Health care rumors unfounded
Aug. 9 - A national debate on health care raged across the nation in August 2009 and the Santa Clarita Valley wasn't spared.

Senior citizens were being bombarded with rumors about proposed health care reform that are laced with messages about government-assisted suicide. Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, even weighed in.

"Start reading about how they're going to have you, at 65, go in and have a planning session with a health care consultant on how you're going to die," McKeon said.

The senior citizen advocacy group, American Association of Retired Persons, snapped back at the unfounded rumors.

"It's a complete fabrication," said Mark Beach, AARP's California spokesman. "There's a place for debate and there's a place for opinion, not out-and-out lies."

COC's enrollment soars
Aug. 13 - A weak economy sent thousands of people back to college in an effort to retool their skills before the expected economic recovery.

Fall semester enrollment at College of the Canyons jumped 31 percent, college officials said.

"We are definitely in a period of strong enrollment and growth for community colleges," said Erik Skinner, vice chancellor for fiscal policy at the California Community College Chancellor's office.

The latest figures from College of the Canyons showed 2,392 more full-time students had enrolled for the fall semester compared to the same time period in 2008, said Sue Bozman, COC spokeswoman.

"Considering that this is with the 12-percent cut in the number of classes, that's pretty significant," Bozman said.

Hands off our Medicare
Aug. 16 - Potential deep cuts to Medicare benefits accompanied talks about health care reform in August 2009, and that sent many Santa Clarita Valley senior citizens into a tizzy.

"I am extremely concerned," said Bob Merriman about threats of Medicare cuts under the proposed federal reforms to health care. "It's a pie, and there's only so many pieces in the pie," he said.

President Barack Obama took to the road assuring crowds in town hall meetings that Medicare cuts are not on the table after critics of health care reform claimed that upward of $160 million of Medicare benefits would be trimmed under the Obama plan.

Mark Beach, spokesman for the American Association of Retired Persons, said any provisions calling for cuts in Medicare would never stand a chance of making it into the final version of the bill. AARP would play an active role in stomping out any such language, he said.

"AARP will vigorously oppose any cuts in Medicare," he said.

Health care reform proponents, including the president, continued to beat the drum that senior citizens need not worry about cuts to Medicare as a result of adopting health care reform.

Bike-lane ‘ambush'
Aug. 19 - When the city put in a bike lane on Decoro Drive in Valencia, local motorists said they were being pushed off the road.

"The lane now is so narrow, my minivan won't fit," said Heide Prinsze, 52, who drives along the street daily to shuttle her kids to and from school. "It's a nightmarish road as is. We don't need bike lanes that no one would use."

The city was cutting a car lane from each side of four-lane Decoro Drive, replacing them with bicycle lanes and adding turn pockets.

The changes to Decoro between McBean Parkway and Seco Canyon Road are meant to make the street more bicycle friendly and ease traffic congestion. But it caught many residents by surprise.

The city eventually took the bike lane out.

A growing problem
Aug. 16 - In a three-part series, The Signal looked at the impacts of childhood obesity on Santa Clarita Valley school children.

"Go to any elementary, junior high or high school and (you'll) see this trend of increasing percentage of overweight kids," said Dr. Paul Horowitz, a pediatrician with Discovery Pediatrics in Valencia.

The Los Angeles County Public Health Department found that an "unacceptably high" 22.9 percent of children are obese. Another 19.4 percent of children are overweight, according to the study released in July 2008.

Children who are severely obese increased from 3.1 percent in 1999 to 4.5 percent in 2007, researchers found.

Evacuation from Acton
Aug. 31 - The largest fire in Los Angeles County history broke out in late August and began bearing down on the communities of Acton and Agua Dulce Aug. 30, prompting evacuations.

Three families relocated their trailer homes to a frontage road next to the Highway 14 Freeway, where they set up lawn chairs in the shade of one trailer Sunday afternoon and waited out the Station Fire.

"It took 45 minutes to an hour" to get packed up and have his home on the road, said Al Biondi, who lives at Thousand Trails full time.