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Lauren Cantin, the Montecitoraised teenager who was famously pulled from underneath a four-foot pile of mud and debris after being buried alive for six hours in the early morning hours of January 9, 2018, has appeared on all sorts of big stages in the two years since her rescue. That includes performing a duet with Katy Perry at the Kick Ash Bash that spring, appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and singing the National Anthem at Dodger Stadium last summer, to name just a few.
And indeed it was the power of her voice calling out for help that led rescuers to her location on that fateful day, when the debris flows claimed the life of her father, Dave, and brother, Jack, along with 21 other Montecito residents.
But Cantin is more excited about this weekend’s 11th annual Teen Star Santa Barbara event, the local American Idol-like competition where the Santa Barbara High School junior will join nine other finalists in singing in front of 2,000 people at the Arlington Theatre. That’s because she’ll be among her peers, and judged only on her talent, not her unintended notoriety.
“Those experiences were amazing,
“You’ve got to go out on a limb sometimes because that’s where the fruit is.” – Will Rogers Steven Libowitz has reported on the arts and entertainment for more than 30 years; he has contributed to the Montecito Journal for more than 10 years.
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20 – 27 February 2020 MONTECITO JOURNAL18 “Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.” – Mother Teresa Vote Laura Capps on your absentee ballot or in person on Tues., March 3 Polls are open 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. Paid for by Capps for Santa Barbara County Supervisor 2020 FPCC #142055 Wrote Santa Barbara County’s toughest ethics plan. Increase funding for emergency response and preparedness and ensure police and firefighters have the resources to keep families safe. Fighting for all of our kids as President of the Santa Barbara School Board and will make government accountable to taxpayers.
ENDORSED BY: JEFF AND SUSAN BRIDGES ALIXE MATTINGLY LYNDA WEINMAN, FORMER CEO OF LYNDA.COM GWYN LURIE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF MONTECITO JOURNAL For a full list, visit LauraCappsforSupervisor.com/Endorsements VOTE REFORMER LAURA CAPPS FOR SUPERVISOR CappsforSupervisor.com FOR SUPERVISOR LAURA CAPPS LISTENING and LEADING for Montecito and All of Santa Barbara County ENTERTAINMENT (Continued from page 16) ENTERTAINMENT Page 204 but I have to question whether it was because of other reasons [that they had me sing],” Cantin, now 16 and a junior at Santa Barbara High School, said earlier this week. “With Teen Star, I auditioned and got in based on my voice, not my story. This is just a vocal competition, and it’s not just me on the stage.”
Cantin has been there at the Arlington before, competing in Teen Star for its 10th anniversary last winter, when she made it to the Final Four. But a self-confessed bout of nervousness prevented her from performing her best, she said, a situation she hopes to remedy this Saturday.
“Last year on stage my nerves were just shot, but I had a lot of fun, so I wanted to do it again. So this year I’m going to try to ground myself more. And I also learned that it’s not all about the competition aspect. It’s about doing your best.”
After singing “Shallow,” from the soundtrack of A Star Is Born, and Mariah Carey’s “Hero” at last year’s Teen Sings, Cantin is reaching back to an even earlier era for her, hopefully, two selections for this year’s competition: Carole King and Linda Ronstadt, noting she was inspired both by their music and their stories.
“I looked at the women over the past decades who were really prominent,” she explained. “But really it was when I first heard the songs I knew I would choose them. It’s always within the first few seconds that I feel the vibe and I know that I want to sing it.”
Cantin, who now lives with her mom, Kim, in an ocean-facing home in Santa Barbara, has also recently finished writing her first song, an effort to express her emotions and experiences in the aftermath of the debris flows two years ago. But the number – which she said she composed following one of her ongoing Grief Therapy sessions after realizing she doesn’t have to put all of her feelings into a single song – isn’t quite ready for public performance on a massive stage.
“I still have so much to learn,” she said.
Asked what it will take to prevail and emerge as Santa Barbara’s next Teen Star – which includes multiple performance opportunities and a scholarship award – Cantin said that she’ll need to do more than just sing well. “I have to be myself, and be a good performer, and just sing from my soul.”
But, she noted, everyone on the stage is “really talented and we all have a good shot.”
Still, Cantin wants to win, of course, for multiple reasons, including one that it would be hard to imagine anyone else can fully comprehend.
“It would prove to me that I’m more than just what happened to me,” she said. “That it’s not the only reason people ask me to sing.”
Being named the next Teen Star would also be “a good stepping stone to continue a career in music,” she said, acknowledging that she’s headed in that direction no matter the outcome Saturday night, as evidenced by her years of vocal study, including most recently with Agatha Carubia, the Montecito legend who also taught Perry back in the pop star’s local school days.
“It’s part of my plan,” said Cantin, who has also appeared in musicals in town pre-mudslide via The Adderley School and Santa Barbara Youth Ensemble Theatre, as well as last year’s Lights Up! inaugural production of Big Fish. “But I still have a lot to learn – techniques, different styles of music, stage presence. But no one knows what’s going to happen.” No Fuss Montecito’s Dawson Fuss, who too made it to the final round of four at Teen Star 2019, is also returning for another try at the crown this Saturday. The 10th-grader at Carpinteria’s Cate School has his own reasons for competing at the Arlington again.
“It’s the biggest platform for young artists and singers in town, and I also like that they support what I love to do in town,” said Fuss, who has been working in local theater since his parents put him in acting classes at age five because “I was always a crazy energetic kid… It’s such an amazing experience to perform at the Arlington, and working with [Teen Star mentors] Alan Parsons and Tariqh Akoni was awesome.” Dawson Fuss also competes for the title of Teen Star 2020 on February 22
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20 – 27 February 2020 MONTECITO JOURNAL20 “Sorrow is a fruit. God does not make it grow on limbs too weak to bear it.” – Victor Hugo Make Your Choice MONTECITO CLEANERS 1024 B Coast Village Rd. (Near Von’s) STATE STREET ONE HOUR CLEANERS 3351 State Street (San Roque Plaza) TURNPIKE ONE HOUR CLEANERS 155 S.Turnpike (Near Von’s) Because We Care... One Hour Dry Cleaning • Same-Day Shirt Service Store Hours: 7 AM–7 PM Mon-Sat 100% Non-Perc and Odorless, Environmentally Safe, Dry Cleaning Process Santa Barbara’s Premier CALLING ALL INTERESTED STAKEHOLDERS! An Invitation to Get Involved! email: staff@montecitogsa.com | call: 805.969.2271 Public Meeting: Monday, February 24th 5:00 pm Montecito Union School 385 San Ysidro Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93108 Apply For Stakeholder & Technical Advisory Committees by March 6, 2020 Review & Comment On the Communication and Engagement Plan by March 16, 2020 Join the Stakeholder List For Ongoing Updates Learn More: www.montecitogsa.com ENTERTAINMENT (Continued from page 18) ENTERTAINMENT Page 224 Like Cantin, Fuss said he’s learned a lot in the 12 months since he last appeared at the Arlington, including studying both with Carubia and a vocal teacher in Los Angeles, and working in both theater and with musical groups at school, including an a cappella outfit. “I get to sing a lot every day,” he said, adding that he’s coming to realize that competition is “about doing my best to utilize my instrument.”
But it’s also about song choice, he said, noting that he wasn’t all that pleased with his second offering in the 2019 finals. “I think that’s where I went wrong.”
No such issues this time around, as Fuss will be singing “Take Me to the Pilot,” an early hit for veteran pop star Elton John.
“I had the biggest smile on my face the first time I listened to it, and I was just jammin’ out,” he said. “Every time I sing it, I have so much fun.”
If he makes it to the Final Four again, Fuss imagines he’ll have even more fun belting out a new song he wrote himself, called “Real Boys Don’t Cry,” which addresses an issue that couldn’t be more topical.
“I got really inspired about the idea of toxic masculinity, how prevalent it is nowadays with people in my school,” he explained. “[We’ve been told] that real men don’t show their emotions, and it’s so hurtful to people and the growth of today’s youth because they’re being raised with the idea that they can’t express their emotions.”
And if the judges and audience members are moved enough to vote him in as Teen Star 2020?
“Oh my God! That’s crazy!” he exclaimed. “I think that would be not necessarily a validation but a reassurance that I’m doing the right thing for myself and what I want to be doing with my life. It would be so cool for me to see that what I’ve been working on all these years is paying off and that people I don’t even know are voting for me.
“All the opportunities that come out of it after the performance are really cool, too, like performing at Fiesta, and singing the national anthem. It’s a great way to be seen by those in the community.”
But no matter Saturday’s results, Fuss is planning on still focusing on music, perhaps as a career if it should work out.
“Everybody listens to music. Singing is always what I do in the car or in bed or in the shower – always. It’s so much of who I am. I think it’s really a part of everybody. Everyone has their inner soundtrack of their life that makes them who they are.” 5Qs with Joshua Radin Fifteen-year veteran singer-songwriter Joshua Radin, who counts more than 1,500 placements of his music on TV shows, movies, commercials and other soundtracks dating back to his first song, comes to the Lobero Theatre on February 22 for a special acoustic show with friends Ben Kweller and William Fitzsimmons. We checked in over the phone earlier this week. Q. You spent your twenties working on screenplays and the visual arts. How did you get into writing music? A. I wrote six features over six years, and was just getting by enough when I sold a couple of them that ended up getting shelved. It was so frustrating that I bought a guitar when I was about to turn 30, just wanting to use it more as a meditative device. I’d step away from my laptop if I couldn’t figure out a character or plot and just learn a new chord. I had no thought in my mind of becoming a musician at all, let alone a professional. I just wanted to use it as a device to chill myself out, stop thinking, and open my mind to what might come up.
Within six months I had learned a few cover songs, some of my favorite stuff. But then I started thinking, I’m a writer. Someone had told me the age-old adage that you just need three chords and the truth to write a song. I thought I’d write about what I was going through in my life. I wrote this song called “Winter,” just for myself. That’s when your buddy, the writer-actor-director Zach Braff stepped in, right? Yeah, I was sitting in my apartment and Zach was over because we used to give each other notes on our screenplays. He saw my guitar in the corner of my living room, and said, “I didn’t know you played.” Then he made me play him the song – I’d never played anything in front of anybody at that point, not even my girlfriend who I was living with. Finally he said, OK, I’ll turn around so you don’t even Joshua Radin comes to the Lobero Theatre on February 22 for a special acoustic show with friends Ben Kweller and William Fitzsimmons
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ENTERTAINMENT (Continued from page 20) have to see me. When I finished, he turned back around with tears in his eyes and told me I had to record it. He said he’d give it to Bill Lawrence, the executive producer and creator of Scrubs, who was always looking for new music for the show.
I was thinking, no way. Real musicians and songwriters get on. But I recorded it in my friend’s bedroom with Pro Tools on an iMac, just playing it live and overdubbing the harmony. Three weeks later Bill called and said, he’d been looking for the perfect song for this warm spot at this very sad moment in the show, which was usually so silly. I thought it was a joke. But a week later the episode aired, and it shut down the NBC website because so many people were trying to figure out where they could find the song.
Not a bad way to get discovered. No. I mean, I just thought, wow, this is something I should pursue. I’d been doing those other creative things looking for an audience, painting, and drawing and screenplays and then, whoa, here’s this first song I ever wrote, and the audience is seeking me. But I think even if it hadn’t happened, if Scrubs hadn’t used it, I realized after writing it that I was expressing what I was going through at that moment more honestly in 3.5 minutes than in any painting or the six screenplays. It just felt more organic, more at home creatively. So it just built that way, organically, for the last 15 years. I never wanted that American Idol kind of flash in the pan. Your new album Here, Right Now is a bit of departure in that you wrote it in Spain rather than at home. What was the story?
I had a bit of writer’s block for about six months which had never happened before. So I thought I’d change locations and try to get inspired. I found this little beach place, very remote and no one was there. I was sitting out on the sand looking out at the sea with my guitar thinking if I can’t write here, I’m screwed. This stray dog came by – no leash, no human – about 30 or 40 yards from me and we just locked eyes. It was the strangest thing. We just stared at each other and didn’t even blink, like Clint Eastwood or something, for a couple minutes. I looked into her soul. He or she just felt so free and living in the moment and present. I realized I spent the majority of my life dealing with anxiety laying in bed at night always worrying about the idea of what comes next… for me, the world, my friends, my family, never just enjoying life. So when I wrote the title song, I figured every time I sing it, it will reinforce in my mind that I should be living in that moment and it’s really helped out a lot. All the songs just flowed directly from that.
You’re playing at the Lobero with fellow singer-songwriters Ben Kweller and William Fitzsimmons. Have you done this before?
No. I wanted to try something new for a short little tour. We’re just going to have three chairs, three acoustic guitars and trade off songs and stories. We’ll talk to each other, laugh and joke around and we’ll see what happens. I love their songs, so I think it will be fun.
Chaucer’s Choices
The midtown independent bookstore has four book signing events on tap this week, including psychotherapist, mediator and author Dr. Jennifer Freed – the force behind Santa Barbara esteemed AHA! Program – whose new book Use Your Planets Wisely addresses the nexus between therapy and astrology in such questions as “Who am I, really? What did I come here to do? Who am I in a relationship?” (Thursday, February 20). Local author Emile Millar offers
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an afternoon of storytelling and music with his children’s adventure storybook Eagle vs. Bear: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Children’s Adventure, which is told through narration, illustration, and rock ‘n’ roll as each chapter comes with its own downloadable or streaming song as part of the trend-setting book that bridges the gap between print and digital content, from 2-4 pm on Sunday, February 23.
Also, horse photographer Deborah Kalas heads to Chaucer’s Books on Tuesday, February 25, to share her new work Wild Herd: A Vanishing American Treasure, featuring photographs that once a season for several years captured the wild herds of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park up in North Dakota, one of the last remaining places where magnificent herds of wild horses still roam happy and free across the American landscape. Finally, local writer Sunreyes (aka Brian Downie) offers an evening of words and slam poetry from his book The Art of Life!, a coffee table-style art book that brings together the author’s drawings, photography, poetry and more (Wednesday, February 26). All events are at 7 pm except where noted. Chaucer’s is located at 3321 State Street in Loreto Plaza Shopping Center. Free admission. Call (805) 682- 6787 or visit www.chaucersbooks. com. •MJ
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20 – 27 February 2020 MONTECITO JOURNAL24 “Unless a tree has borne blossoms in spring, you will vainly look for fruit on it in autumn.” – Walter Scott No One is Talking
A week after the DEA audit, no one is talking. The DEA will only say that this is part of an ongoing federal investigation. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office reports it was told that this was a “pharmacy audit.” From our own investigations, we are hoping to help our local community better understand what is going on and why they need to support our local family-owned businesses. A Legacy of Care
The San Ysidro Pharmacy is one of only two independent compounding pharmacies in the Santa Barbara area. There are currently only about 600 compounding pharmacies in the United States, down from over 2,000 just a few years ago. Only 1% of these, including the San Ysidro Pharmacy, have received accreditation from the PCAB (Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board). The San Ysidro Pharmacy ranks among the top 1% of pharmacies nationwide for compounding volume. It is the only pharmacy on the Central Coast that works with Hospice to provide compounded medications for aid in dying patients.
The strength of this pharmacy lies in its personalized wellness plans for its 2,500 pharmacy patrons, many of whom value the unique role of a licensed “compounding pharmacist,” specializing in the art and science of preparing personalized medications for individual patients.
Patients and doctors who prefer compounded drugs seek help when a drug has been discontinued, or the patient does not respond to the traditional forms of treatment from commercially-available drugs in limited strengths, sold by chain drugstore giants like CVS Health, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, Costco Pharmacies, or Walmart stores.
Compounded drugs may be easier to use for children, the elderly, or even pets. Patients who have problems swallowing pills may find liquids or creams more tolerable. Compounded drugs can eliminate certain fillers and preservatives for patients with allergies. Women seeking hormone replacement therapy often rely on the more natural ingredients available in custom compounds. An average pharmacy with 100 patients per day can easily have five patients who will benefit from compounded prescriptions. Pain Management
Pain management is one of the fastest growing areas in modern medicine. An estimated 50 million Americans are partially or totally disabled by chronic pain. Most turn to over-the-counter pain medications like Ibuprofen (Advil) and acetaminophen (Tylenol) which provide short-term and marginal relief. Dr. Paul Erickson, head of Cottage Hospital’s Psychiatry Department, points out that there are individuals out there experiencing difficulty getting their pain needs met. Opioids are successful not only in quelling physical pain but also in subduing anxiety, depression and other psychological conditions. It is clear for some people, that compounded medications are highly effectual and helpful. If improperly managed, compounded medications can cause real harm.
Hoyt and his team at the Pharmacy pride themselves in working patiently and prudently with those who have difficulty metabolizing opiates effectively. Some patients may be seen as abusing opiates because of the larger dosages required to manage their pain, at times due to genetic enzyme deficiencies. DEA and California Pharmacy Board Position
The DEA and the State Board of Pharmacy maintain that pharmacists like doctors have a responsibility to ensure that prescriptions are filled for legitimate purposes. February 20, 2019: California State Board of Pharmacy vs. San Ysidro Pharmacy, Raymond Steve Hoyt, President
The state’s growing concern over opioid addiction caused a state medical agency, the California Board of Pharmacy, to serve legal notice on October 4, 2017 that the San Ysidro Pharmacy had failed to exercise proper due diligence in dispensing narcotics. On February 20, 2019 the First Amended Accusation was filed, threatening to revoke the permit license of the Pharmacy issued in June 2004 and the license of Steve Hoyt in March 1986.
The first accusation was related to 24 patients who died under the care of Santa Barbara Dr. Julio G. Diaz, M.D., Family Practice, two of whom utilized San Ysidro Pharmacy. Dr. Diaz was arrested in January 2012 for the illicit sale of narcotics. In November 2012, the California Medical Board revoked Dr. Diaz’s medical license for gross negligence and for prescribing profound doses of powerful painkillers like OxyContin, Fentanyl and Dilaudid to patients who were drug addicts with no legitimate need for drugs. In August 2015, the feds sentenced Diaz to 27 years in prison on 79 felony counts for overprescribing painkillers. San Ysidro Pharmacy Charges Related to Dr. Diaz The State Pharmacy Board alleges that Steve Hoyt had filled prescriptions for two patients under the care of Dr. Julio Diaz. The San Ysidro Pharmacy dispensed 22 of the 56 prescriptions written by Dr. Diaz in 2011 for one of the patients who later died of a heroin overdose. The second patient died of alcohol intoxication.
The California Board of Pharmacy accuses the San Ysidro Pharmacy of ignoring or not adequately checking CURES (Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System), a state database that contains over 100 million entries of controlled substance drugs dispensed in California. Investigators look for multiple pain therapies being prescribed, duplicate treatments, patients driving miles to fill the same or similar prescriptions, or potent drug combinations.
Hoyt’s response was that in 2011, the CURES system had been approved by the State, but the State did not provide sufficient funds to run the program. Hoyt worked for over a year to get signed into the then voluntary version of CURES, but access to the system was problematic. Worried about the volume of meds being prescribed by Dr. Diaz, Hoyt met with Diaz to express his concerns. The patient was a young kid with severe and chronic back pain who ultimately died from a heroin overdose. His family then hired an attorney to sue Dr. Diaz and the four pharmacies dispensing prescription drugs, charging that all five were responsible for the patient’s street-drug-seeking behavior that ultimately led to his overuse of heroin. Other Santa Barbara Pharmacies Shuttered
Four other Santa Barbara pharmacies were found to have serviced Dr. Diaz’s prescriptions by the State Board of Pharmacies. Peter Caldwell and Abdul Yahvavi of L.M. Caldwell Pharmacies on State Street lost their licenses and their two pharmacies were shut down in 2017. Caldwell paid a $15,000 fine to cover the cost of the State Board’s investigation.
The Medicine Shoppe at 1435 State Street closed abruptly in 2013. Owner Sanjiv Bhalla went to work for another pharmacist in Westlake Village. Steven Cooley, former owner of the Sansum Clinic Pharmacy, had his license revoked. He retired and sold his pharmacy to the Sansum Clinic in 2014. San Ysidro Pharmacy Charges Related to Dr. Bjorn Eek
In 2017, the San Ysidro Pharmacy was accused of issuing 1,403 prescriptions under the ostensible authority of a collaborative practice agreement, for treatment of patients requesting bio-identical hormone replacement (BHRT), with supervising physician Dr. Bjorn Eek, an orthopedic surgeon residing in the City of Long Beach. The collaborative practice agreement was signed by Dr. Eek and Hoyt on or about June 12, 2014.
In a declaration signed on or about March 7, 2018, Dr. Eek stated that he did not see, examine, or review charts for any of the patients issued 1,403 prescriptions by Hoyt, and stated that he did not authorize the prescriptions – and had never prescribed medications for the patients identified in the prescriptions – despite his frequent visits to the Pharmacy every one to two months to talk with Hoyt about his patients. The Bottom Line
The 2020 audit for records indicates a more aggressive investigation, which is bad for Hoyt, bad for the San Ysidro Pharmacy and bad for the residents of Montecito. Says Hoyt: “As an all-inclusive community pharmacy, our goal is to share knowledge regarding prescriptions, special compounds, health and wellness for you, your children and even your pets. We compound prescriptions you might need for pain management, natural hormone replacement, pediatric needs, as well as veterinary needs.”
The 40-year roots of this pharmacy run deep within the local community. Hoyt’s knowledge and expertise in the industry have been recognized on the national level. Let’s hope that there is a good explanation for the DEA and State accusations in this investigation and that the Pharmacy and its owner can remain an independent community-based business, working hard to provide excellent service and quality customized patient care to its customers. •MJ HAZARD (Continued from page 8)
part of the responsibility for the media is to acknowledge, in as bold a way as they report the assertions, they need to be equally bold in reporting the mistakes. You get a front page error that can wreck someone’s life, and the retraction is buried deep on page six. If the mistake is on the front page, the apology should be on the front page. There’s a wonderful line from the movie, Absence of Malice,” Luntz reflects. “And Paul Newman says to Sally Field: Where do I go to get my reputation back?”
Protecting one’s reputation is important to most of us, but perhaps even more so to elected officials and celebrities for whom public support is their lifeblood. So for me, it was a breath of fresh air when, on Instagram this past weekend, Snoop Dogg, the rapper and entertainment mogul, apologized after angrily criticizing CBS Morning talk show host, Gayle King, over an interview in which she touched on a 2003 sexual assault accusation against the very recently deceased Kobe Bryant. “I should have handled it way different than that,” Snoop Dogg said in a long statement riddled with recrimination and contrition. “I was raised way better than that, so I would like to apologize to you publicly for the language that I used and calling you out of your name and just being disrespectful,” Snoop Dogg wrote.
There is no shortage of politicians demurring from opportunities to apologize.
Angeles Times revealed that a largescale cannabis operation in Carpinteria owned by Barry Brand that was touted by the County as a model of how well their regulations were working was just raided by the Sheriff and found to have illegal “off-book [black market] marijuana sales associated with the farm,” a small volatile extrication lab, about 20 pounds of illegally stored cannabis and “1,000 pounds of cannabis crude.” Supervisor Das Williams received $8,000 from Brand while he pushed through an ordinance that has allowed unpermitted grows of unlimited size and number with little or no vetting.
As one might expect, I am voting for the candidate I believe has the integrity and skills to best represent the 1 st District on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors: Laura Capps. Susan Jordan 1st District Resident
His public apology, in turn, made it possible for Gayle King to take responsibility for her part in the situation. After reading Snoop Dogg’s thoughtful apology and Gayle King’s self-reflective acceptance, which included ownership in the conflict, I was deeply moved by the humanity and the possibilities of that moment. If this former gang member and self-avowed cocaine dealer, who has gone on to make incredible strides in his life, can stand up in front of the world and say “I’m sorry,” why can’t more of our leaders show that same strength and character?
The spirit of what happened between Snoop Dogg and Gayle King is at the core of something called Restorative Justice, a practice now commonly used in schools and other institutions around the country – including our local elementary school, MUS. It is a powerful approach to discipline that focuses on repairing harm through inclusive engagement of all stakeholders. Snoop Dogg, by taking responsibility for his handling of a situation, allowed both parties involved to see their own role in the event, and therefore paved the way for them each to heal and evolve as human beings. And in so doing, we, as witnesses to this courageous behavior, were able to evolve along with them. My guess is we’ve all said or done things we regret. Made jokes that we know would be hurtful to the wrong audience. Engaged in or gone along with behavior that felt acceptable in a certain context, but later, upon reflection, makes us cringe. I certainly have. In the movie Love Story, Jennifer Cavilleri (Ali MacGraw) says to Oliver Barrett III (Ryan O’Neal), “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Though I’ve always liked this movie and it never fails to make me cry, I’ve never understood that line. I was taught that saying “I’m sorry” is, in and of itself, a loving act. I think we understand that every time we wish for our children or our spouse or a friend, to apologize; because when someone says “I’m sorry” it says that how we feel matters; and it gives a relationship the chance to recover… and to grow. The same way when broken bones heal, they become strongest where they were once harmed.
Wouldn’t it be great if our leaders finally caught up with the evolution of sensitivity taking place in our greater society? Here at the Montecito Journal, from now on, when we print a retraction, it will be done under the heading: We Apologize. And as per Frank Luntz’s push for fairness, if the error occurred on the front page, that’s exactly where the retraction will be found. •MJ
DADIANA
SALON • COSMETICS • NAILCARE • FRAGRANCE • BATH & BODY GIFTS • HAIRCUT, COLOR AND HIGHLIGHT SPECIALIST
PAC Problems We see that Das Williams is receiving significant late-stage campaign support from a dark money PAC, the Central Coast Residents Supporting Das Williams for Supervisor, which has launched a smear campaign with tons of mailers against challenger Laura Capps. We have multiple concerns regarding this PAC. It was largely formed by cannabis-affiliated individuals – including cannabis lobbyist-political pro Mollie Culver (who has represented the Cannabis Business Council) and Cory Bantilan (current Chief of Staff to Supervisor Steve Lavagnino), both of whom were key players who worked closely with Das Williams on the creation of the County’s woeful Cannabis Ordinance. Based on disclosure filings, we see that a significant proportion of the PAC’s money is from cannabis-affiliated folks in Carpinteria Valley, deepening our conviction that this PAC is basically an end run for marijuana money to flow freely toward Das’ campaign. Because PACs are supposed to operate under campaign finance laws and be fully separate and independent of the candidate, we are deeply troubled by several aspects of this one.
It is led by cannabis-affiliated parties who have worked or continue to work very closely with Das, making us wonder how independent it really is. It sure seems like a cute way for Das to get around his pledge to not take further cannabis dollars into his campaign – a pledge he made last year after his $62k in cannabis industry donations were exposed (which struck many as ethically challenged when cannabis-related matters were before the Board of Supervisors). We believe a Fair Political Practices Commission investigation is in order here.
We see significant ethical concerns and potential conflicts of interest in Cory Bantilan’s PAC involvement, since he is employed by the county as Chief of Staff to 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino. The questions here are many – Is any of this happening on taxpayers’ time/dollars? Is it not inappropriate for a senior county employee representing a Supervisor to be actively involved in campaigning and lobbying as a PAC leader for an incumbent Supervisor? What ethical oversight should the county take on such matters?
It is also interesting that the pro-Das mailers the PAC is putting out include an endorsing quote from a well-known oil industry lobbyist, Chris Collier. There are some significant oil-related matters coming before the Board of Supervisors soon (including Cat Canyon drilling and a 123-mile pipeline proposal). Why would Big Oil want Das elected? Has Das Williams made a deal that environmentalists should be concerned about?
We support Laura Capps for 1st District Supervisor, since we believe it is time for common-sense reforms that limit the power of special interests in our County.
Montecito, Carpinteria and Tepusquet Residents: Dave Clary Lillian Clary John Culbertson Rose Hodge Paul Eckstrom Joan Esposito Jim Mannoia Sarah Mascarenas Bobbie Offen Sharon Trigueiro Timothy Trigueiro Linda Tunnell
Tweeds and Weeds
First of all, I would like to congratulate Gwyn Lurie for her positive and heart-inclusive stance in the “new” Journal. My letter is a nod to Valentine’s Day for the loving people in our personal lives and our community. My sister and I attended the Hospice “Light Up a Life” ceremony in the garden at Pierre Lafond to honor our mother, Audrey M. Jungermann who flew with her angels at the end of 2019 at the age of 93. It was a heart-warming occasion for us to be part of a greater celebration for our mother in the community that she worked and was loved by so many for over 50 years.
Audrey was the manager and buyer for a decade at the well-established shop, Tweeds and Weeds, in the Upper Village. She was then hired to be the On-Premise Manager of the newly
