Remembering local sports legends
Fashion forward Local student creates sustainable clothing line - A6
Our 165th Year
Exercising the First Amendment
By WENDY McCAW NEWS-PRESS CO-PUBLISHER
020 was an unusual year. Because of our state and locally elected officials, the “pandemic” has been put front and center to our lives, impacting it in ways we didn’t know possible. Restaurants, hair and nail salons, and small mom and pop shops have been arbitrarily closed without any proof they are contributing to this virus, while big box stores and other large supermarkets are permitted to stay open with larger crowds. It makes no sense. And while these hard-working people have been forced out of work for months at a time — who knows when Gov. Gavin Newsom will “allow” these businesses to reopen — bureaucrats continue to get paid (by our tax dollars), and in some cases have even voted themselves raises during this time while others are doing without. Added to that, the hypocrisy of their actions — eating out in large groups, going to closed hair salons, having a “do as I say, not as I do” mentality — smacks of “let them eat cake.” Adding insult to injury, during the short time restaurants were able to open, they had to reconfigure their existing indoor spaces to follow an arbitrary 6-foot rule, provide dividing partitions and limit the number of patrons. Then when indoor dining was not permitted, they were forced to build “parklets” or other outdoor dining areas, another expense. Hair and nail salons are also being punished. For a while they could only operate outdoors, then they could open for about a month but with no waiting areas, now they are all closed again. Makes it tough to feed one’s family without money coming in. The unfairness is untenable: Something has to give. Other states — Texas, Florida, South Dakota, for example — are taking a more measured and commonsense approach. Restaurants and other businesses are open, no masks are required in 15 states, and nobody is dying as a result. The fact is 99.9% of people under the age of 70 who get the virus don’t die, so the numbers of those infected are put out to scare people and to keep them indoors and isolated. Here in California, we have some of the best weather year round, and being outdoors is one of the healthiest things we can do. And the bureaucrats aren’t the only ones making the situation worse. The mainstream media and tech companies are complicit, guilty of spreading lies and falsehoods because of their hatred of President Trump, their arrogance of masking reporting with opinion and of censoring real news. Please see mccaw on A2
2020 saw many protests and social justice advocates speaking out
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Leticia Rodriguez, in Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital’s environmental services in the COVID unit, received one of the first COVID-19 vaccine shots. UCSB led many important studies and made crucial donations that helped rapidly develop the vaccine.
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
This past year, we saw many groups of protestors exercising their First Amendment rights and participating in rallies, both locally and nationally. The protests in Santa Barbara remained peaceful and controlled, while many nationwide did not. In Santa Barbara County, residents protested the murder of George Floyd and police brutality, oil drilling and fracking, the state and regional shutdown of businesses, PETA, Teen Talk, sexism, climate change, remote learning for students and the 2020 presidential election results. Most recently, in late November and December, residents took to State Street multiple times in protest of the state government-mandated lockdown, demanding the state to reopen and the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom. Several dozen protestors chanted and held signs reading, “The pandemic is over,” “Destroying small businesses is not the solution,” “Open schools now” and “We want to work.” The protests, coordinated by WeHaveRights.org, concluded with passing around a petition to recall the governor. They highlighted the economic struggle of businesses and families, along with the impacts of the closures on mental health. A restaurant-specific rally occurred as well in Montecito, where dozens donning masks came to support Tres Lune restaurant on Coast Village Road. Speakers said they were worried about employees being laid off and the fate of some local, decades-old restaurants. In October, a group of around 40 Santa Barbara Unified School District students protested the board’s decision to delay inperson learning. The students held signs reading, “We miss school” and “Stop putting yourself before the students,” and they received support from parents, community members and some local political candidates. Also in October, many parents of SB Unified students gathered to protest Teen Talk, the district’s newly approved, controversial middle school sex education program. Attendees said that the program was pornographic, lacked family values and they cited ageappropriate concerns. On a much smaller scale, a group of four to five protestors gathered in Solvang in early October to protest the city’s horse-drawn carriages and trolley rides, and to honor the memory of the late Hazel Mortenson, an animal rights activist who campaigned for years against Solvang’s use of the carriages. In late July, the Society of Fearless Grandmothers, in collaboration with 350SB and the Greta Thurnberg Fridays for Future organization, held a shoe strike outside the County’s Administration Building. More
Science, space and tech
KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Protestors against the ongoing state government-mandated lockdown march on State Street in downtown Santa Barbara earlier this month.
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2020 was a year of advancements By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
This past year, it seemed as though ever-changing technology managed to achieve the impossible on multiple fronts. Practically every in-person event or gathering transformed into an online Zoom event. A vaccination was created and started to be distributed in less than a year — faster than any vaccination before, with the mumps vaccine second to the COVID-19 vaccine at four years. However, many discoveries and achievements were actually made out of this world. For the first time in American history, a pair of NASA astronauts were launched in a Please see science on A3
Protestors rallying against the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and nationwide police brutality gather at the entrance of Stearns Wharf in downtown Santa Barbara in June.
than 500 pairs of shoes were placed on the steps, representing the people who would have physically protested had it not been for COVID-19. The protestors demanded the government deny any new permits for fossil fuel projects, respond to COVID-19 by transitioning from the fossil fuel economy, and protect people and the environment, not corporate profit. Twelve days after the election results were certified by the media, residents of Santa Barbara gathered at the County Courthouse for a “President Trump Prayer March,” as a “clarion call for God to intervene.” Marchers claimed the election was fraudulent and demanded widespread recounts. In early March, UCSB students rallied against oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing at Storke Plaza by dressing in black to simulate oil. They gave speeches and read student poetry as part of the California Public Interest Research Group’s Phase Oil Out protest. Way back in January, the fourth annual Women’s March took place on De la Guerra Plaza, where residents marched in support of racial and sexual inclusion, women in politics, equal rights and denounced President Donald Trump.
Protests also included those in late May and early June, after the now former police officer, Derek Chauvin, was captured on video kneeling on the neck of George Floyd and murdering him. The video went viral, and resulted in mass protests, riots and continued calls for social justice across the country. Locally, the Santa Barbara City Council was criticized by residents in public comment for not showing more support, and Santa Barbara Police Chief Lori Luhnow signed a letter to the city, calling the murder “preventable” and bringing attention to “harmful and hurtful actions by officers whose poor decisions tarnish the profession.” Several local rallies were held in the following days to protest Mr. Floyd’s death, one consisting of Isla Vista residents who marched from Storke Tower to Sands Beach, and another with Santa Barbara residents who marched from the County Courthouse down State Street. Protestors chanted things such as “Black Lives Matter” and “No justice, no peace.” They also knelt in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds, representing the amount of time Mr. Chauvin knelt on Mr. Floyd’s neck before he killed him. The week after the murder, there was another protest, where
residents began in De la Guerra Plaza and marched down State Street to Stearns Wharf. Event organizers spoke to “deep-rooted issues of systemic racism, white supremacy and racial inequality,” but also reminded attendees of the protest that police officers in Santa Barbara “do believe black lives matter” and “do know how to de-escalate situations.” In addition, Santa Barbara County residents found other ways to show solidarity for George Floyd besides protests and marches. Local artists stepped up and asked to paint murals on walls of businesses to raise awareness, both on the side of EOS Lounge on Haley and Anacapa Streets and on Brownie’s Market on De La Vina Street. Danny Meza painted the large mural on Brownie’s Market free of charge. The image shows two hands, one black and one white, holding each other, and features the Nelson Mandela quote: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
Mary Ann introduced my friend and me to Gilligan, we were on a boat, and this was a three-hour tour. A three-hour tour. But the weather didn’t start getting rough, and the tiny ship wasn’t tossed. It wasn’t even tiny, more of a medium-size boat than a Minnow, and the vessel was safely
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Dawn Wells played Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island” and inspired crushes.
Tribute
Dawn Wells was just like Mary Ann By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
L O T TE R Y RES U L TS
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F R I day, JA N UA RY 1, 2 021
A year that lacked common sense
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Our Mark Patton mourns the passing of sports leaders - A4
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Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: 27-30-37-42-46 Meganumber: 19
Thursday’s DAILY 4: 5-7-2-4
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 1-31-35-48-62 Meganumber: 19
Thursday’s FANTASY 5: 2-10-12-26-32
Thursday’s DAILY DERBY: 06-08-07 Time: 1:41.90
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 3-43-45-61-65 Meganumber: 14
Thursday’s DAILY 3: 4-5-0/ Thursday’s Midday 2-2-8