? I thought the speed limit applied to all lanes? You call this setting a good example for your child?
  9. Timothy Myers SRSeptember 15, 2011 at 7:49 am
    Packfan: I am guessing that this was a ticket issued to a business vehicle and that Mr. Lapple or an employee SWORE that the lights were flashing YELLOW and not RED when they breezed by!
  10. ToddSeptember 15, 2011 at 11:43 am
    Winner. Phil Lapple, owner of “Gateway to the Mountain Painting” in Frazier Park. Helluva facebook pic…. Quite the mustache. Ouch on that F rating with the BBB there Phil….
  11. Timothy Myers SRSeptember 15, 2011 at 1:17 pm
    OMG!!!Mr. Lapple, the 70′s called and they want that mustache back!
  12. ToddSeptember 15, 2011 at 2:45 pm
    Thumb Up
  13. Timothy Myers SRSeptember 15, 2011 at 7:53 am
    Question: Did Bill Reynolds receive the HPV vaccine?
  14. CastaicClaySeptember 15, 2011 at 8:08 am
    Does he have an outlet to transmit it?
  15. SFC PerezSeptember 15, 2011 at 12:36 pm
    He was a no show at the doctors office :S
  16. MikeSeptember 15, 2011 at 8:24 am
    Speaking of suits, no SCV player wears a suit as well as Buck McKeon and none as poorly as Cameron Smyth. In this respect, Wilk is closer to McKeon.
  17. lvogelSeptember 15, 2011 at 3:14 pm
    Regarding the family that took their pet to Castaic Animal Shelter to be disposed of: It’s not cheap to have a vet dispose of your pets remains; even if that dog died at home. You are correct Jeff that it is better to have your pet taken care of by a loving and caring veterinarian, but perhaps this family couldn’t afford the services. I read that letter and had a great deal of empathy for that family, and yes the employees could have been a bit more sensitive and aware of this families lose. When it came time to put our old dog down, we were fortunate enough to afford to do it at home and the vet took his remains with her, but it was not cheap. I don’t know how they were able to take him there (after he had already died), but the alternative would have been to keep his body for 24 hours and that would have been even more difficult. My heart went out to them all and, unfortunately, I had a bit of disappointment with the castaic shelter.
  18. AlpinerSeptember 15, 2011 at 7:39 pm
    Losing a pet is hard, even in better circumstances. My heart also goes out to the family.
  19. spineflower2September 15, 2011 at 7:35 pm
    I met Eli Canty many years ago,I believe, when he as a member of the pre-City Planning Advisory Committee. I went to many of those meetings, and made a presentation protesting a ridiculously dense development in upper Bouquet Canyon. He was always reasonable but passionate, and always a gentleman. I lost track of him after that PAC experience, but I am glad to see he lived a full life and his stories have been preserved. R.I.P.
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