Lemon Orchard Vote

I attended a public hearing before the Ventura County Board of Supervisors on the Oxnard Union High School District’s request for a land variance. The district was attempting to satisfy an earlier contract agreement by selling back approximately 27 acres of lemon orchards to the original owner of the property.

By a vote of 4 to 0 and a loss of approximately $2 million to the Oxnard Union High School District, the supervisors, in agreement with representatives from the League of Women Voters and the Oxnard Beautiful Committee, made it perfectly clear that “maintaining the integrity of Oxnard’s agriculture” was far more important than the education of Oxnard’s youth. As a matter of fact, while maintaining the integrity of our agricultural areas, it was suggested that the Oxnard Union High School District teach its children to be lemon pickers.

Next time your children come home complaining there weren’t enough textbooks to go around or classes were too crowded, take a drive down Wooley Road and show them the district’s lemon orchard.

SHERRILL K. TUCKER

Camarillo