Is it too much to ask: People, why can't you just do your damn jobs?
That's how folks living in the county's rural canyons have felt about the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office over enforcement of unlicensed cannabis cultivation (see cover story on page 12) ever since Proposition 64 passed. The Sheriff's Office received enforcement funding a few months ago, sweeping through places like Tepusquet and Cebada canyons, rooting up plants and scofflaw pot farms.
I'm sure the Sheriff's Office wants those growers to do their jobs and follow through with getting all the proper licensing and permissions so they're above board in California's new billion-dollar industry. Santa Barbara County has become the green jewel in the state's pot industry crown, with more commercial cultivation license applications than any other county. But with that, numerous upstart farms have played fast and loose with the transition to legalization.
These farms have had a demonstrable effect on rural communities, from nighttime flood lights to potholes widened by convoys of trucks. Wells have run dry, people have been threatened. The least growers can do is pay taxes.
Well, growers are on notice. The Sheriff's Office has destroyed thousands of plants grown by unlicensed cultivators since funding kicked in. And I'd bet my bong that the complaints from locals at the county Board of Supervisors meetings had something to do with the shifting focus into areas like Tepusquet and Cebada.
And on the subject of complainers, what's going on in Guadalupe?
Social media was abuzz after the Guadalupe City Council announced it would hire Michael Cash as its new public safety director and police chief, despite multiple reports on Cash and his conduct across his public safety career in Southern California. Some of those incidents did happen, like an accidental weapon discharge on a college campus, Cash confirmed with the Sun (see page 7), while others were questionably sourced and reporters didn't reach out to him, Cash contends.
Things got testy on Facebook (imagine that!), where Guadalupe City Councilmember Gina Rubalcaba argued with locals concerned about Cash's "baggage." In a grammatically questionable post, Rubalcaba said the council was doing its job in vetting Cash, but also made a massive generalization about newspapers, saying that "now a days [sic] they are only one-sided."
I think Rubalcaba could learn a thing or two about basic media literacy. For example, this is an opinion piece, where I can make fun of her embarrassing writing, whereas the news story is impartial and allows Cash the chance to explain himself.
Cash should be scrutinized, like anyone appointed to a public office. That's why Sun Staff Writer Kasey Bubnash sat down and talked with the man about the issues, point by point. While I spend plenty of time defending the news media, I'll still call out the local outlets that drop the ball and get swept along by social media outrage without doing their job and hearing everyone out.
At least Guadalupe City Councilmember Virginia Ponce was doing her job in being honest that the tiny town hardly gets any applicants for the position.
"I feel we're lucky to have him," she said.
The Canary is always open-minded. Send your thoughts to [email protected].
