Cover Story
Art of healing: Caregivers incorporate music to stave off and manage the effects of Alzheimer’s and dementia
“You’ve got to ac-cen-tuate the positive/E-lim-inate the negative/Latch on to the affirmative/Don’t mess with Mister In-Between” The 20-plus members of the Oasis Senior Center Choir all sang in unison with the piano accompaniment. Gruff baritones and lilting sopranos blended together, filling the room with melody. Karen Eastey led the group from the piano, where she…
Misdeeds in La-La Land
In every local community in America it is apparent that the lies and misdeeds of Washington’s La-La Land impact our nation’s standing and tarnish our country’s reputation and place each and every community’s safety in peril! Now is the time for us all to act locally as one to protect those principles that our Founding…
SLO County investigates Abel Maldonado for alleged cannabis or hemp grow
As San Luis Obispo County ramps up enforcement against illegal cannabis grows in the area, officials say they are investigating what appears to be a large, unlicensed cannabis farm on land owned by former Republican Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado. Discovered recently by the SLO County Sheriff’s Office, the farm in question is “at least 30…
Former Tommie Kunst principal working to bring new charter school to county
Just months after enduring what she called her “worst” experience in 25 years of teaching and education, which led to her recent resignation from a local junior high school, former principal Carmen Rivera is working to open a new charter school in Santa Barbara County. Although plans for the public charter school, Affinity Charter, are…
Elizabeth Enderle
She’s not the first in her family to love horses, but incoming Santa Ynez High School sophomore Elizabeth Enderle shows them like no one else can. Elizabeth, 15, has been riding horses since she was a child, but started competitively showing only about three years ago, according to her mom, Kerry Enderle. And she’s already…
I want it that way: Melodrama’s The Mix Tape celebrates 1990s nostalgia
In 1999, I was living in Indiana and working as a part-time photographer. I had a car with a five-CD changer and I thought it was the most technologically advanced piece of equipment that had ever existed. The ’90s, my college glory days, were rolling past me and I was heading right into Y2K paranoia…
Stars in her eyes: Russian/American pop singer Marina V talks music and emotion ahead of concert in Lompoc
The Russian-born pop singer/songwriter Marina Verenikina, who goes by Marina V, has wowed audiences and critics across the U.S., Europe, and her home country with her starling voice and piano-centered pop music. Based in LA, the artist is currently on tour, and will make a stop on the Central Coast for an Aug. 10 show…
Poor choices
I’m getting really weary of hearing the same tired, and frankly lazy talking points being regurgitated again and again, especially regarding problems that have only gotten worse. Take poverty, a huge problem in Santa Barbara County, recently illustrated by the fact that we were placed at No. 3 of all the counties in the state…
Spotlight on: The Ultimate Escape Rooms – Alexis Crouse, co-owner
Central Coast residents and visitors have a new place where they can “escape” from the real world. The Ultimate Escape Rooms, a Ventura-based company, plans to open its doors at 485 Alisal, suite 120, in Solvang sometime this month. The business’s main attraction? Its name says it all. “Real-life room-escape games are a type of…
Lacking resources: Santa Barbara County and cities battle high poverty rate
Santa Barbara County has one of the highest poverty rates in California. A new report recently released by the nonprofit think tank Public Policy Institute of California shows the Central Coast municipality’s 23 percent poverty rate trailed only Los Angeles (24.3) and Santa Cruz (23.8) counties. Likewise, childhood poverty was found to be equally dismal…
Retraction
The Sun’s Aug. 2 issue, the annual Best Of readers poll, including a brief that sourced information from an incorrect website. The following brief for the winner of Best Senior Living Community, won by Country Oaks Care Center at 830 E. Chapel St. in Santa Maria, is the correct version: Finding the right place for…
Clarification
In the Sun’s annual Best Of readers poll issue out on Aug. 2, the address of Tips and Toes, which won Best Nail Salon, was stated incorrectly. Tips and Toes is located at 104 N. Concepcion, Santa Maria.
Wind down: Costa de Oro is the perfect spot to enjoy a pre-weekend night out
The sun is barely beginning to descend from the sky, leaving us with a blanket of warmth as a cool breeze comes up from the east. The music coming from inside the small two-story building is inviting, bouncy, and familiar as we approach. Here at Costa de Oro’s tasting room in Santa Maria, Thursday nights…
Backroad rambler: Carol Simon’s work features whimsical interpretations of still life and world travel
Carol Simon admits she has a very patient husband. The artist, whose work currently can be seen at Gallery Los Olivos in a one-woman show running through Aug. 31, laughs when she talks about driving through the backroads of Europe and spotting a place she wants to sketch. “My husband is really sweet,” Simon said.…
Guadalupe Dunes Center hosts hike to Mussel Rock
The Dunes Center in Guadalupe will host a nature hike to Mussel Rock on Aug. 18. The park, which lies to the south of Guadalupe, includes 550-foot-high dunes along the Santa Maria River Estuary. The hike to the park will be led by Ray Segovia and will feature a mild pace with highlighted features of…
Santa Maria Civic Theatre holds auditions for new musical
The Santa Maria Civic Theatre is holding auditions for an upcoming production of the musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors. The show will be the second production of the group’s 60th season. Roles include Seymour, Audrey, Orin, Mr. Mushnik, The Plant, and various ensemble members. Ages range from early 20s to middle-aged. Auditions will be…
CORE Winery presents San Francisco Poet Susan Terence
As part of the winery’s Second Saturday poetry night, CORE Winery in Orcutt presents a reading from Susan Terence on Aug. 11. Terence’s poems have been published in journals including the Nebraska Review, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Southern Poetry Review, and the San Francisco Chronicle as well as numerous other literary magazines and collections. She…
It is sad
There is fear throughout this land. Fear of truth. Fear of offending. Fear of being different. Fear of responsibility. Fear of being natural, normal. It is sad. Think about it!
Dear editor
You Canary says: “It must be nice to be able to own a house or a piece of farmland, to rake in the stacks of rental or ag income from the county’s working class,” (“Must be nice,” July 26). I’m a working-class employee, a senior citizen, and the owner of rental income. I’m also the…
Political Watch 8/9/18
• Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) criticized the Trump administration’s announcement that it would remove the Obama-era policy of fuel emissions standards for car manufacturers, including California’s own more stringent fuel emission standards, on Aug. 2 while joining more than 60 House Democrats in in co-sponsoring Rep. Mark DeSaulnier’s (D-Concord) resolution to oppose the decision.…
Santa Maria responds to grand jury report on pensions
The Santa Maria City Council responded to a Santa Barbara Barbara County grand jury report on Aug. 7. The city’s answer included two recommendations, which Santa Maria officials say the city has already implemented, as well as several findings that the city partially disagreed with and noted in its letter, sent by Mayor Alice Patino. …
State Sen. Jackson’s bill targets wildfire prevention
As much of California burns in the middle of a particularly bad fire season, one bill penned by a Central Coast state senator is making its way through the Assembly. Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson’s (D-Santa Barbara) Senate Bill 1260 aims to improve “forest management practices to reduce the risk of wildfires in light of our changing…
Santa Maria High School District breaks ground on long-awaited CTE Center and Ag Farm
Shovels in hand, students donning corduroy Future Farmers of America jackets and hard hats giggled as they simultaneously dug into the freshly graded ground and tossed dirt into the air as a small audience snapped photos. Behind them, massive yellow backhoes and bulldozers sat still near the newly formed outline of what will soon be…
