Letters to the Editor

Faulkner Farm

To the Editor:

As you most likely know, the Faulkner Farm is now “under siege”. In May, 2010 the Hansen Trust Advisory Board sent a letter to the University of California recommending that the Faulkner Farm be sold as soon as possible. Since many people and organizations in Santa Paula have benefited from the activities on the property we are soliciting your help in preventing this travesty by writing a letter to Mark G. Yudof, President of the University of California president@ucop.edu and Dan Dooley, Vice President for External Affairs, University of California Dan.Dooley@ucop.edu.

When Thelma Hansen passed in 1993, the UC Hansen Trust became a special endowment with the University of California. An advisory board was established to make recommendations to the UC about how the purpose and mission of the Trust was to be administered. Numerous times the community has been asked to assess the Trust’s progress towards reaching its goals and to participate in strategic planning processes. The Trust’s original mission and goals have been precisely followed and the Trust continues to receive accolades from not only the University of California but from admirers across the nation.

The current board sought no public input before making their decision to sell the property and placed a gag order on staff. We believe that the Faulkner Farm is the symbol of Agriculture in Ventura County. The programs run by the trust and at the Farm are a real asset to the County, both in research for farmers and in education for the public to help strengthen the fragile bond between an increasingly urban county and continuing agricultural production.

This fall the University of California is planning to do a full program review of the Hansen Trust. We welcome this review as it will give all of us an opportunity to highlight how vital Faulkner Farm is to the Trust and the community and how successful the Trust has been in achieving it’s mission and goals. In the meantime, we need your support in getting the message out that the sale of the Faulkner Farm is just flat out wrong and a disservice to all the residents of Ventura County.

Mike Mobley

Ginger Gherardi

Santa Paula

Special thanks

To the Editor:

I want to thank my daughter Melissa Sibrian Banuelos for planning a fantastic 70^th Birthday Party for me. The party was attended by over a hundred close friends and relatives who enjoyed the music of Juano and Friends Band. Thanks go to the Limoneira Ranch for the use of their beautiful park.

A special thanks to the chef Edward Martinez and his helpers Tina Basua, Esther Seaman, Ofie Garcia, Noreen Martinez, Arlene Villa, my son David Sibrian, Tudy Banuelos and to my husband Carlos Guerrero who made this a very special day.

Thanks again for making this a very memorable Birthday.

Velia Sibrian-Guerrero

Santa Paula

Re: Remensperger Letter of July 30, 2010

To the Editor:

What does a 4^th century saint have top do with the councilman which you picked out of the 5 Santa Paula city councilman in my July 23, 2-10 letter is beyond me, Ms. Remensperger, but I can only conclude that you either want to canonize Mr. Aguirre or simply obscure Aguirre’s tilt towards Marxism, which is it? What does the speech, which he gave on November 2005 in Chile, indicate to you, religious theology or political hard leftist propaganda? Mr. Aguirre’s votes during his term on the Santa Paula City Council certainly tell of his conviction so the label of “Marxist” is not an exaggeration. Let’s take for example; the Fagan Canyon Development the majority of Santa Paula Voters were strongly against it but his vote on the council was for the full development. He has been a staunch supporter of low income projects within the city which has led to a profusion of low income units without regards to the consequences to the community at large such as diminished city revenues (leads to low funding of city workers). I don’t question his sincerity with the underprivileged, but I don’t condone nor agree with his beliefs and ideology. Ms. Remensperger, I also come from modest means but I was taught from an early age that to succeed in life one was must work hard whether it be studying or manual labor; success is achieved by the fruits of our labor. A segment of our society has forgotten that the best charity to mankind is enabling the poor to help themselves! Without a doubt there is generosity in Aguirre’s heart as I’m sure you strive for similar kindness, but I’m no less compassionate, however I still believe that giving a man a job is better than misleading him into the false sense of entitlement. Would you call the folks in Bell, California unkind in their criticism and subsequent rage at the Bell City Council after finding that they had rewarded themselves, the city manager and the chief of police outrages salaries? Should we not speak out against the runaway taxation currently escalating at the city, state and federal level, and the enormous debt this Congress and President is saddling our country with the new social entitlements, you may not, but I sure will! Regarding Santa Paula’s dire need of healing please consider the present economic chaos the city manager and present majority in the city council is trying to reconcile due to the lack good revenue sources. How do you think this problem was created, the overtaxing the rich or taxing the poor? Our country, especially the Southwest Border States, is in dire straits all due to folks like you and Aguirre that either condone or espouse his liberation theology and open borders all due to the intellectual dishonesty of leftist or intellectually foolish leftist thinkers. Ms. Remensperger has implied that the city’s name was derived from Saint Paula and a name change is in order should the community “not heal”; perhaps Aunt Juana may be the appropriate name change!