The West Ranch Beacon – News & Commentary for the Santa Clarita Valley

(Updated at 8:30 PM 10/31/2011) Sheriff’s Homicide detectives are continuing their investigation into the fatal shooting of one male adult, and a second male adult who was wounded. It occurred at a strip mall at 18354 1/2 Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon Country. Detectives have learned that the injured victim arranged to meet four suspects to sell a Nintendo DS Game System. The suspects attempted to rob the victim and a fight ensued. The deceased victim (believed to be an unknown Good Samaritan) attempted to prevent the Robbery and approached the suspects with a baseball bat. (more…)

With Halloween only a few days away, The Narcotics Bureau of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department would like to remind the citizens of Los Angeles County of a health hazard that was discovered last year. Parents, teachers, and physicians are warned to closely inspect children’s candy, soda, and snack items to ensure children do not accidentally ingest a concentrated drug. (more…)

Beginning in late November, the Canyon Country Jo Anne Darcy Library will operate on a limited basis for approximately seven weeks to repair the carpet.  This work is covered by warranty and will be managed by the County of Los Angeles, Internal Services Department. (more…)

(From Science Daily) Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it’s good for the student. That’s the conclusion of a new study published in Perspectives in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The authors show that curiosity is a big part of academic performance. In fact, personality traits like curiosity seem to be as important as intelligence in determining how well students do in school. (more…)

Happy Halloween! The following is political activity for Monday, October 31, 2011, going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available. (more…)

Next week voters will head to the polls to elect representation to the College of the Canyons Board of Trustees and the William S. Hart School board. These mid-term election often have low voter turnout which allows for some less than desirable candidates to stay in office. It’s high time that that changes! Many of us are getting fed up with the status-quo and the poor leadership being displayed in local, state and national political arenas. The partisan bickering and divisive rhetoric has become deafening for many. (more…)

The West Ranch Town Council will hold its regular monthly meeting tonight, Wednesday, November 2, 2011, at the Tournament Player Club in West Ranch located at 26550 Heritage View Lane in the Westridge neighborhood at 6:30 PM. The meeting will include regular updates from Los Angeles County, the CHP and the Sheriff’s Department. The following items are on the agenda: (more…)

(From the latimes.com) A driver died in a fiery car crash in Santa Clarita on Sunday. The victim, whose name has not been released, was driving westbound on Plum Canyon Road, just east of Heller Circle, when her car moved onto the sidewalk and crashed into an out-of-service traffic signal pole, according to a California Highway Patrol report.

The car caught fire, trapping the driver inside the vehicle as flames engulfed it. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

CHP is investigating the crash.

With less than two weeks until Election Day, and feeling recharged after receiving the SCV Young Republicans’ endorsement, Pat Hill hit the streets on Saturday asking voters for their support in the November 8^th election. The message he is taking to voters is simple:  he is committed to education, not politics. (more…)

The Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control (DACC) would like to remind pet owners that although Halloween may be a fun holiday for humans, but it can be a potentially dangerous and frightening time for pets.  Here are a few tips to keep your pets safe this Halloween: (more…)

The Santa Clarita WorkSource Center, in coordination with College of the Canyons and the Employee Training Institute, is hosting a free, all-day training program orientation on Friday, November 4, 2011 for individuals interested in the next Fast Track Institute focusing on aerospace or biomedical manufacturing. The orientation will take place at the Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook University Center, Room # 258, located at 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road. (more…)

(From the-signal.com) The West Side Halloween Festival was held Saturday at Dr. Richard H. Rioux Park in Stevenson Ranch, and while there were many other activities for the crowd, the goal of one local child seemed to be to win the costume contest. “We’re just going to see if we can win some prizes,” said Dominick Cuello, 8, of Stevenson Ranch, who attended the festival with his mother, Monika Cuello. Dominick was dressed as Little John, Robin Hood’s legendary second-in-command. (more…)

(From the latimes.com) Nearly two years before Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca acknowledged that jailer brutality was a problem, his command staff raised alarms about excessive force used on inmates in the nation’s largest jail system, according to confidential memos reviewed by The Times. (more…)

(From the latimes.com) A shallow magnitude 3.5 earthquake was reported Sunday morning four miles from Kettleman City, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 6:26 a.m. Pacific time at a depth of 0 miles. According to the USGS, the epicenter was six miles from Avenal, 16 miles from Huron, 22 miles from Coalinga and 140 miles from San Jose City Hall. In the past 10 days, there have been no earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater centered nearby. (more…)

“As thousands have gathered in Lower Manhattan, passionately expressing their deep discontent with the status quo, we have taken note of these protests,” wrote Lloyd Blankfein, the boss of Goldman Sachs, in a recent letter to investors. “And we have asked ourselves this question: ‘How can we make money off them?’ The answer is the newly launched Goldman Sachs Global Rage Fund.” This will invest in firms likely to benefit from social unrest, such as window repairers and makers of police batons. (more…)

(From the latimes.com) A red flag fire warning is in effect for mountain regions of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through 3 p.m. Saturday, the National Weather Service announced Friday night. Breezy offshore winds and low humidity have raised the risk of “extreme fire behavior,” said weather specialist Bonnie Bartling of the service’s forecast office in Oxnard. Gusts of up to 30 mph are expected overnight through the passes and canyons. (more…)

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with Netsmart Technologies, Inc., to provide a state-of-the-art electronic health record system, known as the Integrated Behavioral Health Information System (IBHIS). IBHIS supports the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) in its role as a provider of mental health services and as the local plan administrator for California’s Medicaid mental health program. (more…)

Is Barrack Hussein Obama an anti-Semite? As the allure of this ideologue fades into opaqueness approaching the 2012 election, the question begs to be asked: Is our Nation’s 44^th president a Jew-hater. I submit the case he is in fact an in-the-closet anti-Semite. Most Americans concur Obama was not properly vetted prior to and following his 2008 nomination. Questions surfaced as to his legal name, first name Barack or Barry, middle name Hussein, last name Obama or Soetero. (more…)

The Santa Clarita Public Library is celebrating National Novel Writing Month in November by challenging community members to write a novel in thirty days. Interested authors of all skill levels have from 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, November 1, 2011 until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 to complete a 50,000 word novel. (more…)

The Community Hiking Club will be heading to the Bridge to Nowhere on Saturday, October 29, 2011. The Bridge to Nowhere was built in the mid-1930s, and was meant to connect the San Gabriel Valley with Wrightwood. In 1938, Azusa got 14” of rain in 1 hour, which all drained into the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. A 100 Foot wall of water was the result, which washed out the road to the bridge, and ended the road project forever, leaving the bridge (which hangs high at 125 feet above the river) truly, to lead nowhere. (more…)