Foothills Sentry April 2024

Foothills Sentry Page 6 APRIL 2024 Family. Friends. Community. We’re all in this together. State Farm, Bloomington, IL 1801073 Ron Esparza, Agent Insurance Lic#: 0C79663 827 S. Tustin Ave Orange, CA 92866 Bus: 714-505-3400 ron@ronesparza.com Conservation. Another great American pastime. Learn more at at www.eocwd.com Givers and takers "April is a promise that May is bound to keep." - Hal Borland Vote Center You haven’t confronted, en- joyed, or endured representative democracy until you’ve spent 13-hour days staffing an OC Vote Center. At least four canyonites worked as customer service representatives in the primary; three at Library of the Canyons and one (your humble scribe) at nearby Church of the Foothills. Oddly satisfying to be thanked for my “service,” even as some voters suggested their vote would be stolen… only moments after casting it! Yet suspicion, irony or only perverse reactionary co- splay fatalism can’t stand up to higher-than-average turnout in the canyons, above the low 31% countywide, which pleased Eryk Stacy, Steve Kerrigan and Alison Winnie, locals who staffed Li- brary of the Canyons. Kerrigan earns extra ink for both his fire- house work and record-setting blood donation, recently reaching 17 gallons, for which he got, no kidding, a pin. Ouch. How ‘bout one of the nation’s most respected election operations sign on with American Red Cross, combining two important civic exercises? After all, from Revolutionary War to Civil War to Civil Rights Movement, blood was shed to protect the vote. POTS Geoff Sarkissian of the Inter- Canyon League (ICL) and the inimitable Joanne Hubble (emer- gency planning, coordination and communications liaison) are happy to object, publicly, to AT&T’s plans to eliminate copper-wire phone service, also known as plain old telephone ser- vice (POTS). This old-fashioned telephone line system is highly reliable, says Sarkissian, and our canyons depend on it for commu- nication when other phone sys- tems disappear because of fire or power shut-offs. Before pulling the wires, AT&T needs permis- sion from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to be delisted as a “carrier of last resort.” That designation carries both an obligation to maintain service and funding from the state to help defray costs. At a Feb. 15 CPUC meeting, Sarkissian and Hubble spoke against premature elimination of POTS, at least until an alternative system with equal reliability can replace it. Hubble, an unshy advocate and former employee of the util- ity, emphasizes the history of emergencies here when dialing 9-1-1 was impossible due to lack of power, or AT&T’s failure to provide emergency generators. “What entity,” she asked the CPUC, “is accountable for mak- ing sure that people can call 9-1-1 24/7 with or without power?” Drag strip versus rumble strip In other Joanne Hubble activ- ist news, she helped direct the late-February Public Works in- stallation of seven rumble strip arrays on Modjeska Grade Road, where some months back drag racer, speeder, and hot rod scoff- law misbehavior caused accident and injury. Placed strategically, and away from homes in order to lessen noise impact, the grade project is a pilot program allow- ing OC Public Works to assess its effect. Naturally, drivers have already torn up some of the strips. Pancakes Defensible space meets delec- table taste at both canyons’ annual Easter Pancake Breakfasts, Sun- day, March 31, one at Silverado Community Center, and the other at Modjeska Fire House. Though eating flapjacks doesn’t prevent wildfires, Mo Canyon Captain Bruce Newell notes there’s never been one on Easter morning. Inter-Canyon cats Linda May won election to the Democratic Party Central Com- mittee, then immediately staffed a booth at Women For: Orange County’s annual Great Ameri- can Write-In, advocating along with Julie Williams and the ICL for more awareness of the threat to mountain lions from develop- ment, and promoting an urban green boundary. Vehicle strikes are a main cause of the decline of the species. As a result, sev- eral threatened subpopulations of mountain lions in SoCal. are candidates for protection under the California Endangered Spe- cies Act (CESA). Along with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), the Mountain Lion Foun- dation formally petitioned the California Fish and Game Com- mission to protect them. May and Williams suggest reading more about the status of cougars and the call for stricter protection un- der CESA at mountainlion.org/ us/California. May, responsible, in part, for the gorgeous rustic bridge west of Silverado, through her lobby- ing of a supervisor a decade ago, suggests constructing markers at the beginning of both ends of Santiago Canyon Road to alert visitors that they’re in a moun- tain lion habitat preserve, a spe- cial place like a national forest, and should perhaps slow down. Cheaper than installing a thou- sand rumble strips! The price of utopia It’s high, no kidding, and no- body really wants to live there anyway. Lois Lowry’s classic dystopian YA novel “The Giv- er” is April’s Book Club pick at the Library of the Canyons, and makes for a cautionary tale, if this column hasn’t provided enough of them already. Fun fact: It was recommended by Vote Center rep, former fifth grade teacher, and stalwart Book Club member Alison Winnie. So you can talk about a novel featuring big, im- portant social themes with some- body who knows, on Wednesday evening, April 3 at 5 p.m. May the 4th be with you at Orange May Parade The annual Orange May Pa- rade, themed "Come to the Or- ange Side," is slated for May 4, beginning at 10 a.m. The Orange Chamber is accept- ing applications for entries and sponsorships. This year’s salute to Star Wars invites participants to channel their inner Jedi, Sith or Droid via bands, floats, drill teams, dance teams, equestrians, and groups of all kinds. The one-mile parade route be- gins on Chapman Ave. at Shaf- fer, continues down Chapman, winds around the plaza and ends at Glassell and Almond. For updated information on the parade, please visit orangecham- ber.com/orange-may-parade/. Vote Center couture