(Arno News video)
Re: Your story on Maeve Juarez and “the magnificent seven,” please find attached a clip showing what they were doing on Dec. 6.
Her Ojai Forest Service training was at the forefront of saving our vehicles and structures here in Matilija Canyon that Wednesday night as the Thomas Fire moved west, jumping the Ventura River and moving on toward Carpinteria, Montecito and Santa Barbara.
As farmers, we’ve experienced floods, freezes, fires and pestilence, but I’m eternally grateful to this young lady and her cohorts for saving our business and my home so that I have some reason to be shoveling up the mud now surrounding them.
This in no way assuages the sorrow and, yes, feelings of guilt for greater losses of neighbors and friends in both counties, but we chose to live and farm here because of the mountains surrounding us — born of geological forces and molded by erosion.
Tony Thacher
Friend’s Ranches, Ojai
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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DISABLING READER COMMENTS!!!!
It was so depressing and just made me not want to read the news. I can’t visit the Independent site anymore for the same reason.
I fully support your decision and am so grateful for your frank assessment of the situation!
Karen Kowalski
Santa Barbara
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This morning (Jan. 20) while walking along Sands Beach, I was knocked over into the surf by a Golden Retriever that jumped on me. Needless to say, the dog was off leash. The dog owner did not even apologize and claimed to be unaware of the fact that dogs are required to be on leash by Santa Barbara County law, and by the Coal Oil Point Reserve where the incident occurred.
Please remind readers that it is illegal to have a dog off leash except in designated areas. I appeal to the police to uphold the law and fine dog owners who do not abide by it. Perhaps the money collected from fines could be used to create more off-leash areas.
Amanda Heinrich
Goleta
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The closing of Highway 101 in Santa Barbara for 11 days has clearly illustrated just how important this national roadway is to the economy of the nation and California. There is no other way to get through on the coast of California except by this route.
The draconian efforts of Caltrans and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department to get it reopened after it was closed by the unprecedented mud slides is proof of this issue. Highway 101 is absolutely necessary for millions of people to function normally in this state. Jobs, goods, food and fuel all need this route. There is no option.
With this road now open, it may be easier to solve the real problems of housing for displaced persons and locating those who, sadly, have been lost.
Justin Ruhge
Lompoc
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