Ojai Valley News

Donna Sallen
(805)798-0516
Realtor®
RE / MAX Gold Coast Realtors
www.donnasallen.com
[email protected]
License # 01488460
124th Year, No. 49 • Wednesday, March 11, 2015 • Newsracks, 75¢, retail stores, 70¢ plus tax • Yearly subscription, $52
Area man
arrested in
dog stabbing
Misty Volaski
[email protected]
Keywords: Dog, Cisco, stabbing, Meiners Oaks
Jackie Major never saw a knife. All
she saw on Feb. 28 was a man walk up
to her therapy dog, Cisco, in their
front yard, and bend down as if to pet
him.
When Cisco hit the ground, his
owner realized something was seriously wrong.
"I started to say 'Hi,' but then I saw
this crazed look (on the man's face),
then I saw his hand slam down on
Cisco," Major recalled. "Cisco
hunched over — he didn't cry or
whimper — and I got up in the guy's
face and asked him what he did. He
kept saying, 'I didn't do anything, I
didn't do anything.'"
But Cisco had been stabbed with
what turned out to be a steak knife,
and was bleeding in the yard.
After the brief confrontation with
Major, the man allegedly then took off
running, Major said. "I called the
sheriff, and they were already in the
Ojai Valley News photo by Ashley Wilson
The winners of the 2015 Oak View Pageant of Excellence (from left), Miss Pre-Teen Oak View Jacklyn Lambert, Miss Teen
Oak View Lilly Hargett, and Miss Oak View Jennifer Patino are presented to the audience.
Jennifer Patino
named Miss
Oak View
See Cisco, Page A3
New sober living
home may open
in Upper Ojai
Keywords: Oak View, pageant
Kimberly Rivers
Ojai Valley News correspondent
Keywords: Upper Ojai, substance abuse, sober living
A husband-wife team of psychoanalysts is proposing to open a sober
living home for women, at their
current residence on a private lane off
of Sulphur Mountain Road in Upper
Ojai. And not all of their neighbors are
pleased about their plans.
“My wish is for the local community to rally around these people who
have been marginalized, and are
trying to get on their feet,” said Kristi
Walsh, Ph.D. She and her husband,
Jim Mannes, Ph.D, have lived on the
6-acre property in Upper Ojai for 12
years. They have more than 70 years
of combined experience in the
mental health field, including
marriage and family counseling with
specialized experience in treating
addiction.
Walsh and Mannes recently sent a
letter to their neighbors notifying
them of their plans to convert their
residence into a sober living home,
and asked folks to contact them with
any questions or concerns.
“I love my neighbors, I don’t want to
fight with them. Only two of our
neighbors have been vocal about
their objections to the plans,” said
Walsh. “But they have declined our
invitation to meet and discuss their
Rebecca Gibbons, Miss Pre-Teen Oak View runner-up, walks to the stage
escorted by her father, Paul.
Jacklyn Lambert — eventual winner of the Pre-Teen crown — smiles while
showing off her artwork to the crowd.
The 2015 Oak View Pageant of Excellence rolled back through town
Saturday with a theme of "Be your
Own Kind of Beautiful."
Winners were:
• Miss Pre-Teen Oak View: winner,
Jacklyn Lambert; runners-up, Rebecca
Gibbons and Alexis Clark
• Miss Teen Oak View: winner, Lily
Hargett; runners-up, Leila Winbury
and Cheyenne Atherton
• Miss Oak View: winner, Jennifer
Patino; runners-up, Allegra Lambert
and Kaylee Beazley
• Miss Congeniality awards: Pre Teen
Rebecca Gibbons (Miss Pre-Teen),
Leila Winbury (Miss Teen) and Miss
Jennifer Patino (Miss Oak View)
All girls were presented with an
award, and all will continue to be
together for the year in parades,
special events, volunteering in the
community, etc.
The pageant was sponsored by the
Oak View Civic Council, as well as the
Ojai Valley Lions Club, Optimist Club
of Ojai, RaboBank and Ojai Valley
Ranch Market. In addition, many local
merchants sponsored each girl in their
entry fees. Val Oliver was the director
of the pageant. A dinner was provided
by Kim Armstrong, and ice cream was
served by Connie Biggers of the Oak
View Women's Club. Music was
provided by Roger Phelps of Sound
and Eyes.
See Home, Page A3
Ojai Valley Grange is making a comeback
Bill Warner
[email protected]
Keywords: Grange, youth, homesteading
Looking to add a greater
sense of sustainability to your
lifestyle? The Ojai Grange is
here to help, with eight days of
educational classes and social
get-togethers designed to
show area residents what it
has to offer.
Ojai Valley Grange Revival
Week is set to begin Sunday
and will run through March
22. And the public is invited
not merely to attend, but to
participate.
"We have 20 teachers and 50
hours of classes for this
event," said Grace Malloy, Ojai
Granger and farm-based
educator with Poco Farms.
"It's been a lot of work getting
ready, but it's going to be a lot
of fun."
Highlights for the week will
include classes on soap
making, goat keeping, fiber
dying, gardening and seed
conservation.
Free
hors
d'oeuvres and local spirits will
served at a farmers’ mixer
slated for March 18 at the
Grange Hall, followed March
22 with a citrus growers' mixer
at Newsom Ranch. The big
day, though, will be March 21,
featuring talks by historian
Harvey Smith and activist-
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farmer Severine Fleming, a
seminar on graywater systems
by Laura Maher, and an
evening contra dance.
The National Grange of the
Order
of
Patrons
of
Husbandry — better known
simply as The Grange — was
founded in 1867. It figures as
one of the earliest populist
movements in U.S. history
and continues today as the
oldest agricultural organization in the country. With a
strong family orientation,
though, its services have traditionally been geared for all
aspects of the community.
The forthcoming week of
activities is being promoted
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by The Greenhorns, a Hudson,
N.Y.-based nonprofit group
dedicated to the support and
encouragement of young
farmers. Ojai will be the final
stop on a Greenhorn tour of 15
California
communities,
begun last fall for the purpose
of revitalizing their granges.
Proceeds from the week in
Ojai will go toward upgrading
the local hall. The quonsetstyle building, moved to its
present location from Port
Hueneme in the 1950s, is in
need of much repair, Malloy
said. New paint is needed
inside and out. The kitchen is
in need of refurbishment, and
the front doors, roofing and
floorboards all have to be
repaired to some degree. Last
but not least, numerous
plumbing
leaks
are
demanding attention. "We're
triaging the work as we go,"
she said. "So we hope to raise
$8,000 to $10,000 over the next
few weeks."
Grange membership, which
currently is about 50, has
fallen off over recent decades,
Malloy said. So an even
greater objective for the week
will be to change that. "Here
we are in a big agricultural
valley, and we don't have a
gathering place for our
farmers," Malloy said. "There
See Grange, Page A3
Ojai Valley News • Wednesday, March 11, 2015 A3
Oral arguments set for Wednesday in Golden State Water Company appeal
Tim Dewar
[email protected]
Keywords: Golden State, F.L.O.W, water
Oral arguments will be
heard Wednesday at 9 a.m. in
the Division Six courtroom at
200 E. Santa Clara St. in Ventura in the appeal of the law-
suit by Golden State Water
Company (GSWC) against Casitas Municipal Water District
(CMWD) and Ojai Friends of
Locally
Owned
Water
(F.L.O.W.).
F.L.O.W. and CMWD prevailed in a Feb. 24, 2014 hearing in front of Ventura County
Superior Court Judge Kent Kel-
legrew. GSWC filed an appeal
Sept. 25, 2014.
In the suit, filed in March
2013, GSWC sought to dissolve
a community facilities district
— formed by CMWD and approved by 87 percent of Ojai
voters in November 2013 —
that would place a 30-year
parcel tax on a majority of res-
idential and commercial properties within the private water
company’s existing Ojai service area.
GSWC attorneys argued that
a community facilities district
did not have the authority to
use Mello-Roos funding to acquire property through eminent domain.
Kellegrew disagreed saying
that while the government
code does not expressly authorize the use of Mello-Roos
funding for eminent domain
proceedings, it also does not
expressly preclude its use either.
The oral argument proceedings are open to the public.
Home:
Continued from Page A1
concerns.”
When asked about
what sort of concerns
have been expressed to
her, Walsh said, “I am
hearing
the
typical
NIMBY (not in my backyard) reaction. It is based
on their fears and lack of
understanding about the
type of program we are
planning. They are imagining drug deals happening on their street.”
She explained the program would serve only
women who have completed a detox program
and have been sober for
30 days already. The
women will not be coming from jail or court.
And, Walsh explained, the
cost of the program they
are offering will gear it toward individuals who
have the means to pay.
Up to 10 women could be
in the program at any
time, with an additional
two “house managers.” A
house manager would be
on the property 24 hours
a day, seven days a week.
The letter Walsh and
Mannes sent to their
neighbors states, “Our
home will provide them
an opportunity to solidify
their recovery and learn
the life skills necessary to
reengage in life free of
drugs and alcohol.”
“I do have some concerns about how the
sober living house is
going to naturally integrate the recovering addicts into the Upper Ojai
Valley community, which
I believe is one of the primary goals of rehabilitation,”
said
Honor
Williams. Her property
shares a boundary line
with the Walsh-Mannes
property. “There is no
public transportation,
limited shopping, no
community centers. Jobs
are scarce and the closest
public hiking trailhead is
at least 3 miles away. I
personally just don’t see it
as the best place to transition back into society.”
“We live in a very low
density rural area on a
single-lane private road,”
said Williams. She said
she signed a petition
started by one of her
neighbors opposing the
plans. “A sober living
home of this magnitude
— 10 adults and two
managers — would dramatically increase our
adult population by more
than double, overnight.
Let’s not forget about increases in traffic, noise
and trash.” Williams
pointed out the “amphitheater effect” in the
canyon. “We, like many of
the homeowners, moved
here for peace, serenity
and seclusion and we are
very concerned about the
inevitable noise that
comes with 12 more resi-
dents."
Walsh addressed some
of those concerns. “One
concern is about an increase in traffic, the
women in the program
will not be allowed to
have cars until they have
achieved a solid sobriety
and have graduated to receiving that privilege,”
said Walsh.
When asked about permits for the program,
Walsh said it was her understanding that no permits or licenses were
needed according to the
California Fair Housing
Act amendments of 1988.
That law established drug
and alcohol addiction as
meeting the definition of
a disability, and therefore
those with a history of addiction cannot be denied
housing based on that.
From the standpoint of
the Ventura County Planning Department, however, a conditional use
permit is required. “A residential care facility with
seven or more individuals
receiving non-medical
care requires a C.U.P,”
said Winston Wright, permit coordinator for Ventura County Planning
Department. “There is a
publicly noticed hearing
associated
with
all
C.U.P.s.”
But, that may not be
the final word.
“Sober living homes are
Cisco:
Continued from Page A1
area and were here within two minutes."
A short time later, the suspect, 25year-old Daniel Vigil, was apprehended
a few blocks away from Major's Meiners Oaks home. According to Senior
Deputy Will Hollowell of the Ventura
County Sheriff's Office (VCSO), Vigil
had been recently seen in the area by
patrol deputies, and within minutes,
they had set up a perimeter. Vigil allegedly fled from officers, throwing the
steak knife in a neighbor's backyard before he was arrested on Mesa Drive, on
suspicion of cruelty to an animal and
resisting arrest.
"The dog didn't go after him (Vigil).
He's a therapy dog," said Hollowell.
"Why he (Vigil) did this, there's no motive." Major agreed. "All I know is that
I've never seen him in my life," she said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Vigil remained
in the Ventura County Main Jail in lieu
of $25,000 bail. A competency hearing
has been scheduled for April 1.
Eight-year-old Cisco spent a week at
the Veterinary Medical and Surgical
Group, where Major said he was treated
for a 6-inch stab wound between his
last two ribs on his left flank. "It (the
knife) sliced through his small intestines, his spleen and large intestines,"
Major said. The Irish wolfhound mix is
home now. "Cisco is expected to make
a full recovery, but it'll be about two
weeks before he's really healed," Major
said. "He's doing good, but he wants to
be Cisco! He wants to pay and romp,
but he just can't now. He gets tired in
about 3 to 5 minutes."
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Cisco is expected to make a full recovery
after his harrowing ordeal.
Cisco's GoFundMe website, and the
Humane Society of Ventura County has
donated two vouchers toward vet bills.
Major said she's also been told that
folks have gone to the vet hospital to
make payments on her bill. After the
GoFundMe page was created, Major
said, her dog's vet bills have gone up to
$10,343. "People have been absolutely
amazing," Major said, adding that both
the Humane Society and the vet hospital are helping her get the word out.
Visit
www.gofundme.com/please
helpcisco to donate.
not required to be licensed under state or any
other law,” said Kim Savage, a Los Angeles-based
attorney specializing in
civil rights with a focus on
housing discrimination
of those with disabilities.
In 2007, Savage co-wrote
a manual titled, "Fair
Housing for People with
Disabilities — a guidance
manual for emergency
shelter and transitional
housing providers."
“Individuals in recovery (for addiction) meet
the definition of disability
under state and federal
laws,” Savage emphasized. She explained
these homes are viewed
the same way a family is
viewed under the law,
and all the local “nuisance” laws pertaining to
residences — such as
noise ordinances and
building codes — do still
apply, but must be applied in a neutral way. But
the homes themselves
cannot be prohibited or
restricted in any way
above and beyond what a
normal residence would
be subject to, Savage asserted, and a C.U.P is not
required. “Sober living
homes function in a family like way, and are
treated under local zoning laws like a family,"
Savage said. "These
homes are to be treated
like any other single-family use.” She emphasized
there is no need for a
C.U.P. “Individuals in recovery for substance
abuse are protected
under federal and state
fair housing laws.”
The county did confirm
they have an approved
C.U.P for a sober living
home allowing up to six
people to live at Larry
Hagman's former estate
on Sulphur Mountain
Road. Social Betterment
Properties, a nonprofit
organization affiliated
with the Church of Scientology, purchased the estate in 2013. It is unclear
whether there is an active
program at that property.
Walsh is also the clinical supervisor for the
Santa Barbara Rescue
Mission. In that role, she
oversees the facility, staff
and volunteers of the
program, which provides
support to men, women
and children struggling
with the cycles of addiction, poverty, homelessness and crime.
“Our home is a place
that feels sacred and
healing,” said Walsh. She
and her husband have
been thinking about this
possibility for some time,
and recently, when they
decided to move closer to
the town of Ojai, it just
made sense to try it now.
“It is too large for our
family, and we have
struggled to keep it going
financially. When we
made the decision to
downsize and move to
town, we considered selling it, but then decided to
give this a try.”
Grange:
Continued from Page A1
isn't a place where people can connect
with their farmers or farmers with
themselves."
Malloy said she hopes the Grange can
provide a forum for a wider demographic. "The younger farmers will be
easy to get there," she said. "Younger
ones are fired up." These include young
people who have come out of college
with an interest in sustainable living.
Some of these might have degrees in
agriculture or agroecology. Others
might simply have keen ambitions toward community sufficiency.
What's more difficult, Malloy said, is
to get the older farmers to the Grange.
"Getting the older folks who have the
wisdom to pass on — that's tricky," she
said. So there will be plenty of good
food and drink from local sources on
hand for the mixers, she added.
Greenhorns founder Fleming said
she hopes for several outcomes to the
revival week. "One goal is to encourage
people who have land that is not being
used to let new farmers work on it," she
said. "A second goal is to strengthen
and highlight the work that is already
going on in the valley."
Like Malloy, Fleming hopes the
Grange will function as a forum in
which area residents can air and discuss political issues related to farming
and land use, one example being the
use of toxic pesticides to control psyllids in the citrus groves. "I want to invite
that conversation," she said.
And, like Malloy, Fleming stresses the
importance of securing the participation of older people with farm experience as well as younger ones who want
to begin new farms. The latest U.S. Census, she said, indicates the number of
small farms (those earning less than
$250,000 per year) to be growing, a
good sign. But the same data indicate at
least one demographic stumbling
block: Farmers over the age of 65 outnumber farmers under the age of 35 by
six to one. And while the primary purpose of The Greenhorns is that of getting young people interested in
agricultural careers, Fleming said, the
mentorship of older hands is no less
important for the realization of that
goal.
Malloy said the costs for the classes
during Ojai Grange Revival Week will be
adjusted on a sliding scale. "We'd much
rather have people come and take the
classes," she said.
The Ojai Valley Grange Hall is at 381
Cruzero St., Ojai. It can be contacted by
e-mail at [email protected].
For a complete schedule of the week's
activities, as well as online registration
for classes, log on to www.grangefu
ture.org/ojai.