Ron Fink

There are two City Council seats in Lompoc being contested in the upcoming election; one is for mayor and the other for the 1st District, on the north end of the city. The only qualification to run for a City Council seat is to be at least 18 years old and a registered voter. The […]

Do you think that local politicians should be able to set the minimum wage for workers whose efforts support the nation? And what would happen if they did? Well, some of the more liberal members of the Board of Supervisors are “studying” a proposal to set $26 an hour as the local labor wage rate […]

Attention minimum wage workers, the government is here to help you—or is it? The U.S. census estimates that the median household income in Lompoc was $66,947 in 2023 and that 17 percent of the population was living in poverty. In Santa Maria the median income was $81,237 and 13.5 percent of the population lives in […]

The election season is in full swing locally, regionally, and nationally. In most places the candidate filing period is closed, and each candidate is busy trying to convince voters to support their ideas. On the federal level, two very different people are competing to become the president of the United States; each has a public […]

What is democracy? Merriam-Webster defines it this way: “rule of the majority; a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.” Earlier this year there was a primary election where registered voters of each political party […]

The Ten Commandments have existed for centuries. Early on, people realized that there should be a set of common-sense rules to guide civilization. The basis of our Constitution and public laws are found in those guiding principles. For people to coexist in harmony they must become familiar with them at an early age. Some states, […]

The last time I watched a presidential debate was in 1956 when surrogates represented Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson who was challenging incumbent Republican President Dwight Eisenhower. Since then, I have relied on press/media reports and analysis of what was said or how the candidates acted. But I changed my strategy when President Joe Biden “debated” […]

If your son/daughter and their mate have a couple of kids and they have a joint income of say $85,000 a year, why can’t they find an affordable home to rent/buy? Well, there are lots of reasons why it will be hard for them, and most are associated with government policies that have dramatically increased […]

Your standard of living is defined as the degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community. Your quality of life is similar, the standard of health, comfort, and happiness experienced by an individual or group: the things that are needed for a good quality of life. Inflation is a general increase […]

Earlier this year, a few local citizens created great concern when they tried to imply that something sinister was happening concerning the finances of Visit Lompoc Incorporated (VLI).  According to a May 21 staff report, “Between the months of March and June 2023, three individuals made public comments during the regularly held City Council meetings […]

As Santa Barbara County and the state of California continue with their efforts to save the Earth, the metrics for measuring success of the effort continue to change like the weather. For example, in 2021 the Board of Supervisors set a goal of reducing so-called greenhouse gasses (GHG) by 50 percent of the 2007 levels […]

According to the state Air Resources Control Board, California is mandating by executive fiat the electrification of all new vehicles purchased in California by 2035. Not mentioned is the cost of the mandate or who will pay for it. The first issue is fire safety. According to Business Insider, “Car fires have always been dangerous […]