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Luxury horse barn New Fairfield Farm brings East Coast style to Santa Ynez
Space history being made today Blue Origin flight means several firsts By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
The time has finally come for Wally Funk, a woman who dreamed of going into outer space and proved way back in 1961 she had the right stuff. Ms. Funk, 82, who was part of an unofficial female astronaut program during NASA’s infancy and did well in tests, will go up into space today with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and 18year-old Oliver Daemon of The Netherlands. Today, Ms. Funk will become the oldest astronaut in history; Mr. Daemon, the youngest. The flight comes a little over a week after Virgin Galactic’s Sir Richard Branson beat Jeff Bezos with one not-so-small step in making space history as the first space company billionaire to soar into space. Today Blue Origin crew will
COURTESY PHOTOS
The new Fairfield Farm in Santa Ynez includes a two-story barn with 30 stalls.
By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
A new equestrian facility is set to open next month in Santa Ynez, bringing an East Coaststyle luxury club to equestrians on the Central Coast. The new Fairfield Farm sits on about 20 acres and includes a two-story barn with 30 stalls, an Olympic-regulation size dressage ring
and a large grass field. The property is also surrounded by a wire mesh barrier to protect horses and riders from gophers. ClaudeLee “Elee” Johnson, a Santa Ynez Valley resident, has worked on renovating the property for two years. During the renovation process, Ms. Johnson flattened every stall, installed new plumbing and electricity, and rubber-matted the entire
take off in their New Shepard spacecraft on top of a rocket from Van Horn, Texas. The flight is scheduled for 6 this morning Pacific time, although weather or technical checks could delay it. The rocket won’t soar at warp speed, but it will still be very fast — more than three times the speed of sound. They’ll go up to the edge of space, make some history in microgravity and come back down, not unlike what Alan Shepard did during his suborbital flight when he became the first American astronaut in space on May 5, 1961. The surroundings are better, though. The one-man Mercury capsules were a tight fit and had a small window, which it wouldn’t have had if the astronauts hadn’t insisted. By contrast, the New Shepard Please see SPACE on A4
barn. Growing up on the East Coast, Ms. Johnson learned to ride and show horses at some of the country’s top riding clubs, including the Ox Ridge Hunt Club in Connecticut and Old Salem Farm in New York. When she moved to the Central Coast in 2018, she knew wanted to bring the charm and Please see BARN on A4
M. BRADLEY ELLIOTT PHOTO
Hal Conklin served as the mayor of Santa Barbara and was instrumental in everything from the Community Environmental Council to the reopening of Stearns Wharf. A memorial service in his honor will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday in front of the Santa Barbara Mission.
Memorial service to honor Hal Conklin By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
The community will honor the late Mayor Hal Conklin during a memorial service at 7 p.m. Wednesday in front of the Santa Barbara Mission. The public is invited and advised to bring a blanket or lawn chair, jacket or mask as needed. Mr. Conklin, who died May 21 at age 75 after a battle with brain cancer, served as the Santa Barbara mayor in 1993 and 1994. He was a Santa Barbara City Council member from 1977 to 1993. Mr. Conklin also worked on extending Chase Palm Park, building Paseo Nuevo, restoring The Granada and working during early efforts to establish a recycling program. He also helped found the Community Environmental Council, of which he was a former executive director. Mr. Conklin earned his bachelor’s degree in social psychology from UC Berkeley in
Fairfield Farm sits on 20 acres and includes an Olympic-regulation size dressage ring.
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1972. While he intended to work with poor children in Oakland, he ultimately decided to move to Santa Barbara and work with the CEC. As he stood on Stearns Wharf during a 2019 interview, Mr. Conklin told the News-Press that the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill changed his life. He was visiting Santa Barbara at the time to see a cousin, and it was just a few days after the spill. “I would never had thought about doing any of those (environmental) things if not for the day I walked down here and saw that,” he said, looking at East Beach and remembering the oilsoaked birds he saw in 1969. In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to the Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara with the memo “Hal Conklin Memorial.” Memories and photos of Mr. Conklin can be shared at www.newlywords.com/halconklin-memorial, using the access word “Conklin.”
Sudoku................. B3 Weather................ A4
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 1-39-41-46-47 Mega: 23
Monday’s DAILY 4: 6-6-6-5
Friday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 24-25-47-52-57 Mega: 24
Monday’s FANTASY 5: 1-14-21-29-37
Monday’s DAILY DERBY: 01-09-02 Time: 1:40.71
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 15-22-38-54-66 Meganumber: 3
Monday’s DAILY 3: 9-3-2 / Midday 9-4-8