Scenes from the 12th Annual Sounds of Conejo Marching Band Field Show Exhibition at Thousand Oaks High School on Saturday, September 28, 2019

The 12th Annual Sounds of Conejo marching band field show exhibition took place the night of Saturday, September 28, 2019 at Thousand Oaks High School Lancer Stadum.

There were 10 local area bands showing off their outstanding performances this year, including, Buena, Camarillo, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Oak Park, Oxnard, Oxnard, Royal, Saugus, Westlake and Thousand Oaks high schools.

This footage captures snippets of some of the bands’ performances. Every single band, large or small, did a fantastic job! Kudos to the Thousand Oaks High School Instrumental Music Department and supporting team of parents to pull off such a great event every year.

The grand finale included all 10 bands on the field at the same time, along with fantastic color guards (flag and dance sections) of the respective bands. What a fun evening on this beautiful, crisp early fall night in the Conejo Valley.

Nice job, Oxnard HS Marching Band!

Missed you in the video footage, Oak Park, but you were great!

All 10 bands congregating together for the grand finale!

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That’s a lot of band members together on the field at Thousand Oaks High School!

Thousand Oaks High School Band and Color Guard putting on a great show.

Newbury Park High School Boys Cross Country Team Wins Woodbridge Classic in Record Time, Led by Record-Shattering Nico Young

Record-setting Newbury Park High School Boys Cross Country Team receiving post-race accolades.

I had the good fortune to witness first-hand last night’s record shattering performance by the Newbury Park High School Boys Cross Country Team at the 39th Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic at the Silverlakes Sports Complex in Corona.

Newbury Park, along with several other local area teams, was invited to participate in the Sweepstakes finale, featuring 32 top teams.

(Truth be told, I wouldn’t miss this event as I have a son that runs on this fantastic team!).

Nico’s Performance

Senior Nico Young obliterated the previous course record time of 13:58 with a time of 13:39.70, a time that MileSplit notes is the nation’s fastest high school 3 mile cross country effort of ALL TIME. Yes, you heard it right. He didn’t just break the record. He stomped all over it by over 15 seconds!

Nico is a certified rock star! I can certify that as I was witness to numerous fans requesting photos with this standout who also won the Woodbridge Invitational last year along with the California Division II cross country and 3200 meter track championships.

The Team’s Performance

The rest of the team last night included senior Jace Aschbrenner (2nd overall in 14:04.8), junior Nick Goldstein (7th in 14:25.6), sophomore Colin Sahlman (10th in 14:26.9), junior Daniel Appleford (24th in 14:36.7), freshman Lex Young (25th in 14:37.4) and junior Thomas McDonnell (33rd in 14:44.9). There were 240 participants in the race.

The top 5 scoring members of the team set a course record of 1:11:10.0, or an average of 14:14 per runner. This was not just the course record. It is the fastest high school 3 mile team time ever run on California soil!

This group of Newbury Park athletes has been training diligently all summer long for this season. And it shows. A second team of outstanding runners competed in the Rated race and finished in 4th place.

And let’s not forget the up and coming girls team, which competed in the 3 Mile Girls Sweepstakes event immediately preceding the boys event Saturday night. A fantastic showing by the girls resulted in 5th place, just 38 points away from the 1st place team. The top 5 scoring members of the girls team included junior Fiona Hawkins (18th overall in 16:53.7), senior Archana Mohandas (31st in 17:08.5), sophomore Sam McDonnell (35th in 17:12.3), freshman Ailish Hawkins (63rd in 17:39.8) and senior Gretchen Slattum (64th in 17:40.6).

Kudos to Coach Sean Brosnan, who is in his 4th year coaching at NPHS. He correctly predicted the strong team showing the day before the race in this runnerspace.com interview.

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Record-setting Nico Young joyful immediately after the race with Coach Sean Brosnan.

Other local top 25 showings in the Sweepstakes races included Thousand Oaks High School senior Michael Mireles (4th place overall in 14:17.6) and Moorpark High School senior Keith Murray (23rd in 14:35.9). Junior Jill Walker from Simi Valley High School finished 13th overall in 16:49.6.

Rankings

On August 23rd, DyeStat/RunnerSpace published pre-season national high school cross country team rankings. Newbury Park was ranked 4th on this list, behind Great Oak, CA (#1), Corner Canyon, UT (#2) and Loudoun Valley, VA (#3).

Well guess what…Newbury Park beat the #1 ranked Great Oak last night by a score of 36 to 69. Great Oak is a fantastic program and last year’s winner at this event as well as reigning 2018 Division 1 state champions.

This could be interesting.

Cross Country Scoring

For those unfamiliar with how cross country scoring works, teams are allowed up to 7 runners in the race, but only the top 5 are included in the scoring. First place receives 1 point, 55th place receives 55 points, and so on. The fastest 5 runners on each team are added together for the score.

So no matter how fast an individual runs, for the team, what counts the most is the placing. The lowest possible point total is 1+2+3+4+5 for 15 points. Newbury Park scored 38 last night.

The Future

Aside from setting personal records, Nico and his team are focused on winning the California Division 2 state championship for the 2nd year in a row. Then they want to compete in the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) and win the national title. Newbury Park finished 6th in last year’s NXN in its first appearance at that invitation-only event.

Congratulations, team! For updates, visit www.newburyparkcrosscountry.com.

Fire Velo Cyclists Riding through Malibu This Morning on Fire Service Cancer Awareness Bicycle Ride

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A post shared by Conejo Valley Guide (@conejovalleyguide) on Aug 24, 2019 at 11:44am PDT

I was in the right place at the right time to catch this group of Fire Velo riders on the final 50 mile stage of their 7-day, 500+ mile 2019 Fire Service Cancer Awareness Bicycle Ride from San Francisco to the Santa Monica Pier. This footage on southbound PCH was taken at 9:30am just north of Zuma Beach. They were escorted once again by Malibu Fire Station #99, the westernmost fire station in Los Angeles County.

Fire Velo is a fire service based cycling club with a focus on cancer awareness within the fire service and raises funds for various firefighter cancer support organizations. More info at www.firevelo.com.

California Minimum Wage Laws as of July 2019

Barring additional changes in California minimum wage laws prior to 2023, here is the schedule for California minimum wages through that year from the State of California Department of Industrial Relations:

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Source: www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_minimumwage.htm

The federal minimum wage for 2019 is $7.25, a rate that has stood frozen in time since it became effective on July 24, 2009. Politics aside, if a federal minimum wage is going to exist and serve any purpose, why would it not change for 10 years? For it to have any meaning, perhaps apply an inflation factor to the rate. Cumulative price changes from 2009 to 2019 were about 19%, which would render a federal minimum wage rate of $8.63 in 2019. Otherwise, perhaps eliminate the federal minimum wage rate and leave it to the states.

I digress. In addition to the state and federal minimum wage rates, many cities and counties have their own minimum wage ordinances, including our neighboring Los Angeles County and City of Los Angeles:

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Note that as of July 2019, employees at companies with 26 or more City of Los Angeles based employees will receive a minimum of $14.25 per hour, $2.25 more than the rest of the state, including Ventura County. But if your LA based company only employs 25 employees or less, the minimum is $13.25.

Employees in unincorporated sections of Los Angeles County also receive the above noted rates.

As of July 2019, the County of Ventura and cities in Ventura County have not established separate minimum wage rates.

Now if you’re really looking for a high minimum wage, move to San Francisco, where the current minimum wage is $15.59 per hour as of July 1st.

For local area jobs in Ventura County and nearby areas that pay more than the minimum wage rate, visit THIS LINK.

Annual Release of Goats to Clear the Hill Next to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley

Lucky to be at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley this morning to witness the annual release of grazing goats on the hillside west of the Library. What a sight! These seemingly endlessly hungry goats help mitigate fire danger by clearing the hill of dry vegetation.

More on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum at THIS LINK.

New “The World of da Vinci” exhibit at the Reagan Library May 24 to September 8, 2019.

Fields of Yellow: Invasive, Non-Native Black Mustard Plants Seen Throughout the Conejo Valley

It has been a beautiful ride this winter and spring, watching the hills turn from golden brown to lush green and now the deep yellow color of the invasive black mustard “weed” that has sprouted more than typically seen throughout the Conejo Valley.

I’ve walked through 8 foot tall mustard plants in the Hillcrest Open Space and seen the hillsides in Calabasas blanketed in yellow in the past several weeks. While stunning to see, these non-native plants prevent germination of native plants. Let’s hope our local agencies and organizations can clear out much of this growth before we reach peak fire season later this year.

Off the 101 in Calabasas

Hillcrest Open Space

Hillcrest Open Space

Malibu Creek State Park

Las Virgenes Highlands Park

The Oaks Celebrates Its Fifth Decade with Five Majestic Oak Trees Inside the Mall in Thousand Oaks

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The Oaks Shopping Mall in Thousand Oaks. This shot taken early this morning, April 1, 2019, showing the majestic 100 foot oak trees planted inside the mall.

The Oaks originally opened its doors in April 1978 and is thus now in its fifth decade here in Thousand Oaks.

To celebrate this milestone, late yesterday this iconic shopping mall installed five majestic oak trees inside the mall. At over 100 feet in height, these five transplanted trees were relocated via crane into five designated spots near Macy’s (both stores), JCPenney, Nordstrom and the AMC Theater.

Alan Arbour, a local tree expert involved in the effort, notes “It was a monumental effort transporting these five massive trees, identifying spots inside the mall that would accommodate them and plopping them through specially made protrusion holes in the ceiling.”

“The visual element of these five spectacular trees above the mall’s airspace is incredible, if you ask me,” said Grace Gullibal, social media coordinator for The Oaks. “At over 100 feet tall, these trees can be seen from space.”

According to Pulin Mi Laig, spokesperson for The Oaks, “This is just the first step in aligning The Oaks Shopping Mall with the most familiar aspects of the local community.”

We asked what’s next. Pulin Mi Laig’s daughter Ann D. Howe chimed in, “Think rabbits. Lots of rabbits.”

All righty then. We shall see, we shall see.

APRIL FOOLS'!

Happy April Fools' Day!

April Fools' fun in prior years