October 21, 2013 – Daily Brief — The SCV Talk Archive

Potemkin PTA: Over the weekend Mike D. reported on a slimy campaign mailer that endorsed the three incumbents for the Saugus Union School District race and appeared to come from the "P.T.A," an almost-universal acronym most people would associate with the Parent Teacher's Association. Alas, as Mike reported, the mailer wasn't put out by that PTA, but a phony public advocacy group called "Parent Teacher Action", which copies not only the acronym of the real PTA but copies near-verbatim its logo as well. In fact, the group has zero members and is entirely fictional, yet that didn't stop incumbent SUSD Board members Paul De La Cerda, Judy Umeck and Doug Bryce from paying real money to appear in the ad, which was sent to thousands of SCV mailboxes. Mike D reached out to the Board members for comment; read his piece for more SANTA CLARITA.COM
Reaction on Facebook to Mike's report was swift and at times heated, with one Board Member, Doug Bryce, accusing Mike of putting out a "hit piece" on him and the SUSD, asking why Mike couldn't report instead on some SUSD education programs and initiatives. De La Cerda and Judy Umeck were more measured in their response and De La Cerda said that if he had to do it over again, he wouldn't have paid to be placed on the mailer. More reax over on Ray's SCVLTE group
Tree on Car Crime Epidemic: An SCV Sheriff's Deputy drove his patrol car into a tree and suffered minor injuries in a crash late Sunday night. The car-on-tree collision happened at 11:40pm at McBean & Orchard Village Road. DAILY NEWS
With the writing on the wall as far as the chloride matter goes (We pay, no one we care about wins, game over), Laurene Weste in her role as Sanitation District Board member tells the Signal that the District, and presumably the City, stand ready to subsidize businesses that want to move here. "They're out there...I'm committed to getting the lowest possible cost," she said. That would be in reference to getting businesses the lowest water hook up cost, not saving us costs as residents and taxpayers. SIGNAL
Meanwhile the Signal's editorial page rages against the chloride fait accompli and trumpets the fact that the Water Quality Control board is made up of board members appointed from wealthy coastal areas. COASTIES VS INLANDERS
City officials are optimistic that their lobbying efforts against the High Speed Rail alignment plan are going to bear fruit. Mike Murphy, the City's intergovernmental relations czar, says the HSR Authority is thinking about tunneling the train underground an additional two miles, which would preserve homes & schools in Sand Canyon. Marsha McLean thinks she's been so persuasive on the matter that the HSR Authority could bypass the SCV altogether, going directly from Burbank to Palmdale through, I guess, the San Gabriel mountains and cutting Sylmar out as a stop. SIGNAL
Oh God: The California Attorney General's office has assigned an investigator to look into the Saugus District's vote to declare Stephen Winkler's board seat vacant. And Winkler says he now lives in Valencia and can prove it, and what's more, wants to serve out the remainder of his term. SIGNAL
SCV more Sons of Anarchy than usual: The huge Love Ride festival came to town yesterday. Sadly one motorcycle rider (or MC as a LACFD spokesperson said) was injured yesterday in a crash in the Newhall Pass. SIGNAL
Nothing to see here McKeon's spokesperson says as Lee Rogers out-raises the powerful HASC chari and 11 term incumbent.SIGNAL
Whoa: This could quite possibly the greatest thing ever....Darryl Manzer, columnist at SCV News, a Navy veteran, and Mentryville's OG resident, writes a great piece about a local author who not only has written two SCV-based murder mysteries, but has a new book out about submarines during the Cold War. The author, a woman, is from the SCV, and she's got a book about submarines. During the Cold War. Submarines & Cold War formed nearly 100% of my reading time in 1980s and early 1990s. And she's from SCV! Also Manzer makes an interesting comparison saying that of all the places he's lived, SCV is the most like Camelot. SCVNEWS
Veteran Newsman Tim Whyte, formally of hte Signal, starts up an interesting SCV-based blog called HashTagSCV. The blog highlights -with commentary- some of the SCV's best social networking posts on various topics. Neat idea and Whyte executes on it well. Have a look. HASHTAGSCV.COM
"Just in the last few weeks there was no endotracheal tube for a seven year old who was in a coma; there was a mix up in blood types with patients, so a patient get the wrong blood type; and the hospital has a two times higher infection rate in joint surgeries than the national average," Dave Bossert alleges in another post slamming Mayo Hospital. SCV BEACON
Lady Ducayne has been busy again! A new Pizza place in Valencia, an Italian place in DTLA, and a new restaurant in Bridgeport all catch the eyes of Lady Ducayne, the SCV's best food writer & photographer. So much good food writing to consume, I'll just link to her whole blog. LADY DUCAYNE

Comments (1)

JoshPremakoMonday, October 21st, 2013 at 10:12 am
What’s odd about the deputy vs tree news brief is no mention whatsoever of cause, or even whether officials declined to state the suspected cause. Particularly if the car has “major damage.” Oh, you know…he just cruised into a tree. No big deal.