By the time you read this, the College World Series will have started so I can take a break from my perpetually unrequited indulgence of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ litany of unforced errors this year.
I don’t have a dog in the CWS hunt, but I have a lot of family who attended TCU, including a nephew there now.
Of course, the biggest reason to root for the Horned Frogs is the presence of Chase Hoover, a freshman pitcher from San Marcos High School and a soon-to-be first-time Santa Barbara Forester.
First pitch is at 11 a.m. June 16. Riff Ram Bah Zoo … Give ’em hell, TCU!
According to our Google Analytics, an audience of 88,708 readers was cheering on Noozhawk this past week.
What follows is my own take on the Top 5 stories you were reading during that period. As you should know, this is my opinion column, not a news story.
1. Controversial ‘Piss Christ’ Image Will No Longer Be Shown in IB Course at Dos Pueblos High School
“Piss Christ,” artist Andrés Serrano’s controversial 1987 photograph of a plastic crucifix submerged in urine, is still roiling the waters decades later.
As our Josh Molina reported, Dos Pueblos High School is the latest organization to step on a rake, apparently using the image to discuss the question of “what is art” for a class in the school’s International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
Even more shocking than the photograph, considered by many Catholics and other Christians to be a sacrilegious depiction of Jesus Christ, the school backpedaled and backed down after word emerged in the community.
That never happens.
A small group of students and parents lodged a protest with Dos Pueblos High administrators, and took it to the Santa Barbara Unified School District school board.
Dos Pueblos High junior John Hayward was among those speaking out last month, asking that the “anti-Catholic” image be shelved.
Sophomore Eli Richardson was another.
“I have a great, deep respect for all of you, for doing what you are doing,” he told the trustees. “So please respect each individual’s religious right.”
The district acceded.
“The district recognizes that the use of the image invokes hurtful responses among many in the community,” SBUSD spokesman Ed Zuccheli said.
“Because the course curriculum can adequately be covered by discussion and through the utilization of other slides, the image will not be included in the future.”
Dos Pueblos Principal Bill Woodard was fine with that.
“After having a conversation with the current and future teachers of this course, we are supporting their decision to select other supplemental resources for engaging our students in critical thinking, while also meeting the needs of the International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge curriculum,” he said.
The image might still be mentioned in conversation, but a visual will not be shown.
“As the principal at Dos Pueblos High School, I am proud of the academic rigor of our courses that lead to some of the best academic results in the state,” Woodard said.
“We believe in having intellectually stimulating conversations while also being inclusive of all students in our community.”
2. Bill Macfadyen: Driver’s Collision Course Leaves a Terrible Toll in Santa Barbara
We have no news to report in the case of Cary Glenn Allen, the 43-year-old pickup truck driver charged with a boatload of felonies after allegedly running over a pedestrian during a Santa Barbara police traffic stop on June 6.
A Santa Barbara County Superior Court preliminary hearing had been set for June 13, and Allen has since been released from County Jail on $1.13 million bail
There’s also no information available about the victim, described by police as a “good Samaritan” who was seriously injured in the collision.
3. SpaceX Rocket Launches Variety of Payloads, Booster Makes Loud Return to Vandenberg Space Force Base
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared away from Vandenberg Space Force Base the afternoon of June 12, delivering a slew of small satellites into orbit.
As our Janene Scully reported, the rocket’s first-stage booster successfully returned to its launch pad at Space Launch Complex-4 less than eight minutes after liftoff. It was the 200th such reverse touchdown in SpaceX history.
The rocket was carrying 72 different tiny payloads as part of the company’s Transporter-8 rideshare mission.
In addition to familiar customers like the U.S. military, the payload manifest included the Vatican, which is covering all the heavenly bases with its Spei Satelles, or satellites of hope in Latin. The Vatican satellite contained a small chip engraved with Pope Francis’ 2020 speech in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.
While North County spectators like our photographer, Len Wood, were able to watch the launch, the persistent June Gloom prevented any glimpses from the South Coast.
4. Explosion, Fire Wakes Up North Goleta Neighborhood
An early morning explosion and fire sure caught the attention of residents in a quiet north Goleta neighborhood on June 11.
As our Tom Bolton was first to report, Santa Barbara County firefighters fielded multiple 9-1-1 calls after the blast, which occurred around 5:25 a.m. at a house in the 5900 block of Via Lemora, off North Fairview Avenue north of Cathedral Oaks Road.
Fire Capt. Scott Safechuck said crews arrived to find a small shed fully engulfed in flames. They quickly knocked down the fire, keeping it from spreading to the nearby house.
There were no injuries in the incident, which remains under investigation.
5. BizHawk: Sonoma Fit to Move In; Vacant Storefronts Still Plague Santa Barbara’s State Street
Santa Barbara’s starry-eyed imagineers continue to plan for a future based on a thriving State Street downtown.
But I’ve been reading our Josh Molina’s diligent reporting over the last few years, and can’t help but notice that nearly all of the city’s attention is on some master plan of a look, not on the fundamentals that make the dream financially achievable, let alone sustainable.
Which means the beleaguered retail atmosphere, not just restaurants and bike lanes.
More evidence is in Josh’s latest BizHawk column, which dives into Hayes Commercial Group’s new report on commercial vacancies on the South Coast.
According to Hayes, the number of vacant storefronts rose to 14.1% over the last year between the 400 and 1300 blocks of State Street, the full stretch of the downtown district.
While Vuori, the athletic clothing and activewear retailer, renewed its lease at 833 State St., we’ve reported previously that Rooms & Gardens has already hightailed it to Montecito, and Restoration Hardware is not far behind.
“(This) demonstrates that some retailers are deciding to move where the high-end clientele are more likely to be,” the Hayes report observed dryly.
Unlike downtown Santa Barbara, Montecito is thriving.
“Available retail space there has all but dried up,” the report says.
Goleta is thriving, too. The report notes that the commercial vacancy rate there is 1.9% — the lowest in three years.
I may not know much about Goleta and Montecito — I kid, I kid — but I know they’re both clean, safe and accessible. That may not guarantee retail success, but it’s a good place to start.
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Good Reads
These six stories are worth a read, too:
» Mark Patton: Wit and Wisdom Took Rusty Fairly a Long Way at SBCC — Sports columnist Mark Patton recalls the late Rusty Fairly, whose success as a college football player, Santa Barbara City College baseball coach and city councilman was accompanied by one of the quickest wits around. I still remember my last visit with the old coach, when he kept me laughing for 20 minutes — at the same stories I’d heard him tell a dozen times before.
» Montecito Fire Sets Up Temporary Substation Due to Highway 101 Construction — Executive editor Tom Bolton has the 4-1-1 on the Montecito Fire Protection District’s creative solution to the community’s latest disruption.
» Latest County Cannabis Report Shares Low Tax Revenues, Slow-to-Open Dispensaries — Managing editor Giana Magnoli gets a whiff of a new report concluding that cannabis cash continues to elude Santa Barbara County coffers.
» 22-Unit Housing Project Converts Critics, Wins Key Approval at Jiffy Lube Site in Downtown Santa Barbara — Staff writer Josh Molina checks in on a tuned-up housing project proposal in downtown Santa Barbara.
» Joan Hartmann: Highway 154 Ride-Along Drives Revelations for a Safer Road — After years of deadly and catastrophic crashes, Highway 154 is finally getting some legitimate public safety attention. In advance of a meeting covered by North County editor Janene Scully, Santa Barbara County Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann did a ride-along with California Highway Patrol Lt. Eric Zivic and noticed some rather obvious, common-sense improvements that could be made with little to no trouble.
» Researchers Find Tiny Santa Ynez Groundstar Plant Thought to Be Extinct — Contributing writer Julia Vaughan uncovers a big discovery of a tiny plant at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? UC Santa Barbara Officials Release Some Details About Deadly Crash on Campus.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
They must’ve all ordered the bat soup for lunch at that Wuhan market: First People Sickened by COVID-19 Were Chinese Scientists at Wuhan Institute of Virology, Say U.S. Government Sources.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
Old Spanish Days El Presidente David Bolton, Flag Day and an old wooden fence may not have much in common, but they’re all in my Instagram feed.
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Watch It
Proof you can’t trust a flying squirrel. HT to Best of Bill reader Susie Mason.
