Cover Story
Crime fighter
Joyce Dudley is a busy woman. As Santa Barbara County’s top prosecutor and law enforcement official, she spends each day defending the public from crime. “If I’m not rigorously trying to prevent crime, I’m not doing my job,” Dudley says during an interview with the Sun. The public usually has a good grasp…
It’s X in the Box
My 14-year-old son, the one who knows everything (just ask him), brought home a school progress report. Based on the information in this progress report, apparently he doesn’t know everything. Actually, when it comes to science class, it seems he doesn’t know any-damn-thing. No matter how much he hopes it would, an “F” on a…
Purposeful pushups
To some people, pushups might seem painfully pointless. To others, they’re the perfect way to keep those guns looking great. To the 100 men, women, and children who participated in the second annual Pushups for Charity event in SLO on April 16, they were the means for a fundraising machine. Organized by Ryan Joiner, owner…
Do you think Donald Trump would be a good president?
Yani Vauclin homemaker “No, he should stick to business. He’s too old. He’s not a man of God.” Daniel De La Cruz student “He would not make a good president because he is all about the Benjamins and his own business.” Michael Peralez student “He would not make a good president because his name is…
Have a ball at C Gallery
C Gallery in Los Alamos is celebrating its third year in business, and the public is invited to the party. The gallery will present its Roll the Ball Party and concert on June 4. To replace the stolen 30-pound tinfoil ball that used to exist as a marquee outside the gallery, visitors will have…
Folklorico group wins again
The Santa Maria High School Ballet Folklorico recently participated in the USA National Folklorico competition in Lynwood and won two second-place awards and one first-place award in the senior division category. This is the 10th year the group has participated in this competition, and it’s won first or second every year, according to advisor Artxezin…
California storytellers converge
Hear stories from all over California during a magical two-day adventure in the woods of the Los Padres National Forest to raise funds for the United Boys and Girls Club of Santa Barbara County/Camp Whittier Summer Camp Scholarship program. Activities include workshops, a maypole dance, and stories around the campfire and under the stars. The…
On the roster
• Tri For Fun Triathlon: April 30 at the Santa Maria Valley YMCA. Join the quarter-mile swim, 12.5- or 17.9-mile bike ride, and 5K run/walk. To register, call the YMCA at 937-8521. • Santa Maria Youth Football: Registration is May 8 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Westgate Community Room, 1300 Marsala Ave./1800…
Pitch, hit, run, compete
Fancy yourself an up-and-coming baseball player? The city of Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department, along with the Santa Maria Valley YMCA and the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Maria, will present the annual MLB Pitch, Hit, and Run Baseball Skills Competition on May 4 from 6 to 8 p.m. The event is open…
Take a spin in Solvang
Fight cancer with awesome people while enjoying some tasty Mexican food at the “Solvang Spin Off” at Manny’s Mexican Restaurant in Solvang on May 2. The Solvang Spin Off precedes the 2011 Amgen Tour of California professional road cycling race to support Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer, a national initiative to increase awareness of resources available…
Forget bullets–use peels!
I loved your article on gang sweeps (“Swept away,” April 21), but was particularly drawn to the photo of the police conducting an early-morning sweep. One had a coffee cup in his gun hand, the other a banana. I assume due to budget cuts these are new, low-cost weapons, in that the policeman could…
Calling all Beatlemaniacs
It’s The Beatles like you’ve never seen them before: defying murder, cancer, and old age to be here, on stage, reenacting the story of themselves! OK, so it may not be the real John, Paul, Ringo, or George, but this is likely the most spot-on form of Beatles tribute to ever hit the Central Coast.…
Get the RV ready
What a wonderful thing a lake is to a kid; there are so many hills to climb, rocks to skip, places to run and be free. It’s also a wonderful thing to grownups; there so many hills for the kids to climb, rocks for them to skip, and places for them to run free—yards away…
What’s on Deck?
Thursday, April 28 Boys’ Volleyball Pioneer Valley @ Arroyo Grande 5:30 p.m. San Luis Obispo @ Righetti 5:30 p.m. Boys’ Golf Righetti @ St. Joseph 1 p.m. Lompoc @ Nipomo 1:30 p.m. Tennis Atascadero @ Pioneer Valley TBA Morro Bay @ Lompoc 3:30 p.m. Track Lompoc @ Morro…
Ryan Cushing
Earlier in April, Athlon Health and Fitness hosted the San Luis Obispo Pushups for Charity Challenge. Fire fighters, police officers, airmen, and average Joes and Janes competed to do the most pushups in 90 seconds. Each participant raised at least $50 for the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit that helps injured service men and women…
A decade of musical beauty
In Europe, or Australia, or Asia, conductors typically conduct. That’s about the extent of their responsibilities, and it’s how they get the title. In the United States, however, conductors are often called music directors. In addition to leading the group in rehearsals and concerts, the folks at the front of the orchestra have final say…
Ranch life
Seventeen years ago, Meghan and Dan Reeves bought 40 acres among the foothills above Los Olivos. They liked the location, layout, and views, but even more compelling were the six-year-old grapevines climbing the slopes leading up to the house. Today, the vineyard covers three steep acres, and the fruit provides most of the raw material…
School Scene
ConocoPhillips presents a present ConocoPhillips’ Santa Maria facility, called “the refinery on the mesa,” has presented its neighbor, the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center, with a $30,000 check to continue its work with local students. “We are neighbors on the dunes and beachfront of the Guadalupe/ Nipomo area, and we are committed to caring for the land,”…
Educating with truth
The American Indian Education Program center, a federally funded Title VII Program Office of Indian Education Formula Grant Project that serves all off-reservation American Indians in Santa Barbara County, is establishing a research and reference library. The growing book collection, which currently includes a few shelves of volumes, will serve more than 1,500 American Indian…
Spotlight on: Ah Sir Bounce A Lot Indoor Bounce Center
The Bower family’s goal is finally realized. After years in the inflatable bounce house business and keeping the possibility of establishing an official party place alive, Sheila and John Bower and their three sons now run a physical location: Ah Sir Bounce A Lot Indoor Bounce Center. The facility is an extension of their rental…
An eye for a cause
Some people run for health. Some people run for the fun of it. Xochitl Rodrigue started running because she needed a substitute for the medication to treat her bipolar disease. The one she had been using created toxic effects in her body, but going without it created toxic effects in her life. Rodrigue found that…
Lucia Mar adds another school to its TAP collection
Thanks to a $240,000 grant from the Stuart Foundation, Grover Heights Elementary School will now be able to integrate the Teacher and Student Advancement Program (TAP) into its curriculum. Grover Heights will be the seventh school in the Lucia Mar Unified School District to introduce TAP in the fall. In February, Lucia Mar became the…
Second Time Around thrift shop to close its doors
After more than 15 years of serving the community of Lompoc and supporting countless victims of domestic violence in Santa Barbara County, a longtime local nonprofit is being forced to shut its doors. Second Time Around, a Lompoc thrift store that benefits the nonprofit organization Domestic Violence Solutions, will close its doors May 20. According…
Lompoc City Council to hear Walmart expansion appeal
The city of Lompoc might have signed off on the proposed expansion of the Walmart on West Central Avenue, but a number of residents opposed to the project still have a few options. The grassroots organization Citizens Against Walmart Expansion filed an appeal to the project’s development plan on Feb. 22, and has since retained…
The river wild
As of April 26, some facilities and campgrounds in the Los Padres National Forest remained inaccessible due to high water levels in the Santa Ynez River (pictured here) and flood damage to roads. According to the Santa Barbara Ranger District, late-season storms have caused water levels to rise above what’s considered safe for an average…
Beware of the soulless corporations
The vast majority of wealth and many politicians in our nation are owned by for-profit corporations. But rarely are some aspects of for-profit corporations discussed. Five decades ago, a wise old law professor told his corporations class: “In this class, you will learn how to create a legal person, a person potentially immortal, a person…
Face the harsh nuclear reality
It will take only one catastrophic incident at Diablo to cause untold long-lasting genetic and environmental damage, no matter what the cause of such a disaster. The moving audio narrative of photographer Paul Fusco at inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/chernobyl, documents the devastating consequences of Chernobyl 25 years ago. Those of us living in the shadow of Diablo, in…
Do not let Obama win again
After doing more damage to the country than even the Democrats could have imagined, Barack Obama has already begun his re-election campaign for 2012. With his new slogan, “Change That Matters,” he’s been meeting for weeks at campaign headquarters in Chicago to plan his strategy, which, since he has no accomplishments to run on, is…
