12 minute read
Fowl Play
Gretchen is founder and president of the Lutah Maria Riggs Society and Davey’s Voice, both Santa Barbara 501(c)(3) nonprofits. Gretchen sits on the board of the California Water Impact Network and is vice president of the board of the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network. She is a former board member of the Granada Theatre and the Coral Casino Membership Committee. The Great Montecito Duck Caper
At the site of the ducks’ nesting area are SBWLC Volunteer and graphic artist Violet Cota, SBWCN Director of Communications Claire Garvis, and Mt. Carmel’s Groundskeeper Mario Mondragon (photo by Priscilla)
Monday morning… animal rescue phones at the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network ring endlessly. Breathless callers trying to save a wild life, Samaritans rush in babies of all shapes and sizes; fawns from the Gaviota Fire, Red tail fledglings, bunnies and squirrels and pelicans and racoons and hummingbirds and on and on and on…
Cars pull into our cramped parking lot at the end of North Fairview, delivering boxes and towels swaddling adorable and terrified babies… some near death.
Baby Season at the Center is a challenge but this year much more so...
Nesting area at Mt. Carmel Church where mother duck and her three hatchlings and eight other eggs were taken (photo by Priscilla)
as humans isolate from COVID-19, resurgent wildlife has kept our volunteers busy, leaving full-time staff overworked and exhausted. Still… every animal at Santa Barbara Wildlife Care is treated with utmost care and professionalism.
On this particular Monday the wild baby triage is particularly intense when the call comes in from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Montecito. A mommy duck with three ducklings and seven eggs is nesting precariously along an outside wall of the church parking lot. Dangerously near the rush of East Valley Road.
Our phone volunteer tells the concerned Church Lady we will send somebody though apparently there’s no imminent threat. Duck 101 teaches us that ducks often choose terrible places to make their nests. However duck etiquette requires we always leave the mama in the nest until all her eggs have hatched… and then relocate Mother Duck and her nest and its precious contents to a safer spot.
It was only natural that the Network’s “Duck Mamas” were dispatched to go to the Church and check things out. Spring Baby Season is notorious for producing a huge volume of orphaned ducklings and our designated Duck Team “mothers” some dozens of ducklings in various stages of development. The little feathered babies need to be watered, fed and happy. Their comfort is our imperative. We take duck work with utmost seriousness.
It’s late afternoon when our Duck Strike Team arrives at Mount Carmel to take the matter “under our wing,” assuring that the nest, the momma duck and her eggs/ducklings are “safe and secure.”
The “Church Lady” directed us to the large parking lot along East Valley Road to a particular oak tree.
“Go ahead and take a look… but the ducks are no longer here… they were taken away by your wildlife person.”
What?
“We thought it was somebody with your Wildlife Care Network… they came and took the ducks away.”
Gone? … but… we didn’t take them… nobody from the Wildlife Network took the ducks.
The Church Lady shrugs. (We refer to her as “Church Lady” because she doesn’t want her name used in this article.)
A thorough inspection of the site indicates the duck napping culprit is not a predator. There is no sign of carnage… no eggshells… nothing. The scene is scraped clean of evidence… except for some of the mother duck’s soft down on the oak leaves where her nest used to be.
All evidence suggests the ducks have not flown the coop… but rather have been carted away.
Heartbreaking...
“She must have been terrified to have someone just come along... and grab her as she helplessly nests with her ducklings and unhatched eggs.”
Who Would Do This?
A check with the Wildlife Center confirms the likelihood of “fowl play”… determining that the duck nappers were not affiliated with our Center in any way.
So… where… why and how… could 11 ducks disappear from beneath an oak tree at Mount Carmel Church?
Church parish member Maribel Jarchow offers her opinion in the church parking lot; “The ducks were nesting over there under that tree… there was water for them… that’s all I know. We were told the Wildlife people were coming to get the ducks. And now they’re gone and Wildlife says they don’t have them.” So the question is, where are the ducks? Would someone really steal ducklings from a church?
Well, What do YOU Think?
“I hope some good-hearted soul took the duck and the babies… because there are babies involved here… that’s all I can say. That’s all I know.”
There sure is a lot of interest in these ducks… and lots of concern on social media. At a time when so many of our problems seem insurmountable, maybe there’s solace in a small mystery we might actually solve.
Mount Carmel Church Father Lawrence Seyer was kind enough to allow us to post our signs on church property and offers, “I really enjoyed having the ducks here… I enjoyed hearing them and having the mother fly around and quack. It’s also very interesting how many people have commented on the signs... People who may have seen the ducks. Folks really care about wildlife in this town… which is great.”
We post missing duck flyers around the neighborhood and on social media as word of the duck caper spreads. So far, no leads…
You can’t make a quack about ducks in this town without getting advice from Penny Bianchi; “How about checking with people who have ponds on their properties?”
Days pass and it’s Sunday evening. We’re enjoying a glass of wine with an early dinner about to watch 60 Minutes. Frankly it’s been a full weekend of ducks and, just when I think I can’t take another quack, two things happen; a huge male mallard makes a cannonball dive into our pool and the phone rings; “There’s a mother duck and a bunch of ducklings walking down East Valley Road. Can you go check it out?”
No hesitation.
Donna M alerted the Wildlife Network that the ducks were walking along the south side of East Valley Road… between the library and Cota Road. We race there in the approaching twilight. Could this be the missing mother and her ducklings?…
To Be Continued… •MJ
LETTERS (Continued from page 11) the unfamiliar roundabout and not pedestrians who might be wanting to cross. To add to the safety issues, the highest times for pedestrians traffic are also during the peak times for commuters. With the roundabout there will be a constant stream of cars no longer required to come to a complete stop at the intersection like there is now giving all the pedestrians the chance to cross safely. After speaking at the meeting Mr. Rubalcava confirmed “there is nothing Ms. Wills brought up that we contest,” but still the roundabout moves forward at the expense of pedestrian safety. I urge everyone who has not attended these meetings to listen to them on line. This roundabout is to serve commuters during the freeway construction. That is why this roundabout must be done prior to the freeway widening and reinstallation of the southbound onramp at Cabrillo which Caltrans admits will reduce congestion 60%. To pose such significant risk to pedestrian safety to increase the intersection LOS current level E, not F like claimed, to only a D, not B like claimed, makes zero sense! This project severely violates the Montecito community plan. I’m honestly taken back, saddened, and shocked that our community and the fierce community members who have always worked so hard to protect Montecito are even allowing this. I love being from here and it’s more than because of its beautiful location and great weather. I love how special Montecito is and it wouldn’t be this with without the handful of residents who have worked so hard to continue to keep this wonderful little community small and special. The intersection would benefit from better pedestrian crossings but that can very easily happen with a painted cross walk and without a roundabout. Speaking for myself, someone who is now legally blind, and lives next to this intersection I depend on my ability to walk to have some sort of independence. After this roundabout is done I lose that. Even the best designed roundabouts in the country have yet been able to solve the issue for visually impaired users, even with any of the crossing methods being considered by the county for this roundabout. This is not a time to waste tax dollars in this country or state.
Mimi Wills
General Skullduggery
A few days ago, a letter signed by various officials of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI was made public in Washington, D.C. calling upon U.S. Atty General William Barr to resign over his efforts to have all charges dismissed relating to disgraced Lt. General Michael Flynn. I felt honored to have been asked to be one of the signators on that letter.
As readers may recall, Flynn was appointed as Trump’s first Director of National Security (DNI), though he had been fired by President Obama based upon prior evidence of him being untrustworthy and a possible threat to our national security. Shortly thereafter, Flynn pleaded guilty to Federal felony charges of lying to the FBI during the investigation into Russian interference in in the 2016 election to bolster Trump’s election. Specifically, he falsely denied having had certain conversations with Russia’s Ambassador to the U.S., Sergei Kislyak, during which Flynn promised Russia the removal of various economic sanctions against Russia if Trump was elected U.S. President.
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Flynn also pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI over his receiving and not disclosing payments from the government of Turkey, and for not registering as an agent of a foreign government as required by Federal law. Flynn was one of the top Intelligence officials in the U.S. military before his retirement and was fully cognizant of all such laws and registration requirements.
As is usually required in the Federal Court system, for the Federal Judge to accept his multiple guilty pleas, Flynn was required to describe in his own words what he had done in violation of those laws, and he did so eloquently. His words matched the proof that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and the FBI had already professionally uncovered. There is no question of Flynn’s guilt on these charges, and no question that there was a solid basis for the national security investigation that led to his convictions. Flynn was represented by one of the top law firms in the country was given ample time over multiple opportunities to defend himself against the charges but declined to do so, further substantiating his guilt.
The former Chief of DOJ’s National Security Division, Mary B. McCord, who had been directly involved in the Flynn case, even went so far as to accuse AG Barr of distorting one of her reports in that case to help justify dropping the lying charge against Flynn. McCord described it as “disingenuous for the department to twist my words” to support the motion for dismissal, and not an accurate reflection of what she had stated. She also rebuked DOJ’s assertion that the lies told by Flynn to Federal investigators were immaterial and the FBI Agents had no legal basis for questioning Flynn about them, thus precluding any prosecution. Ms. McCord contended that the FBI had sufficient reason to question Flynn and his answers were pertinent to their investigation into Flynn’s conversations with Russian Ambassador Kislyak, purportedly to influence the election. It should be noted that Flynn also admitted lying to Vice President Pence about the same conversations. Barr’s motion to dismiss does not hold water – or even vodka – in this case!
As a former senior FBI field executive, I joined with over 2,000 Justice Department prosecutors and other FBI officials in signing this letter. Some of the DOJ officials who had been directly involved in the Flynn prosecution resigned from the case after Barr announced his plans for dismissal. Among those of us signing the letter, there is little question that Flynn was clearly guilty and the case was properly and professionally handled and charged within the stringent requirements of Federal laws and criminal procedures, just as recounted by Mary McCord. There were some internal administrative irregularities during the FBI’s Russia investigation, but absent any political motivation, they would not have risen to the level of a case dismissal. The only disagreements to that fact seem to be emanate from Barr, Trump, Flynn and his current lawyers, and Trump’s political supporters who have no independent knowledge of the case but when commanded to “jump”, merely ask “How high, sir?” Being a friend and supporter of a president is not a “get out of jail free” card. The Federal Judge handling the case is a hard-liner and solid speculation exists that he will not accept Barr’s and DOJ’s motions and will refuse to dismiss the case based upon the overwhelming evidence and Flynn’s multiple guilty pleas. The judge would be on firm legal ground in denying that dismissal.
Previous to this current administration, the Rule of Law was the guiding principle of our democracy and our system of justice. Our beloved country was founded upon its precepts, and I am proud to have had a role in defending that principle for over fifty years. It must prevail against all enemies, foreign and domestic! The people of America deserve nothing less.
Thomas R. Parker Former FBI Agent
Santa Barbara •MJ
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