Thank you to Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen for his Feb. 11 column, “Mask Masters Face New Phase in Unceasing COVID-19 Crisis.”
It’s unconscionable that my children must continue to wear masks in school for more than six hours every day, but dozens and dozens of celebrities can watch the Super Bowl with no masks. They don’t even try to hide the hypocrisy anymore.
Thank you.
Margo Wheeler
Santa Barbara
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The citizens of the Goleta Valley need to know what is about to happen if no one speaks up to object to the Goleta Water District’s proposed new boundary mapping.
The district website displays two “final” maps, labeled D-2 and E-2, which the Board of Directors will review starting at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 22. One of the maps will be selected and could be adopted at the March 8 board meeting.
The problem is that both maps create Isla Vista as its own subdistrict, which will then elect its own director to the five-member Board of Directors every four years. This will result in a permanent representation for Isla Vista to influence water district policies and practices forever.
I doubt that the majority of voters living in the Goleta Water District want to see this sort of concentration of power shifted to mostly temporary residents, who typically will espouse visionary ideas without having any real world experience to go by.
Our water supply and its governance should stay the way that it is now, with all voters having an equal say as to who represents them on the Goleta Water District board. As determined by the district counsel, it may not be necessary to file any redistricting maps at this time.
Speak now or forever hold your complaints. The board will be taking action on Feb. 22 and March 8. The website has details for joining the meeting on Zoom, or simply commenting by e mail.
Tom Evans
Goleta Water District director
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Why dismantle the offshore oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel instead of repurposing them for sustainable energy development? They are well-built at great cost, likely containing living quarters and kitchens, functional for more than 30 years, and usable during conversion and afterward as well.
Repurposing will bring us years ahead with great cost savings as the conversion to a sustainable energy-generating platform occurs.
We are in a race against time in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and, hopefully, reducing damage and deaths in the near future associated with severe climate change.
By repurposing, each platform could become the site for generations of electrical power from three natural soures: solar, wind and water (tides/currents). Early on during conversion, the temporary location for solar energy panels might substitute for gas-powered generators for the conversion process.
Engineers will thrive enthusiastically, finding the most efficient arrangement of the four power sources providing maximum energy output for each repurposed platform, while seeking cost-saving uses for parts of the extensive superstructure.
Four large windmills, one on each supporting corner pillar, or more, could provide more power. The platforms are large.
The supporting platform pillars can be used for two other electrical power-generating methods, the continuous rising and falling of the water surface level. And tethering by cable the free-moving submerged large turbines could catch the Japanese current flowing southward along the West Coast. It is relatively uninfluenced by night and day or seasonal cycles for millions of years.
Don’t even think about getting rid of these magnificent structures! They are just waiting ti have a supporting role in sustainable, nonpolluting energy production — even during the dark of night.
Matthew Margulies M.D.
Santa Barbara
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Regarding Elwood Watson’s Feb. 12 commentary, “Americans Must Fight Right-Wing Censorship,” Americans actually should fight right-wing censorship and left-wing woke “cancel culture.”
Both are pathways to tyranny. It’s irresponsible to pick a side.
Lee Stanchfield
Los Alamos
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While I appreciate Elwood Watson’s history lesson, I seem to recall that a Democrat by the name of Tipper Gore was a big promoter of censorship of “offensive” and “inappropriate” music lyrics in the 1980s under the cover of the Parents Music Resource Center. It’s a shame Watson missed that.
And speaking of history, someone really should fact-check what Watson writes. He claims that Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in the early 1980s. In fact, Democrats controlled the House from 1955 to 1995.
I thought Noozhawk had better standards.
Brendan Doyle
Santa Barbara
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I eagerly await when Laura Capps will take her seat on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Without a lot of hype, she quietly puts her shoulder in the harness and delivers.
» As a trustee of the Santa Barbara Unified School District board, she champions sustainability and helped take the district from zero to 14 solar energy installations across 21 school campuses, six with microgrids, while adding a new sustainability director — with the goal of saving the district money.
» Working with the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, CommUnify and schools, she helped triple the participation of families in free summer meal programs when school was not in session and child hunger tends to spike — a huge win for child nutrition and family food security.
» Capps has demonstrated her mettle by standing up to vicious attacks for her leadership on policies concerning ethnic studies and equity along with vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 safeguards.
» As Community Environmental Council board president, she helped the organization put forward far-reaching initiatives such as community choice energy, providing greater local control over how energy is sourced.
Capps has a proven record of significant accomplishments while being known as an upbeat, gracious and collaborative leader. She will be a highly valued colleague and much-admired member of the Board of Supervisors.
Joan Hartmann
Third District Santa Barbara County supervisor
Buellton
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