Submitted by Evelio Arriaga

The Fillmore Condors concluded their 2018 cross country season by participating in the USA Track and Field National Cross-Country Junior Olympic Championships on Saturday, December 8th. Fillmore Condors Cross Country is a non-profit organization under Heritage Valley Blazers Inc. Thirteen athletes ranging from ages 7-12 traveled to Reno, Nevada where they encountered various challenging factors in this competition. The first challenge was the cold temperatures ranging in the low 20s to the mid-30s. There was snow that had turned into solid ice in some sections of the trail and this also made it difficult to maintain a good steady pace for the athletes. The last dare that this beautiful trail tested our athletes with, was the altitude of about 4500 feet above sea level. It was difficult to come up with the best strategy on how to properly run the race because our runners do not train for these conditions. Despite all the demands placed, they enjoyed competing at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park.

USATF is the highest level of competition with athletes from all over the U.S. Top eight athletes in each division from Valley Youth Conference joined forces to create an all-star team, The Valley United Striders. The Fillmore Condors which included, Abel Arana, Emily Arriaga, Leah Barragan, Paola Estrada, Carolina Garcia, Niza Laureano, Ayden Marquez, Lindsey Ramirez, Diego Rodriguez, Kailey Theobald, Kistern Theobald, Kristen Theobald, and Lucy Zuniga, who is a first-time cross-country runner and our youngest to advance, were joined by other top runners.

The first race of the day began with the 7 and 8-year-old girls competing in the 2000-meter race. Condors runners were, Emily Arriaga, Kirsten Theobald, Kristen Theobald and Lucy Zuniga. The top runner for this Striders team was Emily Arriaga with a time of 9:27.4 finishing 28th overall, less than 3 seconds away from earning the All-American individual award. Right behind was teammate Kristen Theobald in 35th, Lucy Zuniga 55th, and Kirsten Theobald in 70th. This group of girls were able to earn 1st place and become the back to back Jr Olympic champions.

The second group to run were the 7 and 8-year-old boys. Abel Arana from the Fillmore Condors was part of this group. He finished the 2000 meters race in 9:11.6 earning him the 56th place, helping his team win 1st place in the team competition to become the Jr Olympic champions.

Following, was the 9 and 10-year-old girls, which include Condor runners Paola Estrada, Leah Barragan, and Kayley Theobald. The highest finisher in this 3000-meter race for this team was achieved by Paola Estrada, finishing at 21st and earning the individual recognition as All-American award, which is only given to the top 25 finishers of each race. The next Condor was Kailey Theobald finishing strong at 112th, and Leah Barragan finishing at 118th. It was a very close team race and they missed the podium by one spot finishing as a team in fourth place.

In the 9 and 10-year-old boys race, Ayden Marquez competed hard and finished the 3000-meter race in 92nd place with a time of 13:09.3 helping his team earn a 2nd place overall finish in the competition.

The 11 and 12-year-old girls 3000-meter race was made up of three of our outstanding Fillmore Condors; Niza Laureano who finished 57th with a time of 12:40.6, Lindsey Ramirez placed 108th, and Carolina Garcia finishing in 184th place.

Fillmore Condor, Diego Rodriguez ran the 11 and 12-year-old boys 3000-meter race. Diego was able to finish his race in 11:41.9 earning 33rd place, 7 seconds shy of earning the All-American individual recognition. Diego was the top runner for his team finishing in 5th place.

The Condors are coached by Temo Laureano, Phillip Ramirez, Isrrael Estrada, Evelio Arriaga, Rafael Laureano and Victor Rodriguez. “We are extremely proud of our athletes. They physically and mentally endure so much during the season. We began training in the July summer heat, to the December cold dark evenings with headlamps. They raced with resilience, heart and grit in a harsh and competitive environment.” Condors President Erika Arana, would like to thank the following Fillmore community for always sponsoring our athletes: El Pescador, Baskin Robbins, Bank of the Sierra, Lions Club, Rotary Club and Heritage Valley Blazers Inc. GO CONDORS!

Schoolchildren, local clubs and groups, churches. businesses and families are all invited to choose a tree to decorate. Show all that the Christmas Spirit is still alive and well in Fillmore - the last, best, small town!!!

How?

Find an undecorated tree, try to use homemade or recycled ornaments (please no glass, sharp edges or electrical), leave a 'Christmas Card' in permanent marker on the card staked in the pot telling Fillmore who you are and something you want to say...watch over your tree for the next few weeks to see if it needs to be "spruced up" (especially after a rain or winds)... and that's it!!!

When?

Anytime now, as long as the trees are up...

Why?

Because Christmas is about sharing our love with the people around us!!!

Questions still?

email: reginastehly@gmail.com.

Thank you to the Lions Club for setting the trees up and to Rotary Club which will be taking them down.

Bob Crum

Health is still a tad precarious. Loyal readers will recall I'm experiencing the effects of a nefarious bug (disease) that invaded my lungs. On top of asthma and COPD, it makes breathing difficult.

I had to go to Ventura last Saturday for a refreshing breathing treatment. Afterward, feeling a little better, I sashayed over to nearby Channel Islands Harbor. Well, actually I drove. The reason? View the Channel Island Christmas boat parade for the first time. After all, as y'all know, I relish a challenge. Boats fitted with Christmas lights in the dark of night! Challenge indeed! Remember my previous discussion about excess noise when respectable exposure requires an extremely high ISO? Yesireebob, déjà vu all over again.

After driving around for 20 minutes without finding a parking space within 150 yards of the waterfront, I was about to give up and return home. I haven't sufficiently recovered such that I can walk long distances. Then, by happenstance, I came upon a short spur where two porta johns sat about 10 feet apart. An ideal spot being close to the waterfront. However, not enough room for my F-350 to park between them. So, I slowly backed to one of the johns and cautiously started pushing it further back to make room for me to park. I should have first made sure that no one was in it. As I was pushing it, I heard a scream. The door swung open and I saw a lady fleeing the scene! Oops! Before I could apologize, she continued screaming running through the parking lot disappearing into the night. Her porta john ghost story probably went virile. Anyway, after recomposing myself, I parked my truck now that I made enough room.

I don't know how many parade spectators heard the scream, but I grabbed my camera and nonchalantly mosied down to the sidewalk below bordering the waterfront. After a short walk I found a small opening in the crowd and took my position thinking this boat parade better be good!

Naturally it was nighttime, but I didn't expect a nightmare. Adjust either aperture or shutter speed to compensate for bright lights and the boat was either dark or the highlights blown. OK, why not try the “P” (Program) mode and let the camera figure it out? HA! Except for the parking lot lights behind me, it was darker than black. Thus the camera slowed the shutter speed down to 3 seconds to increase the exposure. WHOA! Think blur! Back to manual mode.

A few boats were brightly lit. Others not so much. Because of the enormous differences, I quickly realized that aperture priority mode might be best. Because depth of field was not important, I opened the aperture to the widest setting. As usual, put ISO on auto knowing it would soar to 16000. Anyway, now I only needed to adjust the shutter speed to compensate for the lights, or lack thereof, on each individual boat. I could do this fast enough as the boats approached and passed by. It usually took only two test shots before nailing the best shutter speed. Thank goodness for slow boats!

The photo of the week is one of the boats with bright lights in the boat parade. Santa is on board but standing next to a very bright X. Look closely and you'll see him.

Next, the Ventura Harbor Parade of Lights and fireworks Dec. 14 & 15, 6:30 p.m., 1583 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura. Fireworks at 8 p.m. Remember: auto ISO, aperture priority, shutter speed between 1/60th and 1/320th. Happy photoing.
Send comments, suggestions or questions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net

District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, together with the California Attorney General’s Office and 24 other prosecutorial agencies, reached a $7.4 million statewide settlement with Minnesota-based Target Corporation in an environmental enforcement action. The settlement resolves allegations that Target violated state laws, and violated injunctive terms from a 2011 stipulated judgment, regarding the company’s handling and disposal of retail hazardous waste. The civil complaint alleges that between 2012 and 2016, Target improperly disposed hazardous waste into landfills. The waste included electronics, batteries, aerosol cans, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and medical waste including syringes, over-the-counter and prescribed pharmaceuticals, as well as confidential medical information from its customers.

Under the terms of the judgment, Target is required to pay $3.2 million in civil penalties and $900,000 for fees and costs. The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office will receive $319,819 under the settlement. In addition, Target was ordered to pay $300,00 to fund Supplemental Environmental Projects. Target was also ordered to expend at least $3 million to conduct three annual inspections and

audits of 12 facilities and provide reports to the Attorney General and local prosecutors to ensure ongoing compliance with environmental laws.

The District Attorneys of the Counties of Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, Fresno, Humboldt, Kings, Los Angeles, Merced, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Stanislaus, Tulare and Yolo, and the City Attorneys of Los Angeles and San Diego also participated in this action.

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office is the public prosecutor for the county’s 850,000 residents. The office employs approximately 280 employees including attorneys, investigators, victim advocates, and other professional support staff who strive to seek justice, ensure public safety, and protect the rights of crime victims.
Follow the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office on Twitter @VenturaDAOffice

Fillmore High Principal John Wilbur addressed the Unified School District Board.
Enlarge Photo

Fall 2018 High School Sports Review
Governing Board received a presentation on the Fall 2018 High School Sports Review. Superintendent, Dr. Adrian Palazuelos introduced John Wilber, Principal and CIF Representative, who delivered the presentation.

Fall 2018 Sports Medicine Report
The Governing Board received a presentation on the Fall 2018 Sports Medicine Report. Superintendent, Dr. Adrian Palazuelos, introduced Breanna McLain, Director of Sports Medicine, who delivered the presentation.

2018-2019 First Interim Report Presentation
Governing Board received a presentation on the 2018-2019 First Interim Report. Assistant Superintendent, Andrea McNeill, delivered the presentation.

Public Hearing and Receipt of Initial Proposal
The Governing Board conducted a public hearing and receipt of initial proposal of the Fillmore Unified School District to the Fillmore Unified Teachers Association (FUTA) and second public hearing and receipt of initial proposal of the Fillmore Unified School District to California School Employees Association (CSEA) #421.

Personnel Recommendations
The Board approved all personnel recommendations including new hires, promotions, resignations, and leaves.

Tuesday, December 4th, 2018 marked the first anniversary of the Thomas Fire which ravaged Ventura County, forever changing lives and the landscape of the Santa Clara Valley and so many other communities in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. Supervisor Kelly Long, along with officials from Santa Paula and Fillmore, are encouraging local residents to take a moment this week to remember the fire victims and recognize the heroic efforts of our first responders.

The Thomas Fire started on December 4, 2017 just outside of Santa Paula and is the largest wildfire in Ventura County’s history consuming 281,893 acres, destroying over 1,000 structures, including 777 homes and requiring the evacuation of more than 94,000 people. “The Thomas Fire’s impact on the communities in the Santa Clara Valley cannot be understated.” Supervisor Long said, “Lives were lost, personal and agriculture property were lost and damaged, and our schools were forced to close, yet our communities remained resilient. The County continues its commitment to work closely with our local, state and federal agencies including FEMA and the SBA to rebuild properties damaged in the fire.”

This month’s one-year mark provides us a perfect opportunity to reflect on how our communities were impacted, lessons learned, and focus on steps we can take in the future to improve our collective disaster response approach. Santa Paula Mayor Ginger Gherardi stated, “We all witnessed neighbors helping neighbors and our public safety officials - at all levels, met the challenge to keep us safe and informed. It is critical that we acknowledge the impact that the Thomas Fire has had on all of us, assess our response, and chart our path forward”. Recovery efforts continue to this day with most damaged properties cleared of debris and nearly 2,000 properties surveyed with taxes adjusted by the County Assessor, Tax-Collector and Auditors office.

The recent Woolsey and Hill Fires which burned through more than 100,000 acres combined last month, highlight the importance of preparing for this “new normal”. Fire officials from Ventura County Fire as well as Fillmore Fire continue to remind us that wildfires are now a year-round reality in Ventura County. “Every family in the Santa Clara Valley should create a Family Disaster Plan that includes meeting locations and communications plans”, said Fillmore Fire Chief Keith Gurrola. “Residents need to take personal responsibility for protecting themselves, their family and their property and be ready to evacuate in a moment’s notice when a wildfire is on the move.”

Residents are encouraged to sign up for VC Alert at www.vcalert.org for all emergency notifications.

Submitted by Piru Neighborhood

The Piru Christmas Parade is scheduled for Saturday, December 8th. The Parade will start at 12pm with sign ups beginning at 10am. Festival follows parade and is over at 6pm. Music - Santa - Booths! The Grand Marshals of this year’s Christmas Parade are Tomas and JoAnn Torres.

Tomas and JaAnn’s Bio
Tomas and JoAnn Torres are both proud Piru natives. Tomas grew up the cowboy way of roaming the hills of Piru Canyon as the son of the caretaker of the Piru Dam and enjoyed hunting, fishing and working cattle. While growing up, Tomas participated in local sports activities and was a proud football player for the Fillmore Flashes. JoAnn grew up in a family that ran the local market, Sanchez Grocery, and volunteered their time to the community of Piru. JoAnn began her community work as a summer youth program coordinator at Piru’s Warring Park before she left to pursue her college career that included attending New York University.
In 2009, due to no sports programs offered in the town of Piru, Tomas and JoAnn worked with a group of community members to create Piru Youth Baseball. Later established as Piru Youth Sports (PYS), Tomas and JoAnn work to help coordinate a program that currently serves over 350 youth a year in baseball, soccer and softball as well as adult softball programs.
Tomas and JoAnn both work for the County of Ventura, Tomas almost completing 20 years of County service. Both have participated in Piru Neighborhood Council meetings, and Tomas completed the Piru emergency response program CERT. When not serving their local community, Tomas and JoAnn enjoy camping trips with their three children James, Thomas and Lily Jo and weekend BBQ’s.

Bob Crum

You watched the fantabulous Fillmore Christmas parade, didn't you? Sadly, I didn't. First parade I've missed in 15 years! You saw Santa on Fillmore & Western's Santa train didn't you? I didn't. Depressing!

To my chagrin, I have both asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Late last Friday afternoon my lungs became extremely congested impacted to the degree that breathing was extremely difficult. I have not been so debilitated in years and to say that it's frustrating is an understatement. When an additional disease invades my lungs, it's like the feeling of suffocation. Rejoice! Even with a very low SpO² (Blood/Oxygen level), I can still write.

Last week’s Photo of the Week, the yellow-crested night heron, brought many questions regarding the extremely high ISO. So, why minimal noise visible in the photo? Below you'll see how I deal with excessive image noise.
First "image noise" is like grain in the days of film. In photos, this noise appears as random speckles and can significantly degrade image quality. A camera's "ISO” speed" describes its absolute sensitivity to light. Higher numbers represent a greater sensitivity. Greater sensitivity is accomplished by amplifying the image signal in the camera, however, this also generates 'digital' noise and so higher ISO speeds will produce progressively more noise. Not good. Unless you want the film look.

As an analogy, take your hi-fi, if you still have one, and turn up the volume to the max without any music. What you hear is digital noise. Now, you're out with your camera, at sunset and it's getting dark. BTW, I almost always have ISO on auto mode because I would never, in good conscious, manually dial up an ISO of 16000. I know the disastrous result!

You see something interesting to photograph - perhaps a rare bird, or a mermaid, also rare! You mash the shutter button. The camera groans as it amplifies the low-light image. In “auto” ISO, the camera takes ISO to the max! BAM! In that amplification process, the digital noise is also amplified... ruining the photo. Or not!

Hark! Many times it's salvageable. These days, photo editing software are excellent programs. I use Adobe Lightroom (LR) first to convert the 'raw' file to a graphic image. LR editing options include “Sharpening” and “Noise Reduction.” When done in LR, I export the image to Adobe Photoshop Elements 14 with NIK Plugins. (I rarely use Photoshop) I use NIK's Define as stage 2 noise reduction. If that doesn't work to my satisfaction, my ace in the hole is called Imagenomics Noise Reduction. It's a powerful plugin which means it's just as easy to make matters worse than better thus requires great care when using it. I used it for the bird photo.

Watch out for that proverbial fly in the ointment. The more noise reduction that's applied, the greater the loss of detail. It's a balancing act. Eventually, you learn just how far to go with noise reduction and still retain sufficient detail.

Without a recent photo for photo of the week, I pulled a favorite from recent archives: The angler on the jetty at sunset. I like it particularly because it allows me to present an important photography adage: 'f/11 and be there!' Be there (anywhere) and many times photo ops magically materialize. As the sun was setting, I walked across the street from Ventura Harbor to the shore. Just curious. Saw the angler. In the background giant waves smashing on the jetty. Still good light with the sun close to the horizon. VOILA! Awesome photo op simply because I showed up. (hint... hint) Get out and shoot! Happy photoing!

Send comments, questions or suggestions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net

This project idea started in 2005 when I was watching the kids waiting with anticipation to see Santa at the North Fillmore Community Storefront for the Fillmore Volunteer Fire Department toy giveaway. Looking at the line, none of the kids had on coats. My mind thought immediately “Did the children forget their coats? They knew it was cold and that the wait was long.” The line snaked as the little boy tucked into his mother and the realization hit me like the cold wind- The little boy didn’t forget his coat. He doesn’t have a coat.

Please join Santa Clara Valley Legal Aid and Fillmore Community’s Winter Coat Drive with support from the Fillmore Volunteer Firefighters Foundation, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, Fillmore Rotary and other community organizations. In December we will be giving away brand-new warm winter coats to needy children of the Santa Clara Valley who are standing outside in line in Fillmore to receive their toy from Santa. There are no “administrative” costs. You send the money and our teams go and buy the coats.

As Marion Wright Edelman, the founder of the Children’s Defense Fund says: “We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.” When you place a warm coat on cold little shoulders, you know that a warm coat makes a big difference. We have given away over 7,000 new coats through the years.

Tax deductible donation can be made to Fillmore Volunteer Firefighters Fund, in the memo- coats, and mail to POB 331, or deliver to Taylor, Scoles & Bartels or donated through Go Fund Me at https://www.gofundme.com/warm-coats-for-fillmore039s-kids

Laura Bartels, Director
Santa Clara Valley Legal Aid
PO Box 236
Fillmore, CA 93016

Fillmore Unified School District

Board Policy Updates
The Governing Board approved the following Board Policy updates at the November 20, 2018 meeting: BP/AR 6142.1 Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Instruction, AR 3516.3 Earthquake Emergency Procedure System, BP 3515.7 Firearms on School Grounds, and BP/AR 3515.2 Disruptions

Draft Mission, Vision, Core Values, and Strategic Goals
The Governing Board received a presentation on the draft Mission, Vision, Core Values, and Strategic Goals. Superintendent Palazuelos presented the information.

Approve the Start and End Dates for 2019-2020 School Year
The Governing Board approved the start date for staff to be Monday, August 12, 2019, followed by the first student day to take place on Thursday, August 15, 2019. Pending collaboration from both employee units, the last day for students would be June 4, 2020, followed by a teacher workday on June 5, 2020.

Approve Date and Time of the Annual Organizational Meeting
The Governing Board approved the date and time of the Annual Organizational Meeting to take place on Tuesday, December 18, 2018 at 6:30 PM

Personnel Recommendations
The Board approved all personnel recommendations including new hires, promotions, resignations, and leaves.

Bob Crum

Well, I gave y'all a heads up for Black Friday. You also had another fantabulous opportunity on Cyber Monday. You bought a camera, right? Great!

Regardless of what you bought, you could not have gone wrong given modern-day technology. These marvelous, wondrous image makers do everything except wash the supper dishes.

Now, please READ THE MANUAL! I know, these days, many manufacturers are bypassing the written manuals and putting them online to download as a pdf. Do it! Download it and study at your leisure.

Videos are another option. When I bought the Canon 7D Mark II camera, which is a complex and powerful camera, I purchased a tutorial video ($29.00) specifically for the 7D2 from creativelive.com. The demonstration videos were great explaining all of the camera’s features and functions. It helped me navigate and customize the menus, and how to best use the extraordinary autofocus system. Not to mention the camera's video capabilities. It was a big help, worth 10 times the cost.

There are plenty of resources available to help you get up to speed with just about any camera you buy. Needless to say, it's of the utmost importance to KNOW how to operate the camera. Mastering the camera will enable you to capture the photos that you mentally visualize. I can't stress this point enough.

Of course, most cameras have a 'program' or 'auto' mode, and that's fine to begin with. In fact, I advocate that you start out in auto mode. But when doing so, you can do yourself a huge favor by reviewing the metadata. That is, after making the photo look at the shutter speed, ISO, and aperture the camera used to make the photo. The metadata will help you quickly understand the relationship between ISO, aperture and shutter speed for proper exposure. Then, when you're not satisfied with a photo the auto setting used to create the photo, you'll be ready to take the next step: Manual mode! That is, taking control and setting the ISO, aperture and shutter speed. When you start doing this, you are becoming a photographer, your ultimate goal. Right?

Operating a camera is not rocket science. You can do this. When you know how to program the camera for the photo you want, you begin to 'create' photos. It's this creative process that is so overwhelmingly satisfying. It's not unlike any creative art form. There's untold joy in Fine Art Photography. Trust me, you'll love it!

The subject of the photo of the week is a yellow-crowned night heron. I photographed this rarely seen bird at the Ventura Harbor, one of my favorite haunts. Take a moment to check the photo data, especially ISO and shutter speed.

It was past sundown when I first saw the bird perched briefly on a commercial fishing ship. As it flew, I followed, huffing and puffing as it landed briefly here and there. It kept flying... I kept chasing. Because it was moving fast, I set shutter speed at 1/320th. It finally landed down at the water's edge where the light was very dim. I knew I had to shoot fast. In the excitement I neglected to slow the shutter speed to a more appropriate 1/60th. That would have reduced ISO from the ultra high of 10000 to perhaps 1600 resulting in much less image noise. I ignored, with great trepidation, the fact that the 7D2 is not supposed to capture acceptable photos at that high an ISO because of excessive image noise. A subject for another day. Happy photoing!

Send comments, suggestions or questions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net