I just wanted to say how much I am enjoying Erin Graffy’s series on the Child Estate/Santa Barbara Zoo.
In her latest installment on Nov. 26, I was particularly struck by her emphasis on the energy and public spiritedness of the Greatest Generation in exploiting the glittering opportunities afforded by Lillian Child’s gift.
I think Graffy is exactly right and it is gratifying to see our parents’ generation receive the credit they so richly deserve!
Thanks so much for the great articles.
Tim Metzinger
Goleta
• • •
Regarding the Nov. 30 article, “Mr. Monopoly, Mayor Randy Rowse Reveal New Game With Local Landmarks,” I grin because I am a proud owner of the Santa Barbopoly game created many years ago.
How many people remember this game? We play it often. I guess we have to update for the next generations but I love the game that I have.
Maybe just for a hobby, I shall collect all the Monopoly games that may be created about Santa Barbara.
Nancy McCradie
Santa Barbara
• • •
Regarding the Nov. 29 article, “Santa Barbara County Water Resources, District Attorney Settle Toro Canyon Oil Spill Case,” the real “crime” in this is that “the county” didn’t do, or not do, the actions charged; individuals working for the county and paid by the taxpayers did.
And the huge dollar settlement amount being paid by “the county” is also coming from taxpayers.
So we taxpayers paid incompetent employees and also get to pay for their ineptitude while no one in “the county” is accountable or pays for their own actions.
Great system. The taxpayers lose on both ends — and we get to pay for the attorneys on both sides as well.
Addison Thompson
Santa Barbara
• • •
Regarding the Nov. 30 news release, “Illuminating Benefits of Marine Protected Areas for Ecotourism, and Vice Versa,” I was reminded of the plight of the black and red abalone.
These marine gastropod mollusks were once fairly common along the Central Coast. Locals would gather on the rocky outcroppings during low tide armed with a gunny sack, tire iron or ground-down piece of leaf spring, a fishing license, and risk a cold soaking or worse to gather these local delicacies prized as the best seafood local waters offered.
But that is no more. In the 1960s, growth flowed into Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Vandenberg Air Force Base brought workers from the Gulf Coast and Southern California.
Among them were skin divers with gear to gather abalone not at extreme low tide, but during any high tide, and the desirable mollusks were harvested beyond sustainability.
There is no season for the red or black abalone. They are trying to make a comeback, but their survival is up to protection by state came officials and as well as citizens.
Rob Phelps
Former Lompoc resident
• • •
Thank you to all the clients, family and friends of Anthony’s Christmas Trees who attended Founder’s Weekend at Earl Warren Showgrounds to celebrate the 70th season of Anthony’s.
I must admit the Christmas trees this year are the most beautiful trees we have seen. For seven years, Anthony’s has been on a waiting list to purchase hand-manicured and trimmed, perfect Noble fir Christmas trees from a farmer who has won many blue ribbons at tree fairs for many years.
And this year, Anthony’s was able to purchase a limited supply of these spectacular Noble fir Christmas trees due to the fact that one of the retailers who had been buying from this particular farmer had retired.
For the past 16 years, Anthony’s has participated in the Trees for Troops program sponsored by the Christmas Spirit Foundation. Tree growers and retail lots throughout the United States donate trees that are distributed to military bases.
You may participate in this program by making a $50 donation for each tree at Anthony’s Christmas Trees at Earl Warren Showgrounds.
Thank you for making it a Merry Christmas for a military family.
Merry Christmas!
Anthony Dal Bello
Anthony’s Christmas Trees founder and Trees for Troops program coordinator
Santa Barbara
• • •
A recent TV PSA warned of 200 fentanyl deaths each day. Sharing this info with my wife, she astutely queried as to the number of total opioid deaths: Heroin, OxyContin, etc.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the rescue: There are, at last count, 106,000 annual deaths attributed to these substances.
But then I asked myself about our legal substances. Alcohol-related deaths total 140,000 annual deaths and tobacco 480,000.
Whereas an addict might overdose, their stupor is unlikely to lead them to crash into you with their car. Nor might we be subject to toxic effects from secondhand fentanyl (50,000 tobacco-related annual deaths).
So I wonder about the efficacy of all this Drug Enforcement Administration money being spent on second-tier substances. Seems perhaps a dodge supported by the alcohol and tobacco industries.
Prohibition has shown us that people want their drugs, but should I be responsible for their misuse and the health-care costs involved?
Barry Marks
Lompoc
• • •
In California and in the Santa Barbara Community College District, we are beset with unaffordable housing costs, impacts of climate change and low-wage employment opportunities.
The fair majority of our district — Carpinteria to Gaviota — has a story about how Santa Barbara City College has impacted their life: training and certification for a professional career, a transfer to a university for another degree, or personal enrichment while exploring interests.
In the list of priorities among the taxpayers of cash-strapped communities, supporting SBCC by improving the institution that educates our essential workforce and community leaders should be high.
In September, SBCC trustees developed 2023-2024 district board goals, including:
- Achieve long-term fiscal sustainability
- Facilities and sustainability
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Anti-Racism (DEIAA)
- Board governance
In October, the board approved the goals with the following edit to Goal 2: Evaluate facility use and needs, and plan for campus facilities that are appropriately sized, modern, well-maintained, sustainable and flexible for current and future needs.
A quick walk through SBCC’s campus will show a dire need for updates and improvements. The board’s actions, advancing plans to evaluate facilities needs and explore costs, is estimated to cost $80 million to $90 million.
Pre-COVID-19 pandemic, the college saw a surge in enrollment among local students — thanks to the community’s investment in the SBCC Promise — a program designed to remove financial barriers and make SBCC fully accessible to our community.
The college was nimble, moving courses online during the ongoing pandemic to meet the needs of the campus and keep everyone safe. Learning cannot happen when students are not feeling safe.
As we continue to emerge from the pandemic, the campus is building enrollment to a sustainable number, rather than the 2009 enrollment numbers that had buildings and class sizes bursting at the seams. SBCC is a midsize college that should be around 5,000 to 15,000 students.
SBCC is one of the oldest community colleges in California, and many of its programs are nationally recognized. When community members are seeking education, they look to SBCC.
As the new college leadership pursues long-term fiscal sustainability, facility improvements and DEIAA, it is also exploring opportunities to house its students, faculty and staff that don’t strain the local housing market.
As a neighbor to the college — and an alumna — I’m looking forward to the college’s potential for progress in the coming months and years.
For those who question whether Santa Barbara City College is a priority for our community, I ask you to consider what other institute from Gaviota to Carpinteria is accessible and actively works to change the trajectory for families by helping to lift community members out of poverty?
I put my trust in SBCC’s new president and her team. SBCC is a backbone institution in our region, supporting individuals’ educational dreams and making them tangible realities. I am grateful to have them in our backyard.
Lucille Boss
Santa Barbara
• • •
Mail Calls
Noozhawk welcomes and encourages expressions of all views on Santa Barbara County issues. Click here to submit a letter to the editor.
Letters should be BRIEF — as in 200 words-BRIEF — and letters under 150 words are given priority. Each must include a valid mailing address and contact information. Pseudonyms will not be accepted, and repeat letters will be skipped. Letters may be edited for clarity, length and style.
As a hyperlocal news site, we ask that you keep your opinions and information relevant to Santa Barbara County and the Central Coast. Letters about issues beyond our local region have the absolute lowest priority of everything we publish.
With rare exceptions, this feature is published on Saturdays.
By submitting any content to Noozhawk, you warrant that the material is your original expression, free of plagiarism, and does not violate any copyright, proprietary, contract or personal right of anyone else. Noozhawk reserves, at our sole discretion, the right to choose not to publish a submission.
Click here for Noozhawk’s Terms of Use, and click here for more information about how to submit letters to the editor and other announcements, tips and stories.