Cover Story
Were baghouse ash and petroleum coke to blame for at least two worker deaths and multiple cancer cases at the Santa Maria Refinery?
Before Teddy Cobb died, he left his wife a bag of ash. It was gray, about the consistency of baby powder, and known among the guys who dealt with it mainly for its ability to turn shovels green. When the cancer he’d been living with for almost seven years eventually took him, Cobb’s wife had…
Santa Maria High students attend UCLA youth conference
Santa Maria High School students took a recent field trip to Los Angeles to engage in dialogue about academic, cultural, and social issues during the MEChA de UCLA Raza Youth Conference. The annual event, put on by Chicano and Latino UCLA students, attracted more than 1,000 high school students from throughout the state, according to…
Do you think that people should be able to sue businesses that are not ADA compliant? Why?
Ray Lewis retired “Yes, because I think it is unfair.” Steve Howard semi-retired “I would say yes, because, to my understanding, it is the law of the land. People with disabilities have enough hardship as is, and we should be able to help those who aren’t as fortunate as we are; people with disabilities definitely…
Community organizers eye Santa Maria for a possible voting rights lawsuit
View a slideshow of opposition to the ICE facility in Santa Maria. A win last week for plaintiffs in a lawsuit to create voting districts in Santa Barbara has community organizers considering a similar course of action for the city of Santa Maria. Filed last July, the lawsuit against Santa Barbara alleged that the city’s…
Solving the X files
Once upon a time, our Mini-Brit grandson would ask my husband and me to help him with his math homework. This we were happy and able to do, drilling him with multiplication tables and division flash cards until he knew the answers to every conceivable combination of numbers. This idyllic existence changed when our boy,…
The Philharmonic provides world-class outreach to Central Coast students
Classical music is for everyone, and that was nowhere more apparent than at a recent Santa Maria Philharmonic Orchestra performance at the Pacific Christian School in Orcutt, where hundreds of fourth graders from across Santa Barbara and SLO counties listened to and watched a performance of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. The free…
Local author to put together fundraiser book with focus on Lompoc
Local author and publisher M J Sewall is seeking writers of all ages to contribute short stories involving Lompoc for a book that will act as a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Note that just a brief mention of Lompoc isn’t acceptable for stories to be considered; each piece must be set in…
Altrusa International Foundation welcomes nonprofits to apply for spring grant funds
The Altrusa International Foundation Santa Maria Inc. is welcoming local nonprofit agencies to apply for its spring 2015 grants funds. Organizers of programs that focus on literacy, child care, and people with disabilities are encouraged to submit an application postmarked no later than April 1. Applications are available at Children’s Resource and Referral Services at…
Transitions-Mental Health Association receives grant for Growing Grounds Gallery and Gifts
The Women’s Fund of Northern Santa Barbara County has awarded a $25,000 grant to the Transitions-Mental Health Association (TMHA) to support the association’s new enterprise Growing Grounds Gallery and Gifts in Santa Maria. The grant is specifically intended for mental wellness, substance abuse programs, and job training. The grant monies will allow Growing Grounds Gallery…
WonHeart celebrates a fourth annual Women’s Day event
WonHeart is presenting the fourth annual International Women’s Day event on March 10 with the theme Make it Happen and a focus on the Alternative to Violence Project (AVP). There will also be information regarding Santa Maria’s membership in the national program Charter for Compassion, which seeks to create connection and empathy in communities. The…
Brush and Palette artists hold annual art and craft show
The members of the Brush and Palette Artist Group all hold one thing in common: They wield a brush with such honed skill that their work truly qualifies as fine art. But the idle hands of a painter are often used for other things, and each member has more than the group’s namesake in their…
Let’s get mystical: CovenTree Olde World Market seeks community surrounding art, literature, history, and mysticism
Deep within the roots of our psyches live the ancient archetypes that embody our most intimate feelings and hopes. From this fertile wellspring shoot the stems of the mystical, spiritual, and religious traditions, the buds of which break into flowering gods and goddesses whose fruit delivers solace to the spirits of the creatures that climb…
Dessert first: Adventures in dining with a man devoted to desserts
Call it a hyperactive sweet tooth. Call it joie de vivre. Call it what you want; Gary Bayus has it. The Pismo Beach resident is whole-heartedly and unabashedly wild about desserts. So much so, that every time he goes out to eat, it’s what he eats first. “Sometimes it’s dessert first, and sometimes it’s just…
OAHS gets an award for its career program
Orcutt Academy High School was recently notified that it will be awarded a bronze medal from Academic Innovations, a national organization that recognizes schools for their successful implementation of Career Choices curriculum. “Achieving a gold, silver, or bronze distinction signifies that, based on our research and experience, your Career Choices program is being developed and…
High school district tries out future classrooms
Santa Maria High School’s new classroom building will potentially reap the benefits of the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District’s recent attempts to test out the classrooms of the future. Moveable whiteboard walls, mounted big screen televisions with the capacity to display from the teacher’s tablet, desks and bright-colored chairs that are separate and…
Spotlight on: Cue Ball
Rochelle Stephens racks billiard balls in a triangle, stands at the corner of the pool table, and takes aim with her cue stick. With a solid crack, she sends the cue ball toward the center of the pool table and colors break out in all different directions. Feb. 25 was her first time playing pool…
Political Watch 3/5/15
• The California Special Districts Association recognized Assembly member Katcho Achadjian as the 2014 legislator of the year in a Feb. 27 ceremony at the Avila Beach Community Building. A press release from the association said Achadjian was selected because of his “non-partisan spirit, support of local control, and close work with the local service…
Community Notebook 3/5/15-3/12/15
MONDAY, MARCH 9 • The Santa Maria City Block Grants Advisory Committee has its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room, 110 E. Cook St., Santa Maria. • The Solvang City Council has its regular meeting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 1644 Oak Street, Solvang. agendas are available at…
Hobnobbing with Helen
There was no better place to be in Santa Maria on the night of Feb. 28 than the Grace Baptist Church on McCoy Lane. There, a glorious confluence of chorus, symphony orchestra, and dancers delighted a packed house. The light rain did not keep away several hundred people who came to hear the Santa Maria…
A reform group says Santa Maria small businesses are being targeted for ADA violations
Bill’s Take Out is a Santa Maria landmark that’s been serving cheeseburgers and fries to the public for more than 60 years. Manager Mario Barragan estimates he gets about 130 orders on any given day; at around $8 per order, that’s roughly $1,000 in revenue. The small restaurant makes enough to pay its bills and…
Federal legislation reintroduced to make Camp 4 fee-to-trust land
U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) reintroduced legislation on Feb. 27 that would authorize the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to take Camp 4 into trust with the federal government. The Bureau of Indian Affairs recently announced its decision to grant fee-to-trust status for the nearly 1,400-acre parcel of land in Santa Ynez, but that decision…
Bi-annual count shows number of Santa Maria homeless increases
For the second homeless count in a row, the number of homeless individuals counted in Santa Maria has increased, while the overall number of homeless counted in Santa Barbara County has decreased. On March 2, the Central Coast Collaborative on Homelessness announced the results from the January 2015 Point in Time homeless count. The counts…
ERG moves toward new oil drilling project in Santa Barbara County’s Cat Canyon
Another oil project is in the works for Santa Barbara County; this time the new wells are slated for Cat Canyon. On March 3, Santa Barbara County Supervisors authorized an “agreement for services” with a company that will conduct an environmental impact report on ERG Resources’ proposed project. Development plans propose 233 new cyclically steamed…
DJ Farms development breaks ground in Guadalupe
Guadalupe, a city with a government that was on the verge of declaring bankruptcy last year, is making a bit of a comeback with a major retail and residential development project that was scheduled to break ground on March 4. The new project holds the potential to not only expand the city’s population, but also…
That’s impassable!
Back in May 2014, the Lucia Mar Unified School District and Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association began talking. Actually, they were talking before that, I’m sure, but these talks were official—like, “let’s make sure everyone at the table here keeps working and our children continue to learn about math and reading and science and stuff”…
Caldwell is wrong about me (and oil)
Andy Caldwell attacks me personally in his paid “op-ad” which is full of outright lies, offensive innuendos, and ridiculous conspiracy theories (“Green, Gullible and Guilty,” Feb. 12). Why does he single me, a private citizen, out for attack? Apparently just for my volunteer work as a concerned mom worried about climate change and pollution. 350.org…
Fukushima at 4
On March 11, the fourth anniversary of the tragic nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Californians should pause to consider both their good luck and their potential fate. Luck, that Mother Nature has not yet thrown her full force against the state’s last remaining nuclear power plant; and fate that Diablo Canyon’s days as a power—and revenue—generator…
Jessica Rothanzl
Allan Hancock College sophomore Jessica Rothanzl is off to a great start this softball season, leading the team to six straight wins with a .526 batting average and two home runs. Along with pitcher Katie Chernault, she’s signed her letter of intent to play at Cal State Northridge next year. Coach Scia Maumausolo said Rothanzl…
The Panthers roar at the Southern Section Wrestling Masters tournament
At the Southern Section Wrestling Masters tournament over the weekend of March 1, Pioneer Valley High School showed up with five wrestlers and one alternate. It’s the best showing the school’s had at the tournament in the history of its program. “This is the most that we’ve ever sent,” said assistant coach Todd Noel. “Our…
