Letters To The Editor

Recently a publication chose to print an opinion piece that was critical of me personally. My name was used several times in a disparaging manner. I fully support the First Amendment. In this instance, there may have been an assumption that such an ad hominem attack might dissuade others from speaking openly and forthrightly about […]

Of the three new oil projects under consideration in our county, ERG’s is the furthest along in the permitting process, creating three unwanted risks: financial loss, drinking/irrigation water contamination, and hazardous air quality. Financially, ERG is insolvent and operating under a bankruptcy reorganization that requires the sale of all California assets to partially pay a […]

With the full admission of departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, and the seeming unwillingness of those agencies to make a fulsome attempt to reunite the thousands of children taken forcefully from their parents when they came to this country seeking asylum, one has to wonder what the future of these children’s […]

Last week, State Parks disclosed its proposed new general work plan for the management of Pismo State Beach and the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. Good news: There are plans for a boardwalk on the foredunes to connect Grand Avenue with the Arroyo Grande Creek and a small structured campground (versus the free and […]

Vladimir Putin’s goal is to weaken the United States by using President Donald Trump. In order to propel Trump into the White House, Russian hackers infiltrated United States political organizations. The Kremlin used sensitive information to undermine Hillary Clinton. In addition, Russian hackers used American social media to influence the American electorate to vote for […]

This letter is in response to Lucia Casalinuovo: “The removal of Oceano Beach” (Jan. 10) and in response to Cheryl Bennet, “We don’t need to cram the beach in Oceano with Tourists.”   I agree with both Lucia and Cheryl, we are losing the beach to all those cars, and also just to Mother Nature. […]

I was impressed with the article by Lucia Casalinuovo (“The removal of Oceano beach”) in the Jan. 10 issue of the Sun. I also want to say that there are other factors—wind, storms, and sea tides—that can also effect the sand levels, too. I believe our beaches have become smaller in that they are areas […]

In my attempt to understand why some people think and act the way that they do, I have been reading on Wikipedia and various other sites about the occurrence of cognitive dissonance over the past few years. I discovered that one way cognitive dissonance (mental discomfort/psychological stress) can occur is when one’s beliefs, ideas, and […]

The city of Pismo Beach wants to build an advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (Central Coast Blue) in Oceano. This is a form of discriminatory land use that disproportionately overburdens Oceano, an underserved community, with inequitable distribution of environmental pollution. The state of California would call it a form of environmental injustice. Oceano has an excellent […]

I took time on Jan. 27 to travel to Santa Barbara and attend the 50 Years After the Santa Barbara Oil Spill: A Call to Action event at the Arlington Theater, thinking I might learn something. Sadly, I watched a spectacle that evolved into a We Hate President Trump Festival. Speaker after speaker condemned various […]

The primary election for 2020 is just 13 months from now in March of 2020; it’s time to start thinking about who the Santa Barbara County supervisor of the 4th District should be. The incumbent has announced that he doesn’t intend to run again, so the seat is open. The county, like almost every other […]

A UCSB-affiliated study purportedly estimates the economic impact on our county of Aera’s proposed oil project in Cat Canyon, between Santa Maria and Los Alamos. The study was paid for by the oil company’s public realtions firm. The report admits that it relied primarily on information provided by Aera itself. In the report, by UCSB’s […]