The West Ranch Beacon

The song, “Auld Lang Syne,” is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the New Year. At least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700’s, it was first published in 1796 after Burns’ death. Early variations of the song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern rendition. An old Scotch tune, “Auld Lang Syne” literally means “old long ago,” or simply, “the good old days.”

Alex Dobuzinskis, staff writer for the Daily News reports that a dense fog of information and ironic rants, the blogosphere has settled over Santa Clarita.

This month, Time magazine chose “You” as its person of the year, in a nod to the power of the Internet to give everyday people the ability to express themselves to a broad audience.

True to the nationwide trend, Internet blogs written from and about the Santa Clarita Valley also flourished this year. It’s a new kind of journalism in which bias is fine, name-calling acceptable and grammar a nonissue.

“I think what they really do is they foster debate,” said Bob Haueter, an aide to county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich who next month moves on to being deputy chief for Republican U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon’s Santa Clarita office.

Read the entire story here: http://www.dailynews.com/santaclarita/ci_4926147

Although in the first centuries AD the Romans continued celebrating the New Year, the early Catholic Church condemned the festivities as paganism. But as Christianity became more widespread, the early church began having its own religious observances concurrently with many of the pagan celebrations, and New Year’s Day was no different. New Years is still observed as the Feast of Christ’s Circumcision by some denominations.

During the Middle Ages, the Church remained opposed to celebrating New Years. January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years.

Other traditions of the season include the making of New Year’s resolutions. That tradition also dates back to the early Babylonians. Popular modern resolutions might include the promise to lose weight or quit smoking. The early Babylonian’s most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.

The Tournament of Roses Parade dates back to 1886. In that year, members of the Valley Hunt Club decorated their carriages with flowers. It celebrated the ripening of the orange crop in California.

Although the Rose Bowl football game was first played as a part of the Tournament of Roses in 1902, it was replaced by Roman chariot races the following year. In 1916, the football game returned as the sports centerpiece of the festival.

The tradition of using a baby to signify the new year was begun in Greece around 600 BC. It was their tradition at that time to celebrate their god of wine, Dionysus, by parading a baby in a basket, representing the annual rebirth of that god as the spirit of fertility. Early Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth.

Although the early Christians denounced the practice as pagan, the popularity of the baby as a symbol of rebirth forced the Church to reevaluate its position. The Church finally allowed its members to celebrate the new year with a baby, which was to symbolize the birth of the baby Jesus.

The use of an image of a baby with a New Years banner as a symbolic representation of the new year was brought to early America by the Germans. They had used the effigy since the fourteenth century. 

The Stevenson Ranch community Menorah was vandalized for a third time sometime on Friday night December 29^th. The vandals bent down many of the candles in an attempt to destroy the Jewish symbol for the Festival of Lights.

The case is being turned over to Detectives for investigation. The Menorah is now being taken down as evidence. Finger prints will be taken and the area security cameras are being checked for possible identification of the vandals.

Sheriff Deputies have elevated this to a hate crime and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich has issued a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the criminals.

Supervisor Antonovich encourages anyone with information to contact Lt. Michael Dunkle of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station at (661) 255-1121.   

The execution marked the end to a dark chapter in world history. The Financial Times has a very good article on the death of the former Dictator of Iraq. It is a fitting end to a Tyrant who terrorized the people of Iraq for far too long. 

Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Steve Negus in Iraq report that Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi dictator, was put to death at dawn on Saturday, Baghdad time, just days after an Iraqi appeals court refused to commute his execution.

Before he was taken to the gallows in Baghdad, the former Iraqi president was reportedly handed a “red card” signaling his imminent death - a reminder of the red cards dealt to those he had condemned to death during his time in power.

Read the entire story here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/93d74920-9734-11db-a680-0000779e2340.html

“Happy New Year!” That greeting will be said and heard for at least the first couple of weeks as a new year gets under way. But the day celebrated as New Year’s Day in modern America was not always January 1.

The celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible crescent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring).

The beginning of spring is a logical time to start a new year. After all, it is the season of rebirth, of planting new crops, and of blossoming. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical nor agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary.

The Babylonian New Year celebration lasted for eleven days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is safe to say that modern New Year’s Eve festivities pale in comparison.

The Romans continued to observe the New Year in late March, but their calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun.

In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the New Year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar, in 46 BC, established what has come to be known as the Julian Calendar. It again established January 1 as the new year. But in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days.

If you have been a reader for a while you’ll know that Darryl Manzer and I don’t always see eye to eye on issues. The one thing we do however agree on is that we care about the Santa Clarita Valley; whatever shape it may eventually take.
Death threats (I couldn’t resist!) and verbal sparing aside, I have communicated with Darryl for a number of months via email. Surprising to some, we actually agree more often than not. Several times I have asked Darryl to write a piece for the Beacon about some of the West Ranch history since he actually lived down in Mentryville for a good part of his youth. Finally he was able to get some free time to pen a piece for us. Maybe at some point he’ll do a piece on the rich history of Mentryville.

As with all contributors to the West Ranch Beacon, Darryl’s opinions are his own and don’t necessary represent those of the West Ranch Beacon or its staff. Enjoy! –Dave

Dave Bossert has been hounding me to write a piece for the WRB for the last six or eight months. In the spirit of this holiday season I have finally buckled under to his pressure and here goes. It also helps that I was a feature of his latest column.

Dave is right…maybe all of you in West Ranch should boycott the stores and shops in the City Limits of Santa Clarita, especially the car dealers. Talk about economic impact! The trick would be on how to organize such a boycott.

Yes, I live in Tidewater Virginia, but my heart is still in the Santa Clarita Valley.  I lived in “West Ranch” when there were very few of us there. The Marriott hotels just West of I-5 are about in the same spot as the home of the Hoag family. As you travel up Pico Canyon road, today past Southern Oaks, the Larinin family had a home and way up a southern branch of Pico Canyon, (you had to cross the Larinin place to get to it), is where Mr. and Mrs. Wicham lived. My folks and I lived in the Big House in Mentryville and over the hill on the SUNRAY Oil lease the Pigg family had their home. There was nothing and nobody else, (in the way of “civilization”), near us. We really did “Ranch” in West Ranch and we had real cows, horses, chickens, hogs, and one time, some sheep. (Hated those sheep).

I’m not so much for having West Ranch annexed into the City of Santa Clarita as I am for y’all to throw off the shackles of Los Angeles County.  And shackle you they have done well. It wasn’t Santa Clarita that allowed the developers on the West Side to burden you with the Mello-Roos Bond debts…it was Los Angeles County. That was part and parcel to getting the development approved at the County level. Pass the costs of infrastructure to you. The developers got off free of debt and made a bundle of bucks. You’re still paying for that little trick of law.

Mr. Antonovich has repeatedly stated that he has never met a developer he didn’t like. Simple reason is that as the Northern part of Los Angeles County is developed, more tax money flows to the County. I don’t disagree with his desire to help the area grow but he, like the County Supervisors before him, have taken the money and used it outside of the SCV. Sure, you get a few small parks and fire and police protection but you’re still paying on those bonds…and the County has a surplus this year. How about the County pays off your bond debts from Mello-Roos?

In throwing off the County and either being annexed into Santa Clarita or forming a new city I would strongly caution you against the later action. 2007 marks the 400th year of “development” in the Tidewater Virginia area. In that area are seven independent cities and two counties. Let me list them: Norfolk, Suffolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, and Virginia Beach are the cities and Isle of Wight and York are the counties. I call the area, (as do many), “Tidewater” but it also has the name “Hampton Roads”. Politically divided, the area, no matter what you call it, lacks the single large voice needed in Richmond or Washington, D.C. Nine different voices screaming for help on many different subjects means nothing happens.

Tidewater or Hampton Roads, Virginia, (in case you didn’t know), has the highest population in the Commonwealth of Virginia but for the size of the population has the worst highways and roads. In event of a major hurricane over three million folks would have to evacuate via two highways that are two lanes in each direction. (US-58 and I-64). You saw the mess prior to the hurricanes in Louisiana and Texas. They have bigger roads.

Since there isn’t one voice but many without a united cause, nothing is being done at the Statehouse and even less in D.C. concerning our transportation problems. The nine different cities and counties have different priorities for roads and thus nothing gets done. If you go to Northern Virginia you can see what good effect that the two counties and two cities have had on the highways because they are united in a cause for better roads.

That won’t be the case in Tidewater. Four-hundred years of communities once separated by miles of farms and now nearly one large metropolitan area still have the political divisions of those four-hundred years. Heaven forbid that Norfolk has the same goals as Portsmouth or Virginia Beach. No other city in the area wants to grow like Virginia Beach…San Fernando Valley on the Atlantic Ocean. Divided voices get nothing done. Just like in the Santa Clarita Valley.

No, I wanted y’all to have a figurative “lump of coal” because it may just light a fire under the West Ranch Community to do something about taking control of your own destiny. Los Angeles County has approved, (or soon will), 20,000 more homes in your part of the SCV. What is the County going to do to mitigate the traffic and infrastructure problems that huge development is going to cause? Allow the developer to use Mello-Roos to tax the new home buyers? Increase taxes in Northern L.A. County to pay for more services? And in that Dave was right again…it was a gift that little bit of coal. It sure got Dave fired up!

One other point – I do take umbrage at being compared to Frank Ferry. Unlike Frank Ferry, I am listening to y’all. We may not agree but I am listening. Since I get paid so much from the SIGNAL, (AKA – “Fish Wrap” per Dave’s definition), I am beholding to none. If they doubled my pay I would get exactly the same…ZERO. It is the same pay I get from the City of Santa Clarita. Read my column on Sunday and see my wishes for the new year for the SCV. Could someone get Dave a whole copy of the “Fish Wrap” for a change? If he reads the whole thing he may be surprised. Not every writer in it is like me. Some will really burn him up!

Darryl Manzer

Commentary

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich at the request of the West Ranch Town Council is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect(s) responsible for the vandalism of a Menorah in Stevenson Ranch.

A 7-foot decorative Menorah displayed during the Jewish Holiday of Hanukkah was vandalized twice – once on Thursday, December 21, 2007 and again on Friday, December 22, 2006.  The Menorah was located on the lawn at Holmes Place and Stevenson Ranch Parkway. The Board of Supervisors will vote to officially approve of Antonovich’s motion on January 9, 2007.

Supervisor Antonovich encourages anyone with information to contact Lt. Michael Dunkle of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station at (661) 255-1121.

The Daily News reports that ending the subsidy for residents outside Santa Clarita who enroll in city parks programs had little effect in its first test, according to a follow-up study set for review next week. 

The litmus test was Santa Clarita’s popular winter youth basketball league, where city residents were charged $93 apiece, and players from Stevenson Ranch, Castaic, Fair Oaks Ranch and other outlying areas paid $121.

Read the entire story here: http://www.dailynews.com/santaclarita/ci_4914835 

The Financial Times Doug Cameron in Chicago reports that sales of existing US homes rose slightly in November, though activity in the crucial southern market remained depressed in a sign that the nationwide market has yet to reach its nadir.

The National Association of Realtors said on Thursday that sales of all existing homes rose 0.6 per cent in November – the second consecutive monthly rise – with median prices dipping slightly and the inventory of unsold properties also dropping 1 per cent from recent highs.

Read the full story here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2bb66b30-9691-11db-8ba1-0000779e2340.html

To some it may appear that Purgatory has frozen over and that the world has been turned upside down or that dogs and cats are sleeping together. But I assure you that is not the case.

Yes, it is true that Richard Budman, Publisher of The Signal, and I had lunch at the TPC yesterday. It was a lunch that Don Fleming, West Ranch Town Council member, had invited me to attend.

Richard and I had not met one another before since he had taken over as Publisher of The Signal. It was by all accounts a very pleasant meeting in which many different topics were discussed. I did, of course, discuss my problems with The Signal and why I started the West Ranch Beacon. We had our different points of view and I believe that we agreed to disagree on a few of those points.

It was Mr. Fleming’s contention that we (the West Ranch area and the City) have better communication especially on some of the pressing topics like annexation. Don and Richard thought that we needed to get that into the local paper. They did acknowledge that the West Ranch Beacon was a forum, but that the combined readership would have a greater reach. (They were very diplomatic!)

I agreed to write a commentary on better communication, a sought of wipe the slate clean piece if you will, for The Signal in the coming weeks with the impression that it will actually be published as written. I will be curious to see if it is left intact! It will also be published as written on this blog, the West Ranch Beacon.

It was a good two hour lunch with some laughs and some frank discussions most of which will not go into print. I really felt good after leaving the lunch because I was able to express my dissatisfaction with the local paper and some of the personal running it directly to the publisher. For his part, Richard listened politely to what I had to say and at least expressed an interest in looking at some of the issues I raised.

Who knows, maybe you’ll start to see some cooperation between the West Ranch Beacon and The Signal in the coming New Year. Stranger things have certainly happened in the this Valley!

Dave Bossert

The Daily News  reports that despite a smattering of rain predicted for early today, weather officials issued a fire watch to last through Friday. High winds are predicted along with humidity dropping into the teens in the wake of the brief storm that blew through.

The National Weather Service’s fire-weather watch will take effect this afternoon and run through Friday afternoon with the chance that it will be upgraded to a more pressing red flag warning.

Today will continue cool with high temperatures in the low to mid-50s and winds of 35 to 45 mph, marked by gusts up to 70 mph in the passes and canyons. Overnight lows will dip into the 30s. Friday will be much the same with winds diminishing through the weekend and into the New Year.