Foothills Sentry Page 6 MARCH 2025 Affordable, Personal Service: Weekly • Bi-weekly • Monthly Licensed & Bonded Call for Free Estimate Crown HOUSE CLEANING (714) 381-4220 Fair future? After overseeing the Silverado Country Fair for much of its 50-plus-year history, Jane Bove is stepping aside. Unless others take over for her, there will be no fair this fall. But Jane is willing to show newcomers the ropes. Help is especially needed for (1) signing up vendors; (2) organizing children’s activities; (3) promotion and advertising; and (4) managing the saloon. For more information, contact Geoffrey Sarkissian at (714) 2696939, or send an email to silveradofair@gmail.com. Sink saga summary A few years ago, when the Silverado-Modjeska Recreation and Park District (SMRPD) determined that Silverado’s playground equipment needed replacement, one suggestion was to add a water feature. That didn’t happen, but as it turns out, there already was a water feature that no one knew about. Digging up the park for the current playground uncovered what looked like an abandoned septic tank. So workers filled that with concrete. Last year, though, someone noticed that the community center’s kitchen sink seemed clogged. The reason? Its drainpipe ran to the “abandoned” septic tank. SMRPD began investigating installation of a separate gray water system for the sink. Lions, dragons and crows—oh, my! The Southern California Youth Lion and Dragon Dance Team helped the Library of the Canyons celebrate Lunar New Year on Saturday, Jan. 25. Little costumed one-person lions, older two-person lions, and a dragon requiring at least nine operators moved quickly to the beat of two very large and very loud drums. Branch manager Laura Blasingham bravely petted the dragon’s nose. On Thursday, Jan. 30, children’s librarian Amber Ray read a book about a crow to preschoolers. Then, Irvine Ranch Conservancy volunteer Ross Gough shared a few crow facts and led a short hike to look for (replicas of) things that crows might eat. Since a group of crows is called a “murder,” Miss Amber was asked later whether two crows spotted on the hike constituted a murder. Her reply: “That’s attempted murder.” The library will feature mountain lions on Thursday, March 27. No murders are anticipated. Raf f les California classifies raffles as gambling, which is regulated. Only certain tax-exempt organizations are allowed to hold fundraising raffles, which generally require registration at least 60 days beforehand and submission of a financial form afterward. Anything requiring purchase of a ticket to win a prize is a raffle, even if it is called something else like “opportunity drawing.” To be exempt from regulation, all tickets must be free. If there is a charge for attending an event where everyone buying an admission ticket has an equal chance of winning a prize, then that is exempt. But not if any additional “donation” increases the chance of winning the prize. Silent auctions are not raffles since they don’t involve chance— whoever bids the highest wins. For more information, see oag. ca.gov/charities/raffles. Note: The above does not constitute legal advice since it was not written by Canyon Beat Legal Department lawyers. It came from the Finance Department, whose motto is “Why pay those guys $500 an hour to tell you what you can read on the internet for free?” Remembering Thelma Beginning in 1974, former schoolteacher Thelma Hufford wrote the “Orick News” column for the weekly Arcata Union newspaper. Like the Foothills Sentry, the Union focused on events in the city where it was published, but it also included dispatches from elsewhere in Humboldt County, like the tiny coastal town of Orick. Thelma Hufford faithfully reported news about Orick’s elementary school, volunteer fire department, Chamber of Commerce, churches, annual rodeo, and who was visiting who that week. But sometimes there was room for Thelma, a local history buff, to add tales from Orick’s past about gold mining, logging, fishing, dairy farming and ranching. In 1900, Frank Hufford hauled 40,000 pounds of wool from one ranch to Arcata by horse and wagon. Thelma ended every column with a few short observations like these from May 19, 1983: Now … warm summer fog stays along the coast; two week’s temperature was from 36 to 63 degrees; swallows fly low above the fields; a redheaded woodpecker climbs a power pole; cucumber vines creep along the fences; the old brown car sits farther down the beach; and two stroll barefooted in the sand at Orick Beach. Thelma Hufford probably never set foot in Orange County before dying in 2004. But perhaps something sprouted here from seed she’d scattered behind the Redwood Curtain decades earlier. Now … late winter rain pauses for some sunshine; recent temperature was from 38 to 71 degrees; people follow their dogs around the Riviera; a few vultures circle high above the hills; hawks screaming at dawn are like flying alarm clocks; yellow-rumped warblers twitter as they harvest seeds from a laurel sumac bush; and splashing water echoes under the Kitterman bridge as Silverado Creek flows out of town. OUSD renews commitment to equal education for all students OUSD Interim Superintendent Mike Christensen reported at the Feb. 12 school board meeting that the district intended to follow the law, as declared by past Supreme Court rulings, regarding equal education opportunities for all public school students. He referred to a message he had posted on the district website, which is reprinted here: “Orange Unified is committed to providing safe, secure, and peaceful schools where our students and staff have the opportunity to learn and grow. Recent changes in federal policy and ongoing discussions about possible immigration enforcement at schools are creating anxiety for many of our mixed-status families and those who care about them. We want to assure our community that we are committed to protecting the legal rights of all students and ensuring that our campuses remain the welcoming and inclusive places our students are entitled to. “In alignment with established law, Board Policies 5145.13 and 5145.3, and guidance from the California State Attorney General, we have developed clear protocols for our school leaders and staff to follow should immigration authorities request access to our schools or student records. Please reach out to your school’s principal if you have any questions or concerns about these protocols. “We want to take this opportunity to provide reassurance to all our families that changes in the federal administration’s policy do not take away students’ federal or state constitutional rights and protections to education. All students have a well-established legal right to education regardless of their family’s immigration status. Our charge is to educate students, and it is a duty we fulfill with honor and empathy, creating the leaders of tomorrow.” Board President Kris Erickson elaborated on Christensen’s message, noting the 1982 Supreme Court case, Plyler vs. Doe, that ruled the government cannot deny public education to undocumented children. Acknowledging that she had read the entire court case, she said it reminded her of the importance of what public schools do, and read aloud a passage from the ruling for the record, ”Public schools are the most vital civic institutions for the preservation of the democratic system of government, and primary vehicle for transmitting the values on which our society rests.” Education is an important function of state and local government, Erickson emphasized. “It is a profound honor and obligation that this board takes with humility, and staff undertakes with passion and dedication.” Pancake fundraiser supports Villa Park High School The Villa Park High School Pancake Breakfast is back. The community event and major fundraiser for the school will be held on Saturday, April 12, from 7 to 11 a.m. Tickets are $10 each, and may be purchased at the door, from any VPHS Booster Club, or the PFSO website. Proceeds will support academic, athletic and cultural student programs. Villa Park celebrates Lunar New Year 2025 For the fifth year, Villa Park Community Services Foundation and North OC Chinese School co-hosted the Lunar New Year Celebration in Villa Park, Feb. 8. Students from the Chinese School participated in five performances during the event. Varied styles of martial arts were demonstrated by OC Shao Lin Kong Fu and Zhao Bao Tai Chi. The Villa Park High School Vietnamese Students Club performed the colorful and highlyanticipated Lion Dance. The Cultural Center of T.E.C.O., Sunny Maid and the Villa Park branch of the Bank of America sponsored special snacks, red envelopes and lanterns. Formosa Association of Student Cultural AmbassadorsOC Chapter, Orange Mandarin Community Booster Club and the VP High Mandarin class students provided crafts for the attendees. The Lion Dance was performed by the VPHS Vietnamese Students Club.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjA1MjUy