Cover Story
Learning the world: The Outdoor Classroom Project brings outdoor education to early childhood centers
View a slideshow of Allan Hancock College’s outdoor education center. The outdoor facilities at Allan Hancock College Children’s Center contained dozens of young minds exploring its diverse space on a recent, and windy, Tuesday morning. Three distinct yards separate infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, and each area teemed with a variety of activities despite the limited…
What was your favorite outdoor activity as a child?
Kristy Araujo mother “Probably just riding my bike with friends.” Tom Lathos businessman “Capture the flag.” Rich Stevens printer “Going to the park.” Ed Albert carpenter “Fishing.”
A one-season girl
I’d like to live in a place with seasons,” my husband, Ron, said, and I knew the East Coast had infiltrated his brain. I argued that we kind of have seasons here, at least the ones that count, you know “mild,” and “summer.” That was the problem, he explained. Two years ago, Ron’s job had…
Schoolhouse Music is a world-class ensemble in Los Olivos
The violin and its bowed relatives are notoriously difficult instruments to master. The naked neck of the classic orchestral instruments offers no guide to new players, who must find the notes by touch, and work tirelessly in perfecting this tightrope technique. One local violin and viola performer and pedagogue has assembled a coalition of world-class…
DANA celebrates Black History Month with Jim Beckwourth talk
The Dana Adobe Nipomo Amigos (DANA) is hosting a talk on Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. in celebration of Black History Month that shares the stories of African-Americans who helped settle the West, including one man who actually spent time at the Dana Adobe. The talk will focus on the near-legendary story of Jim Beckwourth,…
Santa Maria Philharmonic collaborates with Allan Hancock College ensembles
The Santa Maria Philharmonic Society’s first concert of 2015 will include the full orchestra performing under the baton of conductor Brian Asher Alhadeff in cahoots with two Allan Hancock College performing arts ensembles on Feb. 28. The Allan Hancock Concert Chorale will be singing a selection of spiritual and gospel numbers by William Grant with…
Lompoc Civic Theatre presents comedic Canadian thriller
The Lompoc Civic Theatre is gearing up for the first show of its 2015 season, I’ll Be Back Before Midnight, which runs for three weeks beginning Feb. 20. The comedic thriller by Peter Colley is one of the most widely produced stage plays in Canadian history and is known for its exciting use of special…
PCPA embraces the whimsy of ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’
Where do our favorite characters come from? What drives a young boy to never want to grow up? What inspires a two-bit pirate captain to truly villainous pursuits? And is there more to fairies than just the wings? These questions are answered by The Pacific Conservatory Theatre’s (PCPA) current production, Peter and the Starcatcher, a…
County parks benefit from new Betteravia Gallery exhibit
Ocean views, scrub brush, mountains, and oak trees define Santa Barbara County’s landscape, and all of its variation is on display at the Betteravia Galleries for the Near and Far exhibit that opened on Feb. 17. A large panoramic view of a South Santa Barbara County beach surrounded by rocky cliffs hangs across the lobby…
Migrant Education students head to Washington, D.C.
From Feb. 7 through 13, more than a dozen Santa Maria Joint Union High School District students traveled to Washington, D.C., and toured the White House, Capitol Hill, the Washington Monument and other historical sites. The students are migrant education students from Ernest Righetti, Pioneer Valley, and Santa Maria high schools. All of the students…
Santa Maria-Bonita will pilot a dual language program at the new school
After a Feb. 11 public study session regarding dual language programs, the Santa Maria-Bonita School District board voted unanimously to move forward with a pilot program at “School No. 20,” the district’s newest school (it hasn’t been named yet). The question of when and how that will happen has yet to be determined, but the…
Spotlight on: Blue Sky Vapes
Frank Compston stands by e-cigarettes. Not only does he think they helped him kick a cigarette and cigar smoking habit, but he said they also helped his son stop using chewing tobacco. After seeing a lack of shops along the Central Coast that sell e-cigarettes, or electronic vaporizer pens, Compston decided to open a shop…
Political Watch 2/19/15
• California’s Senate Judiciary Committee held an oversight hearing on Feb. 16 examining the legal questions and privancy challenges created by drones. The hearing included testimony from industry leaders, privacy rights groups, representatives of the media, and law enforcement representatives, such as Bruce Parks from the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, Jim Ewert from…
Community Notebook 2/19/15-2/26/15
MONDAY, FEB. 24 • The South County Advisory Council has its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Nipomo Community Services District Headquarters, 148 S. Wilson St., Nipomo. • The Solvang City Council has its regular meeting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 1644 Oak Street, Solvang. agendas are available at cityofsolvang.com. TUESDAY,…
Hobnobbing with Helen
“Please join us for a casual reception and to learn more about the Scholarship Foundation’s activities and future plans in the Santa Maria Valley.” So read the invitation to an event held on Feb. 12, at Trattoria Uliveto restaurant. Said reception was a very pleasant gathering of about 80 North County donors and supporters of…
Former Santa Maria police lieutenant Dan Ast wins his appeal to be reinstated; federal lawsuit still awaits resolution
Dan Ast is a former Santa Maria Police Department lieutenant who was fired due to his involvement in a series of incidents that ultimately led to one officer shooting and killing another officer in an arrest attempt gone wrong in January 2012. Ast later appealed to get his job back—a move that recently went in…
Corrections
• The Feb. 12 article “Hancock basketball players enter not guilty pleas on murder charges” incorrectly reported a date. Defendants Ali Mohammed and Lavell White pleaded not guilty to murder charges on Feb. 3. • The Feb. 12 article “A medical marijuana dispensary is proposed for Nipomo” also incorrectly reported a date. The South County…
Santa Maria officers make an arrest in connection with a pellet gun shooting spree
One Santa Maria teenager was arrested after three suspects in a car drove around the northwest part of the city, allegedly shooting at car windows with a pellet gun on Feb. 11, according to the Santa Maria Police Department. Police said one of the suspects shot into a vehicle that was occupied by a father…
Santa Maria daycare provider arrested on torture allegations
Daycare provider Georgina Imelda Ruiz-Bojorquez was arrested on Feb. 10 in connection with allegations of child abuse and child torture being investigated by the Santa Maria Police Department. Although the department isn’t releasing the details of the investigation just yet, the incidents associated with the arrest allegedly took place between 1998 and 2005 and involved…
Lompoc teenager shot after allegedly charging police officer while holding a fork
An alleged fight between two brothers on Feb. 6 evolved into a 17-year-old being shot as he allegedly charged a Lompoc police officer with what turned out to be a very long metal fork, according to the Lompoc Police Department. The reported fight started that morning near the teenager’s home on the 800 block of…
The fate of Olive Grove Charter schools depends on Cuyama’s school district
In June 2014, the Los Olivos School District opted to downsize its Olive Grove Charter School from five campuses serving more than 300 students to a single campus that serves 20, but shedding buildings, students, and teachers isn’t an immediate process. On Feb. 12 of this year, the board approved the intention to lay off…
An energy company proposes a 96-well oil drilling project on Orcutt Hill
The draft environmental impact report is out for the first of several potential new oil drilling projects in Santa Barbara County. Pacific Coast Energy Company (CPEC) is proposing to add 96 new cyclically steamed wells to the 96 cyclically steamed wells it already operates on Orcutt Hill. The project is known as the Orcutt Hill…
Santa Barbara County winemaker Ernst Storm is taking the wine world by … storm
Fresh from a relaxing month-long visit to his native South Africa, Santa Ynez Valley winemaker Ernst Storm vividly recalls not only the sights but also specific scents that he encountered while hiking deep into lush forests along the country’s scenic Golden Route. “There are layers of leaves that never see sun. It’s clean; it’s not…
I can’t see the ballot from here
I can’t see the ballot from here Remember when our elected officials weren’t always campaigning? That had to have been a thing. The cycle can’t have always been so get-in-office focused. Or am I looking at the past through glasses that have a bit of a rosy tint to them? I’m not against campaigning. I…
Run like a girl
In California, women won the right to vote in 1911. More than a hundred years later, one would expect women would have ascended into elected office in equal measure to their male peers. This is not the case. While women comprise more than 50 percent of the state, we only make up about 25 percent…
Sophia Stevens
“The best moment of my season,” said Cabrillo High School point guard Sophia Stevens, “was definitely when we won league, and we ran out into the court crying. I was on varsity my freshman year, and we did not win one game. Going from that to league champs was definitely a big moment in my…
Sand crabs and surfperch in Guadalupe
A surfperch-fishing tournament in Grover Beach drew crowds to a bait shop on Betteravia Road at the beginning of February. Surfperch fishing, said Been There, Caught That owner Tina Anderson, is “off the hook. It’s been really good. There’s lots of buzz. [The] big tournament here about two weeks ago generated a lot of interest.”…
