SAFE BY A HAIR—This is a fire story with a happy ending. Doug Wong and his family of Agoura Hills lost their home in the Woolsey fire. They were worried about their pet tortoises that live in their backyard. The family was unable to get the animals out during the evacuation, and could not to return to the neighborhood to […]
2018-11-21
Chaplains seek the right words in trauma
As the Woolsey fire tore through the Conejo Valley, Mary Krampach’s Sunset Hills home lost Spectrum phone, cable and internet service. Without a way to learn which areas were under mandatory evacuation orders, she and nearby homeowners watched the blaze with the naked eye and decided that if the flames crossed a certain ridgeline, they would evacuate. Krampach’s neighborhood was […]
Lions, Coyotes fall in CIF playoff semifinals
Four local high school football teams entered the CIF-Southern Section semifinal round last weekend, but only one survived with a chance to play for a section title this weekend. Oaks Christian (12-1 overall) was overwhelmed by top-ranked St. John Bosco (13-0) in the Division 1 semifinals, 56-10. Calabasas (10-3) couldn’t keep up with Upland (11-2) in Division 2, falling 30-21. […]
Banner day for local stars
Teams at Agoura, Westlake, Viewpoint qualify for stateLocal high school girls’ and boys’ long-distance runners continue to make Ventura County proud. They broke records, claimed section crowns and established program firsts at last weekend’s CIF-Southern Section Cross Country Finals in Riverside. Many of them will continue the next leg of the journey at the CIF State Championships on Nov. 24 in Fresno. Newbury Park wunderkind Nico Young, […]
Dime-store thriller
Bryce Howard, the pride of the Tribe, is on pace to break school assists recordBryce Howard has survived basketball purgatory. Howard, a senior point guard for the Westlake High boys’ basketball team, suffered a leg injury toward the end of his sophomore season. He missed seven months of action. One week after he was cleared to return, something still didn’t feel right. He was hurting, but he didn’t tell anyone—not his parents, not his […]
Community helps families without homes
In this season of giving, a community has rallied to help three local families who lost their homes in the Woolsey fire. The families will get a fresh start thanks to a GoFundMe campaign. A member of each of the families works at Brookside Elementary School in Oak Park The school’s campus supervisor, Lisa Williams, who is married to Mike […]
Fantastic lights at Reagan Library
DAZZLING—Above, guests pass through a tunnel of beams during a preview of the Holiday Lights display Nov. 7 at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. Top left, Tori Hoefke of Simi Valley and her 2-year-old son Ansel are amazed by an animated light show. Bottom left, a F-14 Tomcat, part of the library’s permanent exhibits, is lit up with green […]
Time for tea, tunes and holidays
The Agoura Hills Harmony Chorus, aka Ahh! Cappella, will present its annual Jingle Bell Tea fundraiser on Sat., Dec. 1 at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church hall, 1 Church Road, Thousand Oaks. The group has no religious affiliation with the church. The event, with a theme of “It’s A Wonderful Life,” will have tea, delectables, specialty shopping, opportunity drawings and a […]
Leibovitz paints picture about her career with celebrities
Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz wowed the crowd at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on Nov. 6 with tales of life on the edge in the early 1970s when she worked as a lead photographer at Rolling Stone, one of the leading counterculture magazines of its time. Leibovitz, a guest of the Distinguished Speaker Series, shared insights into the photographs […]
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes
Hot FlashesJust weeks before election day, that loveliest time of the year when Americans fling verbal grenades at lightning speed, Mr. Fixit and I escaped the crossfire for a long-awaited trip to Paris. We hauled our sorry old behinds, well-aged like USDA prime, across the pond as fast as our anti-inflammatories would carry us. Days before our departure, we realized a […]