Police boost I.V. patrol for Halloween

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Local law enforcement agencies are significantly stepping up their presence in and around Isla Vista this weekend in anticipation of a Halloween celebration that will be predictably rowdy.
According to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, 231 arrests were made in Isla Vista during last year’s Halloween celebration and 411 citations were issued, the majority of which were alcohol related.


Isla Vista is renowned for its Halloween festivities, which consistently draw as many as 30,000 people to the seaside college enclave.
This number of revelers nearly doubles the town’s population of roughly 17,000. And year-after-year, trouble accompanies the party.
“Many don’t realize that the Halloween celebration in I.V. is far from glamorous,” said Drew Sugars, a public information officer for the Sheriff’s Department. “Alcohol poisonings, sexual assaults, drunken fights and unruly crowds are just some of the difficult tasks deputies face in the early morning hours, much of it simply too graphic to be shown in print or on television.”
Sugars said the most challenging time for law enforcement arrives after 1 a.m.; long after news crews have called it quits.
Sugars said the Sheriff’s Department, with the help of several other agencies, will have more than 200 officers on the streets over the weekend.
“Due to the danger posed to people and the impact on the community, the Sheriff’s Department will continue its policy of maximum enforcement during the Halloween weekend,” he said.
The increased law enforcement presence doesn’t come cheap to taxpayers.
In 2006, the Sheriff’s Department budgeted $228,000 to cover the one weekend event.
Sugars emphasized the Sheriff’s Department won’t tolerate underage drinking, saying mobile booking units will be set up to handle the large number of intoxicated people.
Avoid the 12, a multi-agency effort to battle drunken driving, is allocating four extra patrol cars with the sole purpose of preventing intoxicated drivers from entering or leaving Isla Vista.
Sugars said patrols around Isla Vista and Goleta will also be stepped-up to battle drunken driving.
A statement from the Sheriff’s Department didn’t say if any roads around Isla Vista would be closed, though in the past, several road closures have occurred. Attempts to reach Sugars for comment on road closures were not successful.
Sugars said parking will once again be extremely limited in Isla Vista, with all cars barred from parking on Del Playa Drive from 5 p.m. today until 8 a.m. on Sunday.
The California Highway Patrol announced yesterday it will conduct a sobriety checkpoint tomorrow in the Goleta area.
During a DUI checkpoint last year, the CHP made eight drunken driving arrests. The checkpoint will be operated from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. The location of the checkpoint has not yet been announced.

While Isla Vista is a major focus of local agencies, CHP officials urge parents to keep a close eye on young children as well.
“Halloween is an exciting event for children, but streets are dark and traffic is heavy,” said CHP Capt. Jeff Sgobba. “While children are putting on their costumes, parents should remind them about basic pedestrian safety — stay with parents or a group, cross at the corner and check for traffic before crossing the street.”
Sgobba said the most effective way to keep children safe is to accompany them house to house.
He said parents should also take precautions to ensure costumes are safe. One way Sgobba said this could be accomplished is to attach reflective tape to costumes, and encourage children to wear makeup rather than masks to increase range of vision.
“This day can be a time of fun and fantasy for children,” Sgobba said. “Don’t let it turn into a tragedy. Make safety a priority as you go from door-to-door.”

Beach water quality testing in jeopardy

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Surfers, swimmers and beachgoers have long enjoyed the benefits of water quality monitoring at Santa Barbara County’s most popular beaches, getting the heads-up when bacteria levels hit unhealthy levels.
That warning system came into jeopardy recently, when both the state and county cut funding for the testing program due to budget shortfalls.
But with the help of a local nonprofit organization and the city of Santa Barbara, data on water quality at local beaches will remain available to beachgoers, at least through the winter.

“We want them to have that information so they can make smart decisions about when to go in the water and when to stay out,” said Kira Redmond, executive director of Santa Barbara Channelkeeper.
The organization is pitching in thousands of dollars to ensure beach monitoring continues at 12 local beaches.
Santa Barbara city officials also made a decision to pick up the slack by testing at main creek discharge areas — Arroyo Burro Beach, Leadbetter Beach, and East Beach at Mission and Sycamore creeks.
“It’s additional work for us, but we felt that it was providing important information to the community so we shifted a few things around,” said City Creeks Manager Cameron Benson.
County officials, facing a major budget crisis, cut their funding for winter testing during their latest budget cycle. Gov. Schwarzenegger recently dropped state funding for monitoring during spring, summer and fall months, although the state’s Water Resources Control Board is looking into alternate funding sources.
As a result, the county’s Environmental Health Services stopped taking water samples at local beaches for the first time in more than a decade. Attempts to contact officials involved with the monitoring program yesterday were not successful.
A statement on the county’s website notes the weekly testing is being discontinued due to a loss of funding. The latest results date back to Oct. 6.
Since 1996, the county has been testing along its coastline at the most frequented locations — particularly those near creeks or outfall areas. In recent years, specialists have been taking samples at 20 beaches from Jalama to Rincon.
State law has required testing during the summer for more than a decade — AB411 passed in 1997 and mandated that beaches with storm drains that are visited by more than 50,000 people per year be monitored from April to October.
But the county went above and beyond, testing during winter months when better waves draw more surfers and inclement weather results in more runoff.
So when Redmond learned that the county was cutting their funding for the winter, she said Channelkeeper began planning to step in and cover testing from November to March.
“It’s not real smart to be cutting it when there’s more rain and more people in the water,” she said.
The second blow came when Gov. Schwarzenegger withdrew approximately $1 million used by the state Department of Public Health as grant money for local agencies to support beach testing.
Redmond is hoping state officials can pull together enough money through other sources to keep the program going through next summer. Channelkeeper has a budget of $23,000, she said, which should cover five months.
“We’re trying to raise money,” Redmond said. “We’re going to do it until the money runs out. We are definitely looking to the ocean-using public to donate to the cause.”
Benson said while the city already conducts weekly and quarterly water quality tests at local creeks and Arroyo Burro Beach, tossing in the additional locations is expected to cost about $5,000. He said the city plans to sample only through the winter months.
While acknowledging the budget shortfall that resulted in the county’s program being cut, County Supervisor Janet Wolf said water quality has always been a top priority for her. She is offering $4,000 from her discretionary fund to support Channelkeeper’s testing efforts.
“It’s important to let surfers and beachgoers know the quality of the water,” she said. “I just think it’s a vital public health matter.”
Her colleague, Supervisor Salud Carbajal, echoed those sentiments, calling anything in the realm of health and public safety a great concern to him.
But the county is in a serious budget crunch, he said, and the state’s budget fiasco is likely to result in more cuts that will have a local impact.
“I think it was unfortunate,” Carbajal said of the necessity to cut the county’s funding, “And now that the state has hit us with the other whammy, we have lost some important services in that area.”
He’s been working with several local nonprofit foundations to increase support for Channelkeeper’s efforts to keep the program alive.
“This is such a public health issue that we need to explore sooner than later how we can address it,” he said. “My antennas are up and I’m looking under every rock and stone.”
The question of whether the state can come up with money for summer months should be answered in less than a week. State officials are meeting on Nov. 4 to consider a proposal to use Proposition 13 bond funds dedicated to improving water quality as a stopgap measure.
Water Board Chairman Tam M. Doduc said in a recent statement that significant progress on preventing and cleaning up beach pollution has been made in recent years and testing has been a key component.
“This will be a decision for the full board, but we are all aware that progress must be backed up with rigorous test results,” Doduc said. “We know there is still the threat of contaminated water and there are still some beaches where there has not been enough progress. That is why testing is so important for the health of swimmers, surfers and young children who splash in the waves.”
Hilary Hauser, executive director of locally based Heal the Ocean, said if that funding comes through, the county will be set for the warm months of 2009.
But the following winter will remain a question mark.
“It’s not just the health of the public, which is huge,” Hauser said. “Surfers are in the water in the winter more than they are in the summer. But also to lose this consistent data is very significant.”
For example, she said, the Environmental Protection Agency uses locally collected data to determine which areas of the ocean and coastline need to be targeted for cleanups.
For now, Channelkeeper and the city’s Creeks Division will head out to the beaches every Monday to take samples. Results should be posted at www.sbck.org and possibly at local surf shops and Heal the Bay’s website.
“We will figure out a way to make sure the information gets out there,” Benson said.

Sentencing date set for Juarez

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A 15-year-old Santa Barbara boy who was convicted by a Santa Barbara County jury of voluntary manslaughter in a 2007 gang killing will be sentenced on Jan. 8, 2009. The boy faces a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Hilary Dozer, the prosecutor in the case, said out of consideration for the victim’s family, he would have preferred sentencing occur before the holidays.


“They want to know what’s going to happen to the person who killed their son,” Dozer said. “The longer this case languishes in court the longer they have to deal with these issues.”
Ricardo “Ricky” Juarez, 15, was tried as an adult for the March 14, 2007 murder of 15-year-old Luis Angel Linares.
Linares was stabbed eight times during the mid-day brawl that broke out in the intersection of State and Carrillo streets. The boy was found dead in a planter behind the Saks Fifth Avenue shopping center.
Juarez was the lone person charged with murder Linares, but jurors said after the more than two-month trial that they couldn’t unanimously agree the boy was guilty of that crime.
Both the prosecution and defense called the jury’s decision a “compromise verdict.”
In court yesterday more than a dozen of Juarez’s friends and family wore white shirts that said, “Teens do not deserve adult punishment,” on the front around a picture of Juarez, and the phrase, “So teens are treated like adults in the system but not in the community? That’s not fair,” on the back.
Juarez’s legal counsel, Deputy Public Defender Karen Atkins, said she requested extra time for sentencing in order to file a motion with the court seeking a new trial.
Atkins said she doubts such a request will be granted, though she believes the motion is important to explicitly state on the record some issues that arose during the trial that the defense objected to.
After Juarez was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter on Oct. 15, Atkins said she planned to file a “fitness” hearing, or a request to allow the boy to be tried in juvenile court.
She said such a request is often considered when the defendant is found guilty of a lesser crime than originally charged. But now, Atkins said she doesn’t plan to request the hearing, saying she could find no legal basis for it.
Along with voluntary manslaughter, the jury also found Juarez guilty of committing the crime to benefit a criminal street gang, which carries a mandatory 10-year sentence, and personally using a knife on the victim, an offense that carries an additional year. The maximum sentence for voluntary manslaughter is 11 years.
At the Jan. 8 sentencing hearing Dozer said the victim’s family will testify and a sentencing report prepared by the county Probation Department will also be presented.
Dozer anticipates the defense will also call witnesses, saying he wouldn’t be surprised if Atkins has a child psychologist, who wasn’t allowed to testify during the trial, take the stand during sentencing.
During the trial, Atkins said such a psychologist would have testified about juvenile brain development.

CHP releases details on Highway 101 crash

DAILY SOUND STAFF REPORT

Authorities are releasing additional details about a collision on Highway 101 on Wednesday morning that sent a vehicle plunging 100 feet off a cliff and landing upside down.

California Highway Patrol officials said a 23-year-old Ventura man in a Chevy van rear-ended a Toyota Highlander in the southbound fast lane at approximately 7:30 a.m., causing its driver to lose control and veer off the cliff north of the Evans Avenue offramp.
The crumpled vehicle ended up on its roof near the railroad tracks, CHP officials said. Its occupants, 58-year-old Etelina Figueroa, of Carpinteria, and an 8-year-old girl survived the crash with bruises and complaints of pain, CHP Officer Dan Barba said.
“Both were wearing seatbelts, which undoubtedly saved their lives,” he said in a news release.
An off-duty sheriff’s deputy who arrived on scene shortly after the incident rappelled down the cliff using his rope kit and helped extricate the victims from the wreckage, fire officials said.
Both victims were taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for treatment and Figueroa was admitted for observation.
The driver of the Chevy van, Patrick Joerger, lost control of his vehicle after the initial collision and hit a truck towing a woodchipper in the slow lane, Barba said. Both vehicles slowed to a stop on the right shoulder, he added.
Joerger suffered minor injuries, authorities said, and the driver of the truck, a 47-year-old Ventura man, was taken to the hospital, treated and released. Alcohol or drugs are not being considered a factor in the incident.

Top-ranked team stuns Dons

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

The St. Bonaventure Seraphs entered Peabody Stadium last night as the 38th ranked team in the country and looked every bit the part.
It didn’t matter whether they were fielding kick-offs, rumbling down the field on offense, or stifling Santa Barbara’s usually high-powered offense, the Seraphs established its stranglehold on the Channel League with a 51-21 victory over the Dons.


St. Bonaventure racked up 458 total yards to Santa Barbara’s 282, and rallied behind three touchdowns from Devon Blackledge.
But Blackledge wasn’t the whole story. Three other Seraphs piled on scores, and even when St. Bonaventure’s second-string offensive corps was in the game, yardage continued to pile up.
On the defensive side, the Seraphs successfully put pressure on Santa Barbara quarterback John Uribe, who was 26-of-55 with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Dons, who have averaged 33 points per game, tied its season low of 21, while the Seraphs, who have averaged 30.5 points per game, scored its season high against the Dons.
Santa Barbara head coach Will Gonzales said the theme of the night boiled down to the number of weapons standing on the St. Bonaventure sideline.
“They sure have a lot of athletes,” he said. “[We’re] playing an all-star team. That’s no joke. They got points every which way because they got athletes every which way.”
The closest Santa Barbara got to staying in winning position came in the first six minutes of the first quarter when they stopped St. Bonaventure after nearly intercepting one ball and forcing a fumble.
Santa Barbara punted the ball on its first possession, and with exactly six minutes remaining in the quarter, St. Bonaventure quarterback Logan Meyer found USC-bound running back Patrick Hall for a 10-yard touchdown pass.
On Santa Barbara’s next possession, the Dons rattled off nine plays, including a clutch fourth-down conversion, but ultimately turned the ball over while attempting to convert a second time on fourth down.
St. Bonaventure wasted little time making the Dons pay. Meyer handed off to Blackledge, who rumbled down the far sideline for a 54-yard touchdown to give the Seraphs a 14-0 lead.
With three seconds remaining in the first quarter, St. Bonaventure attempted to punt, but a botched snap gave Santa Barbara stellar field position at the Seraphs’ 30-yard-line.
On the first play, Uribe took to the air and found wide receiver Roberto Nelson in the end zone for Santa Barbara’s first score.
But just as the Dons looked to make a game of it, Blackledge fielded the kickoff at the St. Bonaventure 30-yard-line and dashed down the sideline for a 70-yard touchdown run, brining the score to 21-7.
The Seraphs’ second special teams score of the night came less than a minute later after the Dons punted the ball into the arms of St. Bonaventure wide receiver Isaiah Burton, who sprinted for a 65-yard touchdown.
St. Bonaventure head coach Todd Therrien commended his team for executing well on special teams, but said he wasn’t surprised.
“Every single on of our guys are a threat to score when they get the ball in their hands,” he said.
St. Bonaventure scored the last point of the first half with seven minutes remaining on an 8-yard run by Hall, his second touchdown of the night, which left the score at 34-7.
If the Dons were hoping to open up the second half with a statement, it didn’t work out.
On the first play, Uribe tossed an interception, which St. Bonaventure turned into a touchdown four plays later on a 1-yard run by Marcus Langkilde.
During the Dons’ next offensive series, Uribe was sacked twice before the Dons failed to convert on fourth down.
Asked if he told his team to focus on the dangerous passing threat posed by Uribe, Therrien said putting pressure on the quarterback is a priority every week, no matter whom they’re playing.
With 8:10 remaining in the third quarter Blackledge tacked on another score, a 29-yard rushing touchdown to bring the score to 48-7.
On the Seraphs’ next possession, field goal kicker Derek Kirk came up short on a 49-yard attempt, which Therrien said would have been a school record.
The Dons came back to life at the beginning of the fourth quarter when Uribe found Nelson in the end zone again for a 12-yard touchdown.
Kirk redeemed himself on the Seraph’s next possession when he nailed a 38-yard field goal, which rounded out scoring for St. Bonaventure.
Uribe tossed his third touchdown pass of the evening, a 14-yard rocket to Kyle Leonard to leave the score at 51-21.
While there’s little doubt the game was well over at this point, Therrien put Blackledge back into the game, a decision that infuriated some Santa Barbara fans, and didn’t go unnoticed by Gonzales.
“I think they’re pretty much indifferent to the score,” he said of the Seraphs.
Asked about putting Blackledge back in, Therrien said two of his tailbacks got injured, and whenever he puts Hall into the game opponents get really mad, so he essentially had no other choice.
“You’ve got to have somebody [out there],” he said.
Despite the loss, Gonzales said he was proud of the Dons for showing some fight down the stretch.
“Although the score was lopsided, they didn’t quit,” he said. “And that’s all a coach can ask.”
With the win, the Seraphs, 7-1, remain undefeated in league play and will face Dos Pueblos in Goleta next Friday. The Dons, 3-5, will take the field next week against San Marcos at Peabody Stadium.

Leaders unveil revamped Franklin Clinic

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

It took many years of planning, but officials unveiled a completely overhauled community clinic at the Franklin Neighborhood Center that now boasts expanded waiting areas and exam rooms.
Community leaders applauded the $1.14 million renovation as a much-needed upgrade in order to provide primary healthcare for the residents of the neighborhood.

“This is truly a community clinic,” County Supervisor Salud Carbajal said.
Approximately 75 percent of its visitors live in the area, he said, and many rely on the healthcare services offered, from pediatrics to urgent care.
Judy Stebbens, the clinic manager for the Franklin and Carpinteria centers, said the difference between the renovated clinic and its former self is night and day.
A year ago, patients had to cram into a small waiting room that only had 13 chairs, she said.
“People were standing in the hallway or sitting on the floor,” she said.
Now the clinic boasts a spacious waiting area with 30 seats and a separate waiting room for infants.
But perhaps the most visible change is the increase in exam rooms — more than doubling from three to eight rooms.
“It was just poorly designed,” Stebbens said of the old setup. “It was never intended to be a health clinic.”
With the increased capacity, she has already seen an increase in the number of patients, up by at least a third.
“I just think the word is out,” she said.
In addition to gutting a section of the 10,592 square-foot building, which was built in 1974, the redesign included new flooring, new lighting and decorative tilework.
Elliot Schulman, the county’s public health director, said in the years before the building was constructed, the clinic was housed in a trailer.
“This has been a long effort,” he said. “…It has gone through a number of iterations to get here.”
The demand for service at the neighborhood clinic is undeniable, he added, noting that the center logged 11,000 patient visits last year.
A former nurse at nearby Franklin Elementary School, Congresswoman Lois Capps said she has had a particular interest in the project.
“It’s always been a very important corner, a very important block,” she said. “…This is a lifesaver.”
She said she plans to use the community clinic as a model to show her colleagues in Washington, DC, how to provide critical healthcare to the most vulnerable in the community.
While Thursday's rededication ceremony brought out public officials and community members, Stebbens said the clinic has actually been open for several months, since construction wrapped up at the end of July.
“It’s surreal,” she said. “To see it come to fruition and to walk through the waiting room full of patients, it’s just so rewarding.”

Shop baby shop: Wrong place, wrong message

BY CHERI RAE
After several mini-makeovers over the years, La Cumbre Plaza is now undergoing a dramatic facelift transforming it into something unrecognizable for many long-time Santa Barbarans.
The shopping center, once loaded with locally owned shops and affordable chains—where the middle class purchased practical items and might even have splurged once in a while—is now streamlined and spare, luxury and lifestyle.

The Plaza’s directory of stores equates consumers with their goods with its “The Life of Style” theme. Under the photo of a model sporting an emerald-hued top the copy reads, “I am smooth, and completely flattering. I am your fall jacket, and I am proof that envy comes in all shades of green.” Under the photo of a woman’s torso clad in a tight black dress and two thick ropes of pearls, the type states, “I am adored. I am priceless. I am your cherished necklace, and I show the world how precious you are.”
One little wrinkle remains: who will actually have the inclination—or the money—to buy anything there?
Fashnionistas like Sarah Palin and her pals wouldn’t bat an eyelash shopping for conspicuous consumables at Coach, Tiffany, or Louis Vuitton. The recent, extravagantly catered grand opening event for the luxury leather boutique featured champagne, silver and attracted guests who arrived in limousines. One of the newer shop windows touts its jewelry collection with the reassuring words, “…extreme elegance, detailed by hand…worth every penny.”
But the average Joe probably wouldn’t feel at home here anymore, unless he takes the family out for dinner at Pizza Mizza, or shops at the longtime anchor store Sears, the homegrown Outfooters or the packed-to-the-rafters toy outlet known as Kay*Bee. The humble part of the plaza is tucked away, and the shops are all clustered at the far end, away from where the chichi—or are expected to.
On two different occasions when I visited last week, I counted more fitness walkers and coffee drinkers than shoppers populating the ever-more-elegant emporium. In fact, during those two weekday visits, the place was as deserted as a schoolyard on a Saturday. To be sure, some of the emptiness might be attributed to the massive construction going on, transforming the last recent renovation from a warmer arts-and-crafts style to a sleek version of ubiquitous Southern California mall architecture reminiscent of Orange County’s Fashion Island in Newport Beach.
The plaza still hosts the Wednesday Farmers Market from 1 to 5; signs featuring sumptuous produce encourage shoppers to “think global, buy local and support local growers at the indelible Farmers Market.” The description of the event as “indelible” is puzzling, but perhaps a reassurance that it will not suffer the same fate as the long-running Art Walk—that was, in fact, removed from here, and has relocated to the Marketplace in Goleta.
Fifteen years ago, during the last economic downturn, I wrote a story for the Los Angeles Times about factory outlet shopping in Santa Barbara. The piece was so popular I expanded it into, “The Santa Barbara Bargain Book.” It was a slim, lighthearted volume dedicated to “the Santa Barbara shopkeepers and restaurateurs who strive to provide an alternative to Anywhere, U.S.A.” Every consignment shop, factory outlet, vintage clothing retailer, house and garden shop, eatery and entertainment venue listed was a locally owned business that offered good value for the money spent. Each was a distinctive part of a unique city where mom-and-pop could still pursue their dreams, and bargain hunters could stretch a dollar, meet some interesting entrepreneurs, and purchase some unique, distinctively Santa Barbara items unavailable anywhere else. The thrill of the hunt, in discovering out-of-the-way places and people, was part of the fun.
Today that out-of-print book reads like a catalog of broken dreams of the middle class.
Most of those establishments—and many of those who contributed to the book—are now long-gone. With rents too high and business too slow, they’ve given way to a collection of corporate-owned retailers, indistinguishable from one another, wherever they’re located.
This is a time when former shopaholics now proudly call themselves “recessionistas,” and adopt shopping habits to match. Financial guru Suze Orman counsels against the purchase of unnecessary luxuries, particularly expensive designer handbags. And local realtors send e-mail blasts about investing in foreclosed properties.
At a time when substance matters more than ever, the “Life of Style” currently promoted by La Cumbre Plaza is a classic case of misunderestimation, so to speak, of what most Santa Barbarans can afford. And can afford to do without.

Local youth team rocks league

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Santa Barbara’s next generation of football talent is staking its claim as one of the best ever.
In the first eight games of the Youth Football League season, the Santa Barbara Chargers haven’t lost. Along the way, the Chargers have outscored opponents 306-18.

Even more impressive perhaps is the 25-member team has notched a couple of near-perfect games, during which defensive coach Anthony Giovanacci said opponents didn’t gain a single offensive yard.
“The kids are just more physical than any other teams around,” he said.
While the Chargers have seen success on the football field, it’s the determination the team of 12-,13- and 14-year-olds has shown in the classroom and during free time that impresses head coach Paul Espinosa most.
Since taking over as head coach in 1999, Espinosa said his focus has been on ensuring his team plays as one unit despite what side of town a player may live on.
And that’s not always easy, he said, noting that each year a new group of kids, some from Santa Barbara’s gang-riddled East and West sides, end up on his team.
“It’s both sides of town and now these kids are playing together as one,” Espinosa said. “I’m very proud of them.”
From poring over report cards to conducting meetings with parents, Espinosa said he and his six assistant coaches keep close tabs on the behavior of the athletes.
When disciplinary problems arise or grades begin to slump, he said team members sit out until the issues are remedied.
“We go beyond football,” Espinosa said. “They’re good kids. They’re staying out of trouble. They’re doing something positive.”
At a Chargers practice yesterday, Giovanacci said two players did homework instead of practice to bring their grades up.
The coach said he feels the Chargers and the Santa Barbara YFL league in general are successful examples of what young people can do when they’re provided opportunities.
Giovanacci reemphasized that the point goes beyond simply being great on the football field.
“Having a great football team is a good thing, but having these kids leave this team as great human beings is the ultimate goal,” he said.
Giovanacci pointed out the makeup of the Chargers is the same as those teens currently facing murder chargers for three recent gang-related homicides in Santa Barbara.
Even in the midst of such violence, he said it’s impressive these athletes have steered their young lives in the right direction. And much of that success could be the result of football.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these kids stay out of trouble,” he said. “[Coach Espinosa] cares just as much about their off-field behavior as their on-field behavior.”
Charger’s tight end Polo Torres, 13, said his favorite part about being on the team is playing football with friends.
Asked if the East and Westside gang rivalries negatively impact the team, Torres said it does not.
“It doesn’t really affect us because we play as one big family,” he said.
Coaching the Chargers is a longstanding family tradition for Espinosa, whose father coached the team from 1974 to 1999, when he took the reins.
During his father’s tenure, the 32-year-old Espinosa played on the team and said it was a valuable, positive outlet.
“It kept me entertained,” he said. Now “we’re trying to keep these kids as entertained as we can.”
That being said, the emphasis is still very much on football and having a good time. And so far this season, the good times have come at the expense of other teams.
As the defensive coach, Giovanacci said he feels the Chargers’ dominance on the defensive side of the ball has played a major role.
He said the intent is never to hurt anyone, but other coaches have criticized the Chargers for being too physical.
“In football, that’s the ultimate compliment,” he said.
The Chargers’ mettle will be put to the test this Saturday at Bishop Diego High School, where they’ll square off against undefeated Westlake.
Regardless of whether the Chargers finished the season undefeated, Espinosa said his squad has already been invited to a tournament in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving weekend.
He said the only problem is funding. In order to make the trip, he said the team has to raise roughly $7,500 between now and then.
Espinosa said anyone interested in contributing to the travel fund could reach him through the Web site http://www.htosports.com by searching for Santa Barbara Chargers.
Giovanacci said it’s common at youth football games for parents to pass around a donation jar each time their team scores. The money goes to the program for equipment and travel, he said.
This year has been especially bountiful for the Chargers, but they’re still short on funds.
“We’ve scored so much that we’ve raised triple digits in one game,” Giovanacci said.
The Chargers’ game against Westlake starts at 3:15 p.m. and is free.

Off-duty personnel rescue car crash victims

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

An off-duty sheriff’s deputy and several firefighters rescued two people after their car skidded off Highway 101 near Summerland and landed upside down near the train tracks, fire officials said.
At approximately 7:45 a.m., authorities said a collision involving multiple vehicles occurred in the southbound lanes of the highway south of the Sheffield Drive exit, sending a car over the side of the hill.

An off-duty deputy happened upon the scene moments after it occurred, in addition to two Carpinteria-Summerland Fire District employees on their way to work, said Charlie Johnson, a spokesman for the fire district.
“The off-duty deputy, upon learning that one vehicle had gone over the side, ran to investigate and saw a badly crumpled vehicle upside down on the railroad right-of-way and noticed an arm sticking out, waving for help,” Johnson said in a news release.
After grabbing his first-aid kit and rope pack, the deputy fashioned a rope system and rappelled over the side to reach the vehicle, authorities said.
Inside the wreckage, he found an 8-year-old girl and a 58-year-old woman, both conscious and alert, Johnson said.
“The young girl appeared to be uninjured while the adult female complained of back pain,” he said. “With the deputy’s assistance, the young girl was able to crawl out to safety.”
Two firefighters rappelled over the side moments later and helped extricate the woman, Johnson added. Both victims were stabilized on backboards and carried along the tracks to Lookout Park, where they were transferred into a waiting ambulance.
Johnson said medics took both patients to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for observation and treatment.
“It got a lot of attention early on and looks like it had a good outcome due to seatbelts being used,” he said.
California Highway Patrol officials did not have additional information they could release when reached yesterday afternoon. More details are expected to be released today.

Leaders make push for school measures

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Education leaders, community members and parents in support of Measures H and I made their final push during a press conference yesterday, calling on the community to vote for both school-related taxes when they head to the polls next week.
If approved, the measures would assess a $27 parcel tax on homes in the elementary school district, located mostly in the city of Santa Barbara; and a $23 parcel tax on those in the high school district, which stretches from Montecito to Goleta.

Funds raised by the proposed taxes, approximately $2 million, would be used to bolster math, science, technology, music, arts and theater programs. Supporters said the measures are necessary given the economic climate and the state budget crisis.
“We are facing some difficult times at the state,” County Supervisor Salud Carbajal said, adding that he was speaking as the father of an 8-year-old boy currently in the public school system.
“More than ever we need funds like these to sustain our educational programs and institutions,” he said. “…We can’t invest enough in our schools.”
He said two additional elements included in the ballot measures caught his eye: an expiration date in four years and an exemption for senior citizens facing financial difficulty.
Campaign leaders said the measures also provide for annual independent audits and a citizen oversight committee to ensure the funds are used as planned — for programs rather than administrative costs.
While there is no organized group against either measure, several self-described taxpayers and homeowners — Richard Foster, Harry and Carmen Rouse, and Alwyn and Dolores Hartnett — authored a ballot argument against Measure H, the high school district tax.
“The Santa Barbara School District has a horrible record of delivering what they promise to do,” the opponents wrote in their argument. “Secondly, they have had years of chaotic, revolving door leadership. Thirdly, if this passes they will be back in four years demanding even more money while threatening to terminate your favorite program.”
In their statement, opponents cited increases in the superintendent’s salary while teachers were being laid off and improper use of Measure V bond funds in recent years as reasons for distrusting school officials. Attempts to contact several of the signatories were not successful.
Mark Ingalls, a member of the Santa Barbara Education Foundation and co-chair of the campaign, said other than cases of scattered opposition, he has seen widespread support for both measures.
“It’s a very grassroots campaign, but again it’s a very grassroots issue,” he said. “…This sends a really strong message to our youth and students that education is very important.”
During a gathering at Santa Barbara Junior High School, several local leaders and community members also lent their support to the ballot measures.
Congresswoman Lois Capps noted three of her children graduated from the junior high, pointing out its architecture and recently refurbished Marjorie Luke Theatre as examples of how education has always been important to local residents.
She also described it as imperative that voters see the connection between public schools and the economy.
“If you are concerned about the state of our economy, and who isn’t these days, you should be exactly focused on passing Measures H and I,” she said.
Linda Phillips, president of the Santa Barbara League of Women Voters, also made note of the state budget struggles and said the two measures will help local schools make it through the next few years.
Describing how the taxes equate to between 50 cents and a dollar a week, Phillips said the social benefit of supporting crucial school programs far outweighs the cost.
“When my children were in the high schools here, they profited from all the programs this supports, from math and science to music and theater,” she said.
Measures H and I have received endorsements from the Santa Barbara Teachers Association, the County Democratic Central Committee, Partners in Education and numerous elected officials.
The measures will need to receive approval from two-thirds of the voting public in order to pass.

CASA rallies for vulnerable children

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

More than 700 cardboard cutouts of children blanketed the grass of the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunken Gardens yesterday afternoon, a visual representation of the number of abused or neglected children countywide.
Held by the National Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), the “Forgotten Children Campaign” rolled through Santa Barbara in an effort to raise awareness and inspire volunteerism for some of the most vulnerable members of the community.

“You don’t have to be a foster parent, we know that can be intimidating,” said Maria Long, executive director of Santa Barbara CASA. “You don’t have to be a CASA advocate.”
There are many other ways to support kids in need, she said, gesturing at dozens of organizations with tables set up at the courthouse — such as Noah’s Anchorage, Family Care Network, Angels Foster Care, and Child Abuse Listening and Mediation.
“We want people to understand more about the kids, to step forward and stand up,” said Michael Piraino, CEO of National CASA.
The need is certainly undeniable. CASA volunteers serve 156 youth locally, following them through the dependency system and advocating on their behalf. Another 136 children remain on the waiting list, Long said.
Foster care services are similarly overwhelmed. Some children are being sent to foster or group homes in Bakersfield, Fresno or Los Angeles because there aren’t enough local homes, she said.
Still, Piraino remains optimistic, stating that he believes the county will be able to meet the needs of every child in the community one day soon. However, it’s going to take the support of nonprofits, community groups and volunteers, he said.
“Government systems of child welfare, child protection, can’t do this all on their own,” he said.
Judge Jim Herman, the county’s presiding juvenile court judge, sees many of the children referenced yesterday on a daily basis — those abused, neglected or abandoned by their parents.
“A large number of the youth who come through my court end up in foster care,” he said. “They are sort of a hidden population in our community.”
He expressed hope that yesterday’s event would spur an upswell in volunteerism. His support for CASA volunteers is particularly strong; he calls them “angels” rather than advocates.
“They spend more time with the child than anybody,” Judge Herman said, describing how they find out about medical needs, hobbies, dreams and much more. “They bring me the whole child.”
As a result, he said it’s easier for him to make decisions about visitation rights, supervision or whether children should be returned to their biological parents.
Ultimately, he wants to see the campaign spark a greater understanding of the foster care and dependency system as well as an increase in CASA volunteers and foster parents.
Long first encountered the Forgotten Children Campaign during a trip to the nation’s capital in June, where thousands of cutouts had been set up near the Washington Monument in what turned out to be the inaugural display that is now working its way around the country.
She joined hundreds of other CASA representatives and carried a cardboard cutout on Capitol Hill, speaking with the nation’s leaders and asking for their support.
“That really touched me and I started thinking, how can I bring this here?” Long said.
A few months later, she watched as dozens gathered up cutouts at De la Guerra Plaza before setting off down State Street on a march to the courthouse.

Goleta candidates decry dirty politics

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Allegations of dirty politics, smear campaigns and election law violations are flying in Goleta as the race for two seats on the City Council enters its final week.
Two candidates, former Councilmember Margaret Connell and Planning Commissioner Ed Easton, filed a complaint with state officials yesterday alleging a political action committee has failed to file campaign disclosure forms required by law.

The group, known as the Coalition for a Healthier Goleta, has funded several campaign mailers and recently purchased a television spot attacking the candidacies of Connell and Easton.
While the two candidates certainly took issue with the claims in the advertisements — using terms such as “hatchet job” — Connell said the main problem is the coalition’s failure to provide information about its financial backers or its leadership.
“They must report who is financing their campaign and how they are spending their money,” she said. “This kind of outrageous flouting of the Fair Political Practices Commission rules makes for a sicker Goleta, not a healthier Goleta.”
Easton said the recently purchased TV spot is particularly mendacious, alleging it distorts Connell’s record, implies falsehoods and has no basis in fact.
“Seven days of this ad will sicken everyone,” he said. “…What’s worse is it’s done with anonymous dollars.”
As of yesterday afternoon, the coalition had yet to disclose contributions to its war chest for two consecutive filing periods. Election law requires groups to provide campaign finance information if they spend more than $1,000.
Calls made to Roy Zbinden, a former candidate for Goleta City Council and the only local contact listed for the coalition, were not successful. A woman who answered said Zbinden is out of town and had no way of passing along a message. She was not sure when he would return.
A San Francisco firm is handling advertising for the coalition and its treasurer is based in Los Angeles, according to Connell and Easton’s campaigns.
Connell said she doesn’t expect state officials to take any action prior to the election, but expressed hope that those responsible will be fined or dealt with appropriately.
Connell and Easton, who have emerged as a slate ticket of sorts against Councilmember Jean Blois and Goleta businessman Don Gilman, called on their opponents to condemn the actions of the coalition and urge its leaders to pull the advertisements.
Reached yesterday afternoon, Gilman said he has yet to see any new advertisements by the Coalition for a Healthier Goleta, but decried all negative attacks.
“I don’t approve of any smear campaign,” he said.
Gilman added that he doesn’t know any of the coalition’s leaders or backers. He did admit to shaking Zbinden’s hand at a campaign forum, calling that his only experience with the former council candidate.
“That’s all I know of him,” Gilman said. “I know nothing about the rest of it.”
Blois also denied knowledge of the coalition’s leadership yesterday afternoon.
“I know nothing about the committee,” she said. “I certainly wouldn’t condone any group that wasn’t filing properly and reporting properly.”
Gilman countered any implication they were involved in the actions of the coalition by attacking other political action committees involved in the race.
Gilman cited a mailer he received yesterday from a group known as Friends of Goleta that portrayed Blois driving a bulldozer titled the “Development Express” over a pile of dirt labeled “Goleta.”
On the other side of the mailer, he said, is an endorsement of Connell and Easton.
“This ought to wake up some people as far as smear campaigns go, because it’s blatantly misleading and half-truths,” he said.
Blois said she has noticed an increase in negative campaigning toward the end of previous elections in Goleta’s short history.
“It’s just too bad when it gets nasty,” she said. “I would much prefer it if things were on more of a positive note.”
Nonetheless, she made a point to note several campaign contributions to Connell and Easton in recent weeks.
“[They] have raised an enormous amount of money,” she said. “Practically half of it has come from hotel owners, which is interesting.”
A review of campaign disclosure documents at City Hall confirmed the Coalition for a Healthier Goleta had not filed any forms.
Friends of Goleta — which ran advertisements and sent out mailers in favor of Connell and Easton — listed contributions of $9,274 and expenditures of $6,626.
Richard Whited, a commodities trading advisor at a Santa Barbara-based trading firm, is credited with making $6,200 in donations to the group.
Another committee, known as the Goleta PAC, reported receiving $39,800 and spending $40,155 this year — largely on mailers, advertisements and door hangers in support of Blois and Gilman.
Donations to that group include $10,000 from the Shelby Family Partnership, $5,000 from Irvine-based R.D. Olson Development and $1,000 from Pacifica Commercial Realty. Goleta PAC also received $3,000 from the Goleta Chamber of Commerce, along with $7,000 in non-monetary donations.
As far as the candidates themselves, Connell and Easton have raised more money this year than Blois and Gilman.
Connell reported contributions of $52,913, with $33,460 coming in the month of October. She has spent $38,000, leaving her with approximately $17,000. Significant donations include $10,000 from South Coast Inn, $3,000 from Pacifica Suites and $2,000 from Friends of Salud Carbajal.
Easton received $49,343 in donations including $31,475 this month, and has spent $40,682 on his campaign, leaving just under $10,000. South Coast Inn and Pacifica Suites donated $10,000 and $3,000 respectively, while Ramada Limited gave $2,500.
Blois brought in $13,098 this month for a total of $24,510 and spent $12,494. She drew donations of $1,500 from the California Real Estate PAC and $1,000 from the Home Builders Association of the Central Coast.
Gilman received $29,809 — with $18,323 pouring in during October — and spent $28,759. His donors include the California Real Estate PAC ($1,500) and the Home Builders Association of the Central Coast ($1,000), as well as Conquest Investments ($1,500) and the Santa Barbara County Firefighters Government Committee ($2,500).

SB leaders settle suit with Ampersand

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Santa Barbara city officials agreed to concede that a violation of open meeting laws may have occurred during a city committee meeting last fall, thus settling a lawsuit filed by Ampersand Publishing, the parent company of the Santa Barbara News-Press.
Attorneys for the publishing company alleged the city’s Transportation and Circulation Committee violated the Brown Act by discussing a matter not on its posted agenda — namely a redesign proposal for De la Guerra Plaza that the newspaper has consistently opposed on its editorial pages.

City Attorney Steve Wiley said the discussion was clearly inadvertent and innocent, but said the city decided to save itself the headache of litigation by admitting a possible violation.
“It’s better than wasting time in a lawsuit that really was unnecessary,” he said.
No damages will be paid in the agreed-upon settlement, city officials said, and each side is responsible for its own attorney fees and court costs.
Requests for comment from Ampersand attorney Barry Cappello were not returned yesterday afternoon.
Wiley explained the alleged violation resulted when a commissioner missed an earlier meeting during which the De la Guerra Plaza redesign project had been discussed and wanted to read his written comments at the next meeting.
While city officials can bring up topics not on the agenda to a certain extent, such as asking questions and requesting that staff members get back to them, Wiley said a judge might have taken issue with the discussion.
“It kind of got more problematic when some commissioners started answering questions and responding to him,” Wiley said.
He said mediation between the city and Ampersand occurred in late August and the City Council recently agreed to the proposed settlement.
Although Wiley declined to speculate about Ampersand’s reasons for bringing the lawsuit, he said it is clear “they don’t like what’s being discussed with the De la Guerra Plaza project.”
News-Press representatives have long been opposed to the redesign, stating their objections to its latest iteration during a Planning Commission meeting in February.
Closing the driveway loop through the plaza, as was proposed, would displace approximately 35 parking places, including those near the newspaper’s main office at the west end of the plaza.
After collecting feedback from a variety of city commissions and committees, redevelopment staff sent the project off to a City Council subcommittee for review earlier this year. It’s unclear where the proposed redesign stands now.
Wiley noted in a news release that the city strives to comply with the Brown Act during all public meetings. The city has more than 30 boards, committees and advisory groups consisting of local citizens who advise city leaders on policy decisions, he said, and some minor or technical Brown Act violations may unintentionally occur on occasion.

Police on lookout for armed suspect

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Santa Barbara police are on the lookout for a man who allegedly pulled a gun on unarmed officers during a routine probation search Monday afternoon and escaped with illicit drugs.
Authorities said Daniel Aguilar, 34, brandished a handgun at two county probation officers as they searched his girlfriend’s residence in the 200 block of S. Canada Street before leaving with a box of cocaine.

Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte, a police spokesman, said numerous officers and the department’s Special Weapons and Tactics Team conducted a lengthy search of the surrounding neighborhood but did not locate the suspect.
The incident began at approximately 6 p.m., when two uniformed probation officers visited the home of 30-year-old probationer Yvonne Mata in a mobile home park, authorities said.
After meeting Mata outside and entering the trailer, officers began their standard search and discovered marijuana and a locked metal box, Sgt. Duarte said.
Mata told the officers that her boyfriend, Aguilar, had the key to the container, police said. The 34-year-old arrived during the search and agreed to open the box, authorities said.
“Probation officers opened the box and realized it contained cocaine,” Sgt. Duarte said in a news release. “Aguilar immediately retrieved a handgun from his person and held probation officers at gunpoint inside the trailer.”
The officers continued speaking to the suspect and ultimately convinced him to leave, Sgt. Duarte said, adding that Aguilar took the cocaine with him as he left.
Police arrived on the scene shortly after being called by the probation officers and took Mata into custody for possession of a controlled substance for sale and probation violations.
As of yesterday afternoon, authorities were still looking for Aguilar. A $500,000 felony warrant is out for his arrest for assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, false imprisonment, possession of a controlled substance for sale and possession of a handgun as a felon.
“Aguilar is considered armed and dangerous,” Sgt. Duarte said. “Anyone having information on Aguilar’s whereabouts is asked to contact authorities immediately.”

Sheriff's arrest teen for alleged death threats

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Sheriff’s detectives arrested a 14-year-old Carpinteria High School student during the weekend after he reportedly threatened to kill fellow students and a teacher, authorities said.
Deputies received a call on Saturday reporting that the ninth-grade student had threatened to bring a handgun to school to shoot five students and one of his teachers, Sheriff’s Department Spokesman Drew Sugars said in a news release.

“The suspect, who is a transfer student from another school district, felt he was picked on by the targeted students and the teacher,” Sugars said. “Detectives were immediately assigned to the case and contacted the suspect and his father at their home in Thousand Oaks.”
Authorities determined the juvenile did not own any firearms, nor did they find any firearms in the home, Sugars said. Nonetheless, he said after interviewing the suspect, detectives determined the threat was credible and took the teenager into custody at approximately 9 p.m. on Saturday.
Sheriff’s officials booked the 14-year-old into juvenile hall on suspicion of making criminal threats, Sugars said, a felony. He noted that the school district and all potential victims have been notified, adding that the suspect remained in custody as of yesterday morning.
Carpinteria Unified School District officials released their own statement through the Sheriff’s Department regarding the incident.
“The student will not be returning to school in the [district],” school officials said. “Carpinteria High School parents are being notified. At this writing, all staff in the district are also being notified.”
School officials noted safety procedures are frequently reviewed and updated. They also urged students to immediately report any threatening statements made by fellow students to school staff or sheriff’s officials.

Slaying suspect enters plea of not guilty

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A 24-year-old Santa Barbara man who allegedly stabbed and killed a woman early Thursday morning entered a plea of not guilty in Superior Court yesterday during his arraignment.
Garren Musser, who police officials said is responsible for stabbing 29-year-old Lisa Marie Zazueta in the neck, pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder coupled with a special allegation of assault with a deadly weapon, Senior Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss said.

Zazueta was a married mother of two and Santa Barbara resident who had recently started seeing Musser, police said. Family members insisted the two had not been dating, but that Zazueta had met Musser a few weeks ago and had seen him on several occasions since.
Police discovered Zazueta’s body, with a single stab wound to the neck, in the 1300 block of Kowalski Avenue at approximately 12:30 a.m. on Thursday after receiving reports of a body in the roadway, authorities said.
Detectives questioned Musser, who reportedly lived at a nearby home with his parents. During an interview at the police station, he allegedly took responsibility for the slaying, police said. Detectives also recovered a knife suspected of being the murder weapon.
Auchincloss said Musser is being represented by a public defender. A preliminary hearing has been set for late November in the courtroom of Judge Rick Brown.

Feds allege more labor law violations at News-Press

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Federal attorneys plan to prosecute the Santa Barbara News-Press for allegedly violating federal labor law by firing a pro-union newsroom employee two months ago, authorities announced yesterday.
The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) revealed their decision after investigating the firing of News-Press reporter and copy editor Dennis Moran, who was handed a termination letter on Aug. 30, union officials said.

Ira Gottlieb, an attorney representing the newsroom union, alleged the firing came as a result of Moran’s position on the union’s negotiating team and to “strike fear into the dwindling ranks” of union employees at the newspaper.
“It is regrettable that the News-Press continues to punish its conscientious, hard-working employees because they support and are active in the union,” Gottlieb said in a prepared statement. “Management’s intimidation tactics are blatant and transparent, but they will not deter the employees who still courageously support the union and each other in their steadfast efforts to achieve a fair employment contract to improve the working conditions at this newspaper.”
News-Press representatives disputed the charge, alleging that regional labor attorneys have lost objectivity with respect to issues involving the newspaper after losing an attempt to have eight fired reporters reinstated by the court.
“The union files charges in complete ignorance of the facts, but that is understandable since they have a willing audience in the [NLRB] region staff,” News-Press attorney Barry Cappello said in a prepared statement. “We know why the individual was terminated and so does he. Now unfortunately it will have to become public.”
Cappello did not elaborate on the reasons given for Moran’s termination. Gottlieb also declined to discuss the topic, although he mentioned the newspaper had suspended Moran in the weeks leading up to his termination.
Gottlieb noted the latest unfair labor practice charge is among several pending against the newspaper, which has been embroiled in a labor dispute since July 2006, when a handful of editors quit over what they termed inappropriate influence on newsroom affairs by owner and publisher Wendy McCaw.
A total of 15 labor law violations filed against the newspaper and found to have merit by an administrative law judge late last year are awaiting a decision by the NLRB on appeal.
Gottlieb said that decision will likely not come before the next president of the United States appoints a new member to the three-seat NLRB, which currently has two members.
In response to the lengthy litigation process, union officials sought a temporary injunction to reinstate eight reporters fired by the newspaper, but a district judge ruled against the injunction earlier this year. Gottlieb said whether an appeal hearing of that decision will take place should be determined in the next four to five months.
In the meantime, he pointed out several additional labor law violations — some still being investigated and others moving toward prosecution — filed against the newspaper for bargaining in bad faith, discontinuing annual employee evaluations and failing to provide requested bargaining information.
“Management will continue to lie about and misrepresent what’s going on at and away from the table, and attempt to frustrate the newsroom employees, but no one is persuaded by distortions from a recidivist labor outlaw,” Gottlieb said in the statement.
Cappello said the newspaper plans to mount a vigorous defense to all charges it faces.
A hearing on the outstanding charges has yet to be set, and Gottlieb said he expects federal labor attorneys to package all pending violations into a consolidated complaint.

Police blotter

DAILY SOUND STAFF REPORT

Oct. 23 — Security guards at two separate Macy’s outlets in Santa Barbara called police after catching shoplifters trying to pilfer expensive clothing from the store in apparently unrelated incidents. At 12:40 p.m., loss prevention officers at the 3805 State St. Macy’s spotted a man conceal two shirts in a bag and leave the store without paying.

When officers spoke with the 41-year-old Goleta resident, he admitted to entering the store with the intention to steal clothing. He had selected two shirts valued at $107.40.
Less than four hours later, at 4 p.m., authorities were called to the 701 State St. Macy’s on reports of another shoplifter. Security guards told police they saw the suspect take a white Ralph Lauren polo shirt valued at $75 off the shelf, cut off the electronic sensor, place the shirt under his clothes and walk out without paying. Officers found a razor blade and $16.46 in the 23-year-old Santa Barbara man’s pockets.
He also admitted to entering the store with the intention to steal clothing. Police booked both men into jail in lieu of $20,000 bail for burglary.

Oct. 24, 10:45 p.m. — An employee at the Canary Hotel, 31 W. Carrillo St., called authorities after a man challenged him to a fight. The employee told police the subject had entered the building and asked to be directed to the stairs, saying he planned to climb to the roof and jump off.
When ordered to leave, the suspect reportedly squared up, raised his clenched fists and told the employee, “I’m going to kick your ass.” After two other employees came to their colleague’s aid, the man left the hotel.
He then promptly ran in front of a moving vehicle, which swerved and narrowly avoided striking him. When police caught up to the suspect in the 900 block of Chapala Street, he admitted he was attempting to commit suicide. Authorities took the 47-year-old into custody on $2,500 bail for challenging to fight.

Oct. 24, 10:50 p.m. — Officers responded to a home in the 500 block of Figueroa Street following reports of a fight between roommates. During their investigation, police asked one resident for identification. The 26-year-old man presented authorities with a consular card issued by the Mexican government.
However, as the man was digging through his wallet, officers could clearly see a social security card and became suspicious when the suspect said he had only been in the country for three months. After receiving his consent to search the wallet, police found a fake social security card and a fake resident alien card, both with the suspect’s name and a United States government seal.
The suspect admitted to purchasing both fraudulent documents in Los Angeles two months prior in order to gain employment. Authorities arrested him on $20,000 bail for possession of a false government document and an immigration hold is pending.

Oct. 25 — Police received a call from a resident in the 700 block of Ortega Street reporting a theft in progress. The caller told police someone had knocked on her door. When she looked out the window, the victim saw a man rifling through the trunk of her car, removing items.
When police arrived, the 34-year-old suspect was still at the vehicle, standing next to a pile of items on the ground. Police also found several personal items belonging to the victim stuffed in the suspect’s pockets.
Among the objects removed from the car were 24 compact discs, a camera bag, five pairs of underwear, an art portfolio containing original prints and a lotion travel pack. The total value of the items was estimated at $865.
After running a criminal history check, police determined the suspect was on probation for possession of a controlled substance and destruction or concealment of evidence. Authorities booked the man in lieu of $20,000 bail for grand theft.

Oct. 26, 3:53 a.m. — Hospital officials called police after a subject arrived in the emergency room with wounds consistent with an assault. Police spoke with the 29-year-old victim, who received treatment for cuts to his left cheek and ear.
The man told officers he had been drinking in a parking lot near his home in the 1500 block of San Pascual Street when a stranger approached. The suspect, described as approximately the same age as the victim, asked if he could drink with the victim.
The 29-year-old obliged, handing over a brew. After drinking for approximately 20 minutes, the suspect hit the victim in the face with a beer bottle, reportedly without provocation. The victim did not provide any additional details about the incident.

Oct. 26, 5:45 a.m. — Arriving in the 3800 block of State Street after receiving reports of a vehicle blocking traffic, police found a young man passed out behind the wheel of a car in the middle of the roadway. Authorities noted the 22-year-old Medford, Mass., resident had left the vehicle in drive.
During their subsequent investigation, officers noticed the man had obvious signs of intoxication, including an odor of alcohol, bloodshot eyes and unsteady balance. He provided breath samples of 0.19 and 0.17 blood-alcohol content, well over the legal limit of 0.08. Authorities booked him into jail on $5,000 bail for driving under the influence.

Oct. 26, 10:11 a.m. — Medics called police for help with a combative subject who had apparently suffered a seizure in the 3600 block of San Pedro Lane. By the time officers arrived, emergency personnel had the 23-year-old man restrained.
When police ran a background check on the man, they discovered a possible motive for his combative nature — an outstanding $200,000 warrant out of Texas for theft. Authorities took the suspect to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, where he was treated and released into police custody. Officers then booked the man into County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail on the outstanding warrant.

Oct. 26, 8:01 p.m. — Police arrived in the 1600 block of San Pascual Street on reports of a collision. During their investigation, officers determined a 24-year-old local resident had been driving south and hit three parked cars while making a turn.
The suspect also had his daughters, 2 and 6 years old, in the backseat without car seats or seatbelts. Police noted the man showed signs of intoxication, including bloodshot, watery eyes, unsteady balance and an odor of alcohol.
The suspect provided two breath samples, both revealing 0.12 blood-alcohol content, above the legal limit of 0.08. Authorities arrested the 24-year-old for DUI, driving without a license and child endangerment, booking him in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Local man dies in single-vehicle rollover in Goleta

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A 35-year-old local man died Sunday evening after the SUV he was driving left the roadway in Goleta, hit a tree and flipped over, sheriff’s officials said.
Authorities said Russell Allan Sturges had been driving eastbound on Calle Real near Baker Lane just before 9 p.m. when his GMC Yukon went off the right shoulder and rolled onto its roof.

Drew Sugars, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department, said emergency crews extricated the trapped driver and a 16-year-old passenger. The driver was pronounced dead on the scene, authorities said.
Medics took the passenger to the hospital for observation, Sugars said. Authorities said the incident remains under investigation.

SB Foundation names new president and CEO

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF REPORT

After a lengthy national search, the Santa Barbara Foundation has announced the selection of Ronald V. Gallo as its new president and CEO.
Gallo, previously the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, replaces longtime local nonprofit fixture Chuck Slosser, who is stepping down after 18 years at the helm of the Santa Barbara Foundation.

“I think the board selected an excellent person as the foundation’s next president and CEO,” Slosser said in a news release. “Ron Gallo is a seasoned community foundation executive who brings years of experience to his new position.”
Gallo will be responsible for managing one of the county’s largest private sources of funding for nonprofit groups — last year, the foundation awarded $26 million in loans or scholarships to local students and grants to local nonprofits.
Foundation officials said Gallo’s 15 years of experience at the Rhode Island Foundation, one of the nation’s largest community foundations, will greatly assist his transition to the new position.
“His lengthy experience in community foundation work and his reputation as an innovator will enable the foundation to continue to expand philanthropy in our county,” Robert Emmons, chair of the foundation’s board of trustees, said in the release. “The board of trustees is incredibly pleased that a candidate with such experience will be joining our foundation family.”
Gallo launched his career as a fundraiser for Marathon House in 1979, a residential drug rehabilitation group for teenagers and young adults.
In 1981, he took a position as executive director of the Rhode Island Council for Community Mental Health Centers and negotiated a $2.1 million increase in the state’s mental health budget.
Before joining the Rhode Island Foundation, Gallo served as the executive director of the Jesse Ball DuPont Fund for three years, a national foundation with an interest in issues affecting the South.
As the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, Gallo was instrumental in tripling its assets and launching an outreach plan that created alliances with other regional and national philanthropic organizations.
He also refocused the foundation to support low-income initiatives and health, poverty and educational efforts for impoverished youth. During his time with the organization, Gallo helped create Kids Count Rhode Island, a children’s advocacy group.
In addition to his leadership roles, he has also held several teaching positions. He lectured at Providence College and served as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University, where he taught a graduate course on trends in organized philanthropy.
Gallo holds a master’s degree and doctorate in education from Harvard, a master’s degree from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College.

Hopefuls on fundraising frenzy

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

With six business days remaining until election day, Santa Barbara County Third District candidate Steve Pappas lined his campaign coffers with nearly three times the amount his opponent, Doreen Farr, did in the past three weeks.
During the most recent fundraising period, which began Oct. 1 and ended Oct. 18, Pappas, a local business owner who lives in Los Olivos, raised $98,950 to Farr’s $36,247.
The jump in funds for Pappas still fell far short from taking over the overall lead, which Farr retains with a total of $486,511, roughly $66,000 more than Pappas’ total of $420,551.

Both candidates spent heavy in the beginning of October, with Farr making $129,569 in expenditures, while Pappas spent $117,303.
Barring a continued burst in cash flowing Pappas’ way, Farr will likely have more cash on hand down the stretch, as she still has $43,738 in her war chest compared to $12,620 for Pappas.
Pappas made a similar fundraising run just prior to the June 4 primary election. While it’s difficult to know how much difference the last-minute cash meant to Pappas, some believed it helped vault him in front of former candidate David Smyser, who finished 723 votes behind Pappas despite being hand-picked by current supervisor Brooks Firestone as his successor.
But while Pappas’ money may have helped him clinch the second spot to force a runoff with Farr, the former county planning commissioner was still 10 percentage points ahead of Pappas.
The Third District, which stretches from Isla Vista to Vandenberg Village, and Goleta to the Santa Ynez Valley, is notoriously difficult for candidates to manage during campaigns.
While the First and Second District are isolated to the South Coast in terms of media markets, and the Third and Fourth districts are solely in North County, the Third District stretches between the two, requiring candidates to allocate funds across a diverse cross-section of media.
During a recent interview with the Daily Sound, Farr said winning in the geographical and demographically diverse district requires spending money.
The makeup of the two candidates’ financial backers during this filing period couldn’t be more different.
While Farr received 68 individual contributions, 33 of which were for $100 or less, Pappas received 20 separate contributions, two of which were for $100.
According to campaign finance documents, Pappas’ largest donor is Anne V. Crawford-Hall Enterprises, which gave the candidate $50,000 during the past three weeks. Throughout the duration of the campaign, Crawford-Hall, also known as Nancy Crawford-Hall, owner of the Santa Ynez Valley Journal newspaper, has given Pappas $102,500.
Pappas’ second largest source for contributions is the Alamo Pintado Equine Clinic, owned by Doug and Sue Herthel.
Through the Equine Clinic, the Herthel’s have given Pappas’ campaign a total of $37,000.
The Herthel's, through their local supplement company Platinum Performance, have also contributed $71,800 in non-monetary donations to Pappas’ campaign. These donations appear to be for television advertisements.
Pappas has also received $25,100 in non-monetary contributions from a man named Mark Herthel.
Though Farr trailed Pappas during the recent filing period, she picked up ground on Oct. 22 with a $20,000 contribution from the Santa Barbara chapter of the Service Employees International Union and a $5,500 contribution from that same union in Los Angeles.
With these two donations factored in, Farr’s recent contributions total just over $60,000.
After SEIU contributions, Farr received $1,000 from Alice Gillaroo of Santa Ynez, which brought her total donations to $8,000 — $2,000 from Malinda Chouinard of Ventura, $100 from Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum, $250 from former county supervisor Gail Marshall, $5,000 from Wayne Siemens, who has now given Farr a total of $10,000 and $2,500 from the Hope Ranch Political Action Committee, which also gave $5,000 to Pappas.
Over the course of the campaign, Pappas has taken out $46,500 in personal loans, far more than Farr’s $5,000.
In the past three weeks Pappas has spent $105,326 on television commercials and another $4,172 on mail-related advertisements. Farr spent $72,770 on television commercials and $10,150 on radio advertisements.
According to county election officials, any contribution between now and the election of $1,000 or more will have to be reported on a case-by-case basis.

Murder charge filed in woman's death

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A murder charge was filed yesterday in Superior Court against a 24-year-old Santa Barbara man who police say allegedly stabbed a woman he was dating in the neck, an injury that ultimately killed the woman.
Police identified the victim as Lisa Marie Zazueta, 29, of Santa Barbara.
The man police say is responsible for slaying the married mother of two is Garren Musser, 24.

Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte, a police spokesman, said detectives responded to the 1300 block of Kowalski Ave. just after 12:30 a.m. on Thursday to a report of a body in the roadway.
Duarte said it was Musser who called police and was eventually arrested at the police station when he allegedly told detectives he was responsible for the killing.
Musser apparently lived with his parents at 1310 Kowalski Ave., according to nearby residents.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Gordon Auchincloss said Musser was also charged with assaulting the woman with a deadly weapon.
He said Musser will be arraigned on the charges Monday.
While the details of Zazueta and Musser’s relationship remain fuzzy, the victim’s grandmother, Mary Zazueta, told the Daily Sound Thursday the two were not dating.
The grandmother said her granddaughter and Musser met at a downtown bar three weeks ago and the two had seen each other on at least two occasions since.
Due to the early stage in the case, Auchincloss said he had no additional details.

Election workers fire up 'The Beast'

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Where fingers once were calloused and bitten with paper cuts, an $80,000 conveyor belt for envelopes sits. With its countless rubber belts, rollers and circular razor blades, it slices open 5,000 envelopes an hour.
It’s difficult to know what’s more impressive: that nearly 54 percent of Santa Barbara County’s 198,820 registered voters vote-by-mail, or that county election employees used to open each and every envelope by hand.

The growing popularity of vote-by-mail, and the anticipated high voter turnout for the Nov. 4 general election precipitated the purchase of what election workers call, “The Beast.”
Now the days of paper cuts and cramped hands are over.
“It looks like spaghetti,” said Elections Supervisor Suzanne Jackson of the Opex ballot extractor. “It works pretty well.”
The county's Election Office began opening vote-by-mail ballots yesterday. So far, 34,774 of the 106,489 ballots mailed to county voters have been returned.
While the machine has hastened the process, it hasn’t completely eliminated human labor.
The county’s vote-by-mail operation is housed in a mostly unmarked, second-story office space in the Chicago Title building located on the corner of Anacapa and Figueroa streets.
One would have to look to find it. And even if a person stumbled upon it, it’s difficult to get past the iron door that requires a passcode, which is unique to each employee, to enter.
Once inside, the office is predictably lined with cubicles. But the conveyor belt in the back of the room combined with the dozen or so security cameras lining the ceiling cancel out any normalcy.
Like the purchase of “The Beast,” the county began renting the space last fall in order to accommodate the increasing volume of ballots that arrive by mail that need to be processed in a timely manner.
Prior to running the ballot envelopes through “The Beast,” another machine verifies the signature on each envelope.
Once the envelope is opened on three sides, the ballots are extracted, flattened out by employees and briefly analyzed to ensure they haven’t been incorrectly marked or ripped.
In the event that a ballot is damaged and won’t be accepted, Jackson said an election employee fills out a new ballot. But this process isn’t that simple. While one person fills out a new ballot for the voter, Jackson said several other people observe to ensure the new ballot reflects exactly what the damaged one did.
“It has to be done in a very specific way to protect the voter,” she said.
The ballots that aren’t damaged are set in small baskets and kept in the “ballot room.” Jackson said only a handful of people are allowed in this room, and each time a person enters and exits, it’s recorded.
Several cameras hug the ceiling in the ballot room, and in the event of a fire, a special extinguishing system which does not require water and won’t damager the ballots is triggered.
“Hopefully we’ll never need it but it’s nice to have,” Jackson said.
When the ballots leave this room, they are processed by another machine, which electronically records the results and stores the tally in a server that Jackson said no one is allowed to see until election night.
Jackson said the county purchased “The Beast” last fall and it was first used for the presidential primary in February.
As far as Jackson knows, Santa Barbara County is one of the only counties with such a machine. But that’s probably going to change soon.
County Clerk, Recorder and Assessor Joe Holland, who has been coordinating a state-wide effort to record vote-by-mail data on a day-by-day basis, said yesterday that 40 percent of the state now votes by mail.
As of yesterday, he said 1.6 million vote-by-mail ballots have been returned to their respective counties.
And though Santa Barbara County workers are getting a jump on the action, they’ll likely be firing up “The Beast” long after election day to tally the vote-by-mail ballots that are handed in at polling places.
“We’ve got to work as hard as we can,” Jackson said of keeping up with the stream of ballots. “It’s a good system and it’s flowing very well.”

19th District race still running hot

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

It’s perhaps the closest and most hotly contested State Senate seat up for grabs on Nov. 4, and the battle over the 19th District has escalated to a fever pitch as the days tick down toward Election Day.
Democrats are gunning for the district — which stretches from Orcutt to Santa Clarita and includes large chunks of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties — in order to garner a two-thirds, veto-proof majority.

Typically a Republican stronghold in the past, the territory has narrowed in terms of political composition, with less than two points separating the two major parties in voter registration rolls.
Santa Barbara remains a bastion of Democratic support, with 43.3 percent of its registered voters leaning left and 32.7 percent leaning right. Sections of Ventura County, however, give Republicans the edge — 42.1 percent to 35.9 percent.
After adding in small portions of northern Los Angeles County, the district reveals a split of 39.63 percent registered Republicans and 37.82 percent Democrats per a Sept. 5 report from the Secretary of State.
So it’s safe to say the two candidates for the senate seat, Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson and Republican Tony Strickland, have been running themselves ragged during the past months, crisscrossing the sprawling territory in an effort to spread their messages.
Offering up a small window of time amid last-minute campaign events and fundraisers, both candidates gave their take on the race, their opponent and their plans should the fight over the 19th District seat fall in their favor.

Hannah-Beth Jackson — “I think it is a transformational year and I think people are tired of the politics of division and tired of the politics that have put big corporations ahead of families. It’s time to put families ahead of big corporations.”

Environment, education and public safety have always been high on the priority list for Jackson, who trumpeted those causes during her six years as a representative of the 35th Assembly District.
But with the crisis on Wall Street looming in the minds of many residents, she said the biggest issue at the moment is the economy.
“We’ve seen it really kind of collapse in the last year, again, I think, as a result of the failed policies of the Bush administration and this putting corporations ahead of the people,” Jackson said.
Jumpstarting the economy will take a comprehensive approach, she argued, one that includes fostering “green” jobs, creating an education plan focused on preparing kids for the 21st century, and untangling the state budget mess.
Despite the challenges ahead, Jackson said she remains optimistic — stating that opportunity emerges from adversity.
“The quote I like the best is that the darkest time of the day is right before the dawn,” she said. “We keep delaying it by infusing money that keeps disappearing almost as rapidly as it is introduced.”
Jackson paired her support of environmental causes as a quality of life issue with her contention that the environment can also serve as an economic engine for the community.
Generating a marketplace for the development and application of new alternative energy sources is one critical step to relieving the economic crunch, she said. As a member of the senate, Jackson said she would support incentives that would motivate people to develop green technology, such as solar and wind power.
She also levied criticism against her opponent, characterizing Strickland’s $5,000 investment in a start-up company focused on wave power as a token gesture amounting to an attempt to “greenwash” himself.
“How does he explain this so-called company of his that has no employees, never put out a watt of power, doesn’t have a payroll and doesn’t have any technology as an actual company that has formed the basis of his entire campaign?” she asked.
Jackson said her opponent voted down bills supporting alternative energy during his time in the State Legislature and denied global warming existed as recently as five years ago.
“It’s interesting that my opponent is trying to run on my record,” she said, “whereas his record is he voted against all those things.”
As far as education’s role in the economy, Jackson said investment in schools and encouragement of research into emerging fields such as nanotechnology and green building is critical to creating new jobs.
She called for promoting math, science and vocational training, encouraging more students to pursue those fields, and giving mid-career and retired workers the opportunity to share their experiences and spark interest.
Asked about the state budget, Jackson acknowledged it has been in major turmoil for years. Officials keep putting off true reform until the next year, she said, and now the state is backed into a corner.
“The gimmicks need to go away and we need to take a hard, cold look at the way we budget and how we provide resources and funding for the state,” Jackson said. “We have to take a look at services and programs, and if they’re not working, we have to end them.
“We have to take a look at some of these huge tax loopholes that we’ve given to huge corporations, like the oil industry.”
California is the only oil-producing state that doesn’t charge a severance tax on oil drilling, she said. By creating such a tax, an idea the County of Santa Barbara is already kicking around on its own, Jackson said the state stands to gain at least a billion dollars annually.
“The oil companies are making enormous profits. This would not impact them, their bottom line, but it would provide money that could very well go to things like education,” she said.
Instead of tax credits for large corporations, Jackson said the state should be offering incentives, if any at all, for those businesses to create jobs in the state, rather than sending them off to neighboring states.
She also took issue with attempts to portray her as a tax-lover, noting she supported $26 billion in tax cuts when the economy was healthy during her time in the assembly.
“At this point, the middle class has been taxed enough,” she said. “I don’t support any increase in taxes on the middle class.
“My name happens to rhyme with taxin’. It also rhymes with action, by the way. And I like action better, because I think, and the people of the community know, that in my six years in the legislature, I was very responsive to the needs of the community.”
Ultimately, she said, the differences between Strickland and herself are stark. While she supports same-sex marriage, she said her opponent is a “right-wing idealogue” who voted against every measure on rights for same-sex couples.
She spearheaded legislation to protect children at a Ventura school from pesticides being sprayed on a nearby farm. Her opponent, she said, voted against that bill.
“With my record and my vision and my values, it’s very clear that I’m on the side of our families and my opponent is on the side of the big corporations, who are continuing to funnel millions of dollars into his campaign,” she said.

Tony Strickland — “The No. 1 issue is the economy. If we don’t have a strong, robust economy, we can’t invest in infrastructure, healthcare, schools. California needs to be more business friendly.”

When Strickland first ran for State Assembly, he had education on the mind. But when he arrived in Sacramento, the energy crisis hit. So he changed his focus and filed a lawsuit against then-Gov. Gray Davis, forcing the administration to reveal expensive energy contracts it had negotiated in secret with energy companies.
Now, with three assembly terms under his belt, Strickland has another crisis in his sights: the flagging economy.
“I really firmly believe everything touches the economy,” he said. “Until we fix the economy, we can’t really invest in education like I want to.”
Fixing the economy is obviously no easy task, he concedes. Nonetheless, he said government officials need to take steps to address what he terms a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
One solution Strickland proposes is to create a strict spending cap, allowing the government to increase only by population growth plus inflation. If implemented when Gov. Schwarzenegger took office, he said, “Today we’d be talking about a surplus, not a deficit.”
Another way to rein in spending is to improve bureaucratic efficiency, he said. By way of example, he pointed to a Ventura County supervisor who launched a direct deposit payment system for county employees, saving millions by not mailing out checks.
Taking such an action would save the state billions, Strickland said.
“There are innovative ideas like that that they’re doing in the private sector that we’re not doing in the government,” he said.
Calling California an economic leader in entertainment, he said the state could also be an economic leader in terms of renewable energy. He called his proposal to provide incentives for companies looking to develop new sources of energy a surefire way to liven up the economy.
“I would implement a system to fast-track the permitting process,” Strickland said. “A lot of this renewable energy is proven technology, particularly in other countries.”
Bureaucratic requirements are holding up the process, he contended, giving companies more of a reason to move to business-friendly states such as Nevada and Oregon.
Unless the state develops policies more welcoming to businesses, Strickland said it will continue to have budget woes.
“If we create those jobs here, that means companies will stay here,” he said.
He also addressed Green Wave Energy Solutions, a start-up company focused on harnessing wave energy. Strickland invested $5,000 in the company along with several partners and serves as its vice president.
When asked about criticisms that the company has no employees, payroll or technology, he dismissed those arguments.
“Those who make those criticisms don’t understand the economy,” he said. “It’s a start-up company. If they had said that to Bill Gates, he wouldn’t have started his company. We’re putting our money where our mouth is.”
As a result of his involvement in the company, Strickland said he now offers expertise in the field of alternative energy.
“I bring with me the knowledge of what it takes to grow a renewable energy economy here in California,” he said.
Strickland also noted the recent endorsement of Gov. Schwarzenegger, who he termed the “greenest” governor the state has seen. He said the governor is excited that he is promoting renewable energy and tax credits for businesses.
Queried about his past record on alternative energy, Strickland said he has always been supportive but is placing more of an emphasis on it now.
“Our gas prices are spiraling out of control and we need to invest in an energy plan,” he said.
He called offshore drilling is a band-aid solution, although he might be supportive should it be part of a comprehensive energy package.
Strickland acknowledged there are plenty of other issues to deal with should he be elected to State Senate. The state’s aging infrastructure is a major problem, as is the tenuous water supply.
But ultimately, he said, nothing will change until the state fosters a robust economy. It’s on this point that he emphasized clear differences between Jackson and himself.
“We’ve been talking about our proactive approach to how we’re going to fix the economic problems in the state of California,” he said. “…She’s talking about everything but the economy because she has a poor record on the economy.
“I’m firmly confident that the voters will take a look at the records of both of us and understand that the economy is the No. 1 issue.”

Woman found dead on Westside

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

A 29-year-old woman was found stabbed to death in the 1300 block of Kowalski Avenue yesterday morning, the second homicide in Santa Barbara this year.
Santa Barbara Police officials said a 24-year-old man, who the woman was dating, allegedly stabbed her in the neck and left her bleeding in the street.
The victim was identified as Lisa Marie Zazueta of Santa Barbara.

Police responded to the Westside neighborhood at 12:38 a.m. after receiving a call from the suspect, Garren Musser, who was eventually arrested for suspicion of homicide.
Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte, a police spokesman, said Musser and other residents living at 1310 Kowalski Ave. agreed to be interviewed by detectives at the police station.
“Once at the station Musser provided information to detectives indicating that he was responsible for the homicide,” Duarte said.
He said the woman appeared to have been stabbed once.
According to Duarte, Musser and Zazueta had recently started dating, and there was no history of abuse between the two.
The victim’s grandmother, Mary Zazueta, told the Daily Sound her granddaughter met Musser at a downtown bar three weeks ago. She insisted the two were not dating, but had seen each other on at least two occasions.
She said her granddaughter, who was married and had two children, went to see Musser just after midnight.
“He murdered her with a senseless act,” she said. “It was our first granddaughter. It’s just horrible.”
While details of the victim and suspect’s involvement remain fuzzy, Duarte said Musser apparently stabbed the woman as a result of an argument concerning their relationship.
Duarte said police recovered a knife they believe was used by Musser to assault Zazueta.
Musser was booked into Santa Barbara county jail on suspicion of homicide. Duarte said chargers are pending.
Due to the ongoing investigation, Duarte would not disclose if Musser had a prior criminal history.
By yesterday afternoon, a small memorial of two candles, a feather and roses had been erected on the curb near where Zazueta’s body was discovered.
A group of Musser’s neighbors were still reeling from the killing, puzzled as to why the young man would kill someone.
“It’s just shocking because it’s so quiet here,” said a 35-year-old mother of three who lives one house down from the Musser residence. “We still can’t believe that this happened.”
The woman said Musser lived with his parents. She said he didn’t talk much, but was always polite and would often say hello to her and her children.
“We saw her lying [in the street],” the woman said. “I haven’t been able to sleep, just having the image of her face in my mind.”