Burt Davis

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On this Thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for. I have the four greatest kids in the world. I know all of us who have kids can say this, but I feel strong that they are just that--great. I also have the greatest mother of all time. When it is her time to go (not for a very long time), God will open the gates of Heaven and say "Shirley come right in."

I always love the last Thursday in November. We get to come together with family and friends, break bread together, catch up on what is going on in our lifves, and watch a little football. What a great day!

I was also thinking the other day about what makes me thankful. I am so lucky and blessed with my family. And I am lucky to have a job where I get to come in contact with some great people at work everyday, Fillmore High School. Not only the staff, but some of the greatest young men and women go to school there. I get to see how hard they work in what they do at the school everyday. It could be in art, woodwork, F.F.A., drama, band, sports, and most important good old fashion school work.

Most of you may know that I am a proud Fillmore High School alumni. I am and forever will be a Fillmore Flashes! I would like to tell you about the number one and oldest Flashes still with us, and why we should all be thankful for him.

From the class of 1935 Burtis 'Burt" Davis. On December 28th this year Burt will turn 94 years young. On the 28th of December 1917, on Olive St. here in Fillmore, Burt was born in the home of Nelle and Phad Davis. He went to school Fillmore with some good old friends like Richard "Toolie" Palmer, Roy Hays, and Aaron Myers, just to name a few.

When Burt went to Fillmore High School he played basketball and tennis. He always wanted to play football but mother Nelle said no to that . So he was the manager for the football team. He was also trusted by the great County and High School Hall Of Fame Coach Eugene "Red" Kennedy to have a set of keys to the gym. This gave him and his friends a chance to go into the gym to play all the basketball they wanted.

In the days that Burt played sports for Fillmore High School, the tennis team would all hop in a car or truck and drive themselves to the matches. One day on the way to Santa Barbara, when the road was right on the beach at the county line, you had to wait for the tide to go out so you could dive on it. Burt was in the back of a truck with some of his teammates when they got into a traffic accident. The boys that were in the back of the truck flew out. Two of the kids needed to go to the hospital. Burt was on of the lucky ones who brushed himself off, and still played tennis that day.

In 1935 after graduation from Fillmore High Burt was asked by Red Kennedy to become an Official for football games. Little did he know at the time that this was the start of a very long career. Burt would go onto be an Official for basketball, football, baseball, softball, track and field, volleyball, water polo, and swimming until 1986. That adds up to 51 years folks.

Burt was always known to be loud, straight down the line, fair and knowledgeable of the game. And he did it all with that great big Burt Davis smile that he still has to this day. He always felt that to make a good Official you needed to be in the background and let the kids play the game. It always upset him when the Official wanted to be the center of attention. The game and the players should always be the story, not the Official and his calls.

On June 19th, 1941 Burt married the love of his life Phyllis Higgins. They spent 69 wonderful years together util Phyllis past away last year.

Burt went into the service during WWII. While in Germany Red Kennedy needed someone to be an Official for football games so he got hold of Burt. Burt said that he loved doing it. All the special treatment came his way with all the boy's over there. Good food. Good places to stay. He got the royal treatment. They wanted him to stay in the service, but all he wanted to do was to come back to Fillmore and his loving wife Phyllis.

Phyllis and Burt have three daughters; Lynn Cook from Waco Texas, Laurie DeAlejandro from Ventura, and Valerie Newland from Fresno. He also has 10 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren. That is what Burt Davis is thankful for.

After the service Burt went into being an Official. In 1949 he was a charter member of The Channel Coast Official Association. He and still great friend and Ventura County Hall of Famer Cal Houston worked together on the playing fields all over the state and beyond, and behind the scenes. They still call and talk to each other almost every week, even though Cal has moved Montana.

Burt worked at high school, junior college and college level sports over the years in places like the L.A. Coliseum, Anaheim Stadium, and the Shrine Bowl at the Rose Bowl. He was known as the number one "White Hat" Official in football. Burt also worked for the Dallas Cowboys in Thousand Oaks in the 1970's and 80's when they had a training camp at Cal Lutheran. He had a good friendship with Pro Football Hall Of Fame Coach Tom Landry.
In 1987 The Ventura County Hall Of Fame opened the doors and made Burt a member of the Hall Of Fame. And in the first class of the Fillmore High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2010 the doors flew wide open for Burt to walk right on in.

Any one of us who know Burt can say if there ever was a Hall of Fame for just being a great person, Burt would see the doors open up for him there also. He is sharp as a tack, and still has all the time to say hello to everybody he comes in contact with. He will always tell you a story with a gleam in his eyes and a smile on his face. And to me this is one more great thing I will be thankful for on this Thanksgiving. God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving Fillmore!

Ventura County Sheriff's Department

On 11/8/2011, members of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Bureau, West County Street Team, and the
Sheriff’s Air Unit conducted a reconnaissance flight in the Alamo Mountain area of North Eastern Ventura County near Pyramid Lake. Investigators located growing marijuana surrounding a makeshift campsite on a hillside a short distance above Piru Creek. The hillside had been terraced and large tracts of brush and trees were removed. Plastic irrigation hose ran from an adjacent canyon where water was gravity fed to the plants.

In the campsite and surrounding area, detectives found an estimated 130 lbs. of manicured marijuana drying on tarps under trees. The camp had sleeping equipment for several people and a large store of food and supplies were found. It appeared to investigators that the camp had been used that day and they believed the suspects were possibly still in the area. A footpath with fresh footprints was located heading into a rugged canyon above the campsite. Detectives followed these tracks for approximately one half mile when they came upon seven subjects: Jose Inzaunza 40, Bruno Mata 24, Luis Diego 27, Jesus Chavez 20, Juan Hernandez 30, David Aispuro 20, all from Losa Angeles, and Miguel Martinez 42, Compton. These subjects were trying to elude deputies and had come to a dangerous cliff area with nowhere else to hide. The detectives assisted the exhausted men up the steep hillside to a location where they could be airlifted out. It was determined these subjects were involved in the marijuana cultivation discovered in the area. They were all arrested and subsequently booked into the Sheriff’s Main Jail.

The Sheriff’s Office encourages those who frequent the Ventura County backcountry to report any suspicious activity to authorities.

I remember when you brought me home. You thought I was adorable and you couldn't get enough of my sloppy kisses! I wagged my tail endlessly, jumped as high as I could and ran in circles chasing my tail when any of you came home. I heard the family discussing what they wanted to name me, but since I was a girl the names were limited to sweet and clever ones. There were no suggested Butch, Sergeant, or Mac so I was destined to be a Peanut because of my size and brown coat. The kids argued over who would sleep with me. There was even discussion of a rotation schedule so that it would be fair and evenly distributed. Everyone promised to take care of me by feeding me and cleaning up after me. I had it made! You really loved me then. I was your little Peanut.

I know when your love started to fade. It was when the big one we all called Dad stepped on a pile of my poo on his way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I did that before we all went to bed knowing one of you would clean it up on your way to brush your teeth just before you scooped me up and took me into your room to snuggle with me under the covers. I know you saw it because you said something to me about being a bad girl. That was the beginning of breaking the many promises you made to care for me. Soon Dad was losing his temper and threatening to get rid of me if everyone around the house didn't start chipping in and taking care of me.

It was the teenaged girl with the pretty blonde hair that made the final mistake. She was running late and she left the house still talking on her cell phone without giving me a thought. She forgot to let me out into the backyard for the day. It wasn't my fault because I tried to get her attention by barking and scratching at the back door, but she just kept talking on the phone. She got into a waiting car and drove away. After she was gone I thought what the heck and began to nose around the house and enjoy myself. After all I am still a puppy! I first tore up a favorite doll in the baby's room given to the baby by a now departed grandma. While there I felt the urge and left a real cool amount of liquid on the hardwood floor that could hardly be seen, but unfortunately it soaked in and left a stain on the wood, then into Dad's room and into the closet. Oops another urge, having learned my lesson I hid this one in a shoe and chewed on another shoe because I was getting bored. How could I have known these shoes were Dad's favorites, and of course I have now ruined two pairs of shoes!

After about four hours of such fun things as unrolling the toilet paper in all the bathrooms, dragging underwear, ties and socks everywhere, I decided to take a nap. I was soon rudely awaken by Dad when he came home saw the mess and discovered I had been left in the house. Dad scooped me up and soon I was in the car and going for a ride with him. I loved riding in the car and eagerly got onto his lap so I could see out the window. I was happily surprised that he still wasn't mad at me, but was trying to bond with me by driving me out to the country. We went to a dead end road near the creek where he got me out and set me on the ground. What fun I was having! I romped around running in circles and chasing every lizard I could scare up until soon I realized Dad had driven away and forgot me. I ran after him down the road barking, but he was going faster than I could run to keep up and other cars were now coming up the road and swerving to miss me. Scared I was going to be hit I quickly turned back to where Dad forgot me and hid under a tree barking to let Dad know where I was when he realized his mistake and came back for me. I was sure that he would turn right around when he realized it, but soon my bark got weaker and I began to whine because my throat was now sore.

Night started to fall and it was getting cold. I was getting hungry, but there was nobody around to feed me, love me, or argue who gets to sleep with me tonight. There were other dogs howling down near the creek and they scared me with their yelping. I had never heard a dog yelp that way and it seemed as if there were thousands of them just a few yards from where I was waiting! They didn't sound very friendly so I didn't call out to them. After dark had fallen fully a car pulled up and I could hear loud music and laughing. They are back I thought outloud and I ran from the brush where I had been hiding from the howling dogs. I ran towards the car. The young people in the car were now outside of the car and throwing bottles into the creek and laughing loudly when they heard the glass break on a rock and fall into the flowing creek. When one of them saw me he threw a bottle at me and laughed louder than before! I ran towards where I had been hiding and when I looked back I noticed the teenaged girl with the pretty blonde hair. I thought she saw me! I wondered if she still loved me and came to take me home! The man she was with threw another bottle towards me and they all laughed and got back into the car. They drove away fast, throwing gravel into the brush as their tires spun in the loose dirt shoulder. I was alone again. Me a small female Chihuahua left at the end of a road to fend for myself. How did this happen when all of them promised to care for me and love me. I never stopped loving them. Why did they stop loving me?

The next day another dog, a mix of some sort, was left by the side of the road just like me. His name was Mike and he promised to care for me. He said we would be just fine if we stuck together. Days passed and many people came to the end of that road. Some left food for us, but we were so afraid of people by now we didn't realize some were trying to help us so we hid until they left. Together we learned to survive, but each day we were there at the end of the road we got weaker and more skittish of humans. The howling dogs were getting closer each night and the cars came and went leaving behind their messes. We were both so defeated! As determined as we were to survive, we both could see our days were numbered. Why did our families stop loving us? We never stopped loving them! Why did they abandon us?

There has been and increase in the “dumping” of small dogs in the rural areas surrounding Fillmore in the past couple of months. One single dumping included five young small dogs! Three were rescued by caring residents and either kept as pets or taken to Dog Rescues. The fate of the other two is not known. Rather than dumping these loyal pets you are encouraged to call, stop by, or email the Humane Society of Ventura County, 402 Bryant St, Ojai, 805-646-6505, animals@humanesocietyvc.org. They will care for these loving creatures until they are found good homes. Another resource is AM Pet Supply and Grooming, 341 Central Ave, Fillmore, 524-7387. AM Pet Supply and Grooming has been very generous in rescuing and placing abandoned pets. As of this writing Peanut and Mike are still living at the end of that road and residents are trying to care for them so that they can be taken into good homes. That is if they become trusting enough to be rescued! A cold rain has started to fall in and around Fillmore as Peanut and Mike snuggle to stay warm and dry under the brush. Please don't abandon unwanted pets!

Brandon McInerney

A teenager who fatally shot a gay classmate in the back of the head during an Oxnard middle school computer lab will spend 21 years in prison under a plea deal reached Monday, closing the books on a case that drew international headlines and ignited debate on how schools should handle sexual identity issues.

Brandon McInerney, who was 14 when he pulled a gun out of his backpack and shot Larry King two times at point-blank range, will be kept behind bars until he is 38 under the terms of the deal struck by Ventura County prosecutors.

In an unusual arrangement, the 17-year-old pleaded guilty to second-degree and voluntary manslaughter. In return, prosecutors agreed not to go forward with a second trial, which could have resulted in a life sentence.

The family of the victim... http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1122-gay-shooting-20111122,0,425...

Tim Burhoe and David Landeros

On Monday, November 14, at 9:30pm the City of Fillmore Fire Department responded to a report of a structure fire
at 1100 Block of Shady Lane in the City of Fillmore. Upon arriving on scene firefighters observed smoke and fire coming from the chimney portion of the residence. Fire Personnel were able to launch an aggressive attack on the fire. Firefighters extinguished the fire in the fireplace and chimney. Fillmore Firefighters checked the attic and surrounding walls for any signs of heat or fire that may have extended. Fillmore Firefighters did a tremendous job keeping the fire from spreading to adjacent rooms and there was no other damage to the rest of the structure. A special thanks to the Tim Burhoe and David Landeros for their quick reactions. They were driving by the residence and noticed a large amount of fire coming from the residence fireplace. They immediately stopped and notified the residence that they had a problem which lead to the quick response from the fire department. Courtesy Fillmore Fire Department.

It was standing room only at the Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) Board Meeting on Tuesday night, November 15. Some had come with presentations, others with thankful appreciation and some with grievances.

During the comment section of the meeting Richard Townend, whose two sons attend FHS, addressed the Board wanting answers as to why FUSD is currently providing medical insurance for his sons. Townsend’s ex-wife, Evalene Townend, ended her employment with FUSD a year ago and is now employed at Pleasant Valley School District (PVSD). But unlike PVSD, FUSD covers its employee’s medical insurance and Mr. Townend wants to know why a third party employed at FUSD is claiming the boys as dependents and using FUSD medical coverage. Townend says that the boys are not the FUSD employees dependents and would like to know who approved this and why. He suggested that the school district check all their employees to make sure others are not receiving the District-paid medical coverage who are not qualified to receive it. Townend said he sent an email 41 days ago asking FUSD to look into the matter but never received a response, adding that with the poor financial shape of the District, they cannot afford to provide medical insurance to those who are not qualified.

Bullying and harassment was another grievance brought by Gus the uncle to a student who is a junior at Fillmore High School (FHS). He stated that his nephew has been bullied for the last two months at FHS by four students who belong to a local gang. There have been several incidents that have taken place both on and off campus. The uncle stated that the harassment has take place at school on a regular basis but also at the student’s home and at the Pacific View Mall where it became physical and required others to step in to stop it. He asked the Board for the school’s guidelines on bullying and that the District “take more serious measures” in addressing it. When interviewed and asked if he, the student, had brought this to FHS Administration and what he would like done to remedy the situation, the student stated that the school has accused him of instigating the situation and suspended him for the language he used when addressing the gang members. As to what he feels could resolve the situation, he said he would be open to mediation to resolve it or that those harassing him be reprimanded.

Fillmore Middle School’s (FMS) Principal Dr. Ellen Green, along with seven faculty members, gave a presentation of the Revised Site Plan which began with “Purpose, Beliefs and Goals” focusing on six priorities; improve reading, writing, math, close the achievement gap between subgroups and raise proficiency among English Language Learners and students with disabilities, improved teaching techniques, technology support to enhance instruction, increase and improve parent involvement. Green proudly stated FMS’s new mission statement, Think, Believe, Create, Achieve and added, “We believe that all students can learn.”

This won’t be an easy task; for the last nine years FMS has failed to meet State Standards, continually remaining in Program Improvement Status. Since 2008 the school has declined even farther in English, history, mathematics and science; with the exception on science which improved in 2010-2011.

Language proficiency is a huge hurdle for educators at FMS. Of the 830 students 24% are English Language Learners, 12% Initially Fluent English Proficient and 23% Reclassified Fluent English Proficient. To address this, the English Language Advisory Committee meets once a month to discuss ways to build English skills and catch the students who are falling behind. Another change being implemented to address unprepared students is making sure they do their homework. Any student who has not completed his/her homework is required to finish it during lunch under a teacher’s supervision.

It seems some of the chalkboards have been replaced with new technology and other interactive tools that enhance learning, but these new items come with a price that requires items be introduced to a few classrooms at a time. Green and the other presenters are enthusiastic about the work being done, but Green admitted the financial problems are huge stating, “We’re confined with our budget.”

A presentation was also given by five FHS student members of the National FFA Organization (also known as Future Farmers of America) who attended the 84th FFA Convention held on October 18-23 in Indianapolis, Indiana. All the presenters gave great descriptions of what they had learned and enjoyed while attending the convention. The students listened to motivational speakers and various sessions, toured processing plants, learned about mold prevention on harvested crops, dairy farms and the production of milk and the importance of environmental systems like bee production. But it wasn’t all learning, there was plenty of fun as the students visited the Indy Speedway, enjoyed a Blake Shelton concert, and wandered through a corn maze.

FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students and could be seen as each of the FFA member explained the impact the conference had had on them, such as; a renewed inspiration and motivation to be active in their community, greater leadership skills, the importance of agriculture and the many related industries, being less judgmental and a better understanding of others.

Sammy Martinez, FHS Speaker of the House, informed the Board that the Associated Student Body (ASB) is planning a convention with Santa Paula ASB. Also on the students’ agenda is Renaissance Week which began on the 14th and ends the 18th with a rally and all classes have ongoing fundraisers.

Video Highlights

When I first heard that the historical method of partially funding Fillmore High School Sports was in serious jeopardy, and in fact by law, has been eliminated, I thought of how important sports was for our son Phillip. Both Carolyn and I agreed that if it were not for Fillmore High School sports and the regimental training and academic requirements to participate in sports, our son, who otherwise lacked the motivation to maintain his attendance and grades, would have struggled to get through high school. I really need to stress “motivation” here because my son had the ability and support at home to academically perform well, but it took the academic requirements placed upon Fillmore High School's student athletes and his love of sports to encourage him to do well. It went beyond academics and motivation though; he learned about “inspiration” from other athletes who lacked the natural athletic ability to play a standout game, but still tried their hardest to help the team. He learned about team work and how to understand coaches who pushed him to get his head in the game! But, I am sure many of you have your own stories of how Fillmore High School Sports positively affected maybe you, one of your children, or relatives, or one of your neighbors, which is why I think it is so important to ensure that Fillmore High maintains their ability for reaching out for partial funding for Fillmore High School Sports programs. What created this situation is, by law, the elimination of the mandatory Athletic Participation Fee all of us, until the current school-year began in August of 2011, gladly provided so our sons and daughters could play Fillmore High School sports.

Since 1879, Article IX, Section 5 of the California Constitution has required that the State of California provide a system of free public schools. In 1984, the California Supreme Court clarified the intent of the Constitution and ruled unequivocally in Hartzell v. Connell that public schools cannot charge students or families any fees as a condition for participating in “educational programs,” including extracurricular activities.”

So why did the American Civil Liberties Union CONTINUED »