ke ith ha mm
Authorities believe 21-yearold Max Pappas shot his mother, Lori Wolf-Pappas, at her Santa Ynez Valley home before fatally shooting himself in the head. They are the son and estranged wife of Steve Pappas, who ran for 3rd District county supervisor in 2008 and lost and then spent years in court contesting the outcome. Sheriff’s officials and California Highway Patrol officers discovered Max Pappas’s body in a car crashed on the Lori Wolf-Pappas (left) and Max Pappas 1500 block of Refugio Road at about 2:10 p.m. on October 31. Authorities believe he shot himself while driving. At the house associated with the car, Sheriff’s deputies found Wolf-Pappas, who was 57, dead. Max Pappas had no guns registered to his name, according to Sheriff’s spokesperson Kelly Hoover, and no firearms were found in the house. Hoover said the department is working to determine where the handgun came from. Max, who has a younger brother, had reportedly moved in with his father. Hoover said the deaths are under investigation and declined to release further information. Pappas had been in a recovery home, where staff observed significant mentalhealth issues. Since January 2014, three disturbance calls were reported at his mother’s house. In the last year, two domestic-disturbance calls and three noise complaints were made at his father’s Los Olivos home. No guns were found in either home, and neither parent has guns registered to their names. On September 2, Max Pappas was charged with attempting to “commit a violent injury” against his father, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Steve Pappas had made a citizen’s arrest for assault after Max allegedly threw a towel hanger and other items at him during an argument. Steve was not injured. Max spent the night in jail. He pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge. In 2012, Max was charged with an alcohol-related misdemeanor. Friends recalled Max Pappas as friendly and outgoing in high school but said he had not been doing well recently. His demeanor had changed entirely, one friend said. He appeared emotionless and was reportedly in therapy. Many people have posted “Rest in Peace” messages on social media accounts. This is the second murder-suicide in the Santa Ynez Valley in a few weeks. Last month, Gregg Hamilton shot and killed his wife, Kimberly Hamilton, before taking his own life. In the Sheriff’s Office jurisdiction, no other homicides have been reported this year; last year, there were five, and one in 2013, excluding murder— Kelsey Brugger suicides.
Becker well at Summerland Beach (pictured). InterAct must now produce an engineering plan for the capping project. Total cost for this phase will be about $70,000, according to Steve Curran, a petroleum-drilling engineer with State Lands. Over the coming year, environmental-impact and safety studies will compose phase two, and, optimistically, phase-three proper capping will take place next fall or winter, Curran said. The total cost has been estimated upward of $800,000. Booze will be sold on the Chumash Casino gambling floor, and only patrons 21 and older will be let in as part of a temporary permit
county
cou rtesy
Another Valley Murder-Suicide?
pau l wellm an
find uS online At independent.com, fAceBooK, And twitter
granted by the state’s Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC). The change — 18-year-olds were previously allowed on the floor — enables the casino to serve alcohol in certain areas with a number of conditions, including no alcohol 1-9 a.m. The permit lasts 120 days and can be renewed indefinitely until an ABC judge makes the final decision, which can be appealed. Sheriff Bill Brown and 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr have protested the decision due to concerns over drunk driving.
PEOPLE Nonprofit Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara announced last week that longtime fundraiser Barbara Ben-Horin will serve as its new chief executive officer beginning January 2016. Former CEO of 20 years Monica Spear resigned from her post in May, and since then boardmember Tracy Jenkins has acted as interim CEO. Ben-Horin has over 35 years of experience leading major local and national nonprofits such as the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Foundation for SBCC, and Planned Giving, a financial support branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. n
OPEN ARMS: Foster parent Jamee Baker (center), who adopted her first child last week after taking in 15 foster kids during the past five years, was recognized for National Adoption Month.
Home Sweet Home Hundreds of Foster Children Need a Family
E
by K e l S e y B r u g g e r
very time Jamee Baker and her husband bring a new foster child into their Orcutt home, they go to HomeTown Buffet. It’s a ritual they began after three little girls — ages 3, 9, and 11 — arrived at their doorstep, reunited for the first time in several years. Unfed and unwashed, they were scared to death. Baker’s first instinct, as it often is, was to wrap her arms around them. But they were not receptive. “They could not even tell us what kind of food they wanted to eat,” she said. At the buffet, Baker could see what foods they chose to eat. Baker, who is just shy of 50, was one foster parent recognized by county supervisors this week for the 15 kids she has brought into her home in the past five years. Last week, she and her second husband, Ronnie Baker—whom she married after she lost her husband to cancer 10 years ago—adopted a 14-year-old boy, Egan. Next month, they will adopt Jonathan, who is 10. They also have five biological adult children between them. Fifty-six foster homes exist in the county, most in North County. At any given time, about 450 county kids are in foster care, spending an unknown amount of time in a home, sometimes several in one year. In the past five years, an average of 90 kids were adopted annually. Currently, more than 100 foster children are waiting to be placed in permanent homes through adoption, and 133 children have been placed out of the county. Some have specific needs—due to substance abuse or mentalhealth problems—are living with relatives, or are older and in transitional housing (whether they prefer it or not). Foster parents receive $500-$900 a month per child based on age. On November 18, juvenile court will finalize seven adoptions. Supervisor Doreen Farr, who has three adopted adult sons and sponsored the county recognition, recalled the county placed her first child with her family nearly 34 years ago. At a foster-care stakeholders meeting Tuesday, social services professionals talked about reducing the number of children in group homes—there are 37 children now —because a state law going into effect in 2018 only allows short-term group homes. independent.com
When a child enters a foster home, the parents are often unaware of the trauma he or she has experienced.“I think a lot of families, if they [knew] everything up front, they wouldn’t want to do it,” Baker said. “You are not going to get a foster care kid who doesn’t have baggage. You are not even going to get a regular person who doesn’t have baggage.” At least five of her foster kids, Baker said, asked if they had to shut their bedroom door at night. She could never figure out why. Baker recalled she would find those little girls tucked into one bed. Later, she learned all three had slept together in one bed in a trailer at their grandmother’s house. There had been no running water; they had slept in their clothes. The two little ones had no clue how to take a shower. The youngest spoke little English. “We made it through it,” Baker said, before the three were adopted. Baker knew she wanted to be a mother by the 2nd grade. She became a foster mom one week after she married Ronnie, who had never met his father and was in and out of his mother’s home as a child. They never imagined they would adopt a child, but that changed shortly after Egan, who was 11, and his older brother, 13, arrived. “They were just itty-bitty,” she recalled. The older brother suffered from mental illness and ultimately needed to be placed in a group home for safety reasons. The decision, Baker expressed, was difficult. She decided to adopt Egan in part so he could stay close to his older brother, who is now 17, has a job, and is doing well. Finding permanent homes for older children is often more difficult. Baker’s decision was made one day when she was touring a house she was looking to buy.“Egan was with us, running from room to room,” she recalled. “He stops, and he goes,‘Hey, if this house is for sale and we’re buying it, does this mean it’s our forever home?’” Baker, who is a devout Christian, knew she was “supposed to be adopting him.” Egan, Baker said, still wonders,“Why do you want me?” In accepting her award, Baker told the supervisors: “If we had a bigger house, we would take more.” To report child abuse, call 1 (800) 367-0166.
NovEmbEr 5, 2015
THE INDEPENDENT
9