Project Healthy Neighbors Offers Free Medical Services to Homeless
Project Healthy Neighbors, in collaboration with more than 20 local organizations, is holding its fourth annual Homeless Health Fair through Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Casa Esperanza Homeless Center, 816 Cacique St., providing free services from flu immunizations to HIV screening to dental hygiene care.
The national nonprofit Soles4Souls has donated 350 pairs of new shoes to be given to the homeless during the event, along with basic survival and personal care kits.
Project Healthy Neighbors is a community collaboration bringing a critical range of medical services for free directly to the homeless, including medical treatment, disease prevention and wellness care, mental health, and substance counseling.
Services will take place throughout four large tents and will include:
» Flu immunizations
» Pneumonia immunizations
» HIV screening
» Tuberculosis screening
» Wound care
» Physician consults on disease concerns
» Drug and alcohol counseling
» Mental health screening
» Rape crisis and domestic violence counseling
» Medi-Cal and veterans resources
» Dental hygiene care
» Women’s wellness
» Housing referrals, Santa Barbara Housing Authority
Project Healthy Neighbors is expecting 400 homeless people and families.Survival backpacks containing ponchos, socks, sweatshirts and personal needs items as well as the Soles4Souls shoe donation will be given to each homeless participant.
“The time, effort and resources contributed to make Project Healthy Neighbors happen, from the most experienced professionals to the young volunteers just starting to seek out ways to make a difference, is awe-inspiring and a spiritual gift to and from the community,“ said Ken Williams, homeless outreach social worker and Coordinator, Project Health Neighbors. “Project Healthy Neighbors has truly become a community-wide effort to improve the health and safety of some of our most vulnerable neighbors, and the health of our entire community.”
Project Healthy Neighbors is a free service to the homeless in Santa Barbara and is the only homeless health event of its kind in Southern California.
Daniella Elghanayan is a publicist.
Village Properties’ Rental Listings Available
Village Properties Realtors’ has the following rental listings in its database. Please check with the agents as some listings may no longer be available.
Montecito
Peaceful Compound $10,000
Estate in gorgeous park-like setting available soon. Gracious, remodeled home + separate guest house and studio. Pool and pavilion.
Dana Istre/Florence Formby, 805.695.7268
Pepper Hill $7,500
Mountain views, 3 bedroom/3 bath Spanish, 1+/- acre, pool and spa, high ceilings, hardwood floors, 3 firplaces, 2 car garage, open feeling w/ French doors. Cecilia 805.895.3834/Don 805.895.3833
Montecito del Mar $6,000
Lovely condo near the Biltmore, beach and Coast Village Road. Vacation rental, completely furnished, 2-car attached garage. Available immediately!
Gayle Lofthus 805.689.9011
Traditional Home $6,000
3/3 home in Montecito Union School district in lovely secluded setting. Wood floors, fireplace, dining room, patios, rose garden.
Dana Istre/Florence Formby 805.695.7268
Chic Mediterranean townhome built in 2002. 2 bedroom suites + convertible office/den, 3.5 bathrooms, unfurnished.
Paul 805.455.8055/Bridget 805.886.1300
Charming Cottage $3,900
Charming 3/3 cottage with pleasant ocean views on approximately 2 acres. Wood floors, fireplace, terrace, mature landscaping.
Dana Istre/Florence Formby 805.695.7268
Great Location! $3,800/$3,500
Nicely decorated, Furnished/unfurnished duplex, 2BR/2BA, fireplace. Close to beach, Biltmore and Coast Village Road. No smokers. No pets.
Dana Istre/Florence Formby 805.695.7268
Hope Ranch
Hope Ranch Lake View $9,800
Spacious Bermuda-style home, newly remodeled. Lake/golf course views. 3 en suite bedrooms + guest suite and detached guest house, pool and cabana.
Colleen Parent Beall 805.895.5881
Amazing Views! $4,995
Four bedrooms, 3 bathrooms with detached studio/guest house and pool. Set on golf course with amazing views.
Ian Haggerty 805.452.1647
Santa Barbara
Ocean View Splendor $8,250
Spectacular, private 4 bedroom European contemporary home w/ magnificent ocean views on Santa Barbara’s Riviera. Fully furnished.
Jackie Walters 805.570.0558
Mission Canyon Area $2,800
Charming, fully furnished 4/2 Spanish home. Living room and family room with fireplace, dining room, large eat-in kitchen. Available March 15 until end of July.
Dana Istre/Florence Formby 805.695.7268
Luxury Condo $2,500
Beautiful 2 bedrooms/ 2.5 bathrooms on the Mesa, walking distance to the beach and SBCC, 2 fireplacse, 2 car garage, vaulted ceilings in great room w/ fireplace.
Cecilia 805.895.3834/Don 805.895.3833
Spacious Duplex $2,395
Upper State Street single level 3 bedrooms / 2 bathrooms near Hope School. Redone inside, laundry hookup, 1-car garage. No smokers. No pets.
Janine Michaud 805.879.1413
Santa Barbara Riviera $1,850
Delightful, furnished studio. Artistic feeling, tall windows, kitchenette, secluded patio. No garage! Available for 1 month or longer. Pet considered.
Dana Istre/Florence Formby 805.695.7268
Carpinteria
New Construction $3,950
Well appointed, travertine floors, Viking kitchen, cherrywood cabinetry, over-sized garage. 3/3 on large lot.
Carolyn Wood 805.886.3838
Polo Field Condo $2,800
Beautifully remodeled 2BR/2BA w/ fireplace, washer/dryer, pool, 1 covered parking space, ocean, island, polo field views, includes utilities. No smokers. No pets. Month-to-month.
Lali Busboom 805.453.2703
Click here for more information or call Village Properties Realtors at 805.683.7300.
Kelly McClean is Village Properties Realtors’ marketing coordinator.
American Riviera Bank Founder Launches Swiss-Based Wealth Management Firm
Michael Salsbury has returned to his European private banking and wealth management roots as the founder of a boutique wealth management firm based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Most recently, Salsbury was the founder, president and CEO of American Riviera Bank, one of California’s most successful new banks that Salsbury initially conceived of to deliver the service of European private banking to all of the bank’s clients.
His new venture, Geneva Private Wealth Advisors S.A., will focus on ultra high net worth clients primarily in Europe and the Middle East. Salsbury, the founding partner, will serve as the new company’s chairman and CEO providing leadership and setting the strategic direction for the company while bringing more than 27 years of international banking and wealth management experience to the new endeavor.
Geneva Private Wealth Advisors is positioned as an independent wealth management firm delivering a fee-based, holistic, open-architecture approach to managing wealth that is free of bias and conflicts of interest. In addition to sourcing “best of class” investment opportunities, Salsbury said they also plan develop their own specialized products, as well as offering Family Office Services to their clients. The firm also will offer selected Private Equity opportunities.
“The response we have had from clients and investors has been very positive. Switzerland, with its stability and neutrality, is still the gold standard and the dominant player in the management of global private client wealth,” Salsbury said. “In addition, the current meltdown in the banking and financial sectors and corresponding crisis of confidence, combined with continued industry consolidation, Salsbury added, plays precisely to our strength as a boutique firm, with experienced industry professionals focused on delivering impeccable service, performance and value to a limited number of clients of exceptional wealth.”
“This is an opportunity that Michael and I have talked about extensively and have watched build for years and now is the ideal time,” Azar said. “Even before we decided to create Geneva Private Wealth Advisors, we had individuals, many of them clients and investors that we both knew personally, encouraging us to join together to serve this important market.”
Before founding American Riviera Bank, Salsbury spent more than 10 years with Merrill Lynch primarily in Geneva, Switzerland, where he headed the Geneva International Private Client Group office, and later served as head of Europe private banking with Merrill Lynch Bank Suisse. Salsbury also served as the senior managing director and regional president with First Republic Bank. Earlier in his career, he held management roles with banks in Lisbon, Portugal, and Vienna, Austria.
Azar also worked with Merrill Lynch International in senior client advisory roles during a 17-year period in Kuwait, Miami and Geneva.
Salsbury and Azar bring in-depth expertise to Geneva Private Wealth Advisors, advising clients on a broad range of issues including family governance and strategic planning, and wealth transfer, trust, estate and succession planning. Both have broad expertise in a diverse array of ultra high net worth investment alternatives including private equity, venture capital, REITS, hedge fund analysis and selection, and options and hedging strategies. Salsbury and Azar have dedicated their careers to providing objective counsel, expertise and investment solutions to clients around the world.
From Westmont to the Riviera, Fire Families Are Touched by Community
When Russell Smelley, a Westmont College kinesiology professor and the school’s cross country and track coach, saw the Tea Fire racing down the mountain toward his neighborhood of faculty housing Thursday, he and his wife, Allison, went straight for their daughter’s room.
Alyssa had died of a brain tumor 2½ years before, at age 15, and her belongings in the bedroom were precious.
“This was the house where she lived and died, so we have memories of her in that room that are significant,” Smelley said Monday.
Still, Smelley didn’t think the fire would reach the house, since he’d long since removed all the flammable brush nearby.
“I looked at it and said, ‘That’s a tad disappointing,’” he recalled. “It’s one of those things, you know it can happen, so it’s disappointing. ‘Oh, shucks.’ It wasn’t until later that it didn’t feel so good.”
The Smelleys were among 14 faculty families who lost their workforce homes on the leafy campus of the private Christian college, and among 210 families who were burned into homelessness in the Montecito and Santa Barbara foothills.
On Monday, as firefighters beat the once-ferocious Tea Fire into submission, many of these residents — Smelley included — returned to their charred living quarters, where they sifted through the ashes of what had once been their living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and garages.
The Tea Fire was a weirdly discriminating inferno, sometimes reducing an entire house to powder, while leaving its next-door neighbors virtually unscathed. Some have attributed the hopscotch pattern in part to how the wind-whipped fire at times spread not so much as a moving wall, but rather through the air, in the form of flaming palm-tree fronds, which resembled enormous floating embers the size of basketballs.
In any case, the capricious selection occurred in the neighborhood of Smelley’s home, which was surrounded by standing houses with minimal or no damage.
Smelley said he and his wife spent about 15 minutes collecting valuables.
“We were reasonably calm, but hurried,” he said.
Of course, countless possessions were destroyed. Over the weekend, Smelley procured some tools for sifting through the rubble. A popular presence on campus, he respectfully declined offers to help look through the ashes. The idea wasn’t so much for he and his wife to recover possessions as to contemplate the memories of what was lost.
“We want to be able to sift it and remember it, and cry over it, if need be,” he said.
On Monday afternoon, Smelley was the recipient of some striking generosity. At one point, a neighbor, who asked that his name not be published, came by to tell him that he had a surprise for his 13-year-old son, Travis: a new drum set, to replace the one that perished in the fire. Then, the neighbor handed Smelley a shoebox containing some of the ceramics that Smelley’s children had created in elementary school. The neighbor had gone into the house and taken them off the wall — while the roof was burning.
Clearly touched, Smelley shook the man’s hand, then gave him a hug.
Smelley was especially grateful on behalf of his son, who at age 13 has lost his sister and now his home, and almost lost his mother to breast cancer last year. (Smelley said the cancer is in remission and his wife has been given a clean bill of health.)
After the neighbor left, a flock of cross-country athletes stopped by to console Smelley. It wasn’t the first time they’d done so: He thanked them for visiting him the night before, and recalled how nice it was to just sit with all of them.
“There was nothing to say, just sit,” he explained.
Smelley assured the students that he was going to be OK, marveling at the generosity of the community, and adding that after all his family has been through, the loss of the house “doesn’t feel devastating. Just sad.”
On the Riviera a few miles away, Doug Crawford was also coming to grips with the loss of his home, in the 1100 block of Las Alturas Road.
“Our house is 12 inches high,” said Crawford, spokesman for the Navy League of Santa Barbara, which his wife, Karen, serves as president. “There was no structure left whatsoever — nothing.”
Crawford said he was amazed at the cooperation of neighbors, who knocked on one another’s doors to make sure everyone would get out safely.
He attributed the smooth evacuation to a neighborhood drill performed in May.
Crawford said he couldn’t believe how fast the fire traveled.
Around 6 p.m. — shortly after the fire started — a friend called to ask him how he was doing.
“We went outside, there was no fire,” he said. “By 7 o’clock it was like we were inside a furnace.”
Crawford said the time he and his wife spent grabbing valuables was harried and surreal.
“You end up taking some crazy stuff,” he said. “I wondered if I was going to have to defend my property — I got my rifle and some ammunition.”
He added, wryly, “The good news is there was no need to defend my property.”
During the evacuation, Crawford said the fire began to feel dangerously close, with large embers falling from the bright-orange sky and the sound of trees popping in the flames.
“My lungs burned for 24 hours afterward,” he said. “That’s how bad the smoke was.”
Crawford said he has been moved by the generosity of the community.
He and his wife were among the victims invited to attend a local briefing by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“The mayor and City Council members were there; they all hugged us and embraced us,” he said. “They promised the rebuilding transition process would be accelerated for us, and the bureaucracy would be minimized.”
What’s more, on Monday morning, one of the members of his church, El Montecito Presbyterian, handed him and his wife the keys to a three-bedroom condo.
“We just live in an awesome community,” he said. “It feels like jumping off a cliff, with the shock and awe of the fire, and then seeing the aftermath. What you realize when you go off that cliff is there is like a hang glider of love and support from the community.”
Write to
Red Cross to Distribute Free Snacks, Cleanup Supplies
On Tuesday, the American Red Cross-Santa Barbara County Chapter will have two emergency support locations for families affected by the Tea Fire to pick up free cleanup supplies, snacks and water.
Red Cross mental health and health services workers will be on hand to talk with and counsel families who are experiencing stress and anxiety from the Fire. Hot meals also will be available. The services will be provided from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Santa Barbara Mission, 2201 Laguna St., and Montecito Covenant Church, 671 Cold Springs Road.
Red Cross emergency response vehicles will continue to provide snacks and hot meals in affected areas for emergency workers and families affected by the Tea Fire.
Air Quality Watch Reissued for Santa Barbara County
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District on Monday reissued an Air Quality Watch for Santa Barbara County.
Although air quality has improved, some areas still may be affected by smoke and ash, and fires burning in Southern California still have the potential to affect the county’s air quality. The air district also cautions homeowners and contractors to be careful when cleaning up burned building materials.
When houses burn, asbestos fibers from building materials may become airborne, creating a potentially hazardous situation. Cleanup can make conditions worse if not done properly. Handling materials that contain asbestos can be hazardous to health. It is also important when cleaning up ash particles to avoid doing anything to stir particles into the air, and especially to avoid using leaf blowers.
If smoke or ash are in the air, be cautious and use common sense. Everyone, especially people with heart or lung disease (including asthma), older adults, and children, should limit time spent outdoors, and avoid outdoor exercise when smoke and ash are in the air. If you have symptoms of lung or heart disease that may be related to exposure to smoke or ash particles, including repeated coughing, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, wheezing, chest tightness or pain, palpitations, nausea or unusual fatigue or lightheadedness, contact your health care provider.
For recorded advisory updates, call 805.961.8802. An Air Quality Watch is issued when there is potential for poor air quality in some areas of the county.
Cleanup After a Fire
After a fire, ash that is deposited on the ground may be stirred up by vehicles, winds and cleanup activities, resulting in localized areas of higher particle levels in the air, which can produce health problems.
In addition, when houses burn, asbestos fibers from building materials may become airborne. Many buildings constructed before 1981 have asbestos-containing materials. Buildings constructed after 1981 will have less of these materials, however, burning of even relatively smaller amounts of these materials may release asbestos fibers into the air. Asbestos is a known carcinogen and a respiratory hazard.
While homeowners can conduct their own cleanups, typically cleanup of asbestos-containing materials is done by trained professionals with proper safety equipment, using safe handling practices. Click here for more information on asbestos cleanup issues.
When cleaning up ash, soot and dust, try to:
» Use damp cloths, spray areas lightly with water and direct ash-filled water to ground areas, and away from the runoff system. Try to use the minimum amount of water necessary to avoid overtaxing runoff systems.
» Use vacuums with HEPA filters, sweep gently with a broom.
» Take vehicles to the car wash.
» Wash off toys that have been outside in the ash; clean ash off pets.
» Avoid any skin contact with the ash (wear gloves, long-sleeved shirts).
Try not to:
» Do any ash cleanup if you have heart or lung problems.
» Do anything that stirs the particles back up into the air.
Don’t:
» Allow kids to play in the ash.
» Use leaf blowers.
Click here for more information.
Tea Fire Local Assistance Center for Homeowners to Open Tuesday
The city and county of Santa Barbara are jointly opening a Tea Fire Local Assistance Center for all residents whose homes were lost or damaged in the fire.
The information center will be at the Davis Center at 1232 De La Vina St. and will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.
Participating agencies include the Red Cross, the Housing Authority and the Santa Barbara Contractors Association. Recovery assistance will be provided in the following areas:
» Home rebuilding
» Water and sewer lines
» Housing assistance
» Mental health
» Insurance
William Boyer is Santa Barbara County’s communications director.
Investigators Determine the Cause of Tea Fire to Be Human Related
Fire investigators in Santa Barbara County are asking for assistance from members of the public in obtaining any information that could help identify the person or people who may have caused the Tea Fire.
The Tea Fire investigation has progressed significantly in the past two days. The Fire Scene Examination Team has determined the cause of the fire was human related. The team also has established an area of origin on East Mountain Drive between the Cold Springs Trailhead and the area known as “The Tea House.”
Investigators are asking anyone who may have information related to this fire, to contact the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department anonymous tip line.
Investigators are looking for:
» Description of any vehicle(s) or occupant(s) seen in the area.
» Any vehicle license plate number(s).
» Any suspicious activity that may be related to this fire.
The sheriff’s department’s anonymous tip line is 805.681.4171.
Drew Sugars is a public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.
UCSB to Provide 500 Basketball Tickets to Victims of Tea Fire
The UCSB Athletics Department has made available 500 tickets to any future men’s or women’s basketball game for victims of the Tea Fire that has devastated the Montecito and Santa Barbara area in the past several days, Athletics Director Mark Massari announced Monday.
“If we can offer a UCSB basketball game as a small diversion to those effected by this terrible fire, we will,” Massari said. “It is always our goal to give back and use Gaucho athletics as a tool to help this special community.”
Residents who would like to take advantage of the offer should call the Athletics Ticket Office at 805.893.UCSB. Each resident will be given with one voucher that can be redeemed for up to four tickets.
Bill Mahoney is a UCSB assistant director of athletics communications.
Internet Video Links Students at UCSB, Jackson State
When Guillermo Bazan asks students in his organic semiconductors structures and applications class at UCSB a question, he usually gets an answer right away. The response, however, might come from someone in a room nearly 2,000 miles from Santa Barbara.
Bazan, a professor of materials, and of chemistry and biochemistry, teaches the graduate course in a high-tech classroom on the second floor of the Engineering Science Building at UCSB. More than half a continent away, assistant professor of chemistry Ruomei Gao supervises students taking the same class at Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss. They’re all connected via an Internet-based Webcast that, thus far, has proved to be very effective.
“What is the size and what is the shape of the sensors?” a voice booms over the speakers mounted in the ceiling of the Santa Barbara classroom. The question was asked by one of the Jackson State students, who attend Bazan’s class via video images broadcast by wall-mounted cameras in the UCSB classroom. The video is not exactly high-definition, but it’s clear enough to see what’s being taught. On this particular day, there were 18 students in the Santa Barbara classroom and five in Mississippi.
Without the PREM program, Jackson State students would never get a chance to take this materials class. But, thanks to four video screens, they’re able to immerse themselves in Bazan’s lectures. One video shows Bazan as he speaks to the class; two others show the UCSB students in the classroom; and the fourth is a big-screen view of his power-point presentations. All videos — including one of the JSU students in their Mississippi classroom — are projected on the wall of his classroom. The JSU students use a microphone to ask questions.
It’s a new world for Bazan, who has adjusted quickly to the new technology and its impact on his teaching. “I don’t think this type of teaching is more difficult than the conventional style,” he said. “Our students at UCSB have not felt any impact (from the videoconferencing), and they like the larger community that participates in the class.”
While the cyber technology is groundbreaking, it can also be shaky at times. During one class, the video feed disconnected a few minutes before class ended. “It’s important to do a couple of trial runs before the first day of classes,” Bazan said. “There are sometimes glitches. If these happen, it is important to have someone that knows how to make computers talk to each other. Sometimes we may be delayed a few minutes to make sure all of the technical details are in place.”
In Bazan’s class, the tech support is provided by Michelle Senatore, a first-year grad student who monitors the video feeds on a master computer in the back of the classroom. She’s also enrolled in the class. “It took a little time, maybe two or three classes, to let the students get used to having multiple screens to view, and for the professor to remember to pause and ask JSU students for questions,” Senatore said. “But now I think everyone is comfortable with the setup. I’m sure both groups of students benefit from each other’s perspectives in this field of research.”
So far, the Jackson State students seem to be enjoying the experience. “We actually feel that Dr. Bazan is talking right in this room, not in California,” Gao said. “With the support of technology, students can interact directly with the professor. At this point there is not much difference between videoconference and traditional teaching.”
But Gao said that some students had initial reservations about the system. “I can see their pressure,” she said. “Questions that I was asked many times were, ‘How will the professor evaluate us in the final?’ and ‘How is he going to calculate final grades?’ But they do enjoy the class now. I like the way that Dr. Bazan teaches. This is a very challenging lecture series for our students.”
Perhaps more importantly, Gao explains why this particular PREM/NSF collaboration is so valuable for the Jackson State students.
“There is no expertise in this area from our department,” she said. “It gives our students the opportunity to attend classes taught by the top scientists at the least cost, which will help to enhance their confidence and ability to overcome challenges.”
Both instructors see a bright future for videoconference classrooms. “This is definitely the way of the future for many reasons,” Bazan said. “It should be possible to coordinate classes whereby experts in different universities contribute to specific topics. The experience with JSU shows that it is possible to coordinate efforts within the U.S., but it also opens the opportunity for international collaborations in education and outreach.”
Gao added: “I definitely hope that our students will have more opportunities to participate in this new teaching-learning process. It is both interesting and exciting.”
City Offering Van Tours of Select Streets in Tea Fire Burn Area
The city of Santa Barbara is offering van tours to the residents of the Conejo Road area. Tours are being offered from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday.
Vans are departing from the Franklin Center parking lot at 1136 East Montecito St. Residents will need to show identification and must stay in the vans.
Tours will include only the following streets as they are accessible:
» Conejo Lane
» Conejo Road
» Ealand Place
» Orizaba Lane
» Sherman Road
For more information, call 805.897.1938.
The American Red Cross-Santa Barbara County Chapter will provide emotional support and supplies for cleanup and recovery for residents participating on the tours. Call 805.687.1331.
William Boyer is Santa Barbara County‘s communications director.
Message from Cox to Customers Affected by Tea Fire
Cox Santa Barbara extends its sympathy to those affected by the Tea Fire and expresses its gratitude to the firefighters, police and emergency relief workers, the media who have helped keep residents safe and informed, and to the unsung heroes including for individual acts of kindness and fire preparedness.
Important Customer Information
» Cox is fully compatible with E911 and Reverse 911, thereby ensuring access to critical safety information during emergencies.
» Cox customers will not be responsible for any fire damaged Cox cable boxes or Cox Digital telephone modems.
» If equipment failure is because of a power outage, customers can swap equipment at the Loreto Plaza retail location at 3303 State St.
» Cox will leave services active for fire affected customers so they can utilize Web mail and phone features such as voicemail while away from their home.
» Fire victims will be able to reconnect/transfer their services without connection fees, deposit requirements or credit scoring. When ready to reconnect service, customers should call 805.683.6651.
» Fire victims can make payment arrangements for past due balances and for their current bill.
Cox In the Community
» Cox has provided televisions hooked up with Cox video service to the Red Cross shelter at San Marcos High School.
» Cox is also assisting the Red Cross by running special Tea Fire-related Public Service Announcements across all Cox cable channels.
Video Produced for UCSB Psychology Class to Air on UCTV
When UCSB graduate Scott Norris gave psychology professor David Sherman a firsthand account of living with brain cancer, Sherman invited the alumnus to guest lecture in his health psychology class last spring. Sherman also suggested they make a video of the lecture so he could share Norris’ words with future classes.
That video, “Scott Norris: Coping With Illness,” was shown last month to students in Sherman’s health psychology course, and will air nationally on UCTV over six consecutive days beginning Monday.
Norris, who graduated from UCSB in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, was diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of brain cancer in 1999. Over the four-month period following his diagnosis, he underwent surgery to remove the tumor and then several weeks of radiation treatment. In August of this year, he celebrated nine years without a recurrence.
“It meant a lot to me on a personal level to return to UCSB and share my story,” said Norris. “But there was more to it than that. When I shared a draft of my talk with one of my doctors, she said I would be speaking for many who are not able to speak for themselves. So not only was it meaningful for me on a personal level, I hope to have also given voice to - and advocated for - others affected by brain tumor disease.”
According to Sherman, the goal of the video was to allow students to see how the theories, studies, and experiments they discuss in the classroom manifest themselves in real life. “Norris describes his experience at all levels — physical, psychological and emotional,” Sherman said. “And it is particularly meaningful because the students are hearing from someone who had once been a student in that same classroom.”
In addition to screening on all UCTV channels across the country, the 29-minute video, which was produced through a UCSB instructional improvement grant, has been posted on the Web site YouTube. In the Santa Barbara area, UCTV airs every weeknight on channel 21.
Based at UC San Diego, UCTV is a 24-hour satellite television channel that presents educational and enrichment programming from the 10 campuses within the UC system as well as its national laboratories and affiliated institutions. Programming includes documentaries, lectures, debates, interviews and performances.
UCSB Conferences to Focus on Student-Driven Change in 1968
1968 was a landmark year. It saw the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, and Lyndon Johnson‘s refusal to accept his party’s nomination for a second term as president of the United States. At UCSB, 1968 also saw the takeover of North Hall by a group of black students who barricaded themselves in the building and demanded, among other things, the development of a black studies program.
Their action led to the founding of UCSB’s Department of Black Studies and Center for Black Studies and paved the way for the Chicano studies program that followed a year later. To mark the 40th anniversary of the North Hall takeover and the ensuing changes in education, two conferences will take place Thursday through Saturday at UCSB. Both are free and open to the public.
A one-day conference on the 40th anniversary of the Plan de Santa Barbara Conference, which took place at UCSB in 1969, is scheduled for Friday. Organized by Mario García, professor of history and Chicano and Chicana studies, it will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the McCune Conference Room, 6020 Humanities and Social Sciences Building.
The 1969 conference of Chicano students, faculty and staff was a historic event that produced a blueprint for a statewide organization of Chicano students and the development of Chicano studies programs. This blueprint became one of the most important documents of the Chicano movement of the 1960s and ‘70s.
“1968 was a transitional year,” Stewart said. “Things were happening all over the world in a kind of synergy no one had seen before.”
The conference will examine student movements in a global context, paying specific attention to the violent student and worker uprisings in May that nearly toppled the city of Paris; and the student protests in Mexico City’s Tlatelolco Square in October that resulted in the massacre of students, workers and citizens who had gathered to protest the army takeover of the National University.
“The conference looks back at how black students changed the UCSB campus, but it also takes a global view of how student-driven activism changed the world,” Stewart said. “We want to examine the upsurge that occurred in the willingness of students around the globe to take the nature of their education into their own hands. We see the formation of black studies programs and departments as the vanguard of a larger shift in the student-teacher, college-community, middle class-lower class relations in mid-20th-century education.”
Among the conference participants are keynote speaker Haki Madhubuti and Jean-Pierre Duteuil. An award-winning author, educator and poet, Madhubuti is the founder and president of Third World Press, the largest independent black-owned press in the United States.
Duteuil, who studied at the University of Nanterre, where activities leading to the May uprisings began, co-founded the Mouvement du 22 mars (March 22nd movement) in 1968. Also the founder of Acratie Editions, Duteuil remains an activist in anti-nuclear and anti-colonialist movements and has written several articles on contemporary and social issues.
Other participants include George Lipsitz, professor of black studies at UCSB; Monifa Love Asante, coordinator of the creative writing program at Morgan State University in Baltimore; Gilbert González, professor of Chicano studies at UC Irvine; Jorge Mariscal, professor of literature at UC San Diego; Carlos Haro, associate director of the Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA; and Aida Hurtado, professor of psychology and Latino studies at UC Santa Cruz.
Water Polo: No. 5 Pepperdine Edges No. 7 UCSB on Senior Day
No. 5 Pepperdine broke a 9-9 tie with 2:26 to play in the fourth quarter to capture a 10-9 victory over No. 7 UCSB during a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest at Campus Pool on Sunday. The game was the final home contest for six Gauchos seniors — Dane Lindstrom, Michael Machado, Daniel Natalizio, Ratko Paunovic, Miles Price and Travis Watts — who were honored in a pregame ceremony.
With the loss, UCSB falls to 15-10 on the season and finishes the regular season with a 4-4 MPSF record, its best conference mark since 1993 when the Gauchos went 6-4. UCSB also lost its second consecutive game at Campus Pool, ending its home schedule with a 6-2 record. Pepperdine improves to 18-6 overall and 5-2 in conference games.
Sophomore Milos Golic cut the Pepperdine lead to two goals 40 seconds into the second quarter when he scored his first of two six-on-five goals. The Waves were able to stretch their lead back to two goals when Milcovich scored his second of the game on a five-meter penalty shot. UCSB fought back and Lindstrom cut the deficit to 4-3 with a power play goal with 5:23 on the clock.
Pepperdine followed with a string of three unanswered goals to jump out to its biggest lead of the game at 7-3. The Gauchos broke their dry spell with back-to-back man-up goals from Price and junior Stefan Partelow during the final minute of the first half to cut the Waves’ lead to 7-5 at the break.
The Gauchos outscored the Waves, 3-2, in the third quarter to trail by just one, at 9-8, heading into the final quarter. Just 35 seconds into the fourth, junior Jesse Tootell scored a six-on-five goal to tie the game, 9-9. The two teams each earned a pair of ejections on which they were unable to capitalize before Pepperdine drew a Gauchos ejection with 2:43 to play. The Waves took a 30-second timeout to set their offense and, with 2:26 on the clock, Adam Hewko scored the eventual game-winner, putting the Waves on top, 10-9.
Lindstrom and Golic led the Gauchos with two goals apiece in the loss. Lindstrom was not the only senior to score; Price and Natalizio each tallied a point during their final game at Campus Pool. Junior goalie Michael Robinson tallied 11 saves in the loss.
Of the Gauchos’ nine goals, eight were during six-on-five advantages. In fact, UCSB went 8-for-14 during its man-up opportunities while Pepperdine was 4-for-12.
Milcovich, who had three goals in the win, led Pepperdine. Goalie John Hahn tallied seven saves for the Waves.
UCSB will take next weekend off from action before heading to the MPSF Tournament hosted by Pepperdine on Nov. 28. The conference tournament winner will earn an automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Championships.
Lisa Skvarla is UCSB‘s assistant media relations director.
Goleta Planners to Consider Proposed Haskell’s Landing Project
The Goleta Planning Commission on Monday evening will take up plans for a proposed residential development in the Ellwood area. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at Goleta City Hall, 130 Cremona Drive, Suite B.
Among the topics up for discussion on Monday will be the project’s environmental impacts, its design and amendments requested to the city’s General Plan that will allow it to go through.
Included in the request are amendments to the city’s policy on the buffer zone between the development and local creeks, traffic mitigations, and policies that allow for public facilities, such as a fire station adjacent to the project.
Haskell’s Landing is the third proposal of development proposed by for the acre site between Hollister Avenue and Highway 101 in western Goleta. Plans for the 105-unit Aradon affordable housing project lapsed when the parcel was still in county territory, and the subsequent Residences at Sandpiper proposed by developer Oly Chadmar right before cityhood was approved by the county but was rejected by the new city of Goleta. That project became the subject of legal actions between developer and city, and the city eventually won.
Write to .
Commentary: Election Brings Hope and Renewal
Public celebrations all across the world and tears of joy marked the culmination of a truly amazing presidential campaign on Nov. 4. In significant measure, the historic election of Sen. Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States was an unprecedented grassroots effort, the kind we at Santa Barbara County Action Network, or SB CAN believe in and celebrate.
This grassroots effort has been at least four years in the making. In reflecting upon this momentous occasion, it’s worth remembering that four years ago after the re-election of President Bush, many of the same people who are now dancing in the streets were “mourning a sense of lost hope,” as I wrote then in a column at the time. In trying to make sense of that loss, I lamented that “maybe things have to get really, really bad” before people would realize we were heading in the wrong direction and be ready to turn things around:
I struggled to find where we had gone wrong and how to get it right: “Clearly if people voted for Bush on moral issues (as the media then were concluding), progressives need to do a lot more work to articulate clearly and strongly our own moral platform. And clearly people of faith need to do more soul-searching when prioritizing moral concerns. Since when do abortion, gay marriage and school prayer trump war, poverty, corporate greed, lost jobs and a failing health-care system as moral issues?”
As I wrote at the time, I found the inspiration I needed to stay engaged at an SB CAN monthly meet-up where people like me “had struggled through their own grieving process and moved beyond despair and acceptance to hope and renewal.” Clearly Bush’s re-election was “re-inspiring progressives” to rediscover “what we really stand for, and how this vision of peace and prosperity can unite Americans in a way that Bush” was unable to achieve. Maybe, I speculated, we needed four more years “to sift through the rubble of defeat and forge a newer, cleaner, higher platform of political ideals ... founded on clear moral values that all Americans can embrace.”
I ended the column with this hope: “Maybe the stage is being set for the election in 2008, when a presidential candidate who embodies these ideals can reunite the nation, and restore our original greatness. The struggle for social and economic justice, for a clean and healthy environment, for a peaceful and prosperous world has never been easy. But the worthiness of our cause strengthens and nourishes us along the way. As the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote: ‘The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.’”
Truly, Obama seems to embody the ideals we need today to reunite our nation. Four years of grassroots effort to redefine ourselves and articulate a vision of hope has led to this moment because, as he always insisted, the campaign was really about us. But to ensure our success, we will need to remain fully engaged in the political process to support those we elected to lead us, and to hold them and ourselves accountable as we strive to fulfill our highest ideals as Americans.
Deborah Brasket is executive director of the Santa Barbara County Action Network (SB CAN). She can be reached at 805.722.5094 or at . This commentary originally appeared in the Santa Maria Times.
Goleta Valley Historical Society Holds a Barnwarming
The Goleta Valley Historical Society officially opened the David and George Cavalletto Education Center on Sunday afternoon, in a building on the Stow House grounds that was once a packing barn.
The barnwarming celebrated the first part of the historical society’s efforts to renovate the building, which once saw intense activity during Goleta’s commercial agricultural heyday, when the valley’s walnuts, lemons, apricots and other crops were in high demand.
According to Robin Cederlof, the historical society’s president, the building was raised, refurbished and retrofitted to withstand today’s seismic and accessibility standards.
“There is a lot of history in Goleta to tell,” Cederlof said. “And we’re anxious to tell it.”
The display, she said, will be modern but without losing the flavor of the time it depicts.
Funding for the $1.5 million capital campaign has come from local donors and matching grants from various foundations and endowments. The barn’s renovation is just one of the projects the Goleta Valley Historical Society intends to complete.
Click here to make a donation to the Goleta Valley Historical Society’s capital campaign or its ongoing programs at Rancho La Patera & Stow House, 304 N. Los Carneros Road.
Write to
She Said, Z Said: Hometown Santa Barbara
She: Do you know where California’s first major film studio was? The film capital of the world where they cranked out 1,200 silent films?
Z: I’d say Hollywood, but I’m guessing you wouldn’t be asking if that was the answer. I’ll bite. Where?
She: Santa Barbara.
Z: Oooh-kay.
Z: Seriously? How do you know this? Why do you know this?
She: Because I just read about it in our book, Hometown Santa Barbara: The Central Coast Book.
Z: It’s in our book? That’s awesome. Now I’m totally going to have to read it. And we’re going to have to shamelessly plug it in our column.
She: I would never shamelessly plug Hometown Santa Barbara: The Central Coast Book. That would be shameless.
Z: Do you want to know what I most love about our book?
She: Its wit? Its charm? The fact that we can tell people that we wrote a book?
Z: That, too. But really, the thing that I most like about our book is that I barely even wrote it.
She: You wrote some. Although obviously the best parts are the ones other people wrote.
Z: You mean like the introduction by Fannie Flagg?
She: Sure, but also the other stuff by Cheryl Crabtree, Nancy Roberts Ransohoff and Starshine Roshell. Like the entire page describing all of the chocolate stores in town.
She: I’ve never even been into Chocolats du CaliBressan. I can’t wait to try it.
Z: And here I thought you’d be all over the section on hiking.
She: There’s also a whole chapter about wine tasting and another one about shopping.
Z: But I know your favorite chapter is the one about camping.
She: Yeah, right. Camping and biking, my two favorite activities after cooking and cleaning.
Z: The nice thing about not writing much of the book is that I can shamelessly promote it without shamelessly promoting myself. The book’s actually really good.
She: Don’t sound so surprised. What did you write about again?
Z: I can’t remember. But I know I’m supposed to show up on Thursday night at Chaucer’s Books and sign autographs for my No. 1 fans.
She: Seriously, which chapters did you write?
Z: I wrote a purely autobiographical chapter — because I am Santa Barbara, the only one left in town who was born at St. Francis Hospital — but I think it got edited. Philistines.
She: There are some great interviews, too, with Barry Berkus, Kathy Ireland, Hillary Hauser, Rachael Steidl, Marcia Meier, Roger Durling, Michael Redmon ...
Z: All those local people are in the Hometown Santa Barbara book?
She: But, wait, there’s more! Dan Bifano, Alan Heger, Walter Kohn, Hank Pitcher, Thomas Tighe, Griffin Saxon, Isidoro Gonzalez, Richard and Thekla Sanford, John McKinney, Jamie Allison, Marty Bebout and John Doucette, and Kim Mearig. Didn’t you interview some of these people?
Z: Nah. I was the token male on the project, shamelessly exploited to add some rugged man-candy to the back flap picture.
She: Yes, you’ve never looked more manly. Is that an Adam’s apple on your neck or a just a shadow?
Z: That’s rugged man-candy, shamelessly plugging Hometown Santa Barbara: The Central Coast Book.
She: Yes, dear.
Come meet Leslie Dinaberg ("She"), Zak Klobucher ("Z"), Cheryl Crabtree, Nancy Roberts Ransohoff and Starshine Roshell and check out — and by that we mean purchase — their new book, Hometown Santa Barbara, at 7 p.m. Thursday at Chaucer’s Books, 3321 State St.
Firefighters Closing In on Tea Fire Containment
A weekend of cooperative weather allowed firefighters to gain the upper hand on the devastating Tea Fire that erupted late Thursday afternoon and destroyed 210 homes on its wind-whipped march through the western Montecito foothills and upper Sycamore Canyon.
The scope of the mandatory evacuation from the burn area was narrowed to 260 homes Sunday night, down from more than 5,000 on Friday.
The Santa Barbara County Joint Incident Command said Sunday night that the 3-day-old blaze had burned 1,940 acres — a figure roughly unchanged for the past 48 hours. More than 1,300 firefighters and support personnel are still battling the fire, which is now 95 percent contained. Full containment is expected by 6 p.m. Monday.
The cause of the fire has been determined to be caused by human activity, Anyone with information, particularly with regards to individuals entering the Tea House area above East Mountain Drive in Montecito late Wednesday or early Thursday are urged to call the Sheriff’s Department anonymous tip line at 805.681.4171. It is still unknown whether the fire was accidental or intentional.
One death has been linked indirectly to the fire and there have been a score of injuries, including three burn injuries and 22 cases of smoke inhalation.
The fire ignited about 5:50 p.m. Thursday at the Tea House above East Mountain Drive near Coyote Road in the Montecito foothills. Propelled by winds gusting to 70 mph, the wildfire tore through the Westmont College campus and its faculty housing and raged up the backside of Santa Barbara’s Riviera neighborhood, hopscotching among houses.
Officials said 130 houses were destroyed in the city of Santa Barbara and another 80 in the county. The worst hit areas were Conejo Road, Parma Park, and Banana and Coyote roads. The renowned Mount Calvary Retreat House & Monastery, 2500 Mount Calvary Road, suffered significant damage.
A partial list of the addresses of the destroyed homes is available on the Web sites of Santa Barbara County and the city of Santa Barbara. The list will be updated as information is collected.
(Click here to see a partial list, and click here to view a preliminary map detailing which homes are lost.)
County emergency officials are requesting that all evacuees register with the American Red Cross-Santa Barbara County Chapter’s Safe and Well Program. Call 805.687.1331 to register your evacuation status, or register in person at the Red Cross emergency shelter at San Marcos High, 4750 Hollister Ave.
As of Sunday night, the mandatory evacuation order had been reduced to about 260 homes on the following streets:
» Camino Alto
» Conejo Lane
» Conejo Road
» Ealand Place
» Sherman Road
» West Mountain Drive between El Cielito and Coyote roads
» Gibraltar Road north of El Cielito to East Camino Cielo
Access is prohibited beyond the following locations:
» Camino Alto at Las Alturas Road
» Conejo Road at Las Alturas and Stanwood Drive
» Coyote Road at East Mountain Drive (no access westbound on Mountain)
» El Cielito Road at Gibraltar Road (no northbound access up Gibraltar)
» El Cielito at Mountain Drive (no access to Mountain)
» Orizaba Lane at Stanwood
All other previously listed mandatory evacuation areas are open to residents with government-issued identification. Residents with identification will be allowed past the following barricades:
» Chelham Way at Sycamore Canyon Road (westbound residents only on Sycamore Canyon)
» Coyote Road at East Mountain Drive (south on Coyote restricted to residents only)
» El Cielito Road at Mount Calvary Road
» Las Alturas at Mission Ridge Road (no Conejo Road access permitted)
» Loma Media Road at Las Alturas
» Rockwood Drive at El Cielito
» Stanwood Drive at Mission Ridge
» Sycamore Canyon at the Five Points roundabout
Officials have said they are sensitive to evacuees’ frustration at not being able to return home. The recovery effort is proceeding as quickly as possible, they said.
“We are working very diligently to try to get people back into their homes,” Sheriff Bill Brown told a Saturday news conference.
“People who live in the burn area may be days away from being allowed to return,” he added. “It’s essentially like a combat zone. There are properties that have been destroyed, they need to be inventoried, and search and rescue has to go through and examine them.”
Looking ahead to the rebuilding process, Michael Zimmer, the county’s chief building inspector, said seven “strike teams” of inspectors have been determining the safety of affected structures. He explained that red tags indicate a structure is unfit to be occupied; yellow tags allow limited entry, meaning residents will be allowed in to retrieve belongings; and green tags mean residents are cleared to return, pending the approval of police and fire agencies.
Meanwhile, Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum said the city is developing plans to streamline the review process with “as-built” plans.
Write to
Football: Vaqueros Left Out of Bowl Party
SBCC won its last six games and tied for the inaugural American Pacific Conference football championship but the Vaqueros were only ranked No. 20 in the final Southern Cal poll and didn’t receive a bowl invitation Sunday.
“I’m upset because I don’t know what they looked at,” said Vaqueros coach Craig Moropoulos, whose team went 6-4 overall and tied Antelope Valley for first with a 6-1 conference record. “The fact that I’m upset doesn’t change the fact that we’re not in a bowl game.
“I told my team they can’t take away that we won six in a row or that we came back from an 0-4 start when others could have crumbled.”