Letters To The Editor

Last year, on the first day of spring, an oil tanker truck crashed on Highway 166 east of Santa Maria, spilling 6,700 gallons of crude oil and fuel into the Cuyama River. The driver was speeding and is finally being prosecuted by the Santa Barbara County district attorney. ExxonMobil recently revived plans to send 70 […]

Only after constant pleas from youth requesting the school board to adopt a new grading system to address the record amounts of F’s given during distance learning did the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District (SMJUHSD) finally decide to do something. This whole ordeal is about understanding that students are human and that they […]

The Wilderness Act called for “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” In 1964, it was one of three pieces of legislation—along with the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act—that essentially determined what kind of country we […]

Los Alamos is a small, unincorporated town. We don’t have our own elected government. We depend on county officials. We pay property taxes just like other county residents and expect fair and responsive treatment by these agencies.  Recently, however, a Planning and Development issue has come to the fore after lying dormant for about two […]

Oh, you hypocrites! When Trump stopped “immigrants” from entering our country illegally, when he separated children from their parents rather than have them detained in cages built by Obama, the “righteous indignation” from the Democrats and the media was as thick as honey in a freezer. “We on the left would never do such a […]

Thank you to the California Coastal Commission for its futurist reimagining of the park in the newly released staff report for the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. Due to the park’s closure to OHVs last year, many people have for the first time experienced the magnificence of the Oceano Dunes. This area is a […]

It is incomprehensible that State Parks, an agency tasked with conservation as well as recreation, would propose to place, within a few miles of each other, projects comprising 721 campsites, OHV staging and training areas, new OHV highways into the dunes, acres of parking, permanent administration buildings and staff residences, equestrian facilities, and, of all […]

I recently contacted our congressman, Salud Carbajal, asking that he cast a no vote for HR 1. I citied that it was an infringement of states’ rights set out in the 12th Amendment: The only job the federal government has is to set the date for voting and certification of the Electoral College vote. Our […]

Salud Carbajal has never helped my business! Michael Smith writes on Feb. 18 (“Carbajal has acted in businesses’ favor”) that he was surprised to read a letter claiming Carbajal has been bad for business (“Dear Congressman Carbajal, now is your chance,” Feb. 4). Here are my two experiences with Carbajal’s office.  I own a small […]

I was surprised to read Keri McMillan’s recent condemnation of Congressman Salud Carbajal over his votes regarding the pandemic (“Dear Congressman Carbajal, now is your chance,” Feb. 4). McMillan is rightly upset that she has lost business revenue because of shutdowns, but I believe she is pointing her finger in the wrong direction. First, Carbajal […]

We must continue to support President Trump now as we have for the past four years. He has every right to encourage his supporters to rally peacefully before Congress to support and promote important Republican issues now. When the president was at Walter Reed Army hospital to treat his case of COVID-19, his supporters rallied […]

Los Alamos is in the midst of a development blunder aided by our own county Planning Department. This can happen to any small town, or any neighborhood within a city.  A builder seeks to develop an acre-and-a-half lot that is bordered by three roads. He may build as many as 11 dwellings. One of the […]