. . . . . . The Oxnard Journal is the Independent and Progressive News Source for Oxnard & the World..... |
The
Oxnard
Journal -
July 9, 2005
-- Oxnard, Calif. --
Oxnard's Best Strawberries: See Vanessa y Melissa of Great Berry / just past 5th on Victoria
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¿ donde esta anything? |
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Ventura County Grand Jury - 3rd Strike against the City of Oxnard's Management of River Ridge Golf Course . Read the Grand Jury Report (14-page .pdf file) Martin Jones, Oxnard resident, member of the College Park Neighborhood Council and concerned citizen provided boxes of documents to the Ventura County Grand Jury in the Jury's request for information the City of Oxnard was not forthright in coming forward with. Jones provided his take on the Grand Jury Report which you can read in the column to the right. Jones has been active in keeping an eye on the Council and City management and reminiscent of the spirit which Roy Lockwood possessed, we are fortunate to have people like Martin and our former Roy who look after the things that most people would never even know about, let alone pay attention too. Another resident, Larry Stein is a City Watchdog when it comes to all things accountable. A bean-counting accountant, Stein will look at a spreadsheet and find that the columns and rows don't match up or make sense. He will frequently go to the City Council to ask about reports and financial statements that need further review.
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RESPONSE OF MARTIN
JONES................................
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Tempest in a Princess Pot..............
Oxnard's recent Filipino Fiesta held at the Performing
Arts Center (PAC) has created a stir. A letter to the Editor in the
Star has stirred the passions of the Fiesta's founder and the unspoken
silent concerns of some who felt having a Muslim Princess as the star of the
show, a bit much.....
http://www.mgakapatid.com/pcn.htm
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June 23, 2005 Bad 'princess' choice Re: your June 13 article, "Princess tells of struggles of Muslims in the Philippines": I live in Ventura with my wife, a Filipina. We are amazed at the lack of judgment of the Philippine community in choosing this "princess" as a spokeswoman for its recent event. First, she is denying that she is a Filipina, so, as she said, she has nothing to celebrate. Second, being a Muslim and from a section of the country notorious for terrorism, she is hardly a role model for that country or for the United States. What were they thinking of? -- Bernard Lehrer, Ventura
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BAD PRINCESS CHOICE: Marianne Ratcliff Opinion Page Editor The Star Dear Ms. Ratcliff, This is in response to Mr. Bernard Lehrer’s letter “Bad ‘princess’ choice”, 6/23/05. I take the blame for the writer’s reaction as well as the many others who feel offended by Bai Emraida Kiram or Princess Emraida Kiram’s appeal for understanding. She was not chosen as a spokesperson of the Filipino American community here in Ventura County or of the Philippines. She was chosen like the other two speakers to show in the spoken word the many diverse cultures of the Philippines. Hopefully, by doing so, we could accomplish the theme of our Fiesta, “Harmony in Diversity”. She did not come here as a role model or even thought of becoming one. Apparently, it is going to take a long time before the calm follows the storm. Mr. Lehrer epitomized the general perception that the Philippines especially Mindanao is one place to stay away from. The tragedy of 9/11 that rocked the “civilized” world has created aftershocks in Mindanao and other very poor regions of the third world. Poverty attracts criminality like a vacuum. But the many ethnic cultures of Mindanao, the native warriors like the Maranaos or “people of the lake”, the Tausogs or “people of the tide”, the Maguindanaos, the Mandayas, the Subanens, the Higaonons, the Bagobos, and many more continue to fight for their rights, resisting foreign incursions into their ancestral domains. And these resisting tribes are not all Muslims. But they are fighting against all odds including time, military strategists, and most especially the media. Imperial Manila systematically exploited the natural resources of Mindanao without returning any benefits back; keeping them poor, cutting off their power source, undermine their economy, and other strategies like linking them to the al-Qaida and Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists and sending the Armed Forces of the Philippines to attack them dropping bombs indiscriminately to make sure the world powers focus their guns on Mindanao in order to overcome their stubborn resistance to become assimilated into a domineering culture of Imperial Manila. Allow me to emphasize here that Mindanao is not all Muslim as America is not all Christian, that not all terrorists are Muslims as there are many terrorists who are Christians and non-Muslims. Their worst enemy is the media. The fact that bad news like pornography sells the media capitalizes on bad news. It looks like Mr. Lehrer was another victim of the media assault. He reacted to the media report and not to the Princess’s talk. He probably was not at the forum after which the reporter literally kidnapped the Princess to be interviewed outside the lecture room depriving her listeners from asking questions. The reporter did not care what happened to the Q-A Open Forum that should have followed as long as he got the Princess and the media report for all its worth. He was probably not there when this media act of terrorism occurred, and like everybody else who listened to her, did not know what actually happened. He was not there to hear the Princess express congratulations from her nation for the 107thPhilippine Independence Day that their nation preceded hundreds of years before. He was not there when the Princess felt betrayed by a government exploiting them mercilessly by utilizing their natural resources without giving some benefits back, cutting them off politically yet embracing their ethnic cultures only for display in their festivities especially with foreign dignitaries. He was not their when the Princess expressed grave concern that when she dies she would not have a piece of ancestral land to be buried in. With that let me rest in peace. Very truly,
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Dear Neighborhood Chairs:
The 2005 INCF is reaching the mid-way mark in the year and we are doing well. By-Laws were submitted to the City Attorney last month and we are expecting the by-Laws ready for presentation and debate by September as active debate for the by-Laws may take a couple of months for General Membership comments on the by-Law review.
I’d like to get these by-Laws approved and I know the by-Law review committee did the best job to change the by-Laws enough to address our past concerns – now we may have some additional concerns. The issue of allowing Vice Chairs to run for the INCF was left for Chair membership only. I feel it would be good to invite the Vice Chairs of each Neighborhood to actively seek a seat, other than that of the Chair, for any of the four Vice Chair positions on the INCF. You may have something you want to see in the by-Laws that may not appear in them presently; this is your opportunity to see if the General Membership agrees with your suggestion. I would like your entire Neighborhood Councils, (all members) to be involved in the review. Copies for the Councils will be available as soon as the City Attorney review is complete. I am proud of the volunteers who came to the fore to be members of the by-Law review committee.
As for the INCF, we are making in-roads by our correct approach to work with the City of Oxnard instead of vice / contra – or otherwise appearing to be against the City all the time. We are at a crossroads in the City of Oxnard as things that are being done by the City to make our lives better are perhaps misunderstood, Oft times the City’s intentions go against the desires of residents who want to keep things the way they are and put a halt to all the radical changes.
In response to all the Neighborhood Councils who feel things are happening in their Neighborhoods way too fast and without enough neighborhood input the INCF will be seeking input from all the Neighborhood Councils regarding new projects and proposals. The INCF will accept input from the Neighborhood Councils to support them in their fight against any projects proposed to alter their way of life and the local landscape or to support the Neighborhood’s stand in support of any project or proposal.
College Park, the Sport Park at Gonzales & Oxnard Blvd. (near Triton’s Territory), the Casden project at Vineyard & Ventura Road, Ormond Beach, and the Lowe’s project @ Carriage Square are all projects which immediately come to mind for addressing by the INCF. You may have one not on the list – we need to know what it is.
The INCF proposes to accept input on projects in your Neighborhoods. We would like you to assist us in making a master list of the new proposals by the City that your Neighborhood supports and the ones that you are against. It’s that simple. We will be asking for this input in July and August and will work on our INCF report for the Planning Commission and City Council to be drafted by the INCF in September. This is a priority and a way the INCF can better assist your work in the Neighborhoods.
I have also heard scuttlebutt about neighborhood flyers being misprinted, not delivered by City Corps, edited, or modified in some fashion that has caused you concern or consternation. I feel your pain, plainly. If you have a problem with editing of your flyer you need to ask Neighborhood Services for a draft to review before printing - if you feel your flyer is being edited, you need to request a return e-mail or draft copy, which, if you don't have e-mail, you can review it at the counter on the 4th floor. A pre-review should address or allay any concerns that your flyers are being mishandled. Please remember that many flyers are translated into Spanish and this does take a little time. If you have a problem with City Corps putting out your flyers, pick up the flyers yourself from the 4th floor when they are ready and distribute them yourselves. I do my fair share of walking and it is good for you as Chair, to get out in your ‘hood and talk to people, so the Wilson Neighborhood executive board does the majority of its flyer distribution. Steve Buratti, Vice Chair, does F & G Street, member-at-large Mel Swan does Beverly and Deodar, and I get to walk A Street, the downtown from Oxnard Blvd. to C Street and do the streets that volunteers can’t reach. So get some help and do flyers yourself. Kids in the afternoon have time and an interest in passing out flyers. I’ve given kids a couple of bucks and off they go and do a whole street. There are many ways you can do your flyers and it’s best if you take responsibility for the distribution of your own neighborhood’s flyers. City Corps can do the job, but they also have many other tasks for the City and they have to prioritize what their workload is.
The other concern I have about this scuttlebutt is that the Neighborhood Chairs are not reporting these problems directly to the INCF. We have five people on the INCF, if you don’t like one, you have four others to talk to. So please report your problems directly to any of us. We can’t work on just ‘hear-say’ as we need to hear it direct from the person having the concern. I also have heard about issues involving personalities and people not liking other people who come to the INCF meetings and using that as a reason not to attend the INCF General Membership meeting. Please remember, that you are there for your Neighborhood – you represent your Neighborhood – disregard anyone you don’t like, you can sit on the other side of Council chambers. We need participation to be effective. We will need your attendance at the INCF especially when the by-Laws come in and for this project of making a report to the Planning Commission and City Council about the new development and projects.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Bill Winter 2005 INCF Chair.
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SAVIERS ROAD DESIGN TEAM |
June 14, 2005 -Statement to City Council My name is Martin Jones and I live in the city that cares. Oxnard. I’m batting a thousand and the city that cares is 0 for three. What are those three? I filed the original complaint with the grand jury about the woeful lack of accounting. I informed the assessor and the tax collector my concerns of the possesory-interest tax not being paid by the golf course. Almost four hundred thousand dollars. The city that cares paid it for the golf course operator. So in the past approximately 18 months the taxpayers have subsidized the operator of our golf course one million and seven hundred thousand dollars. And the city that cares had to beg for enough money to build a library. And I sued the city that cares over the violation of the open government law of California. I proved in court my allegations were true and the city that cares violates the law of California. What did it cost the taxpayers of the city that cares to defend the indefensible? Something like six hundred thousand dollars. It was so easy. A sale is never a lease. The closed session agendas said sale. Those are the three. If there was a properly written warrant or check register the citizens of Oxnard would know how the government of the city that cares wastes their money. Shall we try for a fourth? If the city that cares, Oxnard, signs an agreement tonight, tomorrow or at some future time with any corporation or individual to give away public park land I will sue, again, the city that cares. You will not take from the people of Oxnard a public park or any part of a public park and give it to an operator for a corporation’s profit. But to be specific Big League Dreams. BLD has said cities in this county want them. I would like BLD to name just one and prove it. And I invite any citizen of Oxnard to join with me in the lawsuit I will file if the council gives one inch of any public park to any private corporation for profit. So I say to you please sign the contract with BLD. Do vote tonight and do it. Please do it. So I can see you in the courthouse. Once again. Martin Jones |
...........................................Warp Speed to
20-30
! Oxnard's 2020 Plan is a rather large document and is
available at the Library for review. The INCF (Inter-Neighborhood Council
Forum) will also serve the City in an advisory capacity using input and
suggestions from the 40-plus Neighborhood Councils. The INCF will be
acting sooner than 2030. Stay tuned for more as it happens...... KBCW - 2 - WDRF
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Big League Dreams has Big Deal Plans for Oxnard-Owned -
"Public Property" aka College Park |
City Sanctioned BIG LEAGUE
DREAMS City of Mansfield Texas (( View Here )) The Whole Skinny on Topix.Net |
Judicial Watch v. the City of Mansfield |
BIBLE GATEWAY ::::: topic -
Worship
. ----------------------------------------------------- Ox - Jo Feedback: Bill: --- Good job! I especially like the embedded maps/aerial photos. Great layout ...I concur with virtually all of the salient points in your editorial regarding traffic issues - oh yes, the Rice yield sign! Take care, W. Smith |
A Shopper's Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has written this guide to help you understand long-term care and the insurance options that can help you pay for long-term care services. Visit: LTC Shopper Guide (.pdf file) |
<< Fere lebenter homines id quod volunt, credunt.>> Men willingly believe what they wish. The Gallic Wars, "De Bello Gallico", III, 18 Caius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) = Roman general, statesman, historian. .........................................grf |
Support the War - Draft young
Republicans.... "Bernie Ward - KGO 810AM-SFO".
1,700+ Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines - |
Oxnard is mostly registered Democrat with four of its five council-members
being registered Democrat.
An actual estimated population exists within city limits of upwards toward
200-thousand souls.
Oxnard is mostly recognized for it's strawberry harvest and Mediterranean
climate.
Democrats have a Congressional
Representative who serves us in the House of Representatives - - The Honorable Lois Capps .......
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Listen to 1340 AM - Santa Barbara - Aire Amerika |
All Democrats and their family, friends and neighbors are invited to enjoy
a special summer day at a beach party to be held at Silver Strand Beach,
next to Channel Islands Harbor, at the very end of South Victoria Avenue ,
Oxnard where the Pacific Ocean meets the sand.
Come join all of us at "An Afternoon by the Sea with Congresswoman Lois
Capps" on Saturday, August 6 from 2 - 5 PM sponsored by the Greater Oxnard
Order of Democrats
( GOOD Club ). This is our Democrat "kick-off the campaign" fundraiser and tickets are required to properly plan for refreshments crowd control. We anticipate a large gathering of exited and energetic Democrats who like to party. Ticket price TBA.
This party site is right on the beach with a spectacular view of the surf,
islands, sailboats and wildlife. The harbor entrance is only a short walk
on the sand; and hats and sunscreen are recommended. This promises to be a
memorable event for Ventura County Democrats.
Signs will point out the party location at the big, beautiful house at the
far end of Silver Strand Beach on Ocean Blvd. Parking is permitted on the
nearby streets.
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Main Branch - Oxnard Library - A St @
2/3 |
Letter to the Ox Jo from a New Jersey reader who read the Journal while on vacation in Pennsylvania....
______________________________________________________________________________________
Oxnard Police Department - under the New Leadership of Chief Crombach -
reacts to Citizen's concerns regarding
the relentless release of fireworks ---- Read the new proposed ordinance raising
the fine from $100.oo to $1,000.oo
for shooting off fireworks in Oxnard Residential Neighborhoods.
--
See the Council Resolution here..... (.pdf
file)
Beware - the Nigerian Scam Letter...... Nigeria is not
the only country, but the most prolific at writing letters, e-mails and
faxes to anyone who would even reply to their query. Known to the
Feds as 419 SCAMS, CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA Garki, Abuja, NIGERIA |
Coming Soon - Mexican Postage Stamps
New Jersey
The
Garden State
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Readers
have read
City Council Meets =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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NARDCORE LOWRIDERS
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COXOC-13
Craig's List // LA // SB // |
Locations all over |
NO - CHILD - LEFT - BEHIND Every Child Deserves the Best - A+ Educational Center Offers This. In Co-ordination with the Oxnard School District, OceanView School District, and the El Rio School District - Your child in Grade 1 ~thru~ 8 can receive Free Supplemental Education / Tutoring in our Center or at your home |
Dona Rosa -----------------------------------------------------------------
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Reagan Pix
Memorial to a President Gang Signs atop - Old Saint John's Hospital - OSJH - . 16 pix - slow load (136K ea)
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Keep an Eye on the
Keep an Eye on the City Council
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..photo by
bill winter -
Experience What God Has for You -- Worship - Praise - The Word
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