Developer Pitches Plan For Luxury Homes In Sand Canyon
By Perry Smith Signal Senior Staff Writer
The plans for east of Sand Canyon Road, south of Lost Canyon Road, were submitted in December, and Ryan Liu, a representative for the applicant, Golden Management Services, said it’s very early in the process.
The goal for the plans is to create nice homes similar to the adjacent community on Comet Way, Liu said in a phone interview Monday. Liu also said he’d like to create homes that have the option of a pool or a tennis court for their buyers.
Several homes on Comet Way were listed as having prices in the range of $1.3 million and above in online listings for the area.
Documents sharing some of the plans were submitted to the city through Santa Clarita’s one-stop process, which lets a developer know the feasibility of a plan prior to the formal approval process.
The one-stop process does not lead to any formal approvals.
Huitt-Zollars of Thousand Oaks is consulting on the project, according to city records.
Finding his calling
By Michael Picarella Signal Staff Writer
This particular patient had been in the hospital for a while. He was unhappy. He lived alone at home, and his family was not local, and so, he had no visitors during his stay at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia. He became more unhappy as the days went on.
At the time, Anthony Levesque was in school for business and was working in housekeeping at Henry Mayo. Each night when he cleaned this patient’s room he’d talk to the patient. He’d listen to him, laugh with him and make him smile. It’s that kind of interaction that made Levesque reconsider a business degree and go to nursing school.
“I saw a smile on his face,” Levesque said during a recent telephone interview. “It really helped me determine that this is something I absolutely want to keep doing for the rest of my life.”
Levesque, 30, of Canyon Country, grew up in Frazier Park. In his teens, he wrote sports for the Frazier Mountain High School newspaper. He’d
Anthony Levesque started as part of the cleaning crew at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital while working to get his business degree, but eventually switched paths to become a nurse at the hospital. PHOTO KATHERINE QUEZADA/THE SIGNAL
SCV Water discusses supply Agency: supply stands ready if needed
Super Scooper firefighting aircraft, shown above loading up with water off of the coast of Los Angeles to combat massive fires in the area in early January, traditionally rely on the Castaic Lake water supply for their firefighting efforts, with Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency officials saying Monday that the local water supply wasn’t in any danger. PHOTOS BY TED SOQUI FOR CALMATTERS
By Perry Smith Signal Senior Staff Writer
Responding to concerns circulating online, Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency officials said Monday the supply was not in any danger last week as firefighting efforts nearly surrounded the SCV, despite a local request to cut back on water usage until early Friday morning.
Questions about water pressure in the city of Los Angeles, which brought pointed questions during a recent news conference, made some ask whether SCV residents dodged a bullet last week.
In December, State Water Project maintenance on local pipelines, planned months in advance, prompted SCV Water to ask residents to lessen their outdoor watering for a week starting Jan. 6.
As the winds approached 100 mph Jan. 7 and fires began to burn out of control in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, state officials called off the SCV work and the normal water operations resumed. During this time, portions of the eastern and southern ends of the SCV, not areas in SCV Water’s service area, remained under evacuation warnings, according to Kevin Strauss, spokesman for SCV Water.
SCV Water then asked residents Thursday afternoon to continue the previously requested usage reduction until 5 a.m. Friday as “operations ramp back up.”
Strauss said Monday the request for reduced watering didn’t mean there was a supply concern.
In order for the state to perform pipeline maintenance, water officials would need to temporarily restrict access to their reservoir at Castaic Lake. But there would still be groundwater access and an extensive network of tanks.
“We’re using groundwater to ... fill up all of our storage tanks, all of our local reservoirs, so we still had access to the same amount of storage that we
would have had at a normal time had that work not been taking place,” Strauss said Monday. “All of our tanks were filled. All the hydrants run off of a connection, just like your house does. They could have tapped into any hydrant and pulled water from there, and we would have had the same amount of water flowing through the system on a regular day. We just had to increase our groundwater production to meet the demand from the residents and from businesses.”
During the maintenance project, for the preservation of life and property, SCV Water keeps a level officials refer to as “fire flow,” which is essentially the level needed per local and state regulators in order to maintain firefighting efforts, according to Strauss. The agency has 99 tanks throughout the SCV, most of which have at least 1 million gallons of capacity.
The supply question also was spurred by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s letter last week calling for an investigation into why the L.A. Department of Water and Power had a 117 million gallon Palisades reservoir offline for months. The empty reservoir was blamed for inadequate hydrant pressure in critical early firefighting efforts.
DWP officials said they were “correcting misinformation” in a response Saturday to questions about the reservoir, which had been offline since February.
“LADWP was required to take the Santa Ynez Reservoir out of service to meet safe drinking water regulations,” according to officials. “To commission the support and resources to implement repairs to Santa Ynez, LADWP is subject to the city charter’s competitive bidding process, which requires time.”
Bill Cooper, a retired longtime leader for the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles and current governing board member for SCV Water, said state officials were very responsive to local officials once the fire danger became apparent.
“It’s one of those, luckily, they were able to stop the work and we got it all back into service,” Cooper said. “That’s the kind of thing that can get you into trouble, if you get to that (work) at the wrong time. I was very happy that the state Department of Water Resources stopped and said, ‘Let’s put the water back on, they’re going to need that,’ so we felt a lot more secure.”
Cooper also said that, in any scenario, it would be difficult for a municipal system to handle the kind of burden an Eaton or Palisades fire would create.
“When you have, say, a large complex, it’s commercial buildings that are on fire. You have no problem. And you have a number of homes that are on fire, you can handle all of that, and you have booster stations and pumps, and you can handle all that,” Cooper said in a phone interview Monday.
“If you have 150 homes in the same four-block area that are all on fire and you’re trying to pull water for all of those from around, that’s very hard,” he added. “Systems aren’t designed for that.”
He also said that, in the SCV, the water agency has done extensive studies on emergency storage, looking at everything from elevation to the impact on pressure zones to constantly monitoring the supply.
“When we start to see weather like this, we make sure those are all full and we’re at capacity, just in case something would happen,” Cooper said. “And when this thing hit and these fires came through, (state officials) stopped the work and said, ‘We will come back next year.’”
There are still a few places where SCV Water is looking to put more towers, he added, due to the SCV’s growth. The supply is supported by two interconnected main water treatment plants at the same elevation, Cooper said, which has helped in emergency scenarios.
While the SCV, particularly within Santa Clarita city limits, mostly was spared from fire damage last week, officials like L.A. Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley repeatedly issued the message Monday, “We’re not out of the woods yet,” as officials braced for more winds.
“We can make sure that we’ve got water supply from whichever area we need it,” Cooper said, “and then with the booster stations all throughout the system that are pulling off of larger pipelines and pumping it up in these tanks, I think we’re in pretty good shape.”
Firefighters work to put out a fire at an Altadena residence on Wednesday while the community is encroached upon by the massive Eaton Fire.
Chill Seekers Take The Polar Plunge
By Michael Picarella Signal Staff Writer
It’s safe to say that the month of January is well into the season of cold.
On Saturday morning, at 51 degrees and with 10mph winds, about 100 people took the “polar plunge” into the waterslide pool at the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center in Canyon Country.
Just before 10 a.m. on Saturday, with the 1977 song “Cold as Ice” by the British American rock band Foreigner playing for a crowd of folks in bathing suits, City Councilwoman Marsha McLean welcomed the first of two groups of volunteers into the cold water.
“On behalf of the city, we are so proud to be able to have another family-oriented event for all of you,” McLean said to everyone. “And I think you’re just so brave to be doing this.”
McLean, wearing a jacket and winter scarf, who’d told others beforehand that she’d never take the plunge, counted down from five. When she got to one, the first group of people charged into 51-degree water, and then they quickly made their way to the other side of the pool.
According to Cherie Fuentes, recreation coordinator for the city of Santa Clarita, the city’s 13th annual Polar Plunge event was a way to start out the New Year on the right foot at one of the many Santa Clarita recreational facilities.
Georgia Rios, a Santa Clarita communications specialist, who also used to be a lifeguard at the Aquatic Center, said the Polar Plunge is one of her favorite events. Even though she was sporting a
pair of sandals on her feet, she didn’t go in the water, but she had before.
“It’s really fun to see the kids,” she added. “They come back every year. You can see them getting a little bit older every year.”
Newly elected Councilwoman Patsy Ayala did the countdown for the second group of polar plungers. As they charged into the water, a collection of screams grew louder and louder, the group racing across the pool to get to the other side as quickly as possible.
Participants were offered free towels and winter mittens, and coffee and hot chocolate to relieve their chills after going in the water. Guests could also take pictures with the city’s polar bear lifeguard.
Those who took the plunge on Saturday will get their name on a list of all those who have ever tak-
en the polar plunge in Santa Clarita. That list, according to Rios, will hang in the halls of the Aquatic Center.
Frances Bubb of Santa Clarita went into the water Saturday morning with her friends from the Water Exercise club at the center. She said it was cold — really cold — but it was “exhilarating.”
Barbie Cox of Santa Clarita said that while she really wanted to take the plunge, she was scared. She didn’t let that stop her, though.
“I did it,” she said proudly. “I was cold and scared, but I did it because I had all my helpers.”
In response to her comments, Cox’s friends gave her a rowdy cheer.
Jen Sikorski said this was the first year she took the plunge. She added that she’ll definitely be doing it again.
Last year, about 70 people took the plunge, 30 less than this year. Employees at the Aquatic Center got excited when they got this year’s numbers.
Many plungers hung around after the two rounds of plunging, playing in the water and going down the water slide. The low temperatures in the air and in the water seemed to lift their spirits and freeze their worries behind.
For more information about the center and the aquatic programs, including recreational swimming, lap swimming, water exercises, swim lessons and junior lifeguard training, go to SantaClarita. gov/Aquatics.
Jillian Yeager, 13, plunges into 51-degree water through the waterslide during the 13th annual Polar Plunge on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, at the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center in Canyon Country. PHOTOS KATHERINE QUEZADA/THE SIGNAL
Young children dash into 51-degree icy waters during the 13th annual Polar Plunge on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, at the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center in Canyon Country.
Polar plunger Barbie Cox, center, is cheered on by her friends as she completes her dip into 51-degree water during the 13th annual Polar Plunge on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, at the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center in Canyon Country.
New Vasquez Rocks Documentary Aims To Promote Stewardship
By Michael Picarella Signal Staff Writer
This particular influencer waited for the skies to turn black, and then he made his way into Vasquez Rocks Natural Area with a gas can, something he could use to start a fire, and a camera. When the can exploded into a ball of fire in front of the area’s iconic rock formations, it created what Agua Dulce resident Halie Cook reluctantly called “a beautiful photo.”
However, the stunt was carried out in what Cook said is a fire hazard severity zone, causing a dangerous situation for himself and those who live in the surrounding communities.
In her new documentary called “Gritstone,” Cook set out to share the fragility of Vasquez Rocks and the difficulty land stewards face when going up against vandals and people who are looking to gain social media views, likes and followers. Cook said
graffiti seems to have lessened since the COVID-19 pandemic. But in the past five years, she’s seen an uptick in influencers going to the area and abusing the land in the name of content.
“I grew up in Agua Dulce, and since I was a little kid, I’ve been riding horses in that park,” Cook said in a recent telephone interview. “During COVID, I ended up being over at the park a lot more than I had in the past. I started to notice lots of tagging and a ton of influencers there, stepping all over native plants. It just seemed like people didn’t understand why it was important to make this place stay the way it’s been for the last Beyond the permitted work done at the site, which is monitored so that the area is protected, social media influencers have been coming into the area looking to capture photos and video of almost anything against the backdrop of the rocks. There’s one social media post of a woman shooting video of herself standing dangerous-
ly atop one of the rock peaks, and yet another video showing horror icons Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger at the park performing a choreographed dance to Beyoncé’s song “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
These unpermitted content creators do not respect the area, Cook said. Some might not even know the damage they’re causing.
And so, Cook, an Emmy award-winning photojournalist, pointed her camera at Vasquez Rocks — at its beauty and at the damage people have been causing with graffiti and wear and tear.
“Gritstone” is told through the eyes of two park rangers who try to pro-
Hallie Crook interviews Brittany DeMott.
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later intern for The Mountain Enterprise, the newspaper that covers Frazier Park and other nearby mountain communities, and that made him think seriously about a career in journalism.
In 2012, Levesque graduated high school. He moved to the Santa Clarita Valley to attend College of the Canyons, but he’d decided to study business for the practicality of it.
To make money, Levesque applied for a housekeeping job at Henry Mayo.
“I saw the hours online,” Levesque said. “It just seemed like an easy position for me. Also, both of my parents had previously worked — and actually still work — at Henry Mayo.”
Levesque grew to love his job. He said he enjoyed communicating with patients, getting to know them and helping them in any way he could. That pushed him to consider nursing as a career.
And then there was a charge nurse at Henry Mayo named Melinda Nims who’d seen Levesque with the patients. She was very encouraging. According to Nims, Levesque took his job to heart, going out of his way to assist patients in any way he could.
“We would talk,” Nims said, “and he would ask me questions about, ‘How could I do better at this?’ Or he would come to me and say, ‘I’ve just cleaned this patient’s room, they really need this. Could you go help him with that?’ He became an integral part of our team, even before he decided he wanted to be a nurse. He took his role as being part of the whole team seriously, and he still does that.”
Nims added that Levesque has a way of speaking to patients. His life experiences, she said, taught him to be sincerely kind and gracious.
“If a patient needed something,” Nims said, “he (Levesque) would not relent until one of us — one of the nurses, a nurse’s aide, whoever — went and followed through with whatever it was that wasn’t within his scope to do. He made sure one of us did it. He was persistent in making sure that patients had what they needed.”
Nims told Levesque at the time that he should seriously consider nursing school, that he had
what it took to be a nurse. She and Levesque would often talk about the steps he’d have to take, but Nims was straightforward about the difficulty of the path ahead.
In 2016, Levesque gave it a shot. He quit his housekeeping job and enrolled in a certified nursing assistant program at St. Jude’s Nursing School in Panorama City. He said the program would be the true testing ground to see if nursing would, in fact, be something he wanted to do for a living.
Nims said it touched her heart to learn that just a few simple words she shared with Levesque gave him the courage to give nursing a go.
Levesque got through the CNA program, and then he sought out
work. But he couldn’t get a job at Henry Mayo just yet. He said he’d need “lots of experience” to get a job there.
“He had to leave us for six months before we could hire him,” Nims said. “He got some experience at a skilled nursing facility, waited the six months, and then he came back and applied at Henry Mayo as a certified nursing assistant. Then he put himself through nursing school while he worked at the hospital.”
The skilled nursing facility that hired Levesque for those six months was Santa Clarita Post Acute in Newhall. Around that time, Levesque’s mom, who works in the admitting department at Henry Mayo, and his dad, who works in the engineer-
ing department there, were skeptical about their son’s career goals.
“Working in health care, we have to work holidays,” Levesque said. “We’re away from our families for long periods of time. So, nursing can be quite a difficult profession. But they (his parents) saw my drive and my motivation and my determination to get there, and they opened up to the idea.”
In 2021, Levesque enrolled in the accelerated bachelor’s degree program at West Coast University in North Hollywood. He graduated in June, and in September, he applied for and got a nursing job at Henry Mayo. He’s been there ever since, and he loves it.
According to Patrick Moody, director of marketing and public relations at Henry Mayo, Levesque’s journey was a unique one. To go from housekeeping to CNA, to nursing school and finally to nursing is not a path Henry Mayo nurses traditionally take. It’s a path that, Moody said, requires “tons of drive and determination.”
Nims said Levesque showed great focus and patience in his journey. It was a journey that’s given Levesque quite the perspective.
“It may’ve taken me longer to get to where I felt I needed to go,” Levesque said, “but to know all the steps in all these different jobs, and to know the aspects of every job in and out, I feel like it helps me be a better nurse.”
Levesque spoke about how working in health care is a major team effort. The more he knows about the various roles on the team, he said, the more effective the whole team will be in helping the patients.
As for whether he made the right decision, Levesque answered that question with a strong yes. He loves helping patients, and he also loves educating them.
“I have a passion for education,” he said. “And it’s something that I get to do all the time now.”
And while Levesque admitted that he still has much to learn — he said he struggles with time management — he’s working hard every day to get better. In the end, it’s all about improving others’ lives, and he’ll continue doing whatever it takes to accomplish that goal, one patient at a time.
Know any unsung heroes or people in the SCV with an interesting life story to tell? Email share@signalscv.com.
Anthony Levesque said he enjoyed talking with patients at Henry Mayo while working as a housekeeper there before eventually tending to patients himself upon getting his nursing degree. PHOTOS BY KATHERINE QUEZADA/THE SIGNAL
County Considers Life After Chiquita
By Perry Smith Signal Senior Staff Writer
Now that Chiquita Canyon Landfill in Castaic has been closed due to pollution problems, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors began dealing with how to mitigate the loss of a facility that received roughly one-third of the county’s waste last year.
The closure of the landfill also prompted residents to again protest outside a county board meeting, once again asking L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger to declare a state of emergency over the crisis.
But the county’s first move involved figuring out where to put all the trash slated for Chiquita
unable to live in their homes and unable to send their kids to the local schools,” Oshea Orchid, spokeswoman for one of many groups suing the landfill, wrote in a text from the protest downtown. “The only way to address this is for the Board of Supervisors to immediately declare a state of emergency and put in motion the full power of local, state and federal government assistance to get fast, effective relief to residents.”
Chiquita Canyon Landfill has had excessive amounts of land
The closure of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill prompted Castaic and Val Verde residents on Tuesday to ask L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger once again to declare a state of emergency. PHOTO
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tect the area. Cook said she hopes that, by educating the public through her documentary, the more than 250,000 to 500,000 people who visit the place every year will be more mindful.
The 20-plus-minute documentary is Cook’s first film, and it’s currently available on her WildTale Media website. She began shooting it in 2020.
The title “Gritstone” refers to the type of stone in the park. It’s a sandstone, Cook said, and it easily degrades when people, for example, walk over it or drive remote-controlled cars over it, a couple of the many problems the park faces. When vandals spray-paint on the stone, cleaning it up is difficult because the traditional way of blasting it off, Cook said, breaks down gritstone.
“I want to do as much good in the world as I possibly can,” Cook added. “The only way I know how to do that is by conveying people’s stories. And that’s really what called to me with journalism.”
Cook has been a journalist for over 10 years. Her video work has been featured on networks such as the Science Channel, MSNBC, NBC and CNBC.
In 2022, she and the team at NBC4 won a Los Angeles Area Regional Emmy for their live coverage of the “South Fire.” In September of the same year, however, she quit her NBC job because she felt she wasn’t able to make as much of a positive impact on the community as she could as a freelance photographer and documentarian. She had a strong desire to help
safeguard natural areas like Vasquez Rocks.
“I’ve always loved animals,” she said. “I’ve always had a ton of animals. And I’ve always felt strongly about wild areas staying wild. And so, I want to protect the places that I call home and that these animals call Cook spent years and hours-long stays at the park trying to capture the natural beauty of the place — different lighting and weather conditions, and many species of animals that aren’t always easy to spot on a one-day visit. She captured rock formations as they might’ve looked millions of years ago, in a place the Tataviam people inhabited thousands of years ago.
In “Gritstone,” Sarah Brewer, regional park superintendent for the Vasquez Rocks Natural Area, shared her love for the park with viewers and how that, just because it’s been around for generations, doesn’t mean it’ll continue to exist forever.
“This is like a diamond that has, you know, 50,000 different edges and facets that are all equally as important, all equally as interesting and, you know, surrounded by this amazing geological, natural and indigenous history that come together to make this place,” Brewer said in the documentary. “If continually historic and archeological sites sustain damage here, it’s what you imagine in that they will be gone forever.”
Another subject in “Gritstone” is Ashley Verde, a recreation service supervisor at the park, who’s tasked with, he said, protecting vegetation and helping wildlife. In the documentary, Verde said that watching the sun go down at Vasquez Rocks, watch-
ing the darkness envelope the area, is something that can’t be explained, only experienced.
However, the only way others can experience that, he added, is if people keep the place that way, if they take care of it and if they don’t harm it.
Verde is one of the stewards of the area who plays a part in keeping the place as it is. It seems to be a challenge, but it’s working.
Since she began the documentary, Cook said she’s seen enforcement on unpermitted film shoots at the park having a big effect. She’s also seen park rangers crack down on the use of drones in the area, and the surrounding community more active in calling the park if they notice any suspicious activity, all of which Cook hopes continues so that Vasquez Rocks remains to be a special place.
“I think there are a lot of people in this community who are like that,” she said. “We all care a lot about this park because we live right next to it. We’ve all pretty much grown up in it.
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day, the company said it “remains committed to working with federal, state, regional and local authorities to protect public health and to continue addressing (the landfill event).”
A rate discussion at the meeting raised separate concerns over the cost impact for waste-haulers who will have to find new routes and means of disposal. And how those costs would be passed on to ratepayers.
Barger’s office did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment or questions about whether
Santa Clarita Valley ratepayers in unincorporated areas would be affected by new franchise agreements with waste-haulers. The county solicited the agreements back in June and accepted six in August.
The city of Santa Clarita has said it expects to discuss new plans with Burrtec on the next City Council agenda, which could have impacts for ratepayers within city limits.
A lobbying group for waste-management companies estimated the impact of closing Chiquita Canyon at $8 to $10 per residential customer, per month, throughout L.A. County.
While news of the closure brought some gratitude from those who have been plagued by the smells, it also renewed concerns from those who’ve said the landfill is not doing enough to help those impacted, particularly now that the landfill’s financial incentive has been removed.
In a statement after the closure, Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, who introduced legislation to make the landfill’s compensation to residents tax-free, referred to the closure as a victory, but not the finish line.
“While the end of incoming trash means that you will no longer smell the odor of new trash being added to the site, there is still much to be done to address the underground 40acre fire that will likely be burning for many years,” she wrote in a news release Dec. 31. “Now, we must focus on this ongoing disaster to ensure the landfill operator upholds its contractual obligations and follows state laws to ensure the long-term stability of the landfill in addition to addressing the public health and environmental disaster that remains.”
Castaic and Val Verde residents protested outside of Tuesday’s L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting, asking for a state of emergency over the Chiquita Canyon Landfill’s problems. PHOTO COURTESY OF OSHEA ORCHID
Hallie Crook, left, interviews Sarah Brewer.
Fire Destroys Yoshinoya In Canyon Country
By Maya Morales Signal Staff Writer
An early-morning fire in a commercial center destroyed the Yoshinoya fast food location at the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road and Sierra Highway on Wednesday morning.
L.A. County firefighters were dispatched to strip mall in response to a report of a structure fire at 3:44 a.m. and upon arrival they found smoke and fire coming from the roof of the Yoshinoya building, according to Battalion Chief Travis Wilson.
“The fire was completely involved in the structure, which resulted in a total loss of the structure,” he said.
A resident in the apartments next to the shopping center, who did not provide his name, said he had heard a booming sound in the early morning but did not suspect anything about it.
He said it wasn’t until he walked over in the morning that he saw that the Yoshinoya had been completely burned down, and the roof had collapsed in on itself.
David Chung, the owner of the Yoshinoya, said he had been a part of the community since 2013 and was at a loss for words about losing his restaurant.
He said he couldn’t imagine how the fire started because he usually shuts off the gas and electricity to his restaurant at night.
Wilson added that firefighters were able to save the adjacent businesses, but they would remain closed for the day.
The cause of the fire is under investigation and no injuries were reported from the scene.
At approximately 10 a.m., heavy demolition crews were on the scene tearing down the Yoshinoya and piling the debris together.
The owners of Yoshinoya created a GoFundMe to
help the business recover from the incident.
Sophie Chung, the organizer of the GoFundMe, wrote in the description that by around 6 a.m. on Wednesday, the family learned that the fire had done irreversible damage to the building, and it would have to be demolished.
She wrote, “Our family watched in disbelief as the restaurant that has kept our family afloat and served this community for over a decade was torn apart in front of our eyes.
“We’re unsure of how things will progress and how soon Yoshinoya will be able to return. If you are able and willing, we would appreciate any support and prayers you can give as we assess damages and figure out how to rebuild.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, $1,550 has been raised out of the $6,500 goal.
The GoFundMe can be found at tinyurl.com/ye8na62v.
The Yoshinoya at the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road and Sierra Highway in Canyon Country caught fire in the early morning hours of Wednesday. The fire was eventually put out, but not before Fire Department officials said the structure was a “total loss.” PHOTO MAYA MORALES/THE SIGNAL
Above and right) Heavy demolition crews were already working to tear down the Yoshinoya location at Sierra Highway and Soledad Canyon Road in Canyon Country hours after an early morning fire Wednesday destroyed the building. PHOTOS (RIGHT) MAYA MORALES (LEFT) KELLY NISHIMOTO/THE SIGNAL
Canyon’s Eric Kubel Keeps Improving
To His Benefit And His Team’s
By Tyler Wainfeld Signal Staff Writer
Some high school athletes set examples for teammates with their play. Some do so with their work ethic or their willingness to do whatever their coach asks.
Canyon High boys’ basketball head coach Ali Monfared said he has a player in senior Eric Kubel who fits all three of those molds — and then some.
“A lot of times, you have guys that produce at a very high level that — one small example is Eric’s usually the guy who’s willing to clean the floors before practice, and not that that’s any one guy’s specific job,” Monfared said in a recent phone interview. “We don’t have a manager or anything like that. It just speaks to, Eric’s willing to do anything for the team. And I think when you have a star player that, especially in today’s age of basketball where scoring is so valued and sometimes it can get to someone’s head, Eric is one of the most humble, hard-working superstars I’ve ever been around.”
Monfared recently saw his senior leader become the seventh Cowboy in the history of the Canyon boys’ basketball program to reach 1,000 career points – a testament, Monfared said, to Kubel constantly finding ways to improve.
“It represents just all the work that
he’s put in,” Monfared said. “You hear about big-time scorers and all the work they put in, and when you get a chance to see it firsthand, I think that’s, at least from my perspective, what makes the milestone so special. All he’s ever done since I’ve known him is work.”
Kubel reached the mark in a 64-39 win over Littlerock in tournament action on Dec. 19, a game that just happened to be at Canyon High before the tournament shifted to Grant High for the latter-round games.
“It was awesome because my family was there, my teammates, obviously, the home crowd,” Kubel said. “It was special.”
Scoring has become more prominent in today’s era, Monfared acknowledged, but he said that shouldn’t diminish what Kubel accomplished.
“Eric’s not doing this at a school where he’s taking 75 shots a game and we’re not winning,” Monfared said. “He’s doing this in a winning program where we have 11 kids from Canyon Country who go to our school, and he’s doing it leading and rebounding and defending.”
Needing 22 points prior to the game against Littlerock, Kubel only needed one half to get there. Monfared had all of the Cowboys sign the game ball for Kubel to keep as a memento.
A starter since his sophomore year at Canyon, Kubel has upped his scor-
Kubel and the rest of the school’s boys’ baskerball team celebrate after their recent victory at the Duarte-Temple City tournament.
(Left) Canyon’s Eric Kubel (21) shows off a commemorative ball he received after becoming the seventh boy in the history of the Canyon basketball program to reach 1,000 career points. COURTESY PHOTOS
ing average every year. He averaged 22.4 points per game as a junior before increasing that to 24 points per game this year.
And that number looks like it will only be getting bigger as Kubel continues to raise his own standards.
Along with hitting 1,000 career points against Littlerock, Kubel also set the program record for made threes in a game with eight.
About a week later, he broke his own record with nine triples in a 109-41 win over Duarte in the Duarte-Temple City tournament held the days following Christmas, scoring 38 points in just three quarters.
A day later, Kubel was at it again with 10 3-pointers and 38 points in a 108-45 win over Hawthorne in tournament play. That was also completed in just three quarters.
“It never gets old to see anybody make shots, but it never really gets old seeing a guy who works so hard have that production on the court as well,” Monfared said. “You know, every time he shoots one, you just always believe it’s going in, and it never gets old seeing Eric swish a three,
or seeing any of our players swish a three.”
Hoping to play at the next level, Kubel said some low-major schools like Southern Indiana have expressed interest in him.
“They’re starting to call,” he said.
The Cowboys eventually won that tournament with a 94-80 win over Los Altos in the championship game. Kubel was named MVP of the tournament while fellow senior Chigo Osuji was named to the all-tournament team.
Starring for the Cowboys in the first two games of that tournament was junior Alex Lazo. He scored 19 points against Duarte and 23 against Hawthorne, drilling seven 3-pointers in the latter game.
Not given a ton of playing time in the first half of the season, Monfared said Lazo is a sharpshooter who, were it not for Kubel’s proficiency from beyond the arc, could be the team’s top shooter.
“He has a lot of seniors in front of him,” Monfared said, “but he’s been working hard all year long and he’s gonna have, in my opinion, some
Eric Kubel (21) attempts to block
Canyon High School in December. SIGNAL FILE PHOTO huge moments the last month of league and this season. He can shoot literally with the best of the players in this valley.”
The Cowboys have plans to keep this season going as long as possible. The first task is to win their first league title since 2012 — when this year’s seniors were just starting out in
elementary school — before embarking on what they hope will be a long postseason run.
Canyon took down Valencia on Tuesday, 75-66, to move to 15-4 overall and 3-1 in Foothill League play. The Cowboys are set to host Castaic on Friday.
Canyon’s
Saugus’ Braydon Harmon (12) at
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