Cover Story
A moment in time: Santa Maria Valley Historical Society celebrates 60th anniversary with tribute to its founders
The Santa Maria Valley Historical Society’s founders scroll is framed under glass, keeping the large piece of parchment protected. Now, more than half a century later, visitors to the society’s museum can see the elegant cursive signatures of more than 200 Santa Marians who signed the scroll in late August and September of 1955. Names…
Valley Arts Gallery in Orcutt is a new home for coalition of local artists
The long, shotgun style space in the South East Oak Knolls Center that now houses the Valley Art Gallery is brimming with a variety of art created by the members of the valley’s only community art gallery, which opened at the end of August. Formerly known as the Town Center Gallery, the organization was renamed…
Why are you a part of the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society (SMVHS)?
Cindy Ransick SMVHS curator “I love museums, I’ve always loved museums, and I’m fascinated by old stuff, things that predate me.” Daphne Fletcher HPN Books publisher, SMVHS project manager “I’m a major history buff, but as a publisher, this is the greatest job I could possibly have. Santa Maria is the epitome of small town…
Carting with Krider
To annoy my neighbors, I cruise around the ’burbs in a golf cart while blasting ska music and driving like a complete madman. Well, let’s be honest, how much of a madman can I really be at an electric motor top speed of 24 mph? As the self-proclaimed “best environmentalist” on my street, I cruise…
NTMA features special guest Kenny Lee Lewis of the Steve Miller Band
Think of the New Times Music Awards as the local Grammy Awards, but without future President Kanye West bloviating things like, “I am Warhol! I am the number one most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh. Walt Disney, Nike, Google,” or, “When someone comes up and says something like, ‘I…
¡Viva el Arte de Santa Barbara! recognized by county
The county of Santa Barbara officially honored ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bàrbara! in recognition for the program’s innovative and diverse contributions to community and cultural life in the county. Eastside coordinator Aliz Ruvalcaba-Ventura received the resolution from 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal at the opening night of Viva’s 10th anniversary season on Sept. 13…
Santa Maria nonprofits vandalized, items pilfered; community comes forward with support
On the last Friday night of August, on the eve of Transitions-Mental Health Association’s Growing Grounds Gallery art show Local Women of Art, someone threw a large stone through the window of the front door smashing it along with a large jewelry case housing more than $1,000 in member-created jewelry, explained Gallery Director Robert Silverman.…
PCPA Education and Outreach Tour features bilingual play
PCPA The Pacific Conservatory Theatre presents its Education and Outreach Tour production of the bilingual play The Song of the Oak/El Canto Del Roble beginning in October and running through May of 2016. The musical play is available to schools in Santa Barbara and SLO counties and is appropriate for students in grades K through…
PCPA probes a family’s mysteries with comedy and intrigue in ‘Other Desert Cities’
Other Desert Cities is about the Christmastime reunion of a family, when the middle-aged author and liberal daughter of prominent conservative parents, Brooke Wyeth (Melinda Parrett), returns from the East Coast to her parents’ home in Palm Springs. Parents Polly and Lyman (Jessica Powell and Dan Kremer) are thrilled to have their daughter, Brooke, and…
Sweet relief: What better way to cool off than with fro-yo from Menchie’s?
So is desert hot the new normal now? As we all know now, it’s been a really hot year. With just one fan in our house, our family has been scrambling to find a way to cool off. When I was a kid it was all about popsicles and running through the lawn sprinklers. These…
Rebecca Gonzalez
Rebecca Gonzalez graduated this year as the captain of Nipomo High School’s water polo team. Before her freshman year, she said, she had never played water polo or swam competitively. “I sucked,” she said flatly. “I—honestly, I sucked so bad. I just kept at it because I liked it.” Now, Gonzalez plays water polo for…
Round 2: Lexi Brown still fighting cancer after summer trip to World Cup
In February, the Sun wrote about Lexi Brown—an 11-year-old battling cancer with the support of St. Joseph High School girl’s soccer team. Her wish was to attend the World Cup in Canada that summer. Make-A-Wish made it happen, and Brown traveled to Winnipeg with the family in June. Before she set foot on the field…
Chasing space
Lompoc’s been chasing a Space Center dream for a long time. And every time that little snippet of hope pops up in news headlines, there’s always a tidbit of information threatening to burst that balloon of optimistic/unrealistic thinking. In 2009, the California Space Authority (CSA) was looking for members of the community to become members…
The rail expansion debate isn’t about NIMBY
The Phillips 66 “rail expansion” is a euphemism for the railroad depot proposed across Highway 1 from hundreds of residences at Monarch Dunes. That depot would take about two years to construct on the sands south of the refinery in an area already polluted by particulate matter at a dangerous level. Phillips proposes bringing in…
Fact vs. fear in the Phillips 66 debate
A vocal minority has raised alarm about mostly imagined hazards from transporting oil to the Nipomo refinery via railroad. Many people are ignoring the facts and the tangible impact on the families and community if the project is denied. Crude by rail has been a safe mode of transportation throughout California for decades. About 200…
Phillips 66 and the Pope
The Pope has come to the U.S., and (possibly) daily oil trains are coming to San Luis Obispo. This gives us an opportunity to test some of Pope Francis’ ideas in the local context. In the encyclical published in June, Laudato Si, the Pope calls for transparency in local planning and an approach that takes…
Young Learners Preschool opens in Lompoc
The Santa Barbara County Education Office announced the opening of a new preschool for the 2015-2016 school year. The Young Learners Preschool, located at La Canada Elementary in Lompoc, opened in August. The center’s teachers are Rosalinda Fletes and Sylvia Hernandez. Young Learners Preschool is established to serve income-eligible families with children who turned 3…
Santa Maria high school students attend leadership training
More than 150 Santa Maria Joint Union High School District students were set to hone their leadership skills during a conference on Monday, Sept. 21. Presented by the California Association of Directors of Activities and the California Association of Student Leaders, the gathering was held inside the San Luis Obispo Adult School. Students from Pioneer…
Chumash presents grant to Santa Ynez Valley school
With schoolchildren, parents, and teachers in attendance, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians presented a $24,000 technology grant to Santa Ynez Valley Charter School on Wednesday, Sept. 16, during the school’s morning assembly on the playground. The grant is a portion of the eleventh annual Chumash Charity Golf Classic’s proceeds, which will help satisfy…
Orcutt Boy Scouts to feed the hungry
Orcutt-based Boy Scout Troop 95 wants to perform a really big good deed for the hungry and less fortunate in the Santa Maria Valley and wants the community to help. The nearly 20 scouts plan to hold a barbecue for the community, and later donate more than 300 chicken lunches with all the fixings to…
St. Mary’s students ‘hang out’ with archbishop
Students from St. Mary of the Assumption School participated in the first-ever LA Archdiocese back-to-school Google Hangout with Archbishop Jose H. Gomez on Sept. 16. As the class watched, fifth grader Jaylee Cantu and teacher Amy Iliff spoke to the archbishop on behalf of the school. The school’s principal, Michelle Cox, said that there are…
Spotlight on: The Boys Restaurant
There’s nothing more American than a rags-to-riches story, and diners. Count The Boys Restaurant and its owner Francisco Maciel in both of these categories. At 19 years old, Maciel immigrated to Santa Maria in 1975 from his homeland of Jalisco, Mexico. He first found work picking strawberries. Feeling restless, Maciel soon got another job working…
Political Watch 9/24/15
• Two bills authored by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) in response to this year’s Refugio Oil Spill in Santa Barbara County passed out of the Legislature and are on their way to the governor’s desk. Jackson’s Senate Bill 295 requires annual oil pipeline inspections by the State Fire Marshal. Previously, pipeline inspections had been…
Community Notebook 9/24/15 – 10/1/15
MONDAY, SEPT. 28 • The South County Advisory Council has its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Nipomo Community Services District Headquarters, 148 S. Wilson St., Nipomo. • The Solvang City Council has its regular meeting at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 1644 Oak Street, Solvang. agendas are available at cityofsolvang.com. WEDNESDAY,…
Hearing casts light on farmworker rights, poor working conditions
Farmworker Salvador Huerta’s Sept. 15 testimony before the Agriculture Labor Relations Board (ALRB) at the Santa Maria Inn included allegations of mistreatment by employers. He told the ALRB that he and his coworkers had been “treated like slaves.” They’d been illegally denied breaks, he said, intimidated by supervisors, and retaliated against for asserting their rights.…
Orcutt residents push back against a cell tower proposal
NIMBY—not in my backyard—is an acronym generally used to describe residents who are opposed to new development because it’s close to them, although they more or less believe that it may be somewhat necessary for society. And while those with pro-development sensibilities may refer to the residents surrounding the area of 4599 Kenneth Ave. in…
Lompoc ready to pull the plug on California Space Center
Eva Blaisdell, the CEO of Lompoc’s proposed California Space Center, received a Notice of Default from the city for failure to meet deadlines laid out in an agreement with the city. The city issued Blaisdell a Notice of Default, after the City Council met in closed session on Sept. 15. Blaisdell’s Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with…
Feds issue notice of probable violation to Plains All American from 2014 investigation
Plains All American is in trouble with the federal government again. The Houston-based company was deluged with a slew of corrective orders, financial penalties and lawsuits when Line 901, an oil pipeline it operates in Santa Barbara County, split open and spilled approximately 120,000 gallons of crude on Refugio State Beach. The Pipeline and Hazardous…
Former North County Jail project manager settles with Santa Barbara county
The North County Jail project just became $467,000 more expensive. Grady Williams, the former manager of the North County Jail project who sued the county for wrongful termination, recently settled with the county, receiving a $467,000 payout, the Santa Barbara Independent reported on Sept. 16. In November 2013, Williams—a former capital projects manager for the…
Missing Point Sal hiker may have two identities
The case of a hiker who went missing at a beach near Vandenberg Air Force Base in early September is taking a bizarre twist. It turns out that Santa Maria resident Andy Trejo Silva, who was reported missing on Sept. 6 after hiking the rocks at a Point Sal beach, either might be someone else…
Guards at Santa Barbara County Main Jail acquitted of using excessive force; lawsuit still pending
Two former jail guards accused of using excessive force on a pretrial detainee were acquitted of the most serious charge of violating the civil rights of the detainee. The federal trial of the two guards, Robert Kirsch and Christopher Johnson, concluded on Sept. 16 with the acquittal. Kirsch and Johnson, who were employed at the…
