“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”
— Romans 12:15
Noozhawk is oh-so-close to launching an exciting special report called Reimagine: Santa Barbara. But we’re not quite ready.
The ongoing series — an in-depth exploration of the history, the challenges and opportunities, and the future of downtown Santa Barbara — is a total team effort, one of the ambitious independent projects I spring on our news and sales staffs two or three times a year.
Each time, they rise to the occasion, and this time they may have outdone themselves. I think you’ll agree, and I know you’ll be impressed. I also hope you’ll have something to add through our Noozhawk Asks platform, which will be getting a fresh start thanks to the new sponsorship of our partners at Community West Bank.
Look for more details about Reimagine: Santa Barbara next week, and expect the series itself beginning Oct. 16, Noozhawk’s 10th anniversary.
We believe the creative and far-reaching approach we’re taking with this project is a fitting tribute to the pioneering and innovative roots we planted back in 2007, and that have since grown to become Santa Barbara County’s leading source for online local news.
Meanwhile, there were 131,054 of you who read Noozhawk this past week, according to our Google Analytics. What follows is my take on your Top 5 stories.
1. Santa Barbara Physician, Wife Wounded in Las Vegas Mass Shooting
Santa Barbarans are everywhere, so it’s not surprising that locals were caught in the Oct. 1 massacre in Las Vegas.
The attack — in which a depraved gunman, holed up in a 32nd-floor hotel room, rained down a nine-minute fusillade on innocent country music fans attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival below — left Americans stunned, horrified, bewildered, angry and heartbroken.
The range of emotions is certainly playing out in Santa Barbara County this week. One Santa Barbara couple is wounded but alive, to the great relief of family, friends and colleagues. But a Carpinteria woman died in the hail of bullets, leaving her network grief-stricken and gasping for air.
Dr. Brian Mack and his wife, Lara Cerruti Mack, were at the three-day festival with Lara Mack’s sister and her husband.
The two couples were enjoying Jason Aldean’s closing concert when the shooting started.
Mack, an anesthesiologist with Anesthesia Medical Group of Santa Barbara and affiliated with Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, was critically wounded.
“Brian is in ICU (because) he had abdominal surgery due to gunshot wounds, but is doing well considering the situation,” his wife posted on Facebook the day after the attack.
“He’s a strong guy and just needs to heal and, hopefully, no complications, but so far looks good.”
Despite being grazed in the head by a bullet, Lara Mack considers herself fortunate.
“I have a guardian angel, because a bullet literally grazed and cut a long gash along my entire top of my head,” said the fitness professional, who works at Gold’s Gym and Killer B Fitness in Santa Barbara.
“Lots of staples and a clean CAT scan and released today.”
Her firefighter brother-in-law was shot in the shoulder while shielding her sister, who was unharmed. He was treated and released from a hospital.
Denise Cohen, 57, of Carpinteria, never had a chance. She and her boyfriend, Bo Taylor of Oxnard, died on the field in front of the concert stage, a couple hundred yards from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino where the shooting originated.
They were just two of the staggering 58 killed.
As soon as news of the massacre began racing around the Internet that night, friends frantically tried to reach the couple. Their phones went unanswered.
The next morning, they failed to check out of their room at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino and they missed their flight home.
Early on Oct. 3, Leana Orsua, a close friend of the couple, shared the devastating reason.
“With heavy heart, I have just confirmed the unbelievable news that Denise Cohen and Bo Taylor did not survive this horrific tragedy,” she posted on Facebook.
Cohen’s former sister-in-law has established a GoFundMe page to help her sons, Brandon Rees and Jeff Rees, and their families. Click here to make an online donation.
Funeral expenses are being covered by the Las Vegas Victims’ Fund, which already has amassed nearly $10 million in donations to assist victims and their families.
Taylor, 56, was a lieutenant and 29-year veteran of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He was commander of the Ventura Conservation Camp in Camarillo.
A GoFundMe page has been established to assist his sons, Gregory and Kyle. Click here to make an online donation.
Amid the carnage, chaos and confusion of that fateful Sunday night, Lara Mack was fully aware of the courage and selflessness of strangers who leaped into action to aid others — without regard to their own safety.
“The acts of heroism I saw last night and all night were so beyond words,” she posted. “So so thankful. I am so grateful to be here.”
I know there was at least one other Santa Barbaran at the concert. Finding himself in the middle of an unimaginable slaughter, this young man did what needed to be done.
As he and his friends ran for their lives, they came across a young woman who had been shot several times. Scooping her up as they sprinted past, they carried her to safety and found an EMT to tend to her wounds. It was not known if she survived.
My prayers are with the victims who are recovering from their injuries, with those who witnessed this atrocity, and with the families of those who were lost. May God grant them peace and strength in the days and weeks and years ahead.
2. Firefighters Gain Upper Hand on Rucker Fire That Threatened Homes North of Lompoc
A series of brush fires threatened hundreds of homes north of Lompoc on Sept. 29, and authorities later determined the flames had been sparked by a malfunctioning vehicle.
Mike Eliason, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, said the blaze broke out just after 2 p.m. in the 2200 block of Rucker Road, near Purisima Road northeast of Lompoc.
Responding firefighters quickly discovered there were as many as 10 separate fires, however, many of them along Harris Grade Road farther to the west.
As firefighting resources poured into the area, officials identified three main fronts to what was dubbed the Rucker Fire: a 36-acre burn area near La Purisima Mission State Historic Park, at 2295 Purisima Road; an 85-acre burn along Rucker Road; and a 350-acre area along Harris Grade Road.
Fanned by winds of 10-15 mph, the wildfire was rapidly moving toward neighborhoods north of Lompoc, including Mesa Oaks and Mission Hills, Eliason said.
“The first engines got there and had to triage the situation, and decide which was the biggest threat, which one to attack,” he told Noozhawk.
Eliason said evacuations were ordered for nearly 1,000 homes in an area extending between Harris Grade and Rucker roads and north to La Purisima and Cebada Canyon, including all of North Mission Hills and La Purisima Mission.
Crews continued to gain the upper hand, though, and all evacuations had been lifted within several hours.
Cynthia and Bob McLain — along with their two dogs and a cat — were among those waiting to return home when our Janene Scully caught up with them in the Albertsons parking lot at 1500 N. H St.
Cynthia McLain said she was home alone with the family pets when a police officer stopped to help her load up the menagerie.
“Thank the Lord that we got out of there,” she said, expressing gratitude for the officer’s timely assistance. “I wish I had gotten her name because she was a hero.”
By Sept. 30, the fire’s size was officially 441 acres, with 60 percent containment — a figure that had risen to 90 percent containment by nightfall. No injuries were reported.
That same day, Eliason said investigators had determined that a vehicle malfunction was to blame for the ignition.
“Several pieces of catalytic converter were collected” in the area of the fires, he said.
The investigation is continuing.
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3. Vegetation Fire Closes Highway 154, Forces Evacuation of Trout Club and Painted Cave Areas
A quick — and overwhelming — response kept a small brush fire largely corralled in a canyon off Highway 154 above Santa Barbara the afternoon of Sept. 30.
But the threat from the flames did force the road’s closure, as well as the evacuation of the Trout Club and Painted Cave neighborhoods.
Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason said county firefighters, Los Padres National Forest crews and personnel from other agencies were dispatched at 3:20 p.m. to the 2500 block of Highway 154, near North San Marcos Road below San Marcos Pass.
He said the two-acre fire was burning in thick vegetation, but downed power lines and the canyon’s steep sides made it difficult to reach. Fortunately, he added, a fleet of air support was available to assist, and firefighters soon had the situation under control.
Eliason said firefighters were to remain at the scene on overnight fire watch. The National Weather Service had issued a wind advisory for the area, noting that conditions were shaping up to produce sundowner winds.
The highway was reopened just before 6:30 p.m., followed a few minutes later by orders to lift the evacuation.
There were no injuries in the fire, and the cause remains under investigation.
4. Man Found Dead of Apparent Self-Inflicted Gunshot in Carpinteria
A dead man was found along a busy Carpinteria street about midday Sept. 29, and authorities say it appears he had killed himself.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said the body was discovered around 12:30 p.m. in the 6400 block of Via Real, a business park neighborhood on the city’s east side that includes the headquarters of nearby Lynda.com and Dako.
“When deputies responded, they located a deceased male with a firearm next to his body,” Hoover said. “The male appears to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but the death is under investigation.”
She said the man’s name has been withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Click here for suicide prevention resources and information that are available 24/7.
5. BizHawk: New Gym Opens in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone
The Base, which describes itself as “Santa Barbara’s premiere boutique fitness facility,” has opened at 116 Anacapa St. in the heart of the Funk Zone.
The brainchild of co-owners Craig Donen and Matt Ladin, the 6,000-square-foot gym focuses on training, nutrition, mobility, recovery, body work and a “complete wellness experience.” In other words, the place isn’t tied to one or two disciplines, such as cross-fit, pilates, strength training and so forth.
“We have an open-minded approach,” Ladin told our Josh Molina. “We wanted to bring all these concepts under one roof.”
Clients of The Base range from high-level athletes and teens looking to excel in their sport, to individual fitness-minded people and local small businesses trying to build a positive, collaborative team culture among their employees.
Donen, 41, has been a trainer in Santa Barbara since his early 20s, and Ladin, 40, is a former professional polo player.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Channel Drive Closed for Corporate Event at Biltmore in Montecito.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
Has the ocean adopted Santa Barbara’s Average Unit-Sized Density Incentive Program? Octopuses Are Urbanists, Too.
• • •
Watch It
Mahshid Mazooji may have missed her connecting flight, but she made the most of her “All Night Long” opportunity. Well played.
And after the week we’ve had? Well, thank you.
(Mahshid Mazooji video)
• • •
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— Bill Macfadyen is Noozhawk’s founder and publisher. Contact him at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com, follow him on Twitter: @noozhawk, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
