One year ago, Noozhawk was moving our office — or moving what little we could amid thick, choking smoke and a blizzard of falling ash from the Thomas Fire. In hindsight, we should have taken the hint as the Noozhawk Nest has bounced around quite a bit over the last 12 months.
That ends Jan. 1, when we move to our new Noozhawk World HQ at 23 Hitchcock Way, Suite 103, across from Whole Foods Market.
This is a big change for us as we’ve always been — and would have preferred to stay — in downtown Santa Barbara. But our team has expanded in the last few months and may grow again next year, and it was a challenge to find a large enough downtown office with some of our unique requirements. Finding it with sufficient parking proved impossible.
I’m grateful to my close friend, Lety Pantoja, for the tip that the space next to her Perch Hair Salon was opening up, and to my friend, Hank Bowis, and his Bowis Investment Realty Co., along with BIRCO leasing and property manager Cindy Davis, for making it happen.
Noozhawk has an ambitious to-do list for 2019, and we’re excited to have a fresh, new office from which to tackle it. Or at least I am. My colleagues may be more enthusiastic about the proximity to Whole Foods.
While they salivate over visions of mac ’n’ cheese and the sushi, our Google Analytics has provided a clear picture of what was clicking with you on our menu this past week.
In all, Noozhawk drew an audience of 117,583 over the last seven days. This is my take on your Top 5 most-read stories. In other words, it’s an opinion column.
1. 4 Foreign Nationals Facing Kidnapping, Assault Charges After Incident in Santa Barbara
Not to sound like the old man I am, but I’ve recapped some pretty kooky crime stories in my day. This one may be the most improbable of all, at least for anyone not named Ethan Hunt.
According to Santa Barbara police spokesman Anthony Wagner, a man was returning to his pickup truck in the parking lot at Arroyo Burro Beach about 11 a.m. Dec. 12. As he approached the truck, he saw an idling Audi Q5 and several people loitering suspiciously.
“The victim glanced at the back of his camper shell and noticed the lock had been punctured by the suspects,” Wagner said. “The victim approached the SUV and observed the rear passenger door ajar. Upon confronting the rear occupant, a fight ensued.”
Then things got, well, curious.
Wagner said a rear passenger grabbed the man and pulled him into the moving vehicle, the door closed and the driver sped out of the parking lot, heading east on Cliff Drive toward Las Positas Road.
And that’s when the episode took a Mission: Impossible turn.
“While the fight inside the vehicle continued, the victim managed to open the door when the vehicle momentarily slowed,” Wagner said. “The victim rolled out onto the street as the suspect vehicle continued toward (Highway) 101 south.”
The victim — who was not identified — then apparently pulled out a cell phone, called 9-1-1, and provided police with a detailed description of the suspects and their vehicle.
Patrol units quickly spotted the suspect SUV, and Wagner said the driver first tried to elude them before giving up and stopping halfway up the southbound freeway entrance ramp at West Carrillo Street. That’s where I rolled past the entourage just before noon, as if to underscore the absurdity.
Wagner said four foreign nationals — all from South America and in the country on tourist visas — were taken into custody. He added that they face a passport’s worth of possible charges, including kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and attempted auto burglary.
Of course, three of the suspects initially provided fake names and IDs, but Wagner said they eventually were identified through fingerprints as Yusset Aloma Gonzalez Astorga, 31; Manuel Leiva Parra, 23; and Jean Nahuelan Valladares, 31.
He said a fourth suspect claimed the identity of 35-year-old Yessenia Cortez, but that had not been confirmed.
Police are still investigating the incident, and Wagner said there may be additional victims. Call me a cynic, but I think the plot will be thickening, too.
2. Bill Macfadyen: Crushing Death at Construction Yard Starts a Long Day of Bad News
The tragic and unusual death of Thomas Towing co-owner Santiago Perez Jr. captured the attention of our community, which has yet to relinquish it. Unfortunately, we have nothing new to report about the Dec. 3 Santa Barbara construction yard accident that killed the well-liked 35-year-old husband, dad, and Goleta youth baseball and softball coach.
Cal/OSHA and the Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Bureau are still investigating the circumstances, and nothing further has been divulged officially.
Perez was buried Dec. 7 at Calvary Cemetery following a funeral mass at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church. The procession to the cemetery from the church included a long line of tow trucks as the small fraternity of drivers paid its respects.
A GoFundMe account to benefit his widow, Mayra, and children Santiago III and Bella had raised more than $64,000 as of Dec. 14. Click here to make an online donation at the page, which was coordinated by the Dos Pueblos Sluggers, the baseball team Perez coached. Contributions also can be made to the Santiago Perez Jr. Memorial Account at any Community West Bank branch.
3. Delta IV Heavy Rocket’s New Launch Date Still Pending at Vandenberg Air Force Base
The on-again, off-again launch of a Delta IV Heavy rocket was called off seven seconds before go time at Vandenberg Air Force Base the night of Dec. 8, which was closer to liftoff than the previous cancellation the day before.
As of Dec. 11 a new launch date had not been established by the team responsible for the massive rocket carrying a top-secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.
On Dec. 13, it was announced that the United Launch Alliance rocket would now be sent into space at 5:57 p.m. Dec. 18.
Because the departure is set near sunset, it’s possible that it might produce an elusive — and visually spectacular — twilight phenomenon, which can occur when exhaust particles in the contrail condense, freeze and then expand in the less dense upper atmosphere.
Check back with Noozhawk for our Janene Scully’s latest reports on the launch and its mission.
4. Man Suffers Major Injuries When Struck by Amtrak Train in Goleta
A man was “clipped” by an Amtrak passenger train as it rolled through Old Town Goleta on Dec. 8. The blow left him with major injuries, but he survived. Given the outcome of nearly all train-vs.-pedestrian stories, we’ll take it as a win.
According to Santa Barbara County fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni, emergency personnel were called out to the railroad tracks at the north end of Magnolia Avenue, where the collision had been reported.
He said the man — believed to be in his 40s — suffered major injuries and was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
No other details were available, including the man’s identity, his condition and what he was doing on the tracks.
5. Group Files Lawsuit Against Santa Barbara School District Over ‘Implicit Bias’ Training
A controversial cultural proficiency and “implicit-bias” training program is at the center of a lawsuit filed against Santa Barbara Unified School District trustees and Just Communities Central Coast, the nonprofit organization that is to administer the training under a nearly $300,000 contract with the school district.
The lawsuit, brought by the nonprofit Fair Education Santa Barbara, calls the training a “radical, exclusionary and discriminatory curriculum, masquerading under the guise of advancing justice.”
The suit is asking for the contract to be revoked.
“JCCC’s curriculum and written materials attempt to indoctrinate staff and students with a warped view of the world where racism can only be perpetrated by ‘white people,’ and where the success of students in so-called ‘privileged’ groups is due solely to their ‘unearned access to resources …,’” the suit states.
Erik Early, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, complained of the secrecy surrounding the program.
“Remarkably, the school board and JCCC refused to make the materials available to the public,” he said.
If such training is actually needed, Early added, the $294,430 contract should be part of a public bidding process rather than an exclusive contract with Just Communities, which has been paid more than $1 million for other SBUSD training since 2013.
Just Communities executive director Jarrod Schwartz told our Josh Molina that he hadn’t seen the lawsuit, but that Early is flat wrong.
The way they’re characterizing us and our work is not only inaccurate, but completely contradictory to our work,” he said.
Joe Sholder, a partner at Griffith & Thornburgh who represents the school district, was dismissive of the lawsuit’s merits.
“Just Communities has a long and enviable track record of working with staff on a voluntary basis, in Santa Barbara and other school districts and organizations, to minimize discrimination and prejudice in all its forms,” he said.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Evacuations Expanded to Santa Barbara as Thomas Fire, Now at 230,000 Acres, Marches West.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
But why is the love gone? Irish Woman Who ‘Married’ the Ghost of an 18th Century Pirate Says They’ve Split.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
My Instagram feed spent a lot of time this past week at Santa Barbara’s Earl Warren Showgrounds, where I had a holly, jolly time with my good friend, Anthony Dal Bello. Big changes are in store for him and for the venerable Anthony’s Christmas Trees.
I also attended the Partners in Education 2018 Business & Education Partnerships Breakfast, where I discovered that some things never change. And they really should. I’m talking to you, Earl Warren Showgrounds.
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Watch It
SpaceX rocket mania inspires DIY rocketeer to try the self-landing at home.
(Vice 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.