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Fog interferes with travel
Ensemble Theatre Company performs imagined sequel to ‘Pride and Prejudice’ - B1
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Our 166th Year
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F R I DAY, D E C E M B E R 3 , 2 0 21
NEWS-PRESS EXCLUSIVE
SB individuals to be tested for omicron variant Dr. Henning Ansorg says the two residents came in contact with infected San Francisco resident; 10 cases confirmed across the U.S., now located in five states
By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
DAVE MASON/NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTO
Dr. Henning Ansorg, the Santa Barbara County public health officer, said Thursday that two Santa Barbara individuals will be tested in three to five days for the omicron variant.
Two Santa Barbara individuals reportedly came into contact with the San Francisco resident who tested positive in the nation’s first confirmed case of the omicron variant. The individuals were on a flight with the San Francisco resident, Dr. Henning Ansorg, the Santa Barbara County public health officer, told the News-Press in a story that originally appeared late Thursday morning at newspress. com ahead of other media outlets. “They were in contact with the person who tested positive,” Dr. Ansorg told the News-Press. He said the Santa Barbara
residents have been asked to selfquarantine at home. “They will be tested in three to five days.” Dr. Ansorg said he didn’t know which flight the Santa Barbara residents were on or whether they were on a connecting flight. The infected San Francisco resident recently returned from South Africa, one of the eight southern African countries where the omicron COVID-19 variant was originally identified. It has since been identified in other countries. And on Thursday, more confirmed omicron cases were reported in California (Los Angeles County, one person), Minnesota (one), New York state (five), Colorado (one) and Hawaii (one). With the San Francisco
resident, that means a total of 10 cases when the News-Press went to press Thursday evening. The Los Angeles County Public Health Department reported a resident of that county tested positive after returning from South Africa. The department also said the individual came into contact with a few people, all of whom tested negative. In another development Thursday, Dr. Ansorg told the News-Press that Santa Barbara County’s indoor mask mandate, scheduled to expire today, will be extended for another 30 days because the county remains around 10 cases per 100,000 people. “We’re still in substantial
community transmission,” he said. “The last couple days, the numbers have looked better, but I think they are not quite realistic because of the lag of results after the long holiday weekend,” Dr. Ansorg said. The county Public Health Department plans to end the indoor mask mandate when the number falls to six cases per 100,000 and remains there for two weeks. Dr. Ansorg added that the indoor mask mandate is a good idea in light of the omicron variant, which didn’t surprise the public health officer with its appearance in the U.S. “With people traveling all over and the fact this particular variant
Oil well getting capped
Kathy Joseph sells Sta. Rita Hills AVA site but will continue to operate Fiddlehead Cellars in Lompoc
By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Please see CAPPED on A4
COURTESY PHOTO
“I always say, winemaking begins with grapes grown in extraordinary sites with extraordinary farming, and I look forward to remaining active in vineyards,” said Kathy Joseph, who recently sold Fiddlestix Vineyards. She will continue to operate Fiddlehead Cellars.
By KATHERINE ZEHNDER
66833 00050
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“Having overseen the Fiddlestix Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills for 25 years as a one woman-show, I feel I have made After more than 25 years of my mark in the arena,” Ms. owning the 100-acre Fiddlestix Joseph said. Vineyards, where she has She will continue to operate farmed and made wine, Kathy Fiddlehead Cellars, a Lompoc Joseph has sold Fiddlestix business that was founded in Vineyards. 1989. The new owners of the Ms. Joseph talked about vineyards, located in the Sta. the origin of Rita Hills the unique American names for the Viticultural Vineyard and Area, are For more information, go to www. Cellars. Justin Willett fiddleheadcellars.com/fiddlestix-in“My winery of Tyler sta-rita-hills.html. was named Wines, Erik Fiddlehead Mallea and Cellars, after the frond of a Todd Gray of (Willett-Mallea fern plant. It represents my Farming) and William Borgers. winemaking operation and “This sale of Fiddlestix to the type of wines I want to Justin Willett and partners was make,” she said. “Just like the born out of mutual respect and fiddlehead (which emerges a commitment to both the region once a year), I have once a year and the community that we have new releases. And like the fostered here. I am proud to be fiddlehead, it is considered a passing this vineyard on in such delicacy or special in cooking great condition and I remain and at the table (like I wanted deeply committed to the Sta. my wines to be), and the Rita Hills,” said Ms. Joseph. fiddlehead evolved into an She purchased the vineyard elegant plant, like I wanted my in 1996 and planted the popular pinot noir vineyard in 1998. Please see VINEYARD on A2 NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
HARRY RABIN/ON THE WAVE PRODUCTIONS
A leaking well, Olsson 805, is revealed under the sand of Summerland Beach in July. Crews capped the well in a couple days.
FYI
COURTESY IMAGE
Heal the Ocean provided the California legislature with studies showing oil wells’ harm and images, such as this heat map, that identify leaking wells.
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Please see OMICRON on A2
New chapter for Fiddlestix Vineyards
Legislation targets orphaned well in Summerland Oil Field and elsewhere The California State Lands Commission is in the process of capping one of the nearly 200 orphaned oil and gas wells it deems at risk of leaking into the ocean off of Santa Barbara County. Orphaned wells are inactive drilling sites for which an owner is not on record. The well, Duquesne 910, is located at the west end of Summerland Beach — buried under sand and shallow water. Duquesne isn’t the first well the State Lands Commission has unearthed and sealed this year. In late July, it sealed Olsson 805, another legacy well located in the Summerland Oil Field. The commission budgeted $12 million between 2018 and 2023 to cap six Summerland wells. Offshore wells are exponentially more costly, but the highly involved capping process isn’t cheap. Legislators from Santa Barbara County, alongside nonprofit Heal the Ocean, pursued state laws that would protect residents from the hydrocarbons beneath their feet. Heal the Ocean’s president/ executive director Hillary Hauser refers to former state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, as a good friend of the organization. The two are pictured in a recent Heal the Ocean newsletter with their thumbs up as an offshore well is capped. Perhaps it is Ms. Jackson’s strong initiative Ms. Hauser holds dear — or the environmental legislation she championed, including Senate Bill 44. The bill, passed in 2017, provides the State Lands Commission with $2 million a year until fiscal year 2027-2028 to remove and remediate gas and oil wells along California’s coast. The bill places an emphasis on Summerland.
is on every continent, it was only a question of time that we picked it up,” he said. When asked if the variant could spread throughout the country in, say, six weeks, Dr. Ansorg said it probably would happen faster than that. “This one had a really quick spread apparently in South Africa. “In South Africa, 75% of all positive cases were this variant. It outperformed the delta variant there,” he said. “We don’t know if there’s a certain component to this outbreak there, which is mainly with college students, that may have played a role. Time will show if this has the potential to surpass or overtake the delta variant. It
INSIDE
L O T T E RY RESULTS
Classified................. B4 Life...................... B1-2 Obituaries............... A4
Thursday’s SUPER LOTTO: 5-6-10-34-44 Meganumber: 27
Thursday’s DAILY 4: 1-1-8-5
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 7-8-26-30-39 Meganumber: 17
Thursday’s FANTASY 5: 8-15-20-22-32
Wednesday’s DAILY DERBY: 04-10-08 Time: 1:45.10
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 12-15-38-57-63 Meganumber: 24
Sudoku................... B3 Weather................. A4
Thursday’s DAILY 3: 6-5-1 / Wednesday’s Midday 2-4-0