Commentaries

Normally the once proud and gracefully flowing Santa Ynez River is reduced to a dry sand bed with its banks occupied by numerous homeless camps, but occasionally during heavy rains it flows almost as it did when steelhead were abundant, long before Bradley Dam was built and Lake Cachuma was formed. For the last two […]

Whoever knew that equity and social justice requires that folks be able to live in Beverly Hills regardless of their financial means? This may the biggest lifestyle boost since the Beverly Hillbillies struck crude and rolled into town. The legendarily swank enclave of Beverly Hills is in a real lather. The enlightened social engineers in […]

Voters have received vote-by-mail ballots. All three incumbent county Supervisors running for reelection need to be replaced, but I want to focus on the 3rd District because that’s where I live. The 3rd District supervisor’s seat is being contested by two people: One is widely known in the Lompoc Valley, and the other is relatively […]

First let me be clear, searches authorized by a local, state, or federal courts are essential to capturing crooks. This commentary addresses data mining for commercial purposes and government searches without benefit of a search warrant from the court. With today’s electronic technology, folks can “spy” on you anywhere you go without you knowing about […]

Democrats, dispirited after recent polls showing Donald Trump running ahead of Joe Biden and facing the unendurable possibility of another four years of the Orange Beast, finally got a bit of encouraging news. One of their “Hail Mary” passes, the use of an obscure portion of the 14th Amendment barring anyone who has engaged in […]

On Jan. 16 the Lompoc City Council reviewed a report on the safe and sane fireworks program, specifically the “Finances and Options for use of Surplus Fireworks Program Funds.” In order to acquire a permit to sell safe and sane fireworks in Lompoc, the applicant must pay a 4 percent surcharge, and according to the […]

The drama from Oceano is so extensive that it continuously reverberates throughout the Central Coast. Every week, newly elected Oceano Community Services District (OCSD) board member Charles Varni publishes verbose, sanctimonious, and self-victimizing diatribes every time someone disagrees with him. Varni completely melts down in a feedback loop of replaying his grievances against the district […]

The new year brings some questionable policy changes to Californians, most notably to the medium- and low-income families in every community. First is the new minimum wage law that applies to national fast-food businesses. CalMatters reports that “California-based fast-food workers for chains with 60 or more locations around the nation will earn at least $20 […]

My question is how do we enforce that law? What good are laws, rules, regulations, codes if there is no enforcement mechanism? Without consequences for noncompliance, laws are ignored. We don’t need new laws. We need the old ones enforced. If the old ones failed because of noncompliance, what can we expect from the new […]

Every year many of us make New Year’s resolutions that we sometimes keep; this year will be no different. Instead of sharing my personal resolutions, I will talk about those that voters should make and keep in the coming year. We need new leadership in our county, state, and country. The current crop of appointed […]

It’s no secret that housing has been a hot topic issue in California. Headlines repeatedly call out the skyrocketing prices, the frustration of the younger generations, and the need for more inventory. The answer to these challenges isn’t complicated: build more houses. However, as we’ve seen in multiple articles in the Sun, a vocal group […]

Like all local governments in the state, Lompoc has been in the process of completing an eight-year update of the General Plan Housing Element; but this time it’s different. As the consulting firm made its presentation to the City Council on Nov. 21, its representatives informed the council that “the state’s big push, because of […]