There were 107,459 people who read Noozhawk this past week — not counting those who accessed our site via dark servers installed at their homes. Here’s my unclassified take on your top stories. If you want to know what I really think, email me at my private account.
1. Paraglider Plunges to Death in Rattlesnake Canyon Above Santa Barbara
A veteran paraglider fell to his death while tandem flying with his teenage daughter March 1 in Upper Rattlesnake Canyon above Santa Barbara. The girl, who was not experienced in the sport, managed to crash-land afterward but avoided serious injury in the incident.
Authorities say Dr. Ron Faoro, 60, a veterinarian and owner of St. Francis Pet Clinic in Santa Barbara, set out that morning with his 16-year-old daughter, Sierra, on a tandem paraglider descent from 3,997-foot La Cumbre Peak.
Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason said Faoro apparently was not adequately clipped in to his harness, became detached from the paraglider and fell.
Sierra was able to stay with the paraglider and crashed into a tree. When rescuers arrived, they found her still strapped in and suspended on a rock face.
Eliason said the girl, who suffered minor injuries in the crash, was hoisted by a county helicopter and flown to St. Mary’s Seminary at 1964 Las Canoas Road. From there, an American Medical Response ambulance took her to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
A group of UC Santa Barbara Geology Department students was on a field trip in the area at the time and witnessed the tragedy unfold, Eliason said. He added that they were helpful in locating both victims.
County firefighters were assisted in the rescue and recovery by crews from the Santa Barbara and Montecito fire departments, the U.S. Forest Service, the Sheriff’s Department Search & Rescue Team and AMR, Eliason said.
Faoro fell an estimated 1,000 feet, based on eyewitness accounts, sheriff’s spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said. Initial reports put the distance at around 3,000 feet.
The sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau is investigating the cause and manner of death, but Hoover said the investigation won’t include technical issues related to paragliding equipment or procedures.
John Greynald of the Santa Barbara Soaring Association told our Lara Cooper that he was in the area when the father-daughter duo launched. He said conditions were good, even though winds were strong.
Greynald said he suspects Faoro’s leg straps may not have been fastened, but pointed out that it’s impossible to know whether something was missed in a pre-flight check or if something went wrong later.
“We’ll probably never know the details of what happened in the moments before his death,” he said. “We can only imagine the trauma to his daughter is overwhelming. Thank God she didn’t get hurt.”
Faoro had worked at St. Francis Pet Clinic, 138 W. Ortega St., since the early 1980s, not long after graduating from Washington State University School of Veterinary Medicine. The popular vet was well-known and respected in the field, and served a term as president of the California Veterinary Medical Association.
I didn’t know him well, and hadn’t seen him in years, but one of our old Alaskan malamutes, Sackett, was a patient of his when we lived downtown in the late ’80s.
The day after Faoro’s death, the clinic’s staff was reeling.
“It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of Dr. Ron Faoro,” the clinic said in a statement.
“He was an amazing veterinarian, clinic owner, mentor and friend. At this time the family and staff has requested privacy as they struggle to handle this sudden and unexpected loss.”
Faoro is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and daughter Sierra. Funeral services are pending.
2. Santa Barbara Police to Investigate ‘Party Buses’ After Catching Underage Drinkers on Board
More than 60 junior high and high school students — ages 13 to 16 — gathered round the flagpole in front of Santa Barbara High School the night of Nov. 21, 2014.
It wasn’t a school activity, though. They were there to board a party bus, allegedly booked by a 14-year-old girl who used her dad’s credit card to pay for it all.
Other than parents dropping off their kids, there wasn’t an adult in sight. Apparently, no one seemed to care. It certainly wasn’t an issue for the teenagers, who had ample supplies of booze, cigarettes, marijuana and condoms.
There to interrupt the festivities was Santa Barbara police Officer Mark Corbett, who had been tipped to the plan and was watching the action from inside the school. He was accompanied by Officer Brian Parsons of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Realizing they were tactically outnumbered and could not possibly corral 62 kids hell-bent on not getting caught with contraband, they waited until the bus pulled up around 9 p.m. After everyone boarded, Corbett and Parsons pounced.
The bus was “like a scene out of a Cheech & Chong movie,” Corbett told our Giana Magnoli.
Holding the kids and driver on the vehicle, they summoned backup and then called all of the parents to come back for their children.
Sgt. Riley Harwood, an SBPD spokesman, said the inside of the bus was littered with “bottles of hard alcohol, marijuana, marijuana paraphernalia, cigarettes and lighters, items like condoms, markers that are commonly used for graffiti, and a large bag of Solo cups.”
“So, a whole bunch of party supplies,” he said.
The girl who apparently organized the event may be looking at criminal charges related to booking and promoting the bus on social media, such as contributing to the delinquency of minors. Harwood said her case has been forwarded to the Santa Barbara County Juvenile Probation Department, as was that of a boy allegedly caught in possession of alcohol.
No other minors were cited or investigated, partly because of the chaos at the scene, Harwood said.
The District Attorney’s Office is considering possible criminal charges against the driver, but nothing has been filed so far.
Incredibly, Corbett stopped a bus from the same company last month and discovered the same driver at the wheel. His passengers were underage exchange students with more than enough alcohol to go around.
Does anyone really think the guy could be so unlucky that he would end up getting busted the only two times he tried to get away with it? Me neither.
Meanwhile, police have stepped up their scrutiny of party bus companies themselves, particularly for underage drinking violations.
And Giana will have a second installment of her series posted March 9. Click here for the article.
3. Man Gets 30 Years to Life for Multiple Rape Charges
A truly despicable subhuman being was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison on Feb. 27 for a spree of rapes, including one attack in a restroom stall at Paseo Nuevo in downtown Santa Barbara.
It’s a shame prosecutors couldn’t bring down the hammer. Or some other tool. With a dull, rusted edge.
Raul Antonio Yescas III, 25, of Santa Barbara, was convicted last year of multiple rapes as well as a special allegation that the rapes were committed on multiple victims. That’s a legalistic way of saying he’s a menace to society.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Yescas raped an 18-year-old female acquaintance inside her car one night in 2010 while they were parked in a municipal lot downtown.
In early 2011, he broke into a stall in the women’s restroom on Paseo Nuevo’s upper level and raped a 19-year-old woman who was using it. DNA from that attack was entered into the state DNA felony arrestee database, and Yescas was positively ID’d after he was convicted on a burglary charge in 2012.
After sentencing, District Attorney Joyce Dudley praised Santa Barbara police, the state Department of Justice crime lab in Goleta and Deputy DA Ben Ladinig.
She also commended the bravery of the two rape survivors who, she said, made “sure that this sexual predator can no longer endanger women.”
4. Homeless Man Found Slain on Santa Barbara’s Eastside
A homeless man was found brutally slain outside the MarBorg Industries Recycling & Transfer Facility on Santa Barbara’s Lower Eastside early on Feb. 27. Less than eight hours later, a second homeless man was arrested as a suspect.
According to police Sgt. Riley Harwood, a passer-by discovered the dead man about 7 a.m. in the 100 block of North Quarantina Street and notified a MarBorg employee, who called 9-1-1.
Police identified the victim as 40-year-old Ian Justin O’Brien Nichols, a local transient.
Harwood said detectives learned that Nichols and another homeless man — identified as Enson Junior Lopez, 32 — had spent the previous day quarreling over something.
At some point that night or early morning, Harwood said, “Lopez contacted Nichols … and killed him,”
About 1:20 p.m., officers tracked down Lopez in the 800 block of Cacique Street near the Casa Esperanza Homeless Center. He was arrested without incident and booked into Santa Barbara County Jail. Bail was set at $1 million.
On March 5, Lopez pleaded not guilty to the murder rap.
Police are still seeking additional witnesses in the case, and Harwood asked anyone with information to contact Detective Andy Hill at 805.897.2414 or ahill@sbpd.com.
5. Body Found Inside Vehicle at Santa Barbara Airport
A man found dead in a vehicle parked at the Santa Barbara Airport on March 4 was identified as Santa Barbara firefighter Daniel Corrigan.
The 35-year-old father of two appeared to have been “stricken with an unknown medical emergency” and was pronounced dead at the scene, Fire Chief Pat McElroy said.
Fellow firefighters found Corrigan about 3 p.m. in his vehicle, which was parked outside city Fire Department Station 8 at the airport.
The cause of death was unknown, but McElroy said the Coroner’s Bureau is conducting an autopsy.
“Daniel had a bright future ahead of him in a profession he loved,” McElroy said. “He was extremely devoted to Sarah (his fiancée, Sarah Starr), and a dedicated father, friend and colleague. He was talented, intelligent, kind and possessed a tremendous sense of humor.
“His passing will be felt deeply by all who knew him.”
Corrigan and Starr have a 1½-year-old son, Jack, and are expecting another child. He joined SBFD in 2013 after getting his start with the Fresno Fire Department in 2007.
Funeral services are pending. Donations can be made to the Daniel Corrigan Memorial Fund through the International Association of Fire Fighters chapter in Santa Barbara. Click here to make an online donation.
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Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week, from my peripatetic tour of the World Wide Web: Ancient Customer Service Complaint Carved in Stone — Literally.
HT to the Laughing Squid.
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Skateboards are so yesterday.
(Hä Wie 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.
