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UCSB’s Ila Lane moves into 10th place all time in rebounds in win over CSUN - A3
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Our 167th Year
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NEWS-PRESS EXCLUSIVE
Taliban seize land for Santa Barbara dentist’s clinic Dr. James Wolfe seeks donations to help with relocation cost for facility for the poor in Afghanistan By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Taliban have taken control of the land for a Kabul clinic built by a Santa Barbara dentist. About a month ago, the Taliban closed the Afghanistan Dental Relief Project in Kabul and seized the land given to the project by the former Afghan government. The dental project has provided free
dental care for more than 200,000 poor Afghans during its 20 years of operation. Dr. James Wolfe, a Santa Barbara dentist, built the Kabul clinic that the Taliban seized. He is now seeking donations to help with the clinic’s relocation. Dr. Wolfe told the News-Press how his involvement began. “In 2003, I went to Wardak province and was working with a bunch of orphan
boys who had seven or eight abscess teeth each,” Dr. Wolfe said. “The Wardak province is about the size of Connecticut, and there is no dentist in the whole province. The only option was a local barber with unsterile instruments and no anesthetic.” Dr. Rolfe returned to Santa Barbara and constructed a modern three-chair dental clinic from a 40-foot shipping container, completely self-contained
with its own generator, and sent it to Afghanistan. Then he hired an Afghan dentist and nurse and trained them to use it, and started a school to train dental technicians from poor young Kabul residents. Dr. Rolfe continued to build more dental clinics from shipping containers during the following years, going there many times during the last 20 years. Please see TALIBAN on A2
Sneddon: Council should look at State St. bike usage
FYI To become a monthly supporter or make a one-time donation for the Afghanistan Dental Relief Project, go to adrpinc.org and select “donate.” Or contact Dr. Rolfe at his Santa Barbara office — adrp@verizon.net or 805-963-2329.
Hundreds walk in IV to support Jewish community By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS
Bicyclists ride on State Street in Downtown Santa Barbara on Friday.
By NEIL HARTSTEIN NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
One of the most frequent — and frustrating — complaints about problems on State Street concern speeding bicyclists and the safety threat they pose to people walking in the downtown Pedestrian Promenade. Some fear it’s just a matter of time before these riders lose control of their hurtling bikes and hit one or more unsuspecting people out for a leisurely stroll along the city’s main artery. While the city has tried several approaches to address the problem, on its own and in concert with others, at least one city council member says more needs to be done — sooner than later. “Whether it is perception of safety, or actual safety, people do not feel comfortable walking down the promenade in its current configuration with bikes,” Councilmember Kristen Sneddon told the News-Press. “There are a lot of ideas about what to try, and I just think it’s time to start trying them,” she said. “This will help people feel comfortable now and will inform
Councilmember Kristen Sneddon says some pedestrians feel unsafe on State Street “in its current configuration with bikes.”
the Master Plan of what can work.” She tried to raise the issue at a recent council meeting during a discussion on the State Street Master Plan, but was told she couldn’t because it wasn’t on the agenda; that current
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problems on lower State Street must be governed by interim city guidelines/requirements for the promenade. She’s in an ideal position to do that, because not only is she a council member but she’s the chair of the
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council ad hoc subcommittee charged with making interim recommendations to address current downtown conditions, from parklets to security to lighting — to bicyclist/pedestrian safety. Please see BIKES on A4
Rabbi Evan Goodman, the executive director of Santa Barbara Hillel (which is behind him), told the News-Press he was happy with the turnout at the Isla Vista walk.
DAVE MASON / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Tessa Veksler, one of the Jewish student leaders at UCSB, talks to the audience at Little Acorn Park in Isla Vista about the need to “show up for the Jewish community before anti-Semitism happens.”
elected officials such as Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps and Santa Barbara City Council member Oscar Gutierrez. And the students and others spoke in support of the Jewish community, in remembrance of the Holocaust and for the vision of a future where anti-Semitism isn’t tolerated. Tessa Veksler, one of the Jewish student leaders and a member of the Senate at UCSB’s College of Letters and Sciences, told the crowd at Little Acorn Park that her parents emigrated from Ukraine in 1990 to escape from anti-Semitism. “They came here with the hope that they would never be prosecuted for being Jewish,” Miss Veksler said. “Now they have to live here knowing their daughter is facing the same exact thing they fled. “This week has been difficult, to say the least, for the UCSB Jewish community and the Jewish community at large,” she said, urging people to “show up for the Jewish community before antiSemitism happens.” Sen. Limón told the crowd that she stood in solidarity with others to end hatred of Jews and all hatred. “I stand in solidarity to ensure our learning environments are safe, to understand when it (hate) happens to any brother or sister of any background, it can happen and will happen to all of us,” Sen. Limón said. Jamie Orseck, co-president of the student board at Santa Barbara Hillel and one of the speakers, told the News-Press Please see PROTEST on A4
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Several hundred Jewish and non-Jewish people walked together Sunday afternoon in Isla Vista to protest against antiSemitism and for a better world where diversity is embraced. The short walk began at Santa Barbara Hillel, an organization that serves Jewish students in Isla Vista and at neighboring UCSB, and it culminated at Little Acorn Park, where speakers varied from Jewish student leaders to state Sen. Monique Limón, DSanta Barbara. There was also a stop halfway during the walk for another round of speeches. The talks included biographies of Holocaust victims. Jan. 27 was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The walk was co-organized by the UCSB Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and Santa Barbara Hillel. Sunday’s walk came just after a week of widespread anti-Semitic acts in the Santa Barbara area. The acts consisted of anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli comments found Monday of the chalkboard of a UCSB Israeli politics class, antiJewish and anti-Israeli comments posted Monday on the bulletin board at UCSB’s Jewish Studies Department, anti-Jewish fliers found Tuesday in Isla Vista and the discovery of a swastika attached to a pole at the Dos Pueblos High School stadium in Goleta. The Jewish community and its supporters on Sunday reacted to those acts with a walk featuring a large number of people — mostly college-age but there were some middle-age people and seniors in the group, along with some
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