After a quiet week of news, it’s almost a given that a busy week will follow. This past week was certainly all that, but it was a pretty unusual one, as well.
Not only did we experience the strongest earthquake we’ve had in a while, but there was a rattlesnake bite, a well rescue and a dramatic account from the early moments of the flash flooding in Montecito. Heck, my Best of Bill column even included a rare tie.
With all the excitement, I almost forgot how bad the Los Angeles Dodgers are. Maybe the best thing that can happen is that their upcoming series with the giants will be rained out in San Francisco.
But let’s get down to business. According to our Google Analytics, there were 130,568 of you reading Noozhawk this past week.
What follows is my take on your Top 5 stories, which means it may contain opinion. If you detect any, it’s mine and not Noozhawk’s.
(Channel Islands Institute for Wildlife Studies video)
1. No Damage Reported as 5.3 Earthquake Rattles Santa Barbara County
A 5.3-magnitude earthquake rolled through Santa Barbara County at midday April 5. The prolonged shaking was hard to miss but there was no apparent damage.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the 12:29 p.m. temblor was centered 18 miles southwest of Santa Cruz Island at a depth of six miles.
Officials say the shaking was felt throughout Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, and as far away as Orange County.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami threat, however.
The Ventura County Fire Department tweeted photos of rock slides along Santa Cruz Island coastal cliffs during the quake. The pictures were taken from a private boat that was fishing offshore.
The video above was taken from the Bald Eagle Cam operated by the Channel Islands Institute for Wildlife Studies. When the shaking begins, the dad (A-40) takes off but quickly returns to the nest and his three bewildered eaglets.
My friend, Richard Persons, and I were on the patio at Bob’s Well Bread Bakery & Café in Los Alamos when the rolling started. We were in the middle of an in-depth discussion about wildfires and flash flooding, and I guess earthquakes were either feeling inspired or left out.
As seasoned Californians, just about everyone on the patio immediately went to their QuakeFeed Earthquake Alerts app to get the details. I did, too, but not before I took another bite of my ham and cheese sandwich. It’s a #bestofbillrecommendation, and I have my priorities.
2. 1 Killed, 4 Injured in 2-Vehicle Collision in Western Goleta
A 19-year-old student from Belgium was killed early on March 30 when she was ejected from the backseat of a car in a powerful collision in Goleta. Four other people were injured in the 1:20 a.m. wreck at the intersection of Hollister Avenue and Storke Road near Camino Real Marketplace.
According to Santa Barbara County sheriff’s spokeswoman Kelly Hoover, a Hyundai Tucson SUV was traveling west on Hollister and a Toyota Camry sedan was headed north on Storke when one of the drivers apparently ran a red light. Neither driver was identified but she said both were cooperating with investigators.
The Hyundai driver was working as an Uber contractor at the time, and was carrying two passengers, an 18-year-old man and the 19-year-old Belgian woman, later identified as Justine Van Ginderachter.
The passengers were not wearing seatbelts, and Hoover said Van Ginderachter was ejected. She was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, but died soon afterward.
The driver, a 33-year-old Ventura man, and his other passenger suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene.
The Toyota driver, a 24-year-old Riverside woman, had two passengers, a 19-year-old Los Angeles man and a 16-year-old girl from Riverside. The driver and one of her passengers were treated for minor injuries.
The crash is under investigation, but Hoover said alcohol and drugs are not believed to be factors.
Anyone with information about the wreck is asked to call Senior Deputy Jeff Farmer at 805.961.7514.
“This collision is a sad reminder of the importance of wearing seatbelts,” Farmer said. “In this case, it would have been life-saving.”
Van Ginderachter was living in Santa Barbara as part of the EF Education First program.
3. 7-Year-Old Girl Hospitalized After Being Bitten by Rattlesnake
A 7-year-old girl was bitten by a rattlesnake while camping with her family in Los Padres National Forest. Her wound was not considered life-threatening.
According to Santa Barbara County fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni, firefighters and U.S. Forest Service personnel were dispatched around 3 p.m. April 4 to Paradise Campground, 5050 Paradise Road, in the Santa Ynez River Recreation Area east of Lake Cachuma.
He said a small snake sank its fangs in the girl’s calf, although additional details were hard to come by.
The girl was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Her medical condition was not disclosed.
4. (tie) Man Rescued After Falling 60-70 Feet Down Well in Santa Barbara
A man doing yard work plunged 60-70 feet down an abandoned Santa Barbara well on April 4, but was rescued by firefighters and escaped with only moderate injuries.
County fire Capt. Dave Zaniboni said the 40-year-old man was standing on the cover of a narrow, abandoned water well in the 2600 block of Puesta Del Sol Road near the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. The cover broke and down the hole he went.
In addition to county firefighters, the Santa Barbara Fire Department and both agencies’ Urban Search and Rescue teams responded to the scene at about 3:10 p.m. Although injured, Zaniboni said, the man was conscious and talking to rescuers.
A firefighter was lowered into the well to hook the victim to a harness, and each was then hoisted back up.
By 4:30 p.m., the victim was on his way to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
I don’t know if there’s something in the water, but this was the second underground rescue of the week in Southern California. On April 2, a 13-year-old Los Angeles boy was found safe one day after he fell into a sewer tunnel under Griffith Park.
4. (tie) Huguette Clark’s Santa Barbara Oceanfront Estate Transferred to Bellosguardo Foundation
Santa Barbarans have long been captivated by the mysterious Bellosguardo estate, which sits on a prominent blufftop with a commanding view of the waterfront. For decades, the mansion was said to be kept at the ready in case its eccentric owner happened to drop in for a visit that never came.
That owner, mining heiress Huguette Clark, died in New York City in 2011 at the ripe old age of 104. Her will for the $300 million fortune she left behind was contested in court, but the eventual settlement established a New York-based foundation to support the arts while turning over the estate at 1407 E. Cabrillo Blvd. to a newly created local nonprofit foundation.
After languishing in the New York County Public Administrator’s Office while probate and unpaid gift tax issues were settled, the deed to the property has finally been transferred officially to the Bellosguardo Foundation Inc., according to the Santa Barbara County Assessor’s Office.
What happens next should be interesting, although I’m not holding my breath. Most of those involved with the oversight of the estate have been remarkably opaque — even indifferent — about their plans and its management.
The foundation’s Board of Directors was nominated by then-Mayor Helene Schneider, and somehow her close … friend … and political consultant, Jeremy Lindaman, ended up as its generously compensated president, even though he has no evident experience as an administrator, a nonprofit executive or even an arts aficionado.
After all these years of secrecy and intrigue, it’s time for the curtains to be opened at Bellosguardo. The first thing the foundation’s board members need to do is discover transparency.
(Noozhawk video)
5. CHP Officers Tell of Harrowing Escape from Montecito Debris Flow
In the hours after the deadly Jan. 9 Montecito flash flooding, our Tom Bolton heard that two California Highway Patrol officers had been caught up in the debris flow — literally caught up in it as the mud carried their patrol unit partway down Olive Mill Road.
He asked their supervisor if they would be willing to talk to Noozhawk, but they were understandably shaken by what transpired and the sights they saw once night turned to day.
Last week, CHP Officers Will Clotworthy and Mike Fabila finally agreed to be interviewed, and their story is incredible. What’s unusual, however, is that it was all caught on their Ford Explorer’s dashcam.
Clotworthy, 28, and Fabila, 29, told our Giana Magnoli that flooding on Highway 101 had forced them onto surface streets and, at around 4 a.m., they started driving up Olive Mill from Coast Village Road to try to get to the structure fires that were reported burning near San Ysidro Ranch.
As they rounded a curve approaching what locals are now calling Devil’s Triangle, at Olive Mill and Hot Springs roads, they noticed the street didn’t look quite right — even in the pitch black and pounding rain.
And then it hit them.
“It was completely normal to us at that point, some mud in the road,” Clotworthy said. “Once we kind of stopped in it, I realized it was high water, not just a little bit of mud, and all of a sudden you could see the tree branches and a huge tree stump.”
Almost instantly, the water was at the SUV’s door handles.
“There was no time to do anything, it just picked us up,” Fabila said.
Fortuitously, the mudflow turned the vehicle around and it somehow was propelled to the front of the water line.
“Once I knew we had traction on all four tires, then I gunned it — I was like, let’s get out of here,” Clotworthy said.
After turning onto Coast Village Road and pulling a U-turn in front of the Montecito Inn, Fabila got out and ventured up to the intersection. He soon can be seen hurrying back, shouting to confused hotel guests to get back inside and take shelter.
At the time, the officers didn’t know the extent of the damage, deaths or even that there had been a debris flow.
“We just thought it was trees and mud,” Fabila said. “We didn’t know legitimate boulders the size of SUVs came down.”
The experience was unforgettable, though.
“It’s unbelievable,” Clotworthy added, “and just scary, frankly.”
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Emergency Crews Respond to Apparent Drowning at Santa Barbara Harbor.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
In other words, he built a wall: Sculpture by the Sea Isolates Viewers on a Faux Deserted Island.
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
Easter, #myfavoritechurchinmontecito and #myhomeawayfromhome fed my Instagram feed this past week. #blessed
• • •
Watch It
Ever hear a baby elephant giggle? You will, too.
(Information Entertainment 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.