Cover Story
Inconspicuous consumption: California is the nation’s leader in tuberculosis
The cough starts out normally, for a cough, like the sound I hear from a few desks over when my stubborn co-worker has a cold. But as the hacking goes on, I can hear a wheeze at the end, a desperate, shrill squeeze of air. It sounds wet. It sounds bad. Fortunately, in this case,…
If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?
Debra Harman financial aid advisor “My conversation last night.” DJ Billingsley student “Oh man … I’d change that I wasn’t lazy, then I wouldn’t be in the situations I am in.” Will Hawthorne student “I would go back in time and make it so that slavery didn’t happen.” Jillian Cota teacher “I would go back…
See for free! National Parks announces free admission days
The National Parks Service announced nine free admission days, including several holidays, at its 401 American parks coming up in 2014. “National Parks not only protect and preserve the places we most value; they also add enormous economic value to nearby communities and the entire nation,” National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said in…
Bulldogs are making waves
A press release from Allan Hancock College Athletics Department announced last week the inaugural women’s swim team has begun preparing for its season in the Western State Conference. “Everything is going really well. It’s so exciting to start a program from scratch and [to] establish fresh traditions,” head coach Mike Ashmore said in a press…
Hoops for Hope with the Titans
The Lady Titans are preparing to hold their fourth annual Hoops for Hope tournament Jan. 31 at Nipomo High School, where they’ll take on the Santa Maria Saints. All proceeds from the event will benefit Dignity Health Centers of the Central Coast, the Jacqualyn Palchak Foundation, and the American Cancer Society. The event will include…
Questions abound over whether an ICE office will come to Santa Maria
Go big or go home. That’s the motto behind a decision to hold the next Santa Maria Planning Commission meeting at the Santa Maria Fairpark. “There will be 1,100 seats,” Larry Appel, the city’s director of community development, told the Sun in a recent interview. “I went ahead and secured that so there will be…
Tony Topas
Sometimes the teacher goes back and becomes the student; this is definitely the case for fighter Tony Topas. Three years ago, he was training his friend for a mixed martial arts (MMA) match when he thought to himself: I have an MMA background—why not give it a shot? Since then, he’s been actively training and…
Bulldog for a day: Inside college team travel
The fondest memories I have from my college sports experience came from the time spent traveling on the road. My senior season of softball, we had a total of 56 games—with only eight games at home; one of those travel trips included taking a red-eye flight from Phoenix to Hawaii (not that I am complaining).…
It’s a matter of taste
Back in July, folks in Santa Barbara County were talking about food. But this wasn’t the typical debate over which ingredients, exactly, constitute Santa Maria-style barbecue. The discussion wasn’t about the best steakhouse in the area and the merits of red oak over other combustibles. And it wasn’t about how the area’s growing prominence as…
Don’t be a silent bystander
Bystander. What’s the first thing you think of when you read that word? According to Merriam-Webster, a bystander is a person who is standing near but not taking part in what is happening. Chances are, at some point in our lives, we have all been a bystander to some event. Perhaps it was something you…
Tunnell Elementary took the Super U Challenge
Tunnell Elementary School students learned how to be better friends, respect others, and believe the best about themselves through an interactive school-wide assembly called the Super U Challenge on Jan. 24. The challenge used Nickelodeon-type games, activities, and props to get students to work together while teaching lessons in respect, responsibility, friendship, and self-esteem. The…
Pioneer Valley High starts career-mentoring program
All it takes is an hour and a half of time spent speaking in three different classes to touch the lives of more than a hundred students. That’s a little more than 20 minutes per classroom. It’s the formula Segue Career Mentors Program uses to get career-oriented adults in touch with high school students, and…
Santa Maria High students to perform for Sanchez Elementary
Santa Maria High School’s ballet folklorico team will rain down dances infused with culture and history for Sanchez Elementary School students on Feb 6. At 9 and 10 a.m. at the Ethel Pope Auditorium, nearly 30 students will take the stage for the community outreach. Most of the dances, music, and costumes will be from…
Spotlight on: Frame Gallery
The Frame Gallery in Orcutt is experiencing a renaissance. And while patrons won’t find any paintings by Michelangelo or da Vinci on its walls, they will find breathtaking pieces by local, modern artists, such as Roxanne Kucera-Sachs and Betsy Jones. “Very often, when work is on a website, it doesn’t look anything like [what you…
Community Corner: A new van’s coming to Ampsurf
Ampsurf is the main beneficiary of Santa Maria Noontime Rotary’s annual fundraising event, Spurs & Diamonds. Last November’s event raised $56,250 for local, national, and international charitable organizations. As a result of the funds raised, Rotary Cub President Yvonne Biely and Rotary Foundation Chair Tom Martinez presented Ampsurf Director Randy Miller with a gigantic check…
Political Watch 1/30/14
• The Lompoc Valley Democratic Club is having its Feb. 5 meeting at 7 p.m. in the club’s new office at 104 South H St. Raymundo Maya, an area insurance agent, will headline the night’s program by discussing the Affordable Care Act. Maya will also showcase how enrollment is completed on the Covered California website.…
Community Notebook 1/30-2/6
MONDAY, FEB. 3 • The Solvang Planning Commission has its regular meeting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 1644 Oak St., Solvang. TUESDAY, FEB. 4 • The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors has its regular meeting at 9 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors Hearing Room, 105 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara.…
Lompoc is still trying to secure funding to stabilize the Santa Ynez riverbank
At the east end of Pine Avenue in Lompoc, the Santa Ynez River, a wooden fence, and a city sign greet bike path pedestrians. “City Property, No Dumping, No Trespassing,” the sign reads. On the other side of it, a wide path, flanked by pieces of trash, leads from the bike path down the side…
Grand jury report gives jail food the thumbs up
Complaints about Santa Barbara County Jail food rang out last year from inmates and community members alike, as 20 percent of inmates commenced a hunger strike in protest to the food they were being served. Inmates and community members called for larger portion sizes, demanded less soy-based protein in meals, and wanted tastier fare. Comments…
Draft decision says no new wilderness for Los Padres
Proponents for establishing more wilderness in the Los Padres National Forest didn’t get their wish with the recently released draft decisions that outline a management plan for roadless areas in four Southern California national forests. Each forest issued its own draft decision. “Residents and forest users from throughout the Central Coast have spoken loud and…
Heard it through the grapevine: The year kicks off with several changes in Santa Barbara County wine country
With the New Year come new partnerships in the Santa Barbara County wine industry. Longtime Santa Ynez Valley winemaker Andrew Murray has started leasing the former Curtis Winery estate vineyard, winery, production facility, and tasting room from the Firestone family. Murray began his winemaking career 24 years ago, focusing primarily on the production of small-lot…
To Corvette or not to Corvette?
My whole life, I’ve wanted to own a genuine Chevrolet Corvette. Well, I guess I should clarify that: I don’t actually feel the need to own a Corvette. I just feel the need to drive one every day, really, really fast. If someone else wanted to make the car payment, I would certainly be available…
The Grammy Awards remind us that great music isn’t produced by machines and megalomaniacs, but skilled musicians
I’ve never won any popularity contests for my taste in music, but I’m bolstered in my feelings by actually having taste in music. Even I couldn’t be torn away from the cultural road-kill that was the Grammy Awards this year: the glitz, the spectacle, the collaborations, and, of course, the awards. What is pop music…
Crafting for love
Michaels arts and crafts store offers crafting events for kids ages 3 and up. A “Crafty Valentine’s Day Bags” event is scheduled for Feb. 1 for 30-minute sessions from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the store. Cost is $2. Michaels arts and crafts is at 1934 S. Broadway in Santa Maria. More information is available…
Santa Maria Civic Theatre celebrates its 55th season
The Santa Maria Civic Theatre is celebrating its 55th season of quality live community theater with a production of Love, Loss, and What I Wore showing Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, and 22 at 7 p.m., and Feb. 23 at 1:30 p.m. at the theater, 1660 N. McClelland St., Santa…
Hop aboard: Free model train rides in Goleta
The South Coast Railroad Museum invites the community out to enjoy free model train rides on its “Super Saturday XVIII” event at the museum on Feb. 1. Visitors to the South Coast Railroad Museum can enjoy free rides from 1:15 to 3:45 p.m. on the miniature model engines and cars that traverse the special tracks…
Santa Maria Arts Council invites artists to compete for grants
The Santa Maria Arts Council offers the chance for studying artists to compete in its annual grants competition. Emerging artists in the fields of dance, drama, music, and visual arts may compete for the first-place grant of $1,500 and the second-place grant of $1,000 in each category. There are also three additional grants that will…
The Melodrama’s ‘The Bachelors’ is a kooky, time-traveling romp at the theater
The last time I went to the Great American Melodrama in Oceano, I had to have my appendix out. My husband and I went with some friends to see Drac in the Saddle Again, and halfway through the first act, I knew something was wrong—not with the performance, but with my vestigial organ. In fact,…
A Canadian circus acts tackles modern absurdity with ‘Cirkopolis’
Jeannot Painchaud discovered circus arts in the summer of 1984. A native of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, or Magdalen Islands—a small archipelago off the Canadian coast; population something like 12,000—a teenaged Painchaud traveled to the mainland see the tall ships, dreaming of travel and adventure and pirates. It was Canada’s 450th birthday, and the biggest sailboats in…
