People are testy these days, with patience worn thin, looking for any excuse to get snippy. Take this exchange between 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam and County Public Health Director Dr. Van Do-Reynoso at the Oct. 6 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ meeting.
They were chit-chatting about COVID-19 stats, as they often do these days, and Adam asked about a graph that illustrated the county’s positivity rates over time. Well, he wasn’t really asking a question, so much as he was trying to prove a point, and Do-Reynoso wasn’t making it easy for him!
He asked whether the spikes on this graph indicating increased positivity rates corresponded with times when the county limited testing to COVID-19 symptomatic people only. And it totally does. Of course it does.
That’s exactly why the positivity rate is such a stupid way for the state to measure COVID-19 exposure. When more people are tested, asymptomatic people are tested and the COVID-19 positivity rate will decrease—as I pointed out in my Sept. 16 column, “The roof is on fire.”
Well as Do-Reynoso, who I’ll admit could talk me into a deep sleep, tried to explain the reasoning behind the county, the state, the testing capacity, isolation, quarantining procedures … Adam cut her off.
“Excuse me, excuse me, that’s not responsive to my question,” he said.
“But if you let me finish, I would,” Do-Reynoso retorted.
“I’d rather just get the answer to my question instead of your speech,” Adam said with a laugh or three.
Eek! That’s awkward to listen to. And I guess 1st District Supervisor Das Williams thought so too, because he basically chastised Adam for interrupting.
“I understand there’s passionate feelings here, and I appreciate Supervisor Adam asking questions, but interrupting staff is just not an appropriate way to do this,” Williams said.
“Negative! Negative. There’s a long-standing tradition of doing exactly that,” Adam responded.
Eek! More awkwardness. I guess Adam is over COVID-19 and he’s over Do-Reynoso. He’s done with pretense and he’s done pretending to be nice about it. Well, we all are. But here we are talking about the coronavirus at the beginning of every stupid Board of Supervisors meeting since March.
You know what I’m over? Hearing about odor issues every time a cannabis cultivation project is brought up. And we got to hear about it again at that same meeting during the discussion over Castlerock Family Farms in the Santa Ynez Valley, a project the supes approved.
The whole odor discussion waylaid a decision on the project until after lunch/closed session! Adam and 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann agreed that the county’s inability to enforce nuisance odors needs to be addressed, but only from cannabis farms.
The stench of rotting broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and lord knows what else wafting in the Santa Maria air from surrounding agricultural operations should also be addressed then, I guess. Because, frankly, it smells like farts—arguably on par with the smell of fresh skunk.
So if you’re going to push for an odor ordinance, don’t forget about the rest of those beloved crops. Because they’re stinking up my flying air and I don’t appreciate it. Especially on a warm summer night.
The Canary wants to be fart free. Send thoughts to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 8-15, 2020.