Commentaries

It’s déjà vu all over again. A few weeks ago an oil company sought planning permission to drill new wells just south of Orcutt. The Planning Commission had given the green light for a project that would bring jobs to our area and pour badly needed tax revenue into county’s general fund. The board rejected […]

Santa Maria Energy has been placing full-page ads in local papers objecting to the fact that county supervisors required them to offset some of their greenhouse gas emissions. They think it’s “unfair” they don’t get an unlimited license to pollute for free and pass along the costs to the rest of us. We are experiencing […]

It is that time of year again: the holiday season. Thanksgiving is the time when we should take stock of our lives and give gratitude for all that we have. What a novel concept—as opposed to other holidays where we take stock of what we might perceive we don’t have and demand more and more. […]

As a fellow Christian minister, and former chaplain at UCLA, I am saddened and shocked by the prayers given by Rev. Dr. Paul Jones at the Pismo Beach City Council meetings (“Pay to pray?” Nov. 7). Rev. Dr. Jones should be free to use any language or prayers that he and his congregation agree to […]

They know what’s good for us As 4th District supervisor, I had people asking me what happened with the Santa Maria Energy project. I’ll tell you what happened—and why. South Coast Supervisors Janet Wolf, Doreen Farr, and Salud Carbajal ignored state law, common sense, and the wishes of the people who live and work in […]

Recently there has been a spate of news reports concerning the relationship of religion in the public square. The Sun, a northern Santa Barbara weekly, in its Nov. 7 issue, published a report that Pismo Beach was being sued for violating the California Constitution’s “no preference and establishment” clause regarding religion (“Religious watchdog sues Pismo […]

There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding the Downtown Specific Plan. Certainly the Towbes Group’s Hancock Terrace Apartments on East Boone (a project that will add 262 new units at a site that was previously industrial) at a cost of $40 million and the purchase of the vacant Mervyns retail space by National […]

In third grade, “Maria” was doing so poorly in school that she was at risk of dropping out. By the end of fourth grade, she was a top student who was working above her grade level. What made the difference? Many factors, and many people, were essential to the transformation, but one event stood out: […]

Increased fossil fuel production and climate change are poised to hit local agriculture hard. Could these twin threats imperil our area’s agricultural economy? Agriculture, tourism, and wine make up the largest segment of our economy, directly employing 15 percent of Santa Barbara County’s workforce, according to a study commissioned by Santa Barbara County’s Workforce Investment […]

Seeing that the Chumash Indians achieve their tribal rights and secure their sovereign nationhood within the Santa Ynez Valley by way of their fee-to-trust efforts, appears—certainly from a distance—to be the right thing to do. We are all raised to feel a certain amount of guilt over the white man’s conquest of this continent and […]

Beginning in 2011, the Lompoc City Council established five priorities to improve the city. First and foremost is economic development and jobs. Over many years, the Lompoc Valley has become a bedroom community for Santa Barbara County and was particularly hard hit by unemployment in the 2008 downturn. To create a more business-friendly city, the […]

Our children deserve every opportunity to be successful. Education is often a strong predictor of a successful future. Our schools not only offer academic education but other forms of education as well, such as cultural, social, athletic, and community instruction. Clearly, children who miss out on attending classes are deprived. Research conducted by the National […]