Front Page Archive:

Mothers, flowers and work
05-06-2005

By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

Mothers, revered and respected in most of the world, have a special day of the year set aside in their honor in most countries. Not all regions celebrate mothers at the same time of year, but most cultures celebrate female parents as exceptional and notable.
The second Sunday in May

Home Prices & Traffic Swell on South Coast
05-06-2005

By Allyson Pfeifer, Special to the Voice

Hosted by UCSB’s Economic Forecast Project (EFP), the “Economic Outlook 2005” presentation on April 29 summarized local business trends, national and regional demographics, and factors affecting the economy for an audience of local business owners, professors, and elected offici

Summer Activity Guide: Down by the water’s side...
05-06-2005
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

In summer, the song sings itself.
- William Carlos Williams (1883 - 1963)

Now that Cinco de Mayo is officially over, it’s time to set our Good Land sights on wide sands and the blue Pacific horizon for the unofficial start of summer.
That’s correct. Memorial Day weekend is only three

Motorcyclist dies in Foothill Road crash
05-06-2005

A motorcyclist traveling eastbound on Foothill Road near Hwy. 154 was killed April 29 when he and a vehicle turning westbound onto Foothill from Cieneguitas Road collided. According to Officer Don Clotworthy of the California Highway Patrol (CHP), 28-year-old Lucas Arthur Grant of Santa Barbara, driving a 1995 Kawasaki eastbound

It’s ‘Goleta Valley Beautiful’ time
05-13-2005
By Ashley Handlan, Special to the Voice

From a small golf course to UCSB’s Recreation Center, from Ellwood Mesa to a “firescaped” private home, aesthetically pleasing sites will be honored by Goleta Valley Beautiful on Saturday.
The 31st Annual Goleta Valley Beautiful awards banquet and silent auction will take place Saturday at

End of a Chapter
05-13-2005
By Wendy Kogovsek, Special to the Voice and Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

The popular Good Earth restaurant will soon be no more, and a group of Goleta mothers is already feeling the loss.
The eatery on Calle Real opened in 1986 in the building that formerly housed Bray’s 101 restaurant, and the “Tuesday Mother’s B

Yarbrough in critical condition
05-13-2005

Carter Yarbrough, 35, longtime contributor to the Voice, is in critical condition in the intensive care unit of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, after being found unconscious at the foot of a stairway at 1933 Cliff Dr.
Yarbrough, who suffered severe head injuries, has undergone several surgeries and been heavily sedated for

Ike Jenkins, Voodoo Daddy, got that swing
05-20-2005
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor; and Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is playing a Goleta gig Sunday, to honor a mentor - Ike Jenkins - and raise funds for Dos Pueblo Jazz Choir’s summer tour of Europe.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is the wildly successful jazz-swing-pop group that boasts two players w

Wetlands in, bunkers out
05-20-2005
By Gerald Carpenter, Voice Editorial Director

The California Department of Fish and Game has filed a plan to “restore and enhance” wetlands on two parcels of land that they own along the southern side of Hollister Avenue, flanking Los Carneros Road.

Taken together, the parcels total 34 acres. The property contains uplan

Travel - the great adventure
05-20-2005
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

A visit to the Vatican, in spite of getting hosed down by the police, will always rank high in my summer travels.

And although we did get the Italian boot for camping overnight in a nearby park, this tale of faraway adventures has helped spark similar Valley Voice staff stories in this

PALMS memorial honors dead
05-27-2005

By Ashley Handlan
Special to the Voice

Sometimes it's hard to imagine in this beautiful coastal city that a war is raging halfway across the world, but occasionally a reminder comes from an unexpected source.

Students in San Marcos High School's PALMS Academy discovered their awareness and looked for an effec

Sheriff's Dept. tracking sex offenders
05-27-2005
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

The presence of registered sex offenders in Goleta neighborhoods is cause for public awareness, but parents should not be unduly concerned.

That was the word this week from Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Dept. Sgt. Erik Raney, the agency’s public information officer. He addressed th


05-27-2005

Girl Scouts from Goleta’s Junior Troop 935 delivered more than 200 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies to the crew of the USS Lassen, a destroyer based in Japan, when it was anchored recently outside the harbor. As part of a community service project, the fourth graders, during their regional cookie sale, encouraged members of the

County split grinds towards a vote
06-03-2005
By Gerald Carpenter, Voice Editorial Director

The journey began in 2003, when a petition was circulated advocating the formation of a new county, to be called Mission County, by the division of Santa Barbara County into two roughly equivalent territories.

Enough signatures were collected, and the petition was valida

Pet Pals Need New Homes
06-03-2005
By Ashley Handlan, Special to the Voice

Are you lonely and in need of companionship? Tired of taking long walks on the beach by yourself? In need of someone to perk you up when you’re down? Look no further, one of several animal shelters in the Goleta area is sure to currently house the perfect furry pet pal you’ve been looking f

Goleta’s sporting life
06-03-2005
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

Sports, food and fun chased away the dreary routines of winter and spring last weekend while excited “teammates” dusted off their seasonal summer uniforms.

The Goleta Dads donned barbecue aprons. The Goleta Moms put on recreational organizing hats. And the Valley’s Boys and Girls raced around local parks like they’d just won the Indy 500.

Over at the Valley Voice, the edi

In memory of the fallen
06-03-2005
At Arlington West, Diane Layfield and Tiffany Hicks sit before the cross representing the life of Travis Layfield, their son and brother, who died in Iraq in May 2004. The installation on West Beach at Stearns Wharf honors America’s 1,660-plus Iraqi War dead.

Photo by Marcy Sutton/Brooks Institute

Wind in their wings
06-10-2005
By Chuck Graham, Special to the Voice

White, downy feathers still clung to their six-foot wingspans. Their sharp, curled talons searched for anything to latch onto. However, these seven bald eaglets have to wait another month in their hack towers before they’re able to soar over Santa Cruz Island.

It’s been half a century sinc

Feeding the wolf at the door
06-10-2005
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, which operates its poverty-fighting program all year long, observed a special occasion on Tuesday - National Hunger Awareness Day.

The warehouse operation at 4554 Hollister Ave. was humming, cars coming and going, volunteers loading food and hous

Good clean fun
06-10-2005

It’s carnival time in Goleta schools again, and these La Patera School students are just a few of the hundreds of children and other family members who had a great time at their school’s recent carnival. Having a wild time in the

Fire Season!
06-17-2005

These blackened stumps are all that remain of a substantial portion of the Ellwood Beach seawall, destroyed when a poorly-tended illegal beach bonfire spread to the oil-soaked timbers. In order to put the fire out, fire fighters had to cut out the pilings with saws and throw them into the ocean. The Forest Service’s season o

“Downing Steet Memo’ raises questions
06-17-2005
By Gerald Carpenter, Voice Editorial Director

The Times of London, on May 1, published the so-called “secret Downing Street memo,” which many analysts are calling strong evidence the Bush administration was determined to attack Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power, months before U.S. troops invaded.

Other British gov

Big wheels keep on turning
06-17-2005

All ages joined in the fun and competition at last weekend’s Bike Fest at Elings Park. Competitors from the 4-8-year-old age group, above left, BMX and mountain bikes riders on the downhill course, celebrate at their awards presentation. A

Graduation !
06-24-2005

Graduates of Dos Pueblos High School parade into the stadium last week to begin ceremonies in which 460 seniors wrapped up their high school careers. Leading the procession are Alisa Lee and Hugo Marquez. Four hundred sixty two San Marcos High School seniors also graduated last week, and Bishop Garcia Diego High Sc

Solstice fever rises
06-24-2005
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

With 100,000 Solstice fans cheering the zany delights of the summer parade up State Street tomorrow, all braving the crowds are guaranteed a wild and wacky experience.

But Santa Barbara’s mayor and the parade’s executive director are about to dismiss at least one unwelcome surprise.

Fine Feathered Friends
06-24-2005

For the past several weeks, folks in the neighborhood around Berkeley and Lexington Avenues in Goleta have been watching two red-shouldered haw

Fairview Fire - a dress rehearsal for summer season
07-01-2005
By Gerald Carpenter, Voice Editorial Director

The first significant fire of what could be a very dangerous fire season broke out last week on Thursday afternoon in some brush-covered property at the top of North Fairview Avenue.

The owner of the property, Bob Lovgren, had hired a crew of workers to clear brush on his overgrown

Neighbors alarmed by day care traffic
07-01-2005
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

A day care center operating on Wakefield Road in Goleta has neighbors concerned enough that they’ve filed an appeal with the City of Goleta. The appeal requests denial of final approval for a Land Use Permit for the business, located at 652 Wakefield.

An application for a Land Use Permit, filed April 22, 2004, by Alma Cabrera, owner of the house, states that the property would

Covering the bases
07-01-2005

All-star team members from the Dos Pueblos Little League were making the rounds last week, thanking supporters and sponsors in the community. At the Valley Voice office are, front row from left, Scott Savage, 11; Daniel Buratto, 9 and Scott Terry, 11. Middle row from left, are Steven Dally, 12; Steven Reveles, 12; Cody King,

A king is born
07-08-2005

Docha, the 12-week-old lion cub at the Santa Barbara Zoo, met the press last Friday, and proved a natural for the camera. He is the son of Zoo residents Gingerbread and Chadwick. Because he was an only cub, he is bigger, smarter and more mature than most baby lions his age, keepers say. In standing on his hind legs, Docha briefl

Elder abuse becoming visible
07-08-2005
By Gerald Carpenter, Voice Editorial Director

The fastest growing part of California’s population consists of people who have passed their 80th birthday.

That number alone should tip us off that our society is operating under a different dynamic than pertained even ten years ago. For one thing, those people who have succeeded in reaching their 80s are, nationwide, abused and neglected at two or three times their pro

Summer evening
07-15-2005

The view from Ellwood Beach, toward a breathtaking midsummer sunset. The year is more than half over, but the beauty of the South Coast emerges day after day.

PHOTO BY SONIA FERNANDEZ

Don’t panic - be prepared
07-15-2005
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

In the aftermath of last week’s terrorist attack on the London transportation system, disaster preparedness is in the news, and on people’s minds.

Several emergency service officials in the South Coast community were matter-of-fact about potential danger, but encouraging about the area’s lev

Sealed and delivered
07-22-2005
By Chuck Graham, Special to the Voice

Beach-goers aren’t the only visitors that frequent the popular swim floats off the city beach in Carpinteria. Unfortunately, sea lions suffering from domoic acid also haul out on the floats to rest once exposed to the deadly toxin.

So when I arrived for work at my lifeguard tower, the

Refugio crash
07-22-2005
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

A major injury traffic accident last week resulted in six members of one family being transported by ambulance and helicopter to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for treatment. Ten firefighters and paramedics from the Santa Barbara County Fire Dept., the California Highway Patrol (CHP

Correction
07-22-2005

In a July 15 story about disaster preparedness, the Valley Voice described a power outage at Cottage Hospital as being 72 hours long. The power outage lasted 70 minutes. The Voice regrets the error.

Big Red pays Earth a call
07-29-2005
By Delia Csipkay, Special to the Voice

Every two years, a bright red object looms above our heads in the heavens. Mars, the fourth planet away from the Sun, is what we see.

Mars, also known as the Red Planet, is brighter than usual now because Earth is moving closer to it.
The phenomenon occurs because every

Little dog survives rollover
07-29-2005
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

A pet Chihuahua named Blackie was rescued from an overturned car and his person escaped with minor injuries, after an accident Tuesday on Highway 101 near Los Carneros Road.

Santa Barbara Fire Dept. paramedics treated Anna Ornelas, 37, for minor injuries after her car overturned on

Jean-Micheal Cousteau: Monitoring the world's oceans from the South Coast
08-05-2005
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Ocean dead zones, greenhouse gases causing a particularly nasty hurricane season, and depletion of the majority of the world’s pelagic fish are only the tip of the iceberg to Jean-Michel Cousteau, president of the local Ocean Futures Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving

Blood bank sweetens the deal with a pint
08-05-2005
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

Blood bank officials are taking a refreshing approach to end a critical summer shortages. Free pints of Haagen-Dazs ice cream will go to each donor through next Friday, August 12.

The creative collaboration with five local Albertsons and Dreyer’s-—the parent company of the gourmet creamy tre

Foresters: baseball diplomacy in Havana
08-12-2005

The Santa Barbara Foresters and the Club de Habana youth team are introduced prior to a game in Havana recently.
Santa Barbara won all three games played in Cuba, two of them over the Cuban Junior National Team.

Photo by Stacy Bloodworth

Vets roll in
08-12-2005

The “Impeachment Bus” rolled onto Cabrillo Boulevard Wednesday afternoon and pulled up to the Veterans Memorial Building, after a road trip that focused on Crawford, Texas, where President Bush is spending a five-week vacation at his ranch. Combat veterans of various conflicts - including Vietnam and Iraq - climbed off, f

Correction
08-12-2005

Last week's cover photo of Jean-Michel Cousteau was taken by Tom Ordway of Ocean Futures Society

Rancho Embarcadero questions growth
08-19-2005
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

Wary homeowners in Rancho Embarcadero, calling themselves Friends of Tecolote Canyon, have banded together to keep an eye on a proposed upscale residential development nearby.

A developer is poised to file a formal application for a luxury home development, on agricultural land ne

Candlelight Vigil
08-19-2005

More than 500 people came together Wednesday evening at the County Courthouse for a candlelight vigil in support of Californian Cindy Sheehan, mother of a soldier who died in Iraq. Sheehan is currently camping on the road to President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Tex.
The gathering was one of more than 1,600 nationwide vigils h

Back to school already? Schools start early this year
08-19-2005

The first day of school is falling exceptionally early at the majority of area schools this year. In most cases, this will allow for a two-week long spring break, rather than the one week that districts have scheduled in the past.
In the Goleta Union School District, the first day of class will be Monday, Aug. 29, for students attending Brandon, El Camino, Ellwood, Foothill, Hollister, Isla Vista, Kellogg, La Pater

Politics lures UCSB students
08-26-2005
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

"Man is by nature a political animal," according to Aristotle, and it is no different in Isla Vista now, than when he made the statement in Greece in the third century B.C.

Students at UCSB are more involved than ever in politics, according to John T. Woolley, who has just assumed the cha

My Heart Thrift Store
08-26-2005
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

Jim Henry gives new meaning to the saying that one person's trash is another's treasure. After all, the Good Land resident has worked in and around thrift stores for two decades.

A while back, he began to look into owning his own treasure trove of other people's giveaways. Henry had the

Away to the South Pacific
08-26-2005

Photographer Brian Lockett writes: "I shot this time exposure from the crest of the Santa Ynez Mountains as a Minuteman III missile was launched on a sub-orbital trajectory toward Kwajalein Atoll from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:01 A.M. this (Thursday) morning. The waning gibbous Moon illuminated the landscape during the

What lies ahead for the Gaviota Coast?
09-02-2005
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

Part One of a two-part series, which will conclude in next week’s edition of the Valley Voice.

The Gaviota Coast - treasured for its ecological riches and agricultural bounty - is the subject of a preliminary report on how to conserve it within its historical context.

The Ga

Plight of the little turtle
09-02-2005
By Chuck Graham, Special to the Voice

I found it in a cramped cardboard box, two days removed from its freshwater habitat.

Some curious kids discovered the lone, female western pond turtle (Clemmys marmorata) at the bottom of Rincon Creek. At least they saved it from going into the ocean, but now it was suffering from deh

Celebrating the new Cottage-to-be
09-02-2005

UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang, Leslie and Peter MacDougall, and Dilling Yang attended the Cottage Hospital Celebration.

Photo by Ramin Rahmanpour

Gaviota Coast: Protecting our natural heritage
09-09-2005
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

This is the second of two parts examining the future of the Gaviota Coast, as outlined in the newly published report and recommendations of the Gaviota Coast Study Group.

The question is: what shall be done with the largely untouched Gaviota Coast, more than 100,000 acres of oceanside ran

Stow House boosters are steppin’ out
09-09-2005
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

The historic grounds around the Stow House will come alive with the glitz and glamour of old Hollywood in two weeks, and area Good Landers are guaranteeing a good time for everyone.

The second annual Puttin’ on the Ritz is an afternoon affair this time around. But past and present stars of

How prepared are you?
09-16-2005
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

Hurricane Katrina’s devastating sweep of the Gulf Coast has delivered a wake-up call to communities across the United States, and the Goleta Valley is paying attention.

The local Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, church groups, civic organizations and individuals are heading to Housto

Construction Zone: Dos Pueblos High
09-16-2005
Major improvements underway; auditorium to break ground

By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

If you’ve been on the Dos Pueblos campus in the last eight months, you’ve probably worked your way down narrowed walkways, around orange plastic construction fences, metal fencing and mounds of dirt as co

Bird bath
09-16-2005

Two pigeons on Goleta Pier take turns - rather peaceably - at a water fountain that was left running one day last week.

PHOTO BY RAMIN RAHMANPOUR

Goodbye to Summer
09-23-2005

The season turned this week, with the arrival of the autumn equinox lending a fiery glow to sunset at Ellwood Beach. We’re sad to see summer go, but we have every confidence it will come back in due course.

PHOTO BY SONIA FERNANDEZ

Enforcement stepped up in school zones
09-23-2005

Officer Don Clotworthy of the California Highway Patrol visits with Isla Vista School kindergartners Giselle Medina, left, Haley Ryckman and Chuy Corona in front of a new banner on campus reminding drivers and children to be extra-alert and cautious now that school has started and traffic has increased around schools.

A

Conception Coast Project stays under the radar to save Gaviota
09-30-2005
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

From San Luis Obispo to Ventura, from Kern County to the Channel Islands, one of Goleta’s well kept secrets is working behind the scenes to help preserve the Gaviota Coast, and to protect other wildlands, too.

The Conception Coast Project (CCP) started out in the 1990s as a meeting o

Fairview Gardens: ‘Fields of Plenty’
10-07-2005
By Gerald Carpenter, Voice Editorial Director

Fairview Gardens’ annual fall harvest festival will do double duty this year.

Starting at 1 p.m. on Sunday, the Gardens will offer not only farm tours, tastings, live music, and their children’s festival, but will celebrate the return of founder Michael Ableman to read from and sig


10-14-2005

A 70-year-old, three-engine turbo-prop amphibious plane visited Santa Barbara Airport this week. According to Brian Lockett of the on-line Goleta Air and Space Museum, the Dornier Do-24ATT was on its way to L.A. and San Diego Harbors, San Francisco Bay and Lake Tahoe as part of a world tour. The vintage bird will return to our a

Land use: beyond community control?
10-21-2005
By Gerald Carpenter, Voice Editorial Director & Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

Community activists are watching moves on the part of county, state, and federal agencies that could add up to a concerted effort to weaken community power in land-use disputes.

The June decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in the matter of Ke

Trick or treat
10-28-2005

The spirit of Halloween is alive, as a little girl and a baby enjoy Lane Farms’ annual Pumpkin Patch, and a parade of costumed kids (bottom) shows off for the neighbors.

Photo by Leslie Schauer

Goleta’s farmers - endangered species?
11-04-2005
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

Mark Twain’s quip - “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over” - may still hold true, as the Goleta Water District contemplates increasing water costs to farmers.

The whiskey actually is not an issue, but the controversy over water use by agriculture is boiling.

On one side are

Report from the ruins
11-11-2005
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

There once was a girl named Katrina.
I never met a girl who was meaner.
She blew into town,
Knocked all my #@&* down,
And now I’m left messing with FEMA.
- St. Bernard’s Parish resident

Newspaper and television images of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina cannot convey

Honoring the fallen
11-18-2005

An expanded Veterans Day observance at Arlington West, next to Stearns Wharf, featured a sand sculpture, created by "Scotty," of a fallen U.S. combatant in Iraq and his comrade. More than two thousand candles were lit at the crosses set up on East Beach — one for every American life lost in the Iraq War. For the first time since

Chargers Win CIF Championship 2nd year in a row
11-25-2005

The Dos Pueblos Chargers celebrate after overwhelming Santa Barbara High, 13-5, Tuesday at UCSB's Campus Pool to win their second consecutive CIF Division 4 Water Polo Championship. Coach Chris Parrish is second from right in rear. The player with "DP" shaved on his head is junior Eric Schwarberg.

GINNY KUGA


A day at the beach
12-02-2005

It’s December, Christmas is just around the corner, and the sandpipers at Ellwood Beach are still savoring the balmy weather, along with all the humans in the Good Land.

Photo by Tim Burgess

David Pu’u: tangled up in Big Blue
12-09-2005
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

David Pu’u is a man who follows his dream, makes a living from it, and gets to travel the world in the process.

Pu’u has been a competitive surfer, switched careers some years ago, and now has international standing as a surf still photographer and filmmaker. His professional life, he sa

Correction
12-09-2005

Well, they looked like sandpipers to us . . . Last week’s cover featured a scenic photograph of birds in the surf, which we identified as sandpipers at Ellwood Beach. Photographer Tim Burgess informs us that the birds were one marbled godwit and several willets, and he took the picture near Ledbetter Point. The Voice regrets the error.


Goleta artists thrive at La Cumbre
12-16-2005
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

For a gift combining pizzazz and a lot of thought, there may be no better place to hunt than at La Cumbre Plaza — especially when you can support local artists and crafters on your merry way.

And for the creative contingent from the Goleta Valley, who have displayed wares in the successful we

Winter Wonderland
12-23-2005

We in the Good Land recognize the blessings of living in a glorious climate. But there’s something to be said for the beauty of winter, shown here in a photo sent from Indiana by the father of Alexandrea Schauer, The Voice’s art director.

COURTESY PHOTO


A Year to Remember: The Voice remembers a momentous year with some of its pictorial highlights.
12-30-2005

Left, Nectarine Park in Goleta's Old Town is rededicated with new play equipment, right, a sand sculpture by an artist who calls himself "Scotty," at West Beach's Arlington West, honors U.S. military personnel killed in combat.


Makeover at the Fairview Center
01-06-2006
Times are changing at Fairview and Chamber

By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

Fairview Center, Goleta’s oldest retail outlet, enters the final phase of its major remodel, with the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce settling into new quarters in the venue this week.

The Chamber has signed a long-term lease in the

Goleta foothills home burns
01-13-2006

An 8,000-square-foot house, still under construction in the Goleta foothills, burned to the ground early Saturday morning. The structure, at 675 Glen Annie Road, was blazing fiercely when Santa Barbara County Fire Dept. units and personnel arrived at the scene, according to Capt. Keith Cullom. Three engines and one truck compan

CORRECTION
01-13-2006

In last week’s Llivin’ in the Good Land feature, the ranch the Parks family lives on was referred to by the wrong name. It is Rancho de los Parks. Also, the family grew barley on property where Earl Warren Showgrounds now stands.

Second District Contenders
01-20-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter and Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

Citizens packed the Goleta Valley Community Center Wednesday evening and listened intently to the four contenders for the 2nd District supervisorial seat who aired their views on a variety of subjects, most related to land use, development and qual

From Goleta to East Africa
01-27-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

When local photographer and fundraiser extraordinare Fritz Pinney went to Kenya a year ago, she and her husband Tom thought they were going there just to celebrate his birthday. What they came back with, however was far more than a few photos of a good time. They came back with a mis

Tragedy in a Small Town: Just the Facts
01-31-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

The Time:

Shortly after 9 p.m. on Monday, January 30, 2006

The Shooter:

Jennifer Sanmarco, 44, originally from New Mexico. Sanmarco was a former employee who worked for the mail processing center at 400 Storke Road for 6 years until 2003.
She was found at the scene, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Victims:

Ze Fairch

Goleta shootings leave eight dead
02-03-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

A typical evening at the U.S. Postal Service processing center on Storke Road ended in carnage Monday night, when a former employee went on a shooting rampage.

Jennifer Sanmarco, 44, firing a 9mm handgun, shot and killed six Postal Service employees, then turned the gun on herself and

A night to remember — with anguish
02-03-2006
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

Some recalled their disbelief on 9/11. Others revisited the night a university student drove into a crowd. Monday’s tragedy again has broken the Good Land’s heart.

By Tuesday, the mourners gathered to pray at St. Raphael’s Church – short miles from the postal processing plant – the scene of six reported murders and one apparent suicide.

Still shaken, Goleta resident Yolanda Pe

Aftermath of a Goleta tragedy
02-10-2006
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

Now that individual funerals for the victims of the Jan. 30 postal shootings have taken place, a memorial service for the entire community is scheduled for Sunday at UCSB.

Responding to the community at large, city and county officials decided to conduct a memorial in the UCSB Events Ce

Goleta recruiting is by the book
02-10-2006
By Gerald Carpenter, Voice Editorial Director

As the war in Iraq persists and other global trouble spots heat up, news reports are warning of possible shortages in recruitment for U.S. armed forces.

How short is the United States military on recruits? For the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2005, according to a repor

Caring, from pocket pets to alpacas
02-17-2006
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

Animal Services of Santa Barbara County provides a wide range of services for both people and animals throughout the region, including the Goleta Valley.

Not only does the agency pick up stray, injured or abused animals, it houses them and works to find homes for them.

It’s most comm

A legacy of Goleta's rich history
02-24-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

The year was 1989, and the newly widowed Barbara Tompkins was in her San Roque home, going through the effects of her late husband, renowned local historian Walker Tompkins.

“A friend of the printer (who had printed some of Tompkins’ books) was here and said, ‘your husband sure was pr

Protest at Colin Powell speech
02-24-2006

As a sold-out audience filed into the Arlington Theatre Friday night to hear Army Gen. Colin Powell, retired Secretary of State, speak on the topic “Leadership,” anti-war and anti-administration protestors demonstrated outside on the sidewalk.

Talkin' Turkey
03-03-2006

Two wild turkeys visit a cul de sac in western Goleta. Residents Tony and Joan Galvan have named the pair “Seymore” and “Frances.” The birds, according to the Galvans, trek down from Bell Canyon to visit, and “probably spend two to three hours in the gobbling mating call routine.”

PHOTO BY ANTHONY GALVAN III

03-10-2006

“Inspiration Point, Anacapa Island,” by Goleta artist Kate Yarbrough, is among the paintings on view at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art, in honor of the 25th anniversary of Channel Islands National Park. The exhibit runs through May 29.

- COURTESY IMAGE

Here comes Spring, and the Cookies
03-17-2006
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

Businesses all over town are rolling out the red carpet for local Girl Scouts; follow the trail of crumbs, and you’ll find cases of the classic cookies at a sidewalk near you.

In honor of National Girl Scout Month, some 70 troops from Carpinteria to Goleta are out selling a century’s worth of

Growing the Future
03-24-2006

Students of Goleta Family School, together with some Foothill School fourth and sixth graders, participated recently in Common Vision’s Fruit Tree Tour. The Goleta students, with the help of facilitators, dug holes, prepared roots and planted a variety of fruit trees in open space between the school’s fence and the sidewalk on

Junior Misses Excel
03-31-2006
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

Andrea Matthews and Erika Martin del Campo were named Junior Miss Scholars for the Class of 2007 at the recent countywide competition at La Colina Junior High School. The two young women will represent Santa Barbara at the California Junior Miss Scholarship Competition this August in Rohn

Major crash sends two to hospital
03-31-2006

Firefighters, paramedics and California Highway Patrol officer work to extricate the driver and treat a passenger of a Mercury Capri that crashed into a tree just south of Fairview Avenue off of southbound Hwy. 101 Wednesday morning, after apparently swerving to avoid another vehicle. Both driver and passenger, critically injur

A New Era for Bald Eagles
04-07-2006
By Chuck Graham, Special to the Voice

For the first time in more than 50 years, bald eagles have laid eggs in the Channel Islands National Park. The last known successful nesting of bald eagles in the northern Channel Islands took place in 1949 on the sheer cliffs of Anacapa Island.
A nest with two eggs was recently discovered

Rainy Days
04-07-2006

Two hardy souls trudge the sands of Goleta Beach on Wednesday, during a brief break in a powerful storm system that continued to sweep the South Coast. The major storm, unusual for April, brought more than four inches of rain, with another couple of inches forecast before the storm was expected to dissipate last night. Reser

Serlet bids Goleta farewell
04-14-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

On Luci Romero Serlet’s desk at Goleta City Hall, there sits a box frame. Inside is a city employment application with her name carefully printed on it. Outside, on the glass, is a metal plate, engraved with “Break in Case of Emergency” — just in case she wants her old job back.

Afte

Wrecks lie along Central Coast
04-14-2006
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

Coastal life provides a variety of treasures from the Pacific Ocean: whale watching, building sand castles — and occasionally encountering a dramatic reminder from the past.

A whole day whips past walking the wharf in Santa Barbara and the pier in Goleta, or trying one’s luck with a fish

Flying Fortress visits Goleta
04-21-2006

The Flying Fortress “Aluminum Overcast,” a restored B-17 bomber, visited the area earlier this week as part of a national tour. The plane, built in 1944, was delivered to the Army Air CThe Flying Fortress “Aluminum Overcast,” a restored B-17 bomber, visited the area earlier this week as part of a national tour. The plane, built

Goleta’s Housing Element returned for revision
05-21-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Goleta's General Plan experienced a glitch recently when the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) refused to certify the city's Housing Element and returned it for revision.

The Housing Element, one of the more controversial elements of the General Plan, needs to conform with the state-mandated allocation of 2,388 homes specifically planned for b

Tough medicine: Seniors struggle as deadline for Medicare drug plan nears
04-28-2006
By Margo Kline, Voice Managing Editor

Seniors, most with a lifetime of education, experience and competence, are colliding with Medicare Plan D — the prescription drug plan — and coming away baffled and often annoyed.

May 15 is the deadline to sign up for the plan, presented by the Bush administration as a way to help people

Tough medicine: Pharmacist’s view: ‘utter confusion’
04-28-2006
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

As owner of Sansum Clinic Pharmacy on Pueblo Street in Santa Barbara, pharmacist Steve Cooley has had a front-row seat on the implementation of Medicare Plan D: His assessment of its consequences: “utter confusion.”

“It’s far too complicated for the elderly population,” he said earl

Thar she blows
05-05-2006

Jennifer Irwin, 21, of Palm Springs was backing her pickup truck out of a driveway on El Colegio Road in Isla Vista when she struck a fire hydrant Tuesday morning and sheared it off, sending a plume of water shooting 40 to 50 feet into the air. CHP officers routed traffic around the geyser until Goleta Water District workers a

City eyes Old Town facelift
05-05-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Storefronts along Hollister Avenue in Old Town might soon get a makeover, with the help of a Store Front Façade Improvement Program, if it gets final approval by the city’s Redevelopment Agency.

“The whole intention of the Redevelopment Agency is the elimination of blight,” said City Manager Dan Singer. Old Town revitalization has long been a priority for the city, and, say cr

A gathering place
05-12-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Crews collect native seeds on Ellwood Mesa for future restoration projects

Amid the knee-high grasses of Ellwood Mesa they fanned out — a handful of people with brown paper bags and a mission: to collect seeds native to the mesa for future restoration purposes.

“There’s alw

A ‘debt’ paid with service
05-12-2006
By Jeff Jones, Voice Staff Reporter

Leticia Spaethe of Goleta was just 6 in 1956 when the American Red Cross came to her family’s rescue in her native Guatemala.

“I still don’t know what was going on,” she said. “First my mom was so sick she couldn’t see. My sister and me had chicken pox, my brother was going to lose his leg

Home to roost: New Bird Island a hit with flocks
05-19-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Despite concerns that they wouldn’t return, the birds that called “Bird Island” home before its demolition and subsequent reconstruction are back.

“They are indeed,” said Darlene Chirman, Santa Barbara chapter president of the Audubon Society. “Even as early as January, during constru

Aging U.S. sees rise in abuse of the elderly
05-19-2006
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor
It would appear to be a sad fact that as the population of this country ages, abuse of the elderly grows right along with it.

We tend to think of abuse as physical, but it’s much more, say Santa Barbara County officials and social service workers.

The mistreatment can also be financial or emotional; anything involving the neglect, isolation, abandonment or abduction of a

Planning commission proposal widely hailed
05-26-2006
Goleta’s likely creation of an agency separate from the City Council draws strong praise from across the spectrum

By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

The city council’s plan to establish a separate planning commission has met with widespread approval — from the development and business communities to environm

Decisions slow rush for more housing
05-26-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Community members opposed to the high-density housing plans for the unincorporated area of the Goleta Valley have taken two major steps towards their goal.

The County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a work plan that would, after years of community effort, update the East Goleta Valley’s outdated community plan. The next day, the county Planning Commission took the bulk

Foul-smelling flowers are stinking up a garden near you
06-02-2006
By John Bury, Voice Correspondent

The carrion flower Dracunculus vulgaris is surprisingly common in Goleta gardens. The dramatic purple and black flowers look like something evil from another planet and their truly awful smell attracts considerable attention from flies and from people. Sometimes called voodoo lilies or dragon pl

Farmers spared water rate hike
06-09-2006
But district imposes 4% increase on all other users effective July 1

By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

In an unexpected move, the Goleta Water District spared farmers and ranchers from a 4 percent rate increase approved for all other customers Wednesday night. The 5-0 vote made the increase effective July 1.

The board of directors had considered raising rates for all customers, and had indicate

Cannons boomerang back home
06-09-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

In true Goleta fashion, locals gathered under the shade of a tree and sipped lemonade on the grounds of the Sexton Museum to celebrate the recent acquisition of the five cannons that were found on Goleta Beach a quarter of a century ago.

“Goleta now has finalized its Star Wars program,

The semi-secret garden
06-16-2006
A patch of Eden thrives with church’s blessing

By Jim Logan, Voice Managing Editor

On the day dozens of police officers were forcibly evicting urban farmers and celebrity activists from a community garden on private property in Los Angeles, Ben Torres ambled about his tidy beds of tomatoes, berries, beets and strawberri

Low tide in I.V.
06-26-2006
With the annual exodus of UCSB students, the community slouches into mellow mode

By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Finals are over. Diplomas have been handed out. Moving vans roll in and out of neighborhoods, and the streets slowly empty of the young men and women who have walked, biked and partied there for the l

A full 4th in Goleta
06-30-2006
From Stow House to Girsh Park, there's no shortage of good, clean fun

By India Allen, Voice Correspondent

Usually placid Goleta will be busting at the seams with activities and celebrations this 4th of July.

With two major local events on the calendar there won’t be a dull moment. The 32nd Annual Old Fashioned 4th of July celebration at Stow House and the Fireworks Show at Girsh Park are sure to entertain th

What's happening
06-30-2006

An Old Fashined Fourth of July at Stow House, 304 N. Los Carneros Rd., 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

July 4th Fun Fair at Elks Club, 150. N. Kellogg Ave., 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

July 4th Parade at State and Micheltorena, 1 p.m.

Goleta Fireworks and Festival at Girsh Park, 4 - 9:30 p.m.

Patriotic Concert at the Courthouse Sunken Gardens, 5 p.m.

A Family 4th of

In the zone, on the bubble
07-07-2006

By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

The businesses on South Kellogg Avenue next to the railroad tracks may escape the results of a potential rezoning to a residential designation if they can prove themselves a “model industrial area.”

Keysite 2, an area north of Hollister Avenue abutting the Southern Pacific tracks, is

Digital Days of Summer: Camp gives young auteurs hands-on experience in filmmaking
07-14-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

For a handful of local kids, summer isn’t just a time to while away the days hanging out at the park, the beach or at a friend’s house. Summer’s also the time to grab a video camera and a microphone and indulge in the fine art of digital filmmaking.

“The [production] process used

Beat the heat
07-21-2006
It’s the middle of summer — do you know where your beach is?

It’s the middle of summer and, if you’re normal, you’d rather be someplace other than work. Bora Bora, maybe? Trekking the Inca Trail?

Right, but you’re here, so you need an alternative. Our suggestion: hit the beach.
If you’ve lived here longer than fi

License to Drill?
07-28-2006
Venoco airs its plan for 40 new wells in protected waters off Ellwood

By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Venoco’s proposal to drill 40 new wells under protected waters off Ellwood got its first public airing this week and the response was less than enthusiastic.

Environmentalists, community leaders and resident

Corrections
07-28-2006

Bill Macfadyen’s name was misspelled in a caption in last week’s issue. The Voice, which is edited by a guy who used to work with Bill, is mortified by the error.

Refugio, as in the beach, also was misspelled in a caption last week. Regrets, we’ve got a few.


Kick up your heels: It's time for that little party in Santa Barbara
08-04-2006
Friday

El Desfile Histórico/Parade: Noon. The Fiesta Historical Parade, one of the largest equestrian parades in the United States, will start at the west end of Cabrillo Boulevard, proceed east along the beach to State Street, then up State to Sola Street. Televised live on KEYT Channel 3.

Stock Horse Show & Rodeo (Comp

Goleta girl hopping as Junior Spirit
08-04-2006
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

Olivia Villalovos, a resident of Goleta and a devoted dance student for seven of her 10 years, has been incredibly busy this Fiesta making an average of eight different appearances a day, said her mother Christina.

Olivia, a fifth-grader at Mountain View School, was named Junior Spirit of Fiesta early in April after competing in flamenco dance on stage, being interviewed and at

Yes, we have bananas
08-11-06
By John Bury

Banana trees, dramatic and exotic with their huge swaying leaves, are surprisingly common in Goleta gardens. Tall plants in back yards often reach high over rooftops, and if there are enough of them they give the whole neighborhood a tropical feel. A few varieties that grow well here also produce excellent sweet frui

Correction
08-11-2006

Steve De St. Jean, who was named defensive MVP in the county all-star football game, represented Cabrillo High. His school was misstated in last week’s edition.


Coyote summer
08-18-2006
After two years of wet weather,
the wily survivor is everywhere in Goleta. Do you know where your pets are?

By Jim Logan, Voice Managing Editor

It was just a twilight jaunt around the neighborhood for Debby Sherman and her two young Chihuahua mixes, Brody and Brandon. Stopping near the tennis courts at the Evergree

The new killing fields?
08-25-2006
For elk and deer herds on Santa Rosa Island, the future appears grim

By Chuck Graham In a controversy that’s bound to surge toward their complete removal by 2011, the Channel Islands National Park and the Vail & Vickers Ranch on Santa Rosa Island, are discussing what to do with non-native herds of Kaibab mule deer an

Where there's smoke, there's research
09-01-2006
A controlled burn at UCSB’s Lagoon Island targets invasive plants

By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

The smoke you saw and smelled Wednesday? It was from a controlled burn at UCSB’s Lagoon Island, conducted jointly by the university and the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

As part of a larger restoration pr

Boxed in, duking it out
09-08-2006
John Douglas has no illusions about where he lives.

“It’s a tin box,” he said of his mobile home, located at the Rancho Mobile Home Park on Hollister in western Goleta.

And yet he was willing to pay the approximately $129,000 for his tin box, if it meant that he could live somewhat comfortably on the South Coast and pursue his

Families on the edge: Evictions from an I.V. apartment building by mysterious new owners have residents scrambling
09-15-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Ten-year-old Paulina Silva remembers the day.

“We had just started school,” said the Isla Vista Elementary sixth-grader. “My mom started being weird, and so I asked her what was wrong.”

And that’s when she found out her family and fifty-four others were being evicted from their homes a

It's time to know your place
09-22-2006
Windows of Light
09-29-2006
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

When the rebuilding of the sanctuary of Goleta Presbyterian Church was completed in late 2001, it was time to plan for the windows, which at that point were clear glass. The church’s aesthetics committee, formed prior to the design and construction of the new sanctuary, swung into action o

Let the (planning) games begin
10-06-2006
Goleta finally has its General Plan, but where does it go from here?

By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

After four years of wrangling, months of rewriting and hundreds of hours of public meetings, Goleta’s General Plan has finally been adopted. But, as many have noted, it’s only the beginning.

“I have great joy,” co

A royal step up in class
10-13-2006
By Mike Wondolowski

In the 208-page media guide for the California Golden Bears you’ll find an avalanche of statistics on everything from rushing yards to passes broken up. But nowhere will you find a single tidbit tracking the performance of offensive linemen, the anonymous workhorses of the game.

However, one of these workhor

A tart weekend of family fun for all
10-20-2006
Food, car show, music and more to fill Girsh Park

By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

It’s that time of year again: the Lemon Festival is on, and, say the event’s organizers, it’s bigger and better.
“We have a lot of people that return every year,” said Megan Hilton from the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce, “and

Creepy, kooky, spooky
10-27-2006
By Jim Logan, Voice Managing Editor

If you were a kid you’d want to go to Clay Dickens’ house for Halloween. And not just for the full-size candy bars.

Dickens, like his neighbors George and Christy Gutierrez and Gino and Wenda Pagliaro, loves Halloween.

All you have to do is look at their houses to see it. All three familie

A look at the Goleta City Council candidates
11-03-2006
Michael Bennett

Bennett’s name may be familiar to those who were around during Goleta’s 1993 drive for cityhood; he was elected Goleta’s mayor. A retired battalion chief for the county Fire Department who served 36 years, Bennett has been living in the community for about as long.
He is on the board of the Goleta Valle

Meet the Water Board Candidates
11-03-2006
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

Five candidates are running for two open seats on the board of the Goleta Water District.
Bert Bertrando, Jack Cunningham, Craig Geyer, Laurie Kurilla and Jack Ruskey have all tossed their hats in the ring, hoping to influence future policy of the district.

The Goleta Water District, a multimillion-dollar operation, serves approximately 75,000 people from the Santa Barbara

City Council takes a turn
11-10-2006
Clear wins by Bennett, Onnen signal a more business-friendly direction

By Sonia Fernandez and Martha Lannan, The Valley Voice

Big changes are afoot for Goleta, now that Michael Bennett and Eric Onnen, with a strong lead, have been elected to the City Council, displacing Margaret Connell and Jack Hawxhurst.
For starter

Council reversal stuns residents
11-17-2006
‘Conditional’ support of UCSB housing plan called tactical move
by city officials

By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Neighbors who applauded the city council for its efforts two weeks ago regarding UCSB’s proposed faculty housing project booed them Monday for voting to support the university’s plans, albei

Time’s up for many families
11-24-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

The clock is ticking for the remaining residents of the Cedarwood apartments at 6626 Picasso Road in Isla Vista. Today is the deadline for the Section 8 residents to move out and Dec. 4 is when the rest of the tenants are expected to leave.

“A lot of them don’t really have a place to go y

Airport wetlands work takes off
12-01-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

After years of planning and months of construction, and despite uproar from Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper and the city of Goleta, the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport is about halfway through its runway relocation project.

The mounds of dirt visible from Los Carneros Road and Hollister Aven

Home for the Holidays
12-08-2006
Hardy Monarch butterflies return to Ellwood grove after long, mysterious migration

By Chuck Graham

The strongest migrant butterfly in the world is back.

It’s difficult to imagine something so fragile, elegant and paper thin as the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) enduring an annual 1,000- to 3,000-mile migrati

Immersion learning
12-15-2006
New program gives every Goleta third-grader lessons in water safety

By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

The enthusiasm of one third-grader is contagious. Put an entire school’s third graders together and you’ll have an enormous, 4-foot-tall cheering squad.

That’s what Ellwood Elementary School’s third-graders beca

There's no place like home for the holidays
12-22-2006

Caption: A winter day at Painted Cave.

Photo copyright Lorrie Morris

2006: Looking Back
12-29-2006
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

2006 was a year of change in the Good Land, to be sure. Some of it was welcome, the rest not so, and most of it really depends on whom you talk to. One thing is for sure: at four years old, Goleta is no longer the little town it used to be.

Tragedy

The city was

Showtime!
01-05-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Valley Voice Staff Writer

The marquee isn’t up yet but people are already lining up to catch a flick at Goleta’s newest movie theater.

Actually, Fairview Theater’s been in town for a while under the family-run Metropolitan Theaters Corp. — since 1967, to be exact, but the building is brand-spanking new.

“

UCSB East Gate comes full circle
01-12-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

UCSB is greeting its visitors and returning students with an nearly completed roundabout at its East Entrance. Aside from softening the visual impact of the recently built Nanosystems Institute building upon approach to the campus, the roundabout also allows for more landscaping and smoot

Getting in, getting out
01-12-2007

Using a roundabout is actually pretty easy, even if you’ve never used one before.

1. Approach with caution, and slow down if necessary. Watch for pedestrians and cyclists.

2. You probably won’t need to stop when you get to the roundabout, but prepare to yield to traffic already moving there. Wait for a gap in traffic.

3. Once inside, don’t stop except to avoid an accident. You have right of way so keep moving

Home sweet Goleta
01-19-2007
By Jim Logan, Voice Managing Editor

Not long ago I ran out of gas and went to the Shell station at Fairview and Calle Real. I asked the guy in the office if I could borrow a gas can.

Sorry, he said. All he had was a one-gallon can he could sell me.

I already had a couple at home and really didn’t want to buy another. I hesita

The coldest classroom on Earth
01-26-2007
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

Peggy Lubchenco, a Goleta Valley resident and science teacher at La Colina Junior High School, has seen a lot of the world, but she’d never been to Antarctica — before November, that is. In the fall she spent a month on the most southerly continent on earth — a phenomenal experience, she s

The Longest Yards
02-02-2007
By Jim Logan, Voice Managing Editor

In his Dos Pueblos hat and hoodie, Brad Ebner sits at his mom’s kitchen table looking nothing like a kid who cheated death. His eyes are clear, even if they wander at times, and he smiles constantly. Even his head, when he takes off his ball cap, shows no sign that surgeons removed a piece of h

The long good-bye
02-09-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Sal Rodriguez, for decades the mentor to countless youngsters in Goleta, is leaving the building.

Well, not entirely. Rodriguez, who is stepping down from his post as Executive Director for the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Barbara in August, is planning to stay on part-time, but already

A future paved with uncertainty
02-16-2007
With 265-acre More Mesa on the block for a cool $110 million, preserving it won't come cheap

By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

The prime parcel of blufftop land that is More Mesa went on the market last month after more than two decades of ownership under J. Earl Holding of Utah, but it’s still unclear what the fa

Where the wild things are
02-23-2007
By Chuck Graham

The air is thick with the sweet, fragrant scent of purple lupine. Nothing can penetrate the refreshing mountain aroma that can stop you in your tracks while driving through the wildflowers on the steep, sweeping slopes of Figueroa Mountain.

Located off Highway 154, 45 minutes northeast of Goleta, Figueroa Moun

A whole new game
03-02-2007
Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

For Dede Davidson, it’s all about following your bliss.

“You’ve got to be happy with what you do,” she said. For Davidson, that was (and still is) bowling.

“It’s the enjoyment of winning,” she said. “I like that sense of being intense.”

While most of us take bowling as sort of a fun fam

City acts to alter General Plan
03-09-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

The new majority on the Goleta City Council took its first step toward revising the city’s General Plan that could make it easier to build residential and commercial projects, a prospect both cheered and feared in the Good Land.

Developers eager for a revision to the city’s General Plan

DP Jazz Choir: Kind of blue (and gold)
03-16-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

When you hear it you’ll know what it is: “Take the ‘A’ Train,” by jazz great Duke Ellington. It’s hard to miss the song that became his signature tune, emulated over and over again by jazz musicians everywhere.

Only it’s not a brass section quoting that legendary tune, it’s a chorus of v

A call to put on the brakes
03-23-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Goleta City Council members got an earful from the community Monday as locals, many incensed by proposed changes to the planning process, sounded off.

“To have no limits is a recipe for disaster,” said outgoing Design Review Board member Ed Easton, about the proposed relaxing of design a

Firefighter answers final call
03-30-2007
By Martha Lannan
Voice Community Editor

If there’s one thing Capt. Keith Cullom is, it’s consistent. As far back as junior high school, Cullom, 56, had developed a strong interest in firefighting as a career and in photography. Now, more than 40 years later, Cullom is retiring from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department afte

Council backs plans for creek
04-06-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Long-awaited improvements to San Jose Creek’s capacity took another step towards fruition Monday as the Goleta City Council took a look at the Draft Mitigated Negative Declaration/Environmental Assessment document for the project.

San Jose Creek, a portion of which runs through Old Town,

A fresh Voice for Goleta
04-13-2007
By Jim Logan, Voice Managing Editor

Redesigning a newspaper is a lot like remodeling your house. It takes way longer than you expected. It costs more. It’s really messy. You and the contractor disagree. You and your partners start to get on each others’ nerves; one more change and you’re gonna burn the whole thing down.

And the

A driven man
04-20-2007
By Jim Logan, Voice Managing Editor

For men of a certain age, Jim Moloney’s house is a temple, a place filled with the relics of the one true religion in America: the automobile.

Walk into the garages that hold his seven cars and it’s almost too much. Nearly every square foot of space is filled with cars: real ones, models, pho

Forces collide in push for quick change
04-27-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

Potential changes to creek maintenance standards, coastal bluff setbacks and big box development policies are on the city planners’ priority list for the General Plan. Labeled “fast-track,” the 12 proposed amendments handed in by staff allow for more flexibility in the plan, a notion decri

Thirst for knowledge
05-04-2007
By Jim Logan, Voice Managing Editor

So one night you’re sitting around the house and you develop a thirst. You don’t want water, soda or milk. You want a drink.

What do you do? Do you really want to schlep down to the State Street drunk and stupid zone?

No.
You look around and think, “Now what?”

Which is exactly wha

Correction
05-04-2007
“Secrets of Cell Phones,” a class targeted towards seniors who want to know more about their cell phones and phone plans, is TODAY. Class runs from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Wake Center, 300 N. Turnpike Ave.


A sea change in global warming
05-11-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

The ocean, one of our biggest protectors against the greenhouse effect, might not be as efficient or predictable in mitigating global warming as previously believed.

The results of a recent study, published recently in the journal Science, found that contradictory to conventional wisdom, t

Correction
05-11-2007

In last week’s article on Cabrillo Business park, the total number of jobs estimated tobe brought in as a result of the business park should have been 1400.

Also, access roads will be built to the park from Hollister and Los Carneros.

On tap: Costco gas station
05-18-2007
Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

The long-awaited Costco gasoline station may finally become a reality, as the city prepares to hold a public meeting on its draft environmental impact report Monday.

The proposed gas station would take up approximately 10,800 square feet in the Camino Real Marketplace between Costco and CompU

Water rate changes get icy reception
05-25-2007
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

A standing-room-only crowd packed a Goleta Water District hearing about raising water meter charges Tuesday night and approximately 40 speakers — farmers and residential customers alike — bluntly expressed their reasons for opposing the increases.

“There is a lot more work to do before i

Council to wade into creek project
06-01-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

The Goleta City Council/Planning Agency will be conducting a public hearing on the proposed San Jose Creek Capacity Improvement Project on Monday at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

The project aims to modify the existing concrete channel that lines San Jose Creek, which runs through the eastern part

Project BudBurst is recruiting the public to observe, record plant growth — and maybe keep an eye on climate change
06-08-2007
By Matt Wilson

Now that the scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have concluded that the warming of our globe is “unequivocal,” many have asked the question, “How are organisms and natural processes responding?”

Project BudBurst, initiated this year by the National Phenology Network, has set out to provid

Something new in Old Town
06-15-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

Willow Creek Townhomes in Old Town Goleta officially opened to the public last week, becoming the first new housing development in the city since the housing moratorium several years ago.

“I think it’s an important first step,” said Council Member Eric Onnen, who also does business in the

Plans for giant house in limbo
06-22-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Reporter

After hours of testimony Tuesday afternoon, the county Board of Supervisors postponed a final decision on an appeal made by the Gaviota Coast Conservancy on a 13,000 square-foot home planned for a rural area along the Gaviota Coast.

“This is the worst mess I’ve ever seen in my history wi

A hometown 4th
06-29-2007
Go ahead, party like it's 1776

The skies above Goleta will once again be ablaze in honor of Independence Day, this coming Wednesday.

According to History.com, there were 2.5 million people living in the colonies in July 1776. This July 4th, the projected number of U.S. residents will be 304 million. There will certainly

A question of cash flow
07-06-2007
Monday’s meeting is public’s last chance to comment on planned rate changes

By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

A hearing Monday will be the last chance for members of the public to have their say about propsed rate increases in the Goleta Water District and to deliver written protests.
Increases ranging fro

Party central, in its dotage
07-13-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

Traditionally a farming town, Goleta has always been the less glamorous sister to Santa Barbara. This was true even in the earliest days of the community, when well-heeled Goletans would take the hour trip south in their horses and buggies or Model Ts to attend some swanky event in SB.

Tha

A stinging endorsement
07-20-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

Don Cole stands in a small clearing at the edge of an organic vegetable field just west of Highway 217. Around him, hundreds of thousands of bees are flying, crawling and buzzing as Cole, barehanded, pries a frame out of one of several stacks of boxes. It’s crawling with bees. The insects, c

A dream come true
07-27-2007
By Martha Lannan, Voice Community Editor

Virgil Elings was first in the water at the Elings Aquatic Center last week, surprising the crowd gathered to celebrate the completion of the project on the Dos Pueblos High School campus.

Elings, a physicist, philanthropist and major donor to the project, unexpectedly took the microphon

Born to dance: Goleta's Marissa Cordero steps out as Junior Spirit of Fiesta
08-03-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

With a megawatt smile and more poise than many ladies twice her age, Goleta girl Marissa Cordero is ready to stamp and clap her way through Fiesta as this year’s Junior Spirit.
“Happy,” is the word Marissa uses to describe how she feels when she dances. “I just like doing it.”

Marissa i

Viva la Fiesta!
08-03-2007
Friday

El Desfile Histórico/Parade: Noon. The Fiesta Historical Parade, one of the largest equestrian parades in the U.S., will start at the west end of Cabrillo Boulevard, proceed east along the beach to State Street, then up State to Sola Street. Televised live on Channel 3.

Stock Horse Show & Rodeo (Competencia De Los Vaqueros/Rodeo): 7:30 a.m. and noon at Earl Warren Showgrounds. At 7:30 a.m. riders compete

Pipe dreams
08-10-07
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

Venoco will, sooner or later, have to stop shipping its oil by barge and use a pipeline. When they do it is the sticky issue.

The city of Goleta and local environmentalists want it to happen sooner.

“For many years the county and community have been trying to get (Venoco) to transport t

Fertile ground for neighborly dispute
08-17-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

How can a farm coexist with a suburb? That is the classic Goleta conundrum that Fairview Gardens is going to have to tackle as it wrestles with its own needs vs. those of the neighborhood that’s grown around them.

Representatives of the 12-acre organic farm at 598 N. Fairview Ave., appeare

Robbery brings drama to Old Town
08-24-2007
By Jim Logan, Voice Managing Editor

An armed robbery shut down a slice of Old Town for five hours Monday as heavily armed Sheriff’s deputies surrounded the Sizzler restaurant near Hollister and Kellogg avenues.
The suspect, however, was captured across the street in the parking lot of the Toyota dealership after being spotted

Farm gets clean bill of health
08-31-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

A surprise inspection of Fairview Gardens by the city last Wednesday put to rest some — but not all — of the concerns held by critical neighbors of the 12.5 acre urban organic farm at 598 N. Fairview Ave.

“We did a very thorough inspection,” said Steve Chase, Goleta’s director of planning

Filling in a deep history
09-07-2007
By Justin Ruhge

Goleta and its neighbors at the Santa Barbara Airport, UCSB and Isla Vista have had a long association of their history and identity with the sea. This is because they are located around the Goleta Slough, which in prehistory and Spanish times was a large inland waterway that was open to the sea, depending on the

Flash points
09-14-2007
By Sonia Fernandez, Voice Staff Writer

The Zaca fire might be over, but as Capt. Eli Iskow of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department says, “There’s always more.”

If there’s anything that the burning of the 240,207 acres of forest has taug