Audio leak scandal
Pulling strings
L.A. City Council member Kevin de Leon refuses to resign - A5
Juilliard String Quartet to perform at the Lobero, featuring musicians with ties to the Santa Barbara area - B1
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F R I DAY, O C TOBE R 21, 2 02 2
Latest buzz about bees Santa Barbara Hives to open second location on State Street
Man sentenced to five years for starting fire at Lompoc clinic By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Ashley Farrell and Barnaby Draper stand in their Santa Barbara Hives store’s second location, 3328 State St., Santa Barbara.
By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Local beekeepers will open a second location for their Santa Barbara Hives store Saturday. Doors will open at 10 a.m. at the store, located at 3328 State St., Santa Barbara. It’s in what used to be an instrumental music business. The store hours will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The business’ partners, Ashley Farrell and Barnaby Draper, are local beekeepers focused on supporting bees, beekeepers and sustainability. In keeping with these values, patrons can expect to find beekeeping resources and support, as well as a treasure trove of bee products, hemp products and local art. “I have only seen one other bee store in my life in Hudson, NY. We are a local support system for beekeepers,” Mr. Draper told the News-Press. Ms. Farrell and Mr. Draper, who established the first Santa Barbara Hives location in Carpinteria, emphasized the importance of bees to the ecosystem and the planet. “The produce section would look very grim without bees,” said
FYI Santa Barbara Hives is located at 516 Palm Ave., Carpinteria, and at 10 a.m. Saturday, it will open its second location at 3328 State St., Santa Barbara. For more information, go to santabarbarahives.com.
Mr. Draper. Since 1962, 90% of the bees have disappeared, and in the last two years, bees have declined by 45%. “We are excited to open a store in Santa Barbara because people are so aware, so conscious and they do care,” said Mr. Draper. “We really just want to be a part of the process of healing the planet and teaching people how to live in balance with the natural world,” Ms. Farrell told the NewsPress. “We don’t feel that you need to sacrifice anything to do that. We feel that you can live a quality of life with good products.” Santa Barbara Hives sells flow hives and other beekeeping supplies to local beekeepers, Please see BEES on A10
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Raw, unfiltered honey is sold at Santa Barbara Hives.
email: nhartstein@newspress.com
Lompoc woman pleads guilty to hit and run By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
A Lompoc woman has pleaded guilty to a charge of hit and run for knocking down a woman outside a Lompoc discount dollar store with her car and then driving over her before fleeing the area. The defendant, Mary Alice Brown, appeared in court Wednesday for a scheduled conference to set a date for a preliminary hearing when she switched her plea from not guilty to guilty, prosecutors said. Ms. Brown, 67, had been charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in injury. Sentencing is set for Nov. 2, at
which time she will be sentenced to two years felony probation and 120 days in custody, which can be served on alternative sentencing if she qualifies, prosecutors said. Ms. Brown was arrested on suspicion of felony hit and run in the Aug. 8 incident that left the 51-year-old victim in critical condition. Investigators said a witness reported seeing Ms. Brown’s car strike the victim, knocking her to the ground, and driving over her before leaving the scene. The victim was airlifted to the hospital with injuries to her chest and legs. email: nhartstein@newspress.com
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knocked down the flames, and responding Lompoc firefighters extinguished the fire. The blaze caused more than $10,000 damage. Officers remaining at the scene interviewed staff members, who told them some victims had barricaded themselves in a room to get away from Mr. Morales’ violent behavior, only to be trapped inside after he set it on fire. Once he was medically cleared, Mr. Morales was transported to the Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, arson of an inhabited dwelling, felony vandalism, felony resisting, criminal threats, resisting an arrest and a misdemeanor warrant. Mr. Morales later was charged in an eight-count felony complaint, including “serious felonies” of arson and attempted murder of three specific women, criminal threats, assault with personal use of a deadly weapon (the piece of wood) and resisting arrest.
NEWS-PRESS EXCLUSIVE
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A Lompoc man has been sentenced to five years in state prison for setting fire to a Lompoc mental health clinic while people were trapped inside, screaming for help. William Morales, 36, pleaded guilty to arson of an inhabited structure in a plea bargain with prosecutors who agreed to drop other charges, including attempted murder, against him in exchange for the guilty plea. He was sentenced Wednesday. His crime is a violent felony, and he will be required to register as an arsonist. “I do believe it was an appropriate outcome for his case,” Deputy District Attorney Madison Whitmore told the News-Press Thursday. It’s a future the defendant obviously couldn’t foresee on Aug. 2 when he assaulted clinic staff members, set the building on fire and greeted arriving officers by throwing a large piece of wood at them, striking a patrol vehicle instead. Instead of obeying the officers’ orders to lie on the ground, he threw another piece of wood at them, retreated inside the clinic, located in the 1000 block of East Ocean Avenue, and slammed the door shut. That’s when officers heard the screams. People were yelling that the clinic was on fire. Forcing their way inside, officers confronted Mr. Morales again, ordering him to the floor. This time he complied and officers took him into custody. He remained combative, however, even as officers took him to the emergency room for medical clearance, even kicking an officer in the head in the ER. The clinic, meanwhile, was evacuated as the flames inside were growing. Officers
William Morales, 36, pleaded guilty to arson of an inhabited structure in a plea bargain with prosecutors who agreed to drop other charges, including attempted murder.
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