Not long ago, maybe 46 to 48 years, I was a student at William S. Hart Senior High School in the beautiful town of Newhall, Calif. The only stress we had was making sure we had enough money to fill the tank with gas to go to “The Valley” and cruise. Hey, that could be stressful. But at least we don’t...

From 1974 until 1988, there was an active movement to create a new county out of the SCV. It was voted on twice, and both times it was defeated by those outside of the SCV. It was to be called “Canyon County” and start at the Ventura county line on the west, and run east and north to Acton. The northern...

It seems as if all of the controversy has gone on vacation – except that the California Supreme Court has agreed to hear the legal issues of the proposed development along Highway 126. There seem to be some concerns about water and traffic and … the list goes on forever. Let’s just say...

Much to the chagrin of a guy named Louie, this is another personal story. Too bad for him. I’ve been using my smart phone for just about all of the pictures I take. Last weekend, when I led a hike in the historic Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville, I took a picture of the group of SCV Community Hiking...

I don’t know how we survived the heat. Air conditioning was a luxury for most of us in the SCV when I was growing up. Oh, there were a lot of swamp coolers on top of houses. For those of you who don’t know what a swamp cooler is, you can still see a few of them on a few homes in the old Bonelli tract...

The California pepper tree. They seem to be all over the place. The little pink berries drop and are not fun to step on in bare feet. It does have a wonderful fragrance just after a rainstorm. Fully grown, it takes on the look of a weeping willow tree. A pretty tree, even if beneath its branches, nothing...

“What we need is another study to show that we need…” – I’ve heard this far too often in my years with the Navy. A slight variation is, “We are conducting an investigation and we will get to the bottom of it.” It doesn’t matter what political party or what political office. It doesn’t...

Many times when I drive into our valley, I get that same feeling I used to have when we surfaced the submarine I was on and opened the hatch for the first time in maybe two months. Yep, it can take my breath away. On the submarines, we might stay submerged for 100 days. When we finally got ready to surface...

I was looking at my telephone bill yesterday and realized I’m paying too much for a phone. Really too much for being able to talk just about anytime from anyplace in the world. You see, just about all of my communications are via cell-mobile phone systems. I don’t have a land line. When I finish...

Happy Monday. I had a great weekend. How about you? It could have been a little cooler, but we were able to enjoy the sunshine and warmth. Remember that, next winter. We’re going to have quite a problem come November. We’ve got to pick a new congressman. The 25th District hasn’t done that in more...