College workers forced to hoof it
Thomas Aquinas cut off by storm damage
by John Scheibe
jscheibe@VenturaCountyStar.com
(January 21, 2005)
Getting to work on time these days means leaving home at
least 20 minutes early for many faculty and staff members
at Thomas Aquinas College.
It also means parking in the woods about a mile from the
170-acre campus north of Santa Paula. Then they face a 20-minute
hike along a dirt road left muddy and rutted by the recent
storms to reach the secluded campus.
Spring-semester classes at the small Roman Catholic college
were supposed to start Jan. 10. The school was forced to delay
the start of classes by a week, however, after storms severely
damaged portions of Highway 150, which runs along the western
edge of the campus.
Thomas Aquinas was cut off from the outside world for about
a week during the height of the storms earlier this month,
said Michael McLean, dean of the college. That started to
change last week for those coming to the college from Ventura
after Caltrans reopened Highway 33 to Ojai. Commuters then
could take Highway 150 from Ojai to reach the 340-student
campus.
It's still impossible to drive directly to Thomas Aquinas
from Santa Paula because portions of the 150 south of the
college were washed away. The highway also was hit with mudslides
and sinkholes.
"We've heard estimates it could remain closed until
September," McLean said Thursday.
About 30 of the college's 75 faculty and staff members now
park in an area close to Steckel Park, off Highway 150.
McLean said he would continue hiking into campus for as long
as 150 remains closed. Taking the Ventura-Ojai route to the
college isn't much of a choice for McLean of Santa Paula.
"I'd be looking at at least an hour's drive were I to
go through Ventura and Ojai," he said.
And that's on a good day, when traffic is moving swiftly
on the 33 and 150.
These days, traffic along sections of 33 from Ventura to
Ojai often moves at a crawl as workers repair the damage.
Bill Sanborn, a Caltrans region manager, told a group of
residents at a community meeting in Oak View on Wednesday
night his department needed environmental clearances from
several other agencies before it can begin repairing Highway
150. He said some of the repair work would involve a major
overhaul of parts of the highway.
Anne Forsyth, director of college relations for Thomas Aquinas,
said the college is very grateful a group of private landowners
is allowing its faculty and staff members to hike over their
land to reach the campus.
"We wouldn't be able to do this without their cooperation,"
Forsyth said.
Thomas Aquinas also is appreciative of its students, she
said. Many of them put sandbags around their dorms because
of flooding, which caused about $125,000 in damage to dorms,
she said.
Workers removed rugs from two residence halls damaged the
most by flooding.
McLean said the 150 shutdown would not affect most students
because they live on campus.
He said Thomas Aquinas has been closed before because of
heavy rains and fire.
"That's the price we pay for being located where we
are," he said, noting that he knows of at least two other
times the campus was cut off since moving to its current location
in 1978.
This article originally appeared in the Ventura County
Star on January 21, 2005. Reprinted from venturacountystar.com
with express permission.
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