A lot happened this year. Yes, we at the Sun tend say that every 365 days, but this year really packed a punch. Everyone knows times have been hard, and the news reflects that: A handful of prominent city leaders, including a legendary actress, passed away. Two incredibly saddening murder trials either came to a close or progressed to court. A beloved school closed its doors.
But for every painful experience, there was—and still is—a silver lining. It might sound cheesy or even delusional, but the truth is when times get hard, the people of Northern Santa Barbara County come together to help make things better. You just have to look inside the doors of a local church or shelter—or even courtroom—to know that people care about doing what’s right.
Speaking of “right,” how many answers do you think you can get right in the Sun’s year-end current events quiz? Good luck, and here’s to a happy New Year!
1) Facebook fiasco: In June, Chad Dias, a Santa Maria teacher and girls’ basketball coach, came under scrutiny after inappropriate comments from his account were directed at a student of his on a mutual friend’s Facebook page. The posts between Dias and Rene Rodriguez, Jr.—the child of a Sun employee—were peppered with profanity on both sides. At one point, Dias claimed the school he worked for “is good a[t] producing pieces of sh–.” The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District placed Dias on paid administrative leave while it conducted an investigation into the incident. When classes started again in August, Dias was no longer at the school.
2) Waterworld: Heavy rainfall during the early months of the year caused extreme flooding in neighborhoods throughout northern Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Some of the places hit hardest by the storms were Guadalupe, Oceano, and parts of the Santa Ynez Valley. Both President Barack Obama and then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared states of emergency to assist Central Coast communities affected by flooding. Santa Barbara County received some funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but residents were ineligible for individual assistance.
3) Farewell, Jane: Santa Maria’s most famous movie star Jane Russell died on Feb. 28. She was 89 years old. The Hollywood siren dazzled for decades on the silver screen, and was also a devoted Christian, mother, and adoption advocate. She starred in dozens of films, such as His Kind of Woman with Robert Mitchum, Double Dynamite with Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Marilyn Monroe. She formed a spiritual singing trio, performed in a Las Vegas lounge act, and toured the United States with Bob Hope to entertain the Armed Forces.
4) City leader: Donald E. Lahr, a longtime local businessman and former mayor of Santa Maria, died of a stroke on Jan. 25 four days after celebrating his 81st birthday. City officials released a statement after receiving news of Lahr’s death saying he had a key role in changing the mayoral term from two years to four years, “in an effort to help lend stability to city government.” Lahr was also president of Lahr Electric Motors—a local business founded by his father in the 1940s—until selling the business in the 1990s.
5) Courtroom dramas: Nicholas Bendle—the 22-year-old Santa Maria man who attacked and killed an elderly man with a hatchet in 2009—was sentenced to life in Patton State Hospital in November. Bendle pleaded guilty to murder in September, but with the stipulation that he suffered—and continues to suffer—from a mental illness. Lee Leeds, the defendant in another well-publicized murder case, was found competent to stand trial in April. A month later, Leeds pleaded guilty to shooting and murdering four people, including his father, in a Santa Maria salvage yard in 2008. However, the defense also entered an insanity plea on the grounds that Leeds suffers from mental illness. His trial is scheduled to begin in late December.
6) Can I get a witness? The wheels moving this story forward began rolling at the end of 2010, when a Central Coast ad agency general manager, Jeff Lind, exchanged words with a family member’s arresting officer in a courthouse hallway. To make a long story short, the officer said he felt threatened, Lind was arrested, a video of what turned out to be a mild exchange between the two men surfaced, and Lind’s charge was eventually dropped in 2011. But it didn’t end there. While fighting his initial misdemeanor charge, Lind got help from a friend, Tom Murphy, who had at his disposal something he called a National Standards Damage Claim Packet. They sent it to Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Kay Kuns, who was presiding over Lind’s case, and accused her of a startling number of crimes based on obscure case law and Constitutional analysis. Suddenly, Lind and Murphy were facing felony charges related to filing an invalid court document. The men are scheduled for arraignment in January 2012.
7) A new purpose: Students, teachers, and other employees at May Grisham Elementary School had their last day of school in the Orcutt facility on June 10. The school’s closure was the final act in a months-long debate between upset community members and the Orcutt Union School District school board. The board voted in late 2010 to transfer students from May Grisham to other schools in the district to make room for Orcutt Academy High School. Despite parental outcry, district officials maintained the move would bring in more money and prevent the shuttering of other schools, furloughs, or additional employee layoffs.
8) Lost and found: Lompoc Police Department officials announced on March 23 that a local citizen found the jawbone of Dana McPeek, a missing Lompoc woman, in a remote part of Santa Barbara County. McPeek was last seen leaving the Chumash Casino in her 1992 Toyota pickup truck, which was later discovered abandoned in an alley. Police labeled McPeek a “high-risk” missing person because of a diagnosed mental illness. Her death is still being investigated as a homicide.
9) Ness retires: Longtime Santa Maria City Manager Tim Ness announced his pending retirement before the City Council on Oct. 18. Ness worked for the city for 16 years and was known for his frugal, but not always transparent, management practices. After Ness’ announcement, council members retired to closed session to discuss how to fill Ness’ position, which they did later that evening.
10) The 99 percent: In response to the national Occupy Wall Street movement, Northern Santa Barbara County residents started protesting corporate and political greed on their local city streets. The cities with the strongest showings were Santa Maria and Lompoc. Occupy Lompoc members were especially outspoken about the city’s dealings with the Lompoc Housing Community Development Corporation, a low-income housing assistance nonprofit that went belly up in October after being sued by two different banks for failing to make loan payments. The City Council is now facing potential collections from the federal government because of money it allocated to the nonprofit.
11) Last flight: Ted Eckert, a longtime Santa Maria Public Airport District board member, passed away June 7 after a prolonged illness. He was 75 years old. A retired U.S. Air Force colonel, Eckert worked for many years as a contractor at Vandenberg Air Force Base as a flight safety analyst. He later joined the airport district board, on which he would serve for more than two decades. He was most recently re-elected to the board in November 2010. He was recognized in May for his community service by Leadership Santa Maria Valley as its first recipient of the Ted Eckert Lifetime Achievement Award.
Contact Managing Editor Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 29, 2011 – Jan 5, 2012.