A fond fairwell
From WWII to Apollo space probgram Sir Putty Mills talks about his colorful life - A5
San Marcos High School head baseball coach Jacob Pepper steps down after seven seasons - A10
Our 165th Year
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W E DN E S DAY, AUGUS T 5, 2 0 2 0
Los Niños de las Flores Local kids spread Fiesta cheer delivering flowers around town
Missile launches from Vandenberg Unarmed ICBM test comes during week of space news at base
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
This year’s Old Spanish DaysFiesta may not have the buzzing energy from throngs of people crowding into De La Guerra Plaza or a celebratory kickoff performance before a large crowd at the Santa Barbara Mission. But that didn’t stop local kids from spreading Fiesta cheer on Tuesday by delivering flowers around town through Los Niños de las Flores. An annual tradition, Los Niños de las Flores involves flower girls and jovencitos, respectively boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 12, and la señoritas, teenagers between 13 and 18, bringing the spirit of Fiesta to retirement communities with flowers. On Tuesday, 88 local kids visited retirement communities like Maravilla in Santa Barbara, Casa Dorinda in Montecito and GranVida in Carpinteria, as well as Santa Barbara City Hall, the Santa Barbara City Fire Department, and the Santa Barbara Police Department. Under normal circumstances, kids would visit the retirement homes in large groups and enter the buildings to deliver the senior citizens flowers with a personal connection. Due to COVID-19, however, delivery groups were limited to individual families, and flowers were left outside the senior living facilities, the elderly residents greeting them from behind windows. “Before we would go inside and walk around and hand flowers to all the residents,” said Old Spanish Days associate Shelby Brewer after leaving flowers at the GranVida retirement home in Carpinteria. “This time we’re at the doors as they look through the glass and wave.” In an interview with the NewsPress, Old Spanish Days el presidente Erik Davis said that the theme of this year’s festival
RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Flower girl Gianna Hernandez, 12, hands flowers to Santa Barbara City Firefighter Erik Adair at City Fire Station No. 1 on Carrillo Street. The flowers are part of Los Niños de las Flores, the modified distribution of flowers around the community for this year’s Fiesta.
is “spreading joy however we can” amid the pandemic. Though COVID-19 has forced Los Niños de las Flores to scale back, the Fiesta’s el presidente said Old
Spanish Days nonetheless wanted to continue the tradition as a way of showing appreciation for the likes of the Santa Barbara City Council, Santa Barbara Police
Department and Santa Barbara City Fire Department. “This year, we just want to say thank you,” Mr. Davis said. Around 1 p.m., a group of la señoritas stopped by Santa Barbara City Hall to present a bundle of flowers to Mayor Cathy Murillo. Just as with the retirement homes, the flowers were delivered outside City Hall in De La Guerra Plaza as opposed to the usual setting inside the council chambers. Spirit of Fiesta Alena Velasco, 18, and Junior Spirit of Fiesta Alexandra Nocker, 10, were also present at City Hall as well as during the group’s subsequent visit to Fire Station 1. During both visits, they performed several measures of dancing. There was no music, so the dancers and the small crowd around them clapped in time. Though they had their preliminary auditions for Spirit and Junior Spirit in January, before the COVID-19 lockdowns, Alena and Alexandra were finally chosen in June, well into the pandemic. Despite COVID-19 dramatically changing this year’s Fiesta and forcing much of it Please see FIESTA on A2
Señorita Aliah Cisneros hands flowers to City Fire Engineer Jeff Zampese.
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By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
By JOSH GREGA
A sudden burst of light struck the night as an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile was launched at 12:21 a.m. Tuesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The missile reportedly traveled more than 4,200 miles to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The ICBM test program is designed to validate and verify the safety, security, effectiveness and readiness of the weapon system, according to Air Force Global Strike Command. “This launch demonstrates that we are able to provide the range support needed to facilitate this test during peacetime operations in the midst of COVID-19 operations,” Col. Anthony Mastalir, the 30th Space Wing commander, said in a statement. “Signifying that our nuclear enterprise is safe, secure, reliable, effective and ready to defend the United States and our allies.” The launch came during a packed week of news for Vandenberg, including online news conferences scheduled for this morning on the base’s space program. The conferences will cover an agreement among the 30th Space Wing, Cal Poly, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, Deloitte and REACH on a master plan for a thriving spaceport at Vandenberg. In addition, the base has announced the name of the first Space Force member to be assigned to Vandenberg: 2nd Lt. Olivia Gillingham, 2d Space Launch Squadron acquisitions manager. All of that news follows Sunday’s successful splashdown of the SpaceX Dragon capsule. It was
Vandenberg announces the assignment of the first Space Force member at the Air Force base. See A9. the first splashdown by astronauts since 1975. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which was used to launch the Dragon capsule, was tested during launches from Vandenberg. As the momentum in news builds, more attention is turning toward Vandenberg and its future role in outer space. This week, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both D-California, supported naming Vandenberg the permanent location for the U.S. Space Command headquarters. A final selection is expected later this year. The three lawmakers backed Vandenberg in a letter, dated Monday, to Barbara Barrett, the secretary of the U.S. Air Force. “Our Central Coast community is eager to welcome the U.S. Space Command to Vandenberg Air Force Base,” Rep. Carbajal said in a news release Tuesday. “Vandenberg has garnered support for the U.S. Space Command nomination from a variety of local and state stakeholders, boasts an unparalleled talent pool and is a prime location to host the U.S. Space Command. “Nowhere is better suited for U.S. Space Command than Vandenberg Air Force Base,” Rep. Carbajal said. The congressman is among the speakers at today’s news conferences, which also include Col. Mastalir, the 30th Space Wing commander. Sen. Feinstein noted that Please see missile on A9 An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile was launched after midnight Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY SENIOR AIRMAN HANAH ABERCROMBIE
City Council discusses grant for Desalination Plant Project, Commercial Fishing Industry By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
The Santa Barbara City Council unanimously passed a motion at its meeting on Tuesday to introduce and subsequently adopt an ordinance of the council authorizing the city administrator
to execute a grant funding agreement with the State of California Department of Water Resources in the amount of $10 million for the reactivation of the Charles E. Meyer Desalination Plant Project. Please see council on A4
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LOTTERY
Comics................. A8 Classified............... A9 Life.................... A5-6
Saturday’s SUPER LOTTO: 5-6-8-12-42 Meganumber: 23
Tuesday’s DAILY 4: 6-1-0-5
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 2-22-30-42-62 Meganumber: 20
Tuesday’s FANTASY 5: 6-11-17-24-32
Tuesday’s DAILY DERBY: 04-11-12 Time: 1:42.79
Saturday’s POWERBALL: 6-25-36-43-48 Meganumber: 24
Obituaries........... A10 Soduku................. A7 Weather.............. A10
Tuesday’s DAILY 3: 2-3-1 / Sunday’s Midday 5-5-6