Thank you to Noozhawk executive editor Giana Magnoli for her excellent coverage of the Jan. 23 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors’ hearing (“Report Reveals 60% of People in County Jail Custody Have Mental Health Conditions”).
I am writing to correct my misstatement at the hearing that she quoted:
In fact, no one stays in our county jails forever. The average length of stay in 2023 was 26.7 days. A high percentage (70%-80%) of jail residents have not been convicted.
And many charged with low-level offenses remain in jail because they cannot afford bail. Magnoli is correct, almost 60% of those in our jails have mental health conditions.
Our jails, however, are not set up to do rehabilitation and are not delivering professional mental health treatment to those who need it. Low-level, nonviolent offenders who don’t present a risk to our communities should be served in proper mental health facilities in the community.
Jail is a traumatizing experience that often causes those who suffer from mental illness to “decompensate” (get much worse).
We can improve public safety by enhancing community support: housing with “wrap-around services,” including medical, mental health and addiction treatment.
The local League of Women Voters and CLUE are urging the county to increase mental health facilities and services in the community rather than increase jail beds.
Community-based alternatives to jail make us safer than unnecessarily jailing those who do not present a risk in places built with punishment rather than rehabilitation as a primary goal.
Gail Osherenko
Santa Barbara
• • •
Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen has another priceless description in his Jan. 26 column, “January Rains ‘Wet’ Our Appetite for More.” In the item on the new Goleta cannabis dispensary, he writes:
“The former tenant had to have seen this coming, but the longstanding fortune-teller at the corner of Fairview and Hollister avenues in Old Town Goleta has been supplanted by the city’s fifth cannabis dispensary.”
I laughed the rest of the way. He never disappoints.
Kim Evans
Santa Barbara
• • •
Thank you to Bill Macfadyen for the Saturday chuckle with the reference to the new dispensary in Goleta, and the former tenant. Good one.
Erin Jackson
Goleta
• • •
Thank you to Erin Graffy for her Jan. 31 column, “‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ with Katinka Daniel and Zoltán Kodály,” and the wonderful story and recognition of Katinka Danielle.
I was one of the fortunate students at San Roque School who received music classes by her. My class was the only one that she taught and I had her from third grade, when I started at San Roque, to eighth grade, never realizing my good fortune.
She was amazing! We had an hour of instruction every week and the back of the classroom was always filled with guests — other music teachers and professors — who had come to observe.
Only later in life did I realize her impact on me. Fifty years later I can still remember the songs — lots of Americana — and the instruction.
Thank you, Mrs. Danielle! Thank you, Noozhawk and Erin, for remembering this amazing woman.
Mike Sbaraglia
Santa Barbara
• • •
Erin Graffy’s column on Katinka Daniel brought back a lot of memories, for she was my piano teacher back in the 1970s. You might enjoy this piece I wrote after she died:
Greg Janée
Santa Barbara
• • •
I am supporting Lompoc Mayor Jenelle Osborne to be the next Santa Barbara County Third District supervisor. She has been serving the citizens of Lompoc as both a council woman and mayor since 2016, and as the city representative to the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments for the last five years.
Osborne says on her website, “I am willing to focus on providing direction and policies that are in the best interest of all residents, businesses and organizations. I am not registered with any political party because I understand that the county supervisor position is nonpartisan, and the problems cannot be solved along political party lines. I am confident we can improve all of the Third District with a more balanced approach.”
This election is important to the Third District; do we want more of the same? NO.
Jenelle Osborne is the most promising candidate and has already firmly established her commitment to serve residents of the Third District.
Ron Fink
Lompoc
• • •
In my 11 years as an administrator with the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department, I had the opportunity to work with many members of the Board of Supervisors.
Supervisor Joan Hartmann is among the very best.
As a county administrator in the past and as a current Third District resident, I find that Hartmann demonstrates leadership in the best sense of the word.
She asks probing questions, listens attentively and provides thoughtful responses. She explains her reasoning and the considerations that led to her votes.
She is exceptionally respectful and considerate of all residents, speakers and county staff.
Hartmann brings people together to discuss thorny and controversial issues. A Jan. 29 meeting on proposed rezoning of Glen Annie Golf Course is a recent example. She listened to all concerns and offered information to help everyone understand the challenges we face.
When bringing issues to Hartmann, I felt heard and understood. I found her to be fair and focused on what is best for the county.
I fully support Joan Hartmann for Third District supervisor and encourage others to join me in voting for her on March 5.
Susan Klein-Rothschild
Santa Barbara
• • •
I read College Elementary School District board president Peter Wright’s Jan. 26 letter to the editor with both interest and alarm.
Regarding the district’s campus in Santa Ynez, Wright states, “What if we could create homes on school property — where we have open space (presumably the College District campus, I ask?) — that will help recruit the very best educators and alleviate our housing crunch?”
Then he later states that Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joan Hartmann has been “pitching in to move it forward.” The implication of this is that the housing proposal is already on Hartmann’s desk, and she is working on it.
I’m flabbergasted. Hartmann is already working on converting “open space” at our elementary school into housing? What open space?
It’s a very vague term. Does it mean the sports playing fields? The badly needed parking areas? They want to siphon off these to make housing? Or some other open space?
How much acreage? How many houses? Or are we talking about apartments? How many units are being considered that would “alleviate our housing crunch?”
Also, I did not realize the school had a problem recruiting talented teachers. The teachers there seem top-notch. And would teachers really want to live right on campus? I love the noise of kids having a great time being kids, but I would not like to live right there.
Who will pay for the building of the houses? Taxpayer funds that normally go to teachers and students? Should there be an environmental impact report? Where’s the community input? And transparency?
Bottom line: There are a slew of questions that need to be answered about this open space conversion, especially if it is already being worked on by the school or Hartmann.
Wright’s letter, however, could just be a rather convoluted way to imply the College Elementary School District supports Hartmann’s reelection.
Either way, answers are needed.
Coleen Hefley
Santa Ynez
• • •
As someone born and raised in Lompoc and with 37 years of working with youth and families in Santa Barbara County, I support re-electing Joan Hartmann as our Third District supervisor.
She is the right person to represent the needs of the Lompoc community and Santa Barbara County.
As the prior deputy chief executive officer of the Family Service Agency, I had the opportunity to witness Hartmann’s dedication and commitment to the residents of Guadalupe.
I was present at many events where Hartmann demonstrated her support for this small community. She is a supporter of the Little House by the Park and pushed for the development of housing in the Guadalupe area to meet the needs of its residents.
Redistricting of the Board of Supervisors in 2022 brought Hartmann to Lompoc as our new supervisor. She has worked diligently to address a number of community and youth safety issues facing our city.
I have had the privilege of watching her as she dug in to provide support for nonprofit agencies providing services to our neediest community members.
One example was a housing rights forum that provided information for renters and landlords; Hartmann ensured that both the Family Service Agency and CommUnify were present with available resources for the community.
I see Hartmann as effectively addressing economic challenges, empowering individuals, and promoting positive change within our community.
Steven DeLira
Lompoc
• • •
Thank you to Joe Guzzardi for his Jan. 28 column, “Gavin Newsom’s ‘California for All’ Hardly a Model for the Nation.” He hit the bullseye with the facts on “Grandpa Joe” Biden, and “New Math” Gavin Newsom.
The problem we have is with our young voters being denied education in math skills and social sciences, which leaves them unaware of what they are voting for and how their choices will reduce their weekly income by approximately 40%.
If any of them are reading this letter, what it means is, if you vote for a Democrat, 40 cents out of every dollar you make will go to the government and it will give it away to someone else.
That’s right … since we don’t get to vote on every new tax, your representatives get to take your wages and spend it on anything they want.
And lately they have created a large group of new causes and people they want to take care of and spend your tax money on. Your taxes have become their charity fund.
With this letter, I would like to apologize to all the service people at businesses I visit in Goleta and Santa Barbara. I have had to reduce my tips for your services because Newsom and Biden have taken too much out of my retirement income.
I hope this letter hits home with you as Guzzardi’s column did with me. Our government and representatives are supposed to support us citizens. Since they are not, stop voting for the incumbents.
Stop the tax and spend mentality.
Bart Bader
Goleta
• • •
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.