Commentaries

Dear Californians: Please stop making smug Facebook posts about your January trips to the beach when you know the East Coast is getting the crap beat out of it by a storm. Please stop responding to your friends’ posts about snow and the importance of layering with reminders that if they’d just been smart enough […]

In California, women won the right to vote in 1911. More than a hundred years later, one would expect women would have ascended into elected office in equal measure to their male peers. This is not the case. While women comprise more than 50 percent of the state, we only make up about 25 percent […]

Since I questioned the whole idea of sovereignty during a discussion of the County Legislative Platform, there has been much said by many people. Both pro and con views have been expressed concerning my statements. Let me explain how we go about adopting that platform, one specific issue about the Chumash Tribe, and my position, […]

Read the first half of Ken Parker’s commentary from Jan. 29. Last week, I left you with the distressing news that higher education opportunities for local students may be very limited at best because of where they live. This alarming remark has already brought responses that have kept my phone ringing and email account full. […]

Recent news that Allan Hancock College competed unsuccessfully for a four-year viticulture degree speaks loudly of the undaunted future vision that Hancock President Dr. Kevin Walthers and his staff have for higher education in our valley. Hancock competed well in a field of heavyweight multi-campus schools. In the end, we can be proud of Hancock’s […]

As 2015 begins, Lompoc has many new businesses and recreational projects in the planning process that will open in 2015 and 2016. These new businesses follow a number of small and large businesses that opened in 2012, 2013, and 2014, which brought expanded shopping choices and more than 1,200 new jobs to Lompoc. The new […]

Recently, Supervisor Steve Lavagnino wrote an opinion piece in the Santa Maria Times, saying that Santa Barbara County’s government is doing great and being managed well on your behalf (“A brighter outlook on county’s fiscal future,” Dec. 20). First, I’m going to tell you why that’s wrong. Then I’m going to tell you why Supervisor […]

There is a deep-seated crisis in the country, and a mounting uproar, about police violence in general and police shootings of unarmed civilians in particular. Some people excuse the behavior of police pretty much no matter what. Many more people are putting forth ideas aimed at stopping extreme police violence by reforming the system of […]

It’s one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world–and now we have the opportunity of a lifetime to create a new National Marine Sanctuary to protect the wild and wonderful ocean ecosystems of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this summer that it would start considering […]

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” bellowed an increasingly panicked Wizard of Oz after feisty Toto and his intrepid companions had blown the cover on the pugnacious imposter. Behind a fearsome façade of smoke and mirrors, this “wizard” managed to rule a mythical paradise through fear and intimidation. In a modern remake […]

Given all the words and images devoted to the midterm elections over the past few weeks, you’d think the results had told us something vital about the future of the country. In reality, they were just a curtain-raiser. It’s the next few weeks and months that really matter. The big question, as the old Congress […]