Athletic Round Table
Watching the film festival from your car Viewer, volunteers talk about the drive-in experience - A3
Our 165th Year
Athletes of the Week honored at newly resumed weekly press luncheon - A7
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T U E S DAY, A PR I L 6 , 2 0 21
Vaccine eligibility expanded All residents 16 and older can get vaccine; officials eye fourth wave developing in East
SB beach now sees fewer thefts Police credit addition of parking cameras at Arroyo Burro Beach By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
After the Santa Barbara County Parks Department installed security cameras in the parking lot at Arroyo Burro Beach, the Santa Barbara Police Department received fewer calls for service, Lt. Joshua Morton told the NewsPress. “When people see cameras up, it tends to deter activity,” he said Monday. “As soon as the cameras were installed, we saw a drop in criminal activity.” Arroyo Burro, located at 2981 Cliff Drive in Santa Barbara and often called “Hendry’s Beach,” was the site of numerous car break-ins and credit-card thefts before the addition of the cameras. Taking a quick look at 2020’s reports at the location, Lt. Morton saw 25 cases of theft. So far, there have been five reports in 2021, most of which occurred prior to camera installation. In February, Santa Barbara police noticed a high number of burglary calls at Hendry’s and Please see cameras on A8
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Cottage Health reached a milestone of 50,000 vaccines administered last Thursday. This represents about 30 percent of vaccine doses administered countywide.
By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
DAVE MASON / NEWS-PRESS
Dr. Henning Ansorg, the Santa Barbara County public health officer, is urging residents to stay vigilant to prevent a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases in the county.
All Santa Barbara County residents 16 and older can now get a COVID-19 vaccine. The County Public Health Department announced late Monday that all residents in that age group are eligible for vaccine appointments at clinics in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be distributed at the Hilton Beachfront Resort in Santa Barbara to residents 18 and older today and Thursday. Community members 16 and older can receive the Pfizer vaccine at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria all week long. By April 15, all participating pharmacies, hospitals and health care providers will open appointments to everyone 16 and older. “We have reached a critical moment in our vaccination efforts where all groups able to receive the vaccine are now eligible at County
Public Health Community Vaccination Clinics,” Dr. Van Do-Reynoso, the county’s director of public health, said in a statement. “Now is the time to encourage your family members, neighbors, co-workers to do their part and receive the vaccine as soon as they can.” This announcement comes just days after Cottage Health reached a milestone of 50,000 vaccine doses administered, inching closer to a victory in the fight to end the COVID-19 pandemic on the Central Coast. Since its first vaccine clinic in January, Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital has quadrupled its daily vaccine distributions, now inoculating about 2,000 people per day. Cottage Urgent Care locations in Goleta and Buellton have also joined the effort, administering 3,450 vaccines thus far, according to a news release. Cottage’s distribution efforts account for roughly 30% of all vaccines distributed in the county. As of Friday, the county’s Public Health Department has distributed more than 160,000 Please see vaccines on A2
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Dr. David Fisk, medical director of infection control and prevention at Cottage Health, said officials at Cottage are excited to be part of bringing protection to the County.
City requests input for SB police chief search By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The city of Santa Barbara is seeking community members’ input as it searches for its next police chief, who will be appointed by City Administrator Paul Casey. Ralph Andersen & Associates, a third-party firm hired by the city, is conducting a confidential survey as it kicks off the recruitment process. Currently, Bernard Melekian is serving as the interim police chief but does not intend to apply for the permanent position. “I took this position to be of service to the city and the police department,” he told the News-Press Monday. “When they hire a new police chief, I will fade quietly into the sunset.” Chief Melekian has assisted numerous personnel searches throughout his career and said a community survey is “not uncommon.” “I think there’s no question that the selection of the new police chief is one of the most important decisions the city manager will make,” he said. The community’s responses will help Ralph
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Andersen & Associates look for candidates. “It really helps the search firm define the parameters,” Chief Melekian said. “They have to create not just a job description but a broader description of what the community is looking for.” He said the community description will weed out bad candidates. The survey asks citizens to describe what they hope to be the next chief’s top priorities and identify the biggest challenges the chief will face. It also asks for qualities residents would like to see in the new chief and what opportunities people would like the new hire to take on. And the survey asks for general feedback about the police department as a whole. Although it’s a short survey, Chief Melekian anticipates that it is “the first step in what will be a long process.” He predicted that more community perspectives will be gathered in meetings. He’s not sure how long the process will take, but he’s “hopeful it will be about six months.” email: ahanshaw@newspress.com
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City College teacher becomes poet laureate By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
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Interim Police Chief Bernard Melekian is currently leading the Santa Barbara Police Department. The city is looking for a permanent police chief with the help of a third-party firm.
Emma Trelles has been named the poet laureate for the city of Santa Barbara. The Santa Barbara City College instructor will start her two-year term April 13 as the recipient of the city’s Poetry Month Proclamation, according to Monday’s announcement by the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture. Ms. Trelles will succeed Laure-Anne Bosselaar, who has served as the city’s poet laureate since 2019. The new poet laureate is the daughter of Cuban immigrants and the author of “Tropicalia,” published by University of Notre Dame Press. “Tropicalia” won the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, the first book prize to be awarded to a Latinx poet living and writing in Please see poet on A2
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ins id e Classified............... A6 Life.................... A3-4
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Emma Trelles will start her two-year term next week as poet laureate for the city of Santa Barbara.
Obituaries............. A8 Sudoku................. A5 Weather................ A8
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 1-7-8-31-38 Meganumber: 16
Monday’s DAILY 4: 3-8-0-5
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 10-42-48-53-62 Meganumber: 19
Monday’s FANTASY 5: 9-11-23-28-30
Monday’s DAILY DERBY: 09-03-06 Time: 1:40.72
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 1-12-17-39-53 Meganumber: 5
Monday’s DAILY 3: 9-0-1 / Midday 8-9-8