Archive By Section - Columnists
Revolt against $4 tomatoes
Mother's Day. Rushing through Pavilions, gathering groceries for our barbecue just one hour before folks hit the front door. Today's menu: burgers and dogs, baked beans, chips and salsa. And we plan to do the burgers up right, what with big beefsteak tomato slices, white onions, crisp lettuce, American cheese - the works.
Knowing more about our judges
In just a week, California's citizens will be voting for various political candidates-including individuals who want to serve as superior court judges in Los Angeles County.
Imagining the world without America's sacrifices
It is truly a wonderful life we lead in the Santa Clarita Valley and in this great country of ours! We are blessed with an abundance of resources and an ample array of individual freedoms to take advantage of those resources as the spirit moves us. That we take such a notion for granted is a tribute to the individuals who secured such freedoms for us - the American soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast ...
McCain masters political comebacks
In the 1992 Democratic New Hampshire primary, while drafting a concession speech to massage a draining eight-point second -place finish, Clinton speechwriter Paul Begala concocted a line that maneuvered the Gennifer-Flowers-draf- letter-drenched Bill Clinton into the primary's seeming winner. By spinning a second place finish that had actually fizzled from a 2-point lead on Jan. 19, according to a Boston Globe poll, into the magical circus tent voila of "the comeback kid," the Clinton campaign ...
Judging the judges for June 3 election
Hold on, Santa Clarita, there is another election on the horizon! I was scanning over my ballot earlier this week thinking about whom I am voting for in the June 3 California Primary. Though it is considered by many a rather ho-hum nothing election, there is a great deal at stake in two weeks. Your participation in this upcoming election is really very important. First, the easy choices:
Remembering our heroes in the SCV
I'm glad those few days of scorching weather are behind us! However, I know that August will bring those triple digits back in full force, but until then, I'm enjoying this rainy, cool weather. Ahhh!
Vigilance + water = lives saved
Few news stories are as heartbreaking as those involving children drowning. California's leading cause of accidental death of kids under 5, drowning is profoundly tragic on several levels. It needlessly cuts precious lives short, and in the case of survived near-drownings, can lead to brain damage or other life-changing deficits. It frequently leaves aggrieved families blaming themselves for not preventing the catastrophe from happening in the first place. What a sad, miserable legacy that must ...
What are we doing for Memorial Day?
It's almost Memorial Day weekend, and my family has nothing to do. Last Sunday, I asked my wife what she wanted to do. She said she didn't know. I asked my 4-year-old son what he wanted to do. He also said he didn't know. The two of them asked me what I wanted to do. I said I didn't know. The next day, I left a voicemail for some family friends, asking if they wanted ...
Polluted water shouldn't count
In 2000, after our comments were dismissed, the Friends of the Santa Clara River challenged the Castaic Lake Water Agency in court for overstating the water available to Santa Clarita for existing residents and new development in its Urban Water Management Plan. Four years later, the court finally came to the conclusion that we were right, and that the water agencies had not made the issue of contaminated water clear in their plan.
The times, they are a changin’
It is difficult to believe that only eight years ago the Democratic Party was being relegated to the political scrap heap and Republicans were speaking in terms of wielding power for generations. It is amazing
We need fiscal reform, not education cuts
At City Hall last Tuesday, a huge crowd joined in a rally supporting the Santa Clarita Valley Education Coalition. They were protesting Governor Schwarzenegger's estimated $4.8 billion proposed reduction in education spending. Statewide, there have been many of these public outpourings ever since the governor issued his 10 percent across-the-board budget cuts in January. Among the group were school board trustees, teachers, students, parents, business owners, city officials, school district employees and superintendents. In Santa ...
Summer arrives early in the SCV
While it seems that summer has arrived with guns a-blazing in the SCV, we were fortunate to have the best weather I've ever experienced for Taste of the Town on May 4. Let's hope that June gloom returns ASAP! Seen at Taste of the Town
Staying connected in the event of an emergency
With Southern California being home to not only movie stars, but earthquakes and wild fires as well, it is imperative that residents throughout have the means to stay informed in the event of a local emergency. The city of Santa Clarita is constantly preparing for any possible disasters and has recently launched a new addition to the city's Emergency Notification System that will allow residents to update their own contact information through the city's Web ...
Pressure is on: L.A.'s Special Order 40
I had the pleasure of attending the Ignacio Ramos/Jose Compean Fundraiser, earlier this month at the Skirball Cultural Center. The fundraiser for imprisoned U.S. Border agents was a sell-out. I was delighted to see many Santa Claritans there who contributed the $25 per ticket to see Chris Burgard's Border, the spellbinding movie about illegal immigration, revealing the plight of those who illegally cross the border.
Support federal Wilderness Bill to preserve SCV
In my teenage years my parents decided to move to Los Angeles. Having seen the beautiful beaches of Santa Barbara and the luscious trees of Beverly Hills in soap operas, I was expecting to be blown away by California's nature.
Articles by Section - Columnists
Frank Ferry:Live from City Hall
The city of Santa Clarita's annual Teen Scene Unplugged is back, but with a new name and theme for local teens and parents.
Tim Myers: A decline in enrollment hits the SCV
When we moved to the SCV in 1996, the big educational news of that time revolved around over-strained elementary and secondary school facilities.
Danny Tyree: Taking a break from the pollsters
According to a Politico story titled "GOP Looks For Answers," the National Republican Congressional Committee is taking major steps to prevent a repeat of the misleading poll results that embarrassed the party in the 2012 election cycle.
Joe Guzzardi: The Gang of Eight backs off amnesty
The Senate's notorious Gang of Eight, a small cadre of amnesty advocates who hope to pressure Congress into passing disastrous immigration reform legislation, has developed a new game plan.
Alice Khosravy: Signs of life emerge in California GOP
Each year people across the country wait for Groundhog Day and hope that spring will come early.
Steve Lunetta: Dirty deeds done for dirt cheap
One of the strangest songs ever written by the Young brothers and Bonn Scott was a little ditty that talked about a gentleman who was willing to do anything for a small fee.
Gary Horton: Helmets may not be cool but staying alive is
Just put a lid on it!
Kevin Buck: A Whig and a prayer for understanding
From the early 1830s until 1852 - when they refused to re-nominate Millard Filmore, their own incumbent president - the Whig Party was a dominant political force in America.
Steve Lunetta: Obama's new folly
The irony is astounding. The sequestration plan that appears to be a machination by President Obama's White House is now coming back to haunt him big time.
Edward Headington: Last call to release the Kraken!
Apple pie, "Bye Bye Birdie" and Beverly Cleary are all things most Americans would admit to liking. You could also throw in DVRs, shorter commutes and the warm-and-fuzzy title of the proposed "Clean Water, Clean Beaches" measure before county property owners.
David Hegg: Ethically Speaking
For several years between my graduate studies and my first ministry position I was in the corporate world. Providing for my family while serving as a lay minister meant being immersed in the world of business. I owned and ran a small business, transitioned to a home office marketing position in a multi-state financial institution, and ended up as a sales manager for a national company.
Donna Brazile: Demand to know, 'Where's the beef?'
In an iconic commercial, two old ladies, after looking inside a nearly empty hamburger bun, demand of the hapless fast-food clerk, "Where's the beef?" The phrase expresses outrage at false advertising - pretending there's something of substance in the sandwich when there's really nothing there.
Laurene Weste: Live from City Hall
One of the hallmarks of our city is its commitment to sustainability, state-of-the-art recycling and diversion programs, and community support to work together for the environment.
Tim Myers: A lesson in the industry of self preservation
I would commend to anyone with an ironic sense of humor the cable TV series "Portlandia," from the minds of Fred Armisen of Saturday Night Live and Carrie Brownstein of indie music fame.
Helen Harwood: SCV Voices
I do wish sometimes that some of your regular contributors to The Signal's Letters to the Editor would spend less time writing unsubstantiated clichés and more time reading up on economics.
