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S AT U R DAY, F E BRUA RY 13 , 2 0 21
Seniors see second doses Cottage Health administers COVID-19 vaccine to residents 75 and older
Bill to protect public lands, rivers reintroduced By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Mary Jo Spencer, left, receives her second dose of the Moderna vaccine Friday from retired nurse Marsha Robertson across the street from Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital.
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
A weight has been lifted off the shoulders of many seniors in the community this week. The mood at the Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital drive-through vaccine clinic on Friday afternoon was filled with joy and heavy sighs of relief as health care workers and seniors 75 and older received their second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Thursday marked day one of the second doses for seniors who made appointments through Cottage Health, and staff members administered a record number of Pfizer vaccinations in a day, totaling 1,500. On Friday, they were set to give 1,000 Moderna doses. Altogether, as of Friday, Cottage Health had provided around 17,000 total vaccinations to both its staff and the vulnerable members of the community. The drive-through clinic in Goleta operated like a well-oiled machine as Cottage Health staff and clinic volunteers ushered anxious recipients through the parking lot. Those receiving their vaccinations didn’t even have to step out of their cars. Paula Bruice has lived in Santa Barbara for 50 years. As she sat during the observation period after receiving her shot, she told the News-Press that getting the second dose is “such a relief.” “I have a whole list of things I’m going to start doing — going to a restaurant, meeting with friends,” she said, adding that many of her friends had received their
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County residents 65 and older will be eligible to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine starting Tuesday. See A2 for more.
Coast Guard to implement safety reforms By MITCHELL WHITE NEWS-PRESS ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Paula Bruice waits in her car during the observation period after receiving her second dose of the Moderna vaccine.
vaccines too. When asked if she was nervous or skeptical to get the vaccine, Ms. Bruice said, “Not at all. I’m a scientist, so I know how it works.” She said the second dose “very much so” put her mind at ease, and she sang praises of the clinic’s process. “I’m just impressed at how beautifully organized they are. It made everything so easy,” she said. Community members receiving their vaccine at the clinic, which was across the street from Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, pull up to
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the check-in tent and provide their information. They then proceed to the tents where nurses provide the vaccine shots and afterward hang out for a 15-minute observation period. The result is a COVID-19 vaccine in a matter of half an hour, without stepping foot outside a car. More than 120 staff and volunteers are on site each day to make rapid vaccination possible. Mary Jo Spencer has lived in Santa Barbara for 44 years, and while she’s not quite 75, she’s a healthcare worker, so she was
able to receive her second dose on Friday. “I am so excited, I am so relieved, I am so blessed,” she told the News-Press. “It’s a gift — it really is, and it takes the fear and pressure off of us, absolutely.” However, Ms. Spencer said it’s important that seniors and all other community members remain cautious, even with a vaccine in their system. “I trust the vaccine. I really do,” she said. “But we have variants now, and we just have to be careful. We have to respect each Please see VACCINEs on A6
Some 17 months have passed since the worst maritime disaster in recent memory, and new safety recommendations will now be implemented by the U.S. Coast Guard. On Wednesday, USCG Vice Adm. Scott A. Buschman wrote a letter to Robert L. Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation and Safety Board, responding to the seven new safety recommendations made by the NTSB in the wake of the Conception boat fire. The new safety recommendations were outlined in the Small Passenger Vessel Safety Act introduced by U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, and Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Ventura County, in 2019. The bill became law Jan. 1 as part of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. “I am grateful to see that the Coast Guard is moving forward with implementing my Small Passenger Vessel Safety Act in a timely manner,” Rep. Carbajal said in a statement. “The Conception boat fire was an avoidable incident, and I’m thankful the Coast Guard is taking the necessary and imperative steps to protect lives by ensuring a similar incident
does not happen again.” Some of the key measures in the law include: smoke detectors and interconnected fire alarms; two means of escape; and roving watch and safety management systems. All new and currently-in-use small passenger vessels like the Conception will be required to have smoke detectors and interconnected fire alarms in all accommodation spaces. The Conception had a smoke detector in the room where passengers slept, but no smoke detector where the fire is believed to have started or interconnected fire alarms that would have been triggered if one area detected smoke. All vessels like the Conception are now required to have no fewer than two independent avenues of escape. The Coast Guard is issuing a rulemaking to update this safety requirement. The Conception had two exits in the sleeping quarters. However both led to areas engulfed by fire. Moreover, one exit was a narrow and difficultto-reach ceiling hatch. Finally, current Coast Guard regulations require a nighttime roving watch. However, oversight is lacking. The Coast Guard is issuing new guidance to mandate the logging of completed night watch patrols and going Please see uscg on A2
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U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, this week reintroduced the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act, which aims to safeguard public lands and rivers in the Los Padres National Forest. More than 500 civic groups of stakeholders, leaders, landowners, businesses, elected officials, schools, farmers, ranchers and recreation leaders are in support of the bill as part of the Central Coast Wild Heritage Campaign. Nearly 250,000 acres of federal public land across Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties would be protected by this bill, along with 159 miles of wild and scenic rivers. The act establishes two scenic areas encompassing 34,500 acres as well. “The bill is a great opportunity to protect some of the last remaining wild places in the Central Coast region,” Jeff Kuyper, the executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch, told the News-Press Friday. “There’s so few places like this left where people can really get out into nature and experience it without the hecticness of city life and development. There’s just some spectacular landscapes here that are really worthy of protection.” ForestWatch is an advocacy group for the Central Coast’s wildlife habitats and wilderness landscapes, from the Big Sur coastline to the rugged
backcountry of Santa Barbara and Ventura. The protective bill would also designate a 400-mile Condor National Scenic Trail, which would stretch across the entire length of the Los Padres National Forest, from Big Sur to the Los Angeles County line. Most of the trail is already there, so the legislation would formally recognize this interconnected network of trails and incorporate it into the national scenic trail system, similar to the Appalachian Trail. “I think it’s even more important in times like these where people are seeking out refuge in nature, so we’re very excited about this legislation and hope that it will pass through Congress and be signed by the president,” Mr. Kuyper said. The bill was first introduced in Congress by then Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, and Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley. It passed the House twice last year with bipartisan support as part of a larger package of public lands conservation bills, but did not receive a vote in the Senate. “The bill has a long history — it’s been introduced many times over the last decade, so I think finally now, the political planets are starting to align. We’re very hopeful that things will all come together this year,” Mr. Kuyper said. “This would be the first wilderness legislation for our area since 1992, over a quarter century ago.” Please see BILL on A3
Obituaries............. A6 Sudoku................. B3 Weather................ A6
Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: 8-10-19-22-41 Meganumber: 15
Friday’s DAILY 4: 5-8-5-8
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 5-14-24-25-27 Meganumber: 14
Friday’s FANTASY 5: 1-25-26-27-37
Friday’s DAILY DERBY: 07-05-09 Time: 1:49.54
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 15-39-58-63-67 Meganumber: 7
Friday’s DAILY 3: 5-4-6 / Sunday’s Midday 7-8-1