Cover Story
Out of bounds: The Sun investigates what happens when coaches are accused of abusing their power
Sidebar story: Local child abuse prevention center helps give kids a voice. Shock waves are physically powerful forces. They can carry energy strong enough to move through just about any barrier, disrupting everything they touch. Then there are shock waves of an intangible sort, the kind that can unsettle a community with an energy that…
JDX Pharmacy is a stop on the Health Mart Healthy Living Tour
On Friday, May 2, the Health Mart Healthy Living Tour will stop at JDX Pharmacy from 3 to 6 p.m. Free health screenings and a sample bag will be offered to those in attendance. The national awareness tour honors pharmacists in the community and recognizes their vital roles as educators, counselors, and managers of various…
What is your least favorite Easter candy?
Roger Phillips retired “I don’t like Peeps because I don’t like to chew on baby chickens.” Richard Holloway landscaper “Cadbury Creme Eggs are too sweet.” Elizabeth Lomeli sales associate “I honestly don’t know. I don’t celebrate Easter.” Courtney Hodge sales associate “I personally don’t like Peeps. I think they’re gross.”
What’s on Deck? 4/10 – 4/17
THURSDAY, APRIL 10 BASEBALL Allan Hancock vs. LA Pierce @ LA Pierce, 2:30 p.m. Santa Ynez vs. Lompoc @ LHS, 4 p.m. SOFTBALL Allan Hancock vs. LA Pierce @ LA Pierce, 2:30 p.m. SWIMMING Cabrillo vs. Lompoc @ LAC, 2:30 p.m. Nipomo vs. Templeton @ NHS, 3:30 p.m. Santa…
Host town set for Long Beach
Long Beach will become the first Los Angeles County host town for the Special Olympics World Games in 2015. According to a press release from Special Olympics of Northern Santa Barbara County, 7,000 athletes from 177 countries will be welcomed to Southern California July 21 to 24. The three-day event will feature cultural events, sports…
Hancock launches a youth club
If all goes according to plan, men’s basketball coach Tyson Aye will be spearheading the new youth basketball club at Allan Hancock College. According to a press release from the school, the club would serve as an extension of Aye’s clinics. “A lot of parents and coaches are asking us to do more for the…
Chenault sets strikeout record
The stellar season of Allan Hancock College pitcher Katie Chenault continues. A press release from Hancock Athletics revealed the freshman hurler set the program’s single season strikeout record in the team’s game against Oxnard. The Bulldogs opened the game with eight straight hits and then sailed to 17-0 and 11-1 wins. The release said Chenault…
Andrew Ibarra
Some people just don’t take breaks. On almost any weekday afternoon, one could find wrestler Andrew Ibarra, a senior at Righetti High School, being challenged by one of his dedicated coaches on the mat, or perfecting his favorite maneuver, called the “High C Single.” After devoting 11 years to the sport, Ibarra’s love of wrestling…
Trailpaloosa promises food, music, and fun for a good cause
There’s nothing quite like taking to the local hills with friends to go on a hike or a challenging trail run. The beautiful scenery and bright California sunshine make fitness activities feel less like work and more like exciting adventures. A local nonprofit group called Santa Maria Valley Open Space (SMVOS) is a major proponent…
A CALMing effect: A local child abuse prevention center helps give kids a voice
The Child Abuse Listening Mediation Center (CALM) in Santa Maria is a quiet space. The walls are painted bright, cheerful colors, and the floor is sprinkled with rugs of varying eye-catching patterns. Toy centers in the lobby offer places where children can explore the unique and exciting playthings offered. This is a space that seems…
DA asks court to review judge’s ruling in Murillo case
Read the court filing (.pdf). The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office recently filed a motion in Superior Court to reinstate charges against Orcutt rapper Anthony Murillo on the grounds that Judge Patricia Kelly “erroneously dismissed the action.” The 20-year-old was accused of threatening the victims of the Shane Villalpadno sex-crime case in a song…
The Frame Gallery showcases Central Coast artists with the frame to match
Certain spaces breathe in a way conducive to art viewing. Whatever the formula may be, the Frame Gallery in Orcutt’s northeast corner of the Oak Knolls Shopping Center got it right, which should come as no surprise, considering owners Heidi and Robert Gruetzemacher have been framing and showing art for years. Back in physical form…
Cheer dad Krider is his daughter’s biggest fan
Working together, my daughter and I used to be a formidable force. Just one year ago, she and I traveled all over the country racing soapbox derby together. I was the crew chief and she was the driver. I maintained her bright pink, gravity-powered racing car, and she drove like her hair was on fire.…
The Righetti Marimba Band and Ballet Folklorico prepares for its annual ‘Big Show’
Righetti High School Marimba Band and Ballet Folklórico director Ricardo Gabaldón was hurrying between rooms, touching base with the various factions of his cultural performing arts program during a recent school day. The Marimba Band and Ballet Folklórico have each enjoyed their own class period throughout the years, the soon-to-retire founding director explained, but this…
Crafting Easter at Michaels
The Santa Maria Michaels presents arts and crafts events, including a “Celebrate Easter with creativity Michaels Social Event” on April 13 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the store. “Kids’ Club Crafty Easter Fun” is April 12 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Michaels, 1934 S. Broadway, in Santa Maria. More info: 349-8801.
Lompoc Valley Botanic and Horticultural Society holds 35th annual plant sale event
The Lompoc Valley Botanic and Horticultural Society invites the community its 35th annual plant sale event on April 13 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Union Bank parking lot on the northwest corner of H Street and Pine Avenue in Lompoc. The event will include literally thousands of flowers, with both annuals and perennials…
Santa Maria Public Library to close for training day
The Santa Maria Public Library’s main location, 421 S. McClelland St. in Santa Maria, will be closed April 21 all day for staff training. However, the branch libraries in Cuyama, Orcutt, and Guadalupe will be open for regular hours that day. The main library will be open again April 22. More information is available at…
Santa Maria Public Library receives grant award
The Santa Maria Public Library has received a Cal Humanities California Reads grant, including more than $7,000 for its project, “What it is like to go to War?” which will run September through November at the library. California Reads is an organization that promotes the discussion of thought-provoking books and invites Californians from all walks…
Join the Sisters in Crime
Mystery novels are a staple in the literature world, with all of their twists, turns, and clues. A local group of mystery authors, Sisters in Crime, is holding a workshop event featuring talks by several of its members. The Friends of the Santa Maria Public Library are sponsoring the event on April 19 at 10…
‘VINTAGE 2014’ brings a multi-sensory wine experience to Flying Goat Cellars
Santa Barbara County’s beautiful rolling hills, finally green after much-needed rains, foster many kinds of vegetation, from grasses to lichen-draped oak trees. Most famously, as the film Sideways related, the area is home to many carefully tended grapevines and the wineries that raise them to prepare their famous wines. A local producer is seeking to…
Small and superb: Standout Central Coast wineries worth discovering now
On March 30, I attended The Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure in Solvang, a two-day wine event celebrating cutting-edge small-production winemakers in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. These artisans buy premium local grapes or grow their own; they have a modest space to handcraft the wines; most don’t have wine tasting rooms, but some…
Growers association to hold annual scholarship fundraiser
Every year, the Central Coast Greenhouse Growers Association gives out scholarships to graduating high school students or college students who are horticulture majors. The association also grants scholarships to children of parents or guardians employed at a growers association member nursery. Every year, the association holds an open house event to raise money for those…
Wells Fargo donates to Hancock’s STEM programs
Science, technology, engineering, and math—also known as STEM—programs at Allan Hancock College have a little more currency in the endowment fund vault with the help of a $5,000 donation from Wells Fargo Bank. The Allan Hancock College Foundation created the STEM Endowment in October 2011 as part of the college’s $4.3-million grant from the U.S.…
PBS kicks off Explore the Outdoors program
The Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department is encouraging parents to get their children away from the electronics and into the outdoors as part of PBS’s April program, Explore the Outdoors. “With an abundance of parks located in Santa Maria, there are plenty of innovative ways to help get your family back to nature,” a…
Spotlight on: Gray Electrical Consulting + Engineering, LLC
Heather Gray is the principal electrical engineer at Gray Electrical Consulting + Engineering (GECE), a woman-owned consulting business in Santa Maria. Though she is a female in a male-dominated field, Gray doesn’t feel it’s made an impact on her career. “I’ve always found being a woman to be one of my strongest assets: I’m good…
Political Watch 4/10/14
• A bill co-sponsored by State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) to prohibit forced or coerced sterilization in state prisons passed out of the Senate Health Committee on April 2 in a unanimous, bipartisan vote of 9-0. The Senate Bill is a response to media reports from the Center for Investigative Reporting last year that…
Community Notebook 4/10-4/17
MONDAY, APRIL 14 • The Santa Maria City Block Grants Advisory Committee has its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room, 110 E. Cook St., Santa Maria. • The Solvang City Council has its regular meeting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 1644 Oak Street, Solvang. agendas are available at…
Co-working provides an alternative to the typical office in Santa Maria
Starting a business might be a dream for many entrepreneurs, but between working from home and ill-equipped coffee shops, finding a place to run one’s business can be a struggle. “Co-working” centers are a potential solution to this problem. They provide entrepreneurs a consistent space to work and the opportunity for collaboration with other business…
State report highlights Santa Barbara County as a drug trafficking route
Panga boats aren’t classified as anything more than fishing vessels, but they’re efficient, low-profile, under-the-radar beasts people are using to sneak farther and farther north along the Pacific Coast in search of new beaches to storm with illegitimate Mexican cartel-associated business. More often than not, the panga cargo smuggled along the West Coast entails drugs—mostly…
New standardized testing debuts at area schools
The trial-and-error run of California’s newest way to gauge whether students are learning made its first pass through Santa Maria schools on April 7. School districts have approximately five weeks to get all of their students tested through the Internet-based Smarter Balance tests, which, starting this year, are taking the place of STAR tests—a method…
Isla Vista community reacts to Deltopia 2014 disturbance
Santa Barbara recently made national headlines for reports of “civil unrest” at Deltopia 2014, an annual Spring Break kegger in Isla Vista. According to a press release from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, a collection of law enforcement agencies took to the streets April 5 to control an unruly crowd of about 15,000 people.…
Fight for your riot to party?
My editor is fond of a quote from author Bill Buford, who, in writing about violence among British football hooligans, said, “The crowd is not us. It never is.” I’ve heard my editor say it around the office before, but it never really struck home until I started reading reports of what happened in Isla…
Trash the liberal-created culture
The reason conservatives always oppose liberalism is because everything liberals do is either foolish, inept, or wrong-headed. Whether it’s global warming, ObamaCare, jobs, education, immigration, income equality, Christianity, racism, or class envy—everything they do ultimately ends up as a screw-up, a lie, an excuse, or a scandal. Whenever there’s another mass shooting—Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech,…
