My high school football coach, George Miller, had a saying:
“When you play to win, your chances of winning are much greater than when you play not to lose.”
In Game One of the World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers played to win. In Game Two, they played not to lose. Coach Miller would not be surprised by the results.
Frankly, neither was I.
The inherent conflict of those competing philosophies is manifesting itself in Santa Barbara County as the coronavirus crisis nears its eighth month.
The perils of COVID-19 are not in dispute. It can be lethal to at-risk populations, there is no cure, and no one knows when we will be able to put it safely behind us.
But the voluntary shutdown of the economy and seven months of lockdowns, semi-lockdowns, and contradictory and unevenly applied restrictions are taking a terrible toll on the health, lives and livelihoods of locals — as they are with all Americans.
Some of my longtime readers may be tired of hearing me say that the health catastrophe can not be uncoupled from the economic disaster. But they can’t.
We can’t wait to fix the latter until we’ve fixed the former. That’s playing not to lose. We have to tackle them simultaneously. That’s playing to win.
Unfortunately, there are far too many people who think otherwise — not a few of them elected officials, or who hope to be.
While medical and scientific professionals work on blunting the effects of the coronavirus, professional politicians must get to work creating conditions to ensure that the business community can hasten the economy’s recovery.
To do that, businesses must be able to remain open and operating under certain and clearly defined public health parameters, regardless of whether the COVID-19 threat is rising or falling — as it inevitably will do.
It’s past time for us to start focusing on the economic impacts of this contagion. Businesses don’t have “down the road” time. Too many of them are either out of time or can see it coming up quickly on the horizon.
We’re deluding ourselves if we think there will be no consequences for public health in the Age of the Coronavirus if our fragile economy falters further. If that happens, we all lose.
Throughout this crisis, Noozhawk has been nimbly responding to an avalanche of news and information about COVID-19.
We added a reporter, Jade Martinez-Pogue, and other support resources. We’ve strived to provide context to help you better understand the raw statistics.
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What follows is my take on the Top 5 stories you were reading. As you should know by now, this is my opinion column and not a news story.
1. Fire Burns Rocket Tower at Vandenberg Air Force Base’s Space Launch Complex-2
Usually, flames shoot out near the bottom of a launch pad rocket tower, not the top.
But an Oct. 15 incident at Vandenberg Air Force Base’s venerable Space Launch Complex-2 was an actual fire. Fortunately, there was no rocket in sight.
As our Janene Scully first reported, the Vandenberg Fire Department was dispatched about 10 a.m. after a fire ignited near the top of the facility’s distinctive blue tower.
Work crews have been dismantling “vintage” pieces of the tower infrastructure, part of modifications that are underway for the new leaseholder, Firefly Aerospace of Austin, Texas.
Authorities say workers were removing a piece of hot metal when it came in contact with flammable materials. That was all it took.
Mark Smith, assistant chief of operations for the 30 Civil Engineer Squadron fire department, said firefighters had to climb 13 levels of the tower to put out the blaze, which was sending flames and thick black smoke sky high.
No one was hurt, he added.
“The quick reaction of the site supervisor ensured everyone was evacuated safely and the fire department was called immediately, causing minimal impact to operations,” Smith said.
Firefly Aerospace is developing a suite of economical and dependable launch vehicles, spacecraft and in-space services to carry small- to medium-sized satellites into orbit.
Space Launch Complex-2 most recently was used to send United Launch Alliance Delta II rockets into space.
2. 2 Men Arrested on Multiple Charges After Shots Fired in Isla Vista
A couple of morons got themselves arrested in Isla Vista in the middle of the night Oct. 18 after they allegedly were seen shooting a gun at the ocean and then driving off in a most inconspicuous car: a white Chevrolet Corvette.
The fun didn’t stop there, of course, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
As our Brooke Holland first reported, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s spokeswoman Raquel Zick said deputies were dispatched just before 2 a.m. to the area of Del Playa Drive and Camino Del Sur where two men had been observed firing a handgun into the dark in the direction of the ocean.
The suspects were gone when the law arrived but it didn’t take long to locate the Corvette. Deputies conducted a high-risk traffic stop near El Colegio and Ocean roads on the UC Santa Barbara campus, assisted by a K-9 team and UCSB police.
“The vehicle was occupied by two suspects who both refused to exit the vehicle,” Zick said. “Deputies and officers held their positions for over 50 minutes until the subjects ultimately surrendered and were taken into custody.”
She said 22-year-old Brayan Aguilar-Jimenez of Goleta was arrested on suspicion of negligent discharge of a firearm, failure to obey a peace officer, resisting arrest, driving under the influence of alcohol, conspiracy and possession of a controlled substance.
On the other side of the car, she said, 25-year-old Raul Cortes of Fresno was arrested on suspicion of negligent discharge of a firearm, failure to obey a peace officer, resisting arrest, conspiracy and possession of a controlled substance.
A handgun and ammunition were recovered from the Corvette, Zick added.
Both men were booked into County Jail but later were released on $35,000 bail each.
3. Actor Ron Ely’s Daughters Reject DA’s Findings in Officer-Involved Shooting of Brother
On the one-year anniversary of the murder of their mother and the fatal shooting of their 30-year-old brother, the daughters of actor Ron Ely held an emotional news conference to decry the actions of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department that fateful night and the subsequent investigation that cleared deputies of wrongdoing.
Authorities say Ely’s son, Cameron, fatally stabbed his mother, 62-year-old Valerie Lundeen Ely, in the family’s Hope Ranch home the night of Oct. 15, 2019, and that deputies were justified in fatally shooting the unarmed man outside the house.
Ely and his daughters are contesting the findings of the District Attorney’s Office investigation, which reviews officer-involved shootings and determined the Cameron Ely case was a “justifiable homicide.”
Last month, Ely filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department and four deputies, claiming they did nothing to help his dying wife and that their shooting of his son was an unjustified use of deadly force.
At a news conference outside the house at 4141 Mariposa Drive, the Ely sisters said they have endured a year of crushing pain and suffering.
“Losing two of the greatest loves of our lives in one night shattered us,” Kirsten Ely said.
Wiping away tears, Kaitland Ely-Sweet said the deaths of her mother and brother “were preventable, which makes the pain even deeper.”
“We are constantly living in a nightmare that we can’t wake up from,” she said.
The Sheriff’s Department says Ely called 9-1-1 to report that his wife had been stabbed by their son, who had then fled outside.
The 82-year-old Ely, who starred in the classic 1960s TV series, Tarzan, was in the house at the time but the frail and disabled man was unharmed.
In his report, sheriff’s Detective Matthew Banks stated that, when deputies encountered Cameron Ely, he ignored orders to get down on the ground and instead “quickly moved his hands toward his waist and yelled, ‘I have a gun!’”
As our Brooke Holland reported, his sisters allege that Cameron did not threaten deputies, had his hands raised when he was shot — 22 times in his torso, neck and back, according to the lawsuit — and that he had no weapon.
The suit alleges that dashboard camera video from one of the sheriff’s patrol vehicles backs their case. The deputies were not wearing body cameras.
The sisters were joined by Oakland attorneys John Burris and DeWitt Lacy, who are representing the family in the lawsuit. In addition to the Sheriff’s Department, the suit names four sheriff’s personnel: Sgt. Desiree Thome, Special Duty Deputy Jeremy Rogers and Deputies Phillip Farley and John Gruttadaurio.
“The shooting itself was unjustified,” Burris declared, adding that he and his partner have presented “new evidence that Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies engaged in the unjustified use of deadly force and denial of medical care, resulting in the deaths of Ely’s wife and son.”
Sheriff Bill Brown was having none of it.
“Unlike the plaintiff’s attorneys in this case, the Santa Barbara County sheriff’s office and the County of Santa Barbara take seriously our professional obligation to avoid undue pretrial publicity about this matter since it is currently in litigation,” he said in an email to Noozhawk.
“It is important to remember that the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ allegations are just that — allegations, not facts.”
4. Santa Barbara Unified Students Protest for Return to In-Person Classes
Dozens of high school students gathered outside Santa Barbara Unified School District headquarters on Oct. 20, protesting the district’s decision to keep them out of school.
As our Giana Magnoli reported, the demonstration drew around 35 teenagers who said they were not learning as much in the remote environment, miss the social interaction and daily routine of classrooms, and feel robbed of the chance to make high school memories.
They also complained about their teachers struggling with the technology, but that digital divide is a generation gap probably spanning centuries.
“We aren’t talking about how alone that can make teens feel, or the lifelong effects this may have caused,” Santa Barbara High junior Jaeda Spence said of the current distance learning setup.
“We are overwhelmed. Even if we don’t have a ton of homework, there is this underlying sense of sadness and disappointment.”
Sierra Chesluk, a San Marcos High senior and one of the protest organizers, noted that Santa Barbara County permits in-person instruction under the current coronavirus restrictions, yet the district only recently started developing a plan — seven months into the crisis.
The students had their own suggestions, which include symptom screening, testing, masks and social distancing. They said remote instruction is a vital option for students and teachers at high risk of infection or who are otherwise uncomfortable about returning, but not for the vast majority of students.
According to SBUSD’s own survey, a solid majority of junior high school students, an almost-majority of high school students and a large plurality of parents wanted to be back in school — not online school — on Nov. 9.
Teachers and staff balked at anything sooner than a January restart for on-campus classes, however.
On Oct. 13, the school board sided with its teachers, voting unanimously for a Jan. 19 return, which even then will be a mixture of in-class and online instruction and independent study without a teacher.
5. Santa Barbara County’s Gregg Hart Warns Second Wave of COVID-19 ‘Now a Reality’
Sounding the alarm about the potential for a second wave of the coronavirus, Santa Barbara County officials are calling on residents to, essentially, self-quarantine for the holidays.
“A few months ago, a second wave of the virus was a fear for the future,” Second District Supervisor Gregg Hart, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said at an Oct. 16 news briefing. “It’s now a reality.”
As our Jade Martinez-Pogue reported, Dr. Henning Ansorg, the county’s public health officer, called the upcoming holidays a “nightmare scenario” with locals going somewhere else, getting infected with COVID-19 and bringing it back here.
“Make different plans this year,” he said. “This year has to be different. Avoid traveling.”
Ansorg declared that 90 percent of county residents are still susceptible to catching COVID-19.
That’s a sweeping statement, delivered without explaining the SCIENCE behind the figure. And Hart’s warning sounded a little flat, given that officials have been repeating the same admonition every few weeks for most of the year.
Three days later, the county Public Health Department acknowledged that coronavirus-related hospitalizations had dropped to 12 countywide, the lowest level since March when the contagion was just making its presence felt locally. Only three of the 12 patients were in intensive-care units.
Despite this low point, COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere any time soon. But neither is the overwhelming compliance with social distancing, wearing masks when around others, and hand washing — at least on the South Coast.
Most of us have accepted that we’ll be living with this nuisance for the foreseeable future and we’ll continue to voluntarily take steps to protect ourselves and others, especially — and let me be unequivocal — those who are most vulnerable.
If officials are really concerned about public skepticism, perhaps they’ll remember to thank themselves for crying wolf once too often.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Structures Threatened by Wind-Whipped Vegetation Fire Near El Capitán Canyon.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
Well, well, well. Isn’t this July 2011 World Health Organization bulletin prescient? Health Is More Than Influenza. HT to my friend, Adam Geeb.
• • •
Best of Bill’s Instagram
Finger-licking ribs in my Instagram feed this past week. It’s all good.
• • •
Watch It
A loose moose gets more than one kick at soccer practice. It’s got goals!
(Football video 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.
