2020 has been a challenge for all of us, but between the coronavirus and the unprecedented intentional shutdown of the economy, the toll has been particularly dire for many of the nonprofit organizations on which our community depends.
Noozhawk is proud to support our nonprofit sector — in a multitude of ways — but today I want to talk about our Good for Santa Barbara section, a year-round celebration of and clearinghouse for news and information about local philanthropy, charity and the vital work that nonprofit donors, volunteers and professionals do.
Each year, we renew our commitment to this mission with our Giving Tuesday Guide, which itself is timed around the annual #givingtuesday, the unofficial start of the charitable giving season.
Over the next several weeks and throughout the next year, you’ll read in-depth stories on a range of philanthropic and nonprofit questions and issues. We’re grateful to our presenting sponsor, the SBCC Foundation, for helping us make our 2020 edition happen.
But you’ll also be impressed with the diversity and scope of this year’s Giving Tuesday Guide, which was assembled by Kim Clark, one of my business partners and Noozhawk’s business development vice president, and her team of Sheridan Taphorn, Collin Nathanson and Abigail Mullin.
The guide contains descriptions and direct links to nonprofit organizations, including convenient shortcuts to make online donations while you’re reading.
Giving Tuesday is rapidly approaching on Dec. 1, but it’s not too late for nonprofit organizations — specifically, the ones you support — to be included in our very affordable guide. For more details, email Kim at kim.clark@noozhawk.com and tell her I said it was OK to squeeze you or yours in.
And did I mention it’s year-round and continuously updated? Noozhawk and our content are live and at your fingertips 24 hours a day for 365 days a year.
This time last year, meanwhile, the Cave Fire was setting Noozhawk readership records, marks that stood for all of about four months until our COVID-19 coverage obliterated them.
This past week has been starkly different, relatively quiet for news and with an audience of 82,233 to go along with it, according to our Google Analytics.
But don’t expect the tranquility to last. With five weeks to go until we can put 2020 behind us, anything can still happen — and probably will.
What follows is my take on the Top 5 stories you were reading this past week. In case you didn’t know, this is my opinion column as Noozhawk’s publisher, not a news story.
1. Heart Attack Was Cause of ‘Suspicious’ Death at UCSB’s Campus Point
Noozhawk sources say Geoff Jewel, the UC Santa Barbara employee whose body was found Nov. 12 near Campus Point, died as a result of a heart attack. Authorities had been investigating the “suspicious” circumstances of his death, which followed some kind of an altercation with another man.
As our Tom Bolton reported Nov. 22, multiple sources told him that the 52-year-old Jewel did not suffer any traumatic injuries — nor was he pushed off the cliff, as had been speculated.
The confrontation reportedly occurred as Jewel and his wife were on a late afternoon walk in the area with their dog. Witnesses say he told his wife to continue on with the dog, which she did.
Jewel was found unconscious at the base of the bluff around 5:15 p.m., and pronounced dead by emergency personnel.
A “person of interest” was detained and questioned that night at the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, but he was later released. No charges have been filed.
The incident remains under investigation by UCSB police, which presumably must determine whether the altercation contributed to the heart attack, or if any crime was committed in connection with it.
Funeral services are pending for Jewel, a computer network technologist at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management.
The Bren School and Channel Islands Restoration have established the Geoffrey Jewel Memorial Fund to commemorate his life and support the work of the nonprofit Channel Islands Restoration, which Jewel had served as a board member and longtime volunteer and advocate.
Click here to make an online donation.
2. BizHawk: From a Backyard to State Street, Yona Estrada Living a Dream with YonaRedz Taco Shop
Thanksgiving may be the one day a year when many of us overstuff ourselves with turkey, mashed potates, gravy, cranberry sauce and pie, but that leaves 364 other days for tacos.
The newest entry in a market that, for me, can never be too crowded is YonaRedz, a downtown Santa Barbara eatery serving up muy delicioso queso tacos.
The creation of Westside native Yona Estrada, YonaRedz started out as a labor of love in a buddy’s backyard. Customers quickly overwhelmed that quirky setup so Estrada tried a pop-up restaurant at the former Casablanca restaurant on the corner of State and East Gutierrez streets.
It, too, was a hit, so he moved up to a permanent location at 532 State St. Judging by his Nov. 15 grand opening, his fan base has eagerly followed him.
“My tacos bring people together,” Estrada told our Josh Molina. “It makes new friendships. Especially during these times, when everyone is cooped up inside, it can bring people together just to come outside, have a little fresh air and get some food.”
That’s true but there’s also something to be said for the authenticity of his family recipes, which were slow-cooked to perfection over several generations.
The queso tacos — beef, cheese, cilantro and onions on a red corn, gluten-free tortilla — come with a consomé dipping sauce with a lime. Goat birria also features prominently in many of the dishes, including a birria ramen for an even more diverse international flavor.
Estrada is humble about his success, but his dreams include an expansion to Old Town Goleta and Isla Vista.
“I am the first generation in my family to get anything like a restaurant,” he said. “To me, it’s still surreal. I can’t believe I have something on State Street.
“I was born and raised here. It’s a dream. It’s amazing.”
YonaRedz is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
3. Judge Orders Driver Accused in Goleta Double-Fatal Collision to Stand Trial
The suspect in a horrific car crash that killed a Goleta couple as they were walking their dog has been ordered to stand trial in their Feb. 9 deaths.
As our Brooke Holland reported Nov. 21, Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge James Herman ruled that there was sufficient — and significant — evidence to try 40-year-old Eric Mauricio Ramirez-Aguilar in the case.
The Goleta man was arrested several hours after the 5:15 p.m. collision that killed Mary Jane and Adolfo Corral, both 44, as they walked on a bike path near Cathedral Oaks Road, east of Ellwood Ridge Road and not far from their home.
Adolfo Corral died at the scene. His wife died of her injuries after being rushed by an American Medical Response ambulance to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Their dog somehow escaped injury.
After his car eventually came to a stop in a chain-link fence, Ramirez-Aguilar allegedly ran from the wreckage on foot.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges: two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, one count of hit-and-run causing death, and one count of driving under the influence causing great bodily injury. He also faces special allegations of fleeing the scene of a fatal collision and injuring multiple victims.
“A significant number of individuals who had seen the defendant in many different venues concluded that he had been drinking and was under the influence of alcohol” before the crash, Herman ruled at the end of the one-day preliminary hearing.
Among those individuals, he noted, was a 7-Eleven clerk in Old Town Goleta who reportedly refused to sell Ramirez-Aguilar alcohol a few hours before the fatal collision.
“It’s extraordinary,” Herman said.
At the hearing, Deputy Public Defender Juan Higuera said his client “was tired.”
“What that shows is ordinary negligence, not the gross negligence required in order to sustain and hold him to answer to counts one and two,” he said.
“The evidence as to his intoxication is all coming mostly from an odor and from the appearance of his eyes.”
Deputy District Attorney Kevin Weichbrod wasn’t having any of that.
“There are indications of alcohol on board as well as meth on board that indicate he’s under the influence at the time of the collision,” he said. “Both victims in this case were killed due to the defendant’s actions.”
The Corrals left behind four children — Azalea, 20; Dahlia, 17; Dominic, 14; and Rose, 10 — and a very large extended family.
Mary Jane worked as a computer specialist for the Goleta Union School District, and her husband was Santa Barbara City College’s equity, diversity and cultural competency coordinator.
4. Several Residents Displaced After Fire at Duplex in Santa Barbara
A fire at a two-story duplex near Santa Barbara High School displaced several people Nov. 20. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident.
As our Tom Bolton first reported, Santa Barbara firefighters were dispatched just before 8 p.m. to the structure in the 700 block of Colina Lane, just up the hill from the high school.
Battalion Chief Robert Mercado told Tom that crews arrived to find heavy smoke coming from the second story. He said the fire was traced to a bathroom wall between the two units and that it had burned into the attic.
Mercado said both units were left uninhabitable.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
5. Santa Barbara County Adds 233 COVID-19 Cases, 2 Additional Deaths in the Past 3 Days
Santa Barbara County has had an uptick in coronavirus infections this past week, but this Nov. 24 headline was the one that drew the most eyeballs.
According to the county Public Health Department, officials reported 40 new COVID-19 cases on Nov. 25, 100 new cases on Nov. 24 and a total of 273 new cases since Nov. 21.
There were two deaths — one a Lompoc resident and the other a Santa Maria resident, both over age 70 and with underlying medical conditions.
To date, the county has recorded 11,205 COVID-19 cases and 135 related deaths, for a 98.75 percent survival rate.
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Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Acreage Jumps to 4,100 in Wind-Driven Cave Fire in Mountains Above Santa Barbara.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
Breaking bad: What Happened to the 800-Mile Firebreak That Once Traversed California?
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Best of Bill’s Instagram
It’s Thanksgiving week. Of course my Instagram feed is a feast of food.
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Watch It
Snatching your puppy from the jaws of an alligator is impressive, but let’s not overlook the feat of not losing your cigar in the wrestling match. HT to my friend, Susie Gardner.
(Good Morning America 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.
