Cover Story
Commitment to care: Waves of Health provides essential medical attention and supplies to patients in Dominican Republic
The pills are huge, bleached white with “IP 220” stamped on one side, and they’re pouring out of a bottle you need two hands to hold. It’s metformin, a drug used to treat type II diabetes. Two residents (doctors in training), a medical school student, and I are measuring six-month supplies into zip-lock bags. A…
What would you do with $1.5 billion?
Jackie Rodriguez caretaker “Pay off a lot of bills and buy a house and help the rest of my family.” Triston Williamson unemployed “I’d buy a whole neighborhood and put my friends in it.” Brandon Perry assistant principal “Retire.” Eamon Lacey IT consulting “Travel the world.”
Political Watch 1/14/2016
• On Jan. 7, Gov. Jerry Brown released his proposed budget, the starting point for months of budget discussions. Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, and Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens), vice-chair, released the following statement that reads in part: “The Legislative Women’s Caucus remains committed to ensuring all…
Community Notebook 1/14/16 – 1/21/16
TUESDAY, JAN. 19 • 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. • The Santa Maria City Council has its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, City Hall, 110 E. Cook St.,…
Local militia madness: Historian says militias once had a home on the Central Coast
As Ammon Bundy and a band of armed protesters occupy an empty federal building on Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon, the term “militia” has been getting tossed around. Bundy is the son of Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who instigated at standoff with federal authorities in April 2014 in protest of unpaid…
Finding your oasis: Senior volunteers come together at Oasis Center in Orcutt
What’s your oasis? Is it working with your hands, moving paintbrush over paper? Is it moving your body, learning a new step? Perhaps your happy place is found more simply: connecting with friends over a cup of tea. The volunteers at the Oasis Center in Orcutt have found their respective passions over the course of…
Helping Habitat: Building homes for others can open up doors to different cultures
I’ve always wanted to travel. However, being a single, young, female makes travel a bit difficult. Plus, I was always working, never had money, and no one else seemed to share my desire—nay, need—to travel and discover the world. Not just the tourist destinations either. If I went to France, it would be more than…
Growing Humane Society calls for volunteers
The Santa Maria Valley Humane Society (SMVHS) is starved for volunteers as the organization approaches two major milestones: the expansion of its dog program and the launch of a trap, neuter, and return (TNR) program for feral cats. SMVHS will open a new dog kennel along with two dog yards by the end of January,…
A cuddle for comfort: Marian Regional Medical Center develops baby cuddler volunteer program
The Marian Regional Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) houses 21 infant beds, a team of medical professionals and—for 12 hours a week—a Sister of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity. Sister Virginia Boos volunteers in the NICU as a baby cuddler, and the job is exactly what it sounds like: holding and…
Cabin in the woods
During the winter months, many people enjoy driving up to the mountains, playing in the snow, and sleeping in quaint little rustic cabins. I think those people are quite stupid. Sure, on paper it all sounds so nice: the majestic mountains, the falling snow, small romantic cabins. What’s not to like? But the reality of…
The Campfire Cabin’s 100-year-old piano gets some much needed attention
Every piano has a potential, my piano tuning/repair mentor Larry Keast is fond of saying, and that goes for even the most aged of instruments. Well, some are hopeless, let’s be real. But, pianos are quite resilient and can remain (relatively) playable even as they get on in years. Such is the case of the…
Kings of Swing dance instructor David King passes away
A longtime dance instructor in the Santa Maria Valley and throughout the Central Coast, David King, passed away on Jan. 5 at the age of 68. King and his wife, Marie, are known throughout the valley from their dance studio Kings of Swing, which enjoyed several locations over the years. The Kings taught several styles…
Solvang’s third Wednesday event includes artsy activities
Solvang hosts a townwide event each month, its popular Third Wednesday events, which includes a cash mob, wine and beer walk, a lunchtime seminar, and offers and discounts at local businesses. The upcoming event on Jan. 20 will also include a few arts-related activities for visitors and locals alike. Third Wednesday attendees looking to get…
Valley Art Gallery offers Friday Fun Night
The Valley Art Gallery, a kind of co-op local art gallery staffed by its members, presents a Friday Fun Night at the Gallery event on Jan. 15 with activities for adults at the gallery in Orcutt. Member artists/teachers Michael Corob, Claudette Willdard, and Martin Johnsen will demonstrate Sumi ink painting techniques, including acrylics and pastels.…
Lompoc Valley Arts Council features block printer at quarterly forum
The Lompoc Valley Arts Council holds a quarterly forum and features presentations by local artists, with the next forum scheduled for Jan. 21. The featured speaker is Angelina La Pointe, a singer, songwriter, upright bass player, fashion stylist, and artist who will share her block printing techniques. The presentation, titled Block Printing in the Modern…
Art of the abstract: Kurt Waldo shows at the C Gallery
If you hopped into a time machine to meet up with artist Kurt Waldo a little more than five years ago, he probably wouldn’t believe you when you explained his success as a contemporary abstract artist. Waldo’s life included several monumental changes, “almost like a country song,” he told the Sun, including getting fired from…
Small lot, big attitude: Paso Underground–a tasting room collective of boutique makers–pours off the beaten path
A train barrels by just one block from Paso Underground, obscuring the sound of drizzling rain. I’m sipping one of Orion Stang’s ultra-small-batch Dilecta label releases, his 2013 “Match” blend of grenache, syrah, and mourvedre sourced from three Paso vineyards. The wine—like the nearby locomotive—boasts a lingering finish that haunts the senses long after the…
Erin Williams
Santa Ynez High School senior Erin Williams was kicking a soccer ball around before she started kindergarten. Next fall, she’ll be doing it under scholarship at UC Santa Barbara. Though Williams committed to play for UCSB more than a year ago, the excitement around her future hasn’t diminished. “I’m going to be studying economics,” Williams…
Beyond our border: Righetti high centerfielder spends winter break on baseball trip to Cuba
When Righetti High School sophomore Jaden LyBurtus found out that he would be spending five days in Cuba over winter break, he started scouring the Internet to try to familiarize himself with the far-off island. “I tried to read up on Cuba before I went; I didn’t want to be too clueless,” LyBurtus told the…
Trees, bees, and sleaze
Hear ye! Hear ye! The Santa Barbara County grand jury has spoken! And ye wee peasants need to listen. A county ordinance enacted in 2003 is declared a success. A success, I tell you! Deciduous oak trees have been saved in Santa Barbara County. Saved, I tell you! After this clown of a vintner cut…
Listen up, Guadalupe council
Even before I quit the Planning Commission, I wrote letters on May 7, 2005, to the city attorney about unapproved specified plan and no “CUP” conditional use permit on one big project. On June 3, 2005, I wrote another letter that the Planning Commission was being compromised, the city attorney, City Council, and the city…
PG&E should pay
Panels on my roof make more electricity than I use. As more roofs get photovoltaics, Diablo will no longer be needed. PG&E should pay for terminating their mistake—not us citizens.
It’s time to help the mentally ill homeless
A woman lays down on the railroad tracks. It’s chilly. She’s cold. Lonely. Darkness drapes about her like a threadworn cloak. El Niño washes over San Luis Obispo bringing rain to some and despair to the mentally ill homeless of which she is a sad member. It’s a disease of the mind that isolates her…
Santa Maria students attend GATE Institute of Technology
On Wednesday, Jan. 13, approximately 200 gifted and talented students from the Santa Maria-Bonita School District were set to gather for the 8th annual GATE winter enrichment workshop held at Jiménez School. This year, the focus was on technology, and the event was referred to as the GATE Institute of Technology. The fifth through eighth…
Registration underway at Hancock College
Registration for spring classes at Allan Hancock College’s Santa Maria campus is currently under way with more than 800 courses still available. Many begin the week of Jan. 25, and registration will continue until Jan. 24. Students will not only be able to fulfill their general education requirements with the many options available, but also…
Spotlight on: Monarch Wealth Strategies
Talk to any financial planner out there and most—if not all—will agree that it’s never too early to start saving money. Certified financial planner Aaron Clark agrees. How you go about doing that is all up to you, and people like Clark are there to help. Clark is a certified financial planner (CFP) for Monarch…
‘Godzilla’ El Nino begins wreaking havoc, but won’t cure the drought
It wasn’t unexpected, but it’s finally here and there’s been no shortage of fiascos in the first week of the global weather phenomenon that is El Niño. Predicted by weather scientists for the past year, El Niño is a band of warm ocean water that develops over the eastern/central portion of the Pacific Equator.…
SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch from Vandenberg AFB
Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) is ushering in 2016 with a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch scheduled for Jan. 17. It’ll be the base’s first launch of the year. The Falcon 9 rocket will be used to haul a satellite into space that’ll monitor global sea surface heights and how tropical cyclones intensify, according to 30th…
Santa Barbara County wine has a $1.7 billion economic impact
The movie Sideways may have helped put Santa Barbara County on the map as a wine destination, but if there was a way to quantify the impact county wineries have on the state economy, a recent report may be able to shed some light on the subject. All total, the 191 wineries in the county…
Federal Court denies ‘frivolous’ motion against Chumash
A U.S. District Court has denied Save the Valley LLC’s motion to intervene in a century-old case related to the establishment of the Santa Ynez Indian Reservation. The motion called for enforcement of the case’s judgment, which Save the Valley said prohibits the Chumash tribe from commercial development on the reservation’s land. The motion to…
Lompoc to annex northern parcel for development
Lompoc will expand its city limits to include a 10-acre parcel for the construction of a housing development, following a 6-1 approval vote by the Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation (LAFCO) Thursday, Jan. 7. Lompoc City Administrator Patrick Wiemiller estimates the annexation will go into effect mid-February, preceded by a 30-day wait period and the…
