Before we turn the calendar to 2012, the Noozhawk staff is taking a last look at major stories of 2011. Of course, any Top 10 list — or, in our case, Top 11 — is subjective. We welcome your feedback in our comments section and encourage you to participate in our Facebook poll. Scroll down the page for a Noozhawk slideshow.
1. Santa Barbara Police Accused of Using ‘Excessive Force’
Late on the night of Oct. 21, in the parking lot of Gelson’s Market, a Santa Barbara police officer pulled over a motorist on suspicion of driving under the influence. The driver, Tony Denunzio, 50, of Santa Barbara, got out of his truck and ignored Officer Aaron Tudor’s commands to get back in the vehicle.
The situation quickly turned physical and several eyewitnesses contacted Noozhawk to accuse Tudor of using excessive force to subdue the suspect, whom they say was not resisting arrest. Police Chief Cam Sanchez dismissed the allegations and said Denunzio was resisting and that his officer acted appropriately in trying to get the man into handcuffs. After a public outcry, Sanchez released a videotape from the patrol car’s dashboard camera. In the footage, Tudor can be seen pushing Denunzio into the side of the truck, tripping him, and then striking him with his hands and knees before using his Taser multiple times.
Denunzio was charged with driving under the influence, but not resisting arrest. He has entered not guilty pleas in the case. The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office didn’t charge Tudor in the incident but several eyewitnesses filed complaints and a police Internal Affairs investigation of his conduct is ongoing.
2. Prescription for Abuse
Last January, Noozhawk earned a 2011 California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowship from USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism to research and report on the misuse and abuse of prescription medications in Santa Barbara County.
After eight months of investigation and production, the comprehensive six-week series, Prescription For Abuse, launched Sept. 12 and delved into overdose deaths, drug-related crime, regulatory oversight and local efforts to improve community awareness, like the Sheriff Department’s Operation Medicine Cabinet for safe, free drug disposal.
County drug- and alcohol-related deaths nearly doubled between 2005 and 2009. In that five-year period, there were — respectively — 60, 46, 62, 71 and 111 deaths recorded with the cause related to overdose or accident apparently influenced by drug or alcohol use.
The Prescription for Abuse project was a total team effort for Noozhawk. Staff writers Lara Cooper and Giana Magnoli were the lead reporters, and they were assisted by managing editor Michelle Nelson; reporters Alex Kacik and Sonia Fernandez; interns Kristin Crosier, Jessica Ferguson, Tim Fucci, Kristen Gowdy, Jessica Haro, Daniel Langhorne, Alexa Shapiro, Sam Skopp, Erin Stone and Sarah Webb; photographers Garrett Geyer and Nick St.Oegger; content producer Cliff Redding; and Web development staffers Will Macfadyen and Edgar Oliveira.
Noozhawk partnered with the Santa Barbara Teen News Network, a project of the Patricia Henley Foundation, to create video public service announcements that expanded the scope of the project. High school reporters Ashley Almada, Garrett Geyer, Hailey Sestak and Billy Spencer interviewed doctors, addicts, law enforcement officials and treatment specialists and, in the process, learned about the prescription drug issues that teenagers and young adults face.
The project was sponsored by the Santa Barbara Foundation, the Mosher Foundation and Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, in partnership with KEYT, sbTNN and Zona Seca. The Annenberg School was assisted by the Renaissance Journalism Center at San Francisco State University.
Click here for the complete series index for Prescription for Abuse.
3. SBCC Trustees Put President On Leave
In July, the SBCC Board of Trustees took the unusual step of placing the school’s president, Andreea Serban, on paid leave as the new board majority was evaluating her performance. No specific explanation was given for Serban’s dismissal since it happened in a closed session of the trustees.
The school must buy out Serban’s contract next year and the board’s attorney, Craig Price, has said trustees have reached an “understanding” to deal with “differences that have arisen.”
In a separate issue, the board is being investigated by a state accrediting committee for compliance and the findings are expected in January. Allegations surfaced that the board violated the Brown Act in its June 8 meeting by failing to disclose its evaluation of Serban, but Chief Deputy District Attorney Jerry Lulejian has said there was no violation.
Serban is still being paid a monthly salary even though she found employment as an interim chancellor of educational services and technology for the Coast Community College District in Orange County. SBCC spokeswoman Joan Galvan has said the school will pay her the difference between the two monthly salaries while she is employed at CCCD. If Serban leaves her position, SBCC must again pay her full monthly salary — for a $215,000 annual contract — through June 2012.
4. Tsunami
Following the devastating and deadly 9-magnitude earthquake off Japan on March 11, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Carpinteria and other California coastal cities were on high alert for the possibility of a tsunami. Although Santa Barbara County had no damage or evacuation orders, waterfront officials reported 15- to 17-inch waves in the Santa Barbara Harbor.
Noozhawk was one of the few West Coast news sites providing all-night reporting as the tsunami raced eastward and the day’s 37,000 unique visitors broke the site’s 24-hour traffic record.
5. Political Newcomer Cathy Murillo Wins Santa Barbara City Council Seat
After all the votes were tallied from the Nov. 8 Santa Barbara City Council election, journalist Cathy Murillo had claimed one of three available seats, joining Councilmen Dale Francisco, who was re-elected and was the top vote-getter, and Randy Rowse, who was elected to a full term after serving for a year as an appointee.
Murillo, news and public affairs director for UCSB’s community radio station KCSB, is a renter on the city’s Westside and has said she wants to reach out to the city’s youth, its Spanish-speaking community and working-class residents who aren’t usually involved in municipal government.
She will be sworn in at a January City Council meeting, which will see the departure of Councilwoman Michael Self, who lost her re-election bid.
6. Royal Couple Visits Santa Barbara
The new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — Prince William and his bride, the former Kate Middleton — visited California in July, including a trip to Santa Barbara and Carpinteria. The prince played in a charity polo match at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club, where contestants paid $100,000 each to play with the heir to the British throne. He and his teammates — Andy Busch, Glen Holden Jr. and Santi Trotz — won the match, and Middleton presented them with the victory trophy.
7. Santa Barbara Unified School District Merger and New Superintendent
Santa Barbara’s elementary and secondary school districts combined operation in June to become the Santa Barbara Unified School District, a strategy that earns the district an additional $6 million per year in revenue.
SBUSD also started the 2011-2012 school year with a new superintendent to succeed Brian Sarvis, who retired in June. The new superintendent, Dave Cash, returned to the South Coast after serving as schools superintendent in Clovis and Claremont over the previous six years. He is a former principal of Dos Pueblos High School and Goleta Valley Junior High School, and a former teacher at Peabody Charter School.
8. Death of San Marcos High School Student Sergio Romero
Fifteen-year-old Sergio Romero was hit by a truck and killed while crossing Milpas Street on Oct. 7 after band practice at Jasmine’s Alternative Music School. The death of the San Marcos High School student prompted community meetings and more scrutiny into the Milpas corridor’s pedestrian safety issues. The driver, Manual Flores Jr., 19, of Santa Barbara, was charged with vehicular manslaughter and has been served with a wrongful death civil suit by Romero’s parents.
9. Bishop Ranch Shot Down
On Sept. 20, the Goleta City Council voted unanimously against a proposal to consider the development of Bishop Ranch, the 240-acre open space east of Glen Annie Road. Developers had asked the council to rezone the property so residential units could be built on some of the land that is currently designated for agricultural use. With the denial, the property will remain undeveloped for the foreseeable future.
10. Federal Audit Slams Santa Barbara County Psychiatric Health Facility
The county’s Psychiatric Health Facility, a 16-bed hospital for acute psychiatric patients, fell under scrutiny this year, after federal investigators said patients were in danger. Prompted by Noozhawk’s reporting on the 2010 death of a Santa Maria man, investigators for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the facility’s federal oversight body, initially visited the unit in January to see whether it complied with regulations of a general hospital. They came away with a 142-page report highlighting a host of deficiencies, including everything from the safety of food served to patients to missing prescription drugs.
Auditors signed off on changes proposed by county Department of Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services staff and approved the relicensing process for the 16-bed facility at 315 Camino Del Remedio.
But investigators later returned to the facility and found that the PHF was not complying with additional standards for psychiatric hospitals. The newest survey says the facility falls short in a way that “substantially limits the hospital’s capacity to render adequate care to patients or are of such character as to adversely affect patient health and safety.” As a result of the new findings, continued federal funding of the facility is at risk.
11. Noozhawk Partners with Dos Pueblos High School’s Charger Account
In August, Dos Pueblos High School’s student newspaper became a daily, online-only publication — just like Noozhawk. Throughout the fall, The Charger Account and Noozhawk collaborated on content and marketing strategies, and the two publications regularly republish the other’s articles. Under the direction of faculty adviser Bill Woodard, The Charger Account’s student journalists have been working on a multipart series on cheating that is modeled after Noozhawk’s Prescription for Abuse series. The partnership and Noozhawk mentorship program will resume in January.
— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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