Cover Story
Techno wizards
It’s a quarter to 1 on a recent Friday afternoon, and a small caravan of white cars is making its way along sandstone bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. As the caravan moves east through the milky gray fog, the passengers inside catch glimpses of a metal tower looming in the distance. The weathered structure stands…
Who was your favorite elementary school teacher?
Gina Fergus retail sales “Mrs. Pomerance. She started out mean but earned my respect.” Ashlee Vaughn photographer “Mrs. Martinez. She was the most helpful.” Cynthia Gordon retired “Mrs. Jue. She was really nice, but she expected us to do our best.” Pam Jump florist “Mrs. Castle. She was a woman you wanted to emulate.”
MATTHEW LUNA
Amid the tempest of bowlers who filled Rancho Bowl on a recent Saturday there stood one young man who was very much the eye of the storm. Matthew “Matti” Luna patiently waited to bowl his next frame. When the time came, he stepped up, chose his ball, and sent it sailing with no wasted motion.…
On the roster
Braves Classic Golf Tournament: The sixth annual benefit tournament for Lompoc High School’s athletic department takes place Sept. 4 at the La Purisima Golf Course. Play begins with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. The cost to enter the four-man scramble tournament is $150 per person, $600 for a group of four, or $700 for a…
Learn to fish with Rec and Parks
Children aged 6 to 12 (and their parents) can learn the basics of fishing at the fifth annual “Take Me Fishing” event on Sept. 11 from 9 a.m. to noon. Participants will take part in catch and release fishing, a casting contest, fish printing activities, and learn about lake life and watershed conservation. Fishing experience…
Heroes program needs volunteers
The Special Heroes Sports Program, which serves athletes with special needs in southern San Luis Obispo County, is looking for volunteers and participants for coaching positions or to play floor hockey, softball, or soccer. Many members of the Heroes’ special needs team will become eligible to compete in the annual Special Olympics program. If you…
Fall football preview
Summer’s almost gone, the preseason practices and scrimmages are a fading memory, and it’s time to put on the pads for real at high schools across the Central Coast. Last season, for the first time in nearly 20 years, no Santa Maria-area football teams made the CIF playoffs. This time around, local schools will be…
Double debut
Art has always been a reflection of time and place, and new artistic endeavors abound. In the old town of Nipomo, east of Highway 101, a new business venture called The Pastry Cutter celebrates its debut as not just a new shop, but as a live music venue. Its debut concert will feature the new…
The write stuff
I own a few titles and wear a number of hats around my house. I’m the official household Insect Murderer, Shade Tree Mechanic, and Garbage Disposal Retrieval Expert (and somehow I still have all my fingers). Some hats that I wear I’m very proud of: for instance, Resident Beer Pong Champ, Guitar Hero God, and…
Taste Mexico
Experience the annual Tastes of Mexico on Friday, Sept. 9, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Veterans’ Memorial Community Center, 313 West Tunnell St., Santa Maria. Entertainment comes courtesy of the Righetti High School Marimba Band and Folklorico dancers, along with Los Caporales and Mariachi Imperial. The event is sponsored by People for Leisure…
Get another chance to get iris
The Lompoc Valley Iris Society will hold a September sale of iris rhizomes (rootstock) on Saturday, Sept. 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot next to the Texas Cattle Company, 936 North H St., Lompoc. This sale is different from the July sale. Normally, society members divide their iris beds in…
They want bowls
The Santa Barbara County Foodbank will be presenting its 10th annual Empty Bowls fundraiser in less than three months, and the organization needs handcrafted bowls. The Foodbank is asking potters and ceramic artists from the community to donate one or more bowls for the event. So far, one-of-a-kind bowls have already come from Allan Hancock…
Explore wine country
This month, Shepard Hall Gallery in the Santa Maria Public Library will be host to a body of works that create a sense of place that should be familiar to locals. Donalee Nelson’s exhibit—“Got Wine?”—explores the vineyards that roll on hills across the Central Coast landscape, the lush wine that fills glasses, and the incredible…
A tale worth the telling
Once upon a time, Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz and a team of incredibly creative people came together to bring the American premiere of a musical about Hans Christian Andersen to Solvang’s Festival Theater, just in time for the city’s centennial celebration. In the show, Andersen enters the world of his fairy tales and confronts his…
If you throw it, they will come
It’s a wonder. A pair of hands can take a damp lump of clay and press it, pull it, mold it, seeking its potential. The resulting shape can then be dried and glazed with a personality, placed in a kiln, and fired. Perhaps what comes out is a bowl, ornate or simple, large or small,…
The Santa Maria Valley YMCA preschool is now accepting students
Registration is now open for the Young Children’s Preschool at the Santa Maria Valley YMCA. The school is open to children ages 2 1/2 to 5 years old, and provides an educational foundation to prepare your preschooler for Kindergarten. “Our licensed program is committed to making a positive preschool experience for all children,” YMCA membership…
SBC Fire wants locals to always be prepared
Knowing what to do in the face of an emergency can be a matter of life or death. That’s why the Santa Barbara County Fire Department is offering two free Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) courses to members of the public. “CERT is about readiness, people helping people, rescuer safety, and doing the greatest good…
Follow your food, from ‘Farm to Fork’
Want to see the latest in hydroponic farming or learn more about the farm worker lifestyle? This fall, as part of its popular “Farm to Fork” series, the Santa Barbara County Ag Futures Alliance (AFA) is offering a bus tour of local farming and food operation facilities in North County. The North County tour will…
Land of opportunity?
There wasn’t an empty seat in the house. Even finding a few feet of space against the wall of the Veterans Memorial Building was a chore. For hours, a standing room-only crowd of local residents packed the musty hall in Solvang on Aug. 26—a Friday night, no less—to hear why they should do everything in…
The $1 Dollar Bookstore
I am a barbaric bibliophile,” Bonnie Sheehy said. I had to check my initial response of “Awesome alliteration!” We were already pretty deeply geeked out, and this was supposed to be a professional interview. Thankfully, we were interrupted by a customer, and I gathered my composure. Sheehy is the new manager of the $1 Dollar…
Chicken’s out, fish is in
As of Aug. 29, a construction crew was hard at work tearing down the iconic red and gray tower of the Kentucky Fried Chicken on Main Street in Santa Maria. Kim Tito, an employee of owner Charles Vest, told the Sun Vest decided to close the business because there were some corporate demands that couldn’t…
Clarification and Corrections
A source’s title was reported as active in the cover story for Aug. 25, titled “I, the People.” Jerry Franklin is a retired senior deputy district attorney for Santa Barbara County. Best Of corrections • The Best Real Estate Company and Best Place to Work winner’s name was misspelled. It’s Coldwell Banker Premier Real Estate.…
Carbajal lands a gig with the National Associations of Counties
Salud Carbajal, Santa Barbara County’s 1st District Supervisor, has been appointed to the National Associations of Counties (NACo) Board of Directors for fiscal year 2011-12. He will also chair NACo’s Environment, Energy, and Land Use Steering Committee. NACo president Lenny Eliason said he appointed Carbajal to the position because be believes the South County supervisor…
Noxious weed infestation plagues Lompoc
A parasitic pest has worked its way onto the streets of Lompoc, according to officials at the Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office. A local resident first reported the appearance of Japanese dodder, a large noxious weed, in the west portion of the city, south of Central Avenue. Lab results from the California Department of…
DA charges daughter of Lompoc police officer in fatal crash
Following a months-long investigation, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office on Aug. 26 leveled a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter against the 18-year-old daughter of a Lompoc police officer. While he wouldn’t discuss specifics of the case, Chief Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss said prosecutors found enough evidence to charge Lacey Strange, daughter of…
Turbine project near Santa Maria Airport rejected
It’s not easy being green. That’s essentially what the president of a local renewable energy consulting firm said after federal and local officials rejected a proposal to construct a set of turbine towers near the western boundary of the Santa Maria Public Airport. The Santa Barbara-based firm Community Renewable Solutions, LLC, proposed building seven wind…
On the farm
Dining in North County just got a lot more interesting. With the recent opening of Bell Street Farm, in Los Alamos, the tiny town that time forgot looks more and more like a destination for hungry locals and travelers alike. Located in a 1916-vintage building (the former Lariat Saloon), Bell Street Farm offers a distinctive…
Cut the propaganda–or at least aim it somewhere else
I disagree. H.R. 2584 is not the worst bill ever (“Worst. Bill. Ever.” Aug. 18). There are much worse, like H.J. Res. 114 of 2002, and H.R. 3162 of 2001. I agree that all of the causes you mention—like endangered species and clean water—are important. But I think you need to refocus your attention. It’s…
Don’t blame our weak-kneed, so-called ‘leaders’
So, the late, great U.S. of A. endured months-long bloviating with a manufactured crisis revolving around “raising the debt ceiling”—a process so formulaic, so perfunctory, that it has been done more than 100 times in our nation’s history with no fanfare whatsoever. Even the idol and hater of government, Ronald Reagan, did it 18 times…
Kick Obama out for his Democrat-generating ploy
Obama’s backdoor amnesty deal with La Raza and the Hispanics to reward lawbreakers and ensure millions of future Democrat votes is nothing short of criminal. It’s like, “I’ve done my part to stop deportations. Now you do your part and vote for me in 2012.” This flagrant abuse of power has led Representative Steve King…
You don’t have to leave town for books
In her article (“Libraries among the endangered species,” Aug. 11), Malory Ensor talks about students having to travel as far as San Luis and Santa Barbara to find such books as Farewell to Manzanar and A Separate Peace, which are on their required summer reading lists for school. What saddens me is that these students…
Sierra Club slams regulatory reform
Well, boohoo: The local chapter of the Sierra Club is outraged by Congress’s attempt to do something about unemployment and the economy. You would think from reading the spew by the chapter’s executive committee (“Worst. Bill. Ever.” Aug. 18), that Congress was hell bent on annihilating the planet. Birds will refuse to migrate, “evil” corporations…
