Cover Story
Image makers: A wine label’s eye-grabbing prowess gets a bottle in your hands and between your lips
All wine labels share one common purpose: They’re trying to sell wine. But the art of creating an effective wine label goes far beyond simple marketing. Wine labels can tell a story, communicate ideas, and create brand recognition that turn wine drinkers into loyal customers (of course, they need a killer product, too). And each…
SBTAN offers transgender training to Marian intern doctors
A Santa Barbara support group that offers training throughout the county on how to properly deal with transgender individuals is also training doctor interns at Marian Regional Medical Center. According to Max Rorty, Santa Barbara County Transgender Advocacy Network (SBTAN) has been offering training to medical staff at county hospitals for the last two years,…
Santa Maria homicides double from 2014
Santa Maria enjoys a relatively low homicide rate compared with the rest of the county. Last year, the entire county of Santa Barbara had 11 homicides, according to statistics from the Uniform Crime Reports (UCRs). Santa Maria experienced a total of three homicides last year, according to UCRs, and their first homicide didn’t occur until…
What kind of label makes you want to buy a product?
David Laughlin disabled “It’s more of how good the packaging of the product is.” Myles Masatani sales associate “It has to be appealing; like with nice, pretty colors.” Jozza Ray student “Something with bright colors.” Emma Halop ice cream scooper “Like a flashy one.”
Lompoc should be stiffer on code compliance issues
Sun Staff Writer David Minsky interviewed and quoted me for the July 30 story “Battling the city: A Lompoc resident fights with code compliance over what he sees as ‘un-American’ treatment of a homeowner.” I was accurately quoted, and I have no quibbles about the balance of the story. However, I reviewed the pictures and…
Wake up and smell the coffee, pastries, salads, and sandwiches at 6 Degrees in Orcutt
The new coffee house and eatery in the shopping center at the corner of Clark and Bradley in Orcutt is more than a coffee shop. For 6 Degrees co-owners Starr Hall Egan and her husband, Jude, first and foremost, it is a place for locals to gather. “We moved here, and we thought,…
Great expectations: Rush concerts attract cargo shorts, long man-hair, and really nice guys
There are certain expectations I have when I go to a rock concert. I expect to get beer sloshed on my shoes by a tall broad-shouldered man when he spontaneously begins cheering and thrusts the two beers he’s holding in the air. I expect that at some point I will wait in line for 20…
Gale McNeeley performs in SLO and Santa Maria
Locally based actor, singer, and dancer Gale McNeeley has done quite a lot across his five decades as an actor, singer, and dancer. His early professional theater work was on Broadway in New York City in the ’60s and ’70s, performing alongside titans like Christopher Plummer. He’s currently readying a concert program to be performed…
Orcutt Mineral Society presents annual show and sale at Nipomo High
Forged in the furnace of our planet, eons-old rocks and minerals are pushed through the Earth’s crust and moved to the surface, becoming exposed to erosion, gravity, and the elements, where they may yet again morph and combine to create crystalline deposits, sedimentary sheets, and colorfully veined slabs. These gems, minerals, and fossilized life forms…
C Gallery in Los Alamos offers pastel workshop
The C Gallery in Los Alamos offers a pastel workshop with award-winning artist Judy Koenig. The theme Summer Relaxation will be explored at the one-day workshop on Aug. 22 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event includes lunch, materials, and instruction by Koenig at the C Gallery, 466 Bell St., Los Alamos. More information…
Artist Guild of Santa Ynez Valley announces new name
As of July 29, the Artists Guild of the Santa Ynez Valley is no longer known as such, the arts organization announced in a press release. The nonprofit organization, with more than 30 years of providing organization and support for valley artists, changed its name to the Santa Ynez Valley Arts Association. The new name…
Wildling Museum showcases winning photography
The Wildling Museum extended an invitation to locals for an upcoming reception event showcasing the winners of the museum’s annual nature photography competition on Aug. 8 from 4 to 6 p.m. The theme for the competition held this year was nature’s patterns, and 25 images made the cut out of 100 submissions. First place went…
Author Tony Piazza releases new book ‘Murder is Such Sweet Revenge’
Nothing excites intrigue and suspense like a murder mystery. Local author Tony Piazza knows this. He just released the third installment of his Tom Logan mystery series, Murder is Such Sweet Revenge. Piazza’s penchant for the style of pulp murder mysteries began in his childhood, he told the Sun, watching television with his mother. “Growing…
Penny Delacruz and Justin Cortez
When Lance Glynn teaches Brazilian jiu jitsu at his gym in Santa Maria, he tells his students to immediately submit their opponents. That’s exactly what two of Glynn’s students did at the Kids World BJJ Championships on July 25 in Ontario, Calif. Penny Delacruz, age 14, and 8-year-old Justin Cortez tapped-out every single one of…
Rousey rising: A benchwarmer argues against those who call the UFC champ’s career short lived
I’m just going to come right out with it. Ronda Rousey is one badass mama-jamma. Both as an athlete and a female, I have developed a deep admiration for this gifted, one-of-a-kind fighter. This has been a wonderful summer for female athletes. More than halfway through the summer sport season, the most exciting news has…
Cannabis conjecture
Medical Cannabis is a combination of words that inspire hate, spittle, and venom in people. It pushes people who need it for viable health reasons into a corner of the ring opposite those who absolutely refuse to believe it’s viable for medical purposes. The people in that opposing corner seem to include Santa Maria Mayor…
Santa Maria’s mayor didn’t represent her constituents
Mayor Alice Patino was not representing Santa Maria seniors and others with medical marijuana prescriptions, who depend on medical marijuana for its health benefits, when she wrote a letter to the San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors against the opening of medical marijuana dispensary in Nipomo. She also doesn’t have her facts right. She wrote…
Illegal fireworks are out of hand
The city of Santa Maria has a “zero tolerance” viewpoint against illegal fireworks, and within Santa Barbara County, it is against the law to have any fireworks, legal or illegal. Despite the city and county “zero tolerance” stance, this Fourth of July (beginning around Memorial Day), Santa Maria and Orcutt were described as “war zones,”…
Civil rights in the ‘blast zone’
The Phillips 66 oil train terminal project proposes to bring mile-long oil tanker trains, each carrying 2.4 million gallons of toxic, flammable, explosive tar-sands crude oil from Alberta, Canada, through our county and communities, five times a week for the next 20 years. The imported oil is refined primarily for export sale to Asia. The…
JumpStart Academy helps Righetti freshmen transition
About 50 Ernest Righetti High School freshmen joined the JumpStart Academy this summer, a transition program designed to ensure students transitioning from junior high are successful. The experience, funded by the California Academic Partnership Program (CAPP) Grant, wrapped up on July 31. “We work to develop confidence and familiarity with the school, and our programs,…
School’s back again and so are link crews
More than 200 incoming freshmen will receive an early welcome to Pioneer Valley High School on Aug. 7 as the seventh annual Link Crew orientation kicks off at 8 a.m. in the school gym. Junior and senior leaders (more than 150) will divide up those fresh faces into small groups to give them a sneak…
Santa Maria-Bonita’s new school is ready for attendance
It’s official: Santa Maria-Bonita School District held a dedication ceremony for the Roberto and Dr. Francisco Jiménez Elementary School on July 29. The school’s ready for its new students on Aug. 11. Francisco and the Jiménez family were present at the ceremony, which was held in both English and Spanish. “Roberto and Francisco Jiménez are…
Spotlight on: MapYourVoice.org
Most victims of sexual violence don’t report their stories, according to Jeni Ambrose. She draws these figures from several organizations, including the World Health Organization. But she also draws upon her own experiences as a licensed therapist in a private practice located in Santa Barbara. Working with survivors of sexual violence, Ambrose sought to make…
Community Notebook 8/6/15 – 8/13/15
MONDAY, AUG. 10 • 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…
Political Watch 8/6/15
• The U.S. Senate passed a multi-year transportation bill on July 30 that included the Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act introduced by U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara). “Enacting common-sense, life-saving legilslation will ensure that what happened to Raechel and Jacqueline Houck will never happen again,” Capps said in a press release.…
Hobnobbing with Helen
“La Marseillaise,” the stirring and snappy French national anthem, blared out of the DJ’s sound system. Excitement, as well as the music, was in the air. Clearly something festive was happening noonish on Wednesday, July 22, at the Coca-Cola warehouse parking lot on Fairway Drive. That something festive was an event for the Special Olympics athletes who…
Guadalupe’s inaugural weekend bus routes had good turnout, but will it continue?
There’s more than one way to get reporters, politicians, city officials, and the general population on a city bus, and Guadalupe was able to do it during the unveiling of its new weekend Guadalupe Flyer bus service on Aug. 1. Councilmember Virginia Ponce, City Manager Andrew Carter, Santa Maria Organization of Transportation Helpers (SMOOTH) Executive…
Correction
• To clarify, in the story published in the Sun on July 23, “Jailhouse doctors,” the incidents of Charli Parkinson suffering from an abscess on her arm and submitting a medical “kite” were two separate incidents. • In the Spotlight on Business from July 21, “Bargain Warehouse,” the Sun misspelled the owner’s name. The name…
Goleta oil slick from natural seep, Coast Guard says
The Coast Guard said that the miles-long slick of oil off the Goleta coast is the fruit of a natural seep. The slick, some 3 miles long, was first spotted the morning of July 29. Firefighters responding to reports of a gasoline smell at the Goleta Pier found two kayakers, whose legs and boats were…
Former Santa Maria T.J. Maxx employee sues for back wages
While the Central Coast is conversing about Haggen supermarket chain firing more than a dozen employees with disabilities, a developmentally disabled employee is suing T.J. Maxx in Santa Maria for bullying her into quitting in 2014, according to a lawsuit filed in Santa Barbara County Superior Court January 2015. In the lawsuit, Gina Lopez accuses…
Chumash want to build a stronger community
The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians launched an advertising campaign designed to create a positive dialogue with the community and to correct misinformation about the tribe that tribal representatives say exists in the community. For years the tribe has faced vocal criticism from opponents of some of its community projects. Tribal Chairman Vincent Armenta…
