To the Editor:
Trump signed his “One Big Beautiful Bill” way back in July of ’25. We can look back and ask, beautiful for whom? Corporations and the wealthy got bigger tax breaks. We got bigger healthcare bills. And some of the biggest health-care cuts don’t even arrive until after November’s election. They hope you won’t notice what’s coming. Food assistance cut. Education costs up.
That “One Big Beautiful Bill” added $156 billion for the military. But it doesn’t’ even touch what we’re spending now for this war. Six other presidents did the math and gave it a pass. You see what that’s costing every time you fill your gas tank. Family in the military? Your cost is way higher.
You can see what Trump’s ping-ponging tariffs cost you every time you go to the grocery store. Or pretty much any store. You’ve got receipts.
There isn’t enough money for the things WE need. But ICE can find $10–20 million for electric-shock gloves. Do you want to see those gloves coming to a community near you?
Money collected for our national parks is being redirected to flinging gold over everything in DC that sits still long enough. Then there’s splashing his name everywhere. We paid for it to go up on a building dedicated to another president. The judge said take it down. He can’t take no for an answer, so now we’re paying the lawyers to get it back up. Up? Down? We’re paying.
“Trump being Trump” isn’t free.
We’re being asked to sacrifice. Put aside for a moment what military families are asked to sacrifice. Follow the money. While we pay more at the gas pump, at the grocery store, and the doctor’s office, Trump’s family pocketed more than $1.4 billion from its cryptocurrency ventures last year alone. And that’s just one of their many grifts.
Maybe you’re tired of politics. Maybe you’ve stopped listening. Maybe you’ve stopped voting because you’re overwhelmed. Maybe you don’t think it matters.
People with power have no problem when the rest of us become too tired and discouraged to use what power is ours: our vote.
You can withdraw from politics. Politics doesn’t withdraw from you.
Vote.
Pat Collins,
Fillmore, Ca
***
To the Editor:
Many young people see a duty to defend their country and risk death or injury, or even kill others if necessary, when the Mission is Clear, and the Cause is Just. A deluded, self-absorbed, bellicose old man’s display of jacked-up trace testosterone, no guardrails, and disregard for the lives of others, is not that. Do not enlist Christ to justify Trump’s disastrous War of Choice.
Your explanation for your comment, “as for reintroduction of the draft, I’m all for it,” relied on defense of Selective Service, an automatic process, which was not the issue. The “draft” requires men to present themselves for imminent, non-voluntary military service, whether the war, like Vietnam, is just or not, the mission clear or muddled.
You can’t defend Trump, but you are an ace at excusing him, and here we are. When a president invades foreign countries, demands US takeover of others, or threatens annihilation, and you excuse it as, “bizarre, and not to be taken seriously,” your standards for leadership are “bizarre” for lack of seriousness and reliability. Trump has started a major optional war, caused economic damage to every oil-dependent country, has no clear path to winning it without American “boots on the ground” and consequent, but “unfortunate,” numerous casualties. He dismisses our economic realities and touts the delusional “Golden Age” economy (for billionaires, he means).
Take this seriously: Trump reported, on Truth Social, that he has directed Hegseth to “reduce the scale of scheduled US joint military exercises with SKorea” because they “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile,” to NKorea, which has been “unthreatening and respectful [to the US]”, “as long as Donald J. Trump has been President”, he wrote. Days before, NKorean super-dictator Kim Jong Un had declared the exercises a “threat to his regime,” and promised retaliatory threats. This alarming presidential accommodation also came after NKorea gave Russia thousands of missiles for the war with Ukraine. “God help us,” was a routine response.
At home, Trump advised Americans to get used to paying a “little more for gas”, and revealed that he is considering declaring the Strait of Hormuz “a territory of the US.” The next day, he produced a map so labeled. This imperialist derangement and his delirious attitude toward NKorea, require a major political intervention – now – but the Republican majority Congress is hooked on Zzz-Quil and reveries of futures as lobbyists.
After the Republican Senate capitulated to the Blanche AG nomination, they said they were shocked, shocked! that he immediately signed a DOJ opinion that “executive privilege” will attach to any conversation the president has, with friends, family, non-government individuals, a broker, caddy, or pedophile, if they are “advising” him on anything. Subsequent Congressional Committees would have no investigative power, even over Epstein, and our AG thinks that’s in America’s best republican interests. To amplify, MTPress host Kristen Welker asked AG Blanche, “Can you pledge the DOJ will always act independently of the White House?” “No, I’m not going to pledge that,” Blanche retorted. Welker continued, “So, if the president asked you to do something that you feel crosses an ethical or legal line, would you do it?” “He would never do that,” Blanche responded. “He [Trump] never has. He never will.” Blanche’s pathetic deflection, gag-inducing servility, is a dark window on his character. He knows everything about Trump/Epstein and continues to defy court orders to produce the missing unredacted files, to protect pedophiles, and dismiss the victims. And the Republican Congress knows it.
Trump’s latest money-making offer on Truth Social is selling privileged, early presidential knowledge – inviting market manipulation – to billionaires and possibly foreign governments, anyone wealthy enough to pay $100,000/month. The DOJ has eliminated or neutered federal oversight for fraud and cryptocurrency scams (for which Trump has realized billions while in office). But, so far, the Republican Congress and some of the American public, are allowing Trump to openly grift and grab with both hands, while many in our country ignore growing economic threats and international conflict crises, in one of the most profound episodes of self-inflicted national political harm in history.
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore, Ca
***
To the Editor:
August 13, 2026
Albert Mendez, Mayor
Honorable Members of the Fillmore City Council
Re: Urgent Request for Special City Council Meeting and Legal Action
Dear Mayor Mendez and Honorable Council Members:
We write to you as our elected representatives with an urgent request that the Fillmore City Council immediately schedule a special council meeting to discuss the future of Santa Paula Hospital and to consider all appropriate legal and governmental actions necessary to protect hospital services for Fillmore and the surrounding Santa Clara Valley communities.
Specifically, we ask the City Council to prepare, in consultation with qualified legal counsel, to pursue appropriate legal remedies—including injunctive relief, if warranted—against the County of Ventura and the Ventura County Health Care Agency should the County vote to close the existing Santa Paula Hospital and proceed with any of the three options presented at the following public forums:
• The Santa Paula Latino Town Hall Forum, “Your Voice, Our Community, Our Healthcare,” May 26, 2026;
• The Health Care Agency Forum at Fillmore City Hall, August 3, 2026; and
• The Blue Ribbon Committee meeting, August 7, 2026.
This is not simply a discussion about a hospital building. It is a discussion about the future of our community, the health and safety of our residents, and whether Santa Clara Valley residents will continue to have meaningful access to hospital-level care.
For more than two decades, Santa Paula Latino Town Hall has actively participated in civic life throughout Fillmore, Santa Paula, and Ventura County, including city, school, and County committees. We have listened to—and participated in—countless discussions about improving healthcare access, mental health services, public health programs, and other social services. We have also seen repeated promises that our community’s needs would be addressed.
In 2019, Santa Paula Latino Town Hall led efforts to reopen the Obstetrics Unit at Santa Paula Hospital and demanded that the County hold community meetings in Fillmore and Santa Paula so residents could have a meaningful voice in determining how their healthcare needs should be addressed. The message from the community was clear and overwhelming: Fillmore and Santa Paula residents did not want a glorified urgent-care facility in place of a full-service hospital.
Following those discussions, concepts were developed for a broader health and social-service campus that could include County services, assisted senior living, market-rate senior housing, and other uses capable of supporting a full-service hospital on property owned by Limoneira.
We also worked to connect community college leadership with County officials to explore a partnership involving the East Campus and a Bond Measure S-supported college center. Such a partnership could provide educational opportunities, high-quality healthcare workforce training, and economic development for the Santa Clara Valley. Unfortunately, these opportunities have not been pursued with the urgency or vision they deserve.
Today, both the community college district and the hospital face significant deadlines and challenges, including the approaching expiration of the 30-year bond. At the same time, both institutions have experienced substantial executive leadership turnover, including the recent arrest of the Ventura County HCA Chief Compliance Officer. This is further compounded by the CA Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) August 12, 2026, announcement of new enforcement actions holding Ventura County Behavioral Health (VCBH) accountable to improve behavioral health access for Medi-Cal members. DHCS will temporarily withhold a portion of VCBH funding and monitor the progress for corrective action. These circumstances raise serious questions about continuity, institutional knowledge, long-term planning, accountability, and the political will necessary to complete major projects that directly affect our community.
An Inequity That Can No Longer Be Ignored
The approximately 10-year disparity in life expectancy between Santa Paula residents and residents in other parts of Ventura County, as reflected in Ventura County Public Health data, should be an urgent warning to every elected official in this region.
We must ask ourselves plainly: Would this level of healthcare disparity be tolerated in Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, or other more affluent communities?
Fillmore and Santa Paula have contributed substantially to the economic base of Ventura County. Our residents and businesses contribute significant property and sales tax revenues while our community continues to experience some of the highest levels of economic need in the County. Fillmore pays approximately 85% of its property tax to Ventura County. Santa Paula has the highest sales tax rate at 9.25% amongst Ventura County cities and of that, 0.25% also goes to the County. Santa Paula also pays 80% of all property tax to the county.
Yet the allocation of public resources has not resulted in equitable healthcare and economic outcomes for our residents.
This imbalance has consequences beyond healthcare. Young people who grow up in the Santa Clara Valley may leave for college, universities, professional careers, or skilled trades. If our community does not have adequate healthcare, housing, employment opportunities, and economic investment, we should not be surprised when they choose not to return. This greatly impacts the economic future of the Santa Clara Valley.
Losing our hospital would make that problem substantially worse. People will die.
The County’s Financial Challenges Cannot Become Fillmore and Santa Paula’s Burden
We are also deeply concerned about the County’s financial position and the financial challenges facing the Health Care Agency.
The County operates a large network of clinics and healthcare facilities, yet it continues to struggle with the cost and complexity of delivering healthcare services. We understand that the County has received substantial grants, incentive payments, and other funding intended to support healthcare delivery and address financial pressures in recent years.
Those resources must be examined carefully.
Before the County asks Fillmore and Santa Paula residents to accept the loss or significant reduction of hospital services, the public deserves a complete accounting of:
1. All grants, incentive payments, supplemental payments, and other healthcare-related revenues received by the County and Health Care Agency;
2. How those funds were allocated and spent;
3. The financial performance of each major healthcare facility and program;
4. Administrative and executive costs;
5. The financial impact of the proposed hospital alternatives;
6. The projected costs to patients, Medi-Cal, Medicare, private insurers, and local taxpayers; and
7. The long-term economic and healthcare consequences of eliminating or substantially reducing hospital services in Santa Paula.
These questions are especially important given the significant turnover in County executive leadership and the concerns that have been raised regarding management, compliance, oversight, and accountability within the Health Care Agency.
Medi-Cal and the Residents Who Depend on This System
Santa Clara Valley has the second largest Medi-Cal population and a significant number of residents who depend upon publicly funded healthcare and social services.
At a time when federal healthcare policy and funding are facing substantial changes—including provisions associated with the legislation commonly referred to as H.R. 1—our communities cannot afford to reduce local access to hospital care.
Potential reductions in coverage, changes to eligibility and renewal requirements, and new administrative or work requirements could result in more residents becoming uninsured or delaying necessary medical care.
That would place additional pressure on emergency departments, clinics, first responders, families, and local government—not less.
The answer to a financially challenged healthcare system cannot simply be to reduce services in the community that already experiences some of the greatest healthcare disparities.
We Have Done Our Part. Now We Need Our Elected Leaders to Do Theirs.
For years, Santa Paula Latino Town Hall has attended meetings, served on committees, participated in forums, provided testimony, volunteered, partnered with County agencies, supported public programs, and repeatedly offered constructive solutions.
We have been collaborative. We have been patient.
We have participated in good faith.
But collaboration cannot mean that Fillmore and Santa Paula repeatedly accept less while other communities receive more.
We have contributed our fair share. It is now time for our elected representatives to demand a fair share in return.
We therefore respectfully but strongly ask the Mayor and City Council to:
1. Immediately schedule a special City Council meeting dedicated exclusively to the future of Santa Paula Hospital and healthcare access in the Santa Clara Valley.
2. Direct the City Attorney and appropriate outside counsel, as necessary, to evaluate all available legal options to protect hospital services, including potential injunctive relief and other remedies if the County proceeds with a hospital closure or reduction in services without adequately addressing the impacts on Fillmore and surrounding communities.
3. Demand full financial transparency from the County and Health Care Agency, including the funding, grants, incentive payments, expenditures, deficits, administrative costs, and financial projections underlying the proposed alternatives.
4. Demand a meaningful community process in which Santa Clara Valley residents—not simply County administrators—have a substantive role in determining the future of healthcare in our community.
5. Coordinate with other affected cities, elected officials, healthcare stakeholders, community organizations, and residents throughout the Santa Clara Valley to protect regional access to hospital-level care.
6. Explore every viable alternative to closure, including partnerships, financing mechanisms, grants, public-private partnerships, healthcare workforce partnerships, educational partnerships, housing development, and other strategies capable of supporting a sustainable full-service hospital.
This Is the Moment to Act
Mayor and Council Members, this is not the time for business as usual.
Once a hospital is closed, rebuilding the infrastructure, workforce, services, and community trust necessary to replace it may take decades—or may never happen at all.
The consequences of losing Santa Paula Hospital will not be limited to Fillmore and Santa Paula. They will affect the whole Santa Clara Valley, surrounding rural communities, seniors, children, Medi-Cal recipients, working families, first responders, and anyone who may someday need emergency or hospital-level care.
We are asking you to stand up now—before a decision is made that cannot easily be reversed.
You were elected to represent the people of Fillmore. This is one of those moments when leadership requires more than attending meetings or expressing concern. It requires action.
Please schedule the special meeting. Bring the County’s proposal into the public light. Demand the financial facts. Consult independent legal counsel and use every lawful means available to protect our hospital and the people who depend upon it.
We respectfully ask you to say enough is enough! We look forward to your prompt response.
In service to our community and with deep concern for its future,
Rick Castaniero
President, Santa Paula Latino Town Hall