Cover Story
Santa Barbara County debates the future of oil
For most Santa Barbara County residents, it’s easy to pick a side on Measure P: Either oil is bad or oil is good. In essence though, the measure is about more than oil; it’s about defining the future of the county. It’s about figuring out what’s most important to county residents—allowing the wave of oil…
What is your favorite beer?
Joe Rodriguez winery employee “The chocolate porter from Santa Maria Brewing. It’s very dark and the taste is pretty light for the color.” Dave Romag lab technician “I’m a big fan of Stone Brewing, but I’m biased because I’m from San Diego and the brewery is right down the street.” Zoe Wiens medical transcriber “I…
Doctor Google
I attended community college. Don’t judge. Compared to my friends who went off to “real” college, I saved thousands in student loans. I will admit though, at real college, my friends met real college girls and went to real college parties. I was stuck in my hometown with community college girls, who turned out to…
Janet Robin’s fiery fingers ignite Michael’s Place
Lompoc has the reputation as a sleepy town, but the community wakes up when a world-class musician strolls through town. Janet Robin, a powerhouse guitarist and singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, made a stop on Aug. 22 at Michael’s Place in downtown Lompoc and exhibited her masterful skills with the instrument. “I’ve played Lompoc once before,…
Show some spirit
Michaels Arts and Crafts in Santa Maria is hosting a School Spirit Shaker Kids’ Club event on Sept. 6 from 10 a.m. to noon. A Team Spirit Pom Poms Kids’ Club event is Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to noon. The 30-minute craft sessions are open to kids aged 3 years old and up and…
Art Oasis
The Luis Oasis Senior Center in Orcutt includes several arts meetings and activities throughout the week. The Los Padres Artist Guild meets Sept. 1 at 4 p.m. A creative arts expressions class is Sept. 2 at 1 p.m. Crocheting and knitting happen on Sept. 3 at 9:30 a.m. Also on Sept. 3 is a beginning…
Santa Maria Philharmonic prepares for elegant fundraiser
The Santa Maria Philharmonic Society is kicking of its 15th anniversary season with An Elegant Evening of Dinner and Dancing on Oct. 4. The evening will start at 5:30 p.m. at the Santa Maria Country Club with a cocktail hour that includes live music by local jazz duo Mike Thibault and Bradford Lusk. Dinner follows…
Join the club
The League of Women Voters invites the community to join a newly forming book club. The first meeting is set for Aug. 28 at Café Noir, 1555 S. Broadway, Santa Maria. Possible books and topics will be discussed at the first meeting. More information is available at 878-7275.
Walk the tiny town
The Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center offers another Guadalupe Walk and Talk event with long-time Guadalupe resident Shirley Boydstun on Sept. 20 from 10 to 11:30 a.m., starting at the Dunes Center, moving along Highway 1, and touring Guadalupe’s historic avenues. Boydstun will share knowledge about the families and buildings that are each a piece of the…
LVAA hosts monthly meeting and demonstration
The Lompoc Valley Art Association (LVAA) is holding its monthly meeting and art program on Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. with guest artist Zoe Nathan speaking about her mixed media approach to art. Nathan combines conceptual art with more classical forms in an attempt to portray theatrical and engaging work. The meeting starts with a…
Gallery Los Olivos features the 3-D works of Larry R. Rankin
Local artist Larry R. Rankin never knows what he will make when he enters his studio. Depending on the medium he is working in, he may have to command a form into existence or graciously guide a natural material into art. The upcoming show Bronze, Wood, and Stone is a showcase of Rankin’s chosen media,…
San Diego offers a bubbly tour of several of Cali’s top craft breweries
If you have the time and disposable income, a trip down Highway 101 is always guaranteed to take you somewhere fun or interesting. Once you make it to the bumper-to-bumper bustle of Los Angeles, you can skip over to Highway 5 South, and enjoy a beachside cruise all the way down to San Diego. A…
Fess Parker Winery commemorates its founder with an anniversary celebration
On Aug. 16, a day that would have been Fess Parker’s 90th birthday, his family and more than 100 friends and fans gathered in the Fess Parker Winery VIP barrel room in Los Olivos, raising their wine glasses to toast the man who passed away in 2010. But the winery toasted its founder for more…
Discovery Corner: Come celebrate R.H. Tesene Day with us!
Do you like Santa Maria-style tri-tip and cake? If you said yes to either of those (or both), you’re in luck! On Aug. 31, Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum staffers will be host to R.H. Tesene Day, an annual community day celebrating the birthday of one of our late, great donors. Admission to the museum…
Marian teams up with the Discovery Museum for Nutrition Expedition
Through Kohl’s Cares, Marian Regional Medical Center was recently awarded a $39,600 grant to improve the health and wellness of local children by offering the Nutrition Expedition with Kohl’s program at the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum. The department store program’s objective is to teach children and their families how to make healthy lifestyle choices,…
Santa Maria-Bonita has preschool slots open
Classes in the Santa Maria-Bonita School District started on Aug. 12, but the district still has room for students in its state preschool program. Students can be enrolled in the preschool program at any time. State preschool is for children who turn 4 years old before Sept. 1 of each year and who meet eligibility…
Iced for ALS
Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Assistant Superintendent John Davis gleefully dumps a bucket of ice water on Superintendent Mark Richardson on Aug. 22. Richardson took the ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, ice bucket challenge-—a social media campaign that challenges participants to donate to the ALS Association or…
Spotlight on: Apple Tree
Ruffles and sequins hang in colorful rows, adorn the walls, and cover the naked off-white of store mannequins. That’s not all that Apple Tree in the Santa Maria Town Center sells, but those dresses are the most visible—you know, they have that bling-factor that separates them from everything else in the store. There are also…
Political Watch 8/28/14
• The Lompoc Valley Democratic Club is holding its annual Labor Day picnic on Aug. 31 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Hibbits Ranch. Confirmed speakers include Heidi Harmon, candidate for State Assembly. Candidates and elected officials who support issues such as workers rights and pay equity have also been invited. For reservations or…
Communtiy Notebook 8/28/14-9/4/14
MONDAY, SEPT. 1 • The Solvang Planning Commission has its regular meeting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 1644 Oak Street, Solvang. TUESDAY, SEPT. 2 • The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors has its regular meeting at 9 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors Hearing Room, 105 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara.…
Community Corner: Drought disaster loans are still available
California is dry, which is why the U.S. Small Business Administration is offering loans to small, nonfarm businesses that have endured economic losses because of dwindling deals with farmers and other agriculture workers who themselves are financially struggling through the current drought. The SBA announced a deadline of Sept. 15, until which eligible businesses in…
Community Health Centers of the Central Coast is facing two sexual harassment lawsuits from former employees
The situations described seem almost identical: two women, both receptionists hired within about a year of one another, allege that their respective bosses began sexually harassing them in late 2012. Both were fired. Both have the same attorney. Both have sued. Though Santa Barbara-based attorney Christine Adams declined to comment or allow either of her…
Clarification
Santa Maria City Council member Jack Boysen wanted to clarify a couple points mentioned in the Aug. 21 article “Racing for a seat.” He said he works very closely with all levels of city management, and “I am not afraid to challenge management’s presentations and ideas.” Boysen added that he doesn’t favor or support increasing…
Correction
The Aug. 21 arts brief “Discovery Museum fires up the grill” incorrectly reported the date of the Santa Maria Discovery Museum’s upcoming barbecue event honoring R.H. Tesene. The event will be on Aug. 31.
Santa Maria passes a water waste ordinance
The Santa Maria City Council unanimously passed an outdoor water use ordinance on Aug. 19, bringing the city into line with emergency drought regulations passed by the California Water Resources Control Board in July. The new ordinance adds to existing municipal code regarding water waste. Here’s what’s no longer allowed: irrigation run-off that flows onto…
Sheriff’s Department releases details in a Guadalupe homicide
At approximately 6:50 a.m. on Aug. 19, a group of field workers discovered the body of a heavy-set man on the side of the road, face down in the dirt, near the entrance to Rancho Guadalupe Beach. It was 37-year-old Javier Alcantar Limon of Santa Maria. Guadalupe police and fire personnel joined the Santa Barbara…
Dry vegetation’ ups fire restrictions in Los Padres
Los Padres National Forest officials announced that effective Aug. 26 Level IV fire restrictions will be enacted throughout the forest. That means wood and charcoal fires are prohibited everywhere in Los Padres—even in sites designated for campfire use. Such sites will still allow for the operation of portable stoves and lanterns, assuming they’re not powered…
County to meet with Chumash about casino expansion
County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato has a list of mitigation requests for a meeting her office has scheduled with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians on Aug. 28. The list, stemming from the proposed Chumash Casino Resort expansion, was finalized during the Aug. 26 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting, and it’s pretty…
Man with contagious tuberculosis is at large
On Aug 22, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department asked county residents for information on the whereabouts of Augustin Zeferino, a 24-year-old man diagnosed with contagious drug-resistant tuberculosis. He had not been located as of press time on Aug. 27. “Without proper treatment,” a press release reads, “Mr. Zeferino’s condition poses a serious health…
Dry subject matter
Have you ever thought about dominoes? Like really thought about them? I’m talking about dominoes waiting to be toppled over. There’s a definite start point. They have to be consciously arranged in a line that extends from one point to another. Dominoes are not deployed in a constant state of falling. That would be weird,…
We can’t assess what we can’t read
“Ripple effect” (Aug. 7) is outstanding work by reporter Colin Rigley. His story relates how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has withheld the 2003 Sewell Report about threats of a tsunami to the Diablo Canyon spent-fuel storage facilities. Something smells fishy when the NRC will not allow PG&E, operators of the two Diablo nuclear reactors,…
Farewell to Alex Bar-B-Q
There’s a sadness that comes with the closure of legendary gathering places. Such iconic places as Delmonico’s in New York City, the Las Vegas Sands Hotel and Casino, Los Angeles’ famed Cocoanut Grove, and Hollywood’s Brown Derby have all passed into memory. Four years ago, Shell Beach’s own Old Vienna Restaurant and Beer Garden closed…
What’s On Deck 8/28/14-9/4/14
Thursday, Aug. 28 Football Lompoc vs. Arroyo Grande @ LHS, 5 p.m. Girls’ Golf St. Joseph vs. Cabrillo @ Village Country Club, 2 p.m. Girls’ Volleyball Cabrillo vs. Righetti @ RHS, 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29 Football SMHS vs. Cabrillo @ SMHS, 4 p.m. St. Joseph vs. Santa Fe @…
Bulldogs bite into a new season
The Allan Hancock College football team will open its season on Sept. 6, with a game against Santa Ana College. It will be the first time the Bulldogs take on the Dons. Returning head coach, Kris Dutra, begins his 14th season with the Bulldogs and has the second most victories in Hancock history. The team’s…
Tee off for a cause
Local organization Shoes for Students will host its 14th annual golf tournament on Sept. 7 at the Santa Maria Country Club. Donations for the fundraiser will help provide footwear to children in local school districts whose families don’t have the means to buy new shoes without help. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m., and the tournament…
Conor Regan
With the 2014 high school football season just beginning, Ernest Righetti High School’s starting quarterback Conor Regan is already pulling in scouts. This summer, the senior Warrior was offered a preferred walk-on position at the University of Southern California. That means Regan is already guaranteed admission at USC and a spot on the Trojan roster.…
A local jiu-jitsu instructor tackled his PTSD demons with martial arts
Chris Ruiz was on vacation at Disneyland when he realized he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In 2005, the former Marine was almost asleep in his hotel when he heard the thud of exploding fireworks. He tried to calm himself, but his heart was racing, and when the grand finale boomed, he sat…
