• Wildomar Conversations: 1 Ashley Fox

Welcome to the first edition of Wildomar Conversations. 

Though I've wanted to do something like this for awhile, I just didn't have the oomph to get it started on my own (these types of productions take a team effort). 

Then a few months ago Bridgette Moore started talking about wanting to interview people in town that have interesting stories and here we are.

I think that she mostly had the idea of doing a write up, but I suggested that we set up video cameras and see if we could make an interesting video while we were at it. I think we hit that mark. 

Our first conversation is with Ashley Fox

I invite you to watch the full 10 minute video found a little further down in the blog.

It's a nice story of a local resident that hasn't allowed a very serious medical condition to derail her life.

Bridgette Moore and Ashley Fox at Stars of the Valley event.

Her condition is called SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy), and though she uses a wheel chair to get around, she's as active as most people her age.

Ashley Fox at graduation.

She's been in girl scouts, a cheerleader, and recently graduated with an AA at MSJC with plans on going to UCSD to finish her undergraduate in psychology. She even has aspirations for a Masters and a Doctorate before she's done.

Post education she would like to work in the field of sports psychology.

Ashley was welcomed aboard with Camp Promise earlier this year.

She is an advocate for accessibility for those with all types of disabilities and is also on the marriage equality task force with about 200 others with various disabilities.

You may not be aware, but due to various rules in place, many people with disabilities can't get married without losing their health insurance. 

Bridgette asked Ashley if she had like to add anything else before finishing the conversation, and here are her words.

No Matter how much push back you get, no many how many noes you receive, your voice matters, your needs matter. You're not "high maintenance", you're not needy, you're not a burden. It's very much your life and you need to get the resources you need to live it.

  —Ashley Fox

Here is a video from 2014 of Ashley at a Lake Elsinore Storm pregame event.

I've had the privilege of knowing Ashley since 2014 when she was raising money for her Girl Scout Silver Award project known as the freedom swing. I also was able to follow her around when she was "Mayor for the Day" in 2016 (link to that blog here).

Link to 2014 blog about Ashley Fox's Freedom Swing project.

Remember that Wildomar Conversations is a work in progress and I'm sure that there will be some growing pains as we get our bearings. 

Let's see how far we can take this idea. We'd love to hear your suggestions for future topics. 

This blog was designed on a desktop computer, but should be formatted to all screens. Here is a link to the original if you have missing video links.

• Mayor For a Day 2016

On Wednesday July 6th, 2016, Ashley Fox was Mayor For a Day in Wildomar. 

Ashley has been active in the community for a couple of years now. In 2014 she earned her Girl Scouts Silver Award with the Freedom Swing project.
 

Link to 2014 blog entitled Meet Ashley Fox

Her morning started bright and early with breakfast at the newly opened Yellow Basket. Originally the plan was to attend the Chamber of Commerce breakfast, but being it was the same week as a national holiday, they didn't have one this month. 

When Yellow Basket owner, Tom Boussiacos, heard about it, he was happy to not only host the breakfast, but sponsor it too. He then suggested that a return trip for lunch would also be provided by Yellow Basket. 

Ashley Fox, Tom Boussiacos, Bridgette Moore.

To be environmentally friendly, the Mayor, and Mayor for the Day, rode around in the Fox family's vehicle that transports Ashley's wheelchair, piloted by her mom Kimberley.

It doesn't have a mechanized lift, so at every stop, it was necessary to place a specially designed ramp at the back of the minivan, bring the chair down to ground level, refold the ramp, and then help Ashley into it.

At first I just watched, then quickly realized that a second set of hands would lighten the load and quicken the pace for all. 

UT photographer Andrew Foulk snaps a few pics for the newspaper.

After Yellow Basket, they were off to a meeting at City Hall with Steve Falk, from HOPE, and the discussion centered on a coming round table/summit of local organizations to address the local homeless population.

Steve Falk of HOPE and Mayor for the Day Ashley Fox.

Between the first meeting at city hall, and lunch, was a trip to the cemetery to look at an opening in the wall that isn't wheelchair accessible; a possible Girl Scout Gold Award project bringing it up to ADA standards.

Then over to Marna O'Brien park to see the newly moved Freedom Swing, that's its own story, and discussion of a second ribbon cutting for it.
 

Blog about first ribbon cutting in 2014

At a horseshoe shaped table during an RTA meeting with local elected officials.

The next stop was all the way up in Riverside, at an RTA meeting. After the meeting they gave a tour of the facility to Mayor Ashley and the group.

The tour was given by Bob Bach of RTA. Looking off in the direction of the bus wash.

Showing where the buses are stored when not in use. This facility houses 60 buses with even more that get parked outside. It's a veritable hive of activity in the late evening hours as the buses are turned in and then cleaned and refueled.

Pointing to an area that has older buses that are no longer in commission.

Here Ashley discusses bus service, including Dial-A-Ride, at The Farm with Virginia Werly.

From there it was back to City Hall for another meeting which didn't finish until 4:00pm, when she called it a day.

She had to leave before I could ask her a couple of questions about her day, so I emailed them to her instead. The answers are shorter than they'd have been had I asked them in person.

At the end of her long day, showing a certificate commemorating her time in office, and beaming a big smile too.

Which part of the day did you find most difficult?
Trying to stay awake (with a smiley emoticon with tears of laughter).

Which part did you enjoy most?
Eating (with another smiley emoticon).

Which part surprised you, or you didn't anticipate?
[Hearing about] the way the RTA handles the money (when the bus drivers turn their fares in at the end of the day).

Do you see yourself participating in local government in the future?
No. (To which her mother added, "At least she's honest lol")

I asked Mayor Bridgette Moore more about "Mayor for a Day" and how Ashley was selected.

Back in 2010, I had two Mayor for a Day programs. For 2016, probably will just have the one day (July 6th). I have always picked a young person (preteen/teen) that has/is making changes for the better, in our community.

As you know, 15-year-old Ashley Fox raised the funds to purchase and install a wheelchair swing at Marna O'Brien Park. By doing this, she has made the park a destination spot for those in wheelchairs to come and enjoy the swing and park. What I especially love about Ashley is that she does not let her own wheelchair define her. She is a cheerleader and a Girl Scout. She sold enough cookies to earn a cruise to Canada! In her young life, she has already provided awareness about what people in wheelchairs can accomplish and she promotes accessible programs.

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From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California, a good evening.

—Jerry Dunphy, 1921-2002

Wildomar Rap tip of the day: 
Don't wait to be asked to do something that you can tell you should already be doing.

• Freedom Swing Ribbon Cutting/Maiden Voyage

September 27th was the day that Marna O'Brien Park had a wheelchair swing, known as The Freedom Swing, dedicated for use. It was the brainchild of local resident, then thirteen years old, Ashley Fox, a girl scout bidding to earn her Silver Award... and coincidentally a person confined to a wheelchair to get around.

If you do not know about Ashley Fox, and her Girl Scout Silver Award project, please follow this link to an earlier blog about her, and the project.

A good sized crowd turned out to see the ribbon cutting, including Mayor Marsha Swanson, Council Members Bridgette Moore, Tim Walker and City Council Candidate Israel Leija. A representative from Melissa Melendez's office and a rep from State Senate Candidate Bonnie Garcia's camp attended. PV Maintenance, the contractors that donated the installation of the swing, and Lake Elsinore Storm's mascot Thunder too (he, and his bosses, brought a donation check of $1000 with them).

The ribbon cutting was set for 5:30pm and the installation crew was just finishing attaching the swing to the frame at 5:00pm. I had a chance to watch Ashley make a test run of it, but it still being a brand new device, no one knew exactly how it worked. She actually took her first ride in it, backward.

Test drive... in reverse.

After a brief ceremony, with Mayor Marsha Swanson presiding, and a certificate of recognition for Ashley's accomplishment (raising more than $5000 for this swing) and sticking with it for more than six months of fundraisers, and even an installation delay of a month due to shipping issues, the symbolic ribbon was cut and the first official rides on the swing were had.

Kaylynn Turner, Ashley Fox and Thunder team up to cut the ribbon.

The rest of the story is told in the video below. You'll see the "test drive" of the swing, the introductions by Mayor Marsha Swanson, some background on the project by Bridgette Moore, a certificate of recognition from Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez's office, a check from the Lake Elsinore Storm for $1000 and a few words from Ashley on the project. You'll also see the swing being used by several people in wheelchairs, including Ashley's grandmother. She said it was her first time on a swing in 60 years.


You'll have to forgive the shortcomings of the audio, the microphone reacted poorly with the breeze.

Below is a montage of a few pictures during installation.

My only worry is about possible vandalism to the swing. When I was a young teen, I would have wondered how much abuse it would be able to take... or how well that padding was really glued down. In those days, I had no idea that my unbridled curiosity —as to an object's breaking point— would affect other people or the community. Let's hope such curiosity isn't overly represented by those that might chance upon the Freedom Swing in 2014 and beyond.

☺

If wishes were fishes, we'd all cast nets.

Wildomar Rap, plugging the holes where the rain gets in... because when it rains in Wildomar, it pours... and then it floods... and then people threaten to sue. Find me on Facebook, or subscribe by email to keep up on the latest.

• Wildomar Night at the Diamond in LE

This was the first "Wildomar Night" I attended at the Storm game, and the weather couldn't have been better for it. Not only did the Storm win big by scoring in most innings 11-4, there was a spectacular fireworks show too. I haven't seen live fireworks in many years and they did a nice job.

But that wasn't all. I had a chance to hear our city clerk, Debbie Lee, sing the national anthem and I know she did a good job since I got goose bumps as she hit the crescendo.

Still, that wasn't it... not only did I get to watch mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit throw out one of the first pitches... um, what can I say... sorry Ben, there are no open spots on my fantasy team's pitching staff... but I got to watch a pregame presentation of Ashley Fox and her Freedom Swing project.

I didn't get a chance to speak to her at the game, but I have to guess that it was a great experience to be down on the field as she was.

Her project, a wheel chair accessible swing at Marna O'Brien Park, will be unveiled this August 23rd starting at 5pm. I suggest you carve out some time to go see our community in action.

Watch the video to get a feel of the evening.

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The author of Wildomar Rap has never thrown like a girl... not even when throwing left handed. ☺

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• City Council Meeting July 9, 2014

Tonight was a pretty light meeting. Both parts were over by 7:30ish.

Debbie Lee and Mayor Marsha Swanson.

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Things that made a blip on my radar included: 

1. Ashley Fox speaking to the council about her wheel chair project.
2. Debbie Lee getting recognition for five years as a city employee. 
3. Cottonwood Canyon showdown with the Johnson family.
4. The topic of trash fees/fines for those not getting service.
5. AB 1521/SB 69 is getting closer to the governor's desk.
6. Bus service in Wildomar, a meeting is set for September 8th from 4:00-7:00PM at the library for more discussion. 
7. Filing period to run for city council is from July 14th through August 8th. Get your $450 ready and your 20 qualified signatures ready!

1. The last fund raiser for Ashley Fox's wheel chair swing project will be at the Lake Elsinore Storm game on Friday, July 25th. The dedication to the swing will be at Marna O'Brien Park on Saturday, August 23, 2014.

Click flyer for link

2. See picture... pretty self explanatory.

3. This is an interesting story. I need to ask for more details... but from what I was gathering, a long time access road is threatening to be closed by new owners. I'm sure there are two sides to this one... now if we can figure out the details, that would be great.

4. It seems that some residents, that have never received trash service, and have always taken their own trash to the dump, are being threatened (my word) with back due notices (which can lead to worse things) even though they've never been served. It was nice to see Council Members Bob Cashman and Tim Walker showing concern for those that are basically being charged for something they have never received. 

5. Council Member Ben Benoit was discussing his two recent trips to Sacramento, where he kept hammering away for the cause of Wildomar, which is tied up in the AB 1521 and SB 69 . Those bills are the last hopes of the Wildomar, Menifee, Jurupa Valley and Eastvale to have significant portions of their budgets restored. In our case, we're looking at fifty bucks a head or $1.8M a year... which is about 20% of our annual budget. Benoit was hopeful that the bill(s) would make it to the governor's desk in short order. If that happens, and you care about Wildomar, you're going to be asked to get your old pen and paper out to flood Señor Moonbeam with info he already knows and blithely ignores... but I'm game if it gets that far.

6. Council Member Moore was at the RTA meeting and was displeased to find that there is no planned service for Bundy Canyon in the plan that covers the next ten years. If this is important to you, be heard at that meeting. There is a meeting at the library scheduled for this, though I think the last time I was on a bus, other than the one that went to Harrah's a few months ago, was before I could drive. 

7. I hear there are only 4 people that have set up the necessary appointment to run for city council —three of which are incumbents.

I'm going to be thoroughly disappointed if no one from Wildomar's Cantankerotti class is willing to throw their hat in. Come on guys, just search your couch cushions again... you and your throngs of loyal adherents are sure to have that piddly amount of money lying around. The hard part will be getting the 20 qualified signatures, they do have to actually reside in Wildomar, but we're all counting on you to give it that old college try — for the Gipper, and all that rot.

I told you it was a quick meeting. 

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Wildomar Rap, grinding out hackneyed cliche's since late 2013. Dare to find us on FaceBook.

• Meet Ashley Fox

I had the chance to meet a remarkable young lady while at the Astronomy in the Park event. Her name is Ashley Fox.

She's a girl scout and is in the middle of a Silver Award Project.

Read up on what a Silver Award is here.

She was busy manning the Marna O'Brien snack bar for the fund raiser, but still found ten minutes to chat with me.

Selling Pizza at the snack bar at Marna O'Brien Park on Astronomy night.
Ashley and Stephanie Moore at the counter and Cheryl McCool-Benedicto behind them.

—☺—

WR: I know that you are 13 and in 8th grade, what school do you go to?
AF: Elsinore Middle School and I'm in the GEMS program.

WR: What is the GEMS program?
AF: It's a magnet program (Gaining Excellence in Math and Science).

Click to learn more about Gaining Excellence in Math and Science

WR: What subject do you enjoy the most?
AF: My favorite subject this year is astronomy.

WR: What a perfect evening for your fundraiser (it being Astronomy Night at the park).
AF: Exactly!

WR: Were you born in Wildomar?
AF: No, I was actually born in Carlsbad. We moved to this area in 2005 or 2006.

WR: Besides the girl scouts do you have other activities?
AF: Oh yeah, absolutely. I have Families of SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy), which is basically a lot of parents and people who have SMA like me... which is my disease. Then there's MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association), who supports you and I go to MDA camp in the Summer; it's like a week long.

 Click to read what SMA is

WR: Do you have any siblings?
AF: I do, I have a brother but he doesn't have it... but he may be a carrier so he has to check before he gets married.

WR: Do you find that people treat you the way they'd treat other people, or do they come up to you with big eyes [speaking in an affected manner] saying "how are you today?"
AF: That's a very interesting question because no one's ever really asked me that. Actually I get baby talked to a lot, and you would be surprised about how many people [don't] treat me like a real person.

It's probably like a 1 in 20 chance that a person will actually talk to me like a real person... 

...but the others treat me like I'm a baby and not all there. It's frustrating to me because until you get to know that person, that has a muscle disease, then people just lay eyes on them and say "she's cognitively affected, she's not all there." 

Then that's how I got treated in school when I was younger. They called me names, they called me the "R" word, they called me stupid, they threw stuff at me.

—휸—

Let me interrupt this conversation to chastise some of the parents out there. 

Really?
Feel free to teach your little darlin's some decency... 
the rest of us would be much obliged.

Now back to your regularly scheduled conversation, already in progress.

—휸—

WR: What was the first part of the Silver Award project?
AF: basically, deciding where it would go, and if we can meet the deadline and how much we were going to raise.

WR: The goal was $3500, and you're more than half way there ($2800 as of last count), do you have ideas of what to do if you raise a lot more than the goal?
AF: If we raise $4000 we might put in a piece of  sensory playground equipment.

I really enjoyed this next exchange with Ashley. I wanted to ask her about her experience on these types of swings.

WR: When you've been on these swings before... [I noticed her eyes getting a bit bigger] I'm sure you've been on one... right?
AF: Actually I have not.

WR: Oh, you haven't?
AF: I haven't. [Said with a big smile]

WR: Oh no. [Said with an even bigger smile from me]
AF: I've just heard about it.

WR: I've heard there's one in San Clemente, right?
AF: There is. There's an accessible playground where you can actually go on the equipment; big playground equipment with ramps and you can hang out like the other kids.

—☺—

The next fundraiser for Ashley's project is Monday May 12th at Stadium Pizza. It's an all day event and to participate just order from the menu (no specials or delivery) and be sure to mention the Freedom Swing.

Another great event on the fund raising schedule is

  Wildomar Night at the Storm Game.

Friday July 25th

$2 from each $10 ticket sold will be donated to the project. There will be grab bags with many great things inside for $5 apiece.
When buying your tickets, be sure to mention Wildomar and the Freedom Swing so that they know to add the money to the donations.


If you'd like to donate directly to the project, be sure to contact Ashley's mom, Kimberly. She gave me her phone number and would be happy to speak to you. (951) 639-7864.

 Click here to get in touch with Ashley's mom through facebook.

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Even if you're still stuck in the past and only use MySpace... don't be afraid Wildomar Rap's FaceBook page is house broken.

• Astronomy Night in Wildomar

What a great event for Wildomar.

Many thanks to John Garrett and Temecula Valley Astronomers for the enjoyable presentation and setting up their telescopes and allowing others to take a look at the night sky with them .

Looking at the Sun through a telescope was a first for me. They use special filters so you can safely view it and see 'bumps' around the edge of the Sun. I learned they are called a prominence.

A panoramic view of the inflatable screen that the presentation was projected on.

Manning the snack bar, selling pizza and sodas.

Ashley Fox chatted with me about her Girl Scout Silver Award project (click this link to read what a silver award is).  I'm going to write up a blog about her project soon. In brief, her goal is to raise $3500 for a swing that will accommodate those in a wheel chair. Before tonight she'd already gotten half way there with $1800 raised. Tonight they added nearly another $300 to the total. The next fund raiser is at Stadium Pizza on Monday May 12th.

You couldn't ask for better weather and the temps were perfect for family time outdoors.

SunPro Solar donated 12 of these telescopes to be raffled off. All those in attendance were giving a raffle ticket, free of charge, and there were two drawings throughout the course of events.

Four of our Five City Council Members were in attendance for the evening event.

Here you see a live projection of the moon (below) and setting up the equipment (above).

It's hard to judge crowd size, but it safe to say there were more than a baker's dozen and less than 1,000. Ok, my real guess would be around 200 people. More thanks goes to city staffers that put in a long day. 

As I was chatting with Public Works Superintendent Les Chapman, I like how he put it. That these kinds of events are what make us a community, and he'd like to see more of them. I was telling him about times I've driven to neighboring cities to listen to live music in the park while having a picnic, and he thought that would work well here too. We just need to get our parks department up and running.

Follow this link if you aren't already subscribed to the city of Wildomar's email alerts. It's the best way to keep up with when things are happening.

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