MONDAY, AUG. 26 • The South County Advisory Council has its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Nipomo Community Services District Headquarters, 148 S. Wilson St., Nipomo. TUESDAY, AUG. 27 • The Guadalupe City Council has its regular meeting at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, City Hall, 918 Obispo St., Guadalupe. • […]
Community Notebook 8/22-8/29
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Hobnobbing With Helen
Club K Speakeasy celebrated the Roaring Twenties on Friday, Aug. 9, at the Vets Memorial Hall in Santa Maria. It was a roaring success. Noontime Kiwanis has come up with a surefire formula for pleasing people at its annual signature fundraiser. The basics are scrumptious food, madcap gaming activity, and irresistible silent auction items—with a […]
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Redefining the teacher
The students faced a list of questions displayed at the front of David Preston’s classroom at Ernest Righetti High School. It was the start of third period on Aug. 15, and each senior in the AP literature and composition class was writing the answers to those questions in a growing journal. “How would you go […]
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Home, ‘green’ home
The Rosenthals’ home off of Highway 246 in Solvang provides a cool oasis from the 100-degree weather. The white, single-story ranch house is neat and comfortable, with shiny wood floors and large double-paned windows that overlook a wraparound patio, a grassy lawn, and horse corrals. It’s David and Kathleen Rosenthal’s dream house—but it didn’t start […]
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Buellton Planning Commission approves Meritage project
Senior citizens could be getting more real estate options in the Santa Ynez Valley in the years to come. On Aug. 15, the Buellton Planning Commission unanimously approved issuing a conditional use permit and certified the environmental impact report for the Meritage senior living project. It now goes before the Buellton City Council for approval. […]
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State Assembly passes Achadjian’s ‘rape-by-fraud’ bill
After almost three years and two separate tries, the California State Assembly unanimously approved on Aug. 19 a bill aimed at changing the legal definition of rape to include attackers who coerce victims into sexual activity by impersonating their significant others. Authored by Assembly members Katcho Achadjian (R-San Luis Obispo) and Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), […]
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Santa Barbara County opts out of government talks with Chumash
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors chose not to vote directly on the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians’ request to engage in direct government-to-government talks. Instead, supervisors voted 3-2 during their Aug. 20 meeting, with Salud Carbajal and Larry Lavagnino dissenting, that county planning staff treat the tribe as a private landowner when […]
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The state advises Oso Flaco Lake fishers on friendly eats
On the menu of edible fresh fish caught at Oso Flaco Lake are blue gill and hitch. If it’s gigantic goldfish that you want, though, you should probably drop your hook elsewhere. And as far as Oso Flaco Lake bass are concerned, the California Environmental Protection Agency (CEPA) recommends only eating one a week. CEPA’s […]
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Chasing the future: Wine grapes might soon be in short supply
Purely from the farming side of things, growing grapes can be a rough business—and then there’s the effort it takes to sell them. Managing that green-to-red-to-black-colored crop can be touchy, and those fruity clusters support an industry that is just as finicky. An unusually cool breeze that comes along on the wrong day could cause […]
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Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor’s Bureau launches window display contest
Businesses in the Lompoc Valley now have the chance to show their undying love for the City of Arts and Flowers by dressing up their windows. The Santa Barbara Foundation Lompoc affiliate and the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor’s Bureau have launched a window display contest with the theme “I Love Lompoc.” Retailers […]
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More Central Coast farmers are growing bush berries to turn a profit
Tony Chavez doesn’t look like a farmer. With his gold chain necklace and his brightly colored Hawaiian shirt, Chavez looks like he should be sipping Mai Tais on a tropical beach somewhere. Instead, he’s standing in a field in Nipomo talking to the Sun about blackberry production. An experienced businessman, Chavez formerly owned a tortilla […]
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Politicians decry fracking in the Santa Barbara Channel
A recent offshore discovery in the Santa Barbara Channel might help salvage the failed drive to tighten California’s laws on hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Fracking involves the pumping of large amounts of water, sand, and chemicals into oil wells to loosen deposits segregated by walls of rock. The legislative session began with a […]