The West Ranch Beacon

One of things I like about business traveling is that you get moments of alone time. It’s time that I like to use to reflect on events, conversations, or just about anything. Currently I’m out of the country and am able to have one of those moments of solitude and reflection right now.
I’ve been thinking about this past week and the threat of violence doled out by Darryl Manzer. It certainly angered those of us who volunteer on the West Ranch Town Council. When I saw that column by Manzer, I immediately wanted to respond in writing to The Signal. A blatant threat of violence on some elected community representatives is just outrageous.
As the week progressed, several of us filed written complaints with the County Supervisors’ office. And yes, there was a Sheriff Deputy dispatched to the Signal office contrary to what some have been told. The Sheriff did review the columns content and threat. There are also several lawyers looking at this as well.
Now, the response to Darryl Manzer is being handled by Paul Ash the President of our Town Council. Unfortunately the piece Paul wrote will not appear in its entirety. He was told it was to long and it had to be edited. Then he was told that it would have to broken up over several articles. In essence, it is being watered down!
No surprise there since Darryl is a good friend of one of the staff members at the Signal! This is one of several reasons why I don’t bother writing to the Signal. It is very biased. They, the managing and editorial staff, have a very high opinion of themselves which is only over shadowed by their apparent lack of journalistic integrity. They want to keep whatever arguments one sided in their favor hence the hatchet job they are happy to do on those in the community with a different view point.
More to come shortly!

ROUTE 14 TO CLOSE AT ESCONDIDO CANYON

SANTA CLARITA – The California Department of Transportation will close the
Antelope Valley Freeway (Route 14) in both directions at Escondido Canyon
Road on Sunday, May 7, from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Detours will be posted and traffic control will be in place.

The closure is in relation to a slope stabilization project above Route 14
between Soledad Canyon Road and Escondido Canyon Road. The $12.6 million
project involves cutting back the slope and installing retention systems
using cable net or wire mesh.

Estimated to complete in spring 2008, the project will increase hillside
stability, protect the roadway and improve safety.

If you click on the headline above it will link you to a piece by Steve Huerta regarding the potential Stonecrest annexation. There are some similarities between Stonecrest and the West Ranch Communities. For starters the City of Santa Clarita wants both and has attempted to “take” both using deceptive tactics.
As many who follow the local political scene may know, there are patterns that form in the valley. Anyone who stands up and starts to ask questions, in the spirit of getting educated or trying to understand all the facts regarding an issue, is almost immediately branded a “lackey” for some entity. The person may be called a “lackey” for the County or a “stooge” of the developer or branded a “liar”. This is a consistent pattern that I have seen over and over again towards individuals who have the intellectual capacity to ask questions, sometimes tough questions.
I have talked about this before, if you start asking questions of city officials, or anyone for that matter, and they start to get agitated or angered by your questions instead of giving you a straight answer then they are not dealing with you honestly. This is what is happening to Steve Huerta! He is a resident of Stonecrest, which the City of Santa Clarita is trying to Annex, and he is asking questions.
The City wants Stonecrest because it is the gateway to the Cemex Mine. The city doesn’t give hoot about that community, it is only willing to “take” it in order to get their hands on the mine. Why the mine? It certainly isn’t because the city wants to stop the mine’s impact on the valley. No, the city wants it for the tax revenue. Plain and simple, it’s about the money!
If residents like Steve Huerta don’t stand up and ask questions about the city’s motives then the Stonecrest community will most assuredly be screwed.

The West Ranch Town Council is scheduled to have it’s regular monthly meeting on Wednesday May 3rd at 6:30. The meeting is held at the Southern Oaks community center. On the agenda for May will be a discussion of the up coming council election and regular committee reports.
Also on the agenda, representatives from the Westridge Homeowners Association Board of Directors will be discussing opposition to the proposed privatization of the Tournament Players Club (TPC). At issue is the maintenance of the slopes surrounding the golf course and how that is impacting the HOA financially.
It should be noted as well that in light of recent threats, there will be a stronger than normal Sheriff presence at this meeting.

I don’t know much about Darryl Manzer except that he use to live in Mentryville and he apparently now lives in Virginia. One scary fact is that he is former member of the military. That last bit is what I find so disturbing about this guy’s blatant threat of bringing firearms to the next Town Council meeting. If you click the headline above it will link you to a page of pictures and you’ll see he is someone who should not be making threatening statements of potential violence. That one with the machine gun is scary!
Some might say “come on he isn’t serious” or “it’s only a joke”, but I would say you can’t joke about firearms or bombs or any kind of potential violence these days. The world today is very different from the one most of us remember from our childhoods. It is a world that is filled with some evil individuals and groups terrorizing the law abiding and innocents. Apparently, Mr. Menzer responded to the uproar over his column by saying he was just trying to be funny, it was satire. Well, I for one don’t buy that excuse. That is like the guy who was taken into custody because he was joking about a bomb on a plane. Sorry Darryl, threatening to bring firearms to a meeting with elected representatives of the community is not a joke or satire. Your buddies at The Signal should have known better as well.

Alright, alright, it was a catchy headline! But, in reality a Sheriff Deputy was dispatched to The Signal offices today to investigate the published threat against the West Ranch Town Council. Let’s hope that the primates running that advertising circular are now looking at this as a serious matter.
The next step is to get this ridiculous “newspaper” to print a retraction and an apology. That would be the right thing for the managing and editorial staff to do, which means don’t hold your breath!

Members of the West Ranch Town Council are urging Supervisor Antonovich to look into the recent published threats against the Town Council volunteers. In today’s day and age such threats must be taking seriously and all the irresponsible, threatening parties held accountable.

The threat of firearms being brought to the next West Ranch Town Council meeting has rippled through our community with a flurry. Many residents that have seen the article written by Darryl Manzer are upset and outraged that it was published in the local “paper”. The general consensus is that the it was an irresponsible and unprofessional act by the editorial staff The Signal.
One resident sent an email that sums it up: “I am outraged over this article and this totally convinces me against any annexation whatsoever!”. This one article coupled with the antics of the City has done a lot of damage in a short period of time!

I realize that not many people read The Signal very much anymore. It is known that as the population of the Santa Clarita Valley has grown the readership of The Signal has actually declined.
That said, it is absolutely outrageous that The Signal would publish a column in which the author doles out a threat. If you missed it yesterday, The Signal published an article entitled “Why Would They Want Home Rule”. The column was authored by Darryl Manzer and basically threatens to bring firearms to our next Town Council meeting. The exact quote from the column is as follows: ….I could gather those guys together again and get some horses to ride to your next “town council” meeting, with the same firearms”.
In recent weeks a commercial airliner made an emergency landing and a passenger was taken into custody for merely mentioning a bomb on the plane; it was a threat. A school in Kansas took a posting by a student on the internet seriously enough to have him and several other students arrested because it was a threat. I view the statement above by Darryl Manzer the same way, it is a threat. In today’s environment such comments can no longer be taken lightly or ignored.
So for The Signal to publish that threat is completely irresponsible on the part of the editorial and managing staff. Just when you thought that The Signal couldn’t sink any lower it is clearly hitting a new low for this advertising circular that has been passing itself off for a newspaper.

Below is a letter that was sent to the The Signal by Steve Huerta defending himself and correcting the erroneous spin from The Signal’s opinion staff. Steve forwarded it to me because it had not been published.
This is nothing new to those who have experienced this before. It is common knowledge around the valley that The Signal regularly mis-quotes, spins, and leaves out the facts. It is difficult to call The Signal a newspaper as that would be an insult to other newspapers and to jounalistic integrity.

Stonecrest Residents Have The Right To Vote On Annexation!

It’s amazing what lengths THE SIGNAL’s opinion staff will stoop to try and debase me, and stop the residents from having the right to Vote. They have insinuated that I’m in collusion with CEMEX, and a “liar.” THE SIGNAL has made themselves the voice for the City government, and many others in the community share the same opinion.

I’ve spoken the truth about the issues of annexation at Stonecrest. I spoke about the issues when asked by the residents, to provide balance to the City’s claims. This has always been about the right to Vote, whether it’s yes or no. I’ve spoken the truth about the City plans to eliminate the firm Hillside Maintenance cap of lower Stonecrest, and replace it with one that includes a Consumer Price Index of 3% that can be applied once cost reach $700. I’ve spoken the truth about increased taxes for streetlights and stormwater services, which came from City documents. I’ve spoken the truth about the rights of Stonecrest residents to call City Sheriffs if there is an emergency. I’ve spoken the truth about the CEMEX mine, and that the City can’t stop it even if they annex the additional 1,885 acres. Ask the Mayor and Council members to tell you CEMEX won’t mine there. They’ve said they don’t oppose “historical” levels of mining, and that’s not guaranteed. I’ve also spoken the truth about City-hood benefits, like elimination of the County utility tax, which is based on individual home usage, lower trash collection fees, and park and recreation fees. A City planner misspoke when he said I wasn’t telling residents about the utility tax. He should check his copy of the information sheet more closely.

THE SIGNAL’s opinion writers, with their mighty pens in hand, have sought to use me as a way to divert the attention of the residents. Residents must ask themselves, what other reason could the City possibly have to want to annex Stonecrest and beyond? In a more recent column, residents in other un-incorporated areas were asked to get off their bums and annex. I have no problem with annexation, but residents should Vote on it, and not let LAFCO back-door it in. In a Letter To The Editor in THE SIGNAL, an area resident said that the right to Vote is a lie. The rules of annexation, as carried out by LAFCO, provides this possibility for residents. Maybe he should study them before he puts pen to paper.

The residents must realize that if this decision is left in the hands of LAFCO, who will green-light it, it does’t mean that the majority of residents wanted it. A vote is the only true measure of what the community really wants.

I fully expect THE SIGNAL’s opinion staff to spin this rebuttal against me, and the right to Vote. Despite all their personal attacks, at the end of the day it comes down to one thing - The Right For Stonecrest Residents To Vote!

Steven Huerta

Sylmar/North San Fernando Valley – The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will close the following lanes of the Golden State Freeway (I-5), as part of a $41.6-million project to construct High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV), or carpool lanes, on northbound and southbound I-5 from State Route 118 to State Route 14:

FRIDAY, APRIL 21:

·5 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Up to two lanes of northbound I-5 from State Route
210 connector to State Route 14
·8 a.m. to 11 a.m. – One lane of northbound I-5 from I-405 to
eastbound State Route 210 connector
·9 a.m. to 2 p.m. – The westbound State Route 210 connector to
northbound I-5
·9 a.m. to 3 p.m. – The southbound I-5 connector to I-405 truck bypass

OVERNIGHT FRIDAY, APRIL 21 TO SATURDAY, APRIL 22:

·6 p.m. to 11 a.m. – Up to two lanes of southbound I-5 from State
Route 14 to Balboa Blvd.
·6 p.m. to 11 a.m. – Up to two lanes of southbound I-5 from State
Route 14 to Balboa Boulevard
·6 p.m. to 11:59 a.m. – The southbound I-5 off-ramp to Paxton Street
·7 p.m. to 8 a.m. – Up to two lanes of southbound I-5 from State Route
14 to Roxford Street

What’s it going to take before the far left in this county to realize that we are at war? I read over and over how George Bush is a liar, a criminal while others call him the worlds #1 terrorist. I have a little advice for the left. No one takes you seriously when you make absurd and off the wall statements like that. If you don’t like President Bush, fine you don’t like him. But to call him a terrorist is an insult to free people all over the world. And lets face it, your not doing any service to our country or our Military and their families when you say these things.

So, in essence when you call the President of the United States a terrorist you are essentially calling everyone who believes in his resolve and approach to this war terrorists. So you don’t like it when we call you un-patriotic and anti-American, well we don’t like it when you indirectly call us terrorists. The only saving grace for us on the right is that you on the left who make these crazy statements are few and far between. You don’t represent the over all attitude of the country or the world. You think you do, because you only know and speak to others like you. When you see all the movies coming out of Hollywood that lean your way politically you start to think your right and that everyone agrees with your goofy ideals. Understand, most of America thinks Hollywood is crazy. We see it as entertainment not propaganda and validation as you do.

Your next challenge is Iran. We WILL do something. The rest of the world cant. Both financially and militarily they unable to. We can and we have the will. If Iran is allowed to develop a Nuclear weapon the first target will not be the USA. It will be somewhere is Eastern Europe or Israel. Everyone knows this. So why is it the USA’s responsibility to “take care” of the problem? Simple. We can and we have the backbone to deal with people being mad at us. We look at Hitler and Europe and say, hey why didn’t you all stop him before he started a war and killed 50 million people? They didn’t have the will or the leadership. Mainly, the leadership. Someone not concerned about day to day polls but leading the free world and bringing freedom and Democracy to the world.

Your challenge as liberals is to take a stand. You are either with us and united in protecting America and the people of this world or you are against us and will continue to do everything you can to undermine our reputation and standing in the hearts and minds of the citizens of Mother Earth. Mullahs with Nuclear weapons are not in he best interest of you secularists. Your hatred for George Bush and your apathy for the rest of the world will shine through very clear if you are on the wrong side of history again.

Jack Murphy