I have been a court stenographer (court reporter) for the past 32 years, 14 of them as an employee of the County of Santa Barbara. I was the official court reporter on the Michael Jackson criminal trial presided over by the Honorable Rodney S. Melville in Santa Maria in 2005. I say that not to […]
Give us Jed Beebe
Join the Committee to Elect Jed Beebe
I am one of the 16 members of the “Committee to Elect Jed Beebe.” In recent weeks, we have all worked extremely hard to get Jed elected to be the next Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge. If you see all of Jed’s red signs out, it’s this committee that has accomplished this. One usually […]
MacKinnon deserves your vote for judge
Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor speaks about the important characteristics of a good judge: wisdom, humility, conscientiousness, competence, and high ethics. Attorneys like me have a responsibility to speak out and support the elevation of members of the bar to the bench who demonstrate these important characteristics. We have an opportunity in November to place […]
Maybe Abel should support the independent candidate
I recently received a six-page color ad in the mail touting Abel Maldonado as independent leadership. Three of the pages start with independent leadership in large type. Is Abel ashamed of being a Republican? The word Republican is used only once, in small type on the last page. If Abel is so proud of his […]
Leave my signs alone!
When people run for office, or citizens put measures or propositions on the ballot, it is their right, and guaranteed by law, to advertise. The cheapest and most common form is to erect yard signs. My complaint, and it’s directed to those individuals who oppose my views, is to leave my signs alone! It is […]
Throw ’em all out this election
What a mess. Blame it on Republican deregulation if it makes you feel better. Who was in charge? All indicators point to Democrats. However, both parties are to blame, mostly “liberal” Democrats. The finger has rightfully been pointed to Wall Street by both irresponsible parties, Fannie May and Freddie Mac included, for making careless loans. […]
In the future, go absentee
If you are as sick as I am of listening to the constant political rhetoric as election time nears, here is the solution: We all should register absentee ballots, pass a federal law that says “as soon as all the absentee ballots are in, the election is over.” Then we will no longer have to […]
Never bring a gun to a swordfight
My companion leaned over and murmured, “The only sports faster are those involving bullets.” “Sure,” I thought to myself. “I bet he says that to all the newbies.” You ever hear the expression “Blink and you’ll miss it?” Yeah, I blinked and missed it. “It” was a fencing match, and bullet-guy was Scott Chapman, a […]
Check out Allan Hancock College’s scholar athletes
The Western State Conference has named the scholar athletes for the spring 2008 season. Thirty-one athletes at Hancock made the list. They all were successful in completing at least 12 units with a minimum 3.0 GPA. The students are, for women’s basketball, Nicole Crisosto and Hollyanne Deparini; for men’s basketball, Wolfgang Geiler; for baseball, Dave […]
Santa Barbara student earns golf/academic honor
Golfer Shane Lebow has been named an HP Scholastic Junior All-American by the American Junior Golf Association. The 2008 Scholastic All-American team is sponsored by Hewlett Packard and consists of 12 boys and 12 girls from throughout the United States, all of whom are great golfers and have high grades. To be eligible, golfers must […]
Athlete of the Week
If you’ve ever driven down Main or Donovan streets and seen the Pioneer Valley cross-country squad out running, chances are you caught a glimpse of Steven Youngblood, one of those guys who makes the rest of us look bad. Youngblood started running cross-country his freshman year as a way to get ready to play soccer, […]
CLUBS & MEETINGS
4-H welcomes anyone interested in the group to sign up now. Find a nearby club by contacting the Santa Barbara County 4-H Office at 692-1730 or zmhughes@ucdavis.edu. ALTRUSA INTERNATIONAL, INC. of SANTA MARIA, a nonprofit business and professional organization, meets the second Wednesday of each month, 6:30 p.m., in the Altrusa Theatre of the Santa […]

