Ventura County Star

Oil spills, water pollution, harmful pesticides: those are the types of contaminants that spurred environmental crusaders to initiate the first Earth Day in 1970.

Damage from industries, businesses and agriculture was noticeable, from thick sludge in landfills that bordered homes to unnatural plumes of green smoke that were emitted from spraying farms. As Earth Day approaches its 42nd anniversary, what's potentially the biggest threat to the environment is as difficult to rally behind as it is to predict.

VENTURA, Calif. -- Rick Vetter was tracking the movement of the brown widow spider through Ventura County last year when he discovered a spider never before seen in the Western Hemisphere.

A visit to Walter Reed Hospital changed the lives of Rick Allen, rock drummer for Def Leppard, and his wife, Lauren Monroe, in 2006.

They had already begun the Malibu, Calif.,-based nonprofit Raven Drum Foundation in 2001 to help heal people through drumming. But after meeting with the veterans, Allen, who lost his arm in a 1984 accident, felt a profound connection that led to a partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project in 2009, and his emphasis shifted to veterans, some of whom are amputees.

The woman leaning against a pillar didn't know more Americans -- twice as many -- take antidepressants than go to movie theaters weekly. She hadn't heard that a federal study found the meds are used by 23 percent of middle-aged women -- almost one in four.

But she knows Prozac.

"Good stuff," she said, remembering how it helped her deal with a splintering marriage.

Data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in November showed that 11 percent of Americans ages 12 and older used Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil or other antidepressants.

It's how John Enriquez, who says he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest as an altar boy, sees the wave of allegations of molestations and cover-ups involving Penn State University.

"To me, it's the same thing," said the 43-year-old Oxnard, Calif., resident, comparing the mushrooming Pennsylvania drama to the clergy abuse scandal. "People in power abusing the power. People with the trust of the people thinking they can get away with it."

The Federal Trade Commission has halted operations and frozen assets of a Southern California debt collection firm accused of threatening to kill pets, dig up deceased relatives, and a long list of other harassment complaints from across the country.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- Simi Valley atheist Stuart Bechman is the area's very own church/state separation watchdog.

Bechman, 51, was instrumental in drawing attention several years ago to a large cross on Mt. McCoy on land that had been donated to the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District. To his satisfaction, the cross and 0.61 acres of surrounding land were eventually sold to the private nonprofit Simi Valley Historical Society.

These days, Bechman has set his secular sights on what he considers another separation issue -- a framed poster in the Simi Valley City Council's foyer in City Hall saluting U.S. military personnel. The problem, in Bechman's view, is that the poster also states "God Bless America" and "God Bless You."