Noozhawk continued to have its affairs in order this past week, with our Google Analytics reporting that we retained an audience of 124,266 readers. Sure, it would have been better to have reached the magic number of $130,000, er, I mean 130,000, but that’s still a handsome payoff with no reason to hush up about it.
Here’s my take on your Top 5 most-read stories. No lie.
1. Teacher Injured in Sulfuric Acid Spill at La Cumbre Junior High Classroom
A La Cumbre Junior High School teacher was severely injured April 30 in a sulfuric acid spill in her science lab. No students were in the classroom at the time, and no one else was hurt.
Kim Ramirez, a science teacher at the school on Santa Barbara’s Westside, suffered major burns in what authorities described as a 1-quart spill of the highly corrosive, syrupy liquid.
She was treated at the scene before being rushed to nearby Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and then airlifted to the Grossman Burn Center in West Hills. A Santa Barbara Unified School District spokeswoman said she was in stable condition.
Santa Barbara Fire Department spokeswoman Amber Anderson said a hazardous materials team entered the classroom and “neutralized the spill.”
No students were in the classroom, but the main school building was evacuated so the haz-mat crew could safely dispose of the acid.
Two classrooms were sealed, and school district spokeswoman Lauren Bianchi Klemann said a private company, Channel Coast Corp., was contracted to complete the cleanup.
Ramirez’s husband, Christopher Greely, expressed his gratitude to a quick-thinking teacher who immediately came to his wife’s aid, as well as to the first-responders and medical professionals assisting her.
“Our family appreciates the effort of Kim’s colleague who rushed to her aid in diluting the acid with water from the eye hose to help minimize injury,” he said in a statement.
“We further want to thank the Santa Barbara Fire Department, medical professionals at Cottage Hospital and the Grossman Burn Center, our colleagues and those who have shared their well wishes. Ms. Ramirez’s No. 1 concern is to make sure her students know that she is doing well and will update them on her progress.”
A GoFundMe account has been established for Ramirez’s medical expenses, which include treatment of significant chemical burns and a long road of surgeries ahead of her. Click here to make an online donation.
2. Southbound Highway 101 Reopened After Pursuit, Multivehicle Injury Crash on Nojoqui Grade
Two teenagers traveling in a van allegedly boosted from a Santa Maria robbery caused quite a stir on Highway 101’s Nojoqui Grade south of Buellton early on May 1. The morning’s carnage: two wrecks; five damaged vehicles, including a California Highway Patrol car and a big rig; seven injuries; and two arrests.
But let’s start at the beginning.
As our Giana Magnoli first reported, two boys, one 15 and the other 14, confronted an employee of a group home in the 4600 block of South Bradley Road and demanded the facility’s vehicle.
“One of the subjects allegedly choked the victim with a chain until she relinquished the keys,” Santa Barbara County sheriff’s spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said.
“The two suspects then stole a white van and fled.”
Just after 7 a.m., a sheriff’s deputy spotted the van heading south on the freeway through Buellton, but the deputy gave way to the CHP.
During the pursuit, the van driver lost control of the vehicle after striking a pickup truck and running off the road. Now sporting flat tires, Hoover said, he drove back onto the highway but came to a stop along the center divider near the summit.
“A high-risk enforcement stop was initiated,” she added.
An inevitable traffic jam followed that excitement, and another CHP car “ended up getting in a multivehicle collision,” CHP Officer Rick Larson told Noozhawk.
According to Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason, that wreck involved the CHP unit, a tractor-trailer and three other cars.
He said seven people were injured, including a CHP officer and two infants. Victims were transported to Goleta Valley, Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez Valley Cottage hospitals.
Hoover said the two teenagers at the center of the chaos were taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies after being medically evaluated at the scene.
She said the youths, who were not identified because of their ages, were booked on charges of robbery, vehicle theft, evading of law enforcement, child endangerment and fleeing the scene of an accident.
The CHP is investigating the collision, which blocked most of the southbound side of the freeway until 3 p.m. The Sheriff’s Department is investigating the alleged crimes in Santa Maria.
3. Injuries Reported in Goleta Crash Involving Big Rig, 3 Other Vehicles
A tractor-trailer and three other vehicles were involved in a major chain-reaction collision that shut down northbound Highway 101 in Goleta the afternoon of April 27, snarling the Friday evening commute for thousands of drivers.
California Highway Patrol Officer Jonathan Gutierrez told our Giana Magnoli that the big rig failed to stop for heavy traffic ahead and plowed into a Ford sedan, which was pushed into the next car, and you get the picture.
The three northbound lanes were blocked near Fairview Avenue at about 4:45 p.m. Authorities were able to open one lane about 45 minutes later, but the wreckage caused a massive traffic jam for hours afterward.
Six people were injured in the crash, including one with major head injuries.
The CHP is investigating the crash, but Gutierrez said alcohol and/or drugs are not suspected as factors.
4. Man Taken to Hospital After Being Stabbed in Carpinteria
An altercation in the 700 block of Linden Avenue in Carpinteria ended in a stabbing early on April 28. Details were hard to come by, and so were suspects.
Santa Barbara County sheriff’s spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said deputies and emergency personnel arrived just after 1 a.m. and found a man who had been stabbed in the arm.
A sheriff’s K-9 team joined deputies in the search for possible suspects but the hunt apparently came up empty.
The wounded man was transported by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. His identity and medical condition were not disclosed.
5. Public’s Help Sought in Tying Golden State Killer Suspect to Goleta Slayings
With the arrest of the suspected Golden State Killer, detectives and prosecutors throughout California are reviewing long-cold case files with hopes of connecting Joseph John DeAngelo to unsolved murders, rapes and burglaries in their counties.
DeAngelo, 72, of Citrus Heights in suburban Sacramento, was arrested last month after investigators linked the one-time police officer to several of the Golden State Killer crimes through DNA evidence.
So far, he has been charged with two counts of murder in Ventura County, two counts in Sacramento County and four counts in Orange County. He is being held without bail in Sacramento County Jail.
As part of his notorious crime spree that terrorized California in the 1970s and ’80s, the Golden State Killer — also known as the Original Night Stalker and the East Area Rapist — is believed responsible for three brutal attacks in Goleta that left two couples dead.
On Dec. 30, 1979, Dr. Robert Offerman, 44, and his girlfriend, Dr. Alexandria Manning, 35, were attacked and killed in Offerman’s Avenida Pequeña condominium off Cathedral Oaks Road west of North Patterson Avenue.
On July 27, 1981, Cheri Domingo, 35, and her boyfriend, Gregory Sanchez, 27, were attacked and killed at a residence on Toltec Way, a quiet cul-de-sac a few blocks west of North Patterson.
A few months before Manning and Offerman were murdered, a couple on nearby Queen Ann Lane managed to escape from a suspect who had tied them up and was in the process of terrorizing them. The Golden State Killer has long been suspected in the case.
Santa Barbara County sheriff’s spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said DeAngelo is believed to have been in the area between 1978 and 1986, although it’s not clear what brought him here. Presumably, the department has DNA in rape kits from the local assaults that will help with the investigation.
On April 30, the department distributed old photographs of DeAngelo to try to pry loose 40-year-old memories.
“The Santa Barbara County sheriff’s office is asking for the public’s help in establishing a timeline for the ongoing investigation involving the murders,” Hoover said.
“If you believe you saw him anywhere in Santa Barbara County, or personally know him, please contact the sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Bureau.”
Investigators can be contacted at 805.681.4150, or click here to leave an anonymous tip.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Body of Missing Paddle-Boarder Recovered from Water at Santa Barbara Harbor.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
You won’t believe these paper clips: Dazzling Three-Dimensional Paper Sculptures of Birds, Bees and Crustaceans by Lisa Lloyd.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
Colors and contrasts dominated my Instagram feed from this past week.
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Watch It
You’ve heard of speed on the base paths? This is not that, and don’ try to hurry him.
(RM Videos video)
— Bill Macfadyen is Noozhawk’s founder and publisher. Contact him at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com, follow him on Twitter: @noozhawk and Instagram: @bill.macfadyen, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.