For the first time, Touring and Tasting Magazine and wine club is selling off cases of their inventory of limited production wines. The Holiday Warehouse Sale will take place on Nov. 22 from 2 to 5 p.m. at 125 S. Quarantina St. in Santa Barbara. A portion of the proceeds will go to benefit three […]
Touring and Tasting hosts warehouse wine sale for charity
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Board of Supervisors passes resolution honoring local vineyards
To recognize the importance of wine grape vineyards and winemaking to the county’s economy, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution during their Oct. 28 meeting. The resolution was sponsored by Supervisor Joni Gray and presented to Kevin Merrill, vineyard manager for Mesa Vineyard Management in Santa Maria. “Winemaking and vineyards are […]
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Longtime ESL instructor is set to retire from Allan Hancock College
On Nov. 19, friends and colleagues of June Grimm will be thanking her for two decades of service to the Allan Hancock College English as a Second Language (ESL) program during a luncheon at Olive Garden in Santa Maria. Lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. Grimm, 83, came to Santa Maria in 1987 after a […]
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Political Watch
A furlough program approved by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to help balance the county’s budget has garnered statewide attention from leaders throughout California. Political leaders are calling the county staff members, who are taking a 64-hour pay cut as part of the program, “positive role models for civil servants during these turbulent […]
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Shop a little, eat a little
Looking to get a head start on the holiday shopping season? The ladies of the Minerva Club can help. From 9:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Nov. 15, they’ll be hosting their Holiday Faire and Luncheon. The faire will feature a variety of merchandise for sale. There will be homemade baked goods, candies, jams, and […]
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Santa Maria Public Library tech team wins city’s GEM award
The Information Technology Division team at the new Santa Maria Public Library was recently named Santa Maria’s Going the Extra Mile (GEM) Award winner for the third quarter of 2008. The award recognized the team’s ability under deadline pressure to install a fully functioning computer network at the library. Team members honored include Teri Maa, […]
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Join a public hearing to discuss Union Valley Parkway
Community members interested in discussing the future Union Valley Parkway project are invited to a public hearing to be held on Nov. 19 at the Santa Maria City Council Chambers, 110 E. Cook St., at 6:30 p.m. The Santa Maria City Planning Commission will host the meeting, and will also consider making recommendations to the […]
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Local Circuit City branch is closing its doors
On Nov. 11, technology chain Circuit City announced that it’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On top of that, the chain said it will close approximately 20 percent—about 155—of its more than 700 stores in the United States by Dec. 31. Santa Maria’s Circuit City, located at 1535 South Bradley Road, is scheduled to close, […]
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City of Santa Maria eyes a new location for the police department
The Santa Maria Police Department is about to get an upgrade. The city recently announced that escrow is expected to close in mid-November on land and a building on West Betteravia Road, near the intersection of Blosser and Betteravia roads. In a release to the media, Santa Maria City Manager Tim Ness said that the […]
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Doreen Farr takes over the Third District
Doreen Farr had an exciting election night party, but she wishes she hadn’t. If the votes had gone in her favor earlier in the night, she could have avoided the long, nerve-wracking hours she spent waiting for the votes to be counted. Trailing behind Steve Pappas with 48 percent of the vote to his 51 […]
Posted inOpinion
Keep marriages to the churches
Despite opposing redefinition of marriage, Californians have already conceded civil unions to same-sex couples. But gays have rejected anything short of full use of the same word that applies to traditional couples. Therefore, I propose a solution: Marriage obviously means different things to different people, and carries many religious implications. Hence, like separation of church […]
Posted inOpinion
Prop 8’s passing presents a problem
The California electorate has approved Proposition 8, deeming marriage to be legal only for couples of one man and one woman. However, a significant legal and procedural problem not addressed in the wording of Proposition 8 remains unresolved. Unless the secretary of state acts immediately to deal with this heretofore-unrecognized threat, the legal veracity of […]