Coyote warning

Re: your Aug. 18 article, "Coyotes corner woman in Westlake":

Beverly Thomas is a neighbor and I want to personally thank her for her heroic efforts to alert the neighborhood of her encounter with coyotes.

She knocked on my door at 7 a.m. and was going through the area warning all the owners of dogs. I do not personally have dogs, but my daughter has two poodles that visit me frequently, so I am very grateful to Beverly for her warning.

Thank you for the article. Ms. Thomas is deserving of high praise, as is the unnamed gentleman who came to her aid.

— Dorothy H. Alberts, Westlake Village

Angels from heaven

Nurturing, Understanding, Reassuring, Sensational, Empathetic is what "nurse" stands for, and I have to say, the nurses at Simi Valley Hospital demonstrate the exact meaning of all these wonderful qualities. So often, we hear so much bad news and not enough good. Well, I wanted to tell about the wonderful experience my family has received at Simi Valley Hospital. Two years ago, my father was diagnosed with lung cancer. After three major surgeries and long months of rehab, my father is now in remission. The expertise of the doctors and nurses saved my father's life.

Life seemed to be back to normal. Other than the busy schedule of my dad's doctor appointments, life was good. Exactly two years later, my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that has metastasized to her liver and spleen. I was working as charge nurse that day when I found out. I ran into the nursing staff office crying so hard I could barely speak.

Ann, one of our nursing house supervisors, walked in and immediately took me in her arms and asked what had happened. She was so empathetic and supportive and immediately had staffing call to find another nurse to take over the rest of my shift. The next few days were trying, seeing my mom in so much pain, going through procedures, feeling so sick and nauseated and so tired she couldn't even keep her eyes open. I didn't know how I could work and take care of my mom and watch over my dad.

I walked up to the nursing station to ask Marie if she could help me figure out my work schedule for the next few days and, before I even spoke, Marie just looked at me and said: "Don't worry, I already took care of the schedule. Don't worry about coming in the next two days, I have it covered."

Tamara, another telemetry nurse and friend, always took time out of her busy day to reassure me and always made me feel better. Wow, talk about angels from heaven. The next few days were even tougher with my mom. She had some complications, she was in so much pain and she could barely even open her eyes. It was truly like a nightmare.

I was in tears all day and felt so completely helpless. I remember just taking a moment and praying to God to help my mom and my family to deal with this horrible situation. God did answer my prayers. My mom had the most incredible nurses. For the two weeks my mom was in Telemetry, the care was exceptional. The nurses were caring, patient, supportive and understanding. They would organize prayer time in my mom's room with the chaplain, which gave my mom peace and comfort. Joy even bought my mom "Footprints in the Sand," a book of inspirational verses. They were constantly thinking of my mom and my family. The support and encouragement were so amazing, I felt truly blessed to work with such incredible people. I felt like this is what a true family is all about.

Their smiles, hugs and empathetic ears really made such a difficult situation easier to deal with. A special thanks to Telemetry staff: Ann, Joann, Tamara, Joy, Marie, Lis, Alyson, Michele, Genevieve, Renee, Monette, Theresa and Gedei; ICU: Francine, Delia; Med-Surg: Patty and Sharon; and all the nurses and staff in Telemetry.

Words cannot express how much I appreciate all your outstanding care, your thoughts and prayers and your incredible support. You all demonstrate what a true nurse is all about. You all remind me of a song my family and I sing at church: "There is a hope for all the broken. There is a peace here for your soul. There is a joy that comes from Heaven, it never lets you go. I'll give you rest for your soul. I'll give you peace through the storm. I'll give you joy and make you whole. Come unto me, I'll give you rest."

You all made us all realize how true these words are, and to say it allyou are all angels of heaven here doing God's work every day. Thank you.

— Lori Cruze & family, Simi Valley

Great support

Aug. 18, Many Motors held a fundraising electronics waste collection event in Newbury Park. The support we received was overwhelming! An amazing 37 tons of electronics were collected for recycling during this one eight-hour event.

Many Motors owes a great deal to those organizations that supported and sponsored this event. Access to the event site along with site assistance was graciously provided by NewMark Merrill, E. J. Harrison & Sons, Gold Coast Recycling, the city of Thousand Oaks, the Area Housing Authority, Lutheran Social Services and the Many Motors board of directors were all essential partners and really stepped up to help make this event a huge success. Without any one of these partners, this event could not have taken place.

Established in 2000, Many Motors serves Ventura County's low-income population by providing affordable vehicles to individuals and families in need. For more information, please go to www.ManyMotors.org.

— Helen Ortega, executive director, Many Motors, Oxnard

Great ArtWalk

Beautiful weather, beautiful site, beautiful art make a successful 20th ArtWalk.

ArtWalk 2007 was held this year surrounded by the rolling hills of the Countrywide Bank building between Hillcrest and Wilbur roads.

It was the perfect weather to exhibit works of art in the media of ceramics, designer crafts, drawings/graphics, glass, oil/acrylic, photography, sculpture, textile/wearable, and watermedia.

Thanks again to Donna Hall for coordinating ArtWalk with the help of the ArtWalk Committee and assistance of Steve Wiley (recreation service manager of the Conejo Recreation and Park District) and his crew. Scott Buchanan and Kurt Gunning (CRPD) were instrumental in getting the site measured and mapped. The crew's expertise shows in caring that the grounds are staked, marked, flagged, kept clean and running smoothly. Thank you all for a great job!

The ArtWalk Committee and the Conejo Valley Art Museum board of trustees are very thankful to Countrywide Bank for letting us have its parking lot and grounds for this traditional cultural event. Our thanks to Spencer Westbrook, building manager of Countrywide Bank, who assisted in making sure things ran smoothly before and after the show.

We thank our volunteers, the most important ingredient of ArtWalk. With their assistance, the volunteers have helped rank ArtWalk with the best top shows in the nation. Some of the volunteers served while the museum was still open and have been with us for many years; we always welcome more. We are lucky to have the help from the students of Chaminade High School, and the Thousand Oaks Teen Center. This year, as well as last year, we thank Boy Scout troop No.753 for giving us a hand. Marty Simmons is their scoutmaster. Thanks to Margery McKay for coordinating the volunteers at the tables, and Mandy and Ginny Greer for holding the Kid Art Booth on Saturday. Early birds Ann Bierly, Marjorie McKay and Mary Freed were there at 6 a.m. greeting the artists. Thanks to Janice McGinnis for coordinating the food and arranging the beautiful flower arrangements on the museum and umbrella tables. Rebecca did a great job having entertainment on the stage and also the raffle booths, with the help of her husband, John.

The raffle was a great success, thanks to art donated by artists, Carolyn Couanas, Bradford J. Salamon, Ira Meyer, Xing-Jie Chen and Bonnie Belt. Graphaid's contributed an academy easel, a must for every artist or art connoisseur. The framing of two of the raffle works were Frames by You in Thousand Oaks and The Frame Gallery in Agoura Hills.

We are thankful for all the advertisers in the souvenir program, our members for their loyalty and the artists who participated. Thanks to The Star for sponsoring ArtWalk and giving us coverage before and after the show.

We are grateful to all those people who came to enjoy the fine art and those who purchased art. All of you make the work worthwhile. Thanks to all the participating artists, all the volunteers and the people who came to make ArtWalk 2007 a successful show.

Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!

— Maria E. Dessornes, president, Conejo Valley Art Museum board of trustees

Grateful for purse

July 15, I went shopping at Albertsons in Newbury Park. Upon returning home, I had a panic attack as I realized that I did not have my purse! I returned to Albertsons and was so relieved when the store manager told me that a female customer had found the purse with all my valuables and had turned it in to him. She did not leave her name or phone number. I was so touched and my heart is full of gratitude toward this honest lady. I would like to thank her in person.

— Anna Borrego, ewbury Park

Kindness in spades

Several Simi Valley homeless veterans and myself attended Ventura County "Stand Down" at the end of July. I would like to mention some unsung heroes I didn't see appear in any of the articles I read in The Star issue about the Stand Down.

I personally am a daily Star crossword puzzle addict.

July 27, I took Friday's Star's puzzle with me. The next day, I found to my dismay that there was no Star newspaper vending machine on the Stand Down compound, and we veterans are asked to stay on the compound during the entire event as a courtesy to the organizers.

I had purposely brought 50 cents (two quarters) with me to buy Saturday's Star for the puzzle.

I walked around and finally went to the front gate where the Red Cross had its booth set up just outside the gate. I showed them my two quarters and asked if we could find a runner to purchase a Star.

Two ladies, Edith and her friend, said, "We'll see what we can do," flipped open a cell phone and dialed 1-800-STAR.

Within 30 minutes, the Star delivered 10 copies of the Saturday Star to the two ladies, who then came in and distributed them around.

My buddies and I worked the entire Saturday puzzle, and this is the hardest puzzle of the week!

Also, special thanks to Sonrise Church of Simi Valley for feeding us July 27; the Lions Club of Ventura for feeding us July 28 and The VFW of Somis for feeding us July 29.

— Hugh Dever, Simi Valley