Santa Barbara News-Press: March 04, 2023

Bicycle Bob’s sold

Owners sell store to Trek Bicycle after 39 years - A5

‘A Sea Story’

Author connects global maritime and California missions histories - B1

Train, wood chipper collide

Up, up and away … finally

Delayed Falcon 9 soars from VSFB

By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

The mission control room erupted into applause and cheers as the Falcon 9 rocket — after a week of delays — finally took off Friday morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

The rocket was supposed to have taken off on Tuesday, but there were delays throughout the week, and the wintry weather played a role in those.

But on Friday, the weather was calm, the sun bright. And off the SpaceX rocket went, straight up into the deep blue sky, followed by a flawless separation of the first and second stages.

An Amtrak train collided Friday morning with a wood chipper that was on the back of a vehicle in the 11000 block of Calle Real in the Gaviota area. The Santa Barbara County Fire Department responded, and the train tracks were shut down. The incident commander reported no injuries on the train, and the driver of the pickup refused medical transport for minor injuries. The cause is under investigation, Capt. Scott Safechuck, public information officer for Santa Barbara County Fire, reported in a tweet. Call time for the collision was 10:41 a.m.

Pet thrift boutique owner

talks about break-in

Thief stole from enterprise that raises money for special needs, senior animals

By NEIL HARTSTEIN

STAFF WRITER

NEWS-PRESS

It was 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 22 when a homeless woman broke the window in the door to Give 2 Pets Thrift Boutique in downtown Santa Barbara and let herself in, helping herself to thousands of dollars worth of items before taking off.

The owner, Nadia Bernardi, was out of town, on vacation at the time, but police confirmed the break-in after responding to the storm alarm.

“What kind of person steals from a thrift store that benefits a charity??,” she demanded in an email to the News-Press. “She literally kicked in the door, and when that wasn’t working, she broke the glass. With an alarm going off, cameras going and the police on the way, she continued to take and take.

Unbelievable!”

She estimates the total value of her loss to be roughly $5,000,

including the monetary loss of items that were stolen, the broken door and the cost of repairs.

What’s galling to Ms. Bernardi, beyond the break-in and robbery and the thief’s open brazenness, is the fact that she considers herself to be a good person who does her best to help pets through her work and people through her kindness.

“I’m a person that believes in the goodness of people,” she told the News-Press in a subsequent interview. “I have helped, housed, given work to and volunteered with the homeless, drug addicts, veterans and, most of all, pets for the last 25 years.”

The Give 2 Pets Thrift Boutique, at 31 Parker Way, has been open since August 2021, and 100% of the proceeds from their sales go to the Give to Pets Foundation, which benefits a sanctuary for special needs and senior animals.

“We also provide pet sitting for the hospital, the cancer center and hospice,” Ms. Bernardi said.

“When people have no one to watch their animals through

their care, we are available. We do transitional pet placement for seniors that go into rest homes and can’t take their pet with them.”

The store has experienced more than its share of shoplifting over

the years but never to this extent, and never accompanied by such vandalism and violence to gain entry, she said.

“The thief had obviously been scouting the store prior,” Ms.

Please see BREAK-IN on A4

The first stage came back to Earth and landed on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You. The second stage went on its way and ultimately deployed 51 Starlink satellites into lowEarth orbit as part of efforts to improve internet access around the world.

“The weather is looking great for today’s launch,” SpaceX commercial sales manager Ronnie Foreman told viewers watching the livestream at SpaceX.com.

As the countdown continued, wispy clouds — routine venting of gasses, nothing to worry about — came from the sides of the rocket.

Right on schedule, at 10:38 a.m., the Falcon 9 took off. “Go, Falcon! Go, Starlink!” an announcer said.

Soon the rocket was traveling faster than the speed of sound. About a minute later, it achieved Max Q. “That’s when the vehicle is experiencing the greatest amount of external stresses,” Ms. Foreman said.

Two minutes after the launch came a series of back-to-back events that culminated in the separation of the first and second stages.

It was ultimately a successful week on both coasts for SpaceX. On Thursday, SpaceX’s crewed flight took two American astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates from Cape Canaveral to the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule docked with the ISS at 10:15 p.m. Pacific time Thursday. email: dmason@newspress.com

New Caltrans district director discusses SB County projects Scott Eades also talks about his career during News-Press interview

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Scott Eades has been named the new director of Caltrans District 5. The district covers Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Bernardino counties.

Mr. Eades is succeeding Tim Gubbins, who retired in 2022.

“I have worked in a range of different functions in Caltrans, which has given me a lot of insight and experience in this business and I have a lot of time working for Caltrans,” Mr. Eades told the News-Press. “As we have been through a lot of transition, we are a different organization than a decade ago. I am incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to move into this role.”

Mr. Eades has almost 30 years of experience working in transportation planning, engineering and project management. Since August 2020, Mr. Eades has served as the deputy director for transportation planning, local assistance and sustainability in District 5. He also worked in Caltrans headquarters as the statewide SB 1 program manager in an acting role in the spring of 2022.

The News-Press asked Mr. Eades about the scope and duties of the position. “We maintain the highway system and do project development

Scott Eades

looking into the future. The planning process coordinates with regional transportation agencies and plans for future needs and seeks funding.

“Project functions include design, hydraulics, environmental and engineering design, etc. We are also constantly inspecting bridges, and culverts and measuring the performance of these systems. Additionally, we respond to emergencies, and the last couple of months have been challenging on that front.”

Mr. Eades said the district’s work goes beyond highways.

“We are more and more looking

Please see DIRECTOR on

A thief recently broke into Give 2 Pets Thrift Boutique, a downtown Santa Barbara enterprise dedicated to helping animals.

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT PHOTOS

Police seize over 20 pounds of drugs

SANTA BARBARA — On

Wednesday at 8 pm, the Santa Barbara Police Department Special Investigations Unit seized drugs with a street value of over $130,000.

The deadly drugs were seized during a search warrant at a local Santa Barbara motel after a month-long investigation into drug sales in the city. Taken off the streets as a result of this investigation were 11 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, 10 pounds of fentanyl, a large amount of cash and a firearm.

This is an ongoing investigation with no further information available at this time, according to Santa Barbara police.

The Santa Barbara Police Department encourages anyone struggling with a drug addiction to seek assistance at any one of the local drug addiction rehabilitation clinics.

Anyone with information about fentanyl drug dealers are encouraged to call the Santa Barbara police’s special investigations unit at 805-8972339. A message can be left anonymously.

— Katherine Zehnder

Man dies despite CPR

SANTA BARBARA — On

Thursday at 4:58 p.m., Santa Barbara police officers responded to the 900 block of Chapala Street for a reported assault in progress.

Officers arrived on the scene and quickly determined no assault occurred. It appeared to 9-1-1 callers that an individual was assaulting a man lying on the ground. However, it was determined the individual was attempting to perform CPR on the unresponsive man.

Santa Barbara City Fire and AMR Paramedics arrived on the scene and continued CPR for approximately 30 minutes. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Coroner responded.

The cause of death is currently unknown, and the investigation is ongoing, according to Santa Barbara police. The name of the decedent is being withheld

TRAFFIC, CRIME AND FIRE BLOTTER

pending notification to the next of kin.

Katherine Zehnder

—

Tar on Fairview Overpass

GOLETA — Roofing tar from an unknown source ended up covering the Fairview Avenue northbound overpass above Highway 101.

The hazardous conditions led to the closures of lanes.

Santa Barbara County Fire medical engine 12 responded. Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office and Caltrans were on the scene for cleanup for an additional hour.

The call time was 9:14 a.m.., Capt. Scott Safechuck, public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, reported in a tweet.

— Katherine Zehnder

Caltrans provides update

MONTECITO/SUMMERLAND/ CARPINTERIA — Construction is beginning for the San Ysidro Roundabout in Montecito.

A pre-construction community overview meeting will take place at 5 p.m. March 9 at Montecito Union School, 385 San Ysidro Road, Montecito.

According to Caltrans, motorists can expect work in the northwest corner of the intersection of North Jameson Lane and San Ysidro Road as well as at the northbound on-ramp at San Ysidro Road and the overcrossing sidewalk by the ramp. The northbound on-

ramp will close on March 13 and remain closed through early 2025 for the roundabout and freeway construction.

Crews will remove old pavement, clear and grub vegetation, and begin grading for a new retaining wall, Caltrans said.

The southbound on-ramp at Olive Mill Road will reopen by March 8, and the southbound offramp at North Padaro Lane will reopen by March 10. Below is the schedule for closures, which is subject to change according to the weather.

NORTHBOUND HIGHWAY 101

• Sunday nights from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. will be one lane from Santa Monica Road to Sheffield Drive with off- and on-ramps closed at South Padaro/Santa Claus Lane.

• Monday to Thursday nights from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. will be one lane from Santa Monica Road to Sheffield Drive with off- and onramps closed at South Padaro/ Santa Claus Lane.

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

• The on-ramp at San Ysidro will be closed beginning March 13 until early 2025 (for the roundabout and highway work).

SOUTHBOUND HIGHWAY 101

• Sundays from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. will be one lane from Sheffield Drive to Carpinteria Avenue.

• Monday to Thursday nights

from 9 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. will be one lane from Sheffield Drive to Carpinteria Avenue, with the on-ramp closed at South Padaro/ Santa Claus Lane.

• March 13 to 16 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with the off-ramp closed at South Padaro/Santa Claus Lane.

• The on-ramp at Olive Mill will reopen by March 8. Until then, drivers can use the southbound on-ramp at Sheffield Drive until the ramp opens.

• The off-ramp at North Padaro Lane will reopen by March 10. In the meantime, drivers can use the detour at South Padaro Lane and Via Real until the ramp opens.

CARPINTERIA AVENUE FROM ESTERO STREET TO HIGHWAY

101

Flaggers will direct traffic (as needed) as crews build a new median island and bikeway connections.

OLIVE MILL ROUNDABOUT

The majority of construction occurs between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. daily. Project information, including maps and a timeline, is available at www.SBROADS.com.

Crews will continue work on drainage improvements, roadway base, and paving. Work will continue on a new architectural wall. Flaggers will direct traffic as needed.

Caltrans says drivers can expect night work from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. March 12-14, and that will include some night-time noise. Flaggers will direct traffic as needed.

— Katherine Zehnder

Projects planned in Lompoc, Guadalupe, New Cuyama, Santa Maria

DIRECTOR

Continued from Page A1

at other modes and ways to accommodate cyclists, pedestrians, and transit users, and we consider rail and transit options while making sure all users and modes are considered. We also make sure that aviation is functioning well.”

Mr. Eades spoke to his goals in this position.

“Our top priorities are safety for not only the traveling public but also the safety of workers on the front lines maintaining and improving the system, including maintenance and construction workers.

“Distracted driving is a big problem. We have seen speed increase in recent years, perhaps because of extra capacity on the highways due to COVID,” Mr. Eades said. “In the work zones, we need to make sure workers are protected and make it home to their families every night. We are monitoring systems to see if there are crash hot spots, where there is a higher crash history, and we look at ways to improve those.

“We are always monitoring and making sure those areas with above-average crashes and how to mitigate that. We are looking at how to accommodate all users, those that want to walk, bike, take transit, or rail, and make sure those get due consideration. Equity is a new focus as well when we think about the historical context of the highways. Highways can divide communities, and we are looking at ways to reconnect them, especially in underserved communities or smaller and disadvantaged communities.”

Previously, Mr. Eades served as the Santa Barbara 101 corridor manager where he worked with internal and external teams to

deliver a large ($700 million-plus) multimodal capital improvement program.

In this role, Mr. Eades led teams through California Environmental Quality Act challenges, Local Coastal Plan Amendment approvals, coastal permitting, Federal Highway Administration Major Project processes, and the first Construction Manager/ General Contractor delivery in District 5.

The News-Press asked Mr. Eades about the South Coast work on Highway 101.

“It is a substantial program of projects,” he said. “The goal is to provide full connectivity with HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) lanes in both directions and to have three continuous lanes in each direction from Goleta down to Ventura city. We just need to secure the final funding. The way that big project gets done is by commingling funding sources and competing for competitive funding sources.

“The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments has done a terrific job on that. It is critical to have matching funding sources and to have projects shovel-ready. It’s a pretty appealing project from a competitive funding standpoint.”

In earlier roles, Mr. Eades worked as a Caltrans project manager in District 5, a transportation engineer in District 5 Traffic operations, a transportation planner for the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments and a student assistant in District 5 transportation planning.

Mr. Eades also spoke to netting catching debris by the Gaviota Tunnel on Highway 101. “That is an emergency project which occurred through the January storms. We are in the process of pulling that debris out and putting up rock netting to stabilize that.”

The News-Press asked Mr. Eades about the work on State Route 154 in the Santa Ynez Valley.

“We are constantly evaluating the need for safety improvements based on crash history. Currently, there are no substantial lane widening projects changing the look of what is out there. We have been in emergency response mode.”

Mr. Eades spoke about debris removal from State Route 154 during the storm. Efforts include debris flow, clogged culverts, and removal of debris material that ended up in lanes.

Mr. Eades also indicated there will be upcoming projects in Lompoc and Guadalupe as well as beautification projects under the Clean California Program including projects in New Cuyama and Santa Maria.

Mr. Eades holds a bachelor’s of science in city and regional planning and a master’s of science in civil and environmental engineering, both from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He is also a certified project management professional and recently completed Caltrans Leadership Training Program II.

“A good portion of my experience was working on projects in Santa Barbara County,” Mr. Eades told the News-Press. “I was the project manager for some time on several projects and did a lot of early work on what is now the SB 101 South Coast Corridor Project. I have enjoyed working with local partners such as public works and SBCAG.

“It has been a great career working with so many terrific professionals. I’m honored to have this position.”

email: kzehnder@newspress.com

WENDY McCAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . Co-Publisher

ARTHUR VON WIESENBERGER . . . . .Co-Publisher

YOLANDA APODACA . . . . . . . . . . . Director of Operations

DAVE MASON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing Editor

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SANTA BARBARA POLICE DEPARTMENT

Santa Barbara police seized more than 20 pounds of illegal drugs, a large amount of cash and a firearm Wednesday evening.

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT The Fairview Avenue overpass was closed during efforts to clean up tar that smeared the roadway.

CALTRANS

This is an artist’s rendering of the upcoming San Ysidro Roundabout.

Dealing with the good and the bad in Portland, Ore

Editor’s note: Columnist Robert Eringer traveled up the coast this week to Portland, Ore.

Only a handful of states within the U.S. have no state income tax.

And only a handful of states have no sales tax — a tax that often surges by a city and/or county sales tax.

For instance, California’s base sales tax is 7.25%. But add city and county sales tax in Santa Barbara, and you pay 8.75% on almost all purchases, from a mug of joe to a six-figure automobile.

If you are willing to relocate, like so many Californians are doing lately, here is how to beat the system by avoiding (not evading) both state and sales tax and thus enabling you to save a lot of brazhort (a real consideration these days if you are fed up — as many are — with how Uncle Sam and state treasuries appropriate your money.

Oregon in the Pacific Northwest may be the best deal going, and that isn’t limited to the state’s inexpensive real estate prices.

When a server delivers your check at an Oregon restaurant, you can hardly believe your eyes.

You glance at the tab and go, “This can’t be real — they must have forgotten something.” But no, it’s all there, fair prices absent a steep percentage for tax.

Compare, say, a $10 cocktail (not happy hour) to the $21 charged by the gougers along Coast Village Road in Montecito, which, with tax and tip, tops out beyond 25 bucks.

But there is a way to lessen your tax burden and preserve your savings without even residing in the Beaver State.

Live in Vancouver.

No, not Canada.

This Vancouver is in Washington state, situated across the river from Portland, offering awesome views of the mighty Columbia River along with the

Stumptown city skyline.

If you reside in Vancouver, you pay no state income tax because the Evergreen State does not demand one.

For your consumer needs, whether groceries or sundries or clothes or jewelry or gasoline, simply cross the Interstate Bridge and minutes later you are in The Beaver State — great shopping and no sales tax. However, this caveat…

STUMPTOWN SLUMP

I love Portland. As cities go in the United States, I’ve always thought it is one of the best.

But this town is not easily making a rebound from COVID closures and the riots of 2020.

It isn’t just about homeless camping out in tents or without tents. It is about homeless incidents.

My first morning in town I opted for coffee at Starbucks in Pioneer Courthouse Square, the hub of downtown Portland. Bad move. No tables and chairs. Not even a shelf to stand by for enjoying one’s latte. This, apparently, is Starbucks’ answer in big cities for dealing with the homeless, who would otherwise invade the premises and camp out all day.

(I recommend Case Study Coffee Roasters.)

As I walked into Starbucks, a disheveled adult male was in the midst of a major wig-out with staff over some misperceived slight. A lone security guard (no commercial establishment operates without one or two, often

Horse Sense

as doormen) stood up to the angry, loud and abusive tramp, nose to nose, and had every right to toss him out the door, having asked him politely to leave and being told, “Make me, a—hole.” But you can’t blame him for not actually pushing him out the door and risking his safety because It’s not like the cops in this town would back him up.

Makes me think of the old Amex ad campaign “Don’t leave home without it.”

In Portland, sorry to say, don’t leave home without pepper spray.

Later, I stopped into Azar, my favorite chocolate shop, within The Heathman, a four-star hotel on SW Broadway. The owner told me hers is the only chocolate shop in town to survive the lockdown and riots. Now it’s LOCKED-IN. She unbolted the door for me to enter. It is otherwise locked, she says, because of “homeless incidents every day.” The day before, she told me, a homeless woman had run in, grabbed the tip jar with a few bucks in it and run out, leaving behind her coat and sleeping bag.

Not very smart in this winter’s chill. But as local business owners will tell you, mental illness is a large part of the problem.

Aside from the homeless, downtown streets are mostly quiet and deserted, not too different from my last visit here in July 2000 at the height of the protests and rioting. (I had to see what was going down for myself to believe it — and quite an appalling spectacle it was.) But at least now the shops are open instead of boarded up and plastered with

graffiti. (That is, those that still exist; many commercial premises were vacated during COVID and remain in search of new tenants).

But where are the shoppers?

When I popped into Nike’s flagship store, it had more staff (including two security doormen) than customers, the number of whom I could count on one hand.

The town I once nicknamed Sneaker Ville (Adidas is also headquartered here) is sadly in need of a new soul, even if one feels sorrow for the countless lost souls wandering aimlessly through city streets.

Some redemption comes in the form of Domaine Serene Wine Lounge. Their premier wine — ordered by the glass or flight and served in a truly serene setting — does wonders around 5:33 pm to brighten the glumness outside.

GREATER IDAHO MOVEMENT

48-21. That is the Idaho House of Representatives’ vote in favor of allowing discussion over a large swath of eastern Oregon joining their state, having adopted this resolution: “The Idaho Legislature stands ready to begin discussions with the Oregon Legislature regarding the potential to relocate the Idaho/Oregon state boundary, in accordance with the will of the citizens of eastern Oregon, and we invite the Oregon Legislature to begin talks on this topic with the Idaho legislature.” Legislation has already been introduced in Oregon that would require, if approved, to enter talks

Working in Hollywood as a stunt child, Monty Roberts shares some fascinating stories about when he was eight years old and played Elizabeth Taylor in the film National Velvet. He also discusses how he helped South American polo ponies get trained using a non-violent approach. Wade Walker, DVM at the Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center, explains some new technology to help analyze a horse’s asymmetry. At Happy Endings Horse Sanctuary, C.C. Beaudette-Wellman discusses the unconditional love that we share with our animals.

ROBERT ERINGER PHOTOS

Robert Eringer, who visited Portland, Ore., this week, became reacquainted with the city’s charm but also saw vacant storefronts — remnants of the pandemic.

Please see ERINGER on A4

ROBERT ERINGER

805-563-0933

Theft cost thrift store thousands in damage and lost goods

BREAK-IN

Continued from Page A1

Bernardi said. “She went for very particular items, our high end, but specific! She knew what she wanted! Vintage desirable clothing, custom vintage jewelry and one particular

piece in one spot that she really wanted, an odd item.”

The thief stole several T-shirts, included a Dodgers starter tee; two Los Olivos day in the country tees; a 9/11 memorial tee; a yellow ribbon tee with the ribbon and American flag that says “Tony Orlando” in a gold signature; a purple tee with flowers that looked painted

on; another purple tee that had Halloween patches/embroidery and a black chase authentics tee.

“We sell those T-shirts anywhere from $30 to $60 each,” she said. “There was rare one-of-akind vintage clothing that can’t be replaced. At

Please see BREAK-IN on A8

Secession movements have yielded results

ERINGER

Continued from Page A3

with Idaho.

The 21% of Oregon’s population residing in counties east of the Cascade mountains range believe they are ignored by those in western Oregon’s large cities, Portland, Eugene and Salem (the state capital). They believe they have much more in common with Idaho’s red state policies than what they view as The Beaver State’s (expensive) urban anarchy.

This is not an Idaho land grab. It began with the residents of 11 eastern counties voting to switch states. Now they are up to 13 counties, roughly two-thirds of state territory.

WATCH TONIGHT AT 9:30PM ON Design Santa Barbara

On this episode we travel up to the north of Santa Barbara County to a historic Hotel in Orcutt with esteemed local realtor Adam McKaig. Also we visit a beach property decorated by Leesa Wilson-Goldmuntz with your host MICHAEL KOUROSH

I want to thank YOU, the YTS Productions, the featured Interior Designers and my hard working crew for making the last 18 seasons a wonderful experience for me and the viewers from around the world. With appreciation, Michael Kourosh

Those behind the Greater Idaho Movement point out that “Oregon refuses to protect citizens from criminals, rioters, wildfire arsonists, illegals and the homeless but then infringes on your right to defend your family with firearms. Idaho enforces the law.”

In other words, a liberal Portlandia lifestyle does not suit conservative ranchers, loggers and sawmill workers in rural areas.

I asked Matt McCaw, spokesperson for the Greater Idaho Movement, why I cannot find opposition within Oregon to their proposal.

“There is no ongoing popular opposition against us,” he told me.

However, the bill for Oregon’s legislature to open discussion with Idaho, says Mr. McCaw, is stuck in committee because Senate President Peter Courtney “is not interested in looking at it.”

Several polls, both in Idaho and eastern Oregon, strongly support a new boundary so Mr. McCaw is hopeful that Salem’s politicos will come round. “If not this legislation session,” he told me, “we will try again next year.”

A poll conducted by Survey USA asked the question, “Should Oregon’s state government look into what the effect on Oregon would be if Oregon became part of Idaho, and how the transition could be done smoothly?”

Sixty-eight percent said Yes; 20%, No, and 12% Not sure.

I reached out to Oregon Senate President Rob Wagner for his thoughts on the proposed boundary change, also posing a question about why he will not allow the issue to advance beyond committee stage. He did not respond.

If the Greater Idaho Movement prevails, it would most certainly inspire the folks in the rural regions of blue states all around the country who do not want to be dictated to by big city governments, their hugely concentrated populations and non-proportional expenditure.

SECESSION AS A TOOL FOR LOWER TAXES

Secession, while a steeply uphill

battle, is not so outlandish as one may think. Declaring yourself independent of the United States is not likely to get you anywhere. But a strategy for part of one state to try to annex with another, or to create a wholly independent state within the U.S., has in the past led to positive results.

Case in point: In 1994, 120 residents of Long Island, off the coast of Maine, successfully seceded from the city of Portland after the city raised property taxes. Long Island held a referendum on election day in 1992 and, by a margin of threeto-one, favored secession. Maine legislators voted to allow the island to secede in so long as the islanders coughed up $1.3 million for city property, which was negotiated down to $600,000.

A Maine lawmaker said at the time, “It’s only fair to let the island’s voters decide their fate.”

Their fate included a 33% decrease in property tax

Just the threat of secession has caused governmental authority to cave in certain instances.

In 1992 , 11 counties in western Kansas threatened to secede and create the new state of West Kansas over the issue of disproportionate school tax. Those united counties planned a constitutional convention. But two weeks before convening, policymakers in Topeka capitulated and reapportioned school tax in favor of all 11 counties.

MONTECITO

Bringing it home to Montecito, everybody knows that the city of Santa Barbara takes more than it provides from Coast Village Road, which, everybody also knows, should belong to Montecito but for a bum deal 63 years ago when business and property owners along this stretch voted 38 to 15 to leave the unincorporated county and join the city. One month later the Santa Barbara City Council formally adopted the “Montecito Strip Annexation.”

The spirit with which the part of Montecito annexed itself to Santa Barbara has now dissipated.

The revenue brought in by Coast Village Road (property and sales

tax) could more directly benefit its inhabitants if these funds were spent on maintenance and upgrades along what has become (since the annexation of 1960) a thriving thoroughfare.

So it makes sense that Coast Village Road’s business and property owners are entitled to a new referendum on whether to remain under the purview of the city or return to the unincorporated county. This is a realistic option for either selfdetermination or as a tool to exact leverage on the city for meeting its needs — or at least providing services commensurate with what they receive in taxes.

The mechanics for doing so are these: Coast Village Road’s residents and business owners would lobby the Montecito Association to organize a referendum on this issue. If an overwhelming majority votes in favor of splitting from the city, they could rightfully announce a return to county control (like the rest of Montecito) and offer to pay the city of Santa Barbara for anything that belongs to them.

Using the Portland, Maine case as precedent, one could define “overwhelming” as a 75% majority in favor.

Coast Village Road would thereafter withhold various tax revenues that normally go to the city of Santa Barbara and utilize these funds for upgrading sidewalks, landscape improvements and street lighting, in addition to having a major say in planning issues, currently the city’s domain.

Rather than cede to majority rule, the city may sue over withheld taxes. Courts would then interpret and adjudicate laws and, years on, the Supreme Court of California would issue a decision.

More likely, the city of Santa Barbara would negotiate a ceding — as did Portland, Maine — rather than absorb the huge expense of multiyear litigation.

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

Business/Real Estate

A local bicycle store’s legacy

Bicycle Bob’s owners retire after nearly four decades of serving the Santa Barbara area

After 39 years in

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

It’s been a good, long ride for Bob and Julia Zaratzian, who recently retired after 39 years in business as owners of Bicycle Bob’s in Goleta.

The Zaratzians opened Bicycle Bob’s in downtown Santa Barbara in March 1983. They expanded their business with the opening of the Goleta store in 1988.

Nine years ago, they consolidated their stores at the Goleta location at 320 S. Kellogg Ave.

The couple have sold their longtime store, which is near the State Route 217 on- and off-ramps, to Trek Bicycle.

The sale comes after Mr. Zaratzian’s lifetime of working with bicycles.

“My father owned bike shops before I was born, and I grew up in bike shops where I learned the business in a small town in Orange County,” Mr. Zaratzian told the News-Press. “One day my dad decided to sell the business.

“On our very last day in business, an attractive woman and her mother came in, and I asked her out for a bike ride,” he said. “I later moved to Santa Barbara where she was attending UCSB. She later became my wife, Julia.

“I got a job working in a bike shop but realized I could do it better than these powerhouse shops. I borrowed some money, opened my shop, and things evolved from there.”

Mr. Zaratzian spoke about what his business means to this community.

“I have tried to be involved with nonprofits and schools in both Santa Barbara and Goleta,” he said.

“We have donated to various schools in the area, and we have worked hard with Trek Bicycles to cut pricing to get kids on bikes,” Mr. Zaratzian said. “Lots of schools now have cycling as a physical education activity. Some schools have purchased 12 to 30 bikes from us for kids to use during physical education. That’s a big deal.

“We have always given donations; we have given

to schools and nonprofits,” he continued. “About 18 years ago, we decided not to spend money on advertising and put the money toward donations to nonprofits and schools. It made us feel better about how we were spending money, doing more good for the community and in the long run doing better for us business-wise.”

He explained that instead of specializing, Bicycle Bob’s tried to meet the needs of all kinds of bicyclists, including commuters and everyday recreational riders. He noted the business won the reader’s poll every year in the News-Press.

“You could walk into our shop and be treated honestly and fairly,” he said.

The News-Press asked Mr. Zaratzian why he is passionate about cycling.

“We all have experienced the increased volume of cars on the road,” he said. “For a lot of people, it’s not very difficult to run to the grocery store or ride with their child to school. It is better for the planet, better for your health and saves money over driving.”

He includes himself in the category of recreational riders, who he noted have the option of riding with others or riding alone. He noted bicycling provides “the brain space that is created by seeing wildlife in a very nice and relaxing way, taking away from the stress of the day.

“You can go for as short or long as you want, and it is a great physical and mental exercise,” he said.

Mr. Zaratzian spoke about the legacy he hopes he is leaving behind.

“I think potentially getting the door open for more

Lessons learned from COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic took the entire world by surprise in 2020. It impacted every individual, family, business and aspect of life as we knew it. The outbreak of COVID-19 infected more than 96 million people worldwide, took the lives of at least 2.6 million and spread to nearly every country in the world.

From event cancellations to lockdowns to surges in cases to mask mandates, COVID-19 has been a wild roller coaster ride. It has changed the way we do things for evermore.

Daniel Susskind, economist at Oxford University, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has created a medical crisis and an economic crisis.It presents challenges just as big as those in the Spanish flu pandemic and the Great Depression — all at once!”

This crisis is alarming because it has several new and unfamiliar features. The pandemic is a global medical emergency caused by a virus we still do not fully understand. It was a selfinflicted economic catastrophe as a necessary policy response to contain its spread.

The world after COVID-19 is unlikely to return to the world that was. Many trends are already under way in the global economy and are being accelerated by the impact of the pandemic.

The most important lesson from the pandemic is the importance of working together on problems that affect the entire human race.

We are much stronger united than divided.

The need for an “emergency fund” has become more important

than what was thought prudent before the pandemic. Emergency funds were considered “wasted assets” in recent times by many financial advisers given the low interest rate environment. Having three to six months’ worth of living expenses put back into a savings account can be a lifesaver.

Panic buying can lead to inflation of prices of staples, which we all rely on and should be able to afford. Consumers buying in stress, fearful they won’t have enough of what they need to get through a shutdown, will hurt stores when they are not able to accurately assess supply and demand. Clearer messaging by both consumers and businesses is the best solution here.

The COVID-19 pandemic serves as an excellent reminder to live within our means. We should invest in ourselves first — i.e. emergency funds and retirement accounts. We must look to differentiate between essential and non-essential expenses.

Don’t “react” to market swings.

Stay focused on your financial goals and plan. A portfolio of quality investments should be maintained. During market

PCH Street Salon Ribbon

volatility remember this advice, “Don’t do something; just stand there” — a twist on the wellknown saying!

Some investments have forever changed because of the pandemic. Investments in parking lots, traditional offices and many regular retail centers do not bring the promise they once did. In many instances, these assets are being “repurposed.”

Other asset classes have brought great promise as a result of COVID-19. Online shopping has become more popular than ever and is continuing to grow. Distribution centers show promise as demand in that real estate sector continues to grow.

The way we all do business has changed in many ways and will continue to be a part of our lives. Many businesses incorporated Zoom or Facetime meetings remotely during the pandemic. Many of these companies have made this a part of doing business well into the future.

Though many have returned to the workplace, many continue to work remotely. This will continue to be a big part of how the world does business.

There aren’t many things we can guarantee, but one thing we do guarantee is “change.” The world has changed dramatically as a result of the coronavirus. With change there are opportunities and there are difficulties.

Keep looking for the “good stuff.” And more importantly, stay the course.

Tim Tremblay is president of Tremblay Financial Services in Santa Barbara (www. tremblayfinancial.com).

COURTESY PHOTOS

business, Bob and Julia Zaratzian have sold Bicycle Bob’s in Goleta to Trek Bicycle as they embark upon their retirement.

California lieutenant governor signs bill ensuring coronavirus testing access

By TOM JOYCE

THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) - Serving as Acting Governor of California on Thursday, Eleni Kounalakis signed a piece of legislation regarding the state’s pandemic response.

Ms. Kounalakis signed AB 269, an urgency measure filed by Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park. It authorizes, “qualified laboratory personnel to continue solely processing COVID-19 tests and permits COVID19 testing sites contracted with the California Department of Public Health

(CDPH) to continue dispensing COVID19 therapeutics until January 2024,” according to a press release from the governor’s office.

“This measure preserves important tools in the state’s response to the pandemic and will continue to protect public health as California moves

forward, focusing on preparedness and support for our communities,” the release said. The bill came up two days after the state’s coronavirus state of emergency ended. The state’s SMARTER Plan still guides the state concerning coronavirus vaccines, testing, and

Alarm prevented woman from taking any cash

BREAK-IN

Continued from Page A4

$40 to $200.”

She also stole a designer vintage purse and a rack of custom vintage jewelry.

“It was our most expensive little rack that my one sales girl was in charge of. Her specialty is rare vintage. It’s to the left of the store by the door on the way out. She took the whole rack.”

Plus, she took a small jewelry hand-size ceramic box. “She knew exactly where it was because she went back for it.”

The woman didn’t have time to grab any cash because the alarm was sounding, and police were on their way, Ms. Bernardi said.

Apparently, the thief had tried to push the store door open about 1:30 a.m., “and even though she broke everything wasn’t able to

enter,” Ms. Bernardi said. “The alarm went off and she left. About 20 minutes later she saw that the police weren’t coming. So she went back and broke the glass, reached in and got inside.”

Ms. Bernardi was on vacation in Hawaii when her alarm system sounded at her Santa Barbara store, and she got a message from it on her phone.

“I thought it must have been a mistake,” she said. “I phoned the SB Police Department. They told me that Santa Barbara was having 60 miles-an-hour winds and that about 10 other alarms had gone off around town. He said they had limited police on duty and that they would confirm with me after they checked my store out.

“About a half hour later, the police officer phoned me and told me that he was at my location, and, yes, there was evidence that I had been robbed. So he secured the scene.”

She did not cut her vacation short, depending instead on her “very reliable” employees to hold down the fort until she got back home.

“I phoned my employee and had him go down to meet the police in the middle of the night, seal the broken glass and lock up as best

he could … until the carpenter went the next day and fixed things up temporarily.”

The monetary loss of the stolen items was bad enough, but the cost to repair the extensive damage to the door was expensive as well, she said.

“The door has been fixed temporarily. The glass has been put in. But it may have to be replaced altogether, she said.

“I have insurance, but I haven’t talked to them yet, and I don’t know if I’m covered.”

She wasn’t.

In an email sent later to the News-Press, she said she subsequently learned that her insurance doesn’t cover theft. Only liability.

“Turns out I’m only covered if someone falls or hurts themselves,” she said. “So it’s a total loss for me.”

She ended up having to pay the carpenter herself.

This latest example of shoplifting is not unique in the fact that it occurred, just that it happened the way it did, she said.

“We have shoplifters all the time! I don’t know why I spend the money on security that I do because people can steal up to $950 worth of merchandise, and there is nothing you can do about it. People shoplift all the time from us.

“Once I had a couple on camera walk out with tons of things stuffed into their pants and in their backpacks, and there was nothing I could do about it because they didn’t steal

enough. Had them on camera and everything! We have signs all over the store that say, ‘Stealing is bad karma.’” This time it’s different, however.

“We have beat the $950 (minimum), and if caught, she can face charges!” Ms. Bernardi said.

“People think that because I’m in a thrift store, I get everything for free. But I don’t just order merchandise somewhere to resell.

I go out there with a 10-by-10 truck and two to four men.

“We pick up whole households sometimes,” she continued. “I have to pay them, store everything in very expensive storages, sort through everything, tag and price, pay for employees, rent, insurance and endless taxes and fees that go on and on. Nothing is free!!!!”

Ms. Bernardi said that’s why she’s hoping this particular thief is caught. “I believe there has to be consequences only because I don’t want my store to be a revolving door for thieves.”

“But otherwise I just pity these people. I’m sad! I know the problem arises from so many other issues. I feel compassion and lots of sadness. Most of all, I’m glad no one got hurt.”

Despite the traumatizing experience, Ms. Bernardi remains undaunted. She’s already restocked the store’s shelves and reopened for business as usual.

“The best support that we can have from the community is to come shop,” she said. email: nhartsteinnewspress@ gmail.com

treatment. The lieutenant governor was acting as the state’s governor because Gov. Gavin Newsom was not at the state house. He was touring the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in Avila Beach, according to the governor’s office -- about 300 miles from Sacramento.

UCSB men’s basketball defeats UC Davis

By KRISTEN KELLER UCSB SPORTS

The UCSB men’s basketball team (23-7, 14-5 Big West) started the final week of regular season Big West play as they made the trip to Davis to take on the UC Davis Aggies. Following this trip, the Gauchos rounded out their last road game with a win, taking down the Aggies 89-86 on their home court.

“This was such a gritty road win for our team. I couldn’t be prouder of our players for the fight they showed tonight,” said Coach Joe Pasternack.

HOW IT HAPPENED

UCSB started the game on pace with the Aggies as the two teams were tied until the clock went below 15 minutes. UC Davis went on a seven-point run to take the lead and by the 10-minute mark, the Aggies extended their lead 10. With the help of Josh Pierre-Louis, Andre Kelly and Cole Anderson, they battled back within one of the Aggies before halftime as they were only down 37-36.

Once the Gauchos returned to the court, they were ready to continue the fight against this tough Big West opponent. The Gauchos took the lead early in the second half before UC Davis lit up and went on a 12-point run to take a comfortable lead in the first five minutes. Even with this advantage, it wasn’t enough to hold off the Gauchos. UCSB came back from this deficit, tying the game with eight minutes left in this contest. The lead changed 11 times from there as neither team was willing to give up this battle. But in the final minute of play, the Gauchos took control with a pair of free throws from Ajay Mitchell, which ultimately propelled the Gauchos to the 8986 win over the Aggies.

LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS

• Six Gauchos ended the night in double-digit points as this full team effort pushed UCSB to victory. The Gaucho with the most points was none other than Ajay Mitchell. The sophomore guard scored all 20 of his points

in the second half, making sixof-nine shots from the field while going 100 percent from the charity stripe in those 20 minutes.

• Finishing second on the team in points was Josh PierreLouis, putting up 17 in this game while shooting 60 percent from the field. Along with that, he led the team in rebounds, grabbing six while also adding on five assists, a steal and a block.

• Two players finished the game with 15 points, and they were Cole Anderson and Miles Norris. Anderson went five-of-six from the field with just one three pointer while going 100 percent from the free throw line. Norris, on the other hand, shot at a 60 percent clip while adding on five rebounds and a block.

• Andre Kelly’s game was cut short due to foul trouble, but in his 20 minutes on the court, he put up 12 points while contributing four rebounds and a block. Senior Calvin Wishart also registered double-digit points in tonight’s game, putting up 10 points while dishing out five assists.

UP NEXT

The Gauchos will play their final game of the regular season in The Thunderdome today while honoring their five seniors Norris, Pierre-Louis, Wishart, Kelly and Ajare Sanni prior to the game. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. against Hawai’i for this nationally-televised game on ESPNU. UCSB will also look to clinch at least a share of The Big West regular season title while having their sights on setting a new school record for the most wins in a season. Fans won’t want to miss all of this action in The Thunderdome for this White Out game. As mentioned previously, the Gauchos will be on ESPNU with live stats also available through ucsbgauchos. com.

Kristen Keller is the associate athletic director for communications and digital strategy at UCSB. email: sports@newspress.com

UCSB women’s basketball’s home slate ends in tough game against Aggies

By ERIC BOOSE UCSB SPORTS

UCSB women’s basketball (1910, 12-7 Big West) certainly didn’t imagine their home schedule ending like it did Thursday night, as the Gauchos fell, 8059, against UC Davis (15-13, 11-7 Big West). Alexis Tucker scored 13 points to lead the team, and Callie Cooper added 11 more off the bench. Ila Lane moved into a tie for fourth place on the program’s all-time rebounds leaderboard.

HOW IT HAPPENED

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people to realize how fun bike riding can be. The excitement and freedom of getting that first bike we see regularly in the shop with adults and the joy that riding brings. We remember how much fun it is to get on a bike. The joy and excitement are still there.

“Getting that joy and excitement from riding is pretty cool. That and the customer service is what I hope people associate with me. I love dealing with people and talking and interacting with customers that are hands down my favorite parts.”

“I would still be doing this if I wasn’t 70 and have grandchildren with whom I want to spend time,” Mr. Zaratzian said. “I enjoyed being in the shop daily and working with the staff we had. It was an awesome staff and working with the public in general. My life has changed, and my job description has changed since children have been a huge source of joy in my life; now I get to enjoy my grandchildren.

“Additionally, caring about kids was why donations went primarily to elementary schools. We all know that our education system needs help, and that was a way we could help.”

email: kzehnder@newspress.com

UC Davis got off to a faster start, building a 12-4 lead midway through the first quarter, but with two minutes left in the frame, the Gauchos started to put together some offense. A Skylar Burke threepointer cut the Aggie lead to five, and it looked like UCSB was getting themselves back into the game. And then UC Davis beat the first quarter buzzer on a long range, three-point heave that banked in to make it an eightpoint game instead. Despite the Gauchos’ best efforts, the scoreline never got that close again.

Despite trailing the entire second and third quarters, UCSB put the Aggies under pressure to end the third, forcing turnovers and bad shots on the defensive end and getting some shots to fall on the offense, putting together an 11-2 run in the final few minutes of the quarter. With 32 seconds to go until the fourth, the Gauchos were within 13 points and had

all the momentum. But again, a Davis three-pointer handed that momentum back to the Aggies. They carried that momentum through the fourth quarter and to the final buzzer.

BY THE NUMBERS

• After Thursday’s game, Ila Lane now has 869 career rebounds, which is tied for the fourth-most in UCSB women’s basketball history.

• Callie Cooper’s 11 points Thursday night make a nice, round 150 on her young career; this is only the third time Cooper has scored in double-digits, with all three coming in the last month.

• With her seven makes from the charity stripe on Thursday, Alexis Tucker has now made over 100 free throws this season; she is shooting .829 (102-123) from the line and has only missed one of her last 25.

UP NEXT

The regular-season finale is up next for UCSB, and with it a trip to the islands. The Gauchos will play Hawai’i today, in a game with seeding implications for the Big West Championship. UCSB currently holds the third seed, and would clinch it with a win in Honolulu. With a loss, they could fall as far as the fifth seed. Tip off from Hawaii is set for 9 p.m. PST on Saturday.

Eric Boose is assistant director of athletic communications at UCSB.

email: sports@newspress.com

‘The joy and excitement are still there’

COURTESY PHOTO

The break-in leaves damage on the boutique’s front door. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the store’s sales go to the Give to Pets Foundation, which benefits a sanctuary for special needs and senior animals.

HONEYMAN, Walter “Pete”

Walter “Pete” Honeyman peacefully passed away

February 21st at the age of 96 after succumbing to the advances of age. He is survived by his children, Michael Gregory Honeyman and wife Susan, Sharon Peterson and husband Paul, Jeff Honeyman and wife Heidi; grandchildren, Echo Molina, Joshua Honeyman, Erik Honeyman, Matthew Honeyman, Michelle Honeyman; and great-grandson Henry Molina.

He is preceded in death by the mother of his children, Erma Honeyman Lawton, grandson Michael Honeyman, and great-grandson Daniel Molina.

Born in Lavaca, Arkansas, Walter moved with his family to farm in Carpinteria at the age of 10. Around that time, he adopted his lifelong nickname “Pete” from the name of a rooster, (Pedro) that used to torment him at the farm. In 1944, Pete enlisted in the Navy and served at the US Naval Base in San Diego. After the war, Pete began work for Chevron Oil, driving tanker trucks from the oil fields in the Santa Ynez Valley to the Gaviota storage facility. In the late 1950s, he joined General Telephone Co. as a lineman where he and his coworkers brought telephone service to the Santa Ynez Valley. Afterward, he could be found in one of the many yellow and white service vans maintaining the phone system in and around Carpinteria.

Pete retired from the phone company in the late 1970s and after living in various locations, settled in Buellton to be close to family. Pete enjoyed many years of retirement and could often be seen walking in the Ranch Club Estates greenbelt with his beloved companion dog, Sadie.

Pete made friends easily and always had a kind word toward everyone he knew. He is remembered as a devoted father to his family and is dearly missed. Loper Funeral Chapel, Directors

CAPLAN, Karen Saralegui Larsen

Karen Saralegui Larsen Caplan passed away in her sleep, early morning Wednesday, January 11, 2023. She was born March 15, 1943, in Santa Barbara, CA to Maxine and Manual Silva, who divorced shortly after. Maxine married Bernard Saralegui, and they raised their eight children of which Karen was the oldest, on Bernard’s family ranch, just outside of Santa Barbara, CA. Karen graduated from Santa Ynez Valley High School in 1961.

Shortly thereafter, she met her best friend’s older brother, Adrian Larsen, when he came home from serving in the US Air Force. They were married February, 1962, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. They attended Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, and Karen taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School there.

Karen was a licensed day care provider for 10 years.The children and their families absolutely loved her! She was later even invited to some of those children’s weddings.

She started working at Raytheon in 1981. In order to qualify for that job, she took classes for shorthand at S.B.C.C. In 1988, she and Adrian divorced.

While working at Raytheon, Karen Met Frank Caplan. They were married in 1992. They both retired that same year, bought an RV and traveled a lot, putting 75,000 miles on their RV, and seeing most of the United States.

Karen volunteered for many years crocheting various items for the Unity Shop Knitters Group. She also crocheted blankets for each of her kids. She asked each of her grandchildren what their favorite color was, then made them a blanket out of that color. She was very active for several years with the Red Hat Society, as well as the women’s group at the SB Elks Lodge.

Karen was diagnosed with dementia in 2019. In 2020, for her safety and well being, the extremely difficult decision was made for her to live in a memory care facility. She was there for over two years. When the memory care facility was no longer able to take care of all of her needs, she was moved to a hospice care facility on Monday morning January 9th, 2023.

Karen was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Kathleen; a brother, Kevin; and one grandson who was waiting for her at Heaven’s gate when she arrived. She is survived by her husband of 31 years, Frank Caplan; four sisters, Cheryl, Sandi, Joyce and Cindy; one brother, Mark; 3 half sisters, Debi, Valerie, and Sharon; her daughters, Coreen, Deanna, and Julie; 3 stepdaughters, Ellen, Allison, and Jennifer; one step son, Michael; 4 grandsons, and 2 granddaughters, 3 step-grandsons, 3 step-granddaughters, 11 great-grandchildren, cousins, neices, and nephews as well.

Karen was an extraordinary, wonderful woman who touched so very many lives, always helping those she could. She was an AMAZING cook, and a LOT of gatherings were held at her home with tons of FANTASTIC Food. She loved fiercely and was truly loved by so many! Those who were close to her and loved by her, were extremely blessed more than words can express! She is so heartily missed!

A celebration of life will be held Saturday March 18th at,10:30am, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church 380 No. Fairview Ave Goleta, CA.

MCCORKELL, Marilyn

I met Marilyn in the summer of 1968, between my junior and senior year at the University of Tulsa. I turned 21 on June 28, and decided to run for the Oklahoma House of Representatives in a primary scheduled for August of 1968. My good friend and fellow political science student, Katie, suggested I meet her friend, Marilyn, whom she had known since the first grade in Enid, Oklahoma. She thought I would really like her. Katie invited Marilyn to come and visit her in Tulsa and she came. I have to confess it was love at first sight. She was so beautiful, so intelligent and, so amazingly warm. Marilyn was there for a couple of days and then went back home. Katie said I should invite her to come back and to work on my campaign. I said I would love that, but I thought Katie would have a better chance of persuading her to come. Sure enough, she came and spent virtually every day of July and August working with me on the campaign. On the fourth Tuesday of August, I lost the election. I saw her on the following Saturday night, but she was scheduled to go back home and back to Oklahoma State University the next day. I just could not stand the thought of losing her and so I asked her to marry me. She said yes. She then moved to Tulsa, transferred to Tulsa University to complete her degree, and we got married on Feb 1, 1969. We celebrated our 54th anniversary on Feb 1st of this year, as she was lying in bed at the hospice. It was the last day she was alert and she passed away at 3:30 a.m., February 3rd , with me at her side.

I know it is common to refer one’s “better half”; in our case, she was far more than that. I have had the great fortune of knowing some incredible people over my life; people with talent, ability, intelligence, courage - all great qualities. Marilyn though was the single most incredible and magnificent person I have ever known. In a time when women dealt with lots of constraints - only a few decades ago - Marilyn was an experienced horsewoman, a visual artist, a lawyer, a mom of two sons, and a social services professional. Her exceptional work as a delinquent case worker - difficult and very hard then and now - is not well known. When she suffered from a vicious assault, at our home, she faced it with unbelievable courage and grace, and continued to work compassionately with her criminal delinquent clients. She helped change many of their lives as a counsellor and therapist.

I learned so much from Marilyn. She taught me how to ride horses, but she also taught me how to drive a standard transmission car. She had driven and raced competitively in college. That was nothing compared to what she taught me with her life and example. She consistently faced the worst pains with a quiet courage. She even drove herself to the hospital when she had a ruptured appendix.

I remember one time when I returned home after a Democratic convention in which each of the legislators there, including myself, were given “certificates of courage” for our support for a new education tax. Marilyn just laughed when she saw it. She knew it did not take courage for a Democrat to support an education tax bill. In that case it was Republican Governor Henry Bellmon and the few Republicans who supported the tax who deserved recognition for their courage. There were times when I was “courageous” but this was not one of them and she knew it.

Marilyn stood with me through many losses. I lost three races for the legislature before I was elected the fourth time. She backed me every time without question. During my first term I led an effort to dramatically reform nursing homes, a pitched battle we won when everyone thought we would lose. At the time, Marilyn was an employee of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services headed by Lloyd Rader, then reputedly, the most powerful man in Oklahoma and a close ally of the nursing home industry. Marilyn was eight months pregnant and we were facing our re-election when Rader abruptly transferred her to a job 250 miles away, effectively firing her. This cut our income in half and for several years we paid the consequences of having to live in virtual poverty, driving a Volkswagen with a hole in the floor, having to deal with one home robbery after another. We had to cook Christmas dinner on our outside barbecue only to see the barbecue and the turkey stolen from our porch. Eventually Rader left the department and Marilyn was able to go back to work with older delinquents. We worked hard to recover financially but even when I retired from the House in 1996, I left with zero net worth and no real income, but Marilyn and I decided that I should devote all of my energy to trying to build a successful business. In the meantime, Marilyn tried to keep the creditors at bay. Somehow, she did that until we were able to succeed with our power plant development business. For the first time in our lives we had real income and real net worth. We celebrated by traveling, visiting our son, Matt in Japan and China, and traveling to Europe, Africa, and even Papua New Guinea. Those were special, really precious times that did not last long enough. I was able to buy Marilyn some horses to give her the chance to once again feel the closeness she had with them. During her adolescence, her relationship with her beloved horse and the hundreds of hours she spent with him helped her surmount years of abuse by her family. She revived her stout interests and real talent in art. She had always been a talented artist and once again displayed this wonderful touch.

We have two sons, Matthew and Joseph. She was totally devoted to both and to each of our five grandchildren: Isamu, Aiyumi, Ewan, Caitlin, and Liam and our daughters in law, Ai and Lisa. The whole family has been very close and share our love for her. Somehow, we have collectively carried this terrible sadness - a sadness that has blanketed every inch of our lives. Just now, wonderful, rekindled memories of her love, her kindness, her courage and her grace are radiant reminders of how warmly and deeply she touched each of our lives.

A memorial event will be held in Marilyn’s memory on March 11, in Santa Barbara California. Friends and family will share special memories. In lieu of flowers, we suggest contributions to the Nature Conservancy, one of Marilyn’s favorite charities or some other environmental advocacy group of your choice.

BOYER,

Nancy Joyce

Nancy Joyce Boyer passed away peacefully at her home in Buellton at the age of 92 years on February 14, 2023. Nancy was born on 1/30/1931, the oldest of 2 daughters of Hertha Carroll Newman, and Lloyd Newman in Pasadena CA. She married her soul mate and love of her life, Anthony Gene Boyer on September 16, 1948 in Pasadena, CA. They were married for almost 25 Years before Gene’s passing, in 1972. They had 3 daughters, all born in Pasadena; Linda Bradshaw(Phil), Christine McClurg(Brent), and Kathy Welker(John). They were the pride & Joy of Nancy and Gene’s lives. Nancy had 8 grandchildren, 21 greatgrandchildren, and 3 great great-grandchildren.

Nancy was preceded in death by her husband, Anthony Gene, her daughter, Linda, her mother, Hertha, her stepdad, Clarice, and her sister, Shiela. She is survived by her daughters, Christine and Kathy, and their husbands, Brent & John of Santa Ynez, her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great great-grandchildren. Nancy lived a long & blessed life! How do we say goodbye? We love you, Mom (Gramma Nancy)!

A graveside service will be held on Friday March 10, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. at Goleta Cemetery. A reception and celebration of life will be held following graveside service at Solvang Veterans Hall - Legion Room. Please join Nancy’s Family in celebrating her long life.

Loper Funeral Chapel Directors

COLE, Beatrice

1932 - 2023

Beatrice C. Cole, a longtime resident of Lompoc, died on Feb. 19, 2023 after a short battle with breast cancer. She was 90 years old.

Known as “Wootsie” to family members, Beatrice Cecelia Hunter was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1932, one of 11 children of Douglas Hunter and Laura Mae Connor. She became interested in cooking, caring for others and worked as an au pair in town. She later attended Ohio State University where she earned an LVN degree in nursing. After meeting Sylvester Cole, an U.S. Air Force airman and Korean war veteran, in 1954, they married six months later.

They moved West to the San Francisco bay area, where he worked for the Department of the Army as an aircraft mechanic, and she worked as a pediatric nurse and later as a staffer at the Presidio Army base’s day care center. They became parents with the birth of their first child, Patrick. Their second child, Lisa, was born six years later. After the birth of Lisa, Beatrice retired from nursing and became a devoted homemaker.

In 1965, they moved south to Lompoc when it was known as the “Flower Seed Capital of the World”. Known for her wit, kindness, and generosity, Beatrice engaged in parttime activities as a volunteer for local charities while raising her children. She also became a member of La Purisima Roman Catholic Church. Beatrice enjoyed 57 years of marriage until the passing of Sylvester in 2012.

She is survived by her two children, Patrick and Lisa; several nieces including Nadine Maxey of Santa Maria, Lauda Fields of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; and Keith Nicholson of Saint Louis, Missouri.

CRUZ, Lucille Lopez

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Lucille (Lopez) Cruz on February 13, 2023, at Mission Terrace. Lucille was born on September 11, 1928, in Santa Ynez CA, the fourth child of Roman Lopez and Dorothy Grand.

Lucille married Richard R. Cruz on August 15, 1948, at Our Lady of Guadalupe church. They were married for 74 years. They were blessed with four children; Eileen (deceased), Arleen, Audrey, and Frank.

Lucille worked as a dental assistant for Dr. Campbell, a teacher’s aid at McKinley school, and a waitress at the university club. When her first grandchild was born she decided to stay home and take care of him as well as her other grandchildren. She was always involved in her children’s and her grandchildren’s softball, t-ball, and football games. She also attended every parade that her granddaughters were in. She was their biggest cheerleader. She was the greatest wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

Every chance she got, she was heading to Laughlin with her best friend Esther Galvez. She loved going to the casino, to her niece Gladys Ortiz’s house for girls day, regular bingo parties, and dressing up for what ever the theme was. She loved to dance, listen to her music, especially Engelbert Humperdinck, never missed a Dodger game.

Lucille is survived by her husband, Richard R. Cruz, daughters; Arleen Cruz (Ray), Audrey Cruz, son, Frank Cruz (Hortensia), 5 grandchildren; Eric Holguin (Crystal), Kristina, and Mychal Gonzalez, Adriana De Alba (Sergio) Moses Cruz, 7 great grandchildren; Nohea, Nalani, Keana Holguin, Noah, and Loveah Cruz, Santiago, Sienna De Alba, sister, Louise Latini, and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews and friends.

Lucille was preceded in death by her father, Roman Lopez, mother, Dorothy Grand, siblings; Francis Lopez, Juanita Espinosa, daughter, Eileen Cruz-Gonzalez, son in law, Ray Gonzalez, and her beloved dog, Honey.

The family would like to thank Dr. Stanley McLain and staff, Monique Cordero, and cousin, Debbie Montoya for the help and care they gave our mother. Most of all our sister, Audrey, who helped care for mom as well.

Mom we will miss your smile, your laugh and all your love. Thank you for always being there for us. A memorial celebration is planned for Friday March 10, 2023, at 11:00am at Welch-Ryce Chapel 15 East Sola St Santa Barbara CA, 93101.

CASE, David Detre

David Detre Case died at the age of 67 on October 22, 2020, of natural causes in his home located off Paradise Road in Santa Barbara County. David lived in the County of Santa Barbara for nearly sixty years where he worked in the construction business with his close friend Max Hailstone. David was an outdoor enthusiast ever since he was a child and would often hike for weeks at a time in the Santa Barbara back country where he would hunt, fish and explore areas well-off the beaten path. David also had a passion for nature photography and learning about local flora and fauna, especially if it was edible or medicinal. David’s photographs covered everything from ladybugs to bears, and many decorate the walls in the homes of family and friends. On a few of his excursions, David found remote, rarely seen, Chumash rock paintings and vowed to never divulge their locations for fear that they might be exploited. In the most recent years, David became good friends with the local Santa Barbara Trail Riders Association and enjoyed many a fine BBQ at their camp located near Rancho Oso. David became a well known and appreciated patron to the various visiting groups. He truly loved the area and spent endless hours maintaining the grounds. David’s death was unexpected and a shock to all who knew him. David is survived by his mother, Audrey von Bieberstein, brothers, Paul and Spencer, stepbrothers, Marshal, Burt and Sneed, and half-sister, Summers.

Our family has been blessed by the many kind and comforting words and shared memories about David’s life.

HULSEBUSCH, Harald

Harald

Arno

Hülsebusch passed away in Santa Barbara, California on February 28, 2023, at the age of 89. He was born in Ovelgönne, Germany on December 2, 1933, to Lili and Heinrich Hülsebusch. He was predeceased by his wife, Wanda, his parents, and two sisters, Inge Kreyssig and Hilke Galaske. He is survived by his brother, Immo (Else) of Rodenkirchen, Germany and two sisters, Siegrid (Horst) Ilchmann of Flensburg, Germany and Edith (Jeff) Frank of Gig Harbor, WA. He also is survived by eleven nieces and nephews and twelve grand nieces and nephews as well as a stepson and stepdaughter.

He had a thirty-five-year career as an engineer on ocean going ships. When he retired, he was a chief engineer on an ocean going tuna clipper.

He called Santa Barbara “home port” beginning in 1961 and settled finally when he retired in 1989. He had his wife, Wanda, built a life together which included many trips throughout the U.S. and Germany visiting family. His love of the sea resulted in many cruises taken to ports throughout the world. His sailboat “Adler” provided twenty years of enjoyment sailing throughout the Channel Islands and coastal waters near Santa Barbara.

He was a proud member of the Santa Barbara Elks Club and the Santa Barbara German Club.

He will be interred at the Santa Barbara Cemetery next to his wife, Wanda, on a hill overlooking the sea.

A private memorial service is planned at a future date.

SETO, Alethea

Alethea Seto, dearly adored wife, mother, and grandmother, passed away surrounded by her loving family on February 25, 2023, at the age of 71, in Camarillo.

Born Alethea Maureen Thompson, Thea was raised in the Los Angeles area and graduated from USC with a degree in Occupational Therapy, a profession in which she was engaged throughout her life. After working at Northridge Medical Center, her adventurous spirit moved her to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she traveled in a mobile therapy van throughout Vancouver Island treating many First Nations people and making lifelong friends. Thea returned to southern California to resume a friendship with Raymond Seto. This blossomed into a marriage which blessed them with three beautiful children, Aeryn, Cassandra, and Gregory. After living in Palos Verdes for several years, the family moved to Mission Canyon in Santa Barbara, where Thea devoted her time to raising her children and volunteering at their schools (Roosevelt Elementary, Santa Barbara Middle School, and Santa Barbara High), while continuing her Occupational Therapy career at Cottage Hospital, SELPA, and a variety of home health agencies.

A lifelong mystic, Thea was devoted to living an authentic, purposeful life and seeking the divine through wisdom traditions, earth-based spirituality, and embodied practices including yoga and t’ai chi chuan. She especially enjoyed hosting tai chi retreat groups in Santa Barbara.

After all three of their children left home to attend UC Berkeley, Thea and Ray moved to Ventura County, where she continued to practice Occupational Therapy part-time, and pursued creative writing, volunteering, and healing arts. She created a second family home on the Sonoma Coast and was an active and loving presence for each of her seven grandchildren.

Thea was very proud of her children’s accomplishments. Aeryn became an executive at JP Morgan before pursuing a new path as a Presbyterian pastor. Cassandra graduated from Stanford Law School and became a litigation partner at O’Melveny & Myers. Gregory graduated from Loyola Law School with a JD and LLM in tax before joining Deloitte as an international tax attorney. However, what provided the greatest joy and fulfillment to Thea was her children’s happy marriages to wonderful partners (Shan, Jonathan, and Julia) and their blessing her with beloved grandchildren.

Thea is survived by husband Ray; children Aeryn, Cassandra, and Gregory; and grandchildren Cody, Liv, Jack, Emerson, Dean, Nathan, and Mia. She is also survived by siblings Karen, Kathleen, and David.

A memorial service honoring Thea will be held at the Vedanta Temple on March 25, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the Vedanta Temple. 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.

will

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By MARILYN MCMAHON NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum will present “Global History and the California Missions: A Sea Story” with Janet Dowling Sands, author, artist and educator at 7 p.m. March 16. There will also be a pre-lecture reception for members only from 6:15 to 6:45 p.m. To register for

Life theArts

CALENDAR

‘A Sea Story’

Author connects global maritime and California missions histories

the event, go to sbmm.org/santabarbara-event and to become a member, visit sbmm.org.

Admission is free for SBMM’s Navigator Circle Members, $10 for all other members and $20 for members of the public.

The presentation will explain how the missions were inextricably linked to global maritime history and prehistory, including the latest research on the origins of California’s indigenous people whose

ancestors came to the Americas thousands of years before the first European soldiers and missionaries arrived.

Ms. Sands will discuss the farreaching geopolitical context of the California missions and presidios to explain why they are here, including some “surprises and sidebars and the fascinating connection of an Enlightenmentera Spanish viceroy who, after launching the mission project in 1769, turned his attention to

the success (or failure) of the American Revolution.” She will also raise some important questions about how we should regard and study the mission era today, when colonialism itself can be a highly controversial topic.

The author of “On a Mission: The Real Story of the California Missions, Their History, Impact and Legacy,” Ms. Sands has developed a unique perspective on history shaped by extensive

research and by many years of engagement with educators, scientists and historians. She is a California native with a degree in art history from UC Berkeley.

As a long-time active board member of both the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, Ms. Sands has spent many years working to improve science and

Please see MISSIONS on B4

DAVID BAZEMORE

The State Street Ballet will perform “Tango Rain” and other dances tonight at The Granada in Santa Barbara.

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

9 a.m. Santa Barbara Airport is partnering with Alaska Airlines and Atlantic Aviation to host local nonprofit Alpha Resource Center’s second annual Plane Pull fundraiser. Proceeds benefit the Alpha Resource Center. Registration is at 9 a.m., followed by the opening ceremonies at 9:30 a.m. and the first team pull at 9:45 a.m. For more information, go to alphasb.org/plane-pull or contact Jeff Henson at Alpha Resources Center, 805-683-2145 or jhenson@ alphasb.org.

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 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 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. “SURREAL

WOMEN: Surrealist Art by American Women” is on display through April 24 at Sullivan Goss: An American Gallery, 11 E. Anapamu St. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. For more information, www. sullivangoss.com.

7:30 p.m. The State Street Ballet will perform “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” and other dances at 7:30 p.m. at The Granada, 1214 State St. Tickets cost $38 to $106. To purchase, go to granadasb.org or call the box office at 805-8992222.

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

Please see CALENDAR on B2

Managing Editor Dave Mason dmason@newspress.com

SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2023

COURTESY PHOTOS

The Santa Barbara Mission.

At left, Mission La Purisima Concepción in Lompoc. At right, Mission San Miguel.

Couples can create positive relationships

Most people think that you cannot create positivity: It’s either there or it’s not. But they’re wrong.

You can definitely encourage yourself and your loved ones to be and feel more positive. You just have to learn how to do it, as many others have done. Think about the professional athlete who has lost a game and has to pump himself and his teammates up for the next one. Having a good coach — or a good therapist — may help, but pumping yourself up is something you can do on your own or even as a couple.

A positive outlook begins with believing in yourself and your relationship. Knowing that you are both good people who are deserving of each other’s love and kindness certainly helps. If this is something you have doubts about, you need to get on the same page as your partner and reaffirm your connection.

If the two of you believe in

one another and both of you want a positive lifestyle, you must make the commitment to do your best to maintain a positive demeanor in all aspects of your relationship.

This may be easier said than done, but the truth is that you can create a positive relationship as long as both of you want one. All it takes is a willingness to make a few changes for the better, adjusting your all-important attitudes toward life and each other.

Don’t forget that this is a feeling thing, and it will take more than a moment for you to see and feel the results. Positivity is an ongoing process.

As part of that process, you will need to become aware of and learn to drop negative feelings that you may have about your mate. This takes a little patience and

perseverance, but I have helped countless people recognize that they were unconsciously mad at the one they love. Changing that dynamic simply takes the realization that your less-than-positive feelings are helping no one. It actually becomes second nature once you are aware that you can relate differently and better.

Another great way to build a positive attitude is to catch yourself when you are not feeling good about your life or your relationship and consciously re-center yourself. Once you learn to recognize that you’ve unexpectedly slipped into a less-than-positive thought process, you can do something (almost anything) to change it. Do some chores, walk, read a light book, watch something fun on the tube, or go online. Making the commitment to change is a big deal. Making

those changes in a positive way, with a positive outcome, is even bigger. You can give yourself the gift of a happy relationship by supporting your partner in creating more positivity and by allowing yourself to feel good about the person you’ve chosen to spend your life with.

Being positive and allowing that feeling to flow through your relationship is a wonderful way to go through life with the one you love. You can make the choice to be a positive couple and enjoy the happiness that comes with it.

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 worldwide. Reach him at barton@bartongoldsmith. com. His column appears Saturdays and Mondays in the News-Press.

UCSB Arts & Lectures presents Ballet Hispánico

SANTA BARBARA — Ballet

Hispánico will perform its first evening-length work, “Dońa Perón,” at 8 p.m. March 11 at The Granada, 1214 State St.

“Dońa Perón” explores the legacy of Argentinian icon Eva Perón. She was an activist and actress, as well as the first lady of Argentina in 1946. She is most widely known for her women’s

suffrage activism and forming of the Peronista Feminist Party in 1949.

Choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa explores the life of Eva Perón through the lens of her own Latina experience. Ballet Hispánico was founded by Tina Ramirez in 1970 after she was inspired by the civil rights movement.

The organization is the largest Latinx cultural organization in the United States. Its goal is to provide a “haven for Black and Brown Latinx youth and families seeking artistic place and cultural sanctuary,” according to UCSB Arts and Lectures, which is presenting the March 11 performance.

Ms. Ramirez won the National

Medal of Arts for Ballet Hispánico, headquartered in New York City. It is run by Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro. Tickets cost $41 to $71 for general admission and $20 for UCSB students. To purchase, go to www.artsandlectures.ucsb.edu or www.granadasb.org.

— Annika Bahnsen

Santa Barbara native to sign

‘From Lyme to Light’

By: ANNIKA BAHNSEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

Santa Barbara native Caroline DeLoreto will be at Chaucer’s Books, 3321 State St., at 6 p.m.

March 21 for a talk and signing of her book “From Lyme to Light.”

Ms. DeLoreto said the book, which was released this past November, is “my spiritual and physical healing journey with the neurological Lyme disease.”

After a tick bite that led to dementia, a stroke and a near death experience, Ms. DeLoreto was diagnosed with Lyme disease. The book walks through how she overcame the disease as well as shares the “Diamond of Healing Philosophy” that Ms. DeLoreto created.

This philosophy addresses “all aspects of what makes us who we are: the physical body, the mental and emotional body, the social body, and the spirit body.”

Ms. DeLoreto shared her aspirations for the book: “My goal is to empower you and to catalyze your innate ability to heal and maintain wellness far into the future- finding your light from Lyme!”

Originally from Santa Barbara, Ms. DeLoreto currently lives in northern Vermont with her spouse, Adam. She is a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner, a licensed marriage and family therapist, remote

energy practitioner, educator, and inspirational speaker. Before moving to Vermont, she worked at a Santa Barbara counseling center, assisting patients with their own personal journeys.

She has written many articles for PsychAlive as well as the one other book titled “The Yawn that Went Around the World”, a children’s book that explores the whereabouts of yawns. For more information, see carolinedeloreto.com.

email: abahnsen@newspress.com

Organic Soup Kitchen awarded GuideStar’s 2023 Platinum Seal of Transparency

By MARILYN MCMAHON NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Santa Barbara-based Organic Soup Kitchen has received the 2023 Platinum Seal of Transparency from Guidestar (formerly Candid), an acclaimed source for information on nonprofits.

This rating puts Organic Soup Kitchen among the top 0.1% of charities nationally to receive Guidestar’s highest level of recognition, which recognizes full transparency regarding goals, strategies, capabilities, achievements and metrics that show progress and impact.

“We are honored to achieve the Platinum Seal of Transparency on GuideStar,” said Andrea Slaby, chief operating officer at Organic Soup Kitchen. “We know that our donors have a choice when contributing and often turn to GuideStar to understand an organization’s metrics and progress. We are proud to provide 100% transparency into our operation and impact.” GuideStar introduced the Seals of Transparency in 2013 to provide visible recognition of information

provided by nonprofits. More than 750,000 organizations have earned seals making a GuideStar seal the most widely adopted symbol of transparency in the U.S. social sector. The type of information a nonprofit provides determines its seal level and its progressive achievement with bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels.

Organic Soup Kitchen is committed to organic food for all. Through education, advocacy and programs, the agency provides nutrition and food security to cancer patients, chronically ill and low-income individuals throughout Santa Barbara County. The organization has served more than one million bowls of nutrient dense SoupMeals since 2009.

Organic Soup Kitchen’s mission is in direct alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals set forth by the United Nation’s Environmental, Social and Governance policy including Zero Hunger, Good Health and Wellbeing, Climate Action and Partnership for the Goals. For more information, visit www.organicsoupkitchen.org.

email: mmcmahon@newspress.com

COURTESY PHOTOS

Santa Barbara native Caroline DeLoreto discusses her journey of healing from Lyme disease in “From Lyme to Light.”

Diversions

Thought for Today

HOROSCOPE

Horoscope.com

Saturday, March 4, 2023

ARIES — Things regarding love and romance may be a bit dicey for you, Aries. You may find that you have to make a few adjustments in order to remain on the same page as your loved ones. Neither one of you may feel like taking the lead at this time, causing some hesitation in the relationship.

TAURUS — The more tightly you try to hang onto something, Taurus, the more likely it is it will want to slip through your fingers. Grab what you want, but don’t squeeze too hard. Maintain an important balance between showing someone you care by taking them under your wing and allowing them the freedom to be their own person.

GEMINI — Matters involving love and romance might not go exactly the way you’d like, Gemini. You could be waiting for your partner to make the next move, since you’re unsure of which way the relationship is progressing. At the same time, it may be that your partner is the one waiting for you.

CANCER — Things should be going well for you in the love and romance department, Cancer, but you could find that today things get a bit tenuous. While you want things to be clear and planned out, it could be that your partner longs for more freedom and spontaneity. Tension may result if either party becomes too set in their ways.

LEO — People may be wondering how to proceed while you’re off doing your own thing. Don’t go in one direction and leave someone else behind, Leo. In matters regarding love and romance, you may have to slow down and communicate with your partner. Take the lead and try not to get slowed down by other people’s indecisiveness.

VIRGO — Recent events in the love and romance department may have you feeling like you aren’t getting your needs met, Virgo. Remember that other people aren’t mind readers the way you are. If someone’s behavior isn’t right with you, say so. Romantic partnerships should uplift and support your dreams, not something you make personal sacrifices for just to maintain.

LIBRA — Be careful that you

By FRANK STEWART

Tribune Content Agency

Saturday, March 4, 2023

“Simple Saturday” columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking. Finesses can be a necessary evil. They entail two problems: Half of the time, they lose; the other half, when they win, they may gain nothing.

At today’s four hearts, South was favored with a low-diamond opening lead; dummy’s jack held. Declarer next cashed the ace of trumps and led a trump for a finesse with his jack. West took the queen and returned his last trump.

CLUB TO LOSE

South won in dummy and finessed with the queen of clubs, losing. He won the club return with the ace and ruffed a club in dummy, but he still had a club to lose, plus a spade.

Down one.

South’s trump finesse might not have gained even if it had won; he still would have wanted to draw the missing queen, thereby costing himself a ruff. South should finesse in clubs at Trick Two, win the club return and take the A-K of trumps. Then he can ignore the missing high trump and ruff two clubs in dummy, losing only three tricks in all.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: A 3 K J 9 5

K 4 A Q 5 2. You open 2NT, and your partner bids 4NT.

aren’t manipulating a romantic situation so your partner loses any power, Libra. You may think your actions are noble and well meaning, but you may be creating a scenario that has no basis in reality. People could be impressionable, but that doesn’t mean you should take advantage of this by promoting your own interests at the expense of another’s.

SCORPIO — Things in the love department may be looking up for you, Scorpio, but beware that you aren’t getting pushed around. Your partner could feel the need for more freedom in the relationship, while you’re hoping to find more commitment. Take it one day at a time. Don’t get ahead of yourself by projecting scenarios that may not come to fruition.

SAGITTARIUS — You may find that you’re indecisive when it comes to issues concerning love and romance, Sagittarius. For some reason, you have a tendency to pull one way and then the other, yet neither way seems very rewarding. Don’t feel like you have to take concrete action at this time. In fact, if you do, this commitment may cause you more frustration later.

CAPRICORN — Try to get more grounded in your actions regarding love and romance, Capricorn. You may need to take a more reserved approach in your actions in order to get where you need to go. At the same time, however, your freedom-loving, adventurous side may feel the need to roam more freely.

AQUARIUS — You’re quite sure of yourself and solid about many things except one. When it comes to romantic relationships, you feel a bit unsure and inadequate, Aquarius. It could be that you’re indecisive about how to proceed. There’s a strong urge to take charge, but also a tendency to slow things down and let others take the lead.

PISCES — When it comes to love and romance, things are definitely in your favor, Pisces. The thing to be aware of today is that there might be some manipulation on the part of someone close to you. Take care that someone else’s need for freedom isn’t negatively affecting your relationship. Communication is key in order to maintain a healthy romance at any level.

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

What do you say?

ANSWER: Partner’s 4NT is not the Blackwood ace-asking convention. (In experienced partnerships, not every 4NT bid is Blackwood, believe it or not.) His bid invites slam just as a raise of 1NT to 2NT would invite game. If your 2NT opening shows 20 or 21 points, bid 6NT, or maybe six clubs to allow for the chance of a suit contract. South dealer

“I don’t know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future.” — Ralph Abernathy

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.

MARCH 7

7 p.m. “Four Winters,” a documentary about resistance fighters during World War II, screens at Paseo Nuevo Cinemas on lower State Street in Santa Barbara. A Q & A will follow.

MARCH 16

5:30 p.m. Dr. Fabrizio Michelassi — Lewis Atterbury Stimson professor and chairman in the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center and surgeon-in-chief at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center — will present a public lecture titled “In the Eye of the Storm: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The free talk will take place at the Wolf Education and Training Center, 529 W. Junipero St., adjacent to Ridley-Tree Cancer Center in Santa Barbara. Reservations are required by March 10. To attend, contact J.V. Vallejos at 805-681-7528 or jvallejo@sansumclinic.org.

MARCH 18

7:30 p.m. The Santa Barbara Symphony will perform “John Williams: A Cinematic Celebration” at The Granada, 1214 State St., Santa Barbara. To purchase tickets, go to granadasb.org. For more information, visit www. thesymphony.org or call 805-8989386.

MARCH 19

3 p.m. The Santa Barbara Symphony will perform John Williams: A Cinematic Celebration” at The Granada, 1214 State St., Santa Barbara. To purchase tickets, go to granadasb.org. For more information, visit www. thesymphony.org or call 805-8989386.

— Dave Mason

Late 19th century writer Amalie Skram explored women’s issues

Iget into trouble because I make connections that may not be there. On the other hand, I have succeeded in drawing conclusions because I have experience with connections that should be there.

A case in point: A reader found a drawing of a distinguished man with a beard at a thrift store and wondered if it had relevance. How to research? What inference to make? First I asked him, “What is the era, and what is happening in this era? Why is the portrayal important? Because — of course — it has been preserved for 100 years? Who thought it valuable?”

I am talking about the relationship between objects and people, and here we have a great example.

A reader found, at a thrift store, a portrait of a Danish writer named Erik Skram (1847-1923), which he believed was a monoprint. But when he researched it further, he found that the monoprint (either a kind of drawing or a one-of-a-kind lithograph), was “after” a photo by a Danish photographer Fred Risse at size 5 by 5 inches. He asked if he should open the paper at the back and look further. “Absolutely,” I said. So he did.

Underneath was a photograph of the Danish feminist author Amalie Skram.

Because I have written about unsigned works of art, the reader asked some salient questions. “I have opened the back. There’s a drawing or lithograph of Erik Skram, and underneath I see the photo of Amalie. The photo was shot by Fred Risse, and I have found the prototype photos of Erik, the subject of the litho or drawing, which I can see in photos by Fred Risse. What is

the relationship between sitters, artists and the two images?”

The relationship is that Erik’s and Amalie’s images are framed together. And they are after photos by the same photographer who, one can infer, knew them both. That is not a mistake.

Here’s the connection: scandal.

Both Erik and Amalie were considered scandalous writers in the last few years of the 19th century in Scandinavia, which was tangling with feminist issues. (Think of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.)

What I considered strange and indicative was that Amalie wrote four times more important works than her husband Erik, was more socially aware novels than her husband, was more scandalous. But she died unknown. Her husband Erik, who wrote in the same “feminist” vein, died with the title of Knight of Denmark.

It was not until 1996 that Amalie’s grave was discovered and marked with a bronze bust of her, a statue was placed in Copenhagen, a postage stamp was printed in the late 1990s, and a school was named after her. It took a while, but she got recognized.

Amalie was born in Bergen, Norway, and I found a double portrait of her and Erik painted by naturalist Harald Scott Moller (1895), in a library in Bergen.

Amalie had an unhappy childhood, as her mother was abandoned with five kids by the father, and Amalie at 17 was forced into a lucrative marriage with a much older man. (Ironically Erik at this time was writing novels about just this topic, but from a male perspective.)

Amalie had a major breakdown after seven years of marriage. Then she was in a

mental hospital for a few years. She had had two boys, and she left her husband to move to Copenhagen, where she met Erik, who also was an author. Amalie hung in circles that were bohemian, but no man involved had that pioneering character of Amalie. Amalie had the courage to write about three major issues, and she wrote 17-plus novels about marriage and female sexuality in 1890s Scandinavia, how women have fared over multiple generations in Scandinavia and how mental institutions were abhorrent in treatment of females.

No one cared much until the 1990s when Denmark instituted a prize in her name for influential writers on female issues.

As fate would have it, Amalie, once married to Erik, had a daughter and another nervous breakdown, she was again committed to a mental institution. She lost her life six years later.

So now, we see the connection: the drawing of Erik and photos of Amalie are in the same frame, layered together, because that is the narrative. I often see this in families when someone wants to keep lives together as images. The values of the drawing and photo are unknown. I suggested that the reader contact Bruun Rasmussen Auctions in Sweden for more information. I will report back.

Dr. Elizabeth Stewart’s “Ask the Gold Digger” column appears Saturdays 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 present-day constrictions. It’s available at Chaucer’s in Santa Barbara.

nature education for children in Santa Barbara and to support scientific outreach for the public.

A lifelong student of history, art and the natural world, and a collector of American regional art, she is currently working to complete her next book, “Collision of Cultures: A Traveler’s History of the American Southwest.” Ms. Sands and her husband Ed, an architect and ship model builder, divide their time between Arizona and New York to be near

their children and grandchildren.

Ms. Sands will conclude her talk with an illustrated 10-minute “road trip” to see the missions and surviving “asistencias.” Her skills as a writer, photographer and watercolorist have been applied to recording her travel experiences in illustrated journals and in her book, “On A Mission: The Real Story of the California Missions.”

Signed copies will be available at the museum gift shop. In his review, which appears on the back cover of the book, Dr. Karl Hutterer, director emeritus of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, said “I absolutely

loved it! The approach is unique — a tour with information on dining and lodging, combined with how mission history is linked to world history.”

email: mmcmahon@newspress.com

At left, Danish feminist author Amalie Skram wrote 17-plus novels inspired by women’s issues. At right, Erik Skram, Amalie’s husband, was also a writer.

e ght to protect conservative news

Disinformation groups are used to blacklist reporting; Republican Reps. Gaetz, Jordan are investigating

‘If we are not ashamed to think the truth, we should not be ashamed to speak the truth.”

— Cicero

In George Orwell’s book “1984,” he writes about how he envisions the world in the future is controlled by Big Brother. Orwell’s dystopian leader’s Ministry of Truth decides what it believes are truths for the media to report as news and events to support the government.

If Big Brother believes something doesn’t support his beliefs, the Ministry of Truth corrects the records, which it calls “the new truth.” Within the novel, Orwell reveals that the actual existence for the Ministry of Truth is to maintain the illusion that what the Party believes in is absolute. Ultimately, the Ministry of Truth does not decide what is true and what is not true. It only instructs the news media to repeat what Big Brother wants the people to believe is the truth. The Ministry of Truth is actually a political arm of his government. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, emerging democratic nations in Eastern and Central Europe began revising their constitutions and statutory laws to guarantee the right to a free press. Citizens who had been inundated with news filtered through government media were thinking: “How could they tell if the media was telling the truth or still repeating lies?”

In 26 A.D.,, Pontius Pilate, governor of the Roman province of Judea, asked, “What is truth? Who decides what is true? Who should compel the press to tell the truth”?

There were no answers then, and we still confront them today in Europe and global autocratic nations and right now in America. The First Amendment guarantees a free press. It prevents the government from censoring any news media from reporting facts or opinions on anything they wish since they answer to the people. An independent news media is vital in maintaining democracy and preventing government overreach.

“A truly independent free press is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy.”

— Dan Rather

In the free world, the media does not belong to the government but the people.

Since a healthy nation is one that is talking to itself, dissent must be protected and welcomed, and it should never, ever be censored or forbidden.

But in America today, dissent is now classified as disinformation. And conservative news organizations are being blacklisted

by disinformation approved and financed by the government. With disapproval of his job performance escalating, President Joe Biden and his progressive generals have been working overtime on damage control to silence his critics. News and opinions reported by conservative media is labeled as dangerous lies by the State Department’s disinformation groups.

“There is truth and there are lies. Leaders of America, we must silence those that lie.”

— Joe Biden

As a result of being caught

It has been revealed that the State Department has been using conservative tax dollars to block information conservative media outlets. And Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., have vowed to investigate the State Department for bankrolling these “disinformation” tracking groups. Secretly blacklisting and to defund conservative media news is a violation of the First Amendment.

Reps. Jordan and Gaetz have set their sights on investigating this questionable practice with the newly created Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Rep. Gaetz said, “I’m deeply concerned about this, and it fits into the current horizontal pattern across this government.”

Mr. Gaetz added, “We traditionally prefer less intense tools than subpoenas, but, unfortunately, so far, the Biden administration has been recalcitrant to the normal tools of oversight. So if they are going to be unusual in their response to accommodate, then we will have to be unusual in pursuing that.”

A spokesman for the State Department said, “While we are not aware of these specific issues in question, the department is committed to working with congressional committees with jurisdiction over U.S. foreign policy to accommodate their need for information to help control disinformation.”

First Amendment lawyers say that taxpayer dollars supporting any disinformation group directly or indirectly is a major problem for the government.

According to David Warrington of the Dhillon Law Group, “Any ties between the State Department and Global Disinformation Index would be totally inappropriate regardless of whether they do it directly or by proxy, as appears to being done here.”

Recently, Americans for Prosperity launched a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain any documents that show financial support given to the Disinformation Index Foundation and other disinformation groups. It is their goal to determine their involvement with the State Department.

blacklisting conservative news groups to discredit them for criticizing President Biden, the State Department-backed nonprofit “disinformation” tracking organization, The National Endowment for Democracy, was forced to sever its financial relationship with Congress.

The National Endowment for Democracy, funded almost entirely by Congress, granted $545,750 between 2020 and 2021 to the Global Disinformation Index. They are feeding conservative website blacklists to advertising companies. Amid complaints about government censorship,

the National Endowment for Democracy has become criticized by journalists for discrediting legitimate news.

Like Orwell’s Big Brother’s Ministry of Truth, self-styled “disinformation” tracking groups that are blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media outlets, are being exposed as progressive hit squads. Their only goal is to discredit groups that report truth and facts about Democrats and Biden.

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

— Mark Twain

“I suppose that the most revolutionary act one can engage in is... to tell the truth.”

— Howard Zinn

The Global Disinformation Index compiles a “dynamic exclusion list” of the biggest “disinformation” peddlers among websites and feeds it to advertisers. It has concluded that the 10 “riskiest” news organizations are the American Spectator, Newsmax, the Federalist, the American Conservative, the Blaze, the Daily Wire, One America News, RealClearPolitics, Reason and the New York Post.

Please see HAUPT on C4

e FBI les: Hunter Biden vs. ‘Whitey’ Bulger

They’ve done this before.

You may vaguely remember the name of James “Whitey” Bulger, who headed up a crime syndicate called the Winter Hill Gang in the Boston area and who — at the same time — was a fulltime informant for the FBI.

Whitey was a killer.

The FBI knew that.

Yet, one rogue FBI agent protected the mob boss even after finding proof of new murders committed by his “informant.”

So, before we connect presidential son Hunter Biden with Whitey, let’s review the sordid connection between FBI agent John Connolly and Mr. Bulger.

Mr. Bulger and Mr. Connolly not only grew up in the same neighborhood (they were “Southies” and lived in a South Boston housing project), but 19-year-old Whitey had at one time saved 8-year-old Connolly from being beaten up. They were 11 years apart in

age so they weren’t really “pals,” but their families were friendly.

The two boys took two completely different career paths. Mr. Bulger opted for a life of crime, for which he spent time in various prisons, including a stint in Alcatraz. Mr. Connolly opted for a life in law enforcement and became a highly effective FBI agent.

Whitey’s brother, William Bulger, coincidentally, rose to become president of the Massachusetts Senate and served as one of the state’s most powerful politicians. William (“Billy”) Bulger was credited with convincing John Connolly to attend Boston College and helped him become an FBI agent.

The Bulgers and the Connollys remained on friendly terms even though on opposite sides of the law. Whitey and John would meet on occasion and Mr. Connolly would try to entice Mr. Bulger to become an informant, but Mr. Bulger

resisted.

Whitey did finally agree, not to “inform” but to “strategize” with Mr. Connolly and help bring down the Italian mob who’d moved into Whitey’s South Boston territory.

The relationship worked out well for both men. Mr. Connolly was recognized as one of the FBI’s most effective agents, and Irish-bred Bulger moved into all the territories the Italian Mafia had to give up once they were convicted and jailed. Whitey would tip off the FBI to what the Mafia had done, and Mr. Connolly kept Mr. Bulger — busy with gambling, loansharking, drug-dealing and other facets of his business — out of jail and out of the spotlight. At one point (and this is likely what precipitated his personal downfall), Mr. Connolly let Mr. Bulger know that there were

informers in his operation and named them. Mr. Bulger acted quickly by luring the informers to a secluded spot, whereupon he tied them to a chair, shot them in the head and buried their bodies.

In 1995, Mr. Bulger went on the lam after Mr. Connolly informed him that he was about to be arrested on a federal racketeering charge. Mr. Bulger remained “lost” for the next 16 years until his arrest in 2011 in Santa Monica.

The 89-year-old Bulger was finally tried and convicted of various charges and, shortly after being placed in a federal facility, was beaten to death by other convicts.

Nobody likes a rat, apparently even an old rat.

In 1999, Mr. Connolly was tried and convicted of racketeering, obstruction of justice, and murder and had been sent to prison long before Whitey was captured. Mr. Connolly’s prosecutor was none other than former U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut John

DID YOU KNOW?

Bonnie Donovan

e age of Woke-ism

Editor’s note: This is the third and final part of Bonnie Donovan’s columns on the world and adverse events.

Now to a different kind of adverse event that could be a trigger.

We are facing a faltering and decay of the established democratic social order that was nourished by the great growth and prosperity of the 20th century. In America and California.

Everywhere, serious crime is increasing, aided and abetted by the decriminalization of felonies by prosecutors and judges. This is accompanied by divisions among racial and ethnic groups, bitter strife between parents and school boards and school officials over abysmal performance by students in English and mathematics and in the indoctrination of students in “Woke racial politics,” plus LGBTQ+ practices and the secret promotion of transgenderism among vulnerable students.

There is growing fear and distrust of federal and state governments and the politicization of supposedly non-political agencies including the FBI and the Justice Department. Other federal agencies are overstepping their bounds as they increasingly become more radical in their interpretation of their charters. Most newspapers and TV press have become propaganda mouthpieces for one political party. We are subjected to the poisonous influences and power of the ubiquitous social media platforms, along with their illegal compact with government agencies to censor free speech, if it contradicts government orthodoxy and propaganda.

There is increasing unease in the population over crime and bitter, political and social divisions. This is apparent in the growth of purchases of guns and ammunition. All this is made far worse by the federal government and some state governments stepping into the growing secularization of America. Just as Stalin promoted communism as the new religion for Russia, so we are seeing our government agencies adopting a new God, named “Woke.”

The new state religion is called “Woke-ism”.

All religions need a devil for the new religion to vanquish. This devil is known as “white privilege,” and it must be eliminated from the face of the earth, according to Woke-ism.

75.8% of the population is white. Woke-ism presumes that they all carry the evil of white privilege, which must be expunged.

H. Durham, who currently serves as special counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice and who has been sorting through the Trumpera Russiagate files for the past six years.

It’s commonly known that law enforcement officers are often required to make deals with liars, pimps, thieves and other unsavory types, including killers, with the goal of bringing down a bigger fish or even a criminal syndicate. It’s a distasteful business but probably necessary.

So enter Hunter Biden, the ne’er-do-well son of a famous and powerful politician. His Laptop from Hell, revealed by New York Post reporter Miranda Devine in the waning days of the 2020 election and suppressed by virtually the entire news and media establishment other than Fox News Channel and of course the New York Post. The laptop, left

There appear to be three strains of Woke-ism. One is socialism, another is racialism, and the third is sexualism. A characteristic of the followers of wok-ism is their utter intolerance to any views or arguments against their orthodoxies.

These orthodoxies appear to be those proposed by Saul Alinsky in his 1971 book “Rules For Radicals” and strategies for installing a socialist government, the radical tenets of the Black Lives Matter organization and its Marxist founders, and the political activists of the LGBTQ+ community and their objectives to normalize their practices and status.

The adoption of these orthodoxies by federal and state governments, their fostering of them through mandatory education in K-12 schools, in higher education and in government employment is causing racial divisions and political dissent among many parents in school districts across America. Even our

William Haupt III

The author is a Center Square contributor

James Buckley

PURELY POLITICAL

COURTESY PHOTO Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is helping to investigate what columnist William Haupt III calls the blacklisting of conservative news outlets.

Wendy McCaw

Arthur von Wiesenberger Co-Publisher Co-Publisher

GUEST OPINION

Why do pimps, pervs and prostitutes love California?

The public should be extremely concerned about what is happening to our children as it pertains to what was once considered felony child abuse and child endangerment, not to mention voyeurism and indecent exposure.

For starters, recall the controversy surrounding the Wi Spa in Los Angeles’ Koreatown when a 53-yearold man exposed himself to women and children. claiming his right to do so because he declared himself a female. Antifa and other organizations organized violent protests characterizing the spa and its supporters as transphobic and fascist. Well, as it turns out, the state of California had previously convicted the perv, Darren Merger, as a registered sex offender for having previously exposed himself to children. This disclosure garnered scant attention in the media, and, of course, no apology was forthcoming from Antifa.

Thanks to state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who sponsored Senate Bill 357 and Gov. Gavin Newsom who signed it into law, loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution is no longer illegal in California.

The law also prohibits officers from arresting individuals for soliciting.

As a result, prostitution and human trafficking is proliferating in profound ways.

How bad is it? In Oakland, a television news crew caught up with a slew of pimps and prostitutes soliciting right outside a Catholic elementary school. Not only that, but there have also been shootouts between the gang-associated pimps and their rival gang members in the immediate neighborhood.

Some of these sex workers are as young as 15 years old.

Nonetheless, the Oakland Police Department is focusing its efforts in this situation on “high visibility patrolling” rather than enforcement actions. In San Francisco, they want to legalize prostitution as if that will solve the problem.

Fortunately, not all law enforcement is as ineffective and feckless as Oakland police. As Katy Grimes of the California Globe reported, upward of 82 local law enforcement agencies across nine counties teamed up with federal and state authorities

Why doesn’t God stop tragedies?

The “Asbury Revival” in Kentucky at the Asbury University had to end because the volume of people became unmanageable. It was a glaring example of how so many people seek religious comfort.

Greatest cover-up in history

to arrest 368 people and rescue 131 victims in a human trafficking sting. Fourteen of these people were arrested in Santa Barbara County.

Here in California, children as young as 11 years old are being sex trafficked. These kids are being raped 2030 times a day. This story too cited Sen. Wiener and Gov. Newsom’s SB 357 as contributing to these heinous crimes.

Unfortunately, local law enforcement officials indicate that the Central Coast has become a hot spot for human trafficking for a variety of reasons. These reasons include our proximity to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Fresno, which facilitates movement of the workers and availability to “markets” and plenty of cheap motel rooms to ply their trade.

Perhaps one of the worst cases of child abuse ever involved a gay couple in Georgia who had adopted two special needs boys only to sexually abuse them ritually for several years. Not only that, but they also pimped these boys out to others after sending out video solicitations to other pedophiles. It was so abhorrent a pedophile turned them in after having received the solicitation.

Hopefully, these “parents” will each receive the nine life sentences a grand jury is considering in their indictment.

As difficult as it is to believe, pedophilia is also escalating in our schools at an alarming rate. Millions of children in American schools have indicated on surveys that they have experienced physical sexual contact from an adult, most often a teacher or coach.

Some members of the media and academia are no longer referring to child predators as pedophiles. Nope, the proper term is “minor-attracted persons.” That is par for the course, wouldn’t you say? Let us consider it a “condition” (we were born that way) instead of an inclination to abhorrent criminal activity. There is also a movement to decriminalize sex between consenting adults and children. California is already leading the way.

F

irst, it was called a conspiracy theory. Then discussion of it was banned. Today, the “ lab leak” theory of the origins of COVID-19 is true.

COVID-19 originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and then was unintentionally spread. Why was it forbidden to talk about the lab leak? Did powerful institutions have a stake in downplaying the Chinese origins of the virus in order to shift blame to the rest of the world?

China did, as it was likely COVID-19 was spreading in China as early as October 2019. That was also the view of the World Health Organization that is linked with China.

And what about Dr. Anthony Fauci and funding for gain-offunction research?

Even the Obama administration was against gain-of-function research. Finally, there was a

political aspect to this issue. The lab leak couldn’t be true because the right sounded the alarm on a possible lab leak first. Going forward, history will show that the COVID-19 lab leak cover-up was historic and monumental. And not in a good way. Millions of people died. The question of the day: Will anyone be held accountable and will gainof-function research be outlawed in the future?

Diana Thorn Carpinteria

Now comes news that the California legislature is considering extending foster status through age 26, given the fact many 21-year-olds are not ready for self-sufficiency. This bill, supported by the

California Judges Association, seeks to get a handle on rampant homelessness among kids aging out of foster care by extending housing and case worker support.

But many or most nonfoster kids also struggle with successfully participating in democratic society and go off the rails as well.

Maybe some perks and responsibilities of citizenship for all young Americans need to be delayed for a handful of years, or more carefully vetted, until our youth can become more selfsufficient. This could include things like driver’s license, gun ownership, jury participation, alcohol consumption, military service, running for public office (think George Santos) and even voting.

Today we gift young people with privileges and duties they don’t even know how to spell, let alone exercise responsibly.

Kimball Shinkoskey Woods Cross, Utah (Former Goleta resident)

As the world plunges ever deeper into utter chaos and so much death all around us, my mother often asks why God doesn’t do something about it. Not being very religious anymore, I’ve seen my approach over the years shift to view our existence more from a scientific perspective. I usually reply to my mother, “Because He gave us free will.” That’s what I was always taught in Catholic school, and it’s the only answer I have because no one knows the answer. If you believe in an Almighty God, in short, He created us, then cut us loose.

For the billions who hold strong religious beliefs that there’s a deity “floating” around somewhere keeping an eye on us, I can’t prove or deny it, because there’s no way of knowing. If true, is this the same “Being” who also had a hand in creating the vastness of the universe? I shrug, because again we have no idea.

That’s where the word “faith” fills in the gaps. There’s no way, in our wildest imaginations, can we or will we ever know how all this came about, while we’re alive. When we die, do we just puff away? Or, do we turn into energy and become part of the limitless universe? There’s only the one-way ticket to find out.

However in the meantime, getting back to my mother’s question, if there is a supreme being keeping a close watch on the people of Earth, and you’re a very religious person, then how come He (fill in whatever pronoun you like) doesn’t step in and stop all the madness taking place? How come the trillions of prayers going His way don’t have an impact?

First of all, this madness has been going on since the planet formed. For reasons that still escape me, evil has been working its terror beginning with the fictitious story of Adam and Eve and the snake.

Men have raged war as far back as history will show us, and I’m sure farther back than that. Men love to have power — not to say there hasn’t been a fair share of women who desire power, but men are inherently stronger and loaded with testosterone and find the need to use that energy to take over countries and kill millions of innocent people in the process.

Nightmare on State Street: The future of La Cumbre Plaza

Irecently wrote a screenplay — unlike anything I’ve written before. It’s a comedy and a tragedy. It’s called “The Monster’s Son.”

In the 1930s, Universal Studios came up with three prominent Frankenstein movies. In 1931, Frankenstein came to the screen. This was followed in 1935 by “The Bride of Frankenstein” and finally in 1939 by “The Son of Frankenstein.” Many, if not most, probably do

not know that Dr. Frankenstein did not intend to create a hideous, frightening creature. Victor went to great lengths to produce a beautiful creature from body parts he collected from the morgue and freshly dug graves. The creature was perfectly proportioned. It had luxuriant, black hair and pearly white teeth. He was also 8 feet tall because Dr. Frankenstein thought it would be easier to assemble if the creature was larger.

The proposed development at La Cumbre Plaza has much in common with these films.

To begin with, the proposed “Neighborhood” project alone would be the single largest housing development in Santa Barbara history. The developer hopes to build 685 units on 8.79 acres of land. That is approximately 78 units per acre. Like Victor’s monster, it was designed to stand out in a crowd. Some of the buildings will be 74

We’re witnessing this mental midget mentality today in 2023 with Russian President Vladimir Putin plunging into Ukraine. Why? Likely just because he can. And his ego won’t allow him to back off now, so he kills thousands of his own soldiers and murders thousands of innocent Ukrainians who just want to go back to a nice dinner and a movie. I’m sure a few million prayers have been said to end the nightmare, but they haven’t reached Mr. Putin yet.

In Mexico in 2022, there were more than 30,000 (likely much more) people killed, about 85 a day. Lives taken by vile morons who see human beings as nothing but obstacles. They have zero regard for human life. The unfortunate people who have witnessed the heads of their neighbors, friends and family stuck to posts, entire families wiped out to merely send a message, haven’t had their prayers answered.

Life in certain places in Mexico — if there is such a thing as hell, it has risen to Earth’s surface to pluck people into its bowels. Not unlike our

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

the

radio station.

Andy Caldwell

Maybe some privileges should be delayed

COURTESY IMAGE

Shoppers stroll through La Cumbre Plaza. Writer Nathan Post is concerned about what will happen about a high-density housing development that has been proposed for the Santa Barbara site.

COURTESY CDC

The FBI this week confirmed COVID-19 likely originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Ramaswamy: Bring down ‘Woke,’ bring back America

The 2024 presidential race gets more exciting each day. Now 37-yearold entrepreneur businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has entered the race as the newest Republican candidate.

Whether this political novice has a chance at winning the highest elective office in the land remains to be seen. But for sure, he has something to say and contribute.

And worth noting is now the first two candidates to announce following former President Donald Trump’s entering the race, Mr. Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley, are children of Indian immigrants.

I re-quote the statistic I cited last week that “more than half of America’s start-up companies valued at $1 billion or more” were founded by immigrants.

Inside our country, a vast leftwing culture has risen to power, peddling a message that ours is an evil, racist country that can only be fixed by seizing power and force-feeding “woke” values onto all our institutions.

But these successful firstgeneration offspring of immigrants raise the important question: If our country is so horrible, why is there no place on Earth where more want to come and gain the privilege of citizenship?

And when they come, they know what to do. They study, work and follow the path to great success, which is only possible in a country that is free.

At age 37, Mr. Ramaswamy’s resume includes degrees from Harvard and Yale, founding and leading a successful biotechnology start-up firm, founding an investment firm that focuses on traditional goals of profitability and merit, and disavowing the politically correct ESG (environmental,

The Stupid Act

After a recent hurricane, Puerto Ricans desperately needed fuel. Fortunately, an oil tanker was right offshore. Unfortunately, the U.S. government forbade it to come ashore!

Why?

Because of a stupid law with a stupid name: The Jones Act.

The Jones Act forbids shipping anything between American ports in ships that are not U.S.-built and crewed. This makes goods cost more (the average Hawaii family must pay $1,800 more a year) and sometimes, as happened in Puerto Rico, makes a crisis worse.

social and governance) agenda, which has captured so many of the largest investment firms. And Mr. Ramaswamy authored two hard-hitting books, “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam,” and “Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence.”

Mr. Ramaswamy is showcasing his own life as proof that the American dream is alive and that the real threat we face is the “woke” culture that wants to turn our free nation over to left-wing politicians to force their agenda on everyone and have taxpayers pick up the bill for the trillions spent doing it. There is a reason why the nation is now staggering under massive debt and growing at a rate

one-third more slowly than the average for a half-century after World War II. Growth comes from productivity; productivity comes from efficient use of capital; and capital is used efficiently only when businessmen and entrepreneurs can invest as they wish, according to their best economic judgment.

The takeover of American business by politically correct ESG standards — environmental, social and corporate governance— is destroying our efficient use of capital, per Mr. Ramaswamy. If a business causes clear environmental damage, it should be responsible. But climate change science is not at all clear, and forcing firms to make decisions based on ideology rather

than science hurts all of us. We must stop, Mr. Ramaswamy says. Similarly, businesses must be free to make their own decisions who they hire and the values they choose to support. We cannot have business hamstrung by an agenda set by left-wing politics.

The way to help more minorities succeed is not governmentmandated affirmative action, but demanding excellence from them as from everyone else. This is the social agenda — classic American freedom — that will work for everyone.

But I wonder what Mr. Ramaswamy means when he writes, “We must restore merit for who gets to come to America” and, “we must embrace merit in who gets to succeed in America.”

If we have freedom, merit

will arise on its own because it is what a free society demands. We certainly don’t need merit itself being defined by those with political power. Vivek Ramaswamy is for sure a model success story, and every American will benefit by knowing about it and hearing what he has to say.

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.

Copyright 2023 by Creators.com.

The financial markets and the United States

Interest rates are going up, and a lot of economic activity is slowing.

However, stock declines are concentrated in volatile technology sectors. Higher interest rates favor savers and long-term investors. The crash of crypto, which is essentially gambling, is stabilizing.

Labor markets remain tight. We are not in yet a traditional recession, and as a consequence, working people may now be reversing their longterm decline in relative real income.

The global financial crash of 2007-8 is instructive. However, a longer-term perspective gives more valuable context.

There is continuing bad news about bonds, property, stocks and other investments along with concern about inflation. Everything seems to be going down, except inflation, which is rising.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and colleagues at the Federal Reserve board continue to give priority to fighting inflation.

The Great Depression remains distinctively destructive. The 1929 stock market collapse proved to be the spark for a decade of extraordinary economic crises and human misery.

The stock market drop was sudden and steep. From the 381.17 peak on Sept. 3, 1929, U.S. stocks lost 25% value over two days.

November 1929 brought

recovery, but that proved fleeting. Stocks drifted to the historic low of 41.22 in July 1932. During the height of the selling frenzy, they traded in volumes not reached again until the late 1960s. Stocks did not return to the 1929 peak until the 1950s, in great contrast to more recent experience. Public suspicion as well as hostility toward bankers defined American political life for decades.

At home and abroad, extremism flourished, including Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party in Germany. World War II followed.

After the 2007 financial crash, banks failed and others remained solvent only by emergency government support. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., established during the Great Depression, proved up to the task of protecting individual depositors.

The 2008 bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers underscored the scale of the crisis. Nonetheless, sustained government intervention reestablished financial stability and supported recovery.

Commercial banks became more regulated, with capital requirements raised as part of rescue. In 2010, the DoddFrank Act became law, including the important initiative of Paul Volcker to again separate commercial from investment banking.

As chairman of the Federal Reserve, Mr. Volcker defeated inflation in the early 1980s, and that example informs current efforts. Traditionally, the money supply and interest rates have been principal tools.

The Fed today controls a relatively small share of total dollars. At the same time, the global reserve role of the dollar facilitates ongoing private investment worldwide. Most importantly, markets today are generally more fluid and robust.

Finance is one component of our complex economy. Money is a universally accepted means of exchange, but tangible value results from the work of enormous, diverse arrays of people.

This is what we Americans should remember: First, the U.S has the most productive economy in the world. Our gross domestic

product has doubled about every two decades since 1940.

Second, as a citizen, be active. Serious, sustained public oversight of financial activities is essential.

Third, as an investor, do your homework. One resource is the classic book by Dodd and Graham, respectively a professor and a Wall Street genius, first published in 1934, regularly revised.

The basic truths of investing remain unchanged.

Also unchanged is the core importance of committed, dedicated workers. Current high demand for employees underscores the truth of this observation.

To learn more, read Benjamin Graham and David Dodd’s “Security Analysis.”

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.

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun fights for fiscal sanity

the national debt has increased over $3.7 trillion. Since assuming office, President Biden has increased spending by over $10 trillion.

Both political parties can share the blame for the national debt and the broken budget process. Nevertheless, U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Indiana, is one of a select few policymakers who is trying to seriously address the debt crisis.

Sen. Braun is a rare budget hawk in Congress and his efforts to address both the national debt and rein in spending should be seriously considered.

would be “worth” $1 trillion. Modern Monetary Theory repeals the laws of economics and fiscal sanity. It also ignores the numerous examples from history that demonstrate what happens to nations when they simply just print money.

is attempting to correct this by making it more difficult to waive budget rules.

Yet America’s shipping lobby claims this law is a good thing.

“The Jones Act ensures reliable, dedicated service,” says American Maritime Partnership’s Jennifer Carpenter in my new video. Her group lobbies for shipowners and labor unions.

“Your rules really hurt people!” I push back obnoxiously, flatly accusing her of sleazy manipulation. “You give money to politicians; they ban your competition.”

She smiles and says, “The Jones Act is a time-tested American security law, so we are not at the mercy of foreign powers.”

That’s nonsense. The act has nothing to do with American security.

Foreign ships deliver goods to America from foreign powers all the time. That includes ships from China and Russia. Dozens of foreign vessels are in American harbors right now.

It’s only within America that foreign shipping is banned. Only American ships and crews are allowed to move goods from Los Angeles to Hawaii, or from Miami to Puerto Rico.

The Jones Act is just another special deal that one industry has scammed out of Congress. Banning foreign ships didn’t even do good things for America’s shipbuilding industry. With competition outlawed, they got fat and lazy.

There were once more than 450 American shipyards. Now there are only 150. The number of American-crewed ships has

HAVE YOUR SAY

Your opinions are valuable contributions to these pages. We welcome a variety of views. Letters must be exclusive to the News-Press. In most cases, first priority for immediate publication goes to those submitted by 6 p.m. Tuesdays.

We encourage brevity, and shorter letters have a better chance of being printed immediately.

The national debt is at $31 trillion and rising.

The Congressional Budget Office has recently estimated that the Fiscal Year 2023 deficit could hit $1.4 trillion. The economy is still struggling with high inflation, which is a direct result of reckless and out-of-control spending. Under President Joe Biden,

Progressives and liberals have embraced the radical Modern Monetary Theory, which states that since the federal government has the ability to print money, it does not have to worry about deficits or debt. This theory argues that the federal government can have a “blank check” to continue to spend without any consequences.

An example is having the U.S. Mint produce a platinum coin that

This is why Sen. Braun has introduced a measure that would condemn Modern Monetary Theory. The theory is a reckless philosophy that has led to record high inflation. Consumers across the nation continue to not only pay more at the grocery store, but inflation is destroying their earnings and purchasing power. Families and businesses are forced every day to make difficult decisions about their budgets. This is why Sen. Braun has introduced the Fight Inflation Act through Balanced Budgets Act of 2023 and the Make Rules Matter Act. For too long, Congress has not only sidestepped fiscal responsibility, but through institutional rules, is able to waive budget rules in order to increase spending. Sen. Braun

Sen. Braun is also calling for the federal budget to be balanced and has proposed a plan to meet this objective. The Braun Budget plan would place a cap on total spending and would balance the budget over a 10 year period and save taxpayers $4.5 trillion. The Braun Budget proposal would also require much needed transparency and force Congress to review government programs. A large portion of the federal budget is on auto-pilot, and this not only increases spending, but allows wasteful and unnecessary programs to continue.

Sen. Braun’s proposal is also respectful of Social Security and Medicare, and it would extend the life of both trust funds. It would also make the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, which when passed created economic prosperity and provided much needed tax relief for families and businesses.

Opponents of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act argue that it has led to massive deficits, but the opposite

actually occurred. Revenues increased as a result of the tax cut, which demonstrates that the federal government has a spending problem.

Sen. Braun’s budget proposal would make other meaningful reforms to the federal government, and it would provide a path forward for fiscal sustainability.

The national debt is not just a serious economic problem, but it is also a threat to national security.

Sen. Braun should be commended for his leadership in trying to restore fiscal conservatism to the federal government. Further, Sen. Braun has not forgotten that the Republican Party, the conservative party, must be the champion for sound economic policies and to stop the economic insanity of Modern Monetary Theory.

John Hendrickson is the policy director for Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation. This commentary was provided to the News-Press by The Center Square, a nonprofit dedicated to journalism.

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Star Parker

The author is with the Center for Urban Renewal and Education

GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Vivek Ramaswamy, the latest Republican candidate for president, gives a talk at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center.

Arthur I, Cyr

COURTESY PHOTO Fed Chairman Jerome Powell

John Hendrickson The author is with the Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation

COURTESY PHOTO

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun

dropped, too.

“Because of your monopoly,” I say to Ms. Carpenter, “American shipyards keep closing. They don’t have any competition, so they don’t improve.”

“Competition within our industry and with other modes of transportation is vigorous!” she replies. “It’s dog eat dog.”

“No, it’s not!” I reply. “The best dogs are banned.”

She pivots quickly. “The U.S government does not subsidize U.S. shipyards the way many of our strategic competitors and allies do.”

That’s true — and pathetic.

Subsidies are destructive. It’s good that America subsidizes less than other countries.

Anyway, Cato Institute trade policy specialist Scott Lincicome points out that American ships cost much more than the subsidy difference, “four to five times more to build than ships in Japan or Korea,” mostly because of “decades of being protected from competition, simply not having to innovate.”

Today no American shipyard builds even one ship that can carry natural gas. That’s a big problem for New England if we have a cold winter. Eversource President Joseph Nolan worried there wouldn’t be enough gas for the winter because he couldn’t “get relief from the Jones Act.”

No wonder New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu calls the act an “antiquated 100-year-old union driven policy.”

Ms. Carpenter lobbies against Jones Act waivers. “You give politicians money not to grant waivers,” I tell her.

“Hold up!” she exclaims. “Let’s unpack this. Frankly, waivers should be safe, legal and rare. What we too often see is somebody’s trying to make a quick buck. There’s no national defense need; there’s no shortage of product. It’s, ‘Hey, I could save some money.’” But saving money is good for consumers! It’s good for everyone but America’s shipping monopoly. Of course, most industries don’t want competition! American

carmakers didn’t want to compete with Honda and Toyota. But they got better because they had to compete.

“Just like foreign competition improved American automobiles,” says Mr. Lincicome, “foreign competition would do the same for American-made ships.” We’d all be better off if America’s shipping industry had to compete like every other business. The Jones Act should die.

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.”

Calling somebody a nasty name often invokes anger

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military, whose main focus should be on unit cohesion and unit effectiveness in battle, is being subjected to divisive, woke indoctrination.

In America, calling somebody a nasty name often invokes anger. But there is now one word that invokes only fear. That word is “racist.” Whether true or not, this epithet is toxic. It can cost people their jobs, and they can be pilloried on the internet.

But if a black person calls a white woman a “Karen” (slang for a white woman who is seen as entitled and demanding), that is considered OK. The first commandment of “woke” is that only white people can be racist.

There could be a grassroots rebellion that could trigger an adverse event, against the widespread government efforts to indoctrinate a majority of the 250 million white men, women and children. Their purpose is to psychologically and physically strip them of any inherent, subconscious assumptions of white privilege and of the real-life benefits that theoretically accrued to them because of their subconscious belief.

We started this three-part series in the Did You Know? column

to try to spark interest and a conversation about the adverse events and their consequences that we face as citizens.

As we end this column, we hazard a guess about which of the potential adverse events we identified, could produce a cascade of consequential failures. All bets are off if the Ukraine war becomes a war between Russia and NATO.

One adverse event likely to cause a cascade of failures is the rapid melting of ice sheets and glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland and other parts of the world. The melting of the ice has a multiplying effect on the rate of global warming that we are being warned is not accounted for adequately in plans to arrest its growth.

The other, probable, adverse event, that could be a trigger, is government overreach in forcing through extremely unpopular, expensive and freedom-killing changes on an already stressed population — changes that also fail to meet the on-demand power needs of millions of people. It seems that none of the authors of the anti-global-warming strategy commitments have calculated the extreme, adverse impacts on people’s lives, in implementing their plans to save the world.

The experts in the power generation and distribution fields are already warning California

of blackouts and system failures ahead, as the state plunges headlong into closing down fossil fuel power generation and replacing it with wind and solar power.

In parallel, we are facing the potential, premature replacement of all mechanisms powered by fossil fuels, with mechanisms dependent solely on electricity, before there is enough dependable wind and solar-power energy and energy storage to meet the stratospheric increases in demand for electricity.

This is all being driven by the setting of statewide objectives that are not adequately supported by integrated project plans, critical path analyses and investments for every element of implementation, on this monumental scale. If one wants verification, just look at the California high-speed train disaster.

By comparison, that is a singledimension project. Not at all like the super, multi-path, planning and resource implementation discipline demanded for a complete transformation to an all-new, energy creation, supply, and distribution structure that is necessary to meet all on-demand needs for energy, and to prevent a collapse of the system.

In September 2022, energy experts blamed green energy policies for Europe’s full-scale

energy crisis, and they point out, it is a warning for the U.S.

The European benchmark index measuring future electricity prices rose to a record $993 per megawatt-hour. By comparison, the average price of electricity in the U.S. hit $129 per MWh. Lower-than-expected wind power generation was the major factor in sending prices higher and forcing suppliers to fall back on coal and natural gas.

Gov. Gavin Newsom should take heed of lessons already learned in Europe.

Did you know that NOAA has produced a graph of global temperatures from 1880 to 2022? It shows quite clearly that global temperatures have not increased since 2016 and have slightly reduced. This is despite the fact that, in that period, 500 billion tons of emissions occurred.

DYK does not know what this halt in temperature increases means. But it reminds us that we should be asking more questions of governments on all these factors that bring tremendous changes to our lives, and demand specific answers, as they push us down an irreversible path.

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

Each unit will be allocated one parking space

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feet high, with few exceptions, taller than any building in Santa Barbara. The average height of a six-story building is 65 feet tall.

The 74 feet elements will be 29 feet higher than the existing buildings at La Cumbre Plaza. The maximum height limit at La Cumbre Plaza is currently 45 feet. The maximum allowed height limit in the city of Santa Barbara is 60 feet. Santa Barbara voters approved that height limit with a 3-1 margin.

Unless you live in a city filled with high-rise buildings, 78 units per acre could be seen as a highdensity development. Typically, there are nine to 10 detached single-family homes on an acre of land. For mobile homes, that number may be 15-20 units per acre (some say nine units.)

Townhomes or row houses typically contain 12-18 units per acre. Garden apartments generally contain 19-25 units per acre. I think we can assume that 19-25 units in a garden apartment is a far cry from the 78 units per acre proposed by the developer of the “Neighborhood.”

While the “Neighborhood” is a bodice-busting development, the apartments it will contain are remarkably small. The average apartment in the “Neighborhood” is 716 square feet. How small is that?

In the United States, the average apartment in 2018 was 941 square feet. In 2019 the average apartment was 900 square feet. The current

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by Hunter at a computer repair shop and then forgotten, contains videos and photos of a naked Hunter cavorting with prostitutes, smoking crack and participating in sundry, dubious activities.

Hunter had already made a name for himself as the man who famously “earned” $1 million a year (for five years!) by sitting on the board of directors of Burisma, a Ukrainian oil-and-gas holding company. Hunter had no knowledge of or experience with energy production of any kind.

But he was the son of a sitting vice president: Joe Biden.

I’m not an investigative reporter and have no connections to law enforcement authorities who would lead me to know anything more than what has already been made public.

But what has been made public

average is 882 square feet.

It is a downhill battle. Holding out against this assault on humanity, the average apartment size in the southeast is 975 square feet. The average hotel room is approximately 13 by 25 feet or 325 square feet. That includes a table, two beds, a bath and a small closet. One or two suitcases are about all that space can handle.

The “Neighborhood” units are about the size of two average hotel rooms. What remains would have to accommodate a living area, dining area, kitchen, closets, storage cabinets, washer/dryer, room for opening doors, etc. You can store your bike on the — well, there are no balconies. This may be a good size for a single, but otherwise couples may be subjected to a bit more intimacy than they expected.

As if that weren’t bad enough, each unit will be allocated one parking space. I can see families attempting to move into these tiny units stacking mattresses against the wall during the day and trying to park their second or third car on the street at night.

Just when you think it can’t get any worse, the Santa Barbara City Council has embraced a housing element designed to cram as much housing as possible into La Cumbre Plaza. It is an act of desperation that the council hopes will solve the city’s housing problems. It can’t and it won’t. This housing element could saddle La Cumbre Plaza with up to 2,000 high-density housing units.

A few years ago, the owners

is damning. However, what seems like an open-and-shut case of influence peddling and money laundering can easily be disguised as an international CIA or FBI undercover operation set up to expose and bring down powerful criminal elements.

And, truth be told, there could be some factual basis for that.

In any case, those who expect Joe Biden, or James Biden, or Hunter Biden or even Jill Biden, to be indicted and or convicted of anything should put aside those foolish fantasies.

Just as Dr. Anthony Fauci has recently opined that “Perhaps we’ll never know” how COVID-19 was initially spread (though most of us who’ve followed the trail already know), I do believe neither the Chinese government nor the U.S. government will ever reveal all the details behind the advent and spread of COVID-19. Mainly because both governments

of the Sears building were contemplating a 540-unit housing development. The owners of the Sears property have reportedly signed a ground lease with a housing development firm headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz. We could call that development “The Bride of Frankenstein.”

The remaining property belongs to the mall owner Macerich. Development of the Macerich property would plunge a final dagger into the heart of La Cumbre Plaza. Anything representing sanity on upper State Street would be lost. It could be called the “Son of Frankenstein.”

Where will we shop when the mall is gone? Lower State Street is dead, Paseo Nuevo is dead, and La Cumbre Plaza will be largely obliterated.

Somehow or another, the housing crisis has caused us to lose our collective minds and sensibilities. Do we have to destroy the quality of La Cumbre Plaza to provide housing in Santa Barbara?

A project that honors Santa Barbara’s sensibilities could be built. Some of the housing could be spread out to other areas. Paseo Nuevo could provide some space for housing. There are a lot of onestory buildings that could be made into two-story buildings. Multi-use designations could be expanded. Several properties could be repurposed.

Between January 2020 and January 2021, California lost 182,000 residents. From 2010 to 2020 California lost 1.2 million residents. Companies are leaving

are culpable. I also believe we’ll probably never know the full truth behind Hunter Biden’s or the Biden family’s business dealings. Whitey Bulger was a stone-cold killer protected by an ultimately corrupted FBI agent.

Joe Biden is simply one in a long line of slick politicians with ready smiles and hearty handshakes (though not so hearty anymore), eager and willing to skirt the rules, pad the payroll, and make big bucks through their public trust.

Joe Biden types are a dime a dozen. He joins a long and undistinguished procession of self-serving men and women who’ve taken full advantage of their exalted post for personal benefit. His son, Hunter, and his brother James are just incidental but useful sycophants bound together by an unworthy bloodline.

The Whitey Bulger/John Connolly story is a cautionary

California in droves.

The developer of La Cumbre Plaza came to Santa Barbara in the 1960s. Santa Barbara was a tranquil town in the 1960s. His offices are located in El Paseo. One would think he had a Santa Barbara sensibility. Why else move into El Paseo, one of the most iconic buildings in town? That sensibility seems to have disappeared, at least when it comes to La Cumbre Plaza.

One thing is certain, Pearl Chase is rolling in her grave. People come to Santa Barbara because it is not like the place they came from, but boy, it is turning into that place.

The “Neighborhood” appears to be a compact, concrete highrise environment, surrounded by a parking lot, with minimal landscaping. Each unit will have a view of the parking lot, another building, or the street. No recreational amenities have been identified that I know of. Where is the swimming pool for 700 residences? (God only knows how people will be packed into these units.)

Where is the Jacuzzi? Is there an exercise room? Is there a clubhouse or a place where residents can hold meetings or events like birthday parties? I don’t see a bit of grass for kids to play on.

There appears to be minimal landscaping to soften the concrete. If a resident wants to barbecue, what then? Will cats and dogs be allowed? If so, where are they going to take care of business?

tale of how just one bad agent can corrupt an entire law enforcement agency.

Though I’d like to see a different outcome, odds are they’ll all escape any serious consequences, and the public is unlikely to learn much for a very long time. After all, 60 years have passed since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and many of the files and autopsy photos and reports remain “secret” at the behest of various governmental agencies, including the FBI.

Keeping that in mind, how long do you think the Biden papers will be kept under wraps?

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.

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President John F. Kennedy said, “Without public debate, our republic cannot survive.” Progressives and Joe Biden are trying to silence all critics by claiming they are spreading “disinformation.” Their goal is to turn our republic into a socialist democratic state controlled by the far left Democrats.

The socialist manifesto reads: Take control of media and education, inflate the currency and divide the classes.

Orwell’s Big Brother knew the role of truth and facts within societies and the ways in which

they can be manipulated. By rewriting history, turning lies into truths, and outlawing proven facts, he became the dystopian dictator of Oceania. It could happen here if we don’t end this illegal alliance between liberal selfanointed truth seekers and the government.

“Truth is not something we invent. If we do it is a lie. Truth is something that we discover after we learn all of the facts.” — Bishop Fulton Sheen This commentary was provided to the News-Press by The Center Square, a nonprofit dedicated to journalism.

There’s agony taking place all around the globe

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own inner cities.

Mexican executioners are never satiated for their need to feed their greed. They bring their lust for death to America’s borders and kill hundreds of thousands of Americans as well. They don’t blink about the lives they’re responsible for killing.

They just count the dollars and make more poison. There’s no guilt for the family and friends who mourn and pray over the coffins of the lives lost that made the executioners rich. If there is anything remotely like a hell, those are the ones I hope will end up setting permanent residence there along with Hitler and all the other predators of the world. If prayer will help, pray for that.

When it comes to natural disasters, that’s exactly what they are, natural. God or the supreme being didn’t say one day, “Let there be an earthquake because I feel like killing some people today.”

The Turkey earthquake with nearly 50,000 dead is impossible to comprehend. It was a reminder of the Haiti earthquake, which killed over three times the human souls.

The numbers are staggering for our feeble minds to grasp.

The same for the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, which took

some 225,000 lives. No amount of prayer saved any of them. Though there’s been a lot of thanking God going on from the survivors of these natural events. There’s agony taking place all around the globe every day. From our inner cities to Africa where entire villages are “cleansed.” To the woman being shoved in front of a train to four college students being brutally stabbed to death while sleeping. The world is a violent and deadly place.

I wish there were a way to effectively stop the mayhem, but so far there is no remedy. This is the plate we were given, and it’s up to us to clean it up. On the upside, good in the long run has triumphed over evil, but the path to get there has been a bloody one.

I have very close friends and family, my mother being one, who place a lot in their faith, and that’s good. Because without that faith, it would make lives a lot uglier for many people.

As my mother always asks, why doesn’t God step in and stop all the bad things from happening? Because if there is a God, like billions believe, if He did step in and prevent all bad things, the world would be a very strange place. Because without the bad, we wouldn’t know the good.

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

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In addition to Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, above, sits on the new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.