To the Editor:
Thank you, Ventura Forward for your support! You really care about the people!! Our neighbors have created the Grand Avenue/Goodenough Road Fillmore Coalition to join together in seeking assistance for the continued erosion, sediment build up and debris in the Sespe Creek that causes the water to overflow which pushes against the sides of the Creek and Bridges. It’s tearing the banks away and we are loosing our properties. We are applying together for the emergency permit with the County of Ventura. We are asking the Board of Supervisors to waive the fee and deposit it requires. We are also asking them to seek long term solutions for maintenance so we don’t loose our homes as well as getting the Old Telegraph Rd bridge fixed right. It has been a constant struggle for this maintenance due to most of the creek bed being both County owned and private property however, it is the responsibility of local City, Counties and private property owners to protect infrastructure as well as maintaining the creeks to avoid flooding and erosion. The private property owners blame the County, the County says there are not enough homes on this side of the Sespe to spend money on and blames the Environmentalists for making it difficult too to tackle with, however from my experience .. they have not given me a difficult time. Each one has been kind and cooperative in dealing with this problem (Environmentalists). The real problem is that it very expensive to fix right and hire heavy equipment to push the rocks up against the banks so nothing ever gets done. We are asking that our Ventura County Leadership taps into Federal and Grant recourses/funds created for these kind of projects and assist the owners along the Sespe Creek. Again…. There is WAY too much build up in the creek and nowhere for the water to go but to the sides ripping out anything it its path!! Once we can obtain the emergency permit then each owner can have the opportunity to save their property/homes. Of course this is at their own expense. So, if you are concerned please sign the petition that Erika Morales has (DM her) and or show up at the Ventura County Board of Supervisors meeting this month January 27, 2026 at 9:00am at the Government Center 800 S. Victoria Avenue, Ventura to speak your mind. Your voice matters.
Cindy Jackson,
Fillmore, Ca.
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To the Editor:
I know there were serious events this past week that deserve attention. But your description of January 6 in your recent editorial cannot be left unchallenged.
An insurrection is not defined by its duration but by its purpose. On January 6, a mob forcibly breached the U.S. Capitol after being instigated to stop Congress from certifying a lawful presidential election. That is why federal juries later convicted leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers of seditious conspiracy—a charge that requires proof of intent to oppose the authority of the United States. Convicted by juries of their peers, including Trump supporters who, seeing the evidence, saw it for what it was.
Selective video clips showing calm moments inside the Capitol do not erase the violence that preceded and followed them. Officers sometimes moved with crowds because they were overwhelmed—not because entry was authorized or “tourist-like.”
It is true that the only gunshot death that day was Ashli Babbitt, shot by a Capitol Police officer. It is also essential to note what she was doing. Babbitt ignored repeated warnings and attempted to climb through a shattered window beside a barricaded door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby, with a mob pressing behind her. The Department of Justice investigated and declined to bring criminal charges against the officer.
What you omit is that approximately 140 police officers were assaulted that day. Officers suffered traumatic brain injuries, spinal and neck injuries, crushed discs, broken ribs, eye injuries, chemical burns, and lasting psychological trauma; several later reported suicidal ideation. Officer Brian Sicknick collapsed after defending the Capitol and died the next day, a death officially recognized as occurring in the line of duty.
Now contrast that with Minneapolis. Renee Nicole Good was killed during an ICE operation while attempting to leave a civilian street. She was not breaching a government building, not attacking Congress, and not attempting to halt a constitutional process. She didn’t obey the order of an officer? Neither did Ashli—or anyone else at the Capitol on January 6th.
January 6 was instigated to halt a constitutional transfer of power by force and intimidation. That is what distinguishes it. That’s why it was an insurrection. Truth matters.
Pat Collins,
Fillmore, Ca.
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To the Editor:
You want “new issues.” The Trump Gang is on it.
You, have undoubtedly seen the videos, including one from agent Jonathan Ross’ camera, in the tragic shooting death of Renee Good in MN. I see nothing that could warrant a point-blank multiple-shot fatality at the hands of a trained professional. VPVance immediately mobilized to create a preemptive gaslit narrative. Good, he asserted as truth, was a “domestic terrorist” who had tried to murder an immigration agent, and lectured the Press for failing to report supposedly exculpatory information of the agent’s prior experience, being dragged by a car, to justify the shooting. It may be an explanation; it is not a defense.
If PTSD were an issue, impaired judgment and control in the experience of certain stimuli, the Homeland Security Administration (HSA) was grossly negligent in placing Ross in the field, compromising his safety and that of others. But we know from earlier reports and videos that the HSA trains its agents to be brutal. Our tax dollars support this abuse, which will only get worse if the Republican Congress’ “big, beautiful bill” continues to increase funding for it.
Good had just left her 6-year-old off at school, so had not been disruptive earlier at the site, as HSA claimed. She waved and smiled at agent Ross filming the scene saying, “Don’t worry, dude. I’m not mad at you,” backed up, and turned her car wheels to the right, to disburse to the right after traffic cleared. An agent gave an order to exit the vehicle and tried to drag Good through the window. Ross approached from the right of her moving vehicle, gun drawn while holding his camera/phone. He fired once at the approaching vehicle, and twice more as Good passed by. He was not actually “hit.” After the shooting, Ross remarked, “F*cking Bitch,” sharing his agitated lack of professional control. If Ms. Good disobeyed the order to exit her vehicle, her judgment can be questioned, but it did not merit a death sentence. This is becoming our America at the command of the President.
Before Trump illegally invaded Venezuela and kidnapped Maduro, before he informed Congress, Trump contacted oil companies to notify them of the pending opportunity. For the good of Venezuelans, he said. On Sunday, Trump posted a picture of himself with the caption, “Acting President of Venezuela.”
Putin has volunteered to “help Trump” if he decides to invade Greenland. The two could finally share a cooperative project. Trump has already stated that Rubio should be viceroy of Cuba. As if it’s a game. Silence from the Republican Congress.
When asked recently if there are limits to his powers, Trump replied: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” Trump’s words and recent actions both at home and abroad signal that he is irrational and delusional, a devastating mental state for a world leader with nuclear codes, and the President of a great still-free nation.
Since Trump’s morality animates him, we are in peril. Here’s a guy with a history of “no moral boundaries”: adjudicated sex abuse, fraud felony convictions, disregard for Law, disrespect of other countries, cheating in all regards, coverups, avaricious self-dealings, endless lies, and hunger for dictatorship. His “morality” is an existential threat to our futures, and to world peace.
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore, Ca.