VOL. XXIX NO. 27
Aaron Starr
(File photo by Chris Frost)
Court overturns ballot initiatives Oxnard-- The Ventura County Superior Court issued a statement of intended decision on Tuesday, June 22, invalidating Aaron Starr’s Measures M and N. In the intended decision, the Honorable Judge Henry Walsh rules against Mr. Starr and his use of ballot initiatives to change administrative processes and legislative decision-making within the City of Oxnard. “I think this court ruling is eye-opening for our community,” said City Manager Alex Nguyen. “Perhaps more people now realize Mr. Starr funds ballot initiatives which fool voters into supporting his personal agendas that actually harm the greater public good.” The Court ruled that Measure M, the ballot measure that dictated n Court, see page 5
JULY 2, 2021
By Chris Frost Tri County Sentry Oxnard-- In a show of strength, solidarity, support, and pride, the Diversity Collective Ventura County BLM (Black Lives Matter) Oxnard Pride March, Saturday, June 26, departed from Wilson Park right on time to the group’s celebration at Plaza Park.
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TS mission is to promote advocacy, education, mental and physical health for the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) community and those affected by HIV and AIDS in Ventura County. The group marched in memory of its fallen QTBIPOC siblings. The Plaza Park event featured live performances, vendors, Covid-19 vaccines, and HIV testing on-site. The group shouted the names of Sylvia Rivera, Lucy Hale, Marcia P Johnson, and Letisha King in remembrance and assorted chants. Diversity Collective President Genevieve
Flores-Haro said the group first held the march in the summer of 2020 during the social justice movements that expressed Black Lives Matter. “As you’ve seen in the year since then, with George Floyd, there was a verdict, sentencing, and still the system is working against us,” she said. “We still have a lot of work to do in terms of honoring and naming that Black Lives do Matter, and honoring and naming that our LGBTQ community matters. Every year, we see that black and brown trans-women are murdered at higher and higher rates; even though we have marriage equality and certain protections here in California,
Pride March M A I N TA I N S I T S R E S I L I E N C E
n BLM, see page 5
Court decision appeal likely By Chris Frost Tri County Sentry Oxnard-City Manager Alex Nguyen, Tuesday, June 29, responded to public comments made about the ballot initiatives that were reversed by the Ventura County Superior Court, as (Photo courtesy City of Oxnard) speakers called them an exercise in Democracy when the needs of City Manager Alex Nguyen
the voters are not met. Alicia Percell from Moving Oxnard Forward promises an appeal of the decision if it becomes final. Nguyen said it’s nice to use the word Democracy, but you should mean it, and it should be used properly. “Ballot initiatives absolutely have a place in our process,
but they have to be utilized properly, and they also need to be legal,” he said. “This idea that ballot initiatives are perfect is ridiculous. The public always doesn’t get it right. With regard to Measure M, I still would debate anyone, anytime, anywhere, about the quality of it. It did not improve Democracy in Oxnard. n Appeal, see page 7