Noozhawk had an audience of 105,441 readers this past week, according to our Google Analytics. It was kind of a light week, given the heaviness of some of our news coverage.
What follows is my own take on the Top 5 stories you were reading during the last seven days. In case you don’t know by now, this is my opinion column and not a news story.
Although Noozhawk does not take editorial positions, I believe I have an obligation in my civic capacity as Noozhawk’s publisher to do so in my column when warranted.
That has never been more warranted than these last four weeks.
1. 3 More Arrests Made in Fatal Shooting of Tourist on Santa Barbara’s Stearns Wharf
As I wrote last week, Noozhawk’s news team has been deep into our own investigation into the shocking Dec. 9 murder of Camarillo tourist Rob Gutierrez on the Santa Barbara waterfront.
We had pieced together and independently corroborated most of what authorities believe happened that night at Stearns Wharf before our Tom Bolton learned additional arrests were imminent. So we held off on posting what we knew.
In a Noozhawk exclusive on Feb. 16, Tom broke the story that Santa Barbara police — operating in concert with other law enforcement agencies — made three more arrests that day in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
Police Chief Kelly Ann Gordon told him that three juveniles were taken into custody, with two being held on suspicion of homicide and the third on suspicion of being an accessory to murder and possession of a firearm.
Their identities were not disclosed because they’re minors.
Seven people have now been arrested in the alleged gang-related homicide at the exact center of Santa Barbara’s world-renowned tourism base.
Three Santa Barbara men — 22-year-old Jiram Tenorio Ramon, 21-year-old Christopher Dave Miranda and 20-year-old Ricardo Tomas Jauregui-Moreno — were arrested Jan. 19 and have been charged with homicide and other crimes.
They’re being held without bail in Santa Barbara County Jail and are to appear in Superior Court on Feb. 17 for a continued arraignment hearing.
Also held without bail is another Santa Barbara man, 21-year-old James Lee Rosborough, who has been charged with being an accessory after the fact.
A fourth juvenile was arrested on the charge of being a minor in possession of a firearm.
The 52-year-old Gutierrez and his wife, Gerallie, were in Santa Barbara to celebrate their anniversary when he was gunned down near the famed Dolphin Family Statue at the base of the wharf.
Described by police as an “innocent bystander,” Gutierrez was rushed to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where he died of his wounds on Dec. 20.
Gordon did not disclose Gutierrez’s identity — or the fact that he had died — until an SBPD spokesman emailed out a short statement announcing raids and the four arrests on Jan. 19.
Unfortunately, the case gets even more inconceivable and atrocious with each telling.
On Feb. 16, Gordon also revealed to Tom that the Gutierrezes had been caught in the middle of a shootout between members of Santa Barbara’s Westside gang and members of a rival gang from Ventura County.
Gordon said multiple rounds were fired, and Gutierrez was hit by one of them.
No one else was wounded in the gunfight, Lt. Kasi Corbett told Tom.
As I’ve said all along, Noozhawk has no intention of impeding the police investigation. I’m all for detectives building airtight cases against these thugs.
But some of this information should have been released to the news media and the public under the California Criminal Code. I’m talking specifically about Gutierrez’s identity and death, which Noozhawk had been tipped about but was unable to confirm with police.
I’d also like to see the City of Santa Barbara use all methods at its disposal to root these gangs out of their neighborhoods — neighborhoods where the vast, vast majority of residents are law-abiding citizens who don’t want them there either.
In a Feb. 13 interview with Jerry Roberts on his Newsmakers with Jerry Roberts podcast, Gordon dismissed the perception of rising gang violence in Santa Barbara.
“We do not have a gang problem,” she told him in her first on-the-record comments on what was then known to be a shooting, not a shootout.
“Yes, we have some gang activity, but we don’t have a gang problem here in the city. Sometimes we do have incidents that are related to a gang, but in terms of, do we have a gang problem? We don’t have a gang problem.”
As my old friend, the late Bob Carlson, used to say: “Perhaps.”
Based on the overwhelming reaction I’ve been getting from the community every day for the last four weeks, I’m not alone in saying that if we have a gang that feels comfortable enough to draw guns and open fire at Stearns Wharf, we have “a gang problem.”
And now it turns out that we have two gangs emboldened to shoot it out with each other at Stearns Wharf. That’s an even bigger “gang problem,” most of us would agree.
And that brings me to my biggest disappointment with city officials who have remained steadfast in their infuriating and shameful silence over this heinous crime.
The fact that no one at City Hall — not City Administrator Rebecca Bjork; not Mayor Randy Rowse; not City Council members Eric Friedman, Alejandra Gutierrez, Oscar Gutierrez, Meagan Harmon, Mike Jordan or Kristen Sneddon — has made any public comments or stood before the people they represent to answer questions at a news conference about this crime, its repercussions for our city’s reputation and, most of all, our community safety is an epic failure.
That is not leadership. It’s the opposite of leadership.
Related Columns and Commentary
- Bill Macfadyen: Santa Barbara Officials Still Avoiding Tourist Murder Story
- Bill Macfadyen: Murder Is Still on Our Minds in Santa Barbara
- Bill Macfadyen: Gangs, Murder Leave Santa Barbara Officials Speechless
- Bill Macfadyen: Santa Barbara Caught in Crime Warp
- Bill Macfadyen: Santa Barbara Murder Arrests Clouded by Lack of Transparency
2. Man Accused of Murder in Death of Girlfriend’s 3-Year-Old Daughter in Santa Barbara
The death of a 3-year-old Santa Barbara girl earlier this month was determined to be a homicide, and the 24-year-old boyfriend of her mother has been arrested as a suspect.
Santa Barbara police Lt. Kasi Corbett told our Tom Bolton that Elvis Alberto Lopez was arrested Feb. 11 after detectives and the Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Bureau completed their investigation.
Santa Barbara firefighters, an American Medical Response ambulance and police were dispatched to the toddler’s home the afternoon of Feb. 4 after reports that she had fallen out of bed and injured herself.
The emergency contingent performed CPR on the girl before taking her to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
“Based on the evidence gathered, the case was categorized as a homicide,” Corbett said.
Lopez was arrested without incident and booked into County Jail. As of Feb. 17, he’s still there with bail set at $3 million.
The names of the girl and her mother have not been disclosed by authorities.
Readers have asked why Noozhawk has not posted a booking photo of Lopez, or the adult suspects in the Gutierrez murder. We would if we could, but police have been withholding such pictures — except when they think it helps their case.
3. HBO Adapting ‘Empty Mansions’ Book on Huguette Clark, Santa Barbara Waterfront Estate Into Series
HBO is working on an adaption of the best-selling book, Empty Mansions, about the late Huguette Clark and the reclusive copper heiress’ prominent blufftop estate on the Santa Barbara waterfront.
Maybe the series will reveal some of the murky details surrounding the nonprofit Bellosguardo Foundation that was created — at the direction of Clark’s estate upon her death — to “foster the arts.”
Clark died in New York City in 2011 at age 104.
As our Serena Guentz reported, HBO is developing the project with acclaimed filmmaker Ido Fluk, director Joe Wright and the London-based production company, Fremantle.
Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman and the late Paul Clark Newell Jr., Clark’s cousin.
The 23½-acre Bellosguardo property is located at 1407 E. Cabrillo Blvd. next to the Santa Barbara Cemetery. Although Clark had not visited in decades, its 21,666-square-foot mansion was said to be kept ready for her to drop by at any time.
4. Santa Barbara Man Sentenced to State Prison for Highway 154 Crash That Killed Pharmacist
A 63-year-old Santa Barbara man is off to state prison after pleading no contest in a fatal crash that killed an Arroyo Grande pharmacist on Highway 154 at San Marcos Pass above Santa Barbara.
As Noozhawk reported at the time, Dr. Michael Liu was driving a Hyundai Sonata up the pass on June 5, 2020, when a Toyota pickup truck driven by Oscar Pereyra crossed the double yellow lines near West Camino Cielo and slammed into him.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the 31-year-old Liu was declared dead at the scene, while Pereyra was critically injured and required a lengthy extrication from the wreckage. He later had a leg amputated.
Pereyra was ordered to stand trial on charges of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and reckless driving causing great bodily injury.
In an open plea to Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Michael Carrozzo, Pereyra pleaded no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter in exchange for a four-year state prison sentence and the dismissal of the reckless driving charge.
Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Michelle Mossembekker objected to the plea deal.
As our Janene Scully reported, however, Mossembekker was rebuffed by Carrozzo when she asked him to at least make Pereyra serve the maximum six-year sentence “due to the dangerous conduct” and his “extensive criminal history.”
That history stretches way back to 1978 with more than a dozen wrecks and multiple state prison stints.
After serving his latest prison sentence, Pereyra will be on parole for up to three years. He also was ordered to pay a whopping $15,927 in restitution.
At the time of his death, Liu was the pharmacy director at Arroyo Grande Community Hospital.
5. Bill Macfadyen: Santa Barbara Officials Still Avoiding Tourist Murder Story
I’ve said my piece for this week, which is far more than anyone at City Hall has. Prove me wrong.
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Good Reads
Don’t miss these six stories before you go:
» Santa Barbara Council Votes to Move Forward with $1 Million Plan to Revitalize De la Guerra Plaza — Santa Barbara City Council members may not speak up when it counts, but they can spend money like nobody’s business. Staff writer Josh Molina has the latest on the $1 million revitalization of De la Guerra Plaza.
» Santa Barbara County Supervisors Weigh In on Draft of Housing Element Update — Santa Barbara County’s already dire housing pressures are mounting, as managing editor Giana Magnoli explains. Her story is a follow-up to Josh’s Board of Supervisors scene-setter.
» BizHawk: Remote-Entry Drift Hotel in Santa Barbara Rolls Out Welcome Mat — Josh checks out Santa Barbara’s newest hotel, the Drift at 524 State St. downtown.
» UCSB Professor Mario Garcia Makes It His Life’s Work to Ensure ‘Chicano History Is U.S. History’ — Retired UC Santa Barbara professor Mario Garcia is the nation’s foremost scholar on Chicano and Chicana history. As Josh reports, he’s being feted this weekend for the impact he’s had.
» County Supervisors Adopt Gaviota Coast Community Wildfire Protection Plan — Long overdue, the Gaviota coast is getting some help with fire risk and mitigation. Giana outlines how.
» Parker Coffin Surfs to Pro Title at 41st Rincon Classic — Although banged up from an earlier surfing accident, Santa Barbara’s own Parker Coffin has enough left in the tank to shred the competition in the 41st Rincon Classic. Sports editor Barry Punzal follows him to shore.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Person Pronounced Dead at Scene of Incident Near Lagoon on UCSB Campus.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
Made in China: Gigantic Hangar Near Secretive Chinese Test Facilities Points to Exotic Airship Development.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
Have you had enough of my grandson in my Instagram feed? Didn’t think so, but I also have an early Valentine’s Day dinner with my sweetheart at our favorite restaurant, @picolosalamos, in our favorite town, Los Alamos.
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Watch It
Teamwork makes the dream work. HT to Best of Bill reader Tina Maldonado.
