Our family-owned jewelry store experienced an attempted robbery on Aug. 7. We are relieved to report that all of our employees and customers are safe and healthy.
Thanks to the quick actions of our focused staff, all clients were swiftly guided outside to safety and the subject was detained until law enforcement arrived on the scene.
We are grateful to the Santa Barbara Police Department for their swift response and actions.
This is the first such incident in our 20 years of operation at this location.
In light of this event, we are taking immediate steps to further enhance security measures with the addition of full-time security personnel.
The safety and well-being of our staff and clients remain our top priority.
We welcome shoppers, whether buying, selling or appraising fine jewelry and antiques. We are committed to continuing our legacy of serving the community with the highest level of dedication and care that has defined our business for more than 50 years.
Thank you for your continued trust, confidence and loyalty.
Belrose Estate Jewelers
Santa Barbara
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Karen Telleen-Lawton always manages to weave in nature, humor and history into her wonderful travel reports.
Her Aug. 5 column, “The Secrets of Scots,” made me want to go to Scotland just to meet that fellow talking about the weather based on a mountaintop.
Amazed to read that Scotland once was forested and perhaps she’s right that Scotsman John Muir devoted the rest of his life to the preservation of trees, especially old growth redwoods and the Sierra Nevada.
I don’t know if Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations is still taught at university, but it certainly was part of the curriculum at Los Angeles City College in the late 1950s. Telleen-Lawton’s review of his economics was a tidy refresher course.
It may be 19th century, but it still applies. Alas!
Josie Levy Martin
Montecito
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Over the past two weeks, there has been a misinformation campaign regarding the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District’s (APCD) involvement with commercial aerospace.
The goal of this letter is to clear the air on the APCD’s role as it relates to commercial aerospace operations at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Our agency’s mission is to protect the people and the environment of Santa Barbara County from the effects of air pollution.
To that end, and pursuant to authority established in the California Health and Safety Code, we permit stationary sources of air pollution.
Our permit program is an important tool to meet all health-based air quality standards, while still allowing for new businesses to open and existing businesses to expand.
For commercial aerospace, permitted activities typically include rocket fueling and fuel storage, support engines and marine vessels used to support ongoing operations.
In contradiction to the misinformation that has been published, the APCD does not permit emissions from other mobile equipment, including the rockets themselves, marine vessels used for construction activities, and construction equipment like trucks and cranes.
We have not put any restraints or conditions on barge operations for construction, and we have no requirement to return to a harbor in the event a barge is unable to dock at Vandenberg.
It’s also important to know that the APCD does not have the final approval authority for expansion of launch cadences at VSFB.
Our permit program has a limited scope that ensures commercial aerospace projects meet
air quality rules and regulations.
For example, for ongoing boat and barge operations, the APCD does not specify or require a specific route; it’s up to the operator to determine how best to navigate the waters for their needs.
We note that United Launch Alliance has had an APCD permit for routine boat operations for more than 20 years and has indicated no modifications to its current boat permit are needed for the upcoming Vulcan project.
Our agency understands the importance of the commercial aerospace industry to Santa Barbara County and our country.
Our staff works closely with commercial aerospace companies to efficiently review and finalize their permit applications to allow these essential projects to proceed while ensuring they meet all federal, state and local air quality requirements, as well as continue to meet our agency’s mission.
Click here for more information on the APCD’s commercial aerospace involvement.
Aeron Arlin Genet
Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District executive director
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Any regular reader of Noozhawk’s reader commentaries will agree that Ron Fink is a really, really big fan of the SpaceX rockets going off right outside Lompoc.
But as someone who also lives in Lompoc, and is tired of having her house literally shaken, I have tried to push back on the suggested increase of rocket launches.
I have attended California Coastal Commission meetings and complained to both SpaceX and Vandenberg Space Force Base, and I must push back on some of Fink’s arguments in his Aug. 6 commentary, “APCD Trying to Stop Vandenberg’s Space Mission.”
It seems that Fink sees those of us who show up to orderly redress our grievances at governmental hearings are the “noisy and naïve.”
May I remind Fink that it is much more than a “periodic sonic boom” or a “few puffs of diesel exhaust” that citizens are concerned about.
And we are not naïve, we know that no one — in Lompoc or anywhere — can limit, decrease and certainly not stop the rockets-cum-space-junk being shot into the atmosphere 10 miles from our houses.
The “activists” in or out of government can’t do squat. The military is going to do exactly what it wants in the end.
But Fink should be more mindful of his labeling protests as “a subtle from of terrorist action without violence” for redressing a grievance about their government. The Right can’t have it both ways.
Leah Braitman
Lompoc
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Vandenberg Space Force Base has long been a critical hub for space exploration and satellite launches.
The vast potential of this West Coast launch facility is far from fully realized. With the rise of a new space race, the cooperation between the government and private space companies has never been more critical.
The strategic reasons for this are obvious, but there are additional benefits beyond striving to lead in the space sector.
Space launches benefit humans here on Earth and have drastically improved our well-being over the last several decades.
California can continue to be the literal launchpad for this progress, and we have a unique opportunity to significantly increase the number of launches at Vandenberg into the future.
This would not only bolster the local and national economy but also have profound implications for global connectivity, especially in impoverished regions.
Right here in California, millions of people rely on satellite systems that were launched by companies like SpaceX.
To cite just a few examples, first responders are able to use Starlink satellite internet to combat wildfires and protect life and property.
We’re also able to use remote lidar technology to measure snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, providing important data on what the water situation in California looks like for the year ahead.
Earlier this year, SpaceX launched Transporter-10, one of its many “rideshare” missions that takes up dozens of satellites in one launch.
Included in this launch was the world’s most powerful methane detection satellite. This satellite is now monitoring global methane emissions and providing invaluable climate and environmental data.
Additionally, American space companies, like SpaceX, are providing many communities with high-speed internet service.
The relationship between connectivity and socioeconomic progress is well documented, but billions of people worldwide still lack a basic internet connection.
Lack of connectivity hampers economic development, limits educational outcomes, reduces business opportunities and restricts access to health care.
Increasing the number of launches at Vandenberg is not just a strategic imperative for the U.S. space program; it is a vital step toward a more connected and equitable world.
By accelerating the deployment of Starlink and other satellites, we can provide high-speed internet to underserved regions and continue unlocking economic opportunities.
Global connectivity and prosperity is within our reach, but it requires concerted effort and investment. Vandenberg should be the launchpad for this journey. The time to act is now.
Sally Lopez
Santa Maria
• • •
Real estate agent Carla Reeves, in her July 26 letter to the editor, admonished policies that require developers to provide open space for entitlement to build.
She wrote: “During my 40 years as a local Realtor, I have seen developers unable to finish a project for many reasons, often related to politics, economics or the environment. Park Highlands, off San Antonio Creek Road, lay incomplete for many years because of water politics. Streets were in, utilities were laid and lots were ready to be built. That builder went bankrupt, as did several other projects. Frogs, spiders and bush bunnies have held up many projects in our area.”
Developers are often required to grant easements for open space, resource protection, utilities or emergency access as a condition of project approval. These requirements are important for sustainability, especially when development, like Park Highlands, occurs in the wildland urban interface.
Sensible development considers environmental constraints, wildlife corridors, routes of ingress and egress, and availability of natural resources, such as water.
Frogs, spiders and bunnies are vital components of our biodiverse area. Often protections are only achieved through requirements placed upon developers. Impacts must be mitigated before, during and after tractors arrive.
The Park Highlands subdivision was built on a ridge line above a thick oak woodland. The development added 78 homes and 150 additional vehicles in a semirural area with one means of ingress and egress.
Less than 10 years after completion, the Painted Cave Fire decimated much of Park Highlands as well as 99% of the adjacent San Antonio Creek neighborhood.
With only minutes to flee, severe gridlock hindered evacuation efforts and firefighter access. If the wind hadn’t shifted, many of us would have been burned to death in our cars.
It has been 34 years since the Painted Cave Fire. New subdivisions continue to be built off San Antonio Creek Road. Great for Realtors, not so great for evacuating residents or natural resources.
Additional restrictions, not fewer, should be placed on developers wishing to put more homes in High Fire Hazard areas.
We have learned a great deal about fire resilience since the devastation of the Painted Cave and subsequent fires. With assistance from the Santa Barbara County Fire Safety Council, neighborhoods throughout the county have become recognized FireWise Communities, including San Antonio Creek. If you live here you may have noticed FireWise signs.
Click here for more information.
Kendra Duncan O’Connor
Santa Barbara
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I am amazed with the facts presented by Joe Guzzardi in his Aug. 4 commentary, “How Open-Border Immigration Is Straining America Public Schools.”
How can anyone be in favor of open borders after his factual report? Just about time for we taxpayers to expect our leaders to secure our country, and if they can’t or won’t do it, let’s elect leaders who will!
Vote in November. Oh, not you illegal immigrants, only citizens of our country should vote and have driver’s licenses. Of course, illegal immigrants are not going to be reading this in the first place; they are lined up to get all of the freebies the liberals are handing out.
Dottie Lyons
Santa Maria
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