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SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2023

TRAFFIC, CRIME AND FIRE BLOTTER Pile burning scheduled Pile burning is scheduled for Sunday through March 5 near Figueroa Mountain and various other Los Padres National Forest locations. Plans are to burn one to 10 treated acres of slash from felled dead trees and brush. Additional series of burns will occur through the spring as conditions permit, according to Los Padres National Forest. Most burning operations will begin in the morning and conclude in the afternoon. However, some burning operations may continue through

the evening to allow for the full consumption of flammable material. The goal of the series of pile burns is to reduce the risk of wildfire. This burn depends on weather and air quality conditions that are favorable for smoke dispersal. If the conditions are not as desired, the burn will be rescheduled, according to Los Padres National Forest. For more information, go to ssl.arb.ca.gov/pfirs/ firm/firm.php. — Katherine Zehnder

Ballard School Board discusses parental rights By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Parental rights were discussed during the Feb. 15 board meeting of the Ballard Elementary School District. The discussion originally was about a recent incident in the fourth-grade classroom and evolved into a broader talk about parental rights. The incident happened when — against the advice of the teacher, Mandy Young, but with the approval of Principal/ Superintendent Pam Rennick — the parents of a child in the class spoke to the class about their child’s chosen pronouns and name. This talk happened without alerting any of the other parents in the classroom beforehand. This child has been wearing dresses to school since kindergarten and has never been treated any differently. The child’s father, Sean Conroy, is a member of the school board, and the mother is Cailen Conroy, president of the Ballard Elementary School PTA. Ms. Rennick, principal of Ballard Elementary School and superintendent of the singleschool district in the Santa Ynez Valley, broached the issue from

Beach closure lifted For East Beach SANTA BARBARA — The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has lifted the water contact closure for East Beach within one-quarter mile of the Sycamore Creek

the perspective of student privacy. “The school handled the situation as best it could in accordance with the student’s right to privacy act and the California anti-discrimination laws, and as concerns were raised, we did consult our legal counsel to make sure that we did act in accordance,” Ms. Rennick said during the school board meeting. James Simpson is acting as legal counsel for Ballard Elementary. “He did, in fact, say that we had acted according to the law and according to anti-discrimination laws and if we had handled it differently, we might have encroached upon student privacy or anti-discrimination laws,” Ms. Rennick said. “I know that it has been concerning and that it has been questioned, but I just want everyone to understand that there are very specific student privacy laws that we have to follow as a public school, and so in this case I believe that we did.” The first public commenter was the mother of the child in question. “I want to take a couple of minutes to address the situation at hand and set the record straight that what was said in the classroom was not what people think was said,” Mrs. Conroy said. “My child simply wanted her

outfall. Recent ocean water quality testing conducted by the department’s Environmental Health Services Division has confirmed the ocean water is now safe for recreational use in this area following recent sewage impacts. The water contact closure

ERINGER

Continued from Page A2 finally said. “If you want to edit the book, do it.” “Yes,” I said. “But with a view to nailing Howard.” “No problem,” said Clair. “I’ll tell the CIA that you’re going to edit this book, that the lawyers at Justice are messing it all up.” Clair shook his head in disgust. “We’ll meet with Dick Stolz this weekend, and you’ll tell him what’s going on. He’ll go out to Langley and tell Tom Twetten and Ted Price that you’re going to do this and keep them informed.”

YES, BACK IN BIZ Special Agent John phoned. “We’re in agreement for you to do it your way,” he said. So I continued to feed the FBI updates, and John responded with “hmm” to everything I said, a kind of detached deniability if things went wrong. Soon, Mr. Howard sent a letter offering to meet me in Zurich, Switzerland. I faxed it to John — and also to Clair, who faxed it to Twetten. The G-man responded by saying his pace for getting things approved had slowed down. I was astonished, not appreciating things could move even slower than before. Then he called back a few days later, somewhat bewildered. Had I, he asked, shown Mr. Howard’s letter to anyone else? “Uh, yeah,” I said. “Clair George.” The CIA had sent Mr. Howard’s letter to the FBI at the highest level and caused the bureau’s bureaucracy to snap, crackle and pop. I expressed my concern to Clair that our tactics had backfired. “Are you kidding?” Clair fired back. “That’s how you get things done in government! Now somebody is doing something!” Of course, he was right. John phoned a few days later. “Looks like we’re getting somewhere. I’ve been called to Washington for meetings.” I worked on Mr. Howard’s book and traveled to Moscow in July 1994 to see the traitor on his turf. A few months later, Howard and I met again in Switzerland.

THE J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING The FBI invited me to headquarters. I was charmed, of course, because I was not yet aware that most FBI field agents strove to avoid that austere building. I would soon discover why. I’d been working the Howard case for 14 months by then. It somehow qualified me for an ambush. Faces I’d not seen before — five, to be precise — surrounded me in a windowless conference room to hear my story: journalism, book publishing, creative problem resolution. I chuckled a lot; the assembled company were stony faced. After I finished, a man named Dick asked me questions about how I might feel if, after spending time with Ed Howard, he was caught and put behind bars. How would I feel? I shrugged. “I’m experienced at pulling off stings. The whole point of this project is to capture him.” I had actually proposed it. Mildly patronizing, Dick said that people never

classmates to know her pronouns and her name. That was it, nothing further. It took less than 60 seconds probably … She was so ready to do this because she felt so safe in her community. “The kids in her class have been so, so supportive and loving, and as a result, she has never been happier,” Mrs. Conroy said. “It was like a giant weight was lifted off her shoulders, and everything was better because her friends now knew who she was. I want to thank Mrs. Rennick and all the teachers and the staff at Ballard for creating such a supportive atmosphere for my child to thrive. “I can’t tell you the difference this has made in helping her find the happiness that was missing before…” Mrs. Conroy continued. “I am so sorry that some parents felt ambushed and perhaps had conversations that they weren’t ready to have with their kids, I really am. “But at the end of the day, we were protecting our child’s privacy, particularly on such a personal, tough matter. So I hope that all the parents in this room can understand that …Whether you agree with me or not, please just remember that I am a mom doing everything I can to keep my children safe and happy.” Please see BALLARD on A6

at West Beach from the Santa Barbara Harbor to a one-quarter mile east of Stearns Wharf remains in effect until sample results indicate the water is safe for recreational use. For more information, see www. sbprojectcleanwater.org.

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)VUOHTZ )\[[LYÄLSKZ (\J[PVULLYZ *VYW (SS YPNO[Z YLZLY]LK )VUK 5V ):).3

— Katherine Zehnder

really knew how they would feel until such a situation was upon them. Would I mind taking a battery of psychological tests? Next it was Bob’s turn. “Why does Ed Howard trust you so much?” he asked suspiciously. “Because I’m good at what I do.” Later that day I met with Clair and conveyed to him all that had been said. He listened, bemused at first but soon incredulous that 14 months after I’d started working on Mr. Howard, the FBI had finally got around to operational security. As for the psychological tests, said Clair, “Tell them they can shove their battery of tests up their ...” “I already did.”

Mysterious New Orleans

E CABL X O C

“SAFEHOUSE” Mr. Howard’s book, “Safehouse,” got published. As his editor, I ensured that sensitive information related to the national security of the United States was deleted before publication. And I slid Mr. Howard into a new book of my own making, “Spy’s Guide to Europe,” which I conceived especially to draw Mr. Howard out of Russia, to various Central European capitals. Eventually we hit pay dirt. Mr. Howard planned a trip to Warsaw in Poland to research “Spy’s Guide” — and the FBI obtained permission from the Poles to intercept Mr. Howard through an international corridor as he walked from the plane to Immigration. At the 11th hour, as FBI agents prepared to pounce, the Justice Department balked and aborted the operation. The U.S. could have captured the only CIA officer ever to successfully defect to Moscow and chose not to go through with it — apparently on orders from the White House. The person least surprised was … Clair George.

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POSITIVE INTELLIGENCE AND MORE So the FBI gave up trying to apprehend Edward Lee Howard. Instead I set to work, on the bureau’s behalf, gathering positive intelligence from Mr. Howard and his buddies in the Russian intelligence services. To that end, I returned to Moscow, twice, to ruse former KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, who wanted to write a book for Western consumption. I also traveled to Havana for a crack at Mr. Howard’s buddies in Cuban intelligence. As my missions for the FBI evolved into rusing Cuban intelligence agents stationed in Washington D.C., hastening the extradition from France of hippie guru murderer Ira Einhorn and pulling a sting on the Earth Liberation Front, Clair watched with amusement, providing sage advice when asked. His best advice: “Keep everyone laughing half the time, scared the other half — and always keep them guessing.” My experience with the FBI reminded me of another Clairism, something he’d told me soon after we first met: “I’d take you downtown and introduce you to the people who run things, but it would only scare the bejesus out of you.” Robert Eringer is a longtime Montecito author with vast experience in investigative journalism. He welcomes questions or comments at reringer@gmail.com.

AnimalZone takes a walk on the wild side while exploring the mysterious side of New Orleans. Cari Roy, The New Orleans Psychic, explains some of the paranormal aspects of The Big Easy, its ancient cemeteries and spirited houses. At St. Francis of Assisi church in New Orleans, Reverend Micheal J. Schneller explains Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron Saint of animals. He also performs a blessing on a dog suffering from tumors.

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