Cover Story
The fin issue
The shark silenced the room. Hundreds of people had been talking, laughing, shouting, trying to spot the unmistakable predatory shape amid the other fish endlessly circling in the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Outer Bay exhibit. Children on class field trips pressed as close as they could to the transparent wall, yelping whenever one of the tank’s…
Sienna Pita
Don’t be fooled by 13-year-old Sienna Pita’s quietly shy demeanor; once she hits the BMX track, she becomes a whirlwind of speed and intensity in her pink gear on her blue bike. It’s been three years since Pita’s cousins, who are also BMX racers, took her out riding. According to her mother, Kristina Pita, she…
What’s on Deck?
Thursday, June 30 Semipro Baseball Santa Maria Valley Packers @ Atwater Aviators 7 p.m. Friday, July 1 Semipro Baseball Santa Maria Valley Packers @ Atwater Aviators 7 p.m. Saturday, July 2 Auto Racing USAC Western States Midgets @ Santa Maria Speedway 6 p.m. Roller Derby Cal Skate Roller Derby @ Kern…
On the roster
• Relay For Life: This 24-hour run/walk relay fundraiser for the American Cancer Society is July 9 and 10 at the Elks Unocal Event Center. A $10 registration/commitment fee is required for each participant, due upon registration. Any donations taken through individual, team, or online fundraising will also be accepted. To sign up as a…
Locals represented on All-CIF teams
Several local high school athletes made the cut when the CIF Southern Section announced its All-CIF teams for baseball and softball on June 20. CIF coaches selected Lompoc senior pitcher Ryan Bower and Nipomo junior pitcher Ryan McNeil as Division 5 first-team members for baseball. Bower finished the season with a 1.35 earned run average…
Learn to fish at Cachuma Lake
Children ages 7 to 15 can learn to fish with the best anglers around at the Cachuma Lake Nature Center’s Kids’ Fishing Workshop on July 23. Expert fishermen will teach kids basic fishing skills, beginning at 8:45 a.m. and lasting until noon. Children will learn knot tying; casting; trout fishing; rigging for bass, crappie, and…
Nature Center hosts yard sale
The Cachuma Lake Nature Center is looking for donations for its yard sale fundraiser, scheduled for July 2 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The center hopes to raise $6,000 from the event, meaning they’ll need about 6,000 items to sell. Donations of household goods, books, camping gear, sports equipment, toys, linens, jewelry, tools, small…
Packers to hold kids’ clinic
The Santa Maria Valley Packers promise fun and fundamentals for children ages 6 to 15 at the team’s summer baseball fundamentals clinic July 6 to 8. The three-day clinic will run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at John Osborne Field on the Allan Hancock College campus. The cost is $75, payable by check or…
Paint wars
Your pulse quickens. Condensation builds inside your mask from rapid out-breaths as your senses heighten to every thwack and pop of paintballs whizzing by at 280 feet per second. You anticipate the projectile’s strike, just hoping it hits somewhere fleshy, and walk out of the arena looking like a Jackson Pollack masterpiece, bruised, but no…
Making music happen
Events can always be supplemented by the magic of music. Weddings, parties, corporate meetings, fashion shows, bars, and night clubs are all perfect happenings or venues for a disc jockey, more commonly known as a DJ. Pete Sanger is a local who’s been spinning discs for more than 20 years in Santa Barbara and Ventura…
The great outdoors?
I love nature as much as the next person. That is, if the next person is my mother. Her least favorite form of recreation is camping. Roughing it means only one thing to her: a motel with a black-and-white TV and no cable. She must have running water and indoor plumbing. I inherited this particular…
Get inspired
As part of its year-long “Get Inspired!” series, the Wildling Art Museum in Los Olivos has invited photographer Tom Millea to give a talk and book signing on July 8 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Millea’s talk will cover his experiences and process, and he’ll discuss his first publication, The Book of Palms, winner of…
Nipomo residents, get out your photos
Nipomo resident and Cal Poly graduate Doug Jenzen is looking for pre-1980 photographs of Nipomo that might be used in a pictorial history to be published by Arcadia Publishing. The book, part of its Images of America series, will be named after the town and will be a celebration of Nipomo’s history. All royalties from…
PCPA workshop seeks students
Even though PCPA’s YPP Jr. program for 7- to 12-year-olds has filled to capacity, the Young People’s Project for young performers 13 to 18 years old still has space. The week of theater workshops scheduled for July 23 to 30 will allow young performers to create a theatrical showcase side by side with professional actors,…
Imagining success
You’re racing down a track and twisting into a dark cave, then hanging on as you seem to free fall for a moment, only to twist back into more dark caves in a breathtaking roller coaster ride. Scott Sabens imagined that. Then he designed it. And his project caught the eyes of a company that’s…
Destination: Eagle Rock Trail
A little more than a month ago, I finally graduated from college. I am now starting to realize—with some cynicism—that all graduation gave me was a degree and a starving bank account. God bless my loving parents. When I was first asked to write a Daytripper story for this issue, I was excited. But then…
What are your plans for the Fourth of July weekend?
Ryan Martin Student “I’m going to hang out with family and watch fireworks.” Joseph Osorno salesman “I’ll probably watch fireworks, or go to the beach and barbecue.” Lori Sexty nanny “I’m going to the Sea Venture Hotel for dinner and watching fireworks with some friends.” Alex Limon unemployed “I’m just going to barbecue with the…
Holiday wine
Our nation’s birthday calls for a grand celebration, and whether the party entails a backyard feast of burgers hot off the grill or a festive wine country excursion, the Central Coast is the place to be. Since the July 4 holiday falls on Monday, there’s no excuse not to stretch the fun out over a…
Tour Hearst Castle
Cars jammed U.S. Highway 1 on a June day 53 years ago as the gates of Hearst Castle first opened to the public. Some 40 million visitors have since marveled at the castle’s spectacular location, collections, and history. I was privileged to know and work with Bob Doyle, a guide who began leading tours there…
More classes open at Allan Hancock College
Got a speeding ticket you need to make disappear? There’s still space for students who need to attend the eight-hour traffic school offered by Allan Hancock College Community Education. Classes are available in English and Spanish, and the course fee is $32. Hancock’s traffic school is a California Department of Motor Vehicles-approved course that focuses…
Pass the broccoli, please!
A new gardening program partnership between Allan Hancock College and the local U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Service Center will help provide more fresh vegetables to local nonprofits, food banks, and the college’s culinary program. The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has established a sustainable vegetable garden on Hancock’s Santa Maria campus, the college announced…
Hobnobbing with Helen
Here’s the deal: Friends of the Boys & Girls Club buy tables (metaphorically speaking—they buy the seats at the table) and decorate them (the tables, not the seats) with a theme for the group’s Celebrity Waiters Night. Some folks have a hint of a theme, and some folks are way over the top. Every table…
Off to the races
If you don’t already have plans for the Fourth of July weekend, why not spend the day watching your dog race against other canines? On July 2, the Coast Valleys Pony Club will hold the third annual Los Alamos Dog Races at Arthur Ferrini Park, across the street from the Union Hotel in downtown Los…
Spotlight on: Big League Scoops and Shaves
Summer, baseball, and ice cream are something of an American Holy Trinity, and customers of Big League Scoops and Shaves in the Santa Maria Town Center can indulge in the best of all worlds in one fell swoop. Just 26 years old, Big League owner Matthew Rick received his confectionary education from Bernardo’s Ice Cream…
Pay to playa?
The beach has always presented a free option for summer fun—a place where families can spend a day soaking in the rays and splashing in the chilly surf without spending any money. However, no-cost visits to the local jeweled coastline may soon belong to a bygone era, as officials are seriously considering charging $3 to…
You’re fired
The tense rivalry between Santa Barbara County district attorney candidates Josh Lynn and Joyce Dudley marked what was arguably the most heated political race of 2010. The two attorneys slung insults and attacked each other’s campaign platforms like veteran politicos, with Dudley proving victorious come Election Day. Three days later, on June 11, Lynn was…
Lompoc won’t abort a space center mission
The California Space Authority may be history, but the city of Lompoc is still interested in pursuing a $220 million space enterprise complex within city limits. On June 21, the Lompoc City Council voted 3-1 to continue discussing the California Space Center project as a city-led endeavor. Council members Bob Lingl, Dirk Starbuck, and Mayor…
Ramona Price case remains cold, for now
The Santa Barbara Police Department has scaled down the search effort for the remains of 7-year-old Ramona Price, who disappeared on Sept. 2, 1961. Authorities have been working under the theory that serial killer Mac Ray Edwards could have murdered the girl and buried her at the Hollister Avenue overpass construction site, where he reportedly…
Lompoc City Council members speak before redistricting commission
After a citizens commission charged with redrafting state representative boundaries released a preliminary draft essentially splitting the city of Lompoc in half, city officials have been trying to send the commission a message of disapproval—but it hasn’t been easy. On June 10, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission released its first draft of new congressional, state…
Quite a catch
On June 22, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department narcotics officers, with the help of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, uncovered an alleged South County drug trafficking ring after serving six search warrants in both Santa Barbara and Tulare counties. The busts yielded nearly three pounds of cocaine, nine ounces…
