TABLE OF CONTENTS
4 Community Unites for MLK ‘Day of Service’
5 Canyon Country Woman Champions Community Spirit
6 Deputies Arrest Several in Retail Theft Operation
COC Celebrates First Year of Veterans Upward Bound Grant
President’s and Dean’s List Honorees
7 Chaplain Gives Sheriff’s Department a Spiritual Connection
8 Deals May Turn Movie Ranch Owners’ Land into City Open Space
9 First Homes for Sand Canyon Plaza Underway
La Mesa Earns National Recognition for Counseling Program
10 City Officials Discuss Latest Crime Trends
14 Kubel Lifts Canyon Boy’s Basketball to Victory
15 Calendar — Canyon Country Community Center and Library Events
Community Unites for ‘Day of Service’
By Michael Picarella Signal Staff Writer
Rlynn Smith-Thomas from the Santa Clarita Valley NAACP asked a room of volunteers to find a nearby stranger and ask what a day of service looks like to them. Those in attendance were there for their own personal reasons, which they then shared with someone they didn’t know. Ultimately, they all were there to donate goods and their time to those in need. They were there to serve.
Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, partnered with the NAACP Santa Clarita Branch and the Boys & Girls Club of the Santa Clarita Valley for what they called a “Day of Service” on Saturday, Jan. 18 at the Boys & Girls Club in Can-
yon Country. In its second year, Schiavo said the goal of the event was to work in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who asked, “What are we doing for each other?”
“That’s what we’re here to do today,” Schiavo said to the group before everyone went to work. “To be here for each other, to support each other, whether it’s doing a thank-you card to firefighters who have literally run toward fires in hurricane-type winds and risked their lives to protect our community, or if it’s (to) students who are struggling right now with our mental health crises in our schools and giving them words of support.”
The “Day of Service” event is one that Schiavo hopes to do every year in honor of King Jr. and MLK Day. On Saturday, people brought clothing, food and essential supplies for those displaced by the fires and others in need. People also wrote thank-you cards and made posters for firefighters and offered art and written words of encouragement for local students at school mental health wellness centers.
Some volunteers made lunches for individuals that would go to the Bridge to Home homeless shelter in Santa Clarita, while others organized all the donations received that would go to local food pantries and to families displaced due to the recent Los Angeles fires. There were also those who painted walls at the Boys & Girls Club clubhouse.
Rep. George Whitesides, D-Agua Dulce, and Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Patsy Ayala were at the event to show their support. Whitesides shared an experience from just days before, when he visited the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and saw hundreds of displaced people laying out their beds, sharing the community space with each other to sleep and figure out what to do next. He spotted a little girl there playing with a single toy, but not much else.
“So many people didn’t have time to take even a change of clothes with them,” he said. “This is a big one, folks, and your presence here is a sign of the strength of our community, a sign of our resolution to help our neighbors in Los Angeles County to recover, to rebuild, and to rebuild stronger.”
According to Ayala, great communities are made by great individuals. She spoke about how proud she was to see so many people there on Saturday who were so eager to help.
Valencia resident Abriana Gomez said she grew up in Altadena and Pasadena. She still fosters connections there. She was volunteering on Saturday because the fire that devastated those communities broke her heart. She wanted to go into Pasadena and Altadena to help, but she’d heard places like the Rose Bowl and Santa Anita Park — the horse track in
Arcadia — which had drawn floods of donations, became off limits because crowds were blocking emergency personnel.
“I was feeling very helpless,” Gomez said. “I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do?’ And then this came up. I normally take dance class in the morning — because I’m a dancer — but I gave that up because it was more important to help the people in Altadena and Pasadena.”
Brittany Mack of Canyon Country came to help make lunches with her husband and their two kids. She said she gets emails from the Santa Clarita Valley NAACP, and when she saw a call for help for Saturday’s “Day of Service,” she signed up the whole family to participate.
All four of them were packing bags of chips, juice boxes and fruit into brown paper lunch bags. Mack said her kids were excited to help.
“This is one of their first times doing community service,” she added.
Originally from Oklahoma, the Mack family came to the SCV in 2020 and have been looking for ways to become more involved in the community by lending a helping hand.
Peggy Stabile of Valencia was volunteering her time for personal reasons. She said that when her son came out as gay, she began to see the anguish that he and others in similar circumstances had to deal with. It became the catalyst for her to get more involved, to help those who are suffering.
“I didn’t realize the pain that many people go through just because of who they are,” she said. “This (event) is just an extension of helping both the poor folks who have gone through agony with all that they’ve lost in these past two weeks, and also a lot of our neighbors. I’m a member of NAACP, and I want to help to see that everybody in our community is looked upon and respected by everybody.”
Event organizers said Saturday’s “Day of Service” registered over 100 people from the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys. According to Schiavo, this year’s turnout was about double what it was last year. She hopes the event will continue to grow year after year.
In addition to helping those in need, Schiavo saw the “Day of Service” as a day to bring people together.
“I think that that’s one of the most important things that we do,” she said. “To really come together as a community, bridge divides that exist in our community, in our state, in our nation.”
In times of crises like these with the Los Angeles fires, Schiavo watched people — of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities — prove that they can come together as a community and support one another.
Children of the Bee BRAVE Ensemble sign the Be BRAVE song. The group is a local movement that seeks to improve relationships between various races and ethnic groups. PHOTOS BY KATHERINE QUEZADA/THE SIGNAL
Some 500 people gathered for the Martin Luther King Unity Walk.
Canyon Country Woman Champions Community Spirit
By Michael Picarella Signal Staff Writer
Last month, during those heavy windstorms, Canyon Country resident Rlynn Smith-Thomas said she had more power outages at her home than power.
It was late in the afternoon on a Sunday, and the sun was setting. If she was going to accomplish everything she needed to get done before going back to work on Monday, she’d need to do it quickly before it got dark and there was no light.
“But I just couldn’t,” Smith-Thomas said during a recent telephone
Canyon Country resident Rlynn Smith-Thomas with Rep. George Whitesides, D-Agua Dulce. Smith-Thomas joined NAACP Santa Clarita three years ago before becoming the branch’s president in January. PHOTO BY KATHERINE QUEZADA/THE SIGNAL
In high school, she recalled taking one of those personality assessments — something like a Myers and Briggs test. The results informed her that she was the giving type and someone who must be involved in the community,
and even though they indicated that her type typically chooses vocations in the social services, that didn’t keep her from going after a career in fashion, design and merchandising.
A self-described “Valley girl,” Smith-Thomas was born in Encino and spent most of her childhood in the San Fernando Valley. She studied fashion, design, merchandising and business at California State University, Northridge, and out of school she built a successful career in retail and merchandising.
However, that line of work, she said, is not very conducive to raising a family.
“In retail, you don’t have a lot of
Deputies Arrest Several In Retail Theft Operation
By Maya Morales Signal Staff Writer
The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station Crime Prevention Unit arrested nine people, including a father and son duo, during a retail theft operation in Canyon Country on Tuesday, Jan. 28, according to Deputy Robert Jensen, spokesman for the station.
Deputies began the operation Tuesday afternoon looking for people who were conducting organized retail theft at the Plaza at Golden Valley, said Jensen. They were able to arrest six on suspicion of organized retail theft crimes and three others on outstanding warrants, he said.
“We have stats to show that this shopping center on Golden Valley (Road) had the highest theft last year for us,” he said.
Jensen said the first arrest was at the 19300 block of Golden Valley Road. Jesus Pedroza, 36, Van Nuys had a warrant for his arrest and was arrested on suspicion of transporting or selling controlled substances and identify theft with a prior convic-
tion.
Jayland Brumfield, 25, of Palmdale, was arrested off Golden Valley Road near the SCV Sheriff’s Station and also had multiple outstanding warrants, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, driving under the influence and driving on a suspended license, according to Jensen.
Haykaram Petrosyan, 46, of North Hollywood, and his 15-year-old son were arrested on suspicion of 80 cosmetic bottles from the Target on the 19100 block of Golden Valley Road, costing over $500 and another $500 in other stolen items, according to Jensen. Petrosyan was arrested on suspicion of retail theft, in addition to delinquency of a minor for bringing his son to commit a crime and son was detained.
Canyon Country resident Esbeide Quinonez, 66, was also arrested at the Target on suspicion of shoplifting after getting caught concealing items in her jacket, Jensen said.
The last three suspects arrested were Mark Green, 46, of Rosamond, and Bridgett Leonetti, 36, of Lancaster, on suspicion of organized retail theft
at the 19000 block of Golden Valley Road along with Ricardo Ordaz, 42, of Lancaster. Ordaz was arrested on suspicion of petty theft with two prior convictions. Jensen said the three individuals were also found to be involved in stealing over $2,400 in merchandise from Dick’s Sporting Goods in Centre Pointe and $400 from a nearby Home Depot.
In addition, deputies arrested a 24-year-old Canyon Country resident on an outstanding driving under the influence misdemeanor warrant on Lost Canyon Road and Wren Drive, according to Jensen. The suspect was cited at the scene.
“It was a highly successful operation. We worked very well with the loss prevention officers at all the stores we were involved in,” said Jensen.
He added that deputies will still be carrying out retail theft operations despite the holiday season being over and, with Proposition 36 now in effect, suspects who steal from businesses are expected to be prosecuted.
COC Celebrates First Year Of Veterans Upward Bound
News Release
College of the Canyons has completed the first year of its five-year Veterans Upward Bound grant program. This transformative initiative aims to provide comprehensive support services to eligible student veterans in the Santa Clarita Valley, Antelope Valley, and parts of the San Fernando Valley.
“The Veterans Upward Bound program at College of the Canyons empowers student veterans with tailored academic and career resources, fostering success in higher education and beyond,” Renard Thomas, director of the Veterans Resource Center at COC, said in a news release. “In its first year, many veterans have gained essential support through advisement on veteran education bene-
fits, academic counseling, need-based referrals to resources on and off campus, and more, building on the proven strength of COC’s Veterans Resource Center.”
In 2023, COC received a $1.437 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education in support of a Veterans Upward Bound program designed to help student veterans succeed in pursuing postsecondary education by addressing gaps in support services.
Through the VUB program, student veterans gain access to an array of academic and career-focused resources.
During the first year of this grant, through the collaborative efforts of the Moving Veterans Forward Network, VUB has connected over 70 veteran students with tailored academic and non-academ-
Congratulations to All Making President’s or Dean’s Lists
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Cindy Avila
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ic services designed to address their unique needs, the release said.
Approximately 90% of these veterans have successfully enrolled in classes at COC during the previous and current academic years.
The program’s partnership with on-campus and off-campus organizations, including VPAN, the Vet Center, and Cal Vet, has enhanced access to critical resources to ensure veterans receive comprehensive support that promotes their academic, personal, and professional success, the release said.
Student veterans have benefited from the following services, according to the release: nAcademic advising and counseling.
nBasic skills development and short-term refresher courses.
nCareer awareness and career planning. nLife skills and decision-making workshops. nFamily activities and peer mentoring. nCollege admissions and financial aid assistance. nEmployment, mental health, and basic needs referrals.
COC’s Veterans Resource Center has been serving veterans since 2010. The center provides student services advisement, academic counseling, VA benefits information, and veteran peer support.
In 2016, a VRC was opened at the college’s Canyon Country campus.
For more information about the VUB program or the Veterans Resource Center at COC, call 661-362-3469 or go to www.canyons.edu/ studentservices/va/index.php.
Chaplain Gives Sheriff’s Department a Spiritual Connection
By Michael Picarella Signal Staff Writer
In high school, he knew he was going to be a pastor because his report cards indicated he talked too much in class. His teachers even said he gabbed like he was going to be a pastor.
Marty Walker, 61, not only went on to become a pastor, but he’s also been participating in the Chaplains Program of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which is a group of religious leaders who volunteer their time to provide for the spiritual and personal needs of Sheriff’s Department personnel and their families.
“One of the things that turned me on to the program is that, as a pastor, I so relate to cops,” Walker said during a recent telephone interview. “No. 1: There’s never one around when you need one. Some people say, ‘There’s never a cop around when you need one.’ Same with pastors. Like, ‘I need to show up at the hospital. Why wasn’t my pastor here when I had
L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Pastor Marty Walker, right, with Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station Capt. Justin Diez in April 2022. Walker is a member of the LASD Chaplains Program, which is a group of religious leaders who provide spiritual support to department personnel and their families.
FILE PHOTO
“Because he’s 15 years old.”
It’s true, Walker said, both cops and pastors make mistakes, and they both have problems just like everyone else.
“Anyway,” he said, “I got to hanging out with them (sheriff’s deputies from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station), and one of them approached me and said, ‘You’ve got to do chaplaincy.’ I’m like, ‘What’s that?’”
Upon learning about the program, the pastor was all in. That was about 15 years ago. He’s been a part of it since.
Walker was born and raised in Pacoima. In 1989, he was a pastor at a church in Woodland Hills when he learned about a church in the SCV called The Sanctuary, which he described as being “empty.”
Walker’s answer to that question: surgery?’ So, I felt like I connected with cops.”
Walker added that pastors can also relate with cops because so many people expect them to be perfect.
They might similarly ask a pastor or a cop, “How come your son has long hair and is hanging out at the skate park?”
“There was nobody going to this church and it needed some pastors,” he said. “They had a building, they had a parking lot, but there were 15 people.”
Moving to the more rural Canyon Country from the trendier neighborSee CHAPLAIN WALKER, page 13
Deals May Turn Movie Ranch Owners’ Land Into City Open Space
By Perry Smith Signal Senior Staff Writer
Two properties that are being eyed by city staff for Santa Clarita’s Open Space Preservation District were discussed at Tuesday, Feb. 11’s closed-session City Council agenda, with a pair of separate negotiations reported to involve a pair of local movie ranch owners.
Santa Clarita City Manager Ken Striplin is identified as the city’s negotiator in a pair of potential transactions that could add more than 556 acres to the city’s green belt. There was no report out of Tuesday’s closed session.
State records online indicated the properties were associated with LLCs tied to addresses also owned by local movie-ranch operators.
One property owner confirmed the involvement of his movie ranch property in the deal in a phone interview. He declined to discuss any specifics of the deal pending its approval. City officials declined to discuss additional specifics regarding the parties involved, due to the nature of property negotiations.
If both lots are acquired — land deals are allowed to be negotiated in closed session under state law to protect the interests of both sides — the move would convert millions of square feet surrounding Tapia Canyon Road and Vasquez Canyon Road to open space, according to city officials.
The acquisitions would not change the city’s physical boundaries, according to Carrie Lujan, city communications manager, but would only add to its Open Space Preservation District.
“In July 2007, city of Santa Clarita property owners voted in favor of creating the Open Space Preservation District (OSPD),” according to the city’s website. “The district is designed to expand the city’s existing Open Space, Park and Parkland Program in order to preserve natural land from development, create more parks for community usage and protect rare biological and geological regions.”
Flying R LLC
The first negotiation listed on the council’s agenda involves two parcels of land totaling around 100 acres in Castaic surrounding Tapia Canyon Road.
The land is owned by Flying R LLC, which is a business registered to 31583 Castaic Road, Suite G, which also is the registered address for Truck Stunts, a company run by longtime Hollywood stuntman Mike Ryan.
Ryan was listed as the online owner of Castaic Film Ranch, which is located at 26530 Tapia Canyon Road, according to the Santa Clarita Film Office.
The lots listed on the city’s agenda include property south of Tapia Canyon, and reaching east almost to Avenida Rancho Tesoro, which is part of the Tesoro Del Valle development.
In a public post on LinkedIn last year, Ryan lamented the challenges for the local filming industry, which has seen the estimated local impact go from more than $30 million to about $19 million last year, according to city figures.
“Last year’s Writer and Actors Guild strikes, added to COVID and its negative effects on people going out to the movies, has sent many production companies to Canada or overseas to England and Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South America,” he wrote. “The trade unions may have won the battle, but we all seem to be losing the war. They still office here, but foreign tax breaks and far lower labor rates have taken our careers, and short of moving to Europe or Australia, I’m not sure what to do.”
Vasquez Canyon Ranch
The second item on the agenda involved more than 450 acres in Canyon Country listed to an LLC in care of James Combs, who also owns Agua Dulce Movie Ranch.
The properties are listed to Vasquez Canyon Ranch LLC and Pacific Encore, a separate LLC listed out of Palm Springs.
William Fix, who coordinates filming on the property for the owners of Agua Dulce Movie Ranch, referred questions to James Combs, who was not immediately available afternoon to discuss whether the land involved in the negotiations would impact Agua Dulce Movie Ranch.
The parcels include land from east of Lost Creek
Industry Trends
There have been a number of moves lately that haven’t pointed to good news for filming in California. The 400-acre Sable Ranch, another longtime filming spot in the city of Santa Clarita’s Movie Ranch Overlay Zone, was put on the market in October.
Local sources indicated the filming slowdown also was associated with the announcement last summer that the Shadowbox Studios project was dead. The development would have put hundreds of millions of dollars of investment to build sound stages in Placerita Canyon.
Road to near the terminus of Esguerra Road, which is all part of vacant land in Canyon Country.
Movie production in California is still trying to recover from the adverse affects of COVID and the Writer and Actors Guild strike. TOP PHOTO SIGNAL FILE PHOTO
©ADOBE STOCK
First Homes for Sand Canyon Plaza Now Underway
By Perry Smith Signal Senior Staff Writer
An Orange County home builder branching out into Santa Clarita is building the first phase of Sand Canyon Plaza with land the developer closed escrow on less than two weeks ago, a spokeswoman for the project said Thursday, Jan. 16.
Pelona Hills at Sand Canyon will be a multi-entity partnership with Intracorp and Resmark taking the lead on the first phase, comprised of 119 detached single-family homes, said Intracorp spokesperson Paige Nelson, in a phone interview.
The address given for the development shows it as about a 1.5-mile drive north on Sand Canyon Road from Sand Canyon Country Club, not far from the Sand Canyon Ranch development, near the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road.
The project broke ground in November, Nelson said, after the community design was approved by the city of Santa Clarita’s Design Review Committee in July 2023. There will be a number of other projects associated with the development, but these homes are the first phase.
“We are eager to bring our expertise and attention to detail to the beautiful Sand Canyon area,” Brad
side, including 580 residential units, 60,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and an 85,000 square-foot assisted living facility with up to 140 beds. COURTESY ARTIST RENDITION
Perozzi, president of Intracorp Southern California, wrote in a statement.
“Our first venture in the Santa Clarita Valley, this new community expands the number of quality projects we have built in Los Angeles County, ranging from apartments and townhomes to luxury high-rise condominiums and single-family detached homes. There is a great need for new housing in L.A. County, and we are grateful to be able to bring these extraordinary homes to these wonderful communities.”
Sand Canyon Plaza originally was approved by the city in October 2017, set to include 580 residential units,
La Mesa Earns National Recognition For Counseling Program
The William S. Hart Union High School District proudly announces that the La Mesa Junior High School Counseling Department has been designated a Recognized ASCA Model Program® (RAMP®). This prestigious recognition from the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) highlights the school’s commitment to providing an exemplary, data-driven school counseling program.
The RAMP® designation, awarded to only about 1,300 schools since its inception, signifies that La Mesa Junior High School aligns its program with the rigorous criteria outlined in the ASCA National Model. This framework emphasizes data-informed practices and a comprehensive approach to student support. Research shows that fully implemented school counseling programs like the one at La Mesa are linked to improved student academic performance and behavior.
“The faculty and staff are very excited that ASCA chose to recognize the La Mesa counseling team. They are committed to helping all of our students and are dedicated to helping all students learn at high levels,” said Thomas Flores, La Mesa Junior High School Principal.
La Mesa Junior High will be honored at a recognition ceremony at ASCA’s Annual Conference in Long Beach on July 14, 2025.
Tom Clark, who’s also leading the effort to develop the former Smiser Mule Ranch as the Wiley Canyon Project.
The developer described the floor plans for its homes as “contemporary California Ranch,” which are expected to range in size from approximately 1,830 to 2,181 square feet and include up to four bedrooms, two and a half baths and a two-car side garage.
A release announcing the project touts “nearby access to major transportation corridors and spectacular 360-degree views of the Santa Clarita Valley and local foothills.”
60,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and an 85,000-square-foot assisted living facility with up to 140 beds.
The plans were first presented in 2014, and hundreds of residents weighed in between then and its ultimate approval, according to previous reports.
The developer on the project is
In addition to the views and freeway access, one of the project’s selling points is its walking-distance location from Oak Spring Canyon Park and the Sand Canyon Village Retail Center, which counts Sprouts Market, Starbucks and Jersey Mike’s among its growing list of tenants.
The project expects to have a formal groundbreaking ceremony later this year, Nelson said, with homes hitting the market sometime in the fourth quarter.
The proposal for Sand Canyon Plaza would bring a number of new homes and amenities to the East
Santa Clarita Officials Discuss Latest Crime Trends
By Perry Smith Signal Senior Staff Writer
The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station is reporting crime was down just under 3%, according to data from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, which also released preliminary numbers indicating arrests fell for a fourth-straight year.
The SCV’s top cop, station Capt. Justin Diez, said there were also many factors contributing to the drop in crimes reported, which varied from small increases to large decreases based on the type of offense. He also acknowledged the department’s long-term personnel challenges could play a factor in the station’s lower arrest numbers, adding he hadn’t seen the official stats for 2024 arrests.
The two main categories for Part-I crimes — property and violent crimes — were lower in the station’s service area, by 2.13% and 6.74%, respectively, according to LASD data. Those numbers, which include offenses ranging from petty theft to murder, are the basis for the crime rate of an area, which for the station covers the city and its surrounding unincorporated areas.
Everything from evolving retail-store policies to criminal opportunities could play a role in the changes, Diez said, adding it’s tough to know for sure.
“When somebody goes into a store and tries to walk out the threshold and steal items ... if they steal the items, it would be counted as a larceny theft,” Diez said. “If loss prevention or any employee tries to stop them, and they fight with loss prevention, it then goes from a larceny theft ... to a felony robbery, which is called an ‘Estes’ robbery.”
He said while many local stores are very cooperative, it’s becoming more common for retailers to tell staff not to stop theft attempts. Without a granular level of review it’s impossible to know for sure, but that could play a role in the reduction of robberies, which went from 124 to 94 in the city, comparing 2024 to the previous year. That also wouldn’t completely explain why there was a slight uptick from 15 to 19 over the same time in unincorporated areas.
In looking at the grand theft auto figures, he didn’t have a likely cause for the downward trend, adding some crimes tend to change as the methods and means change.
As new tools became available, such as devices that can clone key fobs for high-end cars, deputies tend to see a spike, but those aren’t often consistent, which this year’s numbers show. There were seven more grand theft auto cases in city limits, an increase from 433 to 440, but more than 26% fewer in the neighboring unincorporated areas, a reduction from 132 to 97.
Santa Clarita Mayor Bill Miranda said he was happy to hear there were lower crime numbers being reported, but he also didn’t want to take too much from just the numbers, he said in a phone interview.
“Well, No. 1, it’s good to know that crime is down, even though it’s two and a half percent, whatever that number is, that’s good to know. But I have to tell you, statistics, many times, can be misleading, and let me tell you why: If you’re a store owner that’s being robbed or that’s threatened to be robbed on a regular basis, statistics don’t mean anything to you.
“So, I’m always leery of numbers. I like trends, trends I agree with, and the trend is down, and that’s a good thing.”
The SCV Sheriff’s Station also released its arrest totals this week reflecting its arrest numbers for the past five years — with this year’s figure expected to be preliminary until later this week.
The numbers show a downward trend, with 5,426 in 2020; 4,760 in 2021; 4,697 in 2022; 4,391 in 2023; and 3,786 in 2024.
“The arrests have gone down over the last several years — there are a lot of factors,” Diez said.
While the station receives assistance from department-wide units for targeted operations, it doesn’t have the same resources it had even two years ago.
The Juvenile Intervention Team, which heavily investigated the nexus between youth and substance abuse-related crimes, was disbanded due to the personnel shortage. The Special Assignment Team was reduced by half.
Diez said the current staffing level is still at about 65% of its traditional level, which it’s been for some time.
“All of the missing personnel really, are all filled in with overtime,” Diez said. “So, deputies are certainly
working a lot more hours, a lot more overtime hours, in addition to their 40-hour shifts. And it’s reasonable that productivity is going to drop off a little bit.”
Both Diez and Deputy Robert Jensen, spokesman for the station, mentioned how technology helps the department operate more efficiently.
Diez said he expects city-purchased traffic cameras from Flock, which will help deputies run thousands of license plates a day for things like stolen cars and missing persons, to be up and operational in the next few months.
Jensen said the department’s online reporting system makes it much easier for deputies to receive reports from the public, which was something the station wants to encourage. It’s particularly helpful for residents who might not need to speak with a deputy immediately but need an incident report for an insurance claim, he added.
Miranda, who has been aware of the station’s staffing shortage, regularly checks in with Diez at the city’s Public Safety Committee meetings over concerns about station morale, which he reiterated in a phone interview.
At a City Council meeting, Miranda mentioned Santa Clarita should have a statue to show gratitude for its first responders, including sheriff’s deputies, in light of their constant sacrifices in times of emergency, like the recent fires.
But he also knows that constant sacrifice comes at a cost, he said.
“We have a fantastic Sheriff’s Department here in Santa Clarita. We’re very proud of them and the work they do. Unfortunately, they’re working, as I said at the council meeting, some of them are working incredible shifts, and I’m worried about that because the Sheriff’s Department is still very much understaffed,” Miranda said. “I’m worried about that because when you have sheriff’s deputies who are great, as I said, when you have them tired and overworked, that’s when sometimes, mistakes can be made. And I’m very worried about that.”
Residents can file a report online with the SCV Sheriff’s Station by visiting lasd.org/sorts.
SMITH-THOMAS
Continued from page 5
social services with Los Angeles County. It’s been 25 years since. This month, she’ll have been at the L.A. County Aging and Disabilities Department for 21 years. It turned out that those tests she took back in high school — the ones that told her she’d be in the social services — were right. She said she’s now doing what she’s supposed to be doing.
Smith-Thomas couldn’t get into the details about her work for reasons related to confidentiality, but essentially, she deals with seniors who are neglected or abused. Some of the bigger issues she’s been dealing with currently are money scams, particularly the ones over the phone.
“They (seniors) don’t know anything about Bitcoin, but they don’t want to hear that it isn’t a good deal,” Smith-Thomas said. “We just need them to keep their money in their pockets, because people will bleed them dry and go on to the next victim.”
There was a point in time when Smith-Thomas was living in the Antelope Valley and would pass through the Santa Clarita Valley on her way to and from work. She got a closer look at the community when she happened to be serving clients in the area.
Her love with the place was instant, and in 2013, she found and purchased a home in Canyon Country.
“Someone from the office actually lived in Santa Clarita and said I should consider making a move if I liked what I saw,” Smith-Thomas said. “He confirmed that he felt it was a nice place to raise children. That’s why I ended up here.”
Smith-Thomas’ kids have since become adults.
A little over three years ago, she was looking to do more in her community and joined what was at the time the newly formed, all-volunteer nonprofit NAACP Santa Clarita. Again, her need to give, to be involved in community, shone through.
She said her goal in joining the organization was to help promote education, inclusion and engagement. She felt education was a big one. Growing up, Black History Month in school to her was learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“We had a connect-the-dot of Martin Luther
King and maybe Rosa Parks,” she said. “But there’s so much more to Black history than that.”
She gave a recent example of some unknown Black history covered in the new Tyler Perry movie called “The Six Triple Eight,” which tells the story of the Black women who joined the World War II fight in 1943 to fix the three-year backlog of undelivered mail, an essential service to the troops overseas.
Smith-Thomas also boasted about NAACP Santa Clarita’s program to give five $2,000 scholarships each year to area students.
As for her own experience, she’s seen racial prejudice firsthand. She spoke about her daughter who experienced discrimination when she was in school. As a parent, at the time, Smith-Thomas felt helpless trying to resolve the matter. As part of NAACP, however, she feels she can make more of a difference in situations like that.
“As a group, the goal is to keep a watchful eye out for inequities in our own community,” she said. “We want to make sure people have a place to go, should they feel that there has been some type of injustice.”
Smith-Thomas added that their Santa Clarita branch volunteers are not attorneys, and therefore, they don’t give legal advice. But they’ll hear an individual’s concerns, and if there’s cause for litigation, they’ll forward that to the national NAACP headquarters, where they do have attorneys who can help.
But she said she doesn’t want to be known for only showing up at City Council meetings when there’s a problem. Some of the issues she and NAACP Santa Clarita deal with arise because people, she said, just don’t know each other. As such, she wants to help people get to know each other better.
“When I was saying how I went out to Santa Clara and said, ‘Oh my God, it’s so pretty,’ that guy I know who lived here, he said, ‘Oh, it’s wonderful, you’ll love it, they call it Awesometown.’ Well, when I got here, I’m like, ‘Oh, Awesometown, let’s make it awesome for all.’”
And that brought Smith-Thomas to her third priority: engagement.
She had previously held the position of NAACP
Santa Clarita second vice president. Just last month, she became president. In that role, she looks forward to engaging more with the community.
For example, she hopes to continue doing and expanding programs like what the group calls “Small Business Month,” where owners of small businesses in the community come to gatherings to share who they are, what they do and what they offer the community.
Then there’s the group’s WIN committee (Women In NAACP), which helps to include and empower women in the community.
Of course, February is Black History Month, and she’d like to offer more events surrounding that in the future. And she’d also like to grow the group’s Juneteenth event, which she feels is like a family reunion.
“Even though we’re all not related,” she said, “it’s giving us family within the Santa Clarita Valley.”
That, she said, is paramount in her vision.
Asked where that sense of community and that need to give came from, Smith-Thomas said she was uncertain.
“I haven’t tried to try to evaluate it,” she said. “For a brief amount of time, I lived with my grandparents in Jacksonville, Florida. So, I was raised by older parent role models. They were involved in the community, mostly through the church programs that did things in the community. I guess, unless it’s something inherent, it’s something I picked up from them — I saw their involvement in the community.”
Some time ago, Smith-Thomas was in another city and needed to go to Trader Joe’s for a few things. She could’ve run into the one right there, but she decided against it. She waited to get back home to Santa Clarita to go to her Trader Joe’s.
That’s how she operates, she said. She’s all about community — supporting her community, educating her community, making sure no one in her community is left out, and engaging in her community. Don’t be surprised if you see her out in the community doing just that. It’s just who she is.
Know any unsung heroes or people in the SCV with an interesting life story to tell? Email share@ signalscv.com.
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PASTOR WALKER
Continued from page 7
hood of Woodland Hills, which he said was populated with people who drove BMWs, was a major culture shock.
Walker clarified: “I didn’t drive a BMW, but everyone else did,” adding that people in Woodland Hills also dressed much differently.
“I’m in gabardine slacks,” he said. “I’ve got a ponytail, I wear bolo ties all the way up to the collar — this was the ’80s. And so, I came to Canyon Country, and I’m like, ‘Where are we?’”
Walker would come to proudly call the SCV his home. He said he fell in love with the people. And he’s still at the Sanctuary Church.
When he started working with the chaplains program at the SCV Sheriff’s Station, he immediately saw the value he could bring. It was a perfect fit, he said. He especially likes doing ride-alongs.
Walker insisted that when he’s with deputies, he’s not always sharing the word of God. In fact, most of what he does is simply converse.
“My job isn’t to lead someone to Jesus,” he said. “I’m there to be for these deputies.”
He explained what that meant — to be “for” the deputies.
“I think the world looks at us — at the church — and says, ‘Oh, we know what the church is against,’” Walker said. “I think it’s time for the world to know what the church is for. We are for deputies. We are for the city.”
He added that he’s also for a clean city. He won’t litter and he’ll even pick up trash if he sees it around town. He’s for the parks. He’s for the schools.
As a congregation, Walker’s church, for example, has served dinners for the Golden Valley High School football team.
“These deputies need to know that we’re for them,” he said. “Because they’ve learned to not trust people. When someone says, ‘I was just here, I wasn’t doing anything.’ ‘Well, I have three witnesses who say you did.’ Everybody lies to them. So, who do they trust? Who can they trust? I’m trying to break through going, ‘You can trust us. We’re chaplains, and we’re here for you.’”
Sometimes, it’s the small conversations that helps sheriff’s personnel come to trust Walker. He’s related with deputies over the trials and tribulations of installing a pool, or over the only slightly less than gigantic feat of raising a teen. Walker’s four kids are now in their 20s and 30s, but he has quite the life experience, including 40 years of marriage, that informs what he shares.
“I’m not their mentor by a long shot,” Walker said. “But I’m this older guy who understands them.”
During ride-alongs with deputies, Walker will even assist with lighting and setting flares around a traffic collision on the road or writing a suspect’s name and driver’s license number on the bracelets they get when going to jail.
The pastor pointed out that he never does anything like handcuff a suspect. But the first time he was told to put on a bulletproof vest made him think twice about the work.
“I was like, ‘What am I doing here? I’m a pastor,’” he said. “But for me, I go, ‘If I’m not putting my life on the line, then I’m not really with these guys.”
At a certain point, sheriff’s personnel must’ve recognized Walker’s conviction. It’s not like he was getting paid. He was volunteering his time. And those connections he was making must’ve been real. Many deputies stopped calling him “sir” and began calling him “Chap.” That’s when Walker said he knew he was on the inside.
In the past year, he’s spent his time in the chaplains program at North County Correctional Facility in Castaic. And while he embraced the challenge, being there for facility personnel, he said he wasn’t able to get as much conversation time in with those folks because they haven’t had that time together in vehicles on patrol. So, Walker feels less impactful, but it’s important work, nonetheless.
SCV Sheriff’s Station Capt. Justin Diez expressed the importance of the department’s chaplains during a recent phone interview, saying that their service is invaluable, and a part of the deputy wellness services that the station offers.
Mental health, Diez said, is a big issue in the community, and the station provides four programs, including a peer support group, a doctor from the psychological services bureau, a peer support canine, and the volunteer chaplains program.
Chaplains, the captain added, are trained and credentialed through the Sheriff’s Department chaplains program, and Walker is one of about six chaplains who volunteer at the station, each of
those chaplains from a different place of worship within the Santa Clarita Valley.
In addition to the chaplains going on ride-alongs with deputies, Diez said they also offer their services at briefings and on the scenes of traffic collisions, homicides, baby-not-breathing calls — any major incident, really. During fires, he said they’ve gone out to command posts to make themselves available to deputies and the station personnel.
Asked about the effectiveness of the program, Diez said it can’t be quantified.
“Any conversations — a deputy’s formal conversations, any spiritual guidance they’re seeking with the chaplains — is completely anonymous,” he said. “So, there’s really no way to quantify it, nor am I allowed to ask about it or even try to quantify it.”
The services, he said, are there for any needs anyone at the station might have.
On average, Walker will volunteer through the sheriff’s chaplains program twice a month, usually about four hours each time. He’s particularly excited with some news he got just a couple weeks ago. He learned he’d be reassigned to ride-alongs. It’s where he feels he shines most.
Diez seemed to also believe that Walker does well in that capacity.
“It’s very, very, very easy to connect with him (Walker),” Diez said. “He’s got a great skill where he can come down to anybody’s level and really just interact with that person. He’s got that gift. That’s why the guys and gals here really like him and take to him.”
Know any unsung heroes or people in the SCV with an interesting life story to tell? Email share@ signalscv.com.
Chaplain and The Sanctuary Church Pastor Marty Walker. PHOTO BY KATHERINE QUEZADA/THE SIGNAL
Clutch Kubel Lifts Canyon Boys’ Basketball to Victory
By Tyler Wainfeld Signal Staff Writer
When the Canyon Cowboys boys’ basketball team needed him most in Wednesday’s playoff opener, senior Eric Kubel delivered in the clutch.
Trailing the El Dorado Golden Hawks by one with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter at Canyon High, Kubel hit a 3-pointer to give the Cowboys the lead.
Kubel followed that up with another three to make it a two-possession game, and the Cowboys’ defense stifled El Dorado in the waning minutes to give them a 58-49 win in the CIF Southern Section Division 2A first round.
“It’s a big feeling,” Kubel said. “I worked my whole life for this, so I kind of expect it, but it’s definitely a huge feeling.”
Kubel finished with a game-high 22 points and six rebounds, scoring half of his points in the fourth quarter on four-of-five shooting.
“Our team is a team full of players. It’s not just one guy,” said Canyon (20-9) head coach Ali Monfared. “But that’s what Eric does. He makes clutch shots in clutch moments.”
El Dorado (21-9) was led in scoring by senior Noah Barker with 18.
Canyon moves on to face Dos Pueblos (15-14) at Canyon High today at 7 p.m.
The two teams took a few minutes to get going offensively, but once they did, it was back and forth all night. Neither squad led by more than six until Canyon went on a 10-3 run to close out the contest.
Monfared said it wasn’t surprising that the game was as tight as it was even though Canyon was the top seed in the bracket. This is the first season in which the Southern Section is using what it has called a “competitive-equity playoff model,” in which a computer ranking system was used to determine which divisions teams are placed in, and then which teams in those divisions made the cut for playoffs.
Only results from this season were used to formulate those rankings, rather than using prior years to split teams into divisions as it was previously done.
“There’s no seeds in this bracket. Everyone’s evenly matched,” Mon-
fared said. “You’re getting 32 of the best teams in that cluster. And so it’s fun because every game is a hard game, and that’s how it should be in the playoffs. Nothing should be easy.”
While Kubel starred at the end, seemingly every Cowboy did something on Wednesday to lift Canyon to victory.
Whether it was seniors Chigo Osuji and Noah Madrigal crashing the offensive glass to create second, third and even fourth chances, or senior Solomon Sims making the extra pass to hit Kubel for the go-ahead three, Monfared praised his team for buying into the game plan.
“Credit to our players. They bought into all of our film preparation, and they buy in at practice,” Monfared said. “We do a lot of hard things like defense and we run and we’re in condition, and it comes in the fourth quarter, like when we’re trying to wear you out. And we had a mantra tonight that we’re not going to get out-competed on our home court.”
Osuji had 13 points and eight rebounds, four of them on the offensive end, while senior Daniel Gonzalez had five points in the first quarter to give the Cowboys a much-needed early lift.
Senior Isaac Yuhico had six points and five assists and Madrigal had six points and five rebounds, four of them on the offensive end.
“That’s what we’re all about.,” Kubel said. “We’re about playing defense, getting the best shot possible, and just killing teams on the hustle standpoint.”
The Cowboys have already secured the most wins for the program since 2014, but they’re seeking more. Should they continue this run, Canyon could face Foothill League rival Valencia in the championship game. Valencia beat Canyon late in the regular season to knock the Cowboys out of the league title race.
“We want to get our, we call it our ‘get back,’ on them,” Kubel said.
Here’s what else happened as Santa Clarita Valley boys’ basketball teams played in the first round of playoffs on Wednesday: Division 2A
Valencia 70, Walnut 48: The Valencia Vikings advanced to the second round in Division 2A after beating Walnut at home, 70-48.
Noah Trevino led the way with 18 points and Dabe Princewill had 13. Steven Irons and Issac Michel-Zavala each had 11 points.
Valencia is set to travel to Cabrillo in the second round today.
Palm Springs 64, West Ranch 33: The West Ranch Wildcats saw their season end after a 64-33 loss at home to Palm Springs.
Had West Ranch won, Canyon and the Wildcats could have met in the quarterfinal round.
Division 2AA
Pacifica Christian 62, Saugus 41: The Saugus Centurions, co-champions of the Foothill League with Valencia, fell to visiting Pacifica Christian, 62-41.
Bryce Mejia had 14 points and Braydon Harmon had 12 to lead Saugus.
Division 4A
Chino 95, Trinity 55: The Trinity Classical Academy Knights traveled to Chino High and lost on the road, 95-55.
Cy Mitchell had a double-double for Trinity with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Noah Phillips added 18 points and eight rebounds.
Paloma Valley 61, SCCS 41: The Santa Clarita Christian Cardinals saw their season end at the hands of hosts Paloma Valley, 61-41.
(Left) Canyon’s Eric Kubel (21) looks for an opening against El Dorado’s Brian Kee (1) at Canyon High School on Wednesday. (Above) Canyon’s Isaac Yuciho (23) drives past El Dorado’s Caleb Hendrix (13). PHOTO HABEBA MOSTAFA/THE SIGNAL
CALENDAR
Planets on Parade Feb. 28
Five planets, Saturn, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Mars, will be visible to the naked eye, while Uranus and Neptune will require a pair of binoculars or a telescope to view.
Total Lunar Eclipse March 13
In Santa Clarita the eclipse will begin at 8:57 p.m. on Thursday, March 13 and reach maximum, total eclipse at 11:58 p.m.
S.C.O.R.E.
Scholarship Program
For youth who do not have the financial means to participate in fee-based recreational programs and activities.
Call (661) 250-3700
Open gym activities are available to people of all skill levels. Gym Fees Day Use
Juniors (12-17)
Visit Pass
Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Bring your own ball or check one out with a student I.D./Government issued I.D.
Pickleball
Friday, 9:45 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Bring your own paddles
Table Tennis
Monday and Wednesday, 9:45 a.m. - 2 p.m.
COMMUNITY CENTER PROGRAMS
Toddler Program
The Toddler Program is for children ageds 2-5. The programs include adventrues with food, fitness fun, sensory activities and crafts and water play days.
Afterschool Program
The Afterschool Program is a structured program for the school year which offers children ages 5 to 11 an opportunity to participate in homework help, reading time, enrichment activites, arts & crafts, games, and sports.
Teen Experience
This program is available for those aged 12-17.The daily schedule includes Peer Tutors (2:30 - 3:25 p.m.), Gym Time (3:25-4:25 p.m.), Activity/Craft (4:30-5:30 p.m.) and Teen Choice (5:30-6 p.m.)
Senior Programs
Mahjong Mondays 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Table Tennis Wednesdays 9:45 a.m. 2 2 p.m.
Line Dancing Thursdays 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
BINGO Fridays 9:30 - 10:30 a.m
For more information, visit santaclarita.gov/canyon-country-community-center
CANYON COUNTRY LIBRARY PROGRAMS
February 24
4:30 p.m. Teen Game Day: Superbowl Kahoot
February 25
3:30 p.m. LEGO© Block Party
Febriaru 26
9:30 a.m. Storytime
February 27
9:30 a.m. Storytime
3:30 p.m. Teen Crafts and Stuff: Kawaii Pencil Holder
4 p.m. Read to a Dog
March 5
6 p.m. OSOC: Copper Tree/Rock Pendant (Adults/Seniors)
6 p.m. Thrilled to Read Book Club (Adults/Seniors
March 6
6:30 p.m. Club de Mujeres Latinas en Literatura
March 8
10 a.m. Sit and Stitch (Adults/Seniors)
March 10
4 p.m. Teen Game Day: Mario Day
March 11
11 a.m. Spring Sensory Room (Adults/Seniors) Canyon Country Community Center Open Gym Schedule
Bring your own paddles
4:30 p.m. Teen Advisory Board
Canyon Country Community Center 18410
Highway, Santa Clarita 91350 (661) 290-2266
McLean.