Wake up, people! Slavery is not a thing of the past but very much alive. Definition of slavery: Anyone who makes a claim upon yourself or your property is making you a slave. A slave is a victim of any who claims authority over another. “We the People” have become slaves of those who have […]
Opinion
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Lompoc’s Kentucky Fried Chicken was a remodel blunder
“Stop work; substantial work completed without a permit,” on a red tag affixed to your project is one thing a project manager and/or building owner doesn’t want to see. Last October, the Lompoc Planning Commission held a public hearing to consider the architectural design and site development review for the KFC remodel project. The architecturally […]
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We need the Dana Reserve project
I support the housing development known as the Dana Reserve in Nipomo. Our area is in desperate need of housing, especially affordable housing for young, working adults. This neighborhood will directly address this need by providing a significant number of affordable housing units, which will enable young people like my own kids to find suitable […]
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Is it time we all shift our thinking on Oceano Dunes?
For years, the public discussion regarding the Oceano Dunes and vehicle access has been binary: four wheelers vs. environmentalists. But maybe its not that simple. Not every person who accesses and recreates on the beach and dunes does so in the same manner. There are pedestrians, cyclists, surfers, kite fliers, clammers, and nature lovers getting […]
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Orange-collar crimes
Santa Maria City Council member Gloria Soto is extremely concerned about the school-to-prison pipeline. It was in full swing between 1997 and 2021 in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, if you take her comments at a recent board meeting at face value. “The last thing I want to do is perpetuate the […]
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Carrot conundrum
Who wants to reduce their groundwater pumping by 60 percent? I guess that question only works if you rely on a well pumping water out of the Cuyama Valley Groundwater Basin. And I’m sure absolutely nobody really wants to pump 60 percent less water out of the ground every year, because that’s a lot! But […]
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Microgrids are the way of the future and there’s money available to help
Sammy Roth, the reporter who covers energy issues for the LA Times, recently had occasion to express the received wisdom on how energy must be generated and consumed in California. Roth recited the accepted wisdom in the July 13 edition of his newsletter (“Boiling Point: Peek inside Diablo Canyon”). Roth, like many of his colleagues, […]
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The public has been shut out of the Dana Reserve process
Excellent opinion on the Dana Reserve development (“The Dana Reserve development project in Nipomo must have constructive community input,” July 20). Yes, the public has been shut out of this process. There are still many people who do not know about it. We use to have the paper, Adobe Press; it provided much of our […]
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Longevity
I’m more bird-brained than usual this week because instead of our typical in-depth news, we’re running our annual 55 Fiction contest winners. It’s a highlight of the year for our publication, to be sure, and it gets me all inspired to be shorter and more to the point in this column. So bear with me. […]
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Converting to all electric vehicles for low- to medium-income families is a pipe dream
I honestly believe that the political class in Sacramento is losing their collective minds. In my last commentary (“Solutions?” July 13), I pointed out that “the U.S. government is now preparing to hand out $400 billion for green energy projects, and this is just the beginning of the trip down the climate change rabbit hole.” […]
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A glaring omission in the Sun
I was perusing the movie reviews in this week’s Sun and then started looking through the archives for the last several weeks. I noticed one glaring omission, Sound of Freedom. The Starkeys have reviewed every top box office movie in the last several weeks except Sound of Freedom. This movie has held the No. 2 […]
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Wake up, organize, register, vote!
One year ago, the Supreme Court of the U. S. (SCOTUS) overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision, thereby denying the autonomy of American women by proclaiming the state’s right to control their wombs. Coupled with this are efforts by some to build a border fence to keep immigrants out and to corral America’s […]
