Regarding the Aug. 10 article, “Judge Orders Maximum Sentence for Former UCSB Student Convicted of Sexual Assault,” the news of the former UC Santa Barbara student rapist’s sentencing was not only a local story, but made national news as well.
From one account I learned that from the years 2022 until 2024 there were more than 100 rapes reported to UCSB police.
I am incredulous, not because it’s not true but because it is. And as we all know there are more unreported rapes than those reported.
This opens a new and long overdue call for action, not discussion, and expenditures of monies, resources and personnel by the University of California Regents and the Chancellor’s Office to ensure each and every female student and visiting women are protected, feel protected and can live in a peace of mind that is guaranteed by our Constitution — of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!
We aren’t guaranteed free housing, government handouts, Medicare or any reparation, but we are guaranteed those inalienable rights!
Time for talk is decades old, the time for action is now. About 50 years ago I was a student at UCSB and during my tenure I cannot recall any mention of rape, nor a column in the Daily Nexus addressing such acts.
If my memory is too rosy, I gladly will accept correction.
Where have the values, moral compass, the respect each of us should not only display but truly believe in, gone?
We all, as a society, are guilty, but we need to get a little Aretha Franklin back into our lives, think, pray and get back to RESPECT. Now get to work.
Brian Massey
Sonoita, Arizona, and formerly Santa Barbara
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Regarding the Aug. 5 article, “Longtime Birnam Wood Bartender Was Victim in Fatal Montecito Traffic Collision,” who killed this poor man on Coast Village Road?
No one reporting on the incident has released the name of the person who
ran over this poor man! This is NOT RIGHT!
Denise Montanes
Santa Barbara
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My heart goes out to D.C. Collier after reading his Aug. 6 commentary, “My Wife Just Died and — With Tears in My Eyes — I Am Overjoyed for Her.”
The pain of the Colliers’ journey was evident, but I, too, share in his triumphant assurance of where his wife is now, living in glory with Jesus Christ.
May God continue to bless D.C. Collier. Thank you for sharing this news.
Cara Randall
Goleta
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Regarding Dan Walters’ Aug. 11 column, “Pension Boosts for California Police, Firefighters Could Spur Increases for Other Workers,” apparently California lawmakers like to let the good times roll when market returns are good.
Instead of using recent favorable returns to shrink unfunded liabilities, lawmakers want to increase benefits.
But history clearly shows that outsized returns are often followed by market downturns — a “reversion to the mean.” That is why actuaries use conservative long-turn return assumptions to determine pension costs.
Like so many other cities, Santa Barbara’s pension costs already dwarf other budget categories.
Three California cities — San Bernardino, Stockton and Vallejo — declared bankruptcy, with fast-rising pension costs as major factors.
While we all value the service of our public employees, can we really afford to increase already generous benefits? Keep in mind that most taxpayers don’t even have pensions.
Reminds me of water management. A year with above average rainfall causes everyone to forget about long-term droughts.
It’s time to protect cities and taxpayers.
Kirk Greene
Santa Barbara
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Thank you to Brian Epstein for his Aug. 7 letter to the editor returning to the subject of disinformation about the crime rates of undocumented immigrants compared with the general population and quoting the actual statistics once again.
I admire his tenacity and I only wish people would listen.
Susan Shields
Santa Barbara
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