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.See the 10/30 issue...........By-Pass Messages and Get Human on the Phone
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| - The Oxnard Journal is the Independent and Progressive News Source for Oxnard & the World . |
| The
Oxnard
Journal
-November 2005- Oxnard, Calif.
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INSIDE STORY ON OXNARD SAILOR
Allan Espiritu was born 24 April 1977, He
immigrated to the United States in March 1981 with his family. The eldest
of three brothers, he grew up in Oxnard, California where his father Alvin
Espiritu worked as an accountant for the City of Oxnard.
He graduated from Channel Islands High School in 1995. Allan then enrolled at Oxnard College and was interested in Marine Biology but thought about switching to Dentistry. However after attending the graduation of his younger brother Neil from Navy Recruit Training at NTC Great Lakes, Illinois. Allan changed his mind. He enlisted in the Navy a few months later in 1997.
Allan married his High School sweetheart,
Melissa Loyola in 1996. First daughter Alissa is now 9 years old, followed
by Melanie, 7 years old. After Navy boot camp (recruit training), Allan
followed his younger brother's choice and trained also to be a Hospital
Corpsman. His first billet (assignment) was at Twenty Nine Palms, CA with
the United States Marines Corps as a Fleet Marine Force (FMF) Corpsman.
Here began to take care of "his" Marines.
When you get injured in the Marines, the Corpsman
will take care of you. Also called "Doc" by their patients, the Navy
provides Hospital Corpsmen to Marine Units. They become part of the Marine
Platoon and do what they do and go where they go. Their job description is
to treat Marines when they are injured and keep them alive till they can
be evacuated to the rear medical facility.
Allan was one of those Corpsmen who did more than
his job and learned the skills of his companions, according to the
Marines. Later on his second tour of duty with the Marines, Allan
volunteered to be with a Marine Surveillance and Target Acquisition (STA)
Platoon. Allan was among the first few Navy Corpsmen to undergo training
and qualify as Marine Scout Snipers, earning the coveted Military
Occupational Specialty (MOS) 8541.
He also completed Mountain Warfare Training and qualified as a
parachutist. On his first deployment to Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom
(OIF) he earned his gold jump wings on the second day of the invasion. His
unit belonging to the Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines entered
Iraq by doing a combat jump (Airborne entry) in an enemy held area.
In between his Sea Duty tours with the Marines,
Allan was able to select Shore Duty at Naval Base Ventura County Medical
Clinic, Port Hueneme near home at Oxnard. He applied his field skills by
volunteering for the base Navy Auxiliary Security Force (NASF). These
personnel assisted base security officers during times of emergency and
threat alerts. At the clinic his fellow corpsmen said he worked hard, and
played hard. He knew how to keep morale up at the clink. His practical
jokes were so notorious that his co-workers could not tell them to an
outsider.
HM2 (FMF) Jaimer Cadang was one of his fellow corpsmen. "I knew Allan way
back from church here in Oxnard" I joined the Navy late 1996 a few months
before Allan did in 1997. We got to work together at the clinic when he
came to shore duty here at Oxnard.
HM2 (FMF) Jonathan Soto from Colusa, CA also worked with Allan at the Port Hueneme clinic. He also deployed with Allan and Jaimer on February 2003 to Kuwait assigned to 1st BN 7th Marines. "We have a picture of the three of us together that was taken in Najaf on August 2003.
It was at the Pt. Hueneme Clinic that Allan met Erika, a Navy Hospital
Corpsman, who he later married. He treated Erika's daughter Alexy, now
five years old, like his own. Allan's other life was for his family,
particularly his "girls"!
After moving into their first home at Menefe CA, north-east of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton off the 215 freeway, Allan asked his three daughters how they wanted their rooms decorated. "He worked on the girls rooms when he got off work. Allan got it all done before he deployed again to Iraq for the second time" his father Alvin said while showing the pictures of Allan with his family.
"I think Allan's adventurer's
spirit runs in our family. His great-grandfather was mayor of our home
town of Taytay, Rizal in WW2 and his grandfather's brother was the town's
Chief of Police in the 60s'." Alvin explained. "One of Allan's' uncles
also became a Mayor of Taytay, another a Police officer and another uncle
graduated from the Philippine Military Academy (Normando Dacanay Naval
from La Union)." "Allan was thinking of becoming a police officer, before
he enlisted for a second time with the Navy." Alvin said.
Allan went on his second deployment to Iraq in the end of July 2005. Because of the shortage of Corpsmen for the Marine units, many shore duty billets like those at Pt. Hueneme Clinic were cut short to fill the need for Iraq. Allan could have selected to be in a medical support unit, but he volunteered again to be at the front. This time with an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Platoon, of the 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st. Service Support Group, based out of Camp Pendleton, California.
There are two Corpsman billets in the platoon. They
have to volunteer and have to had prior Special Operations background
experience. EOD requires patience and cool nerves especially under fire,
to work with explosive devices that have to be neutralized. In Iraq this
was a daily occurrence with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
Allan was a member of an EOD team responsible for a sector in Ar Ramadi City. They were on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week, to take care of any IEDs that were discovered. Allan's 4 man team rode in a Humvee, he was the Corpsman in case anything happened. The other three were EOD technicians, one of them is the EOD Team Leader a Marine Senior Non Commissioned Officer (NCO). This happened to be Jose C. Soto. This past October the team was moving on the ground on foot, when they were hit by enemy fire. Soto was one of the first to get hit, collapsing his right lung and immobilizing his right arm. Allan their team "doc" was there and treated Soto on the spot and got him evacuated. Ten days later. While responding to a call-out, Allan's' team parked their Humvee to approach an IED that had been discovered. As two of the Marine EOD techs. stepped out the back doors of the Humvee, a second hidden IED under where they had parked was detonated. It blew the Humvee in the air, killing the driver and Allan who had been seated in the front passenger seat. This was reported to have occurred on Tuesday, 1 November 2005, All Souls Day. A week later, Allan was brought back to Oxnard. At his wake I saw many from the Filipino community in Ventura County pay their respects to his family. These were the kids who were his classmates from High School, church members from the Iglesia Ni Cristo, the congregation of the Baptist Church that his father Alvin was the pastor of. Retired Filipino Navy veterans also came to offer their condolences. Allan's mother Evelyn Cundangan was a co-worker of my wife in the electronics assembly field. I even met a distant nephew who I had not seen in a while. Allan was laid to rest with full military honors at the Ivy Lawn Cemetery in Ventura on 10 November. It had been raining for the past days, the sky cleared later in the morning while we waited for his casket to arrive. The sun warmed our faces as Allan's flag draped casket was carried to the gravesite. His Navy pallbearers all bore the Hospital Corpsman insignia on their Chevrons. They were his friends, and fellow "doc's". During his duty at the Port Hueneme Clinic, Allan would volunteer to organize a funeral detail when he knew a Navy Corpsman was to be buried. He would recruit his fellow medics at the clinic to be part of the detail." Allan said this was how we take care of our own," according to his friend Jaimer Cadang who blew "TAPS" on the bugle at the grave side. They now were taking care of Allan. The Navy Chaplain presided over the ceremony. The most senior Naval medical officer on the West Coast, presented the flag of the United States to Allan's widow Erika, and to his mother Evelyn and father Alvin with the words, "on behalf of a grateful nation..." A state of California Flag that was flown over the State Capitol in Sacramento was then presented to the widow by a California Highway Patrol Officer. The Navy Base Commanding Officer and Medical Staff of the clinic paid their respects. Oxnard Mayor Holden and the Assistant Chief of Police followed. The Marines were represented by Lt. Colonel and a First Sergeant in their dress blue uniforms. At the side also in their dress blue's were almost squad of Marines who all wore EOD Bage. They to had come to pay their respects. Allan's team leader Jose Soto was also there, his arm slung in a cast under his civilian suit. He told Erika what Allan did for him, and what had happened on the day Allan died.
It seemed appropriate, to be buried on the day of
the Marine Corps Birthday, the brothers-in-arms he gone to off to battle
with. There is an empty table set aside at the Mess ( dinning room), as a
memorial for those that are not longer with us. It is a fixture at the
Marine Birthday Ball. The significance of the upturned wine glass, a
saucer with a sprinkling of salt and a slice of lemon. Now that table is
set for Allan.
"We go into harms way that our children will sleep safely tonight."
.Story by Franz Tinio-Lopez -
16 November 2005
PHOTO GALLERY::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: |
..HM2 (FMF) Jonathan Soto with Niel Espiritu and HM2 (FMF) Jaimer Cadang.....
Pastor Alvin Espiritu's three sons; Allan, Jeremy and Neil
Erika and Allan
HM2 (FMF) Jaimer Cadang blows "Taps" on the bugle.
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T H E F T I S R E A L....................... This is where PRE - PAID LEGAL COMES IN. See how easy it is to be a victim ----------------- B O E I N G CALL LINDA NEWELL ---- 805 - 407 - 4783 051231.pd.ppl |
| Author of Debbie's Dirty Little
Secrets (2000-2002) send greetings from the East Coast... Wish there were enough hours to write each of you a note. But I thought rather than not sending a note - that this would serve though poorly. Each of you are special to me! I include you all in my prayers at night. God knows how I thank him that each of you has come into my life when I needed a friend or love one to share joys and pains with. For that I will be thankful this year. I wish blessing for you and your families. Your friend ----
Debbie |
| Open Letter to the
Neighborhoods
As we enter this Holiday Season we take extra time
to remember our families, pay attention to our homes with grand dinners and
decorations, and we need to take time to review our past year, what we
accomplished, and more important, what more needs to be done in 2006. |
| THE "OTHER" HOLLYWOOD . . . . .
Bruce Willis
Offers Bounty on Terrorists' Heads
Bruce Willis is apparently offering a $1 million bounty on the heads of A-list terrorists like Osama Bin Laden, Aymen Al-Zawahiri and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. We read this from WENN: "Willis announced his reward on U.S. TV show 'Rita Cosby: Live & Direct,' where he also slammed biased media coverage of the Iraq war. He said, 'I am baffled to understand why the things that I saw happening in Iraq, really good things happening in Iraq, are not being reported on.'" As far as we're aware, this is the first instance of a Hollywood celebrity offering a bounty on anything other than Mike Ovitz's head ... Seriously, though, Mr. Willis is to be applauded for his proactive approach to celebrity activism! And this is certainly preferable to what we usually get from liberal Hollywood celebrities like Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore, et al. After all, what else are all those 7-to 8- figure actor salaries useful for anyhow? Kudos, too, to Mr. Willis for holding the media responsible for its distorted Iraq coverage. And Willis has actually been to Iraq, unlike most Hollywood celebrities who bloviate on the subject. Willis is also said to have some interest in adapting 'The Deuce Four,' the story of Iraq soldiers whose heroic exploits have been chronicled by embedded blogger Michael Yon. We certainly hope Willis gets around to doing this, because it would be refreshingly original to actually have a supportive film made about the accomplishments of our brave soldiers serving in Iraq ...
God Bless you and yours.
God Save America.
Reverend Bhagavan Friend
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| MESSAGE FROM JEAN
HARRIS.................. Hi Folks, If they'd asked, these were the remarks I'd planned. I hope everyone knows how much your efforts led to the October 12th Celebration. Jean OCTOBER 12, 2005 CELEBRATION - ORMOND BEACH What a joy to be here today! Looking around, I see so many friends - and to make it really special, my daughter, one of my sons, and my cousin are here, too. Bear with me and listen up! I'd like to try something. No matter who you are, from the highest elected official or staff member, down to a participating citizen - if you have ever taken any action toward the purchase we celebrate today - you may have gone to a meeting, talked to a friend, written a letter, voted "yes" - whatever you did - stand up and raise your hand! Yes! Yes! Now, turn to the persons around you and share a high five -feel the spirit! Raise your hand! We did it together! Because of all of you there will come a day when nine miles of healthy wetlands will stretch along our coastline from Mugu Rock to the Hueneme Pier! I've been at it since the late 70's - and have always believed in two principles: 1. We need each other to bring about positive change. 2. If our goals serve the common good, we will achieve those goals, given time and persistence. Three years ago, who could have conceived that we would take this giant step that we celebrate today? But we did it together. I thank you, Mother Nature thanks you, and future generations will thank you. I've been working for this day for over 25 years, and for fifteen of those years, dear Roma Armbrust was my friend and partner. Without her, we would not be here. I want to tell you about my last visit with her a little more than a year ago. I'd seen her that morning, but in the evening, Hannah Beth Jackson whispered in my ear that the Conservancy was prepared to give this purchase a positive vote. So, that evening, I just had to go over and tell Roma. She was too weak to speak but she smiled her big, wonderful smile, and touched my hand. It was early the next morning that Bill called, saying she had died a few minutes earlier. But she knew, she knew. Since that time, a wonderful group of South Oxnard folks -the Saviers Road Design Team has organized around the Ormond Wetlands issue. They are tireless workers toward its protective restoration. If you are on the design Team, please stand up and be recognized! I would like to believe that Roma Joy is smiling down on us today - but she would also remind us that there is more work to be done - we need to restore the wetlands to its former glory, and we need a gateway park, observation towers, and boardwalks so that later generations can enjoy its beauty. As Roma said, "Carry on, carry on!"
Jean Harris and Roma Armbrust were among the original crusaders to save
Ormond Beach and their work goes on. Roma is no longer with us, but
her name will be forever memorialized at the Beach for her work,
dedication, and love for Ormond. Jean now carries the torch and is
still active and vocal in support of what is Southern California's most
pristine treasure. |
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This Thanksgiving we want to show
you our appreciation for |
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RiverPark in Oxnard is pleased to announce that our first six neighborhoods
are set to open their Sales Galleries this Fall and Winter. We would like to
encourage members of the RiverPark Interest Registry to be among the first
persons to visit our builder websites and join the neighborhood Interest
Lists of their choice. Joining the Neighborhood Interest Lists is an
important step towards receiving news and updates on impending Neighborhood
Sales Events. Currently, as a member of the RiverPark Interest Registry, you receive community-wide news and information on the future homes, schools, parks, shopping and restaurants planned for this Whole World In One Place. You can also learn more about each RiverPark neighborhood and view the first six neighborhood’s floor plans by viewing RiverParkLife.com today or by visiting the RiverPark Welcome Center and speaking with a Community Representative. Thank you for your continued support of the RiverPark community and we are excited to share with you our first neighborhoods that will help to make RiverPark truly A Whole World In One Place. |
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Taxpayers:
In spite of Oxnard saying, the taxpayer is entitled to know financially
what is going on financially from month to month. So why doesn't the City
Attorney and City Manager insist on monthly financial statements being
presented to the public?
Unique Aspects of the Governmental EnvironmentPublic sector, governmental organizations are very different from their private sector counterparts in a number of ways despite current rhetoric to run government like a business. They also differ from not-for-profit organizations. Generally, the unique aspects of governmental organizations are as follows:
Government in the SunshineThe primary distinguishing characteristic of governmental organizations is that they are public organizations. Their very nature requires that business be conducted in view of the public. It is this very simple aspect on which the financial reporting objectives of governmental financial statements rest. Public governmental organizations differ fundamentally from publicly traded entities even though publicly traded companies are subjected to a high level of regulation and public scrutiny. In some states, state and local governments are required to operate "in the sunshine" for all meetings in which decisions are to be made that do or may impact the public. This requirement to conduct business in a public forum is often a significant impediment to timely responses to sensitive issues. While billions of shares of Microsoft stock are traded annually, the Audit Committee is allowed to meet behind closed doors. In contrast, the city council of a town in Southern California and North Florida, serving as an audit committee, must meet in a public forum. Not only is the City Council of this California or Florida town required to meet in full view of the public but also to adequately and timely publish notice of such meeting and to provide minutes of the meeting to the public. To fund the provision of public goods and services, governmental organizations are authorized to impose taxes at a number of levels and on a variety of items. This places individuals like you and businesses in the position of involuntary resource providers. Financial Reporting ObjectivesConcepts Statement No. 1, Objectives of Financial Reporting, of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) identifies the objectives of external financial reporting by state and local governments. These objectives include the following:
Financial Reporting ObjectivesPublic accountability presumes taxpayers are entitled to know what their governments are doing and how, what they have done and how well, and what they plan to do and why. Citizens as well as legislative and oversight bodies almost universally use financial reporting to assess accountability in their governmental organizations. Financial reporting is the primary channel through which governmental organizations communicate financial information to external users of the financial reports. Therefore, financial reporting by governmental organizations considers the needs of these users and the decisions they make. In addition, financial reports of governmental organizations should be
These are some of the basic reasons why California's Government Code and
the Oxnard municipal code demand that monthly
financial reports be presented to the City Clerk and the City Council and
why the City must demand audits from High Tides & Green Grass, Plaza
Cinemas, Big League Dreams and other entities with whom the City contracts
for services. |
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Bill Winter
Editor - Ox Jo
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Your Story here ------
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SEE THE ---- SEPTEMBER 2005 Issue of the Oxnard Journal................................. |
--- Ox Jo Archives
- LNG Collator .........AVIE's PAGE
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NO - CHILD - LEFT - BEHIND Every Child Deserves the Best - A+ Educational Center Offers This. In Co-ordination with the Oxnard School District, OceanView School District, and the El Rio School District - Your child in Grade 1 ~thru~ 8 can receive Free Supplemental Education / Tutoring in our Center or at your home |
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Reagan Pix
Memorial to a President Gang Signs atop - Old Saint John's Hospital - OSJH - . 16 pix - slow load (136K ea)
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Keep an Eye on the
Keep an Eye on the City Council
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..photo by
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Experience What God Has for You -- Worship - Praise - The Word
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oX Jo is
Watching Out for You......
