I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the Pioneer Valley Future Farmers of America (FFA) for their invaluable support during the opening reception of the Los Alamos Flea. The involvement of three exceptional high school students, Crystal Ortiz, Andrea Cuevas, and Abigail Velasquez, along with their teacher, Tyler Dickinson, made a remarkable impact […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Menace to society
Colson Canyon Road has been closed since January. If you live on the wrong side of that closure, guess what? You better own an ATV, because that’s the only way you’re getting to and from your house. Sounds amazing, right? If you own a business on the wrong side of that closure, you’ve been out […]
Posted inOpinion
Protect accountability
Accountability is an ideal that is severely missing in our country today. People need to be accountable for their actions, especially when it’s about the responsibility of government to serve the people. If you believe that government owes a higher duty of accountability to taxpayers, then you will share my opposition to a recently proposed […]
Posted inOpinion
Leaders need to do more
Where is our FDR? With exception to the 22nd Amendment, where is a president so popular he or she will be reelected to the office of the president three times for a total of four terms? Where is public employment for the masses? Is the contempt for the average American by our elected leaders so […]
Posted inOpinion
Are projects Roomkey and Homekey helping Lompoc’s homeless?
On Nov. 19, 2021, the Santa Barbra County grand jury issued a report titled, “The keys to housing the homeless.” In it the members of the jury make several observations/recommendations concerning the implementation of two programs to help communities manage their homeless populations: Project Roomkey and Project Homekey. Summarizing their findings, the grand jury said, […]
Posted inOpinion
Hold the Supreme Court to higher standards
Americans are losing faith in our Supreme Court, and it’s easy to see why. The nine justices on the Supreme Court are the only federal judges not bound by a code of ethics. It’s up to the justices to self-police on ethical issues, and they want to keep it that way. That’s why nothing happened […]
Posted inOpinion
Big Frost
Do we feel bad for a vineyard operator in the Cuyama Valley that doesn’t get to build its “frost protection” ponds anymore? If you’re Andy “I’m With COLAB” Caldwell, yes. Does his opinion actually matter? That’s a rhetorical question. He’s very concerned about Santa Barbara County’s mistreatment of North Fork Ranch, which some folks believe […]
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I am a relentless warrior against fascism, bigotry, and ‘able-ism’
As I write this, my Jewish friends are observing Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah—Yom HaShoah, Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day. A recent survey revealed that 63 percent of Americans don’t know that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Nearly 20 percent of millennials and Gen Z in New York—New York!—feel that Jews caused the […]
Posted inOpinion
Fish farming is terrible for all
People who care about animals, the environment, and California waterways don’t want offshore fish farming (“A safe seafood supply?” May 4). The cramped, unsafe facilities used within the farmed-fish industry promote the spread of parasites and disease and kill fish—who feel pain, as all animals do—in horrible ways, including by suffocating them or piercing their […]
Posted inOpinion
Renewable energy isn’t as easy as you might think
Renewable energy is a good idea but not the total answer to energy and climate concerns. Renewable energy is intermittent, unreliable. This cannot be argued. There are so many details that have to be considered to have what so many think is the answer to so many power problems. There are so many facets to […]
Posted inOpinion
It’s not a game
COVID-19 really did turn politicking into a spectator sport, complete with rabid fans who direct their indiscriminate, inappropriate, and often inarticulate anger at everyone if the game plays out in a way they don’t like. Only it’s not a game. And in the case of the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District, the losers […]
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Lompoc City Council must now help the community face inevitable major electric rate increases
Previous Lompoc City Council members painted the current council into a corner because they had delayed an orderly schedule of electrical rate increases. Thus the staff is now predicting that at “the current projected pace of use of cash reserves, staff believes that with the 2011 rates in place currently, the Electric Fund will deplete […]
