Regarding Noozhawk South County editor Joshua Molina’s May 2 article, “Authorities Interview Man Seen with UCSB Student Liz Hamel Who Died in Fall,” and the rest of his coverage of this case, the ongoing, unchanging desire of UC Santa Barbara’s administration to conduct public business in secret continues to amaze and appall me.
The necessity for Liz Hamel’s family to hire an attorney and a private investigator to obtain any useful information regarding their daughter’s fall to her ultimate death on Feb. 14 from a campus building is wrong on so many levels.
The lack of transparency on the part of UCSB and law enforcement seems beyond what is necessary for a successful investigation, particularly when even the parents are excluded from information regarding their child’s death.
Chancellor Henry Yang’s long-standing refusal to be open with the news media regarding a variety of issues of concern to the public has endured for more than 30 years.
The desire to operate in secrecy only raises the suspicions that something very wrong is taking place behind the scenes on that campus.
I express my sincere thanks to Molina and Noozhawk for their pursuit of information on UCSB issues about which the taxpayers who support this public university have a right to know.
I welcome Yang’s departure, and think it will be positive for public relations if his successor is appropriately open with the citizens and the media.
Sharon Hill
Santa Barbara
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Is anyone else as appalled as I am by UCSB’s oddly muted response to the death of one its students at one of its on-campus dorms? Little about this story adds up.
UCSB seems to believe that if it ignores a problem, it will go away. Where have we seen that before? Housing, traffic, anyone?
UCSB supporters and alumni should be ashamed, and should start demanding accountability.
Thank you to Noozhawk for publicizing this tragedy. Keep the pressure on!
Ronald Grant
Goleta
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Noozhawk got the May 7 article, “Overpaid Government? Santa Barbara Council, Mayor Get Rare Pay Cut,” all wrong.
The article should be focused on the fact that the area median income dropped 4.87% for a one-person household, not pay cuts for city officials.
This income drop is very disconcerting regarding the health of our area, especially when considering housing and inflation both went up in 2024.
Yes, the Santa Barbara mayor and city council members are not paid highly for their work, and I thank them for their service, but they knew the salary when they took the job.
Sadly, the article focused on the pay cut, and not what caused the drop in income for our community or what actions can be, or are being, taken to reverse this concerning trend.
The article was tone deaf.
Mark Philibosian
Santa Barbara County
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The Santa Barbara Unified School District has taken an important step by rescinding the reduction-in-force (RIF) notices for junior high band and high school theater teachers.
Concerns remain, however. At San Marcos and Santa Barbara high schools, one visual arts teacher will be cut due to course reductions and transfers, with no replacements planned, although San Marcos adds a dance teacher via Proposition 28 funds.
District-wide, these changes result in a net loss of one full-time arts teacher or program.
The RIF process also must change. While 85 RIFs were initially issued, only one remains.
This cycle of widespread notices followed by retractions creates damaging instability impacting classrooms.
We need improved three-year budget projections to avoid annual uncertainty.
Another pressing issue is the reduction in high-school course offerings, from eight classes to seven for 10th-graders, and to six for 11th- and 12th-graders, severely limiting electives and leaving students with idle, off-campus time.
Arts, world languages, technical programs and electives are squeezed out.
The SBUSD Strategic Arts Plan pledges to expand arts access at every school. Meanwhile, the district receives nearly $2 million annually from Prop. 28, 80% of which must fund new arts teachers rather than simply backfill existing positions or continue purchasing equipment and supplies.
We must remain committed to restoring an eight-course schedule, essential for students’ well-rounded education, and ensuring SBUSD expands arts education.
Michele Voigt
Santa Barbara
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Regarding the May 6 article, “Activists Call for End to Cooperation with ICE During Sheriff’s Office Report,” if I were an “undocumented alien” living anywhere in the United States, I would do everything possible to stay below the radar.
That would include not beating my significant other, stealing cars, joining a gang, selling drugs, molesting kids, attacking another person and, of course, not murdering someone.
The problem seems to be that many of the “undocumented” come from cultures that seem to condone these sorts of things, so it’s no wonder they think it’s OK to do it here.
I am having trouble trying to figure out why citizens of our country want to protect these people no matter what they have done. It doesn’t seem to matter to these activists that the undocumented are costing billions of tax dollars that could be used to help U.S. citizens, or that they have committed serious crimes.
I think it’s perfectly logical that local law enforcement cooperates with the immigration authorities when a convicted criminal is in their custody.
I also think that, based on current enforcement activity, the immigration people are perfectly capable of catching at-large violators of immigration laws without local law enforcement help.
Ron Fink
Lompoc
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Is safety a concern to anyone else? The Noozhawk reporting on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting and the anti-ICE demonstration was incomplete, failing to report on 1) the narrow focus of the hearing, 2) public comment on reasons to cooperate with ICE, and 3) the actual Sheriff’s Department policy versus practices.
Moreover, Undersheriff Craig Bonner’s presentation to the Board of Supervisors — “I want to make it clear to everyone: The Sheriff’s Office and other local law enforcement agencies do not enforce federal immigration laws” — was evasive. What is called “lying by omission” or “freedom of speech.”
Only Supervisors Roy Lee and Steve Lavagnino listened closely and asked spot-on questions: Why isn’t ICE here? Why is this now an issue?
The meeting’s narrow focus was on 17 jailed alien migrant felons or, as Lavagnino speculated, .00000001%.
As per the 2017 California Trust Act, the sheriff is to notify ICE when a felon is released. The Santa Barbara County sheriff’s undisclosed policy adds that ICE must be at the door at the time of the alien felon’s release to re-arrest. Otherwise, the convicted migrant felon is free.
Bonner chose to evade inquiry by not communicating that the Sheriff’s Department practice is not to notify ICE, making it impossible for ICE to be present to re-arrest.
Nothing new but not known by every supervisor who, like Sheriff Bill Brown, swore an oath to uphold the law, including the U.S. Constitution. Each is an elected, autonomous public official held accountable only by voters.
Let’s revisit 10 years ago, when 64-year-old Marilyn Pharis, a veteran Vandenberg Air Force Base employee, returned to her Santa Maria home and was attacked at her door by two alien released felons, raped, bludgeoned with a hammer, strangled, brutalized and left for dead, but who survived eight more days before dying.
Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) held a joint meeting in Santa Maria with four ICE agents, Sheriff Bill Brown and then-Undersheriff Barney Melekian, who later would be appointed interim Santa Barbara police chief.
Hundreds of SEIU workers protested. The hearing room was packed with an overflow crowd outside.
I heard Brown admit that he had not and does not notify ICE of release and had never unlocked to use the taxpayer-paid ICE interrogation room. No regrets. Voters support his position every re-election.
Fast forward to May 6. Nothing has or will change. The Board of Supervisors hearing room was packed with white, non-Hispanic, 65-plus-year-old women, all Pharis’ age or older, demanding the ouster of ICE and freedom for convicted felons to re-offend again rather than be deported.
Are they ignorant or just stupid?
The Board of Supervisors has no authority over the sheriff, other than to withhold $1.69 billion in funding. Thus, the status quo is maintained: No cooperation with ICE.
Denice Spangler Adams
Montecito
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May is Mental Health Month, a crucial time for us to engage in open conversations about mental illness and work together to reduce the stigma that often surrounds it.
For me, overcoming the stigma associated with mental illness has been challenging. Twenty years ago, when I was first diagnosed with a bipolar disorder, it took me a few months to tell my husband.
It took eight years to write my memoir, Bipolar, a Gift of Thorns, because of the shame I felt. After the book was published, each time I mentioned the title, it got easier to admit I was bipolar. Now, I am not embarrassed.
As we recognize Mental Health Month, I encourage everyone to join the conversation. By sharing our experiences we can make it less awkward to talk about mental health issues and create a more understanding community.
Dale Zurawski
Santa Barbara
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They say you are what you eat. It is extremely concerning to me that, every day, the food we eat is wrapped in chemicals proven to cause cancer and birth defects. We shouldn’t need to be expert toxicologists to know what’s safe for our families.
As a new Santa Barbara resident and college student, it has inspired me to see this community rally around political issues recently, such as with the Sable Offshore pipeline.
Another issue I would like to see this community work together on is food safety. Going through the Legislature is Assembly Bill 1148, which would ban two families of toxic chemicals commonly found in food and beverage packaging. This is a common sense bill that most of us would love to see passed this session.
Assemblyman Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, has been a great champion for our community so far — and he sits on the Appropriations Committee — so please urge him to support AB 1148 for safer food packaging.
Sierra Ferrante
Goleta
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The California High-Speed Rail project officially began construction in 2015 with the groundbreaking ceremony in Fresno.
The project aims to connect Gilroy (79 miles south of San Francisco) to Palmdale (52 miles north of Los Angeles) by 2045, an approximately 494-mile stretch.
By contrast, construction of the transcontinental railroad, which involved connecting the eastern and western rail networks, took approximately six years, from 1863 to 1869.
It involved two companies, Central Pacific and Union Pacific, laying track toward each other from Sacramento and Omaha, Nebraska, respectively.
Some of the reasons given for the project taking six years were delays caused by rough terrain (mountains, deserts, etc.), harsh weather and attacks by Indians.
By 1870, travel time from the East Coast to the West Coast was reduced to only one week from months.
Apparently now, however, we are supposed to believe it takes 30 years to travel from Palmdale to Gilroy.
T. Starfas
Santa Barbara
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Regarding Brian Epstein’s April 2 letter to the editor, I wish to clarify that I realize these illegal immigrants are not eligible for Social Security benefits, but funds for their travel, housing and paid Visa cards was derived from taxpayer-funded programs, Social Security among them.
These truths have been exposed not only by DOGE but from departmental employees themselves.
Again, where were the cries of protest when YOUR hard-earned monies were highjacked by the Biden administration to illegally abet this grand scheme in gerrymandering?
Brian Massey
Sonoita, Arizona, and formerly Santa Barbara
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