KEN McCALIP

After both my wife and I completed graduate studies in the late ’70s in the Los Angeles area, the question became, “Where should we make our permanent home?” We looked around us in the LA area at the hubbub of traffic and the mass of individuals in close proximity to us in the LA suburbs […]

Recently, in Santa Maria I was stopped at a stoplight in the right-hand lane on Donovan Road with about five cars in front of me when the light changed, and before any of us could move a white car illegally zipped passed us going about 50 or 60 mph on our right side next to […]

I was shocked to read recently that county official Dianne Black denied a recent request for the emergency truck transport of oil from the Las Flores facility on the Gaviota Coast because she could not identify it as an emergency. Apparently, she was not aware of the major oil spill at Refugio Beach that shut […]

Fellow environmentalists, often in their zeal to reach worthwhile goals, do not stop and think! Not every proposed environmental law is one that they should rally around just because it deals with the environment.  We are awash in potentially harmful changes in the world and in particular within the United States. By 2055, it is […]

What do California, Texas, Australia, and Israel have in common? They all have a large portion of semi-arid land or desert, and these areas are subject to periodic, severe droughts. In our fourth year of drought conditions, California and the Central Coast would be wise to look at these varied world localities for expertise and […]

We can all remember that whiny kid in school who could not get along with the other children and would exit the play yard saying loudly, “I am going to take my marbles and go home.” Chris Mitchum’s latest antics remind me of this childish behavior. First, he did not take the high road of […]

No one better exemplifies the pioneer spirit of Old Town Orcutt than this year’s Christmas Parade Grand Marshal, Berto VanVeen. The histories of Old Orcutt and La Graciosa, its predecessor, are colorful mosaics of our country’s westward migration and settlement that should strike a note of pride in the Santa Maria Valley’s collective memory. Early […]

After participation in a six-year battle to successfully close a toxic waste dump site next to Casmalia in Santa Barbara County, it would be a gross understatement to say that I am sensitive to false and misleading environmental views and opinions. Santa Barbara County voters need to step back and take a closer factual look […]

I appreciate and understand the efforts of those who support Measure M on the Santa Barbara County ballot, but it is a misguided effort. I recently had an experience with a rundown county road on my way to our small ranch in the Cuyama Valley. All the surrounding roads leading to the property were in […]

Farm issues have taken a back seat to more pressing issues in our current Congress. These farm issues have the potential of being significant economic factors both nationally and most certainly locally here on the Central Coast. If farming does well, so does our local economy. It is one of the major drivers of local […]

It’s long past time to rein in large corporations and banks, as their activities are driving the U.S. economy into situations that will make the 2008 recession look mild. Today, we see corporations seriously viewed as a “person” by the U.S. Supreme Court, massive amounts of outsourcing of American jobs, banks operating with virtually no […]

The floodgates are open with the recent Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case. The recent GOP primary contest has shown us the power of unlimited corporate secret funding in politics. Needless to say, both the public and media need to be extra vigilant pointing out who is behind these massive waves of advertising […]