I can already hear the howls of outrage about the proposed pay hike for our Board of Supervisors. What I don’t hear is an understanding of how hard they work, and how grossly underpaid they have been for far too long. Consider this: According to a recent survey of comparable counties, Santa Barbara County Supervisors […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Re-encampment
Is re-encampment the same as an oil pipeline restart? Can’t unhoused people just get a waiver to restart their lives in the Santa Maria Riverbed? After all, the system that aims to provide resources, housing, and help to these folks isn’t quite working for them. So we should all collectively shrug, right? Live and let […]
Posted inOpinion
Californians were duped into policies that raised the cost of eggs—avian flu’s only making things worse
In 2018, California voters were dupped by animal rights activists into passing Proposition 12, which required farmers who raise laying hens to allow them to “roam freely”; it went into force in 2022. The theory was that this would be more humane and “free them from confinement.” Several other states also adopted this new idea […]
Posted inOpinion
Until Palestine is free
Since Oct. 7, 2023, all of us have experienced continuing, intense grief. Many of us are mourning cousins, siblings, classmates, parents … all of us are grieving the astounding loss of Palestinian lives as well as the very structure of Gazan life. There is nothing left of Gaza, yet its people rush back—on foot—to sift […]
Posted inOpinion
Local leaders must protect our immigrants
In one of Donald Trump’s first acts in office, he stripped away protections for schools, hospitals, and places of worship from immigration enforcement. These were once safe spaces where people could learn, receive health care, and pray without fear. Now they have been turned into targets for ICE raids. This is unconscionable. As the world’s […]
Posted inOpinion
‘Lawfare’
There were no literal weapons in the recent skirmishes on battlefields at the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors hearing room and Superior Court. Just sharp words, pointed memos, unassailable lawsuits. This was “lawfare.” Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson used that term to describe what American Medical Response (AMR) “deployed” to get its new four-year […]
Posted inOpinion
Offshore wind ‘farms’ will create their own set of environmental issues
After more than two years of listening to virtue-signaling NGOs, climate apocalypse-shaming hipsters, politically driven energy opportunists, and just plain ignorant-of-the-facts state and local political “dignitaries,” I’ve just about had it up to here! I’m sick of digging myself out of the political mire on both sides and witnessing the shameful justification of a toxic […]
Posted inOpinion
Nipomo needed more info earlier for battery facility
San Luis Obispo County residents deserve consistent and transparent leadership. Yet, when it comes to the controversial Caballero battery storage project in Nipomo, the response from San Luis Obispo County 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding tells a different story. If this project were next to Trilogy, an area where Paulding has historically focused much of […]
Posted inOpinion
Zapped!
Testy and zesty. That’s a good way to describe some of 3rd District county Planning Commissioner John Parke’s exchanges on Jan. 29. With cannabis odor on the agenda and potential ordinance changes set to come back—again—to the commission, he managed to take over the entire discussion. His insistences left commission chair, 2nd District Commissioner Laura […]
Posted inOpinion
How many endangered species will be eradicated while misguided politicians try to ‘save the earth’?
In July 2023, a local media outlet reported on progress of a wind farm project south of Lompoc: “Strauss applied to the federal agency for the incidental take permit [to kill birds] in March 2023, with a BayWa representative saying an oversight led to the delayed application,” (Noozhawk, “Strauss Wind Energy Project Seeks to Operate […]
Posted inOpinion
All people deserve dignity
In response to “Encampments return to Santa Maria Riverbed” (Jan. 30): I understand that Japan removes homeless people from the street, provides a livable detention area with basic needs. Basically, they are incarcerated. They are cleaned up (from addiction) and given an opportunity to improve their ability to thrive and return back into society. If […]
Posted inOpinion
A small group of us could change a lot of things
This is to thank Gary Freiberg for his opinion piece in the Sun reminding us of the power of the people (“The price is wrong,” Jan. 30). Yes! Let’s start with having fewer eggs (or none at all until prices come down). Buy some nuts at the farmers market. Walnuts are shaped like our brains, […]
