MEDAL COUNT
GOLD
29
SILVER BRONZE
35
Overall Ranking #
A perfect tree for a jurassic park
Team USA picks up more Olympic golds
Bunya-Bunya Tree has a history with roots in the age of dinosaurs — B1
U.S. catching up with China and remains in the lead for the total number of medals - B4
27 1st
Our 166th Year
75¢
F R I DAY, AUGUS T 6 , 2 021
Fiesta spirit at Mass
Ansorg stresses need for high vaccination rate Public health officer says nearly 90% of community should get shots By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
KENNETH SONG//NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
People cheer “Viva la Fiesta!” and applaud at the close of Thursday’s La Misa del Presidente service at the Santa Barbara Mission.
Santa Barbara Mission service honors generations By MADISON HIRNEISEN
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NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
onoring generations was a key theme Thursday at Fiesta’s La Misa del Presidente service, where dozens of community members gathered at the Santa Barbara Mission to celebrate Fiesta by worshipping together. Community members gathered inside the Mission sanctuary, which was decorated with sombreros and patterned shawls, to sing together and receive a message from Father Larry Gosselin. Residents from near and far, including one group from Chicago, were greeted warmly by parishioners and participated in communion. Father Gosselin delivered a message that centered on legacy and generations, declaring that the “the spirit of Fiesta is still here” despite unprecedented circumstances.
For more about the Fiesta, see pages A2 and B4.
“In this time of discontinuity that the pandemic has brought upon us both in terms of issues of health and well-being but also the issue of continuity of passing on to future generations something that we hold to be the very essence of life and fullness,” Father Gosselin said. “Our life is entangled in uncertainty, but in this time, this celebration … what we hope to pass on to others is a legacy of strength and spirit.” “In our strength of spirit, we have risen to the occasion, as we always do,” he added. This year, La Misa del Presidente was one of
People attending La Misa del Presidente gather for a group photo outside the mission.
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Father Larry Gosselin leads the worshippers in yelling “Viva La Fiesta!” at Thursday’s Mass.
DAVE MASON/NEWS-PRESS
Dr. Henning Ansorg, the Santa Barbara County public health officer, said the Delta variant is almost as contagious as chickenpox.
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n State orders all healthcare workers to be vaccinated. A2 n The Santa Barbara Unified School District adds COVID-19 rule for its staff. A3
Please see VACCINES on A2
Recall candidates face off in debate By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Four Republican candidates vying for the governorship in the recall election faced off in a televised debate Wednesday night, vowing, if elected, to end mask mandates, bring back business and make strides to solve the state’s homelessness. The four candidates — former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, businessman John Cox, Assemblymember Kevin Kylie and former U.S. Rep. Doug Ose of Northern California — took turns taking shots at Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday in an effort to boost their own campaigns ahead of the Sept. 14 vote. The candidates met at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda for the debate, discussing their campaigns in front of an audience of a few dozen unmasked attendees. The candidates addressed a variety of issues during the debate, providing answers about their thoughts on the homeless crisis, COVID-19, business and
even critical race theory. While numerous Republican governors across the nation, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, have outlawed mask mandates in their states, none of the four candidates during the debate went as far to say they would ban a mask mandate. However, each agreed they are not in favor of mask or vaccine mandates. All four candidates said they instead favor education and personal choice, though Mr. Faulconer voiced outspoken support in favor of the vaccine. “Vaccination is how we get our way out of this. I’m vaccinated, my family’s vaccinated. And if we don’t want to be dealing with this with our kids and our grandchildren, we have to take action,” Mr. Faulconer said. “But I do not favor mandates, I favor education. You’re not going to mandate your way out of the coronavirus.” Mr. Ose went a step further in his comments, saying the Please see DEBATE on A3
LOTTERY
i nsi d e Classified.............. B4 Life..................... B1-2 Obituaries............. A4
just a few traditional Fiesta events that was not canceled due to COVID-19. Over the course of the past week, the Old Spanish Days organizers made the decision to cancel the Mercado De la Guerra and Las Noches de Ronda out of concern for community safety. Organizers officially closed Fiesta Pequeña to the general public, but a socially distanced crowd showed up anyway and watched from a distance. During Thursday’s mass, Fiesta’s La Presidenta Stephanie Petlow delivered a proclamation centered on honoring generations and preserving the legacy of the 97-year Fiesta tradition. Ms. Petlow’s family was present for the proclamation, and her daughters, Michelle Petlow and Louanne Mason, read scripture during the service. Ms. Petlow said her “heart is full” having her family here to celebrate this week. She added
To reach herd immunity, “close to 90%” of the community needs to be vaccinated against COVID-19, Dr. Henning Ansorg said during a press conference Thursday. Before the Delta variant traveled to the U.S., the Santa Barbara County public health officer thought herd immunity could be achieved when 70% are vaccinated. When this highly contagious variant began to spread, it launched a race against the clock — a race lost as Santa Barbara County stands at 62.2% of eligible residents fully vaccinated. “In late May and early June, we experienced only minimal community transmission, and most of us thought that we could have reached herd immunity, and the pandemic would be essentially over . . . Unfortunately, the new Delta strain of this virus emerged rapidly in late June and July, causing a steep rise in cases and hospitalizations,” Dr. Ansorg said. “This version of the virus is behaving very differently from previous types.” The Delta variant has an incubation period of four days, compared to previous variants’ seven-day period, he said.
Sudoku................. B3 Sports ................... B4 Weather................ A4
Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: 4-14-18-36-43 Meganumber: 14
Thursday’s DAILY 4: 8-4-3-1
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS:1-9-17-27-34 Meganumber: 34
Wednesday’s FANTASY 5: 1-6-24-28-30
Thursday’s DAILY DERBY: 09-10-03 Time: 1:48.02
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 5-21-32-36-58 Meganumber: 14
Thursday’s DAILY 3: 9-8-9 / Thursday’s Midday 9-8-3