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This are electronic versions of the newspaper with the editorial contact only
The Rural Voice of North Los Angeles County Dedicated to Maintaining Quality Rural Living Volume 12 - Number 2 - January 8, 1993 -
Index
UP FRONT Rural means restricted commercial use
Letters to the community
Main stories
Huntsinger and ACCERT lose big
Rancho Santiago Homeowners opposition
Declaration of Linda Gudmundson
Reasons to reject the Huntsinger project
Acton Clowncil
Acton Council again bows to urban
Lets talk Shell a Report from the Acton Town Council Acton Town Council
November 16
Letter to Acton Town Council
Antonovich on Acton traffic
Shell traffic problems to be corrected
Schools
Let's change the District's name
High Desert "Hawks" Booster club formed
December 29, K-12 school fireside chat
Public Hearing Soledad-Agua Dulce developer fees
Rain cancels board meeting
Soledad Agua Dulce School enrollment as of September 8 1992
We left just in time
Other stories
4-Hers take pride in Leona Valley cleanupActon Foursquare Church Outreach Program
The Agua Dulce Civic Association
Agua Dulce Cruising Association
Agua Dulce establishes fire victims fund
Agua Dulce Senior Citizens Club
Agua Dulce Women's Club's new officers
Announcing The Rural Rights Advo
cates
Antonovich 4-40 work week benefits taxpayers
AVEK wants limited participation
Chamber Resources
County acts against real estate scam artists
Flood
Flood Control Update
Horse and mule happenings
Indian artifact looter convicted
McKeon voices support of military action
News from the lakes
Public release of County negative declarations
Report all Graffiti now
Sierra Little League Registration to Open
Thank you to Supervisor Antonovich & Edelman and a pox
on Dana
Traffic Update
Vanguard is willing
Where are the answers
Winners Are
Opinion by Charles Brink
In the testimony to approve the Huntsinger project, Peter Huntsinger and his son and engineer kept dwelling on the fact that Acton needed more commercial businesses and the "success" of his existing project shows that more commercial should be built within the community. It appears that the only way to be able to block large scale conversion of our community into a 10 mile long commercial strip center is to limit our use of local businesses.
We are caught in a bind if we fully support all local businesses then it will mean more businesses will be built and more support will be needed. Developers will keep trying to build and convert more area near the freeway to strip centers as long as the community buys at these strip centers.
On the other hand, a lot of local businesses are very important to the community and provide appropriate levels of services in the community. As the standards survey showed, 77% responded saying that they do their major shopping out of Acton. This probably indicates that we should not have any major shopping centers in the town, but small community businesses.
A rural area has a great many home based businesses which cater exclusive to local residents. The 3 other newspapers in the area work from their homes. Look at our business listings, over 75% are home based businesses. Working from your home is the rural way of life, commuting is an urban evil which poisons our air, uses up our resources, and damages family life.
It is this paper's position that we should stop using the freeway oriented businesses and start using only the local neighborhood oriented businesses. This means very specifically, we should not use AM/PM, Shell, and every other business which operates 24 hours per day and/or has a tall freeway sign. Just because they are
located at the freeway does not make them a freeway business. We should send this message to any similar businesses and to the new Jack-in-the-Box which the wimp Council claims according to Madsen, "Our authority to force compliance consists of Will you please."
McDonalds has tried to be community oriented. Acton had no major fast food restaurant. A community of our size can support a single fast food restaurant but not two or three. McDonalds spent large amounts of money to make their facility look rural and become a part of the community. They limited their sign height and close at midnight even though it is on the highway. Even though you don't get many companies bigger than McDonalds, they still deserve our support for the effort they have made.
The same is true of EZ Out Burger in Santiago Square. They are not a major fast food restaurant but really a local hamburger stand. They now turn their lights out and close early, and provide a good meeting place for organizations like the Agua Dulce Cruising group.
The rest of Santiago Square with its two obnoxious forty-five foot lighted towers, its all night parking lots lights and many business with lighted signs when closed has to be made rural. The Vanguard has obtained a team of people who are willing to help them re-design the facility and make it rural by putting up Frontier-Western facades on the buildings if they want.
They can shorten the 45' tall towers to a reasonable height, reduce the internal lighting level to a level commensurate with the rural area.
In addition, the owners of the businesses there can turn out their lighted signs when their businesses close. They can order the bankruptcy trustee to turn out the parking lot lights and towers when the businesses close. All these are cost saving procedures as the businesses pay for the electricity. The problem lies that Huntsinger and some of the businesses want to look like Palmdale commercial trash.
If they continue wanting to operate as Palmdale businesses and aren't willing to take the steps they have the authority to do, such as turning out their signs and their lights, then they would have to be put in the class with Shell and AM/PM and closed down.
The 76 station is again a special example, because it does follow the procedure of shutting off the lights of the business when they are not there. The 76 station is an integral part of the community with a local owner/operator. A suggestion for him would be to simply stop operating as a twenty-four hour operation and lower the height of his sign to thirty-five feet (McDonalds height). They might use the idea of an oil derrick or a windmill tower for their sign.
The owner of the shopping center can turn out the unnecessary lights at the rear of the building which provide no security, just shine in the residents eyes. The owner can be convinced in the same way to do some false fronting to make the facility look Frontier-Western.
The bottom line is that businesses that don't want to conform to a rural frontier look should recognize that people in the community have a right to not patronize those businesses and to publicly acknowledge that. Let's all try to work together to bring the all businesses into conformity with the rural community atmosphere and then work cohesively to stop any non community businesses from operating and particularly to stop businesses such as the AM/PM drink and drive gas stations.
By Charles Brink
While Acton and Agua Dulce have had the same school district for 123 years, for some crazy reason, Acton's name has never been a part of the school district's name.
There is a proposal to change the name the District to "something" district without the communities' names. This has nothing to do with the High School name.
This is completely unacceptable. One
of the reasons why the communities were so united (76.8% vote) in favor of
unification is that unification was not only
adding a High School to the district, but the communities of Acton and Agua
Dulce joining together for the common good.
Therefore the school district name should be named the Acton - Agua Dulce Unified School District. Any other name is just plain unacceptable because our communities deserve our two proud community names on our school district forever.
By Charles Brink
Peter Huntsinger et al, and an out of town landowner named Swanson, have been trying to convert more property at Santiago between the Freeway and Sierra Highway to more unneeded freeway strip centers.
They lost, at least for now. Regional Planning voted 5 to 0 against the project based on the position that:
1. The community already had an adequate amount of commercial within the area.
2. That it is an inappropriate location for that intensity of commercial which he proposed.
Besides Huntsinger, his son, the out of town owner, and his engineer, the only person who spoke in favor of the project was the head of the local VFW, who were to receive land in payment for their support of the project. The "Gift" of the land was contingent on approval of the zone change for the property.
Huntsinger should come through (as the VFW did their part of the bargain) and give a portion of the property to the VFW and let them get a CUP. I believe that with proper restrictions the local VFW will get the support of the community.
Four persons spoke against the project the first being myself, the second Bill Lively representing the Santiago Home-owners Association, and Dick Morris and Jean Chacanaca of the Acton Town Council.
All of the speakers were universally opposed to the project.
My, Mr. Lively, and the Acton Town Council positions were similar and in writing and they are reprinted in this paper. Mr. Lively gets the award for the best testimony of the day because the developers and some of the Town Council people have said repeatedly that the area between Sierra Highway and the freeway should be turned into a commercial strip through all of Acton.
Mr. Lively got a declaration from the family who lives next to the proposed Huntsinger project, and in their declaration stated how much they enjoyed living there. They feel that it is perfectly reasonably for residences to be between the freeway and Sierra Highway, and they loved Acton very much. Those people should be awarded the Hero of the Month award.
The Huntsinger project was going to be the same commercial garbage that Huntsinger has tried to force down the community. Except in this case it was worse. He wanted a another AM/PM with single cans of cold beer to go so that drinking drivers could easily get their beer both north bound or south bound. Also, allegedly for our community’s use, a Denny’s restaurant and a bowling alley. All serving alcohol of course.
As a community service he was going to give land to the VFW so they could have a new community hall also serving alcohol. As almost all VFW’s are licensed and according to testimony on the Canyon Country VFW, most of their revenue comes from alcohol sales.
Peter Huntsinger Jr. made a statement that "the Chamber of Commerce is looking forward to more commercial in the area". I checked with the president of the Chamber, Larry Smith. He indicates that the Acton Chamber had taken a position to oppose the conversion of the property to commercial in early 1992 and were not looking forward to the new area.
In this case everyone came together to defeat the project. Let’s hope that all the community groups can come together to undo the annexation of portions of Acton by Palmdale and to stop the Ritter Ranch project instead of selling the community out as the Council did last year.
Howard "Buck" McKeon, representative for the U.S. 25th Congressional district is supporting U.S. military action taken over Iraq.
The United Nations declared the area off limits to Iraqi aircraft Aug. 27 to prevent government forces from attack Shiite rebels living in the area. Pentagon reports indicate the two lraqi planes "turned to confront the U.S. aircraft," prompting U.S. pilots to fire.
McKeon called the military action "unfortunate," but said he supported "every effort that will bring Iraq into compliance with U.N. resolutions. Iraq has broken every promise it has ever made to the international community", the Republican congressman said in a prepared statement. "This is just another example of (Saddam) Hussein's thoughtless disregard for lives and his deluded desire to test our will." A military spokesman for Iraq has been reported as saying the warplane was shot down while carrying out a routine patrol within Iraqi boundaries.
"Iraq must learn that it cannot thumb its nose at the U.N. and taunt the allies," said McKeon. "The U.S. has an obligation to make sure Iraq adheres to the U.N. resolutions.
McKeon additionally praised President-elect Bill Clinton's support of U.S . action. "It is important for the world to see there is only one president directing U.S. policy," MçKeon said. "The President-elect recognizes the need to conduct foreign policy in a bipartisan fashion during this transition period and for that he should be commended."
Moving to "protect low-income and elderly residents from the loss of their homes at the hands of real estate scam artists," the Board of Supervisors has asked for a report on efforts to "stop this criminal action."
The Board, acting on a proposal by Supervisor Mike Antonovich, relayed to the D.A.'s office a request for "a progress report on prosecution of these real estate criminals .
"Unscrupulous loan brokers and notaries are reportedly recording fraudulent second loans against unsuspecting victims' property," Antonovich said.
"This often results in the loss of equity and ultimate confiscation of the owner's property. Every effort should be made to prosecute those who prey on vulnerable victims."
William Scott Daniels of Littlerock, California, was convicted in federal court, on December 10, 1992, of removing prehistoric Indian artifacts from an archaeological site in the Angeles National Forest. The artifacts included two chipped stone arrow heads and two grinding stone implements commonly referred to as a mortar and pestle.
The offense is considered a second degree misdemeanor with a maximum punishment of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine. The conviction was handed down at the end of six hour trial conducted in federal court in Los Angeles, California.
In March 1992, Forest Service law enforcement officers encountered Daniels with digging and screening implements in the Littlerock Canyon vicinity of the Angeles National Forest. Forest officers observed and confiscated a large number of prehistoric artifacts from Daniels' residence. Some of these artifacts were traced as having been removed from the Angeles National Forest.
"Artifact theft and destruction of archaeological sites by looters is a long-standing problem in the Angeles National Forest," said Forest Archaeologist Michael J. McIntyre. "Site destruction and artifact looting on Forest lands adjacent to the Antelope Valley have been particularly severe in recent years."
A variety of federal statutes and regulations prohibit the disturbing, altering, removing or damaging of archaeological resources or objects on federal lands. The Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) was passed in 1979 because of a rising concern about archaeological site looting on public lands. ARPA provides for felony prosecution of such acts with maximum criminal penalties of $100,000 fines and/or five years in prison. It can also provide for assessment of civil penalties, forfeiture of any vehicles and equipment used in connection with violations, and rewards of $500 for information on violations.
"Sites that potentially offer the most archaeological information about past cultures, are often those that include many artifacts or paintings," McIntyre went on to say. "It is sadly ironic then, that these sites are particularly vulnerable to destruction by looters as they are generally the most visible and therefore are the easiest to find."
Pointing to cleaner air, improved productivity, higher employee morale and fuel conservation, Supervisor Mike Antonovich said he was "pleased over the encouraging review of the County Regional Planning Department's first nine months of an alternative work schedule."
Antonovich made his remarks on the heels of a report on the impact of the March 16, 1992 implementation of the department's "4-40" work schedule, involving four 10-hour work days weekly with the department closed on Fridays.
The bob-tailed work week was authorized by the County Board of Supervisors on a proposal by Antonovich last January 28.
"County taxpayers and department employees all have benefited from this program," Antonovich declared.
According to the report by Department Director James E. Hartl, Antonovich said, "implementation of the 4-40 Plan by the Department has eliminated nearly 4,500 miles of travel per week on our streets.and freeways. This has resulted in a decrease of more than 6,000 pounds of pollutants and the saving of an estimated 8,700 gallons of gasoline.
"Additional savings have been noted," Antonovich added, "through a 58 percent reduction in overtime and a 17 percent reduction in sick time."
Antonovich also said citizens benefit from the alternative work schedule because "the department's doors are opened to the public earlier and remain open later during each work day.
"This has been a win-win experience for Regional Planning, the Department of Public Works and other agencies looking for ways to help clean the environment, cut costs and improve the delivery of service to the residents of Los Angeles County," Antonovich said.
and freeways. This has resulted in a decrease of more than 6,000 pounds of pollutants and the saving of an estimated 8,700 gallons of gasoline.
"Additional savings have been noted," Antonovich added, "through a 58 percent reduction in overtime and a 17 percent reduction in sick time."
Antonovich also said citizens benefit from the alternative work schedule because "the department's doors are opened to the public earlier and remain open later during each work day.
"This has been a win-win experience for Regional Planning, the Department of Public Works and other agencies looking for ways to help clean the environment, cut costs and improve the delivery of service to the residents of Los Angeles County," Antonovich said.
After years of complaining by members of the community, led by Pat Bell, the Department of Public Works installed some plastic dividers blocking most of the freeway commuters from making illegal turns directly from the north bound freeway off-ramp into the ARCO station last month.
The new Shell Station has exactly the same problem. Due to pressure from Pat Bell and this paper the same dividers will be added on Crown Valley by the Department of Public Works with 3 weeks as related in a call to this paper by Pat Ashburn. This time the dividers will go fully from the freeway to Sierra Highway.
This shows you that a pushy, aggressive developer combined with a do-nothing alleged Acton Town Council can be stopped by the community. If the wimps had not approved the Shell station the driveway would have never been built.
Thanks to Public works and our Supervisor and to Pat Bell for geting this problem mitigated.
REMEMBER, BOYCOTT SHELL OIL and tell your friends to continue the boycott until they convert their freeway oriented store into a community oriented store as called for in the LA County General Plan for Acton.
We are pleased to announce that the Acton Foursquare Church, as a community outreach program, is currently forming a Youth Praise Choir. This youth choir will be open to all community children from all churches as well as those not currently attending church.
Praise music from the Hosanna series, the Integrity Music, "Just for Kid" and the well-known "Donut Man" series will be featured. Traditional and patriotic music will round out the children's musical adventure in our new choir.
Preparation and rehearsals will begin in January for an Easter choir program. Choir practices will be held on Wednesday afternoons from 5 pm to 6 pm.
The meetings of the Foursquare Praise Choir are Wednesday afternoon, at 4:30 pm. Please come out and review our program. Tryouts will be simply any song that your child knows. Accompaniment is not required. Desire is required.
Children from 3rd grade through 6th grade are welcome. If there is a large interest in ages 5 through second grade, consideration will be given to a young children's choir. Please call 269-4152 for further information or contact the Foursquare Church office at 269-0400.
Our new facility was dedicated on Sunday December 20th and is ready to serve the community in this outreach endeavor. Please join us in praise.
Submitted by the Acton Chamber of Commerce
After a wonderful evening driving around Acton looking at all the homes and businesses that were entered in the Acton Christmas Decorating Contest (and many that unfortunately weren't), the agonizing decision had to be made.
The committee members, Ed Peralta of Acton Unocal and Patty Williams, a resident, were joined by the guest judges Junior Miss Acton Denee Nutzmann, Little Miss Acton 2nd Princess Kristine Eassa, Little Miss Acton Stephanie Circhirillo and her brothers Michael and A.J. The other helpers were Kristine's mom Dodie and Stephanie's dad Nick, the head chauffeur.
In the commercial category, First Place goes to McDonalds of Acton, Second Place to Pioneer Feed and Third Place to Acton Video.
First Place Residential winner was 31510 Indian Oak Road off of Country Way. This home and yard light up the night with a profusion of lights. Santa and reindeer were flying and candy canes abound.
Second Place Residential winner was 33675 Santiago Road (at the top). This home was covered with lights; it sports a candy cane fence, Santa and reindeer, and elves; and the owners were adding more!
Third Place Residential winner was 1661 Twin Butte, and most of it was not viewable from the street, but the owners erected a 12-foot star on the hill for all of Peaceful Valley to share and enjoy.
The six winners were awarded prizes that totaled over $1500. The Acton Chamber of Commerce would like to thank the following businesses for donating prizes and for helping Acton to have a Happy Holiday: Acton Nursery, Wanamaker Rentals, Acton Unocal, J.P. Enterprises, The Acton Rooster, The Prudential/Scott Litchfield, Acton Auto Parts, Pioneer feed, Acton Lock and Key, Acton Market, The Gym, Agua Dulce Business Center &Hallmark, California RV, Agua Dulce/Acton Country Journal, The Acton News, The Pizza Place, Vanguard News, Shambala Preserve/Roar Foundation, McDonalds of Acton, Southwest Art & Beyond.
Help our merchants have a Happy New Year too. Please shop Acton.
The Soledad-Agua Dulce Board of Trustees will hold a Public Hearing for the purpose of receiving public comments on a proposal to increase developer fees from $1.65 per square foot to $2.65 per square foot for residential construction effective January 15, 1993, as authorized by Assembly Bill 2926 and Senate Bill 1287. The hearing will be held at the Acton School, 32248 Crown Valley Road, at 7: 30 pm on January 14, 1993.
Registration for the 1993 Sierra Little League will be held on Saturdays, January 9 and 16, from 9 am to 3 pm at the Little League fields in Acton. The cost for one child is $85, $45 for the second child, and $20 for each additional child.
New players in the league need to bring a copy of their birth certificate. Tryouts will be held on Saturdays, January 23 and 30, at 8:00 am. More information will become available as the time nears. Draft will be the First week of February and meet the coach day will be Saturday, February 6.
Opening Day will Saturday, March 13. Those interested in managing a team this season, please call Larry Hauptman at 269-2144.
The Beautification Committee, headed by Bruce Bell, can thank committee member Brian Hamper for making the right calls in regards to the GRAFFITI throughout the Acton area.
All you have to do is report the exact location to Mr. Hamper. He will then get it removed. Bruce and Brian would like some volunteers to clean up the area.
Call 269-HAMP (4267) with the infomation and let's keep Acton Rural!
Supervisor Antonovich moved specifically to keep the Ritter Ranch property in the Leona Valley sphere of influence. This shows the County fully recognizes that Leona Valley is a unique community and that the portion of Leona Valley that Ritter occupies is in Leona Valley.
While this is great news from an emotional standpoint, if the Ritter Ranch project fails, and Palmdale de-annexes the area, it will still be L.A. County.
It is confirmation that LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Committee) has an appropriate name as in LaughCO, because what they do is both laughable and totally in line with what any developer and any city wants without regard whatsoever to a community.
Antonovich now has shown himself to be for the community by this stand. While it would have been nicer had it been done before the LAFCO hearing, it is nice to see that at least he stood up and made the point and Edelman agreed.
It is inconceivable that Dana is so ill-informed that he doesn't understand the needs of local residents. Again, thanks to Antonovich and Edelman.
Laurelyn Browning, I just want to thank you sooo...very much for opening your home up and giving the opportunity for input from our communities of Acton and Agua Dulce, parents, students, and also teachers and leaders of our communities, etc. regarding our HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM and FACILITY outlook and development.
From this diverse group that met on Tuesday, these were some of the "highlighed" topics which were discussed:
1. Report and survey from the Parents Advisory Council by Peggy Moutsatson
2. Sports and sport scholarships
3. Address the arts, music, band, etc.
4. Business law, Keyboard
5. Life Math
6. Advanced Placement Programs
7. Regional Occupational Training (ROP)
8. Industrial arts and vocational arts
9. Satellite and remote set-up
10. Low maintenance site (such as school grounds up-keep, lockers, facility)
11. Magnet Choice (agriculture, veterinarian)
12. Six diverse high school students were interviewed from different high schools; concerns were: writing, lab, photo, journalism and reference book center
13. Special education programs
14. Food service
15. Community use of site after school
16. Site housing may be similar to Highland High School
17. Plans to poll parents, students, staff, and communities
There were students present, such as Joann Baker in the 7th grade who were concerned about the High Desert campus being shared with 9th grade. Brian Parker, a 7th grade student, was concerned about football and sports in general. Other student present were Kevin Wilson, 7th grade, and Laura Luxmore, 6th grade.
Our architect, Scott Gaudineer, walked away with a wealth of information and he now has a "beginning" for planning purposes.
Also, parents Jackie Smith and Jeanine Olmschied were present. They would like to see a special parents and students "IN TRANSITION" group be developed from grades 6, 7, and 8.
Laurelyn Browning will have further follow-up meetings in her home on the last Tuesday of each month. Her address is 3710 Gurrier Street in Acton. Call Laurelyn at 269-4152 for more information.
Laurelyn, this was so kind of you to meet this real need for all of us!
Respectfully Your Friend in Education,
Rebecca "Becky" Small
Board President (K-12)
The Acton Council has now approved the bringing of a Jack-In-The-Box into Acton next to the Shell station. Their theme "we can't do anything about it" is more aptly put as they don't want to do anything about it.
What this paper intends to do is bring a claim against LA County for damages caused by the allowance of both Shell and the proposed Jack-In-The-Box in violation of the specific description of the Acton Community in the Antelope Valley General Plan.
Of course, like Shell, the Jack-In-The-Box people may refuse to talk to this newspaper because "the Town Council is the only representative of the community".
I don't know what you think of this idea, but I don't think they represent anyone here except themselves and their pro-growth business oriented designs.
We would appreciate letters pro and con on converting Acton to a commercial strip center. We would like to send them to Foodmaker, the parent of Jack-In-The-Box, so they know what the real people of Acton think.
AVEK is currently trying to install twenty acres of sludge drying area, which a number of homeowners in the Goddy Terrace areas are objecting to.
The directors of AVEK met with some residents and scheduled a special meeting. The interesting thing is the agency "requested only a small number of residents attend the session".
This appears to be AVEK's operating method, do everything in secret and provide limited publicity to the people and then in this case, actually asking residents not to attend. It will be interesting to follow up on this issue.
The January 7 meeting of the Unified School District Board of Trustees was cancelled due to weather conditions. All agenda items will be carried over to the January 21 regular meeting.
The Vanguard will provide a location to provide public access to Town Council and County Development information at our office. We will provide a place to open the files and work in relative comfort. The first 5 copies would be free with added copies at ten cents a page.
If the alledged Town Council refuses to make these files available to the community at a comfortable location with a photo copy machine, then again it will be an indication of the Town Council's abject lack of interest in their own community.
We further demand that the County place developmental information locally for the community to read and copy.
An early evening blaze in Agua Dulce on Tuesday January 5, has displaced three families from the home they were sharing. One third of the house was destroyed along with all of the occupants personal belongings.
The Family Community Church of Agua Dulce has set up a fund for these families, and members of the church and Agua Dulce have taken the people in temporarily until adequate housing can be found.
If you would like to contribute funds, or would like to know how you can help these families please call Pastor Mike Sheridan at 268-TUNE (8863) or mail your check to PO Box 6080, Agua Dulce, CA 91350.
By Nat Gould Chairman Traffic committee Agua Dulce Town Council.
CHP report spoke with Sgt. Fritz today. He said that the number of citations on Sierra Highway is lower for December.
Dec. 3 - 31, Dec. 4 - 13, Dec. 8 - 4, Dec. 9 - 26, Dec. 15 - 23, and Dec. 7 - 7
December 7 reflects a single unit on graveyard patrol. The other days were 3-unit radar teams.
Soledad Canyon Road
I have received complaints from several residents about the Soledad Canyon speeders. The other evening I was told about the area between Robin's Nest and Oasis Park. It is dangerous for the children to cross the road for the bus, so they go under the bridge. I passed this information to Sgt. Fritz with a request that we start the patrol there. Once again, please be warned if you are driving Soledad ... slow down or you will be cited.
New Seat Belt Law:
Sgt. Fritz said that the statewide fatalities are down about 15% this year (approximately 400 fewer deaths). The commissioner believes this to be due primarily to the seat belt law. Beginning January 1, 1993, vehicles may be stopped and cited if the shoulder strap is observed to be hanging loose. There will be no grace period.
All passengers must be belted. If a vehicle is stopped and five passengers are unbuckled, five citations may be written. When a vehicle is stopped for a seat belt violation, other things will be checked. If a driver has a suspended license or is unlicensed, the car will be impounded.
Motorcycle Helmets:
Motorcyclists are complying with the helmet law.
Please be careful and be defensive. Other drivers may be in a hurry or may be intoxicated. Slow down around curves - you will have more time to get out of the way of someone over the line coming towards you. If someone is tailgating you, it's OK to get aggravated but try to pull over far enough to let the vehicle pass; an impatient driver behind you can be a danger to oncoming traffic.
By Julie Jedynak
Bartolo's Mexican Restaurant in Agua Dulce is the meeting place for the Agua Dulce Cruising Association until Springtime or good weather, which ever comes first. The meetings will be held every fourth Thursday of the month at 6 pm. Many of the members will have their beautiful cars on display in the parking lot. If you are not familiar with the Association, drop by Bartolo's on January 28 at 6 pm and meet a terrific group of people, and find out about all the activities that will be coming up in January.
The Association ended their year with a terrific holiday potluck party at the home of Ginger and Everett Caples. The turn out was great and the food was fabulous. A big thank you to all who attended and especially to Ginger and Everett.
The Cruising Association is a diverse group as far as types of cars and car activities are concerned. There is something of interest for everyone from roadsters to dragsters to Antiques and Classics. There will be some exciting runs coming up in 1993, and some great races and events planned at the Los Angeles County Raceway. To find out about all this great stuff, you should come by the meeting on the 28th or call Julie at 269-5205 or Dorothy at 268-1500.
A dinner party was held at the home of Tana and Vinnie Lampton on December 19th to celebrate Christmas and the installation of new officers of the Agua Dulce Women's Club.
Geri Dee introduced the new officers and thanked the past officers for their service to the Women's Club.
Robyn Beck is the president of the Women's Club for 1993. Former president Nancy Young remains active as fourth vice president of health and welfare.
Linda Kirk is first vice president, Mary Henderson is second vice president , Tana Lampton is third vice president in charge of membership, Pat Davis is treasurer, and the recording secretary is Kathy O'Keefe.
Submitted by Nat Gould
Chris Stone, a supervising Civil Engineer for the Department of Public Works, will visit the Agua Dulce Town Council on Wednesday, January 13, 1993, at 7:30 pm. He will discuss the Houser Canyon, Willow Springs Canyon and Davenport Canyon floodways. The floodways are slated to be presented for adoption by the board of Supervisors. Questions will be answered.
All interested parties are encouraged to attend. Topographic maps for the three areas are in the hands of the Council and will be available at the meeting.
December 2, at the clubhouse, JoAnne Darcy installed the newly elected officers for 1993. The newly elected officers are:
President - Harriet Aleshire, Vice President - Kay Clawson, Secretary - Nellie Canning and Treasurer - Connie Laux.
If you are 45 you can join this active bunch, some of whom are still riding bicycles at 90 years of age. The Agua Dulce Seniors both (men and women) meet the first and third Wednesdays at Agua Dulce Woman's Club at 1 pm, Doreetha Daniels is our gracious President and can be reached at 268-0525,
Please call Doreetha if you would like to travel to Los Angeles to the Imax theater, which has the largest screen in LA, 90 by 60 ft, and 6 channel sound. The date is to be arranged and the bus ride is free, the show costs $4.00. They have to have 42 people to get the free bus.
The Civic will present an update on the Pratty Development at its regular January 21 meeting at the Agua Dulce Women's Club Building at 7:30 pm.
Submitted by: Katie Roark, Project Reporter
On November 21, 1992, members of the Community Pride/Service Project group, met at the Community Building for a highway clean up. 4-Hers, leaders and parents split up into two groups. One group went one mile east of the Community Building and the other went west. Each group split in half, so that both sides of the Elizabeth Canyon Road were covered at the same time. We separated recycling items from trash. George Maida, the owner of Ranchers Market of Leona Valley donated some of the trash bags for the clean up.
After both of the groups were done picking up things to recycle and throw away, we met at the Community Building for a project meeting. We discussed some of the activities and projects that we will be involved in next year.
4-Hers enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies provided by Lynn Ritsch, Ann Rancier and Tink Freeman.
4-H members working on the clean up were Amanda Blackburn, Sarah Clayton, Charles Dana, Heather Blackburn, Nicole Dana, Heather Howell, Candace Rancier, Lindsey Ritsch, Racquel Rancier, Katie Roark, Alexis Ritsch and Bev Struble. Others attending the clean up were, Jim Howell, Lynn Ritsch, Tom Howell, and Neil Ritsch. Jim Lott donated the use of his truck for 4-Hers to pick up the trash and take to the dump.
by Peggy Hager
A letter was sent to the road department regarding the width of Lake Elizabeth Road. The Council asked to be included in future discussions regarding the road. There has been no response yet.
Frank will call the road dept. before the next meeting if no answer has been received by then.
A raffle is still being looked into.
A proposal was put forth by the Lakes Youth Organization to build a structure around the recycling bins to make them more attractive. They also asked about locating bins in Lake Elizabeth. This is being looked into and will be presented at the next meeting.
The Oaks recommended the Town Council contact John Shea (the project coordinator) at the Public Works Department to view the reports on this project.
The election dates for the open Town Council position were approved. They are as follows:
Application deadline - Monday, February 15th.
Statement deadline - Friday, February 19th.
Meet the candidates - Saturday, March 20th from 12:00 to 3:00.
Election Day - Saturday, March 27th.
New member sworn in - April 6th.
Next Town Council Meeting - February 6.
Attention Lakes Youth
by Peggy Hager
The Presbyterian Church of the Lakes is starting a new youth group. It will be run by Ron Simpson- Youth Director, Peggy DeHaas - Secretary, Tiffany Simpson - Treasurer, Pastor Ingrid Forsberg - Activities Coordinator. The Jr. High Coordinator is Steve Nemback. His wife Holly Nemback is his assistant. The Sr. High Coordinator is Mike Wilson from the Oaks. He will be assisted by Jason DeVille.
Weekly meetings will begin in January. The meetings for Jr. High (grades 6 - 8th) will be Wednesday and for Sr. High (grades 9-12th) on Thursdays. The meetings are from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at the Church of the Lakes in Lake Hughes. You may call the church office for more information at 724-1370.
By Peggy Hager
The December 12, 1992 meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Concern was expressed over the situation with National Cement burning toxic waste.
Bob Johnson reported on the meeting regarding management of the sewer plant. The County wanted to make sure that the community wants LHPOA to run the plant. The people in attendance overwhelmingly voted to have LHPOA run the plant. Dave Vannatta from Antonovich's office has pledged to help.
Public Works is canceling the present bidding to give LHPOA a chance to become a qualified bidder. (LHPOA has to be on the qualified bidders list in order to be eligible to enter a bid.)
Thanks to Billye Jo Johnson for making phone calls and getting such a great turnout at the sewer plant meeting.
Several activities are being planned to raise money to purchase the land the Community Club occupies. The Community Club is for everyone so various clubs are doing different projects to help. They are:
LHPOA - Las Vegas Night - This is scheduled to be held Saturday, January 30, 1993 at the Lake Elizabeth Ranch Club. Advance tickets are $12.00. This includes admission to the event and a spaghetti dinner. There will be roulette, craps and blackjack. Door prizes are also scheduled to be given out during the evening. One of the door prizes is a 3-day 2-night trip to Las Vegas. Tickets will be $15.00 at the door, so buy early and save a few bucks.
Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Woman's Club - They are doing the spaghetti dinner for the Las Vegas night and they will be having Tri-Tip dinners at the Community Club twice a month.
Don Arnett had suggested at the fund-raiser brainstorming meeting, that landscape items be purchased as a remembrance for people. There would be a one-time purchase price and then a small maintenance fee each year to have someone care for the plants. This would raise money and beautify the Club property at the same time.
Community Club - Will be having weekly Bingo nights every Wednesday night, starting as soon as they receive the license. Four assistants will be needed to assist the licensed operator each night, so please volunteer. The Community Club Youth Organization will be selling munchies during this event.
You can also donate money directly. Checks should be made payable to: Lake Hughes Community Club Land Trust.
A Land Trust is being established to maintain the funds for the land acquisition. Four trustees have been appointed, one from each organization to oversee this fund. The Community Club bylaws are being amended to include this trust. The current trustees are: John Damann - LHPOA, Bob Johnson - Chamber of Commerce, Danny Conway - Community Club, and Billye Jo Johnson from the Woman's Club.
The Lake Hughes Property Owners Association was established in 1982 as a forum for the people of Lake Hughes. It is for anyone who lives in or owns property in the community. Membership dues are $10.00 per voter and can be sent to P.O. Box 244, Lake Hughes, CA 93532.
The next meeting will be held Saturday, January 9 at 7 pm at the Community Club.
by Peggy Hager
I took my daughter Stephanie to the annual Christmas Party given by the Women's Club. We arrived in time to hear the children sing, the place was packed with kids and parents. We stood in the back and listened to a lady play the accordion, Stephi even joined in the singing. She kept asking where Santa Claus was.
Well Santa finally came and she got to be the first one to sit on his lap. She was so excited she forgot to tell him what she wanted. Santa's helpers gave her a present and a bag of goodies which she saved until she got home to open (she got a doll). The nice ladies from the club gave her a cup of punch and a bag of cookies. After munching on her cookies we went over to see Smokey Bear. Unfortunately, she was scared of the bear but she did say hi and the forest ranger gave her a pretty pencil.
Oops, I almost forgot to mention Santa's elf who was passing out reindeer candy canes. (If you don't know what these are, better go to the next Christmas Party and find out). Thank you ladies for putting on such a fun event for the kids.
by Peggy Hager
The Presbyterian Church of the Lakes had a successful Kick-Off concert for the Junior and Senior High youth groups on Saturday, December 5th.
Approximately 46 kids showed up to hear the band Sub-Culture and to listen to Brother Burt Aguilar and twelve of his fellow bikers (Soldiers for Jesus) tell how Jesus changed their lives. Fun was had by all as they devoured free food and listened to the music.
The organizers of this event would like to thank the following businesses for their contributions to the raffle: Papa's Country Store, Lake Hughes Market, Jackie's Country Kitchen, Country Video, The Trading Post, the Lancaster Sizzler, Quartz Hill Dominoes, A & M Electric and the Brunswick - Sands Bowl in Lancaster.
I would like to thank
On behalf of the Acton Foursquare Church, I would like to thank Richard of the Acton Market and Tim Heath, owner of Acton Meats and Deli (located inside the Acton Market), for donating food to eight hungry families on Christmas Eve.
These two community store owners have unceasingly supported this community for many years. On Christmas day, many families had good, decent meals, topped off by a fresh chicken dinner, compliments of Richard and Tim. Delivering these meals with my ten year old son and letting him see how sharing our abundance can touch the lives of people that are not so fortunate made this Christmas season the richest experience of his young life. Thank you Richard and Tim.
On behalf of myself and my family, I would like to publicly acknowledge and thank the Acton Foursquare Church for it's support and Love over this past year during the difficult pursuit and ratification of our Unified School District.
As a member of the local Soledad-Agua Dulce School Board, I have seen the hard work of the School District and the power of prayer bring about our newly formed High School District.
Many people in town have told me, over the past few years that this local High School project has been in their prayers. I invite you to please continue your prayerful support of this project as we move ahead, to secure funds to finance the High School buildings and requisite facilities.
I joined the Acton Foursquare Church in May of this year, after attending a weekend retreat with Ladies from the Acton Church. The Lord Jesus Christ has changed by life forever. I have new direction and new joy. I may not be perfect but I've found the one who is. Those of you in town who keep seeing me as very different deserve to know why I have changed. Now you know why.
My heart overflows with love for this town and the people and children in it. Truly this has been the most joyous of seasons.
Love, Laurelyn Browning, Acton
A call to persevere
A big thank you to the communities of Acton and Agua Dulce voters. It was validated with so many of your votes to unify this school District.
I, Rebecca " Becky" Small, just want to thank both communities and our school district, friends and family for your support for the opportunity to serve in this invested mission for higher education in our local District.
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for our children and youth. Also let us consider how we may spur one another on toward strengthening vision for our children and youth.
Let us not give up meeting together united, but let us encourage one another and all the more as we see the approaching phases and foundations to be planned and then developed in our local school District!
Faithful Perseverance in our Local Education.
Rebecca `'Becky" Small, Acton
Board President (K-12th) Elect
I run a local business
In response to your comments in the Vanguard News, Vol. 11 #27, Dec. 11, 1992. The Vanguard skipped a free issue.
I run a local business in this town and have for going on four years. I have probably spent in advertising with the Vanguard News, hundreds of dollars with little or no response. I don't wish to, or am not boycotting your paper. But due to no response or business from my ads, I feel I am wasting my money.
Also I would like to ask the Acton/Agua Dulce News where are the phone books that we "pre-paid" to advertise in their yellow pages in 1992? They were never printed. Where did my money go?
Signed: Local Contractor, Theresa L. Reller, Acton
Editor's Comments: I am sorry you wasted money with the OLD Vanguard News prior to my purchase and changed policies. Then the paper was 8 to 12 pages and half advertising. When I bought, it the paper was subscriptions only, with less than 300 persons on the subscription list. No wonder your advertising money was wasted.
You should check mailing data from the papers you advertise in showing, from a third party (USPS), the actual paid circulation. Also a small add $10 to 20 per issue is all anyone needs to keep their name before the readers.
In fact, the free listings we give businesses is a major help to local business. A lot of them feel that advertising in the other lesser Circulation papers gives them business when in fact the free listing is the most used in the area.
As for your prepaid yellow page ad. Call the Acton-Agua Dulce News and ask them (269-1169).
Some good advise, never prepay ads, send us your information for your free listing, and if your brave, try a small ($10) ad and see if it helps.
Dear Boys, Girls and Everyone
Santa, our elf "Bubbles" and I would like to sincerely thank all of you for coming out to see us at McDonalds and the Community Club. We can't begin to tell you how wonderful it was to talk to each and everyone of you and to share in your Christmas spirit. Thank you "parents" for being so generous with your time to bring your children to see us.
We would also like to thank the Acton Fire Department, especially Capt. Lindsey, Firefighter Specialist Ritchie, and Firefighter Nixon, for giving us a ride to the Community Club to meet with the lovely boys and girls of Acton. Also, a special thanks to Art and his family for sharing McDonalds with us so we could visit with everyone and another special thanks to the Community Club members for the fun party with the Acton Children.
Santa, Bubbles and I look forward to seeing you again and we would like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year.
Best Wishes to Everyone,
Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus and Bubbles, Acton.
Editor's Comments: For all the Christmas volunteers, Thanks!
Pro Vanguard
It is my Observation and my opinion that the Vanguard News is one backbone newspaper to bless a community environment.
It is also my observation and opinion that people do not or cannot appreciate the intent of this fine editor. They are the subject.
It is obvious that too many citizens will never be able to assume an image where they can be accused of being intelligent.
Any true intelligent person will concur with me, after they witness the automobile driving behaviors, which include the ability to manage an auto in traffic, imbibing of alcohol and drugs, support the acceptable condition of the vehicle, such as lights, brakes, tires, and attitudes and all of the other items that will determine whether a person will be considered a welcome asset or neighbor of the community. So few people, when they look into a mirror, do so to see more than if their face is clean. Those lack the mental substance. Their intrinsic misdemeanors disrupt to satisfy paranoia.
Van Guard News (I know what I did) advocates the thesis that people should be as tall and strong as they can be. Their home and community should be their community and not exist with a lead rope or a leash around their neck. By law they should be left alone and be independent. So be independent for sure. The Vanguard News does not condemn the citizens of Palmdale for what their malfeasance politicians are doing, but,,, It takes a long look at the lack of moral fortitude for not condemning the behavior of said politicians. Connivance is a community sickness. Believe.what is happening here, and it has happened in many areas and times in the past under the color of law, is happening in Yugoslavia but with guns. It is an act of stealing land and enforcing government.
The story of Trilateralist virus infection of Socialist Democracy is evident. Steal from Peter and enrich Paul, or any other combination of tile scams will produce the same solutions. We go from there.
Very Truly Yours
John Kozuszko, Santa Clarita
Con Vanguard
My husband and I have lived in Agua Dulce for 9 years and cherish our
community, both environmentally and socially. We feel the people who live in AD
and our adjoining town of Acton are hard
working, pretty honest people, and basically want the same things for our
families and ourselves.
When we first moved out here and found the Vanguard News we got a kick out of reading it because it was so down home and newsy, yet honest and congenial. When I read the newspaper now many of the articles wreak of hostility and contempt for our fellow neighbors.
Plus, some of the items that I know about first hand are simply not factual. For example, I've been by the Shell station in Acton on several different occasions both during the weekends and week days and haven't noticed that the traffic is any different than it was before the station was built. What's the big fuss about? The station is in a commercially zoned area. I have no intentions of boycotting any of the businesses in the local area if the owners and operators treat me and my family respectfully and kindly and provide the services we need.
If you took a more amiable approach (it's one thing what you think, but
it's something else when it's published for all to read) to the items you print, I
think you would get a lot more support for your causes, and maybe more advertisers
would contribute to your publication and help you keep it afloat. I hesitate even to
read the Vanguard anymore because of its
hostile tone. It seems that more than 50% of your newspaper is nothing but
editorials written by you which are, quite honestly, really hard to take.
There is so much hate, hostility and ill faith in our world; can't we make individual efforts to get along with one another in our own back yard?
A neighbor, Gail MacDonald, Agua Dulce
Editor's Comments: Some people like the paper, others don't.
Yes, at least 50% of the paper is pro rural and mostly written by me. That fact is clearly stated on the box on page 5. We are not a fluff paper filled with infommericals which are thinly disguised ads and funny stories.
This is the real world and our homes, life-styles, and lives are on the line. Yes, I am very hostel when I see the community I grew up in ruined by out of town developers. Strip, rape and pillage. Get those bulldozers and cut down the thousand year old juniper and yucca. Concentrate, speed and divert the water onto your neighbor below.
As for the Shell station, it is not acceptable to the majority of Acton residents. You are located over a mountain from Acton. Would you like it if a new AM-PM was built in front of your house?
As for the zoning issue, just because it is zoned C3 does not mean its OK. It clearly violated the master plan for Acton which has been held in court to supersede the old zoning. As for getting along, you might try to explain that to Shell whose initial comment to the community was "We don't give a damn about your community". Look at the difference in what McDonalds produced in cooperation with the community.
Extend a hand but when it is bitten, respond aggressively with hostility and
by Bill Newyear
The November 16 meeting of the Acton Town Council was a quick and quiet one, consisting mainly of committee reports.
Corresponding Secretary Kent Madsen read letters from Kathy McAdams and County Supervisor Michael Antonovich.
McAdams, wife of Rio Dulce/Sierra Colony developer Don McAdams, thanked the Council for providing a fair and unbiased forum from which a discussion of the development's Mello-Roos District could take place.
Antonovich's letter was a response to the Council's concerns about the potentially dangerous traffic violations taking place on Crown Valley south of the Freeway. Cars exiting the freeway have been crossing diagonally across Crown Valley to get to the AM/PM entrance. He reported that after observing the area at various times, the Public Works Department agreed with the Council that something needed to be done. Vertical plastic delineators were installed along a portion of Crown Valley which prohibited the illegal double line crossings. Crown Valley, near the Shell entrance would be observed for similar infractions once road striping is completed later in the month.
Council member Bruce Bell sent a letter to Arco requesting that the Crown Valley entrance to the AM/PM be changed to exit only.
It was moved by Council member Kathy Howald that the Council oppose the proposed zone change requested by Santiago Investors at Santiago and Sierra Highway. The commercial strip plan is the same one which has already been denied once before. The vote was unanimous and letters explaining the Council's rationale will be sent to each of the Planning Commissioners.
Brian Hamper of the Beautification Committee reported a great deal of cooperation from both utilities and government bodies in the local battle against graffiti. He also praised Featherlite Trailers and California RV for shutting off their lights at a reasonable hour.
During a brief discussion concerning the Council's role in removing junk cars, Howald defined the Council's authority. "We will assist wherever possible but we are not a policing agency," she stated. Added Madsen, "Our authority to force compliance consists of "Will you please."
Hamper reported that Antonovich is pushing for a County ordinance which would allow County workers to remove illegal signs and fine those responsible.
Soledad-Agua Dulce School Board member Laurelyn Browning announced open "fireside" meeting to held on the last Tuesday of each month to discuss plans for the new high school. She plans to attend all Acton and Agua Dulce Town Council meetings in an unofficial capacity to keep both bodies informed and to keep channels of communication open.
Frasco and Associates, Santiago Square property managers, have donated a vacant store front to serve as a donation drop off center for the Acton Christmas food drive.
Howald reported that the new Regional Manager for Shell would take over
on
December 1 and that the Council should be ready with suggestions, ideas,
and renderings to present to him at that time.
Council person Ken Malpartida reported on the Governor's Conference on Rural Town Councils. The biggest complaint voiced was that LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission), a State body, did not understand the problems of rural town councils. "If nothing else," said Malpartida, "they learned what town councils are."
Comments and updates By Charles Brink
The Town Council as usual refused to supply a copy of Antonovich's letter or McAdam's letter.
Bruce Bell received no answer from AM-PM.
Santiago Square was defeated. See page 1, 13, and 14.
Hamper is on a roll in graffiti removal, good thing he doesn't just say "Will you please" but instead actively removes graffiti.
Madsen is a wimp and does not even understand the concept of representing the community.
Shell still operates in violation of the General Plan and community standards survey. The Council has still does nothing. At least Pat Bell gets results, see page 6.
Good for Ken Malpartida, but the Council's written response to the commission was again refused to this paper.
NOW COMES Rancho Santiago Homeowners Association in supplemental opposition to the Application by Santiago Investors for zone change, plan amendment and conditional use permit, by Application
No. 90-063-(5), Tentative Tract Map No. 48332.
Identification and purpose
We are the Rancho Santiago Homeowners Association, representing approximately 96 single family residences, of one acre each, and owning approximately 86 acres in common, in that development located approximately three-tenths (3/lOths) of a mile east of the corner of Sierra Highway and Santiago Road, in the township of Acton, California. We are in fact directly across the street from the Applicant's proposed development.
We have previously appeared and opposed the project, and we herein refer to that previously filed opposition, and incorporate it by this reference, and request that it be reviewed for the purposes of the Commission's decision on the within stated project.
However, in supplement to the information stated in that previously filed opposition, we submit the following updated information.
History and background:
Directly to the west of our residential community, and across the street from the Applicant's proposed development, north of Sierra Highway and on both sides of Santiago Road, is a development commonly known as Santiago Square. Santiago Square was built by Peter F. Huntsinger, dba JP Enterprises, which, together with the owners of the land proposed for Applicant's project, is in fact the Applicant for the within stated project.
For apparent reasons, the details of which will not be stated here, and notwithstanding the practically contiguous proximity of the residents of Rancho Santiago to the now existing Santiago Square, neither those residents nor their Rancho Santiago Homeowners Association were notified when the present Applicant applied to this Commission for a zone change that would enable the building of the Santiago Square commercial development. In fact, it was only at the time of the conditional use permit application that any of the adjacent homeowners were notified. Indeed, the homeowners were presented with what was, as a practical matter, a fait accompli. Subsequently, and although the Rancho Santiago Homeowners Association was able to secure recorded Covenants, Rules and Restrictions pertaining to the conduct of the Santiago Square, this small sub-community of the Acton township was asked and forced to assimilate and support a commercial enterprise that was then extremely inappropriate to the community.
While the present state of that commercial development (Santiago Square) will be discussed hereinafter, it should be noted that its stated purpose, by the Applicant, was to be a neighborhood commercial existence, catering primarily to the local residents. The Applicant's presently proposed development (which we are informed and believe, and therefore assert, is to be called Santiago Plaza),by its very nature and apparent scope, depends almost entirely on commuter traffic.
Furthermore, executives from Atlantic Richfield, who propose the ARCO gas station on the southeast corner of Santiago Road and Sierra Highway, have stated to the Board of Directors of the Rancho Santiago Homeowners Association, that their two "non-negotiable" conditions for existence are that the gas station be open 24 hours and sell beer and wine. We are informed and believe, and on that basis assert, that the developer also attempts to locate a bowling alley in this proposed Santiago Plaza, together with seven (7) other commercial lots and 373 parking spaces.
Policy of the Acton Community and its Town Council
In addition to our own corporate resolutions, we have been asked by the Town Council of Acton to file the within stated opposition. It is their position and ours, that the community of Acton cannot, at this time, support any more commercial enterprises. Some specific facts of that matter will be stated in more detail below; but for the time being, it has been the Community Standards of the Acton Town Council, that no further commercial development should be approved by the County of Los Angeles, by and through its Regional Planning Commission, until eighty percent (80%) of those commercial allocations already approved, have been utilized. The existing commercial development in the town of Acton does not begin to approach eighty percent (80%) of the present allocations.
As aforestated, it is the position of the Rancho Santiago Homeowners, by and through a resolution by its Board of Directors, that the community as a whole simply cannot support additional commercial enterprises at the present time, and for reasons which follow hereinafter.
Present commercial status in the Township of Acton
Generally, and from information resulting from our own research, and from the Town Council itself, all of the businesses in our area are having difficulty. In fact, it would not be exaggerating to state that the economy in the area is extremely depressed. The community is honestly and diligently trying to be loyal in their support of local businesses; but even with those extraordinary measures, many of the existing businesses are unable to go on. A great amount of available detail on this subject is restricted by the request of many of the businesses in Santiago Square, that specifics with regard to individual businesses not be stated, as it is believed such might further jeopardize ongoing economic viability. Nevertheless, the following information was available without restriction, and can be verified.
Of approximately 28 commercial units in the Santiago Square, 12 are empty. We are informed and believe, and on that basis assert, that the Sizzler restaurant, which is not among the 28 just mentioned, has filed for Bankruptcy protection. Another eating establishment not included in the 28, is a fast food establishment called "E-Z Takeout" Burger. One of the stated 28 units is a so-called "junior market," which is in reality a liquor store which has recently changed hands in an attempt to maintain its existence. We are informed and believe, and on that basis assert, that no less than three other of the businesses are considering discontinuation, or taking on partners in a last ditch effort to make a go of it.
The above stated is really the case with the entire township of Acton. Approximately three (3) miles to the east, at the intersection of Sierra Highway and Crown Valley, the Union 76 gas station is connected to a large building full of retail and business office space. An uncomfortable number of the offices are vacant, and a majority of the large store front retail units are also empty. Across the street is a new Shell station, and down the street from that is an ARCO station both with mini markets.
While the McDonalds restaurant on the southeast corner of that intersection is apparently doing well, and is a welcomed addition to the community, across the street to the north there has been approved an 83,000 square foot commercial development, including a 40,000 square foot supermarket, for which ground has not even yet been broken.
Indeed, it would appear as if the Crown Valley intersection is the appropriate place to absorb commercial enterprises in the Acton area.
It should be noted, that directly to the east, along Sierra Highway from the McDonalds restaurant, is a large commercial designated development, which has been apparently abandoned. For a number of months, it has stood in the community in the form of foundations and framings only. Even though we are informed that development has apparently required additional funds for its completion, the community would still have to assimilate it along with the 83,000 square feet across the street, and successfully support those enterprises for a satisfactory situation, and before any new projects should even be considered.
Just to the east of this apparently neglected and unfinished commercial project, is a hardware and building supply yard, which can only be patronized by appointment, apparently due to the lack of business in the area. There are, in fact, three (3) hardware stores within a three (3) miles radius.
As stated in our previous opposition, there are no less than 15 to 20 establishments from which alcohol can be bought. There are from 8 to 10 roadhouse type restaurants. There are 4 gas stations, one of which is designed as a truck stop. There are 3 nurseries within the same 3 mile radius.
Suitability of the subject for uses other than commercial
We are informed and believed, and on that basis assert (and in fact it has been stated directly to us by proponents of the proposed project) that the property upon which Applicant would develop, is suitable for no other purpose than commercial enterprise.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Directly to the east and adjacent to the proposed development, is a single family residence owned by Randy and Linda Gudmundson. They live on approximately 1.65 acres, which they bought in 1987 from a previous owner. It is believed that prior to the hearing on the within matter, a declaration by Gudmundson's will be submitted to the Regional Planning Commission containing the aforestated and following facts: The Gudmundsons are very happy where they live; they have no intention of moving; they have no intention or desire to convert their land to a commercial use; they vehemently opposed a commercial development, such as that proposed by Applicant, anywhere in their general vicinity, much less right next to them; and, if it were not for their severe work schedule, they would personally appear and testify to such before the committee.
Far from being void of any other possible uses, the subject area is certainly compatible for residential and other uses of a lesser negative impact to the area than the one proposed.
Conclusion
Several years ago, when the present Santiago Square was approved, one of the Regional Planning Commission members, Mr. Turnstrom, requested that the members of our community and association, try to be good neighbors and "work it out" with the developers of Santiago Square. We have done, and continue to do just that.
It is not that we categorically oppose any commercial development in the area, it is just felt that we are doing our part, vis-a-vis a rather extraordinary commercial existence, at the present time. In that context, we respectfully submit to the Commission that it would be ill advised, and in fact dangerous, to approve the Applicant's proposed project — not only because such an approval would be antithetical to the present position of the County and its Planning Department, on which the entire community of Acton has relied, in that the approval would involve not only a zone change, but a plan amendment; but also because the development would seriously and adversely burden an already critical economic climate and existing infrastructure in the Acton area.
Therefore, the residents of Acton in general, and the members of the Rancho Santiago Homeowners Association in particular, vigorously oppose the project, and urge the Commission to follow what is believed to be the recommendation of the Planning Department, that the project not be approved.
Respectfully submitted December 8, 1992
Rancho Santiago Homeowners Association
William Lively, Vice-President
I, Linda Gudmundson, declare and say:
1. I am over the age of 18 years and am a resident of the County of Los Angeles, State of California. I am familiar with the facts and files of the within action. If called upon to testify, I could and would competently testify, based upon my own personal knowledge, except as to those matters which are stated on information and belief, and as to those matters I believe them to be true, to the following:
2. My husband, Randy Gudmundson, and I own a single family residence located at 2018 Sierra Highway, Acton, California, just east of, but adjacent to, the proposed development of Santiago Investors. This residence is on approximately 1.65 acres. It is a nice place for such a home. Randy and I bought this property in 1987 because we liked it so much.
3. I am very happy where I live, and I have no intention of moving. Randy and I have made this our home.
4. I do not desire to have my land converted to commercial use and I do not want a commercial development, especially like the one proposed by Santiago Investors, built in the area of our house.
5. Due to the severity of my work, I am not able to attend the hearing scheduled for December 9, 1992; however, feel free to contact me for more information, if needed.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct and that this Declaration is executed by me on December 8, 1992 at Acton, California.
Linda Gudmundson
By Charles Brink
1. IT IS UNNEEDED
A. Existing Structures
Acton has 4 Major existing commercial buildings, all with near permanent vacancies. The Acton Plaza has over 12,000 foot retail space vacant. The key anchor unit of 5,000 feet has been vacant for over 4 years. Sierra Plaza has had a 15% vacancy for 8 months, Acton Town Center has had 2,500 feet vacant for over 2 years.
Santiago Square is about 30% vacant and has NEVER been fully rented. They are losing tenants instead of gaining them. The Acton Bakery closed in September and according to well placed sources, several more will close in 1993. The Project and the Developer have had to file for protection of creditors, under the Bankruptcy code because they were unable to pay their bills.
B. Abandoned Structures
A 60,000 foot retail building next to McDonalds has been abandoned for over 1 year. The Developer failed to get sufficient leases to obtain financing for the project. It sits as an incomplete hulk, threatening public health, damaging property values, and is an Eyesore. The Hardware store next to it is permanently closed and abandoned.
C. Approved but not Constructed.
Heidt Center is a 100,000+ foot commercial space now on hold. The Old Acton Hotel Commercial building, a 60,000 foot project is abandoned due to lack of tenants. A 30,000 foot building to be built on the site of a closed hardware/building supply store is also on hold.
D. Empty Commercial land.
Acton has 20 to 40 Acres of commercial zoning sitting vacant. (Assuming R3 counted as commercial), this property is not being developed as it is not needed.
2. IT IS UNWANTED
A. Residents want no more commercial
The Acton residents do not want more shopping centers. The community survey shows 77% of the residents prefer to go to another city for shopping.
B. Residents are boycotting Highway oriented Businesses
The Highway oriented facilities such as Shell, AM/PM, Huntsinger Square, and to a lesser degree Acton Plaza (76 Station) are boycotted by the local residents. McDonalds has limited support due to their caring and sensitive modification of the facility to look rural and the limited main sign (the short water tower). It would be expected if approved there will be an organized boycott and litigation over non conformity with the General Plan.
C. No more Booze and gas
The entire country is opposing the "get a cold one for the road mentality of the greedy AM/PM operators. There is absolutely no reason to sell cold Beer in singles to drivers as they fill their car up with gas. The only reason to buy a single cold beer is to drink it while you drive.
D. No More Liquor (Convenience stores)
Convenience Liquor stores cause a major reduction in property values and an increase in crime. Acton has 1 market existing and 1 market approved for food and liquor stores. It has 4 "Convenience stores" and 5 restaurant serving alcohol, which are far more than are needed for the existing population.
E. This Violates the General Plan
All Acton businesses according to the Antelope Valley General Plan must be community oriented. This project is clearly freeway oriented for the commuter. Acton relies on the general plan that it is to be a Rural community and not a highway oriented business center for Palmdale.
The City of Palmdale has many boarded up businesses and has dozens more being built. Let the commuters shop in their city and stay out of our rural community.
F. Burden of proof for Local Plan Amendment not met
No where has the Developer met the standard required for the necessity of use for the zone change and not even close findings needed for a Local Plan Amendment.
G. Inadequate Environmental impact Statement
The Negative Declaration is insufficient for a project of this magnitude. A full EIR should be required as the project clearly has permanent environmental impact on the area and the Zone change and Local Plan amendment are clearly growth inducing which requires a full EIR, not an inadequate and incorrect statement that the project will have no negative impacts.
H. Huntsinger Supporters
So far the only supporters are business persons with an interest to try to convert Acton into a shopping center for the AV commuter. These number less than 10. In addition a few persons who will receive a gift of land from the developer if the project is approved (the VFW) may testify in favor. These persons should be disregarded as they are being paid for their testimony.
I. Huntsinger Opponents
1000 persons have signed petitions against the project. The local home owners are against the project and I believe that the Chamber of Commerce is against the project.
Please vote NO on this project now.
Many times the community, some Town Councils and the Vanguard call for an action by the public or by private agencies. These articles are issued and people think they are reasonable and then they are just forgotten about.
We're going to start a new section, beginning here, entitled "Where Are The Answers", and it will list the letters, a little of the content, and continue to ask where are the answers, until we get an answer to publish.
Removal of billboard at McDonalds.
The gas line Scar on the mountain.
The Acton Town Council Actions to Bring Shell into compliance
When will the Acton Council ever respond to charges of Election Fraud
The County enforcing the sign law
We have received no new standings since November 14. We are
sorry we can not publish the standings.
Death Valley ride
Submitted by Patty Shaw
Corral 7 was represented by Mike Kearns & John Hawksley on the RIDE and Patty Shaw on the DRIVE. The drive was wonderful. The weather stayed around 70 for the week. There were 18 Wagons on the drive, about 20 kids and 30 or so adults, Baron my 26 year old horse & Kelly, 25, ridden by Christina Crabtree, 16, my out rider. This old lady "me", did real well even on Wednesday when the Porta Potty broke down 1 mile from camp. Baron provided transportation to and from camp for some very desperate people.
There were a couple of mishaps: the California Wagon broke a wheel and had to be transported and one Belgium horse went lame from a lost shoe. So the team of 4 was put on the Belgium's wagon for the trip to Furnace Creek where the riders and teamsters met. Well, some of us got together that night in the BAR, the Death Valley sinners.
When we got to Furnace Creek there were about 20 thousand people to greet us including half a dozen from Acton, along with the Crabtree family and Madeline from Madeline's Restaurant. I almost cried seeing so many from Acton. What a surprise. I can't say more about the ride, you will have to ask Mike. But a wagon train drive with corral 14 is something to experience, they are wonderful people. On Wednesday the layover day we had a WAFFLE Contest for breakfast, a costume contest at night and a pot luck. The kids played games for prizes, and had a scavenger hunt. Boy, you guys must come and experience this!
By Mike Kearns
The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) work project last month was small. We got a little side tracked on an old abandoned mine but after that we brush cleared about 2 miles.
A big thank you for the trail crew. Kimberly Dwight, Noah Dwight, Arbie Sliger and Mike Kearns.
The next day Darrell Readmond & Mike Kearns rode from Mill Creek to Mt. Gleason and then on down to Acton, about 18 miles. The area around the Gleason mine needs a lot of brush clearing as there were a lot of downed trees from the high winds.
I cannot stress the need for the adoption of this trail with the fact that the Forest Service has cut their budget drastically. If you have an interest and would like to ride it, then come on out on one of our Monthly trail days. We can expand our volunteer work projects to every 3rd weekend of the month.
You have to see the beauty of this trail and what is so unique is the close proximity to the Acton area.
These volunteer work projects are not your urban and bridle path type activities, whereas; they involve construction and maintenance of trail head facilities and trails.
The U.S. Forest Service will complete the trail through the Tejon Ranch area late in January. This has been a thorn in the hoof for many years. The PCT crew will have a ride in the Tejon section this coming National Trail Day, June 5, 1993.
The next trail days will be January 16 & 17 so come on out even if it's only for a few hours.
Call Mike Kearns 269-1486, your Back Country Horseman.
Coming Events for ETI
February 14 Valentine ride at Vasquez rocks, Corral 7.
February Palmdale to Victorville Drive, Corral 76
May, 1993 Poppy Drive, Patty Shaw, corral 7
June, 1993 MS Wagon Trail, Corral 76
By Genifer Hess
Tapo Canyon: MW Coquette 1st Arab 1/2 Arab; 3rd in color class; 5th amateur handler, 2nd Mares. Aaron Hess riding La Joyas Nafisa 3rd in Leadline; Devon Garton riding Viva LaFiesta 4th in Leadline; Cody Garton riding Nifty Sunrise 6th in Leadline.
Antelope Valley Arabian Horse Show: MW Coquette 3rd in 2-3 year old Mares, 3rd in color class; MW Gigilo 1st in Weanling-yearling Colts, 3rd most classic type.
Nov 8 Martinez Arena: MW Couquette 1st Amateur, 1st in color, 2nd in Mares; Aaron Hess on La Joyas Nafisa, 2nd in Leadline; Cody Garton on Nifty Sunrise 3rd in Leadline; Devon Garton on Viva LaFiesta 4th in Leadline.
President Larry Ferguson
Vice President Paul Bittle
Secretary Fran Gradly
Treasurer Diane Garton
Alternate Diana Rackin
Delegate Kimberly Dwight
Board Bonnie Zayachak
Mary Charnaw
Joan Katz
Jim Scholten
Please contact any of these people if you have a suggestion, if you would like to lead a ride, or if you would like to be on any committee or be chairman of any old or new committee. Your ideas are always welcome.
By Charles Brink
Because of the extreme difficulty all the volunteer Town Councils have in opposing the County and various agencies that try to damage the rural communities, it is necessary to provide an organization which will help and assist the Town Councils and community groups in their battles.
Rural Rights Advocates is a non-profit, charitable organization whose sole function will be to support Rural Communities initially in north LA County, in staying rural. There are no fees for it's services.
RRA, as it will be known, will provide:
1. Information services to Town Councils
The data on development from the County costs over three hundred dollars a year for a subscription for the full County. It is not available by community.We now subscribe to this service. Further RRA will purchase regular computer dumps of the County planning files. As soon as the County computer files are available for outside access as proposed by Antonovich, RRA will go on line with the data.
RRA will also try to keep up with AVEK, AQMD, Board of Supervisors, SCGA, Regional Water Quality, Palmdale, Lancaster and other agencies which effect the rural communities. It will make the data available to any Town Council and any homeowner groups who requests it by geographic area or requests specific information be monitored. The only requirement is that the contact person must have a fax machine because there is inadequate time in some cases to mail information.
2. Lobbying
For any Town Council or homeowner's group who requests it, RRA will provide lobbying service at Public Works, Regional Planning, Board of Supervisors, AVEK, Regional Water Quality and other government agencies which affect them. The purpose of this is to minimize the cost to each Town Council of lobbying repetitive issues. There are also some issues on which all rural areas seem to be in complete agreement and these areas can be lobbied as a rural initiative.
3. Litigation Support
Another purpose will be to raise funds to handle litigation. It is the intention of the RRA to assist RANGE, Leona Valley, and Antelope Acres in their on going litigation against the City of Palmdale and the County of Los Angles and to block non-community businesses in Acton.
4. Rural Zone
And for now the last issue, which will be developed in detail later, is to demand a rural zoning/building code. That is to carve out an area which intends to remain rural and adopt appropriate changes in both the zoning, building codes and other appropriate codes to respond to rural conditions as opposed to having the urban codes that apply to densely populated county areas in the flatland.
Example, it is illegal to have more than three cats on any property no matter how many acres you own. If you had a 40 X 100 lot (4000 square feet) you can have three cats. However, on my 160 acres (6,969,600 square feet) I still can have only three cats. Even though the property in square feet is the equivalent of 1742 flatland 4000 square foot lots.
Another example is you can only park your car on a paved driveway leading between the road and your garage. No car may be parked anywhere on your property except on a paved driveway. No other motor driven vehicle including recreation vehicle or Dualy truck can be parked anywhere on your property except in a garage.
Again, the same regulation that governs the tiny lots in the flatland control thousands of acres in the rural areas. When this law was put through and your editor testified against the uniformity of the law over the whole County, the County attorney's comment was, "well we don't intend to enforce that part of the law in your area".
When is the government ever going to learn that you can't have laws on the books that they can selectively enforce and some they never intend to enforce. All this leads to is selective law enforcement which can be used to harass the people by using these and other lunacy laws as a terrorist technique against members of the community.
All financial dealings of the Rural Rights Advocates will be public. Anyone who contributes more than ninety-nine dollars will have their contributions publicized, those who contribute less will have an option to keep their contributions anonymous. We intend to follow the laws precisely. None of the RRA contributed funds will be used for overhead purposes except hiring of appropriate legal representation and paying the costs to lobby and obtain appropriate documents.
This is frankly a plea to provide a contribution of any funds and services you can because unless you contribute to an organization who will use the tools of developers (lobbying and litigation) then you will lose your rural community. The developers have money and they provide massive contributions to politicians to support their pro-urban positions. Most, but not all developers, care nothing for your community and look at it simply as cheap raw land to develop.
There will be those in the community who don't like the RRA, and I'm sure the starters will be the do-nothing wimpy Acton Town Council, and I'm sure the Developer & Investor councils (DIC) in Neenach and Leona Valley will be less than thrilled.
The importance here is that we would like people to join the RRA at contribution level of $90 dollars per family per year to provide funding. We believe this is a negligible price to pay compared to the loss of your rural community.
You have to spend money to keep your community rural.
You can't just move here and assume it will stay as it is, because it won't. The rural life-style will continue to deteriorate, just like the communities that you left. If we band together we can keep our life-styles from deteriorating. It is a simple question as to whether or not you want to spend the money or are you willing to keep looking for someplace else to move.
My belief is that most of the people who are home owners (Not land owners waiting to sell) in the rural communities seriously believe in staying and fighting. Most of residents want to retire in a rural community.
I hope that most people believe that the small cost is insignificant compared to the cost of moving.
By Charles Brink
The following letter was sent to the Acton Town Council. It was released to their "approved" newspapers and we are reprinting it so you, the public, can see the letter.
TO: Thomas Tidemanson, Director, Department of Public Works,
FROM: Michael D. Antonovich, Supervisor, Fifth District
Negative Dedications for Waterworks projects
Recently Dean Efstathiou from Waterworks Division met with Dave Vannatta of my staff and residents from Acton regarding their concerns with your processing of Negative Declarations (N.D.'s) on Waterworks projects in Acton. Besides questioning the validity of N.D.'s on these projects, the Acton residents were upset that Waterworks does not provide copies of these documents to affected landowners, nor does Waterworks include notices of public hearings within your environmental documents.
As a result of this meeting, it was agreed that Waterworks would consider revising its policies to routinely provide affected landowners with copies of environmental documents and include within these documents a statement indicating expected date and location of the required public hearing. It was noted that the Department of Regional Planning already has these policies in place.
In response to a question from the Acton Historical (sic) Society, Waterworks also agreed to consider requiring the presence of a qualified archaeologist when working in sensitive areas. This too is a routine requirement imposed by the Planning Commission on developments in sensitive areas.
I would appreciate being advised as to what steps will be taken to implement these proposals. It would be helpful if you could also include a draft letter for me to send to the Acton Town Council responding to these issues.
Thank you for your cooperation. I look forward to your response.
This paper demands that all Negative Declarations by any division of Public Works be sent to the appropriate Town Council and this paper for any projects North of Santa Clarita and not wholly within the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster. To not make them public is a crime against the communities.
As to who the "selected residents" were, it sure wasn't the media or for that matter anyone who really represents the residents. By reference to the Acton Natural History Club it appears Tom Hale was there. What did these residents request? And why all the secret meetings with Vannatta? Does Vannatta always work in secret?
We have retained an Environmental Attorney to advise us on the apparent policy of effectively keeping the important policy documents secret. I demand that any meetings with persons that allegedly represent Acton be noticed to
Acton area
1-14-93 (PH) Soledad Agua Dulce School District Hearing on increase in Building permit fees. See story on page 6.
Agua Dulce
New Case Filing PM23694 4 lots on 41.2 acres at 32300 Agua Dulce Canyon Road, developer Diane Tong Daigle.
Upper Mint Canyon
LA-RPC private park on 40 acres, Sierra Highway near Davenport. CUP 90-499, developer Williams Properties. On hold for a focused EIR.
Lake Hughes
CUP91025 2-17-93 Guest ranch at 18651 Pine Canyon Road, operater Scott McConaughey.
New filing NR92243 Trailer park and Camp ground Pine Canyon Road and Tweedy Lake, developer Lim Myung.
Littlerock
CUP92046 1-27-93 Gas with Alcohol sales
Brian Hines. This statement was filed with the Clerk of Los Angeles
County on December 3, 1992. NOTICE: This
fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the
Office of the County Clerk. A new fictitious name statement must be filed
before that time. The filing of the statement does not of itself authorize
the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the
rights of another federal, state or common law ( See Section 14400 et seq,
Business and Professional Code). Published in the Vanguard News: January 8,
15, 22, 29.
Quartz Hill
CUP 92182 LA-HO 1-26-93 Day school/preschool 4058 West Ave L, operater Camov Lenard.
CUP 91370 LA-RPC 1-27-93 Church and school 51st West, operator Olivet Southern Baptist Church.
Join the Rural Rights Advocates (RRA)
RRA is going to assist in funding and support Stopping Ritter Ranch, Stopping Palmdale's defective General Plan, and Stopping China Town Two from stealing all the water from Antelope Acres.
Issues are Traffic, Water, and Leona Valley's right to Stay Rural. We will support the two Law suits filed against Palmdale and it's inadequate EIR.
We will also be supporting the Law Suit filed in May to require an EIR before allowing LA County and Ritter Ranch to pump up to 28 million gallons a day from under Antelope Acres. The EIR will have to show the effect of deep pumping on the wells in Antelope Acres and others.
Please see page 22 for the purposes of RRA and the importance of supporting your rural life -style before someone tries to take it away.
We are requesting $90.00 per family, per year. We know we're in a recession and times are tough. But loss of you life-style is worse than loss of 15 movie admissions per year or 4 tanks of gas.
For people who can't afford it, a letter of support would be appreciated, and those who can afford it, any amount greater that $90 would be appreciated. But if you donate more than $99 we will publish your name.
Make Check Payable to "Rural Rights Advocates". Send it to the RRA, Po Box 69, Acton,
CA 93510
Please mark your check if you want to keep your contribution confidential, only under $99.
Your Name _____________________________________________
Address _______________________________________________
City _________________________________ Zip ______________
Phone # _______________________ Amount enclosed _________
Fill in this page and send it back by fax, to 269-2036 or 818-886-1026; by mail, to P.O. Box 69, Acton, CA 93510; or in person, by dropping it by the Vanguard News office, 3638 Smith Avenue, Acton. If you wish your name withheld, check that box. All addresses and phone numbers will be withheld except for your city.
FAXback: Agua Dulce Town Council Survey
What would you like the New Agua Dulce Town Council to do?
Make your opinions count. Fill in this page and send it back by fax, to 805-269-2036 or 818-886-1026; by mail, to P.O. Box 69, Acton, CA 93510; or in person, by dropping it by the Vanguard News office, 3638 Smith Avenue, Acton. Copies will be sent to the Agua Dulce Town Council. If you wish your name withheld check that box. All addresses and phone numbers will be withheld except for your city.
The Pac-tell cellular telephone site in Acton between the freeway and Sierra Highway and Red Rover has in it's CUP restrictions placed on it that:
1) Requires the tower to be painted to blend in with the surrounding landscape. Well, green certainly does not match our landscape.
2) Absolutely no exterior lighting would be provided at the facility.
Now, an all night long bright un-shielded high pressure sodium light exists at the site and an all night long incandescent light of the door exists. Both of these items violates their CUP.
This information is being sent to LA County Public Works in the form of a complaint. Any response will be published in this paper for the communities information instead of keeping it secret as the alleged Acton Town Council does.
We'd like to have funds specifically allocated for the Shell Lawsuit, care of the Vanguard. We will provide an accounting for anyone who contributes and are required by law for anyone contributing over $99 dollars to list their name, below that we will withhold your name upon request. If we don't go forward and fight for our right through the court system, no one is going to protect us and you will lose your rural community.
Soledad Agua Dulce School enrollment as of September 8 1992
ACTON SCHOOL
Grade Teacher Enrollment
Kdgn. Conley 27
Kdgn. Raineri 26
Kdgn. Schmidt 26
K/l Chinn 30
1 Aronson 29
1 Duggins 30
1 Tedesco 30
1/2 Nora 30
2 Barcelo 30
2 Byrnes 28
2 McMillen 30
2/3 Hickman 30
3 Wollman/Trevillyan 28
3 Copeland 30
3 Lopez 31
3/4 Billet 30
4 Anderson 38
4 Walliser 39
4 Wegmann 39
5 Curley 38
5 Millen 38
S Pelham 37
5/6 Fawkes 37
6 Hunter 37
6 Fessler 37
6 Rowland 38
SDC Conant 17
Total 860
HIGH DESERT SCHOOL
Grade Teacher Enrollment
7 Fernandes 38
7 Lawrence 35
7 Bruns 33
7 Jacobson 37
7 Steineckert 39
8 Doyle 30
8 Mollico 20
8 Brosnan 35
8 Watins 35
RSP Jones 31
SDC Baker 11
Total 344
AGUA DULCE SCHOOL
Grade Teacher Enrollment
Kdgn Eriksson 27
K/l Steelhammer 29
1 Clark 30
1/2 Readmond 30
2 Williams 30
2/3 Nisperos 30
3 Mitchell 30
3/4 Ackley 29
4 Adelman 34
4/5 Garner 34
5 Brumleve 36
5/6 Hupp/Epstein 34
6 Curtiss 33
SDC Peterson 17
Total 423
Change from last year Acton +48 (5.8%) Agua Dulce +2 (0.5%)
by Joel Levy and Charles Brink
The Acton Town Council has misrepresented letters written by Charles Brink and Joel Levy as being agreements with Ritter Ranch. These letters were released from the files of the Town Council selectively to some media only, and purported to represent agreements between Ritter Ranch and the Acton Town Council.
These letters, particularly the letter that Charles Brink wrote, were the basis of verbal agreements offered by Ritter Ranch which were to be converted into formal binding agreements, including CC&R restrictions against the property to protect Acton's future.
Ritter Ranch then totally failed to turn these into agreements and portrayed them as agreements, both misrepresents what they are and misrepresents what Ritter Ranch has called them, which is essentially meaningless documents.
This is to set the record straight and demand any paper who has printed these statements as agreements, please reidentify them as requests for Ritter Ranch which Ritter Ranch ultimately refused to honor, so there is no question whatsoever about agreements in existence.
For all the world to know the Acton Town Council gave away thousands of acres against the residents wishes without a single written agreement between Acton and Ritter Ranch/Palmdale
Report from the Acton Town Council
At the Acton Town Council planning committee meeting of September 14, the Town Council announced that at long last, and with significant assistance from Supervisor Antonovich, Shell Oil Company representatives had finally agreed to meet with the Town Council again.
The meeting was set for 5 p.m. on September 1 8th at the Shell Station parking lot. All of the Council persons were present except for Dick Morris who was out of town.
The Town Council subsequently reported on the discussion with Shell at the regularly scheduled Town Council meeting on September 21. The Council reported to the community the following brief summary of the history of the Shell station.
The site was a commercially zoned parcel split which required no Conditional Use Permit to build the station This meant that no public input was required of Shell to proceed. Shell simply needed to obtain building permits in Lancaster~
Shell representatives Gary Erich and Doug Smith said that the only public input they received at the time the station was being planned consisted of several conversations with Brink representing the Town Council. The meeting consisted of name calling by Brink as the main focus. At this point all communication between Shell and the community broke down.
After Brink's recall, limited communication was established with Shell, however they were highly resistant to all negotiation attempts. At this point the Town Council asked Supervisor Antonovich to intervene on behalf of Acton.
Negotiations finally opened up at the September 18 meeting. Lights, architectural design, business hours, street access, signage, and landscaping are currently under review at Shell's Houston headquarters. The Acton Town Council provided Shell with numerous alternatives more in keeping with the character of our community.
For further information please contact any of your Council representatives.
Via FAX to Dick Morris, October 5, 1992
I see the Acton Town Council has decided to not release public information to the Vanguard.
I site the two stories "Let's Talk About Shell" and Who Owns the Names of Acton's Organizations" which were not sent to the Vanguard but apparently provided to the Country Journal and the Acton-Agua Dulce News.
Your bylaws clearly indicate that the prime function of the Council is the keep the residents informed and reflect their views. By making the smaller papers your house organ much like other Acton private clubs and businesses, you pervert you own bylaws. You can not operate the Council as a private club in secret and expect to be a non-profit corporation or claim that you represent the community.
You all agree that each paper has it's exclusive readers and by sending releases to all papers it gives you the largest readership.
This is a formal demand that you bring the Council persons up on charges who formulated the policy and failed to fully release information to all media.
I demand notice of any meeting of a quorum or greater of the Council so that these meetings can be publicly reported.
Further, I repeat my demand for copies of any and all Council correspondence either received or sent. In particular, all written data concerning Shell, SMR Communications and flood control.
The residents have the right to know what you are doing and the newspaper's job is to publish this information.
I also want to know how to inspect and copy files of the Council because these records must be public.
I repeat my demand to be placed on the Planning and flood control committees as I represent the views of many Acton residents.
The purpose of the club is to generate the revenue needed to promote Interscholastic Sports for all students at High Desert School and to promote school pride.
Anyone can join the club - Parents, Businesses, Clubs, Alumni, and Friends.
Basketball, Volleyball, Soccer, and Softball are the sports to be assisted.
Both Coed and/or separate Boys and Girls Teams will be supported.
The revenue will be allocated equally between the four sports to purchase uniforms and equipment, transportation to games, and to pay stipends and referees.
The club has chosen Rachel Keyes and Sandy Craddock as Co-Chairpersons, Bill Stien as Treasurer and Lara Johnson as Secretary.
They will be taking over the Unification committee address (PO box 450, Acton 93150). The balance of contributed funds to the Unification Committee will be given to the club.
Soledad-Agua Dulce board procedures
Parents, citizens, representatives of organizations and personnel of the District are welcome to attend board meetings. Guests in the audience may speak on a specific item on the agenda after the item has been moved seconded, and placed on the floor for discussion provided a card has been completed, stating the item number and the card has been handed to the secretary prior to the start of the meeting. The chairperson will recognize individuals who wish to speak.
If there is an item that is not on the agenda, the appropriate time for the presentation is under this section. District policy requires that individuals who address the board limit their comments to three minutes. If it develops that during the- presentation that a long time is required to dispose of a particular concern or proposal then a special meeting may be placed on the agenda of the next regular meeting.
Larry Smith, President of the Acton Chamber, announced that he is going to establish a library at the chamber office (which shares his business, Acton Lock and Key, on Sierra Highway at Crown Valley). He stated that several books which may be too expensive for individuals to purchase, could be shared among the various members of the community.
For example he has a Thomas' guide, which is a guide listing all manufacturers within the United States by product. He has a considerable amount of individual catalogues for specialized commercial and industrial items, which he has offered to share with chamber members.
The Vanguard also has a complete set of all federal and state tax forms for 1991 and through Sandra Kardos, CPA, has access to state and federal tax forms dating back to the mid seventies. Larry Smith stated he was sure other people in the community had specialized data that they could make available to chamber members for help with their day to day business.
By Julia Jedynak
The Acton Rehab center does more than help humans, they even help our four legged friends. As all of you know, Acton has quite a population of "Dump" dogs and cats, many of which have been dumped at the doorstep of the Rehab.
Rather than calling the shelter or turning their backs on these poor abandoned creatures, the people there take them in, spay, neuter, feed, shelter and love them. Unfortunately, as much as they would like to continue housing and caring for some of the critters, they simply cannot afford to, and are offering four of their doggies to good homes (see Free Ads.).
Mr. Jack Wengert, administrator of the center, is asking for your help in finding loving families for these abandoned dogs.
The animals are being offered free, but if you would care to give them a donation for any future "dumpees" I think it would be a nice gesture. Remember, these are not puppies, so there are not the usual puppy problems with which to contend. They are spayed or neutered so that is another problem you don't have to handle. If you are interested in finding out more about these animals, call Mr. Wengert at 269-0062.
November 4, 1992 Mr. Richard Morris president
Acton Town Council
Dear Mr. Morris:
As you know, I asked the County Director of Public Works to review traffic conditions on Crown Valley Road involving motorists turning into the Arco gas station from the Antelope Valley Freeway off ramps. I now have his report.
The Director's analysis included field observations during morning and afternoon peak periods and an analysis of reported accident data. The Director has confirmed your observation that some motorists exit the freeway and illegally turn into the Arco gas station by crossing the painted median instead of properly entering the left-turn pocket adjacent to the driveway. Also observed were several motorists driving south on Crown Valley Road who also illegally turned across the painted median into the Arco gas station. To deter these improper turning movements, the Director recommends installing vertical plastic delineators along the painted median at this location, and I have asked him to complete this work in about two weeks.
The Director's staff also reviewed traffic conditions at the driveways into the Shell gas station ... on the north side of the freeway. While road conditions are somewhat different than those adjacent to the Arco gas station and similar traffic patterns are not anticipated, the Director reports that this location will be reviewed after the Shell gas station opens and final striping is in place. I have asked him to report his findings directly to you on this matter.
I appreciate the opportunity to be of assistance to you and your continued concern for traffic safety matters in the Acton area. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Pat Ashburn of the Department of Public Works, Traffic and Lighting Division, at 818-458-5909.
Michael D. Antonovich Supervisor, Fifth District
As I am sure you heard Acton and Agua Dulce succeeded form the Antelope Valley Union High School District (AVUHSD) with a 78% vote in favor of unification. Now that the Election is over AVUHSD is tell how bad they really are. Don't think that building our High school is a snap buts at least we are starting with the Land paid for, balanced budget and a good board to solve any problems concerning the High School.
The AVUHSD will dismiss thirty-nine more support staff employees by early December. This dismissal will cut, along with previous ones, 95 support staff positions from the school and another 39 teaching positions along with six fewer administrators. This is in spite of the fact there is a 900 students increase in population. The cuts include ten custodians, seven typists, the career advisors at most high schools, all switchboard operators, and five security guards along with other people.
The school district owes L.A. County eight million dollars, which they received by way of a loan, and now cannot repay. The district continues to fail because it doesn't know how to manage itself and provide for the expenses necessary for the students.
They should take and example from the Acton/Agua Dulce School District, that works on a very low administrative budget, has no separate board room, and has its' administrative offices in the oldest part of the school in Acton.
It seems that smaller districts are able to operate in a more efficient method and pay its' teachers more. For example the Antelope Valley School Districts have major teachers cuts, while in the Acton/Agua Dulce district the teachers salaries are the same as prior years.