OXNARD : Leaders Focus on Spiritual Concerns

Elected officials, business people and community leaders from around Ventura County got together for a power breakfast Tuesday.

But instead of focusing on budgets, the economy or other weighty issues, the topic at the Mandalay Beach Resort in Oxnard was “The Power of Prayer.”

Sponsored by the Salvation Army, the 20th annual Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast drew four mayors and several City Council members from across the county, in addition to more than 200 other residents.

Former Ventura Mayor Al Aldinger began the breakfasts in 1973 to honor local elected officials and give them an opportunity to come together seeking spiritual guidance, said Jymmye Hitch, past president of the Ventura Corps of the Salvation Army.

Ojai Mayor Robert McKinney said he came to the breakfast for the second time this year mainly to show support for the Salvation Army, rather than to draw inspiration for his duties as mayor. But, he said, “we can always use all the help we can get. If we can get some divine help, that’s fine.”

McKinney said, he was inspired by the high moral standards exhibited by speakers at the event, including Oxnard College President Elise Schneider and Oxnard Planning Commissioner Dale Dean.

Oxnard Mayor Manuel M. Lopez said he was struck by how the speakers revealed private sides of themselves that one rarely glimpses in public figures.

Martin Daly, president of Channel Islands National Bank, for example, told how his spiritual faith deepened after he was fired from a job at age 40.

“I will never think of him as just a banker again,” Lopez said.