A course on rattlesnake avoidance training for dogs — featuring live rattlesnakes that have been disabled from biting — will take place at the Ojai Humane Society on January 16th 2011.

The course will be led by Gina Gables, a local professional dog trainer for more than 20 years, and Kent Beaman, who has more than 20 years of experience studying the behavior and ecology of rattlesnakes.

“Rattlesnakes in Southern California can be active any time of the year. Warm daytime temperatures may cause snakes to be surface active during the winter months and could present problems for dogs and their owners,” said Beaman, a research associate in herpetology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and at Loma Linda University. He also teaches biology courses at Riverside Community College and Chaffey College, and recently served as editor of and contributor to the book “The Biology of Rattlesnakes.”

During the daylong training session, Beaman and Gables will use live rattlesnakes that have had their mouths banded shut to prevent them from biting.

“Our first priority is the comfort and safety of your dog, the snakes as well as the humans,” said Gables of Simi Valley. As the owner of Ma & Paw Kennel since 1991, she specializes in obedience training and problem behavior modification with dogs.

The training will take place in a controlled environment, using a remote training collar system adjusted to each dogs’ temperament, personality and physical response characteristics, Gables said, explaining that the device “delivers an uncomfortable stimulation to the dog when the dog has been alerted to the (snake), whether it be the smell or the sound or the sight. We do this so the dog will be able to avoid any of these clues to a rattlesnake’s presence individually even if the other clues aren’t present.”

For instance, “your dog may be downwind of the rattlesnake and can smell it but is not able to see it; and the snake — not being aware of the dog’s presence — may not be giving a warning rattle,” Gables explained. “The dog, by avoiding just the smell, would avoid the rattlesnake. If the owner is observant of the dog’s behavior, he or she can possibly prevent themselves or others from being bitten as well.”

Individual 20-minute training sessions will be given to each pooch. The program consists of a dog handler accompanied by the owner walking the dog on a leash to different staging areas for each phase.

During one phase of training, the dog is introduced to the rattlesnake’s scent. When the dog smells the scent a low-level stimulation from the remote training collar will be applied. “This teaches your dog to avoid the specific smell of a rattlesnake,” Gables said. “When avoidance behavior is displayed by the dog, he avoids receiving the uncomfortable sensation, and we then proceed to the next staging areas where we follow the same process for training the dog to avoid the sound and sight.”

In the final stage, each dog will be tested. “The dog will be brought by the handler to a location opposite the owner with a snake in between,” Gables said. “The owner will then be asked to call their dog and the dog should arc his path avoiding the snake as well as the discomfort as he returns to his owner.”

What: Rattlesnake Avoidance Training for Dogs.
When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. January 16th.
Where: Ojai Humane Society.
Cost: $80 per dog; reservations required. Space is limited to 15 dogs early registration recommended!
To register: Call Gina Gables at 523-3432.

Introduction to Hiking and Camping Class at Ventura College
Name of Event: Introduction to Hiking and Camping
Type of Event: Recreation
Date: Saturday, January 8, 2011
Time: 9:00am - 12pm
Place of Event: Ventura College, 71 Day Road, Community Education Workforce Development (CEWD) Bldg Annex 4. Parking at 71 Day Road is free.
Price: $49.00
Name of Group: Los Padres Sierra Club Wilderness Basic Course Staff
Name of person to contact and phone number to be published: Ventura College Community Education, 805-654-6459 or register online at CommunityED.VenturaCollege.edu.
Event Description: If you've been looking for exercise and camping experience that also allows you to spend time with family and friends, you'll love this new class! Enroll early to learn about the essential equipment you'll need, where to begin hiking and camping, how to keep yourself and your hiking and camping party safe.

Learn to Backpack - Los Padres Wilderness Basics Course
Type of Event: Recreation
Date: February 15 - April 5, 2011.
Time: Meets on one night per week on Tuesdays from 7:00 - 9:30 p.m. and weekends for hiking and camping during the course. See website for details.
Place of Event: The Ventura TowneHouse, 4900 Telegraph Road, Ventura, 93003.
Price: Sierra Club Member ($155/Single or $279/Couple) or Non-Member ($170/Single or $306/Couple)
Name of Group: Los Padres Sierra Club Wilderness Basics Course
Name of person to contact and phone number to be published: For more information about gear and conditioning requirements, check our website www.lospadres.sierraclub.org/wbc, or for questions call 805-524-7170 or send an email to lospadresWBC@gmail.com.
Event Description:
The Los Padres Sierra Club is offering comprehensive training for people at all levels of fitness who want to enjoy and explore the wilderness.
A dedicated staff of experienced leaders will demonstrate and teach students the skills to enjoy the wilderness in eight classroom sessions and conduct several exciting outings over the course of the class.
The lecture part of the eight-week Wilderness Basics Course will be held each week from 7-9:30 p.m. in Ventura. The hiking, car camping and backpacking will be conducted on the weekends in the local backcountry to help you practice what you learned during the lectures.
The subject matter will include demonstrations and hands-on practice with the gear used by the staff and guest speakers. Examples of the topics presented are backpacking equipment, wilderness ethics, wilderness first aid and safety, weather, water filtration, cooking, map and compass, backcountry clothing.
Outing dates: Day hikes Feb 19 & 20; Car camp with day hikes March 5-6; Backpack 1 March 19-20; Backpack 2 April 2-3; Reunion/rain makeup late April TBA.
Class starts February 15, 2011.
Reserve your space - apply today.

Thousand Oaks, CA – Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast and California Lutheran University are teaming up to host the 2nd Annual Cookie Rally and Bake Off on January 15, 2011 from 10:00 to 3:00 at CLU’s Gilbert Sports & Fitness Center.

The community is invited to join in the fun as local chefs from across Ventura County compete at this exciting event to determine who can create the best desert using one of the top 6 most popular Scout Cookie flavors including: samoa’s, thin mints, trefoils, tagalongs, lemon chalet crèmes and do-si-do’s! Tickets are available to enjoy sample tastings of the desert entries and an opportunity to vote for the coveted People’s Choice Award. A Silent Auction offering a variety of items from dining packages to a cooking with the fireman night will be available.

Participating restaurants include: Nic Manocchio, C Street Café; Tim Kilcoyne, The Sidecar Restaurant; Andrew Sandwick, Kate’s Bakery; Everardo Moreno, The Grill on the Alley; Michel Bardavid, The Secret Garden; Brian Kohl, Maestro’s Steakhouse; Kirsten Keller, Nate n Al's; Jerry White, Fiamme Restaurant; last year’s winner, Liz Beddow, The Melting Pot; and just for fun, the firefighters of the Simi Valley Firehouse Station #44 led by Ryan Flitt.

Judging the event will be local volunteer celebrities and community leaders. Our fabulous taste testers include; Lisa McKinnon, VC Star Food Editor; Christine Garboski, Nestle Food Kitchen Culinary Professional; Ryan Van Ommeren, CLU – VP of facilities;

Mel Sheeler, President Sheeler Moving & Storage; Trace Nealy, Live 105.5 Morning Show Host; Sheriff Geoff Dean; Jacqui Irwin, TO City Council; Alyson Warner, Artistic Director for Main Course California; Lisa Barry-Gofberg, Macaroni Kid e-newsletter; Dee Dee Cavanaugh, VP First California Bank; Mary Olsen, KCLU Radio; Michael Medina, Chemical engineer; Commander Cheryl Wade, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department; Chaya Turrow, Girl Scout Gold Award Recipient; Christine Pohl, Sur La Table Westlake, General Manager.

Girl Scouts get in on the action with 12 talented Mother Daughter teams who will compete in a special division at the Bake Off. The response was tremendous with Girl Scouts in grades 2-8 from Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, vying for a spot in the division which was drawn by lottery last November. All girls will receive an award for participating and their recipes will be part of a cookie cook book for next year’s event.

Also planned for this day of sweet competition is an Activity Area for Girl Scouts where they can participate in fun ‘hands on’ activities from the Girl Scout Cookie Program teaching financial literacy, safety, and sales ideas for the upcoming Cookie Sales Season. Cookie Season and the Cookie Rally provides the Girl Scouts organization with an opportunity to raise much needed funds for program, scholarships and community service projects.

For more information regarding this event contact:
Pattie Mullins - Membership Development Manager
Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast
805-658-8210 x.321 or pmullins@girlscoutsccc.org

Santa Clara Valley Disposal will maintain its regular Friday trash and recycling collection schedule in Fillmore on Jan. 21, during the week of Martin Luther King Jr.

For more information, call 647-1414.

SCE will soon be performing maintenance on the electrical system in the area. In order to perform this work safely, we must temporarily interrupt electric service and turn off power. This outage will allow us to upgrade aging infrastructure, make needed improvements, and complete other repairs.

We realize this temporary service interruption may cause some inconvenience, and we appreciate your understanding as we work to increase system reliability for the future.

Outage Status: Scheduled
Outage Alert Num: 436034
Starting at: January 7, 2011 9:00 a.m.
Ending at: January 7, 2011 3:00 p.m.
# of Residential customers affected: 40
# of Commercial customers affected: 0
Outage Boundary: 3RD ST S/S302^W/O"A"ST. FILLMORE

*Please note that the power may be off for the whole period or may be turned off more than once. This planned outage may not begin exactly at the stated start time, and some conditions may cause this planned outage to be postponed. The times noted are our best estimate and circumstances may affect both the start time and the completion time indicated above. For current planned outage status, please visit our website
www.sce.com/outage

Santa Paula, CA. - The time has come to release the best kept secret in town! The location for the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley’s New Year’s Eve Celebration/Fundraiser! The location is (drum roll, please) 120 Calavo St., Suites D & H. Yes, it is a storage facility, a bold choice, but what else would be big enough, and perfect for the numerous activities planned for the event? Activities include a Silent Auction, a Gourmet Dinner, a Live Auction, Cigar Lounge, Casino and Bottle Bash, all designed to celebrate the passing of 2010 into 2011, and, at the same time, generate support funding for the programs that help nurture and grow the children in our community. Preparations are underway to heat and light the venue, so guests will be comfortable and entertained. The main room will have four bars, three photo ops, a dance floor and the Bottle Bash! The Casino, dubbed The Clandestine Casino, will be located in Suite D, and will open at the end of the Live Auction and dinner. There will be lighted parking and all the amenities, for guest convenience and comfort. This is going to be an event talked about for weeks to come; you don’t want to miss out! Call the Club at 805-525-7910 for your reservations today!

The Boys & Girls Club wants to thank Matt Perrett and Calavo Street Properties for their kind and generous donation of the use of their building for the event, and for their patient support while we meet with vendors, City personnel and committee members at the site while preparations are under way. The planning committee also wants to thank our sponsors, Mission Produce, Santa Paula Chevrolet, Santa Clara Valley Disposal, Vintage Productions, Inc., Santa Paula Times, Santa Paula Community Bank, Venoco, Inc. and the Ventura County Star for their continued and generous support of this event, and the community at large who tolerated our tongue in cheek fun in keeping the location a secret until today! We hope you enjoyed the mystery and will join your friends and neighbors for this unique event that we hope will become a seasonal standard!

Call the Club at 805-525-7910 to reserve your seats (ticket price is $86, a tongue in cheek reference to Agent 86 in the old Get Smart TV series,) pledge your sponsorship or donate auction items. Current auction items include: Vacation Stays, Golf Packages, Fine Dining Experiences and unique items such as Star Gazing from Rancho Feloso’s Observatory. Be sure to add this event to your holiday calendar, its one event you won’t want to miss!

Enlarge Photo

Vision 2020 Civic Pride Committee decided to select a “Yard of the Month” for December, based on holiday decorations. There were many beautifully decorated homes and yards and even neighborhoods this year, even more than last year.

Rob & Lisa O’Leary’s home at 818 Hinckley was unanimously chosen as the winner. The yard and front porch are decorated with Walt Disney animated figures with Mickey & Minnie & Frosty nodding to Christmas music & Rudolph and Santa making an appearance on the rooftop as well as the side of the house. The entire yard is bright with color and the tiny multicolored lights in the trees make a magical scene.

The entire family gets involved, with sons, Zack & Justin helping. They begin November 1, so they can enjoy the “magic” for a longer time. There are many children in the neighborhood that take great pleasure in all the festivity. This year some parents even knocked on the door, asking if they could photograph their children on the front porch with Mickey & Minnie.

The O’Leary Family are relative newcomers to town, arriving in March of 2009 from Ventura. This friendly family have the inside of their home just as beautifully decorated with a lighted village scene and a funny, joke telling mounted deer head to greet visitors.

Other beautiful Holiday displays worthy of an honorable mention and an evening tour may be found at 885 Hinckley, the corner of 5th & B Street, 562 Finch Ct, 1021 Harthorn, 408 Robin, the corner of Sespe and “C” St.

Otto & Sons Nursery generously continue to support the Vision 2020 Civic Pride effort to encourage members of the community to beautify and maintain their neighborhoods, one yard at a time! The award is an Otto & Sons’ gift certificate of $25.00.

On December 17, 2010, from 7:00p.m. to 2:00 a.m., the Fillmore Station hosted a DUI/driver’s license checkpoint, as part of the Avoid the 14 grant. During the check point 897 vehicles were screened for violators. 7 subjects were examined for driving under the influence, but not found to have their ability to operate a motor vehicle impaired. There were 10 people cited for driver’s license infractions (5 unlicensed, 3 suspended and 2 not in possession of a license). 8 Vehicles were impounded during the checkpoint.

A subject driving through check point was going to Santa Paula to pick up his brother, who had seen the check point earlier and knew he shouldn’t drive under the influence. Courtesy of Fillmore Police Department.

The Ventura County Rose Society and the Gold Coast Heritage Rose Group will sponsor a pruning demonstration of Old Garden Roses at the Stagecoach Inn Museum Rose Garden at 51 South Ventu Park Rd. in Newbury Park, CA on January 15, 2011 beginning at 9:00 a.m.

Jim Delahanty, a Consulting Rosarian and President of the VCRS, will present an introduction to pruning as well as a discussion of China Roses, Polyantha Roses and Hybrid Perpetual Rose Purning.

Jeri Jennings, Editor of "Gold Coast Roses", and a founding member of the Gold Coast Heritage Rose Group, will continue the pruning discussion with pruning tips for Tea Roses, Noisette Roses and Portland Roses. Clay Jennings will conclude the session with advice and hands-on demonstrations of pruning climbing roses.
This event is free and the only scheduled pruning demonstration of Old Garden Roses in the local area.

For more information, please contact Janet Sklar at 818-993-6622 or Dawn-Marie Johnson at 805-523-9003.

Ventura County Library will be changing systemwide computer hardware and related work that will impact computer use at the Ventura County Libraries.

Starting December 23, 2010 until early January 2011, the public will not be able to use any online-capable computers including public internet, wireless and the in-library catalog.

Home access to the Ventura County Library website, www.vencolibrary.org will not be affected.

Library staff will be available to assist during the transition. The
libraries impacted by this are: Avenue, Camarillo, Fillmore, E.P. Foster, Meiners Oaks, Oak Park, Oak View, Ojai, Piru, Ray D. Prueter, Saticoy, Simi Valley and Soliz-El Rio. Thank you for your patience!

The Ventura County Library is available at www.vencolibrary.org.

A message from Bobby Castaneda Jr.

As you can see, the Christmas gifts have arrived and gone. It was a very great turnout at this Year's 33rd Annual Piru Christmas Parade.

We, the East County Carnales Motorcycle Club, did what we we have been known to do the passed few Years. Following the parade, we handed out Toys to the Children of Piru. It's hard to believe that the Holidays have ALREADY arrived. The Toy giveaway was a great success that unfortunately, we ran out of Toys to give away. We DO apologize for the inconvenience and long faces.

We do wish that next Year will be a GREATER Event. We do Greatfully thank the Piru/Fillmore Community for much backing and support! A HUGE " Thank You" to El Pescador Restaurant, Elva's Market, Poncho's Place, the Piru Neighborhood Council, Paul & Laura Ortega, Various Motorcycle Clubs, Friends and Family. A Thank You to my Brothers who got the ball rolling with the Toy giveaway for my not attending. We look forward to this fun Event next year.

As always, have a Very Blessed Christmas from us all!

Support your Local Carnales Motorcycle- East County.

God Bless, Bobby Castaneda Jr.

Monday night December 20th to early hours of December 21st will be a Total Lunar Eclipse.

Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 9:29 PM
Partial Eclipse Begins: 10:33 PM
Total Eclipse Begins: 11:41 PM
Greatest Eclipse: 12:17 AM
Total Eclipse Ends: 12:53 AM
Partial Eclipse Ends: 2:01 AM
Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 3:04 AM

This Total Lunar Eclipse is well placed with the maximum amount of earth’s shadow coverage just off the coast of Baja California.

This could be an excellent opportunity for budding astronomers and students to test their observing skills. Try recording your estimates of the Moon's brightness every ten minutes during totality using the Danjon Scale.

The French astronomer A. Danjon proposed a useful five point scale for evaluating the visual appearance and brightness of the Moon during total lunar eclipses. 'L' values for various luminosities are defined as follows:

L = 0 Very dark eclipse.
Moon almost invisible, especially at mid-totality.
L = 1 Dark Eclipse, gray or brownish in coloration.
Details distinguishable only with difficulty.
L = 2 Deep red or rust-colored eclipse.
Very dark central shadow, while outer edge of umbra is relatively bright.
L = 3 Brick-red eclipse.
Umbral shadow usually has a bright or yellow rim.
L = 4 Very bright copper-red or orange eclipse.
Umbral shadow has a bluish, very bright rim.

The assignment of an 'L' value to lunar eclipses is best done with the naked eye, binoculars or a small telescope near the time of mid-totality. It's also useful to examine the Moon's appearance just after the beginning and before the end of totality.

During the eclipse, the Moon will be in eastern Taurus near the border with Gemini. The bright red star Aldebaran ("Eye of the Bull") lies 20 degrees west of the Moon. The winter constellations Gemini, Auriga, Taurus and Orion surround the eclipsed Moon.

Past observations I have had of a Total Lunar Eclipse, the Moon looks like a 3-dimensional “peach” in the night sky. Photographing a lunar eclipse presents challenges to getting the right exposure from the partial phases, with bright white crescents to the dark ruby red colors during totality. Your best bet is to use an ISO setting of 400 and vary exposure times. Just watching a Total Lunar Eclipse, especially during totality, is a beautiful and wonderful experience. Let’s hope for good weather and clear skies, bundle up and grab a lounge chair and enjoy the show.

IRS Reminds Taxpayers to Use E-file and Direct Deposit to Avoid an Undelivered Refund

LOS ANGELES, CA. - The Internal Revenue Service is looking for 23 taxpayers from Fillmore, Piru and Santa Paula who can claim their share of undelivered refund checks totaling over $29 Thousand. These undelivered refund checks were returned to the IRS by the U.S. Postal Service due to mailing address errors. The IRS can reissue the checks, which average $1,289 after taxpayers correct or update their addresses with the IRS.

Nationally, there are 111,893 taxpayers with undelivered refunds, totaling $164.6 million with an average refund of $1,471.

“If you think you are missing a refund, the sooner you update your address information, the quicker you can get your money,” said Anabel Marquez, Los Angeles IRS Spokeswoman. “A taxpayer only needs to update his or her address once for the IRS to send out all checks due.”

If a refund check is returned to the IRS as undelivered, taxpayers can generally update their addresses with the “Where’s My Refund?” tool on www.irs.gov. The tool also enables taxpayers to check the status of their refunds. A taxpayer must submit his or her Social Security number, filing status and amount of refund shown on their 2009 return. The tool will provide the status of their refund and, in some cases, instructions on how to resolve delivery problems.

Taxpayers checking on a refund over the phone will receive instructions on how to update their addresses. Taxpayers can access a telephone version of “Where’s My Refund?” by calling 1-800-829-1954.

While only a small percentage of checks mailed out by the IRS are returned as undelivered, taxpayers can put an end to lost, stolen or undelivered checks by choosing direct deposit when they file either paper or electronic returns. Taxpayers can receive refunds directly into their bank account.

The IRS also recommends that taxpayers file their tax returns electronically. E-file reduces errors on tax returns and speeds up refunds. E-file combined with direct deposit is the best option for taxpayers; it’s safe, easy and fast.

The public should be aware that the IRS does not contact taxpayers by e-mail to alert them of pending refunds and that such messages are common identity theft scams. The agency urges taxpayers not to release any personal information, reply, open any attachments or click on any links to avoid malicious code that will infect their computers. The best way for an individual to verify if she or he has a pending refund is going directly to www.irs.gov and using the “Where’s My Refund?” tool.