Cover Stories
BEST OF Northern Santa Barbara County
DINING OUT Best Santa Maria Restaurant Shaw’s Steakhouse 714 S. Broadway, Santa Maria You might have the nicest roadster or hot rod in town, but you’ll still struggle to find some parking at Shaw’s Steakhouse in Santa Maria. The famous restaurant is almost always packed with locals looking for a perfect sit-down dinner experience. And…
Following footprints: State scientists aim to map mountain lion numbers and species health
You probably should’ve died,” the husky, walrus-mustached U.S. Forest Service worker told me that balmy July evening. It was 2015, the height of the last so-called drought that never really ended on California’s Central Coast. And the animals, myself included, were restless. One long summer after another, interrupted by brief winters that brought only sputters…
Festival fare: Guadalupe Buddhist Church celebrates annual Obon Festival
Food is and always will be a reflection of our culture. What we put on the plate isn’t just an expression of what we’re hungry for, it’s a window into where we come from. And there’s no better time to get a look in the window of another culture’s rich cuisine history than at the…
Rockin’ in the vines: The AJM Band brings classic rock sound and new album to Firestone Vineyards
It all begins with a riff, electrified with more than just amplifiers, but also a lifetime of love for the rock ‘n’ roll of the 1970s and into the ’80s. The title track off The AJM Band’s new album, The Hard Way, will sound familiar to anyone who grew up listening to bands like the…
A fine pair: Local artists team up for poetry reading at Wildling Museum
Allen Koehn never thought of himself as a poet. Koehn spent years as a Presbyterian pastor and later as a practicing therapist who trained as a Jungian analyst. But there was something about a certain style of poetry that drew him in. “I really liked the haiku model,” he said. “A few years ago, I…
Shutterbug: Pat Stalter’s photography blends whimsy with an eye for realism
Pat Stalter’s two Cavalier King Charles spaniels are bored with her. By now, the dogs are so used to the Orcutt photographer using them as models for her images, they barely raise an eye when she wants to film them. “If I aim the camera at them, I swear I hear them say, ‘Oh not…
U.S. Forest Service releases proposal for new trail east of Santa Maria
A new U.S. Forest Service project aims to convert miles of damaged dirt road into non-motorized trail in the Los Padres National Forest. Forest Service officials released an environmental assessment for the La Brea Restoration Project on July 23. The work would involve repairing road destroyed by major flooding about a decade ago along the…
Santa Barbara County Ag report says most crops increasing in value
The 2017 Santa Barbara County Crop Report released this month said most commodities were rising in value, with strawberries leading the pack and broccoli replacing wine grapes as the years’ second most valuable. “Agriculture is the No. 1 contributor to the county’s economy and through the multiplier effect, contributes approximately $2.8 billion to the local…
Arts Briefs
Elverhoj holds last in series of events with local artist Nancy Yaki The Elverhoj Museum of History and Art presents a discussion with artist Nancy Yaki on July 28 titled, The Process is the Destination. Yaki will discuss how she chooses composition, imagery, and then what specific techniques set her apart from other artists. Yaki’s…
Must be nice
Another year, another crop report from Santa Barbara County (see page 5), and this one is (Borat voice), berry nice! Sorry, I couldn’t resist–the county’s strawberry farmers raked in an astounding $457 million during 2017! Local broccoli farmers got a significant boost as well, surpassing wine grapes as the second most earning crop from 2016…
County fair experience
Here we were, senior citizens doing our volunteer duty, sitting the first session of the Santa Maria Republican Club booth at the recent county fair as we have for the past 10 years. All around us were other booths for the NRA, wheel chairs, books and puffy dolls, jewelry, cosmetics, bonsai plants, the CHP, etc.…
Response to Scott Fina
Scott Fina’s commentary regarding the cave rescue in Thailand (“Cave rescue in Thailand was no ‘miracle,'” July 19) was a brilliant piece of persuasive writing. Using a relevant example, he was able to express and show us how universal ideals are practical and useful. Who can make a legitimate argument against these values? Yet, many…
Trump won, get over it
I must write on the continued letter craziness of some here, in particular those addressing President Donald Trump and Republicans. Two letters stood out in the July 12 issue: “The new GOP,” by Sean Mac Aodha and “Supreme Court nomination,” by Kim Pendleton. On “The new GOP,” I can’t stop chuckling long enough to know…
Library and Friends should come together
A friend recently contacted me with news that there is a disagreement brewing between the Friends of the Santa Maria Public Library and the city librarian, Mary Housel, about the city’s requirement for a lease for use of the Library Shop in the Library (“Library Shop to close after tiff with Library,” July 5). The…
Haleigh Batty
Allan Hancock College track and field star Haleigh Batty is a record-breaker. During her freshman year at Hancock, she set new records in both the women’s long and high jumps. And after taking first place in seven of her first eight meets of the season, Batty won a Western State Conference long jump…
Santa Maria awarded nearly $300,000 for bicycle and pedestrian pathway project
Several bicycle and pedestrian pathway improvement projects are coming soon to Santa Maria. But first, the city needs to make a list. On May 11, the city was awarded a $296,700 Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant through the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), according to a city staff report, which will go toward the beginning stages…
Getting ‘trauma-informed’: County works to better address childhood trauma and the factors that cause it
Santa Barbara County is home to nearly 450,000 Californians, 60,000 of whom are living at or below the federal poverty level. An estimated 28 percent of those living in poverty are children, according to the county’s yet-to-be-released 2017 Children’s Scorecard. Economic hardship is just one of the many common factors that can put families and…
Hancock moves forward with Dream Center project
When Jessica Zarate moved to the U.S. from Mexico as a child, she was so young that the memory didn’t stick, and she grew up thinking she was born and raised an American. It wasn’t until high school, when Zarate’s mom first brought up college, that Zarate found out she wasn’t a documented U.S. citizen,…
HOBNOB: Mid-Summer melange
It was Monday, July 2, at 4 p.m. There were tempting appetizers from Moxie Café, respectable wines for imbibing, and a group of groovy guests, not to mention an awesome venue–the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum. Yet this was my saddest hobnobbing experience ever. About 100 folks gathered to bid farewell to one of the…
Spotlight on: Rancho Bowl and Lounge: Ashlee Carranza, owner
It’s been almost 60 years since Rancho Bowl first opened its doors in Santa Maria. A lot can change in that time, but not the family that owns it. Ashlee Carranza found her way into the bowling business when she married her partner, Luke, whose family has owned the establishment since the beginning. “We have…
Political Watch 7/26/18
• Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) issued a statement on July 19 on the rates of Covered California, which a release from her office said “will be 8.7 percent higher, on average, with 3.5 percent due to the repeal of the individual mandate.” “Republican efforts to sabotage health care will hit middle-class families the hardest,”…
