Santa Barbara News-Press: February 25, 2023

Winter storm slams county

Flash flood warning scheduled to expire tonight for SB

and Ventura counties

shelterBox UsA president visits Ukraine

Kerri Murray talks to the News-Press about Ukrainians’ resilience

Editor’s note: This is the second part of a News-Press series about efforts to help Ukraine as the second year of the Russian invasion begins.

By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

Kerri Murray experienced air raids during her recent visit to Ukraine.

And she was in the emergency shelters during those raids anywhere from 40 minutes to two hours or more at a time.

“I felt the fear and the terror they (the Ukrainians) went through,” said Ms. Murray, the president of Santa Barbarabased ShelterBox USA.

“It was difficult to sleep

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Giant trees fell, the wind blew fiercely, and the rain kept coming on a Friday that saw a brief tornado warning and a much longer warning about flash floods.

Winter weather conditions continue to be forecast for Santa Barbara County through today.

Conditions include extreme cold temperatures, snow at higher elevations, continued wind, localized flooding, and isolated thunderstorms that are possible countywide.

There was a brief tornado warning Friday morning at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Additionally, boats struggled against the choppy water off East Beach in Santa Barbara.

There was also a flash flood warning for Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, which is scheduled to expire at 6 p.m. today. And a wind advisory expired at 1 a..m. today.

The winter storm brought down large trees. Late Friday afternoon, a big stone pine tree fell down on East Anapamu Street near Nopal Street in the area of Santa Barbara High School. Anapamu Street had to be closed between Alta Vista Road and Nopal.

Up north, an approximately 80-foot by 100-foot tall tree fell at approximately 11:43 a.m., causing major damage to a residence in the 200 block of Deer Run in Santa Maria. Injuries were sustained.

Please see WEATHER on A6

FYI

To register for emergency alerts, go to www.readysbc. org. You can eceive local emergency alerts via text, phone calls and emails.

on

most of the time I was there. You just don’t know where the next air raid siren is going off,” Ms. Murray told the NewsPress Wednesday by phone from Krakow, Poland, after her second visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began a little over one year ago.

Please see UKRAINE on A7

Best of the West

Alliance for Community Media presents WAVE awards to TV Santa Barbara and others

By CALEB BEEGHLY NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

Producers from California, Nevada, Colorado, Hawaii, New Mexico and Arizona

gathered Thursday to recognize excellence in community media programming.

Rory O’Farrell, manager of Tahoe Truckee Media, hosted the awards ceremony at the Mar Monte Hotel in Santa Barbara, saying, “(The programs] were inspiring to watch … really keeping with the values of our organization.”

According to Mr. O’Farrell, Alliance for Community Media values free speech, seeks to represent underserved voices and does not prioritize competition. In doing so, ACM hopes to promote greater

civic engagement through its community media.

The awards were part of the ACM’s multi-day conference and trade show in Santa Barbara, and one of the event’s hosts was TV Santa Barbara, which picked up some awards of its own at Thursday’s ceremony.

There were 17 award categories, such as Best Documentary and Best Narrative Film, and two final Best of Show awards. In each of the award categories, an award was presented to the best community producer, professional producer and student producer. The first Best of Show award (community or student producer) went to Jabreel Green for his

Please

KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS

Two Santa Barbara locals — Spread Goodness founder and host Lisa Lang and TV Santa Barbara Executive Director Erik Davis — hold up awards their organizations won during The WAVE Awards of the Alliance for Community Media Western Region Conference and Trade Show at the Mar Monte Hotel Ballroom.

KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS

Sailboats and other smaller watercraft are

A large stone pine tree falls Friday onto East Anapamu Street near Nopal Street during heavy rainstorms, causing the closure of Anapamu between Alta Vista Road and Nopal near Santa Barbara High School.

Part 2 of ‘The Spymaster & Me’

On Friday morning, Oct. 1, 1993, I phoned Clair George, former CIA spymaster and partner in creative problem resolution.

“You know the name Edward Lee Howard?” I asked him. I knew he did. Clair had been deputy director of operations when Mr. Howard, an ex-CIA officer, bolted from Santa Fe, N.M., out from under the eyes of the FBI and defected to Moscow.

“Sure.”

“He wants to write a book.”

“Really?”

“Truly. He’s circulating a book proposal. I’ve been invited to participate. I could meet Howard, gain his confidence, lure him into a trap. What do you think?”

“I’ll call Tom Twetten,” said Clair, referring to the current operations chief.

ENTER THE FBI

Two days later Clair and I strategized how best to receive two representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, expected to arrive imminently. (The CIA quickly determined that the bureau had jurisdiction over Mr. Howard, a fugitive wanted for suspicion of espionage.)

Let them talk as much as possible, Clair advised me, so we can figure out what they’ve been doing about him.

The doorbell rang. Clair greeted the “feebs” (as he called them) and led them into his den. Both were polite and deferential to Clair, who explained he and I were neighbors and friends before gesturing for me to speak.

“My background is book publishing,” I said. “I have a casual relationship with National Press Books in Bethesda, which has a reputation for publishing controversial nonfiction. They received a proposal from Edward Lee Howard, and they asked me if I’d be interested in editing it for them. I told them I’m interested.

What I meant was, ‘I’m interested in seeing Howard behind bars.’ ”

Said one of the G-men, “We already know people who have met Howard and reported to us so I’m not sure how much more we’re going to get by giving you questions to ask.”

“Wait a second,” Clair said. He threw his arms up. “This is not about asking Howard questions.

It’s about trying to CAPTURE him.”

“Oh,” said the G-man. “That’s the domain of the U.S. attorney in New Mexico. Only he can decide whether we can use tactics like this.”

“U.S. Marshal Service has something called the Curbed Frisbee Doctrine,” I said. “If we can lure Howard to the right place, we can legally nab him.”

I pointed out that this was how they caught Edwin Wilson, another ex-CIA fugitive. Clair saw them out and returned shaking his head. “Typical FBI. They only think about collecting more incriminating information on Howard. As if they don’t have enough! I can’t believe it didn’t occur to them that we would be talking about capturing Howard.

“That’s government today,” he added. “And it’s getting worse. No imagination. No creativity.”

Clair was pessimistic about how this would evolve. “It will sound too complicated, too dangerous. Anyone with any clout in government is just a few years away from their pension. They never want to risk that.”

ONE WEEK LATER

…

I received a telephone call from John H., an FBI special agent in Albuquerque, the field office from which the case was being handled because that’s where Mr. Howard lived when he fled.

One week later, John and I huddled in Washington, D.C., after which he began to climb a bureaucratic ladder fraught with spikes known as unit chiefs and division chiefs. No one apparently wanted to take responsibility for finally approving such an endeavor.

As John put it, “There is a Big Cheese who needs to make a final decision.”

He called a few days later: “It’s going higher than the Big Cheese,

to the Super Superiors.”

Head Cheese?

This meant FBI Director Louis Freeh was unwilling to green light it himself and had dispatched this headache to the U.S. Justice Department.

It reached Head Cheese, who asked, “Should we be doing this kind of thing?”

“So now it’s coming back down the ladder,” said John.

“SHOULD WE BE DOING THIS KIND OF THING?”

Clair George was incredulous.

“Sounds like the Clinton Administration, all right.” National Press Books set a deadline for me to decide. It quickly expired, relieving the FBI non-decision makers of responsibility. But then National Press bounced back more enthusiastically than before.

I phoned Clair. “Goddammit, I could get this guy.”

“I know you could,” said Clair.

“It’s the damn bureaucrats.”

And he told me what he’d garnered: The FBI was gung-ho, but my proposal got stuck with the deputy attorney general.

“It got turned over to seven lawyers to study. I’ll call Dick Stoltz.”

Mr. Stoltz was another former deputy director for operations at CIA and one of Clair’s closest friends. Clair called me back a few hours later. “Stoltz talked to Twetten, and Twetten called the No. 2 guy at the bureau to tell him the agency is strongly in favor of this operation.

“I don’t know,” Clair added, “he was probably talking to a brick wall.” But it worked. Clair’s intercession caused the FBI to rebound.

As Clair conveyed to me: “I just got a call from a Ted Price (assistant deputy director for operations). He wanted to get to the bottom of this. So I filled him in about the bureaucratic footdragging.

“Ted said, ‘Jesus Christ, this is one of the most important things we could be doing!’ He’s charging over to the bureau this morning to raise a ruckus and try to get it back on track.”

BACK IN BUSINESS?

Soon after, I received a call

from John in Albuquerque. “If you’re still interested, it looks like we’re getting somewhere,” he said, a tad puzzled. “I’ve been called to Washington. And I have the power to get you started.”

And that’s how it became my job to create a sting that would attempt to snare America’s most wanted spy.

Soon, however, the FBI fumbled. The bureau simply could not get it together due to its rigid rules.

But I experienced an epiphany: I was not bound by the FBI’s rules. I could play this my own way.

My inspiration for this derived from a 17th century man of letters named Alexander Bott, who had written: “I am not a believer in the foolish system of literal obedience, but rather in that higher form of discipline wherein a subordinate obeys not the order which he has actually been given by a superior, but rather the order which that superior would have given had he known what he was talking about.”

I would edit Mr. Howard’s book. If the FBI terminated its relationship with me, so be it. I had offered my services in good faith and done everything on my end to make it work.

I would establish a working relationship with Ed Howard and, working alone, I would attempt the same goal: his capture.

I phoned John with my pitch: “If you get a final green light, fine. If you don’t, I understand. But I’m doing it anyway. Feel welcome to call me for updates.”

John was not enthusiastic. “The problem is,” he explained, “those Big Cheeses have big egos. They may say no way about picking it up later.”

“Look,” I said, “I know you’ve got your rules, and you’ve got to stick to them. But I’m not bound by those rules. You and I both know in our hearts I’m doing the right thing. I got into this situation with a view toward helping you guys, and I’m sticking to that. But I’ve got to do it my way. Otherwise, it’s going to slip away because your bureaucrats can’t get their act together.”

“OK,” said John. “Let me make some calls.”

While he made his calls, I lunched with Clair and laid out my new approach.

Clair nodded. “Screw ’em,” he

Please see ERINGER on A3

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ROBERT ERINGER

TRAFFIC, CRIME AND FIRE BLOTTER

Pile burning scheduled

Pile burning is scheduled for Sunday through March 5 near Figueroa Mountain and various other Los Padres National Forest locations.

Plans are to burn one to 10 treated acres of slash from felled dead trees and brush. Additional series of burns will occur through the spring as conditions permit, according to Los Padres National Forest.

Most burning operations will begin in the morning and conclude in the afternoon. However, some burning operations may continue through

the evening to allow for the full consumption of flammable material. The goal of the series of pile burns is to reduce the risk of wildfire. This burn depends on weather and air quality conditions that are favorable for smoke dispersal. If the conditions are not as desired, the burn will be rescheduled, according to Los Padres National Forest.

For more information, go to ssl.arb.ca.gov/pfirs/ firm/firm.php.

— Katherine Zehnder

Ballard School Board discusses parental rights

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Parental rights were discussed during the Feb. 15 board meeting of the Ballard Elementary School District.

The discussion originally was about a recent incident in the fourth-grade classroom and evolved into a broader talk about parental rights.

The incident happened when — against the advice of the teacher, Mandy Young, but with the approval of Principal/ Superintendent Pam Rennick — the parents of a child in the class spoke to the class about their child’s chosen pronouns and name. This talk happened without alerting any of the other parents in the classroom beforehand.

This child has been wearing dresses to school since kindergarten and has never been treated any differently.

The child’s father, Sean Conroy, is a member of the school board, and the mother is Cailen Conroy, president of the Ballard Elementary School PTA.

Ms. Rennick, principal of Ballard Elementary School and superintendent of the singleschool district in the Santa Ynez Valley, broached the issue from

Beach closure lifted For East Beach

SANTA BARBARA — The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has lifted the water contact closure for East Beach within one-quarter mile of the Sycamore Creek

ERINGER

Continued from Page A2

the perspective of student privacy.

“The school handled the situation as best it could in accordance with the student’s right to privacy act and the California anti-discrimination laws, and as concerns were raised, we did consult our legal counsel to make sure that we did act in accordance,” Ms. Rennick said during the school board meeting.

James Simpson is acting as legal counsel for Ballard Elementary.

“He did, in fact, say that we had acted according to the law and according to anti-discrimination laws and if we had handled it differently, we might have encroached upon student privacy or anti-discrimination laws,” Ms. Rennick said. “I know that it has been concerning and that it has been questioned, but I just want everyone to understand that there are very specific student privacy laws that we have to follow as a public school, and so in this case I believe that we did.”

The first public commenter was the mother of the child in question.

“I want to take a couple of minutes to address the situation at hand and set the record straight that what was said in the classroom was not what people think was said,” Mrs. Conroy said. “My child simply wanted her

outfall.

Recent ocean water quality testing conducted by the department’s Environmental Health Services Division has confirmed the ocean water is now safe for recreational use in this area following recent sewage impacts. The water contact closure

finally said. “If you want to edit the book, do it.”

“Yes,” I said. “But with a view to nailing Howard.”

“No problem,” said Clair. “I’ll tell the CIA that you’re going to edit this book, that the lawyers at Justice are messing it all up.”

Clair shook his head in disgust. “We’ll meet with Dick Stolz this weekend, and you’ll tell him what’s going on. He’ll go out to Langley and tell Tom Twetten and Ted Price that you’re going to do this and keep them informed.”

YES, BACK IN BIZ

Special Agent John phoned. “We’re in agreement for you to do it your way,” he said.

So I continued to feed the FBI updates, and John responded with “hmm” to everything I said, a kind of detached deniability if things went wrong.

Soon, Mr. Howard sent a letter offering to meet me in Zurich, Switzerland.

I faxed it to John — and also to Clair, who faxed it to Twetten.

The G-man responded by saying his pace for getting things approved had slowed down.

I was astonished, not appreciating things could move even slower than before. Then he called back a few days later, somewhat bewildered. Had I, he asked, shown Mr. Howard’s letter to anyone else?

“Uh, yeah,” I said. “Clair George.”

The CIA had sent Mr. Howard’s letter to the FBI at the highest level and caused the bureau’s bureaucracy to snap, crackle and pop.

I expressed my concern to Clair that our tactics had backfired.

“Are you kidding?” Clair fired back. “That’s how you get things done in government! Now somebody is doing something!”

Of course, he was right.

John phoned a few days later. “Looks like we’re getting somewhere. I’ve been called to Washington for meetings.” I worked on Mr. Howard’s book and traveled to Moscow in July 1994 to see the traitor on his turf. A few months later, Howard and I met again in Switzerland.

THE J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING

The FBI invited me to headquarters. I was charmed, of course, because I was not yet aware that most FBI field agents strove to avoid that austere building. I would soon discover why.

I’d been working the Howard case for 14 months by then. It somehow qualified me for an ambush. Faces I’d not seen before — five, to be precise — surrounded me in a windowless conference room to hear my story: journalism, book publishing, creative problem resolution. I chuckled a lot; the assembled company were stony faced.

After I finished, a man named Dick asked me questions about how I might feel if, after spending time with Ed Howard, he was caught and put behind bars. How would I feel? I shrugged. “I’m experienced at pulling off stings. The whole point of this project is to capture him.” I had actually proposed it.

Mildly patronizing, Dick said that people never

classmates to know her pronouns and her name. That was it, nothing further. It took less than 60 seconds probably … She was so ready to do this because she felt so safe in her community.

“The kids in her class have been so, so supportive and loving, and as a result, she has never been happier,” Mrs. Conroy said. “It was like a giant weight was lifted off her shoulders, and everything was better because her friends now knew who she was. I want to thank Mrs. Rennick and all the teachers and the staff at Ballard for creating such a supportive atmosphere for my child to thrive.

“I can’t tell you the difference this has made in helping her find the happiness that was missing before…” Mrs. Conroy continued.

“I am so sorry that some parents felt ambushed and perhaps had conversations that they weren’t ready to have with their kids, I really am.

“But at the end of the day, we were protecting our child’s privacy, particularly on such a personal, tough matter. So I hope that all the parents in this room can understand that …Whether you agree with me or not, please just remember that I am a mom doing everything I can to keep my children safe and happy.”

Please see BALLARD on A6

at West Beach from the Santa Barbara Harbor to a one-quarter mile east of Stearns Wharf remains in effect until sample results indicate the water is safe for recreational use.

For more information, see www. sbprojectcleanwater.org.

— Katherine Zehnder

really knew how they would feel until such a situation was upon them. Would I mind taking a battery of psychological tests?

Next it was Bob’s turn. “Why does Ed Howard trust you so much?” he asked suspiciously.

“Because I’m good at what I do.”

Later that day I met with Clair and conveyed to him all that had been said.

He listened, bemused at first but soon incredulous that 14 months after I’d started working on Mr. Howard, the FBI had finally got around to operational security.

As for the psychological tests, said Clair, “Tell them they can shove their battery of tests up their ...”

“I already did.”

“SAFEHOUSE”

Mr. Howard’s book, “Safehouse,” got published. As his editor, I ensured that sensitive information related to the national security of the United States was deleted before publication.

And I slid Mr. Howard into a new book of my own making, “Spy’s Guide to Europe,” which I conceived especially to draw Mr. Howard out of Russia, to various Central European capitals. Eventually we hit pay dirt.

Mr. Howard planned a trip to Warsaw in Poland to research “Spy’s Guide” — and the FBI obtained permission from the Poles to intercept Mr. Howard through an international corridor as he walked from the plane to Immigration.

At the 11th hour, as FBI agents prepared to pounce, the Justice Department balked and aborted the operation.

The U.S. could have captured the only CIA officer ever to successfully defect to Moscow and chose not to go through with it — apparently on orders from the White House.

The person least surprised was … Clair George.

POSITIVE INTELLIGENCE AND MORE

So the FBI gave up trying to apprehend Edward Lee Howard. Instead I set to work, on the bureau’s behalf, gathering positive intelligence from Mr. Howard and his buddies in the Russian intelligence services.

To that end, I returned to Moscow, twice, to ruse former KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, who wanted to write a book for Western consumption. I also traveled to Havana for a crack at Mr. Howard’s buddies in Cuban intelligence.

As my missions for the FBI evolved into rusing Cuban intelligence agents stationed in Washington D.C., hastening the extradition from France of hippie guru murderer Ira Einhorn and pulling a sting on the Earth Liberation Front, Clair watched with amusement, providing sage advice when asked.

His best advice: “Keep everyone laughing half the time, scared the other half — and always keep them guessing.”

My experience with the FBI reminded me of another Clairism, something he’d told me soon after we first met: “I’d take you downtown and introduce you to the people who run things, but it would only scare the bejesus out of you.”

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

We are accepting consignments of single items and entire collections for upcoming auctions. A Jewelry specialist complimentary auction estimates.

Mysterious New Orleans

AnimalZone takes a walk on the wild side while exploring the mysterious side of New Orleans. Cari Roy, The New Orleans Psychic, explains some of the paranormal aspects of The Big Easy, its ancient cemeteries and spirited houses.

At St. Francis of Assisi church in New Orleans, Reverend Micheal J. Schneller explains Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron Saint of animals. He also performs a blessing on a dog suffering from tumors.

AGNOLI, Anna

This February 2nd, Anna Agnoli passed away peacefully in her home, surrounded by her family and loved ones.

On March 3rd, 1942, Anna was born in Harar, Ethiopia, a day the world became a little brighter. From the beginning, Anna displayed her strength and resilience, being born in a concentration camp while her father was a prisoner of war. She grew up in Italy with her sister, Liliana, in San Benedetto Del Tronto, a small town between the Adriatic coast and mountains, which inspired her forever home in Santa Barbara. At 19, she met and married her soulmate, Royal, with whom she moved to Santa Barbara in 1962, going on to have three children, Anna, Chris and Marie. She was a fiercely dedicated mom to all three children, raising all three to go on to accomplish great things. Family came first and was above all else to Anna, a value she instilled in all those around - her family was arguably her most important achievement in life.

From a young age, Anna’s favorite pastime was playing tennis, first at Oak Park and Samarkand Club, then at La Cumbre Country Club, where she was a longtime member, playing into her 70s. Anna also enjoyed coaching the Bishop Garcia Diego High School’s girls tennis team. She was an excellent cook, master of sewing and knitting, and an extraordinary artist when it came to creating custom birthday and holiday cards for her family and friends. Anna enjoyed visiting and playing bridge with her friends well into her 70s, and was passionate about traveling with her husband, Royal, going on cruises, and spending summers visiting family in her home town, San Benedetto.

Anna was a member of the church from a very young age, and later in life spent her Sunday mornings hosting Coffee and Donuts in the San Roque Parish courtyard after mass. On the weekends, Anna would spend her time spoiling her six grandkids, taking them to swimming lessons, the carousel, the Zoo, and attending every sporting event they played in.

Our family would not be where it is today if we didn’t have Anna as a wife, mother and grandmother. We are beyond blessed to have had her in our lives, and we should remind ourselves that while this is the end of Anna’s physical life on Earth, it’s the beginning of an eternal and beautiful journey for her.

Anna joins her daughter in Heaven, Anna Pappalardo “Pat”. She is survived by many loving family members, including her devoted husband, Royal, her son, Chris (Tina), her daughter, Marie Reardon (Sean), her six grandchildren, Ariana, Katherine, Michael, Marina, Giada and Chiara, and her great-grandson Giovani. She is also survived by her loving sister, Liliana Murgia (Alberto), sister in-law, Louise Antignani (Mariodeceased), predeceased, by sister in-law, Eleonara Dusi (Gimo - deceased), and survived by her many wonderful nieces, nephews, grand nieces and grand nephews.

Anna was a beautiful, loving, and comforting woman until the very end. Rest in peace.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Santa Barbara Alzheimer’s Association or the Breast Cancer Resource Center of Santa Barbara

Funeral Mass at San Roque Church 11:00am, Friday March 3rd, with a celebration of life to follow.

Arrangements entrusted to Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapels.

HETTICH, Victoria P.

Victoria Lynn Hettich passed away December 30, 2022, at Serenity House in Santa Barbara, CA. Born in Modesto, CA, she grew up in Modesto, Chico and Stockton, CA.

Vicki graduated from Stagg High School, and Delta Jr College as one of the first technicians for the new Electron Microscopes. She continued her education at UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) with a BA in Biology. She later went on to earn a Masters degree from USC in Engineering. After graduating from UCSB she settled in Goleta, CA where she met and married her husband of 26 years Herb who also worked at Santa Barbara Research Corp. (SBRC).

Vicki began a 40 year career with SBRC as an engineer and manager, and after numerous acquisitions of her employers (Amber, Hughes) she eventually retired from Raytheon in 2021.

Vicki spent much of her adult life accompanying her daughter, Suzy to horse competitions across the country. She loved being a horse Mom, with almost daily visits to see her own horse Riley to enjoy feeding and riding. She also took numerous trips with her husband to visit his family in Germany, as well as family trips across southern California. For decades there were also annual trips for Easter to Morro Bay with family and close friends from across the state.

After the passing of her husband, Herb, in 2018, Vicki faced numerous physical ailments and challenges. Through all her challenges she continued to work and keep a positive and inspiring spirit to her family, friends and care givers. Her last five months were spent at VNA Health Serenity House, and she became a profiled story of “positive attitude” for one of their fliers. The family wishes to thank the staff, nurses and aides at Serenity House for their care and loving attention to Vicki during her time there.

Vicki (née Phoenix) was preceded in death by her husband, Herbert L. Hettich and her mother, Nancy (née Kint) Phoenix. She is survived by her daughter, Suzanne L. Hettich of Goleta, stepchildren, Heather Hettich of Whittier, Adrianna (Matthew) Wiseman of Woodland Hills, and Joseph Hettich of Santa Maria, as well as her father, Earl L. Phoenix of Santa Rosa and brother, Gerald D. Phoenix of Sebastopol. She also leaves behind her aunt, Marian Pasternack and numerous cousins and other relatives. She is also survived by her loving horse, Riley and dedicated ridgeback, Brandi.

A rememberance gathering is scheduled for March 25, 2023. For additional details please contact Suzy Hettich at 805-403-6154.

PHILLIPS, Roger Arlen

Roger Arlen Phillips, 88, beloved and devoted husband, father, and friend, passed away quietly surrounded by love in his home in Montecito on January 19, 2023.

Roger was born in 1934 to Paul Edward and Lela Belle Phillips of Bakersfield, California. As a young boy his family vacationed in Santa Barbara, where he fell in love with the architecture, theaters, culture, and landscape.

At 17, his architectural drawing instructor and author of Santa Barbara Adobes, Clarence Cullimore, submitted - unbeknownst to Roger at the time - an architectural drawing and model project to the 1952 Ford Motor Company Industrial Arts Awards contest and won a five day all-expenses-paid trip to Detroit and Dearborn for Roger and Clarence. His entry “was judged superior to any of the several hundred other entries from the 48 states, Alaska, and the Hawaiian Islands.”

Roger obtained his degree in architecture from UC Berkeley in 1958 and soon after began work with Howell Arendt Mosher Grant Architects on Sola Street in Santa Barbara until returning to Bakersfield, meeting his wife who had come from Connecticut to teach in the Fall of 1959, and beginning his family. In 1964, Roger and his new family moved to Santa Barbara where he returned to the same firm with the updated name of Arendt Mosher Grant Architects on Micheltorena Street. Roger became a partner in 1975, with a further update of the firm name to Grant Pedersen Phillips in 1982. The firm name continued to evolve with new principals and Roger retired from architecture in 2007. The firm now practices under the name of 19six Architects to honor the founding year of the firm, one of the oldest and most established firms in California.

Over the course of a long and distinguished career, Roger designed and was involved with numerous projects which have served and enriched our community here in Santa Barbara and the South-Central Coast including, the City and County of Santa Barbara, UCSB, Santa Barbara City College, Westmont College, Metropolitan Theatres, and the Music Academy of the West. Two of his most cherished projects were the Vista de las Cruces Elementary School in Gaviota and the renovation of the Granada Theater. The small, beautiful school and grand historic theater are completely different in scale and use, yet both required the ultimate expressions of his expertise, drive, sensitivity, character and force as a man and architect.

Roger was a vital and present member of the community. He was a member of The American Institute of Architects as well as a Rotarian, where he served as president in 1987. He served on the Montecito Board of Architectural Review and other architectural review boards throughout the years.

Roger also served on the board of CAMA, The Community Arts Music Association, for a number of years and passionately enjoyed their concerts throughout his lifetime. He was a great lover of music, acoustics, and instruments in both practice and appreciation.

During his involvement with the restoration of the Arlington Theater in the 70s and 80s, he promoted the inclusion of a rare Wonder Morton theater organ. He played piano rags by Scott Joplin and jazz on the ukulele, of which he had an impressive collection. The last concert he attended was at the Granada Theatre where Jake Shimabukuro performed in December, 2022.

Roger was unequaled in spirit and mind. He possessed a rare combination of knowledge, creativity, and vision, coupled with grace, charm, wit, and diplomacy. He was eloquent, positive, and constructive. He was a man of great faith and awed by the magnificence of our planet. He was grounded and grateful for his life. He was devoted to his family whom he considered his greatest treasure.

He is survived by Diana, his adored wife of 62 years, his sister, Suzi Specht, daughter, Kimberly Hayes, son, Marc Phillips and their respective families. A memorial service will be held at El Montecito Presbyterian Church on Saturday, March 11 at 1:30 P.M. In lieu of flowers please remember CAMA.

RINKER, Robert “Bob” Gene PhD Robert “Bob” G. Rinker, PhD, peacefully passed away at home in Santa Barbara on February 12, 2023. He is survived by his wife, Lorraine Dayle Rinker and his three children: Nancy Moore, Edward Rinker, and Andrew Rinker. He is also survived by his five grandchildren: Zachary Moore, Jessica Moore, Nicholas Moore, Ethan Rinker, and Avery Rinker. Bob was a devoted husband, father, professor, and was known for his humility and integrity.

Bob was born in Vincennes, Indiana. He graduated from Rose Holman Institute of Technology in 1951. He enrolled in the master’s program at California Institute of Technology. During his master’s program, he was recruited to serve in the Army Corp of Engineers as an officer in the Korean War where he served for about a year. After his service he completed his PhD in 1959 in Chemical Engineering and went on to become an assistant professor at Caltech. During this time he met and married his wife, Lorraine. In 1965, Bob founded the chemical engineering department at UCSB, where he was a professor until he retired in 1992. He continued on as an Professor Emeritus and Associate Dean of College of Engineering until 2005. Bob impacted many students’ lives and was awarded the professor of the year in the Chemical Engineering Department countless times for his dedication in teaching both undergraduate and graduate students. He was a champion of the MESA program that encouraged diverse students to pursue a degree in science and engineering. Bob is memorialized in the Chemical Engineering Department with a Robert G. Rinker Chair in ChemE and with the Robert G. Rinker ChemE Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory. He will be greatly missed by his family, the community of UCSB, and his many students.

Friends and family are invited to attend a memorial for Bob at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church: 4575 Auhay Dr. in Santa Barbara, at 1pm on March 11th, with a reception following at Creekside Restaurant and Bar: 4444 Hollister Ave., Santa Barbara. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the MESA program at UCSB.

How To Donate:

MAKE AN ONLINE GIFT TODAY (https://oep.ucsb.edu/give/donate)

Let us know in the “Comments” box on the “Personal Information” page by including “Dr. Robert Rinker - MESA.”

Or make a donation by check

Contributions by check should be written to the “UC Regents” with the words “Office of Education Partnerships” in the memo line of your check. Checks can be sent to our address:

Office of Education Partnerships University of California, Santa Barbara 1501 South Hall Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3011

STEIN, Sam

Sam Stein was born on July 19th, 1924, in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and died at age 98 on January 4th, 2023, in Fort Collins, CO. The youngest of four brothers, he left home at age 17 to complete training in electronics in Maine, and worked as an electronics technician for the Air Force before serving in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II. After the war, he married Roselle Seiden, moved to California in 1948, and raised his four children, Bill, Gary, Hal, and Judie, in Los Angeles. Without a high school diploma, after advanced electronics courses, Sam had a long and productive career as an electrical engineer. He specialized in sonar navigation for submarines. Having moved to Santa Barbara, he founded Sonatech, Inc. in 1972. He oversaw his company as it grew to over 240 employees and became recognized in the 1990s as the leader in acoustic navigation worldwide. Sam retired at age 70, to spend time with family, enjoy his beloved Santa Barbara, and to travel extensively with his second wife, Sarah, who died in 1999. Along with his late wife Sarah, he was very active in support groups for Muscular Dystrophy and Dystonia. He remarried once more, to Rose Wolfstadt, who he described as his last great love and very dear friend and companion. In declining health, he spent his last six months in Colorado with his son, Hal and Hal’s wife, Joan.

Sam was kind, strong, analytical, adventurous, inquisitive, mischievous, and absurdly funny. He loved his family fiercely. He was a sweet and forgiving soul with a tremendous generosity of spirit. He was deeply cherished by family and friends alike. He was buried at Mount Sinai Cemetery in Los Angeles on January 17th, 2023, next to his beloved wife, Sarah.

He is survived by his wife, Rose, his children; Bill, Gary, Hal and Judie, his stepchildren from both Sarah and Rose, 12 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren and one greatgreat-grandchild.

Donations can be made to two organizations that he was passionate about: the Dystonia Medical Research Association at www.dystonia-foundation.org, and the National Spasmodic Torticollis Association at www.cdtorticollis.org.

His was a long and extraordinary life well lived, and may his memory be for a blessing.

AXTELL, James Creighton “Jim”

103 years old, Solvang California

4/15/1919 - 1/10/2023

Jim had a remarkably long and blessed life. He was born in Omaha Nebraska to Cleone and George Axtell. He was an only child, mostly raised by his mother and grandmother in Kansas City, Kansas and St. Joseph Missouri. He thoroughly enjoyed living near the woods and his time in the Boy Scouts. Jim, always industrious, at age 8 began selling and delivering magazines such as the “Saturday Evening Post.” His interest in publication sales and distribution led him to develop the largest newspaper route in Kansas City by age 18. He also participated in ROTC during his high school years.

After moving to California in 1940, Jim met Phyllis Graham while they were both working at Lockheed Aircraft Plant in Burbank. They were married in 1943. Jim and Phyllis celebrated their 79th wedding anniversary May 26 of 2022.

Jim worked at Lockheed Skunk Works on the United States’ first jet fighter, the XP-80. The program was classified and important to the war effort so his draft to the military was deferred until Japan surrendered. He was then drafted into the Army Air Force to be part of the occupation effort in post-war Japan.

Both Jim and Phyllis returned to employment at Lockheed after the war. With the help of many friends, they built their own home in Northridge, CA. Their family was complete with the addition of son, James Robert in 1954 and daughter, Nellana Colleen in 1956.

A job opportunity with Lockheed at Vandenberg Air Force Base brought the family to Solvang in 1958 and they built a new home in Janin Acres in 1960. Jim was a chairman of Solvang’s Boy Scout Troop 46 while son Jim was in scouting.

After retiring from Lockheed, Jim worked at Ajax Co. in Santa Barbara, Aero Spacelines in Goleta, Martin Marietta at VAFB, and Santa Barbara County Schools at various locations throughout the county. Jim valued education for himself and his family and he completed his master’s degree in education in 1977 at the age of 58.

Jim was active in his community and church throughout his time in the SY Valley. He served as the Superintendent of Sunday School at the SYV Presbyterian Church for several years. He was active in the Solvang chapter of the Mason’s and the Flat Fenders Jeep Club. He served two terms on the SYV High School Board of Trustees. In 2018, Jim and Phyllis served as Grand Marshalls in the Solvang Fourth of July Parade. Jim was active at the Solvang Senior Center, and the “Men’s Group” in his later years. He supported many causes throughout the valley including the SYV Humane Society and the Solvang Library.

Jim made the best of his retirement years, traveling to many destinations and different countries with Phyllis. He spent countless hours in his shop building various projects and gifts for his family and tinkering with cars. As a member of the Flat Fenders Jeep Club, he frequently drove his 1944 army jeep in local parades and events. Jim was an avid walker for most of his life and was well known in Janin Acres for his daily treks with his faithful black lab, Luke.

Jim is survived by his wife, Phyllis and their two children, Jim Axtell and wife, Lynn (Parks) Axtell of Goleta, and Nell (Axtell) Lobdell and husband, Richard Lobdell of Las Vegas, five grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

The family would like to thank the staff of Atterdag for their kind and compassionate care during Jim’s last year.

A memorial service is planned for March 18, 2023 at the Presbyterian Church at 1:00 p.m. in Ballard. There will be a casual reception to follow at the church.

CRANDALL, Maxine Chauncey

Maxine Chauncey Crandall, 96, of Santa Barbara, California passed away peacefully on February 1, 2023. Maxine was born on October 10, 1926, to Max and Ruth Chauncey in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The family moved to California and settled in Santa Barbara, where Maxine attended La Cumbre Junior High School and Santa Barbara High School. She graduated with the class of 1944 and remained active with the alumni association. She attended the University of California Santa Barbara, Rivera Campus, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and earned her bachelor of arts degree in English. Thirty years later, she earned a teaching credential from UCSB.

In 1951, Maxine met Frank Crandall, who became a prominent local attorney, at the Santa Barbara Municipal Tennis Courts; they were married a short time later. After spending a year at Fort Benning in Georgia, they returned to Santa Barbara and began their life in Montecito. The entire family loved and appreciated the natural beauty of Montecito, especially Maxine’s rose garden, vegetable garden, and countless blooming potted flowers.

She was close with her neighbors, the neighborhood children, and many pets. She loved birthday parties and entertaining her friends in her inviting home and garden. There were happy daytime summer outings at Butterfly Beach in Montecito.

Maxine loved reading and writing and worked as a substitute teacher teaching English locally for many years. An active member of the First United Methodist Church in Santa Barbara since 1939, she commented often on how she loved the sanctuary, the choir and organ music. She helped form the Cynthia Ann Morrow Drop-In Center at the church, where local students could come for tutoring. Because she loved history and preserving the past for future generations, she documented much of the church’s history.

Maxine was a member of the Junior League of Santa Barbara since 1960. As chair of the Junior League History Committee for 25 years, she had a special passion for preserving the League’s history in scrapbooks that are works of art.

She loved the Santa Barbara County Courthouse and in 1974, was instrumental in founding the Courthouse Docent Council, which trains docents to lead tours about the history and architecture of the famous landmark for residents and visitors from around the world.

Maxine, who was also a member of the Little Town Club, enjoyed the arts including the Santa Barbara Symphony, theater and musicals at the Lobero Theater. She had a lifelong passion and talent for playing the piano.

Maxine appreciated her many friends and family in the Santa Ynez Valley, where she lived for 10 years before returning to her family home in Santa Barbara. Over the years, Maxine became a football fan, supporting and following her grandson’s high school and college teams. Her humor and commitment to family and friends spanned her lifetime. She will be remembered for her kindness, compassion, creativity and graciousness.

Maxine was preceded in death by her parents, Ruth and Max Chauncey; brother, Gordon Chauncey; and her husband, Frank Crandall. She is survived by her children; Jayne (Steve) Schiffer of Alamosa, Colorado, Ann (Gilbert) Griffin of Ventura, John (Charlotte) Crandall of New York, and Richard (Tonya) Crandall of Santa Ynez.

Other survivors are nieces; Paula Chauncey McLaughlin of Reno Nevada, Dina Chauncey Walls of Orangevale, California, and nephews; Bill Chauncey of San Francisco California, Danny Chauncey (Kelly) of Suwanee, Georgia, and numerous great- and great-great nieces and nephews.

She will be missed by grandsons; Billy (Lauren) Griffin, Jon (Jackie) Griffin, Joey Griffin, Kurt Schiffer, Tristan Crandall, Nathan Crandall, and Nicolas Crandall, and three great-grandchildren; Hudson Griffin, Kennedy Griffin and MollyRae Griffin.

The family would like to thank the entire staff at Alexander Gardens for their devoted and compassionate care. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the First United Methodist Church, Santa Barbara.

A memorial service will be held at the Santa Barbara Cemetery on April 8, 2023, at 1:00 p.m with a reception and celebration of Maxine’s life immediately following in Montecito.

TURNER, Harvey Leon

June 9, 1938 - February 19, 2023

Harvey Turner, loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandpa, passed away at the age of 84.

Harvey was born on June 9, 1938, in Salinas, CA to Beulah and Jack Turner. He grew up in Bakersfield, CA, and met the love of his life, Liz, on a blind date while attending college. On July 12, 1958, he married Elizabeth Clara Meleo. They had 3 children, Janet, Pamela and Tony; Sons in law, Mark and Steve, 7 beloved grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren. He earned his degree at University of Redlands and had a 40 year career as a program manager for Litton and Santa Barbara Research Center (Raytheon).

Harvey “Harv” had a passion for art and jewelry making. He created ceramics at his mom’s shop as a child and created art for his families’ homes. In later years he became a fine jeweler, creating beautiful gemstone and precious metal jewelry, a passion he shared with Pam. He was also an avid golfer, which he took up after many years of playing tennis, a passion he shared with Janet. He loved to travel. He took many trips with his family over the years, and celebrated Christmas with all of his grandchildren around. He was known for his quick wit. Always the life of the party, he charmed everyone he met. Harvey will be deeply missed by his family, friends, and all who knew him.

A ceremony to celebrate Harvey’s life will be held at the chapel of McDermott-Crockett Mortuary on Friday, March 10th, at 2:00 pm.

BARKER, Gloria Teresina

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Gloria Teresina Barker. She went peacefully on February 15, 2023, at the age of 94, 3 days before her 95th birthday.

Gloria was born on February 18, 1928, on a dairy in Carpinteria, to Matteo Fabbian and Louise Vido. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. Gloria graduated from Carpinteria High School before moving to Santa Barbara. She married Peter Dall’Armi and together they welcomed two daughters, Pamela and Corinne.

In her early years, Gloria worked as a waitress at the Cafe Gourmet and then at her mother’s restaurant, the King’s Supper Club. There is where she met James Barker. They were married on December 6, 1964.

Gloria had a passion for the outdoors. She loved gardening and wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. She had the most beautiful rose garden. Gloria was involved in many local Rose Society groups and could often be seen pruning roses at the Santa Barbara Rose Garden. She was an excellent tennis player and earned many trophies. Her greatest passion was her family. Family came first. She loved more than most things, gathering for family dinners. She was a wonderful cook (particularly Italian food) and was known for her sour cream coffee cake which she loved sharing with friends and family. Gloria enjoyed traveling to Italy to see family and was fortunate to have visited several times.

Gloria will be most remembered for her warm smile and giving heart. She was a woman of great beauty, strength and dignity. She had the best sense of humor, always making us laugh. She never missed an opportunity to share a good joke. She loved deeply and was deeply loved.

Gloria is survived by her husband, James E Barker, daughters, Pamela Lugo, Corinne Bellaart, grandchildren, Jeff (Christen) Zampese, Dan (Mary) Bellaart, Janelle Zampese Martinez, Ryan (Fai) Lugo, Lindsay (Rolando) Lugo Ibarra, 10 great-grandchildren, brother, Matteo Fabbian, sister, Anita (David) Fabbian Goodfield, and several nieces and nephews.

She was proceeded in death by her father, Matteo Fabbian, mother, Louise Vido Sinor, brother, Valentino Fabbian, first husband, Peter Dall’Armi and grandson-in-law Ray Martinez.

Ciao for now and salute to a life well lived. We will miss you. Va tutto bene - all is well.

Graveside services will be held on February 28th, at 10am, Santa Barbara Cemetery, 901 Channel Dr, Santa Barbara, CA 93108.

The family would like to thank Gran Vida Assisted Living in Carpinteria for the great love and care they gave to Gloria these last 5 years.

Arrangements entrusted to Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapels.

Estate

Seven secrets about Santa Ynez Valley real estate market

Editor’s note: Allan S. Jones of Santa Ynez Valley Real Estate Co. is joining the News-Press’ roster of columnists today.

Here are seven reasons

why people want to live in the Santa Ynez Valley:

1. Value. It is less expensive than Santa Barbara and only 30 miles away. Nearly everyone lives in the Santa Ynez Valley by choice when many could live anywhere in the world.

As a historical rule of thumb, prices tend to be about 20% less than Santa Barbara. This means it could be a more affordable option for those priced out of the Santa Barbara market yet still wanting to be close enough to commute to work, schools, arts and county activities.

Single-family homes start around $800,000. Homes on an acre or more start around $1.3 million.

2. Lifestyle. It is the ranch and wine region of Santa Barbara. It’s the “Napa Valley” of Southern California. This means you can live in a sophisticated country setting near Santa Barbara. You’ll find vineyards, wineries, horse

ranches, farming, grazing land, views and access to the National Forest on two nearby mountain ranges. You get all this along with access to top-rated restaurants, shopping, health and financial services, safety, libraries, churches and less traffic.

3. Friends. Even though it is a relatively small area, locals find they have more friends in a small town. With a population of about 25,000 spread among five valley towns, you will find most people are generally happy, have a good sense of humor, are intelligent, supportive and respectful of others.

There is a sense of community.

Friends come together for nonprofits such as Santa Ynez Youth Recreation, raising money for school sports fields and facilities, four Rotary Clubs building parks in the community and even worldwide, Viking Charities paying for just about anyone with unmet medical needs. There are clubs and groups for nearly every age and hobby from hiking to playing bridge and 4-H. The abundant social life and friendships you make in the Santa Ynez Valley are some of the

best anywhere, which keeps you rooted here or returning at any opportunity to do so.

4. Schools. The public and private schools are a major underlying attraction for families raising children. The public schools are similar to private schools in larger cities in terms of quality, teaching, parental involvement, safety, sports, and agricultural and vocational classes. Elementary schools are found in Santa Ynez, Solvang, Ballard, Los Olivos and Buellton.

Santa Ynez Valley Union High School is the sole public high school with grades from 9-12. Excellent private schools such as Dunn and Midland are in the same league as Cate and Thatcher, with other quality choices such as the Christian Academy. Charter schools roundi out the choices.

5. Zoning. The real unnoticed secret is the layout of the land use of the Santa Ynez Valley dating back to the 1950s when wise locals such as Andrew Petersen, Boyd Bettencourt, Daryl Nielsen, and Earnie Wullbrandt set up the general plan for the layout of a European style valley where you travel from village through

Tesla’s global engineering and AI headquarters opens in Palo Alto

By RIA ROEBUCK JOSEPH THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) - Governor

Gavin Newsom joined Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk in opening Tesla’s Global engineering and AI headquarters in Palo Alto. The headquarters sits on a location formerly used by Hewlett-Packard.

Gov. Newsom revealed that he invested approximately $100,000 in Tesla back in 2007. Now Tesla’s engineering and artificial intelligence operations will be headquartered in the 4th largest economy in the world and home to America’s leading zero emissions market accounting for 40% of all ZEVs sold.

Gov. Newsom stated that policy, direction, and the regulatory framework in the state has pushed the envelope on electric car manufacturing. There are 55 smaller electronic vehicle manufacturers based in the Golden State, but Tesla’s corporate headquarters are in Austin, Texas.

“The future happens in California first. We’re changing

the world through our historic investments, our conveyor belt for talent, and partnerships with companies like Tesla. The state continues to be the world’s innovation hub, charging the electric vehicle revolution, and dominating the industry in every category – all while keeping the same goal in mind: ensuring a cleaner, greener and healthier place to live for future generations,” Gov. Newsom said.

Tesla has had the support of

California since 2009 to help create the zero emissions Vehicle (ZEV) market. Now Tesla’s new global engineering and AI headquarters developing the technology of the future will be based in California.

California has a ready market for electric vehicles with almost 1.4 million ZEVs sold as of Dec. 2022.

The state has the climate for success in ZEV manufacturing.

It has a large diverse workforce and more scientists, engineers, researchers and Nobel Prize winners than anywhere else in the country. More than half of all new private billion-dollar companies are based in California, and the state has attracted more than 51% of all venture capital investments in the US since 2000.

“It’s not surprising to me, but I don’t take it for granted, that the world’s headquarters for Engineering, for AI, for pushing out the boundaries is here,” Gov. Newsom stated.

Tesla began 20 years ago in San Carlos, the future success of the company at that time was seen as a long-shot and highly risky.

Cruz: Thousands of jobs on hold as Biden administration delays deepwater port applications

By BETHANY BLANKLEY THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is demanding answers from the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) about extensive delays in approving applications for deepwater ports for exporting oil and natural gas. MARAD has failed to meet its statutory deadlines to make decisions, which impacts Texas the most, Sen. Cruz said. Four of the seven applications for licenses are for projects off the Texas coast. MARAD has until Monday, Feb. 27, to provide Sen. Cruz with a planned timeline for issuing all pending deepwater port licenses, according to a letter he sent to Rear Admiral Ann Phillips Administrator, Maritime Administration U.S. Department of Transportation. He also requested quarterly updates be provided to his staff about the progress of any pending license or license application.

According to the Deepwater Port Act of 1974, applicants are required to obtain licenses from MARAD to own, construct, operate and decommission deepwater port structures for the import and export of oil and natural gas. Congress established mandatory timelines of 240 days to conclude public hearings and 356 days to reach a decision on deepwater port applications.

However, on average, the agency’s taken three years without issuing a deepwater port licensing decision. According to MARAD, delayed applications go as far back as May 2019.

To “skirt the 356-day timeline” created by Congress, Sen. Cruz argues, “MARAD has asked applicants for additional information, often paused the clock, and has not resumed it in many situations. The result has been that the average project approval time has ballooned to approximately 1,000 days, which is close to triple the mandatory time limit.”

“While these projects are complex and require the review and input of the public and other state and federal agencies, applicants have complained of prolonged delays associated with the Maritime Administration’s slow processing time and general lack of communication during the process,” he wrote. He also expressed concerns that deepwater port

projects “are being delayed unnecessarily.”

The delayed projects in Texas “will create or support thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars in economic benefits,” he added. “Once operational, these deepwater ports will increase our energy export capabilities, helping to establish greater energy security for our allies who are suffering from Russia’s weaponization of its energy reserves. These ports will also support the environment by displacing less efficient export modes and foreign-produced sources of energy with higher levels of emissions and pollution.”

Part of the delays relate to MARAD requiring applicants to complete an “Environmental Justice engagement plan.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and multiple attorneys general, state associations and organizations are fighting a similar agenda promulgated by an EPA “environmental justice” rule they argue jeopardizes American energy and national security.

“The uncertainty over whether and when MARAD will approve these plans (or move the goalposts) makes planning and investment difficult for applicants, thus reducing job growth, and hurting allies seeking to import U.S. energy,” Cruz said.

Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO), told The Center Square, “Impeding the development of oil and natural gas infrastructure projects creates uncertainty in the market and hesitation from investors. These projects are necessary to address growing energy demand here and abroad, and this red tape only further constrains a tight oil and gas market, driving higher energy prices and ultimately hurting everyday Americans.”

He also pointed out that “advancing new energy infrastructure projects, including pipelines, deepwater ports and LNG export facilities, is critical” at a time when “exports are also expected to reach records highs. As this trend continues, the United States will need more deepwater ports.”

In its most recent Short Term Energy Outlook, the U.S. Energy Information Agency forecast that U.S. natural gas pipeline exports will reach record highs between 9.0 Bcf/d and 10.0 Bcf/d in the 2022-2023 winter season, largely driven by record production in the Permian Basin in west Texas and southeast New Mexico.

farmland to village. This has kept the valley from urban sprawl that you may have seen in the Los Angeles region. Each town has a commercial core, surrounded by denser residential zoning then expanding to 1-, 5-, 10-, and 20-acre minimum sized parcels. This keeps the valley from growing too much with very few vacant parcels left,

creating a premium for vacant lot values and existing houses. This provides some assurance that future growth will be limited. The country style valley plan is attractive to many in today´s market.

6. Weather. The climate is one of the most unique in the world. A local vintner said he chose his winery location to be in the Santa Ynez Valley because after researching locations worldwide he discovered that in the valley, one could grow nearly every variety of grape in the world within about a 15-mile radius of your winery.

The climate pivots from the Mediterranean to a north coastal zone at this point in California as one of the few east-west mountain ranges opening to the ocean in the U.S. This results in a cooler climate toward the ocean and warmer inland, creating dry warm days with cool nights nearly all year long.

7. Anonymity. Status and titles become unimportant here.

Multi-generational locals live and work along-side celebrities and billionaire all raising their children.

Longtime locals either know you as friends, don´t recognize you, or really don´t care about your status. Old trucks are OK to drive, jeans and boots are OK to wear, and smiling and waving to others is common practice. Hopefully these secrets have helped you understand why people live in the Santa Ynez Valley a little more. Feel free to tell your friends — but not too many.

Since 1992, Allan S. Jones has been president and principal broker of the Santa Ynez Valley Real Estate Co., the valley’s oldest real-estate company and one that has served clients since 1960. With nine local agents, the business has consistently one of the highest volume offices per agent and is part of the worldwide network of Who´s Who in Luxury Real Estate.

ALLAN S. JONES

SANTA YNEZ VALLEY REAL ESTATE

No evacuation orders or warnings issued

w EATHER

Continued from Page A1

The Red Cross and building and safety personnel were notified, according to a tweet by Capt. Scott Safechuck, public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

There were no evacuation orders and no evacuation warnings.

On Friday, weather conditions were as follows:

• Santa Ynez: high of 46 degrees, low of 41 degrees with precipitation at 0.51 inch.

• Goleta/Santa Barbara Airport: High of 55 degrees, low of 46 degrees with precipitation at 0.48 inch. And New Cuyama: High of 46 degrees, low of 37 with precipitation at 0.3 inch. The National Weather Service’s

forecast for today is as follows.

• Santa Barbara: Rain with a low of 40 degrees and a high of 51 degrees with a 100% chance of precipitation at night and 80% chance during the day.

• UCSB: Rain with a low of 39, high of 51 with a 100% chance of precipitation at night and an 80% chance during the day.

• Lompoc: Rain with a low of 38 degrees and a high of 51 degrees with a 90% chance of precipitation at night and a 70% chance of precipitation during the day.

• Santa Maria: Rain with a low of 35 and a high of 50 with a 90% chance of precipitation at night and a 60% chance during the day. The forecast for Sunday is as follows.

• Santa Barbara: Partly cloudy with a low of 34 degrees and a high of 57 degrees with a 60% chance of precipitation at night

and a 20% chance during the day.

• UCSB: Partly cloudy with a low of 34 degrees and a high of 55 degrees with a 60% chance of precipitation at night and a 20% chance during the day.

• Lompoc: Partly cloudy with a low of 35 degrees and a high of 55 degrees with a 40% chance of precipitation at night and a 30% chance during the day.

• Santa Maria: Partly cloudy with a low of 34 and a high of 54 and 40% chance of precipitation equally at night and during the day.

Current reservoir levels are as follows.

• Gibraltar: 100.8% capacity

• Cachuma: 99.1% capacity

• Jameson: 100.5% capacity

• Twitchell: 37.3% capacity.

The National Weather Service has issued multiple weather statements for Santa Barbara County, including:

• Blizzard warning for the county’s interior mountains, which will be in effect through 4 p.m. today.

• Multiple flood watches for the county’s interior mountains, the Santa Ynez mountains, and coastal areas from Point Conception through Carpinteria. These flood watches are generally effective through 6 p.m. today.

The Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management advises residents to remain vigilant and be prepared to move to high ground if they live in an area prone to flooding or in or below a recent burn area. The office also encourages drivers to proceed carefully through wet and potentially snowy road conditions and stay off roads entirely if possible.

email: kzehnder@newspress.com

TV Santa Barbara comes away with four awards

AwARDs

Continued from Page A1

experimental production, “EMME YA: The final Expedition,” winning the community producer award for Best Experimental production as well. It was produced by Berkeley Community Media and is a lyrical piece of work with original music and original choreography. The second Best of Show Award went to the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus for its show “Holiday Hits with a Splash of Class,” which

aired on Access Sacramento.

The Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus also won the professional producer award for the Best Arts, Entertainment, and Performance category. It was described as having both beautiful sound and picture.

TV Santa Barbara won these awards:

• Arts, Entertainment, and Performance:

Community Producer: “La Boheme Fiesta Special.”

• Community Event:

Student Producer: “Juneteenth Event Coverage.”

• Magazine Show:

Community Producer: Wade and Debbie Nomura: “Carpenteria Living.”

• Program/Channel

Promotion:

Student Producer: Rebecca

Brand: “Flags on State Street”

In other awards, the city of Lompoc won the Community Producer award in the Public Service Announcement category for “Be Part of our Lompoc Lifeguard Team.”

Santa Barbara resident

Lisa Lang, founder of Spread Goodness, and Jake Potts won the Community Producer award in the Community Issues category for

“Keep the Funk: Part 1.” ECTV CAPS Media Center, based at El Camino High School in Ventura, won Student Producer awards in separate categories for “Arts About Agriculture” and “Chumash Elder Julie TumamaitStensile.”

Ranjana Mehra won the Community Producer award in the Educational Access category for “Cleaning Up the Guadalupe Watershed”(KMVT-15). Other awards went to entities throughout California and other western states.

email: cbeeghly@newspress.com

Critics recommend parent’s rights policy used in Orange County

BALLARD

Continued from Page A3

Carla Ford, another public commenter, said:

“I do want to thank Pam Rennick for being our fearless leader and for protecting our students and being so wonderful. I want to thank the Conroys for everything they have done for our school and for how much time they have put into our school … Whatever you decide to teach your children in your home, I hope that you consider kindness as the most important thing …”

Another commenter, Rebecca Smith, shared a different perspective.

“What happened in the fourth-grade classroom is an upsetting situation,” she said.

“There are several families now that have voiced their concerns, I know Pam is aware of that. The board has heard from some of them.

“This is by no means a privacy issue as described by Pam. The issue doesn’t lie in a child changing his name. The issue is that Pam brought in two parents to discuss a

controversial topic with a class of students without anyone’s consent,” Ms. Smith said.

“I think it is very important that the board thoroughly consider the way in which this situation was mishandled.

“There are only two possibilities as to how Pam Rennick decided to handle this situation. The first is that she made an influential decision with an agenda in mind, or she was completely naive and did not realize what would come from her controversial decision,” Ms. Smith said. “Either explanation of the decision is unacceptable. This is the leader of our school, the one who needs to be making decisions that are best benefitting our children, their families, and our teachers. The decision was reckless and concerning and an abuse of power was shown by Pam and Sean Conroy.

“I find it appropriate that Sean Conroy resigns after seeing his lack of discernment in this situation. As for Pam, there is now an irreversible lack of trust in your ability to make decisions for our children,” Ms. Smith said.

“You broke the trust between yourself and a teacher who gave you a warning that this was inappropriate. That teacher was put in an

awful position, one she never should have been put in.

“Our teachers need to be listened to when they voice concern, and in this case, Mrs. Young was completely disregarded. With that said, I am proposing that our school create a parent’s rights policy. I am asking that the policy be put on the March agenda as an action item …”

Ms. Smith referred to a parent’s rights policy that was unanimously voted in recently by the Orange County Board of Education.

“I strongly believe it’s what we need here at Ballard,” said Ms. Smith. She provided copies of the policy to the board. “I am asking for complete transparency to be put in place in our classrooms. Parents need to be notified any time an outside person is brought into our classroom ...

“If you can’t send an email about what is being taught to our children, then you absolutely should not be discussing it with them …”

Several other commenters spoke on both sides of the issue.

email: kzehnder@newspress.com

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT PHOTO

A large tree damaged a home Friday in the 200 block of Deer Run in Santa Maria.

‘One year later, we don’t see an end in sight’

“One year later, we don’t see an end in sight,” said Ms. Murray, who arrived in Ukraine on Feb. 17. “We’ve seen tens of thousands of deaths.”

“You have this constant threat of missile attacks all the time, bringing a state of fear and terror,” Ms. Murray said.

She said she experienced her first air raid during this visit just 30 minutes after crossing into the Ukrainian border. “The second time was by the time we reached Lviv. There were several air raids every day in Kyiv.”

ShelterBox USA’s photos tell the story of houses and tall apartment buildings devastated by Russian missiles during the worst conflict in Europe since World War II. Against that backdrop, ShelterBox

International and ShelterBox USA remain determined, along with organizations such as Goleta-based Direct Relief, to help.

Ms. Murray went to the war-torn country to talk to the Ukrainians about their needs during the freezing, unforgiving winter.

ShelterBox normally provides tent-like temporary shelters to areas hit by disasters and wars, such as Syria, but Ms. Murray explained the Ukrainians need something different: ways to repair their homes and to survive the winter as Russia launches attacks on Ukraine’s power infrastructure, causing outages.

The Ukrainians are struggling to stay warm.

“We have people who don’t have access to heat, who don’t have access to running water,” Ms. Murray said.

She said ShelterBox USA is helping by providing thermal blankets, stoves, carriers to store clean water, solar-powered lanterns, winter clothing and hygiene kits.

Ms. Murray said ShelterBox USA is also providing tools to repair roofs and tarps to cover holes in the roof or tarp to replace destroyed windows — anything to keep out the cold.

“We’ve reached 37,000 people already,” she said, adding ShelterBox USA hopes to aid an additional 30,000 Ukrainians this year.

ShelterBox USA has spent millions of dollars to help the Ukrainians.

“We know the need is massive,” she said.

“You have over 40%, nearly 50% of the population who need humanitarian assistance,” Ms. Murray said. “Many people have not returned home. If they have returned

COMING UP

Next week, the News-Press will present stories about the rally at noon today at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in support of Ukraine, as well as humanitarian efforts by Goleta-based Direct Relief and Santa Barbara-based World Dance for Humanity. And there will be more about ShelterBox USA’s efforts.

FYI

For more about ShelterBox USA’s efforts for Ukraine or to donate, go to www.shelterboxusa.org.

home, there’s nothing left of their homes.”

During her visit to Ukraine, Ms. Murray stopped in several communities and talked to the residents.

“I went to this one village of a thousand people. Picture a place like Summerland — a small town, but there’s no sea,” Ms. Murray said. “Eight-five percent of the homes were bombed.”

“A woman in her late 70s told me how she hid behind a cement wall in an adjacent property (to her home),” Ms. Murray said. “The wall was being shot; there were tons of holes in the cement. She hid behind it, and she survived. Her neighbor didn’t make it.”

“It’s awful,” Ms. Murray said. “People are really struggling to survive in a war that was no fault of their own.”

“What I heard from families is that a year later, they’re tired,” Ms. Murray said. “They want to go home. They want the war to be over. They just want peace.”

But Ms. Murray noted she witnessed a great sense of resilience among the Ukrainians.

She visited a community where she met a family — a husband, wife and their 19-yearold daughter — who had to leave their home in what’s now Russian-occupied Ukraine.

“They were told by the Ukrainian army that they had 15 minutes to leave” to escape before the Russian attacks, Ms. Murray said. “They went to a shelter in this city and lived with 60 people in a basement with one heater. And it was freezing.”

The family doesn’t know anything about the condition of the home they were forced to abandon, but the father found a reason to smile when he talked with Ms. Murray.

“We were chatting through a translator. He (the father) was pleased to be there and to get the aid,” said Ms. Murray, who handed him a portable stove from ShelterBox USA.

“He hugged me,” she said. “He had a huge smile. I did not see many smiles in Ukraine, but he had this massive smile. He said, ‘Super!’ He was so excited.

“The translator said he wanted me to know he was really, really pleased,” Ms. Murray said.

“He’s moved out of this 60-person shelter and is now in a tiny apartment with his family, and they now have a heater,” Ms. Murray said. “Their daughter is going to a medical college, taking classes online.”

That was one example of the resilience of the Ukrainians.

“Despite all the deadly danger, despite the power cuts, despite this awful winter, despite the horrors of war,” Ms. Murray said, “they’re resilient.”

email: dmason@newspress.com

SHELTERBOX USA PHOTOS

Kerri Murray, president of Santa Barbarabased ShelterBox USA, carries blankets during her recent visit to Ukraine. She said Ukrainians need items such as blankets, stoves, carriers to store clean water, clothing and more as the second year of the Russian invasion begins.

ShelterBox USA carries out its efforts to get critical supplies to Ukrainians.

Life theArts

‘Toast to Women in Wine and Food’

Compassion is crucial to relationships

CALENDAR

Karen Steinwachs, owner/winemaker Seagrape Wine Co. and co-founder of the annual Women Winemakers Celebration, toasts with guests at the 2022 Santa Barbara County Women Winemakers Celebration in Santa Ynez. This year’s celebration will take place March 12 in Los Olivos.

Female winemakers in Santa Barbara County for sixth annual celebration

By MARILYN MCMAHON NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

In delayed honor of International Women’s Day, which is March 8, the sixth annual Women Winemakers Celebration showcasing the winemaking talents of more than 30 Santa Barbara County women winemakers will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 12 at the newly opened Mattei’s Tavern, Auberge Resorts Collection, in Los Olivos.

“Women Winemakers Celebration: A Toast to Women in Wine and Food” will once again benefit a regional nonprofit, with event proceeds from the 2023 gathering donated to The Rainbow House Inc, the first LGBTQIA+ community resource center in Santa Ynez Valley. Tickets to the event are currently available at 2023womenwinemakers. eventbrite.com.

“When we launched this celebration in 2017, we never imagined that it would gain ground in the manner that it has. The support that our community displays to our women winemakers through this event is greatly appreciated and so very important. Knowing that we’re all in this together and being able to, in turn, show that support to other causes in the region, is what makes this event so pertinent,” said Karen Steinwachs, Santa Barbara County woman winemaker, part of the all-female Women Winemakers Celebration event production team and cofounder of the annual celebration.

“Now in our sixth year, the 2023 Women Winemakers Celebration will feature more women winemakers than at any of our past events. We have more than 30 ladies pouring on March 12. We’re also holding the event in a new ‘home,’ a spectacular new hospitality venue, The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, Auberge Resorts Collection, which has welcomed us all with open arms,” she added stressing that men are also welcome at the event.

The celebration will once again be a daytime happening, an intimate, alfresco wine tasting

reception complete with elevated hors d’oeuvres.

The three-hour wine and food tasting reception will boast the largest number of female winemakers that this event has featured to date, all of whom will be on-hand to pour tastes of their wines and talk with event guests. Passed and stationary appetizers will be offered by their female counterparts in the Santa Barbara County food world, while live music by Arwen Lewis will add to the event’s convivial ambience.

Also returning to this year’s event will be the popular “Estrogen Collection” wine bottle opportunity drawing.

“International Women’s Day has been celebrated worldwide since 1909 with a focus on working women’s achievements and issues. In a working environment which sees about 10% of the global wine industry as femalelead winemakers, Santa Barbara County continues to see a much higher percentage of women winemakers than most regions in the world with nearly double the average and growing each year,” said Ms. Steinwachs, owner of Seagrape Wine Co.

Participating winemakers and wineries include Lane Tanner, Lumen Wines; Kathy Joseph, Fiddlehead Cellars; Brooke Carhartt, Carhartt Family Wines; Brit Zotovich, Dreamcôte Wine Co.; Sonja Magdevski, Casa Dumetz Wines; Clementine Carter, The Feminist Party; Alecia Moore, Two Wolves Wine; Alison Thomson, Lepiane Wines; Mireia Taribó and Tara Gomez, Camins 2 Dreams; Sandra Newman, Cebada Wine; Gretchen Voelcker, Piazza Family Wines and Luna Hart Wines.

Other are Laura Roach, Loubud Wines; Dana Volk, Dana V. Wines; Jessica Gasca, Story of Soil; Angela Osborne, A Tribute To Grace Wine Company; Wynne Solomon, Peake Ranch Winery; Rachel DeAscentiis, Say When Wine; Samra Morris, Alma Rosa Winery; Alice Anderson, âmevive; Magan Eng, Kunin Wines; Megan McGrath Gates, Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards; Kristin Bryden, Zaca

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 non-native 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.

Noon. A rally honoring Ukrainians will take place at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, 1100 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara. The event is planned to take place, rain or shine.

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

1:30 and 7 p.m. “The River Bride” will be presented by PCPA (Pacific Conservatory Theatre) in Santa Maria. The play is being performed at the Severson Theatre at Allan Hancock College, 870 S. Bradley Road. Tickets are $49. To purchase, visit www.pcpa.org or call the box office at 805-922-8313.

FEB. 26

1 p.m. A vigil to honor victims and survivors of recent mass shootings in California will take place at the corner of State and Anapamu streets in Santa Barbara.

1:30 p.m. “The River Bride” will be presented by PCPA (Pacific Conservatory Theatre) in Santa Maria. The play is being performed at the Severson Theatre at Allan Hancock College, 870 S. Bradley Road. Tickets are $49. To purchase, visit www.pcpa.org or call the box office at 805-922-8313.

MARCH 1

7:30 p.m. The Santa Barbara City College Theatre Group will perform Ken Ludwig’s “A Comedy of Tenors” March 1-18 at the Garvin Theatre on the college’s west campus in the 900 block of Cliff Drive in Santa Barbara. The curtain will rise at 7:30 p.m. March 1 and after that, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through March 18. The March 1 and 2 performances are preview shows. The 2 p.m. March 5 performance

Managing Editor Dave Mason dmason@newspress.com

SATURDAY,

COURTESY PHOTO Glinda the Good Witch will bring her magic when “The Wizard of Oz” opens March 3 at Cabrillo High School in Lompoc.

PHOTOS COURTESY DEBORAH CHADSEY PHOTOGRAPHY

At top, these were chefs, bakers and food crafts at the 2022 Santa Barbara County Women Winemakers Celebration. Above, treats-and truffl e-maker Jessica Foster of Jessica Foster Confections won the Estrogen Collection opportunity drawing at the 2022 celebration.

Barton Goldsmith - B2

Santa Barbara students win awards at junior theater festival

By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

A recent trip to Sacramento proved to be a great one for theater students representing The Riviera Ridge School in Santa Barbara.

After they got there and performed, they won a Freddie G Excellence in Ensemble Work award and earned other recognition at the 2023 Junior Theater Festival West.

The festival, which celebrates student-driven musical theater programs, took place Feb. 1719 at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center and the

UC Davis Health Pavilion in Sacramento. In addition to the ensemble recognition, Riviera Ridge student Tabitha Weller made it to the callback for a yet-to-be-announced video project, which will promote musicals in schools. Also, students Isabella Stovall and Naomi Boles were named Junior Theater Festival All-Stars. At the festival, each group performed 15 minutes of a Broadway Junior musical for adjudicators, according to a news release.

The Riviera Ridge School students performed selections from Disney’s “The Little

Mermaid Jr.” for the judges

— Broadway actor Bob Lenzi; Cindy Ripley, senior education consultant at iTheatrics, and Kelby McIntyre-Martinez, associate dean for arts education and community engagement at the College of Fine Arts, University of Utah. “This beautiful ensemble understood the message of the show,” Ms. Ripley said about Riviera Ridge students’ interpretation of “The Little Mermaid Jr.”

Added Ms. McIntyre-Martinez, “There were so many magical moments in Riviera Ridge School’s storytelling, including how they

united their cast to create Ursula’s tentacles and the boat. Their characters were fantastic, and I admired this program’s ability to allow each young person a chance to shine.”

Mr. Lenzi agreed. “Riviera Ridge School’s ensemble supported the storytelling in such a compelling way. For example, the boat they created in ‘Under The Sea,’ really filled in the emotional and physical life of the scene. The students’ joy and commitment to working together shines through their performances.”

email: dmason@newspress.com

Learning from ‘Swan Lake’ dancers

Twenty-five State Street Ballet students and 25 local community members participate in a masterclass this week with members of the Ballet Preljocaj, a French ballet company. The troupe is in Santa Barbara to perform “Swan Lake” at 8 tonight and 3 p.m. Sunday at The Granada, 1214 State St. French dance star Angelin Prelijocal transforms the Tchaikovsky classic into a modern ecological tragedy. The production features 26 dancers. To purchase tickets for the UCSB Arts & Lectures program, go to granadasb.org.

Compassion is an important part of love

Compassionate people are happier people. Couples who are compassionate with one another have more joy and understanding in their relationships. Compassion, which is a combination of empathy, concern, kindness and consideration, is a cornerstone for those wanting a fulfilled love life. When you are sad, a compassionate gesture from your mate can make all the difference in your mood. Warm hugs and words of encouragement take away a lot of discomfort. To have someone hold your hand — offering emotional support by just being there for you — can ease your pain, no matter what it is about.

Without compassion, a relationship can become hardened. When that happens, your interactions are less caring, and you may start to build resentments, which might make you feel that you are in the relationship by yourself.

Developing and expressing your compassion creates a safe zone for your love and for all the feelings and issues that may arise in your life. You cannot replace the soft touch of your partner and his or her sympathy with anything else. It is what heals you both, and it gives you much more emotional security than you may think.

Creating compassion is not difficult.

First, it requires desire. You will want to ask your partner what his or her needs are in this area, as well as explain your own needs. Having this discussion will make being compassionate toward each other much easier, for you will know exactly where to focus your energy.

The next part is a little more challenging, as you will need to make the commitment to always dialogue together in a compassionate manner. There

CALENDAR

Continued from Page B2

will be live-captioned for the hearingimpaired. Tickets range from $18 to $26 for general admission, with discounts for students, seniors and SBCC staff.

To purchase, go to www. theatregroupsbcc.com or by calling the Garvin Box Office at 805-9655935.

MARCH 2

7:30 p.m. The Miro Quartet will perform at Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St., Santa Barbara. Admission is $20 for museum members and $25 for nonmembers.

7:30 p.m. The Santa Barbara City College Theatre Group will perform Ken Ludwig’s “A Comedy of Tenors” at the Garvin Theatre on the college’s west campus in the 900 block of Cliff Drive in Santa Barbara. Tickets range from $18 to $26 for general admission, with discounts for students, seniors and SBCC staff.

To purchase, go to www.

is no room for harshness in a compassionate relationship. And if any such negative behavior does occur, you will both need to identify it and shut it down, so you can get back to relating in an appropriate manner. A great and simple exercise to help enhance compassion is just to look into each other’s eyes. This action has been highly romanticized in the movies, but it is seldom taken in modern relationships. We are usually looking at the television instead of each other (even when we’re making love). Looking deeply into the eyes of the one you love and feeling his or her emotions is going to create more depth and compassion.

Showing compassion is good, but being compassionate is even better. When your mate is sharing an issue with you and you demonstrate your concern, you are making it known that you are not just there for your partner, but that you also really care about what he or she is going through. Your mate will feel it and be able to return the gesture in kind.

Practice compassion as part of your daily life. The good feelings you get from it will only make you want to have more. The depth you feel in your relationship, when you know how much your mate cares, is palpable. It changes the way you relate. You will become softer and more considerate toward each other — and that is a plus for any couple.

Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., is an award-winning psychotherapist and humanitarian. He is also a columnist, the author of eight books, and a blogger for PsychologyToday. com with more than 34 million readers. He is available for video consults world-wide, reach him at Barton@BartonGoldsmith.com. His column appears Saturdays and Mondays in the News-Press.

theatregroupsbcc.com or by calling the Garvin Box Office at 805-9655935.

MARCH 3

7:30 p.m. The Santa Barbara City College Theatre Group will perform Ken Ludwig’s “A Comedy of Tenors” at the Garvin Theatre on the college’s west campus in the 900 block of Cliff Drive in Santa Barbara. Tickets range from $18 to $26 for general admission, with discounts for students, seniors and SBCC staff.

To purchase, go to www. theatregroupsbcc.com or by calling the Garvin Box Office at 805-965-5935.

7:30 p.m. Cabrillo High School Performing Arts will present the musical “The Wizard of Oz” at 7:30 p.m. March 3, 4, 10 and 11 with an “Emerald City” matinee, in which the audience is encouraged to wear green, at 1 p.m. March 11. The performances will take place at the school’s Little Theater, 4350 Constellation Drive, Lompoc. Tickets cost $15 for adults and $10 for youths under 18. To purchase, visit www.gofan.co.

CHEAP

COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO

Riviera Ridge School students attend the Junior Theater Festival West in Sacramento.

Diversions

Thought for Today

HOROSCOPE

Horoscope.com

Saturday, February 25, 2023

ARIES — Aries, personal dignity may be important to you today. This may come about when things go wrong or if you’re accused of something you didn’t do. You always have control over your dignity. Your daily actions affirm this. The key is to hold on tightly to who you are and what you believe in. Defend your dignity if it’s challenged.

TAURUS — Don’t be surprised if someone describes you as conservative, Taurus. It may be true. It could indicate that it’s important for you to maintain control over most things - what you say and how much, how you dress, the kinds of people you spend time with, where and how you spend your money - these are all things that conservative people tend to closely monitor. Be proud of who you are.

GEMINI — Your mother may be on your mind today, Gemini. Your mother probably affects how you think, act, and feel, both in the past and now. If your mother’s sign is opposite yours, conflict and misunderstanding can happen more easily. Take the time to learn about her sign today to help you understand her and the relationship you have.

CANCER — Focus on yourself today, Cancer. Take note of your health. You probably know that this is something you must take care of always, not just sometimes. Daily routines are important. It’s up to you to stick to them. The little things like taking vitamins, staying active, and relaxing help maintain a healthy body.

LEO — No dream is too big or too late to fulfill. You may be thinking about your special dreams today, Leo. Perhaps you aspire to do something really great, be a pioneer in some field, or be a prominent figure. Whatever it is can happen if you believe in yourself and work toward it. Don’t let naysayers stop you. If you decide you can, you probably will.

VIRGO — Chances are good that you will receive a helping hand or comfort from someone many years your senior who cares about you, Virgo. Don’t hesitate to ask for their thoughts, ideas, and assistance. They will probably enjoy being able to do this for you and be glad that you’ve approached them. Be open and accept the love and support

that’s offered.

LIBRA — Today, Libra, you may think about competition and possible future goals. Imagining and dreaming can serve you well. What did you dream about as a kid? Who did you want to become? Are you close to this in your life now? If not, is this all right for you? Take time to think such things through and, if need be, get back on the right track.

SCORPIO — You may think about your finances today, Scorpio. It’s never too late to learn about saving and investing, especially if there’s something you really want to do, like travel. Preparing for retirement can seem surreal when you’re young, but it’s important to start early. Regardless of how your affairs have gone to date, change starts now.

SAGITTARIUS — Take the time today to consider your health, Sagittarius. Do you get enough rest, eat the right foods, take vitamins, exercise every day, go to the doctor when you need to, and take time to relax? All these help you have a lifetime of good health. Living a long, healthy life is something we all want. Start now to take care of your body.

CAPRICORN — Today you may emphasize organizing things and managing your life, Capricorn. Take a look at your time management. It’s possible to plan every day so you have enough time to do what you have to get done as well as do everything you’d like to do. Set priorities to keep things flowing well. There are many books and websites out there on this subject.

AQUARIUS — One day, I want to be…. When you were little, how did you finish that sentence, Aquarius? See what your memory and imagination come up with. Is your life what you dreamed it would be? If not, consider what you could do to change it. Maybe you should lie on your back and gaze at the clouds or stars. This childlike activity may spark some ideas for you.

PISCES — If you feel cautious today, Pisces, don’t be alarmed. This can be a good thing, Pisces, as you can be too trusting at times or forget to take care when going into something new. Use a little caution in everything you do to keep safe. This is true with relationships, too. Give a little more thought and time to things to help you choose more wisely.

DAILY BRIDGE

By FRANK STEWART

Tribune Content Agency

Saturday, February 25, 2023

On “Simple Saturday,” I focus on improving basic technique and logical thinking.

An attribute of a good defender is the ability to distinguish times when he must look for tricks in a hurry from times when he can go “passive” and wait for tricks. The look of dummy will often provide a clue.

In today’s deal, South’s jump to two spades is weak and preemptive. Against four spades, West doesn’t find an inspired heart opening lead: He leads the deuce of clubs. When East takes the ace, should he defend passively or get busy?

DISCARDS

The defenders will get a club and a diamond but no trump tricks. They need two hearts, and East can’t wait around for them. South, given time, will draw trumps and set up the diamonds for heart discards.

East must lead the ace of hearts at Trick Two, then the queen. When he takes the ace of diamonds, he can lead a heart to West’s jack for down one. East can’t know that West has the jack, but he must so assume, otherwise his cause is hopeless.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: 6

You open one club, your partner bids one spade,

SUDOKU

CODEWORD PUZZLE

INSTRUCTIONS

Fill in the grid so every row, every column and every 3-by-3 grid contains the digits 1 through 9. that means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box. Sudoku puzzles appear on the Diversions page Monday-Saturday and on the crossword solutions page in Sunday’s Life section.

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

you jump to three clubs and he rebids three spades. What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner’s three spades is forcing. It would make little sense for him to rebid three spades with a weak hand when your three clubs suggested a long, strong suit. Bid 3NT. To raise to four spades would be acceptable also, but partner can insist on four spades himself.

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.”

— W. Edwards Deming

Wisconsin company boasts long history in creating medical furniture

Sad but true, I need a hip replacement. I can hardly walk these days, so my partner bought me a 1950s rolling medical stool at a thrift store (because I refuse to use an “old lady” walker), and I can roll around the house.

The chair was made by EF Brewster Co. in Wisconsin, and it entered the market in 1955. This chair brought tears to my eyes, if for no other reason than the instant recall of my dentist father seated on one of these stools back in Deerfield, Ill., in the early 1960s.

I remember when I was old enough to have a summer job in his office the medical furniture and device people would make calls to the Deerfield office and bring a bottle of Scotch, and talk up their products. I wonder if we ever hosted a rep from Brewster. Milwaukee wasn’t that far from Deerfield!

EF Brewster is one of those successful, ardent, trustworthy Midwestern companies who have been in the medical furniture industry for 76 years.

It all began in 1947 when EF Brewster took over the Wisconsinbased Ellsworth Pipe and Supply Co., metal tube fabricators. He realized a little rolling doctor’s office stool was a natural product to be made out of tubal steel. This was a new idea at the time.

Today the company is Menomonee Falls, Wisc., and has become a leader recently in the ergonomic saddle stool, a rolling mini-bike saddle.

Looking at the company’s product line to try to find the history of my medical stool, I notice that Brewster mentions a scientific study that 78% of all dental professionals suffer from a musculoskeletal disorder because of the twisting and bending and leaning and pulling part of their job. I had no idea. Dad seemed to be hale and hearty if the number

of his affairs was any indication.

It was enlightening to see just how innovative the little stool was back in 1950 when Brewster invented it. Today the wheeled stool in the doctor’s office is part of the scenery. There were the type with the rectangular curved back, or the type with no back and they could be adjusted with a large screw pole for height. (Just rotate the seat.) At one time these stools were inexpensive and made of tubular steel and no plastic. They were weighty.

The company that made it has developed so many healthcare products that they make me proud to be an “almost Wisconsinite” Midwesterner.

For $39.50 in 1955, EF Brewer promoted the Brewer cycle lawnmower, which was a further design based on their electric scooter, called the Power Scooter, for those living with mobility issues. The scooter was narrower than a wheelchair, had one of the first electric rechargeable systems, could last for 5 miles, and had safety shut-offs and brakes, so why not take it a step further and make a sit-down lawn mower?

I read on the company website that the business was proud of the “Crazy Stunt” that promoted the ride-on mower in 1955. Innocent Midwestern humor — someone thought, “Let’s ride this from Milwaukee to Chicago.” It took a Brewster employee 27 hours to go the 98 miles, showing up at Navy Pier for the Hardware Trade Show.

I see Brewster still participates in healthcare trade shows and has displays of their innovative exam tables, from which I can infer that the company is sensitive to the aging U.S. population. There are sizes, heights and electric lifts, and the company is sensitive to the obesity epidemic (these tables support up to 700 pounds) and the needs of injured individuals or patients living with disabilities or pregnancy issues.

These tables can adjust a patient from a seated position to a prone position as the table lifts the patient.

Brewster also invented the wheelable medical exam table years ago so that an exam could be taken anywhere.

In the 1960s, if you worked in a

medical facility, both you and your patients liked iced soft drinks and needed ice packs. For that need, Brewster designed a medical ice dispenser. That device had these slanted doors, behind which was the ice tank — the Cube Master.

For pediatric hospitals, the company invented a nonclimbable crib, where the walls are clear slick plastic. Beginning in 1950 with my little rolling stool, Brewster today makes medical seating, step stools, IV poles, hampers, instrument trays. With fond memories of my dad

pushing himself around the office, I now can do that. The stool’s value is $50.

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.

WOMEN

Continued from Page B1

Mesa Winery; Amy Christine, Holus Bolus and The Joy Fantastic. Also participating are Gretchen Rogers, Amiga de la Vina; Emmy Fjerstad, Forsu Wine Company; Claire Wilson, Provignage; Sunny Doench Stricker, Future Perfect Wine; Allyson Bycraft, Babcock Winery and Vineyards; Marlen Porter, Amplify Wines; Roxie Ward, Butternut Wines (Miller Family Wine Company); Anna Clifford, Cambria Wines, Nielson Wines, Final Girl Wines; and Jill DelaRiva Russell, Cambria Winery. The women winemakers will be side by side at the event with some of Santa Barbara County’s leading culinary ladies, who will also be present to chat with guests and showcase their edible contributions to complement their colleagues’ wines.

Culinary talent for this year’s event will be organized by Brooke Stockwell, executive chef at Los

FYI

The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, Auberge Resorts Collection, is located at 2350 Railway Ave. in Los Olivos. Event parking information will be distributed to all ticketed guests before the event date. For more information, contact Anna FergusonSparks at 877-327-2656 or info@ stilettomarketing.com.

Olivos Wine Merchant & Café, and will include Rhoda Magbitang, executive chef at The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern; Erica Velazquez, co-chef/co-owner of Solvang’s Ramen Kotori; Golzar Barrera, owner of Santa Ynez Valley’s All Purpose Flower Fine Catering & Events; Janelle Norman, owner and cheesemonger at Solvang’s Cailloux Cheese Shop; and Sarah Price, owner/operator of Lompocbased Sassafras Mobile Food Truck and Restaurant.

Other are Melissa Scrymgeour, chef/co-owner, Clean Slate Wine

Bar; Laura Newman, co-owner of Los Olivos’ Lefty’s Coffee Co.; Kimberly Zimmerman, owner, The Juicy Life; Lisa Thompson, chef at Global Gardens; Tracy Fleming, owner/baker, The Bakery Farmstand; Shanté Norwood, owner/baker at Té’Stees Cupcakes; and treats- and truffle-maker Jessica Foster of Jessica Foster Confections.

Foodie donations will be made by Theo Stephan, owner of Global Gardens, and Shawnda Marmorstein, owner, Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café and Café Farm. Additional event chefs and participating food businesses will be announced over the next few weeks.

Tickets are $99 for the event, which is sponsored in part by Visit the Santa Ynez Valley and The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, Auberge Resorts Collection, are available at www.2023womenwinemakers. eventbrite.com. email: mmcmahon@newspress. com

COURTESY PHOTO

This stool, which columnist Elizabeth Stewart finds is helping her while she awaits a hip replacement, reminded her of the history of the EF Brewster Co.

PHOTO COURTESY DEBORAH CHADSEY PHOTOGRAPHY

Brooke Stockwell, executive chef at Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café and co-founder of the annual Women Winemakers Celebration, left, poses for a photo with Sarah Price, owner/operator of Lompocbased Sassafras Mobile Food Truck and Restaurant, at last year’s celebration.

Democrats have no good

Editor’s note: Since this column was written, a third Republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, announced his campaign.

Former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

Nikki Haley’s 2024 presidential announcement, which makes her the first Republican to declare other than former President Donald Trump himself, formally commences what should prove to be a tumultuous GOP presidential primary. But despite the impending made-for-TV tumult in the GOP primary, the fact remains that the party has a number of possible or likely candidates who are either wellqualified or broadly popular with a substantial slice of the national electorate.

GUEST OPINION

ANDY CALDWELL:

The danger of fentanyl/ C2

DID YOU KNOW?

Bonnie Donovan

e state of the world

Last week, we talked about the 2022 report that said the world is on a trajectory to increase carbon and other emissions by 10% in 2030.

As part of our thinking about what humans have done to cause warming of the earth, and the results it will have on humans, we should also consider the catastrophic results of human actions in causing confluent, adverse events in the natural world.

The world’s human population in the year A.D. 1, was about 200 million. By 1500 it was 461 million. By 1800 it had grown to 1 billion.

In November 2022, the world’s population reached 8 billion — an incredible, 800% growth in only 223 years. The world population is forecast to grow to 11 billion by 2100, when it is expected to plateau.

Humans, driven by an accelerated population growth of 800%, sought and acquired vast areas of land to live on, grow crops, hunt game, raise cattle, mine for minerals, and dig for water and for oil. They massively destroyed forests, water sources and natural growth in the process. With the Industrial Revolution, followed by the technology revolution, over this 223-year time period, the confluences of population growth and industrial revolution emerged and jointly destroyed more habitats and ecosystems across the world, resulting in the wiping out of nearly 70% of the world’s wildlife. In parallel, they caused global warming that now threatens the planet.

for 2024

The same is simply not true for the Democratic Party. And as the octogenarian President Joe Biden shows all signs of imminently launching his re-election campaign, even the mainstream press is starting to fret.

The New York Times, the closest thing to Democratic Party Pravda, has over the past year run a series of urgent articles sounding the alarm on Mr. Biden’s unprecedented presidential age and declining cognitive abilities. Last July, the Times ran an article titled, “At 79, Biden Is Testing the Boundaries of Age and the Presidency.” Last November, another Times article was titled, “President Biden Turns 80, Making Him the First Octogenarian in the Oval Office”; and earlier this month, left-wing commentator Michelle Goldberg

Upon a closer examination of the chaos at the southern border of the United States, it occurs to me that two of the situations the U.S. faces today have stark similarities to a seminal event that occurred on a farm in upstate New York some 54 years ago.

It was officially called the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, but the town fathers in Woodstock decided they couldn’t (and wouldn’t want to) handle the expected crowds the festival was likely to attract. Other nearby towns were considered (White Lake, Saugerties), but organizers finally found and settled on a 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, N.Y. —

50 miles or so from Woodstock — owned by a compliant and easygoing farmer named Max Yasgur.

You may not be able to pick us out, but my brother David and I were two of the faces in that crowd of nearly 500,000 mostly twenty-somethings who gathered on Max’s property in the summer of 1969 (Aug. 15-18) for what is now known simply as the Woodstock Festival.

As my brother and I headed north on New York State Highway 17W, the radio advised us that the crowd was growing too large, that there was no water to drink, the few toilets on

titled her column, “Biden’s a Great President. He Should Not Run Again.”

The Times followed Ms. Goldberg’s column with a number of responsive letters to the editor, which ran last week under the title, “Is Biden Too Old to Run Again?” What’s more, on Thursday, Politico and CNN published nearly identical articles strongly suggesting White House palace intrigue and a party apparatus torn about what to do with its senile commander in chief: Politico’s piece was titled, “Senior Democrats’ Private Take on Biden: He’s Too Old.” CNN’s eerily similar article was titled, “Biden’s age is a hot topic as he looks to extend his time in the Oval Office until he is 86.”

Clearly, many in the Biden

site had become steaming boxes of offal and were already overflowing, gas stations had run out of gasoline, and food was hard to come by. My brother and I looked at each other upon hearing this and agreed that “All right; this sounds like fun!” It was.

We had to park about a mile (maybe two) away from the entrance as traffic had completely stopped on 17W. I abandoned my car on the side of the road, and we began hoofing it, along with thousands of others making their way single file and abreast with one goal in mind: to get to the music festival. For the most part,

White House are leaking like a loose faucet. Even more notably, the liberal press, which would normally protect an incumbent Democratic president at all costs, is the one stirring the pot. Some card-carrying members of the insular Washington press corps are worried about the re-election prospects of the oldest-ever sitting president, who in his first term has presided over a calamitous Afghanistan withdrawal, 40-year-high inflation, soaring violent crime rates and the worst humanitarian crisis at the southern border in U.S. history. And who can blame them?

At the same time, disposing of an incumbent president — as the recent revelation of Biden’s illicitly retained classified documents and

local inhabitants were thoroughly bemused but friendly and helpful. They, of course, had never seen anything like the army of high-spirited bedraggled hippies swarming through their neighborhoods.

When we finally arrived, there was no gate, nothing to stop anyone who didn’t have a ticket from getting in. The entrances had been completely overwhelmed, and the fence laid flat hours before.

As we walked toward the stage, we heard the plaintive words of Richie Havens’ calling out from his song, “Freedom.” Bert Sommer performed his own material.

John Sebastian from The Lovin’ Spoonful, Melanie, Arlo Guthrie, Joe McDonald of Country Joe and

the concomitant appointment of a special counsel to investigate his scandalous negligence indicate some in the Deep State may also desire — necessitates finding a replacement candidate.

And therein lies the rub. Of the three leading alternative candidates for the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nomination, there are no appealing options. All three, in fact, are terrible options.

I speak here of Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The fact that Kamala Harris is unlikable, unliked, generally

Please see HAMMER on C4

the Fish and well, pretty much every 1960s hit maker other than the Rolling Stones and the Beatles appeared onstage over the next three/four days.

It wasn’t easy to sleep. It also wasn’t easy to wash, eat or use a toilet. My brother and I stayed up all night, as most people did that weekend.

Melanie sang “Beautiful People” sometime after midnight, as I recall, and Janis Joplin arrived in a helicopter, but don’t hold me to any time schedule, as this was a long time ago and the 30 hours or so that I spent at the festival rolled up into one long day’s night.

After the rain came the mud,

Another adverse event is our inability to stop the accelerating melting of ice in the huge ice sheets and glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland, and around the world. Data from two NASA-supported Grace Missions indicates that the massive Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets have been losing ice mass since 2002. It is likely that the tipping point has passed where increasing melting of ice can be slowed or stopped within foreseeable time frames.

The ice age that created these huge ice sheets and glaciers occurred 100,000 years ago. That ice age lasted until 25,000 years ago. Only another ice age can replace lost ice sheets and glaciers.

In 2020, the Royal Society reported on recent studies estimating that since the end of the last ice age, average temperatures have risen by 4 to 5 degrees Celsius (7-9 degrees Fahrenheit). That change has occurred over the last 7,000 years.

But the society also reported that CO-2 in the atmosphere has risen by more than 40% in the past 200 years, much of this since the early 1970s. The current speed of warming is now 10 times that occurring at the end of the ice age.

Back to another adverse event in the making. Ice sheets and glaciers contain most of the earth’s freshwater. The ice sheets and glaciers of Antarctica, alone, contain twothirds of the earth’s freshwater, which is melting into the salty oceans, raising sea levels.

The ice sheets and glaciers at the North and South poles and around the world, in Greenland and other countries, act as enormous reflectors of the sun’s rays, pushing 90% of the sun’s heat in that area, back into the atmosphere. This ice is melting at an accelerating rate. When the reflecting shield is gone, it cannot be replaced.

The Washington Post in January 2021 published details of a report that stated that Earth is losing 1.2 trillion tons

James Buckley

PURELY POLITICAL

Josh Hammer

President Joe Biden Vice President Kamala Harris

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

Gov. Gavin Newsom

MORE INSIDE

Columnist Star Parker says Nikki Haley stands out as a promising Republican presidential candidate. C3.

COURTESY PHOTOS

Wendy McCaw

Arthur von Wiesenberger Co-Publisher Co-Publisher

GUEST OPINION

Let’s be fair and establish a flat tax

We are overtaxed and, more than others, have bigger bills. So in the following are my suggestions for reform.

A FAIR AMERICAN — FLAT TAX

The United States and the

California is aiding and abetting selfdestructive behavior

In 2021, here in California, there were 5,622 fentanyl fatal overdoses.

There were some 70,000 fentanyl deaths in the U.S. in the same year.

Fentanyl is considered 50 times stronger than heroin. Drug dealers are mixing fentanyl into all sorts of other drugs, including fake prescription pills. The price for a fentanyl high decreased from $20 to $1.

And just 2 milligrams of fentanyl — an amount that fits on the tip of a pencil — is considered a potentially deadly dose.

What’s worse? A real zombie apocalypse is upon us! Drug addicts, including scores of homeless people, are now inhaling a concoction that is a mixture of fentanyl and “tranq” — the animal sedative Xylazine.

These two drugs combined lead to a variety of unpleasant outcomes: death, flesh-eating abscesses and zombie-like trances.

California’s response to outof-control opioid and fentanyl overdoses?

Create safe spaces for addicts where ample supplies of naloxone, aka Narcan, can be administered — albeit there is no antidote for tranq.

Hence, once again, California’s approach to self-destructive behavior is a Band-Aid approach, after the fact.

One reason the drug problem is getting worse in some states, such as California, is that possession of drugs for personal use is no longer a felony. More importantly, our de facto open border with Mexico has allowed the drug cartels to flood America with enough fentanyl to kill every American, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. The cartels manufacture the fentanyl with chemicals largely sourced from China, and that is why some representatives of Congress are demanding that fentanyl be labeled a weapon of mass destruction.

Meanwhile, this is one of the main reasons California’s approach, including right here in Santa Barbara County, to ending homelessness is guaranteed to fail.

A significant number of homeless people are drug addicts. As Michael Steeb of the Texas Public Policy Center and the author of “Answers Behind the RED DOOR: Battling the Homeless Epidemic” states, California is the only state in the union

who adopted President Barack Obama’s housing first policy in 2016.

The stupid theory posits that homelessness can be solved by providing housing to people who are not held responsible or accountable in any way for any of their debilitating behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse — and the refusal to get a job.

Caldwell

I recently interviewed Mary Theroux, a successful businesswoman from the Bay Area who has published the documentary “Beyond Homelessness: Finding Hope.” She indicated peer-reviewed research indicates that alternative approaches, to that which is commonplace in California, can result in actual radical declines in homelessness and a path to transformed lives.

Using San Francisco as an example, homelessness has increased more than 50% while spending to solve homelessness has increased 130%. Why is that?

It has to do with the fact that recovery programs that take up to 6 months to complete have a 90% failure rate.

Whereas, programs that deal with the underlying causes of homelessness, including addiction, can take 2-3 years but with a success rate of up to 90%.

However, here in California, it is against the law to require sobriety or treatment for sobriety as a condition to receive services, including housing. The approach here in California to provide medical care, food, shelter and places to shoot up are hindering the homeless from hitting rock bottom, which is the one thing that can cause the person to be willing to make new choices that can lead to healing and wholeness.

If county supervisors cherrypick people who are simply poor, rather than those who are addicted and mentally ill, as to who receives the benefit of their $90 million effort to end homelessness, the program could succeed. However, the people who are making a nuisance of themselves are the addicted and mentally ill and are the least likely to welcome meaningful help.

The authorlives in Lompoc

states must reform their tax structures to make it more equitable for everyone.

Presently, the Congress is just “fooling around with the numbers,” but not giving us tax reform. That means no IRS in

the future.

Today 40% of the people pay 90% of the taxes. In addition,everyone wants to be excluded from paying any taxes by gaining special exemptions at the expense of other taxpayers. This is social redistribution of wealth and is un-American

Please see RUGHE on C4

LETTERS TO THE NEWS-PRESS

No end to our troubles

In 2020, we had an election. One nominee traveled the country and spoke to overflowing enthusiastic crowds every time, standing room only. The other nominee stayed in his basement, coming out occasionally to speak to a small audience.

Amazingly, when the votes were counted, the basement man had more votes than had ever been cast, outnumbering the popular candidate who himself numbered in millions more than the last time.

How could this be?

Then the truth began to come out about malfunctioning voting machines, ballots entered secretly at night, millions given by a social network to fund illegal vote harvesting, ballots cast by deceased voters, other ballots from conservative areas mysteriously disappearing. For some reason, to this day no one will recall an illegally elected president.

Millions of illegals come through our open southern border, bringing disease and enough fentanyl to kill all of us, and actually killing 100,000 a year. Where are they going? Into indentured service as laborers or criminals or sex slaves to the cartels.

Ukraine and China have bought favored nation status with our new president, while industries here are punished. Our own gas reserves have been shuttered and pipelines canceled while we beg our enemies to supply our needs.

Part of that is the push to turn everything electric.Guess where the solar panels, windmills and batteries come from? You’re right. China. Furthermore, when all these electrical supplies wear out,

they become hazardous waste.

As millions of dollars are going to Ukraine, and our strategic oil reserves are being sold to China, a rail accident in Ohio threatens the residents in the area, and nothing is done. In the aftermath of COVID-19, small business owners lost everything they had, thousands died needlessly, being denied effective treatments, our children may never catch up scholastically and more suffer from after effects of a vaccine that was mandated and is not only ineffective, but dangerous.

Furthermore, our whole country is being attacked with racist lies trying to divide us as we were finally really coming together. And our young people are being fed lies about their own sexual identity. There seems to be no end to our troubles.

And Joe Biden shrugged.

Gretchen Kieding Solvang

Who’s helping East Palestine?

How can Santa Barbara County residents help East Palestine, Ohio and Pennsylvania poor citizens who need water, testing services, medical attention, and relocation?

There is NO government entity, no non-government organization, no nonprofit, helping these citizens with their survival needs.

I’ve called several organizations (Direct Relief, Red Cross, …) plus Congressman Salud Carbajal asking “where’s the leadership?” Everyone is MIA. This is shameful; and it horrifies donors and taxpayers.

Era of frivolous antitrust hearings

I contacted American Hero John Rourke, CEO of Blue Movers in Florida after learning he is personally with staff delivering cases of water to trapped, frightened residents. Like me, he saw a poor young mom with no car and two children under age 6, walked to the store with her kids to then attempt carrying a case of water plus an infant back home. Frail elders and disabled require front door survival assistance.

Talk show host Benny Johnson went to East Palestine with $20,000 to randomly pass out $1,000 checks to 20 desperate people so grateful that any fellow American even cared. We know disasters well. Our generosity is remarkable, the Bucket Brigade are exemplary citizen driven responders. What can we do? Where’s the leadership?

Spangler

Denice

Adams Montecito

Editor’s note: After seeing Ms. Adams’ letter, the News-Press contacted Direct Relief, and Tony Morain, the Goleta nonprofit’s vice president for communications, said Direct Relief reached out to health facilities in the affected area but has not received any requests for medications or supplies. The News-Press also reached out to U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal’s office, and the Santa Barbara congressman said, “As a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I have been monitoring the updates and reports coming from East Palestine, and am committed to ensuring that federal entities our committee oversees — like the Federal Railroad Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board — take necessary steps to enable the people of Ohio to put this disaster safely behind them.”

Chinese balloon floats with air of mystery

The farmer saw a white object in the clear Montana skies on the fourth Saturday of January, the 28th.

His first reaction was to grab a cell phone and submit his photo to the local newspaper. Gosh, times have changed from my youth when our reaction might have been to think of the intro to a popular radio show of “It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s …”

What were the reactions to the photos?

The telephones of Montana Gov. Mike DeWine ran off the hook searching for answers that he did not have, but he reached out to President Joe Biden for answers.

What did the president say?

Nothing because it was a Saturday, and President Biden has spent 164 Saturdays in the silence that surrounds his Delaware houses. Unfortunately, this time it proved the wisdom of the line “Silence like a cancer grows” from the Simon and Garfunkel song “The Sound of Silence.” And grow

it did.

Since the photo showed a round, white object, it was believed to be a balloon.

When my friend Francis X. O’Sullivan, the 6’5” former Marine captain said “People want a complete story, so when some facts are missing, they tend to ‘fill-in’ the story circle by adding something that sounds right to them,” I listened because his deep voice was full of wisdom: Semper Fi.

Since the concept of a balloon being able to carry something as heavy as a person was demonstrated centuries ago by none other than Ben Franklin, the “fill-ins,” necessary by the absence of our president, began with the story that it might be a weather balloon that had drifted off course from China. Or was it Russia?

Another “fill-in” — that it was an Unidentified Flying Object — caused stories of pilots, both military and civilian, seeing strange objects standing still or flying at supersonic speeds.

Once the weekend passed, while the balloon was leisurely moving over the U.S., the president gave one of his crisps “over

the shoulder” responses to the question of why he had not ordered it shot down with “I gave the order to the Pentagon three days ago.” Mr. President, the Pentagon is a building. Who was that person, or persons, who refused a presidential order?

As the days drifted by, and the balloon drifted over the U.S., including missile sites, the “fill-in” became that it was too dangerous to shoot down over the wildernesses of Alaska, Canada or Montana, because the waste might fall on people.

Unexplained was the reason that it was not shot down as soon as it was spotted in U.S. airspace over the Aleutian Island where we have an observation post.

As the balloon continued its journey over the U.S., the “fillins” became that the military blocked their transmissions, then that they learned from it. Really?

They learned from blocked transmissions after they blocked them?

On the Saturday before the president’s State of the Union speech on Feb. 7, the balloon

The 118th Congress has barely begun. A wave of freshman representatives and senators are coming in with a mandate to help address a lagging economy, record inflation and an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape.

The federal government also just hit its borrowing limit and is approaching a fiscal cliff. January and February are months to get down to business.

Yet the full Senate Judiciary Committee held one of its first hearings of the year on another topic: last year’s Taylor Swift ticketing debacle.

For context, ticket presales for Ms. Swift’s “The Eras Tour” experienced a barrage of difficulties. “Eras” was the first tour for the singer since she toured back in 2018. Fans were stuck in massive online queues, with some waiting days and many not being able to get any tickets at all.

Things got so out of hand that Ms. Swift and ticket distributor Ticketmaster canceled the presale event. Given Ms. Swift’s popularity, national outrage promptly ensued. This is what led to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., calling this hearing, claiming consolidation in the ticketing industry led to the incident.

Claims by politicians like Sen. Klobuchar rest on the notion that Ticketmaster has been a monopoly in the ticketing space since its merger with global entertainment company Live Nation Entertainment in 2010. Sen. Klobuchar — who has attempted to bring antitrust action against a variety of American industries — is urging the Department of Justice to unwind the merger between the two companies.

However, the merger between Ticketmaster and LNE has already been thoroughly litigated. The 2010 merger agreement came about as part of a meticulously negotiated settlement with the DOJ to ensure the protection of consumers and competition. The joint entity is also operating under a consent decree with the DOJ so that they continue to uphold the terms of that merger and comply with regulatory standards.

Further, the joint entity still has a host of competitors like SeatGeek, Spotify, Vivid and StubHub. In fact, SeatGeek has agreements with several venues on the Eras Tour and was the primary vendor for five locations for Ms. Swift’s upcoming shows. There is adequate competition in the space.

The merger — and any alleged consolidation as a result — is not the issue.

However, what is clear to many Taylor Swift fans across the nation is that something clearly did go horribly wrong.

Eric Budish, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, points out some of the mistakes Ms. Swift made that led to the disaster. Dr. Budish notes that Ms. Swift likely played an outsized role in determining pricing, instead of using an algorithmic system based on actual demand.

Andy Caldwell is the COLAB executive director and host of

Andy Caldwell

Andy

Brent E. Zepke

Justin Ruhge

Nikki Haley brings a new face to freedom

One of the Republican Party’s newest presidential candidates, former South Carolina Gov. and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, introduced herself by showcasing her roots as a child of immigrants.

Ms. Haley’s family, originally from India, immigrated to the United States in 1969 and settled in a small, segregated town, Bamberg, S.C., where she was born three years later.

One can glean two reasons why Ms. Haley is spotlighting her background and presenting her candidacy as a successful minority woman.

First, one doesn’t need to be “woke” to recognize the value of an Asian American woman running for president with an agenda of less government and more freedom.

Second, showcasing her story and success qualifies her to say, as she does in her introduction video, “Take it from me, America is not a racist country.”

The strategy has opened her to attacks and criticism from the right and from the left.

Ann Coulter, who still seethes at Ms. Haley for taking down the Confederate flag which flew on South Carolina’s state Capitol grounds in Columbia, called her a “preposterous creature” and suggested she “go back to your own country and reconsider that history.”

But, of course, this is Ms. Haley’s “own country.” If it weren’t, she wouldn’t be able to run for president. But Ms. Coulter’s business is not facts but provoking an audience who buys her books.

More temperate advice came from The Wall Street Journal, which suggested Ms. Haley must do a better job distinguishing herself from other Republicans. No Republican, says the Journal, would disagree that “America is not a racist country.” This is, of course, true. But I believe Ms. Haley is correct that the comment achieves particular resonance coming from an Indian American woman with a stellar resume of public service and achievement.

The left’s answer to Ann Coulter, Whoopi Goldberg, told her audience, regarding Ms. Haley, that “there are things about our country that are not perfect and to pretend that it is and to pretend that nothing happened is ridiculous.”

But, of course, Ms. Haley did not say that our country is “perfect” or that “nothing happened.”

Perfection is not what defines our country or any place or anything in this world. What defines and makes our country unique is freedom. This is Ms. Haley’s point when she says, “Even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America.”

It is here in our free country that Ann Coulter and Whoopi Goldberg get to speak their minds and not worry that they will

disappear in the night, as they might in China or Iran. More serious criticism comes from the left from Asian American author Wajahat Ali, who accuses Ms. Haley of brandishing the “model minority myth,” which he calls a tool of white supremacists.

That is, per Ali, they use the success stories “of some Asian Americans” as “a cudgel against Black people” who are “told by GOP politicians to stop blaming racism for their problems.” Ms. Haley has only showcased her own story. But the picture

regarding the phenomenal business success stories of American immigrants is not a “cudgel” but a powerful testimony to the opportunities for success and achievement in America.

According to a 2022 study by the National Foundation for American Policy, “more than half (319 of 582) of America’s start-up companies valued at $1 billion or more” were founded by immigrants. Nearly “two-thirds of (billiondollar) companies were founded or co-founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant.” And “almost 80%” of billion-dollar companies “have an immigrant founder or an immigrant in a key leadership role.”

These include immigrants from India, Israel, U.K., Canada, China, France, Germany, Russia, Iran, Nigeria and many others.

My organization, CURE, covered Ms. Haley’s rollout event in Charleston. The palpable energy and excitement at the rally could be a sign that this campaign will pick up steam as more candidates enter the field, each pitching their own persona. Welcome to election 2024.

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.

How long can Karine Jean-Pierre keep her White House press pass?

“Most reporters in the galley are handpicked by the president and won’t put you on the spot. If you don’t know the answer, tell them so. Don’t make a fool of yourself, making excuses. ”

— Jen Psaki

During the early years of our government, reporters were not allowed in the White House except on special occasions. Most legislative sessions were off limits out of fear they would tarnish the image of the new government. For years, they’d wait outside the capitol to catch up with senators or representatives to get a scoop of federal news. They had little contact directly with the president or his staff.

In 1904, Teddy Roosevelt invited rain-soaked reporters into the White House. They were awestruck that he offered them an office to work in and brought them coffee and food. And this was the birth of the White House Press Corps.

Soon reporters grew in presence, and this terrarium of newsmen morphed into the outpost that repeated White House-approved news to influence public opinion.

The White House press secretary is a liaison between the president and reporters to keep him off the hot seat. They

Government’s dirty secret

Classified documents are found in former President Donald Trump’s home! Democrats were outraged! Mr. Trump is guilty of “mishandling of some of our nation’s most sensitive secrets” creating “a national security crisis!” said MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Nicole Wallace.

Then President Joe Biden got caught.

Suddenly conservatives were upset.

“Thanks to Joe Biden,” said Sean Hannity, “America’s most sensitive secrets were floating around.”

But both sides were wrong.

The truth is, the word, “classified” means little. Our bloated government now classifies three things every second.

If you stacked up all the classified paper in Washington, the stacks would be taller than 26 Washington Monuments.

In my new video, Matthew Connelly, author of “The Declassification Engine,” explains that “as much as bureaucrats know they’re only supposed to classify information that’s really important, they end up classifying all kinds of nonsense. ... Even like telling a friend, ‘Let’s go have coffee.’ They’ll end up classifying that email as top secret.”

Former CIA Director Mike Hayden once got a classified email saying “Merry Christmas.”

and Martin O’Malley in 2016. Since accepting this job in May, Ms. Jean-Pierre has responded to reporters with “I don’t have anything on that,” or, “I’ll get back to you on that issue later” at least 100 times in the briefing room.

From day one on the job, she has not given a clear, succinct answer to most questions. She talks in circles as if she is avoiding saying anything she thinks Joe Biden might not approve of or make her look ignorant. Her responses are more like meaningless word salads much the same as you would get from Vice President Kamala Harris. Ms. Jean-Pierre acts like someone on trial who has no attorney defending themselves.

For years, the government classified how much peanut butter the Army bought. They classified a description of wedding rituals in Dagestan. They even classify newspaper articles.

They are especially eager to classify dumb things they do, like the Army’s reported experiments testing whether “psychics” could kill people with their eyes.

“A lot of what the government keeps secret, they keep secret simply because it’s embarrassing,” says Mr. Connelly.

Occasionally, government tries to reduce overclassification.

are presidential favorites, with or without experience. Some have done their job well, while others failed. Some made contentious statements; others were softspoken.

All must be loyal to the president and defend his actions. They must be a beacon of confidence on the podium.

White House press secretary is an extremely challenging job. That individual must know a great deal about politics and

current events. They must know the president’s agenda and his opinions and react without hesitation. It’s a tough job and a baptism of fire in front of the nation.

“The press secretary’s job is so arduous few presidents could handle it themselves.”

— Nikki Hale

Press secretaries speak for the president. It is important they are

chosen for their experience, not their gender or their race.

Yet when press secretary Jen Psaki left to take a job at MSNBC, Joe Biden hired novice Karine Jean-Pierre because she checked the boxes. She is black and a woman, and she is openly gay. The only political experience that Ms. Jean-Pierre had was short-lived jobs working on the Democratic presidential campaigns of Barack Obama in 2008, John Edwards in 2004

Ms. Jean-Pierre’s near-total dependence on a binder full of administration talking points is distracting. This is a book compiled for her by President Biden’s advisers with indexed notes for her to reference if she needs to clarify a topic. She frantically turns pages through this book, looking for answers these reporters already know and just want clarified. When she can’t find the answer, she says, “I have nothing on that.”

“I never trust anyone who must look inside a book to answer a simple question.”

— Kelly Sadler

It’s one thing for a press secretary to have notes for reference. But it shows her lack of confidence and knowledge when she stares down at them

Please see HAUPT on C4

The Reds’ balloons: How dangerous is China?

‘The Red Balloon” is the title of a classic popular film from France that can serve as a metaphor for the alleged Chinese balloon menace.

This whimsical fantasy of a boy and his balloon appeals to our need for companionship and our urge to escape routine existence, a desire hardly limited to children.

The film appeared in 1956, during constant government instability in France. The previous decade witnessed stunning military defeat by Nazi Germany, then four years of humiliating, brutal occupation. The appeal of escapist fantasy in those circumstances is fully understandable.

Sudden media obsession with Beijing balloons is not fantasy, but, combined with occasional professional reporting, an opportunity for stratospheric speculation and making money.

Facts, as opposed to speculation, include the violation

of North America airspace by a sizable lighter-than-air craft from China. The vessel was about as large as a small car. But what distinctive, special intel could be gathered by such primitive means?

After drifting across the United States, military officers under orders from President Joe Biden terminated the balloon’s leisurely flight. A stateof-the-art F-22 jet fighter shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina.

Now recalibrated surveillance tools seek out balloons. One shot down in Alaska likely was a project of balloon hobbyists in Illinois.

Predictably, Beijing has vocally protested the military response to the Chinese balloon. Its official explanation is that the craft was pursuing an innocent meteorological mission and blew off course.

To be sure, balloons have a long though uneven history of military

uses. These include surveillance and gathering terrain information, useful in making maps, and aerial attack.

Late in the 18tth century in France, entrepreneurial brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier developed a working balloon, and in 1783, there was the first documented human ascent in a piloted lighterthan-air craft. The Montgolfier family was in the paper business, and the new invention proved extremely useful in map-making, along with providing publicity that could only aid profits.

Six years later, the French Revolution began. This ongoing conflict brought the first recorded use of balloons for military purposes, primarily reconnoitering and tracking enemy operations. The Civil War (1861-1865) brought significant expansion of balloons used for military

missions. President Abraham Lincoln demonstrated relentless interest in exploiting existing technologies, notably the railroad and the telegraph, and developing new ones. Better firearms were a constant preoccupation.

Lincoln is the only U.S. president to hold a patent, Patent Number 6469, issued in 1849 for a device to lift boats over river obstructions. The device was never manufactured.

Professor Thaddeus Lowe, an inveterate inventor of the time, persuaded President Lincoln to implement a military balloon program. His presentation included describing by telegraph the view of Washington D.C. from a balloon.

Lincoln created the Union Army Balloon Corps in 1861, with Lowe in charge. Opposition from traditional officers forced disbanding the corps two years later.

In 1899 and 1907, disarmament conferences were convened at The Hague in the Netherlands.

Balloons were included. There was no mention of airplanes.

Balloons were used for both offense and defense during both World War I and World War II, and were a focus of planning between the wars, but quickly became marginal.

Uncertainty clouds the Beijing balloon efforts. Beneath ubiquitous President-for-Life Xi Jinping, China now is in economic and social turmoil.

The odd balloons may be one indicator of this. Above all, our leaders and the rest of us must remain firmly grounded.

Avoid fantasies.

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.

Presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama all pledged to reduce the excess.

“Not in one case did they actually reduce the rate at which our government was creating secrets,” says Mr.

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Arthur I, Cyr

William Haupt III

The author is a Center Square contributor

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The author is with the Center for Urban Renewal and Education

COURTESY IMAGE

Nikki Haley

WHITE HOUSE PHOTO

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre oversees a news conference. Columnist William Haupt III says Ms. Jean-Pierre lacks the training and experience to do the job well.

and unfair. The IRS wants to take more of your money by employing 86,000 new and armed investigators to review your returns. They want it all.

THE OBVIOUS THING TO DO

The easiest way to redo the tax system is by making the 16th Amendment to the Constitution in 1913, the income tax, a flat tax of not more than 1.5% of a person’s gross yearly income. Flat taxes being considered by other reform groups, of 15%, 17%, and 30% are just too high and do not solve the American tax problem with their deductions, tax credits and yearly reporting. So with a 1.5% flat tax, if you

HAUPT

made $10,000 a year, you would pay $150 a year, and that is all.

No tax returns and no taxing of your savings or any other taxes. And if you earned a gross income of $100,000 a year, you would pay an income tax of $1,500 per year. Those earning $1 million would pay $15,000. The same flat tax would apply to all incomes. The rich would pay more dollars than the poor but at the same rate. This tax would be taken out of your paycheck directly like FICA is and Income tax presently is. There would be no other deductions, tax credits, or write-offs and no tax reporting. This would end the present outlandish tax code. Your savings, Social Security and stock profits would be yours, and your stock losses would be yours, etc.

Companies would report their gross incomes through a CPA and submit a check for 1.5% of gross, no write-offs, no depreciations, no exceptions, etc.

All nonprofits would pay, meaning all religious organizations, the Sierra Club, the Farm Bureau, ACORN, AARP, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, unions, foundations, trusts, Planned Parenthood, League of Women Voters, etc. They would pay 1.5% of their gross incomes! No exceptions, no excuses, no exemptions. Why should these hundreds of billions of dollars go untaxed at the expense of all of us middle class taxpayers? There would be NO exceptions at all. Yes, even God would pay!

Taxes could not be raised except by a supermajority in congress, but only every four years if that, and for only 0.1% at a time if approved. 5% would be the max ever allowed.

If this is not enough to run the government then cut the government to fit the taxes. But when everyone pays their fair share, there will be plenty of revenue. Americans are not here to pay for the government but to support themselves and their children.

A small, fair tax for everyone is the solution! This is real tax reform. Out with the progressive tax system. Lets make our representatives in Congress respond to our interest in real reform. If we do not, all those new inspectors with guns will take it all.

BUCKLEY

Continued

which didn’t matter much because everyone was wet and dirty anyway. We sloshed our way to the edges of the crowd and came upon what I’ve determined was the undoing of this entire generation.

A LITERAL “DRUG STORE”

It was a “street” (more like an alley) filled on both sides with vendors who’d set up portable tables and were hawking various forms of intoxication. Marijuana, hashish, Benzedrine (bennies) and amphetamine pills, various other uppers and downers, LSD tabs, hallucinogenic mushrooms, cocaine, and finally, heroin were all available at a price.

“This will not end well,” I remember thinking. For all the idolizing of the three days of Music and Whatever that took place on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, N.Y.,. those many years ago, that extraordinary gathering was also an early glimpse into the self-destructive nature of the festival attendees. And when I look at the southern border of the U.S., I see overflowing crowds pouring into the United States from all over the world. There is no entry gate, the wall is no longer an effective barrier, and law enforcement is non-existent.

Along with those multitudes streaming across are drugs such as heroin, cocaine and opioids, many spiked with fentanyl. All of which are spirited past an overwhelmed border patrol in order to feed the drug habits of the members of the Woodstock generation … and their offspring. This too won’t end well.

Continued from Page C3

constantly and reads those notes verbatim. That’s unlike her predecessor, Jen Psaki, who had President Biden’s talking points down cold and didn’t need a crutch.

Ms. Jean-Pierre inherited the Biden gaffe syndrome. Congratulating three Americans who won Nobel Prizes in chemistry, she confused “Nobel” five times as “noble.” She also conflated Russia’s “Nord Stream 1” natural gas pipeline with the upscale department store, “Nordstroms.” and repeated it three times.

performance is no guarantee of future results.” People are hired or promoted for various reasons — many are totally unrelated to their new position — and they do not do well. The types of jobs that Ms. Jean-Pierre had in the past did not qualify or train her for a position of this type, which is a living example of the Washington “Peter Principle.”

black staffers for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have left in the past two years. Others said they plan to be leaving soon, since there is no chance for advancement and their jobs are mediocre and boring.

Law enforcement was nonexistent, and even if there had been police present, the ruling attitude was completely “handsoff.” No one was busted, and no one was going to be busted for anything. The sales pitch of the heroin dealer went something like this: “Yeah, you can take your grass, your hash, your magic mushrooms, but if you’re looking for a real high, this is what you want. C’mon give it a try.”

Lately, Ms. Jean-Pierre has been claiming that she can’t answer questions since it would be in violation of the Hatch Act. “The Hatch Act is federal law intended to prevent citizens working in government from taking advantage of their government positions to campaign for candidates or their parties.” Obviously someone on the left told her to use that as an excuse if she cannot answer a question.

Recently, when queried that most economists agree that the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” might affect inflation in the long-term in some way but it will do nothing short-term, Ms. Jean-Pierre stoically retorted, “Well, I mean, that’s something we disagree on — so we’ll have to wait and see.”

DONOVAN

Continued from Page C1

of ice every year. It was claimed that this is a 60% increase since 2010.

A second, NASA-backed study on the Greenland ice sheet, finds that no fewer than 74 major glaciers that terminate in deep water ocean are being severely undercut and weakened by ocean forces. This is like melting the feet that carry the human body.

Eventually, this phenomenon will cause a collapse into the ocean waters, adding to rises in sea levels.

A report by a consensus of experts in these matters stated that in the worldwide plans to address global warming, the true rates of ice melting are severely understated. They projected that the melting of ice sheets, alone, could cause at least 16 inches of seawater rise by 2,100.

When we read this, we thought, “Is the world in even more trouble?” Scientists are not given

STOSSEL

Continued from Page C3

I’m not surprised. In government, butt-covering and status matter more than efficiency.

I say to Mr. Connelly, “I would imagine bureaucrats think, ‘Ooh, if I label this classified, I’m more important.’”

“In Washington,” he answers, “many officials won’t even look at something unless it’s classified.”

And classifying something needlessly has no downside.

“In all my years of research,” says Mr. Connelly, “I’ve never found a single instance of anybody

HAMMER

Continued from Page C1 useless and unambiguously terrible at her job is the worstkept secret in U.S. politics today.

Ms. Harris famously secured not a single Democratic National Convention delegate during her ill-fated 2020 presidential run. She is ill-informed on policy and often speaks of complex issues in an overly simplistic and juvenile way. (Who can forget her gem last year on the Russo-Ukraine War: “Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country.”)

She has endured massive staff turnover and by all indications treats her staff horribly. And the Times has also seemingly soured on her. The headline of a longform article a week and a half ago: “Kamala Harris Is Trying to Define Her Vice Presidency. Even

Karine Jean-Pierre has had jobs in public service, but she has never had a position where she had to openly react and think on her feet. Also, as a committed progressive, she overtly tries to inject her progressive beliefs into answers at her briefings, which violates her obligation to repeat facts.

One reporter said the reason why Ms. Jean-Pierre still has the high-visibility press secretary’s job despite all of the gaffes is because President Biden is legendary for his own innumerable gaffes. And it would be highly hypocritical and embarrassing for him to hold her to a higher standard than himself.

Laurence Peter, author of the “Peter Principle,” wrote, “Past

to overstating their case, so this must be a very serious warning.

Graphs tracking ice loss from 2002 to 2022 show a steady, continuous, loss of ice mass for both Antarctica and Greenland.

The white surfaces of ice sheets are part of what has stabilized the Earth’s climate for millennia. When ice melts exposing water or land, these darker surfaces absorb the heat from the sun.

The earth’s surface under the ice in Antarctica is made mostly of ancient bogs that are dark brown and green in color. The seawater is dark blue. Scientists believe that most of the land under the Antarctic ice, stores millions of tons of methane hydrate, which would be gas if released into the atmosphere. That would dramatically worsen global warming.

The melting sheet of ice and glaciers can create two adverse events: the release of globalwarming gasses and increases in ocean levels.

The critical questions we have for the experts include whether

being fired for over-classifying something.”

With so much unimportant but “classified” paper around, it’s no surprise that some end up in officials’ homes. After Mr. Trump and President Biden were caught, classified documents were found at the home of former Vice President Mike Pence. In 2014, Hillary Clinton was caught sending emails that included classified information. Former CIA Director David Petraeus gave classified papers to his mistress for a book she was writing.

Mr. Connelly is upset that these people act as if government documents are their personal

Her Allies Are Tired of Waiting.” Put simply, it is extraordinarily difficult these days to find a Democrat who is thrilled about the prospect of a future President Kamala Harris. By contrast, most Democrats soberly recognize how awful she is. And the fact that so few are willing to say the quiet part out loud bespeaks the death grip that identity politics pablum now has on the Democratic Party.

Neither Secretary Buttigieg nor Gov. Newsom is a more enticing candidate. Mr. Buttigieg — who, it must be stipulated, was chosen for President Biden’s Cabinet primarily not due to merit but rather on the basis of his personal sexual orientation — has proved to be, bar none, the single worst transportation secretary in the history of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In barely over two years, Secretary Buttigieg has overseen a crippling supply chain crisis

The GOP, the media and even some Democrats wonder how long Ms. Jean-Pierre can keep her White House press pass.

The answer: As long as she wants. While campaigning, President Biden promised he’d fill the White House with identity groups and put them in key positions. Since 20% of his voting base is black, the NAACP and other liberal black activist groups are holding his feet to the fire on Ms. Jean-Pierre.

The Democratic Party has sworn undying allegiance to identity politics. President Biden made a deal with the devil when the Democratic National Committee offered him the job he always wanted by default. Over half of the original

the uncontrolled melting of sheet ice and glaciers is caused by a continuous feedback loop , where the melting and collapse of huge ice blocks enable the melting of more ice. Will the continuing of melting ice and its consequences offset the planned efforts by nations to eliminate fossil fuels and reduce emissions from industrial, personal, public and farming sources? If so, what are the consequences for all of us?

In Santa Barbara, with the forecast of stronger winter storms off the California coast, the higher sea levels indicated could inundate the airport, the harbor and parts of downtown. Cliffs along the coast could be undermined by the higher seas, threatening parts of the railroad and Highway 101.

We are facing almost unlimited, illegal immigration of people into California and the nation. At the same time, California is experiencing an acceleration of large and mid-size companies leaving the state along with employees, to more favorable government treatment in taxes,

property. Some of President Biden’s documents were found in a folder labeled “personal.”

“I’d like to know who thought that this was his personal property?” Mr. Connelly says.

“These are our property. These records are our history.” Ordinary people who take records home go to jail. A Navy veteran who took top secret documents got three years in prison. An ex-CIA contractor who kept classified documents in his home was sentenced to three months.

I bet that won’t happen to President Biden or Mr. Trump. America’s first “top secret” was the D-Day landing. It succeeded

(during which time Mr. Buttigieg was AWOL on paternity leave); a near-horrific national rail strike avoided at the last minute; the first FAA grounding of all national flights since 9/11; and most recently, a series of high-profile, visually shocking, destructive train derailments. It is evidently not possible to be worse at one’s job than the 41-year-old former mayor of Indiana’s fourth-largest city is at being transportation secretary of the United States.

Gavin Newsom is hardly any better. Gov. Newsom was forced to withstand a gubernatorial recall election in 2021, and conditions are so bad in his leftist fiefdom that California recently lost a House seat in the U.S. Census for the first time in state history. It got even worse after the 2020 Census: California shed 500,000 people between July 2020 and July 2022. Homicides have soared 41%

The role of the press secretary has evolved into a position of prominence. People consider press secretaries to be the closest persons to the president, and they are his mouthpiece.

Joe Biden shot himself in the foot by giving such a high profile position to Ms. Jean-Pierre. She has no clue about foreign policy so John Kirby is now bailing her out. How long will President Biden sacrifice the future of his party for Ms. Jean-Pierre?

The left’s reliance on identity politics proves that the Peter Principle has taken over Washington. “Karine Jean-Pierre has very friendly reporters. They’re never going to be particularly tough with her. And she’s still incompetent and incoherent. She’s bad on a good day.”

— Mollie Hemingway

regulations and opportunities. Individuals are also leaving California for more opportunities and affordable places to live.

The precarious nature of the California income tax system that depends largely on the fortunes of a relatively small portion of the population, could become a critical tax issue for those who remain, because the immigrants coming into California are likely to be poor, unskilled people who will become the responsibility of remaining taxpayers for food, housing, education and medical care. The influx of thousands of adults and children with little or no English will be a heavy burden on already poorly performing schools systems.

Next week, in Part 3, we will write some more about potential adverse events and finish with some conclusions.

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

partly because Hitler didn’t know exactly where the troops would land.

The second was the atomic bomb.

“We have to keep secrets,” says Mr. Connelly. “But when we create tens of millions of new secrets every year, it’s impossible to identify and protect the things that really do have to be protected.”

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.”

since 2019, and the Golden State’s estimated homeless population last year was an astounding 173,000. Meanwhile, Californians are forced to endure exorbitant housing costs and the single highest top state income tax rate in the country. In what universe, then, does Gov. Newsom, who bears a striking resemblance to Michael Douglas’ “Gordon Gekko” silver screen robber baron, qualify as presidential material?

In all likelihood, then, Democrats will roll the 2024 dice with their stammering, scandalridden, palpably weak, cognitively deficient presidential incumbent. And for all their own woes, Republicans surely could not be happier about that.

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.

SAVICKAS

Continued from Page C2

According to Spotify, Ms. Swift brings in nearly 81 million listeners every month. That makes her the third higheststreamed artist in the world, behind only The Weeknd and Ed Sheeran. Given her massive popularity and the fact she hasn’t toured in a number of years, demand was naturally through the roof.

However, ticket prices did not reflect that demand. Looking at the resale market for “Eras” tickets show that is almost certainly the case. The original price range for tickets was $49 all the way up to $499. However, in the resale market, the cheapest price available is around $350, with prices ranging to an astounding $30,000.

Arbitrarily adding competitors to the market could not change this reality. The laws of supply and demand are fairly strict. Given how low the prices were, it was only natural the Eras Tour would face a wave of buyers – as well as bots and scalpers looking to make a fortune flipping the tickets in secondary markets.

In fact, antitrust action against entities like TicketMaster/ LiveNation could increase the likelihood of another debacle like this.

Given how much supercharged

ZEPKE

Continued from Page C2

completed its trip over the U.S. As it started over the Atlantic Ocean, it was shot down under the orders from President Biden.

Could it have been a “weather balloon” that drifted off course?

“Balloons,” or dirigible balloons, are lighter than air aircraft that can carry things heavier than air. The three main types are zeppelins, which have a structural framework to keep their shape; semi-rigid balloons, with a metal keel at the bottom of their structure; and non-rigid balloons, which are commonly called “blimps.” All rely on the internal pressures of their gas to hold their structures.

In 1925, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. began building blimps. In 1937, the Germans demonstrated that their flight paths could be controlled as they carried passengers from Germany to the U.S. in the Hindenburg before it burst into flames as it landed in New Jersey, killing 35 people on board.

During World War II, blimps were used for surveillance and anti-submarine warfare that required controlling their flights.

Indeed, as late as in the 1970s, George Carny, a colleague and former blimp pilot, said security prevented his discussing exactly how these were used during World War II.

Today George’s training would be valuable as the training is costly compared to the 17 hours needed to learn to fly a singleengine plane, as blimp pilot training takes 250-400 hours of training before their first solo trip in an airship. This may be part of the reason that the Federal Aviation Administration estimates only 17, of the 128 people in the U.S. qualified to fly airships, are paid to do it.

Today the cost to build and operate one has become very expensive as airships require a large amount of helium, which can cost $10,000, or more for one trip, and the world-wide helium shortage keeps driving up the price.

demand played into causing the meltdown, it is unlikely that a bevy of smaller entities could have handled it any better.

The merger between the two companies gave the united entity the capabilities to attempt to handle a tour of this magnitude. Breaking them up because of frustration will open the door to this happening to more artists across the country. All in all, pinning this debacle on a 13-year-old merger is a classic case of misplaced rage. Holding an antitrust hearing about the “Eras” presale will end up missing the point entirely and distracting from any number of more pressing public policy priorities. This merger has been reviewed several times and cooler heads have clearly identified the mistakes that were made leading up to this massive inconvenience.

Despite Taylor Swift’s massive popularity, antitrust action to save her tour hardly qualifies as a pressing public policy priority.

Dan Savickas is the director of Policy at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. This article was originally published by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and made available via the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. And it was distributed to the News-Press by The Center Square, a nonprofit dedicated to journalism.

As February progressed, the public was not concerned about whether there was a pilot or the cost, but were any of the “fill-ins” true? President Biden relied on the ole dependable “it also happened during Trump’s administration.” After all the key players and the North American Aerospace Defense Command denied it, the president’s “fill-in” became “It was a small group at the Pentagon who did not notify the White House.” Surprise! The members of this “group” remain unnamed.

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. Connelly. “In fact, the amount of secrecy only increased.”

The State of the Union speech ushered in a “get tough” program that led to the shooting down of four more flying objects, including an alleged balloon launched by a U.S. group of people.

The Chinese proved theirs was a spy blimp by demanding the return of the contents of their balloon or they would impose sanctions on the U.S. defense contractors Boeing, Lockheed and Raytheon.

President Joe Biden flew to Europe while Secretary of State Anthony Blinken finally said that it was “A spy balloon engaged in active surveillance of sensitive military operations.”

The events on the fourth Saturday in January should be remembered for making us “fill-in” how much different the events would have been if our president had acted decisively, or if he had taken responsibility for not acting, or if it was some other country besides China, or if the third line of “It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s Superman” were true.

Brent E. Zepke is an attorney, arbitrator and author who lives in Santa Barbara. His website is OneheartTwoLivescom.wordpress. com. Formerly, he taught law and business at six universities and numerous professional conferences. He is the author of six books: “One Heart-Two Lives,” “Legal Guide to Human Resources,” “Business Statistics,” “Labor Law,” “Products and the Consumer” and “Law for NonLawyers.”