Neighbors
Pence touts GOP values at Reagan Library
By Becca Whitnall
Becca@theacorn.com | July 8, 2021
Despite a rocky political year in 2020, the future of the Republican Party remains bright, former Vice President Mike Pence told GOP members and supporters during a recent speech at...
Recipe for success: good food, service, prices
By Ela Lindsay
eLindsay@theacorn.com | July 8, 2021
The family-owned-and-operated El Tecolote restaurant in Camarillo takes its name from a Spanish word for owl, and it’s a very wise establishment indeed. For more than 70 years it has...
PONY team wins U-10 division
| July 8, 2021
VICTORY—The Agoura PONY Baseball U-10 Mustang division team wins the championship against Simi White, 13-10, in a thrilling game on June 26. Back row, from left: Coach Matt Greene, Zack...
Positions on arts board
| July 8, 2021
The Arts Council of the Conejo Valley is accepting applications for positions on its board of directors through Mon., July 12. In addition to serving staggered, two-year terms, board members...
Family
Artistic reflections
| April 8, 2021
Agoura High School leads all competitors with six finalists in the 2021 Reflections art and music competition. AHS had more finalists than any other high school in a region that includes eight other school districts. Each year more than 10,000 student entries into the artistic...
Tooth be told: dental health
| April 8, 2021
Regular dental cleanings for kids are one of many aspects of people’s lives that have been interrupted over the past year. However, instilling good dental hygiene habits early is still critical in helping ensure long-lasting oral health for a child. Most dental plans cover children...
Health
Bumblebee Foundation buzzes over to Idaho
| July 8, 2021
The Westlake Village-based BumbleBee Foundation, a pediatric cancer organization founded in Southern California a decade ago, will expand its support services into Idaho starting next year, officials from the organization said. The foundation supports over 370 pediatric cancer families throughout California and is looking forward...
Website educates parents about vaping
By Makena Huey
makena@theacorn.com | July 1, 2021
The Ventura County Office of Education doesn’t want students’ health to deteriorate in a puff of smoke. The agency has launched a website to inform parents and educators about the dangers posed by vaping, nicotine and cannabis, which the site calls “The Triple Threat to...
Fixing Medicare’s sign-up program
By Janet Trautwein
Special to The Acorn | July 1, 2021
Each year, an obscure federal rule forces thousands of seniors to pay penalties for the rest of their lives simply because they made an honest mistake while signing up for Medicare. That number will rise unless Congress modernizes the program’s enrollment process. Seniors are twice...
Sports
One more time
BASKETBALL /// Acorn All-Stars
By Eliav Appelbaum
eliav@theacorn.com | July 8, 2021
They played for months on outdoor blacktops and in empty gyms. They played with masks covering their faces. They played without bellyaching, kvetching or whining...
A curtain call for all
By Eliav Appelbaum
eliav@theacorn.com | July 1, 2021
The juggernauts didn’t meet for a CIF-Southern Section championship. That was OK. Instead of wallowing in selfpity, high school softball squads at Westlake and Camarillo...
A SEASON FOR THE AGES
BASEBALL /// CIF-Southern Section Division 2 Championship
Eliav Appelbaum
Email: eliav@theacorn.com | June 24, 2021
Details will turn fuzzy. Some games will bleed into others. Time will slowly tug at and fray the red stitches of the last pitch, the...
Schools
New vice chancellor in Ventura County
The Acorn Staff | July 8, 2021
Ventura County Community College District has appointed Cynthia Herrera to the position of vice chancellor for “institutional effectiveness” in a further move to help the...
College standouts
| July 8, 2021
Abigail King of Oak Park High School earned academic distinction for the 2021 spring semester at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. The following students...
Rocketry team from OPHS zooms to head of the class
| July 1, 2021
Oak Park High School was among 100 teams in the nation that earned the right to compete in this year’s American Rocketry Challenge finals. Coached...
COLLEGE STANDOUTS
| July 1, 2021
Aubrey Adams of Agoura Hills and Crystal Lane of Calabasas, both students at Cal State Northridge, were initiated into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society....
June 10 commencement extra special for grads of Agoura
AGOURA HIGH SCHOOL | June 17, 2021
Agoura High School selects these students as their 2021 Acorn Senior Standouts. Photos provided by the school. Sofia Montano Sofia Montano will be the first...
On the Town
School stages safe musical with technology
By Cary Ginell
originjazz@aol.com | July 1, 2021
In the waning days of the pandemic, school theater departments continue to observe distancing measures by producing musicals and plays using Zoom and having students record their parts at home. But this wasn’t good enough for Frank LaGuardia, music and drama teacher at Meadows Arts...
A good song can be performed by anyone
By Cary Ginell
originjazz@aol.com | July 1, 2021
In what was promised to be its last drive-in event, Conejo Players Theatre in Thousand Oaks presented a new twist on its series of flat-bed, parking lot musical revues with “Backwards Broadway,” which was staged June 18 to 20. The idea was to have performers...
Buster Keaton shows ‘hospitality’ at drive-in
| June 3, 2021
Celebrate the dawn of the Hollywood film era at a Date Night Drive-In Silents Under the Stars presentation of Buster Keaton’s comedy masterpiece, “Our Hospitality,” from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Sat., July 10 at Paramount Ranch, 2903 Cornell Road, Agoura Hills. Guests can watch the...
Live theater returns to campus
| June 3, 2021
Live summer theater will return to Moorpark College with “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” The show will run July 22 through Aug. 8 outdoors on the Moorpark College campus, 7075 Campus Road. The show will be free and open to students and the...
Faith
Simply spiritual: time heals, pastor makes low-key return
By Dawn Megli
dawn@theacorn.com | July 8, 2021
On a recent Saturday morning, dozens of people gathered in a small chapel near the beach to make a joyful noise. Women raised their hands in praise, men clapped and...
Passover marks a nation under God
By Brian Goldenfeld
Special to The Acorn | March 25, 2021
Passover begins Saturday night March 27 and ends Sun., April 4, but what is Passover? This holiday commemorates the departure of the nation of Israel from Egypt. Pesach marks the...
Business
Local businesses will get extra boost under revised pandemic payout
By Ian Bradley
ianbradley@theacorn.com | July 8, 2021
When President Joe Biden signed the $1.9-trillion American Rescue Plan Act in March, $16 billion...
Cal State Channel Islands receives $15M donation, largest ever
By Alex Wilson
alex@theacorn.com | July 1, 2021
A $15-million donation to Cal State Channel Islands from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, former wife...
Columns
Discipline tips: Why can’t siblings all just get along?
Bonnie Vandenberg | July 8, 2021
Question: Ms. Bonnie, what can I do to help my children get along? Everyone says sibling rivalry is normal, but I can’t stand their fighting! There isn’t a parent alive with more than one child who doesn’t know this feeling, whether the children are toddlers...
Celebration of life rituals can resume
Andrea Gallagher | July 1, 2021
I’m hoping my cousin gets the healing she needs this month. Almost a year after her brother David passed away, she is having a celebration of life for him. I wrote about Janet in a January 2020 column titled “A life is changed in the...
Overcoming anxiety of reopening
Andrea Gallagher | June 17, 2021
After months and months of pandemic public health restrictions, stay-home orders and phased reopenings, the governor lifted the restrictions June 15 and we should come much closer to “normal” soon. As I check in with my own feelings about this transition, the two words that...
Putting new life into dry bones
Sally Carpenter | June 17, 2021
Dry. Desolate. Barren. Some days our spiritual walk seems like it has detoured from God. We feel dead inside. And so did the people of Israel. The Babylonians had attacked Judah, set up a puppet king and deported the real king, the royal family and...
Raising kids using positive discipline
Bonnie Vandenberg | June 10, 2021
Editor’s note: “Ask Ms. Bonnie” is a new column debuting in The Acorn. Please submit parenting related questions to Ms. Bonnie for a chance to be included in her next column. See email address at the end of the column. Question: Ms. Bonnie, my daughter...
Crime
SHERIFF’S BLOTTER
| July 8, 2021
Agoura Hills On June 24 a thief broke into a locker at LA Fitness on Roadside Drive and stole a...
