Looks like Santa Barbara County is staying true to itself with the district attorney’s race in which nobody is running against current District Attorney Joyce Dudley’s handpicked replacement, Deputy District Attorney John Savrnoch.
Savrnoch will sail on through the primary like fellow “campaigners” 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino and Laura Capps, who is walking into the 2nd District supervisor seat as its current occupant Gregg Hart attempts to make his way into the Legislature. It’s so efficient to not have to make any choices in the upcoming election! Voters don’t have to think; they don’t have to participate in democracy. They just have to let the powers that be, be!
Wow: #blessed.
You know who isn’t blessed? Farmers trying to grow food along the Santa Maria River Levee Trail. People who use the trail seem to think the signs stating that beyond the fence is private property and dogs should be on leashes are suggestions.
County staff who visited the trail in September 2021 noticed people going over fencing and people letting their dogs off-leash. Farmers have put up fences to keep animals out of their fields, but they get trampled regularly. And farmers near the trail also contend with homelessness, vandalism, and theft.
All of these are reasons why we can’t have nice things!
Now, farmers are extremely concerned that the problems will continue and multiply with the proposed expansion of the levee trail to connect Guadalupe and Santa Maria. I don’t blame them. Facts from Farmers founder and President Lacy Litten said, “The levee trail is kind of a theft highway.”
“If we had a choice, we would love to support the trail, but it gets tricky when it causes problems for the crops,” she said.
Because dogs, trash, and crops that people eat don’t mix.
“To ensure they are getting the safest product, regulations and buffers must be in place,” Litten said.
So who ensures that the regulation and buffers that are in place are enforced? Because they aren’t being enforced right now. Educating the public seems more important than the county’s recommendations of more fencing, security systems, and trail lighting.
If trail users truly understood why they should stay on the trail—so the food they eat is safe and doesn’t get anyone sick—they likely wouldn’t disobey the rules quite so much. And perhaps, then, the project to lengthen the levee trail wouldn’t have such a big hitch in its giddyup.
You would think that a new state policy on law enforcement’s use of military equipment would throw a hitch in most city police departments’ giddyups, but it’s not. The recent rules require police departments to formalize a policy and be more transparent with the public about what they’ve got in inventory. They don’t ban military equipment.
In case you were wondering, the Santa Maria Police Department has six drones, two BearCat armored vehicles, 500 beanbag rounds, more than a dozen launchers for launching impact rounds and chemical munitions. So, why does the SMPD need BearCats?
Well, these $250,000 to $300,000 vehicles can stop projectiles. They are “to be used in response to critical incidents to enhance … safety … and assist in resolving critical incidents.”
I have a question: What is a “critical incident”?
The Canary believes the cost of gas is a critical incident. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 5, 2022.