The Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Tri-Counties Board is asking Santa Barbara County businesses to donate auction items for Wishnight 2011, an annual fundraising event. The organization’s Auction Task Group is putting together upscale packages with themes such as “I want to be a wine expert,” “I want to be pampered,” “I want to go on […]
Make wishes come true
Posted inNews
TMHA gets a $150,000 grant
Transitions-Mental Health Association, a nonprofit human services agency serving Northern Santa Barbara County, received a two-year grant of $150,000 from the Weingart Foundation. The funding will advance the organization’s programs for youth and adults by supporting general operating expenses, including paying for client wages and staff at Growing Grounds Farm, an employment program in Santa […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Ride the rollercoaster of love
Some say marriage is like a rollercoaster ride. Before you get on, you feel excitement and anticipation, but once you’re strapped in, you’re scared to death and thrilled all at the same time. Some people want the ride to last forever, while others become nauseous and lose their corn dog and cotton candy lunch. My […]
Posted inNews
Wanted: Host families for foreign exchange students
The new school year is about to start, and with it will come foreign high school students participating in semester- and year-long academic programs. But in order to study here, students need families with whom they can stay. Pacific Intercultural Exchange (P.I.E.) is currently making its final plea for host families on the Central Coast. […]
Posted inOpinion
Do your homework before donating money
Much has been written lately about what should be expected of our local humane society. However, no one has mentioned what should be expected of all nonprofit humane societies. Many elderly people, such as myself, will leave humane societies monies and/or property in our wills. However, most people automatically assume that all nonprofits are honest. […]
Posted inOpinion
Check out this hypocrisy in politics
In a letter in the Santa Maria Times, Steve McCoy (“Short memory for Democrats,” July 16) claims “one of the unsaid platforms of the Democratic Party is to avoid responsibility at all costs,” taxing the hardworking “to pay for many who don’t want to work all that hard.” I hear this a lot from those […]
Posted inOpinion
That ad misleads readers
I like your paper. I read it weekly. That’s why I’m so disappointed in the paid advertisement you recently ran across from your opinion page. Why? Because it is nothing more than Andy Caldwell bashing John Laird. He paid you to bash John Laird in what looks like an op-ed piece when, in truth, it […]
Posted inOpinion
We need John Laird, no bull!
Spike, the antithesis of a lap dog (in the July 22 issue), who is “no liberal or conservative leg-humper,” is indeed an extremely right-wing conservative leg-humper! The placement of the political ad, though it appears to be an editorial-type new column in the Sun, is in reality a strong partisan attack piece. The person who […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Jhordy Ramirez
Before coach David Ramirez found him, he had lost two fights. But now, after starting a strenuous twice-a-day training regimen, 15-year-old Jhordy Ramirez is on his way to the top. He’s already made progress after becoming a Coachella East Coast champion, claiming a national belt. In fact, he mopped up the competition: He knocked down […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
A time to remember
The grainy asphalt of Telephone Road often sits beneath a bare, blue sky, its twists and turns surrounded by farmland and, farther off, rolling hills. It’s a tranquil setting, prized by cyclists—when there aren’t cars and semi-trucks blazing past. Eric Okerblom’s memorial stands as a reminder to both aspects of the road: its beauty and […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Bid on unique sports memorabilia at an annual Hancock auction
Sports fans will get a shot at taking home one-of-a-kind memorabilia while supporting Allan Hancock College during the ninth annual Joe White Memorial Dinner and Auction on Aug. 21. Items up for bid this year include a John Madden autographed football, a UCLA jersey signed by the late John Wooden, a Kobe Bryant All-Star Los […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Buttonwood serves up local delights
Here on the Central Coast, farms and backyard gardens produce tender edibles all year long. Our ocean waters yield fresh seafood, and area ranchers grow a variety of livestock, making it relatively easy to follow the lead of the locavore movement and “eat locally.” In a shining example of the movement’s best intentions, the folks […]