Champion for Kids
Santa Barbara County Fair
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids honors Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley - A2
Festivities continue today and Sunday at Santa Maria Fairpark - B1
Our 167th Year
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S AT U R DAY, J U LY 16 , 2 0 2 2
A can-do spirit
Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp returns after two-year hiatus
Arroyo becomes new SB interim police chief By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Participants of the Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp play a game of half-court basketball at the UCSB Recreation Center.
By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Dozens of enthusiastic participants turned out for the 2022 Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp, which wrapped on Friday at the UCSB Recreation Center. The five-day camp returned inperson after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and participants were thrilled to be back together. “I would say that especially on the first day the energy was palpable,” Rene Van Hoorn, camp director and lead recreation therapist for Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital, told the News-Press. “The kids could only interact virtually the last two years. Our furthest camper this year came from Michigan. We were so grateful to be together in person. People were connecting and reconnecting. They are so appreciative of everything we are doing here and being together.” The annual camp provides sports and recreation skills development for children, youth and young adults between the ages of 6 and 21 who can use a wheelchair to participate in activities. A new young adult group has recently been added for athletes up to 21 years old. The camp had 35 attendees, which. although down from previous years. is still seen as good, considering the impact of COVID-19. “I always say that because we are a hospital, we are the last kids on the block to open up. Every single attendee was tested three times during the week,” said Ms. Van Hoorn. Camp activities this week
ranged from beginner to advanced wheelchair sports and recreation activities, including rugby, basketball, tennis, hand cycling, swimming, scuba diving, racquetball, power soccer, climbing wall, ropes course, dodgeball, obstacle course, baseball, dance and pickleball. Other activities included an all-camp dance, a carnival and boxing. “For swimming, we have oneon-one instructors in the pool, who give basic individual lessons. For many, they have no access to a pool, or a home pool is not accessible,” said Ms. Van Hoorn. She noted there are few places in town conducive to teaching people with a physical disability how to swim. “For wall climbing, we have UCSB leads for climbing walls and a ropes course using adapted equipment, including a system of pulleys. The camper does as much as they can. The rest is done using the pulley system,” said Ms. Van Hoorn. The Junior Wheelchair Sports Camp was founded in 1986 and is the only camp of its kind on the Central Coast. It attracts campers from the tri-counties and beyond, including Los Angeles and Bakersfield, and even Oregon. Transportation for campers is provided free of charge from Oxnard, Santa Maria, Lompoc, Carpinteria and Santa Barbara. “This was the 36th annual camp including the two virtual years,” said Ms. Van Hoorn. “The camp was started by the city of Santa Barbara in 1986 with funds from the paralympics. The event was taken over in 2008 by Cottage Hospital. The cornerstone of camp is to get kids empowered to know
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Interim Police Chief Marylinda Arroyo
Cmdr. Arroyo’s assignments have included service as a patrol officer, crisis negotiations team, academy instructor, special investigations detective, high tech crime and digital forensics investigator, sergeant, patrol watch commander, and strategic operations and investigative division commander. Cmdr. Arroyo was the first woman to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant, captain and commander in the 122-year history of the Santa Barbara Police Department. At the time of her appointment as interim police chief, she was commanding the field operations division, which includes patrol, traffic, special enforcement, street crimes, co-response, dispatch, SWAT and CNRT. email: kzehnder@newspress.com
San Diego border agents confiscate enough fentanyl to kill more than 23M people By BETHANY BLANKLEY Above, a wheelchair sports camp participant rises to the challenge of rock climbing. Below, tennis drills are part of the camp.
that they can do every single sport that I just mentioned with friends and family.” “We run the camp with about 50 volunteers. We have about 20-30 each day,” she said. “They are the backbone of the camp. “A lot of people of all ages volunteer and have for years,” she said. Ms. Van Hoorn also noted, “All counselors and coaches are wheelchair users.” She said everyone who attends
the camp and their families feel the positive impact of the camp. “If there is anything I would love, it is for people to realize it doesn’t take rocket science to do what we are doing,” Ms. Van Hoorn said. “Just give them a chance. We want people to figure out what they can do, not what they can’t do. You just have to be creative like we are with any person.” email: kzehnder@newspress.com
THE CENTER SQUARE CONRIBUTOR
(The Center Square) – In one traffic stop, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa LPOE in San Diego County confiscated enough fentanyl to kill more than 23 million people. Otay Mesa is the busiest commercial port in California. In FY21, CBP agents processed 5 million vehicles, 1 million trucks, and 2.1 million pedestrians. On July 3, they confiscated more than 100 pounds of fentanyl hidden in food products smuggled in by two men entering California from Mexico. They confiscated 42.46 pounds of powder and 59.08 pounds of pills, with an estimated street value of more than $1.2 million. Roughly two milligrams of fentanyl, about the weight of a mosquito, is enough to kill a fullgrown adult. One ounce is enough to kill 14,174 full-grown adults; one pound is enough to kill 226,796 full-grown adults. The 101.5 pounds CBP officials confiscated was enough to kill 23,028,882 full-grown adults. “We are seeing a rise in
fentanyl smuggling attempts,” Anne Maricich, CBP deputy director of Field Operations in San Diego, said. “Our officers are working vigilantly to prevent the entry of this dangerous drug. Our field office is also diligently working on mitigating the risks involved with seizing this lethal narcotic.” Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times more deadly than morphine, is primarily brought into the U.S. illegally from Mexico. The Otay Mesa LPOE is one of three ports of entry in San Diego for those entering the U.S. from Tijuana, Mexico. Tijuana is controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel, which has operational control of the U.S. southern border from California to Del Rio, Texas, law enforcement officials have explained to The Center Square. It’s believed to be the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the Western Hemisphere. On July 3, Otay Mesa CBP agents stopped two male drivers attempting to enter the U.S. who showed a passport from an unnamed country and a Please see FENTANYL on A4
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i nsi d e Classified.............. B4 Life..................... B1-2 Obituaries............. A4
Effective today, Cmdr. Marylinda Arroyo is the new interim Santa Barbara police chief. She succeeds Bernard “Barney” Melekian, who retired Friday after serving as interim chief for one and one-half years. A permanent police chief is expected to be announced within the next few weeks. Cmdr. Arroyo is a police commander with the Santa Barbara Police Department and a graduate of the California POST Command College, class 67. She began her public safety service in her hometown of Santa Barbara in 1991, while attending and earning a bachelor’s from UCSB. In addition, she earned a master’s in public policy and administration from California Lutheran University, a leadership and management certificate from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an executive certificate in Law Enforcement Command from the University of San Diego. During her 27 years as a peace officer, she has received numerous awards such as the prestigious Thomas H. Guerry Award, Chief Meritorious Award, California Peace Officers Association Foundation Award, Law Enforcement Award – Optimist Club and Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara Alumni Hero. She and her husband Sam have been married for 22 years and have a daughter in college and a son in high school.
Sudoku................. B3 Sports ................... A3 Weather................ A4
Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: 12-19-20-36-42 Mega: 3
Friday’s DAILY 4: 3-4-9-7
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 8-20-26-53-64 Mega: 15
Friday’s FANTASY 5: 29-30-32-34-37
Friday’s DAILY DERBY: 10-02-04 Time: 1:46.02
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 20-23-36-47-63 Meganumber: 2
Friday’s DAILY 3: 2-2-7 / Midday 4-4-7