The West Ranch Beacon - News & Commentary for the Santa Clarita Valley » Holidays

California establishes annual day honoring Ronald Reagan

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:36:21 +0000

(From the AP) Tributes to Ronald Reagan are hardly rare in California, where a freeway, medical center, state office building and other landmarks already bear his name. Now the conservative icon has his own day on the calendar. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed two bills Monday paying tribute to Reagan, a former Republican president and governor who died in 2004. Schwarzenegger praised his fellow actor for his dedication to freedom and democracy and his spirit of optimism.

The first bill, SB944, designates Feb. 6 as Ronald Reagan Day and encourages schools to spend the day commemorating Reagan’s life and accomplishments.

The second, AB1911, establishes a commission to plan the celebration of what would have been Reagan’s 100th birthday next February. The nine-member commission will use private donations to pay for the festivities.

1 Killed, 7 Injured in traffic accident at City Fireworks Show

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:46:58 +0000

Near the end of the City of Santa Clarita’s July 4th Fireworks Show at the Valencia Town Center, a traffic collision occurred between two vehicles. The impact of the collision caused one of the vehicles to spin out of control, jumping the curb and hitting a group of nearby pedestrians. One person Matilda Garnica F/43, was killed in the collision and approximately seven other pedestrians were injured. If you witnessed this incident, you are urged to call the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station to provide your statement.

There is no further information available at this time. If You See Something, Say Something! Anyone with information about a local crime is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Santa Clarita Valley Station at (661) 255-1121. If you prefer to provide information ANONYMOUSLY, you can call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-222-TIPS (8477), texting the letters TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES (274637), or using the web site at www.lacrimestoppers.com. Detective Jeff Maag(661) 255-1121jamaag@lasd.org

Happy 4th of July!

admin — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 12:25:27 +0000

From all of us at the www.westranchbeacon.com, we wish you and your families a happy, healthy and safe 4th of July Holiday. To find out about all the wonderful July 4th events going on around town check out the Santa Clarita Guide. Please be safe; be aware of those around you; don’t drink and drive and remember that all fireworks are illegal in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.

The History of July 4th

admin — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 09:55:51 +0000

Independence Day in the U.S., is an annual holiday commemorating the formal adoption by the Continental Congress of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia. Although the signing of the Declaration was not completed until August, the Fourth of July holiday has been accepted as the official anniversary of U.S. independence and is celebrated in all states and territories of the U.S. according to History.com.

The holiday was first observed in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776, at which time the Declaration of Independence was read aloud, city bells rang, and bands played. It was not declared a legal holiday, however, until 1941. The Fourth is traditionally celebrated publicly with parades and pageants, patriotic speeches, and organized firing of guns and cannons and displays of fireworks; early in the 20th century public concern for a “safe and sane” holiday resulted in restrictions on general use of fireworks. Family picnics and outings are a feature of private Fourth of July celebrations.

July 4th flag etiquette; Standards & respect

admin — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 23:30:47 +0000

The American flag is a fixture of July 4th, and there are a number of etiquette points that go along with its public display. In flying a flag at a private residence, house or apartment, it should be flown at night only if illuminated and in inclement weather only if made of all-weather material; the flag should never be dipped to any person or thing and it is flown upside down only as a distress signal.. The flag should be clean and without tears, rips or shredding. For a complete list of Flag etiquette click here: Flag etiquette

Speeding Tickets By State: Where are drivers most likely ticketed?

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:30:06 +0000

(MMD Newswire) The 4th of July is one of the busiest traffic days of the year and nothing can ruin a vacation more quickly than an undeserved traffic ticket. Information on how many traffic tickets are issued in each state is hard to come by because most localities – especially ticket-happy speed trap towns — are reluctant to publicize their ticketing prowess and states typically don’t have an agency responsible for gathering and summarizing ticket data from the various jurisdictions.

That means that getting drivers the information they need to protect themselves from unjust tickets requires a little creativity.

The National Motorists Association to the rescue?

Luckily, the National Motorists Association (www.motorists.org) — a motorists’ rights group that has been helping drivers fight their traffic tickets (www.motorists.org/fightticket/) for over 25
years – has come up with a way to give 4th of July travelers some insight on which states are most likely to ticket drivers.

How did the NMA generate these rankings?

The rankings below were generated by analyzing ticket-related search queries such as “speeding ticket” and “traffic tickets” over time using Google’s Search Insights — a public tool that shows state-by-state search trends across the United States.

Without further ado, the rankings:

After crunching the numbers, the National Motorists Association found that the state most likely to hand out a traffic ticket is Florida, followed closely by Georgia and Nevada. The state where drivers are least likely to get a traffic ticket is Montana.

Here are the 10 states (and District) most likely to ticket motorists:

1) Florida
2 tie) Georgia
2 tie) Nevada
4) Texas
5) Alabama
6) Missouri
7) New York
North Carolina
9) District of Columbia
10) New Jersey

And here are the 10 states least likely to ticket motorists:

51) Montana
50) Wyoming
49) North Dakota
48) South Dakota
47) Alaska
46) Maine
45) West Virginia
44) Idaho
43) Nebraska
42) New Mexico

Obviously, these rankings aren’t perfect (search queries can be impacted by a number of different factors), but the National Motorists Association has found that the list matches up well with
their day-to-day experiences helping motorists fight traffic
tickets.

The full list of state rankings and further information on how they were calculated can be found at www.motorists.org/ticket-trends/.

July 4th Safety Tips for Pets

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:00:38 +0000

The Fourth of July is one of the busiest times for the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control (DACC). DACC would like to remind pet owners that extra precautions are necessary in order to protect pets during Fourth of July celebrations. Dogs and cats can become startled and disoriented by the loud noises of fireworks. Pets may panic and attempt to escape your property. To ensure the safety of your pets, here are a few tips:

Make sure your dog’s license is current and be sure the tags are securely affixed to your dog’s collar.
Keep your pets indoors in a cool, comfortable place.
Do not keep your pets in the backyard, even if they are tied up. Dogs, in particular, can break free from restraints and jump fences when frightened.
Do not take your pets to community fireworks events. Most events do not allow pets, and the noises are terrifying for pets.
If you are leaving town for the weekend and cannot take your pets with you, make sure you leave them with someone who will be cautious during the Fourth of July celebrations.

If your pet becomes lost over the Fourth of July weekend, DACC will be maintaining its regular shelter hours to accommodate pet owners. The hours for the Fourth of July weekend are as follows:

Saturday, July 3, & Sunday, July 4, 2010: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM, and
Monday, July 5, 2010 between the hours of 12:00 PM-7:00 PM.

The addresses to the shelter locations are:

1. Agoura Animal Shelter- 29525 Agoura Road, Agoura Hills, 91301

2. Baldwin Park Animal Shelter- 4275 N. Elton St., Baldwin Park, 91706

3. Carson Animal Shelter- 216 W. Victoria St., Gardena, 90248

4. Castaic Animal Shelter- 31044 N. Charlie Canyon Rd., Castaic 91384

5. Downey Animal Shelter- 11258 S. Garfield Ave., Downey 90242

6. Lancaster Animal Shelter- 5210 W. Avenue I, Lancaster 93536

If you have any questions, you can visit our website, http://animalcare.lacounty.gov or contact your local animal shelter.

Red, White and Blue Party at All Corked Up

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:30:16 +0000

(Special from Eve’s Wine 101) Celebrate the 4^th on the 1^st with friends at All Corked Up! I’ve had many more than just 5 years worth of 4th of July events with relatives. We have birthdays too. And the holidays. Gotta love that. But better – and harder to do – is finding a way to celebrate a holiday with my friends. The ones that appreciate wine.

This year Eddie and I, AKA Mr. and Mrs. Waldo, will be thinking outside of the yellow-cake-box by attending an early Independence party on 7/1 and challenge you too. Do your holiday the way you want. Without the jello mold and the Rice Krispie treats. Mom will still be there on the 4th. Promise.

Here’s what I found out from David Schutz, one of the many Schutzs that work together at All Corked Up, to entice you too:

David, I know that you are currently advertising a wine sale that begins on July 1st. I think that having your 4th of July event on the 1st is a good way for guests to take advantage of both the party and the deep discounts. Why did you plan it on the 1st?

David: Our 5th annual party is perfect for “kicking off” the Holiday weekend and enjoying tri-tip bbq’d right as you walk up, a big wine sale (no corkage) and great live music!

The band that will be playing that night, Naked to the World, are they Classic American Rock or something?

David: Naked To The World features award winning singer-songwriter Kevin Fisher, playing a wide range of original and classic favorites.

I understand that you’ll have some menu items available that night from your restaurant, but what’s the story on the Tri-Tip?

David: Retailer BBQ Galore will be featuring and grilling tri-tip on the latest and greatest grills on the market and also offering specials in their stores for those attending.

Will readers get a chance to meet Chef Liz Pack, Sommelier and General Manager DiMaggio Washington, or will Vic Herstein be available in the retail store?

David: Yes! All three! All will want to come and meet Chef Liz, talk wine with Dimaggio or Vic and see what’s in and hot for your summer parties and BBQ’s. But don’t forget: Each year this is a sold out event, so don’t hesitate to RSVP.

The Info:

Thursday, July 1st 6:30-10:30pm
BBQ Tri-Tip Dinner
and Special menu items

20% off all wine bottle purchases
$17.95

Corkage Free Night
Open Seating

Discount Warehouse will have 20% Off Sale until July 3rd

26340 Diamond Place, Santa Clarita, CA 91350
Please R.S.V.P. 661-799-7979 www.allcorkedup.com
*No one under 21 permitted in facility

A Sharp View: Independence Day- A George Washington Production

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:30:31 +0000

Like actual spies, I’ve lived two lives on this Earth. In my first life in intense New York City, I was a journalist. In my second life as a public teacher in pastoral California, I have learned that the most effective way I can teach history in a state where people seem to hate the past is to perform it in modern costume. In a modern staging of 18^th Century American history, we see that the great leaders of an independent America- the brilliant thinkers like Jefferson and Franklin and the Adams family, and the Federalist writers like Hamilton and Madison and John Jay- would today be fighting annexation from a power-hungry and publicity-thirsty clique.

But as I try to write about Independence Day as an academic historian, I have to correct a popular mistake that is being perpetuated by our current state educational curriculum. The mistake is that there was something in our history called an “American Revolution.”

An easy way to understand a real revolution is to think of literal revolution as the turning of a wheel. In the French Revolution, King Louis XVI started out on the top spoke of the wheel, but when the wheel turned, he was crushed onto the bottom part. To the top eventually rose a practically homeless and unknown Italian officer in the French army named Napoleon Bonaparte. In Russia, Czar Nicholas II started out on top, but when the wheel was turned, Nicholas was smashed on the bottom. On top rose a political fugitive disguised in a curly wig named Vladimir Lenin.

In what properly must be called the “American War of Independence,” there was none of this Ferris wheel turning and changing of top and bottom. It was more of a terrible divorce or a tortuous mitosis than a revolutionary cycle. In 1775, George III was the only big wheel. But he stayed there for many years, talking to a favorite tree long after he lost America. In the meantime, American had grown its own big wheel in George Washington.

Now, switch to July 4, 2010

Originally I wrote the above opening paragraphs top my piece for the West Ranch Beacon for July 4, 2008, when there was a very hot debate that is still going on about what kind of government is worthy of the people of the Santa Clarity Valley. Should there be a centralized government from out of one big building? Or should there be more of a distributive government distributed to outlying local neighbors?

George Washington clearly saw the need for a good central government, as shown in his support of the Federalist Papers and his own identification as a Federalist. But – as I will describe here – Washington was also very much an incarnation of a Greek democrat, believing that a good central government must work in a collegial partnership with good local leaders on every outskirt.

It doesn’t take much history to see that the evolution of civilization grows in jump starts from the strength of outstanding personalities. Washington was one of those powerful personalities, probably closer in a class with Moses than you or I. Well, maybe not you, but he was certainly in a station closer to Moses than I am.

I firmly believe that you can study the lives of the ten most important founding fathers after Washington and still not learn about what was happening to America in July 4, 1776 like you would learn from reviewing the single remarkable life of George Washington.

And here he is again, George Washington as seen by one more grateful American on this July 4 season:

He was stubborn.

Washington spent most of his accumulated days at the First Continental Army’s winter quarters in 1777-1778 requesting basic food and clothing from the Continental Congress for his hungry and cold army. Just as commonly, the Continental Congress wrote back to urge Washington to rethink his vow to never take food or clothing from the outlying civilian populations by the force of a bayonet.

Washington proved in the right in treating all the civilian populations around the battlefield areas correctly. Before the long eight-year War of Independence was over, America’s various civilian populations – even those that had started the conflict as British sympathizers – ended the war supporting Washington over the British armies that had desperately stolen what they could from them.

Washington’s stubbornness may have been terrible for those on the wrong side of it, but for everyone else it was like an unexpected refund. Even when Washington insisted on recreating a revised city of Athens off the Potomac River to unmistakably assign Greek democracy to the United States of America, his stubbornness prevailed. While Boston, Philadelphia and New York have all changed with the times, Washington’s pantheon vision of an Athenian Washington DC has remained intact. It seems no one wants to cross Washington’s wishes even centuries after his death – another likeness he seems to share with Moses.

He was loved.

When the long War of Independence finally ended – I try to use this description of the war as often as I can to help knock out the misuse of the word “Revolution” – Washington called his soldiers together so he could give them a farewell talk. Maybe Washington was also a little like Moses in being unsure about words – even the book of etiquette he had written for his own benefit worried most about the improper use of language. In any case, Washington was much more uncomfortable giving any impromptu talk than he was carefully reading a talk from script.

But then, unexpectedly, Washington couldn’t read his script with the tears in his eyes. Finally, he put on a pair of reading spectacles Benjamin Franklin had made for him.

His no-longer-so-young soldiers first sobbed quietly, but this soon cascaded into open weeping in the ranks. Later it was discovered that Washington’s long-time soldiers simply were not prepared to accept any sign of aging in their long-time, beloved commander.

This rare love and loyalty to a commander over the years was in no part tied to any softness Washington showed his soldiers. If a breakdown in discipline were to jeopardize the security of his army, Washington would have a weak link soundly thrashed faster than Captain Bligh. But the rigid discipline he installed in his ranks ultimately saved the lives of countless American soldiers through many years of hazardous fighting against a British Army known as the world’s most effective fighting force. In fact, so few soldiers died under Washington’s command throughout the long war that if he had simply been supervising the boy scouts of his day, he would have been commended for keeping them around for so long.

He was classic.

In 1775, Washington traveled from his Mount Vernon home in Virginia in his old colonel’s uniform he used to fight against the French. When he arrived in Philadelphia to receive the command of the Continental Army, he was driving an ancient-style chariot, somewhat as Achilles was described using in “The Iliad.” He was also escorted by 500 horsemen somewhat in the style of an arrival by Alexander the Great.

In that book Washington wrote to help control his own etiquette, he extolled Greek-style stoicism as a proper attitude. That meant to him to be constantly on the watch to withhold what he might have wanted to say.

But Washington seemed to recognize that he made such a formidable impression without even saying a word that speaking even slightly too much for him might become overkill. Certainly his words could stop everything from working around him. So he preferred to be silent so that the people around him – the Hamilton’s and the Jefferson’s and the Madison’s and all the founding fathers included – might give a creative free play to their own lively intellects.

Washington’s stoicism was especially evident when he accepted the presidency of the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. On-the-site chroniclers remembered Washington bringing up only one point-of-order during the entire convention.

But as Benjamin Franklin observed, Washington had such a presence that he could control all of Constitutional Hall just by standing by the door.

Surely our own Suing and Shouting Frank Ferry trying to showcase his latest high-density development would turn not just red but different shades of purple trying to wrest center stage away from a silent George Washington visiting City Hall, .

Happy Independence Day, everyone.

Chris Sharp- Commentary

Chris Sharp is an Educator and a prize-winning professional writer. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.