The community of Fillmore was as ready as it could be for last week’s record-breaking heat wave. Water? Check. Shade for Fido? Check. Air conditioning? Check… except for 300+ homes at the El Dorado Mobile Home Park. Edison power went out at 6:45pm Friday and wasn’t restored until 7:40pm Saturday—25 long, hot hours at temperatures reaching 114-degrees in some areas of the city.

Three hundred homes without air conditioning in such high, humid temperatures is bad enough, but considering the park is still mostly senior citizens, the urgency to restore power was vital.

Edison’s online power outage reports at 12:11am Saturday morning read “Equipment Problems” as the cause of the blackout. The message changed several times: 9:58am and 2:36pm Saturday it read “Storm Conditions”. And at 6:34pm Saturday it read “Extreme Heat”.

Many residents lost all refrigerated and frozen food during the outage.

Fillmore Fire Department sprang into action on Saturday morning, coordinating with the City of Fillmore, Fillmore Unified School District, Fillmore Police Department, the Red Cross, Ventura County Health Care Agency and FATCO. A cooling center was opened at Rio Vista Elementary and FATCO bussed El Dorado residents to the location free of charge. Fillmore PD went door-to-door to check on the park’s residents, and EMTs also transported some residents to the cooling center. The Red Cross manned the center, offering water, cots and wheelchairs. And Fillmore Fire stationed rescue equipment in the park as a precaution.

Cooling centers for the general community were available at the Active Adult Center on Santa Clara, Fillmore Library on Second Street, and the Boys & Girls Club on First Street.

Temperatures remained high Friday and Saturday, with Sunday cooling slightly to the low one-hundreds.

Cindy Jackson, right, owner of Ocean Gold, listens to Raelene Chaney extoll the product’s benefits for arthritis and joint pain. Chaney uses the CBD for relief.

Dr. Greg Gillesie, Chancellor, Ventura County Community College District, addressed the council in a lengthy discussion concerning the District's history of expansion into the Fillmore area and future goals.

Fire Chief Keith Gurrola presented an up-date on fireworks booths and Fourth of July services. He reported that problems with the fireworks booths application system required some correction. Two booth applicants were found to be out of compliance within their filings and their permits were pulled. All non-profit applicants must show money received on sales stays in the City of Fillmore. One applicant was from Santa Paula, the other disqualified applicant was 3 months short of minimum time for activity in the city. One of the 3 applicants qualified and received its permit, which was Fillmore Christian Academy.

Chief Gurrola said the 4th was a busy night, which included two small fires. Sixteen citations were issued for illegal fireworks. The Chief recommended changes in the fireworks booth ordinance for next year.

The first amendment to the Franchise Agreement for Solid Waste Handling Services between the City of Fillmore and Santa Clara Valley Disposal was unanimously agreed to.

The recommendation to have Council adopt Resolution 18-3662 revising Section 6 of Resolution 18-3655 regarding deadline for filing arguments for and against a City Ballot Measure was passed 4-1.

Planning Commission's recommendation to adopt a Zoning Ordinance Amendment updating regulations for Commercial Highway (CH) Zone and finding an exemption from CEQA was approved.

New projects at Two Rivers Park were discussed.

Resident businesswoman Cindy Jackson promoted a medical marijuana product to be sold in the City. The product's beneficial effects were attested to by resident Raelene Chaney.

Resident Steve McKinnon addressed some long standing problems at the Fillmore Equestrian Center. In general, McKinnon stated that things at the Center were "going downhill" due to management deficiencies, also referring to unspecified "bullying". He asked the Council to investigate the problems.

An unusually lengthy presentation on the California Choice Energy Authority-Lancaster CCE-Program was provided, with question about whether to join. The decision was deferred for further study.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announces scheduled overnight lane closures on SR-126 between the Ventura Co. / Los Angeles Co. line and the city of Santa Paula for a long-term pavement rehabilitation project. These closures are subject to change and are scheduled as follows:

Starting the night of Monday July 9, 2018:

• Westbound SR-126 from the Ventura Co. / Los Angeles Co. line to the city of Santa Paula the right lane of two will be closed each night from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday, re-opening each morning.
• Once the westbound lanes have been re-paved, crews will move to the eastbound lanes of SR-126. The project is expected to be complete by the summer of 2021.

Additionally, ramps will be constructed at the location of at least 19 intersections within the city of Fillmore to make them ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant and accessible for persons with disabilities. The right shoulder / parking lane at these intersections will be blocked for construction from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday until the ramps are complete. Travel lanes will remain open.

The total cost of this Caltrans pavement rehabilitation project is 25.01 million dollars.

Please go to our Planned Lane Closure web page for confirmation of each night’s closures at https://lcswebreports-new.dot.ca.gov/SearchPreAction.do?district=7. And also to: twitter.com/CaltransDist7.

Bob Crum

The Fillmore classic car show downtown on July 4th was awesome. Gorgeous cars all. Did you go? If not fret not, I'll take you there vicariously along with a trip down memory lane.

In 1956, my Uncle Willie bought a high-performance DeSoto Adventurer. The DeSoto was powered by a hemi-sized 341 cubic inch, 320 horsepower motor. Standard equipment included push button control Powerflite automatic transmission, power steering, power seat, power windows, power brakes, windshield washers and electric clock. All for only $3,678.

One day Uncle Willie took ill. Before leaving for the hospital he tossed me the DeSoto keys. “Be careful”, he said, “it's fast!”. A teenage daredevil, imagine my excitement. I practiced driving the car on the farm before the open road. That car was soooo long that when going around a sweeping curve, I couldn't see the back end in the rear-view mirror. With pedal to the metal it was so fast that it took a few seconds for the back half to catch up.

Having saved money from years of farm work, I purchased my first new car – a gold-colored Plymouth Fury – as a high school graduation present to myself. Powerful engine and push-button tranny like the DeSoto. While my friends laughed about the rear fender “fins”, I took revenge (and delight) by beating (humiliating) their Chevys and Fords in every drag race. But as fast as my Fury was off the line, was as fast as I lost those friends. But they eventually got over it and we were soon all friends again.

Photographing classic cars at a show is, politely speaking, a pain in the buttocks. Certainly taxes the patience quotient. No sir, no problem at all just go right ahead and step right in front of my camera. Everybody does it! (grumble grumble)

The flip side of the patience of Job: Deference. It's about the 'event' not the cars! Point well taken I said to myself (I can't be the only one who talks to himself). Result: Lots of photos of gawkers full of gawkiness gawking at classic cars. C'est la vie.

From having photographed previous car shows, I noticed that car colors were often not as punchy in the digital images as I saw with my eyes. Not an insignificant factor considering that I could take five cruises with the money that some of the cars’ paint jobs alone cost. Must do something in an attempt to do justice to those luscious paint colors.

So this year I decided to shoot the show with a polarizing filter on my lens to enunciate the colors. Given the advantages of a polarizing filter, it was nevertheless a gamble. Remember, a polarizing filter's effects are most effective when shooting at a 90° angle with respect to the sun. Otherwise, it's as if it doesn't exist so no effect. Upon viewing the photos made, it was effective most times. At least the blacks are blacker!

Such are the creative challenges that make photography addictive and so delightfully rewarding. Equally significant, the creative aspects of photography tickle the soul. Well, at least mine.

Hark... a contest! Not counting fireworks photos, guess the number of photos I shot of the car show and chili contest. Email me your guess. Deadline: 6 p.m. Monday July 16. The closest guess wins one scoop of Baskins-Robbins ice cream. In case of a tie, the earliest entry wins. One entry per reader.

Photo of the week: Gorgeous Chevy. More firework photos next week. Happy photoing!

Send comments, suggestions, questions & contest entry to: photography@earthlink.net