Letters To The Editor

Never in our lifetime have we faced a health crisis as we are in now. Getting back to “normal” clearly will not be happening for a long time. Since the county has reverted to purple, concrete action is being taken to limit the number and sizes of gatherings. Given all of the closure mandates in […]

If cases of COVID-19 are traced to a business that has openly operated in violation of local, state, and Centers for Disease Control guidelines for COVID-19 safety, can the patrons of those businesses who contract COVID-19 or the families of those who die from COVID-19 sue those businesses for pain, suffering, loss, or wrongful death? […]

In the debate about whether ATVs should be allowed to tear up environmentally sensitive habitat and run over endangered birds in the Oceano dunes, or whether a moneyed Central Valley tradition should trump the rights of disadvantaged locals to a safe beach and clean air, there’s one significant point that’s largely overlooked. Operation of the […]

Very well said! Thank you for publishing it (Dec. 10)!  The vast majority of us are immigrants, mostly back decades. My family arrived here about 1700 so I’m an Irish American like those those that arrived here from Africa. We call them African Americans, even though 99 percent have never been there or speak any […]

Somehow it escapes the attention of those people who have deprived us of our liberty and freedom that 99.98 percent of positive COVID cases recover. I’m checking now—since this bloody panic (yes, I meant panic) began several months ago, 12,000 cases have been confirmed and 138 deaths reported in Santa Barbara County, which has half […]

Where do I start with the Canary’s Nov. 26 rant, “Way out there”? While this tweety bird is entitled to its opinion, it’s not entitled to its own facts. First there is the fowl’s assertion that the 24th Congressional District “has been blue for its entire existence”; that is patently false (see the 24th District’s […]

This week kicks of the fall and winter holiday season, amid a doubling of COVID-19 case numbers across Santa Barbara County. This alarming trend is also reflected nationally and globally. As health care workers on the front lines and as educators eager to see students back in the classroom, we are making a sincere plea […]

President Donald Trump is this year’s—in fact for the past four years—Man of the Year.  Not since the likes of Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt has any president taken to heart the words in the oath of office. Dismantling the runaway bureaucracy created by past administrations as they abdicated their responsibilities to unelected special […]

A group of residents wants to ban [oil] production in California in the name of the environment. What is this ban trying to accomplish? Californians today need to drive, heat and cool their homes, and use any of the 6,000 everyday products made from petroleum. Since everyone’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is […]

After two years, untold tens of thousands of dollars spent, scores of meetings with wineries, several press releases, a business improvement district (BID) website, four proposals, and a rejection by the Board of Supervisors staff, the Santa Barbara County Vintners Association board at the end of October announced they were dropping the wine BID. How […]

A developer wants to build as many as 11 homes on a 1 1/2 acre lot in Los Alamos with access from a quiet road that is less accustomed to vehicular traffic than to walkers and joggers, dog walkers, children on bikes, and parents with infants in strollers. The county Planning Department is in the […]

I’m eager to see how much national treasure will be looted by President Trump and his swamp critter pals on their way out the door in the next 2 1/2 months: billions in no-bid contracts? Artwork? Everything with a presidential seal? Historical furnishings? Pencils/paper clips? For a karmically appropriate Inauguration Day gesture, Joe Biden could […]