Chef Nancy Weiss’ fascination with cooking started when she was a child

Brilliant Thoughts VILLAGE BEAT (Continued from page 12) along,” Dayton said. “With seven mile off shore. County counsel on parklets along Coast Village Road, Tuesday reiterated to the Board that by Ashleigh Brilliant it shows, or at least gives the perdespite Nesbitt’s promise to use a

Born London, 1933. Mother Canadian. Father a British civil servant. World War ception, that business is thriving out flight path over the ocean, flight patII childhood spent mostly in Toronto and Washington, D.C. Berkeley PhD. in here, which is what we need right tern regulation and airport noise are American History, 1964. Living in Santa Barbara since 1973. No children. now,” he added. in the jurisdiction of the FAA, and Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots”, now a series of 10,000. not enforceable by the County. Email ashleigh@west.net or visit www.ashleighbrilliant.com Seek and Ye Shall Find Board of Supervisors Denies Helipad Appeal The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission, at a subsequent hearing in November, cited inconsistency

One of the most famous lines of almost equally mysterious little box At a hearing on Tuesday, July 7, with the Summerland Community all poetry (originally written does – the one I can hold in my hand. the Santa Barbara County Board of Plan and the Comprehensive Plan as in Persian a millennium ago, When Jesus, in his “Sermon on the Supervisors denied Summerland resreasons for denial, due to the loud, but first translated into English in Mount” (as reported by Mathew) told ident Pat Nesbitt’s appeal to obtain a percussive nature of noise caused 1859) comes from a book called the us to “Seek, and ye shall find,” the Conditional Use Permit for a private by helicopter take offs and landRubaiyat, and is about a “moving fininjunction was inspirational, not a helicopter pad on his 20-acre propings. The Commission also noted the ger,” which “writes, and, having writ, guarantee. But the theme of searching erty located on Via Real. The appeal noise caused by helicopters would moves on” – and nothing we can do permeates our culture. Some famous was denied with a 3-2 vote. be detrimental to the surrounding can bring that finger back, to erase stories even involve the search for Over a dozen nearby residents neighborhood, adjacent trails, and or change anything. That particua secret password. A good examand neighbors spoke out against the nearby monarch butterfly roosting lar digit is, of course, the notorious ple is the so-called fairytale, collectproject at Tuesday’s hearing, joining habitats. Finger of Fate. ed by the Brothers Grimm, called a long list of nearly 200 residents “This is for the convenience of one

But the poet, Omar Khayyam, and “Rumpelstiltskin,” which concerns and groups who have opposed the individual, on one property, that is even his relatively modern translator, the knowledge of how to spin straw project, citing incompatibility with listed for sale,” said attorney Marc Edward Fitzgerald, were both living into gold. That knowledge is posthe surrounding residential neighChytilo, representing two groups in in the immeasurably long eon before sessed by an imp-like creature, who borhoods. Groups in opposition to opposition to the permit. Nesbitt’s there were computers. In our own is nameless all through the story, the project include the Carpinteria property, which includes a 43,000- time, it is only too easy to revise or until the climax, which hinges upon Valley Association, Padaro Lane sq-ft home with 11 bedrooms and 22 delete what our own fingers have discovering his name. Association, Summerland Citizens bathrooms, is currently listed for sale written. In fact, my own favorite But Saint Mathew – and even the Association, Montecito Association, for $55 million. Nesbitt said he plans command (imagine, Omar, giving Grimms – would probably be astonMontecito Trails Foundation, on building another house next door, “commands” to your “moving finished to know that we now have Citizen’s Planning Association, and and maintaining the rights to the ger”!) is “UNDO.” something called a “Search Engine.” others. helipad should the property sell.

But, of all the wonders which Just who invented that term I have The project came about last sumThe appeal was denied with a can be performed by computers – been unable to discover – but the mer, when Nesbitt, who has admit3-2 vote, with Fourth District and even more miraculous to me thing itself can be traced back no farted that he’s flown helicopters onto Supervisor Peter Adam and Fifth than “UNDO” – it is the capacity to ther than 1990. Yes! Before 1990, all and from his property for over two District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino “Search” and “Find” which ranks at searches had to be conducted withdecades without permission, origdissenting. Supervisor Adam called the top of my personal list of manout engines. That includes the wellinally sought a CUP for a helistop the opposition to the project a “First made marvels. People who’ve grown known searches for the Holy Grail, with two landing zones to be used World problem,” and said it would be up in the computer age, and have for the Fountain of Youth, for El for personal use and emergency servery unreasonable to deny the proj no memory of the “good old days,” Dorado – even for the White Whale vices. A more modest project was in ect. Supervisor Lavagnino agreed, can hardly imagine how much easier and the Northwest Passage – to say front of the Santa Barbara County saying, “The public comments seem and faster what we used to call doing nothing of the tragic searches for lost Planning Commission in September, disconnected to what the project is. I “research” has become. It might have explorers, like Sir John Franklin, who which included just one pad in the can’t imagine it can be more than a taken weeks, or longer, to track down disappeared with his whole crew in center of his property. The permit couple of minutes worth of intrusion a single fact which is now freely the Arctic in 1847, but whose wife would limit the personal use of the into someone’s life a couple of times available in response to a few keyspent the rest of her own life organizhelistop to a maximum of two times a week. You know, sometimes that’s strokes. Books, papers, libraries, card ing futile expeditions to look for him. per week between the hours of 7 am what living in society is,” he said. “It catalogs – these were the sources – And meanwhile, all over the world, and 7 pm – which was originally almost feels like [Nesbitt is being] possibly widely scattered – in which hunters, both human and animal, proposed as 9 pm – and per the penalized because he can afford to you had to dig to find what you were seek their prey. Children are playing staff report, his helicopters will take do it.” looking for. games based on searches, such as Hide the ocean route as opposed to the Supervisors Das Williams, Gregg

Now – except for those greedy and Seek, Blind Man’s Buff, Hunt the mountain route in order to avoid any Hart, and Joan Hartmann voted in souls who seek to exploit such wonThimble, and Button, Button, Who’s potential disturbance to nearby resifavor of denial of the appeal, citing ders for their own profit, by devising Got the Button; Geologists roam dences. Frequency of use of the pad incompatibility with the surrounding ways to charge for it – information, the Earth in search of oil and ores; for emergency services would be on area. “The only way it’s compatible or “data,” has become the cheapest Botanists seek new species, Microan as-needed basis, according to the is if the flight path is binding, and we and most abundant commodity in Biologists probe the secrets of the staff report. can’t enforce that binding,” said First the world. genome, in quest of new ways to Opponents to the project have District Supervisor Williams, adding

But, if only it were as easy to prolong human life; Archaeologists voiced concern over the helipad’s that he sympathizes with Nesbitt search our own brains as it is to dig for keys to the human past; close proximity to residential homes, and appreciates that he stepped up search the brains of our computers! Spiritualists seek to establish connearby horse and bicycle trails, and to apply for a permit, while many I’m sure all the world’s technical tact with those who have died; and a nearby environmentally sensitive other neighbors land helicopters geniuses are working on it – but right Astronomers have a whole Universe habitat. Nesbitt argues that there without permission. Supervisors now, there’s no way we can issue to search for all that is still unknown. are hundreds of helicopter flights Hart and Hartmann both agreed the commands to the extremely powerful over the area each year, and his project would set a bad precedent. thinking machines within our own And to cap it all, people everywhere request to add two flights per week “Santa Barbara Airport is twenty skulls in the same easy way we can are seeking inwardly. As one writer would not significantly disturb the minutes away. It’s agricultural land, control our computers. There are no put it (whom modesty forbids me to peace and quiet of the neighborbut not an agricultural helicopter,” “SEARCH” or “FIND” commands name): hood. “Helicopters flying to and Supervisor Hartmann said. which that mysterious object in my from my property do not fly over “I don’t think it’s in the best interhead understands, or will respond to “I’m in search of myself – Santa Barbara residents,” he said, est of the community at large,” almost instantaneously, the way that Have you seen me anywhere?“ •MJ insisting that his helicopter flies 1/4- Supervisor Hart said. •MJ 9 – 16 July 2020 • The Voice of the Village • MONTECITO JOURNAL 39

Reirdon (San Diego), Ron Alldredge (Tehachapi) and Kent Field (Santa Barbara) We are all high time pilots, some ex-military, some Commercial Captains; all are proficient in formation flying. I used to organize and Lead the Veterans Day Parade flights with 28 aircraft flying over Santa Barbara. We volunteered to do the July 4 th parade fly over because are all patriotic Americans who are passionate about our love of our country, the men and women, as well as their families, who have and still give so much so that we can enjoy the lifestyles that we have. These include those in the military, police, fire, and all who are putting their lives on the COVID-19 line.”

After the fly over Mindy gave the cue to start the car parade, following the CHP sedan were the Boy Scouts, Dana Newquist in a vintage Fire Engine with Sofia Schuster singing “God Bless America,” many Montecito Association members, U.S. military vehicles and veterans, WWII D-Day veterans, John and Hazel Blankenship (co-founders of the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation), Montecito Fire Dept, SB County Sheriff’s Dept, CA24 Representative Salud Carbajal driven by Jim Crooke Milpas Motors, First District SBC Supervisor Das Williams, and other vintage and classic cars.

Great big thanks go to the co-chairs, to Montecito Association Executive Director Sharon Byrne, all the sponsors, and volunteers for continuing a Montecito tradition by adapting it to fit these current times. The car parade was so well attended and appreciated, Mindy said that, “All three co-chairs are hearing requests for a Montecito Motorcade again next year!” •MJ