Santa Barbara News-Press: May 19, 2023

Fraud report

$38 million in pandemic relief aid sent to dead people - A3

Spooky Mansion

Band’s lead singer talks to News-Press ahead of SOhO gig - B1

Board of Supervisors OKs pay hike

Board members to make approximately $112,452 a year

Whistleblower: FBi manipulated Jan. 6 cases to make domestic terrorism appear widespread

By CASEY HARPER THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – A former FBI agent testified before Congress Thursday saying that the FBI manipulated data to make domestic terrorism linked to Jan. 6 seem like a nationwide phenomenon instead of an isolated incident.

The revelation came as part of a hearing held by the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government where FBI whistleblowers testified before lawmakers about abuse and politicization of the FBI. They also testified about backlash they received, even losing their jobs as retaliation for refusing to toe the narrative established by FBI leadership. Steve Friend, a former FBI special agent who served five years on an FBI SWAT team and five years before that in local law enforcement in Georgia, made the claim about his former agency artificially inflating domestic terrorism data.

Mr. Friend said this is part of a trend for the federal law enforcement agency, adding that the FBI’s National Security Branch “has refocused counterterrorism from legitimate foreign actors to political opponents within our borders.”

The FBI had come under heavy fire for politicization on behalf of democratic interests in recent years. More evidence has emerged that the FBI may have played more of a role in inciting the events of Jan. 6 than previously thought.

A Government Accountability Office report released in February found the FBI and Capitol Police were aware of threats ahead of Jan. 6 but did not do enough about it.

By ANNIKA BAHNSEN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors has voted to increase supervisors’ salaries and benefits by $6,047 annually — a 5% increase.

The board approved the hike at a recent meeting.

The vote was 4-1 to increase the board’s salaries, with the only opposition coming from 4th District Supervisor Bob Nelson.

Currently, each supervisor on the board makes about $107,097 a year, not including allowances and benefits, which is public knowledge made available on the county’s website (countyofsb.org).

Now, with the pay increase, the board

member’s salaries will increase to about $112,452, which was made public by the county’s public information officer, Kelsey Buttitta.

In 2021, supervisors gave themselves a 3% pay increase, and because this was so recent, the new salary will not go into effect until September.

According to information provided at the May 2 Board of Supervisors’ meeting, the supervisors’ salaries are 30% below the market median and the market average for Southern California.

The News-Press reached out to the supervisors for a comment, but there has been no response.

email: abahnsen@newspress.com

“Typically you would investigate Jan. 6 as one case with lots of subjects, but instead the decision was made to open up a separate case for every single individual there,” he said during the hearing. “And instead of, on paper, investigating them from the Washington field office, spreading and disseminating those to the field offices around the country, and if the individual lived in that area.”

“In effect,” he added. “It made it look like there was domestic terrorism cases and activities that were going on around the 56 field offices when in fact the cases were really all from Washington, D.C., and Washington had a task force that was responsible for calling the shots in all those cases.”

The FBI has also been exposed for working with social media companies to censor Americans online, most notably by urging social media companies to shut down the Hunter Biden laptop story just before the 2020 election between President Joe Biden and thenpresident Donald Trump.

Social media company representatives say they were told by the FBI that the story was Russian disinformation. That story has since been verified and is not disinformation, but not before the FBI’s decisions impacted the presidential election. These and other concerns have put the federal law enforcement agency under serious scrutiny, in particular from Republican lawmakers like U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, ROhio, who chaired Thursday’s committee hearing and called the FBI “an agency focused on politics.”

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Carbajal seeks change through bipartisan efforts

Santa Barbara congressman backs legislation for infrastructure bank and investments in police

By ANNIKA BAHNSEN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal is aiming for change in multiple bipartisan efforts.

One of them is infrastructure.

In recognition of National Infrastructure Week, Reps. Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and Daniel Webster, R-Fla. — senior leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee — introduced bipartisan legislation that would authorize the creation of a national infrastructure bank.

The bank would be authorized to provide loans and loan guarantees to local infrastructure projects, giving local governments a potential funding source in addition to support provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or other federal and state funding sources.

Rep. Carbajal told the News-Press

that he is hopeful about his relationship with his colleague, Republican Rep. Webster, and the effort’s bipartisan spirit.

“The letter (party affiliation) next to the name doesn’t change the fact that our nation’s infrastructure needs significant investments, and that’s been clear in working with my colleague Congressman Webster on this bill,” he said.

Rep. Carbajal shared his desire for change and noted how change is only brought about from working together — even with those you may not necessarily agree with.

“We’ve made it clear with bills like these that having functional roads, safe bridges, functional transit, clean water — these aren’t things that are political. They’re commonsense priorities, and as long as we’re working on those priorities, I think there will continue to be bipartisan support for them,” Rep.

Carbajal told the News-Press.

Rep. Carbajal said he is hoping to see infrastructure progress being made in the near future in local communities. He said this is a “win-win for municipal infrastructure projects and the private dollars that can help fund them.”

He also noted that for Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria residents, this legislation will make major improvements to our areas.

“As a veteran of local government in our region, I know that opening up an additional funding source for our long list of needed improvements would make a big difference in carrying out the plans that our city councils and county boards of supervisors have for improving our region,” he said.

Rep. Carbajal noted he is “eager to build on this momentum in the coming weeks and months” and that “bipartisan support is critical” for the completion of

the bill.

This isn’t the only legislation that Rep. Carbajal is working on that is a bipartisan bill.

Recently, Rep. Carbajal announced that in recognition of National Police Week, he will join a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers in reintroducing the Invest to Protect Act.

This legislation will make critical, targeted investments in small and midsize police departments for the recruitment, retention, mental health support, and training they need to protect themselves and their communities.

Rep. Carbajal explained he is committed to positive change in his community, and he hopes that these two bills — infrastructure and investments in police — will help residents’ way of life.

email: abahnsen@newspress.com

Rep. Salud Carbajal

KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors recently approved a $6,047 pay increase for board members. It will take effect in September. The supervisors, who meet at the County Administration Building in Santa Barbara, at right, gave themselves a 3% pay increase in 2021.

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Nearly 285,000 foreign nationals apprehended, evaded capture at border in April

By BETHANY BLANKLEY

THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) – U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported there were 211,401 foreign nationals apprehended at the southwest border in April, the second-highest total in 22 years.

These numbers don’t include gotaways, however, those who agents report as known to have evaded capture after they entered the U.S. illegally. In April, gotaways totaled at least 73,463, with the greatest numbers reported in the El Paso and Tucson sectors.

When gotaway data is included, April’s numbers total nearly 285,000, and greater than all other months this year.

CBP said overall encounters in April were up 10% from March. The majority of border

crossers, 182,114, were apprehended between ports of entry, up 12% from March. Among them were 5% more single adults and 28% more family units. Since Jan. 12 through the end of April, over 79,000 foreign nationals scheduled appointments through the CBP One mobile app, CBP said; the majority were from Mexico, Venezuela and Haiti.

In April, CBP also processed and released into the U.S. more than 22,000 foreign nationals at ports of entry as exceptions to the public health authority Title 42 using the CBP One app.

Every month, The Center Square obtains unreported preliminary data from a Border Patrol agent that includes gotaway and other data. The agent provides the information on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation; it

only includes Border Patrol data and excludes Office of Field Operations data – meaning the numbers are higher than reported.

The Rio Grande Valley gotaway data appears to be incomplete, the agent says, because it’s significantly lower than previous months while at the same time the region has been hit hard with groups of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians attempting to enter at a time and ongoing surges of people continuing. Less gotaways reported indicates that with fewer agents in the field, fewer people evading capture are being tracked or reported, meaning the number of people who illegally entered between ports of entry is expected to be significantly higher and unknown. The El Paso Sector again led all sectors with the greatest number of apprehensions, followed by the RGV and Del Rio sectors.

A little slice of history

Carpinteria City Council to meet Monday

CARPINTERIA — The Carpinteria City Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Council Chamber, 5755 Carpinteria Ave.

First, council members will recognize the 10th anniversary of the Franklin Trail and the 95th anniversary of the Alcazar Theatre. The council is also slated to proclaim May 21-27 National Public Works Week in Carpinteria. Occasionally, the Carpinteria City Council elects to take positions on state or federal issues. During this regular meeting, the council will discuss information from the League of California Cities (Cal Cities), which

gives the council the opportunity to authorize a submittal of a position letter on behalf of the city.

The council will discuss three items from the Cal Cities agenda: streamlined housing approvals, specifically with multifamily housing developments; Cal Cities’ request for $3 billion in the state budget for housing programs; and the fentanyl public health crisis.

Other items on the docket are updates on construction proposals, reviewing past budget approvals and examining updated yearly reports.

The meeting can be attended in person or online and can be watched at Government Access Television Channel 21. See carpinteriaca.gov/city-hall/ agendas-meetings.

— Annika Bahnsen

California-based tech companies win Supreme Court internet liability cases

By TOM JOYCE

CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

THE

(The Center Square) - The Supreme Court provided wins to a pair of California-based tech companies on Thursday.

The court gave favorable rulings to Twitter and Google, tech companies headquartered in San Francisco and Mountain View, respectively. The cases were Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh and Google v. Gonzalez.

In separate cases, the Supreme Court deemed that neither company was liable for aiding and abetting ISIS, as families of terrorist attack victims asserted.

In its case, Google claimed that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, enacted in 1996, meant that it was not liable for content from third parties that it hosted on its sites. However, the court did not rule on the merit of Section 230. It said that neither company had the liability necessary to invoke the protections.

In the Twitter case, Clarence Thomas, a conservative justice, argued that the plaintiffs had a weak case. He wrote that their allegations were “far short of plausibly alleging that defendants aided and abetted

the Reina attack.” The Twitter case came about because an ISIS-linked terrorist killed 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub in 2017, including an American. The plaintiffs argued that Twitter did not take enough action to suppress ISIS on its platform.

Similarly, a U.S. citizen was killed by ISIS during a 2015 terrorist attack in Paris. The family sued Google for purportedly promoting pro-ISIS videos on YouTube, which the tech company owns “We think it sufficient to acknowledge that much (if not all) of plaintiffs’ complaint seems to fail under either our decision in Twitter or the Ninth Circuit’s unchallenged holdings below. We therefore decline to address the application of §230 to a complaint that appears to state little, if any, plausible claim for relief,” the court wrote in the opinion of its Google case.

Google’s general counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado said the court results are good news for tech companies.

“We’ll continue our work to safeguard free expression online, combat harmful content, and support businesses and creators who benefit from the internet,” Ms. Prado told KTSM in a statement.

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NEWSPAPER

KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS

The remnants of the Barnsdall-Rio Grande gas station are seen off Hollister Avenue in Goleta on Thursday. Built in 1929 by its namesake oil company in the style of Spanish Colonial architecture, the gas station closed in the 1950s after it was isolated from traffic by the rerouting of Highway 101. The building experienced a brief resurrection in 1980, when United Artists used the location for “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” a film starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange.

Fraud report: $38 million in pandemic relief aid sent to dead people

By BRETT ROWLAND THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – Data scientists from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee identified nearly $38 million in potentially improper or fraudulent pandemic loans were obtained using Social Security Numbers of dead people.

The loans were made through both the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and Paycheck Protection Program.

Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Chairman Michael Horowitz testified in February before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability that PRAC used a verification process to determine that 69,000 questionable Social Security Numbers were used to obtain $5.4 billion in pandemic loans and that another 175,000 questionable social security numbers were used in applications that were not paid.

As a follow up to a January report, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee said it took a closer look at those Social Security Numbers that belonged to people who had died.

“Using data available from DNP’s matching process and date of death information, the PRAC’s data scientists found that 3,222 of the 15,307 deceased individuals’ SSNs were used on COVID-19 EIDL/ PPP applications across three analytic scenarios,” according to the report.

In some cases, these COVID19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and Paycheck Protection Program applications were submitted after the SSN owner’s date of death; in other cases the applications were submitted both before and after the SSN owner’s date of death and in some cases the applications were submitted before the SSN owner’s date of death, but were paid after the date of death, according to the report.

PRAC data scientists determined that funds were disbursed in connection with applications using 305 of the 3,222 SSNs, totaling nearly $38 million in potentially improper or fraudulent payments between the two programs.

“The work of the PACE makes clear why sustained data analytics capability, beyond the PRAC’s sunset and the COVID-19 pandemic, would be a gamechanger for the oversight community,” Mr. Horowitz said in a statement.

“Retaining an antifraud analytics center will ensure the federal government has the resources it needs to conduct effective oversight of all federal expenditures.”

Mr. Horowitz testified in February that federal agencies failed to use some of the tools at their disposal to prevent fraud, including the Do Not Pay list.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury had set up the list of suspicious payees who should trigger additional screening. He said advance screening with the U.S. Department of the Treasury Do Not Pay list could have saved taxpayer money.

U.S. Supreme Court declines to block Illinois and Naperville gun bans

By GREG BISHOP THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Supreme Court won’t block Illinois’ and Naperville’s gun and magazine bans.

Robert Bevis of Law

Weapons Supplies in Naperville sued the city over its gun and magazine ban last fall. Earlier this year, he amended his complaint to include the state’s ban enacted Jan. 10.

A Northern District of Illinois federal judge in February sided with the city and state. Mr. Bevis and other plaintiffs failed to get an injunction on appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Last month, they asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett for an emergency injunction. Last week, Mr. Bevis worried if the law isn’t blocked, it could take another year to get in front of

Report: China showed its hand, unwittingly verified Wuhan lab leak

By CASEY HARPER THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – A new report released Wednesday shows how Chinese researchers and government officials provide evidence that the virology lab in Wuhan, China, could be the origin point of COVID-19.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who serves on the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Foreign Relations, released the report, which marks another federal-level source backing the Wuhan origins theory, which was once “debunked” as a conspiracy, mocked by news outlets and censored by social media companies.

“After years of censorship, there is growing evidence that some type of lab accident is responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic,” Sen. Rubio, R-Fla., said. Chinese scientists have been studying coronaviruses for two decades, and Sen. Rubio’s study was a focal point for the Wuhan lab. The report evaluates a range of sources and draws the conclusion that “a serious biosafety incident occurred” at the lab in 2019.

According to the report, officials already were aware that the lab was vulnerable to some kind of accident.

In 2019, the Chinese Academy of Sciences inspected the Wuhan facility and reported that it needed a security upgrade. The summer of that same year, the Chinese Communist Party Secretary of the lab said it had “current shortcomings and foundational problems in the construction, operation, and maintenance” while the director of the lab said staff needed to “prioritize solving the urgent problems we are currently facing.”

From December 2019 to October 2021, researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology have filed patents for inventions that would help prevent a lab leak, “problems with the lab’s differential air pressure system, biocontainment equipment, and waste handling process.”

“Any one of these problems could have allowed a pathogen to escape the lab complex,” the report said.

The Chinese government has denied the lab leak theory, but critics point out they are incentivized to do so to avoid being blamed for the virus. They also point to China’s attempts to cover up the spread of the virus and failure to give other nations fair warning of what was coming.

pandemic that the agency believed the Wuhan lab theory was correct. The Department of Energy also came to the same conclusion and told the White House as much.

Some scientists and government officials backed the wet market hypothesis, but debate on the issue was largely shut down by media companies.

Social media companies like Facebook, fueled by the media consensus pushing the wet market origin theory, began taking down posts that claimed COVID-19 was man-made.

Sen. Rubio pointed to that censorship as a major problem, and said his staff’s research leads him to believe the virus came

from the Wuhan lab after all.

“This report, which took two years to compile, edit, and refine, is a groundbreaking look at what was happening in China during the years and months leading up to the known outbreak of the pandemic,” Sen. Rubio said.

House lawmakers have also launched an investigation into how American taxpayer dollars may have helped create the virus, especially since the Wuhan lab did receive U.S. grant dollars in recent years for research. Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, and House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman

James Comer, R-Ky., announced earlier this year they launched a probe into the matter.

President Joe Biden signed a bill in March directing the federal government to declassify documents related to COVID’s origins.

“Uncovering the truth about the origins of COVID-19 is vital to U.S. national security, critical to the prevention of future pandemics, and will bring some semblance of closure to the families of those who lost loved ones during the pandemic,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Biden administration, requesting communications, documents and more.

the nation’s high court.

“By that time, you’ve got all the laws are in effect with the registration and everything,” Mr. Bevis said. “So, it’s very important that we continue to fight.”

The law requires those who purchased now-banned guns before it was enacted Jan. 10 to register those guns with the state.

Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Mr. Bevis’ motion. Last week, the Naperville challenge was consolidated with other challenges in the federal appeals court. Briefs are due through next month with a June 29 date scheduled for oral arguments.

Defending the state, Attorney General Kwame Raoul declined to comment on the legal strategy.

“With regards to the federal cases, we’re going to litigate that in federal court, not before the microphones,” Mr. Raoul said.

“Just as Beijing was denying the possibility that COVID-19 came from a lab on the world stage, it was warning its own officials of such risks and rolling out new measures to prevent lab accidents,” the report said.

“Chinese scientists affiliated with the PLA filed a patent for a COVID-19 vaccine on February 24, 2020,” the report added. “Their research methodology indicates they began work on the vaccine no later than November 2019, nearly two months before Beijing disclosed the existence of SARSCoV-2.”

All these factors have bolstered the theory that COVID could be man-made.

But when the pandemic surged in 2020, media outlets dismissed the Wuhan lab theory as a conspiracy. As The Center Square previously reported, in 2020, the Associated Press called the idea a “myth.” The same year, The New York Times called it a “conspiracy theory,” and The Washington Post called it a “fringe theory.”

Later, though, the FBI publicly said in the aftermath of the

Inslee enacts law keeping drugs illegal in Washington

By BRETT DAVIS THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday afternoon signed into law a compromise bill passed earlier in the day by the Washington State Legislature that attempts to bridge the gap between decriminalizing drugs and the threat of incarceration to force those with substance abuse problems into treatment.

Both chambers of the Legislature approved

Second Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5536 on the first day of a special session called by Inslee to pass a permanent fix to a February 2021 state Supreme Court decision that essentially decriminalized drug possession. A temporary legislative fix making drug possession a misdemeanor was set to expire on July 1.

Lawmakers failed to pass a permanent fix during the 105-day legislative session that ended on April 23.

The special session bill passed does retain criminal penalties for drug possession, making it a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail for the first two offenses and up to a year after that. However, per the bill, police and prosecutors

are encouraged to divert people in such cases for treatment or other services. The bill also provides millions of additional dollars for diversion programs and short-term housing for people with substance abuse problems.

“This bill invests $44 million in drug treatment and recovery services, including methadone mobile units, 23-hour crisis relief centers, and housing. It provides resources to actually get this treatment accomplished, rather than just some rhetorical flourish,” Gov. Inslee said from a bill signing ceremony in Olympia. “Now the bill also, importantly, maintains some criminal sanction for those who would not be willing to go into treatment in the first instance.”

Gov. Inslee said the bill isn’t a panacea when it comes to the challenge of addiction and substance abuse but characterized its emphasis on treatment as a positive step.

“This is not going to solve the drug problem in the next 24 hours and the next several months,” he said.

“This is an enormous social problem. It affects the whole United States, not just the state of Washington, but I do believe it has every capability of improving the situation by getting thousands of people into treatment. I believe that’s going to be a good thing.”

Just dropping in

SMITH, Ronald

Santa Barbara- Ron Smith was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. When he passed, he lived in Newhall, California. He is survived by his brother Steve, a niece and nephew, and was preceded in death by his parents, Eldon F. and Florine Smith. He graduated from Santa Barbara High School in 1975, in the centennial graduating class and was part of the SBHS Marching Band trip to Europe in the summer of 1973.

Ron worked in the family construction business started by his grandfather, Eldon H. Smith, and continued by his father. When Ron’s father died, Ron continued the concrete pumping part of the business. As Santa Barbara faced water supply issues, business slowed. He started doing part-time work for pyro shows and in 1993, went full-time in the pyro business. In 1994, Ron was on tour for seven months doing pyro and special effects for Pink Floyd’s US and world tours. Ron became a major force in the pyro and special effects industry doing pyro for 15 Super Bowls, opening and closing ceremonies for three Olympics, Los Angeles Dodgers, Anaheim Angels, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Galaxy, and University of Texas football and basketball games, New Year’s Eve shows in Hong Kong and Las Vegas, and doing special effects for Oscar, Emmys, Grammys, and similar ceremonies, concerts, awards shows, and television shows such as Dancing With the Stars. When he passed, Ron was working with Strictly FX.

A memorial service will be held for Ron at 10:30 am on Saturday, May 27, at Welch Ryce Haider mortuary, 15 E. Sola Street, Santa Barbara.

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Attorneys general want Congress to act on drug tied to fentanyl overdoses

By KIM JARRETT THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) - Thirty-nine attorneys general are asking Congress to classify xylazine as a controlled substance for its ties to drug overdoses.

Veterinarians use the drug to sedate large animals, but the Drug Enforcement Agency has found it mixed with fentanyl in recent overdose deaths.

The largest increase is in the southern states, where overdose deaths linked to xylazine increased 1127% from 116 in 2020 to 1,423 in 2021, according to DEA statistics.

The drug is being purchased online by people with no ties to veterinary medicine, the attorneys general said in a letter to Congress. It’s known on the street as “trang” or “zombie

drug,” and it slows breathing, heart rate and blood pressure.

The drug is not an opioid, so even when combined with fentanyl, it doesn’t respond to naloxone, which reverses an overdose.

The bipartisan group of attorneys general said xylazine is also easy to get.

“In a recent intelligence report, the DEA noted, ‘[a] kilogram of xylazine powder can be purchased online from Chinese suppliers with common prices ranging from $6-$20 U.S. dollars per kilogram,’” they said. “Given the low price, the DEA has warned that xylazine’s use as an adulterant for other illicit drugs is growing to allow traffickers to increase their profits.”

The DEA updated its public safety alert on the combination of xylazine and fentanyl in November.

“Xylazine is making the deadliest drug

threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” said DEA Administrator Ann Milgram. “DEA has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 States. The DEA Laboratory System is reporting that in 2022 approximately 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine.”

The attorneys general are asking Congress to classify it and all forms of xylazine used illicitly as a Schedule III ffense. They also want the DEA to track xylazine’s manufacturing and sales.

The U.S. House and Senate introduced bipartisan bills called the “Combating Illicit Xylazine Act.” The House version is assigned to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. The Senate version is assigned to the Judiciary Committee.

Funding tomorrow’s workforce for the drug addicted - $23 million in grants

By RIA ROEBUCK JOSEPH

CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

THE

(The Center Square) - Students specializing in drug addiction treatment and counseling at 6 facilities will have the opportunity to gain hands-on training in a new program that allows students to work with drug addicted patients.

The Substance Use Disorder Earn and Learn Program is funded by $23.3 million in grants and administered by the Department of Health Care Access and Information.

“Through this program, students will have the opportunity to work with real clients and to apply the skills and knowledge they have learned in a real-world setting,” said California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly.

East Los Angeles College, University of Southern California, Cal Poly Humboldt, Youth Recovery Connections, Central California Recovery, and California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals are all awardees of

East Los Angeles College, University of Southern California, Cal Poly Humboldt, Youth Recovery Connections, Central California Recovery, and California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals are all awardees of the Earn and Learn grants which funds paid on-the-job training, then gives a bonus for career placement.

the Earn and Learn grants which funds paid on-the-job training, then gives a bonus for career placement. It also covers costs of certification incentive programs for educational instructors and mentors.

Dr. Ghaly applauded the program saying, “This will not only help students to become better counselors, but it will also provide them with a unique perspective on the challenges and rewards of working in this field.”

Students in the program can focus on pursuing careers in drug addiction counseling and treatment in a supervised setting and the paid apprenticeship means their basic needs are met making it easier for students to reach certification.

“We are excited to support students with paid job experience while they work to become certified substance use counselors.” said HCAI Director Elizabeth Landsberg. “We are training and preparing a new generation of diverse substance use disorder counselors with lived experience to meet this moment and respond to the epidemic of substance use by young people.”

California’s ongoing Fentanyl crisis means the need for trained professionals in drug addiction is anticipated. The state funded program recognizes the need to increase the workforce with experience in the area of compassionate care for the addicted.

East Los Angeles College

received the highest disbursement of approximately $6 million while the program at Cal Poly Humboldt required $500k at the opposite end of the funding range. The grant is sourced from the $4.7 billion Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI) from the 2023 Budget Act.

“California has a comprehensive approach to save lives and tackle the opioid crisis, but there is more work to do. With this program, we’re preparing our future workforce to treat and care for people suffering from substance use disorders with empathy and compassion,” Gov. Newsom acknowledged. “The opioid epidemic is having devastating impacts in communities all throughout our country.”

A pigeon lands in front of the Dolphin Fountain at the entrance of Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara on Sunday.

Managing Editor Dave Mason dmason@newspress.com

Lead singer talks to the News-Press about the band’s music and lyrics before its gig at SOhO

By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

True to its name, Spooky Mansion likes to boost everyone’s spirits on the dance floor.

“The band was started by me and my drummer,” lead singer and guitarist Grayson Converse told the News-Press by phone from Colorado Springs, where the Los Angeles ensemble was playing on tour. “We both studied jazz in college. The basis of the music comes from that — an analysis of harmonies and song structure.

“We got into this upbeat, dancebeat, happy kind of music,” Mr. Converse, 32, said. “My end goal of the music is to make it fun.”

Mr. Converse will show how he does that when Spooky Mansion gets people dancing May 26 at SOhO Restaurant and Music Club, 1221 State St., Suite 205, Santa Barbara.

In addition to Mr. Converse, the band consists of lead guitarist Braden Lyle, bass player Marty Reising and drummer Rob Mills.

The News-Press asked Mr. Converse how the band got the name “Spooky Mansion.”

“Band names — who knows where they come from? They usually come before the band is formed,” Mr. Converse said. “That word ‘spooky.’ Everyone sees that as an interesting word. I think of the Dusty Springfield song, ‘Spooky.’”

Mr. Converse, who writes Spooky Mansion’s songs in collaboration with the band, said he thinks of the word “spooky” as more intriguing than scary. “It fits the music. I’m not sure why.”

Certainly the band’s music has spirit.

“ ‘Glass Mood Ring’ is a song that the band likes, the audience likes, and it’s a good representation of the style I’m talking about — upbeat with a lot of intricate melodies and countermelodies,” Mr. Converse said. “It has a good feel to it. People always end up smiling.”

Mr. Converse said the band likes to release songs every couple months or so on Spotify.

While the music is upbeat, Spooky Mansion’s lyrics address subjects such as relationships with frankness. One example is its recent song “Bad Bet.”

“We have a music studio in Los Angeles that we built, where we do a lot of our recordings and songwriting. ‘Bad Bet’ came from a group of songs I was making in my spare time,” Mr. Converse said. “It starts with this little piano hook. I thought it was an earworm that sticks in your brain. We recorded that.”

Life theArts

Spooky Mansion comes to Santa Barbara

CALENDAR

“My end goal of the music is to

Mr. Converse said “Bad Bet” is about a man watching as a woman leaves him with “a broken heart and a messed-up relationship.”

He still loves her anyway.

“He’s calling her a ‘bad bet.’ ‘You can leave, but I’ll be waiting,’” Mr. Converse said. “He’s betting on her coming back and having a successful relationship. It didn’t work the last two times. Maybe one more time will work.”

Another of Spooky Mansion’s songs is being released today on Spotify: “I Want You,” Mr. Converse’s duet with female vocalist Ida Hawk.

“I want this person, describing how much I want her but also revealing all the crappy things I’ve done to her,” Mr. Converse said.

Ms. Hawk sings the chorus, in which her character essentially tells this jerk who was her boyfriend to get lost.

Ensemble eatre Company’s Jonathan Fox to depart from the company

By ANNIKA BAHNSEN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Ensemble Theatre Company board has announced the departure of its artistic director, Jonathan Fox, as of June 30.

Mr. Fox has held the position since 2006 when ETC previously performed in the Alhecama Theatre in Santa Barbara.

For his last production, he will be overseeing and directing “Seared,” the final production of ETC’s 44th season, playing from June 8 to 25 at The New Vic in Santa Barbara.

Under Mr. Fox’s direction, ETC has become a substantial regional theater, according to a

news release. During his time, the ETC acquired and renovated the company’s home at The New Vic, which opened for ETC productions in 2013.

His widespread connections with the American theater community, as well as his international ties, have brought many distinguished performers to ETC’s stage and have built relationships with regional theaters in Europe.

The company will engage in a search for a new artistic director. ETC’s managing director, Scott DeVine, will temporarily serve as the company’s executive director, overseeing both the operational and artistic functions.

email: abahnsen@newspress.com

Mr. Converse said it’s a modern love song with a twist.

Two of Spooky Mansion’s songs from 2016 go together: “I’m the Moon” and “You’re the Wave.”

“The moon pulls and pushes the tides,” Mr. Converse said. “Once again, this is about relationships and how you’re trying to pull this person who’s resistant, trying to make them do what you want them to do. I need you to be this kind of person, and they’re resisting.”

Mr. Converse was born in Santa Rosa and earned his bachelor’s in jazz piano in 2013 at San Francisco State University, where he met Mr. Mills, Spooky Mansion’s drummer. They lived together in San Francisco, where they started Spooky Mansion in 2014.

The former jazz student said Spooky Mansion’s music is syncopated.

“I don’t have to make a conscious effort to make it jazzy,” Mr. Converse said. “The best thing I can learn from jazz is the way harmony works and how you can put melody against that, to make it (the music) provocative or stronger.

“You can have these peaks and valleys of tension and release,” Mr. Converse said. “It’s different sonic landscapes. It’s thinking more analytically and structurally about the music.”

Spooky Mansion’s first album, “Alright,” came out in 2018, followed by its second album, “The Curse” in 2020. Mr. Converse said the latter deals more with “things I was doing in my life, places I’ve gone.”

The band has also recorded three extended-play records and many singles.

Spooky Mansion members

decided to move in 2018 in Los Angeles, where Mr. Converse lives today in the city’s Silver Lake area with his fiancée, Sheridan Gomez.

The band has had more than 20 million Spotify plays and has toured across the U.S. for the last eight years.

email: dmason@newspress.com

FYI

Spooky Mansion will perform at 9 p.m. May 26 at SOhO Restaurant and Music Club, 1221 State St., Suite 205, Santa Barbara.

The concert will also feature Tino Drima.

Tickets cost $15 in advance and $18 at the door. To purchase, go to www. sohosb.com.

The concert is for ages 21 and older.

The calendar appears Mondays through Saturdays in the “Life & the Arts” section. Items are welcome. Please email them a full week before the event to Managing Editor Dave Mason at dmason@newspress.com.

TODAY 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol Road, has reopened its permanent mineral exhibit of rocks and crystals that is on view in the small hall off the museum’s central courtyard. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays. The exhibit, which opened April 22, is included in museum admission. Members are always admitted free. For others, prices vary from $14 to $19. For more information, visit sbnature.org/ minerals.

Noon to 5 p.m. “Clarence Mattei: Portrait of a Community” is on view now through May at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, which is located in downtown Santa Barbara at 136 E. De la Guerra St. Admission is free. Hours are currently from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and from noon to 7 p.m. Thursdays. For more information, visit www.sbhistorical. org.

Appointment on weekdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays. “Holly Hungett: Natural Interpretations” is on view through May 20 at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara’s gallery, 229 E. Victoria St., Santa Barbara. For more information, call the foundation at 805-965-6307 or go to www.afsb.org.

7 p.m. ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! will present Las Cafeteras in a free concert at Isla Vista Elementary School, 6875 El Colegio Road, Isla Vista. The band is known for its mix of Afro-Mexican rhythms, electronic beats and music varying from Americana to soul, Son Jarocho, rock and hip hop.

7:30 to 8:45 p.m.: The Allan Hancock College Jazz Band will perform at the Fine Arts Complex at the Santa Maria campus at 800 S.College Drive.

MAY 20 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The 37th annual California Strawberry Festival will be held at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, 10 W. Harbor Blvd. in Ventura. General admission is $15. For active military and their dependents with IDs and seniors 62 years and older, admission is $10, and for ages 5 to 12, admission is $8. Children 4 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased in advance at www. castrawberryfestival.org or upon entry to the festival.

3 to 8 p.m. Chubby Checker & the Wildcats will perform during a community block party from 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Lobero Theatre’s esplanade, 33 E. Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara. Performers also include Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket fame, Spencer The Gardener and La Boheme Dancers. Admission is free for the event, which celebrates the theater’s 150th anniversary.

7 p.m. ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! will present Las Cafeteras in a free concert at Guadalupe City Hall, 918 Obispo St., Guadalupe. The band is known for its mix of Afro-Mexican rhythms, electronic beats and music varying from Americana to soul, Son Jarocho, rock and hip hop.

MAY 21

10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The 37th annual California Strawberry Festival will be held at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, 10 W. Harbor Blvd. in Ventura. General admission is $15. For active military and their dependents with IDs and seniors 62 years and

FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2023

COURTESY PHOTO Chubby Checker will encourage everyone to do the twist at a block party Saturday at the Lobero Theatre esplanade in Santa Barbara.

ARIANA DIXON PHOTO

make it fun,” said Grayson Converse, lead singer of Spooky Mansion.

COURTESY PHOTO

Jonathan Fox is leaving Ensemble Theatre Company after serving as its artistic director since 2006.

Asleep At The Wheel to perform at Lobero Theatre

SANTA BARBARA — Good Medicine and Numbskull are presenting the band Asleep At The Wheel on June 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lobero Theatre.

The band, which got its start on a farm in West Virginia, became a cornerstone of the Austin, Texas scene upon its arrival in 1973. Since then, the band has earned many accolades and released over 20 studio albums, becoming a staple in the country genre for the past 50 years.

The group has earned 10 Grammy awards with over 20 nominations, as well as more than 21 singles on the Billboard country charts.

The band has changed its lineup countless times since it began. Ray Benson has been the frontman since 1970, traversing

the globe through tours and leading the group through multiple albums. Given its foundational sound for the country music scene, the group recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with the release of 2021’s “Half a Hundred Years.”

This album included guest appearances from friends and fans, including: Willie Nelson, George Strait, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, as well as contributions from the three members from the original lineup: Chris O’Connell, Lucky Oceans, and Leroy Preston.

Tickets for Asleep At The Wheel cost $44 and $54. They are on sale at lobero.org as well as the Lobero box office at 805-963-0761.

SB Museum of Art Presents James Castle

By KIRA LOGAN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is highlighting many of self-taught artist James Castle’s (1899-1977) 90 works, which focus on his understanding of his landscapes and architectural interior scenes.

The museum, which is at 1130 State St. in Santa Barbara, is displaying the first exhibition of Mr. Castle’s works in Southern California.

Mr. Castle’s art was perceived to be very limited due to his physical impairments. He was deaf and mute and experienced geographic isolation while working in rural Idaho.

This exhibition and accompanying catalog explores Mr. Castle’s work in a larger, more imaginative sense within cultural context, according to the museum.

FYI

The James Castle exhibit is on display at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Admission is free from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. For more information, see sbma.net.

two preeminent depositories of Mr. Castle’s art, the collections of the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation in Mount Kisco, New York and the James Castle Collection and Archive in Boise, Idaho.

shows at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, and are found in many museum collections, including those of the Museum of Modern Art and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

His drawings — produced from wood-stove soot and his saliva — will be shown, along with the astonishing descriptive and expressive effects that he achieves in these soot drawings.

The majority of objects in the exhibition are on loan from the

A number of other drawings in the show are borrowed from private collections, including a group of never-before-seen works owned by members of the Castle family.

Mr. Castle’s artworks have previously been featured in

The catalog for the exhibition of Mr. Castle’s art is over 130 pages, with more than 100 color illustrations of the show exhibits. Larry J. Feinberg, the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Director and CEO of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, is the exhibit’s organizer and author of its catalog.

email: klogan@newspress.com

New exhibits to appear at Museum of Ventura County

By KIRA LOGAN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

The Museum of Ventura County has recently announced the installation of three new museum exhibits, which requires a temporary closing of the Ventura museum from May 29 to June 21. The new exhibits will premiere on June 22.

The new exhibits are named:

“Spin Cycle: Unfolding the Science of Laundry,” “The Murder of Tom More: A True Crime Story” and “Proximity

to Water: Works from MVC’s Permanent Collection.”

Connected to the 150th anniversary of the Ventura County, the three new exhibits are to include aspects that connect to the history of the county and museum. Works of art and historical items are expected to be included, some which haven’t been seen by the public.

“Our diverse community is the heart of Ventura. I am dedicated to bringing life to these new exhibits as they reflect historical

CEO and National Director, Anti-Defamation League

Jonathan Greenblatt

Fighting Hate for Good

Mon, May 22 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE (registration required)

and highly personal stories and experiences,” said Carlos Ortega, the museum’s new chief curator.

“While the museum is closed, we invite the community to enjoy our sister property, the agriculture museum in Santa Paula,” Elena Brokaw, the museum’s Barbara Barnard Smith Executive Director, said.

Currently on display in Santa Paula is “Tomols to Trains: County Transportation through the 1900s” and “Pollination Investigation – The Essential Role of Pollinators in the

Drawing on the Anti-Defamation League’s decades of experience in fighting hate through investigative research, education programs and legislative victories, as well as his own personal story and his background in business and government, Jonathan Greenblatt offers a bracing primer on how we can strike back against hate.

Indigenous Multimedia Artist

Nicholas Galanin

Let Them Enter Dancing and Showing Their Faces

Wed, May 31 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE (registration recommended)

Multidisciplinary artist Nicholas Galanin, who is of Tlingit and Unanga descent and a citizen of Alaska’s Sitka Tribe, explores conceptions and misconceptions surrounding Indigenous identity.

Natural World.”

May 28 is the last day the public can visit the Ventura museum’s current exhibits, including “Chromatic: The Museum in Six Colors,” “Finding the Light” and “All that Glitters is Not Gold.”

The museum is at 100 E. Main Street in Ventura. The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Thursday to Sunday, and it’s closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

email: klogan@newspress.com

CALENDAR

Continued from Page B1

older, admission is $10, and for ages 5 to 12, admission is $8. Children 4 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.castrawberryfestival. org or upon entry to the festival.

2 p.m. Free concerts take place at 2 p.m. Sundays through July 9 at Hitching Post Wines’ tasting room, 420 State Route 246, Buellton. For more information, visit hpwines.com.

7 p.m. ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! will present Las Cafeteras in a free concert at The Marjorie Luke Theatre at Santa Barbara Junior High School, 721 E, Cota St., Santa Barbara. The band is known for its mix of Afro-Mexican rhythms, electronic beats and music varying from Americana to soul, Son Jarocho, rock and hip hop.

MAY 22

7:30 to 8:45 p.m. The Allan Hancock College Symphonic Band will perform at the Fine Arts Complex at the Santa Maria campus, 800 S. College Drive.

JUNE 3

4 to 7 p.m. Zoo Brew, the Santa Barbara Zoo’s annual fundraiser that caters to beer and animal lovers alike, will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. with a VIP hour from 3 to 4 p.m. The zoo is at 500 Ninos Drive, Santa Barbara. General admission tickets are $75 per person and include unlimited beer tastings and one Zoo Brew 2023 commemorative tasting cup, and VIP tickets are $110. All proceeds benefit the animals at the Santa Barbara Zoo. For more information, call 805-962-5339.

— Dave Mason

— Kira Logan

COURTESY PHOTO

Asleep at the Wheel will perform June 8 at the Lobero Theatre.

COLLECTION OF PHOEBE LOUIS-DREYFUS WILLIAM LOUIS-DREYFUS FOUNDATION

At left, James Castle’s “Landscape with Fence-Lined Road,” soot with wash on found paper. At right, “View of Bedroom,” soot on found paper.

SUDOKU

Thought for Today

HOROSCOPE

Horoscope.com

Friday, May 19, 2023

ARIES — The astral configuration indicates that you may be interested in pursuing some kind of training, Aries. Assess where you are in your professional life. Are you up to persuading people with your expertise? Don’t think that you have to know more in order to be a good teacher. In fact, it’s often by teaching that the teacher learns the subject.

TAURUS — Do you have some drawings in a drawer, Taurus?

Since last month, or possibly before, you’ve been thinking about your creative ability. You have a habit of turning your back on your skills, whether in drawing, photography, or writing, but they’re in you nonetheless. People will expect more of you!

GEMINI — One last, concerted effort and you will be able to get to the root of a problem that has been on your mind for a while now. The answer to the question concerning your identity isn’t entirely to be found in your family history, Gemini. You’re part of a generation as well as a family. Both influence your responses.

CANCER — You’ve been doing a lot of cleaning up and clearing out. Since this project has been going on for several years now, you must be doing a particularly thorough job. Finally, it seems as if you’re getting things straight with your karma. Today will be a big day, Cancer. You may be able to leave part of your childhood behind, as at last you understand that it’s ancient history.

LEO — You’ve been doing a lot of cleaning up and clearing out. Since this project has been going on for several years now, you must be doing a particularly thorough job. Finally, it seems as if you’re getting things straight with your karma. Today will be a big day, Cancer. You may be able to leave part of your childhood behind, as at last you understand that it’s ancient history.

VIRGO — A moment will come when you can no longer fight against the current transformation you’re going through in your professional life, Virgo. The system that you live in will soon put you at a kind of impasse, but this won’t necessarily be unpleasant.

However, you will be obliged to change paths whether you like it or not.

LIBRA — You won’t allow yourself to get sidetracked by minor things today, Libra. You will get straight to the heart of the matter. There’s some likelihood that you haven’t considered your working conditions and instead you’re concentrating on the goal you’ve set for yourself. When you set a goal, you’re a force to be reckoned with!

SCORPIO — About two weeks ago, it may have occurred to you that you should be making more of an effort to advance your career, Scorpio. If so, it will be easier for you to accept today’s constraints, as there is some probability that you will need to perform at your highest level.

SAGITTARIUS — Your light, breezy spirit may have some trouble harmonizing with today’s prevailing mood. Usually when you’re cornered, you’re able to find a way to squirm to safety. Today you may run out of clever maneuvers. Even though you face the day’s challenges alone and unaided, you survive them the same way. Good for you!

CAPRICORN — What a day, Capricorn! Whether at work or at home, you may find yourself choosing between two options, both of which stem from anxiety! You may decide to vanquish your doubts by burying yourself in your work. If so, you can expect to expend a great deal of energy. Or you may react with indifference, and the apathy will cost you just as much.

AQUARIUS — It’s often said that your energy feeds on strong emotions. Situations that require some daring are an excellent source of such excitement. This is the key to understanding the day ahead, Aquarius. True, you can expect some hair-raising encounters, but how better to show off your skills as either an employee or passionate partner?

PISCES — You will have to rely on your analytical skills and steely self-control to navigate the stormy seas you find yourself in today, Pisces. And there’s no way to escape the stress. The worst pitfall facing you in your career or studies would be to doubt in your abilities. This is an opportunity to put your confidence to the test.

DAILY BRIDGE

By FRANK STEWART

Tribune Content Agency

Friday, May 19, 2023

A club player came to me as discouraged as a farmer suffering through a late-summer drought.

“I make so many mistakes I should start calling them ‘traditions,’” he told me.

At four spades, my friend won the first heart with the king and took the A-K of trumps, hoping for a 2-2 break. East threw a heart. Declarer next led the ace and a low diamond.

“West won,” South said, “and cashed his high trump. Then I could ruff one diamond in dummy, but I lost another diamond and a club. I think what I learn from my mistakes is how to make the same ones again.”

HIGH TRUMP

South can win the first heart in dummy, cash one high trump, then duck a diamond. If West leads a second trump, South wins, takes the ace of diamonds, ruffs a diamond and comes to his king of hearts to ruff his last diamond, losing a trump, a club and a diamond.

If instead West leads a second heart, South wins and leads the ace and a second club to set up a link with his hand. He loses only three tricks in all.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold:

Your partner opens one heart. The next player

CODEWORD PUZZLE

INSTRUCTIONS

Fill in the grid so every row, every column and every 3-by-3 grid contains the digits 1 through 9. that means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

Sudoku puzzles appear on the Diversions page Monday through Saturday.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Answers to previous CODEWORD

How to play Codeword

Codeword is a fun game with simple rules, and a great way to test your knowledge of the English language. Every number in the codeword grid is ‘code’ for a letter of the alphabet. Thus, the number 2 may correspond to the letter L, for instance. All puzzles come with a few letters to start. Your first move should be to enter these letters in the puzzle grid. If the letter S is in the box at the bottom of the page underneath the number 2, your first move should be to find all cells numbered 2 in the grid and enter the letter S. Cross the letter S off the list at the bottom of the grid. Remember that at the end you should have a different letter of the alphabet in each of the numbered boxes 1- 26, and a word in English in each of the horizontal and vertical runs on the codeword grid.

PUZZLE

passes. What do you say?

ANSWER: Since you have enough strength for several bids and will drive to game, bid your hand naturally: Respond two clubs. If partner rebids two hearts, you will continue with a space-saving bid of two spades. If you held a weaker hand such as A Q 5 3, 9 5, 5 2,

9 6 4 2, to bid one spade, seeking a fit in the major suit, would be correct.

dealer

vulnerable

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche