I know you haven’t read anything about the Chiquita Canyon Landfill from me in a while. I’ve been a little busy with other things. But I’m back.

A couple of weeks ago, the residents of Val Verde had one of their contract-mandated free dump days. As some of them drove in the gate, they were asked to sign a card that stated they supported the expansion of the dump – only many of them said they thought it was really a sign-in to dump their trash.

This was done with many of the Latino folks dumping the trash, and much was lost in translation. To make the story short, a lot of people signed, only to find out later it was a form showing they support the expansion. One person even said they told him to sign it so the dump would stay open for Val Verde residents only, after the rest of the dump closed. Logic prevailed, and the forms seemed to go away after the Val Verde folks posted a sign that said, please don’t sign the forms.

Then there is the curious case of the current Castaic Area Town Council. Remember those folks? Yep, the ones who rushed to get the agreement with the dump signed so the big bucks would roll in when the expansion is approved. Now those same folks have gone and done something a little more –  well, self-serving. No, make that a lot self-serving.

You see, thanks to the last election, the anti-expansion folks on the Town Council now outnumber the pro-expansion gang members. The folks who were voted off the council were appointed by that same council to serve on the new Chiquita-Castaic Benefits Committee to disburse the money Castaic would get.

The people in Val Verde have a committee to do the same. It was elected by the people of Val Verde, not appointed by a council that was able to draw only about 260 voters in its last election. But I digress.

The very people who got appointed by the Town Council are on the council that appointed them. Is that legal? Is it ethical? Not sure about the former; but of the latter I can say a resounding “no.”

I urge all of the new Castaic Area Town Council members to do everything they can to stop this. Oh, let the appointment stand, but the new Town Council can vote not to approve the agreement. Yes, rescind it 100 percent.

I’ll bet Chiquita will yell and scream and threaten all sorts of legal action, but until they can prove loss because they promised to pay … you get the idea. No money has changed hands, and the current Town Council doesn’t want the dump expanded.

In the meantime, the folks from Chiquita have been handing out new bikes and toys all over the place. It is Christmas, after all. Never pass up a good chance to ruin somebody’s health by being a “good neighbor” and giving out gifts.

I think the best gift they could give is to announce they are stopping operations next week. Don’t you?

I have to read a lot of things to come up with this commentary every day. So what comes in my email? A little article about how a cosmetics company, Neutrogena Corp., will be paying more than $400,000 to settle a civil action following an investigation by the Department of Toxic Substances Control into hazardous waste violations at Neutrogena’s Los Angeles manufacturing facility. So naturally I wondered: Chiquita loves that stuff … did it get dumped there?

Seems logical to me. Less than 20 percent of the trash that goes into Chiquita comes from the Santa Clarita Valley. The rest – the vast majority – comes from other places like the city of L.A., where Neutrogena’s manufacturing plant is located. You know the hazardous stuff they illegally threw out in the regular trash had to be taken somewhere. Somewhere like Chiquita. It wouldn’t be the first time that sort of thing happened. Just how many pages of documentation of toxic waste dumping do the folks in Val Verde have to find?

Good neighbor? Yeah, sure. Just ask the Russians how they liked Germany when the German Army rolled through Poland to Russia. They had a nice agreement and everything. They promised a lot of good things would happen.

I wonder if any kids got bikes?

I wonder if some Town Council members got to vote themselves into positions that might not mean much very soon.

I continue to wonder if Waste Connections and Chiquita Canyon Landfill will honor what was agreed in 1997.

I promise I’ll write about puppies and fluffy clouds tomorrow. Maybe kittens, too.

Well, maybe.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived at DManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].