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Eskin
Hot Springs Deal Finalized
It took more than a year and a half of legal and logistical wrangling, but the deal to save Hot Springs Canyon above Montecito for public use is finally done. On Friday, November 15, the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County will pass the deed for 422 acres of the 462-acre property to the U.S. Forest Service, which will manage the property as part of the contiguous Los Padres National Forest. The Land Trust will retain ownership of the remaining 40 acres, as they were “unsuccessful in negotiating a water well agreement on terms that would be acceptable to the Montecito Water District,” according to the trust’s director Michael Feeney, who had to spend about $60,000 in unexpected legal costs to get to this point. “Who would have thought it would be so challenging to buy and donate a key piece of land to the American people?” he later said in a prepared statement. The Land Trust had launched a fundraising campaign in 2011 to buy the 462 acres from the property’s longtime owners — the McCaslin Family — for $7.9 million. Zoning in the area would have allowed the development of six homes, as well as a private resort and spa. “Historically, we have not wanted nor intended to be in the land-ownership business,” Feeney said of the remaining 40 acres. The most notable exception is the Arroyo Hondo Preserve on the Gaviota Coast, which the trust manages solely. The other properties it owns, the Coronado Butterfly Preserve in Goleta, and part of the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve, are managed jointly by a number of agencies. The eagerly awaited Hot Springs deal will be celebrated during a ceremony next Friday, at which Land Trust President Warren Miller, Los Padres National Forest Supervisor Peggy Hernandez, Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal, and Montecito Trails Foundation President Bobbi King will be present among those who contributed to the fundraising campaign. “The story does not end here,” Feeney said in his statement, explaining that as new property owners of an area popular with hikers, the Land Trust is looking to raise $100,000 and create an annual revenue stream for trail maintenance, creek protection, fire prevention, and other management tasks. — Tyler Hayden and Matt Kettmann
Santa Barbara City College received national recognition this week as Prof. Manou Eskandari, chair of its Political Science department, was named Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Eskandari, the only professor in California to receive the award, will head to Washington, D.C., to accept the honor. “It’s another feather in the cap for the college,” Eskandari said, adding he would like to receive the award for City College, not just for himself. Eskandari is a big believer in SBCC — both of his children attended — because of the “high level of education in a relaxed atmosphere.” During his 20 years there, he founded the Middle East Studies program and brought a chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the national honor society for two-year colleges, to the campus. Anxieties surrounding the renewal process of Santa Barbara Charter School were all but quelled at Tuesday’s school board meeting. After considerable tension plagued the two October meetings, ongoing discussion between district officials and charter school directors is “making great progress,” Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Emilio Handall said in an update. Conditions outlined in district staff’s recommendations included better financial projections, a Common Core transition plan, examining the school’s admission process, and balancing its ethnic demographics. Per these discussions, both sides agreed to postpone the vote until the next board meeting on 12/10. County public health administrators are advocating to get e-cigarettes off of school campuses. Dawn Dunn, who runs the county tobacco-prevention program, brought Hookah Pens to Tuesday’s Santa Barbara school board meeting to show boardmembers that the bright colored gadgets look like flashy pens. “Students have these on campuses … They’re not harmless,” she said. Dunn added that the products are
relatively odorless, are difficult to identify, and can be used to vaporize other substances. Like normal cigarettes, e-cigarettes can be purchased over the counter by anyone 18 years old or older. Boardmembers will discuss adding e-cigarettes to their antitobacco policy at their December meeting. PAU L WELLM AN FI LE PHOTO
news briefs cont’d
Though Santa Barbara school district administrators hoped to distribute more than 1,000 iPads (pictured) before winter break, the oneto-one pilot program will now likely begin in January. Logistics including installing additional access points and requesting agreements with parents still need to be put in place. Students at the four schools chosen to participate — Washington, Adams, and Franklin elementary schools and La Cuesta High School — will have three options: lease a tablet for $20/month for 3 years, provide their own tablet, or use one purchased by the district. Recent surveys found that Washington was the only school in which a majority of parents indicated they wanted their student to use a district-purchased tablet. A few of the boardmembers expressed concern over the discrepancy because Washington has a higher-income population. ■
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PAU L WELLM AN
News of theWeek
Carrozzo said he’s screened 70 veterans for the South Coast Veterans Court thus far; aside from the five who graduated, 32 are still in programs and treatment. Some wash out, he said, others decline participation, reasoning that they’d serve less time in Santa Barbara’s overcrowded jail than they would in treatment. The typical offender is looking at county jail time, not state prison. No sex offenders are considered, nor are individuals charged with violent crime. The more serious the offense, Carrozzo HELPING AND HEALING: Gulf War vet Steven Lopez explained, the more weight he places (left) provided Judge Eskin (right) the lightbulb moment about the need for a veterans court many years ago. Last on the individual’s service record. For Eskin, the lightbulb moment week, Eskin got to congratulate Lopez for graduating came in 2006 when presiding over following a year of sobriety and treatment. the case of Gulf War vet Steven Lopez, who pled guilty to carjacking after having a psy- looking at 25 years to life. “That’s a hell of a pill chotic break while confronting his boss, who’d to swallow,” he said. just fired him. When police tracked Lopez to his Then in 2011, Lopez got in a fight with his residence in Isla Vista, they claimed he resisted brother. He claims his brother punched him arrest. Lopez said he was on his knees with his first and that he didn’t want to fight. So he pulled arms in the air trying to surrender. But when a knife as a defensive maneuver. And he also one of the officers executed “a flying knee” to his smashed the windshield of his brother’s car. By the time Lopez’s case made its way to Judge back, Lopez said, “It was on. We fought. It was bad.” Combat vets, he cautioned, don’t respond Eskin, the veterans court had been established. “normally” to displays of police authority. “It’s Eskin — when first announcing the formation fight or flight,” he said. “In my case it was both.” of the new specialty court — had cited Lopez’s There was no veterans court at the time. But case in particular as one of his inspirations. Now, Eskin was struck that Lopez, then 33, had no Lopez was actually before him. But Carrozzo criminal history, not even a misdemeanor. His had second thoughts. As far as violent offenses, high school record was so exemplary he’d been Lopez’s actions were on the “upper end,” Caroffered a “full ride” scholarship to UCLA. But rozzo said.“He was a risk.” Lopez chose the military. He’d served in high At Eskin’s insistence, Lopez was invited to school ROTC and, as a child of immigrant par- participate. He was sent to a treatment facility ents, said he wanted to do his patriotic duty. And in L.A.’s Koreatown — Bimini Recovery Home being a young dude, Lopez acknowledged, he — known for its boot-camp, no-second-chances was looking for action. discipline. There he stayed one year. Treatment He found it. And then some. Eskin would there wasn’t cheap — $1,500 a month — but later say of Lopez’s wartime experience,“Some- the feds picked up the tab. “I was finally forced thing happened.” Of the 250,000 troops who to face the things I didn’t want to face before,” served during the Gulf War, Lopez says only one Lopez said. “Mental illness is so taboo,” he said. percent saw actual combat. “I saw it every day “If you don’t talk about it, it comes out,” he caufor about a year,” he said. When Lopez was dis- tioned,“but it doesn’t ‘come out.’ It explodes.” What made the difference for Lopez was that charged one year later at age 19, he was deemed 30 percent disabled. “I was involved in some he went through the program with other comshit,” he said in a recent interview.“I was messed bat vets. “When I got out in 1992, I was the only up.” Friends would wonder what happened. one. I was really lonely. Now guys like me are “How about two decades of night terrors,” he a dime a dozen, and I’m not alone anymore,” answered. Lopez said he sought help from the he said. Indeed not. During Friday’s graduation, VA half a dozen times but was never told there were programs available. For 15 years, he held Fred Lopez, a retired brigadier general with the it together, sort of, drinking too much, getting Marine Corps, reminded those in attendance high, and not getting along. Then he got fired that an estimated 20 percent of the 2.3 million from his job and everything exploded. men and women who served in Afghanistan “I was looking at five years in state prison,” and Iraq suffer from post-traumatic stress Lopez said of his first offense. Over the objec- disorder. Many will wind up homeless; some tions of the prosecuting attorney, Eskin said will become enmeshed in the criminal justice he sentenced Lopez to five years felony proba- system. Of the veterans court, Fred Lopez said, tion on the condition he obtain mental health “This is a great start, but we need to do more,” treatment. Based on the calculus of California’s adding,“They fought for us. Now it’s our turn to three-strikes law, Lopez got his first strike. fight for them.” Since his most recent run-in with the law, Four years and six months later, something else happened. Lopez and his girlfriend at the military authorities have reclassified Steve time got into an argument. She picked up the Lopez 100 percent disabled, or as he puts it, phone to call the cops. Lopez picked up a piece “100 percent retired.” Lopez is currently studyof wood and said, “If you call the cops, there’s ing to become a counselor for vets struggling going to be trouble.” Lopez insists he was talking with addictions. Looking back, he recalls his first about the violence that might ensue between meeting with Judge Eskin. “I was saying they’d him and the police. Prosecutors didn’t see it that be seeing a lot more people like me,” he said. “I way. Even so, he got a second chance based on told them they’d better get ready.” his military history. More probation, not prison time. But he also got a second strike added to his For an exit interview with Judge Eskin, visit independent.com/news. record. If he screwed up again, Lopez was now november 14, 2013
THE INDEPENDENt
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