U.S. Olympic Medalists Can Be Taxed on the Value of Medals and USOC Prize Money if Their Income is Over $1 Million

Are you a United States Olympic or Paralympic Gold, Silver or Bronze medalist wondering if you will need to pay taxes on the value of your medals or U.S. Olympic Committee prize money you receive for winning said medals? Me neither.

BUT, if you ARE an Olympic or Paralympic Medalist and just so happen to be reading this, the answer as of 2021 is, only if the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) on your tax return the year you received your medal and prize money is greater than $1 million ($500,000 if you use the Married Filing Separately filing status).

The Internal Revenue Code was amended by the United States Appreciation for Olympians and Paralympians Act of 2016. (H.R. 5946) to effect the above tax treatment. This law exempts the value of any medal awarded in, or prize money received from the United States Olympic Committee on account of competition in the Olympic Games or Paralympic Games, for prizes and awards received after December 31, 2015.

Even if your AGI is below $1 million, you still have to show the value of these awards and prizes on your tax return, then show an offsetting adjustment to reduce the taxable amount to zero.

Excerpt from Draft Schedule 1 (Form 1040), 2021 (Part I Additional Income)

Excerpt from Draft Schedule 1 (Form 1040), 2021 (Part II Adjustments to Income)

So how much does the USOC pay Team USA athletes for their medals? $47,500 for each gold medal, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze. Paralympic Games athletes are paid $7,500 for gold, 45,250 for silver and $3,750 for bronze medals.

Shakey's Pizza Parlor on Thousand Oaks Boulevard in the 1960s

Shakey's Pizza Parlor in the background at the 1966 Conejo Valley Days Parade

Back in the day, there were only a few pizza places in Thousand Oaks, including this Shakey's Pizza Parlor on the north side of Thousand Oaks Boulevard, located across the street from Jungleland (where the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza now resides). 

The exact address of Shakey's was 2361 Thousand Oaks Blvd., where Toyota of Thousand Oaks resides today.

Today we have more pizza choices than ever imagined in the Conejo Valley. Over the last several years, newcomers to the Conejo Valley pizza scene include:

• Pitfire Artisan Pizza in Westlake Village (now closed)

• Barone's in Westlake Village (now in Thousand Oaks)

• Urban Pizza in Westlake Village (now closed)

• Pieology in Westlake Village (now closed)

• MOD Pizza in Newbury Park (now closed)

• Pieology in Thousand Oaks (now closed…but coming back to the Janss Marketplace)

To name a few...not to mention Toppers Pizza, Winner’s Pizza, D’Amore’s Pizza, Butler's Pizza, California Pizza Kitchen, Pizzeria La Piccola (now closed), Tony's Pizza, Greco's Pizzeria, Parma Pizza and many others.

Shakey's Pizza was founded in Sacramento on April 30, 1954, by Sherwood "Shakey" Johnson and Ed Plummer. Johnson's nickname resulted from nerve damage following a bout of malaria suffered during World War II.  In the 1970s, there were approximately 500 Shakey's locations in the U.S. Today there are 54, the majority of which are still here in Southern California. The closest Shakey's to Thousand Oaks is 30 miles away, in Northridge.

Another scene from the 1966 Conejo Valley Days Parade. Miss Shakey's is absent! But Miss Sizzler is present!

Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Followers Come Up with One Hundred Ways to Spell Conejo

In a recent daily gift card drawing on the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Page, we asked folks to enter the contest by coming up with an incorrect spelling of the namesake of the Conejo Valley but to keep it phonetically correct. We do have a clever fan base; in less than 12 hours, they came up with over 100 alternative spellings of Conejo. And here they are:

1. Cahnayho

2. Ca-nay-hoe

3. Caneho

4. Ca-neigh-ho

5. Co nay ho

6. Co nay hoe

7. Coe nay ho

8. Coh nay hoe

9. Coh ney ho

10. Cohn eyyy ho

11. Connayo

12. Conaho

13. Conaeho

14. Conaiho

15. Cone-a-ho

16. Cone Eh Hough

17. Cone a ho

18. Cone eh? Oh!

19. Ca-neigh-ho

20. Co-neigh-ho

21. Coneho

22. Coneighho

23. Coneayyyho

24. Coneheyyo

25. Coneighho

26. Co-neigh-hoe

27. Coneigho

28. Coneighoe

29. Cone-heigh, ho

30. Coneyehho

31. Cow-nay-hoe

32. Cuh-nay-hoe

33. Cuh-neigh-ho

34. Cunayhoe

35. Ka nay ho

36. ka nay o

37. Ka neigh hoe

38. Kahnayoh

39. Kah-neigh-oh

40. Kahnejho

41. Kanaeho

42. Kanaho

43. Kanayho

44. Kanayhoe

45. Ka-nay-oh

46. Kaneho

47. Kanehoe

48. Kanehyo

49. Kanyeho

50. Keneho

51. Khoneigho

52. Khonayhoeh

53. Khonehhoe

54. Khoneeighho

55. Khoneighhoe

56. Khoneighho

57. Kho-ney-hoe

58. Kneighoe

59. Ko Nay Ho

60. Ko Nay Hoe

61. Ko neigh ho

62. Ko neigh hoe

63. Ko ney oh

64. Koe nay hoe

65. Koenaho

66. Koenayho

67. Koenehhoe

68. Koh nay ho

69. Koh Nay Hoe

70. Koh nay yo

71. Koh ne ho

72. Kohnayeoh

73. Kohnayho

74. Kohnejo

75. Kohnehoe

76. Kohneighho

77. Kon a ho

78. Konaeo

79. Konaho

80. Ko-nai-ho

81. Konaihoe

82. Konayho

83. Konayhoe

84. Konayo

85. Kone-ho

86. Koneayo

87. Koneheyo

88. Koneho

89. Konehoe

90. Koneighho

91. Koneighhoe

92. Koneyho

93. Konheee-hoe

94. Kuhnaiho

95. Kuh-nai-hoh

96. Kuhnayho

97. Kuhneho

98. Kunaho

99. Kunayho

100. Kuneho

101. Kuneigho

Leaf Blower Guidelines in the City of Westlake Village

Yes, the City of Westlake Village has "recommended guidelines" for the operation of leaf blowers that was approved by the Westlake Village City Council on June 27, 2012.

The detailed Guidelines are available on the City's website at www.wlv.org but here are the highlights:

1. Leaf blowers are only to be used between 7am and 4pm on weekdays and 8am to 4pm on Saturdays. Sundays and legal holidays are banned from use of gas powered leaf blowers.

2. One must use leaf blowers at the lowest speed possible...if a higher speed is ABSOLUTELY needed, one must do so for no longer than two minutes.

3. Mufflers and air filters must be used and serviced/cleaned periodically.

4. One must observe wind direction when operating the blower...and must blow in the same direction of the wind (except of course if the wind is blowing into your neighbor's property, city streets/gutters or the lake, in which case you might want to stop blowing).

5. Actually, one must NOT use leaf blowers when there are excessive winds or when any doors or windows are open.

Bottom line: When the area to be cleaned is small, grab a broom or rake and have at it. The guidelines state that failure to abide by the guidelines "could result in legal prohibitions against the use of leaf blowers."

The neighboring City of Thousand Oaks has no such guideline. The general Noise Ordinance in Chapter Five of the City's Municipal Code indicates that no powered equipment such as "backpack blower" (not to mention lawn mowers, edgers, etc.) shall be used between 9pm and 7am. That should explain why you never hear your neighbor mowing their lawn at midnight.

www.wlv.org/DocumentCenter/View/207/Leaf-Blower-Guidelines---2012-revised?bidId=

Hillside Letters "SP" on South Mountain in Santa Paula

When driving southbound in Santa Paula, look up towards the mountain south of the city (aptly named South Mountain) and you’ll see the letters SP boldly emblazoned high up on the hill that overlooks the Santa Paula Airport.

According to the Santa Paula Times, the letters are 125 feet long and 25 feet wide and originated in the 1922 time frame when a group of high schoolers made the trek up the mountain to carve the letters.

The brush was cleared annually over the years until the 1970s; for decades thereafter, the brush overgrew the letters and made them difficult to see.

Then, as part of the city’s centennial celebration in 2002, the Times noted that Limoneira Co. and other volunteers and donors worked to clean up the letters for all to see.

Santa Paula is not alone in its mountain monogram. Other local area cities with monograms include Agoura Hills (there’s a letter A in the hill north of Agoura High School), the letters CLU emblazoned on the hill overlooking Cal Lutheran University, the letter F in the hills east of Fillmore, the letter V in the hills above Ventura High School and the letters VC in the hills above Ventura College.

Of course, the most prominent icon landscaped into a hill in Ventura County is Happy Face Hill seen by westbound drivers on the 118 near Kuehner Drive.

Happy Face Hill in Simi Valley - sure to bring a smile to your face.

Counting Crows in the Conejo Valley and Nearby Communities

Counting crows. Maybe not literally, but figuratively, in the skies of the Conejo Valley, Simi Valley and beyond. We see the crows in the hundreds flying west in the morning and east in the evening ever so frequently here. These fellows were seen from the Conejo Valley Plaza, Moorpark and Janss Roads, the night of August 9, 2018.

Speaking of birds, the Conejo Valley Audubon Society hosts birding activities year-round.

Spanish Flu "Do Not Do's" in the 1918 Los Angeles Times

As we know, the COVID-19 pandemic is not the first pandemic we’ve experienced. The 1918 influenza pandemic, called the Spanish flu, was caused by an H1N1 virus that originated in birds. It infected half a billion people, or about a third of the world’s population, between February 1918 to April 1920. It killed between 17 million to as many as 100 million people.

This image from the L.A. Times in December 1928, “Don’t Kiss Her Now!” provided advice to readers. Advice has evolved quite a bit since then during our own pandemic. :)

DON’T DO THESE THINGS

• Don’t kiss your sweetheart while “Spanish flu” or pneumonic plague is on!

• You might kill her - or him, by passing a deadly germ along.

KISSING SPREADS FLU

• Don’t sneeze or cough in anybody’s face. Use your handkerchief to cover nose and mouth.

• Don’t neglect or laugh at a “common cold.” It may be the first symptom of “flu!”

• Don’t worry. Worry is weakening.

• Don’t visit “flu” victims unless you really must do so. Then wear a “flu” mask.

• Don’t use a common drinking cup anywhere.

• Don’t use a common towel anywhere.

• Don’t put pencil or penholder in your mouth. There may be “flu” germs on it!

• Don’t put money in your mouth. Put it in your pocket.

• Last but not least…Don’t pet dogs or cats. They carry germs in their hair.

And there you have it.