For a “short” week, we sure packed a lot of news on Noozhawk the last few days. In fact, you’ll be reading more news from us as our newest reporter, Grace Kitayama, settles in.
Grace officially joined Team Noozhawk on July 5 after graduating last month from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. While there, the journalism major wrote for the Mustang News student newspaper, interned with ESPN Radio, and freelanced for the Pacific Coast Business Times and the Salinas Californian.
We’re excited to have her, and thrilled to have another Cal Poly alumna on our staff, along with managing editor Giana Magnoli (Class of 2009) and sales and marketing assistant Lauren Hodgins (’21). “Learn by doing” has worked out pretty well for us.
According to our Google Analytics, Noozhawk had an audience of 100,474 readers this past week. What follows is my own take on the Top 5 stories you were reading during that stretch.
I must remind you that this is an opinion column, my opinion column. It is not a news story.
1. Missile Test Ends in Explosion Seconds After Launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base
You have to get up pretty early in the morning — or stay up pretty late at night — to outscoop our Janene Scully, particularly with launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Sometimes Janene even scoops military communications teams whose jobs are to provide accurate information to the public.
Janene was the first to report that a test missile had exploded seconds after it was launched from Vandenberg at 11:01 p.m. July 6.
Fiery debris from the explosion rained down on the base’s tinder-dry vegetation, igniting a blaze that reportedly grew to 150 acres before being contained several hours later.
The entire incident seemed to catch VSFB officials flat-footed.
About eight hours before the Minotaur II space launch vehicle actually took off, the Vandenberg Public Affairs Office sent word that the launch was scheduled for some time the next day.
After the booster exploded, within 11 seconds of its departure from Test Pad 01, it took officials more than an hour to confirm what many local space cadets had surmised from the unusual rumble and the orange glow in the night sky.
There were no injuries reported and VFSB officials said in yet another early morning update that the debris stayed within the immediate vicinity of the launch pad. The Vandenberg Fire Department responded to the fire, which the statement said posed no danger to the rest of the 157-square-mile base or to adjacent land.
“We always have emergency response teams on standby prior to every launch,” said Space Force Col. Kris Barcomb, vice commander of Space Launch Delta 30 and the launch decision authority for the Minotaur venture.
“Safety is our priority at all times.”
Local emergency dispatchers were inundated with calls from concerned residents smelling smoke.
Santa Barbara County firefighters were dispatched to the base at around 1:30 a.m. July 7, but were released at 8 a.m.
An investigation to determine the cause of the explosion is underway.
Meanwhile, VSFB Public Affairs Office Chief Robin Ghormley told Janene that she could not explain the discrepancy with the launch times.
Vandenberg was testing the Air Force’s new Mk21A re-entry vehicle on the Minotaur II at the time of the explosion.
The Air Force is developing a next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile under the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent weapons system. Also known as Sentinel, the system is to replace the military’s aging Minuteman missiles.
2. Vehicle Crashes Near Orcutt Result in 2 Deaths, Multiple Injuries
A young pregnant woman and her unborn baby were killed in a late-night collision near the intersection of Highways 1 and 135 in Orcutt on July 2.
The driver who allegedly caused the crash was then struck and killed by a third vehicle when he walked into traffic after getting out of the wreckage.
As our Janene Scully first reported, the collision occurred around 10:15 p.m. near the northbound Y intersection where Highway 1/Cabrillo Highway splits off to Highway 135/Orcutt Expressway.
According to the California Highway Patrol, 41-year-old Hermilo Vasquez-Mendez of Santa Maria was driving a Honda Civic northbound on Highway 1 at a high rate of speed when he rear-ended a northbound Nissan Sentra.
Sitting in the back seat of the Sentra was an 18-year-old Santa Maria woman, Melisa Michelle Gonzalez-Bautista, who authorities say died on impact.
Vasquez-Mendez’s Civic rolled over in the crash, but landed on its wheels in the median. The CHP said he managed to extricate himself from the mangled vehicle but then walked into the southbound lanes where he was hit by a GMC Yukon driven by a 49-year-old Lompoc man.
The driver of the Sentra, a 19-year-old Nipomo woman, suffered minor injuries in the collision. The Yukon driver was physically unhurt. The CHP did not disclose their identities.
The CHP is investigating the circumstances of the wreck. Investigators say they have not determined whether Vasquez-Mendez was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but the two other drivers were cleared.
In addition to the CHP, Santa Barbara County and Vandenberg Space Force Base firefighters responded to the crash scene.
Kenny Klein, spokesman for the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District, confirmed for Janene that Gonzalez-Bautista was a 2022 graduate of Delta High School in Santa Maria. Her aunt, Sarah Jewell Bautista, said her niece was pregnant.
Funeral arrangements are pending, but Bautista has established a GoFundMe account to assist with a funeral service in Santa Maria and Gonzalez-Bautista’s burial in Minden, Nevada. Dates for each are pending.
As of July 8, the site had raised nearly $5,200. Click here to make an online donation.
3. Riding a Financial Turnaround, Earl Warren Showgrounds Envisions New Uses
At some point, Santa Barbara’s Earl Warren Showgrounds was a state-of-the-art facility. I’ve lived here most of my life, but that was well before my time.
For decades now, it’s been mostly a sad shell of that former self — no matter what it was hosting. Which is a shame because I have many happy memories of the place, especially the annual Fiesta Stock Horse Show & Rodeo, where you can find me Aug. 5-7.
The facility’s more recent string of woes has been thoroughly reported on Noozhawk, but our Josh Molina checked back in with CEO Ben Sprague and found that the trend has largely been reversed.
“We’re in the best position we’ve been in in more than 25 years,” Sprague told him. “We went from a place a couple of years ago where we were $100,000 in the hole to now we have more than $2 million in the bank.”
You can read Josh’s story for the details, but the forced shutdown during the COVID-19 crisis also forced Sprague and the showgrounds board to take a hard look at the past, present and future of the 35-acre property at 3400 Calle Real.
“We have an opportunity to say ‘let’s make a plan,’” Sprague said. “Let’s talk about the next five and 20 years.”
Early changes included an arena sports league with hockey, futsal, lacrosse, skating and pickle ball; enhanced kitchen services; and higher rental fees for its commercial kitchens.
Officials also have opened conversations with members of the public, who have suggested adding a youth sports facility, a swimming pool and public meeting places, among other improvements.
“The idea is to have some real conversations about who do we serve and how,” Sprague said. “We are always going to serve our historic uses, and we also want to embrace the future in terms of how we can properly serve our community.”
What to do about the showgrounds’ historic use as an equestrian center remains a burr under many saddles, but I’m hopeful the two sides can reach a mutually beneficial compromise. I think it’s important for locals to have a conveniently located reminder of Santa Barbara County’s horse- and agriculture-related heritage, and I would love to see more people taking advantage of it.
Perhaps the biggest demonstration of equine prowess occurs this month, with the Santa Barbara National Horse Show’s Multibreed events running through July 9 and Hunters & Jumpers riding July 13-17.
And then, next month, the Fiesta Rodeo returns after a two-year coronavirus hiatus.
Which reminds me: Noozhawk is an annual sponsor of a rider in the mutton bustin’ competition and, on July 18, we’ll be drawing the name of a lucky winner for a spot in the Aug. 7 rodeo matinee.
Contestants must be between the ages of 4 and 6 as of Jan. 1, 2022, and weigh no more than 60 pounds. The Noozhawk rider — and his or her family — also will receive rodeo tickets and some Noozhawk swag.
Click here to enter our drawing, which closes at 5 p.m. July 17. All the other rodeo mutton bustin’ slots have been filled so this is your child’s last chance till next year.
4. 1 Person Killed, Suspect in Custody After 2 Santa Maria Shootings
A Texas man was killed and a Washington man was arrested as a suspect in a July 2 shooting outside a Santa Maria bar.
Our Janene Scully was busy that night, reporting on this alleged murder, a second shooting, and Noozhawk’s top story, the previously mentioned fatal collision near Orcutt.
According to Santa Maria police, the first shooting was reported just before 9:30 p.m. in front of Louie B’s bar, at 213 E. Main St. across from Santa Maria Town Center’s north entrance.
When police, Santa Maria firefighters and an American Medical Response ambulance arrived, they found one man with life-threatening wounds and another sitting nearby.
The victim, identified by police as simply 56-year-old Gerald Williams of Texas, was rushed to Marian Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The other guy — identified as 27-year-old Ron Dolph Tutay of Lakewood, Washington — was arrested on drug-related violations, but SMPD’s subsequent investigation linked him more directly to the altercation.
On July 6, Tutay appeared in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria, where he was charged with murder and several sentencing enhancements, including the use of a firearm.
Janene spent some time exploring Tutay’s Pierce County Superior Court records in Washington, and found he had been convicted in a 2017 armed robbery.
If convicted this time, it would be his second strike under California’s Three Strikes Sentencing Law.
Tutay is due back in court on July 12. Until then, he remains jailed without bail in the county’s North County Jail.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Santa Maria police Detective Oscar Corral at 805.928.3781 x2243.
As police began investigating the bar incident, officers were dispatched to gunfire in the 800 block of North Broadway, near Alvin Avenue.
Sgt. Danny Rios said a drive-by shooting there apparently followed a beatdown … of a car.
No suspects were located, although shell casings were discovered in the street during a search of the area.
5. No Criminal Charges Filed After ‘Graduation Prank Gone Wrong’ at Santa Barbara High
Not a single one of the dozens of Santa Barbara High School students who trashed the campus just days before commencement has been cited, arrested or charged in the widespread vandalism.
Generously, the Santa Barbara Unified School District isn’t even asking the parents of the 50-60 students to pony up for the damage from the May 30 “senior prank gone wrong.”
Talk about teaching right through to the final bell.
Check that. School district spokesman Nick Masuda told our Tom Bolton that 41 students were barred from the June 2 graduation ceremony and other official end-of-year activities. That’ll learn ’em!
As Noozhawk reported previously, Santa Barbara police accused the students of running amok at the campus at 700 E. Anapamu St., dumping and smearing gallons of baby oil, Vaseline, raw fish and oysters all over the floors and door handles on the inside and tossing toilet paper and streamers in the trees outside.
A neighbor called police after hearing glass breaking late at night, and responding officers managed to corral as many as 20 teenagers as they fled into the darkness.
Describing the stunt as a “senior prank gone wrong,” police Lt. Joshua Morton said the students were referred to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office or the Juvenile Probation Department, depending on their ages.
District Attorney Joyce Dudley told Tom that no charges have been filed.
Masuda said the damages ran to nearly $1,700, including replacing shattered glass and a broken door lock. The school district also paid Big Green Cleaning Co. $670 to help school janitors clean up the mess, he added.
“We are not looking to recoup costs on the damages” from the families of the students involved, Masuda said.
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Good Reads
Here are six more stories I recommend:
» Fireworks Steal the Show for South Coast Fourth of July — I would argue that fireworks are the show on Independence Day, but managing editor Giana Magnoli lit up a full day of Fourth of July activities on the South Coast.
» Independence Day Celebrations Return to Solvang with Parade, Festival — Our Serena Guentz spent much of the Fourth of July celebrating with Solvang.
» A Little Bit of Magic Goes Into Creating Santa Barbara’s July 4 Fireworks Show — Ever wonder what goes into the half-hour fireworks extravaganzas that we ooh and ahh over? Our Ray Ford has the back story on the rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting in air.
» California Fish and Wildlife Determines Starvation to Be Cause of Brown Pelican Crisis — The mystery of the brown pelican crisis may have been solved, but I’ll bet few figured starvation was behind it. Our Serena Guentz has the latest on these magnificent birds.
» 400 Block of Anacapa in Santa Barbara to Become Two-Way Street — Our Josh Molina follows the City of Santa Barbara as it reverses course on one of the most senseless one-way blocks around.
» UC Investments Buys Former QAD Summerland Headquarters for $104 Million — High atop Summerland’s Ortega Ridge, the old QAD campus occupies one of the most prominent promontories on the South Coast. Our Serena Guentz reports on what we know about its sale to UC Investments, but leaves the speculation to you about what we don’t know.
• • •
Last Year on Noozhawk
What was our most-read story this time last year? Fireworks, Parades and More in Store on Fourth of July Around Santa Barbara County.
• • •
Bill Macfadyen’s Story of the Week
Whenever you want to see him, just look up “hypocrisy” in the dictionary: Gov. Gavin Newsom Finally Reveals His Whereabouts.
• • •
Best of Bill’s Instagram
On Independence Day, I took my Instagram feed to the Montecito Village Fourth Road Show.
• • •
Americans Held Hostage: Day 314
Now 314 days later, there are still U.S. citizens and green-card holders in Afghanistan who were abandoned by the U.S. government despite pledges to get everyone out.
• • •
Watch It
What’s better than a rainbow? A moonbow. Making the backdrop Yosemite National Park is just a bonus. HT to Best of Bill reader Bill Freer.
(Brian Hawkins video)
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— Bill Macfadyen is Noozhawk’s founder and publisher. Contact him at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com, follow him on Instagram: @bill.macfadyen, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
