Cover Story
Terminal descent? The Santa Maria Public Airport remains an economic force despite lowest commercial passenger numbers since 2009
The Santa Maria Public Airport terminal lobby is almost entirely empty on any given day, and it was on Thursday, Feb. 1. None of the airport’s three weekly commercial passenger flights were scheduled for departure or arrival that day, and still, the radio played ’80s hits at 9 a.m. The lobby, a single room, was…
Randall Sena to perform fundraiser concert for new nonprofit
Lompoc’s music community can track a lot of paths that connect somehow with Randall Sena, the longtime music teacher and recording studio proprietor whose shop, Certain Sparks Music, is located in Lompoc’s historic downtown. After years of teaching, recording, and performing in Lompoc, Sena has expanded into a new endeavor: the nonprofit sphere. He started…
Great American Melodrama kicks off new season with Ken Ludwig’s take on Sherlock Holmes
It’s a brand new year, and along with lots of broken resolutions, it’s time for a brand new season of local theater. First up this year is Baskerville, a comedic spin on a classic Sherlock Holmes tale produced by the Great American Melodrama in Oceano. Baskerville is written by Ken Ludwig, the same playwright who…
Student art at Hancock’s Ann Foxworthy Gallery presents work from all walks of life
View a slideshow from the exhibit. Linda Metaxas simply refers to her painting as “the girl.” Formally titled A Girl and Her Dog, the painting features a young woman gently holding a friendly faced basset hound in her arms. The dog hangs from her thin arms like a hastily folded lump of fresh laundry, illustrating…
SY Kitchen is still going strong in Santa Ynez
It’s so easy to get used to a good thing. That seems to be the case with SY Kitchen. Although it’s only been around for about five years (a significant number in the restaurant business), it won an instant reputation as one of the best eateries on the Central Coast. But in truth, I hadn’t…
Great American Melodrama announces 2018 season
Oceano’s Great American Melodrama recently revealed its slate of upcoming productions for the 2018 season. Planned shows included Ken Ludwig’s Sherlock Holmes comedy Baskervilles, running now through March 4, Sylvia, about a dog who upends a married couple’s life, which runs March 8 through April 22, and the musical spoof Less Miserable, which runs from…
Shy Kendrick
Valley Christian Academy high school junior Shy Kendrick is the leading scorer on the girls’ varsity basketball team, according to head coach Randy Stanford, with an average of 12.5 points a game. As point guard, Kendrick also averages 8.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 4.2 blocked shots each game, Stanford said. Kendrick has been selected as…
Spotlight on: Edible Arrangements
Decades ago, longtime Santa Marian George Muranaka and his wife, Linda, talked about opening up a franchise one day. Once their kids grew up and left the house, they had the time and money to invest, Muranaka said, but they weren’t about to drop more than $1 million for a McDonald’s franchise. They came across…
Los Padres combs through proposals for restoration work in areas affected by Zaca, Piru, and Jesusita fires
A decade after three fires scorched swaths of the Los Padres National Forest, plans are finally being laid to repair the damage. The forest and its nonprofit partner, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), announced on Jan. 10 it would accept proposals for a third round of funding available to the Los Padres through the…
Buellton City Council to fill vacant seat at next meeting
Buellton City Council members will fill a recently emptied seat during their meeting on Feb. 8, where three applicants will be publicly interviewed before one is chosen. Council members agreed to begin taking applications at a meeting on Dec. 14 after former Councilmember Foster Reif announced his early resignation due to a job opportunity in…
Semi-official election results in favor of Los Olivos Community Services District
The semi-official election night results are in, and it appears Los Olivos will be using locally elected officials to oversee the handling of its notorious wastewater issues. Los Olivos residents cast their votes on Jan. 30 largely in favor of Measure P2018, which, if certified by the Santa Barbara County Elections Office, would form the…
Checks, balances?
Hey, there it is! Some of that “deference” that the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on the North side of the dias have been looking for regarding oil! Everybody got along and made a grown-up decision across party lines. Isn’t that neat? It’s not a giant pipeline that ERG Operating Company wants to build…
Trump’s plan will make nuclear war more likely
The 2018 U.S. Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) released on Feb. 2 represents a reckless realignment of an already dangerous U.S. nuclear policy. The review specifically calls for the development of new, low-yield nuclear weapons that have lower explosive force. Many experts warn that such smaller weapons would blur the distinction between nuclear and non-nuclear weapons,…
Pot or not
A legal product called tobacco is freely sold nearly everywhere. People use tobacco for the pleasure that it provides. This product causes illness and death. Thousands dead every year. A legal product called alcohol is freely sold nearly everywhere. People use alcohol for the pleasure that it provides. This product causes illness and death. Thousands…
Lompoc welcomes cannabis industry
Lompoc was founded as a temperance colony which completely prohibited alcohol. A group of ladies is famous for pulling a saloon right off its foundation and dragging it down the street in 1885. But Prohibition ended with progression in Lompoc, and the city now boasts itself as wine and beer crafting tourism destination. In November…
High schoolers present solutions to gender discrimination at first annual AAUW Speech Trek
When Lompoc High School student Erin McCallon attended San Luis Obispo’s Jan. 20 Women’s March, a local take on the second nationwide rally for gender equality since President Donald Trump was sworn into office, she said it changed her life. “I realized that I’m not the only person who thinks the way I think,” McCallon…
Political Watch 2/8/18
• President Donald Trump honored U.S. Forest Service firefighter David Dahlberg from Santa Maria at the State of the Union address on Jan. 30 for his part in rescuing campers from Circle V Ranch Camp during the Whittier Fire near Cachuma Lake last year. “David faced down walls of flame to rescue almost 60 children…
Affiliates of the local ag industry talk Farm Bill with Rep. Salud Carbajal in Santa Maria
Farmers, ranchers, and growers on the Central Coast all seem to want one thing from the federal government: support for specialty crops. Dozens of locals affiliated with California’s agricultural industry attended a listening session on Feb. 1 at the Santa Maria Fairpark, where Reps. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) and Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota) listened to what…
County supervisors approve Foxen Pipeline project
Sisquoc residents can look forward to a future where oil tanker trucks traveling their two-lane roads are fewer and farther between. On Feb. 6, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved construction of the Foxen Petroleum Pipeline. The ordinance allows ERG Operating Company to connect its Cat Canyon facility to a Phillips 66…
Santa Maria Police release few details on shooting death of 13-year-old
The Santa Maria Police Department declined to share additional details about a shooting on Feb. 3 that left a 13-year-old dead. Leonardo Navarro, 13, died of his wounds at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital two days later. On Feb. 5, the department said the investigation into the incident was ongoing. On Feb. 6, Sgt. Michael McGehee…
Lompoc correctional officers’ union rep opposes budget cuts
A spokesperson for the union representing federal correctional officers at the Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution added his voice to calls being made by similar union representatives across the country opposing proposed cuts to the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) 2018 budget. “This an issue,” Justin Bender of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3048 told…
Santa Maria Civic Theatre to get new paint job
To celebrate its 60th year in community theater, the Santa Maria Civic Theatre (SMCT) is getting a new paint job, courtesy of a local business. Santa Maria’s New Life Painting is donating the service as a part of its Pay it Forward program. In a statement sent to local media, Civic Theatre Board President Sally…
Lompoc Beautification and Appearance Commission announces work project
The city of Lompoc’s Beautification and Appearance Commission invites the community to a work project to improve the city. The commission asks the community to join the work project on Feb. 17, starting at 8 a.m. The group will meet at the northwest corner of D Street where it intersects with North Avenue in Lompoc.…
