Cover Story
Redefining the sex talk: The conversation about sexual assault is shifting, and it’s pushing colleges and community organizations to proactively approach prevention
Think about sex like you would a corndog. If you buy someone a corndog at the Santa Barbara County Fair, and they don’t want it, you aren’t going to force them to eat it with ketchup and mustard. Now trade that corndog in for tea and you have “Tea Consent” by Blue Seat Studios, which…
What would you put in a time capsule?
Brian Zambrano game designer “I would just put my first game design notes. That’s what I’m focused on right now.” Dr. Henry Davis Hancock professor “I would put my two children’s birth certificates. Justin and Joanne. J and J. The happier moments of my life were when they were born.” Michael Alcorn Navy recruiter “One…
Allan Hancock football team kicks off season with big win, new stadium
Allan Hancock College’s football team trounced Santa Ana on Sept. 6, 67-21, while 1,600 people watched. It was a big day for the football program: their first home game—ever. That is to say, it was the first game played on Hancock’s campus in the school’s 61-year history. The Hancock Bulldogs’ football stadium, which has been…
Miguel Villalobos
Miguel Villalobos, who runs the Pacific Karate Do Institute, just returned with a team of his students from the 10th Karate World Championships in San Francisco. Nine out of the 10 students, facing off against the best from around the world, managed to medal in the sparring and form categories. “We have talented students that…
Righetti High School students get empowered against social media negatives
Righetti High School students got a lesson in how to empower themselves against social media negatives on Wednesday, Sept. 9. More than 1,000 students participated in the social media education program during three assemblies. The presentation focused on the appropriate use of social media and how to deal with conflict, negativity, and harassment online, while…
McKenzie Junior High gets a band once again
It’s been more than 10 years that the sound of music was silenced at Kermit McKenzie Junior High School, but this year that changed. Righetti High School Music Director Nick Burdick has been teaching the basics of beginning band in the morning at the Guadalupe school before he heads back to Orcutt to finish out…
Compostable food trays win Santa Maria-Bonita School District environmental stewardship award
Ditching its Styrofoam food trays and switching to compostable trays was a winning move for the environment and for the Santa Maria-Bonita School District’s Food Service Department. The department received an award from the Community Environmental Council for its dedication to environmental stewardship in food services practices. The district now uses molded fiber compartment trays,…
Allan Hancock College Veteran Success Center holds grand opening
It’s not every day that students and veterans get to rub elbows with politicians and high-ranking military officials, but they did for the grand opening of Allan Hancock College’s Veteran Success Center on Sept. 10. The ceremony began at 1 p.m. with a ribbon cutting and honor guard presentation by the Vandenberg Air Force Base…
Spotlight on: Hunnyfly Yoga
There is a sense of stillness and relaxation that fills the air of the Hunnyfly Yoga Studio. Curtains hang just outside the studio area separating it from the sunlit reception area. Earth-toned walls meet light wood flooring in the studio area, where yoga practitioners release tensions and refocus their minds on the moment. The atmosphere…
A Gentile grandma by any other name is still bubbe
This week begins the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year of 5776. My husband explained that the Jewish calendar differs from the Gregorian version. Apparently a pope created the latter calendar, naturally naming it after himself, whereas God chose with the former, just as he did the people who live by it! I…
The human effect
Undoubtedly, the climate change is a grave phenomenon due to its devastating impact on the planet Earth. Nevertheless, the climate change is only one of a host of symptoms from a much greater problem hardly being discussed—the population explosion. Without it, we would not have a multitude of serious challenges facing humans and all other…
Wine it up! The best local wine and food events this fall on the Central Coast
This time of year presents Central Coast wine lovers with an embarrassment of riches—so many wine events to choose from, and all just a short distance from home. In the span of a few weeks, we can attend Harvest in the Wine Ghetto; SAVOR the Central Coast; Bubblyfest; Santa Maria Grapes & Grains Beer and…
Danish-born Mads Tolling brings his violin jazz to Solvang during Danish Days
Though jazz is known as America’s original art form, the style of music has been consumed voraciously across the pond in Europe, influencing generations of European musicians. Danish-born violinist Mads Tolling came up as a young musician studying the classical style thanks to the Suzuki method, he told the Sun, and remembers his first exposure…
Central Coast Writers’ Conference welcomes local authors, poets, and screenwriters
The Central Coast Writers’ Conference invites local authors of various styles and genres to join the three-day event happening at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, Sept. 18 through 20, including a book faire that is free for locals to attend at the SeaCrest Resort in Pismo Beach on Sept. 20. Saturday, Sept. 19, is…
Elverhoj Museum holds Living History Festival
The Elverhoj Museum of History and Art welcomes locals to celebrate Solvang’s history and cultural roots during its Living History Festival event on Sept. 19 and 20, happening during the city’s Danish Days celebration. The festival aims to celebrate Danish culture and traditions with creative flair, explained Elverhoj Executive Director Esther Jacobsen Bates in a…
DANA Cultural Center fundraiser features Louie Ortega
The DANA Cultural Center holds a special Fiesta Fundraiser event on Sept. 18 at the historic adobe, with live music by local Grammy-winner Louie Ortega with his All-Stars. The casual, celebratory fundraiser will include an auction, a barbecue dinner, and drinks available for purchase. The Fiesta runs from 6 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 18…
Actors shine in Santa Maria Civic Theatre’s ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’
Anyone familiar with the Santa Maria Civic Theatre knows that the dedicated volunteers there are used to wearing several different hats. Someone who directed the last show may be acting in the current one, or somebody performing on stage may have painted most of the set. For example, current Santa Maria Civic Theatre President Catherine…
Love + Guts brings skateboarder artists to Santa Maria to show work with locals
For several generations of skateboarders now, a group of Los Angeles-based skaters served as their collective inspiration, while moving forward with the modern skate phenomena as we know it today. The original Zephyr team, known as the “Z-Boys,” were one of the earliest and most visible groups. They established an innovative style when they began…
Community Notebook 9/17/15 – 9/24/15
Monday, Sept. 14 • The Santa Maria City Block Grants Advisory Committee has its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room, 110 E. Cook St., Santa Maria. • The Solvang City Council has its regular meeting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 1644 Oak Street, Solvang. Agendas are available at…
Hobnobbing with Helen: Business expo brings the world to the SM Fairpark
It was one hot day. Cardboard fans on sticks were aflutter all over the Santa Maria Fairpark convention hall. Despite the weather, there was a respectable turnout for the 2015 Santa Maria Business Expo, presented by the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce and MIYB Spaces on Sept. 10 at the Fairpark. Participating in the…
Wastewater ruling could hurt Santa Maria Valley’s small farmers
There’s something in Santa Maria Valley’s wastewater: It’s pesticides and fertilizer. A fight over what can be done with that wastewater, however, has some in the ag community on edge. The subject of contention is a wastewater discharge waiver updated in 2012. It spells out what farmers can do with water once it’s been spiked…
How much will a $15 per hour minimum wage increase affect Santa Maria?
Following the growing talk of stagnant wages and an ever-increasing cost of living, Seattle became the first city in the U.S. to bump up the minimum wage to $15 per hour, an increase from $9.47. Other major cities along the West Coast followed suit. Last November, voters in San Francisco chose to raise the city’s…
Santa Barbara County supervisors renew cloud seeding program
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors moved forward on a $400,000, yearlong extension of the county’s ongoing cloud seeding program as part of its administrative agenda on Sept. 14. The county recognizes cloud seeding as a “cost effective supplemental water supply alternative” and has been at it on a regular basis since 1981. Before…
Righetti student faces long road to recovery
Righetti High School student Cassandra Quesada liked art and skateboarding and hoped to join her high school’s soccer team when the season started. Instead, she will spend the next few months learning to walk, talk, and eat, after getting hit by a car on her way to school, Sept. 9. The 14-year-old has been in…
Santa Maria Police Department seeks leads on teenager’s homicide
The Santa Maria Police Department is investigating a Sept. 11 homicide. According to SMPD Sgt. Russ Mengel, police were notified of a shooting victim who arrived at Marian Regional Medical Center around 3:43 p.m. that day. The victim, identified as 17-year-old Robert Luna of Santa Maria, died from his injuries a short time later. The…
Credit card skimmers found in Lompoc and Santa Maria
Credit card skimmers found at ATMs in Santa Barbara County resulted in at least 20 complaints from Coast Hills Federal Credit Union customers who said their accounts were fraudulently accessed, according to Lompoc Police Department Sgt. Kevin Martin Police in both Lompoc and Santa Maria reported finding the card skimmers attached to the card readers…
Peter Adam butts heads with Santa Barbara County Arts Commission over ‘obscene’ art piece
Not even a week after the show was hung, a single art piece showing as part of the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission’s (SBCAC) collaborative exhibit with skateboarder/artist Pat Ngoho and his ongoing, international exhibit Love + Guts, was taken down by Bob Nelson, chief of staff for Santa Barbara County 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam. …
Political Watch 9/17/15
• A bill by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) to strengthen job protections for Californians using their Paid Family Leave benefits passed out of the Legislature Sept 11. The bill now heads to the governor. The vote on the Assembly floor was 41-29. The vote on the Senate floor was 23-16. Senate Bill 406, which…
Prevention, prevention, prevention
A clap went up at the end of an unexpectedly long resolution hearing at the Sept. 15 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting, which was held in Santa Maria. It was a very different round of applause than any of the 20-plus clapping sessions that came before it in three-minute intervals during public comment…
