After years of talking about how the military’s discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy must end, it has finally come down to the next couple of weeks. If the Senate is going to act to repeal this law, they must act now, before a more conservative Congress takes over in 2011. A recent Pentagon […]
Help repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Pick the most loving path
Our founders wrote in the Preamble of the Constitution “in order to form a more perfect union.” What did the mean by that? Did they mean a union with more control, more fear, more manipulation, more war, more dropouts, more poverty, more pollution, more genetically modified food, more global warming, more drug use, more corporate […]
Sophisticated defense doesn’t come cheap
Regarding the commentary, “See that 500-pound gorilla?” (Nov. 18): The ending by James M. Duenow was the most appropriate statement in it. “We probably don’t know what we’re talking about.” It is disappointing that the Sun would allow such naivety on such an important subject as this commentary displays. Yes, the Defense Department has a […]
Don’t forget to blame corrupt corporations
“See that 500-pound gorilla?”—the opinion piece by Jim Duenow in the Nov. 18 Sun—is a timely reminder of a major reason for our national deficit … as far as it goes. I’d like to add an “800-pound gorilla,” and that is the rapacious corporate sector with its unending appetite for megabucks with its gazillions in […]
Don’t just focus on the military
What a poorly written commentary (“See that 500-pound gorilla?” Nov. 18)! When the writer starts out by denigrating a particular section of the public, he loses his credibility. He starts out by calling them “teabaggers,” which shows his complete lack of respect and cloudy judgment. I am not a “tea partier,” but like it or […]
They’ve got a PAL
The Santa Maria Police Activities League (PAL) has been quite a friend for young people in the area. By offering programs directed toward youth, PAL has been helping in the fight to keep kids out of gangs and, for the most part, fitting gloves on their hands. The boxing part of PAL began in 2004 […]
Sadie DeQuattro
“There’s no crying in baseball” may be a sports rule, but a more applicable (and broad) one is “There’s no rest for the athlete.” And that certainly applies to Allan Hancock College sophomore Sadie DeQuattro. She’s only just finished volleyball season, and now she’s starting on softball. This season may be her last on the […]
Polar Express chugsinto the mall
The Santa Maria Town Center mall is getting into the Christmas spirit as part of its regular “Movies at the Mall” series, showing the animated children’s favorite The Polar Express on Dec. 11. The movie will show for free near the Red Robin restaurant, with seating beginning at 4 p.m. and the showing starting […]
Glad tidings at chamber luncheon
The Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce is kicking off the holidays with festive music, a visit from Santa Claus, and more at its annual Christmas Luncheon, scheduled for Dec. 8 at the Santa Maria Elks Lodge, beginning at noon. The 81-student choir of Orcutt Academy’s K-8 campus will be returning for an encore […]
Angels come to Orcutt
Angels Foster Care, a private, nonprofit foster family agency serving infants and toddlers entering foster care for the first time, recently opened a new office in Orcutt. The Angels’ mission is to match each foster child with a local selected family who agrees to keep the child as long as he or she is […]
Hancock’s holiday baseball clinic is back
Baseball players ages 6 through 18 are invited to sharpen their diamond skills at the annual Allan Hancock College Holiday Baseball Clinic, held Dec. 20 to 22 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This year’s instructors include the entire Allan Hancock College coaching staff; former major league pitcher Bryn Smith; Scott Nickason, head coach of […]
Bulldog volleyball takes year-end awards
Despite his struggling through a 9-14 season, Western State Conference coaches chose Allan Hancock College volleyball coach Julio Molina as the conference’s volleyball coach of the year. Though the award typically goes to the coach with the most wins, coaches recognized the progress Molina made with the program, Hancock athletic director Kim Ensing said in […]

