Going up against the big box stores is hard to do if you run a small business in any town with a Walmart or a Target, and Santa Maria happens to have both. “Our biggest hurdle is we aren’t funded by Wall Street,” Dan Pankratz of One Way Board Shop said with matter-of-factness and perhaps […]
MICHAEL McCONE
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Spotlight on: Nagy Wines
Clarissa Nagy, owner
Clarissa Nagy grew up trying to trade her preservative-free cheese and roast beef sandwiches and her all-natural fruit leather for other kids’ white bread and bologna sandwiches. Little did she know: Some day, it would have her making fine wine. As she got older, her mother’s eclectic, nutritious influence stuck with her. After graduating from […]
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Santa Maria-Bonita focuses on healthy food through a federal program
Fighting the good food fight isn’t always easy, but that doesn’t stop the Santa Maria-Bonita School District from trying. This year, eight of the district’s schools qualified for the Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Program, enabled through federal grant money for schools where 88 percent or more of their students qualify for free-and-reduced-price lunches. Each year, […]
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Santa Maria firefighters respond to a fire in an unoccupied home
At 1 a.m. on Oct. 9, a mass of fire fighters descended on a burning house on South College Avenue. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Mike Barneich, a Santa Maria Fire Department battalion chief, confirmed to the Sun in an email that the department is calling the fire suspicious—but wasn’t at liberty […]
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Getting a grip on restraint: When a teacher should intervene with a violent child isn’t always black-and-white
He was 6 years old, and he stood up on his desk with a pair of scissors, threatening to stab his classmates and teachers. Then, suddenly, he was on the ground, with two teachers restraining him. Corina Gomez, witnessed the scene as it unfolded. “It looked barbaric to me. I know they weren’t doing it […]
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Spotlight on: Lineage Logistics
Tony Caetano, General Manager
Standing in front of gigantic automatic doors that lead to an indoor arctic region, it’s hard to imagine this 226,000 square-foot refrigeration plant is considered small, but plant manager Tony Caetano says it is. He ought to know, he’s been in the refrigeration business for more than 20 years. After serving a term in the […]
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Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies arrest four people in connection with counterfeit money
Thomas Berchtold was three months shy of finishing a three-year probation when he was arrested in Solvang on Sept. 30 on suspicion of trying to pass counterfeit bills. According to Kelly Hoover, public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, Tanya Lee Rose of Bakersfield, Melissa Jones of Bakersfield, Doreen Rowland of Bakersfield, […]
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Are robbers on a Santa Maria crime spree?
Santa Maria police suspect that eight crimes–a series of robberies and muggings–committed over the course of three non-consecutive nights were committed by the same people. “It’s not confirmed, but we believe they are connected,” said Santa Maria Police Department Lt. James Ginter. On Sept. 29, two stores were robbed; on Oct. 4, two more robberies […]
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Cars hitting light poles are a Santa Maria epidemic
A brand new SUV hit a McCoy Lane light pole on Sept. 24 at 7:19 a.m., trashing the vehicle and destroying the city of Santa Maria’s property. Richard Dupuis of the Santa Maria Department of Public Works said what they call a “knockdown” occurs about once a week in the city. “It’s an epidemic,” he […]
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Spotlight on: First Friday Artisan Market
Allan Hancock College business students, owner(s)
It would not be a surprise to see a ragged tumbleweed guided by a bored breeze cross the empty Allan Hancock College parking lots on a Friday afternoon. But starting Oct. 3, the tumbleweed is going to have some obstacles—booths and lots of them. This semester Hancock’s entrepreneurial and business students are going to be […]
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Santa Maria school board candidates faced off at voters forum
Although a debate it wasn’t, attendees of a recent Santa Maria school board candidates forum were still treated to some unexpected, you-just-pet-the-cat-the-wrong-way kind of statements. At about 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 24, audience members and candidates sauntered into the Betteravia Government Center gallery for a mixed question-and-answer forum for both Santa Maria-Bonita School Board and […]
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Lompoc gang defendant convicted on retrial
A jury convicted Raymond Daniel Macias of kidnapping a man for extortion with the special allegations of causing substantial injury, using a gun, and committing the crime for gang purposes. The Sept. 22 conviction came at the end of a retrial of Macias’ case, according to a press release from the Santa Barbara County District […]