It may seem like 10 but it’s really been just a year since COVID-19 upended our lives, and in far too many cases, ended them.
With unflagging determination and dedication, Noozhawk’s professional reporters and editors took on the challenge of covering the biggest public health — and economic — crisis of our lives.
Over the last year, we’ve helped you understand the coronavirus, the lockdowns, infection curves, hospital capacity, safety measures, the nonsensical and arbitrary “reopening” formulas, recovery plans, the ongoing public schools debacle, the vaccine rollout and so much more.
We’ve relentlessly pressed local public health officials for transparency and details, and in many cases were able to convince them that what Noozhawk was asking for actually was in their best interest to provide.
All the while, executive editor Tom Bolton and managing editor Giana Magnoli somehow managed to keep pace with the rest of the daily local news and information you depend on.
We also asked you for your financial support so that we could continue to expand our coverage.
You responded, and we in turn invested in three new employees: staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue, sales and marketing consultant Abigail Mullin and membership coordinator Will Macfadyen. Yes, Will is my son, but the UCLA Anderson School of Management alumnus has long been spearheading business development projects for us at deeply reduced rates.
That trio hit the ground running and they quickly became vital members of the team, each of them producing even more opportunities for our continued growth.
Noozhawk has been a pioneer in online local news, and it’s never been our custom to coast. In the next few weeks, we’ll be announcing some exciting plans for 2021 — plans that will position Noozhawk for the next phase of our entrepreneurial advancement and further establish our bona fides as Santa Barbara County’s freshest and most trusted news source.
In the meantime, I’m asking you to invest in our vision and mission by becoming a member of our Hawks Club. Your contribution, at any amount, is immediately reinvested in the product you’re reading. Will you become a member today?
Thank you for your support.
This past week, Noozhawk pulled in an audience of 113,092 readers, according to our Google Analytics. What follows is my recap of your Top 5 stories during the period. And by recap, I mean my opinionated take on those items. This is not a news story.
1. Authorities Identify Surfer Who Died After Collision at Rincon Point
A 51-year-old Ojai man died March 6 in a tragic collision with a fellow surfer at crowded Rincon Point east of Carpinteria.
As Gretchen Wenner of the Ventura County Star was first to report, the man was identified by Ventura County sheriff’s Capt. Victor Medina as Gerald “Gerry” Gilhool Jr.
According to witnesses, Gilhool, a veteran surfer, was riding down the face of a wave when his surfboard struck another surfer who was rolling under as the wave passed.
The fin of his board cut the other rider’s head and nose, while Gilhool plunged into the shallow water.
Medina called it “a total accident.”
Other surfers brought the unconscious Gilhool to shore on his board and performed CPR on him until Ventura County firefighters and paramedics arrived.
Gilhool was rushed by ambulance to Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, where he later was pronounced dead. The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating the cause of death.
Medina said the other surfer, whose identity was not disclosed, was taken to a hospital by a private vehicle.
Friends say Gilhool was the tour manager for the Los Angeles folk rock band, Dawes.
“He was so full of life that it’s impossible to imagine him gone, so we’re all still in shock and it still doesn’t feel real,” the band posted on its Instagram page. “We’ll be spending the rest of our lives missing you, man. We love you so much.”
Singer and actress Mandy Moore, the wife of Dawes lead singer-songwriter Taylor Goldsmith, posted her own tribute.
“Gerry was a towering presence and personality,” she wrote on Instagram. “… I spent many a @dawestheband show with him, side stage, dancing and laughing and confiding in him how much I was falling in love with my now husband.”
Gilhool was survived by his partner, Ali Johnes, and their son, Quinn.
Funeral services are pending.
2. Hail and Snow on Cold Spring Bridge Spawn Crashes, Road Closures on Highway 154
Icy conditions topped with an estimated two inches of hail and snow made for dicey driving on Highway 154 over San Marcos Pass in the Santa Ynez Valley the morning of March 10.
In fact, Santa Barbara County fire Capt. Daniel Bertucelli told our Tom Bolton that eight vehicles were involved in several crashes on and near the Cold Spring Canyon Bridge, including a motor home and another car that ended up over the side of the highway.
Minor injuries were reported.
Highway 154 was closed for a few hours between Foothill Road in Santa Barbara and Highway 246 in Santa Ynez so the California Highway Patrol could investigate and wreckage could be cleared.
3. Hail from Late-Winter Storm Blankets Parts of Santa Barbara County
The cold front that rolled through Santa Barbara County on March 10 brought less rain than we wanted, but it delivered a bigger surprise than anyone expected that night.
Parts of Santa Barbara, especially the upper downtown area, looked like a winter wonderland after extended outbursts of pea-sized hail created snow-like drifts all over the place.
Hail was reported from Goleta to Montecito, and some of the white stuff even lasted into the next day.
As our Tom Bolton reported, the storm pretty much hit its forecast of about a half-inch to 1½ inches of rain, according to county Public Works Departments rainfall data.
Sporadic showers — and even more hail — lingered into March 11, as did the bone-chilling temperatures.
The National Weather Service is predicting still one more day of cool conditions for the South Coast on March 12 before daytime highs climb into the upper 60s for the weekend.
4. Guadalupe Woman Killed in Rollover Crash on Highway 101 Near Gaviota
A 21-year-old Guadalupe woman was killed March 10 when her car drifted off Highway 101 near the Gaviota tunnel, rolled over and slammed into a tree.
As our Tom Bolton was first to report, the California Highway Patrol said the woman — later identified as Gloria Ashley De Nova Morales — was driving south on the freeway about 6:45 a.m. when her Lexus sedan veered off the highway at the bottom of the Nojoqui Grade, overturned on an embankment and struck a tree.
Morales, the car’s only occupant, was declared at the scene by Santa Barbara County firefighters who arrived minutes afterward.
County fire Capt. Daniel Bertucelli said a lengthy extraction was required to remove her body from the wreckage.
The CHP is investigating the cause and circumstances of the crash. A friend of mine who drove past the grim scene soon after said the roadway was wet from the morning storm that dropped hail and snow elsewhere in the county.
Funeral services are pending, but a GoFundMe account has been established to help Morales’ family with expenses. Click here to make an online donation.
(vargonian video)
5. Santa Barbara County Could Advance to the COVID-19 Red Tier as Soon as Friday
Last week Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his latest convoluted concoction of criteria that must be met before California can safely “reopen” from the long nightmare of his erratic COVID-19 management. I couldn’t have said it better than the above farmer from Napoleon Dynamite.
Santa Barbara County Public Health Department director Van Do-Reynoso gamely provided her interpretation of Newsom’s word salad at the March 9 Board of Supervisors meeting, and our Jade Martinez-Pogue is to be commended for sitting through the eyes-glazing explanation.
The bottom line? As soon as March 12, the county could move out of the most-restrictive purple tier and into the red tier, a slightly less restrictive level in what remains — for now — a four-step process.
The bigger shot in the arm, literally and figuratively, is that the county is finally getting a larger share of the coronavirus vaccine doses that the state has been unevenly distributing.
Do-Reynoso said the county received 12,580 doses over the last week, a 39 percent increase from the previous week’s ration. Included in the latest shipment are doses of the new, one-and-done Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
As of March 9, she said, 71,851 county residents have been vaccinated, and about half of them have received both shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Highway 154 Reopened Between Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Following Camino Fire Closure.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
Maybe we need new elites: The Miseducation of America’s Elites.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
I had a hodgepodge of stuff in my Instagram feed this past week, but @sadiethealaskanmalamute showed the most excitement.
• • •
Watch It
Talk about up and moving.
(San Francisco Chronicle video)
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— Bill Macfadyen is Noozhawk’s founder and publisher. Contact him at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com, follow him on Instagram: @bill.macfadyen, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
