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BILLY MARTIN FOR T.O. CITY COUNCIL 2010 - Click links below for articles published in the T.O. Acorn
Written by Billy Martin   
Monday, 13 September 2010

 Article Archive for Billy Martin

 Challenger fears money will decide the race

 Declaration of Independence 'conversations'

Unhappy about T.O. spending, will run for City Council

Candidate shares ideas for the City of Thousand Oaks         

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Last Updated ( Friday, 24 September 2010 )
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BOOMER POWER/ Lucas at Ten - Stories about My Son
Written by Billy Martin   
Saturday, 19 November 2005

Studying the American Revolution by Billy Martin

      When Lucas told me that he was studying what he had been taught for a history exam on the American Revolution, I was elated. Here's some stuff I really knew for a change. No fifth grade class lesson was likely to add to my powerful grasp of the events leading to the Revolutionary War. In the past, when I have tried to help Lucas with world history, I had issues with how the textbooks and teachers have re-written certain parts.  

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For example, I didn't think that there was any provocation for the way the Indians were treated by the Spanish explorers as Lucas related it to me. As far as Lucas is concerned, if it is in his notes, he believes it absolutely. If it isn't, it doesn't matter. It's not going to be on the test. My adding color commentary to the interpretation is just hearsay, not history. However, when it comes to the days of the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War, there were likely to be no revisions required on my part. The real story was powerful enough. Simply put, common folk in the Colonies rose up in rebellion against the British Empire. A nation, founded on liberty, was born and that was that.

Last Updated ( Monday, 13 September 2010 )
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Youth Sports Stories
Written by Billy Martin   
Saturday, 19 November 2005

Lucas at Ten/ Youth Sports Stories

TO TITAN FOOTBALL 2005/06
05-3  One More "Do or Die" Game  by Billy Martin

    They're all winners alright. They were all individual winners, if only in the eyes of their parents, well before the season started. This is a group of athletes. They'd all played on winning teams before. But this Titan team seemed to be a team of destiny from the very first practice when the kids were first put in the positions they'd play all season. They'd been playing from the beginning of August. Now we were past Thanksgiving. 

 
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    We were all anticipating a blowout this Saturday after last week's squeaker. After getting through that controversial game, we had to prove we belonged where we were. A blowout would surely show the football world.

     I told Luke to give it his all. "The best is yet to come," I'd been saying to him for weeks. Chances were that even though he had been doing well catching passes in practice, there were so many good players and since the coach's game plan was working, he shouldn't expect to get more passes thrown to him.

Last Updated ( Monday, 13 September 2010 )
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Wildlife Along the 23
 
 If you talk to enough neighbors who reside in the Sunset Hills area of Thousand Oaks, you'll hear a few tales of lost pets, usually cats. Chances are it was the work of wildlife along the 23 freeway. Today, I saw a coyote lying dead. Its body was in the painted white triangle at the merging of the freeway with an entry ramp. It was no doubt dragged there by a driver. The coyote must have thought it was safe to cross the freeway. But there are no crosswalks on the 23. Whether it is raging or chugging, it's no place for a coyote to be.
 
 Coyotes generally use the 23 as a protective barrier. It's a buffer against civilized society in the hills above. The slopes below my home are a haven for these critters. They peacefully coexist with the red-tailed hawks that call the wilderness patch separating the 23 from the neighborhoods their home as well.
 
 As neighbors will tell it, "Bosco just disappeared one day." Most likely it was an indoor/outdoor cat on a playful romp too close to the bank of the 23. But, that's where neighbors get stuck with only a theory about what happened. "Probably coyotes," they say. "You hear them howling out here at night. Of course, it could just as easily have been the hawks. We never really saw any 'evidence', if you know what I mean. Most of the snakes prefer rats."
 
 There was actually another theory about what was going on in these hills that hit the papers over 25 years ago. It ran for weeks. They probed the theory that witches were responsible for the discovery of the remains of cats. But, the culprits were actually coyotes…and maybe the media just a little.
 
 I used to live a wilder life on the 23, but now I am a parent of a ten-year old. The closest he ever got to an attack by wildlife was from a snake. Fortunately, it was a nice big king snake that probably never meant him any harm, just thought peeking in his wading pool was a fun thing to do on a hot summer day. Road runners seem to keep the snakes at bay. I've watched them boldly prance across my fence and atop my roof and off to wherever they go between the 23 and my back yard. And how quickly can we forget? Just a year ago, we had our most famous wild roamer, a Siberian tiger, freed from its nearby campgrounds. That was the saddest story of wildlife survival along the 23. Just ask the neighbors. Lately it has been the bears coming in for a peek.
 
 The nicest time of day along the 23 is during the full moon at night. It's the nicest time I suppose as long as you're not a cat. With the night sky shining along the 23, the roar of the cement river has dulled and the trucks and motorcycles are all that's left to disturb the wild at night. Actually, moonlight on the 23 guides the wildlife in its search for food. The snake, the hawk and the coyote all enjoy the nightlife. And the pickings aren't just cats. The Conejo Valley is named for rabbits.
 
 I think the neighbors are really fine with the wildlife. It intrigues them more than harms them. Besides, most of those kitties would rather have died than just be house cats. And in the sky, is there anything more captivating than a hawk soaring about? Is anything prettier than the brightly colored King snake? And maybe the coyotes look mangy elsewhere, but our coyotes are well-groomed and looking smart. And though there are stories of lost pets, I welcome the wildlife along the 23 into my neighborhood. It's the neighbors I worry about.
 
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