I get called jaded on a good day, but there are some serious problems coming to light across all levels of our society. From the national to the local spheres, the news cycle is like a traffic jam of systematic problems, incompetence, and scandal.
The big issue across the nation and on our own streets is gun violence, what can we do about it?
It should concern everyone that local students couldn’t even have a rally to remember the kids who died at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, at Ernest Righetti or St. Joseph high schools on March 14 because they were on lockdown after a gun threat. Students at Pioneer Valley High School got to have their symbolic walkout, which was really just a brief assembly in the quad with music and remembrance. Teachers at that event were careful not to politicize anything, but that isn’t stopping these kids.
High schoolers and other citizens joined the March for Our Lives on March 24 in front of Santa Maria High School. Pioneer student Zander Moreno wasn’t afraid to come out hard against groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) for blocking gun reform.
They also protested the gun store across the street, and have plans to petition the Santa Maria City Council for a buffer zone between gun stores and schools. These kids are getting loud!
But according to pro-gun locals like Justin Ruhge, the problem is really these kids, and radical Democrats like State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) who want to take your guns! Justin, if you’re going to call a state senator “Nazi-like” in a letter to the editor, you best not do it after saying that all shootings come down to either “mentally ill malcontents” or Muslims.
It’s no coincidence that the Columbine High School shooters chose April 20, Adolf Hitler’s birthday, as the day for their massacre. It’s also no coincidence that the package bomber from Austin, Texas, was part of a Christian “survivalist” group that taught both the Bible and gun skills, according to reporting by the Independent in the U.K. That’s before he blew himself up when chased down by police.
That sounds like White ISIS if you ask me, and media organizations across the spectrum from the The New York Times to Fox News shouldn’t be afraid to call these killers terrorists. They’re not “disturbed” or “challenged” or “malcontents,” they’re white supremacist terrorists and pose the most direct terrorist threat to American lives.
I’m glad those kids are making their voices heard. People need to speak up when there’s a problem, big or small.
It sounds like that’s what Jane Does 2, 3, and 4 were trying to do at Church for Life in Santa Maria after they were allegedly assaulted and harassed by former pastors Robert and Cindy Litzinger. According to their argument in court, the Litzingers were all kinds of creepy, from “mom and dad snuggles” to demonstrating what a “healthy, hot marriage” looks like with nude photos.
These women go so far as to allege that church officials knew what was going on, but it wasn’t until somebody went above their heads that the Litzingers were booted out.
If that’s true, why the hell did that happen?
That’s the same question I have for Lompoc City Council members Jim Mosby, Dirk Starbuck, and Victor Vega, who decided that Lompoc shouldn’t levy taxes against the burgeoning recreational pot industry. They wouldn’t even let Lompoc voters decide for themselves on taxing weed.
What are these guys, high?
Surely, if Lompoc allows an unfettered pot industry, it should reap some of the inevitable profits. Lompoc needs that money, badly. They must know this.
That’s why Santa Barbara County’s tax strategy gets no argument from a pro-pot person like me. Maybe we could use those funds to improve roads, pay back the pension debt, or get some funds to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, which is under staffed at its decrepit and dangerous county jail.
Sheriff Bill Brown just received a serious blow from the Santa Barbara Deputy Sheriff’s Association when it endorsed his challenger, Lt. Brian Olmstead at 70 percent of the vote. Supervisors Peter Adam and Joan Hartmann both gave their endorsement to Olmstead as well.
Sounds like those who work closest with the Sheriff are speaking up themselves. What are they trying to say?
The Canary can read between the lines. Send your thoughts to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 5, 2018.