If you’re not running for president, but you’re a candidate in another race, then there’s no need to attend a debate. After all, Donald Trump won’t be there to make it interesting. It’ll just be you, Katcho Achadjian, and Matt Kokkonen if you’re running as a Republican in the primary to snag the soon-to-be open seat of Lois Capps as the 24th District representative in the House.
At least, that’s what Justin Fareed decided: Rather than attend a debate hosted by the Santa Barbara Young Republicans on Oct. 22, it seems the candidate opted to attend a football game between UCLA (his alma mater) and UC Berkeley.
Honestly, I’d rather attend the football game too, but then again, I’m not running for Congress. Apparently, he said he would attend the debate, but backed out a couple of weeks beforehand, citing a family issue as his reason.
Fareed’s campaign manager Kayla Berube said the game was among a number of prior commitments that day. She also said the candidate welcomes any invitations to open, public debates in the coming months to discuss “important issues facing the Central Coast and our nation.”
You know, just not if it’s on game day for UCLA. There could be a prior commitment.
Why did I miss the debate? My prior commitment was washing my feathers and then dining on cracked crab. I plucked the sweet, succulent meat out of its shell, dipped it in a lemon-butter sauce, and savored the delicacy behind my beak as I reveled in not watching a Republican debate.
Alas, for the rest of this year I will no longer get to use that excuse, ahem, I mean prior commitment. On Nov. 6, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced the closure of rock crab season—a year-round activity—and the delay of Dungeness crab season; recreational Dungeness crab season was set to open Nov. 7, commercial on Nov. 15.
The emergency rule was enacted for safety reasons, according to CDFW Director Charlton Bonham. “I did not make this decision lightly,” Bonham said in a press release. “But doing everything we can to limit the risk to public health has to take precedence.”
Sad face.
A toxic algal bloom growing off the West Coast decided that enough was enough. The emergency rule follows a health advisory made by the California Department of Public Health on Nov. 3 that the domoic acid levels in the spindly (and deliciously) legged creatures were too high for safe eating. The tiny members of that gigantic algal bloom contains domoic acid, which makes its way up the food chain.
So, I guess we have to wait for the season of crab eating.
It’s really too bad the Santa Maria Police Department can’t declare such a closure in what seems to be open season for shootings. We are nearing double digits for murders this year, and we’ve got two months to go. The most recent shooting that resulted in death was Oct. 30. City Councilmember Etta Waterfield happened to be on a ride-along that day. So she witnessed firsthand what it’s like to be on scene.
Basically, Waterfield figured out that being on scene at a shooting sucks. It’s a result of the human condition that is senseless, violent, and heart wrenching.
I know every time I hear about another shooting, stabbing, or murder, my little tweeting heart sinks a little bit lower. My wings droop. My beady eyes start leaking.
The latest victim, 21-year-old Abrahan Rojas, was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds when Waterfield arrived on scene. He was alive. He later died at the hospital.
Waterfield spoke of the precision with which emergency responders arrived on scene in a Santa Maria Times article.
“We’re good at that,” SMPD Chief Ralph Martin told the Times. “We don’t panic. We don’t yell on the radio. Everybody’s got their job to do. They’ve got their assignments.”
I would say it’s both fortunate and unfortunate that the police department basically has to be so good at its job. It speaks to the increasing frequency with which violence happens in Santa Maria. In 2014, Santa Maria experienced only three homicides according to Uniform Crime Reports from the FBI. The first one occurred in August. By August 2015, Santa Maria already had six homicides. Now, there have been nine.
The Sun spoke with Martin in August, after 17-year-old Oscar Daniel Joaquin was shot to death on July 28. At the time he said no one should be worried for public safety. Now, Martin is blaming the uptick in murders on gang violence.
“We’re looking at numbers we haven’t seen in this city, if ever, in a longtime,” Martin told Noozhawk after the Oct. 30 shooting. The chief said many of the shootings and five of the homicides so far in 2015 can be attributed to an increase in violence between the city’s two major gangs.
Martin said the violence would most likely subside for a reprieve, but when? Sadly, no one can close the season on violence.
The Canary wants the power to stop violence. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 12-19, 2015.