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

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