Eh, sports.
It’s been fun watching the Los Angeles Dodgers on television again after the Dodgers’ ownership spent all those years boycotting its own fan base.
And although I find the recorded crowd noise to be contrived, it’s great to see all the smiling fans in the stands silently cheering for Mookie Betts. Given the way their cardboard cutouts are multiplying, I expect Dodger Stadium will be the first Major League Baseball park to sell out in the coronavirus-stunted season — even if the vibe is more Rock Ridge than Chavez Ravine.
But, thanks to COVID-19, we’ll have no fall sports in our high schools, and now the Pac-12 Conference has thrown in the towel, too. I don’t know what I’ll do if the rest of college football cancels itself, but please hang tough SEC, ACC and Big 12. I’m rooting for ya!
Also hanging tough are Santa Barbara County’s leadership and Public Health Department officials, who have simply ignored Noozhawk’s attempts to get answers about the colosssal screwup of somehow misplacing the deaths of 28 coronavirus victims.
Some may dismiss the incident as nothing more than an innocent oversight, and maybe it is. But that’s actually not for the government to decide, is it?
The data on the COVID-19 crisis are vitally important, and not just for record keeping. Our lives and livelihoods, our economy, our community, our families and friendships, our freedoms and rights have been upended, placed on hold and, in too many cases, trampled beyond recognition — all based on statistics tracking whether we’re winning against a pandemic that is now as much a political challenge as a health one.
Santa Barbara County’s mistake, and its ongoing reporting inconsistencies and lack of transparency, are not helping. We need more information, not less.
This is one reason why your financial support for Noozhawk is so critical. Without Noozhawk, who will ask the tough questions of our elected officials, government leaders and policy makers, and hold them accountable — or at least try to?
And we need your help. While not everyone can afford to invest in local journalism right now, we also can’t afford to lose it. Can we count on you?
Your contribution, at any amount, will help us stay focused on what’s important to you: our reporting on the local news and information you need, 24/7.
While COVID-19 continues to take its toll, it was other news that made up Noozhawk’s most-read stories of the previous week, according to our Google Analytics.
What follows are the Top 5 stories that 121,741 of you were reading, along with my own take on them. Spoiler alert: This is my opinion column, not a news story.
1. Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Join the Ranks of Montecito Celebrities
O.M.G. Meghan Markle and Britain’s Prince Harry have moved to Montecito!
Months after the young royals made their “Megxit” from the centuries-old family business back in the United Kingdom, they apparently plunked down $16 million for a nine-bedroom, 14,500-square-foot house in a secluded private neighborhood.
Our Josh Molina confirmed many of the details after a few of the world’s tabloid newspapers and TV shows made a mess of the story that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their toddler son, Archie, had found a home here in Noozhawk territory.
Many of those same stories breathlessly included a lengthy list of celebrities who apparently have put Montecito on the map. The one name I didn’t see? Randy Quaid, who lived in Montecito long ago — before unsuccessfully moving back as a squatter.
But I digress.
As a longtime Montecito resident myself, I’m happy to welcome my new neighbors and, I expect, our newest Noozhawk readers. I know you value your privacy so I would just ask you to remember that the rest of us value ours, as well.
2. Santa Barbara Man Identified as Driver Killed in Solvang Head-On Crash
A head-on collision on Highway 246/Mission Drive in Solvang left a Santa Barbara man dead and a Santa Ynez man injured the morning of Aug. 7.
As our Janene Scully first reported, the 9:15 a.m. crash involved a Ford C-Max compact sedan and a Ford F-350 Super Duty commercial truck.
California Highway Patrol Officer Keith Rogers said the sedan’s driver, identified as 42-year-old Antonio Ramirez Jr., crossed the center line near the intersection of Alamo Pintado Road and slammed into the oncoming work truck driven by 62-year-old Steve Holmlund.
Ramirez was declared dead at the scene, while Holmlund was taken to nearby Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
Rogers said the cause of the collision is under investigation, but it had not been determined whether alcohol or drugs may have been a factor.
In addition to the CHP, Santa Barbara County firefighters, an American Medical Response ambulance and a CalStar medical helicopter were dispatched to the crash.
3. Suspect Arrested in Assault, Attempted Robbery in Western Goleta
A Goleta man was arrested as a suspect in a violent attack and attempted robbery on the bluffs near Haskell’s Beach. The Aug. 8 assault left the victim with multiple injuries.
As our Tom Bolton first reported, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched just before 8 a.m. to the 8300 block of Hollister Avenue, to the west of Sandpiper Golf Club.
“The victim reported that a male subject had punched her several times while trying to steal her property,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel Zick said.
“The victim had multiple injuries but declined emergency medical attention.”
The suspect had fled the scene, and a two-hour search of the area by deputies and K-9 units turned up few clues.
A sighting of the man was reported later near Santa Barbara Shores and, just before 5 p.m., UC Santa Barbara police spotted him near Anisq’Oyo Park in Isla Vista, Zick said.
She said the suspect — identified as 44-year-old Loren Allen — was arrested and booked into County Jail on suspicion of attempted robbery and battery, both felonies. Bail was set at $50,000.
4. Downtown Santa Barbara Leaders Inspired by State Street Changes
My friend, former Santa Barbara Mayor Hal Conklin, has been meeting regularly with a handful of business leaders to talk about the state of the city with an emphasis on downtown.
To be honest, there hasn’t been much to show for it, just as there hasn’t been much to show for, really, any number of various initiatives — public or private — for years.
And then along came the twin catastrophes of the COVID-19 pandemic and the intentional shutting down of the economy. As I’ve noted before, there’s nothing quite like desperation as a motivator.
Our Josh Molina reported on a presentation to Conklin & Co. by Bob Stout, board president of Downtown Santa Barbara and an owner of the Wildcat Lounge and its affiliates in the first block of West Ortega Street, and Robin Elander, DSB’s interim executive director.
They were surprisingly upbeat, and with good reason.
“This is a perfect time to experiment,” Elander said. “Right now, State Street is a special place because it is changing literally overnight.”
Those changes are largely a result of the new State Street pedestrian promenade created when the City of Santa Barbara, moving with unusual speed, temporarily closed off the heart of downtown to vehicle traffic and allowed restaurants to move their seating onto the sidewalks and into the street.
“It has been an incredible shot in the arm for businesses,” Stout said, referring to the locals and visitors now swarming the area and the accompanying buzz.
Decades in discussion, the promenade seems unlikely to revert at this point, and I think that’s a good thing.
It’s also revitalized an encouraging reimagining of downtown Santa Barbara, from a new State Street design charrette led by the Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, to an economic development plan the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce is launching, to an ambitious proposal by the owners of Paseo Nuevo to transform the outdoor mall with housing and a hotel.
This is all not a moment too soon, but I’m excited to see where this leads — and whether some of it can happen in my lifetime.
5. ‘Indio Muerto’ Likely to See Demise as Santa Barbara Street Name
Indio Muerto may be Spanish for “dead Indian,” but the 169-year-old Santa Barbara street name is a dead man walking.
As our Josh Molina first reported, the Barbareño Chumash Tribal Council has been pressing the City of Santa Barbara to change the name of the Lower Eastside street, which runs for just a few blocks in a residential neighborhood between South Alisos and South Salinas streets.
In making its case, the council called the name “insulting, offensive and demeaning.”
At an Aug. 10 meeting of the city’s Neighborhood Advisory Council, the panel voted 10-0 to recommend that Indio Muerto Street be renamed Hutash Street, Hutash meaning “Mother Earth” in the Chumash language.
The recommendation will now go to the City Council for consideration.
In general, I’m not in favor of applying absolute contemporary mores to historical decisions made in a different time and cultural context. That’s not to say they should be exempt from reconsideration or change, however.
But this isn’ that. I’ve just never gotten Indio Muerto Street.
At worst offensive, at best insensitive, the name itself is half-assed. The story goes that Capt. Salisbury Haley, the surveyor responsible for naming so many of Santa Barbara’s original streets, found the remains of a dead Indian in 1851 and … went with it.
Really?! That’s the best he could come up with? There wasn’t a plant he could use? Or a bird? His mother’s maiden name? The name of his first dog? I hope the city didn’t pay him for that mailed-in ballot.
Santa Barbara has an opportunity for a do-over and should take it.
Hutash Street not only recognizes our community’s rich Chumash history, in a way it would bring a proper and honorable burial for that anonymous dead Indian. I think we owe him that.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Delays Threaten to Ground Plans for Santa Barbara Airport’s High Sierra Grill & Bar.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
This should be a wake-up call: How to Prepare for the Coming Flood of Student Mental-Health Needs.
• • •
Best of Bill’s Instagram
Food was my focus, but @sadiethealaskanmalamute’s shower scene was the runaway hit of my Instagram feed this past week.
• • •
Watch It
“Thank God. He saved us all.”
��VIDEO | After the Beirut explosion, this video went viral. @EWTNews‘s @ColmFlynn1 spoke to the priest who was giving Mass at the time of the explosion, Fr. Rabih Thoumy, about his experience. This is his story: pic.twitter.com/L1lYLYgcOz
— EWTN News (@EWTNews) August 11, 2020
(EWTN News video)
• • •
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— 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.
