Cover Story
Waiting for weed: Local marijuana cultivators and entrepreneurs anticipate county and city legislation drafted to catch up with legalization
While the passage of Proposition 64 in November made it legal for adults ages 21 and older to possess, use, and personally cultivate recreational marijuana, the matter of taxing growers and purveyors of legal cannabis is an issue local government bodies are scrambling to address. The state will begin issuing business licenses for growers and…
How should Santa Barbara County regulate the recreational marijuana industry?
Angel Gallo student “The same way they regulate the tobacco industry.” Brandon Vidales student “Not as harshly as the tobacco industry because marijuana isn’t harmful and it has positive uses.” Jonathan Delgadillo student “Definitely not as much as the tobacco and alcohol industries.” Alvaro Ovalle student “I don’t care, as long as it’s fair.”
Terravant Winery opens new eatery, Bottlest, at their Buellton location
At 29, Owen Hanavan has managed to create a menu of dishes that many chefs twice his age would kill for. “I look at my brain like a tackle box,” Hanavan said. “There’s all sorts of different baits and tackles a fisherman has for his day of fishing. In my brain, there is this tackle…
Season of triumph: The Santa Maria Philharmonic’s first season with Maestro Michael Nowak comes to a close on April 22
The Santa Maria Philharmonic Society’s decision to hire on Michael Nowak as its new music director and conductor was met with immediate enthusiasm from local classical music lovers. Now, at the end of his first season directing the Philharmonic Orchestra and programing concerts, Nowak said he is “delighted with the way things have gone so…
Textile techniques: The artists of FiberVision break away from standard quilt making
While white stucco and conference rooms may not typically share their space with idiosyncratic art, FiberVision’s bright, patterned textiles illuminate the walls of the Cabrillo Pavillion in Santa Barbara. FiberVision—a group of 25 textile artists with various styles and artistic abilities—started in 2003 after Lorna Morck and friends traveled to Ventura County for a Studio…
Los Alamos library features work of legendary ‘Newsweek’ photographer
If you were at the Hitching Post on a certain night of the week, you might have encountered an elderly man sitting at his favorite seat at the bar. Listening to him make small talk about the food or local happenings around town, you might never have realized you were talking to legendary Newsweek photographer…
Spotlight on: Santa Maria Downtown Fridays app
Transforming a bleak downtown urban landscape into a vibrant outdoor pedestrian mall with food, music, and fun—there’s an app for that. Downtown Fridays—the hugely popular event organized by Sofia Lopez and MEGA 97.1’s Ed Carcarey and put on by the city of Santa Maria in April 2016—is back and bigger than ever with a farmers…
District divisions: Santa Maria works to draw district maps for City Council elections as it abandons at-large voting
Local residents, City Council members, nonprofit organizations, and a professional demographer have all contributed marked-up maps of Santa Maria for proposed City Council districts which will take effect later this year. To recap: Local businessman Hector Sanchez and his attorney threatened the city with a California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) lawsuit at the Feb. 21…
Los Olivos CSD and sewer system move forward with LAFCO approval
Los Olivos can take the next steps to form a community services district thanks to Santa Barbara County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), which approved the Santa Ynez Valley town’s application at an April 13 meeting. The application also includes a $20 million estimate to build a new water reclamation facility and sewer system to…
Weed me out
As Californians gear up to wait for the 650,000 rules and laws our legislators come up with to regulate marijuana into the unfun zone, I’m still grappling with one thing: my absolute fear and terror associated with smoking pot. Allow me to explain. I grew up in the 1980s, in the midst of the War…
Royal Family KIDS host benefit with Dave Stamey
Dave Stamey is performing at a benefit barbecue dinner hosted by Royal Family KIDS on April 22. Tickets are on sale now for the concert, dinner, and auction event. All proceeds go to Royal Family KIDS’ Summer Camp and Mentoring Club for foster children ages 6 to 12. Stamey, who was recently inducted in the…
PCPA seeks young performers for ‘Newsies The Musical’
The Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA) is seeking young actors to audition for its upcoming production of Disney’s Newsies The Musical. Auditions for the role of Les Jacobs take place April 27 at 6 p.m. in PCPA’s rehearsal studios. PCPA is looking for a boy or girl to play Jacobs. The character is described as a…
Toke and train? The Benchwarmer considers the debate around cannabis in performance athletics
It’s 4/20, so let’s talk about weed and sports. Bet that got your attention! About 10 years ago, the mention of weed and athletics in the same sentence would have sent people into an indignant panic. But as decriminalization and legalization is increasing across the United States, cannabis is becoming more widely used by performance…
Jayden Csotya
Soccer is hereditary in the Csotya family. Five-year-old Jayden Csotya, a kindergartner at Joe Nightingale Elementary School, inherited the soccer gene from his father, who also started playing the sport at a young age. “Playing soccer as a kid was one of the fondest memories of my childhood,” Kyron Csotya, Jayden’s dad, told the Sun.…
Blowing smoke
I don’t really smoke weed. OK, maybe sometimes when a friend passes a joint at a reggae concert, then I might partake, but that’s a pretty rare occurrence. Or maybe the odd marijuana cookie or brownie, you know, if I’ve got some back pain. And I do take a quick toke before bed each night,…
Dear Muslims
Editor’s note: This letter is in reply to the March 30 cover story “Meet a Muslim.” Welcome, as my neighbors to our beautiful Central Coast area. I invite you to our houses of worship where we will soon celebrate the risen savior who left an empty tomb and told us to care for others while…
District elections are here, like it or not
To the writer of “Let the people decide” (April 6), Robert Scott, you’re about three steps behind where we are now. The first step happened in the ’90s, when Santa Maria was sued over its citywide elections. The city defended its citywide elections, which cost the taxpayers $1 million. Step two resulted in the California…
A strong America starts with great public schools
“Together we make a profound difference for public education,” is the theme of this year’s Public Schools Month, celebrated in April and sponsored by the Grand Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons. It provides all of us with an opportunity to celebrate our schools. It’s a month for thanking those who make a difference…
Buellton ordinance oversteps private property rights
It was fortuitous for me to be at the Buellton City Council meeting on, Feb. 9, 2017, because I was greatly dismayed by what took place. A dispute had arisen between one family that had purchased an RV and a neighbor did not like the RV. In my opinion, the City Council and mayor showed…
Bonita School welcomes Sun editor as ‘Principal for a Day’
The Sun joined the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Industry Education Council’s Principal for a Day event, dispatching Managing Editor Joe Payne for a morning on the campus of Bonita School in Santa Maria. Bonita School Principal Aaron Shrogin hosted Payne at the elementary school for more than two hours and into…
Political Watch 4/20/17
• Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) joined 15 other U.S. Senate Democrats on April 12 to press Attorney General Jeff Sessions for answers on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) plan to review consent decrees between the federal government and local police departments. “Consent decrees offer both parties the opportunity to negotiate a mutual beneficial reform structure…
Santa Maria Planning Commission considers ordinance to curb the number of abandoned shopping carts
When Mike Guerra became an officer with the Santa Maria Police Department, he didn’t think the gig would entail dealing with the trash, debris, bottles of urine, and buckets of feces often found in abandoned shopping carts—but as it turns out, that’s part of the job. Homeless people snag the carts from parking lots and…
Sheriff’s Office reports increase in violent, property crimes
Santa Barbara County saw an uptick in both violent and property crimes last year, according to numbers released on April 12 by the Sheriff’s Office covering the county’s unincorporated areas as well as Buellton, Carpinteria, Goleta, and Solvang. In 2016, violent crimes—those involving force or threat of force—increased by 2 percent over 2015. It wasn’t…
Venoco declares bankruptcy, ends drilling in state waters
Venoco announced on April 17 that it has filed for bankruptcy, and the company expects to sell or close down some of its assets, including an oil platform in Santa Barbara County. As a result, Venoco’s Platform Holly offshore of Goleta will shut down permanently—welcome news for environmentalists who have long advocated for the platform’s…
County first responders to begin carrying drug to combat opioid overdoses
First responders in Santa Barbara County are now trained to carry naloxone nasal spray as part of a new program between the county’s Emergency Medical Services Agency and the Sheriff’s Office that’s intended to save the lives of anyone who’s suspected of overdosing on opioids. The program comes following a spike in opioid overdose deaths…
Easter weekend a violent one in Northern Santa Barbara County
Santa Maria saw a particularly violent Easter weekend this year that left local law enforcement investigating a homicide, a stabbing, an attempted murder, and the discovery of a charred body, which is being considered a suspicious death by local law enforcement. The busy weekend began at 9:25 p.m. on April 14, when officers from the…
Clarification
In the April 13 cover story, “Fit to print?” the Sun misidentified the individual who questioned Karen Velie during the trial. The correct individual was attorney James Wagstaffe. In addition, Bill Loving is not a former CalPoly professor, but plans to leave his post at the university at the end of the spring quarter.
