Cover Story
Life in transition: A transgender artist shares his journey to becoming his true self
Imagine being trapped in a body that just feels wrong, like it’s not yours. That’s how Los Osos artist RawfeyL Gene Burge felt from an early age. “I was 4 years old, and we had just moved to a new neighborhood, and since this was 1964 Texas, I could just wander the neighborhood. Well, across…
What’s your favorite part of springtime?
Francisco Cadena Santa Maria High School student “Spring break, with vacation time away from school.” Loreina Rosales prospective student “Being able to wear a sundress.” Cristian Barajas merchandiser “The weather and the time change. It’s more time to do activities later, like basketball.” Denys Torres prospective student “I like to spend time with my family.”
Political Watch 3/31/2016
• In response to the controversial firing of Coastal Commission Executive Director Charles Lester last month, Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) is introducing legislation to prohibit private, off-the-record communications with coastal commissioners that could influence decision-making. Next week, Jackson will amend her Senate Bill 1190 to prohibit “ex parte” communications with commissioners, effectively banning any…
Community Notebook 3/31/16 – 4/7/16
MONDAY, APRIL 4 • The Solvang Planning Commission has its regular meeting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 1644 Oak Street, Solvang TUESDAY, APRIL 5 • 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. •…
Event gives Santa Maria area students a look at higher education opportunities
Students from Santa Maria, Pioneer Valley, and Righetti high schools learned about higher education during a recent field trip to two Bay Area universities through the Student Academic Achievement Seminar. The experience brought the young learners to the University of San Francisco and San Francisco State University where they toured the campuses and participated in…
Author visits English learners
Students in Santa Maria Joint Union High School’s English 2 Intensive Class for English Learners received a literary treat when the author of a memoir they’ve been reading spoke to their classes on March 22. Author Reyna Grande, who wrote a memoir entitled The Distance Between Us, gave students a first-hand account of her experience…
Kiwanis offers student scholarships
On March 15 Santa Maria Kiwanis held the 55th Annual California Scholastic Federation/Honor Student Awards and Recognition Dinner at the Veterans’ Memorial Community Center. More than 300 students and supporters attended. All the work to put on the event was handled by club volunteers and members of Kiwanis-sponsored Key Clubs. Key Club members are made…
Hobnobbing with Helen
March 18 was an important date for the Orcutt Oasis Center. Everybody knows that the Oasis Center is a nonprofit membership organization that provides programs, services, classes, and socializing opportunities for seniors. On Friday, March 18, the Center held its seventh annual Spring Gala, a fundraising event, at the Radisson Hotel. This was a particularly…
Spotlight on: Mission City Fumigating
You may not know Mission City Fumigating, but owner Mary Hernandez said her company performs an important role in battling bug infestations. Mission City sub-contracts for other companies. Her customers are other companies in the same industry, companies that provide fumigation chemicals or inspectors like Dead On Termite Services, which is owned by Jaryd Fylstra,…
Rumblings in the outback: Cuyama’s Community Services District looks ahead to improved operations
Cuyama sits in Santa Barbara County’s most northeast corner. It’s a dusty and dry landscape 50 miles from Santa Maria to the east, and more than 60 miles from Ojai to the south. Everything in between is either farmland or the Los Padres Forest. There’s no direct water line going to the small community of…
Santa Barbara County suspends meetings with Chumash
It’s time for a breather. The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians and Santa Barbara County’s ad hoc subcommittee are taking a break from their monthly meetings to step back, work out some kinks, and plan out how to move forward. The meetings began in September 2015, after Congress told the county to sit down…
California minimum wage hike takes a crack at poverty problem
California residents could be looking at a minimum wage increase to $15 per hour by 2022, according to a March 28 announcement by Gov. Jerry Brown. Brown, along with fellow Democrats and labor leaders, is proposing legislation that would incrementally raise California’s minimum wage over the next six years, starting with an increase from $10…
April collection will take hazardous waste off the hands of Solvang residents
Attention Solvang and unincorporated county residents: Grab those bags of dead batteries you’ve been trying to figure out how to throw away and head to Los Olivos on Sunday, April 10. It’s hazardous waste collection day. Santa Barbara County’s Resource Recovery and Waste Management Division holds its hazardous waste collection events biannually to provide a…
Fourth District supervisor forum held with only one candidate
The Lompoc chapter of the nonpartisan Association of American University Women (AAUW) held a forum of candidates running for the 4th District seat of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on March 24, but only one candidate showed up. Eduardo “Eddie” Ozeta, the sole candidate running against 4th District incumbent Peter Adam, attended the…
Santa Barbara County Public Health hires Animal Services operations manager
Operations Manager Dori Villalon joined the team at Santa Barbara County Animal Services on Monday, March 28. County Public Health created the position of operations manager for Animal Services several months ago, at the recommendation of the American Humane Association (AHA). After months of reviewing candidates, the department announced its choice March 24. “It was…
Police search for suspects who allegedly stole guns and pot from Orcutt home
Police from several agencies searched for three suspects on March 28 following a report of a home burglary in Orcutt. The suspects allegedly stole guns and marijuana from the home, according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Clay Turner. The manhunt began in the early afternoon and lasted through the day after police…
Santa Ynez Valley Arts features Suzanne Huska
The Santa Ynez Valley Arts Association rents a section of Gallery Los Olivos to feature member artists monthly, and April’s featured artist is painter Suzanne Huska. The exhibit is titled The Magic of Dawn and Dusk, and showcases a series of landscapes that explore the extraordinary quality of light at the beginning and end of…
Orcutt Academy quartet wins at Barbershop Convention
The Orcutt Academy High School’s male quartet Soundsations won top honors at the Far Western District Barbershop Convention in Las Vegas, Nev., on March 19 after achieving a high score for the performance of two songs. The group of students has participated in Central Coast Chordsmen Barbershop Chapter events like the Youth in Harmony Festival,…
Cypress Gallery welcomes all to share in its Spring Show
Lompoc is known as the “Valley of Flowers,” but the community is also blooming with artists of every persuasion. The small-town feel of Lompoc is enriched by multiple arts organizations, from the Mural Society that brightens public spaces to the multiple musical ensembles and organizations that fill churches and other venues with song and sound.…
For the People, By the People showcases Santa Barbara’s development at the Betteravia Gallery in Santa Maria
Santa Barbara County was one of California’s counties that originally formed in 1850. Almost immediately its populace centers began to grow, even while maintaining its long-held tradition of ranching. Aged adobes were leveled to make room for public buildings in downtown Santa Barbara as commercial red-brick buildings began to rise as well, heralding the beginning…
Another year young
When I was 4 years old I used to wonder what things would be like when I became 21, my mother’s age at the time. (She had married and had me at a very young age.) I would ponder what the world would be like and what the future held. When I was 21, my…
Jose-Luis Orozco performs a bilingual concert at Jimenez Elementary in Santa Maria
Consider for a moment how you were first able to commit the alphabet to memory, beginning your journey into literacy. Does the familiar tune “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” come to mind? The incredible potency with which music aids in learning can be easy to forget about, but José-Luis Orozco hasn’t forgotten. The musical artist, children’s…
Of politics and pot
So what do you do when you arrive at a showdown and the other party doesn’t show? You can throw your arms in the air, tip your cowboy hat, and strut in a slow circle, nodding at the audience with that look that says your opponent is chicken, without actually saying it because it’s implied…
Kudos to Lompoc for honoring Chumash
It was refreshing to read about the city of Lompoc honoring the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Native Americans on Arbor Day, by planting a tree in the “Recognition Grove” for their generous public service. Although the Chumash employ more than 1,600 workers, donated more than $18 million to more than 700 nonprofit organizations, and…
Communities need better emergency planning in case of nuclear meltdown
In your recent article, “Diablo Canyon evacuation plans inadequate, report says,” dated March 17, local emergency managers vigorously defended area emergency plans despite the fact that most reported not having plans in response to information requests just months before. The weather patterns in Central California on March 11 and 12, 2011, the day a tsunami…
Affordable, accessible services are vital to preventing pet suffering and overpopulation
In 2009, when I cofounded C.A.R.E.4Paws, I was still volunteering at the Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter, working with the dogs. During my four-plus years as a volunteer, I saw my fair share of animals abandoned. It didn’t matter how many pets our volunteer team adopted out in a week; the shelter was always beyond…
Mallory Townsend
Home run-hitter. Base-stealer. The team’s best fielder. Mallory Townsend, a junior at Cabrillo High School, does it all on the diamond for the three-time defending Los Padres League champion Conquistadores. Townsend hit two home runs in a single game against Santa Ynez on March 22 en route to a 12-2 victory. The following game, she…
Staying on top: Santa Ynez High baseball, led by ace Zach Torra, aims to continue Central Coast dominance
Santa Ynez High School senior Zachary Torra is the last man standing. Torra, a starting pitcher for the Santa Ynez baseball team, is the only Pirates player who also played on the team that won a CIF Section championship back in 2014. A sophomore at the time, Torra didn’t have the usual underclassman role of…
Eating Solvang: The best of Taste of Solvang 2016, according to one woman who tried pretty much all of it
View a slideshow from Taste of Solvang 2016. A food columnist who knows what she’s doing would narrow her field of coverage so she’s reviewing one meal—or at least one restaurant—at a time. But I have no idea what I’m doing, so this week we’re going to review the dining options of an entire city.…
