Santa Barbara News-Press: February 04, 2023

Riviera bank

A place they can call home

DignityMoves village provides temporary housing to homeless individuals in downtown Santa Barbara

Earth day festival returns

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

After a three-year hiatus, Earth Day will return to Alameda Park on April 29 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and April 30 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., presented by the Community Environmental Council (CEC). This year’s Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival is co-produced with long-time festival partner, CarpEvents.

“The Community Environmental Council is thrilled to return to Alameda Park, copresenting Santa Barbara’s Earth Day Festival with our longtime partners at CarpEvents,” Kathi King, CEC’s director of climate education and leadership and

festival

co-director, said in a press release. “By moving the festival to the end of the month, we hoped to encourage the community to support all of the local celebrations happening throughout our region on April 22 and provide a larger opportunity to bring everyone together at Alameda Park on April 29 and 30.”

“We are thrilled to be in a new role with this festival this year and can’t wait to bring tens of thousands of community members to Alameda Park to showcase the innovation happening in eco-focused products, earthfriendly services, and electric vehicles,” Michael Lazaro, CEO of CarpEvents said in a press

Please see EARTH DAY on A2

A DignityMoves village is a small community of previously unsheltered people living in small pre-built houses. This one is in downtown Santa Barbara and represents an effort to get homeless people off the streets and into temporary housing.

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER

NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

DignityMoves has helped homeless individuals to get off local streets and into temporary housing.

They live in a 34-room village in downtown Santa Barbara.

DignityMoves started construction on the community in February 2022 and completed it in less than six months. Completed in a partnership with Santa Barbara County and Good Samaritan Shelters, the DignityMoves village, which consists of small pre-built houses, has been fully occupied

since its inception. There’s a waiting list of more than 100, and DignityMoves says the village is being embraced by neighbors and local businesses.

“The project in downtown Santa Barbara prioritizes people sleeping and living in the immediate area,” Elizabeth Funk, founder and CEO of DignityMoves, told the News-Press.

“Neighbors will tell you they notice a visible difference,” Ms. Funk said. “There are no more people sleeping on the stairs in front of the art museum. The project gets them off the streets

Please see DIGNITY on A7

Bill seeks to reinstate military members discharged over COVID-19 vaccination status

By BETHANY BLANKLEY THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) – Nineteen Republican U.S. senators introduced a bill that would require the U.S. Department of Defense to offer reinstatement to service members who were fired over the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined by his colleagues, filed an amended bill to one he filed last legislative session, which would have allowed service members to opt out of the vaccine mandate without facing repercussion. The bill went nowhere.

Several provisions to protect service members in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023

Please see BILL on A2

31-43-58-59-66

9

People through the Lens of Edward S. Curtis

Actor Jeff Bridges and environmentalist/activist Paul Hawken embrace before Mr. Bridges presented Mr. Hawken with the Environmental Hero award during the 2017 Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival at Alameda Park.

Gerald Pepe engages in conversation from his current residence at the DignityMoves village in Santa Barbara.

From supervisor to Assembly member

Gregg Hart enjoys new challenges in Sacramento

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Gregg Hart is excited about his political move from Santa Barbara to Sacramento.

In November, Mr. Hart was elected to serve as the state Assembly member for the newly formed 37th District. He previously served as the 2nd District supervisor in Santa Barbara County for four years.

“I am very honored, and I take this responsibility very seriously,” Assemblyman Hart told the NewsPress. “I am working extremely hard, and I have a great team to help me and represent me when I’m not in Sacramento. I have exceptional colleagues in the incoming class of legislators and veterans. They are welcoming and encouraging, and it’s really exciting.”

The News-Press asked Assemblyman Hart what it has been like transitioning from county supervisor to Assembly member.

“I am working hard and enjoying the new responsibilities a lot,” he said. “ It’s been a whirlwind from the start due to the disasters hammering our community. The county asked me to help urge the governor to declare Santa Barbara County a major disaster area. I was pleased the governor took our request and issued it to President (Joe) Biden, who made the declaration effective.”

Assemblyman Hart said the declaration has made it possible to get a higher rate of reimbursement from storm damage expenses to local residents and local governments.

“Another challenge we faced was with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which involved the county Public Works Department

FYI

You can contact Assemblyman Gregg Hart at assemblymember.hart@ assembly.ca.gov. You can also call the district office at 805-564-1649. Or you can contact him at a37.asmdc. org.

doing work which could impact steelhead trout (endangered),” he said. “There was a temporary pause in work while we worked through those issues with the governor’s office, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Office of Emergency Services to allow that work to continue.

“I am pleased to be in this role to help our community work through challenges with the state government,” said Assemblyman Hart.

The News-Press asked Assemblyman Hart what his experience has been like so far in this role.

“It is very fast paced because I am trying to meet colleagues, people in administration, and organized groups that have issues they want the Legislature to address,” Assemblyman Hart said.

“We began committee meetings, and I had my first committee meeting on Wednesday.

“I am a member of the Joint Committee of Emergency Management. We discussed suggestions to improve disaster response and preparedness, notification to residents, the science behind meteorology to predict storms, and evolving science which requires new investments.”

Assemblyman Hart discussed what he hopes to accomplish this

term. “I think the first month’s experience has shown me the importance of being an active advocate for the needs of the district. Being a liaison between the governor’s office, state departments and local governments and citizens is a huge part of my job, and the legislation I will introduce will reflect that. I want to make the state government more effective and have more agency to improve people’s lives.”

Assemblyman Hart also talked about the legislation he hopes to propose or support.

“I have a number of bills we are working through. The deadline for legislation is still a few weeks away. Legislation includes: natural resources, volunteer efforts and emergencies, assisting nonprofits, local government, housing and animal welfare.”

The News-Press asked Assemblyman Hart about some of his accomplishments as county supervisor of which he is most proud.

“We made significant progress in mental health services and the co-response unit of the Sheriff’s Department and Behavioral Wellness Department that teamed together to respond to mental

health crises. It is very important to keep those suffering from acute mental health instances from ending up in jail, and that has been transformational and relieved a huge burden on the criminal justice system.

“The preservation of the San Marcos Preserve was a community wide effort, but I took a major leadership role in facilitating that.”

He added that many people have told him they appreciate the public information effort that occurred when he chaired the Board of Supervisors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The thing I am most proud of was the collegiality and respect we showed each other and the collaboration that resulted in producing meaningful results,” he said. “That experience is exactly what I am trying to bring to Sacramento. I have made an effort to be trustworthy, honest, hardworking and lead by example.

“So far that has been well received,” he said. “I was appointed to be assistant majority leader by the speaker. I am trying to do this job with the same approach as I brought to Santa Barbara County.”

email: kzehnder@newspress.com

SB festival one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations in the country

EARTH DAY

Continued from Page A1

release.

The 2023 festival, which is free to attend, anticipates all of the fun of past years. Now in its 53rd year, Santa Barbara’s communityorganized festival is one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations in the country and is one of the largest Earth Day festivals on the west coast. Santa Barbara’s reputation as a pioneer in the environmental movement attracts national media, celebrity attention and local crowds. The 2019 festival drew over 30,000 visitors.

Highlights of this year’s event include:

• The longest running Green Car show in the United States that will feature the latest electric and hybrid vehicle technology. Festival-goers can get a firsthand feel for the latest electric vehicles and electric bikes by participating in the free Ride & Drive experience.

• Over 200 eco-friendly exhibitors.

• Beer & Wine Garden, featuring local beer, wine and food.

• A Kid’s Zone organized by LearningDen Preschool and Explore Ecology, with arts & crafts, musical performances,

storytelling, face painting and eco-activities, along with a family passport that promotes kidfriendly activities throughout the park.

• Two full days of music on the Main Stage.

• A plant-forward Food Court featuring locally sourced, regenerative ingredients from ecologically-focused chefs, caterers and food artisans.

• A Homegrown Roots Zone and Homegrown Roots Stage curated by Cultivate Events to showcase the farmers, ranchers, food producers and organizations who are working to create a more regenerative food system along the central coast.

• A Free Bike Valet, with complimentary bike tune-ups and secure all-day parking provided by MOVE SB County.

• A commitment to reducing waste as on average, more than 93% of waste produced at Santa Barbara’s Earth Day is recycled or composted.

Earth Day 2023 highlights the role the CEC has played across the region for more than 50 years, shining a light on the system changes, policy implementation and individual actions needed to meet the urgency of the climate crisis. Key to this is the Annual Climate Leadership Summit, which highlights climate actions

that organizations and individuals are undertaking throughout the region, with an emphasis on strategies that leverage intergenerational collaborations. More details on the Annual Summit will be available soon on the Earth Day website, www. SBEarthDay.org.

Event registration for vendors will open in mid-February, with early-bird pricing through March 17. For information, go to https:// www.sbearthday.org/exhibitors.

Those wishing to sponsor the festival can get information at https://www.sbearthday.org/ become-a-sponsor.

To nominate an “environmental hero” for an Explore Ecology Environmental Stewardship Award, go to https://exploreecology.org/ environmental-stewardshipawards/. The nomination deadline is March 31.

The CEC is also hosting a series of Earth Month events including, but not limited to:

• Ice Cream for a Cause, which invites community members to visit any of McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams seven scoop shop locations on April 22nd and opt for an earth-friendly cone instead of a cup - $1 from every cone sold will benefit the CEC.

• The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians annual Earth

Day celebration is set to take place on April 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• Draughtsmen Aleworks presents Trivia Night, a benefit for the CEC, on April 11 starting at 6:30 p.m. at their Goleta location (53 Santa Felicia Drive). Goodland Waffles will be onsite that night offering their signature waffles and melts. In addition, for those who visit either Draughtsmen Aleworks location in April and order a pint from the Karma tap, $1 of every pint sold will benefit the CEC.

Current Earth Day sponsors include the Central Coast Clean Cities Coalition (C5), Channel Islands Restoration, Draughtsmen Aleworks, McConnell’s Fine Ice Cream, Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District, Santa Barbara City College Foundation, Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians Foundation, Sunkissed Pantry and Tri-County Regional Energy Network. Earth Day production partners, who contribute their time and expertise to produce the event, include Cultivate Events, the Downtown Organization, Explore Ecology, LOACOM, Learningden Preschool, MOVE Santa Barbara County, Oniracom, Pharos Creative and the Santa Barbara Independent.

email: kzehnder@newspress.com

Bill would prohibit COVID-19 mandates without Congressional approval

BILL

Continued from Page A1

were weakened by Democratic leadership prior to the bill being passed last year and signed into law by the president, Sen. Cruz said, prompting him to file this new bill.

The Allowing Military Exemptions, Recognizing Individual Concerns About New Shots (AMERICANS) Act of 2023 was filed on Jan. 24. U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., filed a companion bill in the House.

“Our military continues to feel the effects of the Biden administration’s reckless, misguided, and now-prohibited vaccine mandates,” Sen. Cruz said. “I’m glad that we were able to remove the COVID-19 vaccine mandate last Congress, but there is more work to do. The AMERICANS Act would correct the wrongs done to unvaccinated service members who were discharged for exercising their conscience.”

Rep. Bishop said, “While last year’s NDAA directed that SECDEF rescind the DOD’s authoritarian COVID vaccine mandate, it didn’t prohibit the DOD from issuing a similar mandate in the future. The bill also

Biltmore

Owners of the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa

didn’t provide any meaningful remedies for servicemembers who were kicked out due to the mandate. This is completely unacceptable. Sen. Cruz and my bill, the AMERICANS Act, will close these glaring loopholes.”

The AMERICANS Act would prohibit the Defense secretary from issuing any replacement COVID-19 vaccine mandates without Congressional approval. It also would require the Department of Defense to reinstate any service member separated solely for COVID-19 vaccine status who wants to return to service, to credit all service members with the time of involuntary separation for retirement pay calculations, restore their rank if they were demoted, and compensate them for any pay and benefits lost due to demotions.

It also would require “general” discharges to be changed to “honorable” and for any records with adverse actions based solely on COVID19 vaccine status, regardless of whether the service member previously sought an accommodation, to be expunged.

It also would require the DOD to provide a COVID-19 vaccine exemption process for service members “with natural immunity, a relevant underlying health condition, or a sincerely held religious belief inconsistent with being vaccinated.”

Barbara are reportedly suing Lloyds and other large insurers. They are alleging millions of dollars in unpaid damages

From August 2021 to December 2022, thousands of service members were discharged for noncompliance with the mandate and whose religious accommodation requests (RARs) were denied, prompting multiple lawsuits in multiple states. So far, all U.S. District judges have ruled the mandate’s application and denial of RARs was unconstitutional and violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Lawsuits are ongoing.

Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, which is representing multiple service members of the Navy and Marine Corps, filed a declaration that revealed “shocking evidence of the abuse, intimidation and retaliation military members are facing over the Biden shot mandate,” including at least two service members who committed suicide.

Republican co-sponsors of Sen. Cruz’s bill include Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch of Idaho, Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven of North Dakota, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio of Florida, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Mike Braun of Indiana, Steve Daines of Montana, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Rand Paul of Kentucky, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Josh Hawley of Missouri.

followed it and forced the Montecito hotel’s closure, according to Pacific Coast

Dave Mason

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KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS

District 37 Assemblyman Gregg Hart speaks last month at a news conference at the Randall Road Debris Basin in Montecito as Gov. Gavin Newsom and others listen.

from the Thomas Fire and the Montecito debris flow that

Business Times. The complaint was filed Jan. 23.

—

How I got into the spy biz

Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part article by columnist Robert Eringer.

While residing in Monaco 33 years ago, a letter arrived from former CIA spymaster Clair George. We’d met a couple of years earlier when I tried to recruit him to write a book about his career — and now he was reaching out.

Looking to live in Washington, D.C., I flew over, and Clair graciously booked me a room at the Chevy Chase Club. On my first day in town we lunched in the Winter Center, the club’s casual hub, though not casual enough for blue jeans or cell phone use. Caught twice violating such rules and management ran you up their flagpole.

Clair introduced me to a Realtor, doctors and dentists, anyone and everyone needed when resettling somewhere new. He always concluded most phone conversations with, “Is there anything else I can do for you?” And he truly meant it.

That summer, sitting on Adirondack chairs and sipping mint juleps facing CCC’s immaculately landscaped golf course, Clair ’fessed up. “I’m probably never going to write a book.” But he added, “Maybe we can do something else together.”

I perked up. “Like what?”

“Solve problems.”

“But only for billionaires and royalty,” I quipped.

And that’s how our “creative problem resolution” enterprise began — as a joke, lubricated by bourbon and mashed mint leaves.

Moreover, we agreed only to accept assignments possessed of a high L.Q. (Laugh Quotient) on the basis that “If it ain’t funny, we won’t do it.”

“We’ve got brains, contacts and a phone number,” said Clair.

“Now all we need is CLIENTS.”

In fact, Clair already had a client: Barnum & Bailey Ringling Brothers Circus.

Post-CIA, Clair could have sat on White House panels or joined a think tank like many of his contemporaries, but he would have found those pompous temples of pontification boring.

Instead, he tried to help acquire holy grails for the circus: a panda from China, a white elephant and acrobats from North Korea.

Clair never needed to do crossword puzzles. He preferred real-life puzzling situations, and instead of sitting in a fluorescent lit room, he saw the whole of downtown Washington as his office. He would spend the day “floating around” (his parlance).

He might float from a meeting at the Pentagon to the White House, then to lunch and on to the State Department, stopping along the way at public telephones (he knew them all) to check messages on his home phone answering machine, check in with various persons, myself included, before floating home late in the afternoon, at which point his wife’s social calendar took over.

DeCarlo’s, Clair’s favorite neighborhood restaurant, became our headquarters, and so, aside from the cost of a cocktail or a meal, we had no overhead. No secretaries, no advertising.

Then something of deep concern to The Circus fell into my lap. The ensuing assignment lasted five years and wound up in court for almost twice as long, providing me one of the finest learning experiences of my life. A condition of settlement is that I am precluded from writing about that mission — a great pity as only the plaintiff’s side was ever told in the media.

That December I got invited

to Clair and his wife Mary’s 35th wedding anniversary bash. One of Clair’s close friends befriended me and took delight in pointing out all the biggest luminaries from CIA, current and retired.

I felt privileged to be among them.

Off and running

In early January 1991, the stars aligned for Clair and me to travel to Europe, our first trip as problem resolution specialists, for a Fortune 500 company that retained us to explore the possibility of creating a lottery in Monaco, based on my having lived there.

With the Gulf War about to begin, there was no problem with getting airline, hotel and restaurant reservations. Aside from us, no one was going anywhere.

Upon arrival at Nice-Cote d’Azur, a helicopter whirled us across the French Riviera to Monte Carlo. At an open-air table café beneath brightly shining sun, Clair perused a newspaper, sipped cappuccino and lounged in his chair.

“I could sit here all day and not feel guilty,” he said. “In Bethesda, I wake up and look for things to do — the American work ethic, you have to do something. But here it feels the most natural thing just to sit in a café, read and do nothing.”

An hour later we manifested ourselves at the Monaco Yacht Club. One day we’re freezing our butts off, slushing through icebox Washington weather; the next, luxuriating in warm sunshine, an elegant yacht club — and lunching with a real prince.

I’d met the Hereditary Prince Albert a few times, but this was our first meal together. The prince was shy, not knowing where to fix his eyes or what to say, relying on a mutual friend to grease the conversation.

Talk finally turned from pleasantries to lotteries. Albert didn’t seem optimistic about creating a Monaco lottery. Others had tried, he said, but not succeeded, partly because his principality desired to steer away from its gambling image.

“Lottery isn’t gambling,” I said, repeating our client’s mantra that “Lottery is the imagination business. People who buy tickets imagine what they would do if they won a million dollars. They fantasize about having lunch at a yacht club on the French Riviera with a prince.”

We all laughed. In truth, a lottery is a tax on people who don’t know arithmetic.

The PT Phil O s OPhy Clair and I spent the next couple days goofing off. “Let’s goof off,” Clair would say. If he wasn’t “floating around” he was “goofing off.” And thus we floated around Monaco’s fine dining establishments while awaiting a summons from Harry Schultz, a reclusive multi-millionaire American who had expatriated himself in Monte Carlo as part of his ongoing struggle to evade Big Brother. Schultz espoused a socalled “P.T. Philosophy,” which he claimed to have conceived. “P.T.” was supposed to stand for “Permanent Traveler” or “Prepared Thoroughly.”

But it really means “Partly Tetched,” at least as Harry practiced it, because he rarely left Monaco, the second smallest country in the world, about a mileand-a-half square. On top of that it was the Romany (gypsies) who had originated a “P.T.” lifestyle, and they’d been doing it for centuries.

From his ivory tower in Monte Carlo, Harry dispensed financial

ROBERT ERINGER

advice to those willing to pay $800 for 15 minutes (a Guinness World Record). I’d gotten to know him while living in Monaco. The only time he would ever remove himself from analyzing stocks, bonds and currencies was when I’d invite him to Le Texan and cajole him into drinking beer directly from a bottle. He once looked at me in awe and said, “YOU practice what I preach,” referring to my devil-may-care approach to enjoying life.

The problem we’d been striving to resolve for Harry: He had created an organization called Freedom Inc. to help crusade for freedom against worldwide tyranny and oppression. But his partner spent the organization’s money on first-class travel and gourmet meals without little else to show for it.

One of the donors had grown irate by Freedom Inc.’s high expenditure and lack of results, had gotten hold of Freedom Inc.’s mailing list and mounted a letter-writing campaign accusing Harry and his partner of fraud.

Harry hired a lawyer and filed a libel suit. The defendant then countersued, and Harry found himself entangled in litigation at the greater cost of what he valued most: His privacy. Case in point: The second question asked of Harry during a telephonic deposition was where he lived.

“Uh,” Harry replied, “why do you need you know that?”

Harry’s brief for Clair and me: “Get the antagonist off my back.”

So I telephoned the antagonist and feigned interest in his lawsuit.

“Fraud has been alleged,” I said.

“Do you know anything about that?”

Whoosh! Out it flowed as if I’d opened a fire hydrant.

My only problem was getting this guy to shut up long enough to keep my notes straight. Harry Schultz had become this guy’s obsession and he confided what he was thinking, doing and thinking of doing, along with his legal strategy.

I was able to report to Harry that the antagonist was unmarried, had no kids and no hobbies. Legal costs did not concern him, and he perceived litigation as a worthy recipient of his disposable income to expose Harry Schultz as a thief and a fraud.

Our advice: Drop the libel suit and maintain total silence because attention only stoked this guy’s fire. But Harry wanted a resolution that required the antagonist to pen no further letters about him.

“Harry,” I countered, “It’s not like he’s publishing. He’s just writing letters. The most dignified response would be to ignore his accusations.”

But Harry wanted punishment dealt to his antagonist, by proxies. Truth be known, he wanted the guy’s legs broken. After all, Harry reasoned, the antagonist “caused me stress,” which had evolved into vertigo rendering him chronically cranky.

I patiently explained that Clair and I do not do mayhem.

Ultimately, Harry took my advice. He withdrew his lawsuit and ceased all contact with the antagonist, who quickly got bored and disappeared. Problem solved. Clair and I

TraffiC, CriMe and fire BlOTTer

Caltrans provides construction update

CARPINTERIA/SUMMERLAND/MONTECITO

— In Summerland, traffic has been shifted onto Highway 101’s new northbound lanes, and the new northbound off-ramp at Lillie Avenue is open.

Caltrans asks motorists to be aware of new traffic patterns in the area.

The southbound on-ramp at Santa Claus Lane has also been opened with a new turnaround for local traffic.

Caltrans noted the speed limit is reduced to 55 mph throughout construction areas. It asks motorists to slow down in cone zones.

Caltrans announced the schedule closures, noting that dates may change because of rain. Caltrans also noted two freeway lanes remain open each in each direction during daytime hours.

Here’s the schedule for Sunday through Feb. 18.

nOr T hBOund high Way 101

Sunday nights from 9 p.m. - 5 a.m.: There will be one lane from Santa Monica Road to Sheffield Drive.

Monday - Thursday nights from 8 p.m. – 5 a.m.: There will be one lane from Santa Monica Road to Sheffield Drive.

The off-ramp at Olive Mill Road will be closed for up to seven months and is anticipated to reopen upon roundabout completion. Until then, drivers can use the northbound off-ramp at San Ysidro Road.

The on-ramp at Ortega Hill Road is anticipated to reopen Feb. 14. Until then, drivers can use the onramp at Sheffield Drive.

s Ou T hBOund high Way 101

Sunday night from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.: There will be one lane open from Sheffield Drive to Carpinteria Avenue.

Monday to Thursday from 9 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.: There will be one lane open from Sheffield Drive to Carpinteria Avenue.

Tuesday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.: The offramp at Carpinteria Avenue and the on-ramp at Olive Mill are expected to reopen late February. In the meantime, drivers can use the southbound on-ramp at Sheffield Drive.

The off-ramp at North Padaro Lane is expected to reopen mid-March. Until then, drivers can use the detour at South Padaro Lane and Via Real. Carpinteria Avenue from Estero Street to Hwy 101: Flaggers will direct traffic (as needed) as crews build a new median island and bikeway connections.

— Katherine Zehnder

broke the first rule of problem solving: We actually solved our client’s problems, resulting in a satisfied client who no longer needed us.

“Not so fast,” said Harry Schultz. He had another problem. (Clair and I quickly learned that after solving a problem, we were in greater demand than before.) That’s why we were seeing Harry in Monaco.

Although suspicious of new people, Harry took to charismatic Clair immediately.

Conversely, Clair felt comfortable with everyone, whether a prince or a bum. He knew how to work people and make them like him, trust him. He had built a career — an extremely successful one — based on conning people to betray their countries by revealing sensitive state secrets.

Harry relied on written “topic lists” with items such as “What did you mean by this?” referring to a phrase on a two-month-old fax and “Why can’t we do something more drastic” to his antagonist.

“What do you have in mind?” I asked whimsically.

“Send him subscriptions to pornographic magazines,” said Harry.

“Hell, Harry, he’d probably like that. And he’s no longer a threat to you.” We sat for three long hours ticking off Harry’s agenda. For dinner, I suggested Le Texan, swig beer from a bottle. But Harry would have none of it, insisting on the stuffy Hermitage Hotel nearby.

The Hermitage — all of Monte Carlo — was a ghost town with war expected any minute and whatever war meant. Consequently, we were the only patrons inside The Hermitage’s restaurant.

Harry had obviously never learned the French habit of choosing a restaurant by how busy it is. he ambience in The Hermitage was opulent but their salmon, this night, tasted as if it had been cooked a week earlier, refrigerated and microwaved.

Next Saturday: Part 2 of “How I Got Into The Spy Business.”

Robert Eringer is a longtime Montecito author with vast experience in investigative journalism. He welcomes questions or comments at reringer@gmail.com.

The A-Z about Rescue Animals, Wildlife and Pet Adoption

The premier episode of AnimalZone, Season 9 features AnimalZone across America. First stop is Dallas Texas where we meet Kenny Goss and his dog. Laura Stinchfield, The Pet Psychic, explores what his dog thinks about Kenny’s amazing art collection. We learn from Cindy Glasheen all about Witts End Farm Equine Rescue in Kissimmnee, Florida. At Santa Barbara Humane, Kerri Burns, CEO, explains how dogs are socialized before they are ready for adoption and we meet an adorable, adoptable four-legged grad from the socilaization program.

Then it is off to New Orleans where we get a little of the flavor of the Big Easy which will be featured in this season.

Business/Real Estate

Branching out into Santa Maria

American Riviera Bank to open new branch Monday

By CALEB BEEGHLY NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

American Riviera Bank has announced the opening of its most recent location in Santa Maria.

This is the bank’s sixth full service branch, and it will open Monday at 2605 Miller St., Suite 108, in downtown Santa Maria.

The bank’s other branches are located in the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo areas. But the bank locations leave a stretch of about 90 miles that don’t have an American Riviera Bank nearby.

The opening of a location in Santa Maria closes this gap.

The new branch also offers American Riviera Bank access to people who may live in Santa Maria but commute to the Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo area.

“We’re very very happy to be in the Santa Maria community and to have our team there,” said Joanne Funari, executive vice president and chief operating officer of American Riviera Bank.

In the last 19 years, Santa Maria’s population has increased by 41%, and continued business and population growth has greenlit the building of 16,000 new housing units (by 2040).

American Riviera Bank is hoping to provide the support that Santa Maria needs in this time of rapid expansion.

The new bank location will offer access to loans, helping to cultivate new homes and support expanding businesses.

Ms. Funari said the bank can accommodate any type of business or personal account.

American Riviera Bank

describes itself as the Small Business Administration Loan lender in the region. The bank helps small businesses expand and run their operations.

“It’s important to us that Santa Maria has ready access to the No. 1 SBA lender in the region and our amazing commercial lending teams,” Ms. Funari told the NewsPress. “Our team can make an immediate impact for clients using their extensive expertise, strong community relationships, and entrepreneurial mindset.”

In addition, according to Ms. Funari, despite American Riviera Bank’s access to resources being like that of a large business — the banks just hit $1.4 billion in assets — she said American Riviera Bank keeps the level of customer service to that of a small business.

“Clients are also our friends,” she said.

As Ms. Funari told the NewsPress this fact over the phone, a loyal customer happened to stop by to give her an unexpected gift.

The new branch in Santa Maria will be staffed with existing employees, although the bank is still looking to hire some new employees as well.

American Riviera Bank is a community bank, so instead of investing the money you deposit in stocks on Wall Street, American Riviera Bank invests that money in the community, according to its website. By using American Riviera Bank, customers help someone in the community receive a loan.

Relying on American Riviera Bank is like betting on the community, she said.

“We’re very very happy to be in the Santa Maria community and to have our team there,” said Joanne Funari, executive vice president and chief operating officer of American Riviera Bank.

In anticipation of the new relationship between American Riviera Bank and the city of Santa

Inventory remains the problem for property buyers

As we begin to regroup from the recent rain events that blew through our local communities, I hope everyone is safe and well.

It was certainly a wonderful sight to see. Almost all of our reservoirs are full or at near capacity, which is something we have not seen for many years.

The question on both sellers’ and buyers’ minds at the moment appears to be whether the recent rains dampened the enthusiasm that had started to build in buyer demand in late January. Of course, after the holiday season, buyers had started to re-enter the market place, albeit somewhat cautiously, and properties were, if priced correctly, beginning to see increased activity levels compared to late 2022 and the first part of January 2023.

The problem continues to be inventory.

As of this writing, there are 27 single-family residences for sale in Montecito. Of these, 12 are priced above $10 million, four are priced between $6 and $10 million, and 11 are priced between $2 and $6 million.

It is not hard to see that the disparity in available inventory between what has typically been considered affordable, below $6 million (yes it seems strange to say that), represents less than 50% of available inventory. If you are looking in the middle of the field for available options, you are very limited, while the ultra-luxury market has many options for buyers to choose from.

If you are looking in the condo market, you have a grand total of four options available.

Taking a look at Hope Ranch, the inventory is even more

critical, with only eight available properties: five priced over $10 million, with three of the five over $20 million, and three priced under $6 million.

Within the Santa Barbara area, there are a total of 35 singlefamily residences for sale, of which three are priced below $1 million.

There are 21 properties priced between $1 million and $4 million, eight priced between $4 million and $6 million, two priced between $6 million and $10 million, and only a single property priced above $10 million. There are eight condos currently on the market.

So where do we stand looking ahead? Expect to see continued interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve as it continues its efforts to rein in inflation, but don’t be surprised if we see a reduction in rates in late 2023.

Rates should ease somewhat as more companies, and companies that have exited the marketplace, come back in and start issuing policies. State Farm is one example of this.

However, expect companies to have quotas, and, once filled, they will again hold off writing new policies. Start making calls. Inventory levels will continue to remain restricted and, as such, support prices to a certain extent, but will ease as the year progresses.

The luxury market, properties over $10 million, will remain strong with many transactions being all cash sales.

Properties in Montecito priced in the $6-10 million range will have the most restricted inventory levels, and for Santa Barbara the range will be $4-6 million. Hope Ranch properties priced below $6 million will also be few and far between.

Sellers should expect price sensitivity and certain market segments to be interest rate dependent, but A+ properties, with good location and updated, will still see strong interest if priced in accordance with the marketplace.

Expect reduced sales volume as the number of units sold will drop dramatically compared to previous years due to continued concerns about inflation, interest rates, consumer confidence and consumer sentiment and, as mentioned, available inventory.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Valentine’s Day and, as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. All inquiries are fully confidential. And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Facebook for the latest on the real estate market.

Cristal Clarke is a real-estate agent at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, which serves Montecito and Santa Barbara.

Maria, Jeff DeVine, the bank president, said, “We recognize Santa Maria’s importance to the Central Coast’s economy and identity. We are thrilled to support this growth and development by offering true community banking opportunities that will support the ongoing expansion of the region.” email: cbeeghly@newspress.com

COURTESY PHOTOS

American Riviera Bank’s newest branch opens Monday at 2605 Miller St., Suite 108, Santa Maria.

Speakers to discuss marketing tools at SABER’s meeting

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Business professionals seeking to increase marketing for their companies in 2023 can learn the latest tips and tricks at an upcoming meeting of the Santa Barbara Executive Roundtable. SABER will meet from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Thursday at the University Club, 1332 State St., Santa Barbara.

Jonathan Boring and Jennifer Goddard Combs, known as two of the Central Coast’s leading experts in marketing and digital communications, will present “New Tools to Market Your Business in 2023!”

The presentation will cover a variety of digital and traditional marketing techniques including Tik Tok, Instagram reels, websites becoming fashion statements and the importance of publicity. The program will offer ideas for boosting exposure and sales.

Founder of Social Spice Media in Camarillo, Mr. Boring helps corporations bridge the interconnected facets of digital communications through the strategic use of technology, combined with creative marketing solutions. With over a decade

New restaurant opens at polo club

Jennifer Goddard Combs and Jonathan Boring

of experience, Mr. Boring has worked successfully with businesses large and small to supercharge their corporate branding and communications, and to increase sales.

Jennifer Goddard Combs, president of The Goddard Company Marketing & Public Relations, has more than 20 years of experience creating and implementing successful public relations campaigns for companies, products and nonprofits. She’s worked with businesses and organizations at the local, regional and national levels to enhance their public

CARPINTERIA — Started by restauranter couple Michael and Lisa Amador, the new Fieldside Coastal Steakhouse, at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet club, offers a coastal-inspired menu of locally sourced meats, seafood, wine, and cocktails.

Items include table-side Caesar salad, fresh Pacific oysters, local halibut, rib-eye burgers, and a variety of huge steaks and chops. Guests can dine inside or on the restaurant’s outdoor patio. The full bar offers a wide selection of whiskeys and tequilas, along with local wines, premium beers, and classic cocktails.

In addition to its food and drink, Fieldside also

Income falls at Sierra Bancorp

Sierra Bancorp, parent of Bank of the Sierra, recently reported income losses for its quarter and year. The bank has branches in Santa Barbara County. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, Sierra Bancorp’s net income decreased 26% ($2.5 million), and compared to the year, net income decreased by 22% ($9.4 million), according to the company.

image and increase sales potential among a diverse collection of clientele.

Ms. Combs is also a standing board member of SABER.

To attend “New Tools to Market Your Business in 2023!” register at events.constantcontact.com/ register/event?llr=7zb4ircab&oeid k=a07ejmcan6l78a55a37. The Santa Barbara Executive Roundtable holds meetings on the second Thursday of each month (except for August and December). To learn more, email saber. santabarbara@gmail.com. email: kzehnder@newspress.com

holds beautiful views of the Polo Fields, the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Ynez Mountains. Mr. Amador is a chef who has more than 30 years of experience at some of Santa Barbara’s most prestigious restaurants and private clubs. In addition, the Amadors own Uncorked Wine Tasting and Kitchen in Santa Barbara and The Nook in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone.

Fieldside is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner, and is located at 3300 Via Real, Carpinteria. Happy Hour and brunch are coming soon. Reservations through OpenTable are encouraged.

For more information, go to fieldsidesb.com, email michael@sbpolo.com or call 805-617-0808.

— Caleb Beeghly

The numbers are unaudited financial results for the threemonth and 12-month periods ending Dec. 31. Although its net income may have decreased, Sierra bancorp’s total assets increased 7% ($237.6 million), and its investment securities increased 31% ($298.5 million).

Kevin McPhaill, President and CEO, summarized the year.

“As we exit 2022, we are very proud of the accomplishments made by our banking team. We successfully grew both loans and deposits while navigating a

San Roque Pet Hospital adds Saturday hours

SANTA BARBARA — San Roque Pet Hospital is now open Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for urgent care.

The hospital is at 3034 State St., Santa Barbara.

For San Roque Pet Hospital’s clients or non-clients, no appointment is needed on Saturdays. Pets with urgent needs will be able to come in until 4:30 p.m., and Dr Elizabeth Tucker and her staff will take care of them.

“We already provide the highest quality care to

challenging rate environment — not an easy task for most financial institutions.

“As a community bank, we demonstrate our commitment to all our markets every day and are grateful for the positive response from our loyal customers,” he said in a statement. “We look forward to opportunities in the coming year and will continue to work closely with our communities and customers to help us all thrive in 2023 and beyond!”

— Caleb Beeghly

each one of our patients. Our cutting-edge in-house veterinary lab allows us to conduct testing, including radiography and ultrasounds,” the pet hospital said in a news release. “With these, our compassionate team can deliver diagnoses and create treatment plans for your pet as soon as possible, now also on Saturdays.

“We also stock many medications and offer access to our online pharmacy to get the pets started right away on their prescription, if necessary.”

For more information, go to www. sanroquepethospital.com/site/home.

— Katherine Zehnder

No rain … yet

‘An alternative to encampments or group shelters’

and gets them out of survival mode. It is a measurable and visible impact.

“Most people offered a bed in a group shelter won’t go,” she said.

“Nobody has turned this down.

It gives us a chance to help them resolve underlying issues.”

The housing is designed to be temporary while the individuals make steps to become selfsufficient again.

“It really takes awhile to get into permanent housing,” Ms. Funk said. “You have to have legal identification ready.

“This is an alternative to encampments or group shelters,” she said. “It’s pet friendly.

“Tenants work with a case manager on the next steps for them. It’s an interim stage,” said Ms. Funk. “This is community

living.

“Imagine a college dorm room: 64 square feet for individuals; 94 square feet for couples,” she said.

“Rooms include: a bed, a desk, a window and heating and air conditioning, with high ceilings.

There is a shared laundry, bathroom, dining, kitchen, computer lab and outdoor deck.

“Volunteers can ‘adopt a room’ and bring bedding, artwork and a welcome basket,” said Ms. Funk.

On Jan. 25, DignityMoves announced the launch of DignityNOW Santa Barbara County, an initiative to create sufficient interim housing for everyone experiencing unsheltered homelessness across Santa Barbara County.

The 2018 Santa Barbara County Community Action Plan to End Homelessness identified the need for an additional 563 interim shelter beds across the county.

Three years later, the 2021 status

report showed progress towards that goal, but 432 beds are still needed. Around that time, Santa Barbara County began talking with DignityMoves about how its innovative model might accelerate progress towards that goal.

“Super kudos to Santa Barbara County for being ambitious and saying that we are just going to do it,” Ms. Funk said. “I’m super impressed to see the county say ‘let’s just do the whole thing.’”

The next DignityNow community in Santa Maria is already under way and is slated to be completed by August. Hope Village will have 94 rooms including 11 transitional youth, and 30 will be designated for the hospital system. Ten of those 30 rooms will have private bathrooms. More communities are coming, but locations have not yet been announced.

“The project is paid two-thirds by philanthropy and one-third by the county for the construction,” Ms. Funk said. “The units are constructed on county or privately owned land so we can set up on vacant parking lots on an interim basis, so we don’t have to purchase land.” She said DignityMoves can build to FEMA/emergency building codes, which isn’t daunting for philanthropists who want to help.

“The ongoing support of services is supported by the county,” Ms. Funk said. “For the project in Santa Maria, one of the significant donors will be Dignity Health.

“The cost of homelessness is about $60,000 per person per year. Hospitals have an incentive to be a part of that solution because about half of the cost of homelessness is medical related. Solving the

homelessness issue is a lot less expensive than not solving it.”

The News-Press asked Ms. Funk about those who are homeless by choice and how to keep tenants from abusing the system.

“I think it is a very small percentage,” she said. “They prefer it over a group shelter and over the loss of independence. They prefer it over sleeping next to a stranger on a cot.

“When people first become homeless, they usually don’t have a drug or mental health problem. It’s the trauma of living on the streets for so long that leads to these issues,” Ms. Funk said.

“The longer they are on the streets, the less likely they will return to self sufficiency,” she said.

Residents in a DignityMoves village are required to work with a

case manager on identifying their life goals.

“People don’t get to stay forever,” she said. “You have a limited period of time, until you get transferred somewhere where there are less benefits. Time limits range between six months to two years.

“I think the biggest thing is people are always worried about safety,” Ms. Funk said. “Would you rather that person be in a safe bed with meals, case managers, and 24/7 staffing or out on the street hungry and desperate?

“Our 24/7 staff is trained in conflict de-escalation and has a close relationship with the police. These are staff that know the tenants. Some locations have actual security, depending on location.”

email: kzehnder@newspress.com

DIGNITY

Continued from Page A1

KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS

The 34-room DignityMoves village has been fully occupied since its inception last year.

Above is the laundry room at the DignityMoves village. Below is the kitchen and common dining area.

ANALYST

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT SHERIFF’S SALE UNDER FORECLOSURE (CCP 716.020)

LevyingOfficerFileNo. 22-2158 CaseNo.15CV00368

UNDERAWRITOFSALEissuedoutoftheSantaBarbaraCountySuperiorCourt,SantaBarbara Division,CountyofSantaBarbara,StateofCaliforniaonJuly7,2022,onajudgmentrendered February22,2017. INFAVOROFPayneGreenc/oMartinCohn,5290OverpassRd.,Bldg.C,SantaBarbara,CA93111 ANDAGAINSTRoseMarieAldanaakaRosaArredondo,10S.AlisosSt.,SantaBarbara,CA93103 Forthesumof$318,529.80Dollars; IHAVELEVIEDuponalltheright,titleclaimandinterestinthedebtor(s)RoseMarieAldanaaka RosaArredondo,intherealproperty,intheCountyofSantaBarbara,describedasfollows: THELANDREFERREDTOHEREINBELOWISSITUATEDINTHECITYOFSANTABARBARA, COUNTYOFSANTABARBARA,STATEOFCALIFORNIA,ANDISDESCRIBEDASFOLLOWS: ThatportionoftheBlock330intheCityofSantaBarbara,CountyofSantaBarbara,Stateof California,describedasfollows:

BeginningatapointontheSouthwesterlylineofAlisosStreet,distantthereon100feetSoutheasterly fromthemostNortherlycornerofsaidBlock;runningthencealongsaidlineSoutheasterly50feet; thenceatrightanglesSouthwesterly150feet;thenceatrightanglesNorthwesterly50feet;thence atrightanglesNortheasterly150feettothepointofbeginning.

APN:017-171-07

Minimum Bid: $335,195.46

“ProspectivebiddersshouldrefertoSections701.510to701.680,inclusive,oftheCodeofCivil Procedureforprovisionsgoverningtheterms,conditions,andeffectofthesaleandtheliabilityof defaultingbidders.”(CCP701.547)

PUBLICNOTICEISHEREBYGIVENthatIwillproceedtosellatpublicauctiontothehighest bidderforcashinlawfulmoneyoftheUnitedStatesalltheright,title,claimandinterestofthe debtor(s)intheabovedescribedpropertyorsomuchaswillbesufficienttosatisfysaidWritwith interestandallcostsonFebruary21,2023,atten o’clockAM,attheSheriff’sCivilUnit,1105Santa BarbaraStreet,SantaBarbara,California,93101 DatedatSantaBarbara,CaliforniaonJanuary26,2023.

Creditor’s Attorney: BILLBROWN,SHERIFF

Assistant Director of Global Education

Director of Disability Services

Apply online at www.westmont.edu/_offices/human_resources

Westmont is an EEO employer, seeking to be diverse in people and programs consistent with its mission.

Life theArts

‘Clarence Mattei: Portrait of a Community’

New exhibit has acclaimed artist’s early works on view for first time at Historical Museum

By MARILYN MCMAHON NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Portraitist Clarence Mattei (1883-1945) captured images of notable figures on the local, national and international stages of his time.

But his roots are deep in Santa Barbara County as the son of the founder of famed Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos.

A new exhibit at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, “Clarence Mattei: Portrait of a Community,” on view now through May, showcases the artist’s work in oil, pen, pencil and charcoal from 1898 to 1945. It includes drawings made in Los Olivos from the artist’s teenage years, which are on view for the first time.

“This is an incredible look at one of our most well-known residents and a celebration of a career that spanned more than 40 years,” said Dacia Harwood, museum director.

“We’re especially gratified to present the early drawings, which were recently gifted to us and have not been exhibited before.”

At the height of his career, Mr.

FYI

Mattei was among the most soughtafter portraitists in the country, creating images of influential people, including a president, as well as prominent local residents and tourists visiting his El Paseo studio.

But his beginnings were in Los Olivos, where his father, SwissItalian immigrant Felix, founded the stagecoach stop Mattei’s Tavern in 1886. It became a popular hotel and watering hole, a reputation that continues to this day.

Mr. Mattei was 15 when he made a pen-and-ink rendition of Emmanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” which

is included in the exhibit.

While staying at Mattei’s Tavern, philanthropists Herman and Ellen Duryea saw Mr. Mattei’s work and became his patrons. They paid for his professional training and for him to attend the prestigious Mark Hopkins Art Institute in San Francisco from 1900 to 1902, which ultimately launched his career.

He later studied in Paris at Académie Julian under Jean Paul Laurens and opened a studio in New York City.

Early works in the exhibition include oil portraits of Mr. Mattei’s family and tavern regulars, along with early renderings of the locals who worked

Please see MATTEI on B4

CALENDAR

ZACH MENDEZ PHOTO

Nitya Vidyasagar and Christine Mirzayan star in the Ensemble Theatre Company production of “Selling Kabul,” written by Sylvia Khoury and directed by Nike Doukas. The play, which is about an Afghan man hiding from the Taliban in his sister’s home in Kabul, begins its official run at 8 tonight at the New Vic Theatre, 33 W. Victoria St., Santa Barbara. The curtain will rise at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 19. There are additional shows at 7 p.m. Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 and 4 p.m. Feb. 11. Tickets cost $40 to $84. To purchase, go

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 4 p.m. “Entangled:

Responding to Environmental Crisis,” runs through March 25 at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. The museum is open from 10 a.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. It’s closed on Sundays and college holidays. For more information, call 805-565-6162 or visit westmont.edu/museum.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Interlopings:

Colors in the Warp and Weft of Ecological Entanglements” is an exhibit that runs through March 12 at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The exhibit features weavings dyed with pigments from nonnative plants on Santa Cruz Island. The weavings were created by artists Helen Svensson and Lisa Jevbratt. For more information, see sbbotanicgarden.org.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Coast artist and London native Annie Hoffman’s exhibit “Seeing Ourselves in Colour” will be displayed through Feb. 28 at Gallery Los Olivos, 2920 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. For more information, visit anniehoffmann.com.

10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. “The Search for the Modern West,” an exhibit, continues through Feb. 20 at Sullivan Goss: An American Gallery, 11 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara. The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. For more information, see sullivangoss.com or call the gallery at 805-730-1460.

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit “Parliament of Owls” runs through Feb. 5 at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays. For more information, go to www.sbnature.org.

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.

2 and 7:30 p.m. “The Gin Game” is being performed at the Center Stage Theater, upstairs at Paseo Nuevo. Tickets cost $21 for general admission and $18 for students and seniors. To purchase, go to centerstagetheater.org. There is no late seating.

8 p.m. Ensemble Theatre Company will perform “Selling Kabul” at the New Vic Theatre, 33 W. Victoria St., Santa Barbara, The play is about an Afghan man hiding from the Taliban in his sister’s home in Kabul. The curtain will rise at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 19. There are additional shows at 7 p.m. Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 and 4 p.m. Feb. 11. Tickets cost $40 to $84. To purchase, go to etcsb. org or call 805-965-5400.

FEB. 5

Free admission will be available on this day at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Ventura County, the Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum and the Santa Paula Museum. For more information, visit socalmuseums.org.

2 p.m. “The Gin Game” is being performed at the Center Stage Theater, upstairs at Paseo Nuevo. Tickets cost $21 for general admission and $18 for

Managing Editor Dave Mason dmason@newspress.com

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2023

to etcsb.org or call 805965-5400.

IMAGES COURTESY SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL MUSEUM

Clarence Mattei’s drawing of News-Press Publisher Thomas More Storke; inscribed to Sam Stanwood, 1939.

This is artist Clarence Mattei’s unfi nished and undated self-portrait.

Clarence Mattei painted this portrait of Charles Albert Storke, a Santa Barbara resident who worked as a schoolteacher, lawyer, land developer, mayor, state legislator and newspaper man. His son, Thomas More Storke, was a NewsPress publisher.

Clarence Mattei’s portrait of Gertrude Chase, whose stepfather developed Hope Ranch, undated.

Clarence Mattei’s painting of acclaimed American artist John Marshall Gamble, 1914.

Clarence Mattei painted this portrait of his father, Felix Mattei, who founded stagecoach stop Mattei’s Tavern in 1886.

“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.

Clarence Mattei’s drawing of industrial heiress Amy duPont, 1940.

Westmont talk explores Santa Barbara’s silent film history

By MARILYN MCMAHON

Westmont’s John Blondell discusses the world premiere play that will bring Santa Barbara’s silent film history to the stage in a Westmont Downtown Lecture at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden St.

“The Film Within a Play: Celebrating Santa Barbara’s Flying A Studios on Stage” is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are required. Ample free parking is available. For more information, call 805565-6051.

Mr. Blondell, director of “Diamond to Dust: a Flying A Fantasy,” will be joined by select cast members, who will perform a scene from “Diamond to Dust.”

“The talk promises to be a wide-ranging discussion about an important story in Santa Barbara’s history, the ins and outs of theatrical performance, sneak peeks into the theatrical process, and how all these impact our students in the show, and ultimately our audience,” Mr. Blondell said. Santa Barbara was one of the centers of American film from 1912 to 1921 with the American Film Manufacturing Co,, known as the Flying A, which made more than 1,000 silent films.

Mr. Blondell and Michael Bernard, who wrote the play, collaborated to produce a revealing, live theater event that centers around the mishaps and innovation of the Flying A and how it helped shape more than a century of storytelling.

“Diamond to Dust” will be performed in Westmont’s Porter

Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24-25 and March 2-4; and at 2 p.m. March 4. As co-founder and director of the Lit Moon Theatre Company, Mr. Blondell will direct Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” later this spring. In the fall, Mr. Blondell will enter his third year as Westmont’s global ambassador in the performing arts. In the meantime, he will direct “Richard III” for Prague Shakespeare in Prague; “Prometheus Bound” in the ancient Roman theater of

Heraclea in Bitola, Macedonia; and “Peer Gynt” in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. He also helped curate the Verona Shakespeare Festival, which will run Aug. 24 to 31 in Verona. “Westmont Downtown: Conversations about Things that Matter” is a free lecture series sponsored by the Westmont Foundation. The foundation also sponsors the 18th annual Westmont President’s Breakfast

Dealing with post-Super Bowl depression

Editor’s note: Super Bowl LVI will pit the Kansas City Chiefs against the Philadelphia Eagles on Feb. 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. You can watch it on Fox, Channel 11. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time. Before the big game, columnist Barton Goldsmith is offering advice on how to deal with the depression that can happen when the action’s over.

It may sound funny, but there’s really such a thing as the end-of-footballseason blues.

When you spend a bunch of Sundays gathered with friends, family and munchies, rooting for “your team,” celebrating the glorious highs and moaning over the devastating lows, you’re going to feel something when the emotional roller coaster comes to an abrupt halt.

with keynote speaker Doris Kearns Goodwin on March 10. The next Westmont Downtown Lecture will feature Rebecca McNamara, Westmont assistant professor of English, who will speak about “Care in Times of Crisis: Suicide and Emotions in Medieval England” on April 13. For more information, visit www.westmont.edu.

email: mmcmahon@newspress. com

If you’re one of the millions of men and women whose autumn through winter activities involve the ups and downs of those 17+ football games leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, how do you cope in February when faced with that looming void?

I actually started feeling it in December when, as the college football season ended, my mind uncontrollably started to mourn for the loss of my weekend buddy. I was missing the energy that I get from just knowing the games are on. I seldom sit and watch an entire game, but I like the feeling of having it on in the background while I do things around the house or even when I’m writing.

I wasn’t always a football fan, and I never played in school, but Dad took me to a few games (when L.A. still had a team), and I remember learning a great lesson from him. When I asked him which team he wanted to win, he said, “Son, I don’t care. I just want to see a good game.” Those words still affect me today. I really do enjoy just seeing a good game. When the season comes to an end, I don’t recommend running

for the anti-depressants. Being temporarily down is a normal reaction, and you simply need to learn to cope with it. The truth is that if you really enjoy something and it stops, you have a right to feel a little down, but don’t let it mess up your world. You need to take it in stride.

You also need to remind yourself that your favorite sport isn’t over; it’s just taking a holiday. Besides, those players need some time to heal from all the hits they’ve taken so that we could jump up from the couch screaming “Yahoo!” These guys need a break, and they’ll be back next season.

When your team wins or even when you’ve just seen a great play, it’s truly something to cheer about and relish. But if what gives you joy doesn’t thrill your partner nearly as much, you do need to create some balance. During the season, there should be an understanding and some boundaries. You could watch games all weekend long, and that really wouldn’t be fair to the ones you love and live with.

Some people record their games, and others just pick one or two for weekend viewing, which can help your mate avoid the feeling of being left out. I also recommend that partners do what they can to get into the games and be a part of the excitement.

So dry your eyes, football fans. The gridiron boys will be back, and you can have your games and your family too, as long as you keep it fair.

Dr. Barton Goldsmith is a psychotherapist in Westlake. He’s the author, most recently, of “100 Ways to Boost Your Self-Confidence — Believe in Yourself and Others Will Too.” Email him at Barton@ BartonGoldsmith.com. Follow his daily insights at www.twitter.com/ BartonGoldsmith. Reach him at barton@bartongoldsmith.com. His column appears Saturdays and Mondays in the News-Press.

TV Santa Barbara to host Alliance for Community Media conference and trade show

By MARILYN MCMAHON NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

TV Santa Barbara, the region’s community media access center since 1974, will serve as a host for the Alliance for Community Media Western Region Conference and Trade Show taking place Feb. 2224 in Santa Barbara.

No. 0129

“We are very excited to participate in this important conference, which supports diverse community voices through public, educational and government access channels and other forms of media,” said Erik Davis, executive director of TVSB. “With a full slate of events, we look forward to showcasing the important work that media access centers provide communities lucky enough to have

them.”

The conference will kick off with a tour of City TV and an open house at TV Santa Barbara, 329 S. Salinas St., followed by a reception at the historic Cabrillo Pavilion, 1118 E. Cabrillo Blvd. Feb. 23 will feature informational workshops and a vendor exhibit showcasing the latest media equipment and resources. Later that night, the Western Access Video Excellence Awards will recognize the best TV shows, films and short form video at the Mar Monte Hotel., 1111 E. Cabrillo Blvd. For more information, including the complete conference schedule, visit www.tvsb.tv/events.

Please see TVSB on B4

Ensemble Theatre Company sponsors its first design contest

By MARILYN MCMAHON NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Ensemble Theatre Company is sponsoring the company’s first design competition, which will recognize one artist, 18 and older, to submit an original image that represents one of its three upcoming productions: “Selling Kabul,” which opens officially tonight; “The Children” or “Seared.”

The artist can use any medium as long as the image can be submitted in a digital form (PDF 17-inches by 17-inches at 300 dpi).

The winner will receive a $500 cash prize and the opportunity to partner with ETC’s artistic and managing directors to design the artwork for the entire 45th season at the New Vic in Santa Barbara.

If the winning artist’s images are used to promote the season, the winner will receive an additional $2,500.

The deadline for submissions is Feb. 28, and the winner will be announced March 15.

“Everyone possesses some form of talent, which can shine if encouraged and given the right opportunity,” said Scott DeVine, ETC’s managing director. “Artistic talents can not only inspire others but, when we work together, can also be transformed into something more.

“To encourage the extraordinary artists in our community, ETC is excited to announce our first ever design competition,” he said in a news release.

“We recognize the incredible talent that surrounds us and want to explore how it can inspire us while also bringing our next season to life through one artist’s imagery.”

Interested individuals can obtain additional information about the contest, including rules, submission timing, format requirements and information about the shows at etcsb.org/ design-competition.

email: mmcmahon@newspress. com

COURTESY PHOTO

John Blondell directs “Peer Gynt” in 2011. Mr. Blondell, Westmont’s global ambassador in the performing arts, is directing the play this year in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

Diversions

Thought for Today

“Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.”

Helen Keller

SUDOKU

CODEWORD PUZZLE

HOROSCOPE

Horoscope.com

Saturday, February 4, 2023

ARIES — Some upsetting dreams might haunt you today, Aries. They might evoke some uncomfortable emotional issues. You might be a bit edgy emotionally and more likely to overreact when other people quarrel or machines break down. It might be a good idea to analyze your dreams first thing in the morning so you can learn from and release them.

TAURUS — Machines are likely to pose a few problems today, Taurus, particularly where work and money are concerned. An unforeseen problem might interfere with your social life, perhaps forcing you to cancel a gettogether you’ve been anticipating.

If the person you were supposed to meet protests, avoid taking out your frustrations on him or her.

GEMINI — Obstacles may arise in the course of your chores when machines break down and interfere with your efficiency. Your frustrations may cause you to want to yell and throw things. If you must blow your top, Gemini, do it in such a way as to avoid causing upset to others. Go for a workout or jog.

CANCER — Payment for work you’ve performed may not come when expected, Cancer, particularly if direct deposit is involved. The planetary energies today don’t favor the smooth functioning of computers or other machines. This is a temporary setback and not worth stressing over. Don’t give in to the temptation to lose your temper.

LEO — Family members might not be in the best of moods today, Leo. Frustration with machines or friends could have tempers on edge, so try to avoid the temptation to get into arguments. The problems will be resolved and the bad moods will pass. You don’t want any residual bad feelings between you and them.

VIRGO — Problems in your community may result from malfunctioning machines. Be prepared, Virgo. Have flashlights handy in case of a power outage, and walk instead of drive in case signals cause major traffic jams. Neighbors may be going crazy, but try to stay calm. This is a temporary situation, and not worth getting all stressed over.

LIBRA — Temporary upsets regarding money might result from a computer failure of some

By FRANK STEWART Tribune Content Agency

Saturday, February 4, 2023

“Simple Saturday” columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking. Bridge is not an easy game; even top experts make plenty of mistakes. Mistakes are acceptable if you learn from them, but some people don’t study hard enough for the test.

At today’s four spades, South ruffed the third heart; he was unlucky to find West with a natural heart lead and East with the ace. South led a diamond to dummy’s king and returned a trump. When East played low, South pondered and played the jack. He lost to West’s queen and East’s ace and went down.

CLEAN GUESS

One aspect of dummy play is studying how to handle individual suit combinations correctly. If trumps are breaking 2-2, South has a guess whether to play the king or the jack.

If East has Q-9-5, South can’t gain even if he finesses with the jack. He can’t get back to dummy, and East will still get the queen.

But if East has A-9-5 and West has the bare queen, South gains by putting up his king. So that is his percentage play.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold:

Your partner opens one heart, you raise to two

sort. Take care not to lose your temper over it, Libra. Instead, remain calm, focused, and polite until everything is worked out. Your financial condition itself still looks very promising. It’s just that the planetary energies don’t favor machines today, so they may all go out of whack.

SCORPIO — Computers and other equipment could go haywire today, limiting your abilities to work at maximum efficiency. Even though you’re usually calm and laid back, Scorpio, today the ogre in you may be tempted to emerge. Don’t let it. It will only cause tension between you and those around you. Stay calm and focused, call in a technician, and enjoy the break from your routine.

SAGITTARIUS — Don’t try to sign up for a class over the phone or online today, Sagittarius, as it probably won’t work. This also isn’t a good day to travel - delays are likely whether you fly or drive. If you’ve been planning a trip, don’t finalize the arrangements now. Wait a few days, as computers and other equipment used in such arrangements are likely to malfunction, and you could end up frustrated.

CAPRICORN — No matter what friends tell you, Capricorn, this isn’t the day to make an investment of any kind, from buying a house to starting a savings account. And this isn’t a good day to invest online. The planetary energies don’t favor computers or other forms of modern technology used in such transactions, so wait a day or two.

AQUARIUS — More than one problem with modern equipment could rear its head today, Aquarius. Computers could malfunction, crash, or be maddeningly slow. You might also have a hard time reaching people you need to talk to. Don’t be tempted to blow your top. That won’t accomplish anything. Just call the technicians and get it handled.

PISCES — A trip of some kind might have to be postponed, as computers and other technology involved in your arrangements might be temporarily out of operation. This can prove frustrating, Pisces, but it’s beyond your control. The best thing to do is make new arrangements and move on. For the most part, everything is going very well for you, so don’t give in to panic. Hang in there.

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

hearts and he next bids two spades. The opponents pass. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner’s two spades is a try for game. He wants you to bid game with any sound single raise or even with a fair raise with help for spades. If you have a fit in two suits, you may make game with fewer than the usual 26 points. Your hand is well worth a jump to four hearts.

South dealer N-S vulnerable

Continued from Page B1

students and seniors. To purchase, go to centerstagetheater.org. There is no late seating.

2 p.m. Ensemble Theatre Company will perform “Selling Kabul” at the New Vic Theatre, 33 W. Victoria St., Santa Barbara, Tickets cost $40 to $84. To purchase, go to etcsb.org or call 805-965-5400.

FEB. 8

8 p.m. Transform Through Arts will present 10 dance companies in “Colors of Love” at the Center Stage Theater, upstairs at Paseo Nuevo in Santa Barbara. General admission costs $30 in advance and $35 at the door. Tickets are $25 for students. To purchase, go to www.centerstagetheater. org.

FEB. 10

8 p.m. Ensemble Theatre Company will perform “Selling Kabul” at the New Vic Theatre, 33 W. Victoria St., Santa Barbara, The play is about an Afghan man hiding from the Taliban in his sister’s home in Kabul. Tickets cost $40 to $84. To purchase, go to etcsb.org or call 805-965-5400.

FEB. 11

4 p.m. The curtain will rise at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 19. There are additional shows at 7 p.m. Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 and 4 p.m. Feb. 11.

FEB. 12

Noon. Participants in Ted Nash’s workshop will go on stage at the Mary Craig Auditorium, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St. The free program is called “Transformation: Personal Stories of Change, Acceptance and Evolution” and will feature student composers, performers and writers from Mr. Nash’s workshop.

FEB. 14 6 to 7:30 p.m. Nicole Lvoff and Joe Woodard will perform on Valentine’s Day at the Crush Bar & Tap, 1129 A State St., Santa Barbara. Their music varies from Beatles songs to jazz standards. For more information, go to crushbarsb.com.

FEB. 16

7 p.m. “The River Bride,” the story of folklore, love, regret and two sisters who struggle to be true to each other and their hearts will be presented by PCPA (Pacific Conservatory Theatre) from Feb. 16 through March 5 in Santa Maria. The play is being performed at the Severson Theatre at Allan Hancock College, 870 S. Bradley Road. Curtain rises at 7 p.m. Feb. 16-18, 1:30 p.m. Feb. 19 and 22, 10 a.m. Feb. 23, 7 p.m.

Feb. 24, 1:30 and 7 p.m. Feb. 25, and 1:30 p.m. Feb. 26. Tickets are $49. To purchase, visit www.pcpa.org or call the box office at 805-922-8313.

FEB. 18

7 to 9 p.m. The Nicole Lvoff Jazz Trio will perform at Crush Bar & Tap, 1129 A State St., Santa Barbara. There’s no cover. For more information, go to crushbarsb. com.

Take a ride through history on a bicycle built for two

This tandem (pictured) sat in a garage, and then a storage locker for 25 years. It was repainted and “repaired” by a bike shop 12 years ago, and put back into storage when the young couple who didn’t want the bike gave it back to me.

One day last month, a neighbor offered to take on an odd job, as he was looking for holiday money. I gave him this bike to fix.

The frame was house paint red, the fenders were rusty, the brakes were wrong, and the frame was compromised. You can see what a beautiful job neighbor Jarrod did.

My tandem is a cheap American tandem with the frame prototype first unveiled in 1970 by Columbia. The problems? Durability, handling, gearing, braking, the skinny frame and the coaster break. But I bought a piece of American biking history in 1995 back at a yard sale.

In 1887, Col. Albert Augustus Pope of Hartford, Conn., began to import bikes from England and sold them. Since he was a mechanically minded person, he approached a friend at the Weed Sewing Machine Co. and said, “We can make bicycles.” And Pope did, and formed the Columbia Mfg. Co. He was cognizant, way before his time, of centralized manufacture, and opened a plant with facilities to make tires, tubular steel, bike parts, with a factory in Hartford and offices in Boston.

The main office burnt down in 1896, but by then Pope had a flourishing bike business in Massachusetts. Like Starbucks today looks for corners with other brand name coffee houses, a bike company named Lozier opened a factory in Westfield, Mass. The Lozier and Pope bike enterprises merged in 1900, and by 1903 Pope owned all the bike brands on the East Coast.

Remember the lyrics, “Daisy, Daisy; give me your answer true.

I’m half-crazy over the love of you! It won’t be a stylish marriage. We can’t afford a carriage. But you’ll look sweet, upon a seat, of a bicycle built for two?”

Pope was picking up on something; the twosome (we call it the Tandem) bike. Pope made his first American tandem in

MATTEI

Continued from Page B1

and hung around the tavern, from cowboys to cooks to quirky characters. These drawings are on view for the first time.

Noted American portraitist John Singer Sargent met Mr. Mattei in London in 1905 and became a good friend, teacher and mentor to the young artist. He encouraged Mr. Mattei to pursue his charcoal portraits, which the artist did beginning in 1914.

He became a sought-after artist for portraits, and the new exhibition showcases how he captured luminaries of the era, such as President Herbert Hoover; artist John Singer Sargent; and Henry S. Pritchett, astronomer and president of MIT. Many are inscribed with dedications from the artist.

Local civic leaders also commissioned portraits including philanthropist Amy DuPont, industrial heiress; Peggy Stow, daughter of Sherman and Ida Hollister Stow, who built Stow House in Goleta; Thomas More Storke, publisher of the NewsPress; and others.

The exhibit also features several unnamed individuals, who the public is invited to help identify.

What is believed to be among Mr. Mattei’s last works is also on view. The 1944 charcoal portrait inscribed “To Suzanne from Uncle Clarence” is of his niece Suzanne Mattei.

Mr. Mattei died in Santa Barbara

TVSB

Continued from Page B2

Conference passes ($275 per adult and $50 for students) as well as WAVE Awards ceremony tickets ($50) can be purchased by visiting www. acmwest.org/conference.

TVSB’s open house and welcome to Santa Barbara reception at the Cabrillo Pavilion are open to the public, but reservations are required and a $25 per person taxdeductible donation is suggested. Those attending are asked to

1887 which was an adult trike for two.

By 1915, Pope’s company went bankrupt after his death at 66 in 1909. But like any great firm it reorganized and discovered its great biking history and, after not making tandems since 1899, began again in 1961. Columbia made tandems till 1991, when they went bankrupt again, and began to focus on the side business — tubular framed kid school furniture.

I am indebted to “The CABE: the Classic and Antique Bike Exchange,” which sets forth the timeline of Tandem Columbia tandems:

In 1887, a two person trike, the first American tandem by Col. Pope, was produced.

In 1890, the first non- trike, with a front rider, was made. The ads of the day say, ”Front rider need not be experienced. The front is readily adaptable for a lady on the front seat by removing one brace.”

The handlebars were connected and downward facing. A dress guard was in place for the chains and sprockets to prevent contact with a lady’s skirt.

By 1895, the Columbia model 43 entered with a removable bar in the front for ladies. And in case you snigger, a Men’s Men’s tandem with TWO up-high bars entered in 1895 as well as a model with a permanent front lowered, for only ladies; no removable bar necessary.

Columbia Co. was famous for American tandems (which were not cheap then; $200 was a lot of money in 1890), but stopped tandem production because of bankruptcy in 1899 until the rediscovery of tandem biking in 1961.

Ironically, the company that had put the women in front and the men in back, now, in 1961, put the man in front and the lady in back,

with a higher handlebar. This was called a “twosome bike for companion riding.” 1961 brought us striped enamel fenders and a marketing claim that the bike was a must for rental agencies.

1966 brought a single-speed tandem selling for under $100. However, you could buy a dual speed in green for more.

In 1970, the ads said, “This is the answer to America’s lack of family togetherness.” The tandem featured a white sidewall tire in a green or red frame.

In 1972, we see the frame in Surf White or Goldenrod. (The white one is a single-speed tandem.)

In 1974 we see a “mod blue” tandem in two speeds; in 1976, a “Sky blue’ with racing decals; in 1977, the color mod blue tandem is 5-speed.

And in 1979, the color was “radiant Ginger,” and the bike was a 5-speed.

In 1982, Columbia introduced an emerald green bike with yellow sidewalls. Just beautiful.

The first change since 1970 was in 1988 — Columbia’s Double Eagle 5, a white tandem with a blue fork at 26 inches and the kid’s model tandem matching at 20 inches with hot wheel-style handlebars.

The last Columbia tandem was in 1991 — the Double Eagle, with a pair of water bottles.

The value of my tandem, fixed by Jarrod, is $800.

Dr. Elizabeth Stewart’s “Ask the Gold Digger” column appears Mondays in the News-Press.

Written after her father’s COVID-19 diagnosis, Dr. Stewart’s book “My Darlin’ Quarantine: Intimate Connections Created in Chaos” is a humorous collection of five “what-if” short stories that end in personal triumphs over presentday constrictions. It’s available at Chaucer’s in Santa Barbara.

on April 2, 1945.

Mattei’s Tavern, a Santa Barbara County historic landmark, recently reopened as the restaurant and bar in a new 67-room luxury

RSVP to info@tvsb.tv.

Santa Barbara was the site of the first ACM West Regional Conference in 1982, and the first WAVE Awards ceremonies were held in Santa Barbara in 1988. 2023 also marks the 20th anniversary of TV Santa Barbara becoming a 501(c) 3 nonprofit.

TVSB operates two community access television channels, 17 and 71. TVSB describes its mission as empowering people to make media that matters by providing residents with the knowledge, resources and tools to create their own original

resort named “The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern,” which is slated to open this month.

email: mmcmahon@newspress.com

programming. With studios at 329 S. Salinas St., TVSB provides members with access to video production equipment and electronic media resources to facilitate public dialogue, free speech and participatory democracy; to foster local creativity, education and culture; and to reflect our diverse and amazing community. For more information, visit www. tvsb.tv

Email: mmcmahon@newspress. com

IMAGE COURTESY SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL MUSEUM Clarence Mattei’s drawing of Henry S. Pritchett, an astronomer and president of MIT, 1928; inscribed, 1936.

— Dave Mason

Voices

SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS

California has become a thief’s paradise / C2

DID YOU KNOW?

Bonnie Donovan

Natural gas’ unnatural rate hikes

Suddenly, natural gas is more expensive than electricity!

Regarding the exorbitant Southern California Gas Co. bills we received last month, it appears that the cost of natural gas now seems to be double the cost of electricity, which traditionally was the reverse. And that conveniently works with the narrative, “Look, electricity is better after all.”

A Santa Barbara resident posted on Nextdoor, that after speaking with SoCal Gas regarding his next bill, he discovered it will increase to $550! Last month he paid $356, and he will be using approximately the same number of thermal units.

His take on the outrageous increases is that the SoCalGas’ natural gas utility has been structured similarly to the Southern California Edison/ Santa Barbara Clean Energy bills.

In the breakdown of the SoCal Gas bill, there now exists both delivery charges and commodity (usage) charges much like we now have with electricity.

“… The actual delivery charges have not changed much over the last year as these are the charges SoCal Gas uses to pay for the plumbing and gas infrastructure, which is essentially the maintenance of the system,” the Santa Barbara resident wrote on Nextdoor.

Progressivism vs. popular sovereignty

On Jan. 25, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a letter, on behalf of 16 state attorneys general, to U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield.

The letter, which pertains to Biden administration policy on COVID-19, is both important on its own merits, insofar as what it urges the new Congress to do, and more broadly significant insofar as the spotlight it helpfully shines on the American ruling class’s insatiable desire to govern via perpetual

crisis.

The letter, which cleverly cites President Joe Biden’s own September 2022 admission that “the pandemic is over,” decries the administration’s continued reliance on “emergency” powers to implement various COVID-related policies — especially those pertaining to the “emergency-use authorizations” that have enabled the government to develop, mass-produce and mass-distribute the COVID vaccines despite the fact they have still not been approved by the

Food and Drug Administration.

“Things have changed,” the attorneys general argue, since “emergency authorization was granted two years ago to get the first vaccines distributed.”

They continue: “In short, things have changed. The American people, in their characteristic spirit of resilience, have learned to live with COVID-19. Even President Biden noted that people generally are no longer wearing masks, and mandates to do so have disappeared from all but the most sensitive areas. Schools, shops, restaurants and businesses are open. City streets are bustling.

Teaching students there is nothing special about America

Last week, I suggested that it should come as no surprise that today’s high school and college students are not proud of their country.

I also suggested that the late Dr. Howard Zinn, the left-wing activist author of “A People’s History of the United States,” could be blamed for many of those feelings of disenchantment with the country and its founders.

Dr. Zinn’s book, which has sold somewhere near three million copies according to its publisher, has been used as part (and sometimes the entire) of the history course in high schools in the U.S. for decades.

Dr. Zinn’s follow-up textbook for elementary school students, “A Young People’s History of the United States,” has also become prevalent throughout the public education system. It is used in

many private schools as well.

And it’s worse than I thought. According to Dr. Zinn, there was never anything uplifting about the United States.

Nothing.

Ever.

Virtually all its presidents, senators, representatives, generals, Supreme Court Justices, law enforcement agencies, businessmen, inventors and entrepreneurs, were evil … men, virtually all white men out for themselves.

gets any blame whatsoever.

PURELY POLITICAL

For example: “The American government had set out to fight the slave states in 1861, not to end slavery,” Dr. Zinn proposes, “but to retain the enormous national territory and market and resources.” He could have at least mentioned that “the American government” was the anti-slavery Republican administration of Abraham Lincoln, and that the “slave states” were led by Democrats.

James Buckley

And what really galls is that, according to Dr. Zinn, “Republicans” are at fault nearly all the time. The Republican Party’s formation as an anti-slave party is ignored. The pro-slavery party — the Democratic Party — while not held up as a paragon of virtue, hardly

He goes on:

“Yet victory required a crusade, and the momentum of that crusade brought new forces into national politics: more blacks determined to make their freedom mean something: more whites — whether Freedmen’s Bureau officials,

or teachers in the Sea Islands, or ‘carpetbaggers’ with various mixtures of humanitarianism and personal ambition — concerned with racial equality. There was also the powerful interest of the Republican party in maintaining control over the national government, with the prospect of southern black votes to accomplish this. Northern businessmen, seeing Republican policies as beneficial to them, went along for a while.”

What the Democratic Party cared about and “went along for” he doesn’t say.

After all, Andrew Johnson wasn’t just “Lincoln’s vice president.” He was Lincoln’s Democratic re-election fusion candidate nominated as vice president for the 1864 presidential campaign. Johnson came from South Carolina, though his family moved to Tennessee when he was in his teens. Johnson, like Lincoln, was

born in a log cabin — dirt poor as it were — and never — ever — attended school. Johnson didn’t learn to read or write until he was 17 years old.

As a Democrat, Johnson was also in favor of slavery but, because he objected to the Southern states’ actions of seceding from the Union, he retained his U.S. Senate seat when Tennessee joined the Confederacy.

According to Dr. Zinn, “the southern white oligarchy used its economic power to organize the Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist groups.” He excludes the information that the “southern white oligarchy” was made up entirely of Democratic Party members.

Following this, Dr. Zinn recounts a series of horrors perpetrated upon southern blacks, mostly

“The huge increases in our gas bill are due to the market cost of natural gas that SCG buys from various suppliers much like CA must do for electricity, of which over 70% comes from the national grid.

“The base usage rate for a thermal unit was $1.40 in November and $1.87 in December, is now $3.44 per thermal unit, which is almost triple what it was in November, and this cost is passed directly to us as users. The over-base rates have also gone from $1.88 in Nov. to $2.29 in Dec. and was $4.80 in January.”

He continued, “... This is primarily due to the availability and demand of natural gas through the public market for that commodity just as with the cost of gasoline.

This situation is driven by government energy policies relative to encouraging or discouraging the drilling and expansion of the supply, both domestically and globally.

“We are impacted by the change from the Trump energy policies to the now Biden energy policies with regard to fossil fuel-based energy, which Governor Newsom is following even more aggressively than other states. These huge, surprising increases from Nov. through Jan. are irresponsible, however. SCG has no control over these rates and again are passing the increases to the users.

“As seen, all too often, increases in taxes, the cost of permitting and of operation of utility companies, or any company, are passed on to the consumers. Hopefully somehow, soon the cost of oil and gas will normalize and be reflected in our utility costs. That, however, is going to require a change in our energy policies or the supply and demand.”

Another example of insane utility prices, posted on Nextdoor, is the dilemma of a 96-year-old who received a $900 gas bill. What will happen to that individual and other people in the same situation?

Another diligent and concerned citizen, Celeste Barber, sent letters addressing the gas hikes to our local elected officials — U.S. Rep.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2023

Josh Hammer

COURTESY PHOTOS

A letter from 16 state attorneys general encourages Congress to limit the power of the Health and Human Services Department and the FDA.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy

President Joe Biden

Wendy McCaw Arthur von Wiesenberger Co-Publisher Co-Publisher

GUEST OPINION

Steps local governments can take to improve home-ownership rates

Homeownership is a key determinant in increasing economic mobility and building generational wealth.

Families are more financially secure when they are living in a home they own. But as homeownership becomes further out of reach for a greater number of families, achieving the American Dream can seem a distant fantasy to many.

California is a paradise for parasites and thieves!

The state of California is spending us into oblivion to end homelessness.

To be exact, the state is set to spend some $12 billion over a two-year cycle — the largest investment in state history. Most of the money is aimed at various types of housing projects, including buying motels and hotels, and converting them to housing, along with the conversion of empty retail spaces, and erecting a slew of mini houses that are not much bigger than a backyard storage shed.

Meanwhile, Santa Barbara County has set aside some $90 million to move people into some sort of housing, even if it is just a hut, and to offer various services the homeless are free to reject.

Will any of this work? In Santa Barbara County, as it turns out, the more services they offer the homeless, the number of homeless seems to only increase. How could this be?

We need to realize that upward of 50% of all homeless people are formerly incarcerated people. California has been emptying our state prisons for more than a decade, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to release another 70,000 prisoners to our streets, including 20,000 people that were serving life sentences. That explains how this problem is only going to get bigger and much worse.

The ugly truth? Whereas some people are simply poor and homeless through no fault of their own, the vast majority of the people living on the streets belong in some type of institution because of their inability or unwillingness to live in a civil society. We closed nearly all mental institutions decades ago, and now we are emptying and closing our prisons. Is it any wonder why our streets are filled with criminals, scoundrels, addicts and derelicts?

Unfortunately, society is paying a much higher price than most are willing to admit for this modern-day phenomenon.

That price includes criminal acts against people, including brutal murders, because some of these mentally ill people are ticking time bombs. Other crimes are

committed against properties. Just ask any business owner, including business owners on State Street in Santa Barbara and farmers in the Santa Maria Valley about the damage done to their property. But by far the most constant crime against business has to do with the theft of billions of dollars’ worth of inventory and equipment that is putting some businesses out of business, including scores of retail shops.

Years ago, I was a volunteer in the county probation department. The caseload I helped work on included dozens of drug addicts and alcoholics who lived a life of crime to fund their bad habits.

Since then, the California Legislature has handed every single one of these criminals an official laminated free get-out-of-jail card, meaning they can continuously steal upward of $950 per robbery and absolutely nothing is going to happen to them.

Thereby, California has become a thief’s paradise. How bad is this problem?

We recently discussed a phenomenal article by James Walsh in Curbed on my radio show on KZSB-AM 1290, the News-Press radio station.

The article detailed the fact that the Prosecutors Alliance of California estimated that $500 billion worth of stolen or counterfeit goods changes hands online annually. Of course, not all these goods are stolen by the homeless, as there are organized theft rings contributing to the demise of our once civil society. But most of the thieves highlighted in the story were addicts and/or unhoused.

It is kind of ironic, isn’t it? The homeless people who rob a retail establishment blind until it goes out of business are then offered a place to stay after the retail establishment is converted to a lodging facility for the homeless!

It reminds me of the saying that socialism only works until you run out of other people’s money.

In 2022, the Snohomish County Council passed three pieces of legislation aimed at increasing the availability of housing and lowering the cost of new homes.

Nate Nehring

The author is a housing policy expert in Washington state

The homeownership rate in the United States has not fully recovered from the Great Recession. Between 2007 (just before the recession) and 2019, homeownership overall in the United States fell 4.2%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey/Housing Vacancy Survey.

Younger adults have been impacted more significantly than the population at-large. During that same 12-year period, homeownership rates for individuals under the age of 35 dropped 6.3%.

In Washington state, we are likely to see a more profound impact on homeownership rates as home prices continue to increase faster in our state compared to nationwide trends. Just between 2019 and 2021, the medium home sale price in Washington grew 40%, compared to 30% nationwide. While the issue of homeownership and housing market trends are bigger than any one community, county or state, there are steps we can take at the local government level to improve conditions close to home. Here in Snohomish County in Washington, we have taken a number of proactive steps to address housing affordability and availability.

The first of these ordinances encourages the production of more “missing middle” housing (Ordinance 22016). “Missing Middle” housing refers to townhomes and other housing that is denser than traditional singlefamily developments but less dense than mid-rise apartments. Townhome style housing can be a good option for first time homebuyers looking to enter homeownership when other options are less affordable. It also provides a valuable ownership alternative to rental apartments.

We have also taken steps to reduce bureaucratic red tape and streamline regulatory processes. Ordinance 22-037 allows for categorical exemptions to the State Environmental Policy Act in situations where the proposed development is roughly equal to what is called for in the comprehensive plan. This reform reduces the timeline and cost for new development reviews by county planning staff.

One of the significant drivers of housing costs are the time and expense on the part of home builders to get development applications approved. Those increased costs are ultimately passed down to the home buyer, so any steps we can take at the local level to reduce bureaucracy will have a direct impact on residents’ ability to purchase a home.

Another factor impacting housing availability for younger homebuyers is that aging homeowners are not downsizing.

Lack of affordable options for aging residents results in many of them keeping larger houses that they may no longer want or need. One option to address this issue is accessory dwelling units.

In Snohomish County, we have passed multiple ordinances to allow for attached and detached accessory dwelling units in unincorporated areas of the county. These ADUs and DADUs can be a great option for aging parents or grandparents who want to downsize but don’t want to live in the same house as their children or grandchildren. By creating more options for aging homeowners to downsize, more of the existing supply of homes can come on the market for new homebuyers.

The steps we’ve taken at the local level here in Snohomish County may be relatively small in the grand scheme of such a significant nationwide issue, but they represent positive steps in the right direction that work to make home ownership more attainable for residents of all ages and income levels.

Local government has an important role to play in setting the tone for the conversation around how we can address housing affordability in our communities.

Nate Nehring is the vice chair of the Snohomish County Council in Washington state, representing District 1. He chairs the County Council’s Planning and Community Development Committee and was recognized by the Snohomish County-Camano Association of Realtors as “Citizen of the Year” in 2022 for his work on local housing policy. This commentary was provided to the News-Press by The Center Square, a nonprofit dedicated to journalism.

Enrollment declines increase pressure on ‘woke’ higher ed

Higher education is confronting a problem: Its customer base is shrinking. High birth rates in the 1990s and early 2000s created large incoming classes. After reaching a peak in 2007, birth rates have steadily dropped. Births rose to 4.3 million in 2007, while this past year saw 3.7 million. Children born during the dropoff will soon be eligible for enrollment. Nathan Grawe,

David Waugh

The author is with the American Institute for Economic Research

an economist who maintains a forecast known as the Higher Education Demand Index, projects enrollment declines in some states of over 15%. Elite institutions might weather the crisis due to large endowments and relatively inelastic demand for their offerings, but regional colleges will encounter increasing hardship. The median endowment for private colleges is $37.1 million, much of which is restricted from supporting annual budgets.

All communities should incorporate T o all unincorporated areas in Santa Barbara County: Incorporate!

Don’t let what is happening to the residents of Los Alamos happen to you.

A development in Los Alamos is under way that will increase the population of our tiny town by 10-20% with no concessions for improving the infrastructure of Los Alamos! Can you imagine what would happen if one developer planned on increasing the population of Montecito by 800 to 1,600 people? Probably not, but that is what is happening in Los Alamos. Being unincorporated has left us at the mercy of Legacy Home LLC and the Santa Barbara

County Board of Supervisors, making decisions based on a 17-year-old Environmental Impact Report. The EIR states, “The project site is not located near...steep slopes subject to mudflows, therefore these geological phenomena would not occur.”

The determination in the report contradicts the findings of Santa Barbara County’s own Flood Control & Water Conservation District and Water Agency.

A copy of the report was included in the EIR and stated, “Both the Solomon and Purisima Hills soil profile consists of relatively shallow, heavy texture soils with generally low permeability. The low soil permeability and steep (45-50%) slopes combine to promote very rapid flash flooding conditions within the canyons and at the

Henry Schulte The author lives in Solvang

Feel better, America

America is very ill, and she’s bleeding out. The prognosis for survival isn’t good. Her disease started since the day she was born, but those were just growing pains. But over the years she has become more and more unhealthy, and the suffering has metastasized into every corner of her being.

For her 250 years of life, America worked through her mounting illnesses and managed to remain strong, but the last few years have taken a toll on her immune system. There are forces exacerbating her ability to get better, and it appears there is presently no treatment to improve her affliction.

If she continues under these dire conditions, it’s feared her health will only get worse exponentially and accelerate her passing. She is desperately clinging to her freedoms and rights that are her lifeblood, but they’re slipping through her fingers.

When she was younger, she had an unpleasant period in her life. People were severely divided under her care based on color differences, and it didn’t help her image. However, over time those wounds began to heal. The color line was slowly ebbing from her soul, and the old girl was growing stronger.

Then she had an awful relapse when her first leader of color, who had promised her he would help with her racial infection but had, in fact, abandoned her and set her back a hundred years.

Going even further back when she was in her infancy and coming into her own, she had inflicted great harm and tragedy upon those who had come before her. America’s not proud of what she did, and those pains still exist today, though the wounds remain open, they have softened.

Those episodes in her life weren’t her best, but America’s tried to make things right. However, disease-ridden forces are determined to aggravate the wounds. A new powerful virus of racial hemorrhaging has gained strength for which there appears no cure.

Other festering diseases are accelerating by the day. Hundreds of thousands of her charges are dying from consuming poisons and taking another toll on her health. To make it worse, she’s getting no help to stop it. The support she relies on to protect and repair that malignance is failing her.

Smaller incoming classes will make an immediate financial impact as colleges struggle to fill dorms, classes, and dining facilities.

Yet, instead of rising to the challenge, schools are implementing woke offerings that increase the risk of institutional failure.

Hiring diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) bureaucrats adds unnecessary financial strain, and woke policies often bring reputational harm and financial

Please see WAUGH on C4

mouths of canyons where they discharge into the Los Alamos Valley … potential flood hazard is such that it must be addressed from a public safety perspective within the urban areas of Los Alamos.”

This is only one of the unmitigable issues identified in the 17-year-old EIR. A subsequent EIR under CEQA 15162 (3)(a) calls for a subsequent EIR if the project will have one or more significant effects not discussed in the previous EIR.

Legacy Homes LLC omitted the county’s flood hazard findings. The Save Los Alamos coalition’s calls for a subsequent EIR has fallen on deaf ears. Los Alamos is a cautionary tale. Incorporate!

Christine Adams Los Alamos

The medication she requires to remain strong and safe is being withheld. The required care needed for her well-being has shifted and it is getting sucked away by those who have abandoned her. The focus is to care more about the comfort of those who are not under her watch.

The help America requires for her own survival is being applied elsewhere and draining her of her effectiveness. As she grows weaker and weaker, she can only watch her power sloughing away like the skin of a leper. All she can do is mourn over her inability to repair the malady.

Those who had sworn to help keep America intact and avoid more agony are turning their backs and lying to her. Her heart is being stabbed viciously from an onslaught of outside invaders, and she can’t fend them off alone. There are just too many, and no effort is made to prevent even more souls from taking advantage of her kindness.

Millions of bad cells swirling inside her are determined to see her demise. They’re destroying and removing all the good cells that used to keep her strong and replacing it with a growing blackness. And she doesn’t understand, why her?

Despite America’s flaws, she’s done so much good. More so than can ever be imagined. If it wasn’t for her, millions of others would have died and

Andy Caldwell is the COLAB executive director and host of “The Andy Caldwell

Andy Caldwell

Temporary (mini) homeless houses in Goleta.

What we can do in the aftermath of Tyre Nichols

Once again, the nation is traumatized by a horrible video of police brutally beating to death a black man.

Need I note the victim, Tyre Nichols, was black? Would we be less or more traumatized if the victim were white?

But the rule seems to be that the victims are black.

Everyone sees there is a problem. Everyone wants to fix it. But how?

The first question in the pursuit of a solution invariably is, “What is wrong with the system?”

How about we start this time by asking a different question. What is wrong with the men who did it?

The shocking video certainly doesn’t give us the whole story. What were the circumstances that led to the police apprehending this man, forcing him defenseless on the ground and beating him to death? Can we imagine any circumstance that would justify

this behavior? Suppose somehow all this occurred under the radar. That these policemen beat this man to death, but no one found out about it.

Could they live with themselves? Could they just go home to their families after doing a day’s work without a second thought that their law enforcement work left a man dead with little justification why this happened? We in the pro-life movement ask how women can destroy the child in their womb and live with themselves. Those who rationalize it say they don’t see this unborn child as life.

But can we say these police did not see Tyre Nichols as a living man?

When these incidents get spun as racial, the answer comes forth that racists do not see those whom

they hate as human. There was a historic data point in this regard in our nation’s history in the Dred Scott decision.

But in this case, the police officers were black.

How about if we ask if each of those policemen felt they live in a world with a Creator and that every human being is a creation made in that Creator’s image? If they believed this, could they have done what they did?

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan summed it up well saying, “I don’t know there is anything you can do to stop the kind of evil we saw in that video.”

Something very bad has happened in our country.

This nation was founded as a free country under God, not as a “system.” The Constitution is an operating manual creating the basic structure of government and to assure that it would be

kept limited and not interfere with citizens taking personal responsibility and living free.

Yes, it began with the horrible reality of slavery. But this reflected the sin of man and not a systematic flaw in the country.

George Washington said it, and I quote him all the time, that there is no freedom without religion.

But today we are going in the opposite direction. We want to use courts and legislatures to produce systematic answers to our lives rather than turning to our parents and our pastors for eternal principles. The answer is not in the system; it is in ourselves.

Regarding the police, they need more personal responsibility for their behavior.

One path to this is getting rid of qualified immunity, which shields them from exposure to lawsuits. Qualified immunity allows police to violate constitutional rights of others without concern that they will be sued. Per this judge-

created doctrine, as long as there is not another identical precedent, with all the same facts, police are immune from being sued.

Unions protect policemen with a track record of infractions, and then qualified immunity protection allows them to go out and do it again. This is the most important technical reform that can improve police behavior. But we must remember, good men will produce good results even in a bad system. But bad men, even in the most perfectly designed system, will produce bad results.

Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show “Cure America with Star Parker.” To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators. com.

education should

The pandemic changed what the American public wants from K-12 education.

Rather than preparing young people for college, Americans want K-12 to help young people learn more practical, tangible skills and outcomes. This view includes ensuring young people have more choices or pathways to opportunity rather than only the college pathway. That’s the heart of a recent Purpose of Education

Index report by Populace, a Massachusetts nonprofit.

Populace used interviews and focus groups to identify 57 attributes describing the purposes of K-12 education. It then interviewed nationally representative groups of a general population and parent sample using the attributes.

Three themes dominate the Index and imply the need for what I call a new K-12 opportunity program.

First, K-12 schools need a priority reset.

The Index reports that “getting kids ready for college” dropped from a pre-pandemic 10th highest priority to 47 out of 57.

Priority one is students “developing practical skills”

— only one in four (26%) think they do — followed by “problem solving and making decisions,” “demonstrating character” and “demonstrating basic reading, writing and arithmetic.” This leads to approximately seven in 10 (71%) saying more things should change in K-12 education than stay the same, with about two in 10 (21%) saying everything should change.

Two, Americans want a personalized approach to K-12 education with more options and pathways.

The Index reports that Americans place a high priority on giving students the unique support they need (No. 5) rather than giving each student the same level of support (No. 34) or having them study the same advance thing (No. 54).

Americans are strong believers

Americans say K-12

prepare students for variety of paths

placement for on-the-job training; career academies; boot camps for acquiring discrete knowledge and skills; and staffing and placement services.

In short, opportunity pluralism aims to ensure that every American — regardless of background or current condition — has multiple pathways to acquiring the knowledge, skills, character and networks needed for jobs, careers, and human flourishing.

Elected state leaders are expanding educational options to make this opportunity agenda a reality. This includes open enrollment across school district boundaries, vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, and education savings accounts.

ESAs are especially popular since they allow families to tap state education funding for many different costs, including private school tuition, tutoring, afterschool programs and community college.

Currently, nine states have some version of an ESA, with more than half a dozen governors proposing new programs. All this is producing a more pluralistic K-12 system with more educational options for families and students.

The benefits of such an opportunity program reach far beyond economic preparedness. It includes the importance of developing character and the relational aspects of success in addition to the technical or material dimensions.

in mastery learning, where students move on to the next subject after having demonstrated that they have mastered a subject (No. 7).

These views suggest the need for more K-12 options and pathways for young people, what the report calls “individualized and tailored approaches that recognize students’ unique needs.”

Third, Americans have collective illusions about K-12 education. There’s a gap between what Americans personally want in K-12 education and what they perceive other Americans want, what the

report calls collective illusions. For example, as the first theme shows, most do not think K-12 should prepare students to enroll in college, ranking it 47 out of 57.

But many think most Americans do, giving college preparation a perceived societal ranking of 3 out of 57, a 44-rank difference.

The report shows these collective illusions “are the rule, not the exception” which creates false barriers to changing the K-12 system.

The index’s findings on what Americans want most and least in the K-12 education system imply

a new opportunity program for K-12 education that is based on opportunity pluralism. This approach offers individuals multiple credentialing pathways to work and career. It makes the nation’s opportunity infrastructure more pluralistic so individuals pursue opportunity through many avenues linked to labor-market demands. These paths include apprenticeships and internships; career and technical education; dual enrollment in high school and post-secondary and other training institutions; job

Pompeo: A surprising politician

The next presidential race is on.

One probable candidate is former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

He just released a new book: “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love.”

Mr. Pompeo must be a smart guy. He graduated first in his class at West Point. Then he went to Harvard Law School. Interviewing him makes it clear that he is smarter and more thoughtful than most politicians. We talked for an hour about immigration, defense, education, tariffs, entitlement reform, pandemics and more.

We disagree about a lot.

Mr. Pompeo knows I’m a libertarian and would disagree with him about a lot. But he agreed to talk about ... anything. Then he repeatedly said things that surprised me.

Mr. Pompeo calls himself a “deficit hawk.” I give him a hard time about Republican hypocrisy, pointing out that under President Donald Trump, Republicans increased the deficit.

“Guilty as charged,” Mr. Pompeo replies. “My party has been no more serious about actually delivering solutions to this problem than the Democratic Party.”

That’s surprisingly honest.

He also doesn’t dodge the fact that Social Security and Medicare are going broke.

This program also helps young people develop an occupational identity and vocational self. Choosing an occupation and developing a broader vocational sense of one’s values, abilities, and personality is important for adult success.

Finally, this opportunity program puts young people on a trajectory to economic and social well-being, informed citizenship and civic responsibility, laying a foundation for adult success, a lifetime of opportunity and human flourishing.

Bruno

V. Manno is senior adviser for the Walton Family Foundation’s education program and a former US. assistant secretary of education for policy.

U.S. Special Operations strike in Africa

Bilal al-Sudani is not exactly a household name, which is all the more reason to highlight the fact that this dangerous terrorist leader has been removed.

On Jan. 26, U.S. military troops killed 11 members of the Islamic State, including Mr. Sudani. Members of this violent fundamentalist movement were engaged in a mountainous cave complex in Somalia. Mr. Sudani was a powerful effective leader, involved in broad coordination of military and terrorist operations.

Islamic State has been formally classified as a terrorist organization by the United Nations.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the special U.S. military operation. His statement noted Mr. Sudani “… was responsible for fostering the growing presence of ISIS in Africa and for funding the group’s operations worldwide, including in Afghanistan.”

Secretary Austin emphasized

the crucial importance of intelligence professionals in making the successful operation possible.

Earlier, on Jan. 20, U.S. Africa Command at the request of the Somali government undertook a successful joint military operation. This attack took place northwest of Mogadishu near an area named Galcad. Somali National Army troops were engaged in heavy combat there with the terrorist movement al-Sbabaab, based in Somalia.

Previously, a decade ago, Sudani was involved in recruiting and training members of alShabaab. This organization is directly associated with al-Qaeda, which carried out the 9/11 mass murder attacks in the United States in 2001.

For decades, Somalia has been generally regarded as a “failed state,” with the government unable to provide even elementary services or security. In 1993, a U.S.

military mission to Somalia ended in frustration after the killing of 18 U.S. Army Rangers. The book and film “Black Hawk Down” describe this. Pirates operating off the coast of Somalia are a continuing, vexing challenge.

Al-Shabaab was formed around December 2006, from the shifting formations of extreme, essentially truly insane, terrorist groups. Included were extreme elements of the formerly stabilizing Islamic Courts Union. American terrorist Omar Hammami was involved until killed in a power struggle.

Historically, Americans have been absent-minded about Africa. Past presidents generally focused on other parts of the world, with notable exceptions. U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy was chairman of the African Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was extremely attentive to that task and carried concern about

Africa into the Oval Office.

President Jimmy Carter, during his time in office and since, has steadfastly worked with Africa. The Carter Center has devoted sustained emphasis to public health and related problems of that continent. One dramatic result is the virtual eradication of guinea worm, a devastating agonizing disease. Mr. Carter effectively leveraged his center’s efforts into World Bank efforts targeting the disease.

Former President Bill Clinton achieved rockstar status in Africa, a popular stop in his travels on behalf of the Clinton Foundation. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama devoted at least periodic attention to the continent while in office, reflecting the changing times.

President John F. Kennedy deserves credit for establishing the Peace Corps, a concept promoted by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and U.S. Sen. Hubert Humphrey, D-Minn. The Peace Corps is remarkably durable, today involving selfless

volunteers ranging widely in age.

Related, enormous growth in private philanthropy means there are unprecedented opportunities to raise living standards across Africa. Basic safety and security, however, remains a challenge.

Terrorists generate continuing death, destruction and headlines, but have yet to demonstrate appeal to the average person in Africa – or elsewhere on the globe.

The world today rejects extremism.

To hear Mrs. Roosevelt’s talks with JFK, go to jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/ archives/JFKWHA/1961/ JFKWHA-014/JFKWHA-014.

Arthur I. Cyr is author of “After the Cold War - American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia” (NYU Press and Palgrave/Macmillan). He is also the director of the Clausen Center at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisc., and a Clausen Distinguished Professor. He welcomes questions and comments at acyr@carthage.edu.

“The math suggests that somehow these trust funds run

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Star Parker

The author is with the Center for Urban Renewal and Education

Bruce Manno

The author is an advisor for the Walton Family Foundation

KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS

Joanna Hendrix, a teacher at Ralph Dunlap Elementary School in Orcutt, interacts with her students. A recent study shows Americans want K-12 education to emphasize tangible skills and outcomes.

Education is a job for local governments

out about the time my son Nick will turn to Social Security.”

“What do you do?” I ask. “Raise retirement ages?”

“There’s nothing that should be off the table,” he answers.

That’s brave. Voters vilify politicians who admit that Medicare and Social Security are unsustainable and must be changed if they are to survive.

A cowardly President Donald Trump declared, “Under no circumstances should (we) cut a single penny.” A cowardly President Joe Biden agreed, calling Medicare and Social Security “a promise we made as a country.”

But that promise is now an impossible promise.

When Social Security began, most Americans didn’t even live to age 65. “Entitlements” were meant to protect the minority who lived long enough to exhaust their savings. But now we live an average of 76 years. Most of us will collect

significantly more from Social Security and Medicare than we ever put in. That’s unsustainable.

Mr. Pompeo is a rare politician who admits that something has to change.

Then he surprised me again.

Since Mr. Pompeo is called a “staunch conservative,” I assumed that he would say we should spend more on the military. But he didn’t.

“There’s no need to spend more money than we’re spending today.”

Again, that was refreshing. America already spends $800 billion, more than the next nine countries combined. Finally, a hawkish Republican not so eager to pander to the military establishment.

As secretary of state, Pompeo met with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un. He calls Mr. Putin a “thug.” He criticized China so much that Mr. Trump told him, “Shut the hell up about China!” He calls Kim Jong-un an “evil mass murderer.”

So who is the most dangerous person in the world?

“Randi Weingarten,” says Mr. Pompeo.

That was another surprise. Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten is more dangerous than dictators?

“We’ll figure out Putin. We’ll figure out Xi Jinping,” Pompeo replies. “But you teach kids that America is a racist nation? ... that groups matter more than individuals? ... that there’s an oppressor class and somehow America is the most indecent nation in the history of the world? You’re done.”

What would he do about education if he were president?

It’s my trick question. I long for a politician who will answer questions like that by saying, “Nothing! It’s not a president’s job.”

Education is a job for local governments. The Feds have no business trying to micromanage schools, although that didn’t stop Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama from pushing No Child Left Behind and Common Core.

I assumed Mr. Pompeo would have some similar plan, but he surprised me again by just saying,

“I would speak about it often.”

“Speak.” That’s it. Unlike most politicians with presidential ambition, Mr. Pompeo acknowledges that the Constitution puts limits on federal power.

Regarding education, he says, “Get the federal government out of that. ... Let school boards, school superintendents, teachers and governors control decisions for their own students, instead of some knucklehead bureaucrat at the U.S. Department of Education.” Then he added, “get rid of” the Department of Education.

Finally! A politician actually open to shrinking federal power.

Mr. Pompeo said (in my opinion) bad things, too. I’ll cover that next week.

Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, Mr. Stossel posts a new video about the battle between government and freedom. He is the author of “Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media.”

The rate hike is unprecedented and devastating DONOVAN

Continued from Page C1

Salud Carbajal, Assemblymember Gregg Hart and state Sen. Monique Limón.

Ms. Barber’s letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom was sent via registered mail, for an explanation and to insist that politicians do the job for which they were elected, that they represent the good interest of their constituents.

Ms. Barber reminded us of the time when people were urged to convert their wood-burning fireplaces to gas: to prevent pollution and for the reason that natural gas is CLEAN! She did that, and the cost to convert her fireplace was several thousand dollars.

Now we are told to convert our gas fireplaces and stoves and heating systems to all-electric — and at great expense. There is no end. It is ideology rammed down our throats.

Her letter to our local officials says it best.

“Dear Elected Officials, “By now, you are well aware of the sudden 200% to 300% SCG rate increase and its impact on residents here and throughout California. The rate hike is unprecedented and devastating. Yet we are not aware that any among you has yet issued a statement. State and local governments have two basic

BUCKLEY

duties: to keep the lights on; to keep us safe. That’s it.

“Yet a utility necessary to life and livelihood — natural gas — is suddenly so high as to be prohibitively expensive for many. Not so many years ago, Natural Gas was touted as being ‘cheap, plentiful and clean.”’

“Two days ago, I posted on Nextdoor about this issue. To date, there are more than 190 comments and climbing as I write. Most neighbors are upset.

“A number of reasons were given for the gas bill hikes: Ukraine, Europe and Russia; the chill in the West, the heat in the East. And some offered suggestions: Wear layered clothes, pile on blankets; buy an electric heater.

“But all of those suggestions merely skirt the real question here. Left out are getting at the underlying reasons why, and the impetus behind the decision suddenly, to increase rates to levels rendering a plentiful natural resource beyond many folks’ ability to pay.

“People could die. Be assured, our most vulnerable will die. And why are our politicians not standing up for us, the folks who elected you to keep the proverbial lights on?

“My January bill reads that we owe $727.38. Others report similar high amounts. And many of us relate that our gas usage is actually much lower than from

last year’s billing. (Mine is 100 Therms lower when compared to 2022, but nearly triple the charge.)

“New to the billing, the “Gas Commodity” charge: the cost of delivering natural gas to California. And it’s increasing! That single charge accounts for $489.22 on my bill. This is not acceptable.

“My neighbors and I would like an accounting from our elected representatives. First, issue a statement rendering your position on the rate hike: clearly, honestly and without obfuscation. Do you defend the rate hike, and if so, why?

“Second, will you introduce an independent investigation into the rate hike? What or who is behind the increase? And who is profiting? That money is going into someone’s pockets – Whose? We have read that globally the cost of natural gas has decreased; that the increases are restricted only to the western states, primarily California. How can that be when we have plentiful natural gas deposits here?

“Third, what will you do to remedy this untenable situation? Will you require a response from the California Public Utilities Commission, a governmental body supposedly mandated to serve in the public’s best interest?

“This letter is co-signed by South County residents, people who through the ballot box,

‘We encourage the new Congress to move quickly’

HAMMER

Continued from Page C1

“The idea that we are still in the midst of a medical emergency flies in the face of the facts on the ground. Yet (Health and Human Services) and FDA continue to perpetrate the myth that an emergency exists to aggrandize their power at the expense of people’s freedom.”

The letter ultimately concludes: “We encourage the new Congress to move quickly to limit HHS’ and FDA’s ability to unilaterally declare an emergency and approve unproven drugs that could cause harm to Americans, override any remaining emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines, consider reforms to the sweeping liability shield created in 2005, and ensure that our liberties and system of government are robustly protected against any such future attempts at medical tyranny.”

entrusted you to work on our behalf, for the betterment of our communities. Do your job.

“Signed, “Celeste Barber and numerous others.”

By the way, during the televised American Public Energy and Commerce Committee’s discussion of the U.S. energy policy on C-Span, Jan 31, 2023, a panelist insisted that there be an Economic Impact Study on the Policies for Climate Change, because the effects on the poor and middle class are worse than the impacts of climate change. Where is the equity in these economic impacts we all suffer? And while the U.S. has 225 coal energy plants, China has over 1,000 coal energy plants and is building more. Our efforts and sacrifices will make no difference to climate change if and while other countries contribute to the possible causes. But U.S. citizens will be turned out into the cold. Could this rate increase be due to the $6.5 billion taxed on natural gas as part of last year’s 2022 budget of $1.7 trillion? Remember this budget only carries us through October.

Bonnie Donovan writes the “Did You Know?” column in conjunction with a bipartisan group of local citizens. It appears Sundays in the Voices section.

The letter follows on the heels of Republican Floria Gov. Ron DeSantis’ similar recent successful petition to the Florida Supreme Court to empanel a grand jury to investigate COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers for potential wrongdoing and consumer fraud. (Notably, former President Donald Trump continues to be an enthusiastic advocate for the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.)

The attorneys general are wise to amplify Gov. DeSantis’ recent move with an additional shot across the bow at the “unproven” mRNA vaccines, which are largely defective products that do not prevent viral transmission. Even more important, they are correct to call out the Biden administration’s unyielding desire to govern via continual crisis, as was also evinced by the administration’s farcical recent decision to seek an appeal — nine months after Judge Kathryn Mizelle’s initial district court ruling — to restore the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s feckless, sincediscarded public transportation mask mandate.

is to continually — indeed, perpetually — latch onto any “emergency” fig leaf in order to justify “enlightened” rule, typically imposed in top-down, antidemocratic fashion. This broader societal dynamic, of a sizable (often outright majority) right-leaning portion of the body politic facing constant roadblocks from an insular, progressive elite, is hardly unique to these United States. Recently this column highlighted the intense judicial reform debate now roiling Israel’s politics — a shockingly similar situation overall, albeit with elites represented not by the biomedical security state but by an equally unaccountable judicial oligarchy.

Other global examples abound. But whether the means are “enlightened” juristocracy, cloistered bureaucracy or some grotesque combination thereof, progressivism’s loathing of “We the People”-rooted popular sovereignty and zeal for rule via unaccountable diktat has helped define the terrain on which today’s civilizational struggles are fought.

Here, there and everywhere, especially in today’s more populist times, it ought to be the goal of conservatives and nationalists to re-politicize as much as possible the law and policy that have been previously de-politicized via administrative or judicial fiat.

committed either by organized mobs or the Ku Klux Klan.

I don’t doubt the veracity of Dr. Zinn’s writing, but it would have been kind of him (he died in 2010) to offer a glimmer of hope, of optimism, even of national glory, once in a while.

It was horrific, and it did happen. Apparently, that’s all that ever occurred both in the North and the South in the United States: egregious acts of cruelty throughout the land, orchestrated solely, I can only surmise, by white Republican men, as white Democratic men are never castigated or included.

To give you an idea of the unrelenting negative and gloomy appraisal of this nation one is taught in this history, here’s a short list of some of the chapters:

• “Persons of Mean and Vile Condition.”

• “Tyranny is Tyranny.”

• “The Intimately Oppressed.”

• “Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom.”

• “Robber Barons and Rebels.”

• “The Socialist Challenge.”

• “War Is the Health of the State.”

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risk from lawsuits. While DEI is a loosely-defined concept, in practice, DEI initiatives manifest on college campuses as neo-Marxist and progressive programming, admissions and hiring practices.

Lower enrollment and tuition dollars will force university leaders to make tough decisions on what they value the most. Will they roll back DEI offerings, or will funding toward research and education see the effects?

Today, most colleges maintain some form of a DEI office, each varying in size. The University of Michigan, for example, employs 163 dedicated DEI personnel, larger than some academic departments.

Administrative growth on college campuses is not new, but the rapid expansion in DEI initiatives is a more recent trend. Such growth shifts resources

Dr. Zinn’s descriptions of the First World War, the Great War, are vivid and thorough. The bloodshed was enormous and tragic.

“Into this pit of death and deception came the United States, in the spring of 1917,” Dr. Zinn writes.

destroy the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World),” Dr. Zinn writes of the union formed on the basis of Marxist philosophy. And maybe he is right. After all, the First World War was a bloody, useless self-inflicted European catastrophe, though on a positive note, it was America’s entry into it that ended it, something Dr. Zinn hardly mentions.

“This is not about an urgent matter of public health,” Brant C. Hardaway, the lawyer who represented the initial plaintiffs who successfully sued to overturn the mask mandate last April, said upon hearing last week’s news that the Biden administration would now seek an appeal. If this were an “emergency,” he reasonably observed, then the Biden Department of Justice would have acted with more urgency after Judge Mizelle’s ruling last April, including seeking an emergency stay at that time (which, notably, it did not do).

America was drawn into the war by President Woodrow Wilson (a Democrat) after the Germans sank the British liner HMS Lusitania. On board were 124 Americans, and President Wilson, defending his action, declared that he couldn’t “consent to any abridgement of the rights of American citizens in any respect …”

Dr. Zinn quickly settles into a discussion of labor disputes within the United States, along with anarchists, union strife against management, opposition to the draft, and socialist and communist agitation. “The war gave the government its opportunity to

away from education towards programming and eats away at the time available for research, teaching and learning.

Excessive bureaucratization buries professors and students with needless programs, chipping away time for research and classes.

Million-dollar budgets funding

administrative DEI salaries and politicized student programs do not bode well for a future where colleges operate on tighter budgets.

In addition to budgetary strains, woke bureaucrats, often thinking of themselves as revolutionaries, risk putting their employers in costly legal crosshairs.

The Gibson bakery case at Oberlin College is instructive.

Following a shoplifting incident where students attacked a local bakery store owner, student activists, supported by the dean of students and then-college president, boycotted, protested and smeared the bakery’s reputation. The Gibson family sued Oberlin and won a $36.59 million

Dr. Zinn describes World War II as “the most popular war the United States had ever fought.” He concedes that “It was a war against an enemy of unspeakable evil.

“Hitler’s Germany,” he writes, “was extending totalitarianism, racism, militarism, and overt aggressive warfare beyond what an already cynical world had experienced.

Though he does proffer that, “These questions deserve thought,” it’s plain that he doesn’t believe there was or is a significant difference between the governance of Nazi Germany and the United States. Which is a shame because Dr. Zinn’s research and animation serve his subjects well. It’s just that he leaves no room for heroism (other than that of former slaves, union members and women), optimism or for, well, love of country. After reading “A People’s History of the United States,” students are left in bewilderment, wondering what’s so special about America. And that’s no way to begin life as a citizen of the most profound — and successful — experiment in self-government ever devised.

“And yet,” Dr. Zinn adds, “did the governments conducting this war — England, the United States, the Soviet Union — represent something significantly different, so that their victory would be a blow to imperialism, racism, totalitarianism, militarism in the world?”

payout from the college.

Oberlin’s billion-dollar endowment ensures the decision isn’t fatal, but a similar outcome would decimate a less financiallysecure institution. Woke programming run amok also carries reputational risks. Colleges frequently require diversity statements and classes; some even consider faculty contributions to DEI when making promotion decisions. Though they might sound innocuous, many woke diversity programs train students to harass faculty whose views fall outside the progressive orthodoxy. Colleges suffer reputational harm from a bewildered public when students and administrators act on woke theories. At Hamline University, student activists pressured the school into firing an adjunct art history professor for showing a famous painting of the Prophet Muhammad. Following a national outcry, the university is holding fast, still kowtowing to

James Buckley is a longtime Montecito resident. He welcomes questions or comments at jimb@ substack.com. Readers are invited to visit jimb.substack.com, where Jim’s Journals are on file. He also invites people to subscribe to Jim’s Journal.

activist demands.

In addition to threatening faculty, woke programming has led to colleges banning words most deem harmless, such as “field” and “American,” furthering the image that colleges are not serious places for sound learning.

Notably, DEI programs lack evidence that they achieve their stated goals. In a recent study, Jay P. Greene and James D. Paul compare the relationship between DEI staffing and campus climate surveys (a measure of how students perceive campus inclusivity). They find campus climates are no better and often worse for minority students at universities with significant DEI staffing.

David Waugh is managing editor at the American Institute for Economic Research. This commentary was provided to the News-Press by The Center Square, a nonprofit dedicated to journalism.

Mr. Hardaway is correct that the Biden administration’s actions are not about an “urgent matter of public health” — or any other type of legitimate public “emergency,” for that matter.

Instead, the entire act, as this column has previously noted, is emblematic of progressivism’s overarching ethos, best encapsulated by former Obamaera White House Chief of Staff and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s infamous exhortation:

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”

From the perspective of the American ruling class and the progressive elites who comprise it, the only relevant incentive

The re-politicization and democratization of our most pressing societal debates, away from the hands of unaccountable elites, is a worthy counter to globalism’s top-down, homogenizing modus operandi, personified by jet-setting elites’ recent rendezvous in Davos.

Our 21st-century civilizational battles, in other words, are those waged between the popular sovereigntists and the globalist progressives who cling to every would-be “crisis” or “emergency” in a desperate attempt to attain and weaponize ever-more power. I happen to like the popular sovereigntists’ odds of ultimately prevailing.

But for now, kudos to the 16 state attorneys general for admirably underscoring the battle lines.

To find out more about Josh Hammer and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www. creators.com.

Copyright 2022 by Creators.com.

America needs to rebuild her influences

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How come those determined to kill her don’t see that? Without her, things will become much darker and uglier.

America needs to rebuild her influences and be there for those she promised to protect.

All under the mantle of the red, white and blue. She also needs the same protective blanket to help everyone outside her sphere of immediate concern.

It tears her insides apart as she watches the unnecessary death of so many, the plague of lying for self-interest and the false manipulation of what she stands for. Too many have forgotten her unconditional love for so many decades. Why are so many turning against her? All

she ever wanted was to provide the opportunity for anyone to grow strong right alongside her. America had always been there for refuge, comfort, protection, and she asked for nothing in return except respect. But she isn’t ready to go down in defeat quite yet. Despite all the infections she’s fighting, there remains glimmers of hope she can survive, that once again the day will arrive where she can stand tall, proud and strong. That she can shrug away all the ailments she’s endured. There’s hope that there will be the day when she can place her hands on her hips, tilt her chin up, wave the red, white and blue over her head and shout, “I’m back. Just try and get me this time.”

Henry Schulte welcomes questions or comments at hschulteopinions@gmail.com.

COURTESY PHOTO Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall