So what do you do when you arrive at a showdown and the other party doesn’t show? You can throw your arms in the air, tip your cowboy hat, and strut in a slow circle, nodding at the audience with that look that says your opponent is chicken, without actually saying it because it’s implied because obviously your opponent didn’t show. Or you can take the high road and acknowledge that you can’t actually have a win if there is no opponent.
This was the situation that 4th District supervisorial candidate Eddie Ozeta faced when he attended a Lompoc Association of American University Women-sponsored forum and incumbent Peter Adam failed to appear. To his credit, Ozeta didn’t puff out his chest and strut around assuming a win. Instead he commented that it would’ve been nice to have Adam there to have an open discussion. After all, who likes a competition when you don’t get to flex your skill and earn the win?
In his defense, Adam had longstanding plans that he couldn’t get away from, and forum organizers couldn’t reschedule. Still, Adam should know that it’s election time. He should’ve known that last year too when he made plans. Running a campaign for re-election definitely should be one of those things for which you clear your calendar. You know, like: “I like holding a political office. I’m up for re-election next year. Maybe around election season I should stick around in case there are any debates, forums, or special appearances I should make.”
Oops, maybe I’m just giving away the campaign strategy I’m planning for when I run for office! Can you imagine that, someone like me holding political office? Hey, underdog wins happen!
Perhaps Adam was already strutting and claiming victory for his re-election? In that case, I’ll have to remind him of my underdog comment above. Nah. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Everyone gets busy. But I expect to see his mustachioed mug at the next forum, metaphoric guns a-blazing.
Fortunately it wasn’t guns a-blazing, but it was guns drawn for law enforcement converging on an Orcutt neighborhood recently. Authorities were responding to a home invasion in which three suspects stole guns and marijuana from a home and fled the scene. The midday incident drew law enforcement from several agencies, and even a helicopter, in an attempt to find the suspects. Meanwhile neighbors anxiously watched the search, rooting for authorities to catch the suspects.
There was little information released at press time, but it got me wondering: Just how much darned marijuana does someone with a medical condition need to grow on their property?
I’ve done plenty of flyovers in the Orcutt area in the course of my reporting endeavors, and trust me, there are a lot of backyards that are highly weeded over.
I could be taking it all wrong. I’m a simple bird and know not of growing marijuana. Maybe it’s part of a drought-tolerant landscaping movement of which I’m not aware.
I don’t think so. In fact, I’ve come up with a four-point test to determine whether or not someone is growing too much marijuana to conceivably be used for the average person’s medical purposes:
• You need guns to protect the amount of medical marijuana you grow.
• You put up security fencing of some sort to hide your medical marijuana grow.
• Your backyard looks like a mini-forest or a commercial nursery.
• Gun-toting burglars pick your property to invade in the middle of the day and steal your personal “medication.”
If any of these apply to your backyard ganja garden then you might not be using it simply for your medical condition.
And to think Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino expressed fear that neighboring Nipomo’s proposed medical marijuana dispensary would cause trouble too close to Santa Maria.
The Canary is high on life. Send her an exciting tip at canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 7, 2016.