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By Sophia Lesseos

Top 10 Most Impactful Stories Of 2020 For Santa Clarita

As 2020 (thankfully) comes to an end, KHTS is taking a look back at the top 10 stories that impacted Santa Clarita the most in the past year.

The past year has arguably been the most impactful for the Santa Clarita Valley. Throughout 2020, our residents experienced everything from the drama of the most contentious election in modern American history, to a renewed call for racial justice, all the while contending with a global pandemic.

The following 10 stories were selected by the KHTS newsroom, not based on the number of views they gained — although they certainly did attract a lot of attention — but rather on the impact they had on the Santa Clarita Valley as a whole.

Before we go any further, it’s important to note that this list was also compiled with input from our staff, so while we believe it is an accurate and holistic look at the past year, I’m sure opinions are going to differ amongst everyone. And that is OK! Just please keep things respectful down in the comments.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 most impactful stories for Santa Clarita in the year 2020.

  1. Cheri Fleming Passes Away

Cheri Fleming Santa Clarita

Unfortunately, this list starts on a sober note. Former Santa Clarita Woman of the Year and Valencia Acura co-owner Cheri Fleming passed away in November.

“Cheri was a jewel in our valley,” said Carl Goldman, co-owner of KHTS. “She’d walk in a room and instantly brighten it, always with a smile.” 

After moving to southern California from Ohio, Cheri opened a successful tanning salon in the Woodland Hills area. She worked closely with Donald “Don” Fleming during that time, and in 1984 the two were married, and moved to the San Fernando Valley.

In 1997, the two purchased the Valencia Acura car dealership, building it up from “dead last nationally” to one of the highest-ranking dealerships for customer satisfaction in the country.

Some of the notable positions of leadership that Cheri held within the Santa Clarita Valley include:

  • Director and Vice Chair of Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital
  • Director and Past  Chair of the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Health Foundation
  • Member and Past President of Soroptimist International of Santa Clarita Valley
  • Regional Governor-Elect of Soroptimist International Camino Real Region
  • Director and Chair of the Child and Family Center Governing Board
  • Director and Immediate Past Chairman of the Child and Family Center Foundation
  • Director of The Roar Foundation Advisory Board
  • Director and Chair-Elect of the American Cancer Society Unit Council (2004 and 2005 “Relay for Life” Co-Chair)
  • Vice President on the Sheila R. Veloz Breast Imaging Center Advisory Board
  • Co-Chair for the Boys & Girls Club Auction (2004, 2005 and 2006)
  • Arthritis Foundation Walk Chair – 2006
  • Director of the Greater Los Angeles New Car Dealer Association

Cheri was named the Santa Clarita Valley “Woman of the Year” in 2004. Don was named the Santa Clarita Valley “Man of the Year” in the same year, marking only the second time in 40 years that a husband and wife had shared the award in the same year.

See Related: Remembering Community Leader, Philanthropist Cheri Fleming

“I think very few true volunteers are looking for recognition for their efforts. Being able to volunteer is a great gift in itself,” Cheri said at the time. “I always feel that I’m receiving so much more than I’m giving. However, to be a Woman of the Year in Santa Clarita is an amazing honor.”

In 2012, Cheri was named the “Woman of the Year” by the Los Angeles County 5th Supervisorial District and Commision for Women, and in 2017 she was named the “Volunteer of the Year” by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.

Then, in 2019, both Cheri and Don were named the recipients of the “Silver Spur” community service award by College of the Canyons for their involvement in higher education.

“Don and Cheri Fleming’s visionary leadership and entrepreneurial spirit have truly made a difference in the Santa Clarita Valley,” COC Chancellor Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook said at the time. “Cheri’s hands-on leadership and philanthropy and inspiring, and Don’s involvement with the Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation, has positioned Santa Clarita as a business-friendly city. The college has been incredibly fortunate to count on them as friends and supporters over the years.”

Cheri is survived by her husband Don and her three stepchildren.

“We’ve been friends with Cheri and her husband Don since they first bought Valencia Acura,” added KHTS Co-Owner Jeri Seratti-Goldman. “She was a leader, contributing so much for the good in Santa Clarita. Our hearts are broken.”

  1. The Lake Fire
Lake Fire Fundraiser Lake Hughes

Photo by Austin Dave

Next up on our list is the Lake Fire, which broke out in mid-August and scorched thousands of acres of land just north of Santa Clarita.

At around 3:42 p.m. on Aug. 12, officials with the Los Angeles County Fire Department were dispatched to a brush fire near North Lake Hughes Road and Pine Canyon Road.

Dubbed the “Lake Fire,” the blaze produced a “significant amount of smoke” within minutes of breaking out, burning an estimated 50 acres by the time units arrived on scene.

Fire officials said at the time that the blaze was able to grow so rapidly due in part to it being in an area where the different trees and vegetation had not burned for roughly a century.

An estimated 100 evacuations were ordered, and the Santa Clarita Valley experienced many days of unhealthy air due to the smoke coming from the Lake Fire.

By the time the fire was contained weeks later, it had burned over 31,000 acres of land and destroyed at least a dozen structures.

See Related: Lake Hughes Community Rallies To Support Families That Have Lost Homes To Lake Fire

One of the families left homeless by the Lake Fire, the LaCroix family, was left with nothing only weeks before the birth of their newest family member.

Michael LaCroix, who was self-employed and worked from home at the time, lost all of his personal belongings, and everything he had to support himself and his family, including all his tools and equipment.

“When I was leaving I thought maybe that there’s a chance, I didn’t have to grab everything, that it would be okay, but no,” LaCroix said at the time.

Michael’s daughter-in-law was 37 weeks pregnant, with a 1-year-old daughter. Everything they owned, including much-needed baby supplies, was destroyed. They started donations to help raise funds not only to help recover from the blaze, but to collect everything needed for the new baby before he arrived.

“After losing everything like this and having really everything completely melted, burned, gone, and not even hardly a remnant of everything,” LaCroix said. “I just have to be positive and think about the new start that’s available.”

  1. City Councilman Bob Kellar Retires

While 2020 was always going to be… interesting politically due to it being an election year (more on that later), one of the outcomes of the November election was Jason Gibbs replacing outgoing City Councilman Bob Kellar on the Santa Clarita City Council.

Kellar had previously announced that he would not run for re-election in 2020 after serving for 20 years on the City Council.

“I’m 76 years old,” Kellar told KHTS near the beginning of December. “I got a dance or two left, I certainly hope so, but it’s time. 20 years is enough.”

After serving in the United States Army from 1965 to 1967,  Kellar entered the Los Angeles Police Department, where he worked for 25 years. He retired in 1993 as the Supervisor in Charge of Reserve Officer Training at the Police Academy.

“I say to school children now and then, ‘Knowing what I know today, if I had to do it all over again, I’d become a Los Angeles police officer,’ and I’ve meant that,” Kellar said. “I know these are troubled times that we have right now, but I still am so pleased that I became a police officer, and (have) no regrets whatsoever.”

While working for the LAPD, Kellar got a call in 1986 from a man he knew from the department, who was also involved with the Canyon Country Chamber of Commerce at the time. He had called Kellar to ask him to help out with the Frontier Days Rodeo, an annual event at the time of which Kellar would eventually become the chairman.

“It was my first stepping point into becoming involved with the community,” Kellar recalled.

A few years before retiring from the LAPD, Kellar obtained his real estate license, which allowed him “hit the ground running” in the real estate business. He would eventually found Kellar-Davis Real Estate in 2000, which he still operates to this day.

After his retirement, Kellar served with a number of organizations, including the Canyon Country Chamber of Commerce, the Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Foundation, and the American Red Cross, the last of which he joined at the request of KHTS Co-Owner Carl Goldman.

“Bob is one of the main reasons Santa Clarita is a stellar community,” Goldman said. “(His) many trips to Washington D.C. fighting the feds on CEMEX, or advocating on behalf of our valley in Sacramento, or being sensitive and supportive of our many small local businesses.”

Kellar also began to become more involved with the City of Santa Clarita itself, joining the Santa Clarita Planning Commission at the behest of then-mayor Jo Anne Darcy.

Then, in 1999, Kellar was asked by a number of community leaders, including SCV Woman of the Year Connie Roberts and HMNH Foundation President Marlee Lauffer, to run for City Council. 

“I was very flattered obviously,” Kellar said. “I said, ‘Guys, let me sleep on it,’ and I did. I thought about it until the next day, and I picked up the phone and I said, ‘If you want me to, I’ll do it.’”

Kellar ran for Santa Clarita City Council in 2000, earning just over 38% of the vote to earn a seat on the Santa Clarita City Council.

“It was an interesting experience,” Kellar said. “Trust me, you don’t do these things by yourself. There’s a lot of support and people that you appreciate coming on board and helping you.”

During his time on the council, Kellar took part in many committees, serving as mayor on four separate occasions. He has been on the subcommittee to fight the CEMEX mega-mine right from the time he was elected to the present day, traveling to Washington D.C. dozens of times for this issue and testifying before the Senate and Natural Resources Committee in 2013.

See Related: A Look Back On The Career Of Santa Clarita Councilmember Bob Kellar

Other actions that Kellar has taken while on the council include:

  • Organizing a rally in support of bringing back Officer David March’s killer from Mexico in 2002.
  • Proposing the creation of the Santa Clarita Arts Commission in 2009.
  • Bringing forward a proposal to place “In God We Trust” in the council chamber next to the city logo in 2010.
  • Organizing the community to show support for the loss of Rudy Acosta, the son of former City Councilman and State Assemblyman Dante Acosta, who was killed in Kandahar while serving in the Army in 2011.
  • Proposing the Banner Program to recognize members of the Santa Clarita Valley community who have or currently are serving in the United States military in 2014.
  • Helping organize the annual ‘Light Up Main Street’ and the Christmas tree lighting in Newhall in 2016.
  • Actively opposing California’s SB-54, legislation that made changes to state law related to the involvement of state and local law enforcement agencies relative to federal immigration enforcement, in 2018.

Kellar’s last year on the council would become one of the most difficult periods in the City’s history, with both the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as social unrest surrounding the relationship between law enforcement and racial minorities.

“It’s been a difficult year to say the least,” Kellar said. “If there were a couple of things that if I could push a button and have changed, I probably would have done that. But you have to deal with the cards that are dealt to you. “

Part of the challenge for Kellar particularly came from several vocal residents who called for his resignation due to comments made in a 2010 anti-illegal immigration rally, where he described how he had previously quoted President Theodore Roosevelt, advocating for “one flag, one language.”

“You know, the only thing I heard back from a couple of people? ‘Bob, you sound like a racist,’” Kellar said during the 2010 rally. “I said, ‘That’s good. If that’s what you think I am, because I happen to believe in America, I’m a proud racist. You’re darn right I am.’”

The term “proud racist” sparked outrage at the time, and was brought forward once again as conversations about racial equality continued throughout the country. Rallies were held in an effort to get Kellar to resign, and residents regularly called in to council meetings to voice their opinions directly to Kellar.

“I wasn’t going to fall victim to it, but I will tell you, it didn’t please me to hear those comments being made, which saddened me frankly,” Kellar said. “All right. I mean, you got your wish, you’ve hurt my feelings, now let’s move on.”

Nevertheless, Kellar refused to resign, and finished his final term in its entirety. 

“The truth of the matter is, as an individual, I know the truth,” Kellar said. “That’s one thing you can’t take from me. I know the truth.”

  1. Santa Clarita Purchases the Valencia Ice Station
Santa Clarita Ice Skating Community Parades To ‘Save The Rink’

A family rolls by the Valencia Ice Station on Sunday with ‘Save The Rink’ signs. (Jamie Araki/KHTS News)

After months of community outcry, the City of Santa Clarita purchased the Valencia Ice Station following its closure in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ice station had initially closed its doors on March 13 due to the onset of the pandemic, and announced its permanent closure two weeks later.

“The uncertainty of a reopening date combined with loss of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic has made a recovery unsurmountable and closing permanently unavoidable,”  a statement on their website read at the time.

Two days after the announcement, Santa Clarita resident Leigh Ann Dunleavy began a petition to save the ice station.

“The closing of the ice rink represents a significant loss for our local youth and their families,” Dunleavy wrote in her petition.

The petition called for both the City of Santa Clarita and the Los Angeles Kings to purchase and operate the ice station so that it can “continue to bring joy to thousands in our local community.”

“The Ice Station has truly been a home away from home for so many kids over the past two decades, giving them a safe place to congregate with their friends,” Dunleavy wrote. “Thousands of kids are devastated right now with the closing of their place to forget all their troubles and pursue their passion.”

See Related: Santa Clarita Ice Skating Community Parades To ‘Save The Rink’

The petition itself garnered over 26,000 signatures as of Dec. 30.

A month later, residents hosted a “Save the Rink” parade, where more than 200 cars drove through the parking lot of the Valencia Ice Station to show their love for the rink and rally support for their effort to save the rink from closing permanently.

Then, exactly five months to the day after ice station officials announced its permanent closure, the Santa Clarita City Council voted unanimously to approve the city’s acquisition of the station for a total of $14.2 million.

The purchase included the 4.39 acres of surrounding land and the two-story, 92,751 square-foot building, along with all of its furniture and fixtures.

“What we’re doing is we’re fixing it up, and converting a part of it into a conference center that can be used by the entire community,” Santa Clarita Mayor Bill Miranda said during a recent interview on-air. “So think of it as an event center, ice skating center, a combination of both.”

City officials estimated that the renovation of the Ice Station should be complete by the end of the second quarter of 2021.

  1. The Sale of Mountasia

Keeping with the theme of selling my important childhood landmarks, officials with the Santa Clarita Mountasia Family Fun Center were forced to sell the center in an effort to survive, as none of their outdoor facilities have been permitted to open during the COVID-19 pandemic despite similar facilities being allowed to do so.

On March 15, the Santa Clarita Mountasia location was forced to close its doors, along with thousands of businesses across the state of California due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, unlike many other businesses, Mountasia has not been permitted to open any section of their center since then.

“At this point, unless something turns around in the next couple of weeks, we’re not going to be able to hold on,” Mike Fleming, then-general managing partner of the Santa Clarita Mountasia location, told KHTS in September.

The center has employed more than 8,000 people since it first opened its doors in August of 1995, many of which were joining the workforce for the first time. 25 years later, all but two employees had been laid off, according to Courtney Bourdas, then-manager for Mountasia.

“It’s really frustrating and unfair,” she said. “Our outdoor attractions, which are naturally socially distanced, are not allowed to open. There’s literally zero common sense.”

Despite half of the facilities on the Mountasia property being outdoors, no part of the center has been permitted to be re-open by public health officials. 

“You allow county parks and golf courses to open, but our golf course isn’t allowed to open,” Bourdas said. “We could literally meet every single benchmark or exceed them, with one exception which said that golfers had to bring their own clubs, but obviously not everyone has their own mini-golf clubs.”

In addition to their outdoor facilities, Mountasia has not been allowed to open the restaurant within their center for patio dining or take-out, despite restaurants across the state being permitted to open for outdoor dining across the state.

“It’s simply because we’re a family fun center,” Bourdas said. “There’s just a lack of continuity in the reopening approach. We have lawmakers and county employees who get to determine the fate of our livelihoods, which is just scary and honestly downright criminal.”

See Related: Santa Clarita Mountasia Family Fun Center At Risk Of Permanently Closing

Both Bourdas and Fleming had reached out to public health and government officials ranging from California Governor Gavin Newsom to Santa Clarita City Councilmembers, but Fleming said the only response they received was from the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

“They were doing everything that they could do, but their hands were tied,” he said. “If she’s being shut down by Dr. Ferrer, there’s nothing they can do.”

Fleming said that he did not hear back from any of the five members of the Santa Clarita City Council that he reached out to, prompting him to speak during a city council meeting to urge them to take action.

“I know politics are involved, but lives are involved. Lots of lives are involved,” he said. “I don’t want to say that they are not doing anything, but I would like to hear somebody in our council standing in a news conference saying, ‘We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take this anymore.’” 

Fleming made the decision to sell the center after seeing that the business’ checking account had reached a “point of no return,” being kept alive so far only through the Paycheck Protection Program and Fleming’s personal funds.

“You can’t continue to not have any income, and expect that your checking account will stay the same,” he said. “It’s going to continue to go downwards.”

While Fleming has shut off “literally everything” in the center during the closure, he still faces several monthly bills, including a power bill for “a couple thousand” dollars every month.

“You just can’t survive six months through something like this,” he said. 

For Fleming, the hardest part of the whole closure has been the impact on the center’s employees, both past and present.

“A lot of those who started out as 16, 17-year-olds now live in the valley, and they have kids. I get messages from them online saying ‘I was hoping I’d be able to ride a go-kart with my son the same way my dad rode with me,’” he said. “If I had a penny for every time I’ve seen that comment, I wouldn’t have to close.”

While Bourdas later confirmed that the center had been sold, KHTS has yet to hear back from the new owners, and no timetable for the center’s re-opening has been announced.

  1. Bergie’s vs. La Palma

Starting the top half of our countdown is the…er, controversial confrontation between the owners of Bergie’s Bar & Grill and the La Palma Fresh Fruit vendor, and the aftermath of it. The full video of the confrontation can be viewed below.

Ed. Note: The following video includes explicit language, viewer discretion is advised.  

 

In the video, Bergie’s owners Renee McAlonis and Mike Foster, claimed the fruit stand was “illegal” and wanted the vendor to leave the area.

“This isn’t the f***ing ghetto, it needs to go,” Foster said to the fruit vendor in the video

After confronting the vendor, Foster sat down, further pressing to see if the vendor was able to operate.

“Where’s your health permit? Where’s your resale permit? Prove you pay taxes,” Foster said to the vendor.

Foster later apologized for the incident, saying that while his main issue was the permitting for the fruit stand, he did not intend for the situation to reach such a boiling point. 

“We apologize for the entire situation,” Foster said. “It got out of control, and it should not have gotten to that level.”  

The business owner said the clip that went viral does not show the context, with several individuals reportedly surrounding Foster and his wife. 

“The video does not show the whole thing,” Foster said. “I am not a racist.” 

Foster added he has friends and customers “from all walks of life, and we do not discriminate at all.”

See Related: Bergie’s Owner Apologizes For Comments Towards Fruit Vendor In Viral Video 

In the days immediately following the incident, the Bergie’s Yelp page was flooded with negative reviews, prompting the site to issue a warning for “unusual activity” at the location.

Ulbado Alcantar, who recorded the video with his brother Christopher, said that he and his brother were on their way to get food when they saw McAlonis and Foster yelling at the La Palma vendor.

“I wanted to make sure that the altercation didn’t turn into anything else than that,” the Canyon Country resident said. “Once I started recording, they did tone it down a little bit, but not before cussing a little bit.”

The day after the video was released, hundreds of residents lined the sidewalk near the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road and Sand Canyon Road in Canyon Country to support La Palma.

“To target individuals who are just trying to make a living and to give them a hard time (…) it just made me really angry,” said Deanna Ford, who was one of the hundreds of people who waited in line to buy fruit from the vendor. “They’re not doing anything wrong, they’re just trying to come out here and earn an honest living.” 

A week later, several dozen protestors gathered outside the restaurant to boycott the business.

“We do not support racism in our town,” protestor Sam Sakabu said at the time. “We want to let racists know, whether they are business owners, residents, or other citizens know, that their behavior is not ok and that their behavior is not welcome here.”

As of Dec. 30, Bergie’s Bar & Grill had 3.5 out of 5 stars on Yelp.

  1. Congressional Election Drama

Oh boy. Writing about this story gives me some significant phantom headaches, as I ran point on a large portion of our coverage of the race for California’s 25th Congressional District (CA-25) this year.

As many of you may recall, then-Congresswoman Katie Hill resigned from the CA-25 seat towards the end of 2019 in the wake of allegations of improper conduct between her and staff. 

This threw everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) out of whack, with all but one (that being Mike Garcia) of the original Republican candidates dropping out of the primary season, while our then-Assemblywoman Christy Smith announced her bid to replace Hill.

This resulted in a “jungle primary” the likes of which our district had never seen. By the time March 3 rolled in, over a dozen candidates were on the ballot ranging from Smith and “The Young Turks” founder Cenk Uygur to former Congressman Steve Knight and former foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos.

Smith won the most votes in both the special and regular primary elections in March, with Garcia coming in second in both elections.

Smith earned 34.4% of votes in the special election with 26,479, and 29.8% of votes in the regular primary election with 26,305, according to state officials.

“Thank you to all the voters who turned out on primary day,” Smith said at the time. “I’m excited to be moving on as the front runner in the special and general elections for CA25. Today as always, this race is about all of us and what’s best for the communities of our district.”

Garcia earned 28.3% of votes in the special election with 21,780, and 25.5% of votes in the regular primary election with 22,542, according to state officials.

“Our victory tonight is the result of hard work by a lot of people in our community who are tired of radical career politicians ruining our state and causing Washington to be dysfunctional,” Garcia said at the time. “Our fight continues to protect the freedoms I served to defend and to keep radical socialists from taking over Congress and our country.”

Since neither candidates were able to attain the necessary 51% majority of votes needed in order to outright win the CA-25 seat, they were forced to face off in a runoff election two months later to see who would serve for the remainder of Hill’s term.

Garcia would go on to win that election by over 12%, representing the first time that a Congressional seat from California flipped from Democrat to Republican control since 1998.

“For too long, the people of our district have not had representation, and it’s time their voice is heard in Washington,” Garcia said at the time. “These are difficult times, and too much is at stake – our small businesses, our workers and our families need all the help they can get.”

Fast forward to November, and the two faced off for a third time in what was the most contentious congressional race our district has ever seen. After nearly four weeks of back-and-forth votes being counted, Garcia secured a victory by only 333 votes in a race that saw nearly 340,000 votes counted.

“It’s been a tough election, but the fight has been worth it,” Garcia said at the time. “I am looking forward to two more years. Thank you CA-25!”

Here’s to hoping that the 2022 mid-terms hold significantly less drama for our district. My sleep schedule would greatly appreciate it.

  1. One Year Later: The Saugus High School Shooting

As I’m sure most of us remember (and will most likely never forget), Santa Clarita entered the year 2020 in a state of recovery following the tragic shooting at Saugus High School on Nov. 14, 2019.

Just writing about it now brings back memories of sirens blaring, students rushing to their parents crying, and the announcement that the dinner tables of three families would have one less member from now on.

As the first reporter on scene that day and a Saugus High alum myself, I, like many of us in Santa Clarita, knew that 2020 needed to be a year of healing for us as individuals, for the community, and most importantly for the families of those students who were injured or killed.

I know that there are countless stories of kindness, compassion, and empathy from this year that I will never be able to do justice in summarizing. But I am going to do my best.

 

Near the beginning of the year, an“all-star” band featuring the likes of Steve Lukather of Toto and Colin Hay of Men at Work united at The Canyon Santa Clarita for a concert benefiting the families of the victims of the Saugus High shooting. In the end, they raised over $7,000.

By mid-January, the nonprofit Santa Clarita Coalition collected over $200,000 on behalf of the William S. Hart Union High School District to donate to those affected by the shooting.

Later in the month, players from the Los Angeles Dodgers visited Santa Clarita for a lunch thanking first responders from the Saugus High shooting. Then, a portion of every ticket purchased for the SCV Dodger Day game was donated to the Santa Clarita Disaster Coalition to benefit those affected.

Towards the beginning of February, the William S. Hart Union High School District Governing Board honored 17 students and staff for their actions during the Saugus High Shooting.

“The kids did a lot to help that day, it wasn’t just the teachers,” then-Board President Linda Storli-Koontz said at the time. “My granddaughter goes to school there and she was one of the witnesses, and getting the kids up there and honoring them for how they reacted was the least we could do.”

In the months following the tragedy at Saugus High, we here at KHTS had the absolute honor and privilege to sit down with the families of Gracie Muehlberger and Dominic Blackwell, two students who lost their lives on Nov. 14. Both families were gracious enough to share what they were going through with us, allowing us to document their emotions and stories.

“(Gracie) had a passion for life unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Gracie’s mother Cindy said. “(Going into high school) she’s like, ‘We have to make memories and experience this, this is what life is about, we’re young, let’s just have fun.’ She was a hoot.”

 

“(Dominic) would always enjoy spending time as a family together… if it came down to him going to play with his friends or spending time with us here at home, he would always choose to just be here together as a family,” Dominic’s father Frank said. “He was really big on our family being together and just being here with each other, spending quality time together.”

 

The two families petitioned to have the Santa Clarita City Council vote and approve the dedication of the park from its current name of “Central Park”  to “Central Park – In Memoriam of Gracie Muehlberger and Dominic Blackwell.”

“We’ve renamed other parks… Central Park is where everything occurred and represents everything to us, the kids at Saugus were there with their families on the day of, their phones and backpacks still at the school,” Gracie’s father Bryan said. “The first memorials were built at Central Park, the vigil was at the park.”

They were ultimately successful, and officials have also discussed a partnership on a memorial within the park.

“We’ve met with the families and discussed a location for where their idea of what they would like would be placed and our city is coming up with the landscape design for that area,” City Councilmember Marsha McLean said.

The Muehlberger and Blackwell families have worked independently with a consultant to come up with a design for the memorial. Pending planning efforts and final approval by the City Council, the memorial could be completed by as early as April 2021.

Mia Tretta, who was Dominic’s best friend and a Saugus High student who had been shot during the events of Nov. 14, spent her summer raising money for such a memorial through a lemonade stand she held with her neighbor. By the beginning of September, she had raised $6,433.

“Seeing that nothing had been done yet, I needed to do something,” Tretta said at the time.

A few days before presenting a check to the Santa Clarita City Council, Tretta attended a ceremony for Saugus High student Matthew Harrison, who was awarded the AFJROTC Gold Valor Award for the actions he took during the Saugus High shooting that helped save her life.

“I saw Mia come stumbling in with what I identified as a bullet in her leg,” Harrison said after the ceremony. “We got her on the ground and we assessed her wound. I determined that direct pressure was the right act to go, so I applied direct pressure to the gunshot wound.”

Harrison maintained direct pressure on the wound for an estimated 15 minutes before first responders were able to reach the students. He did so calmly, despite the fact that the location of the shooter was unknown at the time.

“He was just a hero, he selflessly did this and then didn’t really tell anyone,” Tretta said. “He was just that amazing, and that he stepped up to the plate and (…) was really willing to take the risk that no one else was.”

Months later, Saugus High School Principal Vince Ferry and Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital social worker Elizabeth Tarantini were recognized for their “outstanding work and amazing contribution” to the victims and survivors of the Saugus High shooting.

Ferry and Tarantini were nominated and ultimately selected by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Victim Services (BVS) for their work and contributions in supporting the victims and survivors of the Saugus High shooting. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the BVS was unable to honor the two and present them with this award during the 2020 Victims’ Rights Week. 

Despite being unable to hold the traditional ceremony for the pair, Teter and BVS Assistant Program Administrator Ismael Zepedadiaz travelled to Ferry and Tarantini individually Thursday to present their award certificates.

“In recognition of dedicated service and contributions to assisting crime victims of the Saugus High School shooting on and after November 14, 2019, achieving justice for victims, and advancing victims’ rights for the benefit of all citizens of Los Angeles County,” the certificate, which was signed by all five members of the county Board of Supervisors, reads.

I know that the healing process may not be over for many of us in the community. But I believe that 2020 was an important step forward in this area, and that we will continue to come together to support one another in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

  1. The George Floyd Protests

In an incident that sparked a nationwide conversation regarding racial justice and the role of law enforcement, an unarmed African American man named George Floyd died in police custody after being arrested in Minneapolis for allegedly attempting to purchase groceries with a counterfeit $20 bill.

After a video of the incident went viral, protests broke out across the country, several of which turned violent. By the end of May, over 170 buildings in Minneapolis, including the city’s Third Precinct, had been looted or damaged as a result of violent protests.

The events in Minneapolis drew criticism locally from both sides of the political aisle. State Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, called the incident “unacceptable.”

“What’s wrong is wrong,” he wrote on Twitter. “Every civil or human right was denied (Floyd) and we must work harder and do better to put a stop to what divides us.”

Then-Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, expressed similar outrage on the social media platform.

“I don’t share the lived experiences of people of color but as a mother I feel a mother’s pain, as a neighbor and friend I want the suffering to end, and as an ally I want justice to be done,” she wrote.

Then, on May 30, the first large protest over Floyd’s death formed in Valencia.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people gathered at the intersection of Valencia Boulevard and McBean Parkway, eventually moving over to the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station.

“I’m here because as an African American I am tired of seeing this happen,” protestor Kim Barnes said at the time. “I don’t have the words to describe how I feel right now. I’m tired of us not being treated as human.”

The Watch Commander on duty at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station at the time, Lt. Ethan Marquez, addressed the crowd of protesters outside the station just before noon that day, stating that they were “peaceful.”

But by 1:45 p.m., law enforcement had declared the protest an “unlawful assembly” as protestors were blocking a major intersection in Valencia, causing a public safety hazard.

However, this would not be the only large-scale protest over the death of George Floyd in Santa Clarita. Less than a week later, hundreds of more protestors filled all four corners of the intersection of Valencia Boulevard and McBean Parkway in Valencia

In the days leading up to the second protest,  the Santa Clarita City Council unanimously passed a local emergency and 6 p.m. curfew in preparation for potential looting and rioting that had taken place during other protests throughout Los Angeles County. Additionally, the National Guard was dispatched to the Santa Clarita Valley in the case that such violence broke out.

However, no such violence did occur. No injuries or arrests were reported in direct connection with those protests. I was reporting live at the second protest for the entirety of it, and while there were definitely some tense moments, both the protestors and law enforcement personnel should be commended for how they handled themselves, and strived to prevent any violence from breaking out.

In the weeks and months that followed these two protests, other small events and demonstrations were held throughout Santa Clarita, ranging from conversations at Central Park to skateboarders riding down Valencia Boulevard. But none had the same impact as the first two.

After the second protest, then-mayor Cameron Smyth met with some of the demonstrators on multiple occasions, which current mayor Bill Miranda says directly led to the reinstitution of the Santa Clarita Human Relations Roundtable. 

“We have taken an inner look at ourselves as a city council, as a city staff, and as a community,” Miranda said. “We’ve basically said, ‘Okay, we think we’re doing great, but a segment of the community thinks we could be better,’ and so we’re reaching out and listening to them.”

I understand that I have greatly simplified a lot of the details and background behind these protests, and I also know that every single person in our city has one opinion or another on the issues addressed in them. I’d like to ask everyone once again to keep things respectful down in the comments.

  1. The COVID-19 Pandemic

Honestly, was it ever going to be anything else?

Look, I don’t have to tell you all what happened. God knows how many stories my colleagues and I have written this year on the countless impacts that this pandemic has had on our valley, our state, and on our country.

As of this writing, over three-quarters of a million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 across Los Angeles County since March, and over 10,000 people have died of it in the same time period. Thankfully our numbers in the Santa Clarita Valley have been relatively low over the course of the pandemic, but that has not stopped us from feeling the impacts of it.

We’ve seen restaurants that we love and patronize regularly here crippled due to constantly-changing guidelines. We’ve seen other local small businesses decimated by similar closures. We’ve seen our children forced to stay at home as their schools remain closed for in-person instruction.

Many of us sacrificed family holidays, weddings, and graduations all because of COVID-19. I know, because I literally had all three of those things either altered or outright cancelled in my life in the past year alone.

There’s been no way to escape seeing or hearing about this virus, as it has impacted literally every aspect of our day-to-day lives. I’m still self-rationing how much toilet paper I use at home in fear that my wife and I won’t be able to find more when we run out!

This virus struck us at home here at KHTS. In February, our station owners were quarantined on the Diamond Princess Cruise ship in Japan due to an outbreak of COVID-19, and while Jeri was able to escape quarantine unscathed, her husband Carl did not.

Carl spent weeks quarantined in Nebraska with COVID-19. He documented his entire experience in a series of journals published here, garnering national attention as he did. I highly recommend that you take some time to read them if you have not already, as it provides valuable insight into the experiences of one of our own.

It may be the understatement of the year to say that everyone has strong opinions regarding this pandemic. In the face of such a faceless opponent, I get that we want to blame someone or something for all of the hardships we’ve had to endure, whether that be the Republican or Democratic parties, Donald Trump or Joe Biden, Gavin Newsom or Dr. Barbara Ferrer.

All of these people and entities I listed are among the many that we have assigned blame to, whether it be justified or not, at some point during this pandemic. I’ve had to see us argue about it every single day since this started, from vile comments on this site and social media to the ways that people treat each other when they find out their mother, brother, friend, cousin, or even grocery worker has a differing opinion than they do.

As we head into the New Year, I’m not naive enough to believe that all of this will magically go away because there’s now a “21” in the year column. But I still believe we can come together and repair some of the rifts this pandemic has caused. 

We are not the enemy. Republicans and Democrats are not the enemy, conservatives and progressives are not the enemy, protestors and law enforcement are not the enemy. COVID-19 is the enemy. And I am choosing to believe that we will be strong enough as a community to come together and turn back the tide in 2021.

I wish you all nothing but good health and love in the New Year, and I ask that you all hope the same for your neighbors here in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Read All Of Carl’s Journals Here: Carl Goldman Coronavirus Journals


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Top 10 Most Impactful Stories Of 2020 For Santa Clarita

One comment

  1. A respectful correction on your number 2 story:
    Although the National guard was on standby to come to Santa Clarita they did not deploy here as the protests over the street-justice execution of a Black man that sparked both national as well as international outrage were orderly here and the Sheriff had us covered. Tanks never, as feared or touted by a few, never rolled down Lyons nor did they rumble up McBean. A lot of people freaked out when they should have been listening and paying attention.

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About Michael Brown

Michael Brown has lived in Santa Clarita his whole life. Graduating from Saugus High School in 2016, he continued to stay local by attending The Master’s University, where he achieved a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. Michael joined KHTS in January of 2018 as a news intern, and has since gone on to become the News Director for the KHTS Newsroom. Since joining KHTS, Michael has covered many breaking news stories (both on scene and on air), interviewed dozens of prominent state and federal political figures, and interacted with hundreds of residents from Santa Clarita. When he is not working, Michael enjoys spending time with his family, as well as reading any comic book he can get his hands on.