Good Shepherd Media Investigations  ·  Part 2

Thirty-Nine Days, One Expired Permit, and a $487,299 City Manager Who Opened the Complaint Himself

The City of Santa Clarita produced its entire permit file for the cannabis billboard on Newhall Avenue. It contains one permit: two small, unlit wall panels reading “Ferguson Plumbing Supplies,” issued in 2015, never finaled, stamped EXPIRED. The lit dispensary billboard on that property matches none of it. The City read our complaint the day it arrived and has not written a word back.

By D. Collins and I. Martinez  |  October 29, 2026  |  Santa Clarita, CA

The sign

It stands on the Ferguson Plumbing Supply property at the corner of Newhall Avenue, Pine Street and Arch Street, one block from the Newhall Metrolink station. It is lit at night. It reads “GREEN LIGHT — Daily Deals on Top Brands,” names cannabis brands (Oakfruitland, Camino, CLSICS), and tells drivers to take the Roxford exit off the 5 to Greenlight Discount Pharmacy in Sylmar, in the City of Los Angeles. Greenlight holds an active state license, C12-0000080-LIC, to sell cannabis at 15507 Cobalt Street. That license lets it sell in Sylmar. It does not license a billboard in Santa Clarita; that is governed by Santa Clarita’s sign code. And state law requires the license number on every cannabis advertisement. In our photographs there is none.

The laws that apply

Two things the law does not say, so we will not say them either. The state’s freeway billboard ban (§ 26152(d)) covers signs located on an interstate or a border-crossing state highway; Newhall Avenue is a city street. And the 71.6-percent adult-audience rule applies to broadcast, print and digital ads, not a static sign.

The First Amendment is not the City’s excuse. In Cocroft v. Graham (5th Cir. 2024) the court upheld Mississippi’s near-total ban on cannabis advertising because the product remains illegal under federal law; the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case on May 5, 2025.

What the City’s own file shows

On September 20, Good Shepherd Media asked the City Clerk for every permit, owner record, operator record and nonconforming-use determination for any sign at 23950 Newhall Avenue (Request #11111903). The City produced records on October 1 and October 5 and closed the request. Here is what the City holds.

Building Permit BLD15-01435, issued May 21, 2015, to Nite Lite Signs Inc. of Chatsworth, applicant Warren O. Due, for a parcel the City listed as “23950 Newhall Avenue Vacant Lot,” APN 2831-025-025. Description of work: “INSTALL (2) 3′ X 7′ NON-ILLUMINATED WALL PANEL SIGNS @ COM’L LOCATION.” Forty-two square feet. Valuation $2,000. Fees $119.30. The “Finaled By” and “Finaled Date” lines are blank. The City’s own file name for it is “PERMIT EXPIRED.”

The approved plans, stamped by Building and Safety and by Planning on the same day, show what those panels were: two blue-and-white “FERGUSON Plumbing Supplies” signs on the company’s own wall. The company’s own name, on its own building. An on-site sign. The file the City labeled “Correspondence / Legal Docs” is the two-page permit application for the same panels. There is no code-enforcement case in it, no billboard agreement, no nonconforming-use determination.

The City’s only permit for this cannabis billboard is for two plumbing-store wall panels. Expired.

The sign in our photographs is not two 3×7 wall panels. It is a freestanding, internally lit billboard carrying an off-site advertisement for a business in another city. Nothing in the file the City produced permits it. Four additional permit documents the City emailed on October 1 (one numbered 30028978 and three marked “NA”) are under review; if any of them is a lawful pre-1990 billboard permit for this structure, we will report it. The City was asked on September 20, and again on October 29, whether this structure holds a valid permit or is a legal nonconforming billboard. It has not answered.

39 days after City Manager Ken Striplin opened the complaint, the sign is still lit. The City’s own file shows why it shouldn’t be.

What the City did with the complaint

The September 20 letter was three things: a formal code-enforcement complaint, six press questions, and the records request. It went to Community Preservation, the City Attorney, the City Clerk, the City Manager and every councilmember, with timestamped, GPS-tagged photographs attached.

We know who opened it. Read receipts came back from City Manager Ken Striplin at 5:44 p.m. that evening, from Communications Manager Carrie Lujan at 5:35 p.m., from a third City Hall recipient at 5:19 p.m., and from Councilmember Jason Gibbs the next morning. Councilmember Marsha McLean opened the companion records request.

The records side of City Hall worked and worked on time. Two other things did not happen. The six press questions drew no written answer by the October 5 deadline or since. And the complaint was never treated as a complaint. The City Clerk’s October 1 email closed with this sentence: “To report a code enforcement violation, please contact the Community Preservation main line at (661) 286-4076.” A signed complaint with photographs, citing the code sections, addressed to the Community Preservation Division and personally opened by the City Manager, was answered with the phone number for filing a complaint. No case number. No inspection date. No citation. Not even a sentence saying the sign is legal.

The fine the City is not collecting

The Council resolutions the City produced (August 24, 2004 and March 25, 2008) set the schedule: $100, $200, then $500 for each additional offense within a year. The Code makes each day a separate offense. If the structure is unpermitted, then from the day the City Manager opened the complaint to the day this was published is 39 days: $100 + $200 + 37 × $500 = $18,800 the City could have assessed against the advertiser, the sign operator and the property owner. It has assessed, so far as any record shows, $0.

For contrast, Los Angeles County’s 2022 nuisance ordinance for unpermitted cannabis operations in unincorporated areas carries penalties of up to $30,000 a day.

Minors and the thousand-foot rule

State law draws a 1,000-foot line around daycares, K–12 schools, playgrounds and youth centers. Measured from the sign’s coordinates, the listed entrance points of William S. Hart Park are roughly 762 and 842 feet away. The statute says “playground,” not “park,” and the City’s own amenities page for Hart Park lists barbecues, not play equipment. Little Shepherd’s Nursery School sits at 24317 Newhall Avenue; whether it is licensed and within the line is a measurement the City has the tools to make in an afternoon. We asked the City Attorney on October 29 to make it, and to say whether he will use § 26152.2 if the answer is yes. The question is open. We will print the answer.

The policy behind the line is not in doubt. The RAND Corporation’s D’Amico, Miles and Tucker (2015) found that adolescents with greater exposure to medical-marijuana advertising were significantly more likely to use marijuana a year later. Baltimore’s ban on alcohol billboards where children walk to school was upheld by the Fourth Circuit in 1996. California bars alcohol advertising aimed at minors (Bus. & Prof. Code § 25664). Santa Clarita’s cannabis ban was adopted in 2018 on the same reasoning. The City has the law. What it has not shown is the will.

The man at the top

Ken Striplin has run the City of Santa Clarita since 2012 and worked for it since 1996. According to State Controller payroll data published by Transparent California, his 2024 compensation was $354,328 in regular pay, $29,355 in other pay and $103,616 in benefits: $487,299 in total pay and benefits. His pay is set by the five-member City Council, and under the Municipal Code it takes four of the five to remove him.

On October 19, Good Shepherd Media sent all five councilmembers and the City Attorney a press inquiry and records request on how that pay is set and justified. The City Clerk has twice asked us to narrow one item; we have. The councilmembers’ written answers are due October 30. We will print them, or print that none came.

The City Manager is not the officer who writes the ticket. He is the person every code officer answers to, and the person who decides whether a corridor gets inspected or gets a phone number. He opened this complaint himself on a Sunday evening. The sign is still lit.

Meanwhile, in Sand Canyon

Three properties in Sand Canyon run commercial wedding venues. The City has open zoning cases on two of them, Villa de Palma on Josel Drive (CE-26-1755) and Oasis Ranch House on Triumph Avenue (CE-26-1754). The third is The Barn at Rancho Deluxe, 26075 Sand Canyon Road: an 8,750-square-foot barn built in 2019 on a 200-acre movie ranch, marketed as “Santa Clarita’s premier event venue” with all-inclusive weddings, a “historic Saloon Bar,” catering packages and DJs. It has no City case. It is listed under “Special Event Venues” on Visit Santa Clarita, the City’s own tourism website.

On its road fence hang two banners: “Jason Gibbs for Congress” and “Bill Cooper for Water Board.” Councilmember Gibbs is running for the 27th Congressional District on November 3. Director Cooper is on the same ballot for the SCV Water Agency board.

Federal Election Commission records show that on September 29, 2025, Stephen H. Arklin (employer: Rancho Deluxe) and Diane Arklin each gave $3,500 to Jason Gibbs for Congress — $7,000, the legal maximum for the primary. The Arklins own Rancho Deluxe. Councilmember Gibbs opened our cannabis-billboard complaint on the morning of September 21.

Two things need saying plainly. Political signs on private property are protected speech, and the Arklins’ contributions are legal and publicly reported. Nothing in this article says otherwise. The question is not the banners. The question is why the City’s tourism office promotes a venue the City’s code office has never examined, while two neighbors on residential parcels carry open cases for doing the same thing.

The City’s likely answer is that Rancho Deluxe sits in the Movie Ranch Overlay Zone, which permits “incidental temporary community activities and social events.” The same ordinance says all non-film uses “shall be subject to the requirements of the base zone.” Whether a year-round, separately branded wedding business with its own venue manager, bar and catering menu is “incidental” to filmmaking is the question Good Shepherd Media has put to the City in writing, along with these: Was the site, parking and traffic plan the overlay requires ever filed? What occupancy classification is on the 2019 barn’s building permit? What did the ranch’s owners tell the City about event use when they asked to be annexed in 2011–2013? And why does one City department advertise what another would cite anywhere else?

Under the Levine Act (Gov. Code § 84308), a councilmember who has received more than $500 from a party within the prior 12 months must step aside from that party’s permit or entitlement proceedings. Whether a federal campaign contribution triggers that rule is a question we have put to the Fair Political Practices Commission. We have also asked Councilmember Gibbs whether he will recuse from any Rancho Deluxe matter that reaches the Council before September 29, 2027.

What the pattern looks like from the street

A resident who paints a fence the wrong color in Santa Clarita gets a letter. A resident who leaves a trailer on the street too long gets a citation. A dispensary in another city puts a lit billboard at the gateway to Old Town Newhall, on a property whose only sign permit is for the plumbing company’s own name, in a city that banned both the business and the billboard, and gets 39 days and counting of silence from a government whose chief executive is paid $487,299 and personally opened the complaint. A movie ranch whose owners maxed out to a sitting councilmember’s congressional campaign runs a wedding business the City advertises for it.

That is not a legal conclusion. It is what the records show, laid side by side.

What we asked, and of whom

City of Santa Clarita (Community Preservation, City Attorney, City Manager, Council): the six questions of September 20, still unanswered; on October 29, the complaint’s case number, inspection date and any citation; whether the structure holds a valid permit or is a pre-1990 legal nonconforming billboard; whether it displays the required license number; whether the City has measured the 1,000-foot buffer; and whether the City Attorney will act under § 26152.2. Answers requested by November 4, 2026.
Councilmember Jason Gibbs: the Arklin contributions, communications with staff about Rancho Deluxe, and Levine Act recusal.
Director Bill Cooper: contributions or in-kind support from the Arklins or Rancho Deluxe entities, 2022 and 2026 cycles.
Rancho Deluxe / the Arklin family: the approval under which The Barn operates, the barn’s permitted occupancy, its ABC and health permits, and the 2011–2013 annexation representations.
Greenlight Discount Pharmacy, Nite Lite Signs and the owner of 23950 Newhall Avenue: who placed the ad, under what contract, under what permit, and whether it carries license number C12-0000080-LIC.
Responses will be published in full as they arrive. Complaints on the billboard have been filed with the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation (COM-117004-2026) and the California Department of Cannabis Control.

Sources: Santa Clarita Municipal Code §§ 17.51.005, 17.51.080(N) and (V), 17.26.100, 23.10.010, ch. 23.20; City of Santa Clarita Building Permit BLD15-01435 and application (May 21, 2015), plans stamped May 21, 2015, and Council Resolutions of Aug. 24, 2004 and Mar. 25, 2008, all produced under Public Records Request #11111903 (Oct. 1 and Oct. 5, 2026); Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 26151, 26152, 26152.2 (SB 1498, Stats. 2024 ch. 899), 25664; AB 2249 (2026); 4 Cal. Code Regs. § 15040; Department of Cannabis Control license C12-0000080-LIC (real.cannabis.ca.gov); Cocroft v. Graham, 122 F.4th 176 (5th Cir. 2024), cert. denied May 5, 2025; Anheuser-Busch v. Schmoke (4th Cir. 1996); D’Amico, Miles & Tucker, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 29:613 (2015); Transparent California / State Controller payroll data, Santa Clarita 2014–2024; FEC Schedule A, Jason Gibbs for Congress; SCMC § 17.38.040 (Movie Ranch Overlay); visitsantaclarita.com; Gov. Code § 84308; LA County Board of Supervisors motion, 2022 (Barger–Kuehl); Good Shepherd Media photographs and correspondence, Sept. 11 – Oct. 29, 2026.

D. Collins covers illegal business, local crime, police responses and the City’s responses to crime for Good Shepherd Media. I. Martinez covers land use, zoning and business fraud. any errors please feel free to Scan the code for Mr. Collins’s profile. or for
Tips:

 A homemade cannabis rub, made from garden-grown flower, rubbing alcohol, menthol and essential oils. Photo: Good Shepherd Media

A cooling, homemade cannabis rub can ease everyday aches, and you can make a gallon of it for the price of a few store-bought jars. It won’t get you high, and made the right way, it won’t ruin your clothes.

I started making this rub for sore joints and muscles after long days in the shop and on the ranch. The formula has been through a few rounds of testing: cannabis from the garden, high-proof rubbing alcohol, menthol, and a careful blend of essential oils. Here is the version that works, scaled to a single gallon, with every ingredient that stains left out.

Why each oil is in the blend

Each oil earns its place by cooling, warming, relaxing, reducing inflammation  or scenting the rub. Most of these uses come from long tradition and small studies, not large clinical trials. Menthol is the only ingredient here that the FDA recognizes as a topical pain reliever.

Cooling

Warming

Relaxing and soothing

Scent

What the science says, honestly

Many people find cannabis rubs help arthritis and muscle soreness, but the clinical evidence is still being studied. Cannabinoids applied to skin stay mostly in the skin, which is why a rub doesn’t cause a high.

Part of the relief comes from ingredients with a longer track record. Menthol is the active ingredient in many drugstore pain rubs, and the cooling alcohol and the massage itself help too. Think of this as a comfort rub, not a medicine.

Many people do find it relieving when used regularly it seems to relieve inflammation, which is for many inflammation  is a major reason they have pain.

Ingredients (makes 1 gallon)

Base

Essential oils (about 95 ml total, roughly 2.5% of the batch)

More oil is not better. Keep the total around 2–3% of the batch, or the rub starts to burn.

Left out on purpose: turmeric, patchouli, sandalwood, rose, German chamomile and yarrow oils (they’re blue), and steeped herbs. All of them tint the liquid and can mark fabric. Regular bergamot is left out because it can cause sunburn-like reactions on treated skin.

New to cannabis? Start here

You don’t need any experience to make this. If you can bake cookies and follow a recipe, you can make this rub.

Where to buy it. Go to a licensed dispensary (adults 21 and over in California). Tell the staff you’re making a rub for sore joints. Ask for “shake” or “trim”: smaller leftover pieces that work just as well and cost much less. If you’d rather avoid THC altogether, ask for a high-CBD or 1:1 CBD-to-THC flower.

What you’ll need from your kitchen

• A baking sheet and parchment paper
• An oven, plus an inexpensive oven thermometer (most ovens run hotter or cooler than the dial says)
• A large glass jar or jug with a tight lid
• Cheesecloth and coffee filters
• A funnel and dark glass bottles
• Kitchen gloves, if you have sensitive skin

What “decarb” means

Raw cannabis is mostly in an inactive form called THCA. Gentle heat converts it to the active form, THC, the way toasting bread changes it. This step is called decarboxylating, or “decarb” for short. It doesn’t make the rub intoxicating on your skin. It simply activates more of the plant.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Heat the oven to 240°F. Check the oven thermometer, because too hot burns off the good compounds.
2. Break the cannabis into small pieces, about the size of a pea. Your fingers work fine. Don’t grind it to powder.
3. Spread it in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
4. Bake for 30–40 minutes. Stir it once halfway through.
5. Look for the color change. It’s done when it turns from bright green to a light golden brown and feels dry and crumbly.
6. Let it cool completely before it goes anywhere near alcohol.

About the smell: decarbing smells strong for about an hour. Turn on the stove fan or open a window. Some people use an oven bag or a covered baking dish to keep the smell down.

How to make it

1. Decarb the cannabis as described above, and let it cool.
2. Soak it briefly. Put the cooled cannabis in your jar, pour the alcohol over it, close the lid tight, and shake for 3–5 minutes. A short soak keeps the rub light in color.
3. Strain it. Pour through cheesecloth set in a funnel. Put the same cannabis back in the jar, pour the strained alcohol over it again, and shake another 3–5 minutes. Strain again.
4. Strain once more through a coffee filter. This takes a little patience, so let gravity do the work.
5. Dissolve the menthol. Add the menthol crystals and shake until they disappear, about 5 minutes.
6. Add the essential oils. Measure each one with measuring spoons and shake well. A little cloudiness is normal.
7. Test it on yourself first. Rub a dime-sized spot on the inside of your forearm and wait 24 hours. If there’s no redness or itching, it’s ready to use.
8. Bottle and label it. Use a funnel to fill dark glass bottles. Write “EXTERNAL USE ONLY – FLAMMABLE” and the date on every bottle.

To use it: rub a small amount (about a teaspoon) into the sore area until it dries. Use it up to 3–4 times a day. Expect a cool tingle first, then gentle warmth.

Optional, for experienced makers: cannabis concentrate (wax) can be added for extra strength. Decarb 10–15 g in a small glass dish at 250°F for 30–45 minutes, until it stops bubbling. Let it cool, then rinse it out with some of the alcohol. Beginners can skip this; the flower alone works well.

Keeping it off your good clothes

The alcohol evaporates in minutes, but the oils and plant resin stay behind and can spot wool and silk.

• Let it dry fully, at least 15 minutes, before you get dressed. Applying at night is best.
• Wash your hands afterward so you don’t carry it to cuffs, collars or ties.
• Keep the wet rub off fabric. High-proof alcohol can loosen some dyes.
• If it does get on a garment, blot it rather than rubbing, and tell your dry cleaner it’s an oil and alcohol stain.

Storage and safety

Store it in a cool, dark cabinet with the caps tight, where it keeps 1–2 years. Skip the fridge: cold makes menthol crystallize, and fridges aren’t built for flammable vapors.

• Never heat the alcohol over a flame or in an oven. The vapors ignite easily.
• Isopropyl is poisonous to drink. Label every bottle and keep it away from children.
• Keep it off the face, eyes, mucous membranes and broken skin.
• Pets: cats are especially sensitive to essential oils, including the fumes.
• Pregnancy or seizure disorders: rosemary, eucalyptus and clary sage aren’t advised.
• If it starts to sting more than it used to, the oils have aged. Make a fresh batch.

Cannabis is legal for adults 21 and over in California. This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Talk with your doctor before using it for ongoing pain, especially if you take medication.

CHRISTIAN WARNING: EXTERNAL USE ONLY — INTOXICATION IS A SIN

THIS CANNABIS RUB IS INTENDED FOR EXTERNAL APPLICATION TO THE SKIN ONLY. NEVER EAT IT, DRINK IT, SMOKE IT, OR USE IT FOR THE PURPOSE OF BECOMING INTOXICATED.

As Christians, we are called to remain sober-minded, alert, self-controlled, and obedient to God. Deliberately pursuing intoxication, becoming drunk or high, and surrendering our judgment and self-control to a substance are contrary to these biblical principles.

The Bible commands us in Ephesians 5:18:

“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” — Ephesians 5:18 (KJV)

First Peter 5:8 also instructs believers to be sober and vigilant. These principles remind us that our minds and bodies should be governed by wisdom, discipline, and the desire to honor God.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS RUB IS TOPICAL USE FOR SORE MUSCLES AND JOINTS — NOT INTOXICATION OR RECREATIONAL DRUG USE. This article does not endorse getting high, impairing one’s judgment, or using substances to escape responsibility.

CRITICAL SAFETY WARNING: This formula contains isopropyl rubbing alcohol, which is poisonous if swallowed, and is flammable. Keep it away from flames, children, and pets. Apply only to appropriate, intact skin and avoid the eyes, face, mucous membranes, and broken skin. Do not ingest the mixture under any circumstances.

Biblical Sobriety: More Than Just Avoiding Alcohol

The strongest biblical foundation for your message is that being sober-minded is a Christian duty involving the entire life of the mind: clear judgment, self-control, spiritual alertness, disciplined thinking, prayer, and resistance to temptation. Alcohol is one concern, but it is not the whole subject.

I also read the article you linked, Daily His Disciple, “16 Bible Verses for a Sober Mind (KJV)”. Its central message is that Christians cultivate a sober mind by renewing their thoughts through Scripture, rejecting false thinking, developing Christlike character, and remaining spiritually vigilant.

Daily His Disciple

+1

1. The Bible teaches sobriety as a way of life

Here are the most relevant passages to expand your article’s Christian message.

2. The verse that may be most important for your message

Titus 2:11–12 is especially powerful because it connects God’s grace with rejecting ungodliness and living soberly.

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.” — Titus 2:11–12 (KJV)

This goes beyond the question of alcohol. It teaches that Christians should exercise self-control, resist ungodly desires, and live in a manner that honors God.

Other important passages include:

• 1 Corinthians 6:12 — “I will not be brought under the power of any.” A principle of freedom from enslavement to habits or desires.

• Galatians 5:22–23 — The fruit of the Spirit includes temperance, commonly understood as self-control.

• Proverbs 25:28 — A person without self-control is compared to a city whose walls are broken down.

• 2 Timothy 1:7 — God gives a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind.

• Mark 5:15 — The formerly afflicted man is described as sitting, clothed, and “in his right mind.”

Together, these passages support a broad Christian teaching about clear thinking, mastery over impulses, and spiritual discipline.

3. How this applies to cannabis and your topical-rub article

I recommend making the distinction between using a product for a physical purpose and seeking intoxication explicit.

There is an important nuance: the Bible does not specifically discuss modern cannabis products, and topical cannabis preparations are not necessarily intoxicating. Whether a particular product is safe or produces impairment depends on its ingredients, formulation, and how it is used. So your Christian position can be stated firmly without suggesting that every cannabis preparation automatically causes intoxication.

Here is an expanded section you could add to your article.

This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Talk with your doctor before using it for ongoing pain, especially if you take medication.

A Christian Perspective on Sobriety: Keeping a Sound Mind Before God

If You Deposit a Lot of Cash, Does Your Bank Report It to the Government?

Federal law governs how much cash you can deposit before a bank reports it.

A federal judge in Oklahoma ruled last week that a federal law that bans gun ownership by cannabis users is unconstitutional.

“For all the reasons given above, this is not a constitutionally permissible means of disarming Harrison,” Judge Wyrick ruled.
“But the mere use of marijuana carries none of the characteristics that the Nation’s history and tradition of firearms regulation supports,” said Judge Wyrick
Judge Wyrick also highlighted that under Oklahoma law, marijuana can be bought legally at more than 2,000 store fronts in the state.

A federal judge in Oklahoma City ruled last week that a federal law that prohibits cannabis users from owning firearms is unconstitutional and must not be enforced by prosecutors. Citing a ruling handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court last year that dramatically expanded gun rights, U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick dismissed a federal indictment charging an Oklahoma man with violating the ban, ruling that the prohibition denied the defendant of his right to bear arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.